 
Spectrum

Adam Cairney

Published by Adam Cairney at Smashwords

Copyright 2015 Adam Cairney

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Prologue.

The cobbled streets twisted and turned in a thousand different directions, crazy spiraling patterns through a city rich with history, with adventure. Wherever you went, tall buildings lined the streets, leaning and tilting against each other like a precarious house of cards. The structures seemed to ripple and sparkle with a rainbow of colours, sometimes flashing the deepest, purest blues, and other times glowing intense, fiery reds. The cobbles, flagstones and bricks reflected this a hundred times over, dazzling even those familiar with the sight from time to time

The city itself had become so well known for these incredible displays that it had earned itself a fitting nickname. No one really remembered what the place had originally been called, and those that did never bothered to use the name any more. Everyone knew it simply as the city of Spectrum. Spectrum; home to sorcerers, scholars, inventors, those who fought for what was right, those who wanted nothing more than to watch the city burn, and much more besides. It was also home to more than a few chroniclers, bards and minstrels, including one in particular, quite popular with visitors to the city, named Niels.

Now this one old storyteller had managed to gather, as he typically did, a sizeable crowd of people to tell his tale to. He didn't do it for the money, fame, fortune or anything grandiose, but because it was a story that needed to be told, that deserved to be told. The crowd around him were varied; men, women, children, and they were eagerly waiting for the story to start. Niels decided not to keep them waiting any longer, and began to speak, his voice echoing out across the people.

"Gather round, that's it. Come a little closer everyone. Is everybody listening? Good, then let us begin.

Spectrum, as I am sure you all know, has a glorious secret that is...well, not so secret. It is what gives the city its magnificent colours, and much more besides. Long ago, when the city was first built, people began to notice odd things happening. Things would occasionally disappear and reappear somewhere else entirely, buildings seemed to shift and physically alter in shape and size. Spectrum, you see, had been built on top of a huge underground reservoir of ether, the lifeblood of the planet, and the thing that makes all sorcery possible.

Of course, as the then village grew into a town and eventually the sprawling metropolis that it is today, word spread of the fantastic things that one might witness, just from walking down one of the many streets. The place grew more and more popular, and of course with the sheer number of people eventually settled here, and the amount of interest people had in the ether, there were bound to be one of two fascinating stories to tell.

That is where we come in. This story is about one particular young pair, a man and a woman. It's a personal favourite of mine. You see long ago, the ancient scholars of this place dug too deep into the secrets of this world. They released a powerful force which they couldn't contain, and tried to imprison it. But of course, things rarely ever work out as easily as men plan them to, and the city would soon find itself in dire peril..."
Chapter 1.

The clouds had rolled over several hours ago, covering the sun, and giving the day a somber feel. Not that there was anything wrong with somber. It was necessary sometimes, to reflect, to ponder, to wonder. Elijah was really not in the mood for that though, and voiced his concerns to the dull grey sky, and no one else in particular.

"I hate rain. There is nothing worse than getting soaked. God I hate it. Please don't rain. I swear to god if it rains..."

He did not get to finish the threat, for as soon as he said the words, the first fat droplets began to fall from the heavens. As they hit the ground, they sparkled and shimmered as they reacted to the ether below the ground. They shone like stars, twinkling and flickering as they landed, and as the puddles grew they looked almost like tiny galaxies strewn along the street, swirling around the individual stones. Elijah, however, did not care, he had seen it all before. He pulled his long brown coat up around his neck and broke into a run, scowling as he splashed through the rapidly increasing puddles, caused by the rapidly increasing precipitation. Luckily, he had not been too far from where he was headed, and after rounding a couple of corners ( both of which were filled with wide eyed children splashing playfully around, and equally wide eyed visitors to the city taking in the spectacle for the first time) He arrived at his destination. He hammered on the door of a crazily tilting house, which at this moment in time had chosen to be a pale shade of purple, and was quickly let in by his good friend Molly.

He rushed into the house out of the deluge, and before he had even a chance to turn around, she was laughing at him.

"You look like a drowned rat!" she giggled as he took his coat off. He turned around, trying to keep the scowl fixed in place, but losing the battle fast. He shook the rain off of his coat, straight in her direction, and she shrieked, and laughed even harder.

"Nice to see you too Molly. I appreciate the sympathy by the way, you know I love nothing more than being caught in the rain."

"Oh don't be so sour, a little bit of rain never killed anyone, and it's good to see you too, silly! It's been far too long! Anyway, you can get the fire started now you're here and you'll dry off in no time. Then we can get down to business. I'll get you something to drink. Oh, and give me that as well."

She took his coat and hurried off into one of the rooms just off to one side of the entrance hall. Elijah followed her, stepping down into a large kitchen. It wasn't just large though, it was enormous, sprawling far beyond where it should have done. To look at the house from the outside, you would think it almost too tiny to live in, like a pale purple broom closet, very tall, and very thin. Once you were inside though, the place just seemed to go on forever. This was typically the way of things in Spectrum. No one truly knew why, or how, but decided not to question it. Things worked better that way, and nobody fried their brain trying to puzzle it out, well, apart from a few scholars up on the Cloud. Many had tried of course, and many had failed. It was just one of those things that people had come to accept.

Elijah walked over to the fireplace. Molly had prepared it for when he arrived, he noticed. It was piled high with wood, small sticks and kindling on top, with the firewood getting bigger as the pile went down, with a couple of big logs at the bottom to keep it going for some time. He crouched down and concentrated a little. As he did he held his hands out until they began to feel very warm. He knew the spell he was casting was going to work because the tips of his fingers tingled just a little bit, and as that happened he aimed his hand, palm forward towards the fireplace, and a small, concentrated jet of flame shot out, lighting the kindling immediately, which began to crackle and pop in the most satisfying way, reflecting in his dark brown eyes.

Elijah Sinclair. The surname he had given to himself, just as Molly had given to herself one as well. He had picked Sinclair thinking it to be a fairly normal surname, and hoping to live a normal, peaceful life, although things had not quite worked out like that. Molly had followed suit, and as far as pretty much everyone knew these days, they were brother and sister. They were so close they might as well have been.

Abandoned when he was small and taken in by the local orphanage Elijah had discovered very early on that he had a very special ability. The ether under Spectrum affected everything from plants and buildings, to people. He could do what was commonly known as "conducting". This was to say he could pull the ether out of the air around him and use it to do what most people would say equated to magic. It was a rare ability, with only a handful of people in the city manifesting the gift, one of which was Elijah's very dear friend Noah. Conducting manifested differently in every person. For Elijah, he was able to control the element of fire, and bend it to his will.

"Nice one." Molly called over. Elijah stood up and looked over. "There you are," she motioned, pointing at a large mug on the countertop full of a dark black liquid, "South sea mix, I got some in especially for you, decided to try it before you got here. It's gorgeous, kind of sweet, and a little nutty. You want some?" Elijah nodded and confirmed that he would indeed. South sea mix was a particularly delicious blend of tea, something of which both of them were quite fond.

Elijah smiled. Well, smiled would be pushing it, he scowled a little less. It really didn't take much to cheer him up though. Good company, a warm drink, and a roaring fire took care of it and then some. He thanked Molly as she handed him a cup, and they stood quietly for just a moment while he took a large swig of his tea. He let his eyes wander around the room, and noted, as he always did, the vast collection of things hanging up on the walls. There were herbs and spices in bags hung all over one of the walls, as well as the usual collection of pots, pans, and cutlery and so on. As his eyes swept round the room though it began to look less like a kitchen and more like a workshop, with blueprints, sketches and hastily scribbled ideas on scraps of paper all stuck to various pieces of the wall. He had no idea what most of it was, but the Molly that he had always known had been incredibly clever.

Molly Sinclair. He had known her since they were both very tiny. Fate had brought them together in the same orphanage, and it was as if it were always meant to be. Molly had been what Elijah considered to be a genius since she had been very young. She had created dozens upon dozens of inventions, and had created the vials she used – jars filled with certain substances for all manner of different applications. They had created a business together, not quite private eyes or detectives, and not quite bounty hunters either. They were somewhere in between, doing jobs that no one else really wanted to dirty their hands doing. And it had gone pretty well so far.

Elijah finished looking around the room. In one corner there was also a large pile of scrap metal, pieces of machinery, leather, and dozens of other materials that Elijah couldn't even begin to hazard a guess at. Molly loved to tinker, and make things, and while she had never been any good at sorcery, even with the ether flowing beneath the ground, she truly did have a stunning mind, and had come up with some incredible gadgets and machinery that had oftentimes in the past made both of their lives easier, particularly when they were working.

The thought of work brought Elijah out of the daydream he had slipped into. He took another quick sip, and set the cup down on the dark wooden counter, once he had managed to find a space for it amongst the jumble of other bits and pieces.

"Sorry about that, my mind was wandering, I was just thinking about that time when we-"

"The time in the Forest of Forever, right? When we had to launch the-"

"That's the one."

"And then there was the explosion and we had to-"

"Yeah. You know the hair on my legs is still patchy, right? I mean, there's no spell to fix that, you know that right?"

"Well what did you want me to do? Look, shush, it doesn't matter anyway, stop being such a baby." Molly pulled a stool out from under the countertop and sat down. She invited Elijah to do the same, which he did, and she continued on.

"Alright, so this is going to sound a little far-fetched, but... well, you know things have been a little quiet since the last job? Well, I've had some time to do a few things, experiment, test, create, the usual stuff. I think I've stumbled across something, and I was hoping you would have a look at it."

Elijah quickly thought back to their last job. They had recovered a sizeable hoard of jewels from a band of thieves. The reward from that job, coupled with the fact that the owner had been so grateful that he had given each of them several of the precious stones as a reward, had meant they were able to take some much needed downtime. Or not as Molly's case may be.

She did sound suddenly very serious though, very different to the girl he knew who had been laughing at him not five minutes ago. Elijah had only seen her switch moods like this a couple of times before, and he knew that despite the cheery facade she had put on earlier, that something was really worrying her. He could see it in her face, could see the concern.

"So much for taking time off to relax! Yeah of course I'll take a look, what have you got? Or what do you think you've got?"

"I knew you'd say yes. Thank you. Alright, so...you know I do the occasional bit of spelunking? It's mainly to gather ether samples, or do experiments involving the ether. Well I thought that in my time off I would do some extra tests, get down there as much as possible. Well, the last few times I've been down there, there have been...earthquakes."

Elijah had been in the middle of taking a sip of drink. He stopped and looked at her incredulously. "Seriously?" He asked, "There's not been anything like that recorded around here. Not ever."

"I know, I know," Molly responded. "I double and triple checked what I found and, well, look." And with that she hopped off of the stool and disappeared into one of the various studies in the impossibly cavernous house. Elijah was left to sit for a moment, gazing out of the window at the still gloomy sky. Earthquakes, in this region? It was completely unheard of. On the other hand, Molly was rarely, if ever, wrong about these kind of things. He wasn't left to consider things for too long, as she quickly returned, carrying multiple pieces of paper. Elijah just had time to rescue his tea before Molly swept the table clear with an arm, sending all manner of things tumbling to the floor.

"Here, look!" She exclaimed, pointing out various areas on the multiple graphs and tables she had drawn up. This was one of the things that Elijah had always loved about Molly; her relentless enthusiasm, but at the moment he was completely lost.

"Molly...what exactly am I looking at here?"

"Oh right, sorry. Well...when I recorded the first one I came back here and grabbed some more gear straight away. Stuff that would be able to record any future tremors. It's crude technology, but it works. I took it down with me, set it up, and this is what it recorded over the space of about a week. Now, what this shows is how often the quakes happen, but also severity."

Elijah looked down at the chart for a moment. He was by no means as clever as his partner, but even he could see that they were rapidly getting stronger. From the looks of the information the earthquakes would soon be strong enough to feel at street level. And if they continued getting stronger? That was a worrying thought.

"Molly I think...maybe we need to take this to the Cloud. They need to see this. It's not something we can deal with ourselves, this is potentially huge." He looked up from the graphs and charts as he finished speaking. Molly's face was unreadable for a moment, and then she began to frown, looking quite angry. Elijah knew what was coming.

"The Cloud? Are you serious? After the way they treated me? After the way they treated you?! No. Not a chance, no way." She crossed her arms resolutely.

"We've got to. I know you hate them. I know they haven't done right by us, and god knows why, but...they can help. We need help here. Come on Molly." She uncrossed her arms a little as he finished speaking and wandered over to the fireplace, gazing into it. It had a soporific effect and she lost herself in her own thoughts for a short while. Elijah was about to speak again when she finally spoke up.

"Fine. We'll take it up to the scholars, see what they make of it. I swear...I hate going up there, but I know it makes sense. We'll make it quick. Head up, get them to have a look and then get the hell out of there."

Elijah smiled. "Alright good, we'll head up tomorrow then, gives us time to prepare everything today." He got up and meandered over to the window with his cup of tea. He tilted his head back, draining the last of it from the cup. As he looked back down, he looked directly into a pair of eyes. There was a gigantic face at the window.
Chapter 2.

Elijah choked on his drink, and slammed the mug down. He probably would have screamed, if he'd been able to. Molly turned around to see what all the fuss was, and let out a delighted squeak when she saw who was at the window, which then quickly descended into a fit of giggles when she saw Elijah spluttering and waving.

"Noah!" She yelled, "Come right in!" The face disappeared from the window, and a few seconds later they both heard the front door open, and the sound of extremely heavy footsteps padding down the carpeted hallway. Moments later, the same enormous head that had been peering through the window a short while before popped around the doorframe.

Noah was an absolute giant of a man, and had to duck a little as he came into the kitchen to join them both. He had been an acquaintance to the two of them since they were very young, before they had ever even considered launching their business. He had a giant, bright white beard, wiry hair to match it, and a smile that looked like it would split his face in half. His deep blue eyes constantly twinkled, as if he had just heard a good joke. Noah owned an inn in what had once been one of the shadier areas of Spectrum. Noah had once employed them to take care of some of the more organized gangs in the area, and Elijah and Molly had seen to it that the area was cleaned up as part of their work. The three of them had gone from acquaintances to firm friends ever since.

Elijah had recovered sufficiently now, and raised his hand in greeting as Noah entered the kitchen. Molly ran over to give him a quick hug, and briefly disappeared into Noah's giant arms. She reappeared, and asked what brought him round.

"It's funny you should say that. I was headin' on over to see Elijah there, and thought I'd stop by just to say hello. Most fortuitous that you're here I'd say, lad." He went to take a seat on one of Molly's stools, realized how small it was, and thought better of it. He stood, looking awkward for a moment, and then went to lean on the mantelpiece above the fire, which had now settled down and was just giving out a warm glow. Elijah had always had trouble understanding Noah's thick accent, (Noah himself had originally come from the south, and moved to Spectrum, hence his accent) and just about managed to comprehend what he had said as Noah made himself comfortable.

"Alright...what are you after me for this time?" Elijah asked. With Noah he was never quite sure what the request was going to be, if indeed it was one. This particular time, it was not.

"I wondered if you'd heard of the big gatherin' up on the old Cloud? Apparently everyone who can conduct is headin' up there for some big meetin'. I never bothered with any of them scholars, Well, Percy being the exception I suppose. Thought I'd give it a miss, and was goin' to see if I was the only one really."

Elijah's brain took a moment to catch up, and then he replied.

"Nope, couldn't care less about heading up there. Especially after the way they've treated the two of us..." Elijah trailed off a little here, and Molly took the opportunity to pipe up.

"Do you want some tea, Noah? I got some South Sea Mix in especially for today. If you're here, you might as well..." She had already begun to pour the cup of tea out as she asked. She already knew the answer. She finished pouring and went to hand the cup over. She couldn't quite reach, and was about to move around the counter top when the cup suddenly lifted up from her outstretched hands. She squeaked in panic, and then remembered that Noah, much like Elijah, could conduct. It was one of the things that had first encouraged their friendship, and Noah had taught Elijah much about conducting over the years. The cup settled into Noah's hands. It was the biggest one she owned, and still looked miniscule as he held it. He thanked her and gave her a big smile, and Elijah continued as he took a swallow of tea.

"Good to see you're conducting to help with important things." He said as he rolled his eyes, "Anyway, they've treated us like dirt in the past, which I know you know. I'm surprised anyone up there even sent me an invite."

Noah nodded as he considered this. He wasn't prone to doing things quickly, and where most people might consider him slow because of this, Elijah and Molly both knew it was careful consideration of all things, as opposed to anything else. There were at that precise moment, twenty four people in Spectrum who could conduct, much like Noah and Elijah, which meant that twenty two of them were up on the Cloud right at that moment, for whatever reason.

There was a comfortable silence for a moment. Molly had a thought, and decided to broach the subject that she and Elijah had been discussing not minutes before Noah turned up. She caught Elijah's eye just before she cleared her throat. He had been toying with the idea himself. There was no reason not to tell Noah, he was one of their most trusted friends. Elijah gave an almost imperceptible nod and Molly gave a short cough. "Noah..."

She spent the next little while explaining everything that she had been explaining to Elijah. They stayed up late far into the night, discussing what to do, if anything. They were only three people, and this potentially affected the entire city. Noah agreed that it seemed like a good idea that they were taking the news up to the scholars on the Cloud, but declined when they invited him up there with them, to neither of their surprise. They discussed a few other things as well, throughout the length of the conversation. It wasn't too often that the three of them were together, what with Elijah and Molly working so much, and Noah usually taking care of his Inn.

As it begun to get late, Noah stood up to stretch his legs. "I best be wanderin' off I suppose." He murmured, glancing out of the window. The sun had set, night time following as it always did, throwing up a handful of stars and a beautiful, crescent shaped moon that hung low in the sky. Molly and Elijah bid him goodnight as he made his way to the front door, Noah receiving an enthusiastic hug from the former and a handshake from the latter. They promised they would see each other soon, not leaving it so long until the next time they caught up. As the door closed behind him and the two of them wandered back into the kitchen area, Elijah asked Molly a question.

"Why didn't you let me know sooner that you were looking into all this?" Elijah asked as they banked the fireplace up, preparing to call it a night.

"It all happened so fast. At first I was just studying the ether. I had to make several trips down through the sewers and into the catacombs, and noticed huge areas of the tunnels down there just...gone. Like something had swallowed them up. While I was down there I felt the first quake, and things have just escalated from there. I didn't really think too much of it until they kept happening."

"Well, at least you found out. I find it hard to believe that we're the only ones who know about it though. I mean, surely the academy has some knowledge of this? Those scholars know everything that happens in this city. We'll pay them a visit tomorrow. I know you're not keen, but I think we really need to."

Molly pouted. She really didn't want to go up there. The academy of scholars, based up on the Cloud, were dedicated to discovery and invention. They took new applicants yearly, and although she had applied a number of times, each had been without success. Molly knew that she was more than clever enough to join, and had never really revealed to Elijah why she wasn't allowed to. This left Elijah to guess. He had tried to get the answer from her, but to no avail. One thing was for certain though, she resented and avoided them at all times.

The academy itself was moored in just about the center of the city. Moored would be about as accurate a word as someone could use, as the academy was based on what everybody in Spectrum and beyond referred to as the Cloud. The Cloud, however, was a very deceptive name. The Cloud was an enormous chunk of rock. Floating rock. It was anchored to the ground by three massive chains, the thick links of which, as well as the rock itself, were visible from anywhere in Spectrum. The Cloud itself was another one of those perpetual mysteries. It was theorized that the rock was made of solidified ether, but no one really knew what kept it afloat. The faces of visitors to the city upon first seeing the spectacle though, were priceless.

"Oh boy...I really don't want to go up there tomorrow" she sighed, "I'm not going to like it. We head up, explain everything, come back down, and we're done, right?

"Yeah, I promise. In and out, no problem. It won't take us long. And it's important. We need to do this, by the sounds of things. Whatever it is, I'm sure they can fix it, if it does need fixing."

Molly nodded at this and stretched and yawned, suddenly realizing just how tired she was. The yawn was infectious, as they so often are, and Elijah suddenly felt incredibly tired as well. To think that a few hours earlier they had been having a break from work, relaxing, and taking time for themselves... It looked like the foreseeable future was going to contain a good deal less of that for sure.

Elijah began banking the fireplace up to keep the warmth in overnight, the fire would be good to go for the morning as well. Molly bid him goodnight, and headed off to her bedroom, instructing him to take any of the spare rooms he wanted. She quickly explained that the house had expanded since he had last been there, and there was now a fourth bedroom on the second floor he was welcome to try. He laughed and said he would do just that, and then she was gone. Alone with his thoughts for the first time that evening he wandered over to the window and gazed out. The moon was partially covered by the looming outline of the Cloud, but about half of the crescent was uncovered, shining down onto Spectrum. The night sky was truly beautiful. To Elijah's mind it was like someone had poked tiny holes in a blanket and was shining a light through it. The rain from earlier still lay in puddles here and there, and a rainbow of tiny droplets still covered the window panes, shimmering in the moonlight.

Molly and he had been together a long time, and had been through some tough situations. With the amount of near scrapes they had been through he was sure this was something they could handle. All they needed to do was let the correct people know, and it would be out of their hands. Or so he hoped. Just one thing was bugging him though, and that was why no one from the academy, or anyone else for that matter, had discovered, or even stumbled across this. They weren't exactly fools. Something about that didn't sit right with him, and he supposed he would have to find out why the next day. It was strange though...

Elijah wandered up the stairs and searched out the new room. He remembered the layout of the house, what had been where before, and found the new room without any problems. As he walked and got a good look at the room he chuckled to himself. The walls and ceiling were at insane angles, and the room itself almost felt as if it were tilting. He thought to himself that you had to love the bizarre effect the ether had on the city. There was a mirror in the room, and Elijah caught sight of himself in it. He looked extremely tired, and there were dark circles beneath his deep brown eyes. His hair was a complete mess as well, although there was nothing unusual about that. It was its usual light brown mass of tangles and matted knots. He briefly considered whether or not he should tidy up before they headed out tomorrow, and then thought better of it. Crisis or not, he could stand to be a little scruffy. It was just how he was.

He climbed into bed, and felt instantly like he was sinking into the mattress, the room began to spin a little, and as he closed his eyes he began to drift off quickly and easily, slipping into a dreamless, peaceful sleep. In her room on the other side of the floor Molly sat, thinking about the following day. Unable to get to sleep she sat tinkering with one of her latest inventions. She truly hoped that tomorrow went well, as they were going to need all the help they could get to do something about the ether, if indeed there was something wrong. She truly despised the academics though, and hoped she could bite her tongue while they were up there. It was going to be an interesting day either way, and she hoped that ultimately her fears were unfounded, although things rarely ever worked out that easily. She sighed, knowing she should get some sleep, but sleep continued to evade her, so she sat and tinkered long into the night.

Chapter 3.

The Cloud was a place of ceaseless activity. Scholars bustled about here and there, conducting research, experimenting with newly discovered materials, and much more. Invention, ether studies, history and so on are all studied there, and documented and stored in the vaults, great, sprawling archives dating back in some cases hundreds of years. At each of the huge chains that anchor the Cloud are cable carriage stations which, for a small fee, (or not depending on your standing with the academy) will take you to and from The Cloud. It was in the line for one of these carriages that Elijah and Molly found themselves the next morning. They were at the Northeastern chain, and were fully prepared for their meeting up above, as far as they knew. Elijah had managed to get a message up to the dean of the Cloud incredibly early that morning. His name was Percy, and he was an acquaintance of both of theirs, and had agreed to meet with them.

Molly had finally managed to drift into a few hours of restless, troubled sleep the night before, slumped over the small workbench she had set up in her room, and so was, much to Elijah's chagrin, a little on the cranky side. Elijah had fared much better, although had sworn his room had changed shape throughout the night which was entirely possible. He had woken up early, sent off his message to Percy, and then enjoyed his breakfast, after which he had packed some food, packed the evidence Molly had collected, and finally plucked up the courage to wake her up. They had managed to tidy themselves up a little for the appointment, and Elijah now wore smarter clothes – a long trench coat over a nice loose fitting shirt and sensible trousers, although his hair was just a chaotic as always.

Molly looked pristine. After managing to get what Elijah could only assume was roughly three hours of sleep she had sprung out of bed when woken up to prepare, and now looked almost resplendent in a long coat, shirt and trousers, and a particularly fancy waistcoat, not to mention her immaculate brunette hair, and bright green eyes, made even brighter in the morning sun. Elijah had no idea how she did it, but wasn't too keen on asking, as Molly was really not big on talking after what, for Elijah, would have counted as a long nap.

They were waiting in the line of people waiting to go up to the Cloud on business. Whether it be a professor going up for a meeting with one of the many, many scholars that resided there, or someone going up to discuss a contract to maintain the grounds, there was always a slew of people coming and going. The carriage stations were situated in large, open squares that also accommodated the large chains that held everything down. The carriage cables ran alongside them, high strength wires designed to carry the weight of dozens of people and carriages at the same time. The square was comprised of dusty red bricks, and even this early in the morning it was packed, and incredibly warm, as the sun was already beating down.

The attendant at the front of the line called everybody forwards, and the two of them took a few strides towards the front of the queue. There was only one other person in front of them at this point, an elderly scholar by the looks of things. Not long to wait now. Elijah gazed around, watching the crowds wander, going about their daily business. He figured it was best to keep small talk to a minimum, to avoid getting snapped at, and was just wondering to himself how the woman who owned the fruit stall managed to carry so many baskets on her head at the same time, when Molly piped up beside him.

"I've got a bad feeling about this." She muttered. Elijah masked his surprise at the fact she had spoken.

"Why? I mean, apart from the fact that you don't really get on with anyone in the academy as a general rule of course..." She looked up at him, frowning, shuffling from foot to foot and chewing her lip a little, as if trying to find the best way to put into words what she was thinking.

"Well here's the thing. I found out about this through my experiments, my exploring, just by being inquisitive and nosy. It was accidental. I don't have anywhere near the amount of equipment or manpower that they have up in the Cloud. I keep thinking about it, and it doesn't make sense, no matter how I look at it. They must know, I'm sure of it. There's no way they wouldn't. And if they already know, why haven't they told anyone, warned anyone? I'm telling you, something's not right."

Elijah rubbed the back of his neck, thinking for a moment. She did have a point. He hated to admit it, but she did. It was worrying as well. If the Academics did know, and weren't telling anyone, the entirety of Spectrum was going to succumb to continual earthquakes. On the other hand, maybe the academy did know, and there was simply no need for anyone to worry. Could that be the reason nothing had been said to anyone. Either way, Elijah tried to make Molly feel better.

"It doesn't make sense. I know what you're saying, but I'm hoping that, just for once, you're wrong Molly." The whole thing did make him uncomfortable though, especially now that Molly had mentioned it a couple of times. It made the tiny hairs on the back of his neck stand up on end though. If the Cloud didn't want anyone knowing, and they knew, and went up there and made them aware of that fact, things could turn very ugly. The only way they were going to know was to head up. They would either be helping, or be laughed at, and Elijah could deal with either of those. While Elijah considered this the attendant at the front of the queue called everyone forwards. The elderly academic standing in front of them shuffled forwards and entered the cable car, and the attendant stuck his head in as well. He leaned back out and informed both Elijah and Molly that the scholar was happy to share the carriage with them. They looked at each other. If they were going to turn back now, decide not to head up there, and look into things by themselves, now was the time to decide. They stepped into the cable car, and the door clamped shut behind them.

With a horrendous squeaking, grinding sound, the carriage began to ascend. The huge chains they were heading up alongside loomed next to them, each link the size of the car itself. Molly couldn't help but think to herself that it was a truly incredible sight to behold. The gigantic cogs and gears at the bottom of the mechanism turned, and they rose above the houses bordering the square, and the square itself, leaving the cobbled, rain spattered streets below. As they rose higher the individual puddles became harder to make out, and the myriad of streets looked almost like rivers of rainbows. Truly beautiful.

