PART VI

Ominous Discoveries, a Horrifying Find, and a Search

Satan didn't really need to look at the signs. He'd made trips here often enough and knew the place like the back of his hand. When Satan entered the office, Rail Security recognized him and gestured toward the break room. Satan nodded his thanks and made his way there. His acquaintance was drinking a cup of coffee when he entered.

"How's the coffee?" Satan asked.

The dark-haired officer looked up with a start then saw who had spoken. Shaking his head with a sigh, "What are you doing here? Don't tell me you want another history lesson and more information on how we function?"

Satan shook his head then said seriously, "Not this time. I came here to ask your help to search for a close friend of mine that went missing after her train disappeared."

He also went serious, "You know of the train disappearances?"

Satan nodded, "I recently learned about it. A close friend of mine was on one of the trains that disappeared. She was on the London-Paddington-St. Ives train, the one that left London-Paddington two days after the disappearances at the coffee houses. According to one of the booking clerks, he said that the train she was on disappeared midway with everyone on board missing. You do know which train I'm talking about?"

"Yes, I do. I'm assuming you want to track its route."

Satan nodded, "Can you help me track it?"

"I will. I've also been wondering what had happened to that train. Come with me to the control room."

Satan nodded and followed him to the control room. The man first showed Satan the surveillance videos of the London-Paddington to St. Ives train and stopped at the place where the train had disappeared from. They saw that it was around the rocky grasslands of Cornwall. As Satan looked at the landscape, he froze. Kagura's dreams had shown her the rocky grasslands of Cornwall.

Satan turned to him, "Do you know that area?"

"Yes, the transfer station for your friend's train is St. Erth. That area is about 20 minutes away from St. Erth."

"Did Rail Security investigate that area or Scotland Yard?"

He shook his head, "Every train route is different. The trains would always stop somewhere in the wilds of Cornwall before disappearing so it's hard to pinpoint their location because the area is too vast. In addition, without knowledge as to what had happened to the passengers and staff on the missing trains, investigating it would not give us answers."

Satan then said, "I'll investigate it then. Do you want to come along?"

The man stared at him, "You want to investigate it? That's surprising. Do you even know how?"

Satan nodded. "I do. I've done some side consulting for the Commissioner so I'm familiar with investigation procedures."

With a raised brow, the man asked, "I assume the Commissioner is one of your other acquaintances?"

Satan nodded.

With a sigh, the man nodded. "Very well, I'll come along. Besides, you need a ride there."

"Thank you. Shall we go?"

The man nodded.

Several hours later, Satan and the man arrived at the location where Kagura's train had disappeared from. Stepping out of the car with its emergency lights flashing, Satan and the man started their investigation. Satan immediately went to the railroad tracks to look for clues. At first he found nothing, but later something caught his eyes. There was something strange about the railway signal. Satan walked toward it and went still. One look immediately confirmed his suspicions. The railway signal's light looked as if it had been tampered with. He remembered that he and Kagura had read about the tampered signal during the Great Train Robbery of 1963. What he saw looked similar. Satan motioned the man over then said, "This railway signal's light has been tampered with, can you open the compartment for me?"

The man stared at the signal with disbelief, "You're right, it has been tampered with. The signal is at a forced red." Taking out his tools, he unscrewed the bolts around the compartment then opened it. There was a black glove jammed into it, a dark aura surrounded it that only Satan could see. He recognized that aura, it was Dark energy. Suddenly from the corner of his eye, he saw the man reach for it.

"Don't touch that!" Satan said sharply.

He looked at Satan with surprise.

Satan apologized for his sharp tone and said, "As a member of Rail Security, you should know that evidence shouldn't be tampered with. Why don't you look for other evidence while I take care of this?"

The man nodded then left.

After he left, Satan took care of the problem. He unsealed a little bit of his power than hissed two words in the demon tongue. Seconds later, a green flame surrounded the Dark aura before burning it away. Resealing his power, he took out an evidence bag and gingerly packed the glove into it before sealing the bag.

A few minutes later, the man gestured sharply for Satan. Satan quickly walked to him. He was standing by the railway telephone, the wires cut. Satan went still. This was also similar to the Great Train Robbery. During the heist, not only was the railway signal jammed to force a red light, the wires for the railway telephone had also been cut. However, in the original Robbery, 2,600,000 pounds of bank notes had been stolen while the problem here was that everyone on board had disappeared. Something more serious than the Great Train Robbery was going down and Satan needed to find out what.

"This is bad. If the wires were cut, it's no wonder we couldn't get any emergency calls from the drivers and firemen of the missing trains. I must report this to my superiors. Will you be coming?"

Satan shook his head, "I want to do some more investigating here. You can go on ahead. Here's the evidence we found on the tampered railway signal. Bring this to your superiors as well."

The man raised a brow, "You also carry evidence bags?"

