Diabolical - Chapter 19 (Patreon)

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After an indeterminate time, the outflow of ultraviolet energy, surging into the black coffin, came to a halt. The thrumming vibrations, like the hum of a giant machine, gradually dissipated and soon the room in the center of the pyramid became deathly silent. The atmosphere was tense and oppressive, as if the weight of eons past were about come crashing down.

Suddenly, there was a hissing sound as the coffin lid was unsealed by some invisible mechanism. Then, it started moving. Slowly, it levitated upwards, drifting once more toward the ceiling from where it had come.

The figure inside the coffin was gradually revealed. Much of it was cast in shadow, but some details could be gleaned. It was a male humanoid, with arms, legs, a torso and a head. Its body was bigger than that of a child, but smaller than adult.

At first glance, many oddities could be observed. The figure’s skin was glowing-white, like pure moonlight. The energy seemed to be emitting from somewhere inside its body, turning its flesh semi-translucent. Like an x-ray, its insides were made visible.

It didn’t seem to have any organs, but there were many dark, net-like structures inside it, as well as a weird-looking skeleton. Also, its body was sectioned by thin, black lines, appearing wherever a joint was present. It gave the figure an appearance like that of a puppet, or a robot.

Abruptly, it started to sway inside the upright coffin before toppling out of it like a drunkard falling out of a window. It plummeted a height of three stories before solidly hitting the ground, producing a dull sound. A human would’ve been seriously injured or killed by such a fall, but it was unharmed.

Sitting with both knees pressed against the ground, it lifted its hands to its now-revealed face. Its visage was hauntingly beautiful, like it was crafted by a master sculptor, yet there was something uncanny about it that was hard to put into words.

Suddenly something very strange happened—the figure started crying! Clear teardrops, like polished diamonds, started rolling down its perfect cheeks. The sight was both moving and disturbing.

It started running its hands across its face and torso, like it was confirming whether or not all its parts were indeed present. When it finished its evaluation, its expression showed immeasurable relief.

“I have a body again!”

Its voice rang inside the black space like a silver bell, sounding extremely joyful. After realizing that it was alone, it finally stood and looked around. Then, it abruptly started walking in a certain direction with dedication and familiarity.

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In the hexagonal corridor leading to the interior of the pyramid, Doctor Fate and the mysterious witch were floating. Their auras were polar opposites. One was a resplendent gold and a manifestation of order, while the other was violet-black, like drops of ink inside glowing, purple plasma.

Ordinarily, they would never co-operate, but their circumstances weren’t ordinary.

“If you have anything to tell me spirit, then speak immediately.”

The woman’s tone was unhappy and her beautiful features were drawn into a frown. Something was happening inside the tomb, but she didn’t know what it was. Nabu had arrived before her, so it likely knew something she didn’t.

“SOMEONE HAS ENTERED THE TOMB. THEY MUST BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ANOMOLY.”

The doctor’s voice rang like a brass cymbal. 

They didn’t want to provoke the woman, given their precarious situation. The earlier fight had taken its toll. While Nabu’s reserves were far from being depleted, Kent’s mortal body wasn’t able to manifest such power indefinitely. Already, the spirit was starting to feel a dull pain, spreading throughout their shared physique.

The witch’s eyebrows shot upwards in anger.

“You didn’t think it pertinent to inform me of this?”

She sounded outraged.

However, Doctor Fate wasn’t rattled.

“IT MATTERS LITTLE, THE FORTRESS IS NOTHING BUT A RUIN. AFTER IT IS SEALED, WITH THE INTRUDER INSIDE, I WILL TRANSLOCATE IT INTO A SECURE SUBSPACE.”

Nabu’s solution was simple. Even if Arthur managed to reboot the pyramid, it wouldn’t matter. Given the fortress’ destitute state, it would be incapable of escaping a pocket dimension.

‘…but didn’t it get out before?’

It was Kent’s voice, speaking inside their shared mind. From his understanding, Nabu was just repeating past mistakes. If someone, or something, managed to steal the tomb before, couldn’t they do it again?