The inside of the carriage was very comfortable, with thick red carpet on all of the flooring in the middle , and luxurious padded seats built into the sides of the vehicle all the way around, leaving space for the door on one side. Comfortable, and a touch extravagant, but much appreciated, especially after the incredible amount of time that was sometimes spent queueing trying to get to the Cloud. Elijah and Molly took a seat each at one end of the carriage. The elderly gentleman opposite them. His head was down, and the hat he wore covered his eyes. He had probably nodded off, and Elijah made a mental note to himself to wake him as they arrived.

Elijah and Molly gazed out of the windows together, enjoying the view as they sat down, and began to talk amongst themselves. Elijah tried to take both their minds off of the impending meeting, and so they discussed both Molly's latest inventions and ideas, and Elijah's magical abilities. Not that the abilities themselves were anything new, but it had seemed for Elijah that the longer he had spent around the ether, the more his talents had thrived and developed. And of course he had been in Spectrum his whole life, so he had become quite adept at what he did. He could conjure fire out of the ether of varying heat and intensity, and even the shape of the flames he threw out of his hands.

As always, it was the way of things in Spectrum. No one truly understood why some people developed magical abilities, or why the city always shimmered like a rainbow, or why houses sometimes developed an extra room or three, but no one complained. Molly herself had never developed any kind of ability, it was incredibly rare after all. What she did have on her side though, was an incredible brain. She created, invented and explored everything and anything, and her inventions had gotten the two of them out of more than a few scrapes before. It was one of the reasons Elijah had been shocked, and Molly had been heartbroken that she had never been invited or accepted up onto the Cloud. But that was the way of things.

Elijah wasn't the only one to have the gift he had. To most people it was known as conducting the ether, some just called it magic though. Whatever it was called though, it manifested differently in various people. He himself, for example, could conjure fire, but he knew others who had experience with telepathy, or terrakinetics. He smiled to himself as that thought popped into his head while he and Molly talked. He remembered when he had first mentioned it to her. She had acted incredibly interested, and then admitted she didn't know what it meant, which was rare for her. When he simplified it down into "They can move rocks." she had been a lot less impressed.

They were almost to the Cloud, and they could see the underside of the gigantic floating rock clearly now. Three stations had been carved into the underside of the structure, all of which lead to tunnels which eventually joined up and lead to the surface, where the various buildings, halls, and so on were. To first time visitors it could be incredibly daunting and confusing trying to find your way to the surface. It was basically like a giant honeycomb of twisting passages.

It was at this point, as they were almost at the station that the elderly academic opposite them, who had been so quiet for the journey that the two of them had almost forgotten that he was there, spoke up.

"You're making a mistake, you know."

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Elijah felt the familiar prickles down the back of his neck again. The old man's voice was soft, but carried a threatening undertone. Molly turned towards him slowly.

"What did you say?"

"You heard me perfectly young lady. Or should I say Molly?" He noted the shocked look that ran across her face oh so quickly, and continued. "Oh yes, I know your name. Yours too Elijah. I also know what you're about to do, and what it is that you already know. Listen to me, for I shall only say this once. Leave Spectrum. Do it today. The things that are about to happen, that you are about to entangle yourself in, cannot be undone."

There was a brief moment's silence as the two of them digested what was happening. They shot a sideways glance at each other, and Elijah spoke. "Who are you? Why would you warn us? And how do you even know who we are?"

The old man met his eyes, and said, again in a soft voice, "It doesn't matter who, or how, or why. You have been warned though, and that is what I came here to do. If you're smart you'll turn back and head straight back down. He won't let you interfere you know. There are only two of you and he won't take kindly to-"

"This is crazy!" Molly interrupted, "I don't know who you are, and I don't care, but you can come with us. If you know something that we need to know, you can help us make our case!" She moved towards the old man, as if to reach out and grab his arm. Faster than would have seemed possible for a man of his age, he slid to one side, glided off the chair and took a step forwards. As he did this he twisted the top of his cane and pulled, unveiling a long, thin, rapier-like blade. He held it pointed at Molly, who still had her arm outstretched towards the chair he had been sitting in. The blade stopped less than an inch from her neck. Elijah jumped up, now angry that this stranger, whoever he might be, was threatening his partner and friend.

"What the hell are you doing?" he demanded. The old man still held the blade towards Molly, perilously close to her jugular.

"It's clear that this was a waste of time." The academic, or whoever he was growled. "If you won't listen, fine, that's your choice, but I'm leaving. I beseech you one last time to give up before you begin, and abandon this foolishness." And with this he started to move back towards the other end of the car. The blade was still pointed at Molly, but the distance between them was growing a little. As soon as there was a gap Elijah could see what Molly was planning. She had a bandoleer strapped to her underneath her overcoat, as she normally did. It was full of all different shaped vials full of coloured fluids, each of which served a different purpose. Elijah grabbed her and pulled her back to the opposite end of the car. She had one hand behind her back, under her overcoat, where the bandoleer hung. She had her hand wrapped around one of the several tiny, explosive vials she had with her. They waited to see what the old man would do next.

They needn't have worried. Upon reaching the other end of the car he lowered his sword and returned it to his cane, twisting it to lock it back into place. "Don't look for me." he said, and then with that held his hand out to one side, and conducted a magic that neither Elijah nor Molly had ever seen. A small black sphere appeared, floating above his hand, slowly growing larger, until suddenly it expanded incredibly rapidly, swallowing up the man and the end of the cable car. When it shrank back down there was no sign of the academic, or the walls, floor, or chairs for about one third of the car. No burn marks, and no signs of damage, just a perfectly smooth edge where everything had just...disappeared.

Without saying a word Molly flung her arms around Elijah and let out a huge sigh of relief. He hugged her back and then went over to the newly created hole to peer over the edge, down to the city below. It was certainly a unique perspective, everything looked incredibly small. And that man, whoever he had been, had certainly had some interesting views on their situation.

"I think we need to be very careful going forward from here," Elijah muttered. Molly nodded her agreement. Things were starting to get interesting, and there was absolutely no turning back now. No choice but to press forward and see what awaited them. He was just pondering this when Molly brought up a very good point from behind him:

"How the hell are we going to explain how half the cable car is just missing?!"

Chapter 4.

"I can't believe we managed to get out of that one." Molly muttered as they walked along the tunnels. "I mean, it clearly wasn't what we said it was." She was keeping her voice down as there were a lot of other people walking through the tunnels with them. Elijah laughed. He wasn't quite sure how it had worked either, but he loved that it had, against all expectations.

Upon arriving at the Cloud they had been greeted by several very confused, and then very angry cable carriage workers who had taken the two of them into a meeting room off to one side of the station proper and demanded to know what exactly they had done to the carriage. Elijah had spun the most magnificent tale of their lives being in mortal danger due to the section of the carriage simply collapsing, and had expressed complete horror at the fact that the maintenance on the carriages was so dreadful, that whole section and parts were just dropping off in midair. His acting had been spot on, and with Molly backing him up the entire time, the station workers anger soon dissipated, and they apologized profusely for the incident and assured both of them that nothing of the sort would ever happen again. The two of them had left the office a little dumbfounded that it had been so easy, but grateful that it was. They set off then through the series of gently curving tunnels that led to the surface of the Cloud.

The tunnels were a crisscrossed honeycomb, almost mazelike if you didn't know where you were going. They intersected each other at multiple points as well, each one coming out at a different spot at the top, depending on where you needed to be. With multiple tunnels starting from each cable carriage station, and many different pathways and locations, it could be a bit daunting. Luckily, the tunnels were well manned with helpful guides in case someone were to get lost, and brightly lit, with beautiful sconces set into the walls the entire way along each route. Of course, with the influence of the ether below, and the ether that was brought up to be studied on the Cloud, the flames on each sconce burned a slightly different colour, so there was almost a rainbow effect as you walked the tunnels. It wasn't called Spectrum for nothing.

"Alright, so...we managed to talk our way out of that little scrape, so I'm thinking that at the very least we can talk our way out of whatever happens when we get topside, what do you think?"

"I think we still need to be careful Elijah. This is clearly not a game. I mean, who even was that on the carriage? How did he know who we were, and why did he even warn about...whatever it was he was warning about?"

Elijah considered this. They were all good questions. He had taken a little comfort in the fact that the man had warned them, so clearly someone else knew about the earthquake problem, and was as far as he could tell, on their side, if a little on the twitchy side. Well, hopefully. He almost certainly wasn't against them, at any rate. Elijah mentioned this to Molly, who nodded. It seemed to calm her down a little, and they continued talking about who the man could have been, and why it could possibly be such a terrible thing to let the academics know about what she had found out. They had already both agreed it was odd that no one else had said anything about it, but couldn't figure out why. They were so busy debating the various different things they knew so far that they barely even noticed they were coming to the exit of the tunnels.

They had many vivid and varied sets of sconces on their way, but a pair of beautiful pink flames were the last to guide their way up to the gorgeous sunlight that shone down on the top of the Cloud. It was wonderfully warm, but at this height a refreshingly crisp breeze cooled them down perfectly. They smiled at each other for a moment, it was impossible not to enjoy the view and weather, before setting off for the Cumulous, one of the meeting halls a little way from them. There were various other buildings, all cleverly named after something meteorological, but Elijah couldn't remember their names right now. The one he did know, was the Nimbus, a big building to the East of the cloud specializing in studying magic. He longed to get in there, but that time was long gone. He thought back to what might have been, if only things had played out a little differently...

Among the various cloud named buildings there was only one exception, and that was the Grand Hall. This was at the northernmost point of the cloud, and was not only where their friend the dean resided day to day, but was also home to frequent debates in the hall of its namesake. From the Grand Hall the other buildings were set out in a rough circle around the top of the Cloud, with a large, sprawling park in the middle, home to many gazebos, the odd pond, and some truly wonderful fauna.

"I know exactly what you're doing, you know." Molly spoke up, disturbing him from his thoughts. "You're thinking about Nimbus, aren't you? You do this every time we're up here."

Elijah looked embarrassed, and realized he had been staring over at it in silence as they walked. "Sorry," he mumbled, "I just can't help but think about the chance I could have had. I don't regret the decision I made, but can't help think of what might have been, you know?"

Molly did know. She had also desperately wanted to get up here, to study, and invent. But it was clearly never meant to be. In a way she and Elijah's failures regarding the Cloud had been one of the first and strongest things that had brought them and bound them together. All things were meant to be she supposed, and she was glad for the life she was living. Elijah and she were like family now.

"I do understand, you know I feel the same sometimes. Now isn't the time though, we're nearly there, so focus, come on!"

They were indeed nearly there. Their path had lead them out of the tunnels and across a perfectly maintained park set in the middle of the floating chunk of rock, which it was sometimes hard to remember that that was what it was. Gorgeous roses, tulips and daffodils grew and flourished everywhere in a myriad of colours, and not a blade of grass seemed to be out of place. Academics rushed to and fro everywhere, dozens of them at all times, while others sat in the various gazebos and benches and discussed all manner of things. It was fascinating to watch, because although it looked completely out of control from an outsider's viewpoint, no two academics ever crashed into one another. It was very organized chaos. The walk across the park had taken them to the top of the Cumulous, a fairly large hall carved into the Cloud itself, so that the steps actually led down into it. About half the hall stuck up above ground level though, and this had been wonderfully carved to look like the giant puffy clouds it was named after. The carvings were so good they looked almost real.

They reached the steps down to the hall and began to descend. Every few steps was a large pillar reaching up to the ceiling, and alternating with these, statues of famous academics throughout the Cloud's existence. There had been many advances and these were all showcased with the statues, as the carving not only displayed the scholar, but what his invention was as well. There were plaques at the bottom of every statue also, detailing its story. As Elijah and Molly went lower, their path was lit not only by wall sconces again filled with beautiful flames, but also strategically and artistically carved holes in the ceiling that let shards of sunlight through to help create a lovely dappled effect on the floor. They reached the bottom of the steps, and a skinny looking man that they assumed must be an apprentice stalked over to them to introduce himself.

"Good morning there. My name is Reginald. You must be here to see the dean, is that correct?"

They both nodded, and the annoyed sounding apprentice carried on, his voice remaining almost perfectly level as he spoke.

"Very good, very good. Well. If you'll just follow me we can proceed to the audience chamber, yes. Come along then, it's not too far."

The two of them knew exactly where it was, but decided to let the apprentice show them the way anyway. Besides he already sounded so fed up and aggravated that if they interfered with his plans he might have turn round and kill them on the spot. They followed him down a couple of tightly curving corridors, until they reach a small junction that split three ways. The apprentice stopped for a second, and Elijah was just about to continue walking forwards towards the main meeting hall, where they had been told their appointment would take place, when the apprentice piped up.

"Follow me, almost there now, mmm yes it's just to the left here..." And with that he took off again, heading left instead of straight forwards. Elijah and Molly shot a look at each other, but said nothing. They knew where the hall was, and this wasn't it. Their guards instantly up, they followed the small man as he led them down a couple more corridors, and towards what Elijah remembered to be a much smaller meeting room. He noted as well, that while they navigated the last few corridors there were far fewer light sources, and he and Molly had not had to squeeze past anyone for quite some time. It was unnervingly quiet.

They arrived at a large set of open stone doors, and stepped inside. It was indeed exactly as Elijah had remembered, and he was sure Molly would too. A small sized, circular room, with deep recesses set into the walls all around it. From a top down perspective it would look like a large cog. The man they had been following ushered them into the middle of the room, where a small bench, also made of stone had been set out for them, and then practically ran out of the room, slowly pulling closed the big stone doors behind him as he exited. There were two torches at the front of the room that flickered and waved, casting dancing shadows all around the room. It appeared they were alone in here, until Molly made a small noise, nudged Elijah and nodded to where the torches were.

A slim, elderly looking man had walked in from a small door set into the opposite side of the room to where they had entered, and was making himself comfortable. He had thin, greasy looking hair combed over to one side, very dark eyes, and a thin, angular face. He wore very slim, very well made clothes that accentuated just how small a man he was. They looked to be incredibly good quality though, even in the dim light. He also carried with him a very nice looking cane The cane looked to be made out of some kind of rare stone by the looks of things, although neither of them could make out what exactly it was, and there were carvings along the length of it, but again it was too dark to make out what. The main thing that struck both Elijah and Molly though, was that this was not the dean. This was not Percy.

They sat in silence for a moment as the stranger made himself comfortable between the two torches, on a small chair that had been set out at the front of the room. The silence seemed to stretch on forever, and Molly was just about to break it, when the man across from them beat her to it.

"Good afternoon. I understand you were here to see the dean. I am afraid he is quite unwell at the moment, and that will now not be possible. You could say he's not himself. You have some information for him yes? I will be able to take that from you." His speech was clipped, and short, as if not a single word was wasted. Either that or he couldn't be bothered to speak to them. Perhaps both. Elijah decided to answer him.

"That's correct, we had something important to pass on to him. Forgive us but...we were a little unsure of coming here originally, and now we're dealing with a complete stranger. Who are you, if you don't mind me asking? I don't recall ever seeing your face, and, well...we've both been here a fair few times."

A thin smile appeared on the man's lips, and he spoke on. "Ah, of course. Where are my manners? My name is Azrael. I am Dean Percy's assistant. Our meeting today will be shared in full with him of course. Now, what is it you have to share? We are all very busy men."

This was wrong, this felt wrong. Elijah knew in the pit of his stomach that this man wasn't trustworthy. He had met people like this before. He looked at Molly, his eyebrows knitting together slightly, and the silent question in his eyes of whether to continue or not. She met his eyes and almost imperceptibly shook her head, no. It was all the confirmation that Elijah needed to call this off.

"Look, I apologize for wasting your time, Azrael. Molly and I last came here a few months ago, and Percy seemed completely fine. We'll...come back another time." And with that they both began to stand up to take their leave.

Azrael sat and watched them for a second, unblinking. He then began to speak again, and this time there was venom in his voice.

"You will go nowhere. I know who you are, and what you can do. And I know, what is it is you know. You will never walk out of here with that knowledge." And with that he stood up to his full height, no longer looking like the slightly frail man that had entered the room. His hair thickened, looking even greasier than before. His skin turned darker and darker, until it was almost black. It was as if it was absorbing all the light (what little of it there was) from the room. He flashed them a quick, tight lipped smile. Whatever he was, he wasn't human. Elijah and Molly looked around as he stood up. Azrael must have been conducting himself, because sconces burst into flame, lighting up the entire circle around them, and in every recess a scholar was revealed, wearing thick black cowls that covered their faces. They were all holding a vicious looking curved dagger. Elijah cursed himself for his stupidity, they had walked right into a trap. Molly's hands instantly went to her bandoleer, and she pulled out two vials filled with dark green liquid. Azrael, completely unfazed, carried on.

"I was so disappointed you ignored my invitation up here yesterday. You and your friend down below. You were the only two, you know. I hate conductors, you know. Abhor them. They were all easy to kill though, so that's something. Only two left now, that can interfere. You all die so easily, so this won't take long. And then this city is mine."

Elijah snarled at him. "Not going to happen, I'm afraid. I don't know what you are or why you've decided you can just kill whoever you want, but it ends here. Molly, you ready?"

"Oh yeah. This has been fun, it has. We really need to call it a day now though. You say you know us, yeah? Then you know what my hobbies are. I love to make stuff you see, and I'm particularly fond of this little mix here. I really like making things explode, you see, I just never get the chance to very much. I think you've given me the perfect excuse. If any of your lackeys move the first one I throw is at you. Don't test my resolve." And with that she paused, looking around. The men and women in the recesses hadn't moved an inch so far. There was something not entirely right about them though. They had their cowls pulled up over their heads, but a small part of their faces were visible. They looked sick, they looked just like Azrael.

Azrael smiled. He looked around the room, and then at the two of them in the middle.

"Oh I like you already. I also like playing games. Before we play however, let me reintroduce myself. My name is Azrael." And with that he took a deep bow, and set his cane to one side on the floor. As soon as he did, he started to change once again. The hair on his head turned to become slicked back. He became more muscular, and visibly younger. His eyes turned from the dark, almost black they had been before to a bright amber colour. He stood back up, drawing himself to his full height, now well over seven foot, and smiled at them again. This time he revealed his teeth, which had horrifyingly been filed into spikes.

Elijah started to feel sick. What the hell had they walked into? Molly still held on to her explosives, and Elijah readied himself as well, drawing strength from the ambient ether he could feel in the air around him, and preparing to conduct if necessary.

"There we are, much better. You know, I knew someone would find out what was happening eventually. It's too bad really, I really am going to have to kill you both though." Azrael's voice was much deeper now, much smoother. "I have plans for this city, and I can't have anyone interfering. In a few days it won't matter anyway. This city will sink into a lake of ether. My paradise. I was going to ask you to join me, but I can already see the stubbornness in both of your eyes. We'll see how stubborn you look when I rip them out." He looked directly at Molly, and continued, "So you like to play games? Well so do I. And you know what? I think I will test your resolve."

He began to conduct, remarkably quickly. Elijah could almost feel it, feel the incredible amount of energy he was absorbing into himself. All the two of them could do was stand there, trying to prepare for whatever was to come next. Azrael had begun to glow an intense deep blue, almost black. It looked like the sheer energy of the ether he was absorbing was going to crush him. When it looked like he could take no more He stopped conducting. Elijah knew what was coming, and grabbed Molly, throwing the two of them to the ground. He was just in time. Azrael roared, exploding up and out of his crouched position. As he did an incredibly powerful shockwave burst out of him, rippling outwards through the room and beyond at lightning speed. After it was gone he fell to one knee, exhausted.

The wave of etheric energy exploded outwards and downwards, racing towards the people below, completely unaware of what was taking place above them. It surged downwards towards the streets. People didn't even realize what had hit them until it was too late. As the wave washed over them, the ambient ether in the air around them reacted, solidifying and crystalizing, trapping the entire city of Spectrum in rock hard, unbreakable cocoons.

"It's done..." He panted, "The city is frozen, trapped forever. Kill them." As he spoke Elijah and Molly picked themselves up, and the scholars started to slowly walk towards them.

Molly looked Azrael straight in the eye. "Thank you." She said, and launched both vials at him. Elijah saw it coming and grabbed her, diving backwards once again just as the vials left her hands. They hit the floor just as the vials hit Azrael, and an almighty explosion rocked the room, showering everyone in rock and dust. Elijah just made out what sounded like a roar from Azrael before he went flying backwards through the wall. The explosion had taken out the scholars nearest to him as well, but the rest hadn't given up. With Azrael taken care of all that was left was to get out of here. There was no time to think. As the two of them were lying behind what was left of the bench, covered in debris Elijah flung his hand upwards and in a spiral, conducting the ether as he did so. A jet of red hot flame shot out of his hands, scattering the remaining men and women, several of them screaming in pain as the flames hit and engulfed them. As the flames burned through their cowls they were revealed for what they really were.

They looked like hideous, imperfect copies of Azrael. Blackened like they were burned, they looked greasy like him as well. They had been transformed somehow, into horrifying monsters.

Elijah jumped back up, pulling Molly with him. "We have to get out of here, right now." He shouted, his ears still ringing from the huge blast earlier. Molly nodded, and they ran to the doors they had entered the room through. They were heavy, but surprisingly unlocked. They began to pull them open when they heard the most ungodly noise behind them. Dreading what they might see, they half turned to where Molly had blown a hole in the wall. There, climbing over the rubble and chaos, was Azrael. He still had the grin on his face, or rather what was left of his face. One side had been completely decimated, revealing his skull underneath. His clothes had melted off with the extreme heat, and he was badly burned. His upper left arm was exposed down to the bone. It was a sickening sight, and one made all the more terrifying by the fact that he should not have been standing.

"Oh god. Go! Get it open!" They pulled with all their might, fear giving them strength, and the door started to swing open.

"Where are you going? I thought you liked games?" Azrael boomed, and began to stride towards them menacingly. As he walked he clicked his fingers, and the assistants, who had been burned and sent running only moments before now came rushing back towards the two of them, again brandishing the evil looking daggers. The door was very nearly open. Elijah quickly moved Molly out of the way, and wedged himself between the closed and partially open door, pushing as hard as he could. It gave a tiny bit more, but it was enough. He squeezed himself through, grabbing Molly's wrist to pull her to safety as well. Just as she was struggling through the first of the men reached her, swinging wildly with his dagger. Molly screamed as she finally made it, although not without a small cut on her forearm. It could wait. That door wasn't going to keep Azrael, whatever he was, away for long.

They took off down the hallways and corridors as fast as they could, the sounds of destruction and carnage fading behind them. They needed to get off of the Cloud, and fast.

Chapter 5.

Panting, gasping for air, they eventually stopped. Molly slumped against the wall and slid down it to sit on the floor, trying to catch her breath.

"What...What the hell is going on Elijah?! Did you see what happened? I feel...Feel like I'm going crazy. I mean..." She trailed off, unable to express herself. Elijah felt the same way. He knew how to create fire from his hands, and had seen people move things with their mind. What they had both witnessed back in that meeting room though, was something else entirely. The only thing he could think of was that it was some very dark magic indeed.

"Come on, we have to keep moving." Elijah panted. They had managed to traverse the corridors back out of the Cumulous and up to the surface, and then to the nearest set of tunnels that led to where one of the cable carriage stations was, and were very nearly there. In the short time they had been down below ground the cloud had changed completely. They hadn't seen a single other soul, either in the cumulous building or anywhere in the expansive park. The place was completely bare, deserted. Whatever Azrael had been waiting to do, it was a pretty safe bet that he had done it now.

"We have to get out of here before we can't get to the carriage stations. I'm willing to bet Azrael is going to try and stop us leaving. If he manages to do that, we're stuck here. And then things will get really ugly." He pulled her up and they carried on. Something was most definitely wrong. The whole place somehow felt...sick now. Colours seemed washed out, it seemed like the plants up above were dying already, and the sconces that gave off their light down in the tunnels now gave off sickly, pallid shades of colour instead of the vibrant rainbow they did before.

They jogged down the last stretch of tunnel, and Molly was about to keep going when Elijah stuck his arm out to stop her from going round the last corner. Putting his finger to his lips to indicate silence, he very slowly leaned around the corner to see if there was anyone at the station. But there was nothing. No passengers, no scholars or apprentices, no guards whatsoever. What the hell was going on? He turned back to Molly and nodded, and as he did he caught a glimpse of the small cut she's gotten on her arm. It had turned a hideous shade of purple, and he knew what had happened straight away. Poison. He held Molly's chin and turned her face towards his. He hadn't noticed in the semi-gloom of the tunnels before, but she was sweating profusely, and had large black rings under her eyes too. She looked exhausted.

"Why didn't you say anything?" He hissed, as annoyed at her as he was worried.

"I'm sorry, I...we just have to get out of here. We can get back to my house, my workshop. I have things there that I can ta-" She never finished the sentence. Somewhere further back in the tunnels came an echoing, inhuman scream that instantly made all the hairs on their arms and neck stand on end. Time to go.

Without another word they broke into a run again. Elijah instructed Molly to get into the carriage and wait for him, while he ran to the control booth and began readying the carriage to descend. All he had to do was pull the right lever, set the controls to head back to the city, and he was done. The cable carriage jerked and jolted to life as the giant gears and mechanisms that controlled it squealed in protest as they rumbled to life and began to send it downwards. Elijah raised his hands towards the control panel and let loose with a blast of fire, incinerating the panel. It was a one way trip down.

With that done he turned from the smoldering remains, ready to run and join Molly, and that was when he saw the last thing he had wanted to see. As he spun round, several academics had already reached the end of the tunnel, and were now advancing towards him menacingly. At least he assumed they had been scholars, academics of some sort. These ones didn't seem as bothered as the ones in the meeting room had been about hiding their faces, and were just as blackened and greasy looking as the ones in the meeting room had been, maybe more so.

The skin was peeling off of them at an alarming rate. Their limbs stuck out at crazy angles, almost as if they couldn't be controlled, and they had turned an awful shade of purple. The last thing Elijah noted was that they all had large black rings below their eyes. Molly! It had to have been the same thing they had poisoned her with. There was no time to lose or waste fighting these poor men. Elijah ignored them, and went to run to the doors of the car and throw himself inside before it was too late.

"Hurry Elijah!" Molly cried as he prepared to jump, and then a shriek. "Look out!"

Elijah turned just as a spear came hurtling towards him. He sidestepped just in time and the spear went sailing down to the streets below. He very nearly lost his balance, teetered right on the edge of the platform for a second and regained his balance. The doors were almost too far away to jump to though, and the awful things that had once been men were almost upon him. Only one choice, one thing left to do. Elijah, with an almighty effort, jumped as far as he could, desperately stretching out for the cable carriage. It loomed in front of him, growing larger. Suddenly he was falling though. The carriage suddenly moving upwards, away and out of his grasp. He wasn't going to make it...

But somehow he did, with a solid thump he hit the side of the car, his hands barely managing to get a grip on the rail that ran around the top of it. He grunted as the impact drove all the air out of him. He had made it, just barely, and those monsters, men, whatever they were, were behind him now. Or so he thought. As he hung, catching his breath, there was another horrific shriek, followed by two massive jolts to the car and a scream. Lifting himself up, Elijah saw his worst fears confirmed. Somehow two of them had made the impossible jump and were now standing on the roof of the car, advancing on him, relentless. One of the creatures had not been so lucky, and was plummeting to its death. With all his might he heaved his shoulder up onto the rail and placed his hand on the roof.

"Molly! Could use a little help here!" He yelled as the two monsters, still brandishing their weapons, advanced on him. No answer. She was most likely unconscious by this point. Fine, he would take care of this, and then take care of her.

