The Awakening Ch. 51-63

"Well, in a way I did. I was not involved directly with their actions that defined their legacy in human History, but I was in the background sort of speaking." Angelus said amused.

"Ohhh! Did you met Queen Elizabeth too?!" Vanessa asked as her eyes grew wide with the possibility.

Angelus chuckled and shook his head, she pouted. "But I did met Columbus..." He said with a smirk, and she jumped with a squeal.

Suddenly there was a void near them forming, something was reaching to them and they were taken by surprise. Both Caliope and Vanessa stood up quickly and Angelus stepped in front of them in guard. The void grew and with it the tension as well; finally Remesch was able to peek from there and waved. "Uhm... hi there... Ladies, Gent... things took an unexpected turn, we need you Caliope..."

Caliope gave a step forward immediately but Angelus frowned and gently stopped her. She looked up at him confused. "What unexpected turns? Why do you need her now? This was not part of the plan, she is supposed to be here safe until things are over..."

Remesch nodded at Angelus, understanding his discomfort and disbelief even better than most. "I am with Pronab, we discovered something, I am not sure what it is but he contacted Amra to ask him permission for me to open the portal and bring you back... I guess it is important because he agreed..."

Angelus nodded, still frowning, but insisted on going out first. Caliope smiled at him gently and whispered a 'Thank you'. He went through the portal first, and seconds later, he moved back inside to nod at both of the girls and encourage them to follow him.

When Caliope stepped in the large concrete building, she rubbed her nose and held her breath; she felt a stench and almost made her puke, and Vanessa started coughing.

"Ah, there you are... thank you for coming, and sorry for being in a place like this... but Pronab should explain his wild idea to you as soon as he is done with that other box over there..." Remesch said to her as she looked around the place. "We are in the sealed building Angelus led us, after hours of searching we found these boxes that only open with blood magic... Pronab figured it out of course, and he had an idea apparently... Ugh I don't know much more than that." He frowned.

Caliope's eye widened as she saw herself surrounded by over a dozen mummified bodies, then felt Vanessa rush to her side and gasp. "OMG! Pronab what are you doing?!" She screamed and ran towards him. He stared at her with a faint smile and caught her in his arms, she shook him and checked his arm. "What is wrong with you?! Why are you hurting yourself?!"

Caliope walked to them both as she heard him chuckle. "I won't bleed myself to death, see? It already healed... I was born as a dark Angel... these boxes were sealed with blood magic, it is a kind of dark magic that makes the seal unbreakable... unless you use the same magic to open it... and no matter how much they tried to erase me from their records and history, I am still a dark Angel in blood and spirit, so my blood helps unseal the boxes." Caliope shook her head but sighed with relief as she stood in front of him. He smiled at her as he kept an arm around Vanessa. "Thank you for coming Caly, I thought you would like to know you can be of great help here... unless you want to go back to that white room for who knows how long, of course." He smirked and Caliope shook her head chuckling.

"Tell me... what are these creepy bodies? How can I help?" Caliope finally asked after she stopped smiling.

Pronab kissed Vanessa's head and held her tight to him. "It was what Remesch said... he said that it would be great if they could talk... so I thought... who has the ability to see what others have lived? I know it was only with living people... but we need to try it... Caly... there is an ongoing war and we need to find answers..."

Caliope swallowed hard at Pronab's words, she looked around her and pondered carefully what he asked from her. Why would she deny to try it? What harm could come to her now that she was one of them? What if she could really see what they lived and help them? She looked at Angelus who was still frowning as he studied each dead body on the boxes. "You have no idea what they were investigating... right?" He looked at her and nodded with sadness; making it obvious to her that he wished to know more. She turned around to face Pronab once more and nodded as well. "I have no idea how to do this, but lets try..."

Pronab guided her to the middle of the area where he and Remesch had pulled most of the boxes and then pulled one closer to her. "We have no idea how it is going to work, or if it even will, so do your best..."

She nodded at him and took a look on the body in front of her, she saw the tattoos and symbols as well, and the pose in which he was laid. She gave a step closer and carefully moved her hand to the mummified remains. She closed her eyes and finally touched it.

