WEBVTT

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The brass kettle on the tiny stove hissed,

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puffing a plume of white steam that danced

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with the smell of burning coal and pine.

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Arthur adjusted his spectacles and watched the world

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dissolve into lavender.

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Outside the scratched window of the carriage, the

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alpine railway clung for dear life to

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the sheer face of the cliff, a narrow

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ribbon of iron threading through an ocean of

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stone.

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They had been climbing for hours, leaving the

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green valleys far below.

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Now, in the quiet hush of dusk, the

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air grew thin and bitingly cold.

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Arthur pressed his palms against the glass, tracing

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the faint vibrations of the detailed

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steel wheels, screaming gently against the tracks.

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With every rhythmic asterisk clack clack asterisk, the

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vintage mountain train labored upward,

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a mechanical beast determined to conquer the roof

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of the world.

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In the distance, faint, ghostly clouds hugged the

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jagged, snowy peaks,

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turning a bruised violet in the fading light.

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A profound, nostalgic stillness settled over the cabin,

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broken only by the steady

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chug of the engine and the occasional sigh

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of a fellow traveler drifting off to sleep.

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Arthur pulled his wool coat tighter around his

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shoulders as the train rounded a sharp

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precipice. Ahead lay the high pass and beyond

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it, a sea of stars waiting in the

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dark.