Satan shrugged. "I've always carried one or two on me. I did say I have done consulting work for the Commissioner."

The man shook his head, taking the evidence bag. "You're a strange one, but thanks for the evidence. I'll go on ahead. Good luck with your investigation. If you find anything else, let Rail Security and Scotland Yard know."

Satan nodded, "Of course."

The man nodded then returned to his parked car while Satan returned to his own investigation of the area. He walked toward different sections of the track to see if he could find any more evidence on the disappeared train, but found none until he came upon an area that looked darker than the rest. As he walked toward it, he froze. Satan sensed a massive amount of Dark energy emanating from that area. With a hiss, he flickered into demon form and immediately entered that mass of Darkness then found the missing train Kagura went on before she disappeared. He entered one of the cars and stared in shock at what he saw before him. They were all humans, dead humans, lying in their own pool of blood. Their bodies riddled with bullet holes. Satan quickly went through the other cars and saw the same massacre. He suddenly remembered the vision he had before he collapsed during the Meeting. There was also something else he had to check out. In his vision, he had seen the souls of the dead humans get forcefully ripped out. Satan activated Soul Search which confirmed it. The bodies on the trains were all empty husks, their souls no longer intact. This was ominous news. He must inform Lord Diavolo of what he had found. However, that can wait. He still had to find Kagura's car to figure out what had happened to her.

According to what the booking clerk said, Kagura had purchased a private compartment. Satan quickly went to the cars that held private compartments and found several. He walked through all of them before coming to the second to last car. As he entered the car he went still, Kagura's scent was here. Following the scent, Satan came upon Kagura's compartment. He opened the door and stepped in, noticing the open window. Satan walked toward the open window and looked out, a look of disbelief crossing his face. Kagura had jumped out then rolled downhill. The flattened grass was proof of that. She had rolled for some time before coming to a stop at a rock. Satan's eyes looked toward the rock before he felt his blood turn cold. Next to the rock was a pool of blood that was just congealing. The same pool of blood he had seen in his vision of Kagura before he fell into a coma.

Satan returned to his human form as he climbed out the window. He followed the trail until he reached the rock where the blood was. Pulling on his connection to Kagura, he closed his eyes and touched the rock, hoping to see what had happened to her. The vision came to him. He saw Kagura jumping out of the train then rolling down the hill before she hit her head on the rock, feeling her pain before she passed out. When she woke up, she had gathered her bags and went toward the highway where she hitched a ride from a passing car and left the area. Satan's eyes flew open. If Kagura had hitched a ride then that meant that she had continued to St. Ives. Now he knew where to look for her. The next step was to go to St. Ives, but first, he needed to report to Lord Diavolo on what he had found. Taking out his D.D.D, Satan gave his report.

Satan: Lord Diavolo, I learned about something ominous while I was searching for Kagura.

Lord Diavolo: Report.

Satan: Lord Diavolo, there are indeed Dark Mages hidden in the human world. According to a Detective Inspector of Scotland Yard, she and Kagura were both in the coffee house during the blackout. The Detective Inspector and Kagura both heard voices coming from the first floor. The Inspector told me that the language she heard sounded strange like Latin. Dark and Demonic Magic uses Latin in their spells so that confirms you and Kagura's suspicions about Dark Mages in the human world.

Lord Diavolo: That means the Dark Mages do intend to resurrect the Ancient Evil again but through the human world by using human vessels. What other information did you get?

Satan: As for other information, not only are there disappearances from the coffee houses, there are also disappearances of human world trains. I learned of this while I was trying to find out what had happened to Kagura. After the coffee house incidents, trains have been disappearing as well. They were all going to Cornwall, but none ever reached their destination. The trains would disappear midway along with its passengers and staff. I looked into it and found that one of the trains that disappeared was the train in Kagura's dreams. While investigating the train, I learned of something horrifying. All the human passengers and staff of the train were massacred with their souls ripped from their bodies. I have a feeling that these souls are what the Dark Mages are planning to use to resurrect the Ancient Evil

Lord Diavolo: This information does not bode well. We still have not found where the Ancient Evil lies dormant. If what you say is true then another catastrophic battle is going to happen.

Satan: I know and we cannot have a repeat of another catastrophic battle. I'm going to investigate more into it, but Kagura needs to be found first. She's gone missing.

Lord Diavolo: Kagura's missing?!

Satan: Yes, but I have a lead. Don't worry Lord Diavolo, I'll find Kagura no matter what and bring her safely back to the Devildom.

Lord Diavolo: I know you will. I will let the others know of what you have found but will not mention Kagura's disappearance. If I did, panic would ensue, and that is something I cannot afford. Thank you for your report Satan. Keep in touch.

Satan: I will Lord Diavolo.

Satan closed his D.D.D then looked toward the distant highway. I'll find you my beloved no matter what so please stay safe and wait for me.