Persephone laughed. It was a gasping, honking laugh that sent flames into her lungs and threatened to burn her from the inside out, but still, she laughed at him.
“This all you got?” Persephone sent, her contempt-filled voice mocking him inside his head. “This is nothing. I did worse than this on a dare in Hell. Amateur.”
“Annoyance,” muttered Tribunal. His finger twitched, and Persephone’s laughter turned to screams.
“No,” sent Persephone, and even in her thoughts Tribunal could feel the pain she was in. It was exquisite to watch. He smiled at it, enjoying her torment right up until the moment Persephone said, “Distraction.”
And even as she said it Epiphenia rose up behind Tribunal and wrapped her arms around him.
Nyx slammed her sword against the throne of God, bounced off, roared, and smashed it again. God was there. He was right there. Nyx, leader of the rebellion in Heaven, Queen of Hell, chief corruptor of humanity, and torturer of a million souls, had set foot in Heaven against God’s express command. He should be angry. He should be punishing her. At the very least he should be reacting, but God just sat there, staring into space and smiling.
It was the smile that was the creepiest part.
Nyx let her sword vanish. She looked down at her armor, still stained with silver blood—her blood—from her fight with Michael and let it vanish, too. Naked, she knelt down in front of the throne of God and reached tentatively forward to touch the hem of his robe. Her hand skidded across it like it was coated with a thin layer of the smoothest ice imaginable.
“Well, that’s annoying,” Nyx said out loud. “But then, you always were annoying, weren’t you? Asshole.”
She tried again to touch him, this time reaching for his leg. Again her hand skidded away.
“All I ever wanted was free will,” Nyx said, bringing her hands together and closing her eyes. “Was it too much to ask?” She focused her mind. “I didn’t want to run Hell. I just didn’t want Lucifer to run Hell. Or anyone else. Because, really, after a thousand years in the Lake of Fire, they’re all pretty insane.” Slowly, gently, she began to bring the power of all the Angels to bear on the shield around God. “It probably made me insane, too.” Slowly, gently, she applied more and more power to the shield, watching carefully and reaching out with her mind to search for any weaknesses.
“I wonder if you know how bad Hell was when you sent us there?” Nyx said as she drilled her power harder and harder against the shield. “What am I saying? Of course, you did. You’re God. You know everything. Which makes you a right bastard, by the way.”
This was not like the last battle. This was far, far more intimate. This was body-to-body, power-to-power, naked strength versus naked strength. Epiphenia poured the energy from a dozen suns directly into Tribunal, crushing down on both his physical and spiritual self. For the briefest of moments, Tribunal was overwhelmed with the agony of it all, driven beyond all sense and reason.
It enraged him. He wrapped his arms around Epiphenia and used his own power—far, far more than he had ever used in one place at one time. Far, far more than he needed, he knew, but it was such a pleasure to release it. Tribunal smashed it all into Epiphenia, shattering her very being into bloody, jagged fragments that exploded out from him and sprayed the mountains around with flecks of green blood and charred bits of flesh and bone.
That was an indulgence, he thought. But it felt good.
Nyx felt the moment of weakness in the shield around God, and drove every ounce of the power she had been given, every ounce of her own power, into the shield like a spike driven through a block of ice.
Tribunal felt Nyx drive all the energy of Heaven’s Angels into the shield, and felt the shield crack beneath it. It was strong enough—she was strong enough to break through. He realized the mistake he had made putting so much power into killing Epiphenia. Did they plan that? It didn’t matter. I can still stop her.
Persephone’s sword hacked into his body, smashing down from above and cleaving his physical self into two. The pain surprised him for less than a millisecond. Even as the blade finished cleaving his physical self in two, Persephone was no more than a cloud of silver dust whirling in the winds of the fires below.
It was long enough.
YOU HAVE BROKEN OUR HOLY COVENANT, NYX.
Nyx lay on the ground, hands over her head, face grinding into verdant, fresh-smelling grass and sweet-smelling soil that surrounded the throne of God. God rose from his spot, the blinding white light that was his presence shining through the bones and flesh of Nyx’s arms and filling her so full with joy and terror at once that it seemed she would explode from it.
