17
T he throne room’s gothic -arched doorway had a rose window above it and stained glass down the sides depicting a number of the Western deities in graceful, flowing robes, engaged in blessing the smaller figures of worshipful humanity.
As they approached, the immensely tall double doors—nearly as tall as the gates of the Heavenly Palace back in the East—swung outwards to reveal an interior of silver shimmering, pearlescent light that radiated in waves. Simone followed Semias and Michael to find the interior was a Western-styled long, narrow space with rows of pews constructed of pale pine timber. There was no altar at the end of the aisle; instead, a massive throne, made of silver, stood on a dais under more stained glass. The throne appeared to be constructed of woven metal in thick strands that curled into intricate designs reminiscent of Celtic or Norse motifs.
The light came from the throne. Its rays of silvery illumination were almost blinding. Simone reached out with more than her senses and saw the throne as it really was; it was a receptacle, processor and emitter for the Heavens’ pure energy. It was more like a machine than a piece of furniture, and its energy was severely limited by the presence of all the demons. It was dazzling already; when the demons were gone it would be overwhelming.
‘Whoever sits on that will have immense power,’ Michael said with awe. He stepped back. ‘Uh ...’
‘You’re the only one, lad,’ Semias said. ‘Sit on it, open the portal, and let the old ones up to take your place. Then you can go home.’
‘It won’t kill him?’ she asked. ‘That thing’s like a nuclear reactor!’
‘I’m a son of the Tiger, that sort of Yang is my element,’ Michael said. ‘It can’t hurt me.’
‘It won’t hurt him, it will protect him,’ Semias said. ‘Go, Michael. Take your place.’
Michael glanced at Simone. He smiled shyly. ‘If this goes wrong ...’
She tried to suppress the feeling of dread at the knowledge that she would be returning alone. She wouldn’t let that happen. She touched his hand and he grasped hers. ‘You’ll be in charge. Make sure it doesn’t.’
He brought her hand to his face and kissed her fingertips. ‘It would not be right for me to say the words so soon after I lost Clarissa. But one day, I will say the words, and I’ll mean them. If this goes wrong ...’ he glanced at the throne, still gripping her hand, then turned back to her. ‘Don’t wait for me. Find happiness for yourself with someone else, until our time comes? Promise.’
‘I promise,’ she said, not meaning it at all. She opened her mouth to tell him not to do it, then closed it again. He was the only one who could, and the demons needed to be removed from these Heavens so that the wars would stop. ‘Make sure that it doesn’t go wrong. Sit and bring Hades here so you can go home and mourn like you should.’
‘I’m not looking forward to regaining my grief, but being like this is completely wrong,’ he said, then shook out his shoulders and turned to face the throne. ‘Is there a ceremony or anything? Words to say?’
Semias held one arm out towards the throne. ‘No. Just go and sit.’
‘All right.’ Michael shot a loving glance at Simone that broke her heart, then strode to the throne, took three steps up onto the dais, and sat. His hands flew to the throne’s arms, and he went rigid, then screamed a high-pitched sound of agony that pierced her through. Everything exploded in a light so dazzling that she couldn’t see anything.
The rays of light shooting from the throne were mirrored by a deep bass thrum through the floor that didn’t cover the sounds of Michael’s anguished screams. The waves increased in frequency, like an energy cycle overloading, and Simone took two steps towards it but was stopped when the energy burst from the throne in a single blaze of white-hot brilliance that shot through her and hit her demon essence with a sear of pain.
All her breath left her, and she fell to her knees as she dissolved. It burned through her, and she lost her vision again and gasped for air.
‘You may stay, demon,’ a massive voice boomed, making the ground shake, and everything stopped.
She lowered her head and panted, trying to get her breath back, then pulled herself to her feet. She shook out her left arm where she’d landed on it and pinned it back to her side.
She blinked, attempting to clear the blinding afterimages, and when the interior of the building came into focus it was completely different. It matched Emma’s description of the aftermath when the Jade Emperor had regained control of the Eastern Celestial Plane. Although it hadn’t physically changed, everything was brighter, clearer and cleaner. All the dust motes had disappeared from the air.
Michael looked twenty years older, and had gained height and muscle mass, but more importantly, he looked pure-European and no longer had his half-Asian features. It was still him, but the change was dramatic. He sat on the throne with his hands on its arms and scowled at Semias, who cringed in front of him.
‘Duplicitous spirit!’ Michael boomed with the same voice, so deep and resonating that it was almost unrecognisable. ‘Liar! Thief of life! I should have you destroyed.’
‘Mercy, my Lord, you know I had no choice.’
‘You sacrificed this child’s life to return your own selfish power—’
‘You can change the entire region for the better, my Lord ...’
Simone filled with desperation. Her premonitions were right. Something had gone completely wrong, and Michael didn’t sound like himself at all. ‘Are you in there, Michael?’ she asked. ‘You’re supposed to let Hades up here, and then you can step down and we can go home. Don’t forget.’
