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 Elija
h 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.