Spectrum

by Adam Cairney

  Chapter 18.

  The sounds of clawing and scraping and fury eventually died down as the two moved away from the tunnel exit, now blocked off and safe for the time being. The particular tunnel exit they had departed from came out into a small ridge that slowly rose up as they walked to bring them to the large open fields that had been cultivated up here long ago to form the centre of the Cloud. From the centre of this grassy area, covered with flora of all varieties, one could see all of the major buildings around the top of the Cloud, with the Grand Hall being the most central, and most opulent point of all.

  Elijah mentioned to Molly as they set off away from the tunnel exit that he would have put money on Azrael setting up his base of operations, headquarters or whatever else he wanted to call it. He didn’t really care what it was called at this point. He was tired and hungry, in a great deal of pain, and most importantly of all he was angry. Molly shared his feelings. They were going to make him pay for what he had done. They would set everything back to normal and save the city if it killed them.

  They proceeded up the slope that would bring them out onto the main field, expecting to see flowers and various other assorted plant life as far as the eye could see, as usual. The slope changed as they moved upwards, changing from loose scree and gravel to soft grass. Or at least it should have been soft green grass that they saw. Instead the gravel and stone gave way to brown, dead grass. As they reached the top of the slope Molly looked out over what had once been a floating paradise, a sanctuary for the learned, and shook her head sadly.

  The grass, all of it, was dead. Brown and dying as far as the eye could see, surrounded, ringed and lined at multiple points by diseased and decaying flowerbeds and trees. Not a healthy thing in sight as far as they could see. There had been several white marble gazebos set up around the top of the cloud as well, but these too were now barely there, shattered, broken, and pulled down, the occasional pillar here or there the only sign that anything had ever stood. The buildings themselves had not fared much better. Each of the main buildings around the outer edges of the centre stood dull and lifeless, the lanterns and torches all long burned out, the statues of famous scholars that had once adorned the entrances and walkways now smashed to pieces.

  They both stood for a moment, taking in everything they were seeing. They may not have been scholars in name up here, but they both loved this place, and it had embodied everything good in Spectrum. This was so wrong. Elijah looked across at where the Grand Hall was in the distance, at the edge of the Cloud, in the centre of the buildings, and sure enough, there was a faint, unearthly glow coming from inside, just visible from this far away.

  He nudged Molly and pointed across to the building and the light. She nodded, and said they should go over, finish everything. Elijah agreed and they went to set off again. Just as they were beginning to walk over though the entire Cloud shook. A deep, rumbling sound reached their ears, and they knew the second bomb had gone off back down below. Noah was keeping his schedule. They had one hour to go. Just as Noah had predicted, the Cloud was now beginning to tilt at quite an angle, the one remaining chain just managing to hold it in place. It continued to tilt as they hurried towards the Grand Hall, gradually stopping at around a forty five degree angle.

  It was as if they were running sideways along a hill as they made their way towards the building, now also tilting at a drunken angle along with everything else. They had to watch their steps as well, because as everything shifted, chunks of broken marble came tumbling down the newly created incline towards them. As they made their way to their final destination, Elijah and Molly talked. It was surreal, the two of them having a very normal, very calm conversation as they progressed.

  “Molly, I’ve been meaning to ask. You never did tell me why they never accepted you up here the third time. I’d love to know…You know, before I die…”

  Molly gave him a sideways glance before responding. “Nice morale there, really loving the self-belief. Look, the whole thing was really complicated. They want people who are doing new things, pushing the boundaries of discovery, you know? Well, I probably pushed too far. You know my first attempt to get up here was with the vials, the formulas? I found the base mixture, and was able to turn it into whatever I needed from there, pretty much. Thing is they discovered it up here at about the same time.”

  “I remember,” Elijah mused, “You were furious. Said you’d had access to none of the tools or resources they had had up here, but if I remember rightly, they still said no because it wasn’t an original invention.”

  “Yeah, that about sums it up,” Molly muttered as they jogged past a smashed up trellis, the plants it once supported now hanging limp and sad on the ground. “Obviously the second time was with the Ether applications. They immediately refused it because they said I’d succeeded in just one thing: weaponizing ether. In hindsight…They were right. The less said about that the better.”

  Elijah said nothing for a moment, then prompted her once more. “And the third?”

  “It er…it’s the wings, actually,” She spoke after a brief pause, as if she were considering whether to say or not. “I created them initially as a little side project, never really intending for them to be used in any really useful capacity. I don’t know though I just kept tinkering, and eventually decided to test them out properly. Launched myself off of a building and survived. Showed them to the scholars up here and they just laughed me out of the door.”

