The Infernal Aether (First Draft)

Chapter 41 - The End of the Beginning

We staggered out into the afternoon sun and looked up to the heavens at a perfect blue and white sky with no hint of Aether or portals. Finally released from Andras' control, the Golem had extracted Kate and I from our stone binding as gently as it could manage, although we were both suffering greatly from physical as well as mental wounds. My left arm dangled limply and ached intensely such that I feared it was broken at the very least, whilst my right hand was a mess of useless, dangling appendages.

There was more, though; an aching emptiness within me. The Demon had stolen something from deep within my mind or memory, but what that might be I could not say. I tried to push the nagging feeling aside but it rose to the surface with irritating persistence, in spite of the constant distractions of my physical ailments.

The way Kate held herself suggested her body was similarly afflicted to mine, although both of us were determined to make a virtue of not complaining; our wounds were as nothing compared to what my brother was suffering. The Golem carried Maxwell, who claimed to be bearing up well but still dipped in and out of consciousness with an alarming regularity. I was no Physician, but I feared there was little which could be done for his legs. "Can you fix him?" I asked N'yotsu.

He shook his head. "Andras was lying. We -- I -- have no influence over the physical world in that way. I can cure my own injuries rapidly, but that is because I am not truly of this world. The best you can do is get him to a doctor as soon as possible. And both of you, as well."

"We find a barracks," said Kate. "There's bound to be a doctor somewhere."

I grinned through gritted teeth. "Ever the optimist, eh?" I turned to N'yotsu. "You will come with us?"

"No," he said, gesturing down the hill to where the battle still raged between the soldiers and the Demonic outcasts from the Aether, now trapped in our world. "I have work to do. The Golem will be able to get you to where you need to go. I will find you later, when I am done."

"What about Andras?" asked Kate.

"He is in here," said N'yotsu, holding up a bundle of material which housed the Obsidian stone. "Or rather, the essence of Andras; the elements which made it -- me -- do the things it did. Again, I am so sorry for what I did, and said."

Kate shrugged. "It wasn't you. As long as you're sure it won't return." Her words were forgiving but there was a steely glint in her eye which spoke of a trust which would never be restored. "That stone thing -- what is it exactly?"

N'ytosu held it up to the light. "Just as I was created from Andras divesting itself of its human aspects, so I have created this by divesting myself of some of my less...desirable characteristics."

"Only some?" I asked.

N'yotsu smiled. "Well, we all have our faults. Otherwise, where's the fun, eh?"

"Funny," I said. "All the good stuff took your human form, whilst the evil aspects are encapsulated in a significantly smaller vessel. Is that an allegory for their relative values?"

"I could be pithy and say 'yes'," said N'yotsu. "But it would be a lie. I could have created something the size of a house or the size of a pin to capture Andras' aspects, just as my qualities could have been similarly proportioned. It just happens that it suited his purposes to have me as a human, and I prefer to have this as something portable but not too small."

"So what do we do with it?" asked Kate.

"Put it somewhere safe; somewhere out of reach and out of sight," said N'yotsu.

"Why not destroy it?" she persisted.

"In due course, maybe," said N'yotsu. "But there is a lot I have to learn about what I have now become, my new powers and so forth. There may be some element of what is in that stone which I need in order to function. Do not worry," he added when he noted the expressions on our faces. "I do not wish to become Andras again. Twice is more than enough. The sheer power I have now is going to take some getting used to. I would happily spend years just experimenting with what I could do." He grinned at our concerned expressions. "Within limits, of course. But unfortunately we do not have that luxury."

The sounds of gunfire continued to echo round us and in the distance we could see men running and shooting; clearly our army friends were still hard at work.

"Ah yes," said Kate. "It looked like a pretty tough battle when me and Derek bashed our way through."

"Derek?" asked Maxwell.

Kate patted the freshly reanimated Golem's leg. "Yes -- Derek."

N'yotsu grinned and then looked up at the Golem. "Thank you, Derek." The Golem looked impassively down at him. "In the meantime, I have work to do," said N'yotsu. "We have closed the portal but all the creatures which passed over are still here. This world will never be the same again."

"And we're the ones to clean it up, protect the weak, all that stuff?" said Kate.

"I cannot think of a better team," grinned N'yotsu. "Oh, and by the way," he turned to me. "I agree with you, about your place in the grand scheme of things. You could have killed me before I had a chance to do what I needed to do, but you did not. You saved my life, and for that I am eternally grateful. In our motley crew of world-savers, you are the humanity, the conscience. The beautifully flawed humanity. And that is something we all need, now more than ever."

I frowned. "It does not sound as exciting or glamorous as all your roles. But I will take that." We started to make our way toward the fighting. "By the way, what do we call you now that you are officially a Demon? Please do not say 'Andras'."

He laughed. "Oh, no." A group of Demons had noted our passage and were charging toward us, hideous visages twisted in sheer desire for destruction. N'yotsu handed me the bundle containing the Obsidian stone. "I am N'yotsu, Destroyer of Worlds." And with that he launched himself into the air, straight at the advancing hordes of Hell-fiends.

***If you enjoyed this, why not check out the follow-up novella: "A Christmas Aether": https://peterdoxley.leadpages.co/christmas-aether/ ***