There was a moment lost when he looked back. The train seemed to speed along, gliding above the ground. There were no rails guiding it. As it slide past in a liquid smooth movement he reached out his arm and it grabbed him. His arm extended and his body crashed and fell into the train as if it was water and he had splashed through the material surface. He tumbled onto the hard floor of the train car. The train was no longer welcoming him among its cars, but now slapped him with reality that would soon try to tear him apart.
The imperial planes of Tyiron was a place of wishful thinking and memories of those that had been slain by it’s cruel ways. This long plateau of nothing stretched into infinity where it played cruel tricks on every living soul , human or otherwise. Everyone that ended up here, died. Worst then died, was erased from the very vibrating fabric of reality. As if all the hunted were collected and smashed into a unfathomable small vibrating ball. So condensed. So intertwined. That there ceased to be anything, but one point, a single entity. The unmade.
Who knew how the plains came to be or why they even existed. They just did. They could create anything at any time. It never made sense. Monsters, hybrids, vehicles, futuristic things, unfuturistic things, anything. All with the express purpose of torturing and killing those that they found wondering among the plains.
There was only one tree and one mountain among the plains, if you came to the ‘edge’ it simply led you to the other side. It was infinite in all the right senses. The sun would come up and down at random. It didn’t have a set time. The stars moved around and weather happened when it felt like it.
The Imperial Plains of Tyiron held their own world to make and create. They had the power to do just that.
We return to the liquid like train screaming across the plains. It’s unholy ghostly blue lights casting into the darkness and even seen when pure daylight was present.
The train car that he found himself in looked like any other car he had seen in his ‘previous’ life. Both sides of the car were lined with plastic blue seats and poles to hold onto. The windows shone nothing but a pale reflection. He looked forward towards the next car. It shined with warm light. He looked back towards the back of the train. He had been grabbed by the middle of the train, but it seemed that he was in the caboose now.
Onward and forward. He moved into the next train. It was themed of black and silver. A chess board. The walls were lined with castles and clouds, the ceiling was a sky and the car expanded out a bit more then the other. Behind the castle walls he could see the windows the train car. It seemed as if he was in a new dimension. He stepped forward onto the board. A horse with a knight materialized in front of him.
“A worthy opponent has appeared, hail the lords of Tyiron. Prepare to meet your doom.” The knight boasted, but did not move. It held a jousting pole in its right hand. The ending was no fist though. A needle that if one looked close enough descended into millionth of sharpness.
He moved a square up. The knight’s horse took off and moved in its L shaped pattern. He stopped. The board was six by six. Smaller then a normal chess board. The knight would reach him if he took another step. He wasn’t sure if the knight would strike if he was right next, but he had to take the chance. He moved towards the knight. The horse danced around him.
The knight now loomed over him staring down. He could feel a viscous smile behind that helmeted face. Eyes that thirsted on his flesh already. The voice sounded so gallant, but behind that metal was a sadistic creature.
He stepped to the right and around the knight. The knight gave a growl and moved to the out square. He had him now. All he had to was diagonally zig zag to the edge of the board and the knight could not catch him. He did just that. Left then right and his feet crossed thresh hold of the board and onto the outfield. The knight and its horse sat on next to the square that he had just exited. It stared at him with a stillness that made him uneasy.
“Let your flesh be ripped from your screaming soul” The knight said as it liquefied and dripped back into the board.
He moved to the next train car.
The car door slid open. Hot humid air hit swept across his face. A jungle dripped from the ceiling and crawled down and onto the floor of the car. A small river ran through the middle from door to door. Something sat on a small chair in the stream. He moved forward and the door behind him closed and disappeared behind vines. Large trees spanned into the air and covered him with canopies. The windows of the train, like the castle before, could be seen behind them. The thing sitting in the chair came to life as his feet met the stream. It was human shaped, but skin like blue oil. Large horns that spiraled like a ram spun from it’s head of yellow and black. It wore a pin striped suit, perfectly fitted to its slender body. It rose from the chair and opened it’s eyes to him. The face was sharp, beautiful, with eyes of orange, Lips of black and red with teeth bladed.
“Another game?” the man said to it.
It opened its mouth and the words lulled their way into his head.
“No game, only revelations”
I was thinking about the cover art of Stephan Kings The Waste Lands and it held such an impact on me. I haven’t read the book yet, but I did read the first entry in the dark tower series. I feels like that world is very bizarre and tried to replicate it a bit with this story.
I did change tone from the beginning to the middle. Moved to a narrative to a degree, returning to our main hero/victim after explain the world a bit.
Let us see if our friend can survive to the end in the future.