Dartun pressed his fingers into the man’s neck, stilling him, and he peeled back the man’s skin, ripping it from his head. Something weirdly ornate was in its place — a metallic object the shape of a head, with purple lighting webbing intricately along the surface. Dartun continued ripping the skin from the man’s torso — clumps of flesh flopped uselessly to the ground, with a black liquid — not blood — pooling by his feet. Dartun did the same to all of them in turn, ripping them open one by one and discarding their skin and flesh in a thoroughly businesslike manner.
He arranged these metallic forms in a circle, like a primitive henge, and occasionally light flickered between them.
Finally, he came to Verain. She didn’t cry, didn’t scream, even though she knew what was coming.
‘So is this all we were to you?’ she breathed. ‘Some fucked up containers for these… whatever they are?’
Dartun seemed to recognize something within her eyes then, a connection to his former self; but it was quickly gone, replaced by the cold, calm gaze he’d had since returning through the gates: ‘You were once something, Verain, but we all have a greater purpose in life.’
‘You sold your soul in that otherworld. I don’t know what you did, but just finish it now.’
‘I did love you,’ Dartun said. ‘I hope you realize. You would have been killed there anyway. I saved all of you — I gave each of you life, for just a little longer.’
Verain grunted her disapproval. ‘Love — and what would you know about that?’
‘I understand,’ Dartun continued, ‘that love quite often involves a little sacrifice.’
The last things she saw: his advancing form, his hands raised to her face, her head tipping back and blissful, blissful relief…
*
‘What the fuck was that?’ Vuldon demanded. The Knights paused at the foot of the Astronomer’s Glass Tower, and stared back up towards Balmacara.
A thick column of purple light, as wide as the Imperial residence itself, extended up towards the sky and drove thunderously into the cloud base. A vortex formed, spiralling slowly, whipping up debris and loose stone, whirling it upwards, crackling into the sky.
There came the sound of something ripping — a tearing through the fabric of the world. A form seemed to present itself just the other side of the lowest clouds — a dark bruise in the sky. The tip of it came into view.
‘You are shitting me,’ Vuldon gasped.
The darkness eclipsed the sky, bringing a shadow over the entirety of Villjamur.
A dark rock face, which stretched beyond the city limits, lowered itself slowly, and soon it came so close it clipped the top fortifications on the Imperial residence. Then it was clear this was something more: not so much a floating island, but a discernible city of sorts, with weirdly proportioned structures and baroque architecture.
*
Caley was the first one to break free from the column of light, his arms and legs windmilling as he careened down the streets of the city. He thumped into the angle of a wall and, stunned, he looked back to see if the others had made it — they hadn’t. Their bodies were floating clockwise, caught in the vortex suction of the light.
Caley was helpless. His brothers and sisters were destined to die, and all he could do was watch — and, yes, Shalev was in there too. He was all that was left from the mission to kill Urtica. He alone possessed the story.
Caley would tell no one of Shalev’s breakdown and savagery in Balmacara. The Emperor was dead, that was all that mattered — and only he was present. He would tell all who listened how Shalev killed Urtica. He would make sure her name went down in legend.
Swallowing back emotion, he turned once again and charged through the streets.
A few people looked on idiotically and he screamed for them to get away. Many of them listened, a few were too numbed by the sight and he ploughed into them, knocking them sideways.
Soldiers paused from combat with Cavesiders as, in unison, the remaining populace craned their necks to watch the immense structure lower itself over Villjamur.
*
Lan scrambled up to the top of the Astronomer’s Glass Tower, breathless as she crested the lip of the roof. She peered about and saw Ulryk hunched in the middle — no, that isn’t him. This wasn’t right. Ulryk wasn’t wearing a dark-blue cloak with a hood, nor did he stoop as badly as this figure.
‘Hello?’ Lan offered, but the figure remained with its back to her. She approached and could see the books on the floor by the stranger’s feet. Where was Ulryk then?
When she was just a few feet away, she paused — the figure reeked of some industrial odour. Its movements were minute and eccentric. The thing turned its head and she gasped. It reared up in front of her, several feet tall, with a face that was half bone and half metal, and two human eyes regarding her.
‘Who are you?’ Lan asked. ‘Did Ulryk — did he summon you?’
The figure cocked its head as if remembering how to speak. ‘I am.. Frater Mercury.’ His voice was unnaturally soft and gentle, which surprised her. She was entranced by his gaze and stepped closer. Beneath his hood, the left side of his face was a silver plate, with tiny gemstones set inside, and the other half wasn’t quite bare skull, but the skin was adhering so tightly it might well have been.
‘Where’s Ulryk?’
Frater Mercury grimaced at her words and indicated the books on the floor.
‘I don’t understand,’ Lan replied. Then, ‘He spoke of you like you were a god — are you one?’
‘There is no god,’ Frater Mercury replied. ‘There is only what I constructed.’ The immense floating structure in the sky lowered itself, Frater Mercury held up his hand. ‘We must flee before this — ’ he said a word she didn’t understand ‘ — fills the city with abominations.’
‘I was told to take Ulryk down, where a group of us are evacuating the city.’
‘I need time to prepare. This was not meant to happen with such speed.’ His weird hybrid face fiercely regarded the presence in the sky. Spires crumbled and objects — creatures — flapped and arced down in ragged patterns of slow flight.
‘OK, we’ll get you out.’ If this was some saviour of the world, Lan wasn’t terribly impressed. She bent down to collect Ulryk’s books and slipped them in the discarded satchel. ‘Can you climb down?’
Frater Mercury gave something that was close to a laugh. He stepped towards her, touched her shoulder, and — they appeared on the ground by the base of the tower.
‘Fuck did you come from?’ Vuldon said. Fulcrom slowly turned, a look of astonishment on his face, and Lan moved to his side. She explained who the newcomer was, and that Ulryk had vanished. Tane padded around sniffing at Frater Mercury, while Vuldon stepped closer to him. No one quite knew what to make of the figure. Even Lan expected something more impressive, after all, she had gone to all that trouble to help Ulryk get The Book of Transformations to summon this supposed saviour.
Nearby houses collapsed. Screaming increased tenfold. Columns of light began drifting down from the sky structure, bringing with them more of the malformed creatures.
‘We should go,’ Frater Mercury declared.
‘No,’ Vuldon said.
‘Come on,’ Tane stressed. ‘We need to clear out of here before the city is destroyed.’
‘I have been made to help people survive,’ Vuldon replied calmly. ‘While there are people that need helping, I just can’t go anywhere.’
‘He’s right,’ Lan replied, and Fulcrom gave her a look of despair. ‘What? He is. I know we said we’d escape, but how could you honestly go with all of this on your conscience?’
‘This is rubbish,’ Tane declared.
‘And I’d just hold you up,’ Fulcrom said.
‘Tell you what — Fulcrom, you get this friend of Ulryk’s out of the city.’