"Come on then!" He growled at the first one as he finished pulling himself up onto the roof. As he did, the academic stepped forwards, to the middle of the carriage, and gave a couple of swings of his long curved dagger, the same as the one Molly had been cut with. In the open air, with the natural sunlight overhead now Elijah could clearly see that it was coated with some kind of poison. Without waiting, and with all his effort, he conducted the ether around him, placing one hand down on the roof and suddenly the roof of the carriage itself started to glow with an incredible heat. The monster saw it happening, and tried to get away from the heat and the pain. As he tried first to step back he wasn't watching where he was going, and the curvature of the roof threw him off balance just enough. He tried to regain his balance. It was no use though, and he tumbled over the edge, eerily silent unlike the other one that had fallen, his gaze still fixed on Elijah.

The other one had not been so unfortunate. He still stood on the roof of the cable car, seemingly completely unfazed by the heat. Elijah could smell his feet burning, it turned his stomach. He was edging towards Elijah, brandishing his own blade. No matter, fire could still take care of this one, Elijah thought to himself. Once again he concentrated, conducting with all his will. Nothing happened though, and that was when it hit him. Utter exhaustion. He had nothing left, he couldn't conduct anything. Desperately, frantically, he tried to think of a way out of the situation. The scholar drew closer, and was almost close enough to attack him. There was nothing he could do!

The academic took one last shuffle forwards and was suddenly in reach. Elijah shut his eyes, realizing that this was it, this was how it ended. The man raised the knife, ready to swing down, when suddenly there was a loud creaking, groaning sound from underneath him. Before either he or Elijah could react the roof collapsed, sending the thing tumbling into the carriage below, right where Molly was! Elijah, as quickly as he could, ran over to and looked down into the newly created hole, dreading what he might see. It was not what he had expected. Molly was laying on the floor, with the remnants of two smashed vials nearby. There was a hole, melted into the floor of the carriage, and one on the ceiling. The creature had fallen straight through, it had never even had a chance to attack her. He smiled. Thank god she had had the foresight to destroy the portion of floor first! He knelt down next to her.

Elijah clambered down into the carriage itself. "You saved me Molly. You saved me." He hugged her close, and then laid her back down onto the carpeted floor again. "How are you feeling? Are you alright?"

She smiled weakly up at him. "I've...felt better. I'm glad I packed the corrosive. Good thing too, right? Hey listen...you need...you need to get me to Noah. He can...Hel-" She couldn't finish the sentence, and started choking and coughing. She was an awful colour, almost as purple as those things had been back on the cloud.

"Molly please, you have to stay awake. MOLLY!" Elijah shouted in her face, but it was no good. Molly's world faded to black.

Chapter 6.

In the darker recesses of the Cloud, down long forgotten corridors and once sealed doorways, in a room full of relics that time had forgotten, Azrael resided, as he had for many generations, in the prison the old scholars had forced him into. He sat behind a huge stone desk, cane by his side, now completely unnecessary, listening to the pitiful wretches that obeyed him deliver their report. Of course the two upstarts had gotten away. He should have gone after them himself really. Not that it mattered too much, he supposed. They would be, at most, a thorn in his side, an annoyance that he would pluck out and discard at the first possible moment. There were only two of them, after all.

As he sat, half listening to the excuses pouring forth from the mouths of the vessels he now commanded, he gazed around the room. Large, and square, littered from wall to wall and floor to ceiling with relics and antiques from a different era, all on various shelfs and tables. He supposed it had been quite lucky that the scholars had gone digging into the depths of...what was it everyone had called it now? The Cloud? What a ridiculous name. He would have still been asleep though, if they hadn't gone poking their noses into the past. He smiled at that thought. People always believed that important lessons could be learned from the past. Well, there weren't many lessons that he was happy to teach, but one of them was how to obey. Obey or die.

The men attending had finished their report, although he had barely heard a word of it.. His glittering amber eyes snapped back to them and he growled at them, "Fine. Get out. Send Percy in."

They bowed and scraped as they backed away towards the door, desperate to get out of his sight. Pathetic. Almost as soon as they had left, the man he had asked for, Percy, walked in. When he had been himself he had been middle aged, in incredibly good shape, and extremely knowledgeable. Azrael had known straight away that he could control and use this man to great effect, and had proceeded to do so.

Percy stood before him now. He was like Noah in build and stature, almost eight feet tall, and clothed in a suit of armor from the past that Azrael had procured from one of the other vaults upon waking. His enormous breastplate shone with a faint light, and underneath that he wore an unusual chainmail, that covered his chest, and extended to completely cover one arm and hand. The arm and hand that were not covered held a wicked looking trident, again one that shone just like the breastplate. Percy stood in the dimly lit room, saluted, and awaited his orders.

"Ah there you are," exclaimed Azrael, almost as if surprised to see him. "I have...a little something for you to do. I believe some acquaintances of yours were here earlier. Caused an awful scene, tried to burn me to death, can you believe it? Anyway, I need you to go find them and kill them, as quickly as possible. I know that you know who they are, I've been digging around in your head for long enough now. Elijah and Molly, the conductor and the inventor. Make sure they don't disturb my plans again. That is all."

Percy stood there for a moment. Azrael gazed at him, almost amused. The part of Percy that was still in control was struggling, desperately fighting against Azrael, who had sunk into his brain and now controlled him like a puppet. It was genuinely entertaining, but ultimately futile. There was too little of the man he had originally been left to do anything at all, really.

"Well? Get on with it!" Azrael snarled. Unable to do anything else, Percy saluted wordlessly, turned and stalked off to hunt his prey.

Once he was gone Azrael stood and strode around the room, contemplating things. The wave of ether should have taken hold fully in the city below, encasing everybody. It had always acted quickly. Just the conductors of ether would be left to contain. They had always been impervious to his particular brand of control and containment. He had never managed to figure out why, but it didn't matter. It was almost over already, and it had only just begun. The beauty of it never ceased to amaze him. It was almost instant every time, like a blanket covering the entire city, snuffing out any resistance before it could begin. None of them mattered anyway, and this place would soon succumb to the ether below, just as he had planned all those long years ago.

He laughed to himself, and walked towards the doors. He wanted to head out and up to the surface and survey all that would soon be his.

A short time later, at the very bottom of the Cloud, Percy arrived at one of the two remaining cable carriage stations that were still working. Quickly and silently, he started the carriage going down, and climbed aboard. He stood, still as a statue, in the middle of it as it descended, waiting and ready to do his master's bidding. Something inside him seemed to scream and wail, begging him not to do what he was about to, but it was a faraway noise, irritating like the buzzing of an insect, and it was paid no mind. All that mattered now was pleasing Azrael.

Chapter 7.

Not all the streets of Spectrum are as bright and as vivid as many are led to believe. There are parts of the city best avoided, where the streets twist and turn and tilt in such a way that no light ever really penetrates the darkness. A place where those dark streets give way to even darker, more sinister alleyways, where every step is hesitant, and where people are never quite certain what will be around the next corner. There were no rainbows and pretty lights in what had come to be known as the Shade. An area towards the North of the city, home to some of the roughest criminals and thugs of Spectrum, it mainly kept itself to itself, and the rest of Spectrum was grateful for it. Every city has its dark side.

Even in the darkest of places however, there are pinpricks of light. Tiny beacons of hope and comfort and warmth. Noah and his Inn had come to be known as one of these beacons. If one were to make their way into the very heart of the shade, past the gangs, stray dogs, dirt, decay and despair, and onto a little street called Dahlia Row, they would find a long, wide alleyway about halfway down. At the end of this alleyway would be a large, plain wooden door. Nothing special at first glance. However, if someone were to knock on this door and enter, they would be able to procure some of the finest food, drink, and shelter in the city.

Behind this large wooden door was what those who knew about it called the Star, a beautiful inn shining in the darkness of the Shade. After proceeding in through the door, there was a short walk down a narrow hallway, which then opened up into an enormous sprawling sanctuary. One truly cavernous room, stretching much, much further than should have been possible, littered with carpets, armchairs, bedding and so on. There was food and plenty to drink, and the place was lit throughout with soft, warm lights. It was here that Noah resided. Noah, the huge bear of a man, had always looked like the wrong person to cross in the middle of the Shade. This couldn't be further from the truth though. Despite the fierce look he sported frequently on his face, the myriad of scars crisscrossing his skin, and his long, grizzled beard, he was one of the friendliest, kindest, and honest men that someone would ever have the pleasure to meet.

The three of them, Elijah, Molly and Noah, had met years ago. The Shade had been a little shadier back then, and Noah had hired the two of them to clean up a little. Nothing major, just dissuade a few of the local gangs from doing anything illegal ever again, that kind of thing. Ultimately things had gone extremely well, with several of the gangs disbanding permanently thanks to Elijah and Molly, and Noah had thanked them for it. From that moment on they had all become fast friends. And what a friend to have.

"She'll be just fine" Noah rumbled in a voice so deep Elijah always swore he could feel it as well as hear it. "It was real close though. I reckon...twenty more minutes and we might not have gotten so lucky."

Elijah had burst through the door, as soon as Noah had answered the frantic knocking. A password had been requested, but had quickly been forgotten about as soon as Elijah had screamed the situation through the door at Noah, peppered with several unsavory words to really drive the urgency home. Elijah had practically been foaming at the mouth having run the entire way from the cable carriage station when he hit the ground.

The city, was now completely devoid of life, but in the most awful way. Elijah's only thought as he had been running was that whatever Azrael had done back up above must have caused it. Every single person was trapped, frozen in place in large blue crystals, the expressions on their faces unchanging, still in the middle of whatever tasks they might have been doing when the wave of ether hit. He thought he might have seen one or two shuffling figures in the distance, a twitch of movement here or there, but had been in too much of a hurry to really pay close attention. Elijah was fairly sure though, that whatever had happened on the Cloud was the cause of all of this.

"Thank you. I mean it, thank you so much." Elijah grasped him on the shoulder and squeezed, managing to give a small smile before he slumped down onto a nearby armchair and leaned forwards, supporting his head in his hands. He quickly glanced over at Molly, unconscious on the armchair behind him "Something's wrong Noah. Something terrible. It's like the entire city had just, well-"

"Frozen, lad? I know, I know. Noticed straight away. I wasn't due to open or let anyone in for another few hours, but I ventured out earlier, not long before you arrived. People are trapped. The streets are deathly quiet, and I'm betting you know why!" Noah walked over to the nearby fireplace. There was a large cast iron cauldron hanging over it, the contents of which were happily bubbling away. Noah grabbed a nearby bowl in one hand, a massive ladle in the other, and dished out an enormous portion of what smelled like lamb stew. Holding the bowl in one hand, he placed the ladle down, and walked over to where Elijah was sitting. Steam was rising from the bowl. Elijah always forgot that Noah was a fantastic cook, he so rarely had the chance or the time to come over to this part of the city. Noah handed the dish over. "Get that down you while you tell me what's goin' on. I know you know. You and Molly always have your fingers on the pulse of this city. I felt the energy from the ether, by the way. That giant wave of it? I'm guessin' that's what did it."

Elijah thanked him for the bowl and took a large mouthful before beginning with what he knew so far. He had been correct, and was pleased to find that it was indeed lamb stew, and it was indeed delicious. He began to regale Noah with his tale so far, everything he knew, right from the moment he had first met up with Molly and she had alerted him to what was going to happen just before he had turned up the previous day, moving on to the strange man in the cable carriage, and then the meeting with Azrael. He spared no details here, or anywhere else, and Noah's face became more and more stern as the story wound on. The lanterns all around the room slowly burned down as Elijah explained everything, shedding a warm light, and the soft, flickering shadows calmed Elijah's nerves while he recalled the story so far. He finished by explaining what had happened as they took their leave of the Cloud, right up to the moment he had arrived at Noah's door.

Noah stood up and walked around, hands clasped behind his back while he contemplated and digested everything he had heard. Elijah waited to see what he would say. Noah was one of the wisest people he knew, and there was no doubt in his mind that help would be forthcoming. The question was what could they possibly do? Elijah had seen firsthand just how powerful, how malevolent this Azrael character was. And if he was to be believed, there were only the three of them left in the entirety of Spectrum now that could do anything about the situation, everyone else having been drawn up there by a false invitation and killed. While Elijah was in the middle of these thoughts he heard a small groan from behind him.

"Molly!" He rushed over and knelt beside her, stew completely forgotten. Noah also came over to check on her.

"What an amazin', fast recovery my girl," He spoke as she lay there getting her bearings, "Take it easy for a moment. You were poisoned, and Elijah got you here just in time, saved your life I'd say, lucky for you. How do you feel?"

She sat up, a little shakily, but otherwise seemingly alright. "I'm starving," she said, causing the other two to laugh, "I don't suppose there's any food? Apart from that I'm fine, I think." Noah nodded and went away to fetch another bowl of stew. While he did Molly enquired as to what happened after she had passed out. Elijah explained, and they discussed what exactly was going on. Noah brought a new bowl of food over and joined in the conversation, periodically wandering around to top up one or two of the lanterns, making the soft shadows they cast bounce and dance around the room.

"Alright, so we know there's the three of us left. I've listened an' I don't think he was exaggeratin' when he said the rest were gone. So the question is, what next?" Noah asked. Elijah and Molly looked at each other for a moment, considering before answering.

"Well, there is one other place that might be able to help us. If there's anywhere we can go to get more information it's the Great Library." Molly's eyes brightened as she realized what Elijah was talking about. She elaborated for Noah's sake though. "The Great Library is to the East of the city. It's got, I think an entire floor of archives on cloud research, events, all sorts. Didn't Azrael mention something about wanting to do this ages ago? If this has happened before, it'll be in there! Elijah goes there all the time, right?" She looked over at Elijah as she finished. He agreed, smiling. She definitely hadn't forgotten anything while she had been unconscious.

"That's all well and good, but what exactly would be the point?" Noah asked. The other two looked at him quizzically and he went on. "Well I mean, let's say you get there, and the events aren't recorded? Or they are, but there's no mention of how this sort of thing was stopped before. Then what?"

Elijah admitted that this might well be the case, but went on to further outline his plans for the three of them. "We head to the library find out all the information we can and then go to Molly's house, We can restock, gear up there, whatever we need to do, and then we head back up to the cloud. I know it sounds crazy, but I know that whatever is happening, it started up there, and if we don't try and stop it, well...I mean, we have to. I can't abandon this place. It's my home. He won't be expecting us to go fight. He thinks we'll turn tail and run, I'm sure of it."

"Aye, well... it's not much of a plan, but it'll do. We can figure the rest out on the way. I'll start packing a few essentials, there's no time to waste, especially being as I can't think of anything better!" And with that Noah stood up and started walking over to the other side of the room, towards the bar at the center of the room to begin gathering a few vitals; food and water, weapons, torches and so on. Molly gave Elijah a small smile.

"I do agree with you, you know," she said to Elijah, "I hope we can find what we need when we get there. I hadn't even thought of that place until you mentioned it. I guess we'll see soon enough. Is it where I think it is? Next to the square where they do the bonfires?"

Elijah nodded. "Yeah that's right. I was quite good friends with the head librarian, I've been up to the top floor a bunch of times so I've got a fair idea of where to go when we arrive."

"Well good. I think in that case it would be best to stop off back at mine and pick up a few things before we head over there. I know we were planning to go after but I just think this makes more sense, I have some...really cool stuff I've been working on, to be honest. Stuff that can help us. A lot. I know you never really got a chance to look when you were there, but trust me. Oh and also..." She felt behind her back, checking her bandoleer, "I'm almost out of vials, only got a couple left. I can stock up on those too!"

Elijah agreed it was a fantastic idea, and called the new plan across to Noah, who was on his way back with a bag of supplies that would have looked huge on anyone else, but looked completely normal on him. Noah concurred with the new idea, and went on to explain that he had packed some stew in containers, water, rope, a couple of torches and the means to light them, and one other thing. "Oh yeah, I'm taking this too." He explained, motioning what Elijah and Molly had already noticed: an enormous battle-axe. Even strapped on to Noah's back it looked large, and Molly couldn't even comprehend lifting it. The axe itself had a long handle, blade to one side at the end and evil looking spike opposite it. The shaft was wrapped in cloth, and had notches carved into it, as if they were tallying something up. Elijah had a fairly good idea what.

"This has seen me through some tough times. Hopefully I won't need it, but it sounds like I will so..." Noah trailed off, the rest not needing to be said.

Molly stood to join Elijah and Noah, and they did a quick final check to make sure they were ready to go, not quite sure what they were going to find out in the streets. After checking that Molly was definitely feeling well enough to go, they started walking towards the door.

"Alright, so we travel quick and quiet. Attract as little attention as poss-" Elijah never got to finish the sentence. There was a loud banging sound at the entrance, followed by an even louder smashing, splintering sound. Fragments of door erupted down the hallway in front of them that they had been about to turn down. They tensed. Noah readied the axe, and Molly, still a little shaky, grabbed the last two vials from her bandoleer, dark blue bottles with a clear liquid inside. Elijah conducted ether, bringing a small fireball to hover above his hands. Mere seconds later, Percy exploded through the doorway.

Chapter 8.

There was a brief moment where nothing happened. A kind of uneasy, awkward silence where the two parties didn't quite know how to react to this new, unexpected situation. From the moment he appeared the group of three knew that something wasn't quite right with their old scholarly friend from the Cloud. Percy seemed to be equally caught off guard. To Elijah's eyes it looked like he was waging some kind of internal battle with himself. Percy's face looked like it was trying to display too many different emotions at once. And why was he wearing that armour, and wielding that enormous, menacing looking trident? Elijah glanced back at his face, and noticed; that awful pallid purple colour he was already far too familiar with. The calm lasted but a moment. And then all hell broke loose.

"Percy, are you-" was as far as Molly got before Percy swung the trident round in a huge arc towards her, frighteningly fast. Noah was just as quick though, and no stranger to fights and brawls from his years of living in the Shade. He brought his battle-axe up to intercept Percy's swing, gritting his teeth as the jarring clang of metal on metal reverberated through his arms. The trident stopped inches from where Molly's head had been. She had ducked out of the way as soon as she had realized what was happening. Noah knew who Percy was, and he was sure that despite his considerable size the Dean shouldn't be as incredibly strong as he was at this moment. He managed to voice as much to the other two as he and the man that had once been Percy were locked into a stalemate, the muscles in both of their arms bulging with the strain of keeping the other at bay. Noah's arms began to shake though, and a wicked smile appeared on his opponents face.

Elijah saw what was going to happen. As fast as he possibly could, conducted the ether, as much and as fast as possible, turning his hands into living flamethrowers, twin jets of white hot flame shooting towards his old friend. Whatever was happening, he had succumbed to it, and after what both Molly and he had witnessed before, they could take no chances. The fire hit Percy, splashing across the resplendent breastplate he wore, wrapping itself around him and then...nothing. The flames dissipated, leaving Percy completely unscathed. It gave Noah the reprieve he desperately needed though, as Percy relented and turned his gaze to Elijah. He threw his head back and roared laughter.

"Pathetic! Utterly pathetic! You think to strike me down with ether? I was BORN OF ETHER. YOU FOOL!" He roared at Elijah, and lowered his trident, readying to attack. It was at that moment that it became clear that Percy was a puppet of Azrael, just like the other scholars had been. Percy's voice now sounded exactly like his. Just as he went to lunge forwards two vials flew through the air and struck him, one to the body, and one to the legs. They shattered, spilling a clear liquid all over him. He stopped, momentarily thrown off guard by the unexpected. He turned on his heel slightly, and his gaze now moved across to Molly.

"And now you insult me with your cheap tricks? I think I will save the conductor for last, and kill you first little girl!" bellowed Percy, and with that moved in to attack. Or rather he tried to. The liquid from the vials had almost completely solidified. Practically frothing at the mouth, he struggled desperately against the invisible bonds that now held him. Molly smirked.

"Yeah sure, well I'll tell you what big guy, why don't you let us speak to the real Percy and we'll go from there, hmm?" She turned to Elijah, murmuring as an afterthought, "Those are one of the only type of vials I use that don't use ether as a base. It's lucky I had those!"

Elijah said nothing. He was still shaken by the fact that, even with all his effort and strength, he had been able to do nothing. He felt useless, and scared. This was a new occurrence, and he did not like it. He had never come across a material like the one on the armour Percy was wearing. He was completely impervious. Noah stepped in front of him and Molly, axe held in front of him.

"I'm stayin' here with our friend. You two know the plan. Go and do it. Now. No arguments, just grab the pack and run. I'll catch you up later." Elijah was about to argue, but Noah, as if sensing the coming objection, half turned towards him. With a silencing glare it was settled. Elijah grabbed Molly by the wrist, grabbed the bag of supplies in the other hand, and made to walk past Percy as fast as possible.

It was the last straw for Percy, as he realized his prey was escaping, and that he was in danger of disappointing his master. With an inhuman roar that stopped Elijah and Molly in their tracks, he struggled harder than ever. With a hollow shattering sound, the compound that had formed around him collapsed to the floor, freeing him. In one swift movement, he brought the trident down lightning quick, embedding it deep into Noah's thigh, the tip of the middle point jutting out of the back of his leg. Noah screamed in pain, and then instinctually lashed out, swinging the lethal axe blade as hard as he could into Percy's chest. It connected, sending him flying backwards, causing him to rip the trident out of Noah's leg as he went. Noah yelled out in pain again and dropped to one knee. Elijah and Molly rushed over, but he instantly waved them off.

"GO! RUN! Go to the back, the place we used to escape the gangs that time. I'll hold him off as long as I can." He looked directly into each of their eyes. "I'm sorry. I'll meet you soon." He pushed both of them away to stifle any protests and screamed at them to run again. Percy was on his feet already, slowly, confidently striding forwards, not a single dent or scratch on his glorious breastplate, which kept catching and reflecting the light from the lanterns. Noah forced himself to his feet as Molly and Elijah disappeared out back.

Noah squared up to Percy, hefting the axe in both hands as blood oozed and trickled out of his leg. It didn't matter. The adrenaline was racing through his veins, he was ready. Percy allowed himself a little smile and took up a fighting stance.

"If you're comin' for me, come get me you bastard." Noah growled.

They charged at each other

Chapter 9.

"Oh god, we can't just leave him!" Exclaimed Elijah, frantically looking around the tiny storeroom they had run into at the back of the building. They had run past several rooms that had not been around the last time they had been there, (an effect of the ether below the city, no doubt,) glancing in on the way past, but there were not the rooms Noah had been referring to. Elijah was now desperately running his hands along the walls, trying in vain to find what he vaguely remembered would be a secret passage of some sort. Nothing. No luck. There were odd shelves here and there filled with pots and jars, a pile of candles in one corner, and some sheets and bedding in another. Where was it, was it even through here?

"There's nothing in here Molly, I don't understand. Why..." He trailed off, confused. Molly touched his arm and pointed downwards.

"Calm down, it's going to be alright. He wouldn't have sent us through here without having a plan. Look." She said simply, indicating a small trapdoor set into the floor. It was designed to blend in and even now that Molly had pointed it out Elijah's eyes struggled to hold onto it. He quickly knelt down and gripped the tiny handle, pulling as hard as he could. As he did so the hinges squealed and moaned, a cloud of dust billowed upwards followed by a blast of stale air, causing him to cough and splutter. The back exit had clearly not been used for quite some time. Before Elijah could recover and say anything else they both heard a loud banging noise from back where they had come from, accompanied by roars and yells.

"Go! Just go!" Molly urged, practically pushing him down the hatch into the gloom below. He didn't need a second telling, and descended as quickly as he could. He felt guilty once again, this time about leaving Noah behind, but he knew the reasons behind it. Noah knew what needed to be done. He climbed down the ladder, Molly following right behind him. As soon as she was low enough she pulled the trapdoor back down again, cutting off the light from above, and leaving them in almost total darkness, save for one tiny sliver of light coming through from above. She finished climbing down and joined Elijah at the bottom, in the darkness. They were in a small brick lined tunnel. It wasn't made of dirt, as it had been the last time they had used it, many years ago, so she assumed that it must have been finished some time ago. She told Elijah to turn around, and retrieved a torch from the pack that he was now wearing.

"That thing must be killing you, surely?" She whispered, indicating the huge bag Noah had packed.

He explained "Its fine, it looks much heavier than it is. Noah left plenty of room inside, probably for whatever we picked up on our way to the library"

She nodded. That made sense. Molly asked him to, and Elijah turned and conducted a touch just to light the torch. Molly held it out in front of them, and watched as the flames cast all different shadows along the tunnel. The effects of the ether must have been strong in that particular area, because the flame on the torch keep changing colours, all different blues, greens, purples and so on. Despite the situation, Molly couldn't help but admire how pretty it was. They pressed on, whispering to each other as they moved as quickly as they could through the passage.

"If I remember correctly this leads to the sewers, right?" Elijah asked as they walked. The two of them talked in hushed tones the entire time.

"I hope so. If it does we can find the nearest exit and head back up to the streets. I'm not overly fond of being down here." She thought for a moment and then added "On second thoughts maybe we should wait before heading back up. What if Percy is there? Elijah, what happened to him?"

"The same thing that seems to have happened to everyone else. I don't know, it's like he's been brainwashed or something. What I can't figure out is why Percy is different. Everyone else we've seen has been, well...braindead I guess. He's become this awful, malevolent force. It's all linked to Azrael. We need to get up there and fix whatever has happened, we're the only ones left who can."

Molly nodded and agreed. They continued on in silence for a little while. The bricks that made up the tunnel started to dwindle, and the passageway slowly turned from brick to dirt as they progressed. The atmosphere was incredibly tense, with every distant, echoing noise or nearby drip of water making the two of them either flinch or stop completely still and strain their ears. The flickering torch didn't help either, the shadows loomed like monsters, waiting in the dark to snatch them away. Nothing was following them though, as far as they could both tell. Elijah mentioned Noah to Molly, and they both hoped he was alright. They didn't want to think about the alternative for their old friend. They both felt a crushing guilt over having left him, almost as heavy as the atmosphere in the tunnel.

They continued on for a while through the dirt, until Elijah stopped them.

"You feel that?" He murmured. Molly stopped, unsure of what he meant, and then she felt the breeze against her face. She also wrinkled her nose up at the same time. They were near the sewers, they had to be. Just ahead of them the tunnel widened, joining onto a large cylindrical tunnel, with water and waste running along the bottom of it. There were small walkways built into either side here, and they started following the one that (as far as the two of them could tell) led towards the house. There were ladders set into the walkways every now and then, but they decided to stay under the streets for as long as possible. It was the same down here as it had been above ground earlier, deathly quiet. Besides the water dripping in the distance, and the occasional breeze rattling down the tunnel there wasn't a single noise, not even the sound of rats scurrying around.

It was difficult to tell how much time had passed since they had been down there, and it was incredibly frustrating. They walked along in silence for the most part as well, leaving each other to their thoughts. What would happen to the city? What had become of Noah and Percy? Perhaps most pressing of all, was there anything they could actually do about it? There were so many more questions than answers, and all they really both thought they knew was that it was linked to Azrael back up on the Cloud. They had to get back there.

After a short while Elijah began to hear what sounded like rushing water. The water at the bottom of the tunnel was flowing past quite quickly, but nowhere near fast enough to create the noise he was hearing. Molly heard it as well, and was just as confused. Their confusion didn't last long, however. Rounding the next corner they came to, they could see what was causing the noise. The sewers were ancient, almost as old as the city itself, and the multiple earthquakes over the last few days had weakened them structurally. There was a large split in the tunnel ahead of them where the old sewers couldn't take the strain, and the water from the sewers was pouring down into it, creating a waterfall of sludge.

They approached the edge of the platform they were on, and peered over the edge. The torch that Elijah was carrying didn't give off much light to begin with, and the chasm the water was sloshing down into looked bottomless. He backed away from the edge a little and looked across. The gap had to be at least seven feet wide. They could try and jump it, or they could go back and try and find another way round. There hadn't been any access points up to the street yet though, meaning they would not only have to backtrack to where they started from, but also go the completely wrong way. That or head back into Noah's inn. And if Percy was still there...

