Sophia's Chronicles
A/N:
Hey guys! So you might have noticed that by now, we're going totally off-canon. With Purgatory closed, there are no Leviathans running free so the Winchesters finally get a break (or do they hmmmm?). And Cas was killed two chapters ago but the real question is how long will he stay dead? Meanwhile Sophia is raising a cute adorable archangel child who I love as my own son. Who will this child turn out to be? I have an idea but there's still a long way to go for that. Of course, Sophia's life isn't complete with her soulmate so she becomes fierce and determined in the quest to open that damned cage. Also when I say we're going off-canon, it doesn't mean that all of the things that happened on the show won't happen. Some will, but not quite in the same time frame or order or circumstances. I hope you guys enjoy this ride as much as I do
Chapter 33: The Book of the Damned
Hell – 2 June, 2011
"The Book of the Damned is one of the most obscure occult texts in history. Its very existence had been but a rumour for centuries, until it was discovered by King James I of England in 1605 during the famous witch trials that swept throughout Europe. The book was found to be in the possession of cults and covens, who circulated it around to learn from its mysteries.
…
Unfortunately, the book was written in a near-indecipherable language that hid most of its teachings from inexperienced and young witches.
…
King James I, upon realising the occult significance of the book, sent for it to be safely guarded by the Vatican in 1605, which was a favour accepted by Pope Leo XI. This was the last known location of the book, before it was transferred to an unnamed Spanish monastery and went missing thereafter."
I closed the report and leaned back against the chair in Hell's study, resting my head against its spine as I closed my eyes in thought. I could embark on a search for the book and trace it now, or I could go back in time to 1605 to get the book. Finding it in this century would require a lot of time and effort, especially with dead leads. On the other hand, going back in time that far would require me to push through a lot of resistance, considering that I was on Earth at the time, trapped deep underwater. That kind of paradox tended to generate as much celestial resistance as two like poles of a magnet being forced together, though it was not impossible. Moreover, taking an artefact out of its time would constitute an alteration to the time stream and we all saw how the Fate sisters took to that when Castiel saved the Titanic. Perhaps I could just pop in for a short while to look at the relevant pages. With an angelic memory, I could remember whatever was written in the book without needing to refer to it again. To 1605 it is.
(Winchester POV)
Bobby's House, South Dakota – 2 June 2011, 7.45am
Sam lay asleep on Bobby's couch, his eyes serenely shut. The weather was warming up this time of year as summer was beginning soon in South Dakota. That made everything just a little more cozy than normal, and with them finally catching somewhat of a break away from monsters, it was just right for him to fall into a deep slumber. Except, of course, for the fact that the petulant voice of his Lucifer hallucination could show up any moment.
"Hey. Wake up, sunshine. Up and at 'em, atom man," the voice said into his ear. He slowly stirred awake, his eyes crunching with reluctance to open.
"Sammy." This time the voice was more comforting and familiar. It was Dean, who gently pressed against his younger brother's chest to wake him. "Sammy, hey-"
Sam shot up, his limbs jerked awake. Some part of him half-expected to see nothing but darkness and the fear-inducing figure of Lucifer before him, but he soon calmed down upon seeing the caring apple-green eyes of his brother.
"Whoa. That's twelve hours straight, I'm calling that rested. Here." Dean handed him some water and a protein bar. "Hydrate, and uh, protein-ate."
"Breakfast in bed," Sam commented, before gulping down a mouthful of water and beginning on the protein bar.
"Don't get used to it. Let me see that hand." Dean took Sam's hand and undid the bandage, carefully inspecting the wound.
"Oh, he wants to hold your widdle hand. How sweet," 'Lucifer' mocked.
"Eh, you'll live. Here," Dean poured whiskey over the wound. Sam winced from the stinging pain. "Alright, take it easy."
"So… Lucifer junior. Any leads?" Sam began as Bobby entered with fresh bandages.
"So far, nothing. I thought it was localised to Illinois based on the freak weather, but just yesterday a pond sprung out in the middle of the Arizona desert out of nowhere," Bobby informed them.
"A pond? Doesn't seem like our thing…" Dean was puzzled.
"It is when you consider that the water was freshwater, which isn't usually found in the salty Arizona landscape, and then add on to that a freakin' garden growing outwards from the pond. According to what little lore I could scrap up on Sophia, she helped God create nature on the Earth, even lending her essence to the Tree of Knowledge," Bobby explained. "Book of Wisdom," he cited as his source. "Sounds like her thing."