There was silence, and nothing else. After some seconds Caliope opened her eyes and looked down with sadness. "I am sorry... I dont have the power..."

"Hey, it's ok, we had to try right?" Pronab said to her reassuringly.

"I really wish I knew how to help... I wanted it to work..." She continued, her hand still laid on the shoulder of the body.

"Bullshit..." Vanessa said and everyone stared at her in surprise.

"What...?" Caliope asked almost shocked with her friend's reaction.

"I said... bullshit... You can do it... granted, talking to the dead is not literally on your abilities descriptions, I know, but if something has been clear to me from the start, is your ability to adapt and adjust to what it is needed from you or what you need to survive... you didn't want me to get any harm, bamb...! you suddenly could see the future and saw me dying, so you prevented my flight and death... you didn't knew that you were being separated from Amra yet unconsciously your body knew so it anchored you to the place and Angelus' super bubble didn't managed to make you invisible for Amra to find you... no matter where or what, you seem to acquire something, a power or whatever you call it, to survive and adapt... we need you to figure a way to see what they saw now Caly baby, so take a deep breath, walk around... sleep if you want to... but don't you dare to give up that easily..." Vanessa folded her arms and stared at her friend defiantly.

Caliope was now completely taken, and so were everyone else in the room. Vanessa didn't let that bother her, she had her eyes locked on her friend showing her she didn't regret anything she had said.

After a few uncomfortable moments of silence, Caliope swallowed hard and looked at the body in front of her. She knelt in front of it and rested both hands on its head. "Ok dead body... enough sleeping... time to wake up and show me what you got..." She said with conviction and rested her forehead against the mummy's one.

And then there was darkness; the familiar sign of something else about to happen.

--

Chapter 61

"A Step Closer to the Truth"

Amra set himself to the task of numbing his senses; he didn't feel pain nor could hear the roaring sounds of the war happening around him. His eyes were locked on the winged warrior that kept shouting orders and pointing other warriors in different directions. Pronab's words kept echoing in his mind. 'We need Caly... we need her to figure out what happened here, she is the only one who can get to the truth... something went very wrong here, we need to find out what.' The thought of risking Caliope's safety was killing him inside, but he also knew Pronab would never said something like that unless he thought it was their best option.

He spread his hands wide and a sword of similar material that the one of his wings started to materialize; he didn't hesitate to use it against a few more dark angels that crossed his path.

The general Alexander finally noticed Amra not far from him, and he froze briefly at the significance of his direct approach. There was nothing but rage and determination on Amra's eyes, and Alexander knew well what it meant to awake an ancient wrath. He did the only thing left to do; he held his own sword high and prepared for the strike.

But the strike never came, instead he was surprised by darkness around him and felt his body numb. Panic hit him hard as he could not even feel his own wings and felt himself as if he was falling in a deep hole with nothing to see or something to get a hold to. He started cursing and swearing, then held silent as nothing replied. He began shouting orders in many languages and again held silent as only the lack of sound came back.

Not far, Elaine's flaming wings burned everything they touched; she pointed her hand to a dark angel and her wings reached and burned the target. She spotted Amra reaching Alexander, and the Meng Twins were both with him, taking the General away from the main battle. If everything kept going the way it was supposed to, they would be able to hold until Caliope and Pronab found some answers.

--***--

"Caly! Baby answer me! Are you ok?!" Vanessa's pleading words barely reached her, she was kneeling in a fetal position, her arms around her legs holding them tight and whimpering. She didn't let anyone touch her, she screamed when Pronab tried to.

"Caly please, say something..." Pronab pleaded as he tried to hold Vanessa from getting closer, he knew well that with Caliope's great powers and current instability, the only one who might end up hurt would be her best friend.

Something else draw their attention; the building shook and everything started to tremble. Dust and small things started to fall over them and Remesch frowned. "We might have triggered some defense mechanism, or the place is finally giving up on its decayed state... either way we have to go."

