Church of Sin (The Ether Book 1)

by James Costall

  “How do you know all of this?”

  “Because I am the servant of Cronos and I know what he allows me to know. Do you remember the pantheon, Alix?”

  “Yes. I can’t remember how old I was but I remember it.”

  “What you did was to create your own world. You wrote the rules and the scenarios and you acted them out and saw how things turned out. Not too well for some of your more unfortunate characters as it happened. Do you remember what happened to that cardboard pantheon?”

  “Zara stamped on it and I couldn’t use it again,” she said, automatically. She remembered telling the story to Ash. He had laughed at the chagrin she felt with her sister and put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her. Without knowing it, she had been crying. His finger momentarily lingered on her neck, just a little longer than it should have done. He had pulled it away and looked down at his coffee, embarrassed.

  “And what did you do after she had stamped on it?”

  “Got mad. I think I flushed her fuzzy felts down the loo.”

  “And after that?”

  She thought a while. So long ago. “Dad brought us both a puppet theatre each.”

  “And you made up new stories with new characters and the whole thing started again. And the puppet theatre was much better, wasn’t it?”

  “So you’re saying Cronos doesn’t give a monkey’s about the Ether and if Sin destroys it he’ll just make another World to replace it?”

  “No, it’s not that he doesn’t care as such. Sin desires the Ether to survive, just in the same way that you would have preferred Zara not to have ruined your pantheon.”

  “But Cronos can stop Sin, can’t he?”

  “He could. But he will not do so. The Maker does not intervene in the affairs of his Worlds. He does not actively participate in their development, nor does he influence the creatures that inhabit them. The Maker desires that, in this instance, man finds a way to avoid destruction but he will not step in at the eleventh hour to prohibit it. But we’re getting off point. What I want to know is: what do you desire, Alix Franchot?”

  “I want everything back as it was.”

  The old man laughed and shook his head, genuinely amused.

  “Oh, you don’t ask much then? Just a major readjustment of time and fate.”

  “Is that beyond an omniscient higher being?” she could feel her face burning red. She folded her arms.

  “Now, now, young lady, there is no need to be cynical. I’m sorry I laughed at you.”

  She shuffled around on her rock to get a little close to him, not really sure how to take this odd man in this odd world.

  “Is the Maker... here?” she asked.

  Gabriel thought about it before saying, “yes and no.”

  “That’s – again – quite vague for an answer.”

  “I suppose it’s fairly non-committal. But the best answer you’re going to get. But anyway,” he threw his hands in the air in mock horror, “I really just don’t get you, Alix. I mean, why not just say it?”

  “Say what?”

  “Say why you’re here! Why are you here? To save the Ether from destruction? No. I think not. That’s not real enough for you. Despite all you’ve seen. Despite the complete desecration of your erstwhile understanding of how the world worked, the idea that an evil demi-god from another dimension coming to your world to destroy it just doesn’t seem real, does it?”

  She looked at him, but not dumbfounded. In a way, he made sense. She had begun to accept that nothing would ever be the same again. But Sin was just a word. He was not real to her. The Destroyer of Worlds was like the micro-organisms in the air. Others said they were there but, since she had never actually seen them, she didn’t need to worry too much.

  “But Ash dying was real, wasn’t it?” he said, finishing her thought process to her surprise. She looked at him questioningly but he didn’t explain. “But there’s something wrong.” He looked at her, as if noticing something different about her for the first time. “Yes, I see.”

  “See what?”

  “He said something to make you think... so you stole back to his office and went through his computer and you didn’t like what you found, did you?” Alix didn’t say anything. She suddenly found the vines creeping up the rocks more interesting.

  “But what did you see? Notes, pictures, plans. Not much really. But you questioned it and it concerned you. You thought you knew him but that made you think again, didn’t it?”

  They sat in silence for a short while. Alix was scratching at the rock with a small twig, playing around like a child in trouble.

  “You know what I found?” she asked eventually.

  “Yes. I do.”

  “Then what was it?”

  “Dear me, Alix, you should have worked it out by now. How can you be so brilliant at reading and understanding people and yet you don’t understand yourself, or him as it turns out.” She looked up and he laughed. “He’s been looking for Zara, Alix. He’s been looking for your sister for years and the material you found was part of his investigation. The case was made dormant years ago but he never gave up. He devoted his spare time to finding your sister. And you thought he was a freak!”

  Alix felt ashamed. A tear formed in the corner of her eye.

  “But why?” she asked.

  “Because he thought if he could repair the gaping hole in your life.”

  She swallowed hard but said nothing. Even in the madness of this form of death, she could feel the unstoppable course of blood rushing through her veins.

  “So now, Alix, on to business.” He clasped his hands together purposefully. “As Hades pitied Orpheus, the Maker pities you, Alix. And, as such, there is an opportunity for you to return to the Ether and return Ash’s soul to his body.”

  Every beat of her heart felt like it may break her rib cage.

  “And what about Sin?”

  “Sin is inevitable. Whatever happens, Fate has decided that Sin will achieve his goal and he will, through you, enter and possess the Ether.”

  “To destroy it.”

