Sophia's Chronicles
Chapter 29: The Throne
The souls floated around energetically, finally released from their flesh prisons. I held out the crystal, the Eye of Khaos, absorbing the souls as they escaped the dead. It was a bright sunny day in Philadelphia. A good day for photosynthesis. The tree was strong and so were its branches. They could take the weight of the bodies hung on them like vines. The only sounds were the squeaking of the ropes that were wrung around the necks of these humans as they dangled in the wind. I didn't choose my victims randomly. Their souls were marked by Hell, as they had made deals with demons and were destined to go to Hell after death (not anymore). They were mine now. Now for one final touch. I took out my blade and scratched a sigil onto its bark – my sigil. A mark of my territory, if you will.
This wasn't the only tree of death I had created. I went hard at work to do more of these all over the country, making almost one for every state. And Crowley couldn't do anything to stop it till it was too late. I intended to expand my work to other parts of the world too, though I had other plans for certain regions. Recently, Mauritania, one country of many in the African continent to suffer from drought and famine, saw an appearance of healthy crops and trees along with a freshwater lake in a small town called Ouadane. The price? You know the answer. It didn't take much to convince them – people are superstitious in that part of the world and all I had to do was show a glimpse of my angelic powers. Don't say I never did anything for humans.
That was four thousand souls, counting the hundreds my beautiful trees collected. I couldn't go all out and do more extravagant things to get more souls, what with Raphael hunting me and all. I needed to keep a low profile yet send a message to those who needed to hear it – Crowley and his supporters. The army of demons now stood before me as I finished the tree in Philadelphia, their expectant eyes waiting for me to address them. "Do you believe me now?" I began. "I was there when your species was created. And I am here now, to lead you to greatness." Their faces lit up excitedly.
Together, we marched forward into Hell, the demons in front of me. They slashed and killed every remaining Crowley supporter who came to fight, paving the way for me to reach the throne room. I pushed open the doors. It was empty but for one demon, standing with his back towards me. He wore a black suit, and I recognised it to be Crowley from his frame. Eagerly, I directed force with a finger to push him to the ground. He fell, stumbling to his knees and turned to face me. Wait a second. This wasn't Crowley. He had his face, his likeness, but it wasn't him. It was a decoy. The creature held his hands up defensively. "I'm just a shapeshifter! Please have mercy!" he begged. He peeked beyond his held-up hands to see my expression.
I threw my head back and laughed. Crowley had fled! I didn't even need to confront him. I stepped over the shapeshifter and took a seat on the throne, running my hands along the armrests. So this is how it feels, huh? I'd been so used to seeing Lucifer on the throne that I'd never considered to sit on it myself. Now I regretted not taking up his offer seriously and staying in Hell to be Queen. It had a nice ring to it too – Queen of Hell. The demon crowd shifted and produced a few tied up demons, who were forced to their knees before me.
"Your majesty, these are the last of his closest supporters that we could find here. Would you like to deal with them personally?" one demon spoke up.
The bound demons looked distraught. "Please, we'll do anything!" one of them pleaded.
"Well you should have done something when Crowley tried to take the throne!" I yelled. "Look what your King has done to you. He ditched you and left some shapeshifter to take his place. He left you out in the cold!" I snapped my fingers, exploding the shapeshifter. "Anyone else think of betraying Lucifer or me, that's what's gonna happen," I decreed. Sauntering over to the demons on their knees, I brandished my blade. I took my time, savouring every cut and stab. When I was done, the floor was a bloody mess. It felt great to be queen.
Castiel picked up almost immediately. "Sophia?" his gruff, monotonous voice said.
"That's Queen Sophia for you." I leaned comfortably against an armrest. I had the throne room cleared and the demons getting back to work. Their first order of business was to find me Crowley. I wasn't going to let that worm slip out of my fingers. "I promised you the souls in Hell, didn't I? I'm holding up my end of the bargain, and I trust you'll do the same?"
There was a pause. "Yes, of course."
"Good. There will be no more talk of Purgatory," I ordered, and cut the call. I heaved a sigh of relief, the first in a long time. This throne will be yours too someday, I told my son as I placed a hand on my tummy and felt his regular kicking. Any time now, he'll be due and I'll glance his serene face for the first time. Everything seemed to be going relatively well. Finally.
(Castiel POV)
He stared for a moment at the phone as the call ended. Sophia now had the power of the souls in Hell, and was willing to offer it to him.
"Purgatory's bigger, mate," the British voice called over, as the demon poured himself some whiskey. "I can still get you to the mucky gates."
