As she'd expected, only Quentin's sardonic wit interrupted the silent resolution: "You do know, Captain, that this is a suicide mission?"

For the first time in a long while, Ruth found herself smirking. "Yep. But right now it's a choice between suicide letting the Cult get away with it, or suicide trying to stop them. I know which one I'd rather."

The bubble retracted into the egg, and the light faded.

The ex-prisoner squinted up at her with his single eye, his mouth spread in incredulity. "Who are you people?" Ruth smiled. "We're the Apollonians."

Jack watched with bated breath. Even in their current situation, he had to admit to himself there was something fitting in this. The decades-long conflict between the Apollonians and the Cult of Dionysus had reached its climax in single combat between the two leaders.

He had seen Sardar fight before-when the elf had taken on and, but for his opponent fleeing, defeated Iago on a floating battlefield above Thorin Salr. He had no doubt about his friend's skill; however, Sardar was still recovering from the injuries sustained in Albion even before they had been overcome by demons in the Precinct. He must have been weaker than at almost any point in the past.

Moreover, Jack was under no illusions about how formidable an alchemist the Emperor was-the head of the Cult must have honed his powers for years in readiness for such a confrontation. The odds did not weigh in Sardar's favor.

The orb of indigo around the Emperor's fist suddenly contracted and blasted towards Sardar. The elf clamped his wrists together and caught it between his knuckles. Rotating it, arms shuddering as if resisting electrocution, he let it fly back at his opponent.

"Good, elf, but not good enough." The Emperor seized the orb in his palm and plunged it to the ground. With an immense crackling, the marble fractured as a shock wave surged across the floor.

Sardar was hurled into the air. Straining against the alchemical bindings, Jack watched helpless as the elf hit the ground and collapsed.

Sardar staggered to his feet, crimson streaming from his forehead. He punched the air with both fists, and a barrage of ivory diamonds launched across the chamber.

The Emperor didn't move. He waited until the foremost diamond was inches from his nose, then pursed his lips and blew. A plume of dark flame emanated from his mouth and expanded to absorb the oncoming fragments.

Two horns of fire arched round symmetrically and surged towards the elf on either side. He threw up a barrier, but it was too late. The flames engulfed him, hiding him from Jack's vision.

The front members of the congregation-Cult and others alike-had ceased to pray and were backing away in apprehension. The flames had not quelled with the end of the attack but rose ever higher, growing to consume more of the chamber. Jack could make out the Emperor, striding out of the fire towards the fallen elf.

Jack turned to look at Ada. She was paler than ever, and a thin stream of tears down her cheek reflected the light of the fire. His horror was heightened by seeing her face. If Sardar died now, the Emperor wouldn't have to kill Ada: she would really be dead already.

The Emperor's gloating could be heard above the crackling fire and rumbling storm. "This is over even earlier than I thought it would be. Is this really my opposite, the mighty leader of the Apollonians? I must say, I expected more. This is almost anticlimactic." He extended his hand as if to help Sardar up, but instead a sabre of Dark energy extended within a hair's breadth of the elf's throat. "Time to talk. Who's the ubermensch?"

Sardar's words were uttered in a single, ragged breath. "I am."

The Emperor paused in confusion.

That was all the time Sardar needed. Two blades of white light blasted from his body. One sliced towards the Emperor, who, recovered from his lapse, dissolved it between his fingers.

"Only one on target, I'm afraid." The Emperor grinned. "Pretty poor..."

But Sardar wasn't looking at him. The elf, along with the rest of the Apollonians, followed the trajectory of the second blade.

The Emperor turned too late, just in time to see it strike directly into the heart of the Aterosa.

Chapter VIII.

the end of a world The bindings around him released. Jack dropped but was almost instantly hurled backwards by the blast from the hovering rose. The substance of the Aterosa had changed. It was no longer floating lazily, its tentacles lacing through the air-it was now twitching violently, as if unable to shake loose the light at its core. The stems flailed as gigantic whips, hammering through stone and stained gla.s.s like demolition juggernauts.

Jack hauled himself to his feet and glanced around frantically for the others. He found Dannie some way off to his right, battered against the altar, her skin now the texture of crumbling rock. He stumbled over the growing wreckage and helped her up, sparking an alchemical barrier around the two of them.

"Well, that was close," she breathed. For once, her tone wasn't jovial.

They caught sight of Hakim and Lucy by the dragon statue and, farther away, Ada and Vince. All of them looked fairly unscathed and had erected similar barriers. Ducking behind the altar to dodge the debris from a tentacle, the two of them darted over to Hakim and Lucy, merging their barriers into one.

The fire had dispersed a little now. Through the gap, they could make out the congregation-or, rather, where the congregation had been. The Cultists were swiftly fleeing via smoke, leaving the nonsorcerous majority to fight their way out. Some kind of riot seemed to be occurring beyond the spasming superweapon: the crowd had rushed to escape via the rear doors. People were screaming, and some were trampled in the surge.