  Elijah was surprised. Shocked would have been the wrong word really. So Molly was using an invention that was barely tested, and that the scholars had gone as far as to laugh at? He wanted to know why they had turned her down for it, and why the hell they were planning to jump off the Cloud with the invention. Those questions would have to wait though. Molly fell silent as they approached the entrance of the Grand hall, with its immense walkways, broad steps, and spiralling, twisting columns.

  As they walked up the stairs at the entrance the dim blue glow they had managed to spot from clear across the other side of the central park was now a deep blue, almost black. It stood out in stark contrast to the beautiful, crisp morning that had dawned around them, and Elijah noted one other thing as well. It looked exactly like ether in its raw state, it had the same glow that that gave off. Elijah noted as they ascended the stairs, which was remarkably tricky to do given the angle that everything was at, that the statues here had not just been smashed. They were utterly destroyed, there was literally nothing left of them. Where he remembered them being before, just empty space remained.

  They neared the entrance of the hall. Still no sign of any living thing since they had neared the place and left the tunnel behind. The entrance hallway led down a short corridor that split into two paths as it curved around a large circular column, and then joined up again to lead into the Grand Hall itself. As Molly and Elijah walked down the little hallway Elijah tried conducting. He couldn’t believe how much more difficult it was now that he had lost some of the ether he had been carrying around with him. It wasn’t quite as difficult as it had been before he had discovered just how much the ether could boost his abilities, but he couldn’t believe how quickly he had gotten used to having the extra oomph it had provided.

  Molly checked her staff and remaining vials as she walked beside him. Everything was in place, staff was ready, and she had various potions at her disposal, including the one precious container of pale ether. She hoped it worked as well as the old writings they had found said it should. She would only have one shot, and had to make it count.

  They went left and right around the column, which was inscribed with the history of the scholars, the cloud, and the entire establishment, and as they joined back up to walk down the tiny corridor that opened up to the splendour and impressive sight that was the Grand Hall itself, with its high, vaulted ceilings and elaborate architecture, they saw him.

  Azrael was standing with his back to them, bathed in an unearthly blue-black light. It looked as if he we
re trying to conduct the darkness of the night itself, and it in return were trying to swallow him up. The two of them slowed down, walking slowly and as quietly as they could towards him. The solid marble that the place was built of seemed to absorb any sound they made, and there was a low hum coming from where Azrael was conducting. Elijah couldn’t imagine what it was he was doing, but he had to assume he was trying to manipulate the ether below Spectrum one last time, create one final, catastrophic seismic event. They drew closer, and Elijah was just considering conducting a blast of flame at Azrael’s exposed back when he spoke up, catching them completely off guard.

  “I’m so happy you’re here, you know.” Azrael said. He spoke almost as if he were in a dreamlike state, he drawled the words instead of speaking them normally. Molly could only guess as to what level of concentration he was pouring into conducting. He turned to face them and they both got a good look at what he was doing. Normally, when Elijah or Noah conducted the ether they drew in from the air was invisible, only when flames appeared in their hands or objects took on a faint glow and began to float or move would anyone know they were conducting.

  This was completely different. Suspended in mid-air in front of Azrael was a solid ball of ether, pulsing and shifting, almost as if of its own volition. It looked like almost a perfect sphere, until Elijah noticed the edges of the shape. The very air around it was warped and twisted, the ether in the air condensing into a liquid form in front of their eyes. It looked like tiny whirlpools of the stuff being sucked continuously into the ball of ether from the surrounding air. Azrael looked at them at they each stood and looked between him and the ether. There was suddenly a frantic look in his eyes, and it came across in his voice as well as he spoke.

  “Incredible isn’t it? So beautiful. It’s all me you know, that’s what they could never stand. And now you’re here to lock me away again aren’t you? But you can’t kill me. No one can kill me. It’s all me you know. I’m going to send this ether down, down below the city. Once I send the last of the ether down below the city it will trigger the final cataclysmic event. One last beautiful disaster to destroy your precious city.”

  Elijah strongly considered for a moment that Azrael had completely lost his mind. He then also thought that he could be trying to talk them into a false sense of security, distract them and get them to lower their guard. Molly clearly thought the same because she pulled out her staff and twisted it at the same time Elijah started conducting. Molly asked the question before Elijah had a chance to.

  “What are you talking about? What’s all you? We know what happened before, and we know what you’re capable of…Anzarael. You’re not going to get away with any of this.”

  Azrael laughed, a manic cackle that echoed around the Grand Hall. “What is a name anyway? It doesn’t matter what I was called, what I call myself. Stupid girl! I knew you’d read about me in your so-called “Great Library”. So much ego you people have, for no reason. Ether, you foolish girl. I am it, and it is me. You can’t destroy me any more than you can obliterate the lifeblood of your world. Don’t you understand, nothing…is going to stop me.”