"I know," Castiel replied. He could kill Crowley and abandon Purgatory for the souls in Hell to finish the war in Heaven with Sophia, or he could get to Purgatory anyway, and eliminate two archangels in one go. After all, it seemed shady that Sophia wanted nothing more than to rid Heaven of Raphael. What if she wanted to rule instead? And with an archangel son on the way, she and Lucifer would be unstoppable. That could be a worse fate. Power should be with the angels, he thought. No archangels, no leaders. What if… he could have souls from both Sophia and Crowley? "There will be no change in plans, as far as Purgatory is concerned."
"I knew you'd make the right call," Crowley grinned. He was counting on Castiel's greed. When they got Purgatory open, they would split the souls. Castiel would kill Raphael, and Crowley could get the throne back from Sophia. It was a win-win situation. He would just have to stay undercover, what with demons having it in for him now. No one messes with Crowley, and gets away with it. Not even an archangel.
Something didn't sit right with me. The decoy was a shapeshifter. Where, and how, did Crowley get a shapeshifter that would obey him and take the bullet for him? Demons and monsters didn't have the best track record for teamwork. Maybe I shouldn't have exploded that creature. I had a sneaking suspicion that my bid for the throne must have pushed him to desperately utilise a part of his operation to get to Purgatory to save himself – a clumsy mistake. At least this was a start.
Following this train of thought, I found myself in Butler, Ohio, a small town. My new demon intelligence team let me know that a small group of shapeshifters were found here. It seemed appropriate, considering that this place was quiet and not heavily populated. Other than a general location, there wasn't much to go on, because all the shapeshifters were in hiding, apparently. I was there to find out why.
The darkness of the night always proved to be a good cover for the creatures that hunted. Everything was quiet, and there was less interference to my keen senses of perception. I walked through the silent streets, keeping my senses open to anything unusual. Cars whizzed by on the road. The sound of a dog barking snapped me out of my thoughts. I glared at the stray dog, and it quieted down to a whimper. My impatience eased, and I knelt to pet it. It stuck its tongue out eagerly as I stroked it behind the ear. Maybe I could use some help. "If you help me find a shapeshifter, I'll give you a treat." The dog made affirmative noises.
It took off in front of me, keeping within sights as it scoured the streets and scanned for shapeshifters. Eventually, my brown-furred, four-legged helper stopped at a traffic light and barked incessantly, his legs eagerly beckoning me to follow him. "Do you see something?" I calmed him down with pats on the back as I followed his gaze across the road. There, a creature masquerading as a man walked suspiciously towards a dilapidated building. That must be the shapeshifter. Thanking my little companion with a treat as promised, I stalked the shapeshifter invisibly.
He looked around every now and then, his dirty blond hair appearing almost brown in the darkness were it not for the streetlights interspersed along the road. Finally, he turned and entered the building, unlocking the door with keys that he fished from the pockets of his long, dark coat. His footsteps echoed along the hallways when he walked. Judging by the looks of it, the building seemed like an abandoned apartment project, which from a human perspective would have become a shelter for the poor and homeless. Evidently, upkeep was neglected. Grime built up along the walls and doorways and there were dead leaves everywhere. Following the shapeshifter led me to a small room with a barrel-contained fire from which five other shapeshifters received warmth.
"Long day?" A female shifter got up and welcomed the man, embracing him. He returned the gesture before they both settled in front of the fire.
"It's as good as it gets with the current times," he replied, his voice full of hopelessness.
"Will it ever get better?" she asked as she rested her head on his shoulder.
"They've got Father. It doesn't get worse than that, Maggie," another female answered from behind them. This one had short brown hair and wore a tank top, revealing tattoos on her arm. She seemed to be the oldest shifter in the room and there seemed to be a kind of resemblance among them. They could be a family. Maggie simply stared into the fire, like the weight of whatever they had been through had just worn through her.
"What happened to your father?" I made myself visible. The six of them jumped and scrambled to their feet.
"Who are you?" the one I followed growled. Their irises glowed a pale yellow threateningly.
"My name is Sophia. I am an archangel."
The tattooed female let out a sigh, presumably of relief, and cupped her mouth with her hands. "I can't believe it's you! I've only heard stories."
"Really?" I'd have thought that the Heavenly patrol would have tried their best to hide my existence from the world.
She beckoned everyone to relax and surely enough, they eased their composures. "You gave our Maker the gift to create us." Her lips widened into a smile. "Or at least that's what Father told us. Is it true?"
"Yes, it was I who gave Eve the ability to twist the human form into creatures like you." Relief spread over their faces. "So tell me, what was it that happened to your father?"
