Iron Rain Pt. 20

"Master you have returned," Fire Heart greeted me with a deep bow.

"High Priestess," I said turning to face her.

"All preparations are complete and the Lady Akira seeks your presence when are able," she replied.

"What do you mean all preparations, what is the date Fire Heart?"

"Why it is the twentieth day of the last month Master is that a problem?"

"LOKI! Mother Fucker... god damn you..." I cursed as I stormed off to find Akira.

I was cursing the entire way down the mountain until I reached the dock. Drawing on the dark alchemy I formed a bubble of gravity around me and walked from the dock to edge of the ship. I dissipated the bubble and walked up the gangplank to the main deck. Most of the crew had assembled seeing my walking on water trick. Akira appeared and saw the expression on my face and cringed knowing I was in a very pissy mood.

"Kouryou," she greeted me with a faint smile. "It is good to see you."

"I need your help," I told her. "I know this is going to be abrupt but I have no time, thanks to that mother fucker Loki!"

"What can I do?"

"I need to show you something and if my plan fails someone has to be able to pick up the pieces."

"You know you can count on me and the Order Kouryou," Akira said a genuine smile now on her lovely features.

"I know I can," I told her.

I took her by the hand and led her to the front of the ship.

"Just one more step and it can all begin," I told her.

In that one step we went from the ship to my workshop. I let go of Akira and let her take in her new surroundings with its gleaming crystalline walls that were so familiar and yet so very different.

"Kouryou where are we," she asked as she began to walk deeper into the structure. "Is this part of the pyramid? The layout is the same but the walls and pillars..."

"... it's like a negative image is it not?"

"Exactly, so where are we?"

"This is my private lab and now it is 'our' private workplace. I want to show it to you and share all my plans and dreams. I wanted to have more time but Loki pushed up the clock, I'm sorry."

"Why did you wait so long Kouryou to tell me," Akira asked.

"I wanted the timing to be perfect. I wanted to have certain projects ready to start so you could be there at the beginning and we could reap the benefits together," I told her.

"So what have you planned for us?"

"Let me show you."

I took her hand and guided her up the crystalline ramp to the second floor. There the blended light from eight pillars illuminated the immediate area.

"Oh Kouryou," she gasped. "They are beautiful."

I watched her approach the nearest pillar and the wonder contained within. Beyond the transparent wall hovering at head level was a blazing violet star the size of a basketball. Then Akira moved to each and every pillar staring childlike at each star held suspended each one a different color of the spectrum. But it was the last and youngest sun that held her mystified for so very long.

"Did you make these or is this some sort of hologram," Akira asked.

"They are quite real beloved," I told her.

"How did you create them?"

"Gravity, gases, elements and a lot of patience," I said.

"A black star," she asked pointing to the last pillar. "How did you even think of such a thing?"

"R'lyeh, that terrible sunken city was lit by one," I admitted. "After the others I had to try."

"Of course you did it's gorgeous," Akira moaned. "How long do they last?"

"I estimate they should last a few thousand years, no more."

"What else," she asked with a brilliant smile on her lovely features. "I want to see it all."

I pointed to deeper into the pyramid and she smiled and walked into the next chamber and saw the work tables and the metallic spheres in whole and in pieces scattered all over. I walked over to one that was completed and pushed the activation button and a low hum filled the room.

"It looks like one of your power plants," Akira said.

"It is but this one is self sustaining. Once it is activated it will provide power indefinitely."

"That is wonderful; people won't have to pay for electricity will they?"

"No, free power for everyone," I said.

"How do they work," she asked.

"I am glad you asked. Let me show you."

I took her to the first work table where a large box was located.

"Open it," I told her.

Akira lifted the lid and again that smile lit up her features. She looked at me and I nodded so she reached in and removed the clump of crystals. At first glance it appeared as if it were a simple block of colored quartz comprised of red, green and blue crystals. Akira turned it in her hands and saw the deep color and the weight of it surprised her.

"It's so light," she commented as she returned it to the box.

The next portion of the table had three smaller boxes.

"Open them but be careful they might surprise you," I warned her.

