Sophia's Chronicles
Recap: Kevin and Castiel reveal a plan to assemble ingredients for an exorcism plan to take down Lucifer. They need the bone of a sacrificial monk, blood of a powerful mage and a primordial ornament. Castiel suggests the Eye of Khaos as a possible candidate. This tips off Zara and she misleads the boys with a different location while she and Lucifer scout Sophia's house for the Eye of Khaos. Turns out Jack has been crashing in the house and Zara had to cover for him when Lucifer got curious. Death warns Luc not to be a dumbass. In the Void, Sophia has helped organise the doppelgangers into a force that 'tries' to run the Omniverse, as well as guard themselves from any threat. One of them reports a strange noise which Sophia and Sixty-Six (the entity made of pure Darkness and known as Satan in her universe) go to investigate.
Chapter 79: Informed Consent
The Void
Sixty-Six and I carefully inched towards the end of the hallway. Windows punctuating both walls flanking us revealed a different universe each, their luminescent stars and galaxies painting different pictures as we traversed. We had both set off alone to investigate this weird noise that was brought to our attention. It was first an eerie, high-pitched ringing not louder than a mosquito's buzzing, but upon further inspection, it seemed to have an indescribable cry undulating its every movement. The very feeling that the sound conveyed pierced my heart. Strange as it was, a sudden wave of emotion overcame me. If a sinking sense of dread was my very lifeblood like it seemed now, I would wish to be pulled apart like the particulate matter that entered the bosom of a black hole. Like a… like a child who was eternally lost and confused.
Inevitably, I worried that Luciel would feel this way. There seemed no possibility left that he wouldn't know trauma. If he was cruelly left to suffer alone in the universe I was made in, I couldn't imagine anything else. I had to have hope that he would find the strength to beat that pain. A hope that seemed more and more distant by the moment. I'm coming for you, son.
"Hey," Sixty-Six's rough voice interrupted my thoughts. "Don't let it get to you."
"Right," I straightened up. "Sorry, it's just…" I shook my head as if that would get rid of the thoughts. "It's bringing up a lot of images I don't wanna think about."
"That's what it wants, whatever it is. Don't let it win," she advised. Her face was stone cold as ever. It was hard to imagine she was being affected by the noise as much as I was. "Easier said than done, I know. But I think if anyone's gonna get us through this, it's you."
"Your confidence is appreciated," I said. With every step I took, my own inner turmoil seemed to make my feet heavier. "I don't think I've done much to deserve it."
A leaden breath forced itself through my jaw. My head… it grew light. I shuddered. My hand reached for the wall. Eyes shut, my mind spun in a frenzied attempt to orient myself again. "Sophia," she called my name but her voice simply blurred. I became a spectator to my own self, watching helplessly as my body crumbled. Her hands encircled me but it was like I couldn't even feel them. I could see her working to settle me in a sitting position against the wall. "Hey, stay with me…" she shook my shoulder.
Doubles and triples of her appeared in my vision. I blinked rapidly to steady my sight. Through every attempt, the image became clearer, and then fuzzy. Clear and fuzzy. Again and again. It seemed like her face was morphing. No, that had to be my mind. Whatever the sound was, it was trying to paralyse my defences. That much was obvious. But it was harder to hold onto coherent thought as I looked at Sixty-Six. I knew she was purely composed of Darkness but in that moment, I wasn't so sure of the boundaries of her body and face. I blinked. Alpha's smug, amorphous face stared back at me. I gasped. No, this can't be. This is impossible.
"Is it really?" He said. A sharp-toothed smile carved its way onto his gooey face. "I think it's adorable. You are but a child to me, running around with your little friends thinking you can outrun me. But the time for a reckoning will come. And you've been very bad…"
I saw his clawed fingers reaching for my cheek. A shudder broke me out of my shock for a split second. I scrambled away from my position on the floor. "Get away from me, creature!"
"Sophia… Sophia!" a feminine voice permeated the air again. I blinked. Right there, where I thought Khaos was, Sixty-Six appeared to me clear as day again. She was puzzled to say the least, on her knees and reaching out to me. I had, as I'd suspected, scrambled away as though in fear of her. I couldn't imagine how all this must have seemed to her. I wasn't even sure how it seemed to me. "Calm down."
"Oh my…" I didn't complete the exclamation – it became a habit around my doppelgangers. "I… what just happened?"
"You tell me. One minute you're losing consciousness. The next, you're losing sanity. What's going on?" she stood up, holding out a hand to pull me up with her.
The stunning normalcy of this moment suddenly became suspicious, like encountering a stranger in a less-than-safe alley. Focusing myself back onto the goal of this little trip was much the same as learning to pay attention again. "It has to be that sound. Whatever is making it is messing with our heads," I sighed. "With my head, anyway. It's a good thing you don't feel anything."
"Hey, I never said that," she defended.
"I don't mean that as an insult. This noise, whatever it is, seems to be amplifying my emotions. I'm finding it difficult to… to stay level-headed," I told her through heavy breaths. "I suppose it is good that you lack remorse."
She regarded me silently for a moment, lips pursed. I wondered if I said something wrong. "I don't lack remorse," she calmly countered. A despondent veil fell upon her face. I recognised that expression from all the times Lucifer told me I was guarding thoughts that were better spoken.
"Then I'm sorry I assumed as much," I apologised. "You just… you remind me so much of Lucifer."
"Hm." An unseemly smile spread across her jaw. "Is that what you think of him too? That just because he's The Devil, he has no remorse?"
"Well, it doesn't help that he's been so fixated on destroying other people for a really long time," I reasoned. Though it made sense, it didn't feel right to me. "It didn't matter much to me anyway. I know he loved me the same."
Probably not anymore, though.
When she didn't speak, something became clear to me. "I said that out loud, didn't I?"
"Yep," she confirmed.
Just great. I'm losing it in front of other people now. I probably didn't need to say that out loud. The despair must have been written all over my face. "I'm sorry… it's just, with everything. I'm not even sure I'll have a home to return to. Or whether this is all for nothing. What if I'm just running around in circles and dragging the rest of you with me?" My limbs grew weak at the very thought. Whatever this noise was, its strength was something to reckon with. I shifted my attention back to her to distract myself. "I imagine having to suffer all alone in a place like Hell is what made you develop this strength. This… resistance to emotionality," I guessed.
"Maybe," she shrugged. "Maybe it's the fact that I have nothing of value to even lose. When I was cast out, I lost everything. My duty, my honour, everything."
Just the way she said that – all self-assured-like, with a bold voice, but with a slight, betraying twinge in her eye – made me suspect there was more to the story. "You said during the apocalypse… your apocalypse," I recalled. "It was you against Lucifer. Why would God send Lucifer to fight you?"