‘THERE ARE NO ALTERNATIVES, NELSON. WE CANNOT DESTROY THE FORTRESS, ONLY SEAL IT SOMEWHERE INACESSABLE. REDUCED AS IT IS, ITS DETONATION WOULD STILL RESULT IN A SINGULARITY CAPABLE OF TEARING THE FABRIC OF SPACE-TIME.’

The spirit’s tone was grave, and there was a helplessness hidden underneath the surface.

After thinking about it for a while, the man decided to remain silent. This was far above his paygrade, so he decided to leave things to the professionals.

In the short time they were having their mental conversation, the witch’s expression had sunk further. The tomb wasn’t a place anyone could just walk into. The mystical protection, as well as the structure’s own defenses, saw to that. If someone did manage to trespass, then their identity was bound to be extraordinary.

“You must immediately tell me…”

She was about to demand more information when there was an unexpected change. The hexagonal portal, which was less than a minute away from being fully secured, suddenly lit up. There was a flash of white light, bright enough to blind any normal viewer. It lasted only a fraction of a second, and when it dissipated, a third figure abruptly appeared.

It was a boy, around thirteen years of age. His appearance was extremely strange, with skin as white as paper and covered in thin, black lines. His whole body was surrounded by a soft glow, but the weird translucency from earlier had disappeared. He had long, curly hair, that shine like white metal. It covered half of his face and fell down to the middle of his chest.

His single, exposed eye was no less exceptional, being without pupil or iris. It was made from a metallic liquid, like quicksilver that was slowly drifting. Patterns formed and dispersed inside it, like rolling waves or roiling clouds.

A shocked silence hung in the air. Neither the ancient spirit nor the witch expected, nor knew how to react to the boy’s sudden appearance.

It was the alien youth that spoke first. His voice resounded in the air, like a plucked string, and the sound of it was enough to affect the minds of mortals. However, both Doctor Fate and the witch were immune.

“Is that you, Mr. Nelson?”

His head turned toward the shining figure. A silvery eye stared at them, like it could see through all their secrets.

The question multiplied the shock of both man and spirit by a hundredfold. How could they not know who the boy was?

‘Oh my God, is that Arthur? Let me talk to him, Nabu…!’

Kent’s tone was urgent. He could detect a building hostility from his companion, but they couldn’t afford another fight! Already, his body felt like it was being dissolved from the inside out. Right now, diplomacy was their best option.

There was an intense conflict within the ancient being. It could recognize the presence of its old enemy, dwelling inside the boy, but it was somehow dormant. If Kent was at full strength, it would’ve taken this opportunity to annihilate the remnant of Vril Dox without qualm.

Eventually, the man felt the spirit withdraw.

‘EXERCISE CAUTION, NELSON. THIS IS NO HUMAN CHILD.’

When the voice faded, so too did its manifestation. The glimmering shroud of energy dissipated, revealing Kent’s unassuming figure. Surprisingly, his clothes weren’t even rustled, despite the intense conflict in which he’d participated. It was a testament to Nabu’s godly abilities.

As soon as his leather soles clicked against the black, glassy surface, Kent carefully started making his way over to Arthur, like someone trying to approach a wild animal. A drop of blood slid down his upper lip, which he surreptitiously wiped away. However, he couldn’t hide it from the two supernatural presences nearby.

The witch’s glowing eyes were drawn into slits, but she made no overt movements, evidently letting things play out.

“Hey, buddy. What the hell happened to you? Are you okay?”

Kent’s voice was low and soothing, and he held his hands out to his sides, palms facing upwards. He was doing his best to appear nonthreatening.

‘Arthur’ unconsciously brought a hand to his head, lightly pressing the tips of his fingers against his temples.

“I’m not really sure…”

His clear, metallic voice wavered a little. While he wasn’t entirely telling the truth, he wasn’t lying either. He remembered the conflict with the butler, but after being captured, everything became chaotic. There were flashes of light, intense sounds and bursts of enormous heat and force that completely overwhelmed his senses.

Eventually, everything turned black. When he awoke, he found himself inside that queer, familiar space. There was something at the back of his mind, like a dream, but it quickly faded away. Right now, he was so overwhelmed by it all that he didn’t know what to say.