"We have to try and jump it." Elijah had to raise his voice to be heard over the noise of the water. "We can't go back, it's our only choice!"

Molly looked at him, and then to the gaping chasm, and then back again. "You're joking, right? You might barely make it. Me? No chance. These walls and walkways are completely smooth as well, we can't even tie a rope to anything."

"Look, we can't waste the time going back. If your graphs, your predictions are right, then the earthquakes are getting progressively stronger. The next couple will finish this place off. We have to do this!" Elijah could see the doubt and fear in her eyes as he tried to convince her. "Look, I'll go first. When I'm over, you jump. I'll catch you. You can do this Molly." He wished he felt as confident as he sounded. Elijah took the pack off that he was wearing and threw it as hard as he could. It landed on the walkway on the other side of the hole, clearing the gap easily. Molly could barely stand to watch as he took a few steps back and prepared himself.

"Elijah!" She suddenly called out, just before he started running, "Make it. Please don't fall." She had visions of him falling, down into the water, sewage and eventually the ether below. Not a nice way to go.

He smiled at her, continuing to feign the confidence he didn't feel. "Piece of cake, I promise. As soon as I'm over I'll get ready, and then you go. We'll both make it, and then there's an exit not too far ahead if memory serves." He turned to face the pit again, and psyched himself up. He backed up another couple of steps, and then took off, not giving himself a chance to overthink anything. He just went, his feet pounding on the walkway. He ran towards the edge, closer and closer, until his last step, his toes right on the edge of the gap. He leapt with all his might, the darkness looming below him, stretching on forever. If he didn't make it...The distance seemed so much further now that he was in the air. Time seemed to slow to a crawl for the moments that he was over the blackness.

He landed. He hit the walkway, hard, clearing the gap by maybe a couple of inches, rolling forwards as he hit the floor. He allowed himself a moment for his racing heart to calm and slow down, vaguely hearing Molly cheer and holler in the background. Alright, now to get Molly across. He raised himself to one knee, and then stood. "Piece of cake!" He shouted back to Molly. She still looked nervous, but he hoped that between his encouragement and her seeing him make it across she would be happy to make the jump herself. "I'm ready whenever you are. I won't let you fall!"

Molly shouted across to let him know she had heard him, and then started backing up, preparing herself to jump. "Ok," she said to herself, "You can do this. You'll be fine. Don't even think about it, just go." She had backed up as much as she felt necessary, and was standing there, trying not to panic. With everything in her, she willed herself to start running, throwing herself into it, hurtling towards the edge. Three steps to go, two steps, one...Just as Elijah's had before, her foot hit the very edge of the walkway, and she leapt with all her might. She was soaring over the gap, the other side moving closer and closer.

It wasn't enough. Elijah saw it at the same time Molly realized it. She was starting to lose height already. Elijah was already at the edge of the walkway, and it wasn't going to be enough, he wasn't close enough to catch her! He grabbed the pack as quickly as he could and in one fluid motion swung it around and out over the gap, holding one set of straps, the others swinging out towards Molly. She was falling, stretching her arms out, flailing wildly for something to grab onto, and her hands managed to connect, just barely, with the straps of the pack as they swung out towards her. She hit the side of the gap hard, driving the air out of her, and Elijah grunted with the effort of holding her weight as she hung there.

"Molly!" He shouted, "You alright?" A stupid question, he knew, but it was asked in panic. She grunted up at him, trying to indicate that she would live. "Pull yourself up! I don't know how strong this bag is!"

That was all the impetus she needed to start dragging herself up. The cracked, jagged edge of the chasm, while not enough to have caught when jumping across, provided enough tiny handholds to begin clambering up, and as soon as Molly's hand appeared at the edge of the walkway Elijah grabbed it and began to pull her up. Before too long they were both sitting, panting on the walkway, both incredibly relieved that that particular trial was over.

Eventually they decided to move onwards, and before too long the echoing sound of the water was far behind them. Molly stopped Elijah, leaning in and whispering "Thanks, by the way. I think I'm going to start losing count of the number of times you've saved my life." And then she leaned to look around the corner of the gently curving tunnel they were now following, and said "I think I can see the access tunnel to the street above. I think we're nearly there!"

The look of relief of Elijah's face was clear. "Oh thank goodness. It feels like we've been down here for days, it can't be much more than a few hours though. Let's head up then, there's some ladders over there. Oh, and don't mention it!" And with that he turned and walked towards them. They had lit a torch after crossing the ravine, and it was burning very low now, and it cast ominous, creepy shadows everywhere. It was almost as if the darkness itself was closing in on them. Molly thought to herself that she would be extremely pleased to be out of here. Elijah was at the top of the ladders, prizing the sewer grate open as quietly as he could, as they had no idea what would await them on the other side of it. Molly followed him up, and reached him just as he managed to get it open. Despite being as careful as possible it still made a horrific, screeching noise as it ground open. He flinched, waited an agonizingly long time to see if anyone or anything had heard them, and then lifted his head to see what was happening above. Molly waited with baited breath.

After a long, tense moment Elijah whispered back down to her. "Seems quiet, come on." He climbed out, extending a hand back down for her to take as she climbed out. They breathed the fresh air for a moment, relieved to be out of the oppressive, quiet darkness of the sewers. Looking around, Molly realized they were roughly four or five streets away from her house, depending on what route they took. After that it was only another half dozen across to the Great Library. Molly told Elijah this and he invited her to lead the way. She did, remaining almost as quiet as she had below ground. As they walked though, she whispered to Elijah. "I wanted to ask, by the way...I saw what happened back at Noah's. Why didn't your conducting work? I've never seen that before."

He shook his head as they weaved their way through the countless blue crystals full of people that littered the streets. "I have no idea. I've never had that happen either. The only thing I can think of is that it was something to do with the armour Percy was wearing. I've never seen armour like that. It had a kind of ethereal, unreal look to it don't you think?"

She agreed that it did, wondering where such a thing could have come from, and if that was what had changed Percy into the monster he had become. "I think I have a fair idea of where it came from, actually," She said after a moment, "Who else could it possibly be but him up there?" She kept vigilant as they spoke, as did Elijah, glancing every which way to see if there was anyone around. Her nerves were completely frayed, and she swore several times that she spotted dark, hooded figures in the distance, only to have them disappear behind crystals or buildings when she froze and tried to focus on them. The worst part was that she didn't know whether it was all in her imagination or whether there really were people out there in the night.

Still going at a cautious pace, Molly lead the two of them down the last street before they reached her house. She was halfway through turning the last corner, Elijah following behind her, when she suddenly turned on her heel, changed direction completely and dragged Elijah back with her, hiding behind the house on the corner. Gathered in front of her door, were a dozen figures in cloaks and rags. A couple turned their heads as Molly dived out of view, but none of them moved. They were all standing completely still, in a semicircle facing outwards. Watching. Waiting. Molly, without a word, nodded around the corner. Elijah craned his neck around the edge of the house as carefully as he could, seeing exactly what it was Molly had hidden from. He saw, and moved back out of sight completely. Molly indicated her bandoleer. She had nothing left to fight with, no vials. She hadn't brought any of her latest inventions out with her either, so there was nothing she could do.

There was nothing for it. They needed to get into the house for supplies, and Azrael must have known that. Elijah began to conduct the ether, drawing as much of it into himself as he could, concentrating hard. He was going to have one hell of a fight on his hands.

Chapter 10.

The sun was nothing but a thin sliver on the horizon. The last few rays of light shone out across Spectrum oh so briefly before disappearing, plunging the city into darkness, with nothing but the shred of crescent moon in the sky to light the city. Azrael stood on the westernmost point of the Cloud, watching it disappear and contemplating just how simple everything had been so far, and how smoothly his plan had gone. He was in a relatively good mood, and was now only waiting for Percy to return and inform him that the only two people that could stand in his way were no more. He had known people like those before, in his first life, and knew their type well. Troublemakers, best to put them down quickly.

As if summoned by his thoughts, he heard Percy approaching. He allowed himself a large grin, full of pointed, sharpened teeth, and turned to greet his servant, ready to relish the news he would doubtless bring. As he turned, the moon's rays quickly illuminated a scene he had not anticipated. His smile quickly faded into a scowl. He intertwined his arms behind his back slowly, waiting for Percy to reach him. He walked briskly, and behind him was a limp figure, slung across the shoulders of two hooded scholars. This was not what he had been instructed to do.

Percy arrived, and a few seconds later the figure that had been slumped behind him was brought up as well and dumped unceremoniously on the ground. Azrael glanced down disdainfully at the corpse. The corpse moaned however, and he rolled his eyes. "Why have you brought someone back with you Percy? I gave you one thing to do. Is it done?"

"Please, master. I tried." He began to explain what had happened in between groveling and simpering, desperately trying to explain his failings. Azrael eventually held his hand up and silenced him. He walked past Percy and over to the body on the floor, backhanding him to the ground as he went past.Percy dropped to his knees as Azrael pushed at the man on the floor with his feet, rolling him over onto his back. Noah Groaned, staring up at him hatefully.

"Well, what have we here then?" Azrael knelt down as he said this, returning Noah's stare without a single worry. "Percy, I may not have to hurt you as much as I had planned to. You must be Noah. I know of you. You will prove useful in bringing the other two to me."

Percy was incredibly relieved at the sudden change in his master's attitude. "I found the two you sent me to find. He was sheltering them. He...he defended them and the two others escaped, I couldn't find them. I brought him here to appease you. I'm sorry..." he was still trying to explain his failings, still nervous.

"Interesting. Well yes, you should definitely come in useful. I love having leverage. A bargaining chip if you will." And with that he flashed Noah a wicked smile again, revealing the row of horrifyingly sharp teeth.

Noah spat blood out onto the ground. "I'll never let myself be used that way. Who are you anyway? Why are doing this?"

Azrael considered for a moment. He examined the back of his hand, as if studying his long, pointed nails, and then decided to answer. Percy and the other two in attendance remained completely still the entire time, Percy occasionally turning to look over the edge of the Cloud. It would be a long way down. Something inside him was telling him...to jump? That tiny, insistent voice in his head. He ignored the thought, just like the buzzing he had heard earlier in his mind.

"I think it's only fair, if I'm to keep you around for a little while, that we get properly introduced. My name...is Azrael. I'm...well, you could say that I'm not exactly from around here, and yet have always been around here." He seemed to be enjoying himself, weighing each word carefully before saying it, taking his time. "Do you know, I've forgotten how old I am exactly? I am what you people would probably refer to as an 'ancient'. Now, you know what I really love about you scholars, teachers, conductors, farmers, whores, and shop keepers...the whole lot of you? It's your insatiable desire to learn, to know, everything you possibly can. Without that desire I would never have gotten out of that damn prison they stuffed me into all those hundreds of years ago." He started to laugh. "I mean, can you imagine...haha...me! They managed to contain me!"

And in a flash he was in front of Noah, picking him up by the throat, all laughter instantly dead and he was roaring in his face as he held him up. "I WILL NOT BE CONTAINED AGAIN! I WILL TWIST THE ETHER UNTIL IT CONSUMES YOUR WORLD. EVERYONE WILL PAY! EVERYONE!" And with that he threw Noah to the ground. He slid along the floor, stopping near Percy at the very edge of the Cloud.

Azrael took a deep breath, as if to calm himself. He ran his hands through his hair and then clasped them behind his back again. "Oh, and you will be of use to me whether you like it or not. It's not a choice, fool."

Noah had heard all he had needed to hear, and his plan, as painful as it had been, had worked perfectly. He raised himself shakily to one knee. "Thank you." He said, and Azrael half turned towards him, eyebrow raised questioningly. "You may be as old as the foundations of...of this city. Hell, you might be older. It doesn't matter." He raised himself slowly to his feet. "I know who and what you are now, and that was all I came here for. And now I know we can beat you. As soon as I tell them, they'll figure it out. You know exactly who I mean."

Azrael smirked. "Oh go ahead, old man. If you're as smart as you claim, go right past me. Make your way off of this 'Cloud' as you call it. I'd dearly love to see the attempt."

Noah shook his head. "That's not my way off. In fact, the very thing that brought me here, if the thing that's going to get me away from you as well."

Azrael shook his head. "What are you talkin-NO!" He screamed as Noah, faster than anyone would have thought possible in his condition, turned on his heel and sprinted towards Percy, who was still standing on the edge of the Cloud. Before he had any time to react Noah had reached him, barreling into his side, and sending the two of them plummeting over the edge, and hurtling towards the city below.

Chapter 11.

The fire leapt and danced from his hands, and it was glorious. Jets of fire arced and span through the air towards their targets, each arrow of flame hitting its mark. The enemy, cloaked in hoods, daggers in hands, seemed to go on endlessly, but none could get near him. He was conducting like his life depended on it, and it did. The screams echoed around the streets and alleyways, the grotesque shadows of the victims bouncing around the place with each new fireball slung. It seemed to go on forever, and there were so many of them. Elijah was sweating profusely, nerves tingling, eyes looking everywhere at once, watching, planning within seconds, and executing every action perfectly. Molly crouched behind the corner of the house, safe from harm. He wasn't going to let a single one reach either of them. They were gradually gaining ground though, getting closer and closer. He could see the pallid, purple skin bulging under their hoods now, see the dead look in their eyes...

And then it was over. The last of them collapsed to the ground, beaten to the ground by the sheer heat and intensity of Elijah's attack. He stood there panting, and Molly came out from behind the corner to stand beside him. She squeezed his arm reassuringly and smiled. He looked at her and smiled back.

"There were so many. They...they must have been inside the house as well. I...I'm exhausted!" He laughed weakly, and they started to walk towards the house. These things, whatever they might now be, were not even a shadow of their former selves, whoever they had been before. It was as if they had lost literally all sense of identity, as if they were linked together, almost like a hive mind. Once one of them latched onto something, they all did. It was horrifying, and Molly wondered who these people might have been before whatever had happened to them had changed them. It made no sense to dwell on it now though. And at least these were no longer people they were having to kill, only monsters.

They stumbled through the smoke and flames that were left, still licking around the bodies on the ground. The scholars, now monsters that had been guarding the house had mostly just disintegrated into dust, but their cloaks still lay around all over the street, quietly smoldering. They arrived at the door to the house and went inside. It had been smashed off its hinges, and was laying on the ground surrounded by splinters. The house itself looked like it had been thoroughly ransacked. Ornaments were lying on the ground here and there, smashed to pieces. Furniture overturned, broken, destroyed everywhere. Molly didn't seem too concerned by any of this though, and led them through to the kitchen. It had only been a day since they had been sitting here, but things seemed so much worse now than either of them would have thought possible.

Elijah lifted a stool off of the ground. One of the legs had a large crack in it but it still seemed sturdy enough to support him. He pulled it up to the island in the middle of the room and took a seat, glancing around. The herbs and spices had all been pulled and ripped off of the wall, and were now scattered and trodden into the floor everywhere. Pots and pans and various other cooking utensils had been hanging here and there on little hooks, but again, they were now dented and destroyed and strewn around. Molly pottered around, somehow finding enough things still left intact to make them each a drink.

"None of this matters, you know." She said as she saw Elijah looking around, practically grimacing every time he noticed something else wrong. "It's just things, and things are very replaceable. Me and you though? Noah? This whole city? Not so much. And besides...they didn't get to the good things." And with that she gave him a little wink, passed him his broken glass of water, and very nearly skipped across to the far side of the room, to the fireplace Elijah had lit before. It was cold now, nothing but a little bit of ash in the bottom. Molly stood in front of it, and then crouched down and stuck her arm up the chimney.

"Molly, what the hell are you doing?"

Sticking her tongue out in concentration, Molly answered. "There's...a tiny lever, just far enough to...Aha!" There was a loud clicking sound, and Molly stood back, pulling a blackened arm out of the chimney and putting her tongue away. The wall behind the fireplace swung backwards, revealing a small dark tunnel leading backwards and downwards. Elijah almost choked on his drink in surprise.

"We never really got around to talking about what exactly it was I'd been working on before, you know, the last time you were here. I mean, yeah, I've got my potions and formulas, but oh boy...the really cool stuff? It's all down there."

"That's...amazing. How did you even build an entire room down there? How did you manage to do all that?" Elijah was already seriously impressed, and was getting up now and wandering over.

"It's the ether! In this part of the city it's always seemed particularly active, hence the extra rooms showing up all the time. This place just gained a lot of rooms over the years, and one of them happened to be a basement. Scared the hell out of me the first time I discovered it. Walking across my kitchen and then BAM! I fall through the floor into a new room. Had to get the floor replaced, strengthened and stuff. Totally worth it though." Molly realized she was talking incredibly fast and stopped herself for a moment.

"Anyway, come on, let's go and check out the fun stuff!" She said, and led the way through the fireplace, and onto the thin staircase behind it. Elijah initially thought it was completely pitch black, but as he ducked in he saw that there was the faintest glimmer of light coming from the bottom of the staircase. They waited for a moment for their eyes to adjust, and then began to descend.

Chapter 12.

The stairs were incredibly dark, darker than Elijah would have thought possible when they started heading down. It was odd as well, because the vague light that shone from somewhere below them never seemed to get any brighter or closer. The staircase descended slowly, going in a large clockwise spiral. Elijah felt an irrational fear as they moved downwards, convinced that at any moment he would miss a step, or step too far or not far enough, and go tumbling the rest of the way down. He kept one hand on the wall, which felt cold, and very slightly damp, and one hand on Molly's shoulder as she led the way. As the continued further the light did gradually began to brighten, and Elijah could finally make out the soft edge of each step, which was a huge relief. He wondered what on earth could be causing it. It was a pulsing, unusual light, with a strange, indistinguishable to it. He was actually quite excited to see what Molly had been working on. She was incredibly clever, one of the smartest people he had ever met, and it was one of the reasons they had both got on so well when they first met all those years ago. It was also one of the reasons he could never fathom why Molly had not been allowed to study on the Cloud as one of the scholars. Of course, if she had been up there when all this happened...

"Watch out here, there's no more steps." Molly warned. Elijah saw that the steps here did indeed stop, and gave way to a gentle slope. "We're nearly at the bottom now. It's always further down than I remember, it's a miracle I didn't break my damn back when I fell down here the first time. Maybe it's just the ether stretching my house out yet again though."

"I wonder why this place in particular seems to change so much. It's odd you know. I mean...things get more unstable near ether sources, but the main reservoir of it is miles underground. I mean, you would have to have a barrel of the stuff here to affect it that much, surely. In fact, I would think th-" He stopped mid-sentence as they rounded the last part of the slope and the passage opened up to what was essentially Molly's laboratory.

"A bit more than a barrel actually. Quite a bit more." Molly said in a very matter of fact tone. Elijah stared in amazement at the scene in front of him. Sitting in the middle of this vast room was an enormous glass container, truly huge, with various pipes leading off in myriad different directions. Contained within was a dark, thick liquid, constantly swirling and eddying around inside. It looked like an entire galaxy was being stored right here under the ground, as it was full of what looked like little stars, twinkling in the darkness of the liquid. Occasional swirls of colour span through the mix, further enhancing the look of a miniature universe. It was pure ether. Molly had somehow ferried pure ether from deep below the city to up here in her home, and Elijah could only presume that she had been experimenting creating with it.

It was impossible and amazing, and as he looked around he only became more impressed. The lab seemed to be split into three main sections. One third of it was filled with vials, bottles of various coloured liquids, and workbenches full of other ingredients and items. A couple of bandoleers hung on pegs on the wall as well, each one containing various pockets and slots for different vials and jars. Next to the bandoleers were the racks for those jars, full of all different potions, a rainbow of formulas, and all different types. Some looked like glue, other looked like water. One or two were bubbling away ominously in their containers, despite the fact that they weren't moving at all. Elijah's gave swept further around the room, and the next area he saw was equally as fascinating. Here there were also workbenches, but unlike the other corner, where they had been made of wood, here they were made of metal. Various instruments and tools lay around, most of which he didn't recognize, as well as a large furnace, and an anvil. Multiple creations lay around on the workbenches, hung up on walls, or stacked or placed on the ground. It looked chaotic, but he was sure there was some kind of order to it.

Looking further at the strange metallic creations he noticed something that looked like...were they wings? There was no way they would ever be strong enough to lift someone or something off the ground, surely? He also spotted something else buried under a veritable mountain of metal, debris and tools that looked suspiciously like a cannon, just slightly smaller. He was going to have to ask Molly about that. He turned his attention to the final rough third of the place, and now he truly had no idea what he was looking at. Along this portion of Molly's workshop the various glass pipes that had stemmed from the reservoir of ether in the middle all ended at various different experiments. There were all sorts of beakers, tubes, and small machines at work or sitting idle here.

Elijah knew how to conduct the ether, and he knew it existed, but that was about the extent of his knowledge. Molly was doing things beyond anything he had even imagined possible. He wondered if the academics on the Cloud had known about all of this before everything had happened. He turned to her, the look of wonder still shining in his eyes. Molly had a very big smile on her face.

"I thought you'd be impressed!" She grinned, "I've been real busy lately, as you can see. It's a good thing too I'd say, we're going to need most of this if we're going to stand a chance of doing anything."

"Yeah you're not wrong there. Listen, I'm curious...how is it that the ether in this room not eroding everything?" Elijah asked with just a trace of concern, eyeing up the huge spherical container of ether in the middle of the room.

"Ah! I knew you were going to ask that. I actually stumbled on it by accident you know. Total luck. I didn't even know what I had at first." She spoke as she walked across the room, heading to her bandoleers to refill them. Elijah wandered around, gazing at things as he listened.

"I was working on some new potions, testing to see what I could come up with. You know I've already worked out some pretty useful stuff, and the ones we use as standard now, but I'm always trying for new brews. So! I'm working away one day, and I add the wrong ingredient to one of my mixtures. I'm about to throw it away and start over when it turns this beautiful colour. Look over here, you'll see." She indicated to the bottom of one of the racks filled with vials. At the bottom, sure enough were 5 large jars of beautiful, pearlescent fluid, it glowed a faint, almost ethereal white. Elijah looked at it hard, he had seen that somewhere before, he was sure of it.

"So I had no idea what it was, but it looked valuable. I went to see Noah, paid him a visit with it, to see if he had any idea what it might be. He was, well, completely useless at first to be honest. But then something happened, right? We're both in the main room, he's packed up for the day, and I'm getting ready to leave. I go to scoop the jar of...whatever it is up, and I'm not really looking, and bang, over goes the jar. Spills this stuff all over the countertop, and it starts to drip and run onto the shelf below, yeah? Well Noah acts real fast, and goes to conduct the ether, as he does, to move all the plates, bowls and whatnot out of the way. Except...the liquid is already on the stuff. And he can't conduct. It stops people conducting, Elijah."

It instantly hit Elijah the moment Molly said it. He had been racking his brains from the moment he had seen the colour of the formula. It was exactly the same colour and look as Percy's breastplate and trident had been back at Noah's place. He said so to Molly.

"Of course! I don't know why I didn't think of that sooner! I mean, everything happened so fast, and I just didn't...well, that explains what happened with you then."

"Yeah I guess so. Where the hell did Percy even get that stuff? I wonder if the scholars up on the Cloud discovered this at the same time as you did. I mean, what are the chances though? It can't be..."

Molly shrugged, and began to load up one of her bandoleers (the biggest one she had) with various vials. She tucked a couple of the anti-conducting ones in there, Elijah noticed. "We'll find out once we confront that waste of space Azrael I'm sure. That's what we're doing right? With the stuff that I've got in this room we should be able to show him who's boss. Ah, we still need to head to the library first though, yeah?"

Elijah nodded. "Yeah, if there's anywhere we can help during all of this it's there. Well, Noah too, but he would always give-" He stopped mid-sentence, realising what he was about to say, and realizing that Noah had probably given his life for them. Elijah felt a solid lump form in his throat, and hung his head for a moment, the true realisation of what was going on and what was happening finally hitting him. They had been moving so fast that he hadn't had time to take anything in. Here, in the relative quiet and calm of Molly's lab, he finally could.

He braced himself against the nearby table. His knees and legs felt weak. Molly saw it straight away and rushed over in a hurry, practically dropping her bandoleer on the workbench. She reached him just as she thought he was about to fall to the ground and start sobbing, and gripped him by the shoulders.

"Hey, come on now. You're supposed to be the strong one of the two of us, I can't have you imploding on me now!" She laughed to try and lighten his mood, and Elijah reluctantly smiled along with her. He looked up at her with watery eyes.

"What are we going to do Molly? I mean, everyone's gone, near as I can tell. Either encased in crystal or turned into one of those...things, those monsters we saw up on the Cloud! We have no idea how to change everything back to the way it was, or even if we can. Say we go and confront Azrael, and we, I don't know...let's say we kill him. Then what? What if, god forbid, we make things worse?" Elijah was looking at her with a hard stare, he seemed almost angry. Molly returned the stare and answered him.

"Now you look here. We are not just going to sit here and do nothing. We won't make things worse, trust me. Have you seen it out there? It can't get much worse! I refuse to let you give up on me now. We are going to gear up, go to the library, and head to the Cloud. We're going to get ourselves to Azrael one way or the other, and make him pay for what he's done. That's a promise."

Elijah's stare softened as he realised that she was right. He apologised and acknowledged so, and Molly let him go, telling him that everything was going to be alright. Elijah apologised again and ran his hands through his hair and across his face, exhaling hard. He glanced around the room again and spotted a couple of things that he thought could be useful, and proceeded to start readying himself. With his momentary lapse of confidence and clarity dealt with he found that now, as he began to equip himself, he felt his confidence returning, along with his strength of conviction. It wasn't an instant, strong feeling, rather it was almost as if he now felt quietly confident, renewed and resolute to accomplish what they needed to.

He and Molly talked as they prepared, discussing strategies, what things they should take, routes to travel and so on. Molly had packed two bandoleers full of the precious, tiny vials containing a veritable rainbow of liquids. There was an appropriate gap in each one so that they could be slung over each shoulder, forming and X shape around her. To go along with that she had chosen to take a short, robust metal pole to fight with. Elijah commented that it didn't look like much, until Molly twisted the pole in the middle and it suddenly sprung outwards at each end, becoming a full length quarterstaff. Not only that but the ends crackled and almost seemed to hum with some kind of unseen energy.

"I've been messing about with the ether for quite a while. I was going to tell you but things have just been so crazy, even before all this. One of the things I managed to do was concentrate the liquid ether, and turn it into...well, almost a solid, I'm close to getting it that way. Anyway, what I've done here is applied the anti-conducting formula to either end here, and then coated the ends in the concentrated ether afterwards. The anti-conductor stops the ether from eroding the metal away, but it has incredible raw strength if it touches anything else. Think of it like coating the end of a weapon in poison, except this is more like an added punch in the gut. Found that out the hard way, by the way." She smiled ruefully here, thinking back to her painful discovery. "It's strange, the anti-conductor doesn't stop the ether from being applied, but does stop people conducting ether against the weapon. I don't know why, but...works for me!"

With her equipment readied she explained to Elijah that she was heading back upstairs to wait for him. She was ravenous, having barely eaten at Noah's, and they needed to try and keep their strength up. Elijah agreed, and she started heading up the stairs. She shouted down that she would get something ready for him as well, and then Elijah was left in the quiet of the laboratory, with just the hiss and hum of the various instruments to keep him and his thoughts company. He took another wander around the place, stopping here and there to examine various pieces of equipment or half completed inventions that he had missed before. As he wandered around he got closer and closer to the huge glass container of ether in the centre of the room. He had never been this close to it before, and had barely even seen it up close. It was still ceaselessly swishing around inside, almost as if it had a life of its own. He walked right up to the glass and decided to lift a hand to place it on there. He didn't really know why, he was partly just fascinated at how close he was to such a dangerous material. Molly had explained that the entire inside of the sphere was coated in anti-conducting fluid and so was completely safe.

