Chapter 40: Zau dines in the Pearl River Tower
Zau tilted his massive head to one side, brought one milky eye the size of a dinner plate to bear on the iPad, tapped its screen with a claw that left a red dot behind. More blood dripped from his jowls.
He was sprawled on the top floor of the Pearl River Tower in his natural form, watching more of the video that Dian Mu had provided from the destruction of the coal generation plant. It was intensely satisfying to watch and to think that in just a few days this would be repeated throughout Asia, that revenge for Qi’s death and the start of the healing of the oceans would occur simultaneously.
The volume was turned up and Dian Mu had thoughtfully synchronized a sound track from the ground, the alarms, the screams, the explosions, the arcing lightning, the satisfying sound of melting rebar ripping from fracturing concrete. It echoed somewhat in the quiet space, bounced off of the curved glass, sprayed with blood as it was.
When this clip was over, Zau growled fiercely, leaned over and ripped open the torso of the dead fox spirit next to him. Renton had put up a spirited fight, but Zau had prevailed, defeated him, killed him. And now, as was fitting, Zau was eating him.
Yet again he leaned close, tapped the screen of the small device. Another clip played, another angle showing destruction writ large, imagined by Zau, orchestrated by Zau, paid for by Zau. More screams, more arcing electrical whips of hellfire, more steel melted into intricate and meaningless shapes. He now had a goddess doing his bidding, and doing it well. He was pleased. He was unsure if he would have use of her in the future, but for now, she was still valuable. He wondered how she would taste.
He leaned over, picked up the body of an exquisite and exquisitely clad server, tossed it in the air, snapped at it as it fell, swallowed it. He had not really intended to dine upon the flesh of the people and beings at this club this day, but his impatience was growing. Soon enough, this building which depended upon electricity for its existence, its operation, its lighting and water and climate, soon enough it would be just another rotting hulk, not a viable structure in Zau’s new world order. This would have happened in a few days at most, so he’d decided to move the schedule up on this pleasure. It couldn’t wait until after the destruction of the power it depended on after all, as no one would be able to get to this floor with its stunning view, its arching windows.
He tapped the screen again. More fire and destruction and violent sound. The beehives that had been an odd but alluring feature of Zau’s private club were shattered. The screens were kindling. The tables and chairs were scattered and broken, no longer capable of supporting the beings, food and drink that they had been designed and built for, no longer suitable for anything. The trees were on their sides, dirt from their bases soaked into reddish mud.
Zau looked around, reared to his massive, clawed feet, padded over to Xiaotao’s body, her demonic form lithely muscled, fanged and clawed, tore open her torso and fed on her entrails. His claws further destroyed the wood of the floor, ripping planks free, shredding them with his simple passing. He roared his pleasure at the destruction he was bringing to the world, then settled once again into his human form. He picked up the iPad, tucked it into the voluminous sleeve of his ancient garb, walked carefully to the elevator and descended to his car and waiting driver.
The vast room was silent but for the sound of a few bees that had survived the annihilation of their hives. Five minutes passed, ten, thirty.
Then a wisp of space opened in one corner, and Joyla and Rex stepped out, looked appalled upon the scene before them. They walked from body to body, trying to make sense of the destruction, trying to see if any were still alive. But there was no sense. There was no life.
Zau had invited his coterie to the tower, to his private club. Joyla had been watching him carefully since he had lost control in Panxi, almost turned fully to his birth form in the middle of a crowded and public space. His behavior was becoming unstable, erratic, and so Joyla had prepared as carefully for the dinner as she had for the summits between Dian Mu and Zau, as carefully as she had for the meeting with the sorcerer who seduced her so long ago.
Kaa had taught her the trick of the wisps of space. She’d played with it, realized that it could be made large enough to hold air for hours before it became too foul to breathe, realized the value of this in the right circumstances. She’d had the cantrip arrayed and ready, suspicions about Zau multiplied by concern for Rex, any thoughts of fighting Zau long discarded.
And she’d been right to be prepared. The food had barely arrived before Zau shrugged off his human seeming as a human might shrug off a robe, rampaged among the assembled humans and demons and spirits, fangs and claws and tail lashing them, shredding them. The toothy Renton, her erstwhile lover, had been no match, even in full three-meter form. The whimsical Xiaotao, who loved anime and had knitted macramé wraps for bicycle racks for fun, a whirlwind of muscular brutality, tossed aside dead. Gopala, Chu-Hua, Michele. Dead, partially consumed, barely recognizable.
The human servers, all richly rewarded for ignoring the indiscretions and diets of their guests as much as for their beauty, had been collateral damage, some sliced apart as claws clashed with claws, others crushed by flying furniture, others still smashed against the glass and beams as suddenly massive bodies rushed by them. Richly rewarded no more, alive no more, exquisite no more.
Joyla retched in a corner, what little food she’d managed to eat before cataclysm fell coming out in a rush. Rex held her hair back, found a clean napkin, miraculously untainted water. They waited longer, arms wrapped around one another, unwilling to leave even this horrific scene if there was any chance Zau was still below.
The sun set over Guangzhou, last rays illuminating the Pearl River Tower, painting it a bloody color, a color which matched its devastated interior.