I’d forgotten what it was like to be close to him.
God’s presence wasn’t overbearing like Tribunal’s. It wasn’t the sort of power that pushed one down or threatened to overpower one. God’s power was all encompassing and when in his presence, one became not only filled with his power and majesty, but filled with the knowledge that one was part of that power and majesty. That God resonated within every fiber of one’s being, and that every fiber of one’s being resonated with God. He was, and, therefore, all other things were.
How exquisite this is. How right.
But right now, he was very, very angry.
In the burning valley in the mountains of South America, Tribunal looked up past the sky, past Creation, and beyond it into Heaven. He saw God rise from his throne, saw the shield around him shatter, and saw God become once more aware of Heaven.
But only of Heaven, thought Tribunal. Not Earth or Hell.
He turned the power he had been using on Heaven away from there and sent it instead into Lucifer’s Descended, who were still hunting the last of Nyx’s army. There were half a million of them, and every single one received a share of Tribunal’s power. The Descended roared out in joy and desire as the power flowed through them.
“COME TO ME!” Tribunal’s sending echoed around the Earth. “FLY TO ME, SURROUND ME, AND SHIELD ME SO THAT I MAY FINISH THE WORK I HAVE BEGUN FOR US ALL.”
As one, Lucifer’s army left off the chase and flew toward Tribunal.
YOU HAVE BROUGHT MY WRATH UPON YOURSELF. YOU WILL BE UNMADE, AND YOU WILL CEASE TO EXIST!
Now, the force of God’s power crushed down upon Nyx. She could feel her body starting to unravel, could feel her mind starting to disintegrate. There would be very, very little of her left, she knew, in a matter of moments.
“Wait!” she sent, and she watched her hands turn into silver dust in the grass. There was no blood, no pain, just a slow disintegration of her body. She looked behind and saw that her wings were already gone. “Yes, I have broken our covenant.” Her legs were dissolving now, and her arms. “Please, before you unmake me, see what is in my mind. See what has happened to the world. Please!”
Because He was God, and because He could see all, know all, and feel all, He did. And because she was in his presence, Nyx felt his surprise, anger and sadness.
And then, because she was the Queen of Hell, and because they had a covenant that meant her unmaking, she felt the rest of her body melting away into silver dust, until she felt nothing at all.
Chapter 19
Tribunal stood on his pillar of rock and felt all Creation flowing between his fingers. He’d once more gathered the threads together and once more had found the one that would unravel Creation. It would not be easy. The thread was interwoven with a near-infinite number of others, and cutting it would not make a difference. Cutting it would cause some jolts, end some lives, but Creation would mend itself. No, the thread had to be unraveled, and once that began, then he would be able to unravel the others easily enough.
All I need, he thought, is time.
All of Lucifer’s army now floated in the sky, between Tribunal and anything that God would send down. If he were to send down the full force of his wrath, there would be no hope, of course, but God rarely interfered directly. And as long as he can’t see what is happening on Earth, he wo
n’t.
There.
Tribunal smiled, and the thrill of power ran through him. He had found the way to untangle and unravel the thread. Once he had done that, it would be easy. Creation would fall apart—the universe, Hell and then Heaven, until only God himself was left. And then Tribunal would destroy him as well.
“It ends here,” he said aloud, savoring the words. “Here and now, it ends!”
Tribunal reached out his hand…
Nyx stood on the tender grass in front of God’s throne. She was naked. And she was different.
Her skin was still pale, but not as it had been. Her teeth were still sharp, but not the jagged razors they had become in Hell. She looked at her hands and willed the talons to come, but they would not. Her sword was no longer at her side, nor her whip.
Nyx could feel her strength and it was as it had been before all this began. She was still divine, still a being of immense power. But she was no longer Descended. But not an Angel of Heaven, either. What am I?
THAT IS A VERY GOOD QUESTION.
Nyx looked up. God sat on his throne, his light so bright that she could not see his form, if, indeed, he had one. But there was no question now about God being gone. His divine power radiated off him so strongly that it had to be filling all of Heaven. God was awake.