"He was kidnapped," another younger one in a beanie and a leather jacket said. "Word on the street is that some big-shot demon wants to use him to find Purgatory." He shrank back in fear when he mentioned Purgatory.
"Why would this demon think that your father knows where Purgatory is?"
"It's been happening to the others too," Maggie spoke up. "The vampires, the werewolves, we're all trying to remain hidden. All the elders are gone." Her voice grew weak. These creatures were scared. Wait, did she say their elders were gone? So when they say 'Father', they meant the First One – the Alpha.
"So he has all the Alphas. And he's trapped or killed a lot more of your people, which is why all of you are running and hiding." They averted their gazes.
"It was difficult for us before because of all these hunters, but now it's worse because they're colluding with the demons. It's suffocating," Tattooed Arms confided.
"Hunters? Do you have names?"
"There's a whole bunch of them, including the Winchesters," she responded.
Winchesters. As if I hadn't heard enough about them already. I couldn't believe that they'd be okay with helping a low-life like Crowley find Purgatory. Maybe this was how Castiel was using them, but they didn't know about the war in Heaven before, so they couldn't have known about Castiel's involvement.
"Do any of you have any clue where your father might have been taken?"
They shook their heads. "We've only heard about his kidnapping from others who called to warn us."
"But this is a good sign, right?" the younger one sounded optimistic. "Eve shows up, and now you're here. You're going to make it stop, right?"
"Eve is free, huh…" I muttered under my breath.
"Please, will you do something about it?" A single tear left his eye and streamed down his cheek.
I looked at all of them. They seemed really desperate. If Eve was brought here, it must be really bad. I should find out what she knows. "I will do what I can to end the demon's operation. You have my word."
A ray of hope spread across their faces. This must have been the first time they felt any sort of relief in a long time. "You have no idea what this means to us, thank you," the eldest one expressed.
"If any of you hear or see anything about demons or hunters taking more of your kind, pray for me." As I exited the building, I noticed a certain brown dog waiting patiently at the end of the street. His lonely whimpers won me over, and I couldn't help but bring him back home to wander and play in the fields.
Back in Hell
So he must have thought that these creatures would know how to get to a place that they only reach when they die. By that logic, humans should know how to get to Heaven or Hell. It seemed more like Crowley just got a sadistic euphoria from hunting and torturing the monsters like this. Hell does have that effect on people. If his line of reasoning was as flawed as I thought, then he would get nowhere with the Alphas. But they would suffer nonetheless. What was this new kinship that I felt for them? Was it an effect from meeting the shapeshifter family? Perhaps I felt good about giving them hope of a future where they could return to feeding on humans and balancing good and evil in the world. They were to me what demons were to Lucifer – they were a product of my gift to Eve, after all.
Eve. If there was anyone who knew how to get to Purgatory, it would have to be Eve. From what I'd gathered, dragons had taken it upon themselves to release her as a last resort to Crowley's operation. That would make her a target for him, not that I thought he could best her. It was time to talk to her. I gave her powers, directly from my angelic form. That had to mean that I had a connection to her, right? I reached out my awareness, seeking the connection as I had when I tried to contact Lucifer from Heaven. "Eve? Do you hear me?" I called out using the link.
"Sophia, is it you?" It worked. There was relief in her voice. When she communicated with me, I felt the full strength of her twisted soul that could not be said to be human anymore.
"I see that your powers have matured over time."
"A boon born from your generous gift, for which I am grateful." I can't deny that I felt proud of what I did.
"You're out of Purgatory."
"My children need me. I need to stop whatever it is this Crowley is doing to them."
"You and me both."
"If Crowley's gonna hurt my children, he's declared war on me. And I will send an army of my own."
"I'm glad to hear about your proactive involvement, but I'm concerned about you as well. You're the best shot Crowley has at finding Purgatory and I doubt he'll rest until he's got you under his thumb."
"Your concern is touching but please, Sophia. He's just a demon. I've dealt with worse." The Leviathans, of course. I hoped they treated her well. After all, she did do them a huge favour back in the day when all hell broke loose in Eden.
"In the past year, I've found it to be a good principle not to underestimate your enemies. Especially when said enemy has angels and hunters under his sleeve. Be careful, Eve. You must contact me especially if the Winchesters get close." I'd already learnt my lesson not to underestimate them.
"Hmph." I sensed scepticism. "I will."
Speaking of Winchesters, I felt that I should probably see Castiel in person. His campaign seemed to be gaining more and more success. Every week, I heard about more angels joining the cause. He had risen somewhat in power as well, since I'd permitted Balthazaar to give him access to the weapons. He'd told me that Castiel was pressuring him into giving away the location of the weapons. I needed Balthazaar to get close to Castiel and while the weapons would have a limited impact on Raphael himself, it was a tool of persuasion for angels. And so Castiel would receive the weapons from his trusted friend, Balthazaar.
