Sure, Skulduggery thought numbly as he instinctively dropped to the ground behind Gabe without arguing. Sure, they could try trapping themselves in or making it back to the larger tunnel. Or Skulduggery could remember that Gabe was an Archangel, and, being an Archangel, clearly wasn't limited by the same sorts of physical boundaries as most people. Gabriel needed more room, and so he collapsed the tunnel around them.
If paintings and descriptions in religious texts could be believed, the term for it was 'smiting.'
It wasn't quite lightning, but it was certainly destructive. It was destructive in a way the Faceless Ones weren't; whereas the dark gods were random and chaotic in their obliteration, Gabe was careful and meticulous, almost as if he planned exactly where each molecule would go. It was a sight to behold, so completely stunning that Skulduggery couldn't even be offended at Gabe's protection of him. His mind had long since numbed to the shock of things like seeing his friend with wings once again.
The first time Gabe said that he only had to know 'which tune to sing,' Skulduggery had been too preoccupied with the idea of Gabe singing through realities to give it much more thought. Now that he was forced to, he realized he perhaps hadn't been expecting something quite so literal, or at least nothing he'd be able to hear. But Gabe's voice resonated through the surrounding rock and Skulduggery's own bones, almost painfully, as if Skulduggery was hearing it with more than just his ears - or whatever the equivalent of his sense of hearing in a skeleton would be.
And then Gabriel, true to his word, swept Skulduggery up into his arms, and for a moment there was nothing but the soft feel of feathers and the sudden urge to struggle, and then...
If Gabe's voice had been loud, this was deafening.
Skulduggery couldn't see anything, wrapped as he was in Gabe's wings, and he wasn't sure whether to be grateful for that or not. It dulled the noise, brought it down to a level that didn't threaten to split Skulduggery's skull open, but it was painful nonetheless. Just as Gabe said, they had been set adrift in a tumultuous ocean; Skulduggery really couldn't think of another way to describe it. Even the seconds dragged on like hours as they were buffeted from all sides, thrown every which way, Gabe somehow miraculously keeping his balance through all of it.
The whisper of the stowaway Faceless One was so much stronger here. It pierced through the cacophony and drilled into Skulduggery's mind, making him cry out. If there was anything he could have done to help Gabe, to get rid of that whisper, he wouldn't have hesitated, but Skulduggery was so irritatingly useless right now that his carefully controlled anger boiled up without warning.
It sharpened his thoughts, and so for the moment, he held onto it.
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If paintings and descriptions in religious texts could be believed, the term for it was 'smiting.'
It wasn't quite lightning, but it was certainly destructive. It was destructive in a way the Faceless Ones weren't; whereas the dark gods were random and chaotic in their obliteration, Gabe was careful and meticulous, almost as if he planned exactly where each molecule would go. It was a sight to behold, so completely stunning that Skulduggery couldn't even be offended at Gabe's protection of him. His mind had long since numbed to the shock of things like seeing his friend with wings once again.
The first time Gabe said that he only had to know 'which tune to sing,' Skulduggery had been too preoccupied with the idea of Gabe singing through realities to give it much more thought. Now that he was forced to, he realized he perhaps hadn't been expecting something quite so literal, or at least nothing he'd be able to hear. But Gabe's voice resonated through the surrounding rock and Skulduggery's own bones, almost painfully, as if Skulduggery was hearing it with more than just his ears - or whatever the equivalent of his sense of hearing in a skeleton would be.
And then Gabriel, true to his word, swept Skulduggery up into his arms, and for a moment there was nothing but the soft feel of feathers and the sudden urge to struggle, and then...
If Gabe's voice had been loud, this was deafening.
Skulduggery couldn't see anything, wrapped as he was in Gabe's wings, and he wasn't sure whether to be grateful for that or not. It dulled the noise, brought it down to a level that didn't threaten to split Skulduggery's skull open, but it was painful nonetheless. Just as Gabe said, they had been set adrift in a tumultuous ocean; Skulduggery really couldn't think of another way to describe it. Even the seconds dragged on like hours as they were buffeted from all sides, thrown every which way, Gabe somehow miraculously keeping his balance through all of it.
The whisper of the stowaway Faceless One was so much stronger here. It pierced through the cacophony and drilled into Skulduggery's mind, making him cry out. If there was anything he could have done to help Gabe, to get rid of that whisper, he wouldn't have hesitated, but Skulduggery was so irritatingly useless right now that his carefully controlled anger boiled up without warning.
It sharpened his thoughts, and so for the moment, he held onto it.