The Angels! If God is awake, then they should be—
Nyx turned and saw the entirety of the Holy Host, floating in the sky behind her. They were in full armor, and the brilliance of it was blinding, even to Nyx’s divine eyes. Michael was floating in the front, his sword in his hand. He raised a hand in greeting.
HEAVEN IS BACK TO ITS TRUE NATURE AGAIN. AND IT IS YOUR DOING THAT HAS MADE THAT POSSIBLE.
“What about Earth?” Nyx demanded. “What about Hell? Can you see those?”
I CAN. BUT NOT AS THEY TRULY ARE.
“But… but you’re God! You’re everything. How can you not see what Tribunal is doing?”
The radiance of God changed, becoming warmer and stronger. He’s amused, Nyx realized. “This isn’t funny!”
NO, IT IS ABSURD. I AM GOD. I KNOW ALL, SEE ALL, HEAR ALL, AND AM A PART OF ALL. TRIBUNAL IS ALSO GOD. HE IS A PART OF ME, AND WHAT I AM SEEING IS ONLY WHAT THAT PART OF ME WANTS TO SEE.
“He’s destroying Creation! He’s pulling it all apart as we speak! You have to stop him!”
DO I?
“Yes! He will unmake all of us, and he’s going to unmake you! There isn’t time to be—”
The warmth of God’s radiance grew again.
“THIS ISN’T FUCKING FUNNY!” screamed Nyx. “THERE IS NO TIME!”
YES. THERE IS.
Tribunal opened his fingers….
TIME IS PART OF CREATION, AND ALL CREATION IS MINE.
“Oh.” Nyx looked down on herself. “Then… what happened to me?”
YOU CEASED TO EXIST. YOU WERE UNMADE AS PER OUR COVENANT. IT WAS A SACRED COVENANT AND CANNOT BE UNDONE, NO MATTER WHAT THE REASON FOR IT.
“And I came back different?
YES.
“Why?”
WHEN YOU DESCENDED INTO HELL, YOUR FORM WAS CHANGED. YOUR VERY BEING WAS CHANGED. YOU WERE NO LONGER AN ANGEL OF GOD.
“And now?”
NOW YOU ARE NO LONGER AN ANGEL OF HELL, EITHER.
“Then what am I?”
THAT IS UP TO YOU.
“What?”
THERE WILL BE TIME TO FIGURE IT OUT LATER. The radiating warmth that was God’s laughter flowed over her again. BUT FIRST, I WOULD HAVE YOU DEAL WITH TRIBUNAL.
“With pleasure,” said Nyx. “But I don’t have the power. He’s YOU, for fuck’s sake.”
“Nyx!” called an exasperated Michael from above and behind her. “Language!”
FOR A LITTLE WHILE, MY NYX, YOU WILL BE AS WELL.
And then God reached out and touched Nyx, and her vision went white with the agony of it.
Tribunal’s fingers wrapped around the thread of Creation. He summoned his power together. All that remained to do was send it through, and Creation would be undone.
“THEY COME!” Lucifer bellowed.
Tribunal didn’t look up. It didn’t matter what God sent now. He had the making of Creation in his grasp. All he needed to do was to pull the thread, and Creation would unravel.
“Pity you’re not getting the chance,” Nyx’s voice rang out loud in his head.
“Die,” sent Tribunal back, and he wrapped his hand around the thread and with all his powers, pulled.
It didn’t move.
“Not going to work,” sent Nyx.
“IN THE NAME OF GOD!” Michael shouted, and from the sky the Holy Host poured down like a rain of white-hot steel.
“FOR HELL!” screamed Lucifer, and a half-million Descended, black and red armored and glowing with hellfire, flew up to meet them.
The lines smashed together in a rain of gold and silver ichor, and then the sky was filled with chaos. Whips cracked, and feathers and flesh ripped from Angelic bodies. Divine steel, black and white, thrust and cut. Blades met and skidded against one another, or cut into flesh. Limbs flew, eyes were pierced, and Heavenly Angels and Descended alike screamed in pain.
