"There is, Miss Viktoria, literally, no place on Earth like Malifaux. In a little less than an hour, we will pass through The Breach of the Great Barrier and go beyond this world into another, into the heart of a City built by a civilization and history unknown to us. This world, this City, is possessed of a living energy that permeates all things. You'll feel it in you.” The old man gave his new acquaintance a sly look, an expression that sat easily on his dry, weathered features. “You'll feel it change you. Before we even pass into that world, you will feel it flow from The Breach's crackling circumference, like a flood washing over you. You can’t find this energy anywhere but Malifaux.”
Viktoria, a young woman with striking, razor-sharp features, boyishly short hair and a sheathed sword lying provocatively across her lap, gave a polite nod. Everyone had heard fantastical tales of Malifaux, of course, from terrifying childhood stories to impossible to believe stage-plays to breathless and unreliable firstperson accounts in the newspapers, but it was quite another thing to hear them from a man who had clearly been there before, while on a train merely moments away from the place itself. Viktoria realized her heart was racing, just like it did before a battle.
The man, Leviticus he called himself, was clearly warming to his subject and carried on. "Whether the energy hardens in the ground to form crystals or whether the crystals are the source of the energy, radiating it through everything else in the world, the solid state of this energy is called Soulstone. It is the currency of titans. Whoever possesses Soulstone has the power to change the world, to topple nations, to blot out races, and to manifest any wildest whim as reality. This is the reason, you see, that the Guild regulates Soulstone trade so strictly. It is no coincidence that the Guild seems ever more pervasive each day. Its power grows as its store of Soulstone increases, and every day, they strip more of this precious mineral from the ground.
"Look now, through the window, and see the long series of cars that follow us. All of them are empty, now, but tomorrow, this train will be burdened with the fruit of Malifaux, the elixir that transforms men into gods. It is this mineral, this Soulstone, that can make anything possible. Whatever agenda the Guild pursues in its dim corridors, we can only hope it’s benign, true?
"Here I joke about far-fetched conspiracy theories when I should warn you of the dangers of this place. See, even now you can see the glow of The Breach on the horizon. I fear you will soon arrive and be ill prepared for the dangers that await you. I do not embellish the atmosphere of Malifaux. Whether it is the magic of the place, or simply the promise of limitless wealth, this City brings out the worst in men. There is murder in the air. It gets in the blood. The constant threat of death from the world's hostile environment, from the plague of creatures that haunt it, the Neverborn, causes men to act like animals. Despite the towering ruins of civilization you will find there, this is the wilderness. There is no law in Malifaux. Men will lie, cheat, steal, and even cannibalize their fellow man for even the most meager gain."
"Just the men?" Viktoria asked, a mischievous glint in her eye. “How dull.”
Leveticus frowned. “Whatever your business there, it is not the sort of place one calls home.”
“I have lived in many places, sir. Can’t say I’ve ever felt at home in any of them, but I always sleep well at night.” Viktoria drummed her fingers pointedly on the sheathed sword. “Your City of Malifaux is not the only place one finds thieves and murderers.”
"It may be the only City that actively imports thieves and murderers, however." Leveticus said, still frowning.
Dressed practically, Viktoria wore a red traveling cape around her slender form and thick, serviceable boots on her feet. A pair of crossed belts hung low on her hips and a sleek firearm rested on her right hip. Across her lap, the scabbard held a long, curved, oriental blade. The obvious craftsmanship in the scabbard sat at odds with her plain clothes, scallops of warm stained cherry wood set in pale teak to give the illusion of swirling cherry blossoms.
The beautiful scabbard had managed to attract the attention of at least one of Viktoria's companions, although despite her drumming her fingers on it, he was still making far too good an effort of not looking directly at it. Across from her, the only other passengers on this particular car, were her self-appointed tour guide and frightener of young travelers Leveticus, and his female companion. The man looked like he was fresh off the boat from the Empire, with his dress coat and starched shirt, like some erudite scholar more at home in vaulted libraries than frontier trains. His attention to etiquette and expansive vocabulary weren't virtues yet in style in the New World. Aside from his rather elevated sense of self-importance, the man seemed rather advanced in age, as well. He carried a cane, but that seemed insufficient to accommodate the limp Viktoria had noticed as he took his seat back at Eagle Valley Station. A seat, Viktoria noted at the time, he had had to limp several carriages to reach past countless other potential audiences for his monologues. He wore a kind of mechanized brace on his leg that still facilitated his ability to wear neatly pressed trousers. One of his hands, too, bore evidence of this curious augmentation, a technology Viktoria had never seen before. It reminded her of clockwork toys she'd seen in boutique windows back East.
His escort, introduced only as Alyce, shared similar modifications, though of significantly poorer repair. It seemed as if her entire arm had been replaced with mechanized parts, and these were rusted and worn and would make an eerie whine when in motion. She seemed to be barely into her teen years, decades younger than her chaperone, and dressed in a long skirt and humble blouse that clashed with a tomboyish demeanor. It was this girl, Alyce, who openly studied Viktoria's sword, her eyes wide with an endearing curiosity. Occasionally during Leveticus' sustained lectures on the annual rainfall, chief industries, and political climate of Malifaux, she would nudge him in the ribs with her rusty elbow. The squeak of the movement and the sharp corner of her elbow made the gesture impossible to ignore, though Leveticus did his best, batting the girl's arm away each time she tried to win his attention.