  “Fate has not written the final chapters for the Ether.”

  “Is there hope?”

  “No. Hope is a confident expectation. Here there is no hope. But there is uncertainty as to outcome.”

  “What do I have to do?”

  A long, deep breath. But doesn’t everything seem so irrelevant when compared to love? Gabriel had finished his pipe. He knocked out the remains on the edge of the rock and they were carried off by the wind. The sun was setting fast. The birds had flown away. A cool breeze had descended upon them.

  From behind a rock, Gabriel produced a small wooden box. Its sides were worn and tattered. The lid was sealed with a simple gold clasp. He held it up and inspected it and, seemingly satisfied, passed it to her.

  “What’s this?”

  “Greek mythology isn’t your thing,” said Gabriel. “But you must surely be familiar with Pandora.” He cleared his throat and watched her carefully as she held the box close to her chest. “Prometheus was a Titan, so they say; one of the first Gods of the Greek Golden Age. He was a compassionate and loved man. To aid them, he stole the gift of fire from Zeus and passed it to the mortals. In his anger, Zeus punished Prometheus by creating Pandora, the first woman, and sent her to earth to live among men. With her, Pandora carried a box, or more likely, a jar, which she was told under no circumstances to open. But her curiosity overcame her and Pandora opened the box, releasing into the world all evils.”

  “And there was one thing left at the bottom of the box,” said Alix. “Hope.”

  “Yes. Pandora knew immediately the error she had made and tried to close the box but it was too late. Mankind was, by that stage, stained by her mistake.”

  Alix looked more closely at the box. A groove ran around the centre of the lid. Around that, tiny symbols had been carved delicately into the wood. She didn’t recognise them.

  “Is Sin in this box?”

  Gab
riel gazed out across to where the sun was beginning to submerge behind the horizon, a golden slit of energy draining into the distant earth. One side of the sky was draped in a black sheet punctured with pin pricks; the other was a vast chasm of deep purple. She couldn’t make out his face any more but now and again she caught a glimpse of the light reflecting in his eyes.

  “You will return to the Ether,” he said. There was a sadness in his voice that broke her heart. “That, I cannot change. You are the Vessel, of course, but you knew that. The brother of Cronos, the Original Maker, lies dormant here, as does the soul of your friend. The fate of the Ether, Alix, is being placed in your hands. You may choose to keep the box shut: the Ether will go on and Ash will remain lost in the Inter-World. Or you may choose to free him and also release the evil within.”

  “Why?” Her voice was nothing, just a breeze running across the grass. “Why am I to be burdened with this? Why me?”

  “I cannot say, Alix. I am, as I have maintained, just the messenger.”

  “But you said some things are within your power to control.”

  “Yes. Some things. But this chapter in the Ether’s history was set down a long time ago, long before I came into existence, and there is nothing I can do to release you from your role in the Ether’s history. I only ask that you choose carefully.”

  “The Laicey twins?”

  “Will be returned once the Portal is closed.”

  “Wait,” she said, but he was fading and the rock was softening, the world beginning to implode around her. “I still have so many questions. Is Zara connected to this? I mean to... to what’s happening?”

  “That is not for me to say,” his voice was distant now, hollow and empty.

  “Is-” but she felt herself slipping into a new state. Not unconsciousness but something less tangible. Something deeper. She was drowning, fighting for air, clasping helplessly at the bubbles of air that floated above her. Gabriel’s voice was nothing but a distant memory now, as was the grass, the rocks, the brilliant sky.

  Piece by piece, the Inter-World slipped from her grasp.

  Chap

  ter 89

  The stone floor of the Church was familiar: cold and damp. When Alix awoke, she was lying in front of the altar, curled up around the box Gabriel had given to her like a mother clutching a new born child.

  She sat up and ran her fingers over her legs and arms, felt every curve and contour of her skin, every joint and every muscle. She was whole again. Aches and pains, but without the puncture wounds in her wrists and feet. Was it even real? At first she didn’t remember much. Just the feeling of illness and fear. But the memory soon returned like a bad dream lost at first but which seeps back into the memory slowly like gas escaping from a bottle.

  In a small wooden box lay Ash’s soul. And unfathomable evil.

  I take it that’s not your packed lunch in there, said a familiar voice in her head.

  “Azrael,” she murmured. “You’re back.”

  Technically, I was never gone. You were. So, the box?

  There was something soothing about her voice that lifted her heart a fraction. Was it the glimpse of Hope that Pandora had salvaged? It felt like meeting an old friend in a time of need. The feeling of reprieve where encumbrances are shared. It struck her that she may never feel alone again but she wasn’t sure how that made her feel.

  She got to her feet. Ash’s body was gone, so was Baron and the twins. The air was stagnant; the church was tainted with something unpleasant. But she didn’t feel alone. Someone was watching her but she couldn’t pinpoint from where or whom. Outside, the old dead willow gently tapped at the windows. She had lost track of time but it was dark outside and the wind was getting up. After a short while, she started to hear the patter of rain on the aged glass.

  “Well, well, doctor.” Baron’s voice resonated around the church like a gunshot. “How did you find the Inter-World? Exactly how you’ve always dreamt?”