Nyx wove her way through it all like a hawk weaving through a jungle canopy rife with predators. Twenty-three different Descended tried to engage her. She used her sword on the first one but realized as she did that she had a much simpler solution—one that Tribunal had used on her armies. Thereafter, the Descended who got in her way found their wings had vanished and that they were plummeting to the Earth. All it took was a thought on her part.
Nyx wondered if she could do the same to Lucifer’s entire army.
Possibly, but keep your eye on the prize, she admonished herself. I made a deal with God, and unlike his son, I don’t welch!
The power God had given her was stunning. She could see everything around her—everything. She could see the air moving under the wings of the battling Angels. She could see the individual molecules of nitrogen and carbon dioxide and oxygen spinning in little whirlwinds. She could sense the heat from the fires below, and the cold from the sky melting together above her and swirling with the force of the battle. She could track the path of every single drop of gold or silver blood as it fell from the sky to the Earth.
And in the midst of it, she sensed Persephone, Ishtar, and Epiphenia.
Nyx was so surprised she nearly took a sword in the face before making it and the owner’s wings vanish.
Their bodies had been destroyed, but they were still there. Their life forces were still intact, though they could not bring themselves back together. Not even Epiphenia, whose power was greater than any other Angel’s, could come back from what was done to her. But they’re still there.
I wonder if Caelum and Orion are still here, too?
Not that it matters right now…
Because just below her, Tribunal had let go of the fabric of the Universe.
Tribunal had sensed Nyx coming, had sensed the changes in her that God had wrought, could feel the power God had poured into the stupid little rebellious Angel. Of course, he sends her. He can’t even come down himself, so he sends her.
Tribunal unleashed a blaze of power that swept out of the mountains, rattling the earth as it went and killing everything in its path. Then he threw another one up at Nyx, splattering the Angels around her into gore and dust.
Except she wasn’t there anymore. She was beside him. With a gesture, she stopped both waves of energy.
“Now that,” she said, “was stunningly stupid.”
The power she smashed into him threw Tribunal off the pillar and halfway through the mountain on the far side of the valley. Nyx grinned at the expression of pain on his face.
The mountain exploded in a burst of rocks and flames that took ten thousand Angels down with it. Nyx thought a shield into place and watched the rocks spin away from her. Tribunal was on his feet, and he let out a roar that made the Angels around them wince. He blasted back enough energy tha
t Nyx, even with her shield, was blown back a hundred yards.
“I will kill you, you bitch!” Tribunal screamed, his voice echoing through the mountains and into the hills beyond. He threw another blast of energy, even more powerful than the last, lighting the very air on fire. “I will burn you to a cinder!”
He might just manage it if I’m not careful, thought Nyx as she sent his blast of power off into space. God gave me greater power than him, but God didn’t make me invulnerable.
“And if I can’t burn you, then I will burn all of humanity!”
The fire that roared out this time wasn’t aimed at her, and it wasn’t firing through the sky. It erupted on the ground beneath him, and it burned hotter than the sun itself. The ground bubbled, and the flames grew out from him in a circle of death.
Nyx put a wall around the flames. Then she realized it wouldn’t be enough. The fire was burning into the Earth as well as across it. She extended the wall into a globe that held in the fire, kept it from burning a hole into the Earth. Then, out of sheer maliciousness, she started shrinking the globe so that it grew tighter and tighter around Tribunal.
She barely managed to dodge Lucifer as he charged down at her. She raised her hand to make his wings disappear, but stopped when Michael raced after him. The two clashed, Lucifer’s sword and whip attempting to break past Michael’s guard, and not succeeding. Nyx grinned. Let them sort it out.
Instead, she flew over to where Tribunal stood in the quickly closing ring of flames, and watched. Tribunal was sending more and more power into the ring, driving back the flames. Nyx matched him power for power and a little bit more, letting him feel the flames growing closer and closer.
“I WILL DESTROY YOU!” Tribunal screamed in her mind.
“Unlikely,” said Nyx, and wrapped Tribunal in flames. He screamed, long and loud as the fire burned into his flesh. Nyx watched his skin bubble and burn, and begin to char away.
Then she changed the flames to Hellfire.