With an immense cracking, the gothic arches were blasted apart. Chunks of stone were carried into the air, exposing a column of energy rising from the Aterosa into the clouds. It was conducting lightning, which now crackled down to claw at the rose itself.

Lucy pointed upwards. Something metallic had flashed by, and a moment later, mechanical flippers descended through a hole in the ceiling. The dome of The Golden Turtle came to rest at the side of the chamber, alchemically anch.o.r.ed. The hatch slid open, and Ruth and Malik clambered out. Jack had never been so happy to see them.

Ada and Vince had joined them now. "Where's Sardar?"

Jack looked again through the dying flames and saw them. Sardar and the Emperor were the only ones standing entirely still. They faced each other before the Aterosa. A barrier of energy stood between them: the meeting point of two forces the exact mirrored equal of one another.

"So this is the way it ends, then?"

"If it ends for me today," the Emperor spat, "it ends for you too. If I am going to oblivion, you are as well."

Sardar's expression hardened. "If I'm the price to pay for the end of the Cult, so be it."

"Evidently I was wrong. You do know the meaning of self-sacrifice."

The Apollonians all acted at the same moment. Eight jets of energy descended upon the Emperor in a furious blaze, Ada, Hakim, Vince, Ruth, Jack, Lucy, Dannie, and Malik steering them towards their target. They hit him from every angle, and for a millisecond, the light cast him entirely in bright monochrome. Then his body collapsed to the floor.

For a moment, none of them moved or spoke. The Emperor remained motionless. Jack stared at the corpse of their great enemy, not with hatred or even satisfaction but with numb disbelief.

The screams shook them back to reality. The Aterosa had not halted in its self-destruction. Its tendrils still thrashed. Darkness boiled and seeped over the floor like molten tar. The broken bodies of the more unlucky fleers from the congregation were in its path.

"Quick, we have to get them out," Ruth cried, leaping over the side of the s.h.i.+p to haul them up. Jack, Dannie, Lucy, and Vince ran to a.s.sist her. Hakim and Ada made for Sardar and helped him limp towards The Golden Turtle.

Amongst the churning emotions and thoughts, Jack felt slightly doubtful why they were helping the congregation members, who had been praying for their deaths only minutes before. But those thoughts evaporated in guilt when he saw the first contorted face. A woman, whose leg was twisted under her, looked in terror at the oncoming Darkness. He hoisted her alchemically and jogged to the s.h.i.+p, depositing her in the arms of Quentin, who lifted her aboard.

After they had rescued a dozen this way, Quentin called to Ruth, "That's enough. We need to go!"

"Okay, everyone aboard! Let's get out of here."

The elements of the chamber were distorting now, almost like a surrealist painting. The marble floor contorted into waves that lapped at their feet and threatened to pull them towards the rose. The columns supporting the partially remaining ceiling dissolved into granules, shearing across their path in windblown cones. The curtain that had hidden them before the ritual ascended and fell like a raging bull. The dragon statue behind the altar momentarily came to life, writhing and beating its wings, before it ruptured into pieces and hurtled into the heart of the implosion.

The Apollonians climbed the side of the dome in single file and dropped belowdecks. Jack was at the back of the line, and just before he pulled himself up, he turned round for a final look. The Cathedral was utterly devastated, and plenty more bodies were scattered around. Demons were beginning to rise out of the inky blackness and feast on the cadavers. Everything without a s.h.i.+eld was pulled towards the writhing rose, except the Emperor's body, which remained unmoved.

Something was changing, subtle amongst the chaos but perceptible nevertheless. Grey smoke was trailing out the corpse, weaving upwards to form a tall, slate-colored figure with the same blazing golden eyes. The figure and Jack looked at each other for a moment. Something glinted. An object from the ground flitted into the figure's outstretched hand-a metallic egg from The Golden Turtle. Then it was gone, along with the figure, vanis.h.i.+ng into nothingness. The Emperor's lifeless body began to sc.r.a.pe along the marble, before being flung upwards and absorbed into the core of Darkness.

"What are you doing, Jack? Come on!"

Jack shook his head and followed Lucy, closing the hatch behind him.

He got a shock when he reached the bottom of the ladder. The corridors were crammed full of the people of Nexus, either crouched or leaning against the walls. He followed Lucy edging down the hallway. The command deck was full too: for once, Quentin hadn't been exaggerating.

They took off and soared through the now nonexistent roof. Nexus sprawled below them. The carnage created by the collapse of the Aterosa had extended well beyond the Cathedral. Houses, lamps, chapels, towers, and all the other infrastructures of the city were being sucked towards the growing core of Darkness. They rose higher, lurching to avoid debris flying in the opposite direction. Several flailing bodies hurtled by, and a large chunk of rock smashed against the transparent dome.

"So what happened to the Aterosa?" Malik asked.

"We managed to sabotage it as it was still forming," Sardar replied, still leaning on Ada for support. "I have to say, though, I wasn't expecting it to be this-"

They were all thrown sideways as an airborne house snagged the side of the s.h.i.+p.

"We're not out of this yet," Vince yelled. He had taken up one of the flight monitors; Quentin was in charge of another.

