Chapter 15.
Azrael Shrieked. He screamed and cursed as his bond to the last swordsman fizzled out, as he watched the last of them die through each other’s eyes. He was practically foaming at the mouth, he was so angry. Well fine, it didn’t matter if they found out what he was, what he was capable of. They would be dead soon enough. He was in control of the entire city, and he could throw as much as he needed to at those two to stop them. He had killed the rest, these two would fall to him eventually, and he would make sure of it.
He summoned forty men to Grand Hall. He had taken up residence in here, feeling that it fit him best of all the buildings up here. The Grand Hall was the biggest, most opulent building on the Cloud. Hundreds of years old, and filled with beautiful sculptures and scientific models. The entire thing was built out of the most beautiful marble, with long, wide steps leading up to the front, and twisting, spiralling pillars that stretched up to a gently sloped roof. There were portions of the building dedicated to meetings, most often between some of the highest ranking officials of the Cloud, and other areas under lock and key containing some of the most incredible, and at times dangerous discoveries by the scholars there. At times the building was even opened up to the general public, much like some of the smaller museums back down in Spectrum, and people would happily journey up to take a look at the grandeur and splendour of one of the Clouds’ most famous buildings from the inside.
None of this mattered to Azrael, of course. He only cared that it was big enough to plan, to plot, to let his hatred for this place run unchecked. And there was so much hatred. They would pay for what they did, he would make sure of it. The forty men arrived, each one unable to resist his will. They stood in a small cluster in the middle of the biggest hall, Azrael standing before them. He looked them over briefly, and then wordlessly started to walk towards them. Even though the men were helplessly trapped under Azrael’s magic, powerless to resist, there was still a small part of each one that desperately wanted to turn away as he approached. A tiny voice in each head telling them to run, to get away! But of course they couldn’t, and so there they stood, awaiting whatever was to come.
Azrael stopped in front of the first man, still silent, although the anger was still clear and apparent on his face from what happened down below. He knew that not all of these vessels would survive what was about to happen to them, but it truly didn’t matter, they were wholly expendable. Standing, facing the first person, Azrael lifted his hands. The man was sweating, almost trembling with nerves, but didn’t move an inch. Azrael held his hands a few inches to either side of the man’s head. He spread his fingers out and pointed each finger towards his head. Nothing happened for a moment, and then something horrific began to occur. Azrael’s fingers started to grow and lengthen, changing shape and becoming horrible black claw-like appendages. They continued to grow, getting closer and closer to the man’s head, until they were touching it. And then they kept growing. The man screamed as the claws embedded themselves into his skull. Azrael didn’t even blink, just stood there concentrating. The man screamed and screamed, and then suddenly stopped. He fell completely silent, and just briefly nothing happened.
The man stood there, completely still, and then began to shake. Lightly at first, and then went into full body spasms he couldn’t control. As he did his body started to change. The already pallid skin turned almost black, going rock hard at the same time, almost like living plate armour. Two large bulges appeared at the top of his back, either side of his spine, where his shoulder blades were. They grew rapidly in size, swelling and increasing until they looked like enormous black boils. They continued to enlarge until all of a sudden they burst, showering the men behind them with a disgusting black fluid. In their place now there were two big, black wings on the man’s back. The transformation was complete, and Azrael withdrew his claws to step back and admire his work. He smiled, pleased with the result. One down, many more to go. They would fall to him, he would make sure of it. He moved to stand in front of the next man, and began the process again.