Pronab looked again to Caliope who seemed still lost in her own state of sorrow, he studied the situation and felt Angelus' hand pull his. He stared back at him frowning. "I can keep us all safe in my bubble here, but if the building falls, it will bring attention to the place and we will be exposed to whatever or whoever can see us."

He nodded, turning his attention to Remesch. "Can you create a portal and take us through it? Then we can open it again in another place"

"Yes, I can do that, but better be sure where you want to open the new door next, especially with her state..." Remesch said as his hands were already into motion. He created light and from it shaped the portal to the safety only he could provide; he then moved it closer to Caliope, and carefully manipulated it to swallow her body. He finally rested it on an angle for all to use, Pronab didn't hesitate to push Vanessa in and then he waited for everyone else to enter. As he was coming in last, part of the roof started to collapse. He sighed and shook his head, looking around him to all the possible evidence they were leaving behind to be destroyed. He could only hope now that Caliope had answers that could help them all.

Once inside the white space Remesch created, Pronab approached Caliope slowly, yet keeping some distance. Vanessa rushed to his side and squeezed his hand. "Its like she has gone crazy, but that can't be... She needs to wake up from the nightmare... maybe that's what this is? A nightmare? Maybe she has fallen into a deep state of sleep and thinks she is in a nightmare... and we need to wake her up!"

"No baby..." Pronab replied to her and she looked at him with pain. "I think that... whatever she saw, must have really affected her in ways we could only imagine... I think she saw the researchers play their toys and experiment... I remember vaguely the stories... if anything I was told is true, the horrors she must have witnessed... well, give her time... she really needs it."

Angelus nodded and sighed, he sat on the floor near Caliope and kept his eyes on her as he waited with the others. "The horrors committed by those in search for power are sometimes even too much for our own kind... that is why their methods were never shared publicly. I wish I could have spared her from such sight, she doesn't deserve watching all the cruelties our people have made..."

"What can be so bad that would make it so different from what our own people have made through history?" Vanessa said to Angelus as well as the others. They all looked at her in silence. "I am sure you all know what other humans have done and I am sure we only caught half or less of the monsters we claim to have discovered through time. Hitler is not even on the top list... Influenced or not by dark Angels, our own people are not far from it either..." She moved closer to Caliope and knelt towards her. "Caly baby, I know you saw horrible things, but you also saw what really happened there and we need to know it too... remember Amra is fighting for you right now..."

Caliope sobbed and moved slightly, her eyes half open as she looked towards her friend. Vanessa continued, seen her words were reaching to her friend. "Elaine is giving her life and so are the others, Amra didn't hesitate to let Pronab take us back because he trusted you were going to be able to find answers... we know you are strong baby, we know you can overcome this... we know..."

"Stop... please... just stop..." Caliope's faint words interrupted Vanessa. Pronab rushed to her side and tried to reach to her but, again, she flinched and moved away. He was sad and slightly hurt as well, after all they went through, he was hopping she trusted him. She shook her head and covered her ears as more tears streamed down her eyes. "Give me... time..." She sobbed once more.

Pronab nodded and put his hands on Vanessa's shoulders, gently pushing her away with him. They all remained silent and gave Caliope the space and time she needed.

--***--

Amra thrusted his sword and vanished another dozen of warriors who tried to reach them and their General; to them it was confusing why he was not presenting any fight or objected to be with them. Inside his mind, Alexander was growing angrier and restless; he knew he was being manipulated against his will but there was nothing he could do to break free. His powers were aids in the battle ground, but nothing could help him fight his own mental prison.

'Amra...' Pronab's words echoed in his mind and he held still in mid air. 'We are going to attempt reaching to you but you need to secure the area... Remesch will open a portal for us to come to you.'

'Where is Caly... why isn't she the one contacting me?' Amra sent back at him.

'What ever she saw, it really affected her... she doesn't want to talk, she wants to come to you all and show you... us... what she saw... I've never seen her this bad, you must secure the area Amra, she is in no condition to fight.'

