The interior of the train car swayed evenly in response to the rails that supported the train. The blurred landscape outside moved by at an alarming rate. If one attempted to fix their gaze on the landscape for too long a sense of vertigo tended to send unsettling messages to ones digestive processes. I had recently arrived here in this empty train car. Around me the accouterments of life, but none of the actors. My arrival was scripted by the great player in this realm. How long we had associated. I knew his desires almost as well as he did. For countless ages I was his willing pawn. Now, seated here on the well worn wooden benches of the locomotive I contemplated a new future, a different track.

I glanced toward the front of the train across the amber shafts of light and dusty mots. A broken window separated me from the occupants of the next car. The soft murmur of conversation buzzed, only slightly audible over the percussive rhythm of the iron wheels tracing the lines of the infernal rail system.

Casper was the first to approach the door. He looked through the glass teeth of the broken window's frame, never quite fixing his gaze in the room. His brow furrowed slightly in contemplation.
Soon he withdrew.

Next the silver haired half-elf approached, shadowed closely by the Vorseman holy-man. I smiled as I noted his poorly concealed attentions to the maiden's athletic form. All women had the power to corrupt, even if they did not employ it knowingly. They began a search of the storage compartments over the passenger benches. The brass rails running the length of the car offered a firm handhold for exploration. The elfin maid unwittingly flaunted her assets to blushing effect as she made a thorough search of the compartment.
"Why can't you wear something less revealing?" The Vorseman said through gritted teeth. Curbing his amorous attentions seemed to pain him. How well I understood that.
The maid ignored his comment pulling a leather case down to the floor. The two of them rifled through the contents. The elf woman sat on her knees as she leaned over the case. They faced each other while reviewing the contents. Her position over the case offered a tempting view to the cleric, who struggled against instincts to remain focused on the the task at hand. As they neared the completion of their inspection, I allowed myself to become visible in their frame. It was the woman who took note of me first. Her look of recognition and contempt was painted clearly on her brow.
"What are you doing here?" The Vorseman said distrustingly.
"You know why I am here." I paused providing him ample time to appraise me. Though he was not burdened by the pious constraints of the followers of Cuthbert. His mistrust of the evil was applied to me with unmitigated resolve.

I rose from the bench and strode toward him, aware of his longing gaze. He did not yield ground as I approached. I moved close placing my lips as near to his ears without contact. His face flushed with blood. The heat of the rail car was sufficient to warrant perspiration and indeed he and the elf ware washed in a misty glow. As I whispered into his ear I watched several new beads appear at his temple. No man could resist me if I should turn my full attention to him. I pressed in close to him. He evinced recognition of my bosoms pressing against him, responding in the appropriate manner for a healthy man.
"let me pass" I asked him with a whisper.
"I will not let you destroy what they have worked so hard to build". The look of stoic determination on his ash stained face bounced between cute and fearsome. He referred to the Paladin and the Shaman behind him. Our history was well known.
"I am not here to harm their relationship." I told him passing my mouth close to his as I whispered in his other ear. "I only wish to alleviate the tension building in Enzo. You cannot fault me for my mission. His companion must maintain her purity. My offering will abate the calling without compromising her vows." I pressed my case as delicately as I could.
He too would make a fine conquest.

In the room behind him the Enzo began to stir from his slumber. He and the Madrigala lay together on the compartment floor. I angled between Corman and the elf, he began to protest.
"We have a visitor!" he announced tremulously. His intentions were good, but were not amply buttressed against my designs.

Before they could fully wake from their sleep I assumed a position near the two lovers. I knew the woman Celeste to be confused regarding our shared situation. She was too proper to take arms against me unless I threatened her or any of the others. I nodded to her knowingly. She was a creature of womanly nature as I am. Perhaps we would have been good friends if not for my infernal origins. There was much to respect in her, but I felt assured she felt only contempt or perhaps pity for me.

"Hello Enzo." I said coyly. "Did you miss me?"
He hesitated briefly before answering. "So you couldn't stay away, eh?" The mirth in his voice suggested he was being playfully vain.
"Thats the Enzo I remember."
"To what do we owe this visit." He said feigning indifference.
"My master sent me to distract you. You are too near the scent." He knew I spoke the truth and therefore did not question my answer or my motives.
"That and I felt your growing unquenched desire building and I came to offer my services to ameliorate your discomfort. As I see it, you have become conditioned to a certain level of satisfaction sexually and as your betrothed has a solemn vow of chastity to maintain. I thought to act on both your behalves. Since I am not a real prospect for you and neither am I possessed of a spirit I technically do not disrupt your commitment to your prospective mate. As I understand it, once the forbidden fruit is sampled it is difficult to refuse." I observed contemplation on the face of the woman. I took it for consideration and continued to plea my case.
"As I am not capable of love my only contribution in this relationship is likened that of a wet nurse." I paused to allow my words to settle. I could see the the sheets had been smoothed, but there was discomfort in the bed I had made.