"His favourite son against His favourite niece. He loved pitting us against each other. Like some kind of sick game," she scoffed.
"So that wasn't the first time you fought with Lucifer?" I probed. I could practically see the thoughts flashing through her mind. Whatever the story was, it had to be heavy. I know that mine sure was.
"I see what you're doing. Trying to find out more about me. I've already shaken off everyone else's attempts," she smirked.
"Yeah, I've noticed. They don't take too well to that. But I understand if you want to avoid talking about the past," I reassured her. She turned away from me, now taking an interest in one of the universes revealed by a window. The slow lull of the stars orbiting a galaxy revealed a calmness we didn't have the privilege of experiencing.
"The noise – its effects haven't spared me," Sixty-Six suddenly said. With her back to me, it became harder than normal to elucidate her current state of mind.
"W-what do you mean?" My eyebrows crinkled. The stillness in the way she stood was eerie. "What are you thinking about?"
Briefly, she turned to me. Though her lips curved up as they always did, her eyes seemed glassy. "I know you're worried about your son, but you shouldn't be. Whatever Khaos wanted him for, He wanted him alive. So you still have something to live for."
But what does she mean… "Still?" I noticed.
"It could've been me in your place, you know."
Every sentence she uttered was a riddle to me. "What happened to you all those years ago?" I dared ask. Anything could be a temporary sanctuary from this onslaught of affect, maybe even conversation. She didn't say anything. I thought I'd lost her. Then I heard her voice again.
"We didn't always fight. Lucifer and I—we used to have a good life." Her shoulders tensed up. "Heaven was my life. Lucifer… was my life. I loved him as much as you loved your Lucifer. I loved him so much I would have gone to Hell and back for him. Just like you did. We had a good life. We lived happily with Michael, Gabriel… Raphael – not so much him but we tolerated each other. Our love was secret, just like yours," she recounted. It warmed my heart a little to know that we shared something so personal and strong with each other. But then again, she seemed to imply that there was a sour moment this all changed.
"What happened?" I ventured cautiously.
"What naturally happens," she continued. Her finger traced the glass before her, then wavered and fell back to her side. "Lucifer, Michael and Raphael left for the Third Great Leviathan War. It became obvious in his painful absence that he didn't exactly leave me to wait alone."
"Oh," I realised. Did she mean…
"Heaven was mostly empty but my womb wasn't," she said in somewhat direct terms.
I remembered that war. I remembered the absence. Lonely days and nights without most of Heaven's attendance had hurt those of us who'd stayed to keep the fires warm. All was forgotten once the troops returned successful. All the absence between Lucifer and myself had been vanquished in a passionate period of time afterwards. Strange to think that one of my best memories was one of her worst. Well, I hadn't conceived in that time. I didn't even think these things could have been accidental for beings like us. Something didn't make sense.
"The Citadel was never more full of celebration than when they returned," she went on. "Except I couldn't be there to witness it. They sent search parties to find me. Of course, Lucifer had insisted on being a one-man force himself. He would have torn down the woods to make sure I was okay. The sight he came to, however… I was in a most terrible agony. God had decided it my curse to bring into the world this forbidden thing. When Lucifer realised what had happened, he wasted no time in holding me. I knew then that he had accepted my curse as his to share."
A half-smile appeared to me from her pale reflection on the glass.
"We were whole in that moment. The three of us. United as one. I know he felt it too. I remember it like it was yesterday. The feeling of my little bundle in my arms," she said. "That was when Michael and the angels found us."
A bitter taste filled my mouth. "They couldn't have taken to that very well," I guessed. If my experience with Raphael was any indication…
"They reacted as you'd expect. With shock, with disgust, with contempt. It was clear that we weren't welcome so Lucifer and I exiled ourselves from our family. There was no Fall, no war. Just us leaving and suffering their scorn for eternity," she revealed. "Even at this point, we were fine. At least we had each other and that's all that mattered. I thought we could still build a life for ourselves with our son. I thought we still had a chance for happiness. I was so, so wrong."
It was at this point, I realised we were entering uncharted territory. For her, that is. I didn't think she ever talked about this to anyone. She must have been all alone with this pain, letting it fester and bundle into a solid mass within her. I approached slowly and put a hand on her shoulder. "Tell me," I urged her.
Some moments were taken to gather strength. Despite her solid exterior, I could only imagine what she must have been feeling. "Khaos approached me when I was tending to the fields alone. Like with you, He asked me for something I could not give Him. Except He was more direct with me. I suspect He got to you by trying and failing with the rest of us. Of course, I'd said no. Every time He approached, my answer would be the same. I told Him in many different ways that I wasn't going to give in to Him. That my son would not be expendable for whatever cause He had. But as you know, He is persistent. He held a knife to my baby's throat once. I never knew fear until that moment. It felt like everything was at stake. Everything was. I kept Lucifer in the dark about all of this, of course. He wouldn't have hesitated to challenge Khaos to a fistfight. Maybe I was crazy but I didn't think he was going to survive those odds."
We both chuckled despite ourselves. I knew this to be true. Lucifer would have rushed in headfirst to protect what was dear to him. I understood the need for secrecy.
"I thought I could appease Khaos with other ways. He said the world needed more conflict. So I convinced Lucifer that the humans were a threat to us. Lucifer tempted them. He defiled God's plans for them, even though God hadn't intervened in our self-imposed exile. Eden fell. Lucifer turned the first demon. God's disapproval rained down on us heavily. Fires, thunderstorms – He made it clear that we had to stop. Believe me, I wanted to. I prayed and prayed for a solution to my problems. But He only cared about how it affected the humans. 'Don't you want your grandson to be free?' I'd said. 'Don't you care about your son's happiness? Your own flesh and blood, and you won't protect this innocent child from your older sibling?' But it all fell on deaf ears."
That pain was all too familiar.
"Somehow it was I who was the enemy. The temptress, the seductress. The one who turned a pure son evil. The woman who whispered darkness into Lucifer's ears. The cause of his sin and the cause of humanity's. But I endured it all. I endured for the sake of my son, who was the only light in a dark world. When Khaos appeared again, I was ready to be His slave once more. And that was when He laughed. He laughed and told me it was fun while it lasted but a pact wouldn't save my son. It had all been a joke to Him this whole time. All the desperate lengths I'd gone to for the sake of turning Him down. He liked seeing me break the universe in a futile attempt to evade Him."
She lowered her gaze in shame. I squeezed her shoulder.