He closed his eyes and allowed his aura to expand. It began as a small glow that only those around him could see; Elaine rushed to his side and felt the urgency of his powers as they began to expand and grow. As his aura expanded, it became bigger and wider, those dark Angels who were reached by it felt suspended in mid air as if something froze them, the Angels on his side, remained still, waiting for orders on what to do. He landed on the middle of the road lines and the twins walked to him with Alexander. It became obvious for everyone now that something was happening and the battle itself seemed to lose its urgency, their mixed confusion and reactions gave room to a moment panic between the dark ones.

"Wake his mind up." Amra ordered and the Mengs nodded. Alexander opened his eyes wide and felt the panic strike him as he couldn't move while he saw he was surrounded. He saw Amra walk towards him straight and almost screamed but his lips could not move. "You better pay attention... all of you." Amra's words echoed the entire ground. Every Angel, dark or light, could hear him. "If we wanted to banish you... you would be already gone by now. Do you recognize this?" He asked and gave the Twins a sign, immediately after, Alexander could move his head and nodded. Then Amra closed his eyes and sent back to Pronab. 'Bring her to me... the area is secured.'

He gave a few steps back and with a gesture stopped Elaine to come closer to him. Seconds later, the white portal began to materialize right next to him and as it size grew, also did the expectations of everyone. When the portal grew wide enough, the first one to come through was Remesch, and quickly he was followed by Angelus. Alexander's eyes grew wide when he saw him, but Angelus didn't waste time and gave room to Pronab and Vanessa. With them, a gloomy Caliope was walked out; she was pale, sad watery eyes with dark shadows encasing them. Amra's eyes grew wide and he rushed to her in a fraction of a second, she whimpered and sobbed when she felt his arms around her. He crushed her to his chest and held her protectively, rage in his eyes as he saw towards Pronab. "What have you done to her?!"

"I will let her show you that herself... she insisted on coming here, right here, and show it to you all..." Pronab replied without remorse; he understood the anger of Amra towards him, after all it was him who asked permission to bring Caliope into action. He was responsible for the state in which she was now. But he also knew that, what Caliope had witnessed and was going to share, was of big importance.

Amra held Caliope tight, he kissed the top of her hair and ran his hand up and down her back slowly. 'I am sorry my love... I have failed you yet again... I seem to keep failing in protecting you...' He sent to her and held his hand in a fist, not caring of the crowd surrounding them, nor the fact they were in the middle of a war. 'I should have take you away as I said I wanted... away from all of this madness...'

"This madness has to stop..." Caliope replied to him out loud. She caught her breath a little and pulled apart. "This war is far from over... due to the sick mind of someone else..." This time she looked at him and then at the Meng twins and the person who was with them. She knew it would be the one they called Alexander. Amra allowed her to adjust in his arms and moved slightly to let her talk to him and everyone else. "What I've seen... no one should see but you..."

"Are you sure you want to do this... in this state...?" Amra asked her and she looked up at him with a nod.

"We don't have much time, Ignitious is going to show up soon..." Caliope replied and there was more than a gasp heard near them.

"Who did you said is coming?" Alexander spoke for the first time, his surprise mixed with his accent pulled Caliope's attention.

She nodded at him and took a deep breath. "The one behind all this..." She gestured all around them. "This chaos... have you ever thought why are you really fighting?" She grabbed enough courage to face him and slowly, with Amra at her side, everyone else did.

"We fight for our freedom, to be out of the shadows and chased down like we are scum that does not deserve to live... we belong to this world as much as you do." Alexander's voice boomed and brought many of his people near him as well.

"Well that is plainly stupid..." Alexander gasped as he heard Elaine talk to him. It took everyone for surprise as well. "When did we chased you and hunt you down? These are different times from those of the dark ages, we have kept some kind of balance and it has worked well until you declared a war." She stood firm in front of Amra and Caliope.

"That is nonsense, what kind of trickery is this? Have you lost your mind? You attacked us first!" Alexander growled and his warriors got on guard, yet didn't move closer as both Meng Generals were standing between him and them.

"That is exactly what I am trying to avoid..." Caliope sighed, a small tear rolling down her cheek as she shook her head. "If you please... stop arguing on who started this and let me show you who really was..." She whispered as she felt herself almost faint. Amra immediately grab a hold on her.