Duality : Book 1 of Codex Elysium

Chapter 18 (edited)

Chapter 18

Dawn was breaking over Elysium City, the storm had passed, leaving a clear blue sky. The ruins glistened in the early morning light. The great stone ring stood silent, an ominous presence on the hilltop. The stretch of wasteland between the ring and the city had grown, all traces of the dust and sand from the disintegrated buildings washed away by the storm. The silence of the city is shattered by the cries of pain. Janus knew pain very well, he was after all a demon of fear and pain. Over the centuries he had inflicted every kind of pain and suffering imaginable on the inhabitants of the city. He delighted in causing it but being on the receiving end was no fun at all.

Janus lay in the damp and dark of a ruined building. He was writhing in pain amongst the dust and rubble. One side of his body was completely burned and hideously ruined. The flesh was all melted and scarred. One eye was gone, not even a trace of it could be seen. The right side of his face was just a lump of burnt tissue. The burnt side felt like it was a raging inferno and Janus howled in pain. He hadn't been able to outrun the wall of fire. In the final second he'd half turned so that only one side took the impact. As the force of the blow sent him hurling through the sky, Janus thought that that action had probably saved his life, but now, as he lay writhing in agony, he wondered whether death would have been a better choice. Hel knelt beside the writhing body, using all her magic and charms to try and heal Janus. She cursed violently and looked up at the crumbling ceiling. Hel was a powerful goddess of the underworld and yet nothing was working, Janus could not be healed. The demon's face was a ruin of burnt flesh, one eye was gone, half of his nose was melted and his mouth was twisted up into a permanent snarl on the one side, permanently baring his teeth.  Hel moved her attention down to Janus's right arm and what was left of his hand.  It couldn't really be called a hand anymore, Hel thought. It was little more than a lump of burnt flesh. The fingers had fallen off or melted into the solid mass. Hel worked her magic, all the time speaking words of revenge and the destruction of the druids. Eventually Janus's breathing slowed as the pain lessened and he could sit up.

"How have you separated from this body?" Janus croaked,

his twisted mouth made the words difficult to understand.  Hel studied the demon in the semi darkness. "The druids magic was very strong, I was thrown out as the fire impacted you. I don't know why you weren't thrown out as well?"

"I wish I had been cast out, this body is ruined now." Janus raised his good hand to his face and touched the area where his eye had been.

"Jason will pay for this, after all the good book does say 'an eye for an eye'."

"Oh, you really must take it easy!" Hel cried.

Janus lay sprawled in the dust, cursing and swearing at everything. For the last few hours he had been trying to walk on his ruined leg but it wouldn't support his weight. The flesh had set completely solid and the knee no longer bent at all.  Hel sat in the corner of the room watching Janus's failed attempts.

"Hmm, I think I am going to have to replace your leg?"

"Well why don't you get on with it then?" Janus roared from the floor.

"By now Jason will be well on his way to that cursed island. I need to catch him before he gets there and I cannot do that if I can't walk!"

"Fine, just don't go anywhere, I will be back."

Janus threw every vile swear word and curse he knew as Hel slipped out into the city. She returned a short while later with a withered leg in her arms.

"That's the replacement?" Janus asked sceptically.

He had managed to prop himself up into a sitting position while she was gone. He glowered at the leg. It was from one of the Passus and had been surgically removed at the hip.