Road
The road was hard and long, and seemed to stretch far beyond the horizon and into forever. The person following the road stumbled as weariness overtook them, wiping at sweat on their brow before continuing on. They had to keep going.
Miles of nothing but the same blacktop tar, with nothing around but dust and the dirt swirling up at the occasional breeze. There were no people nearby to wish them well or offer shelter and food, and as much as they yearned for water, oases were nonexistent. Step after step they walked in the unforgiving heat and, at night, the bitterest frost.
Finally they could walk no more, and collapsed and could not rise. But that was fine. Since they couldn't afford a ticket, the long way down it was.
It was said that all roads led to Hadestown eventually, and no matter how close or how far they'd gotten, the train would find them in time.