‘I am now Throne Michael,’ Michael said. ‘Apt that I should gain the name of the one who is named to be like the Creator. Michael the individual—no longer exists.’
Simone stomped up to the base of the dais. ‘Michael MacLaren, you get your half-tiger ass down off that ridiculous throne right now!’ she shouted. ‘We are going home .’
‘Too late, child,’ Semias said softly.
‘Bring Hades up!’ Simone shouted.
Michael stared at her, still radiating pure energy. The flood of power was making her head ache.
Michael returned to his normal form, but his arms were still stuck to the throne. ‘Some angels were called Thrones for a reason, Simone,’ he said, and his voice had returned as well. ‘The Throne itself is the source of power and controlling nexus for the entire Heavens. The one who sits on it is just a lens. I’ve been absorbed by it, and I’m part of the machinery that runs this place.’
‘But Hades—’
His voice returned to the booming Throne. ‘Hades is guilty of kidnapping, imprisonment and treason. His sentence is to stay in Hell, administering the dead, for all eternity.’
‘But the gods who sentenced him are gone!’ Simone said, protesting. ‘You’re on the Throne now, pardon him or something, so he can come up.’
‘He is not worthy of pardon.’ He changed back to his own voice. ‘The Throne doesn’t trust him. It thinks he’ll try to take over again.’
‘Let him!’
‘He led a demon rebellion against Heaven before, and that’s why he’s been cast out. The Throne is adamant that it doesn’t want him back here, and it’s controlling me, not the other way around.’
‘It’s the right thing to do, you don’t know the whole story,’ Semias said to Simone. ‘Can you keep the demons out by yourself, lad?’
‘I can,’ Michael said. ‘They cannot enter. But it will take a great deal of time for me to expel the demons that are here already.’
Simone rounded on Semias. ‘Let me take Michael’s place ...’ She waved her arms with disgust. ‘I know, I’m too demon!’ She turned to Michael. ‘Remove the demon essence from me and I’ll take your place and you can go home and be with your family.’
‘Oh God,’ Michael said, and collapsed forwards, still with his arms on the throne. They seemed to be glued in place. ‘We’ve succeeded, Simone, I have my grief back.’
‘I am going to murder the Jade Emperor,’ Simone said. ‘He had to know this would be the result.’
‘I’m not stuck here forever,’ Michael said. ‘Every generation, the best and brightest from among the gods is chosen to sit on the Throne, and when a new generation emerges, they pass the Throne down to the next. Nobody sits on it for more than a hundred years.’
‘ What next generation?’ Simone shouted and gestured angrily towards him. ‘You’re here by yourself!’
‘You can stay with me?’ He looked around. ‘But I can’t leave the Throne for more than a couple of hours at a time, and I can’t leave these Heavens at all. I’m kind of trapped here.’ He studied her. ‘If you help me to repopulate these Heavens, I’ll be freed.’
‘You want me to stay here and make babies with you to repopulate the Heavens?’ Simone asked, incredulous.
‘The Throne says: Yes. I say: Go home, Simone, and tell the Jade Emperor that we succeeded and I’m working on a way to rebuild these Heavens without doing the old-fashioned thing of kidnapping humans to use as toys. Ask him for some volunteers to move to these Heavens and help start a new community here.’ His face went strange. ‘European heritage only? That’s ridiculous! I have to fight the mechanism’s inherent racism as well? Wonderful.’
‘What about Hades and Persephone? What will you do about them?’
Michael went rigid and his voice changed back to the Throne. ‘They were thrown from Heaven and have no relevance. Take my message to your greatest leader, and tell him that I am ready to negotiate.’
‘Remove the demon essence from me first.’
‘Only if you allow me to change you as I have changed Michael and stay here as his Queen.’ Flashes of conflict swept across his expression. ‘No. Yes. No. I want to!’ He raised his head and yelled with pain, and the light shot through her again, burning half her existence away. The darkness was swept from her in a blaze of cold brilliance, and she fell to her knees and panted.
‘If you have enough free will to do that, you have enough free will to come home with me,’ she said to the blue-green floor, then pulled herself unsteadily to her feet. It would take some time for her own shen energy to refill the void that the demon essence had been occupying, and she felt completely drained. ‘Or let me take the Throne so you can go back to your family.’
‘Semias is right,’ Michael said, his voice rough with grief. ‘One of us needs to stay, and it should be me. It wants to imprison both of us here to repopulate, but you deserve your freedom. I’ve texted you—how about that, the Throne has already dissected your phone and reverse-engineered the technology—details of the location of the Gateway directly below the throne room. If you go there and touch the ancient Roman monument, I will know and bring you up to visit.’ His voice changed to the Throne again. ‘You are not of sufficiently pure heritage and are not welcome here. Begone and do not return.’ He smiled sadly at her and his voice changed back to his own. ‘Goodbye, Simone, it will be a long time—but it will happen.’
‘How long?’ she asked, but she was already back in the lobby of the Tiger’s hotel in Paris.