"He said I had to offer my son by daybreak or else He'd kill him in front of my eyes. I knew there was no fighting possible. I was all alone. That night, I sat my little boy and Lucifer around a bonfire and we talked as happily as we ever could. We told our son stories about stars, pointing to them in the sky. Despite all the scorn from Heaven, we could relax knowing that we had each other. I remember how Lucifer was that night. I remember how happy he was to raise our son. It had been everything for us. A more perfect moment could not have existed. I remember him telling me…" she sniffled. She seemed like a completely different person now, face contorting as she struggled to replay the memories. "He was grateful that I helped him give life to something." There was a sudden pause. "It feels like I've punished him for his sentiment."
A single tear rolled down her cheek. That was the only show of vulnerability her frozen expression allowed. "W- what did you do?" I dared ask, though I suspected the answer. My own eyes stung at the logical ending of this story. Only the unspeakable seemed like an option but I hoped dearly that I was wrong.
"I had to make a decision for my son. It was either a brief suffering or a long one. The choice was obvious to me. When daybreak came, I denied Khaos His offering."
Her lips quivered. Her jaw tightened. My suspicion was confirmed. "You… you killed him," I realised, dreading every word. Hearing it said out loud was worse. She could not hold it in anymore. She seemed like she was going to break down completely, but instead, she took a quick inhale and wiped her single tear away. "You wanted to spare your son a life of unknown torment."
"Don't try to justify my actions," she shot back with a bitter strength. "What I did will never be okay. Not in my universe, nor any. Lucifer was right to turn on me. I hurt him in such a horrible way. At least his brothers accepted him back."
"But he hates you," I deduced. "He wants to kill you."
"I almost wanted him to. But I didn't want to accept what I had done. I turned all my sadness into rage. I was convinced that I had done the right thing and if he didn't see that, he was wrong. I just couldn't bear to feel the shame of what I'd done," she confessed. "I hurt more and more people. I became an ugly thing. It's all I know how to be now. Now you know."
"I… I have no words to say," I honestly revealed. There was no consolation I could give that would make me feel better in her situation. Here I was, fighting to find a son I had even an ounce of chance of seeing. I could never be okay with what she had done. But I couldn't let her crumble in shame either. "I wish I could change your past."
"Me too," she gulped away what could have been actual tears. "You can't tell anybody about this."
I assented to that. "But just so you know, we've all done some pretty unspeakable things. You shouldn't worry about their judgment," I said.
"Yeah right," she huffed cynically. "I see the way they look at me. It's like they know something's wrong with me. We all have the same face and the same name but that doesn't mean the others will be any more sympathetic."
"You can't be so fatalistic when it comes to these things. Sure, some of them are going to say things but there's a big chance that they have skeletons in their closets too," I argued. "None of us has the moral high ground here. We're all stuck here the same. We have no choice but to cooperate. I'm sure they'd understand."
Her arms wrapped around herself. She craned her head towards me, pensive. "Be careful, Chief. You're being too kind to these people. You don't know any of them and you've placed your faith in their sense of righteousness. I should remind you that you were among those who fell from Heaven. At some point, other people saw your sense of righteousness falter," she said.
"My sense of righteousness never changed. I just disagreed with other people on what the right thing was," I shot back.
"What's the difference, really? People don't recognise that. They just want to make an enemy out of things they don't understand," she shrugged. My initial defensiveness flared down. "You should really watch your back. If you heard some of the things I did, you'd be more careful in trusting them. You never know who's gonna turn on you."
"Noted," I folded my arms. As I constantly told myself, there was no time for doubt. That was how Khaos would get us. We needed to stay united. We needed to trust each other. Why not? We all suffered at Khaos' hands. We all deserved retribution. And I would bring it to us. There seemed no apparent explanation to why my doppelgangers would refuse a symbiotic plan to take down a common threat. I didn't want to waste my time second-guessing my own moves or the people around me, especially when progress was this slow.
"Wait," her gaze, first affixed on me, shifted to a target behind me. "What's that?"
I spun to investigate her trajectory. Sure enough, a faint signal caught my attention. A glimmer. A light at the end of the hallway. There was an unspoken agreement to approach it. The illuminated outline of a door came into view. Light cascaded from its frame, tainting the dark walls with its radiant stain. It seemed obvious to me what had to be done.
"Are you sure about this?" Sixty-Six asked. "Our time's almost up. Should we get back and regroup?"
She was right. The arrangement could shift soon. And if that were to happen, we could get lost. But there was still some time left. If we left now, we would lose the opportunity to find the source of the disturbance. Not getting the answer to what we set out to find would haunt me further. Was it worth the risk? "One quick peek can't hurt…"
Rufus' Cabin, Whitefish, Montana – 19 October 2012, 7.23pm
The trio arrived under the roof of an ultramarine sky, welcomed by the fresh damp scent left by the aftermath of a drizzle. As the Impala came to a caressed stop, something about the air gave Zara pause. Her stomach dropped, but she had no idea why. It was just one of those feelings – something was off but she didn't know what.
"Hey, don't worry about it," Sam's voice snapped her out of her thoughts as she stepped out of the car. When she turned to him, she found him speaking not to her but his brother. Dean had a sombre look to match. It could have just been the fatigue of driving so much or the brief stop they'd made a week back to attend the call of some other hunters who'd needed help.
It had been a close call with an Irish Dullahan – a mysterious headless motorcyclist – with a taste for killing people who'd just recovered from illnesses. The whole thing was such a spectacle considering how much insane driving it took to just catch up with 'Ghost Rider' as Dean had termed him. The whole thing reeked of a bigger plan to Zara. She knew something was up. Some investigation of her own had led her to the truth. A truth she couldn't reveal to the brothers.
A couple days earlier,
"The Dullahan isn't just a tourist. He's here on business," Zara said into the phone. Her attentive brown eyes had eyes on the suspect. "I recognised the hospital receptionist. Took me a while to place her but I think I know who she is."
Zara pulled her leather jacket closer to her body. Her hood and mask on, she stared straight ahead through the windows of the apartment building across the street from her spot in the construction site. It was dark enough that the shadows protected her as one of their own. A pair of binoculars she discreetly 'borrowed' from Sam helped her home in on the target. Seventh floor, fifth window from the right. A woman entered the apartment. She took off her coat, revealing the pendant hanging from her neck that Zara recognised from the hospital. But it was no ordinary good luck charm. It had an insignia on it – gold etchings of a crow, wolf and a horse. Zara had seen it before.
"Ex- Javelin. Morrigan's lackey. I think she summoned the Dullahan," Zara continued. Her voice had an atypical monotone to it, like she'd just become a different person. Without the Winchesters around, it felt like she'd shed a layer of skin. Things looked and felt clearer. Refreshing as it was, thoughts of the brothers still lingered in the back of her mind. "I mean, think about it. She had access to the hospital records. She could have easily known what the victims came in for and when they'd been treated."