Viktoria turned to Alyce, about to test the pair's intentions with a plausibly true tale of the sword's discovery. It was then, however, that Viktoria felt a sudden warmth. Her skin flushed, and she lifted her hand to draw her cloak close, conscious of the rosy blush spreading down over her chest. She was suddenly acutely conscious of the racing blood in her veins and the martial drumming of her heart. A wondrous excitement filled her.
Turning her head to the window of the train car, Viktoria saw The Breach swing into view behind a low escarpment. Never before had she seen such an astounding sight. A walled frontier town was huddled around an enormous loop of brilliant electric flame. The image reminded her of the fiery hoops lions leaped through at the circus, but this fire was a brilliant blue and burned with long wispy tendrils that seemed to tether it to the sky.
The tracks cut a fortified line right through the town, and the train charged along it, gathering speed, right at the circle. Through it Viktoria could see tall buildings crowded together in the distance. They seemed to shift whenever she was not looking right at them, furtive and sinister movements that could not possibly be real.
“They don't do that up close,” Leviticus said, as if reading her mind. He was craning his neck to look through the Breach as well.
“An illusion, then?” Viktoria said. “A mirage caused by the Breach?” Leviticus turned back to her, his expression unreadable and with a gaze that looked at her across impossible eons. “Yes. If you like.”
Ever more intense, the energy flooded into Viktoria’s blood, making it feel as if it were boiling in her veins. Without thinking she slid her sword a fraction out of its scabbard. The crackling buzz of The Breach filled her ears, and though she knew Leveticus was talking to her, she could not hear him. All her attention was focused on the swirling maw that was swallowing up the train ahead of their car, and suddenly, they were hurtling through it.
She felt as if her body was held in a bolt of lightning, every muscle suddenly contracting. And just as suddenly, the sensation faded. Clenching her eyes, she tried to hold onto it. It was the sensation of power. It was the certain knowledge that reality would not just bend to her will, it would dance to it. It was the strength to accomplish any feat, destroy any enemy, achieve any goal. Though that sense slipped away like sand between her fingers, she could still feel a portion of it smouldering like hot coals inside her.
“It appears you might be particularly sensitive to the energies of this world. Not everyone has such an… ecstatic crossing.”
It was Leveticus’ voice. Viktoria opened her eyes to see both he and Alyce staring at her. It took her only a moment to recover. “Oh, did we cross? I hadn't realized. I must have drifted off.”
Alyce smiled in amusement, before once again digging an irritated Leviticus fruitlessly in the ribs.
The train slowed and issued a shrill whistle as steam vented from its cylinders.
Rising from their seats the trio made their way to the rear of the car.
Leviticus stepped aside so that Viktoria could disembark first. “Malifaux Station,” he said. “Please, watch your step.”
Everything that was wrong hit her all at once. What had been a warm, golden afternoon Earthside sun was now a fragile morning light whose spears pierced grey clouds like icicles. The world looked painted on glass. What light there was too bright, too harsh, the shadows too deep and the colours luminous and rich in a way the Old Masters would have killed for. Viktoria did not know if this was just another side-effect of her passage through the Breach, but if it was, it was not fading. Was this life under some distant cousin of the sun? It was invigorating, chilling and unsettling all at once. It even smelled wrong. On the wind came the dirt of the city and the oil-smoke of the train mingling with familiar but far-off hints of decaying swamp and distant snows, but the wind here was a strange creature, and its breath held spices and savours unknown.
And beyond was a city, just as Leveticus had described. The towering buildings could have been Old London or even New Amsterdam, and if it weren’t for the subtle assault on her senses, it would be difficult to imagine she was in another world.
Looking to her side, she noticed that her traveling companions attentions were riveted on something across the station. Following their gaze, she caught sight of a pale-complexioned woman in a long coat and stockings. She wore a thick fur cap on her head.
The woman bowed her head in Leveticus’ direction and the elderly man returned the bow respectfully. Alyce dropped a very polite curtsy that Viktoria wouldn’t have thought her capable of.
“Ridley Station, now departing.” The conductor’s voice sounded again and the ghost-skinned woman quickly boarded the train.
Turning, Leveticus smiled warmly, repeating his bow. Producing a card from his jacket, he handed his information to Viktoria. Printed on the card in rather bold letters were the words “Leveticus’ Captivating Salvage and Logistics: An Eye for Every Detail!”
“If you have need of my services,” the man said, in a tone that suggested she would, “please look me up.”
Viktoria thought a moment, and then bowed in the style of the Three Kingdoms, just to give the old man something else to ponder. “I’ll do that, thank you. It was a pleasure meeting you both, but I have an appointment I must keep. Farewell.”
Waving a hand, she departed and was quickly lost in the crowded station. When she disappeared, Alyce jabbed Leveticus sharply in the ribs with her elbow, again, inspiring a hoarse grunt.
“Blast your elbows, child, yes. Yes, I saw the sword. You follow her. I'm off to see Mistress Criid.”