Ghostbusters: Regeneration

Chapter Thirteen

The next morning, instead of suiting up and heading out for the first job of the day, the team was called to a meeting by Ray and Egon. It was held in a presentation area up on the second level of the Firehouse, which was the only floor of the building Hiroko had not been up to. Up here was the laboratory, scanning systems, and the dark room. She had to wonder when the latter had last been used, given the modern prevalence of digital photography.

The attendees sat down in one of the assorted chairs which were positioned in front of a wall-mounted whiteboard. Ray and Egon stood at the front, next to an old-school overhead projector that was currently beaming a blank bright square onto the board.

With no sign of Callum yet, Hiroko decided to take one of the empty seats next to Melissa. Upon sitting down she quietly asked her best friend how she was feeling after missing last nights' drinks. Melissa, without making eye contact, simply replied by saying 'All better now'. Whatever was up with her, she did not seem eager to divulge details about it, so Hiroko decided not to pry for the moment.

'Okay everyone,' Ray began in a business-like tone, 'Callum will not be joining us for this meeting for reasons that should become clear as we go along, but he has been apprised of all the necessary information.'

Hiroko was immediately concerned by Callum's absence. Perhaps he was feeling unwell after last night's outing, but he had seemingly not imbibed anywhere near enough to receive a monster hangover.

'Now that we've dealt with what Egon and I believe to be the most urgent cases of supernatural activity in Manhattan, it's time to turn our focus to what started this whole mess in the first place.'

Ray then prompted Egon, who placed the first semi-transparent sheet down on the overhead projector's surface. The 15th century black and white artwork that Ray had shown Hiroko, Melissa, and Callum two days ago was beamed onto the whiteboard. The silhouette of the scrawny, towering figure with bird-like features seemed even creepier enlarged and lit up across the wall.

'Az'dor the Promising, as 15th century texts commonly refer to him.' Egon announced, as all eyes were drawn to the artwork. 'Based on the first-hand accounts of Ray and Callum, these images are the closest contemporaneous depictions of him our research could turn up. In German mythology, he is said to be an agent of the Devil himself, charged with capturing souls and taking them back with him to Hell.'

Egon replaced the current projector sheet with another, causing the image of a detailed painting of Az'dor to be beamed onto the whiteboard. The creature stood in the centre of the piece, holding both of its elongated arms out to either side. In the left half of the artwork, Az'dor held out an open human-like hand before a group of people kneeling joyously in front of a pile of gold riches. Some kind of pale white aura was being drawn out of these people, moving past Az'dor's sinister grinning face, through his malformed claw-like hand on the right, then down into a huge fiery fissure.

'He would deliver something that a person strongly desired, but at a great cost.' Egon continued. A shift in his tone and his stance suggested he was uncomfortable with what he was about to say. 'Unbeknownst to his victims, after one cycle of the moon their mortal body would perish and their soul would be sent to the great Inferno.'

The previously quiet audience suddenly became visibly unsettled upon registering Egon's words.

'Before anyone panics,' Ray quickly interjected, 'we do not know with 100% certainty that those who have come into direct contact with Az'dor will definitely... expire in a month's time. There's every chance that the accounts about him have been embellished, mistranslated, or confused with fictional adaptation. Egon has also performed all the scans he knows on me and we haven't found anything out of the ordinary. I haven't had time to visit a doctor but I'm suspecting they wouldn't find anything strange either. However, it would obviously be preferable to bag Az'dor within that month window just in case aspects of these accounts turn out to be true.'