The Infernal Aether (First Draft)

Chapter 29 - The Descent Into Chaos

In the days and weeks following our escape from the Aether something extraordinary happened. Something which only came to my attention when I had a moment, some weeks later, to stop and think.

Things had been particularly painful during those weeks as my body fought to recover from the rigours imposed on it by the many trials I had undergone, not least of which was Andras' attempt to steal my soul. Indeed, I found myself wondering whether I had truly been fully restored when the Demon's soul-snatching spell had been broken. The world we returned to from the Aether seemed a little less real to me, as though I were regarding and experiencing it through a finely woven veil.

Walking past one of my favourite taverns one day, I found that I had no compulsion to enter. As I giddily considered this bizarre turn of events I realised that, over the weeks since leaving the Aether, I had not actually consumed any alcohol or other drugs. As I wandered home I wondered whether this was due to the detachment I felt from the post-Aether world, although logically my lack of feeling should have driven me toward the enhanced sensations of narcotics, not away from them. It was only as I reached my home that I realised the true source of my new-found sense of responsibility.

Kate was sat on the doorstep, scrubbing at some manner of clothing or another. She and Maxwell had been lodging with me since he had managed to transport his entire ground floor over to the Aether, destroying his house -- not to mention a fair proportion of his street -- in the process. I gave her a wary smile as I approached. "Is he in there?" I asked.

She nodded. "Still no change," she said. "No matter how charming or amusing I am, he won't do anything but sit and stare into space." She nodded at the window and I glanced in, to see Maxwell sat in a chair, unwashed and unmoving.

 "Any sign of N'yotsu?" asked Kate.

"Not a jot. I must have covered the whole of London now, several times over. It is as though he has vanished into thin air." I shrugged. "Maybe that is exactly what he has done, along with Andras..." The lack of contact from Andras had been our one consolation, although it was also unnerving, leaving us constantly looking over our shoulders and wondering when the Demon would next resurface.

"You can forget that thought," said Kate harshly, misreading my expression. "I know what you think, but I know what I know, and I know that N'yotsu's a good man."

"A good Demon," I corrected her.

"We only have Andras' word for that, and that thing had plenty of reasons to want us all at each other’s throats."

I shrugged and stepped into the house. Maxwell looked up at me dully as I entered the sitting room. His despondency -- not to mention N'yotsu's, before he disappeared -- overshadowed even my most maudlin moods in times gone by. In the face of the raw, black desperation of my nearest and dearest my instinct, as with so many things, was to rebel, to take the opposite track and be a beacon of optimism in the face of all that despair. But it was not just against the prevailing mood that I was rebelling. Andras' revelations had made me realise that all my troubles, all my instabilities and childhood traumas could be traced back to the Demon and its insane plotting. To give in to those feelings would be to give in to Andras. I resolved that I would instead find some manner of purpose out of this terrible chaos.

"I bought you a newspaper," I said to him, dropping it in his lap.

He grunted as he scanned the front page. "Still trouble up North," he noted.

"Yes," I said. "The last I heard was that the riots had reached Leicester. At this rate they will be in the capital by the end of the week."

"Not likely," said Maxwell. "The riots have been mainly around agricultural workers. We should be safe from that sort of issue."