"The Tree?" Sam pondered. "The Forbidden Fruit Tree?"
"That's the one."
"What a babe…" 'Lucifer' sighed, a flirtatious relief evident in his voice. "I'd tap that. Already have, actually. You remember, right?"
"So she's moving around," Dean posited. "But even if we do find her, what would we do, Bobby? We can't kill her. Do we want to kill the kid?"
"That's what I can't wrap my head around," Bobby confessed. "She's been out and about for the past year and we barely even heard from her. We don't know what she wants. If it's mass destruction, this is the first of it."
"What about those trees?" Sam interjected. "Remember we kept hearing from hunters about these freaky trees with corpses hanging on them? That was a little over a month ago."
"You think it's connected to Sophia somehow?" Dean probed.
"It's just a hunch, but if she works with nature a lot this fits the MO. And these trees popped up all over the country in such a short period of time. What has that kind of anger and juice?"
"Archangel definitely tops the list of suspects," Dean answered. "We should go hit up our contacts and see what they get. And while we're at it, we should find a way to gank her or at least trap her."
"I'll get on it," Bobby offered and went over to his desk.
Dean watched him get up, and then turned back to Sam. "Now onto our other big problem. How're you doin'? And do not say okay."
"I'm not okay," Sam admitted. Dean and Bobby had noticed by now his strange behaviour. Staring at things that weren't really there, sleeping longer than usual, going into dazes – it was starting to freak him out too. He needed help. And so began the conversation about his vivid hallucinations.
(Sophia POV)
I carefully sensed the time stream. It was like a gentle river, flowing smoothly. I imagined time travelling to be like walking further upstream. The world warped around me as I flew back in time, looking for 1605. My hand extended outwards to reach it. That was when I saw the strangest thing. A bright red light engulfed me and for a moment, I wasn't in control of my flight anymore. I was flung across space and time, unable to see where I was going. And then thud. I landed.
Shaken, I got up and observed the world around me. A full moon was up in the dark night sky. Where the hell am I? My eyes scanned the sandy landscape around me, the only thing inhibiting my clarity at the moment being a blurry after-image in my mind. I was atop a hill in the middle of a desert. Cacti peppered the land and sand dunes lazily rolled about in the cool wind of the cloudless night. This definitely wasn't the Vatican City in 1605. Waiting it out, the fuzziness in my head cleared and I could sense my surroundings more clearly. This place was eerily familiar.
Mesopotamia, 2000 BC – much further than I had wanted to travel. This was where Eden used to be. Once plentiful and abundant with flora, fauna and just about everything Man, in his early days, needed to live luxuriously, this land was cursed with a barrenness that permitted a limited agriculture when God banished Eden to Purgatory and cursed Man with mortality. It was truly a tragedy that all that nature had gone to waste but I was one to speak – I had caused it. But why was I here? What went wrong?
Getting a better sense of where I was, I looked towards where the Tree of Knowledge used to be. The tree cursed with my essence. It was no longer here but in its place, I saw a dull red glow. It was the same shade of red that blinded me on my journey here. And that's when recognition struck me – it was a corrupt fragment, like the one I had encountered in space which pulled me into the void where I met Khaos. I felt a shiver crawl under my skin just thinking about it. The normal fragments which returned knowledge to me were white but these glowed a deep shade of red that seemed to warn me to stay away. But if this was Khaos again, I had met It already and had nothing to be afraid of. Khaos didn't seem like It wanted to hurt me the last two times. Then again, I had a hard time deciphering who Khaos was or what It felt towards me. The time I got sucked into the red fragment, It seemed to be threatening me, and then the time in the lab and in Heaven It was helping me. So would this be a threatening experience, or a friendly one? Only one way to find out.
Cautiously, I flew towards the fragment and came upon what looked like a monastery. Like a ghost, I wandered through the hallways, invisible to the few humans that walked about. They were mostly asleep, save for a few engaged in prayer. These were Sumerians, who were polytheists though they would later be the first to write down the story of Creation which was altered over time to include their polytheistic vision in the Enuma Elish, the seven tablets of creation. The story was somewhat accurate, with references to Adam and Eve, the tree of knowledge, and even the serpent, except the serpent, Enki, was not considered evil – a truism that was later rejected by the Jews and so on.