He lifted his hand up to touch the glass when something extremely unexpected happened. Elijah jumped back in surprise, stifling a cry. His entire forearm was glowing, bright colours, a mixture of yellows and oranges, and the brightest whites. It was almost as if his arm...was on fire. He looked down at his arm again. Now that he had jumped back away from the ether it had returned to normal. There wasn't any sign it had ever been different. He rubbed it with his other hand to be sure, but everything was fine. He moved forwards again, very cautiously. Sure enough, as he moved closer and lifted his arm it started to glow again, softly at first, but once he had his hand right up against the glass it looked as if his arm was engulfed in a roaring inferno. It was an incredible sight. Elijah had a sudden idea, he took his hand away from the glass, just by a couple of inches, and held it palm upwards. As slowly and carefully as he could manage, he conducted the smallest, most insignificant amount of ether he could. Instead of the tiny candle-like flame that normally appeared, a huge roaring fire appeared in his hand, flickering and dancing, completely engulfing his palm. It was incredible, he couldn't quite believe it. He cut off the ether he was conducting and looked at his hands again, and then back at the large container of ether. His gaze wandered over to the various sealed containers of the stuff that Molly had been doing experiments with. A slow smile began to spread across his face as he hurried over to the workbenches. He had an idea.

Chapter 13.

The fall had seemed longer than he would have thought possible. As the two of them tumbled through the air Noah had been mystified by what his brain had taken in, by what he had noticed. The horizon, the view...both incredibly beautiful. The city below, stretched out like a miniature model, and then rushing up to meet both of them. It was amazing, and not as scary as he had thought it would be. Perhaps, in his mind, he had already resigned himself to death, to his fate. Although perhaps that had never been the case, as his actions certainly seemed to undermine that theory.

As they had plummeted towards the city they had fought each other. Noah kicking and punching at Percy, trying to keep him as close as possible. He had tried conducting against him as well of course, but had forgotten in the heat of the moment that it was impossible to. Percy had decided he wasn't going to go down without a fight either, however, and returned Noah's attacks with equal ferocity. The two of them were far too close to each other, and the entire situation meant that Percy's trident was of no use to him, thankfully.

They continued spiralling downwards, the air ripping and tearing at them as it rushed past. Noah, looking downwards, had realised that they had seconds left before they hit the ground. He grabbed Percy, who was still desperately trying to attack, not seeming to realise what was about to happen, and pulled him as close as possible, ignoring the blows to his side that his foe continually administered. He was in effect laying on top of Percy as they tumbled the last few feet, and the ground sped upwards to greet them. Any second now...

There was an almighty hollow clanging sound as they hit the street, sending an enormous shockwave and dust cloud flying down the cobbles and alleyways nearby, shattering the glass in the nearby windows. Noah felt the shock of the impact tear through him. It was absolute agony, he felt bones breaking, bruises forming almost instantly and large cuts all over his body from where the breastplate had cut into him, and from his fight earlier. But his plan had worked. He had banked on whatever magic had protected the breastplate from being vulnerable to conducting to also save it from other damage, and it looked like it had worked, the armour was nigh on indestructible. Slowly, painfully, he half lifted, half rolled himself off of Percy and onto the cobbled path. He gingerly felt around his body with his left arm to see what the damage was – his right arm was broken. His ribs, they were probably cracked, he could barely touch his front it was too painful. He thought one of his feet might have a hairline fracture as well, it was immensely difficult to stand on it. He glanced across as Percy. His foe was laying, most likely dead in the middle of the street in a sizeable crater. Noah shook his head. He hadn't wanted to do what he had done but had been left no choice.

The things he had suspected had been going on had been confirmed by the shadowy Azrael figure on the Cloud. He hobbled over to Percy and knelt over him to examine the breastplate. It was, incredibly, still in one piece, with not a dent on it. Noah shook his head and wondered what it could possibly be made from to withstand such punishment. He leaned in closer to see if perhaps there was a way to take it off, and suddenly recoiled in shock. Percy was still breathing. How was he still alive? The impact should have killed him outright. Noah faced a real problem now. He stood up, wondering if the man who woke up, if indeed he ever did wake up, would be friend or foe. Would he still be Azrael's puppet?

Noah limped over to a nearby house. He considered his options. He supposed he could try and wake Percy up, with the real risk that he was waking up a man who now seemed unable not to kill him. He could wake him up and Percy could be back to his old self though, this was obviously the preferred outcome. Of course, what if he did awaken, and was unable to move, crippled or injured beyond help? Noah would have to put him out of his misery, and as hard a man as he was, that was not something he wanted to have to do. He would leave him for now. He was no threat at the moment, and if and when he did wake up he would not know where Noah had gone. With the matter settled in his mind, there were now just a few things that Noah had to do. He began to conduct, groaning to himself in pain as he stood there.

The door of the house he was leaning against flew off its hinges, showering splinters everywhere. Noah held the door in place, floating there, and conducted further to rip and tear his overcoat into strips. He concentrated, and the door suddenly snapped into hefty planks of wood. He let most of the wood fall to the floor and levitated a piece over to himself. One final part of conducting, and he gritted his teeth for this one. Sweat immediately started beading on his forehead, and it was all he could do to stop himself crying out in pain as he manipulated his own bones, snapping his arm back into place. He wanted to collapse to the ground, the pain was intense, but he wasn't finished yet. He brought the piece of wood over to himself and tied it to his arm with the strips of his overcoat. That would do for now to set his arm. He could only assume that his foot was broken, but there wasn't a great deal he could do about it. He couldn't exactly stand around. He was just going to have to deal with the pain. Wonderful.

Percy was still unconscious, so there was nothing to be done there for now. Hopefully he would be his old self when he woke up. Noah looked around properly for the first time, getting his bearings. He knew where he was, and he knew Elijah and Molly had said they were going to Visit the Great Library before heading back up to the cloud. He hoped they had stuck with that plan. He would head there and try and meet up with them. They needed to know what he knew before they rushed off to try and fight something they didn't understand. He could only pray that he wasn't too late. He went to set off, and winced. He conducted once more, picking up a large piece of door from the ground and snapping it with his mind, fashioning himself a makeshift crutch. It would do for now. He set off, although not quite in the direction of the library, a determined grimace set on his face. He wasn't done yet.

Chapter 14.

Molly sat at the table in what was left of her kitchen. She had managed to throw a quick bite to eat together for the two of them. Nothing amazing, some beans and pulses, a little salad and some dressing. The scholars who had been there before had turned cupboards, shelves, and all manner of storage inside out, destroying most things, scattering the rest across the house. Why they had seen fit to empty almost all of her food containers onto the floor she had no idea. She supposed they must have been looking for all of her equipment. Luckily she was smarter than they were, especially in their current state. She took another bite of her food. Happy to just be sitting, having a brief respite. She was just beginning to wonder where Elijah was when her question was answered as she heard him coming back up the stairs.

He ducked his head and came out from inside the fireplace. At first she wondered what he had actually taken from down below, if anything, but then she noticed that he was wearing one of her bandoleers. She gave him a puzzled look, and was just about to open her mouth to ask why, when he turned around. Every pouch was filled with the largest vials she had, and inside each vial...was that ether? What on earth was he thinking?

"I know exactly what you're going to say, I do. It's incredibly dangerous if it gets spilled, I get that, but look, I used your gear, your vials. It's all coated with the anti-conductor, so it should be safe. As safe as it can be anyway."

"You're crazy. I know I carry some dangerous stuff around, but my bandoleers aren't filled with ether, damn it! Think about where we're going and what we're doing, Elijah. If some of that stuff spills on you, that's it, you're finished. Horribly disfigured or maimed, and that's if you're lucky. And why would you even want to bring it with you?"

Elijah smiled and nodded downwards, indicating the overcoat he was wearing. Molly hadn't noticed before, but his hands were thrust deep inside the coat, so she hadn't seen them yet.

"I don't know how, or why, but when I was downstairs I went over to examine the ether. It does something Molly, something amazing. I can't explain why, I have no idea but...well look" and with that he took his hands out from under the coat, and quickly rolled the sleeves up. The various jars of ether strapped to his back and front were having the same effect as they had been before, and his hands and forearms were glowing the same luminous whites and yellows and oranges as before, like his hands were on fire. Molly's mouth dropped open in amazement, and Elijah rushed over excitedly to show her.

They discussed what could possibly be happening over their meagre meals. They discussed a couple of different theories, both thrilled at this new discovery. Molly touched Elijah's hands and arms, baffled that despite their appearance they were still cool to the touch. Elijah demonstrated how much the ether had enhanced his conducting, and stopped very quickly, scared of burning the kitchen down. Molly very quickly conceded that this might actually be a smart plan, and the matter was settled. "If only I'd started stockpiling ether for some of our earlier jobs..." Molly had said playfully.

It was time to go. They were both ready, and knew where they were going. As they walked to the front door Molly took one last look around the house. She put one hand on the doorframe as they walked out. As they turned and began to walk along the street they suddenly felt a shuddering sensation beneath their feet. It quickly subsided, and Elijah and Molly looked at other, silently asking what had just happened. Molly was just opening her mouth to speak when the tremors came back, much stronger than before, catching them completely off guard. It knocked Elijah to the ground and Molly only managed to stay upright by using her quarterstaff to support her. Without warning the street they were on started to split open.

Molly screamed and jumped backwards away from the rapidly opening crevasse appearing before their eyes. Elijah followed suit, jumping away from the chasm. A cart further down the street was swallowed up whole, and chunks of houses were breaking off, being rocked to their very foundations. Roof tiles, guttering...all sorts of debris rained down as the earthquake tore through the city. And then, as suddenly as it started, it was over. The two of them listened, and Molly was sure she could a deep rumbling sound from below the earth, almost as if the earthquake had finished what it was doing above ground and had decided to travel lower to cause havoc there as well.

Elijah stood up shakily. He felt the bandoleer slung around him to make sure none of the vials were cracked or broken, and asked Molly to check him over as well. Everything was fine, no breakages. They were just a little shaken up.

"What the hell was that?" Elijah asked, still a little stunned by what had just happened. Before the events of the last few days there had never been an earthquake recorded in Spectrum, ever. It was unheard of, and now they were getting incredibly intense, just as Molly had discovered they would. They needed to get to the Great Library, and fast. They started to walk down the street again, now sticking decidedly to one side due to the enormous hole in the middle of it. Occasionally Elijah would wander a little closer to the edge and peer down. He swore he could see the faint, dark blue glow of ether far below the earth, but perhaps it was just his imagination.

He wondered how much damage had been done to the city after that tremor. All the houses and buildings they walked past were now covered in a spider web of cracks, with window coverings hanging off hinges, doors splintered and hanging at odd angles, and windows shattered. Carts had been overturned, and were either laying on their sides, or had been swallowed up by the ground. One or two were balanced crazily, teetering on the edge of the abyss. Many of the crystals trapping the people all over the city were now lying down or tilting at crazy angles.

Elijah didn't have to wait long to get an idea of how much damage had been done. The street they were on soon joined onto another one, they were only a couple of streets away from the library now. This one was smaller, little more than an alleyway running perpendicular to the street they had just been on, but the damage was just as bad. The enormous rip in the earth continued, heedless of the row of houses ahead of it. It had pulled them, ripped them in half, continuing onwards through the city. The buildings were the same here as well, nothing was in a particularly good condition. The two of them jumped over the hole in the ground where the gap was smallest, and continued going the way they needed to, talking as they went.

"This has to be his doing, there's no other explanation for it. It's too coincidental for something like this to happen at a time like this." Molly said. She talked in hushed tones. The city itself was still incredibly quiet, and the atmosphere felt heavy, almost as if it was stifling her when she talked. It was almost as if they had to whisper now. The many people staring blankly out at them from their ether prisons didn't help either.

"Agreed. I don't know how, or why still, but it is. The sooner we get to the Great Library the better. I know pretty much exactly where we need to go so I'll head straight to it. The sooner we know who, or rather what we're fighting the better."

"Mm yeah. I don't even know if we can go up against whatever Azrael is at the moment. You saw him, saw what he stood up to. Those explosives are no joke. He's not human, we know that much." She paused for a second, and almost shivered. "I hate this place now. It's so quiet. There should be people everywhere, going to the market, working, going to school...but there's nothing. It's eerie."

Elijah nodded his agreement. Despite the fact that he did agree with what Molly thought he still couldn't help but notice how pretty the city still was. Spectrum seemed determined to live up to its name, and as the sun shone down, it highlighted another feature of the city. Unlike the rainbow puddles of a few days before, the heat haze the sun was causing shimmered in a rainbow of different colours. It was incredible because no matter where in the distance you looked, if you focused just a little bit, there was a haze of a different colour. Reds, purples, yellows, a wonderful deep azure over here, a vivid pink over there. Elijah loved it. He loved this city. He would save it. They continued talking as they walked, Elijah trying to lighten the mood a little.

"Do you remember that time we were in those mines in Tyreem? Oh my god..." He looked over at Molly, saw the look that had come across her face and nearly burst out laughing.

"It wasn't funny Elijah! How would you like it if a pack of howling Snarves chased you? You're welcome by the way, for getting to use me as bait." She pouted and crossed her arms, but Elijah knew she wasn't serious.
"It was hilarious! I could hear them howling from the other end of the mine. They weren't the only ones howling either. And come on...how else would I have recovered our valued customer's property without you?" He gave her a big grin here, and she finally cracked a smile too.

"You drive me crazy sometimes, you know that, right? I mean it though, it's like...you know how sensitive you are about your hairless legs now? I flinch whenever I hear anything howl now, so thanks for that!" They both laughed, Elijah giving a sarcastic thanks to her for managing to find a way to bring his poor legs into the conversation. He admitted he deserved it though. They continued talking as they walked, until they were very near to the end of the street they were on. Just round the corner and they would be at Pyre Square, and the Great Library. Elijah slowed them down just before they rounded the corner, and told Molly to wait while he checked to see if there was anyone around. Just because they hadn't seen anyone the entire day, did not give them an excuse to be careless, after all.

He peeked around the edge of the last house on the row, and had a quick look to see what the situation was. The square was resplendent as always. Tiled with all different coloured bricks in a repeating pattern, and a gigantic fountain in the middle of it. Elijah had always found the fountain to be a little odd, but he understood the symbolism behind it. It was a large, circular affair with a large stone man holding a torch in the middle. Fountains showered water in various different directions, creating a pretty pattern. There were normally all manner of coins in the bottom of the pool as well, from all different people looking for blessings or good luck, or just to remember. Once a year the fountain was shut off and a pyre was built on it. There was a huge gathering and celebration as the pyre was lit in remembrance of a great fire that had ravaged part of the city year before. Many had died to put it out, and now their lives were celebrated, rather than mourned. Elijah thought this was a good way to honour them.

Of course, much like the rest of the city, the place was now completely silent. It had the same, odd feeling as the rest of the city. In fact, he had never seen it this quiet. He had half expected someone, or something to be here though, and it was unnerving that there was absolutely no one around, either friend or foe. The square was extremely large, with lots of streets leading off of it, but as far as he could tell from looking around there was nothing. Straining his ears to hear at the same time he was looking around he couldn't hear anything either, just the distant cawing of a few birds, the water pouring into the fountain, and his own heart, hammering loudly in his chest.

He turned back to Molly. "I think we're good. Let's get over there as fast as possible. Ready to run?" Molly nodded that she was. She knew as well as Elijah it was best not to hang around. It made her anxious. They were pretty much directly opposite the library, so it was a straight shot across and round the fountain to the entrance. They took off, running through the square as quickly and quietly as possible. The setting sun cast long shadows across the square, making it feel like every edge could conceal some unknown danger. They ran as fast as possible though, skirting the edge of the fountain. Elijah glanced down as they ran past. If he believed in luck, if he had a coin, he thought he would have thrown it in.

They were past the fountain, the Great Library looming large ahead of them. It, like the rest of the city, looked like it had been abandoned in the middle of the day, and it had really. The main doors were still wide open, with the occasional crystalized person dotted around. Again, Elijah had an uneasy feeling as they approached. The mammoth pillars to either side of the main doors could hide anything. Why hadn't he thought about that before they took off? Should they have been more cautious? They were so close now, just a few more feet...and then something happened that neither of them quite understood. As they ran closer the doors began to close, seemingly of their own volition. They sped up, trying to get inside before they were shut out by whatever mysterious force this was, but as soon as they did the doors closed all the faster. They reached the bottom of the library steps just as the doors slammed shut, and skidded to a halt.

Completely mystified, they looked at each other to see if either of them knew what had just happened. It didn't take long to find out though. A low, mocking laugh began to echo around the square, getting progressively louder. Molly already had her quarterstaff out, and Elijah readied himself to conduct, feeling the ether around him, ready to use it. Suddenly, in front of them, a hooded figure appeared from behind one of the columns. He hadn't been there a moment ago, they both could have sworn it. It was as if he had just materialized out of thin air. As he walked slowly towards them his cloak swirled around him, and Elijah suddenly found it very difficult to focus on him. It was the cloak! That was why they hadn't seen anything. It was taking on the appearance of whatever was behind and around it, hiding him incredibly well.

"I knew you would come here. You are pathetically predictable, both of you." It was Azrael's voice, coming from the figure in front of them, who was not Azrael. It was a disturbing thing to see and hear. The voice continued. "I'm afraid I can't let you go any further. It's been a fun little game of cat and mouse, I won't lie. This is where it ends though. Don't you love the cloaks? Another relic from down in your "Cloud's" vaults. Goodbye." The man in front of them looked up with a wicked grin on his face, and as he did he drew a couple of long, evil looked scimitars from the folds of his cloak. They weren't covered in poison this time. It wasn't about turning the two of them into whatever everyone else had become anymore. It was about killing them. Worse still, the blades seemed to be imbued with the same properties as the clothes he wore, making them incredibly difficult to keep track of. The man lifted his head up, and once more in Azrael's voice, screeched "Show yourselves!"

Elijah and Molly went back to back, looking around them in horror. From every single alleyway, street entrance and pillar shadowy figures emerged, each wearing the same vision distorting clothing as their apparent leader. It hurt Molly's eyes already to look at them, it was like spotting something out of the corner of your eye, only to look at it and there be nothing there at all. They were in serious trouble. The figures started to advance, each one drawing an identical pair of blades as the first had. Even with the ether strapped to his back and Molly's supply of vials, there were too many to take on.

The men were still advancing, taking slow, confident steps forward in perfect unison, creating a complete circle around the two of them between the fountain and the steps. They stopped a short distance away from Elijah and Molly, and waited. The silence seemed to stretch on forever, as if both sides were waiting to see what the other would do. A strong breeze blew through the square, whipping some of the men's cloaks up, causing the painful illusion to happen all around them.

"I've got an idea. You packed all different vials, right? Well, did you pack any of the ice vials? I know you make them occasionally."

"Of course. I've got a couple, why?"

"I need you to get one out and throw it at the ground at our feet when I say. I'm going to give us some cover."

Molly understood straight away what he was going to do. "Got it. Don't forget to jump or you're getting frozen to the floor. I'm ready when you are."

The men had started advancing again, clearly they had waited long enough, and they knew what the conclusion of this fight was already. The circle was getting smaller rapidly.

"Alright Molly, wait for it...NOW!"

As soon as he shouted this Molly whipped the correct vial out of its bandoleer and threw it at the ground, hard. They both jumped as she did, and as the vial shattered, a sheet of ice flew out from under them, spreading across the ground in a flash. Several of the men closest to them were immediately frozen, stuck to the ground, and a few others took a cautious step back. Without wasting a moment Elijah channelled as quickly as possible. Concentrating intensely he crouched down and shot a jet of flame out at the ground below him, now frozen solid. Molly stepped back as the entire sheet of ice turned to vapour almost instantly, cloaking them in an almost impenetrable white cloud. Molly and Elijah had fought in these conditions before, however, and this environment was no stranger to them. It was an even fight now.

The men didn't hesitate even now however. Driven by their desire to please their unseen master they charged in, screaming. It was exactly what the two of them needed. With their sight obscured the noise was the best thing they had to go on. They wanted their opponents to make noise. Molly lashed out first, the very tip of her quarterstaff connecting with the man who was charging at her. It hit him square in the gut. She felt the impact, and then the special ether formula on the end worked its' magic and she heard him go flying. She turned to face the next couple, swinging the staff low to try and take out their feet. It worked for the first, but the second blocked with his blade, the impact sending a shockwave up her arm. She stepped back quickly, the man's other blade whistling through the air where her neck had been a second before.

Elijah was also fighting hard. He felt as if he were dancing. Three men were slicing and hacking at him. He was on the defensive and he knew it. He couldn't find a break in the attacks to channel effectively. Not without getting killed at least. He dodged and ducked left, down, away from his attackers over and over, but it was pointless. He was going to tire, and he knew it

"Molly! Clear vial, now!" He yelled across the noise of the fighting. He dodged another sword as it came arcing towards him, but wasn't quite quick enough. It caught the very top of his arm, slicing through his shirt and ripping into his skin. He winced, and dodged further back, shooting a quick jet of flame out of his other hand. It kept the approaching attackers at bay. Only for a moment, but it was enough. Molly had heard his yell for help and responded. Elijah just barely managed to see it coming before it hit him square in the face. In one smooth motion he span around, caught the bottle, and threw it to the ground in front of the three men. The bottle smashed open, showering the three of them in the clear fluid contained within. They stood there for a moment, a look of surprise on their faces, and then the grimaces returned, and they kept advancing.

Elijah smirked and lowered his guard. They were ready to lunge at him when the fluid did what it needed to, solidifying and freezing the men in place, holding them fast, just as it had with Percy. Without a moments' hesitation Elijah let loose, shooting a massive blast of flame towards them. They didn't even have time to scream before there was nothing but ash left. Elijah allowed himself a quick sigh of relief, and then realised the terrible mistake he had made.

He looked around. The flames had taken out the three men chasing him, but had also destroyed much of the cover he and Molly had been using so effectively. It was now more like a thin fog than thick clouds. There was a lull in the fighting as both sides realised what had happened. Molly glanced over, and Elijah met her gaze. He just had time to mouth a quick apology over to her as she shook her head at him when the enemy launched at them again. Four men down, six to go. Three of the attackers went for each of them, and they were immediately on the defensive, both of them this time. The men swung and lunged at the two of them, starting to get desperate having seen their associates go down.

Elijah was tiring now, still unable to conduct safely without getting an arm, or worse cut off. The killers could sense the flagging energy from between the two of them. They were lunging in, and then dodging back out, and had formed a circle around the two of them again. They were circling around them at the same time, almost like sharks smelling blood in the water, just waiting for the two of them to weaken a little more. One of the men jumped forwards, slicing forwards at Elijah. He wasn't quick enough, and the man cut his arm. The same arm as before, which was already throbbing in pain. Elijah yelled out and desperately conducted, forcing the man to back off but missing him entirely with the burst of flame. They needed to do something now, or it was going to be too late.

Molly knew it as well. She desperately thought of what to do, all the while watching the hooded figures carefully, parrying every sword that came her way. Suddenly though, she knew what to do.

"Elijah! Do you remember that time in Greyslick Port, when we ended up fighting the beggar king?"

"Of course I do!" Elijah yelled back as he barely dodged another swipe, "Why?"

"Do you remember how it ended? What we did? We need to do that. Now! I can take it!"

Elijah didn't even argue, there was no time. Straight away he and Molly turned to face each other, completely exposing their backs to the circle of killers. Molly changed the way she held the quarterstaff, concealing the ends covered in ether and gripping the very end of it, holding the rest out between her and Elijah. Elijah went to task straight away, conducting with all his willpower and using both hands to blast the staff Molly was holding with an incredibly intense fire. The staff started to glow white hot, the heat already beginning to travel up the pole to where Molly was holding it. She gritted her teeth. She had to hold on. The men, who had hesitated, expecting some kind of trap, now saw their opportunity and simultaneously charged in, swords held high.

Seconds before they reached them Elijah called out to Molly. "Now! Do it!" Molly was wincing, her hands in complete agony, but she got the message. Elijah dropped like a stone, so he was completely flat on the floor, and at the same time Molly span swinging the quarterstaff with all her might, screaming as she did so. The men realised too late what they had run into, and had too much momentum to turn away. A couple of them managed to lower their swords to try and block the inevitable, but it was no use. The now molten quarterstaff cut through the scimitars like butter, and the men even easier. She span in a complete circle, and not a single man escaped. They stood there, momentarily stunned, as if they couldn't quite believe what had happened, and then, slowly, each man separated at the waist, completely cut in half by the attack.

Molly dropped the staff straight away and ran to the nearby fountain, plunging her badly burned palms in. Elijah got to his feet and hurried over, tearing strips of his sleeve off as he went to staunch the flow of blood from his cuts. He winced as he tightened the strips, but it was pain he could cope with. He knelt down next to Molly. She still had her hands under the water, and was resting her forehead on the stone surrounding the water. Elijah looked down. Even with her hands under the water he could see that they were quite badly blistered. He put an arm around her shoulder. She didn't move, but instead gave a half muffled response.

"I really, really hate you at the moment." She murmured. Elijah smiled.

"Yeah, that's fair enough. You did tell me to do it though, so I mean..."

"Oh shut up! It's the last time I suggest a last ditch strategy to get us of a life or death situation." She lifted her head off the stones and gave him a weak smile. "That was a lot more intense than I remembered it being back in Greyslick. You remember what happened the last time we tried that? We had to yank the pole back out of the body. Wasn't quite hot enough to burn all the way through. That Ether you're carrying around has really done wonders for you. I'm not entirely sure I approve..." She said the last part with a wry grin. Molly took her hands out of the fountain and stood up, examining them. They throbbed and ached more than she could believe, but at least they were alive.

She asked Elijah to wrap them in a couple of strips of cloth, the same as he had done for himself, gritting her teeth while he did so. The sun had almost completely set now, and the coolness of the dusk was refreshing. They looked over at the Great Library. It was time to go and discover everything they could about the thing they were going to face. Molly just prayed that the answers they needed were inside. They set off once more towards the entrance, Molly grabbing her quarterstaff along the way. They reached the Library doors to find that they opened again easily enough, and stepped inside into the gloom, pulling the doors to behind them as a glittering pair of eyes watched them intently from the distance.

Chapter 15.

Azrael Shrieked. He screamed and cursed as his bond to the last swordsman fizzled out, as he watched the last of them die through each other's eyes. He was practically foaming at the mouth, he was so angry. Well fine, it didn't matter if they found out what he was, what he was capable of. They would be dead soon enough. He was in control of the entire city, and he could throw as much as he needed to at those two to stop them. He had killed the rest, these two would fall to him eventually, and he would make sure of it.

He summoned forty men to Grand Hall. He had taken up residence in here, feeling that it fit him best of all the buildings up here. The Grand Hall was the biggest, most opulent building on the Cloud. Hundreds of years old, and filled with beautiful sculptures and scientific models. The entire thing was built out of the most beautiful marble, with long, wide steps leading up to the front, and twisting, spiralling pillars that stretched up to a gently sloped roof. There were portions of the building dedicated to meetings, most often between some of the highest ranking officials of the Cloud, and other areas under lock and key containing some of the most incredible, and at times dangerous discoveries by the scholars there. At times the building was even opened up to the general public, much like some of the smaller museums back down in Spectrum, and people would happily journey up to take a look at the grandeur and splendour of one of the Clouds' most famous buildings from the inside.

None of this mattered to Azrael, of course. He only cared that it was big enough to plan, to plot, to let his hatred for this place run unchecked. And there was so much hatred. They would pay for what they did, he would make sure of it. The forty men arrived, each one unable to resist his will. They stood in a small cluster in the middle of the biggest hall, Azrael standing before them. He looked them over briefly, and then wordlessly started to walk towards them. Even though the men were helplessly trapped under Azrael's magic, powerless to resist, there was still a small part of each one that desperately wanted to turn away as he approached. A tiny voice in each head telling them to run, to get away! But of course they couldn't, and so there they stood, awaiting whatever was to come.