  “Where are you?” she shouted back, turning her head frantically to look for him but there was no hint of movement anywhere and the voice had no origin, like it was leaking from the stonework.

  “I’m everywhere, doctor. Everywhere and nowhere at the same time. But the important question is: where are you?”

  “You’re a dick.”

  Baron laughed. “I’m sorry for being corny, doctor. I couldn’t resist. But I see you have not returned empty handed.” Alix clutched the box that contained Ash’s soul protectively. “In truth, I don’t envy you, doctor. You have a terrible choice to make. How cruel of the Maker to have burdened you with such power and with such terrifying consequences. The life of your friend – and this World – held precariously in your hands.”

  “A life you took,” she spat back. She began to pace the aisles looking for him, darting round pillars, expecting him to be lurking around every corner. If she found him, she’d tear the arrogant smile from his face.

  “But all is well. You have Ash’s soul and with it I can revive him. You need only do as I say and we can bring him back together, doctor. And then you can leave this place, unharmed, and that will be that.”

  In the box is – Ash and the Hollow One? You cannot release Him, Alix. He will destroy everything!

  “Azrael, you know better than that. The destruction of the Ether is not what Sin desires. It’s far more complicated than that. Remember Alix: I am no different to the Necromire in you. We are kin.”

  “Fuck you, Baron!”

  “Baron? No, no, doctor. I’m afraid John Baron died a long time ago. There is only Belial now.” There was something sad about the way he said it that for a moment almost had her convinced of his sincerity.

  Don’t listen to him, Alix. Remember: the demon is a trickster. He wants you to open the box and release the Hollow One. That is all he wants.

  Alix approached the altar and placed the box carefully on the top. It looked so ordinary set against the frayed white cloth.

  “Where’s Ash?” she asked.

  “Safe. Waiting for you to release him, as I know you will.”

  “How do you know that?”

  Baron laughed again. “Because your mind is already made up, doctor. Don’t take me for a fool.”

  “You think I’d destroy the world for one man?”

  “Destroy the world? Is that what you said? No, no, doctor, you will not have destroyed the Ether if you open that box. The only thing you will achieve is giving the life back that I so unfairly took from you. And I did take it from you, Alix, make no mistake. It wasn’t just a life I took was it? It was a part of your life.”

  She clamped her mouth shut and bit down hard. She could taste bile at the back of her throat; the sound of his voice was making her feel sick. And what of her predicament? How could she do anything but bring him back to her? But, if she did, how could she live with herself if the consequences meant unleashing untold evil into the world?

  “You feel it, doctor, don’t you? The weight of the responsibility crushing down on you. The weight of the entire world on your shoulders. There, there. It’s perhaps not as significant as you may imagine.”

  The tears rolled down Alix’s cheeks as she broke down at the altar. She found herself on her knees, clutching at the cloth and using it to soak up her misery, her hands white from gripping so hard. She didn’t wail or scream. She sobbed, gently and without anger or hatred: the tears of a scared girl who had just lost someone who she now realised was so dear to her that the very thought of breathing without him seemed so utterly pointless. It was the feeling of standing at the edge of a precipice and staring down into the abyss, waiting for the wind to push her over.

  “But you have a choice, Alix.” Baron’s voice seemed close to her but there was still no sign of him. He spoke quietly and she wanted to believe he meant what he said so much, more than she knew she should but what else was there left to believe in?

  “I know your pain, child. We are all shaped by those perplexingly inequitable things that ha
ppen to us in our pasts. They’re like tsunamis aren’t they? Tearing across oceans that, moments before, seemed so calm and unthreatening and with them they take everything that was recognisable as ours from us. They strip us bare and leave us with nothing but our skin. And then the waters retreat to reveal the devastation – the soaked wreckage underneath – and we are expected to just pick ourselves up and carry on, aren’t we? How extraordinarily unfair. And you, here you are again, standing at the top of the stairs looking down to the hallway and watching someone you care so much about being led away into the dark gulf outside. Except of course that this time you have a choice. You don’t have to remain on the landing. You could choose to walk down the stairs and take Ash by the hand. You don’t have to be a martyr. You don’t have to sacrifice yourself for this World and if you choose life, if you choose your own self-preservation above that of others, no one will ever know and no one will ever judge you.”

  He seemed close to her, perhaps even standing directly behind her, but she was unconcerned. Her only thought was for the impossibility of the choice she had to make.

  “What do I do?” she asked Azrael but the voice in her head did not respond immediately this time.

  Gabriel gave the choice to you Alix because the Maker deemed that that was the right thing to do. But Sin’s time in exile is up. Maybe his coming is inevitable.

  “What, so if I don’t open the box he’ll just find some other way to enter the Ether? But I shouldn’t be the one to make that choice. Why is this happening?” She lashed out, knocking a candelabra to the floor. “Why me? I didn’t ask for any of this!”

  “But nonetheless here you are.” This time it was not Baron who spoke but a far gruffer voice. Harker was standing at the other end of the church, near the entrance, her black coat flailing a little in the breeze from the open door.