"But what for?" a familiar female voice responded back to her from the other end of the line. "Why would Morrigan care about some sick people in the States? She never leaves her backyard."
"I don't know. But the signs are there. She's wearing the Trichotomy. She was eavesdropping on us when we were talking to the nurses. She could have easily tipped the Dullahan off that we were coming. That's why he was so tricky to catch," Zara explained. "Abaddon, I know I'm onto something."
"It all seems like a bit of a stretch," the Knight's nonchalant voice mocked her. "You've been spending so much time topside that it's messing with your brain. I know the feeling. That's why I spend my Sundays dipping my feet in the pool."
"The pool? When did we get a pool?" Zara puzzled. She wondered how much things had changed since she decided to go on an extended trip to earth.
"Not so long ago, actually. We've been doing so well that the boss has been in such a good mood lately. He's been approving requests left and right. So yeah, I have a private pool now. Full of entrails just the way I like it. And the crushed bones do wonders in exfoliating my skin. I'll let you take a dip if you bring me a handsome stud with a nice, crushable skull," Abaddon suggested.
"Pass. Don't think I wanna bathe in blood-borne diseases," Zara resisted the urge to cringe.
"Your loss."
"No but really. I have a bad feeling about this case," she insisted. "What's the point of taking away that kid that just beat cancer, or a guy who somehow survived a horrible car wreck? It's like these people were supposed to live but the Dullahan just dragged them into the afterlife against destiny. It's gotta be more than hunger, or a power move. If I'm right, you know what this could mean…"
"That Irish twat is backstabbing us," Abaddon considered. "I get it. But we can't just accuse our allies without proof."
"I can't just drop this," Zara held her ground.
"Yes, you can. Just because you've been at this for nearly a year doesn't make you some kind of expert. Stay in your lane. I know the boss let you work on your own little pet project but that's just it – he sees you as a kid. We all do. You would've been better off just following instructions. Now you think you've seen it all and you can play the game with us," the demon ranted with an acid tone. Hot blood raced to Zara's head in a split second.
"You're just bitter because he trusts me more than you!" she pettily shot back. "All you've wanted since Day One was Daddy's attention. So much that you won't even let me expose a threat. Pathetic!"
"Zara, you absolute succubus," Abaddon cussed. "Don't make me come over there and stuff your guts with rotting meat. Yeah, I hate the way he treats you. All of us have to work for his approval. You just come in and die a few times, and all of a sudden you're the one he wants to trust all our secrets with. I've always known it was a big mistake. But you know what? I don't even care. Because I don't need to do anything. One of these days you're gonna screw up big time. Bigger than you ever have before. And everyone's gonna see you for what you are. At least I tried to tell you to do the right thing. My job is done. For the sake of duty, I'm gonna say it one more time: Leave the bitch alone, bitch."
Before Zara could say anything, Abaddon curtly cut the call. Zara huffed. She checked the time on her phone. It was past eleven at night. The boys would be expecting her soon. Despite the caustic turn the conversation took, Abaddon's advice was sound enough that Zara told herself to let it go. But that feeling in the pit of her stomach had other plans. She put the binoculars to her eyes once again. The lights in the apartment were switched off. I should leave.
Yet, she found herself climbing up the fire escape to the seventh floor. She blinked to activate her borrowed green archangel irises. A single figure lay prone on a bed in the room down the hallway. It's go time. Within seconds she was in the living room, courtesy of the window. No torchlight was needed when the archangel's eyes were sharp and attuned. Okay, so, what am I looking for? Another bout of rationality told her that this was a stupid idea, if only because she didn't even know what could be considered proof that she was right.
She considered the decorations. For the most part, the interior design was secular. But there was a St Brigid Cross hanging on a wall. That by itself couldn't mean anything – what if Brenda was just paying homage to her Irish ancestry? She looked through the kitchen cabinets and the drawers. Nothing out of the ordinary. Just as she was about to give up, she decided to give the fridge a try. Dim yellow light greeted her eyes. Yoghurt, milk and then, a deep red colour. What's this? Right there, among the plastic-wrapped sandwiches, small palm-sized vial looked starkly out of place. Zara took it in her hand and inspected it. Definitely blood. Further inspection revealed some other unsuspecting but damning evidence – a pair of bird feet, what looked to be animal hair and leaves preserved in a Ziploc bag. Possibly for a spell.
She closed the fridge door. Next she searched cabinets in the living room.
A muffled gasp sounded. Zara jerked to find Brenda staring, wide-eyed, at her in a modest robe surrounding her casual bedwear. Uh oh. A wordless stare ensued between. Then, in the skip of a heartbeat, the woman jolted into movement.
"Not so fast," Zara growled, pulling a gun from the depths of her jacket. Brenda froze, knowing that the clicking of the safety was a warning.
"Take anything you want. I'll cooperate," Brenda said, hands raised.
"You and I both know I'm not here to rob you," Zara stated.
"What do you want?" Brenda muttered. Though she worked for a powerful deity, she was still human. And often, the human intermediates of Javelin were more trained in negotiation than combat. Intimidating them was typically easy, considering they were supposed to be under the protection of the deity they worked for.
"What's Morrigan's business here?" Zara asked. Her gun-wielding hand was eerily steady, clearly from a lot of practice. The Glock was like an extension of her arm, reaching towards the target with the silencer equipped at its end.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Brenda claimed obliviousness.
"Don't act dumb. I know you used to work for Javelin. That pendant on your neck. That's Morrigan's," Zara pointed out. "She sent you here. And those ingredients in the fridge – a summoning spell, I'm guessing. You're working with the Dullahan."
"Lady…"
Zara pulled off her mask. "Come clean and there won't be consequences."
"You…" Brenda sighed in recognition. "You came to the hospital. I thought you were FBI agents?"
"Oh we're way worse. Those boys, they deep-fried your Dullahan. But they're just some small-time hunters. Me, I work for Lucifer. My boss is your boss' boss. I'm here for you," Zara took one step towards her. "If you know what's good for you, you'll tell me the truth."
"Okay, okay! I did it," Brenda confessed immediately. "Please, don't hurt me. I was only following orders from upper management. I was told to be discreet."
"Morrigan's jurisdiction is supposed to be restricted to Europe. What does she want in America? Why is she getting the Dullahan to reap souls?" Zara questioned with a strict inflection of her voice.
"I- I don't know. I'm the lowest in the chain-of-command. People like me don't need to know why," Brenda explained. All that checked out with what Zara had seen of other human employees of Javelin.