Though the fragment was so close to the monastery, its energy seemed to be flowing in one direction. Following it, I entered the basement where I found a locked door. No one had been down here in a while, judging by the build-up of dust. Past that locked door, I found the reason why I had been summoned here. Warmth and light emanated from a small hearth on the far wall. The room was empty with the exception of writing materials – a quill, a pot for holding ink and weaving materials needed for sewing – and some buckets of water with wash cloths. There sat Agnes, knife in hand. She wasn't alone. The still, lifeless body of another woman lay beside her.
The information gathered by my demons suggested that Agnes had used her own skin and blood to make the Book of the Damned but what I saw before me implied a different story. The dead woman was bare, chunks of her skin missing. The bloody meat underneath showed like raw, uncooked animal guts, all red and chunky. But the blood belonged to Agnes herself – she bled into the pot from her own wrist. As soon as she had enough, she began furiously scribbling away on her parchment. I peered into the buckets. Just as I had suspected, she used wooden frames to stretch out the chunks of skin she cut out from her generous donor and wash them in water and some kind of preservative. At this age, Sumerians were still using stone tablets to write and parchment hadn't been invented yet, so Agnes was way ahead of her time in her choice of writing medium.
This was convenient. I had set out to find the Book of the Damned, and it seemed that Khaos led me right to it. I supposed it should have been obvious that a book as valuable and full of cosmic secrets like this one would have involved the fragments, a celestial source of knowledge. I stayed there for hours, watching as Agnes meditated and pulled information from the fragment.
"Quite diligent, isn't she?" a voice said.
"I didn't expect you to be a part of this," I replied, without bothering to turn. Khaos had become predictable by this point. "I thought you were against releasing dangerous information to humans."
"I wouldn't consider this to be 'dangerous'."
"A how-to guide on breaking curses as old as the Mark of Cain, the cage that holds The Darkness. How is that not dangerous?" I shot back quizzically. When I thought more about it, the answer became clearer to me. "Of course, you don't think it's 'dangerous' unless it affects you, isn't that right?"
"They don't call you Wisdom for nothing. But you can't really hold it against me, can you? A lonely being like me, I can only look out for myself. And maybe you." I took in a deep breath. It seemed dubious that Khaos seemed to be expressing any sort of concern for me. Considering that It wanted something from me that It didn't reveal as of yet, this just felt creepy, like It was showering me with gifts and affection before dropping something bad before me. Even then, being as powerful as It was, why would It care about what I thought or felt?
"Then tell me this: what are you to God and Amara, huh? Brother? Sister?"
Khaos let out a laugh. "Something like that. But I have no gender. I am that from which polarity is generated. I cannot be polar myself. But you may choose for me a pronoun that is convenient for you, if that is what you wish."
"So you are something like a sibling to the both of them, yet I have never seen or heard of you coming between the both of them in their squabbles."
"I do not take part in the petty rivalry between my younger siblings. Although, if you ask them, you might be surprised to find that they are both united in their dislike for me."
Hm. Was that a good thing or bad? "And why's that?"
Khaos simply shrugged. "Beats me. I think I'm great. An impartial observer of things."
As the night came to an end, the strength of the fragment dissipated. Agnes was done writing. Her eyes were bloodshot from sleepless nights and exhaustion seemed to be tugging on her shoulders from the lengthy isolation, starvation, dehydration and loss of blood. Yet she laboured on, sewing the pages together with her own hair. When she finished the whole process, Khaos went near her and whispered something in her ear. She smiled with relief and closed her eyes, like she was going to sleep. Khaos then took her head in Its hands and a hole opened up on the black goopy mess of a face where Its mouth should be. A wisp of bright blue light flowed from Agnes into It. It was taking her soul and her life force away and her head fell back as death overcame her.
"Now's your chance to take a look at it," Khaos gestured towards the book. "You know I can't let you take it with you."
"Sure." I flipped through the book. It was written in Sumerian, which at this point was already an obscure language. The Sumerians had shifted to using Akkadian as a spoken and written language, with Sumerian only being used for religious and liturgical texts, much like Latin in the twenty-first century. There was an impressive collection of spells, all of which I was delighted to be able to study in this moment. But I came for one thing only and I did find it – a cage projection spell. This spell would allow me to project Lucifer's consciousness out of the cage while keeping him still entrapped. This wouldn't be enough, but there was a loophole. If Lucifer was bound to an earthly being, he could avoid getting sucked back into the cage, or existing as separate parts. I knew what I needed. I needed Sam Winchester – he was the true vessel and could guarantee him a safe passage out of the cage.
