Edge of Midnight | Ep. 1 | The Old Black Train

**Nikki Scarlett** (0:03)
Welcome to Legends of Avantris. I'm Nikki Scarlett, and you're listening to Edge of Midnight.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:11)
Somewhere lost in the shrouded realms of death Lies a land of endless night.
But that place is not where our story begins, no. Our story begins, a full harvest moon Smiling down over fields of straw and stover.

**SPEAKER_4** (0:33)
It's harvest time.

**Nikki Scarlett** (0:35)
The halfling communities of Yona are nestled into their beds, Exhausted from the day's hard work And preparing for the work that will follow. Rising high above a land of wheat fields and stover, The moon casts her gentle milk light Onto the fertile valley below. And the valley sleeps peacefully in her protective glow.
All except for a lone figure, Walking through the crops in the dead of night, For he can never sleep, no matter how hard he tries. At first glance, he appears to be nothing more than a man In the weathered clothes of a vagabond. At a second glance would tell you That this is no man at all. A scarecrow walks forward on his own two legs And looks up towards the midnight sky As he plucks the strings of a banjo. And the quiet night is awoken with the cry of a mournful song.
Old Jericho Sticks wanders alone.

**SPEAKER_5** (2:19)
And I'll start playing my banjo. I'll just pluck a few very simple notes. And I'm following Virgil. I'm keeping an eye on him.
As he's flying towards the pumpkin patch. And I'll sing.

**SPEAKER_6** (2:45)
Well, it's been quite a while.

**SPEAKER_7** (2:52)
Virgil, maybe you have some fun pumpkins you're finding. Or perhaps some friendly critters out there on the farm that might be awake of the nocturnal.

**Nikki Scarlett** (3:09)
As you continue to follow after Virgil, you notice a soft mist begin to shroud your view of the pumpkins dotting this hill. It becomes more difficult to see as a dense fog rolls in all around, seemingly out of nowhere. The night had been an incredibly clear evening just moments before. A light breeze picks up as you ascend the slopes of the pumpkin patch, and in turn, the mist dance around you, merely enveloping you, until all you can see is mist in the ground beneath your feet. Virgil lets out an irritated squawk before he drops onto your hat. Always a confident bird, it seems strange that there is a feeling of agitation about him now. And dare you even think it?
It is then that you hear a sudden sound coming from the mist.
A cacophonous, repetitive chugging thunders all around you. The shrill sound of a whistle like hundreds of wailing ghosts pierces through the night and the quiet. Another blast of noise assaults your ears. The constant ringing of a bell that sounds more like a funeral knell.
And from the mist, you see a massive shape coming towards you, too large and too dark to distinguish its form in the shadows. And at the very center, beaming through the shroud of mist, is a circular light and a ghastly bluish-green hue. The mist that rests on the damp soil begins to snake and condense as it forms two straightened rows of dark, gray rails made from the fog itself. An enormous mechanical contraption emerges into view, seemingly gliding along the ever-lengthening track ahead of it. As the mist began to part, a jet-black locomotive rolls into view, not unlike the engines of the trains you've seen several times rolling across the prairies of Yona. However, the billowing greenish clouds released from its chimney stock look like neither smoke nor steam. And the low moans of what sounds like humanoid voices wailing with each puff makes you question, what is truly powering this machine? A dark and ancient locomotive appears before you, pulling behind it numerous box cars that stretch on and on, disappearing into the mist. You take in the scene in front of you, a train appearing out of the mist where no train and no tracks had been. On a once quiet and moonlit night, your eyes dart around, your eyes dart along the length of this ghastly locomotive as you begin to fully register the site before you. The box cars are all designed in tandem with one another, but very slightly. Some are window lifts, but others appear to be passenger cars with ornate, filigree windows that allow you to peer within them. You chance a peek and you can see the strange, eerie green glow.
The beings that ride within are mere silhouettes that you can't be sure are still there when you take a second glance. As the Old Black Train slows to a stop, it's one of these passenger cars that is directly before you. You hear the faint notes of what sounds like a fiddle.