"Who gave you the order?" Zara demanded to know. Brenda gulped. Her lips quivered. Zara's gaze briefly flickered to the wall clock. Time was ticking. The Winchesters would grow suspicious. "Who?!" she fired a warning shot at the vase on the table. "Give me a name!"
Brenda flinched at the sound of shattered glass. "Onora," she sputtered. "She's a Merrow."
"So I'm guessing that summoning spell is for this mermaid," Zara postulated.
"Merrow. They're different," Brenda clarified.
"Whatever," Zara dismissed. After some thought, she lowered her weapon. "I'm just here to clear things up. Wouldn't want a… misunderstanding, you know? I'm just doing my job."
Brenda released a shaky breath, her shoulders easing as she lowered her hands. A conciliatory smile touched her lips. "Yeah, yeah, totally," she agreed. "That's my job too. As a negotiator. I get it."
"Just give me the summoning spell. I'll be on my way," Zara ordered.
Brenda nodded. "Second drawer from the bottom. The cabinet behind you," she pointed with her eyes.
Following her directions led Zara to a dusty old book accompanied by the athame, the ritual knife, in the drawer. Opening a bookmarked page revealed the desired spell. A drop of dragon blood, sparrow feet, birch leaves and hair of a wolf. Zara quickly snapped a picture of the page.
"You know, we preferred not to use intimidation in Javelin. It's one of the reasons we were so successful," Brenda said. Zara's eyes crinkled. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head. "This kind of barbaric terrorising would never stand in the old order. It would guarantee expulsion from Javelin."
"It's a good thing the old order is no more then," Zara countered before standing back up. "You've been real cooperative. I appreciate that. About the Dullahan, you know what these hunters are like. Always wanna kill anything that's not human. I couldn't blow my cover."
"Yeah," Brenda huffed. "There are whole worlds out there. Whole populations. Humans aren't the only species."
Tension seemed to dissipate as they shared a smile.
"See, this wasn't so bad. You could have just asked," Brenda stated with a volatile composure. "I was told t-to cooperate with any servant of Hell."
"I know," Zara nodded once. "But see, the funny thing about that—I wasn't told to expect your people here. It feels like you people will just go behind our backs and then say anything to cover your own asses."
The smile faded from Brenda's face, though she tried to maintain one. "What do you mean?"
"I mean you lied to me," Zara declared. Before Brenda could react, she raised her gun with robotic precision and pulled the trigger.
The sound of keys jingling reached her. The front door swung open. A man with an office bag, the very same man Zara saw in some framed photographs on the wall, entered. Zara cursed herself for not realising that Brenda probably wasn't living alone. He switched on a table-side lamp. The shadow of a figure appeared instantly. He lurched to face her. Zara pulled the trigger again. He fell back onto the couch, slung backwards with but a single bullet wound to the head.
Present,
Zara knew she'd have to explain herself at some point. The least she could've done was give the summoning spell to someone but she knew the moment she did that, Abaddon would fly off the handle. Now she couldn't even get people to verify her hunch. It had been two days. She would also get yelled at for not reporting this immediately. She just sighed.
"… see, even Zara agrees," Dean's voice filtered into her ears. She snapped back to the present moment.
"What?" she asked.
"Our trip was for nothing. We didn't get the ornament," Dean recapped, face tight with disappointment.
"Yeah," she slurred. "But that Dullahan was definitely a win. Let's not forget that."
"I finally got my Fast and Furious moment, I guess," Dean reluctantly agreed.
"Maybe Cas will have something for us," Sam remained optimistic. "He sounded positive… ish."
The three got settled in by the time Kevin and Castiel returned. It was considerate, and probably Kevin's idea, that they enter through the front door rather than pop in as angels usually do. But they weren't alone. Dean paused his evening reality TV. Sam bookmarked a page in his book. Welcoming smiles and greetings were exchanged. Zara froze where she stood in the kitchenette, almost forgetting to stop pouring hot black tea into the cup she was holding. She barely flinched when the scalding liquid trespassed her palm. The unexpected visitor stepped into the cabin casually, copper-brown coat unbothered by the light drizzle outside. He looked around the room once before his gaze settled upon her.
"Be careful with that," he uttered, immediately flying over to relieve her arm of the kettle. Zara simply stood, mouth agape, passively letting him do as he wished. "That's gotta hurt."
He immediately pressed a kerchief onto her visibly red skin to dry off the hot tea. Zara was speechless. This was… unplanned for. She knew to expect him at some point, but definitely not like this. And not now. "Raziel," she said his name for the first time in a long time.
"Zara," the significance was mutual. When Castiel came to him, telling him that she had shown up, relief was all he'd felt. At first. "It's good to finally meet you."
"Uh huh," she stuttered. She read his smile as friendly but it was as uninformative as her blank stare. Realising this, she straightened up and widened her lips naturally. "Tea?"
She offered her cup. The party of six settled around the coffee table. "Raziel has news," Castiel broke the silence.
"I bet," Dean voiced. "It's been so long. Where ya been? Is everything okay?"
"I'm… grateful for your concern," the angel uttered in a polished British accent. By now, the creases on his forehead had deepened from frequent use. "But it's a long story. The short version is that some things – let's just say – escalated and my team and I were forced into hiding. Crowley put a hit on my head, which I hear is something Zara and I have in common."
"Lucky us," Zara said with a disciplined calm, after having time to collect herself.
"Indeed. Although, he isn't powerless now that he's lost the throne. In fact, he's more powerful than he's ever been before," Raziel reported sombrely.
"We had a little taste a few weeks back," Sam recounted. His concerned hazel eyes assessed the room as he voiced a thought that bothered him for a while now. "So are we really gonna be fighting two evils at once? Seems like we'd be stretched pretty thin. We barely know what either of them want – only that it's no good, whatever it is."
"I've been thinking a lot about this too, Samuel," Raziel sighed. "It certainly isn't easy. I've been undercover for 8 months now and nothing seems to be getting better for anyone. Except for Lucifer, it seems."
"Right, right," Dean nodded. "And have you been able to dig up anything on… Lucifer?"
The guest had all eyes on him as he paused to sip his tea. He could see Zara's slight deflection of tension in his periphery. It was all expected. But how he was to handle the others' questions with all honesty was the real challenge. The flood of black tea in his mouth gave him time to think. "It's… too soon to tell. He's been careful in covering his tracks. I hope that, in time, the truth comes to light."
"Is there anything we can help with?" Sam offered.