Azrael stopped in front of the first man, still silent, although the anger was still clear and apparent on his face from what happened down below. He knew that not all of these vessels would survive what was about to happen to them, but it truly didn't matter, they were wholly expendable. Standing, facing the first person, Azrael lifted his hands. The man was sweating, almost trembling with nerves, but didn't move an inch. Azrael held his hands a few inches to either side of the man's head. He spread his fingers out and pointed each finger towards his head. Nothing happened for a moment, and then something horrific began to occur. Azrael's fingers started to grow and lengthen, changing shape and becoming horrible black claw-like appendages. They continued to grow, getting closer and closer to the man's head, until they were touching it. And then they kept growing. The man screamed as the claws embedded themselves into his skull. Azrael didn't even blink, just stood there concentrating. The man screamed and screamed, and then suddenly stopped. He fell completely silent, and just briefly nothing happened.

The man stood there, completely still, and then began to shake. Lightly at first, and then went into full body spasms he couldn't control. As he did his body started to change. The already pallid skin turned almost black, going rock hard at the same time, almost like living plate armour. Two large bulges appeared at the top of his back, either side of his spine, where his shoulder blades were. They grew rapidly in size, swelling and increasing until they looked like enormous black boils. They continued to enlarge until all of a sudden they burst, showering the men behind them with a disgusting black fluid. In their place now there were two big, black wings on the man's back. The transformation was complete, and Azrael withdrew his claws to step back and admire his work. He smiled, pleased with the result. One down, many more to go. They would fall to him, he would make sure of it. He moved to stand in front of the next man, and began the process again.

Chapter 16.

The library door closed behind them, shutting out almost all of the last of the day's sunlight. A few thin sunbeams still managed to find their way through the windows scattered along the walls of the place, but it was barely bright enough to see anything, as all the lanterns in the building had gone out long ago. The only other light being given off was from Elijah himself, whose arms were still glowing like little fires. Molly asked if there was any way he could possibly conduct, at least for a little while, to help them see for now. Elijah happily obliged, conducting just a little bit and creating a small, gently crackling fire in the palm of the hand of his good arm. It immediately lit the place up enough to see, and cause shadows to dance and flicker everywhere. It was an improvement, but the myriad shadows made them both a little uneasy, their minds telling them there was something there from nothing.

The light from the fire did help give them an idea of where to go though. Elijah had been here many times, and knew what section they needed to search in, but was just a little hazy on how to actually get there, especially in the near darkness. The library itself was almost like a maze, but certainly lived up to its name of Great. It was spread out over three different floors, with various staircases and hallways leading every which way. The bottom floor had the most books on it, and they were laid out upon shelves and tables everywhere. The second floor up was set out in a U shape, and looking up you could see the shelves and such up there, as the middle of the floor looked like it had been cut away. The third floor was set further back, and was only half the size of the ground one, and contained many older manuscripts. This was where they were heading. Elijah explained to Molly it was easy to get up there, and they set off.

The library was in almost perfect condition. Almost every book was in its correct place in its correct section, and everything was laid out neatly. Molly could only guess at just how sturdy the foundations of the building must be to have withstood the previous earthquake without a scrap of damage on it. It wouldn't matter though if there were too many more of those. She had to focus, and make sure that if they possibly could, they found out everything they needed to about Azrael.

Low stone tables were dotted here and there, with a few books spread out that people may find interesting. The only books that were really out of place were the ones people had currently taken away, or the ones that people in the library had been reading before everything had happened. They stood at various locations, books in hand, frozen in place reading whatever pages they had been on for their chosen books. Elijah and Molly tried to just ignore them as they skirted past. They wandered up the various staircases, and ramps that led ever upwards, navigating the maze-like corridors until they made it to the third floor.

As they left the corridor they saw that the entire third floor area was locked away behind a barred area, so as to keep the delicate pages free from mishandling. "I'd actually forgotten they were locked away," Elijah mused as he walked over. "Shouldn't be too much of a problem. I don't like doing this but I think under the present circumstances it's acceptable." And with that he conducted, with his hand over the padlock, until it melted off of the door. The doors swung open invitingly, and Elijah stepped inside, Molly following behind him, careful to step over the still bubbling padlock.

Elijah knew exactly where to go from here, and led Molly to the far corner, where the oldest books available in the library were housed. The books here were old to the point of falling apart. There was the constant, faint smell of decay, and the covers and indeed many of the pages in these tomes were crumbling and falling to pieces. To help keep some of the rarer documents safe they had been placed in locked closets or drawers. Elijah led them to several such pieces of furniture in one corner.

"The chief librarian here and I became good friends. Tomas was his name. I used to come here all the time, although less so now. He used to give me the key to these cupboards and let me look up whatever I wanted. I've read about some real strange stuff in some of the older pieces up here. If we're going to find any information of use, this'll be the place for it."

"Good. I know we need to be here, but this place is giving me the creeps, and I don't even know why. The sooner we're out of here, the better." Molly shivered involuntarily as if to illustrate her point.

Elijah nodded. He hadn't managed to spot the chief librarian anywhere around the entrance or on the other floors. Tomas had always kept the keys with him, he practically guarded them with his life. There was nothing for it, they would have to break open the locks. Given the situation and the need for the information they were after, Elijah was sure Tomas would forgive him. He told Molly to go ahead and do it, and together they broke open a few of the doors, exposing the precious books behind them. The sound of the snapping of the wood and breaking of the locks was horrendously loud, and it echoed through the library, bouncing from wall to wall. The noise eventually died down, and the two of them stood completely still for a moment, listening to see if the noise had attracted any unwanted attention. For the briefest of moments Molly swore she heard someone moving around downstairs, but the sound was gone. She signalled to Elijah to see if he had heard it too, but he indicated that no, he had not.

"I hate this place!" Molly hissed under her breath. She wasted no time delving into the first cupboard and retrieving one of the books, little more than a loosely bound stack of paper at this point. She blew the dust off of it, and began to skim through, keeping an eye out for any mention of anything vaguely regarding their current situation. With the manuscripts on the top floor being comprised mostly of historical texts and prophesies from long ago, This was their only and best hope to find something they could use. Elijah followed suit, gently taking out an old tome and carefully turning the pages, hunting for what he needed. The two of them periodically checked with one another to see if they had had any luck finding anything. Molly thought she had found something at one point, but it had turned out to be a completely different situation that had been recorded altogether, and so they continued looking.

Luckily, the search didn't take too long before they found exactly what they needed. After going through around half a dozen books each Elijah was midway through a thick leather bound volume when he stopped reading and loudly whispered Molly's name and beckoned her over.

"I've found it, I think. I knew there would be something up here about him, I knew it. Look!" Elijah indicated the page he had found, and Molly leaned in close to have a look. She read out loud, barely above a whisper, the words taking on a more sinister than usual feeling in the gloom of the library.

"Concerning the early years, there have been few grievous errors on the part of the college of the learned. The one discussed here is the release of the Dark Son. There are few details that remain of the release of the Dark Son. The college sought to manipulate the ether below the city, and in their doing so created a presence unlike any before or since. Anzarael was the name given to the creature..." Molly stopped reading, here with a puzzled look on her face.

"Who are the college of the learned? And are you sure this is about him? It's a different name."

Elijah nodded. "I'm sure. The college of the learned were what the scholars of the cloud called themselves back in the very beginning, not long after they were founded. Anzarael is slightly different, but its close enough, and who else could it be? Look, keep reading, you'll see." Molly turned back to the book, and continued from where she left off.

"The first days were full of wonder and learning. Balance and harmony reigned, and the creature taught much. The records were made and kept, and can still be found to this day, so that all may learn what this wondrous bond brought about. Anzarael was strong, able to manipulate the ether, bend it to his will, but kind, and our symbiotic peace seemed like it would last forever.

It was a false peace however, for the creature's true nature was hastily revealed. He did destroy, transform, and terrorize, the ether which he could manipulate lending him strength unlike anything ever seen. His awful, blackened skin, sharpened teeth, and shapeshifting abilities coming to light, and showing him for what he truly was.

The decision was made to subdue, to hide away the creature for all time. The rock at the heart of the city wherein he dwelt was shattered, and sent to the sky. This however, only served to diminish his powers, and his reach, but did not quell his awful desires. He sought to strike at us from the sky, and we had no choice but to go up to where he did reside, nullify him with the pale ether, the counter to Anzarael's power, and lock him away forever. One final choice was made to post those of our order in the sky, to watch over the prison he was contained in to ensur-"

Molly looked up. The page was literally crumbling away to dust towards the bottom, and was now completely incomprehensible.

"We don't know what the prison was. We don't even know if we can recreate it...this was useless." She said dejectedly. She ran a hand through her hair and held her face in her hands. Elijah though, was quick to remind her what she had just read.

"You're missing the most important part of the whole thing! The pale ether, Molly. That's exactly what you've been using. It's the anti-ether, it has to be! If they stopped him with it once, we can do it again. And it has to be him. The things they mention there, the teeth, skin...It has to be."

Molly's eyes lit up as she re-read the passage. She shook her head afterwards, realising how tired she must be to have glazed right over that point. Once she had read through the passage again she apologised and agreed with Elijah. She began to discuss with him what they could do. She had two small vials of what she now knew was referred to as the pale ether. That wasn't exactly a lot, and there was no real mention of how exactly it had been used to subdue Azrael in the past. There wasn't even any mention of how much had been needed. That was a lot of uncertainty, a lot of things that could go wrong. They had no choice though, and had both come to accept that fact. Thinking of an entire city, frozen in place, helpless and waiting to die, they knew they couldn't do nothing.

"Alright, so we know we don't have much of the stuff, so when we get up there, we really need to make it count. If you can distract him, try and light him up a little bit with those flames of yours, then I can get in close and...I don't know, smash one of the vials into him. I mean, I assume it has to make contact, but apart from that I don't know if-"Molly stopped dead as a loud banging sound echoed from down on the ground floor. She hadn't quite been sure if she had heard a noise earlier, now she knew she had. And there was no doubt Elijah had heard it too. They looked at each, completely tensed up, nerves jangling, completely on edge. They strained their ears, trying to see if they could hear any other sounds at all. Nothing. Not a single other noise. The echo of the noise died down, and silence returned to the library.

As much as he hated to say it Elijah leaned in close and whispered as quietly as he could that they needed to leave, right now. Leaving would of course mean taking the only exit out of the library, which would take them towards and right past the source of the noise. There was nothing else for it. Elijah went to close the book they had been reading from, but before he did Molly leaned in and quickly ripped the page out of the book. He looked at her incredulously, and mouthed the question of why she would do that to her. She shrugged at him, and then leaned in and whispered "It might come in handy later!"

He shook his head, and picked his bandoleer up from the ground where he had placed it while they had been looking through the books. As he slung it over his shoulder his arms took on their gentle glow again. Molly made sure she had her staff and supplies, and they were on their way, heading down the various stairs and slopes as quietly as possible.

They moved slowly, stepping carefully and as lightly as possible, not entirely sure what they were walking down to. Molly had assumed the worst, and was prepared to face another fight when they got down there. Her hands still ached and throbbed from the burns before, and all she wanted to do was cover her hands in ice. If she had to defend herself though, she was going to give them hell. Elijah was hoping there was an easy explanation for the noise, but was of the same opinion as Molly. He would give it his everything if it came to a fight.

They carried on walking, practically tiptoeing downwards. They had to assume that whatever had made the noise didn't know they were in there, because nothing had come upstairs looking for them. Elijah reached the ground floor. He was peering out at the floor from the staircase on the western side of the building. Looking around the corner from where he and Molly were, he could just make out that the front entrance doors were open, and could see the starry night sky beyond them. Perhaps whatever or whoever had come looking for them had gone. Maybe Azrael knew they hadn't been killed earlier and had sent roving scouts out to look for them. It wouldn't surprise him.

He turned to Molly. "Everything looks alright to be honest. I think we're good to go. Whatever was here earlier is gone now by the looks of things."

"Thank god. I don't think I'm quite ready for another bout just yet." She looked down at her hands as she spoke. The blisters on her hands had already started to ooze and weep through her bandages. Elijah noticed at the same time and made a sympathetic face.

"I'm so sorry. As soon as this is done we'll patch you up properly I promise. I just didn't-"Molly cut him off mid-sentence.

"Don't you dare apologise. None of this is your fault, and I was the one that told you to do it! We both know whose fault everything we've been through is. Let's go and let him know how we feel."

Elijah just smiled at her for a moment, then nodded. He turned and set off across the floor, heading towards the front door. They skirted around the statuesque shapes of the people still inside, and made it to the entrance. Elijah put one hand on the door that had been left ajar and pushed it open, stepping out into the beautiful night. The sky above sparkled with stars, and shimmered with its usual faint rainbow of colours. Beautiful waves and strips of colour flickered and danced, almost as if they were swirling around the stars. The silhouette of the Cloud hung in the night sky, secured by its chains. The moon was behind it from the angle Elijah was at, the Cloud in front of it giving it a jagged, uneven edge. It was a wonderful sight, but he had only a moment to enjoy it.

As he stepped out of the doorway into the cool night air a huge hand came from behind the now open door to grip him on the shoulder. Elijah, completely taken by surprise, cried out and tried to pull away but the shadowy figure held him fast. Molly was with him in a flash, darting out of the door and spinning to face their assailant, staff at the ready. She swung it down, hard, and was surprised and completely caught off guard when not only was the figure moving out of the way as she swung, but that they managed to grab the staff towards the middle, avoiding the ether. The figure let go of Elijah and ripped the staff out of Molly's hands. She immediately reach into one of the back pockets of her bandoleers, ready to launch a vial of pain at the attacker, when he spoke up.

"Well, looks like you two have been doing just fine without me. I forgot what a mean old swing you had there, Molly." They recognised the voice immediately.

"Noah! Molly squeaked, and launched herself at him, hugging him tightly, but still wary of where the staff was. Elijah walked up and held his still glowing arms up to the old man, conducting slightly to help illuminate him better. The patched up arm and injuries became apparent straight away.

"What on earth happened to you?" Elijah asked, a concerned look on his face.

"Long story lad. I'll tell you all about it as we walk. We've got things to do, and not long to do them by the looks of things. Come on, this way." Noah turned and lifted an enormous sack that must have been sitting next to him as he had been waiting for them. He swung it over his shoulder and set off. Elijah and Molly looked at each other quickly, palpable relief that their old friend was alive washing over them for a moment, and then set off quickly, trying to keep up with Noah's large strides. The sun would be up soon, and it sounded like Noah had a plan. It was time to get to work.

Chapter 17.

They followed Noah's brisk pace, trying to keep up with his enormous strides. He led them down various twisting, turning streets, never slowing down. He clearly knew where he was going. Elijah, Molly and he discussed everything that had happened as they walked.

"I knew you two would head to the library. You'd said that was the plan all along, I knew nothing was going to stop you. I trust you learned what you needed to?"

"Yeah, managed to find some old documents. They give a vague idea of what to do. We'll figure out the rest when we get there, it's all we can do. Hey listen, why didn't you come inside and let us know you were waiting for us back there? You scared the hell out of us!"

"Ah. Well good. I was going to tell you what I had learned from being up there, but you sound like you already know that this Azrael is not what he seems. And...well, I'm playing it safe, to be honest. I wanted to be absolutely sure it was the two of you before I rushed in." Noah turned to look behind him quickly and saw their questioning faces. "Ah, yes. I'm afraid Percy did get the better of me back at the inn. I ended up letting myself get dragged up to the Cloud to meet our little friend, the instigator of all this."

Noah went on to explain what he had encountered up there, and what Azrael had told him. It wasn't much, and the most it really did was confirm some of what Molly had read out back at the library, but any information helped at this point. As they were walking and talking Elijah looked up and noticed that they were getting very close to one of the cable car stations. He could see the silhouette of the massive chain it was set up next to looming large in the pre-dawn gloom. That was the other thing as well, the day was fast approaching, and if they wanted to get to the cloud with the minimum amount of resistance it would be best to do it under at least some cover of darkness.

Elijah was about to mention this to Noah when he heard him mention that he had dived off of the Cloud. Elijah listened to the retelling with rapt attention, as did Molly as they continued along. The fact that Percy was still alive stunned and worried him a little though, and he hoped it was a decision that didn't come back to haunt them later. He could understand why Noah had done it though. He was a gentle giant at heart, and wanted to save his old friend if possible. Elijah was just about to interrupt Noah and ask exactly what the plan was when the ground began to shake again.

It started as a low rumble this time, building and building in volume and intensity. The cracks and fractures that lined the streets and building already started to widen even more. It was more intense than last time, completely out of control, entire houses fell against each other, unable to stand up to the earthquake after last time. Building were crumbling like matchsticks, bricks and glass raining down in the streets all around them. The three of them took shelter in the doorway of the nearest building, and it was all they could do to pray that the entire structure didn't come crashing down on them.

The earthquake was so loud now, roaring ceaselessly, ripping apart the city bit by bit. Elijah thought it would never stop, kept willing it to, hoping they weren't too late, that this wasn't what finally annihilated Spectrum. Were they too late already? Noah towered over the two of them, trying to shelter them further as the house they were in began to fall apart above them. Molly screamed and buried her face into his coat. The earthquake rose in intensity one last time, and in the distance, towards the centre of the city, an entire portion of the city began to sink into the ground. Entire streets disintegrated as the plummeted down to sewer level and below. The ether below the area had finally been disturbed enough to erupt, and did so, spraying out of a fissure in the ground and swallowing everything up. Giant beams and pulses of ether shot into the sky and buildings, carts, and the people still frozen were dragged below, gone forever.

And then as quickly as it had started, it was over. As if nothing had ever happened. They came out from under the doorframe, thankful that it had held up, just barely, and looked around them. The city was truly devastated, the roads and pathways completely ruined, torn to pieces, more houses now collapsed or leaning drunkenly against one another than still standing. Rubble and glass littered the city between the thousands of frozen statues everywhere. They were out of time. They had to go now, or there would be nothing left to save.

"We're almost there. We need to carry on, come on!" Noah turned to go and started walking straight away. Elijah started to follow hesitantly, but Molly stood, frozen in place. She slowly emerged from the doorway, gazing out at the wreckage in front and all around her. She couldn't comprehend the incredible amount of damage surrounding them. It was made all the more surreal by the silence that now followed immediately after. There was no screaming, no cries for help, and in an odd way it made everything worse. It was surreal, like some kind of awful nightmare.

Elijah walked over and put his hand on her arm, and Noah stopped and looked back to see what was happening. Molly looked at Elijah. She wasn't crying, and probably wouldn't. It was just the shock of everything that had finally hit her. She had been there for him earlier, however, and so he would be there for her now. He needed her, they needed to be completely focussed for what was to come.

"Hey...it's going to be alright, you know." He said, as she looked at him, slightly glazed over. He hated to see her like this. "We can stop this from happening again, Molly, but we have to go now. We need to stop him before he destroys the entire city."

"What's the use? Look at what he just did. How would we even begin to stop him, we're just two people..."

Elijah grabbed her by the shoulders. "Remember when we down in the lab, down below your house? Think about what you said to me then. I was overwhelmed by what had happened and you were there for me. You wouldn't let me give up or quit. Well I'm doing the same now. You're stronger than this. Be upset, by all means, but be angry as well. Use that anger, and let's go and put a stop to this. How dare he think he can destroy our city, trap its people, kill without a second thought. Let's go and show him what happens, yeah?"

Molly shut her eyes for a moment. She covered her face with her hands and exhaled deeply. When she took her hands away Elijah could see the steely determination return to her eyes that he was used to. She was back. He smiled at her, relieved, and she nodded to him. "Thank you. I didn't think I could get past what had happened there, but you're right. Let's go and put a stop to the bastard right now! I'm ready." And with that she began to walk towards Noah again, who was still waiting a little ahead of them, and had been watching the entire interaction. He spoke up as she walked past him and Elijah caught up to where they were and walked along beside him. "That was a good thing you just did lad. You two need each other more than you realize. This is going to be a test of skill and resolve, no question about it."

Elijah knew he was right. Not that what they had been through so far hadn't been taxing, but the toughest part was just ahead. He was about to ask what Noah's exact plan was, as he had seemed to know exactly what to do earlier, when they rounded the corner of the last destroyed house on the street they were on. The street widened here and opened up to one of the three cable carriage stations used for travel to and from the Cloud. The carriage was in the station luckily, sitting there waiting to be sent up, and next to it hung one of the mammoth chains that stopped the Cloud from drifting away for all eternity.

They crossed the large, open area surrounding the station, the early morning sun just beginning to rise over the horizon. They were in one of the higher parts of the city, with all three stations, and the rock that the Cloud had originally come from situated on large, hilled regions in the centre of Spectrum. Molly slowed down again as they approached the carriage and gazed out once more at the now completely wrecked city. Elijah thought it was going to overwhelm her again, but she shook her head slightly, and picked up speed again, marching over to the station. She was furious, and that was a good thing. They would need that kind of determination. The sliver of sun showing over the horizon was incredibly bright, and only served to further illuminate the vast amount of damage the city had suffered just a short while ago. They all tried to ignore it, but it was almost impossible not to keep looking out at it all.

Luckily, the station itself, although damaged, was still working. The lines holding the cable cars hadn't snapped, and looked safe enough for them to travel, after all they had been designed to be very strong. As they reached the station they stopped. Elijah realised he had been about to talk to Noah about what the plan was when the three of them got up there. Finally, with no distractions, he turned to Noah and asked just that, and he and Molly waited to hear what he was going to say as he set the giant sack he had been carrying with him down on the ground.

"I'm afraid I'm not going with the two of you. I've got work to do down here." Before either of them could argue, he continued, explaining what he meant. "I stopped by your house on the way to meet the two of you. You weren't there of course, but I couldn't help but notice that the door behind the fireplace was open, which I thought was a little unusual. I went down under the house and helped myself to some supplies Molly, I hope you don't mind." And with that he undid the drawstring on the bag and began taking things out of it.

There were five things in total, and once they were assembled on the floor Elijah knew exactly what the plan was. There were three vials on the ground, although the word vials didn't do them justice really. They were some of the biggest mason jars Elijah had ever seen, and they had been filled with one of the various liquids that Molly cooked up. This particular liquid was of the same type Molly had originally used on Azrael, to little effect. With a little bit of force it exploded. Elijah couldn't even imagine how big the blast would be from this much of the stuff. The other two items he had assumed were the wings he had seen earlier in the lab. He had almost asked about them back then, but it didn't matter, he supposed he was going to find out about them now. The wings themselves were in an oval shaped, metal canister. They were worn like backpacks, with a small pull cord on the front to release the wings themselves. Molly had some concerns, although it was clear she was already on the same page as Noah.

"I don't know if those wings work properly yet, Noah, I've only tested them maybe...twice? And that was from a low height. Elijah weighs more than me as well, and...look, I really don't know about this." Noah stood and considered what she had said for a moment. Elijah already knew what he was going to say, and knew it to be correct as well.

"There's no other choice Molly, I'm sorry. The jars of explosive will easily be enough to sever the chains holding the Cloud, and that's what's going to happen. I believe in the two of you, and I know you can deal with Azrael, I'm sure of it, but I won't leave anything to chance, I refuse to." Noah was going to sever the chains, leaving the Cloud to float away forever. The wings would enable Elijah and Molly to get off the Cloud before it got too high. It was a good idea, and one Noah had thought up to be instigated at the same time as their original one of going up there and dealing with the problem head on.

They all knew there was a chance they could die going into this, but what did that really matter? Their lives weren't worth more than the whole of Spectrum's. Noah continued on. "I'll destroy the chains as you two are up there. I've already worked it out, and it should take me about three hours. Now, that thing's going to tilt like crazy when the second chain goes, so that's when you'll know it's time to be thinking of getting off there. Use the wings, and come back down. Molly, stop doubting this. Look at all the things you make, you're a damn genius. This will work. It has to."

Molly shook her head. "I don't like it, but alright. There's no alternative is there?" Both Noah and Elijah shook their heads to indicate that no, there wasn't. "Well...fair enough I guess. Let's get on with it." And with that she span on her heel and walked onto the nearby cable car. Elijah looked at Noah and gave him a wry smile. "Well, I guess that settles it then!" He muttered and walked over to the controls to begin to get everything underway.

Noah followed him, and put a hand on his shoulder, telling him that this would work and that he would see him once this was all over and done with. He handed Elijah the two sets of wings, and took the jars with him towards the nearest set of chains. Elijah finished setting the cable car in motion, and as it began to set off, juddering and shaking as the momentum built, he ran after it and jumped in, taking the two sets of wings with him.

As the cable car slowly started to climb the two of them looked out and down at Noah, already busy at work setting up the first jar at the base of the giant chains. He was setting the jar up in between the links of the chain, and from what they could make out was pulling some long fuse wire out of the sack in order to give him enough time to get away from the explosion, and to allow them to reach the Cloud before it went off. Elijah and Molly turned away from the window after a moment, confident that he would be able to get the job done. They instead turned their attention to the wings that Elijah had placed on the floor.

Molly picked a pair up, examining it to make sure everything was in order. The two sets of wings were brilliantly constructed. They had been made from some kind of incredibly light metal that formed the outer shell, which was attached to two loops for the wearer to put their arms through and tighten as needed. On the front of one of the loops was then a little mechanism that one could pull which would cause the two wings to pop out from the shell at the back, as they were folded up when not in use, wrapped up safely within the metal. Molly was pulling one of the wings out to make sure it wasn't ripped or torn, and that made Elijah incredibly nervous, because as he got a good look at the actual wing for the first time he noticed it looked like little more than paper. He tried not to think about it.

"All looks good to me." Molly murmured as she looked everything over before snapping the wing back into its container. "I just hope they work as well as on my test runs. This is a bit different to jumping off of my roof into a bale of hay." She laughed when she saw the look on Elijah's face. "Stop worrying! It'll be fine!" She handed him one of the packs, and they both put them on their backs, tightening the straps to make sure they didn't fall off.

"Easy for you to say. You know what, I would rather just not think about it for now." Elijah replied, turning to look out of the windows again. As they rose it seemed like the sun was trying to rise with them, and was doing a bad job of keeping up. It was a warm semicircle slowly lifting up from behind the horizon. It illuminated the destroyed cityscape below them, as well as the thousands of blue-black coloured crystals that had managed to ensnare almost all of the city. Almost, but not quite all. Molly walked over to join him in looking out.

"Hey listen, whatever happens here today, thanks. For everything, you know? We've had some good times right?"

"Oh absolutely. The best. I wouldn't change any of the times we've had together. Alright, well maybe one thing. You know, I don't know if I mentioned this before, but the hairs on my legs still haven't grown back..." Molly gave him a sidelong glance as he said this, and gave him a playful thump on his good shoulder. Elijah laughed, but carried on. "But in all seriousness? Don't talk like that. We're going to be fine, you'll see."

She nodded and turned around to lean her back against the railing and window, and as she did, looked up out of the other window. She didn't even have time to speak. Without thinking she grabbed Elijah by the back of his shirt and pulled down, hard. She dropped like a stone to the floor, as did he. Not a second later a horrific dark shadow smashed through the glass on the other side of the cable car, showering them with shattered fragments, and shot straight through the other side, destroying that pane as well. The two of them quickly stood up, trying to look every direction at once and see what had just attacked them.

Elijah managed a breathless thanks to Molly as they scanned around, and then they both noticed it. Not that the thing was hiding, It was some distance away from them now, just hovering in the air, flapping what looked like tattered, leathery old wings. It was completely jet black, even its eyes, and its skin looked oily and slick. It had large, muscular arms and legs, and it hands each ended in five long wicked looking claws. Molly knew what it looked like straight away. This was almost exactly what Azrael had looked like the first time he had transformed, back in the old meeting room on the cloud. This was his doing, no doubt. He clearly knew they were coming.