"Do not listen to her!" the wizard cried in protest. "Her every fiber is conceived to beguile and corrupt." The Castilian man was passionate when he needed to be and he appeared to have strong convictions on this score.
"I do not deny my objective in this matter." I said cooly. "Would you deny me an honest service during the course of my corruption?"
"I will have not truck with a spawn of hell." In his eyes I saw the fires of righteousness that had felled innocent and guilty alike.
"Is there anything I may do to prove my good intentions to you sir?" I dispensed with my inclination toward the sultry and presented myself as plainly as my body would permit. His furrowed brow showed he was unmoved by my gesture.
"She has not wronged us or lied to us in the past." the Vorseman said, his resolve melting before my eyes. The Enzo climbed to his feet along with his betrothed.
"Corman has a point." Enzo said in my defense. "Her offer may be self serving, but I can't fault her that. I myself seek to serve my own interests. I don't see good or evil in it I only see the power. I will take any path that provides me power, the straighter the path the more efficient my progress." He was deliciously impassioned by his own words. In his fever he failed to observe his companions slackened jaw. She made no verbal protest, but lines of concern spread across her face adding a malevolence to her beauty.

The train car shuttered slightly as we departed the blackness of our transition from Avernus to Dis. I could see the approaching station in the distance. I could hear the others continuing their consternated discussion. How many years had I been locked in the infernal struggle. Of all of my kind I alone seemed to fathom regret of circumstance. Now here with these mortals I had found an avenue. How could I make my will known and not betray may master to ill effect. At least until it was too late for him to act. The flames that consumed the station on Dis were eternal. Never fully consuming the wooden timbers. There was no release for any one or any thing here, even the landscape itself bore the stain of evil.

"How can you argue on her behalf, she doesn't even have a soul!" Casper's words stung me to attention.
"How well you care for yours! If I had benefit of a soul you could be sure I would guard it better than you have yours." He had unsettled me and I had allowed myself an unguarded moment. The wizard eyed me appraisingly. Not in the way I was accustomed. He was looking at me, trying to see my mettle.

A great keening sound pierced the moment. The wheels of the train ground to a halt alongside the burning station. The moment of appraisal survived the interruption. He was locked on me with his entire focus. I could not help but blanch. He had seen my meaning through my shackled deception."Come." He said in a commanding tone. "We have arrived."

We departed the train. All of us in a mild state of delirium. The Terrain here differed from Avernus, though the ever-present heat diminished that uniqueness. Behind us the curtain of fire that engulfed the station, ahead of us the warring conflagration that was Mox. We stood several miles distant on a bluff overlooking the melee. No one spoke. The scene before us was war on a scale only hell could muster. Demons and devils streamed into the embattled city from both sides. Reinforcements trailing to either horizon. At the center smoke angled skyward from points all lover the city. It resembled the active surface of a volcano framed in battlements. This was the great city of Mephistar. Now fallen into ruin.

We stood gazing down for a time. Then Casper spoke. "You say you would make a better soul shepherd the we. Then prove it."His face angled toward the sinister aspect.
"What entity has power over new souls."
"The power resides in man to call on the new souls. It is the act of conception that draws them forth from the Gump."
"The what?" he said confused.
"The well of souls." I clarified.
"Is there no one who administrates this activity?" He asked incredulously.
"Perhaps there is one whose bailiwick encompasses souls." I proffered.
"Who, name him!" He had not lost his impatient tone.
"Thanatos. You may know him as Death." As if to punctuate the statement the train whistle announced the departure of the infernal express train.

Casper renewed his soul piercing gaze as he began to call his magic. He invoked the name I had told him. Even as he said it the air lost its volume and became stale. I could hear the approach of a single rider. None of the others seemed to hear the phantom hooves. When the sound stopped the air resumed its flow. A robed figure entered the vacant space before the wizard. His black hooded cloak covering the being almost entirely. Under one arm he wore a satchel. His skeletal hands reached up toward the hood of his cloak revealing a fleshless skull. He courteously address us.
"Who summons Thanatos?" His empty eye sockets projected a wisdom though there was no flesh to carry the emotion.
"It was me sir. Casper Lovato." Death turned his gaze fully on him. Even the emboldened wizard waxed in the face of death.
Steeling his resolve Casper spoke. "There is one among us in need of a soul. We seek to undo Satin's mischief in granting her a mortal coil."
The figure of death paused briefly then turned slowly to face me.
""Do you desire this?" His words tinged with mirth. "A soul is no little thing. Though it weighs nothing the weight can be unbearable to some."

I had arrived at a place I never imagined possible. Like a dream, I feared to wake before the gift was bestowed. Thanatos pierced me with his gaze as he moved closer. He reached into his satchel and withdrew a diaphanous translucent material with the delicate consistency of a spider's web. With his skeletal hand he pushed the soul into my substance as if I were a ghost. When he released his hand from the soul I was assaulted from within. All may experiences surfaced at once like ants attempting to repair a damaged mound. I collapsed to the ground unable to stand. In my infernal existence has had been many women to suit the tastes of those I was to corrupt. The essence of each sought to claim my final form. In the end I was to hold to the look I had settled on for this assignment.

A chill settled in over me that I could not repress. I was shaking and my limbs seemed to course with the traffic of insects. Instinctually my arms hugged my trunk. I opened my eyes, only to see my nakedness. What must pass for modesty claimed my conscious and I shrank to cover myself. I was no longer infernal. What was I?

Someone wrapped me in a warm blanket and soon the chills were suppressed. I willed myself to my feet. Then looked anew at my present company. They were as I had appraised them months ago. Capable of balking my master through sheer force of will. That and the brotherhood they had forged could stand against any power in the universe.

The noble wizard looked on with satisfaction. His wizened eyes seemed to sparkle. My fate was in their hands.