She opened the box marked red and took up the ruby colored stone and her eyes lit up.

"It weighs practically nothing," she commented.

"Hold it up and then let go," I said.

Akira lifted the crystal to chest level and let go when it failed to fall she gasped. She looked at me and almost giggled.

"I'll explain after you open the other two."

She returned the red stone to its box and opened the box with the blue crystal. Akira struggled to even lift the stone from the box. She had to hold the box with one hand and the crystal with the other.

"It's like a magnet and iron," she said through gritted teeth before returning the stone and the lid snapping shut on its own.

Last she opened the box containing the green crystal. The minute the lid opened the stone shot up and out only to hover three feet from the table's surface. When Akira tried to touch the crystal it moved away from her hand maintaining its three foot distance.

"So what do you think," I asked.

"Let me guess, the red one negates gravity, the blue one draws things to it and the green one repels things?"

"Exactly," I said delighted at her cunning insight.

"So how do you make a generator out of these things?"

I walked her to the next table where an incomplete sphere was located. Akira looked at the interior and saw the configuration of the three crystals. The inner surface of the sphere was coated in the red crystal creating a zone of zero resistance. A shaft ran from the north pole of the sphere to the south. At the very center held firmly in a metallic cage a flawless round diamond. Attached to the shaft was a metal ring that held cages for a blue crystal in one and a greed stone in the other. Each stone was opposite the other in its orbit around the central shaft.

"The blue stone attracts the green stone while the green pushes against the blue," I explained. "The diamond has been altered to act as a break to allow the generator to be turned on and off. But once it's turned on the stones push and pull against each other causing the shaft to spin thereby generating power."

"The red stone removes any resistance so it can spin very fast that's brilliant!" Akira remarked before continuing. "Where do these crystals come from?"

"I am glad you asked," I said picking up a specially created glove. "Slip this on and you can find out for yourself."

Akira put the glove on and followed me over to yet another work table. On the surface was a cube of what appeared to be smoky quartz.

"This is a window into one of the lower dimensions," I explained. "The entire dimension is composed of only three elements. Carefully slide your hand in, with your fingers spread and wait for a crystal to bump into the palm of your hand. Then pull it out."

"There is nothing else in there?"

"Nope just the crystals," I said.

Akira slowly reached in and waited until something hit her hand and she jumped. We laughed and the next time it happened she was ready and snatched a good chunk of the crystal through the window. Smoke billowed from the clump of crystal and she could feel the aura of extreme cold coming from it. I got her a box for her prize and she placed it inside and was all smiles.

"I reached into another dimension," Akira said. "That was amazing! What else?"

She eagerly followed me up the ramp to the third floor and here was my private museum. The assorted items all had a recurring theme even though their form and purpose varied vastly. Every piece was a device that fell under the category of organic technology and had been rescued from the lair of Elder Things after their departure.

"What are they," Akira said staring with a mix of horror and curiosity.

"I brought them from beneath the earth after the Formless left."

"You mean they are like the scepter from Iram?"

"Yep, I am still figuring out what they do," I admitted.

"Are they safe?"

"Of course, they are asleep until I wake them up. But it is this one here that is going to change everything," I said showing her one of the larger most sophisticated devices.

"What does it do?"

"This is going to be sent to Venus and will singlehandedly change the environment to mirror that of the earth."

"Why," Akira asked looking at me worried.

"It's a start, a new beginning for everyone. Imagine being able to make worlds suited to our needs and be able to spread out."

"You are talking about colonies on other worlds. Oh Kouryou, that is amazing!"

"It will take time of course but I hope that when it is done we will be ready to spread out and explore."

"I am so proud of you!"

"There is one last thing beloved. I need to show you something special, very special."

"Oh I can't wait," Akira said clinging to my arm.

We walked arm in arm up to the very top of the pyramid and the singular room that made up that floor. Unlike the Black Pyramid this room was devoid of any furnishings. I guided her to the very center and held my hand out palm down and a pedestal of clear crystal rose up from the floor. Set on the top of the pedestal was a cube of frosted glass. I removed the cube and the walls cleared to reveal a dark mass of ever changing flesh within.