Everything seemed to be going well on this front. The war would be a definite win. It was with this optimism that I invited Castiel over to my house one morning. The doors were wide open, ushering the fragrant breeze in from the colourful landscape out front, my magnum opus of a garden. As if caught by intrigue, the angel stared at the growth patterns of creepers that grew along the porch, before turning back to where I was seated in the living room. "Uh-uh," I pointed to his feet. He rolled his eyes before taking off his shoes. There was a certain order and aura to my house and I will not have people just trampling all over it. "Please, sit down." I poured him a cup of tea from a porcelain kettle with intricate designs on its surface. Art should permeate all things, even day-to-day items.
"Why have you called me?" His grim face scanned my expression. I forgot, he only had one mode of being, which was emotionless observation. No fun.
"I just wanted to congratulate you on your campaign. I can really see your efforts bearing fruit."
He gave a simple nod. "Um… thank you."
"Rahab and Pahaliah have been helping you, yes?" I passed him the warm cup.
"Yes, their help has been instrumental thus far."
"Good, good." A moment of silence passed between us as I opened a packet of herbs that I needed to consume and emptied it into my own cup. I stirred till the white powdery substance disappeared, leaving my tea with a milky complexion.
"There's something I need to bring up with you," a hint of nervousness could be seen behind his dark blue eyes. "It's regarding our partnership."
"Not having second thoughts, are we?"
"It's not that… the angels are aware of your escape. And your… conception. It worries them."
"And…?" I huffed. "The angels have been worried about my existence for a long time. I've learnt to ignore it."
"With another archangel on the way – specifically one created by Lucifer and yourself – one is inclined to think their concern reasonable."
"And what is their concern, exactly?"
"As it is, they suspect that you'll attempt to command them in Heaven. If they see you fighting with us in the war, they'll have more of a reason to think so. And there are mixed feelings about your child. Some would say that the child should be killed in his infancy before his powers are able to manifest and mature."
My hands froze as I was about to bring the cup to my lips. They wanted to kill my son? I felt anger surge through my veins. How dare they even think about hurting him? It disgusted me when Raphael told me he experimented on pregnant angels and it disgusted me now to hear talk about angels wanting to kill my son while he was still a child. Even I couldn't bring myself to think about hurting a little one. They were too pure and innocent. It was why I'd spent a lot of time in the nurseries of Heaven as a young archangel.
I looked back to Castiel. "So this is a warning, then?" I probed. "You don't feel this way, do you?" I narrowed my eyes at him. He'd better not.
He gulped. "My primary concern is to end Raphael's bid for power and hand the reigns of free will to the angels. As for you and the child…" he averted his gaze. "There will be no concern if you don't interfere in Heaven."
Hm. I couldn't guarantee as much, but I'd have to play nice anyway. "I have Hell under my thumb now, so I'm sure we can come to an acceptable arrangement."
"That's reassuring," he flatly replied.
"It does comfort me to think that, despite our past differences, Heaven and I can enjoy a mutually beneficial relationship through this war. It's kind of like absolving my sins. I hope you can recognise that." I was leading him to an important point.
His head tilted ever so slightly. "I do…"
"So it's important that we learn to rally the forces of all our angelkind instead of going to people outside our family."
"I don't understand where this is going…"
"All I'm asking is that you, and your merry band of supporters, stay out of my efforts to find Crowley and end his plans to crack open Purgatory."
His shoulders dropped with relief, as though he already agreed with my sentiment. A positive sign, hopefully. "Of course. No argument there."
"That includes Eve."
"Eve?"
"You may or may not be aware that Eve has been released from Purgatory. She and I are working to stop Crowley and I just want you to ensure that no one gets in our way. Comprende?"
"Yes, I comprende." I smirked. Maybe there was hope for him after all. "If there isn't anything else, I should get going now." He got up to leave.
"Oh before I forget," I stood next to him near the doorway, brandishing the Eye of Khaos. As I held it on both my palms, I felt the power of its souls waiting to erupt. "Touch the centre." With the crystal in my grip, I could control the flow of souls. His hesitant fingers found their way to the black pigmentation in the crystal, becoming more comfortable as he understood what was happening. I saw the souls flow into him, his angel grace glowing ever more brightly.
When it was done, his arm retreated to his side as he regarded me with a plain gratitude. "What was that for?"
"Take it as a sign of good faith. A gesture of our blooming cooperation, if you will." Being expressionless as he was, he nodded in silent acknowledgement before he left.
