The piercing whistle echoed across the sky, each note higher than the last, as if it could tear through the heavens themselves. After several minutes of reverberation and trembling, the Imperial Heavy Train finally came to a halt.
Workers from the small factories abandoned their tasks and streamed out, eager to witness the spectacle at the station.
Casia, of course, was no exception. After tidying up his tools, he jogged behind the crowd toward the station.
Though he had lived at the foot of the Lirak Mountains for five years and was familiar with the Imperial Heavy Train, every time he saw it—the six-meter-tall carriages, steel tracks as wide as light trucks, massive alloy axles, intricately engineered brake systems, and the exposed coils of steam pipes that snaked across the surface like the veins of a furious beast—he felt awe. Each 15-millimeter plate of specially forged black iron bore the marks of relentless natural forces, worn yet formidable.
The train lay there like a slumbering black-scaled dragon, its head still puffing thick steam columns like breath. Its immense iron mass, stretching tens of meters, exuded a raw, powerful, primal presence that never failed to impress.
This marvel was the product of the empire's countless scientists over generations: an ultra-steam compression system, powered by emerging electrical energy—a testament to human ingenuity.
Excitement coursed through Casia. In just a few days, he would ride this mechanical giant to the Imperial Heavy Industry School. The thought that his future efforts might one day be part of such a machine filled him with both exhilaration and impatience.
Seventeen years old, yearning to leave the frontier for bustling cities, to encounter the strange and extraordinary, to meet people of varying talents—he longed to step into the world and secure a rewarding career. His mother and sister were his entire world, and he wanted to provide them a warm, secure home with his own shoulders.
As dusk approached, the crowd began to disperse.
The station remained alight through the night. Months' worth of textile and industrial goods had to be processed in the brief days the Imperial Heavy Train was docked—exchanged for cheaper raw materials, profits tallied and divided. Workers who had labored all year finally breathed easier, while the aristocrats calculated their gains down to the last coin: the cost of goods, raw materials, handling fees, insurance, protective measures… and more.
Casia remembered his theology teacher's words: "Whenever profit is involved, people can become hideous."
Let the petty merchants and sharp-tongued nobles argue; the children of the town cherished the rare moments with their families.
Casia spent each day at home, as factory work paused. His mother and sister stayed with him, helping pack their belongings. Casia, meanwhile, prepared for the journey ahead, knowing that excelling at Imperial Heavy Industry could secure a well-paying job and ease his family's life.
His six-year-old sister, Lilia, was about to start school—a considerable expense. Casia had already studied the Imperial Heavy Industry School. The annual student reward of 350,000 Saint Coins, plus the chance to enter the prestigious Saint Dorag Military School, could change everything. For both his mother and Lilia, it would be a lifeline. Casia formulated a quiet plan in his heart.
Five days later, Lilia sat struggling with pencil in hand, forming uneven letters on paper. Casia sat beside her, gently massaging her head and holding her small hand, correcting each stroke. She tried her best, though she still had the small distractions of a child.
"Big brother… Ca…si…a…"
Beside the paper, a simple doodle of a smiling figure awaited a name. Casia watched in silence, feeling a deep calm. Only one more day remained before their lives changed.
At dawn, the town's morning stillness was shattered by the deafening whistle of the train.
Casia pulled his luggage from bed, then hesitated briefly before reaching under to retrieve a simple wooden box. Inside lay a brand-new high-strength alloy shortsword, its handle black, the blade snow-white—a gift from Vixie, the foreman at his factory, made from leftover materials.
"The world beyond the frontier is far more chaotic than here. Wars never cease. Keep this sword for protection," Vixie had warned.
With everything packed, Casia's mother and sister waited outside.
They walked together along the wide streets, past neat single-story homes, joining other families taking their children to the Imperial Heavy Train. Most of these families, like Casia's, were headed to work in the empire's various regions. Among the thirty local children, only three, including Casia, were of commoner origin. The majority of resources belonged to a small group of nobles.
Casia himself was not quite a commoner. His father had been a Second-Class Warrant Officer, the lowest rank of baron, but all that ended with his death.
The black train serpent had awakened, twin columns of steam and smoke stretching to the sky.
The station was littered with debris left from loading and unloading goods over the past few days. People crowded the platform, waiting to board.
"Casia! Here, here!"
A fellow commoner, Lowie, called out. Standing beside him was a pale young girl, Erin, the last of the three commoner children. Though attending different schools, all three relied on the Heavy Train for travel.
Station workers directed passengers with heavy luggage onto the train.
Nobles had their own passage, opulently dressed, boots polished to a shine, and even their luggage exuding wealth. Casia, on the other hand, had his modest outfit and inexpensive shoes. They were assigned to a cargo carriage, traveling among crates of goods. Tickets were calculated by cargo weight—22 Saint Coins per pound, the commoner rate.
Though embarrassed, Casia accepted it. Soon, everyone in that cargo carriage would understand: in the Empire, this was the human standard price, applied everywhere.
"Big brother… you… must… come back," Lilia's voice trembled, tears shining in her eyes.
Casia smiled through the pang of emotion, touched her sister's head, and said goodbye.
Inside the cargo carriage, he found a spot among the stacked boxes. Their layer was the top one, spacious with many sealed crates. Above them, large ventilation grates allowed the winter wind to howl through, scattering loose papers.
Lowie gathered some scraps of paper to sit on, and the others followed suit. Casia did the same.
Finally, the long, mournful whistle sounded, and the train began to move.
The carriage swayed gently. Below, metal crates clanged occasionally. Lowie and Erin sat beside Casia. Though light streamed from the ventilation openings, none of them felt like reading. After a while, one by one, they drifted into sleep, rocked by the Heavy Train's movement.
The journey settled into a routine: reading when possible, buying cheap food from storage when hungry.
On the twelfth day, Lowie disembarked to transfer elsewhere. Two days later, Erin left for her city school. New passengers came and went; only Casia remained, sitting quietly with his luggage in the same spot.
Loneliness. Solitude. Monotony. Without windows, the carriage offered only the same view through the grates, revealing nothing of the outside world. Stops were only known by the sounds of commotion, glimpses of stations, or tunnels shrouding darkness.
The train at full speed shrieked against the wind. Rain battered the iron sheets, punctuated by thunderous strikes. The journey was undeniably dull; passengers barely spoke, like bamboo shoots buried in the earth, unwilling to reveal a word.
Then metallic scraping announced a slowing, whistles blew in sequence, and distant cheers and chaos filtered in. Shouts, curses, and gunfire erupted as a cacophony.
Casia clutched his luggage, one hand on his knee, the other on his high-alloy shortsword, waiting like the others for the train to stop.
As Vixie had said, even without seeing the world outside, Casia knew it was indeed a chaotic place.