"Were you really going to sacrifice yourself to save everyone?" Jack roared.

Sardar grimaced and replied at equal volume. "I was... but I'm still happy you all stepped in there."

Jack's laugh was lost as another house smashed into the hull.

"So what happened to you, then?" he called into Ruth's ear having righted himself.

"It's a long story."

"And who are all these people?"

"That's also a long story. Do you think I could explain when we're not facing imminent death?"

"Fair enough."

A final slab of stone crashed off the top of the s.h.i.+p, and they were clear of the city. That did nothing to quell Jack's anxiety, however. The Aterosa was ripping apart the planet bit by bit. Before them, the sea had risen into an impossibly high tidal wave, drawn, like everything else, to the center of the Cathedral. The sky swiftly vanished as they hurtled towards the immense wall.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Ada screamed over the increasingly deafening noise of rus.h.i.+ng water.

"The only way out is through," Vince yelled. "We're about to test the definition of submarine. Everyone, hold on!"

Ruth slipped her hand into Jack's and squeezed. He returned the gesture, his knuckles white.

They were close enough to see the froth.

The Golden Turtle blasted into the tidal wave, and everything went black.

The early summer suns.h.i.+ne warmed the gra.s.s of the orchard, and a slight breeze rustled the branches of the trees by the side of the road. A few cars pa.s.sed, and a dog roamed around the base of some bushes, its owner strolling behind. Two teenage girls in school uniforms sat on the green, their legs outstretched.

"Here they come," Lucy said, nodding ahead. Two figures were strolling towards them: the tall, prematurely muscular figure of Alex and the shorter, skinnier one of Jack.

"Oh G.o.d, that kid's tagged along too," the other replied exasperatedly. "I thought this was meant to be just the two of you?"

"We didn't say. And don't be mean."

Her friend gasped dramatically. "Come on, Lucy. He just doesn't leave Alex alone. I know they live together, but still..."

"He's really sweet. He's a bit shy, but he's really nice once you get to know him. Are you sure you don't want to stick around?"

Her friend got to her feet and, dusting the gra.s.s off her skirt, pulled the strap of her bag over her shoulder. "Definitely don't want to now. If you and Alex get close, then I'm going to be left with the other one."

"He's not the other one. His name's Jack."

"Whatever." Her friend rolled her eyes and walked towards the road, her bag bobbing at her side.

Lucy composed herself, brus.h.i.+ng her fingers through her fringe and smoothing her s.h.i.+rt. In another couple of moments, the boys had reached her. Alex had changed out of his school uniform into a Topman T-s.h.i.+rt and jeans-his hair looked as if it had been recrafted since the morning as well. Jack had remained in his flannel trousers and blazer, tie still on and top b.u.t.ton still done up.

They spent the remainder of the afternoon sitting in the orchard. Lucy did most of the talking, with Alex intermittently laughing. Jack barely spoke at all, occupying his time pulling up the gra.s.s bit by bit. When the sun dipped over the trees and shadows slipped over the gra.s.s, Lucy excused herself on account of dinner. She hugged Alex, said good-bye to Jack, and headed off towards the road.

Alex and Jack hung around a little longer. Alex lit a cigarette, the end fizzling orange in the darkness, and Jack had a couple of puffs. He hadn't yet got the hang of it. It took all his effort to not break out into an embarra.s.sing splutter.

"She seems nice," he managed eventually.

Alex nodded noncommittally and stubbed the cigarette out in one of the dirt patches Jack had cleared. The two hauled themselves to their feet.

"Do you think there's anything there?"

"Maybe. By the way, try and talk more when girls are around. They're not monsters."

Jack shrugged as the two of them sauntered back towards the orphanage.

Less than a year later, Alex had disappeared.

Chapter IX.

the new world One day later, The Golden Turtle broke into the sunlight.

The impact of the tidal wave had tossed the s.h.i.+p sideways, and a considerable amount of the navigational equipment had gone down. They had been lost in a matrix of water, foam blasting all around them. Vince had piloted them onwards blindly. When it had become clear nothing drastic was about to happen, they had relaxed a little.

The s.h.i.+p was indeed full to the breaking point with refugees from Nexus, many of them wounded. Ruth and Quentin had organized for all the medical resources on board to be brought out and administered, but there were still far too few to go around. Jack had been horrified by some of the injuries: limbs were missing, some people couldn't walk, and in some places such damage had been caused that faces were barely recognizable.

He had seen little of the Apollonians once they had dispersed around the s.h.i.+p. For once, Sardar's wounds hadn't been the most pressing, so he'd been swept up in the tide of people requiring medical attention. The others had set to work distributing food and blankets and working on the injuries they could manage. To his quiet satisfaction, Jack had managed to mend several broken bones with alchemy and even reset someone's dislocated jaw. He had left the more serious problems to Quentin and the other trained medics.

He had worked in silence mostly. He'd never been good at meeting new people and could not begin to think what he might say to these inhabitants of Nexus who seemed to have almost accidently been picked up.