"Kouryou what is that?"

"Remember my story about my meeting with the Elder Things?"

"Is that the Gift? I thought it was inside of you?"

Akira moved away from me fear staining her eyes and horror etching her beautiful features.

"It is a Gift, like mine it holds all the secrets of the Formless," I told her. "I am offering you so much beloved. I want you to know what I know and understand what I understand."

"I will become like you?"

"Yes, we will work to forge a new future for everyone," I said but even as the words left my mouth I knew she was appalled. "It was just a thought."

I returned the cube to the pedestal and it sunk back down into the floor. I let out a sigh and tried to hide my disappointment but failed miserably.

"I'm sorry Kouryou I just... can't."

"I was just hoping, it's okay I can carry the burden alone beloved."

"Oh Nick I didn't mean..."

"Time has run out Akira Kusanagi I have a task to perform. We can speak after."

"Kouryou... Nick... don't do this!"

"It's too late now, I love you."

With a gentle nudge of power I send her back to the Numenor and prepare for the slide. I wipe away the tears and make my way down to the control room and my lonely destiny.

I stand before the eight pillars containing the stars that are not just for decoration but a power source to run the Great Machine. The air shimmered with power as I channeled the solar energy into the seven stones within the ground floor of the Black Pyramid.

"Surfer bring up the display and give me a countdown to full power," I called out.

"Yes Master," Surfer replied. "We are at ten percent and rising."

"She said no Surfer," I tell him.

"I am sorry sir what are you going to do? We are at fifteen percent."

"You know me I always have a plan B. At least she'll be happy."

"Twenty percent and rising, that's what concerns me Sir, you place her happiness above your own."

"That's why they call it love," I tell him.

"I wonder if she will feel the same way in the end. We have reached thirty percent Sir."

"Is the Aries Virus ready Surfer?"

"Yes, it will render the entire population unconscious upon your command Sir. We are at forty percent and rising."

"Okay let's prep level five for its visitors," I say watching the readouts closely.

"We are at fifty percent and level five is up and operational Sir, will I dream Master?"

"You are trying to be funny now?"

"If not now when, sixty percent and rising," Surfer said with a chuckle.

"Okay Mr. Comedian drop South America and put 'em on ice and give me a reading across the boards."

"We have reached seventy percent and green lights on life signs," he responded.

"Okay let's drop the rest and ramp it up we have a light show to put on," I say as I get ready to directly interface with the Great Machine.

There was what felt like a huge delay from Surfer as he performed the grueling task I had assigned him.

"Collection process complete, power level is at eighty five percent and neural interface is online. You can dive in at any time Sir."

"Okay here goes everything," I mutter as I use the contacts to connect directly to the seven monoliths below. "See you on the other side Surfer."

"Good luck Nick," he said just before my world went dark and silent.

There was nothing. My mind was aware of itself but besides that singular spark of awareness there was absolutely nothing. This is what Bennu had shown me. Before the first star, before the first particle there had been nothing but the keen awareness of that singular being. But now it was just me and my reaching thoughts needing sensory input of any kind. On some logical level I knew that mere nanoseconds were ticking by but it still felt like forever. I felt the first tickling of that other with me now; tendrils of thought reaching out for me from a consciousness so cold and so alien. Instinctively I reached out and when we touched, there was an explosion of light and sound and emotion. The stones were alive!

"You are Nicholas Shaw," said the Great Machine.

"You are the Great Machine," I replied.

"Why have you chosen to join with me?"

"My world is in danger and need strength only you can provide," I told it.

"That is not entirely true now is it," the once emotionless sexless voice took on a quality that was both female and amused. "Tell me the whole truth Nick."

"In the entire history of this world no one had gathered the stones and spoken to you. I wanted to be the first. I guess in the end it was curiosity."

"I can see why she chose you Nick," the Great Machine said. "She saw great and terrible potentials in you. She saw your hunger to know things no one had discovered. That desire to fix the human condition that is as great and terrible as you. A race capable of such great art and music and also so afraid it will murder and savage its own kind out of mere differences. I agree with you I am not sure they are worth saving but I also see that they deserve a second chance and a fresh start."