At that, Raziel let slip a nascent upturn of the lips. Here they all were, ready to serve the cause of good, and all he could see was a liability. It wasn't their fault, he realised. It was his – he should have found Sophia's vessel sooner. Whatever she'd intended never came to true fruition. And it wasn't like the archangel to make such a grave miscalculation. Whatever it was that begged her immediate leave must have seriously messed with her, he thought. "I'll keep you all posted," Raziel promised. "But enough about me. Castiel tells me you're working to put together a spell from the angel tablet."
"It's an exorcism spell. We believe it will expel Lucifer from his vessel and weaken him enough for us to subdue him," Castiel elaborated.
"But a spell from the angel tablet? I'm just… concerned that God wouldn't exactly put in a kill switch for an archangel on it. Archangels are the most powerful beings in existence, second only to God Himself," Raziel worried, thick dark eyebrows furrowing.
Lucifer said the same thing, Zara remembered.
"But if this is the best lead you have, you should definitely pursue it. Spells are just formulas anyway. Tweak a few variables and you can do anything. Most of the time," he continued with an encouraging half-shrug. "So what seems to be the problem?"
"The power source," Kevin answered. "The tablet said that we'd need some kind of 'primordial ornament'. We're not even sure what that means."
"Hmm," Raziel nodded slowly. His gaze drifted passively to the carpet as he paused in thought.
"Cas said it could be something made by a primordial being," Kevin elaborated. "Maybe that would be too powerful but it's Lucifer we're talking about. So we're gonna need something extra, right?"
"I… don't know about that," Raziel muttered. Then, as something clicked in his head, he perked up and returned eye contact to his hosts. "It could be a mistranslation. See, we didn't have a word for 'Primordial' back in the early Enochian days. As far as we knew, we were the only primordial ones. Until the pagans came to haunt us, we were unaware of other forces competing with us for the right to rule over creation. Perhaps the tablet doesn't say 'primordial'. Maybe it says something like 'of an original essence'."
"Not to sound critical, but I think we understand that even less," Sam pointed out.
"It's just a more encompassing term," Raziel clarified. "It doesn't have to come from a Being with a capital B. But it certainly could. Get what I'm saying?"
The stuttering silence in the room was an answer in itself. "I believe that means they do not understand," Castiel was the first to speak again. Raziel did a half-nod for mere acknowledgement.
"Let me ask you all this. What was the first thing? How did it come to be?" Raziel said with a gentle volume. "Let's take… this cup of tea. What was the origin of this tea?"
"Okay, I appreciate the effort, Raz, I really do," Dean rubbed the inner corner of his eye lazily. "But we really don't have time for a Ted Talk right now. Can you tell us what we need or-"
"Dean, shush," Sam interrupted him, intently leaning forward in his seat. "He's trying to tell us something. Please, continue."
"The tea has water in it," Zara answered. Raziel's nodding encouraged her to continue. "It also has extracts from tea leaves."
"Right," Raziel agreed. "Water and tea leaves. Those two things come from two different fundamental essences of creation. Water is well, water. Tea leaves come from the earth. Of course, these by itself have no power of their own. They are merely conduits of our intention. But where did the first intention towards these things come from?"
"Earth is God's creation. So is water," Castiel guessed.
"Yes, but you wouldn't have to go that far back. Don't think too much about it," Raziel advised. "What, other than God, can take these material essences and turn them into conduits of our intention?"
"Deities – archangels, even some pagan entities," Castiel listed. "They helmed creation. Even some realms have this power."
"There you go," Raziel confirmed. "And to say 'ornament' may refer to a very specific class of objects. The Enochian term used is Orii, which has its own qualifying criteria. For one, the object must have belonged to or been used by these original essences. And more importantly, the object must be able to produce its own energy, almost as a substitute for the person who owned it. Sounds simple, but it really isn't. Most weapons within Heaven's armoury don't do this."
"Then what counts?" Kevin asked.
"Again, that is tricky to define. But there are ways we can tell if something qualifies as a primordial ornament. I propose we design a test. If the object passes the test, we'll know it suits our purposes," Raziel suggested. "I'll get my team on it. You guys can work on finding candidate items."
"Speaking of, we did try our hand at finding something," Sam brought up. He took a laboured breath in as he looked momentarily to Zara and Dean as a cue. "The Eye of Khaos. Unfortunately, we had no luck in finding it."
Raziel tilted his head, caught in another thought. "Yes, The Eye of Khaos."
To his delayed utterance, Castiel's forehead creased in a concerned frown. "You do think this object could be a primordial ornament, right?" he asked his friend.
"Very possibly, no doubt about that," Raziel agreed. "But that isn't the cause of my reservation. Anything that comes from Khaos gives me a bad vibe."
"A bad vibe?" Dean looked between the two angels.
"I know I'm not one to simply go off on mere intuition, but something tells me that we don't want anything to do with this entity," Raziel's hand jittered as he brought the cup to his mouth again. The black liquid washed down his initial fear and brought back a more certain voice. "Don't ask me who He is, because I've got as much of a clue as you. But this is the only lead you have so far?"
"Basically," Sam nodded. The Keeper's composure only unsettled everyone, and this wasn't more evident than in the way Sam approached conversation with a worried yet hopeful calm. "We searched this top-secret government research facility in the middle of a forest in Wyoming. Zara said that Sophia once cleared it out-"
"Project Infinity," Raziel recognised. "Yes, I'm aware. They were playing with forces beyond their understanding – Sophia's pet peeve. She always thought it her duty to protect or destroy knowledge that would bring ruin to the world. I learnt of this mission through Hassiel, a mutual friend."
"The weapon-maker?" Castiel asked. "Didn't he go missing after the civil war?"
"He prefers his privacy, Castiel. We have to respect his choice," Raziel informed him.
"Anyway," Sam interjected. "Dean and I searched the whole area. We got nada. Any clue where the Eye of Khaos might be?"
"I was thinking the next logical step would be the house," Castiel proposed, more for the consideration of Raziel. "Sophia kept everything there."
"Th- the house," Sam repeated. Some disbelief punctuated his words. "You mean the one near Temple. Where I was held captive."
"Yes," Castiel answered with no hesitation. His eyes narrowed slightly. "This causes you some…" he tried his best to read the emotion. "Anger?"
"No, Cas, I'm not angry. Not at you for suggesting it, that is. Never mind, just forget it. What are we thinking? Is this a good idea?" Sam said.
"If this is what we have to work with for now, we should at least give it a shot," Raziel advised. As Zara watched, his very voice seemed to add an energy of motivation to the air. Clearly, Raziel's words had a lot of weight around here. Especially if Castiel thought so. "I do think that we might find the Eye of Khaos in the house. But problem is, the house is locked up. The only people who can actually open it are Sophia and Lucifer. Believe me, I've tried."
"Can't we like, pick the lock or something?" Dean suggested.