The thing hovered there for a moment, flapping its wings. Elijah and Molly stood there, tensed, Elijah's arms glowing more fiercely than usual as he prepared to channel, and Molly's quarterstaff gave off it's usual low crackle and hum as it pulsed with etheric power. They waited with baited breath for a moment, ready for the monstrosity to dive bomb or attack them again. Instead it just stared at them for a moment, and then, very slowly, lifted a long, sinewy arm, and stretched one finger out to point. At first it looked like it was pointing at the two of them, but then the slow, dread realisation hit them, and they half turned around. Sure enough, in the sky behind them were around a dozen more of the things, circling and swooping around silently in the sky. Molly leaned in close to Elijah. "What the hell are those things? What are we going to do, they don't exactly look friendly..."

Elijah looked over at her. "Looks like we're fighting again. Never gets old, does it?" And with that he started conducting, his forearms changing from looking like campfires to roaring infernos. Molly followed suit and twisted her quarterstaff, the two ends snapping out to expose the ether covering them. The pack of monsters flying in loops behind them stopped, and followed the example of their leader, hovering in the air for a moment, staring at the two of them in the carriage with their cold, dead eyes.

Everything was completely still for a moment, and then the flying beast that had smashed through the window initially let out a horrible, unearthly howling shriek, and dove towards them. Elijah immediately conducted again, sending out a lance of flame towards it. The creature dive-bombed at the last second, the flames just barely licking the tips of its wings. Molly guarded the other side at the same time, swinging her quarterstaff where possible, and using it like Elijah's flames, like a lance as well. It was impossible to get a clear view of where exactly the creatures were at any one time. There were so many of them. They were above, under, beside the car, everywhere at once, leathery wings flapping, screeching every time they flew by, and raking their long claws along the side of the car as they went.

Several of them flew above the car, trying to destroy the actual cable itself, but it was several times as thick as they were, and incredibly tough, even for creatures of their strength. As soon as they realised this they got much more aggressive towards the carriage and the two of them themselves. Molly and Elijah were continually taking pot-shots, trying to burn and maim as many of them as possible. While the space was restrictive for them in terms of fighting, it was also keeping them alive at the moment, as it was impossible to truly surround them.

Or so they thought.

Two of the creatures bolder than the others, flew into the already shattered windows on either side of the car, landing heavily inside and instantly stalking towards the two of them. The car was just wide enough to fit two of them in side by side, and left very little room to manoeuvre. Not that that mattered to Molly. She charged forwards fearlessly, grimacing as she attacked both creatures at the same time. They had looked fast and fluid in the sky, and they were just as quick on their feet too. Molly swung high, trying to catch one of the at chest height. They skidded backwards just out of her reach and then slid forwards, one of them managing to rake her still outstretched arm with its claws. She gritted her teeth in pain and backed away, arm dripping blood through her torn sleeves.

Emboldened by the injury they had managed to score on her, the two monstrosities lumbered forwards, swiping and slashing faster now that they knew they could easily hurt their prey. What they hadn't seemed to realise was that Elijah was still in there with them. Molly continued to back away for just a second more and then ducked down. There, standing right behind her was Elijah. The two creatures realised their mistake too late and tried to turn and escape. They blocked each other though, kicking and clawing at one another. Elijah didn't waste any time in conducting a concentrated stream of fire right at them. They had just enough time to let out a shrill cry before they were completely consumed by flames, along with the entire half of the carriage. They slumped to the ground, dead. Two down, ten to go.

Elijah immediately picked Molly up off the floor and turned his attention back out of the window. As he did he noticed that one of the creatures was flying directly at him. He conducted as fast as he could, rapidly sending fireballs out of the car towards the monster. It spiralled and whirled through the air, dodging every shot and coming closer and closer. Just before it managed to reach Elijah one of the fireballs struck him it right in the middle of its wing. It cried out in pain as it tried in vain to make up the last little bit of distance to Elijah, and then dropped like a stone, desperately flapping its wings. With a large hole in one of them it was no good though, and it plummeted to the ground below. Three down, nine to go.

As Elijah was dealing with his attacker from outside, Molly was at the other end of the car, also still trying to score hits on anything that came near. She saw two approaching at the same time, and readied herself for whatever they might do. They changed course at the last second, winging sideways around the car to fly in either side again, just like the two before. Elijah would be of no use this time. If he tried to attack them he risked hitting her on the other side. She twisted her quarterstaff, shrinking it, and put it away. It had been no use last time, and she needed to think of another way to deal with these two. As before they started to stride towards her, making their unearthly shrieking noises as they walked, scraping their long claws along the sides of the carriage threateningly.

Molly suddenly had an idea, and moved forwards, to make it look like she was going to attack. The two creatures fell for it, simultaneously lunging for her, trying to rip her to pieces. Molly had counted on them doing this though, and reacted instantly, drawing back and pulling a vial out of her bandoleer at the same time. Without hesitating she threw it at them, the contents splashing over both of them as the vial smashed open. They stopped a moment, wondering what they had just been covered with, and then went to attack again. They didn't get very far. The solution had solidified, completely stopping them from attacking, and from doing anything else. Molly, as quick as she could, ran to the middle of the car, squeezing past them, and flung the door open. She grabbed the two of them and with all her strength half dragged and half threw them out of the exit. They screamed and cried as they fell to their deaths, unable to free themselves. Molly smirked, loving how effective her concoctions always were. Five down, seven to go.

At this point the creatures were getting frantic. Elijah was still fending them off, and had switched from just protecting one of the car to running back and forth and taking aim and firing where he could. He was beginning to flag at this point though. "Molly! We can't do this for much longer. We need a plan!" He shouted over. She shouted back that she agreed, and as she did so was knocked off her feet, falling and landing on one of the seats at the side of the car as one of the creatures swiped at her through the window.

The creatures had stopped flying around now though, and had decided to all come together and attack at once. They were on the roof and sides of the car, getting ready to go in for the kill. Elijah looked at Molly. They had mere moments to figure something out and do it. The vials Molly had had worked well, and Elijah's conducting was reliable as always, but the space they were in was so confined, there was a real risk of them hurting each other if their aim was off by even a little bit. If only there was some way to combine the two...And then it dawned on Elijah. He ran across the car to Molly, ducking to one side to avoid the raking claws of one of the monstrosities hanging from the side of the car. "Molly, I know what to do! Do you trust me?" He asked frantically.

"Of course! What's the plan? Whatever it is, do it quick!" She replied. He nodded, and spun her around, grabbing a small vial from the back of one of her bandoleers. Turning her back around he told her what to do. "Douse myself in it? Elijah, do you realise this is the pale ether? We have one vial left if I use this."

"I know, but there's no time, there's nothing else we can do. Those...things are weighing the car down, slowing it down. If we don't do something, we're not going to be off of here before Noah's bomb goes off down below. If that happens, this was all for nothing anyway, and we fall. Trust me! Do it!" He undid the bottle and handed it to her. She looked at it for just a moment, biting her lip in concern, and then tipped the bottle over her head, the pale ether running down and covering her, creating the same, ethereal aura around her that had been apparent on Percy's armour before.

As soon as it was done Elijah started to conduct, drawing as much ether into himself as he possibly could. His forearms turned completely white, and more than that, his chest and neck, almost his entire body began to glow like fire. The creatures, sensing that something was wrong, decided to make their move. The ones on the roof scuttled down, clambering into the car, and the ones on the sides smashed the remaining windows and began to enter the cable car. There were seconds to spare. Molly crouched in the corner of the car as the things approached her, readying for the kill. Elijah was now a bright, glowing white figure in the centre of the chaos. At exactly the same time, the one that had chosen to target Elijah went in to attack, as did the ones attacking Molly. It was at that exact moment that Elijah released all the stored up ether.

It exploded out of him, he roared as it did. An enormous fireball exploded out of him, a huge sphere of all-consuming heat that blasted outward, annihilating everything as it did. The creatures had barely enough time to try and shield themselves, throwing their arms up to cover their faces before they were vaporized by the extreme temperature. Molly screamed, curled up in one corner, but the fire didn't even touch her. After a second of waiting, expecting for the pale ether plan to fail, she opened her eyes to a world of fire and flames, but not a single one touched her. She barely even felt the heat from it all. It was like she was surrounded by a beautiful, glowing aura that protected her, forming an invisible shield.

After what seemed like an eternity the expulsion of fire stopped, and Elijah stood, swaying a little. He hadn't expected the plan to work out quite as well as that. He hadn't thought he was even able to contain that much ether within himself. Molly grabbed him as it looked like he was about to topple, and sat him on the floor. She could have sat him on one of the seat cushions around the edge of the cable car but they, like everything else, had been incinerated, and were now no more than charred borders to the carriage.

Elijah let Molly sit him down on the floor, and rested. They had a few minutes until the car reached its destination on the Cloud, and they both knew that it was far from over, and they had to keep going no matter what. Molly knelt on the floor with Elijah.

"Nice plan." She simply said, and then "How did you know that was going to work? That the pale ether wouldn't hurt me, that the flames wouldn't touch me?"

He shot her a weak smile. "I didn't. It was a hunch. Sure did pay off though."

Molly sat there, shocked for a moment, and then huffed, "We're going to have to have a serious talk when this is all over."

Elijah laughed, and then started coughing. That last bout had really taken it out of him. He could already feel the ether in the air around him, ready to conduct again, but knew that doing so already would be a huge mistake. His body had stopped glowing now, and his arms had returned to glowing their normal gentle yellowish colour. The vials of ether in his bandoleer really did make an incredible difference.

Now that that particular ordeal was over Molly looked around. The cable car was completely gutted, a burnt out shell ferrying them to the Cloud. She couldn't believe Elijah had done that, or was even capable of doing that. She turned to ask him about it, but it was like he had read her mind, and pre-empted her.

"Nope, didn't know I could do that either. Probably never could before. It's all because I'm so close to the ether. It's like it sucks in all the ether from the air and just...I don't know, almost like it amplifies it."

"That was incredible though. I've never seen anything like it. I don't even know if Azrael could stand up to that." Molly replied, giving him a playful nudge and a wink as she said it.

"I can't do that again Molly. I thought it was going to kill me. It's the first time it's ever hurt to conduct, and it hurt like hell. I could feel it as I released the ether. It felt like I was tearing myself apart. It's ripped all my injuries open again, that's for sure." He winced as he said this, and Molly took a quick glance at his shoulder. She couldn't believe she hadn't noticed before, but then again why would she? Sure enough though, she could see the dark stain of new blood spreading underneath what was left of Elijah's shirt.

She looked at him, concerned, but he waved it off. "It'll take a fair bit more than that to finish me off, don't you worry." She nodded, and Elijah asked her to help him to his feet, which she did. The cable carriage was almost in the station at the Cloud. It was time to prepare for whatever might await them when they got there. Molly prayed that it wasn't more of those horrendous flying monsters. They had looked like something born straight out of a nightmare.

The cable car, now nothing more than a smoking wreck, juddered into the station. With no one to actually slow down or stop the carriage it crashed into the docking bay, which at this point Elijah was sure that the impact would finish it off and finally rip apart the car. It held together though, just barely, creaking and groaning under the final strain it was being put under. The movement eventually stopped, and Elijah and Molly made their way into the station itself. It was utterly deserted, not a sign of anyone or anything. They had not been expecting this, and it made the two of them very uneasy. They took a good, long look around, pausing to gaze down each of the long, dark tunnels leading their various different ways through the Cloud. This was wrong, there had to be some kind of trick they were missing. Molly took a few tentative steps forwards, listening intently to see if someone was coming. Still nothing. She turned back to Elijah and shrugged. "I guess he underestimated us, thought those things would finish us off maybe?"

"I guess so...I still don't like it though. Hmm...East tunnel is the one we need, right? That should take us above ground the quickest if we stick to it, right?"

"Yeah, sounds good to me. We'll stick together, stay quiet, just in case there is anything waiting for us."

Elijah agreed that was a good plan, and they set off towards the right exit. Just as they began to move off towards it there was an incredibly loud explosion in the distance, and they both knew the first bomb had gone off back down below. They felt the force of it even this far away on the Cloud, and as they looked at the chain, one of the three that kept the place anchored, they saw it go from it's almost forty-five degree angle to slack, hanging straight down, and knew that the links had been severed down below.

At the same time as they saw the chain move, they felt the ground under their feet shifting. It was slow, not sudden like they had been expecting, but the entire place seemed to continue tilting, painfully slowly and for the longest time. It did eventually stop, and the Cloud had found its new equilibrium. Two hours to go. They wasted no more time, and continued on towards and into the tunnels.

Since they had last been here there had been no one to maintain any of the grounds, and the place seemed to have fallen into disrepair. No one had restocked the fuel for the many lanterns that lit up the tunnels, so almost all of them had died. There were one or two still going though, tiny sputtering flames creating a small ball of light that barely showed anything. They shone like tiny rainbows in the darkness, even in their diminished state. The only other source of light they would have as they proceeded down into the darkness was Elijah himself, his arms still glowing, the fire-like patterns dancing around his forearms wrists and hands. It barely gave off any light, much like the tiny globes of rainbow light from the lanterns, and Elijah mentioned to Molly they would be best to go slowly so as not to accidently walk into anything or anyone unpleasant. She agreed and they carried on walking as the dim glow of the morning light gradually faded behind them, becoming a pinprick, a memory of light.

It was unnerving walking in such total darkness, and every now and then one or both of them would stop and listen, convinced they had heard someone coming. At one point, because they were trying to hug the wall on one side of the tunnels, Molly jumped and almost screamed because she nearly walked into a wall sconce holding a now unused torch. They carried on though, and nothing happened. The tunnels, although dark, still led where they were supposed to, nothing had been caved in, there was no kind of obstacle blocking their way, and for a time it looked like everything would be alright. They eventually came to a split in the tunnel, where a separate path led downwards, going entirely the wrong way.

They carried on past it and continued on their chosen path, which they could feel was just beginning to tilt upwards slightly. From here the tunnel would continue to curve upwards and around in a very shallow spiral, eventually bringing them out on top of the cloud. They would hopefully see the other end of the tunnel's twin soon, that tiny pinprick of morning light signalling they had made it through. They carried on around the curve, starting to relax a little now that they knew they had nearly made it

All of a sudden as they were progressing Molly grabbed the back of Elijah's shirt, stopping him dead. He whipped his head around to glare at her, mouthing a silent question as to why she had stopped him so suddenly and with no warning. Her eyes were wide, and she simply nodded, indicating the way ahead of them. Elijah turned to look back the way they had been going. Faintly, very faintly, he could see some kind of dim shadow ahead. Molly had noticed it as he had gotten near to it, the pale light from Elijah's arms giving off just enough light for her to see a faint silhouette.

She silently took hold of Elijah's arms and lifted them a little higher, increasing the distance they shed their light. Molly had been partially correct, there had been an outline. Standing there in the silent darkness had been a hooded figure, waiting. His head was down, and it looked like he was staring at the floor, not that they could see his face. He, like so many other, held a small curved dagger in one hand. Molly had only been partially right because there had been more than one person waiting for them. As Elijah lifted his arms the outlines of dozens upon dozens of figures came into view, each identical to the first, hoods up, daggers in hands, still as statues. They were packed into the tunnel, and Molly couldn't even fathom how many of them there might be. Just dozens? Hundreds?

There was no way they could go back. The trip back to the intersection and the extra time it would take them to get back up to the surface would take far too long. And who was to say that the other exits weren't clogged with enemies just like this one? They looked, straining their eyes to see as far as they could. Just figures, outlines as far as they could see. There were spaces between the figures though, slim little pathways they might be able to squeeze through if they were careful. It seemed like the hooded scholars were just waiting for their prey to walk past before striking. They knew this would require patience, care and skill, and worst of all time, something they were running out of, but they had no choice.

Elijah took the lead, very carefully turning sideways to slip between the nearest figures, pulling the bandoleer he wore tight around himself so that it didn't touch anyone behind him. He was much more bulky than he was used to, with both his bandoleer and the pack on his back containing the wings, but he inched his way along, excruciatingly slowly. Now that he was in between the scholars he could hear them breathing. Long, slow breaths, all perfectly even, like they were in some kind of trance.

One of them would twitch and murmur every now and then, and it was unnerving every time. Molly had followed Elijah into the living maze of bodies and knives, and the two of them were now gingerly tip-toeing through the crowd, praying that none of them woke up or noticed them. The tension was unbearable. All they had to light up the way in front of them was the glow coming from Elijah. It was so dim, but he dare not conduct any more than he already was, not knowing what exactly it was that might set them off or wake them up, never mind the fact that in such close quarters he was likely to set several of them on fire. Onwards they went, picking their way through, nerves jangling, until Elijah looked up and saw the familiar pinprick of light ahead. It was the exit, they were so close.

He turned around slowly to see if Molly had noticed it as well. She nodded, indicating that she had indeed seen it as well, and ushered him on. He turned back around and carried on. Not much longer now. He started taking his tentative steps again, making sure it was safe before he proceeded, it was not worth making a mistake here, as it could easily cost them their lives. They managed to squeeze past the maze of people they had come to so far, and Elijah was just about to continue when he looked in front of him and realised how difficult progressing was going to be. It was like there was even less room the further they went, and now the people were so tightly packed together it was going to be nearly impossible to pass them unnoticed. Elijah held his breath, and began to try and slowly weave between the cloaks and knives. Slowly, painfully slowly, the two of them went on. The glimmer of light in the distance was getting bigger by the second, they were nearly done.

Elijah went to squeeze between two figures, incredibly close together. He knew there was no way he was going to make it through with the bandoleer around his chest, and so very carefully took it off. Molly, smaller then he was, would just be able to make it through. Elijah held the Bandoleer of precious ether above his head, turning sideways to shimmy through the gap. He was right in the middle of them when one of the scholars twitched in their half-sleep. As they did so their elbow jerked outwards, just lightly bumping into Elijah. Horrified, he stood completely still, waiting to see if that was enough to wake up the crowd. The man's elbow dropped back to where it had been, and complete silence returned. It stretched on forever, Molly looking on in fear waiting to see what would happen.

The silence seemed to stretch on forever, and Elijah thought perhaps nothing was going to come of the touch. Just as he let himself breathe a silent sigh of relief though the figure seemed to stir. It was facing towards him, and as it stirred it lifted its head. As it looked up it opened its eyes and Elijah found him himself face to face with a pair of completely black eyes, staring at him. It seemed to take a second for the scholar to realise what he was looking at, and then he reacted, swinging his blade as fast as possible. Elijah was faster though, and jumped to one side instinctively, or at least tried to. He collided with several more people, and the knife that had originally been meant for him was plunged into the side of another hooded man, who immediately woke up screaming in pain. The people Elijah had hit were now waking up, as was everyone else. All hell broke loose.

As soon as the men realised that Elijah and Molly were there they all tried to attack them. It was like a giant ripple running along the tunnel as every single figure woke up and turned to see what was happening. It was utter chaos. Elijah was trying to look everywhere at once, blade were flying through the air thick and fast, seemingly everywhere at once. This was a lost cause already, there was no fighting here. It was time to either run or die.

"Molly! RUN!" He bellowed, and she didn't need telling twice. The two of them pushed, shoved and kicked their way through as fast as possible, desperately clawing their ways towards the light at the end of the tunnel, which couldn't be more than thirty feet away now. The mob were completely frenzied, tearing and ripping at them with their free hands while swiping with their steel with the other. Elijah thought to himself there was no way of getting out of this without some kind of punishment, and he was right. He felt the tip of one of the enemies knives slice down the middle of his back and roared in pain as he immediately felt the blaze of agony, felt the blood running down from the wound.

Molly saw it happen and called out, trying to reach him and push him forwards, frantically trying to get them both out of there. She was concentrating so hard on ducking under the knives being swung at her that she didn't even see the blade coming from low down. It cut her across the back of her thigh and she screamed, very nearly dropping down to one knee in pain. She couldn't afford to let herself though, that would be the end of her. She ignored the white hot pain in her leg and carried on, kicking away those who got too close, wincing every time she did.

They were so close, Elijah knew they were going to make it out, but then what? The scholars, possessed as they were by Azrael, would just follow them out, surround them, and subdue them. Elijah was about to call to Molly when he felt one of the blades snag the bandoleer of ether. The blade pulled away, tearing a portion of the bandoleer, sending several vials of ether flying into the still relative darkness of the tunnel. He allowed himself a grim smile as he heard the screams of multiple killers as the ether vials smashed open on them, doing horrendous damage that Elijah could only imagine. The screams quickly faded to silence.

He shouted to Molly, as loud as he could. "The explosives Molly, the vials! We have to close the tunnel!" She replied in kind "I know damn it! I'm trying not to lose my head here though!"

If the mob in the tunnel had any idea or even cared what the two of them were shouting about they didn't show it. Whipped into a total frenzy like they were, all they did was continue attacking, relentlessly, over and over again. It wouldn't matter soon though, the end of the tunnel was here, Elijah had reached it, Molly just behind him, the entire mob now turning their attention towards them and beginning to press towards them and the exit of the tunnel as one. Elijah, his arms now not glowing at all thanks to losing the ether vials, began to conduct, sending twin streams of fire out, hands like flamethrowers. Molly ducked behind him and immediately rummaging in two of the bandoleer pockets to get the correct jars out. The groups were surging, desperately trying to get out of the tunnel and come after them now, but the exit had them bottlenecked, and Elijah was just barely managing to keep them at bay. Molly was ready now though, and let him know. "Try and keep them back while I do this!"

He didn't need telling twice. With a burst of effort the streams of fire became like a blanket, covering the entire entrance of the tunnel and forcing the mob back. At least they tried to push backwards. There were a lot of bodies pushing the ones at the front forwards though, and those that couldn't get back far enough screamed in agony as the fire hit them. He had to remind himself it didn't matter. These weren't people anymore, they were monsters.

Molly yelled that she was ready, and Elijah cut off his conducting just as she launched the two vials overhead. It took the enemy a moment to realize the fire had died down, and they were just about to press forwards again when the vials hit the top of the tunnel exit. The explosion was substantial, sending shards and chunks of rock flying in all directions. The two of them covered their faces with their arms. With a roaring, rumbling sound, the front of the tunnel caved in. It crushed and buried all those at the front of the crowd, and stranded those behind, trapping them in the tunnel. Elijah could still hear them clamouring to get out, but the exit of the tunnel had turned into a literal mountain of debris. There was no way they were reaching them. Molly and he were safe, for a brief moment.

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 were 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 pain 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.

Chapter 19.

Noah was sweating. It trickled down his forehead, chest and back. He was tired to the point of exhaustion. He had put on a brave face in front of Elijah and Molly but the huge jars of explosive formula he had had to carry, and the injuries he had suffered were taking their toll on him. He thought to himself he was going to need a long holiday when this was all done. It would be done as well, the other two would make sure of that. He had been gazing down at the floor as he walked, mouth open and breathing just a little ragged. He looked up though, and was relieved to see he was very nearly there. There, looming above him, were the last set of chains holding the Cloud in place.

His eyes followed the chains upwards, higher and higher until they met the bottom of the floating chunk of rock. It was tilting at a crazy angle now, but was, as it had always been, an impressive sight, especially with the morning sun shining out from behind it. Noah lowered his gave towards the last cable carriage station, fixing his sight on the last set of chains he began to march over, taking the last massive container out of the burlap sack he had been carrying and fixing the fuse into it as he got closer. As usual he skirted around the many innocent people still locked and frozen into place in their awful ether crystals.

It was like someone had taken a snapshot of city life, people had been on their way to work, heading home, going to see friends or...Noah spotted a child frozen to the spot and looked away. Some had just been playing, perfectly innocent. He truly hoped that between Elijah and Molly, fighting up on the Cloud, and him down here sending Azrael away forever, that they would be able to return things to normal.

He reached the chains and began arranging the explosives at the base of them. He had set a fairly long fuse into the last jar here, giving him plenty of time to get away. He would probably need it, he actually felt like the old man that he often refused to admit he was for once. Kneeling down, he did his final checks. Everything seemed to be in place, time to finish this. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a match, and went to light the fuse. Just as he struck it and went to hold it against the fuse wire a large shadow fell over him. Completely ignoring the fuse he rolled to one side as fast as he could. He felt the trident whistle past where his head had just been, felt the whoosh of the air as if was driven down into the ground where he had just been kneeling.

Noah finished rolling to the side and got to his feet. Just as he feared, standing in front of him was Percy, standing there in his resplendent armour, pulling the trident out of the ground ferociously. He managed to retrieve it and turned to face Noah. This wasn't good. Noah had nothing with him, no weapons, no means of defending himself, and he was hurting bad. Clearly it had been a mistake to leave him on the ground after they had fallen. Or had it? Noah looked into Percy's face, and it looked like something was different. Before there had been an almost blank, glazed look on his face as he blindly and helplessly followed whatever orders Azrael gave him. Now...it looked like he was in pain, like he was struggling with some kind of huge decision.

"Percy? Are you...are you in there?" He asked tentatively. Percy's eyebrows raised almost as if in surprise, and he replied.

"Noah I...I'm sorry, I can't stop it. I don't want to...ARGH!" His sentence cut off as he lunged towards Noah, trying to impale him on the brutal, indestructible trident he carried around with him. Noah moved backwards. He wasn't at his fastest at the moment, but neither was Percy. The fall earlier had clearly slowed him down as well. The armour might well be indestructible, but the body wasn't, which was lucky or Noah thought to himself he might already be dead. The problem now was that Percy was between him and the fuse. He didn't know if sending Azrael up to the heavens would stop him, but he had to try. The question was, how to get past Percy?

"Listen to me. Azrael's in your head. This isn't you! You can fight this, look at me, look at who I am. Think about who you really are, Percy."

Percy stopped moving towards him, the trident dropped to his side for a moment, and then he lifted it again. He was completely conflicted. Even so, he was still very dangerous. As much as Noah wanted to believe he could get through to him he still needed to be careful, as one false move would lose him his life, and there was no way to conduct against Percy and hold him in the air, not while he was wearing that armour.

"Noah? Noah help me...I don't want this...I don't want to do this. Do what you need to do. Please...get him out...of...my...HEAD!" As Percy said the word he shook his head violently, as if trying to rid himself of the evil influence. It appeared to do no good though. He stopped shaking and looked straight at Noah with an evil grin on his face. He rushed Noah down, trying to catch him off guard. Noah was ready though. Instead of dodging to one side he met Percy in the middle, but caught him low, tackling and physically lifting him off the ground and slamming him back down onto the cobbles beneath them, driving the wind out of him. He climbed on top of Percy and held his arms. Percy struggled, one hand still tightly gripping the trident, trying to angle it towards Noah and impale him. Noah shouted in Percy's face for him to snap out of it, but there was now no sign of the real Percy. Noah tried to think fast. What could he do?

He didn't have long to think. He was exhausted, and Percy, even in his weakened state, had much more energy left than him. Noah could feel his arms shaking, particularly the broken one, trying to hold his old friend down, and then everything was spinning as Noah went head over heels as Percy managed to throw him off of him. Noah's world turned upside down as he span through the air and landed heavily at the base of the last set of chains, still anchoring the Cloud. He cried out in pain as his already cracked and broken ribs connected with the metal and stone.

He suddenly felt very faint. He shook his head a little, trying to clear his vision. The world swam in front of him, and with sad clarity he suddenly knew that this was it. This would be where his life ended. He had one last thing to do though, and fumbled in his pockets for one last match as the blurry image of multiple Percy's got up and began to walk slowly towards him. He had no idea which one was real anymore, not that it mattered.

He turned to look to his side. He could barely reach the end of the fuse from here, almost the whole length of the fuse wire was out of his reach. But he had to try. He went to strike the match when a shadow fell over him for the second time. Out of time. He looked up to see Percy standing over him.

"Noah...I can't stop it...I can't..." Percy was looking straight down at him. A tear rolled out of one eye and down his cheek as he began to slowly raise the trident, arm shaking. He was still fighting it, even now, even at the end. Noah had managed to fumble three matches out. He struck them against the ground, lighting them.