"Thank you," I said.

"Oh don't thank me yet. You were correct in one fear you may not survive bonding with me Nick Shaw. The strain of my power coursing through you may be too much for even you to withstand."

"I'll take that chance."

"For her sake," the machine asked.

"You're kind of nosey for a great and powerful artifact."

"It is in my nature to be curious."

"So is my guess correct and the Formless made you," I asked.

"Not even close, do you want to know who created me. Do you want to see a brief glimpse of what came after?"

"After... after what?"

"I'll take that as a yes Nick Shaw," she said.

I was once more standing in the abyss of nothingness but I was not alone. There was Bennu in all her glory unveiled to my mind's eye. She was love and life and death and destruction all embodied in one being. Then I caught movement beyond her and there stood Ptah so small and mundane compared to Bennu.

"Hello Nick," he called out to me.

"Ptah, what are you doing here?"

"I told you I had witnessed the birth of a universe and here it comes," he said like a kid at the fourth of July.

"Behold Nikolas the very beginning," Bennu whispered into the void.

The heat and light were on a scale that defied imagination. The crucible of creation sprung to life in an instant and began to expand and fill the void faster than my mind's eye could follow. But it was a single star that caught my attention, the first star to coalesce in the firmament of our universe.

"Go on Nick," Bennu said gently. "Take a look at her."

"Her? You mean she's alive," I asked.

"Of course silly she is the primal star the first of her kind and mother of many," Bennu explained.

My thoughts guided me across the vast distances that separated us and soon I was hovering before her. I had created tiny suns in my lab but this, she was perfect.

"Thank you for you kind thoughts Nicholas Shaw," the Primal Star said.

"They fall far short of the truth," I said.

"Your hunger for the truth has led you here is it how you imagined?"

"It is so far beyond what I imagined or dreamt of."

"Good, I am pleased. I see you have walked among giants and their shadow weighs heavy on your soul."

"If you mean Bennu and the Formless, yes I have and yes they do."

"Yet if I were to remove it you would be less than what you are and what you could be."

"So there is hope for me?"

"If you are seeking redemption Nicholas your search is in vain."

"So there is no hope," I said feeling the crushing weight of defeat.

Her laughter caught me completely by surprise.

"What is so damn funny," I shot at her and this only made her laugh all the harder.

"You dear Nicholas, I do not find your pain amusing but the cause for it is. You blame yourself for the deaths of billions on your world. But you have looked into the else when and seen what would have happened if you had not acted. Ptah remind him if you would."

"Of course," he replied. "I will show you a mere fifty years in the future of that aborted time line if you had done nothing."

I was standing in what was left of the city of Arkham. I say left because the streets were vacant and it appeared as if a nuclear bomb had gone off so great was the devastation. I knew instinctively that every city on the planet looked like this. No place had been spared from the ravages of the economic collapse and the frenzy that ensued by the feeding of the Nephilim. The balance had been tipped too far by the greedy and power hungry that had ran things. Now the world was a revolving death trap with no hope of recovery ever. All the possibilities had been reduced to zero.

"You see," Ptah said. "Your actions though severe made it possible for a future to be forged."

"There is no reason to assign blame for something that saved so many lives," the Primal Star said.

"I guess I only see the negative," I admitted.

"It is only natural Nicholas, but when you realize that entire worlds burn away in an instant with not a single soul surviving," the Primal Star stated. "Then your little setback is barely a hiccup in the grand scheme of things."

"Is that your version of jeez Nick look at the big fucking picture speech?"

"I'm not sure that's how I would have worded it but okay Nick look at the big fucking picture," the Star declared.

I think it will be that moment I will remember the most. Bennu's laughter echoing across the void was something I never thought I would ever hear. I am not sure stoic is exactly the term I would use but reserved certainly.

"Since we seemed to have gotten off topic," I began. "Will you be able to help with my little alignment problem?"

"Atlas once held the world on his shoulders and now Nick Shaw is juggling it for his amusement. I have already fixed your little problem including restoring the magnetic poles. By the way you are welcome."