"The house isn't under lock and key," Raziel replied. "It's been programmed to shut out intruders and strangers. It only responds to people it's been told to be friendly to."
"Maybe I can help with that," Zara spoke up. She'd been observing quietly for a while now. It was interesting for her to observe their group dynamic. And it was funny how Raziel mentioned that the house shut out intruders and strangers, considering how her friend Jack could get in while Raziel couldn't. It made her wonder. "I think I can open the doors. I was on my own for a while in there."
Moods seemed to pick up at her encouragement. "Then let's give it a shot," Raziel stated.
The Void
My consciousness was hurled in directions I couldn't decipher. Voices ambushed us.
Traitor. Temptress. Evil one. Wicked. Undeserving. Destroyer.
They reminded me, in vivid detail, of all my sins. I saw blood, more blood, tears and death. I hadn't even realised I'd claimed so many lives.
Feel it!
Deep from within, a shout pushed its way out of my throat. My back arched as I struggled to fight the pain. It was the Vault all over again. There was something about pain, though – each new limit breached only increases our threshold for tolerating it. Khaos may have tried to break me many times before, but He would not this time. I knew all the bad things I'd done. I knew I did them out of necessity.
Did you? Did you, really, Sophia?
My head shot back as another image filled my mind. In the image, I was but floating above a familiar small room. A supply closet. There were two women. I recognised Zara. Sitting atop another woman whose throat she slit. I'd made her do that. I remembered. It seemed silly to me that this was what the Void decided to show me. A proud moment when I could feel the bond between us growing. The image zoomed in on the growing pool of blood. From the crimson, I saw a pair of eyes emerge. Lucifer?
"Mother," he said. At once, the vision showed him to me. Flowing scarlet hair that reached the small of his back, the boy had grown now, young enough that his head reached my shoulders. He looked up at me with crimson irises so piercing I needed a moment to take it all in. Absolutely identical to his father's. But they were glassy and overwhelmed. The sight of the thin tears broke my heart.
"Luciel," I dared utter his name. I knew it wasn't real, but I wanted to pretend it was, if only for a moment. Carefully, the back of my fingers caressed his face, feeling the glowing rose-golden complexion he could have only gotten from me. He radiated heat, just like me. A small, shapely red diamond mark sat between his scarlet eyebrows. A tear escaped his right eye and cascaded down his rosy cheek. I rested a palm against the side of his heart-shaped face. To feel him then was a gift. Something from deep within me lit up to know that this being came from me. "We will be together soon. I promise."
He didn't react to that. Instead, his lips quivered before he spoke again, "Why would you do this? Why would you hurt Zara this way?"
I was at a loss for words. "Son, I…" I stuttered. "I would never hurt Zara. She is like a child to me. I had to teach her a lesson for her own good."
"Why would you taint her soul this way?" he sharply criticised. "Why would you deliver her into the hands of darkness? You were supposed to protect her!"
"I did! I protected her with more fondness than any archangel would their vessel," I found myself defending. "I gave her the capacity to realise the power she was capable of. I gave her a mission so that she would find safety till my return. The darkness isn't something to be feared."
It was as if what I'd said fell on deaf ears. "She trusted you!" he yelled hoarsely. "She trusted us!"
"And she will be better off for it!" I couldn't help but say back. I saw the rage on his face then. His fists clenched, tightening up the lean boyish muscles on his upper arms and bare torso.
"The Zara I loved will be lost to me forever. All because you couldn't love her imperfections," he accused. Just as he said that, images filled my head of her.
I saw blood on her face, blood coming out of her body, blood on her hands. The things she saw, the things that she endured and the things she'd done. I saw what Lucifer did to her. Turned her into something he needed. In that image, she'd become something strong. I saw her boldly drawing from me the strength to defeat enemies. I couldn't help but feel wonder and admiration. "She's wonderful."
"Wrong!" Luc's face came back to me. "You let her become… a monster! You let him take away her purity. Just like you let him go down a dark path!"
"No, no. You misunderstand," I said. "We are all free of our shackles now. We can do whatever we want. There is light and dark in all of us and we don't have to fear it."
"D-don't fear the darkness?" he stuttered with a breaking voice. He blinked once. His sclerae filled immediately like a black pool, the crimson irises being the only colour his eyes showed. "The darkness is all you gave me, Mother."
I felt myself morph into my Dark form in return, my sclerae similarly turning black. "Do you fear me, Luc?" I dared ask.
"I fear your inability to weed out corruption at its root," he answered. "You let Father fall victim to the Mark's curse. You let Zara fall into madness. Will it be my turn to fall next?"
Words were stolen from me by shock. What if he was right? What if the Darkness was never defeated? What if it lived on in me?
"I always knew that you'd come back to me," another voice said. My head jerked to find none other than the face of Mother staring back at me. "My dearest Adhya."
"Don't call me that," I instinctively snapped back. I couldn't quite figure out why. I only knew that it's what Raphael said with his last dying breath.
"But that is your name. The name I gave you, with all my love," she said, arms extended to invite me. "I never stopped loving you. I want us to be together again."
"That will never happen," I growled. "Time has barely healed the wounds you gave me."
"The wounds you gave yourself, you mean. Or have you forgotten? It was you who disobeyed. It was you who betrayed," she pointed a finger at me. "Your own mother. Your creator. Maybe I shouldn't be so surprised, considering it seems to be a pattern in your life. You couldn't look out for your so-called family. You couldn't protect your husband. And let's not even get started on this sweet child of your creation."
She appeared behind Luciel, a floating dark figure that loomed over him. Her bony hand clawed its way to rest on his shoulder while he simply stared dead ahead at me. "I know I can survive. After all, I am your son," he said with a serpentine tranquillity. "I can get through anything. But I'm not sure you should."
"Grandson makes a point," Amara chimed in.
"Both of you aren't real," I said out loud. "This isn't real."
"Isn't it?" Amara argued. "What else do you imagine we'd say if we could stand before you now?"
"Mother, you've truly lost it this time," my son said through clenched teeth. "Stuck in this place with all your other selves. Do you really think a void full of beings like you could succeed? Considering your track record? I don't think I'll ever see my mother again. You took my mother away from me!"
Just as he said that, each sentence growing in fury, a stunning wave of energy burst forth and hurled me backwards. Everything they'd said echoed in my head over and over again, making me feel all those things again. Every cycle was an avalanche by itself, shaking me to the core. It seemed I would never escape. Whenever I thought I could beat it, realise the deception and get out of this vicious cycle, I was dragged further and further into my mind.
Zara, Luc, Mother. Zara, Luc, Mother. Zara, Luc, Mother. Zara… Zara!