"It doesn't matter. Some things are worth dyin' for." Noah began to reach up towards the end of the fuse. It was agony, his whole body felt like it was on fire with pain. His hand shook as it neared the wire, he couldn't reach it!

"Oh god I can't stop it." Percy spoke as he finished raising the trident above his head. He held it there, arms shaking as he desperately tried to stop the inevitable. For a moment, everything seemed to pause, and time slowed down to a crawl for Noah. He looked up at the beautiful blue sky above him, and thought about the city he loved. His thoughts raced, flashes of his life jumping in and out of his head. Things he had done, sights he had seen, friends he had made. It had been a good life, full of meaning. Something to be proud of. No regrets. He looked up at Percy and smiled.

"It's alright Percy. It's goin' to be alright." He said, and he meant it. He was ready. Percy could fight it no longer. With tears streaming down his face he finally gave in, and brought the trident down, hard. He drove it straight through Noah's chest, and as he did so he pushed Noah backwards, well within reach of the fuse. It was enough for Noah to reach the base of the fuse, no more than a few inches from where it entered the vial, perhaps a handful of seconds until it burned its way to the container. He lit the fuse, it was done. Noah felt the intense pain, felt the air leave his lungs and body for the last time in what almost felt like a contented sigh and then...nothing. No more pain. He had done what he needed to. He gazed up into the bright morning sky until his eyes gently closed.

The fuse burned and sparked its way to the jar, the explosives within igniting and combusting, Percy had done what Azrael had needed him to and felt Azrael finally release his mental grip on him. He and Noah, together underneath the Cloud, were both swept up in the explosion, the white hot heat incinerating everything in its path. The last chains exploded outwards with incredible force, chunks of metal flying out in multiple directions to bounce across the open area around them, or punch holes in the nearby houses. After the explosion had burned itself out all that was left was a blackened square, the burned out husk of a cable carriage, rolled several times, and the most beautiful, shimmering golden armour and trident laying some distance away from where the blast had been.

The Cloud had begun to drift away.

Chapter 20.

Azrael practically ricocheted around the hall, bouncing between his two opponents ridiculously fast. Elijah gritted his teeth, dodging, ducking and weaving every time Azrael went on the offensive. He would back away and then move in quickly, jabbing and kicking whenever he could. He was managing to land a few hits, but they didn't even seem to faze him. He couldn't even tell if they were hurting him. Molly was in the same situation. She had managed to score a few hits, but had taken a couple in return. She was hurting, and had the long, jagged claw marks to show it from where Azrael had managed to get his claws in.

They were both completely exhausted, and didn't know how much longer they could keep this up. Azrael paused, standing between the two of them, both now panting. They had no idea what they were going to do. He laughed at the two of them, and scraped his claws against one another like knives. It gave a horrible sound off, like bone scraping against bone, setting their teeth on edge. Elijah conducted, trying to use the space between them to do so safely. Bursts of flame shot out of his hands, arcing towards Azrael.

To Elijah's horror, it was almost as if Azrael had seen the attack coming. He held out his palm towards the flames, and as they connected with it, they were absorbed, Azrael seemed to draw strength from it, and mocked Elijah as he stood between Molly and him.

"You're pathetic, and even now you don't understand. I am ether. I control ether. You think your parlour tricks can even begin to compare to the power I can control? It's sad really, that the two of you were a last hope."

He was facing Elijah as he spoke. Elijah scowled at him, and noticed Molly creeping up behind Azrael. He shifted his gaze to Azrael, and spoke to distract him.

"You're wrong. You talk and talk, call us pathetic and laugh at us, but we're still here. Still fighting. And let's say you beat the two of us, then what? There's always going to be someone to fight. You can't win every time. You will lose."

"Big words from someone with such little time left. This is just a diversion for me, a distraction. And yes I will beat you. I'll beat you to death, and destroy this entire city for what was done to me. What have you to say to that?"

Elijah considered a moment. "I have just one thing to say. NOW MOLLY!" He shouted the last part, and Molly swung the quarterstaff as hard as she could, Hitting Azrael right in the stomach as he turned to face her. He grunted, and dropped to one knee. Before Molly had a chance to retract the weapon and strike again he grabbed it, gripping the end covered in ether, hard. The ether covering the end began to slide off of the staff where it had been applied, meeting and merging with Azrael's hand as he drained it into himself. Molly could see what was happening and was horrified.

She pulled at the staff, desperately trying to wrench it free. It was no use, and with one swift motion Azrael snapped the end off of the staff, leaving the end a jagged spike, and backhanded her at the same time. Molly flew across the room, hitting the far wall with a grunt, and slumped down on the ground. Azrael, done with the staff, flung it across the hall towards her. It bounced and clanged along the floor, rolling a little down the still tilted floor and coming to rest a little way away from the now unconscious figure on the ground.

He turned his attention towards Elijah, and was about to start stalking towards him, to go in for the kill, when there was an incredibly loud booming sound in the distance. The hall slowly started to level out as the two of them struggled to keep their feet. Azrael looked around frantically, and Elijah smiled triumphantly. Noah had done it, the last explosive had gone off, and Azrael was now on his way up, drifting into the heavens forever. It was time to finish this and leave.

"This is it, I'm afraid." Elijah said with a smirk, "I wonder how long it will be before you're out of reach of everything, before you're a speck in the sky, no threat to anyone. These rocks are pretty buoyant, you know. You didn't think we would leave anything to chance did you?"

Azrael, however, returned the smirk. "Oh, you think I'm trapped here? No...I don't think so. I've had a lot of time to think, to plan over my long years of confinement. You think I wouldn't be able to leave here? How foolish. Unfortunately, while I shall be leaving, you...are going to stay here forever!" And with that he lurched towards Elijah. Elijah tried to dodge out of the way, his smirk gone. He managed to get a couple of steps before the huge, looming figure of Azrael caught him, grabbing him around the throat and turning him around so they were face to face.

"Time to die." Azrael spat, and began to squeeze. He did it slowly, relishing it, and Elijah's world slowly began to fade. In desperation he kicked and lashed out, but it was no good. With so little strength left the outburst did nothing but hurry on the embrace of darkness. One final iota of energy left, and Elijah conducted as much ether as he could muster. The flames, tiny little things barely bigger than sparks left his hands to fizzle out uselessly on Azrael's forearm. Azrael roared with laughter, enjoying himself, knowing he had won and was triumphant. Elijah gave up, his world finally darkening.

And then, for some reason he couldn't quite fathom in his oxygen starved state, he was lying on the ground on his side, looking up at Azrael, instead of down at him. Except...Azrael was screaming. As Elijah's vision returned the scene became clear. Molly was standing behind him, hands planted in the centre of the staff. The staff that she had thrust right into Azrael's chest. The broken, jagged spike now protruding from his front, the tip of the spike and pole itself glistening with a mixture of Azrael's ether-like blood, and the pale ether. It had been hidden underneath the ether on the quarterstaff the whole time, hidden beneath the ether that Azrael himself had absorbed.

Azrael looked down and shrieked, trying to move forwards, to free himself from the intense burning pain of the pale ether. He tried to conduct, to do anything, but he couldn't. Formed entirely of ether itself, he was completely powerless. He fell to his knees, screaming, and Molly held the staff tightly in place, a grim look of determination on her face as blood trickled down the side of her head.

"You lose, Azrael." She said with no small amount of venom, and spat on him as he fell to his front to lay face down on the floor. He fell silent, the staff still deeply embedded in and through him, and Molly finally let go and looked down at Elijah, still recovering on the ground.

"God that felt good to do. Good to say. You alright?" She asked as she half walked, half limped over to him to help him up, offering her hand.

"I'll live, thanks to you." He replied, feeling his throat, which was already tender, and would no doubt be badly bruised. "Is he...dead?" Elijah walked over and nudged him with the toe of his boot. To his horror Azrael stirred, although didn't move.

"Don't you touch me, you filth! I'll never die, you hear me? Never! As long as there's ether, there's me! You wait and see...You'll pay for this, I swear...There are others. They'll come for you. Kill you!"

"Swear all you want," Elijah interrupted, "You're not capable of doing much of anything, anymore. Enjoy your flight to the heavens. We won't miss you. No one will miss you." And with that he turned on his heel. He and Molly slung their arms around one another and began to hobble towards the door. Azrael exploded into a flurry of threats and bargains, alternating continuously between the two as he realised his awful fate, destined to drift into nothingness forever. He eventually turned to pleas.

"Oh god please, no! You can't leave me here, you can't! They trapped me here before, so long ago, I can't stay here again. I've been here so long in the darkness! COME BACK! PLEASE..." His begging eventually turned to whimpering, his words falling on deaf ears as the two of them made their way out of the hall, completely ignoring him, not even bothering to look back as they left him in the hall.

Upon arriving outside they were amazed at just how high they already were. The city below was already beginning to look tiny, and the air was getting thinner too. It wasn't over yet. They still had the packs on their backs, they had been wearing them the entire time, and they contained the precious wings Molly had developed, their only way down now. They began to make their way to the nearest edge. There would be nothing for it but to fling themselves off and pull the cord. Fate and gravity would do the rest.

"Do you think it worked?" Elijah asked as they moved along. Do you think the city is back to normal? As normal as it can be, I mean?"

"I think it will be," Molly answered, "The people, that's what I care about. They're the ones that matter, that make the city, not the buildings and roads. Everything will be fine. I guess we'll find out as long as we can get back down there."

"You're instilling confidence in me with every word." Elijah teased, and she jabbed him very gently, playfully in the ribs. He pretended to wince. They were almost at the edge, it hadn't taken them long to get there at all. From their vantage point up here it was incredible. Looking out they could clearly see the sun, uninterrupted by clouds or buildings, a giant yellow orb in the sky. Slightly below that were the clouds, the real ones, spread thinly, little puffy wisps of white drifting along. Looking down further still was the city, their home, surrounded as it always was by the rainbow glow they had become so accustomed to. To the East they could see the Jagged Cliffs, and the coastline heading northwest and Southwest from there, to Tyreem and Grayslick Port respectively. A stunning view.

"This is it then." Elijah muttered as he took off his bandoleer after a moment of enjoying the sight, removing his heavy overcoat and then putting his pack back on. He was trying to lose as much unnecessary weight as possible. Molly followed his example, losing all her equipment. After taking off anything unnecessary, including bandoleers, they were wearing only the lightest clothes they had, along with their packs, and it was freezing.

"Good luck, I guess? I mean...we'll see each other down there. I'll see you soon." Molly was nervous. Elijah was as well, but he thought it was only natural to feel like that before throwing yourself off of a floating rock in the sky with an as yet mostly untested means of flight to get you down to earth safely. They looked at each other. Elijah gave Molly a quick hug, and then without a single word, they took a step forwards, off of the Cloud, and into nothingness. It was almost as if they were walking on air for the tiniest of moments, floating for a moment, and then gravity took over.

Chapter 21.

The air took their breath away. It battered and beat at them as they plummeted head first down towards the earth. It was impossible to keep themselves facing any one way, and they span and whirled around as the air whipped past them. Elijah had no idea when to pull the cord, when to open his wings, but he could see Molly to one side, trying just like he was to keep herself facing one way for more than a few seconds. Everything was rushing upwards to meet them at an alarming rate, and the details of the highest buildings were now becoming visible.

The tallest towers and steeples looked like giant fingers reaching up from a huge hand to catch them. Molly shouted something across to Elijah, or at least he thought she did, the rushing wind was the only thing he could really hear. He tried to look across to where he thought she would be. Sure enough, she was waving at him frantically. She had one hand on the pull cord of her own set of wings, and as she pulled it her wings exploded out of the little container on her back. She seemed to shoot upwards, or perhaps he was still moving incredibly fast downwards, he couldn't tell. Elijah followed suit though, and pulled his own cord, and his own set of wings snapped out, immediately slowing his fall.

The wings had been designed incredibly well. They were extremely large, and dark brown, with thin metal rods along the length of them to create little spines for rigidity. Molly had designed them to look like bird wings. If nature had figured it out, and it worked, why try and change things? Nature, however, had not anticipated people having wings. Once Elijah had popped the wings out and started to slow down he ran into problems. It was just like Molly had been worried about, he was too heavy. The wings started to bend backwards, the air rushing past them too fast. He was picking up speed again. He panicked, trying to reach behind him and pull the wings down, but it was no good,

Molly had noticed what was happening straight away though. She had pulled her cord just before him, and was slightly higher up, and so straightened her whole body so that she was like a dart, speeding her up just enough to catch up to Elijah. She was barely above him, and, being careful not to touch and destroy or rip the wings, she grabbed the empty canister in the middle of his pair that they had sprung from. With Molly holding on to him as tightly as possible, the extra set of wings helped, and together they began to slow down the uncontrolled fall.

It wasn't enough though, the details of the lower buildings now clear, and individual houses were distinguishable, and still rushing towards them much too quickly. As Molly looked down she could even now see people pointing up at them in amazement. Or were they pointing at the Cloud high above them, drifting away into nothingness forever? She wasn't sure, she just knew that for a second she was extremely happy. They had done it. The people were free, alive and well, and the city was still for the most part in one piece.

They plummeted down, Molly determined not to leave Elijah behind. The wind was still rushing by too fast, and although she tried to tell Elijah to relax when they hit the ground, it took her words away before they could reach him. At least, he gave no indication he had heard anything. But she was with him, they'd been through everything else together, they could damn well crash land together too. Any moment now. She could see the individual streets, the tiles on the roofs. They were going to crash straight into one of the houses, there was no way to control or steer out of it, especially not with two of them.

Molly closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable, and didn't have to wait long. Still going at a considerable speed, she tried to turn them sideways at the last second to avoid Elijah taking the brunt of the hit. She heard them hit the roof, felt the tiles explode and give way beneath them. She knew she was in incredible pain straight away, and felt Elijah ripped away from her to fly in some other direction. Her head connected with a roof beam, and darkness became her world.

Elijah, somehow, seemed to have been luckier with his landing. The roof tiles had hurt like hell as they hit them, and Molly had crashed into one of the beams higher up in the house just after that. Something had snagged his wings though. It had been a rough landing, and the thing that had a hold on him had actually caught the empty wing container on his back, jerking it upwards. He had thought his arms were going to be ripped off, but that wasn't the case. When he finally realised he had come to a stop and was still alive he looked around. Very lucky indeed, he had been millimetres away from hitting one of the solid wooden ceiling beams and knocking himself out.

He could see Molly, on the floor below. She was unconscious again, and he knew she had hit her head on one of those solid beams as they crashed. People were already beginning to flood into the house and up the stairs to see what had happened and help in any way they could. Elijah shouted and screamed at those who were rushing to help him, telling them to attend to her first. The crowd increased, there were people everywhere, pushing and shoving, trying to help. Elijah's head began to go fuzzy, and the more he shouted the more distant his own voice seemed. He finally realised something was wrong, and looked down as the people surrounding him began to pull him forwards. Sticking out of his stomach was a large, jagged piece of wood, blood dripping off the end of it. His blood. He said simply "Oh." And then "But, I made it down. I can't die now."

The pain was quite intense as the people, as carefully as possible, pulled him off of the wood that had impaled him, dozens of hands gently lowering him to the floor once he was off. He could feel the wound, feel the blood flowing out of him, down his sides. He glanced over at Molly one last time. She was safely down, and being taken out of the house, eyes open, but just barely. She was alright, she was going to be ok. If he had to go, he thought to himself, at least he had that to comfort him. He couldn't keep his eyes open any longer, he was so tired. He would close his eyes, just for a moment. Just for a moment...

Everything went black.

Chapter 22.

Days passed, and turned into weeks. Weeks passed, and turned into months, and things slowly returned to normal. The city gradually rebuilt itself, healing its wounds and patching itself up. The scars remained though, big, repaired holes running along the streets and alleyways literally looking like healed cuts and in a way they were, scars that the city would bear forever. With the Cloud gone, and most of the scholars in the city with it, transformed into the nightmare creatures they had been, the city considered what to do.

The mayor had proposed a new site for learning, for discovery. People were at first, and with good reason, a little sceptical. However the few remaining scholars that hadn't been on the Cloud at the time everything had happened agreed to certain guidelines, particular regulations. Everything was to be made public, open to everybody, to help avoid any dangerous discoveries from being hidden in the future. The mistakes of the past would not quickly be repeated, so the scholars had vowed.

And so the rebuilding began. The Cloud had originally been anchored in place in the centre of the city, and had been part of the giant, buoyant rock that Spectrum had been built around. There had still been a sizeable amount of the stuff left at the centre, a large area of nothing but the rock. It was agreed that the new Cloud should be built there. Of course, it wasn't the Cloud any more, and so from day one it was simply referred to as the Rock. A gorgeous site had quickly been built, with Spectrum's two rivers flowing out of the centre of it.

Molly looked out of her window. From where she was she could just see the top of the construction works in the distance. They were building a new Grand Hall as she looked out, along with several other centres for learning, although there would be no work going on today. It was grey, overcast and miserable, she could hear periodic thunder in the distance and little rivulets ran down her window, confirming just how horrible the weather was. It reflected her mood quite adequately.

As she sat she thought back to the events of a few months ago. The two of them had been hailed as heroes. She had been given the key to the city, standing up on a stage in front of everyone and anyone who could attend to show their gratitude. She had even been granted membership to the Cloud, or the Rock, whatever it was called now. She didn't really care anymore though. She had attended all the ceremonies, functions and parades alone. All she had really wanted was Elijah there.

They had saved the city, but the cost had been high, incredibly so. Hundreds if not thousands of normal, everyday people had died during the few days Azrael had terrorized the city. One of those had been her close friend. She let her mind wander for a moment, and then she began to think of Noah, and of Percy, and let out a deep sigh. What a miserable day.

Molly turned on her stool and looked around at her kitchen. Her studies had managed to migrate from the basement all the way up here, and the table and sides were now littered with half-finished projects and experiments. Nothing was really piquing her interest though, and she shook her head, wondering what on earth she was going to do. She wasn't wondering long before there was a knock at the door.

She got up from where she was sitting and slowly padded across the room and out through to the entry hall to see who it was, but couldn't quite figure it out. She had not been expecting guests. She approached the front door, passing a small shadow box with the key to the city in it on the wall. She had originally framed it, briefly caught up in the excitement of the time, but barely even glanced at it now. She reached the door and undid the lock, and opened it to see who was calling. There, standing in front of her, was Elijah.

He was standing there with a long, thin metal cane, leaning on it for support. "I absolutely hate the rain." He said as he stood there.

Molly didn't react for the longest time. She just stood, motionless, staring at him with increasingly widening eyes, and then all of a sudden she shrieked with joy. Bounding out of the front door she threw her arms around him, nearly knocking him off his feet. He winced, and tottered back a little, using the cane he had with him for support. Molly had tears rolling down her face as they embraced. She invited him in straight away, and he followed her back inside with a big grin.

"How are you...I mean what...I thought you were gone! I mean, I stayed by your side for weeks and weeks. They said you would never recover! And now you're walking!" She spluttered as she whipped around the kitchen, clearing sides and making some space to make a pot of tea.

"I am indeed. Bit of a surprise I know. I wanted to keep it a surprise, just come over and show you. I had heard you've been kind of miserable since everything happened you see." He said, sitting down on one of the stools awkwardly and resting his cane across his legs. "They said it turned out it was just time, that my body healed itself somehow. They aren't exactly sure how, especially after that splinter of wood impaled me...They said because it was my lower back that they thought I would never walk... lovely stuff to wake up to."

"I know, I remember!" Molly exclaimed, still pottering about, "The witnesses at the scene of the crash said you'd been shouting at people to come and help me, even though you had practically half a tree sticking out of you. You didn't even realize." She stopped and looked at him. "I don't really care how it happened, I just can't believe you're back. Back on your feet. I don't know what I would have done if you'd never woken up. Here you go by the way." And she slid a cup of tea across the table to him, which he gratefully accepted.

They talked for a long time. They discussed absolutely everything, from what had happened, to the rebuilding of the Cloud, now known as the Rock. They pondered over what would become of Azrael, and both agreed they had surely seen the last of him. Elijah also caught up on how the city itself was doing, as the majority of the time he had been awake thus far had been spent in one hospital. One unfortunate but inevitable topic that came up was the fate of Noah and Percy.

"I heard what happened to the both of them" Elijah spoke up as the topic was broached. "He would have done it a hundred times over, you know."

Molly sighed. She had had plenty of time to dwell on this over the last few months, and had come to terms with the fact that their old friend was gone. It didn't make it any easier though, and she was sure the pain would endure for some time. She felt a familiar lump in her throat form as Elijah said he would be sorely missed, and all she could do was nod. They toasted his memory, and spent a little time reminiscing about the times they had had together. They swore that he would not soon be forgotten.

Eventually, after many hours and plenty of cups of tea, the conversation turned to what was to happen next for them. "I'd like to get back into work, to be honest," Elijah said when Molly asked him about what he wanted to do, "Maybe we could take on a couple of easier jobs to get us back into the swing of things? I don't know if you've given it any thought or..?"

"Yeah I have, I was hoping you'd say something like that. I've had dozens of requests while you've been in hospital. I'll trawl through all the letters we've got and we can see what's what. I mean, as long as you're able to..." She glanced down at the cane as she spoke the last bit. Elijah assured her he was more than ready and able. As he finished speaking, as if on cue, a letter fell through the front door, hitting the floor below. Elijah said he would get it, and got up slowly, leaning on his cane, to go and pick it up. Molly sighed as he left the room. Elijah was back! Walking as well! He was getting better, and things would finally get back to the way they were. Everything was going to be alright. She thought to herself once again that she didn't quite know what she would have done if he hadn't recovered. She had spent so many nights by his side in the hospital. They had eventually sent her home, against her will. It didn't matter now though.

Elijah came limping back into the kitchen, a frown on his face. In his hand he held an opened envelope with a letter. He was scanning it intently, his frown deepening with each line that he read. After a moment of him reading and seemingly re-reading it in silence Molly started to panic and wonder what it said.

"Was it addressed to both of us? What does it say?" She asked as Elijah finally sat back down. He looked up from the letter deep in thought for a second, and then snapped out of it.

"Yeah, both of us. Here listen to this. It's...interesting..." And with that he cleared his throat and began to read the letter out, stopping once for a quick gulp of tea. The letter read as follows:

"Let me begin with an apology. Several really, and let me get straight to them. Firstly, I'm sorry that you had to deal with my brother, Azrael. I knew he could be a troubled soul, but never counted on this. Had I been able to assist in any way I would have, rest assured. Secondly, I apologise that whatever damage was done, was done. Both to yourselves and to your fair city. I was only in Spectrum briefly, but I very much enjoyed what I saw of it. Time heals all, however, and it will heal both your wonderful city and both of you too. My third, and final apology, is for what is to come. You won't have been aware of this, no one would have been, but we are linked, all of us. I feel my brother's pain even now as I write this letter. It pains me to say this, but worse is to come. My brothers and sister are not as placid as I, and will no doubt seek revenge on the both of you. There is but one thing I can offer, and that is my aid. I once tested you to see what you would do, and neither of you disappointed me. It isn't every day an old man in a cable carriage pulls a sword on you, but you didn't back down, and you didn't turn and run. You are both worthy of and deserve my help, and I would be happy to give it, should you wish to seek me out. I can be found in Vaardas, in the Northern continent of Tyreem. I know this to be a long journey for the two of you, but believe me when I say you are going to need my support. I hope we meet before too long, and until we do, good luck, and god speed. Your future friend, Sartathur.

P.S – I have enclosed a token that should prove useful upon your arrival. Guard it well."

Elijah finished reading and took another long swallow of tea, draining the cup as Molly digested what she had just heard. She shook her head in disbelief.

"It can't be real. That can't be true, any of it, surely?" She questioned as she sat there. "What about the envelope it came in, anything written on it?"

Elijah turned the envelope over to show her the front of it. On the front it contained simply both of their first names, and a blue wax seal, now broken. Molly's jaw dropped. "Elijah, do you realise what that seal is?" She asked.

"Yeah, I've seen it a couple of times. Royal seal from Vaardas, right? I think this is legitimate, Molly. I think we need to pay this...Sartarthur a visit."

"I...I mean, the penalty for imitating the royal seal is death. Only a madman would do it." She thought for a moment, and then asked, "What's the token he included?"

Elijah realised he hadn't even taken it out of the envelope yet, and tipped it upside down just above his hand. Nothing fell out for a moment, and then a tiny, copper coloured feather drifted down to land gently on his palm. This was the final, undeniable proof of where the letter had come from. The feather, if genuine, which it seemed to be, was from a rare desert peacock, kept only in the royal gardens of Vaardas.

It didn't take long for the two of them to come to a decision. They sat and discussed everything they knew and had just read for a little while, but they both knew what their decision was going to be about following the letter up. If everything they had just read was accurate and true, they knew they were going to need to leave anyway. They couldn't risk hurting the city any further, especially if there were going to be people coming for them. As soon as they had decided on what to do Elijah stood up to leave, to go and pack some things for the journey. Molly told him she would do the same, and they bid each other farewell, agreeing to meet at the North-western gate of the city, one of two exits, the other being in the South-west. It made sense to meet at the Northerly one though, as that was where they were heading. Elijah left to pack, promising he would see her again soon, and Molly went to do the same.

Before either of them knew it, it was the next morning, and the sun was already gaining height, warming the streets. As Molly wound her way along the twisting passages towards the gate, she couldn't help but admire one last time just how beautiful Spectrum was. It was as if the recent events had enhanced the rainbows in the air. They seemed more vivid to her now than they ever had been. Maybe they were. Either way, she loved this place, and she knew she was going to miss it. This needed to be done though, if there was even a slight chance of what the letter had explained being real, they were gladly going to take any help they could get. Forging the royal seal on the envelope was punishable by death after all, and how else would a complete stranger have known about the man on the carriage? Molly was quite certain it was genuine.

She looked up as she exited the twisting, winding passageways that opened up to the large forum area around the main gate. People were bustling to and fro, already peddling their wares or heading to work. Several greeted her and offered her various things, pieces of fruit or clothing as she walked past. She had become one of the most recognized people in Spectrum since everything had happened. She always politely declined, and carried on, acknowledging everyone she could with a smile. Life had returned to normal in Spectrum pretty quickly, but not for her or Elijah. As she wove her way through the crowds she spotted him leaning against a wall next to the gates, and hurried over.

"Hey, you ready to do this?" He asked as she got close. She nodded, shifting the large pack on her back to make it more comfortable. They had both packed and prepared well, and dressed sensibly. It was going to be a long journey, that much was certain.

"You know..." Elijah spoke as he looked around, leaning on his cane, "I love this place. I think it's more beautiful to me now than it ever was before."

Molly smiled at him. "I know the feeling all too well." She agreed. Elijah looked at her and nodded. "Well in that case, let's make sure we keep it safe." And with that he turned and began to walk towards the main gates. They passed the guards without a fuss, everyone in the city knew their faces these days, and then they were outside the walls, people coming and going, milling around them, the long road ahead stretching out in front of them. Looking around they could see for miles and miles. Focusing on the North, they could see the tips of the mountains in the very distance. That was their destination

"Well...This is probably going to be incredibly dangerous but then, when are our lives not? You ready for another adventure then?" Elijah asked Molly as they began to walk down the path.

"You know what?" She replied, "I think I really am."

And so onwards they went, travelling to the North, to whatever Tyreem might hold in store, the mountains ahead of them in the distance stretching up to the heavens, leaving Spectrum behind, radiant and glowing like a beautiful rainbow in the sun.

###

Thank you so much for reading, I genuinely hope you enjoyed the story! If you did, consider leaving a review, maybe favourite me at Smashwords? It would be much appreciated.

Look out for part two, coming soon!

Many thanks,

Adam Cairney
