Sophia's Chronicles

Chapter 1: The Escape

How did we end up here? In Hell, I mean. I looked over to Lucifer beside me. He was sitting calmly on the throne, palm rested against a cheek in a bored expression as our demonic soldiers brought forth reports and complaints. His gaze met mine briefly and his lips curved up on one side. His hand moved to hold mine. There was a dastardly Mark on his right arm near the crook of his elbow – the curse of the Darkness. But here we were – King and Queen of Hell. A sudden wave of absurdity overcame me. What happened, Sophia? I searched my mind, going as far back as my memory permitted.

I remembered nothingness. And then I remembered pain as far as the mind reached. But whose pain I felt was ambiguous. It was all a flurry of images in my long and ancient memory. I was running. Running as far as my legs would take me, away from Her. Let me explain. I'll start from the beginning.

In the beginning, there was God and his sister, Amara. God was The Light, the hand that creates, and Amara was The Darkness, the hand that destroys. Whereas God created matter and designed entire worlds for which his sentient creations would be in awe for millennia to come, Amara was the antithesis of Her brother. She too created, but Her creations were of anti-matter, which ultimately deteriorated and consumed the matter that God created in violent waves, like virulent termites. From what was revealed to me, this explosive feud was resolved with The Veil, a delicate wall that stopped the divine matter and antimatter from mixing and hence kept the peace between the two universes. This was how the balance was kept. At least until I came along.

From The Darkness, I was created. I don't remember being born, but I remember the raging winds and storms in my world. I didn't have a name, but I had shackles around my wrists. I don't think I had siblings. I say 'think' because honestly, I'm not sure. The whole memory seems fuzzy and suspiciously so, like there was something in my head I wasn't supposed to know. I didn't even know who to blame for that. So you can see, my identity has been a mystery even to me, right from the start.

What I do remember, though, are the shadows. Shadows that would whisper things to me, like pieces of conversations I couldn't remember. The clearest of those voices were Mother's, when She told me I would be the greatest thing that ever was. Innocent, right? Until you realise that She meant how I would stand alongside Her and watch things die. She gave me a preview once, showing me what true destruction meant. My hand was in Her firm grip as my power was channelled into annihilating every molecule, every atom of a whole world She'd created just for me to experiment with my powers. All the new life that had sprung up there, on its own, deprived of an opportunity to persist and grow. It seemed like such a waste to me – to create something just to have it destroyed later. Why, Mother was capable of making such complex things too. Why did She hate them so much?

I say that like I had any love for this world. Quite the opposite, actually. Hatred was sown into the very fabric of Amara's universe. Having experienced life on both sides of the Veil, I can honestly say that simply being there made you a different person. Most people gave into the dark lullabies of the winds in this universe but I chose shackles. It wasn't impossible to resist, as in my case, but it was evidently disadvantageous. I never liked who I was here; who I was supposed to be.

I remember finding the Veil for the first time. It was the brightest memory I had, quite literally. I saw true Light, not the dim imposter in the form of a perpetual setting Sun that we had. From there I could peek at God's world, which was full of bright, luminescent and magnificent objects and beings. To my little self, this was the most amazing thing out there and I desired it. It seemed so devoid of suffering and colourful, which was a stark contrast to the miserable and unsaturated world we lived in. There were all these curious beings who I wished could keep me company, for a lonely existence was all I'd ever known. I knew who God was, despite having never met Him before, and I held onto the hope that one day I would see Him. It just felt like something that could comfort me, despite all the bad stories Mother told me. In fact, I always found myself relating to Him more in those stories.

Thinking back now, it is almost laughable how naïve I was. Lucifer certainly thought so and never let me forget it, though his teasing was all in good fun. Little Me marched straight up to Mom and told Her exactly how I felt. Oh yeah, I'll just tell Her I hate what She's done to the place and that I wanna run away, and it'll all be fine. I rubbed my forehead in disappointment just thinking about it. "I don't belong here!" I argued, standing my ground. With a flick of the wrist, She flung me to the side and put me in such unimaginable agony that I could barely think. Before I knew it, I ended up in a cell, slave to her lash for centuries. Perhaps this should have served as foreshadowing for what was to come later – that I had particular trouble with authority. I don't know why I persisted thinking and saying the things I did. Any normal person would have given into all that pain, wanting to say anything just to make all the agony stop. But I didn't.

The details escape me now, but somehow, by some miracle, my shackles were unbound. I stirred awake just to find that my wrists were free and had deeply-cutting grazes from being tied up for so long. For a long time, I never understood how this happened, but what was that saying they had in the other universe? Don't look a gift horse in the mouth? I bolted without a second thought. I felt free, finally, and I was determined more than ever to make that jump across the Veil. I picked myself up, and I headed towards the Veil, with winds howling around me in the desolate wasteland that was Mother's kingdom.

Along the way, the winds grew stronger. I found it increasingly difficult to travel and before I knew it, the sand-covered ground beneath me shot electric spikes up into the air. Mother had found out about my escape. Or had She orchestrated it? Like some kind of sick joke? I tried to avoid the spikes as much as I could, but one strike after the other weakened me. Soon after followed the rain of hard stones that pounded against my body. The pelting rocks slowed me down, every hit jolting me and hurting. As if this weren't enough, Mother had sent Her hounds on me. Their bloodthirsty huffing resounded behind me as I made a break towards the glimmer of light in the distance.

Unfortunately for me, one of the hounds made a great leap onto me, and alas, I was trapped underneath the weight of the giant creature which did not hesitate to bare its hungry teeth. With whatever strength I could gather I punched and kicked and scrambled free of the Mutt's deadly jaws and continued my journey. At some point, the only thing that kept me going was the pure hatred I felt for Amara. It truly is a surprise that I didn't emerge from this story as a being powered purely by bitterness and anger. This was probably God's doing.

Not a moment later, another storm hit me. I was hurt. I couldn't move. The huffing of the hounds drew closer. I closed my eyes, awaiting the sweet release of death. And then, all I felt was warmth. A majestic light drew me into its comforting embrace and it felt like I was bathed in gold. When I finally opened my eyes again, I was in His arms.

"Wh-what happened?" I muttered weakly, every moment I could keep my eyes open a struggle against unconsciousness. My body still hurt all over and it must have messed with my mind because this was the moment I felt things change.

"It doesn't matter," He said. God. It was Him. He… saved me. But why? "You're safe now, Sophia."

"S-Sophia?"

"Your name. It's who you are and who you will be," his deep voice reverberated in my head, washing me in a wave of peace. "Welcome to your new home."