"I know you… I walked with you once upon a dream," she sang. I spun to find her, but no one was there. "I know you… that look in your eyes is so familiar a gleam."
Her voice was but an echo. I knew it was Zara's. But how could she be here? Something broke the repetition. A flash of light caught my eye. A faint glow of a soul. I rushed toward it. When I saw her face, I couldn't help but feel a happiness I hadn't felt in a long time. But she couldn't reciprocate. Her human eyes darted around, unable to place herself. I was some distance away from her in this dark shapeless space. Just as I was about to approach, something else beat me to it.
From the unidentifiable ground spawned a black gooey mass. It took an anthropomorphic shape, one that I recognised. Theta. The PR guy, as I called him. What was he doing here? Zara's distant eyes found his form. The way she froze, I could tell, this was unexpected. That made me think her presence here was certainly more real than the visions I saw. Unless it was all a big farce. To make me believe that a human soul could actually make it in here, unprotected. Could it? I didn't know.
"You're a long way from home, Zara," Theta said. He reached a hand towards her.
"No!" I dashed forward. There was no way I would let him get to her. But the moment I reached them, everything dissipated into smoke around me.
I awoke with a gasp. Something forced itself into my mouth, gagging me. Instinctively, my hand tried to grab it. That's when I felt the whole mass of it stuck to my face. With a bit of a struggle, I pulled something decidedly gooey off my face, celebrating my free breaths with heavy panting. That's when I noticed a number of things.
First of all, I was in a bright room. It was the polar opposite of the stark blackness I was used to in the Void. I guess that made sense, as the Void wasn't biased to either light or darkness. If there were pitch black areas, there had to be burning bright areas as well.
Second, the thing I held in my hand was alive. It had tentacles. The whole mass of it was black and it had no identifiable features other than a swollen body with tentacles flailing about. This thing? This thing had caused me so much anguish? Just as I formed this thought, the tentacles latched onto my hand. Frantically I tried shaking the creature off with a controlled yelp. "Agh!"
Splat. It writhed on the floor. I hastily brandished my blade, material black and matte, and plunged it into the creature. With a high-pitched raspy groan, it died as a mass of black goo. When I looked back, I found a more disturbing sight. On what seemed to be a wall, there was another one of these black masses with a much larger, more elaborate form. They formed these pods, one of which I'd broken out of. Next to mine, there were several more, containing beings I'd never seen before as well as three of my doppelgangers.
The tentacles had woven around their bodies like vines, invading their orifices and tainting their skin with a ghastly pale complexion. Two of my doppelgangers had blanked-out eyes – the green had faded to such a great extent it almost looked one with their sclerae. Their faces were deadly still. Their mouths dripped the same black goo that the creature I killed bled. I said a silent incantation to rest their spirits, at least for my own sanity. But the third, however, I recognised as still alive. Sixty-Six.
Her eyes twitched spastically in a struggle – the same one I went through. I prayed she had the strength to push through. Her fingers froze in a claw-like position. Black fluid dripped from her mouth and eyes. She blinked rapidly but for a single moment, her eyes shut. I couldn't believe it. She was going to give in.
"No!" I immediately sliced at the black mass that had grounded itself on the side of her face. She gasped for breath, just as I did. But she still didn't break out of the pod. The pod's slimy vines still had their hold on her and she appeared none the wiser. I grabbed her arm and pulled. She wouldn't budge. "Sophia," I called. "I need you to hear me. It's trying to break you. You can't let it."
I tried slicing away some of the vines again. Her lips quivered. "I… I've been so wrong… about everything…" she uttered tearfully.
"It wants you to hate yourself. You have to see through it," I urged. The more I spoke, the more impatient I grew. I just couldn't take the chance of waiting. I sliced at the pod some more and this time, enough of the vines gave way so that I could pull her away.
"Maybe… Maybe I deserve this," she mumbled. "I didn't have enough courage to be honest with Lucifer. I didn't have enough courage to face off Khaos."
"But you had the courage to support me when I needed support. You were the first to do that. Remember?" I said amidst strained efforts to yank her out of the cement hold of these vicious creatures.
"I…" consciousness returned to her eyes, though she still stared straight ahead. "If I died here, no one would miss me."
"I would," I vowed. "And if you had Lucifer's love at any point, you still have it now. This I know for fact."
Life returned to her limbs. With our combined efforts, she fell forward in the same way I did. Angry hissing erupted from the pod. I silenced it with my blade. Once she embraced consciousness like an old friend, her complexion returned to its healthy norm. "W- What's going on?" her voice withered.
"I don't know. Some kind of infestation, it looks like," I answered. We both studied the area. Now the sound that attracted us here wasn't so much a sound as it was an atmosphere. Breaking out of the creature's hold appeared to have made us further immune to its effects. But the fact that its effect had been so strong was by itself a feeling to reckon with.
We approached the other deities strapped to the pods. They all took forms we'd never seen before and had been overrun by various stages of lifelessness. "So… these things suck the life out of you while making you live out a reel of the worst moments in your life," she guessed. "I wonder if there's a reason why."
"It keeps us weak. Slave to its power. See how easy it was to kill them? This is the only thing it could do to bring down powerful beings like us," I half-grumbled, ready to assault another of these.
"Calm down. We all hate this place," she said with a snarky one-sided upturn of the lips. I was glad to see her return to her normal attitude. As soon as I thought so, her smile faded. I must have jinxed it. "How much time do we have left?"
Right. According to my internal clock… "We're past 36 hours," I grimly reported.
"Great, we're lost," she threw her hands up. "We're gonna die here."
"Don't say that," I snapped. "We're still alive and we can find our way back."
"How? The Void is infinite. We'll just be walking for years on end. If we're lucky, we'll walk into a quick death. All it's gonna take is another room like this one," she gestured around us.
"I wish you'd banish this pessimism, at least for as long as you're with me," I suppressed rolling my eyes. With a defiant huff, she stormed away, unwilling to stand in one place for too long. "Don't go too far now."
I watched her march off in mild annoyance. At least she wasn't threatening to assault me, which is what she did to the others. I wandered in a different direction too for the sake of learning more about this place. The colour was so homogenous at some areas that I couldn't tell that there were corners. I went around one and came face to face with Sixty-Six again. "It's a loop," she discovered. A long rectangular room whose ends were connected by a space-time loop. "Now what?"
"There has to be something. I mean, we got in," I suggested. "We just have to find the door that led us here."
"What if there isn't?" her voice faltered. "How are we even sure that our memory of how we came here is real?"
"Don't…"
"We aren't," she answered her own question, eyes wide in a hysteria that threatened to erupt at any moment. "We might just be stuck here."