"Why did you bring me here? I could have just found the book in the Vatican and I would have learnt the same things," I inquired.
"I wanted you to know about my involvement," Khaos responded, its amorphous face shuffling into what I supposed was a smile. "I thought if you could see how closely we are associated, we could build on a beautiful friendship."
I was taken aback by this. "Let me get this straight. You have some kind of debt you hold over me to get what you want, but you also want to be friends?"
"I don't think our professional affairs should stand in the way of us being friends."
"But why would someone like you need me as a friend?"
"Because we understand each other." I waited for It to elaborate. "You see, knowledge or information, is the code of the universes. It is the stuff of creation. You understand it better than anyone. Tell me, do you recall knowing anyone who worships knowledge as much as you?" I tilted my head to think. "You were the first one. The first and true disciple of knowledge, receiving its gifts since the moment you were created. And I am the one who balances creation. Light and Dark, Good and Evil, Masculine and Feminine. I balance these forces. It is knowledge that permits me to do so. Do you see now?"
Something changed in me, to hear Khaos say this. No one had ever talked to me about something so personal as this. I could sense that, beyond Its shadowy form, beyond Its words, there was an understanding there about who I was, what I could do. Things I couldn't imagine. I was suddenly so curious. I wanted to know more. "I do," I told It. I wanted to say more, to ask questions, but I didn't know where to begin. All I could manage was a simple reply.
"I want you to know, Sophia, that you can always come to me. For anything." Its long, thin fingers stroked my cheek. I looked into Its eyes. They seemed to reassure me. "Go home now. Luciel must miss his mother." As I remained staring into the deep abyss of Khaos' eyes, the world around me changed. I was snapped out of my daze and looked around to see that I was back in my house and Khaos was nowhere to be found.
I sat on the couch, pulling my legs up to my chest and staring out of the front door at the colourful field out front. I didn't know what to think of what I just saw. I knew Khaos wanted me to trust It and confide in It. It would feel right to do so, considering that It seemed to understand me on a level that no one else did. I felt like Khaos fulfilled a need that I never knew I had. But it all seemed too easy. There had to be a catch, right?
"Mama!" Luc exclaimed as he ran towards me. I picked him up eagerly, hugging him close to me. I had just gone to visit Pahaliah, who was helping me babysit. She excitedly reported to me news of his progress – he was picking up languages at an incredible pace. He had just begun to speak, but he was well-able to understand what everyone around him was saying since he was born. His wings were also growing healthily, which I was happy to see. They were so soft and fluffy, though one day he could control them to be as sharp as daggers.
"Did you cause any trouble today?" I asked him playfully. He gave me an uncertain look, ready to laugh it off as fun and play. I tickled his tummy, causing him to erupt in bubbly laughter. His cheeks grew rosy with laughter and I couldn't help but rain kisses on them. Being such an active child, he kept running around. Every time he jumped, I had to make sure he didn't smash the earth below him. Having such great power, he didn't know how to control them just yet. I needed someone to watch him all the time because of this. A daunting task, I know, but one look at that adorable little face could stop stars from exploding or planets from colliding. Finally, when I was tired of chasing him through the meadows, I rested him against my chest and sang to him a slow melody. The sound of my voice was enough to put him to sleep. His tiny hands slipped from my shoulder as I went back into the house and gently laid him down on the bed to sleep.
I brushed the dark brown hair on his scalp, silently observing his peaceful slumber. There was nothing more fulfilling in the world. It seemed like a good time to get started on gathering materials I needed for the spell. As I turned around, I felt the brush of ancient magic against my skin and tensed up. Dark wisps of smoke appeared before me and a familiar figure emerged.
"Oh, it's you," I recognised. "Death."
"It is," he replied blandly.
"I didn't think you'd want to see me," I confessed.
"You mean after your boyfriend tried to enslave me? You would be right in thinking that." His accusatory eyes narrowed at me. He held his cane in front of him, left hand resting on its handle and his right on the left.
"But if you're here… something's wrong." Death had a track record of showing up in my life whenever I had done something I shouldn't have and gave me cryptic advice on what I should do, never giving me any directions specific enough to be helpful.
"What, I can't just pop by to see the little one? I'm offended you wouldn't permit me that courtesy." He averted his eyes in disappointment.