When he saw the figure of Doctor Fate, a bunch of puzzle pieces immediately snapped into place, but the realization regarding his tutor’s identity only made him more confused. All these years, he’d been living in the DC universe without even knowing it!

He watched Kent Nelson’s approach like a zombie. When the man arrived in front of him, he extended his arms, gently taking Arthur by the shoulders.

“There’s a lot going on right now, so I need you to trust me. First things first, we need to stuff this pyramid somewhere the sun doesn’t shine. Well… somewhere else the sun doesn’t shine. After that, we can get out of here and…”

Kent’s voice started trailing off toward the end as he thought about having to face the reality of what had happened today. The massive death and destruction caused by the earlier catastrophe chilled him to the bone.

“…well, we’ll sort that stuff out later. Right now, I need you to help me with this thing. There’s some real bad juju going on inside this pyramid and I feel like you should be able to do something about it. Am I right, Arthur?”

His gaze, staring unblinkingly into Arthur’s inhuman eyes, was intense. One really had to commend the man’s guts—if anyone else had to look at the boy’s alien face, they’d be too scared to move a muscle.

Arthur’s expression turned thoughtful. He’d already noticed his strange connection to the structure, although he had no clue how it happened. The only thing he could think of was the tablet, but he would investigate that later.

After a moment of silence, he nodded slowly. He knew Kent was a good guy that wouldn’t lie to him. At least, that was the character of his fictional self.

“…what do you want me to do?”

The boy’s voice echoed strangely in the wide glass passageway.

Kent quickly communicated with Nabu inside his mind before replying.

“I need you to completely shut this thing down. Once it’s switched off, I can…”

While he was in the middle of delivering an explanation, the witch, who’d been standing off to the side, suddenly interjected. Her voice was filled with alarm.

“Something is trying to break into this space!”

She quickly turned around, looking out into the darkness outside the tomb. When she did, the aura around her flared up intensely. Dark, violet plasma arced off her body before striking the obsidian walls, like electricity hitting a faraday cage.

“Hurry up, you fools!”

Her command was like a thunderclap, immediately shaking the man and boy out of their reverie.

Arthur made a move first. Like flipping a switch, he completed the circuit in his mind that connected to the pyramid. In front of his eyes, millions of rows of glowing, green text were written in alien symbols. Just as quickly as they appeared, they vanished, replaced by a single floating sentence.

‘[Terminate all processes—Y/N]’

Without dallying, Arthur immediately provided confirmation.

There was a strange sensation, like an omnipresent, grey background noise suddenly disappeared. When the three individuals noticed it, the pyramid had already stopped rotating. That wasn’t the worst of it, because whatever anti-gravity technology or thaumaturgy was causing the structure to float also vanished! Inside the hexagonal hallway, they all plummeted into the abyss, accompanying the pyramid.

“Mr. Nelson…?!”

Arthur started panicking. He couldn’t fly, or if he could, then he didn’t have a clue how to do it!

Kent didn't waste time. Golden energy surged out of his eyes, rapidly burning away the surrounding shadows. With one hand, he grabbed Arthur around his chest before shooting out of the corridor like a firework. With the other, he drew a perfect circle in the air. When it was completed, it massively expanded outwards before flying off towards the pyramid. It enclosed the enormous black diamond perfectly, locking it in like a shackle.

Suddenly, the restored golden symbols, scrawled across the tomb’s surface, lit up in gilded splendor. Space seemed to distort as the whole thing started spinning inwards, like some sort of supernatural whirlpool. In a second, it shrunk to the size marble, then to a single mote of glimmering dust. The speck flew into Kent’s outstretched hand before he stuffed it into his pocket.

The man looked at Arthur, giving him a wink.

“Get it? It’s a literal ‘pocket' dimension.”

After telling his stupid joke, he didn't wait for a reply. Instead, he glanced in the witch’s direction.

“Thank you for you help ma’am. Arthur and I will be going our way, now. You should leave as well, before the bad guys break through.”

Kent gave her a heads-up, even though he didn’t necessarily trust her. It was the least he could do. 

He couldn't afford to hang around for a second longer, given his rapidly-dwindling condition. With a snap of his fingers, both he and Arthur disappeared in a flash of resplendent light.

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