  Elijah gritted his teeth, furious that he hadn’t realised this earlier. The shape-shifting right at the start, the regeneration after the explosion, the crystals everybody was encased in. These weren’t the abilities of a normal person. He had always known Azrael was more than he appeared, he just hadn’t been able to piece everything together.

  “It doesn’t change anything. Whether you’re made of ether or not, you’re looking pretty worn out to me. Just stop now, leave, and we can spare you. It doesn’t have to be like this.”

  Azrael went silent for a moment, glaring between the two of them, looking absolutely furious. After a moment he seemed to calm himself, and spoke once more.

  “I’ve used considerable amounts of time and energy to do things to try and stop you. It hasn’t worked, and time and time again you have been thorns in my side. I am completely sick and tired of you. You are insignificant. You are worthless. You are miserable and pathetic, and I have wasted enough time here. Enough is enough!” His voice had been rising in volume the entire time and as he finished speaking he threw the ball of ether into the air and charged towards Molly frighteningly fast. She had seen it coming though, and parried every blow with her quarterstaff as he launched into a vicious attack. Elijah took one very quick glance upwards, to note that the ball of ether was just hanging there, and then joined in the fray.

  Azrael was fast, he was so fast. Molly was constantly backing away as he kicked and punched at her. She deflected every blow with the quarterstaff, the metal hitting him seemingly not hurting him in the slightest, the ether covering the ends of the staff not even concerning him. He had a maniacal smile on his face as he attacked. He looked like he was enjoying himself.

  “I’ve poured all of myself into this! You won’t stop me!” He shrieked as he kicked out at Molly. He aimed it low, and she couldn’t quite block it in time. She fell to the ground hard as he swept her feet out from under her, and held the staff above her to stave off the ferocious kick to the face that Azrael aimed at her. He went to attack again immediately after she blocked it, and was interrupted by a burst of flame hitting him on the back. It immediately melted the clothing off of his top half, and as the remnants of what he had been wearing fell to the floor he turned to face Elijah, standing there with his hands aflame.

  Molly stood back up and backed away so they were either side of him. Now that his clothes were gone they saw him for what he really was. His now muscular body rippled and twisted. It looked like a body made of liquid. It looked like a body made of ether. It kept its shape, but every now and then a spike of the stuff would break free, causing his entire being to ripple and shudder. He saw the looks on their faces and laughed.

  “This is perfection, just so you know what you’re looking at before I tear you in half.” He spoke as he span in a slow circle. “You know what? I can start again. The ether will bend to my will time and time again, it doesn’t matter. But you know, it takes a lot of effort to destroy a city. I think I’m going to need some of that back to deal with the two of you first.” And with that he held one arm up in the air. The ball of ether that had been left suspended high above the three of them began to descend rapidly towards Azrael. Elijah wasted no time, and neither did Molly. He shot a roaring blast of fire at it at the same time as Molly threw a vial of explosive. It detonated on contact with the sphere, but did nothing, and the fire itself was simply absorbed into it. There was nothing they could do, and the sphere descended, first of all onto Azrael’s palm, and then into Azrael himself. As it did he closed his eyes, as if relishing the sensation.

  “Ah, much…BETTER!” He spoke as the sphere of ether merged with him, his voice deepening and getting louder until he was practically roaring. He then started to change shape, and Elijah shouted for Molly to back away. They both did so as the figure of Azrael contorted between them. He grew, bigger and bigger, Muscles and limbs doubling in size. His face twisted and turned into a grotesque caricature of what it had been before, bordering a smile of fangs and spiked teeth. His hands elongated, the fingers lengthening and turning into long, razor sharp claws. He now looked more akin to the monsters that had attacked them earlier on the cable car than he did a person, his skin black and oily, pure ether. This was what he truly was.

  When the transformation was complete he stood up to his full height, now double Elijah’s. Molly had a feeling this was their only chance. While Azrael still seemed to be getting accustomed to his body and was facing Elijah she reached back, quick as she could, and grabbed the vial of pale ether. She threw it, hard as she could directly at him. The two of them watched as it sailed through the air, on target...

  Azrael was too fast. Even faster now that he had transformed. He span on the spot and slashed through the air where the vial was, shattering it and spilling its precious contents all over the ground. Some of it remained on his claws and he growled in pa
in and anger as the two elements combined, melting two of his claws away to nothing more than nubs. That was it though, the last vial they had. Elijah desperately thought about what they could do, but he had no time. With an animalistic howl Azrael threw himself at them. The final showdown had begun.