I stood protectively between him and Luc. "As long as you aren't here to hurt him…"
"Child, I have no interest in hurting anyone. On the contrary, I prefer not being disturbed and not disturbing anyone, unless I have good reason to. Which brings me to why I'm here." I eased up, taking a seat on the edge of the bed and beckoning Death to do the same. He obliged, continuing, "I know about Khaos. You've been seeing Him around a lot, haven't you?"
"Him?"
"Him, Her, It, They, He doesn't care what you call Him."
"I have. What's it to you?"
"You can't trust Him." Death eyed Luc as he slept before returning his gaze to me.
"Wow, that's the most specific advice you've ever given me."
"I'm serious."
"What's He to you, anyway? God and Amara, I get. But you?"
"He created me when God and Amara awoke to life. Which event came first, I don't remember."
I gasped. "Does that make us… cousins?"
"In a way, I suppose it does." That's the strangest thing I had ever heard – forget meeting Khaos. I always thought of Death like a father or an uncle figure, but never a cousin. He was just so old. "But I digress. What did Khaos tell you about Himself?"
"He balances the polar forces."
Death smirked. "Is that what He told you? Balance, eh? More like manipulate."
I exhaled. I didn't want to tell him about the friendship part. He would just scoff at it more. "If He wanted to manipulate me, He wouldn't have to get on my good side. He holds some sort of debt over me and could easily use it to get me to do whatever He wants."
"Be careful with your scepticism. Have I ever given you advice to lead you astray?" Death held my doubtful gaze, searching for an honest reflection on my part.
"No, but you have been terribly unhelpful, no matter what your intention was. Where were you when I fell? Where were you when they trapped me in the vault?"
"Hm. It's funny you bring up the vault. I'll have you know that it was Khaos who constructed it and sealed it. Do you think this is the same being who means well for you in any way? Would Lucifer feel that way about God?"
He made sense. Why was I unable to see the double-play here? I guess there wasn't enough history between Khaos and I for me to see it clearly. Or for my perception to be tainted by emotion. But what was His motive here? "Why don't you tell me about this debt. Tell me what I am indebted to Him for."
"That, my dear, isn't information for me to tell."
I threw my hands up. "Of course it isn't. Then whose is it?"
Death remained silent.
"Was it God?" I remembered Raphael telling me that God had made some kind of promise for me, one that He would not keep, apparently. Was this it?
Death still didn't say anything.
"Fine, don't tell me." I got up and walked over to the balcony.
A cool breeze blew in from the east. Death appeared next to me, hands clasped behind his back. "I know you may not be inclined to believe me right now, but you will see for yourself soon just who He is. I just want to make sure you understand what you're getting into with Khaos. Give junior a kiss for me." With that, he was gone.
I sighed. I didn't know what to think anymore. I wished I could be clearer on this. "God," I prayed, staring into the distance. "If you're listening, we need to talk. I don't know what's happening. Whatever it is you did for me, you need to let me know. It's only fair." I waited. Nothing happened. No voice, no presence, no sign – nothing. "Please." Still nothing. Should've known this would be useless.
A/N:
There we have it, God being unresponsive as usual. But maybe this time it's for a good reason, though not a fair one. I know I'm majorly hinting at a confrontation between the two, but unfortunately we won't see that until it's too late (all will be explained in due time). And regarding Khaos, I will say that there are many facets to who He is i.e. He isn't always menacing/nice and this is because you can't really conceive of Him as one being but rather as an amalgam of many. I am also using the Him/His pronouns for Khaos because I thought It/Its would be confusing and this is merely for convenience sake, not that Khaos minds at all. We'll soon find out what His deal is with Sophia and I guarantee heartbreak. Sorry in advance.
Clearly, I did my research in writing this chapter. I am a huge nerd for history and religion and tbh this whole fic is based on my obsession with learning more about Gnosticism, hence the references to it dispersed throughout this fic, like those fragments of light I keep talking about (Gnostics refer to creation as the result of Sophia's error in trying to know God, but here I refer to humanity's ability to innovate and discover new things as a result of these fragments), the books that Sophia reads in Hell, etc.
Also I really enjoyed writing about Sophia being a mother and Luc being a child. It's just so pure and fulfilling to write. You might be wondering how long he'll be a baby/toddler – not long, but those precious few moments when he's just a kid are so special. And I'm warning you – he's an intelligent kid. He may even surprise his parents at times. Finally, even when it seems like Sophia would be so done with the Winchesters, she has no choice but to cross paths with them once again so let's see how that goes.
