The Train of Sible was a common transport from over to under and all places between. Built by angels and demons of an age long passed, the vehicle had gone through several evolutions. Much like an Earth subway, cars could, at times, be crowded. But unlike Earth subways, the train of Sible was far more involved. Each car was an establishment unique from the rest. Some beings lived their entire lives on the train, while others fought to escape it. 

Yes, the train could move a man from one world to another, but the vehicle was a world of its own. 

"You haven't eaten," Tristan remarked while we waited. 

The train of Sible had no stations, but its arrival and departures could be tracked. At noon that day, it would arrive in an alley between a fitness gym and a toy store. 

"I don't hunger," I said, but my demon saw fit to hold a slice of pizza in front of my face. The cheese stretched in long strands that nearly reached the snow at our boots. The meat from several butchered animals filled the narrow corridor with a steaming aroma. And the crust...

"Earth food is meant for more than survival," Tristan told me and ate what I had refused. 

"The Overlands had food I ate for pleasure. But this," I started. 

"If we're involving ourselves in student problems, you can at least try pizza," he argued and finished a slice before taking another from the large box he had brought with us. 

My hands were forced to take the offering or let it fall. As unusual as it may have been for an angel to eat meat, it would have been a greater crime to waste food. 

"I've found that, with human food, the worse it looks, the better it probably tastes," he told me with an anticipated grin. 

He watched and waited for me to take a bite. It was the last slice. 

"I'll take your word for it," I tried to say, but Tristan quickly told me, "Try the pizza."

"No, thank you."

"One bite. I wouldn't poison you."

Where in the worlds was the train? I couldn't avoid him. There was no escaping the pizza, so I took a bite. To my surprise, my insides stayed in place. I dare say the fear melted away as I took another bite to avoid several toppings from falling. All the while, my demon was satisfied beyond what the moment warranted. 

"You have to be brave here, Aaron. You did it. We're on Earth. Food, drink, sex, these are things we toyed with in video games, but now you're here. Try the real things," Tristan added. 

His joy, the warmth he exchanged on my behalf, it didn't fit. I couldn't comprehend how a demon was so pleasant in his way. But further still, if he could be that way with me, why not with all others?

"How are you so indifferent to Hamilton's search?" I asked. 

Though the flavors on my tongue were unique and addictive, they ran sour. Thought returned to our mission. With my backstep, Tristan's gaze pulled away. 

"You think I'm  heartless?" He chuckled before saying, "Angels always think people are too weak to help themselves. Well, in the Underlands, it's the opposite. People are capable of more than you think. We shouldn't rob them of the chance to be their own hero. We shouldn't assume they need us."

"You respect them?" 

"I do. Sometimes I fear them, Aaron. Humans have no magic without us, but look at what they do. Look at what they make and destroy." 

"But if we can help," I spoke even when I began to think it was a fruitless conversation.

"Helping people who never asked for it is how I wound up here. It's how I lost my horns. Earth ain't so bad, but I learned my lesson." 

He had never told me how he came to earth. I never thought to ask how a demon could be banished from the Underlands. Somehow, I knew not to ask. It was a stone set on an island far from shore. 

"Finish your pizza. If you waste one bite, we'll go back home," he threatened, but before the bite of the statement bit me, his demeanor fell back into a lighter tone.

I ate the last of my slice, crust and all. By then, the train had arrived. Its doors opened in front of us, though its body was out of sight. After we stepped on, the doors shut behind us and vanished like a light snapping off.

"You might see someone from home," Tristan reminded me. 

"I doubt it. Angels have no need for the train. We have halos, and they grant us wings."

"You're here, aren't you?" he remarked. 

"I'm not like the others," I said.

"Damn right, you aren't."

We began our walk through the cars of Sible's train.