The Awakening Ch. 51-63

"You are not ready to do that my love..." He said to her as he kneeled on one leg and offered her his other for support, keeping an arm around her as she sat.

"This all started with one rotten soul, and should end with it as well. I have to show you all what happened, it is the only way you will understand and stop fighting." She said to him as much as to all that could hear her. "Gather them so I can share with all please?"

Elaine frowned but looked at Alexander straight in the eyes. "Pick a few of your most trusted men, she saw the real person to blame for this and apparently it is of most importance that we see it as well. She will share her sight with us, but I won't risk her life by sharing it with too many."

Amra closed his eyes as he held Caliope tight to him and sent to Elaine a simple but very meaningful. 'Thank you.'

The urgency of Elaine's voice and what it meant made Alexander consider his options. He wanted to know the truth as well, he nodded at Elaine and in return, she gestured to the Meng Twins to let him move again. As soon as he was able, he lifted a hand and pointed the number 4; seconds later four of his men landed behind him.

Amra helped Caliope stand back and held her close. The sight around them was one from fantastic tales; thousands of warriors waiting for something to happen. As Alexander walked to them with his men, he studied Caliope closely. She was a vision of pain and weakness in her state, yet she kept asking for more. He began to admire her.

"General Alexander..." Caliope began with a raspy voice, she paused to clear her throat and then continued. "I have powers... that I yet need to learn to control better... one of them is to see what others saw, what they are thinking about the moment I touch them... we found... mummies sealed in an old investigation facility of your people, left and forgotten... and I managed to see the last things they saw... the last things they experienced..." She took a deep breath before she spoke again. "We were there following our own investigation... and we found... I saw... how did all of this started... Amra will help me channel my visions to you, your men, and my friends and family around us... I have found experiencing on your own is better than words... and more believable... Will you let me show you what I've found?"

Alexander pondered her words for endless seconds; he studied what she said and how she said it; she saw behind her words also her intentions. In front of him there was a real victim of something that moved and affect her, it was evident and he didn't give room to deny it. Whether she was telling the truth or not, he would determinate it with what she promised to show. "Show us." He finally said.

--

Chapter 62

"Ignitious"

Seven scarred figures in hoods continued to poke instruments on the large machine; it had encrypted several symbols and it seemed to be built in pure gold. An anxious man kept walking back and forth as he waited for something to happen, or someone to come. Amplifying the vision, it was able to see the large room where they were at; a huge hangar-like building with several metal cages and people in different deplorable conditions, some even died and were left there for days, their skins already being sucked in and the bones were prominent.

When the vision was amplified even more, and sounds accompanied, screams, cries and moans of pain made their way. A tall old man walked in, he was dressed with gold armor and seemed to be ready for battle. He walked to the one leading the hooded figures and this one bowed at him. "Is this the machine? How does it work?"

The leader of the researchers nodded and pointed at the large circular hole in the middle of the big rectangular machine. "There is where you sit or stand, and then activate it. We have figured it needs time to gather the energy to be used, and we were able to charge it enough for at least four more tests, or trips. It can be used to create a portal as well as to use it to encase large power inside. What we have managed to recreate is just amazing. Where is the General? He wanted us to let him know what we found out as soon as we did."

The armored man was grinning as he walked around studying the machine. "Yes, he sent me to supervise it before he came... and you make it work like that? Just standing in it?"

The head researcher frowned but nodded, he seemed to find his answer odd. But he had to reply as it was his duty to the second in command of his direct leader. "It becomes one with the person and it reacts to his thoughts. We are about to test it if you want to see..."

"That won't be necessary... I know all I need to know now... thank you..." The armored man grinned and set the leader on fire, he screamed and the hooded researchers started to run and scream. It was futile, his hand ignited each of them before they could reach the door. In a matter of seconds, all it was left was dust from them. He walked to the machine and stepped in the middle of the circle; the carved symbols began to glow and he felt something connect him with it.

A large white winged man broke in and the armored man sent fire his way, but he was able to stop it with his shield and began to walk closer. "What are you doing here Ignitious, what have you done?"

"That is none of your business, but now that you are here, you can help me test this..." he grinned as he closed his eyes and the symbols started to shine. The white winged man rushed to him but something hit him and he couldn't move. Thin lines of shining power connected to him and they came from the now screaming caged victims inside the building. Ignitious opened his eyes and started to laugh. "This works wonders... and now is all mine... Finally I will be able to bring you all down and take over this world for our people... not even you can stop me Gaius... not even you."

The white lines that shot from the carved symbols on the people's flesh seemed to be fueled with their pain, and as they shouted and screamed, they grew brighter. Gaius was unable to move and panic filled his eyes. The last thing he saw was Ignitious grin and then he lost consciousness.

The dying people on the cages seemed drained, Ignitious laughed as he activated the machine once again. "Time to create some epic war..." Then he and the machine disappeared, taking the unanimated body of Gaius with them.

The vision didn't end there, most of the people in the cages had died, yet some still had a few breaths left, the one from whom the vision was being seen was one of them. They were left in pain and desolation, watching as nothing and no one came to rescue them. On his last moments, dark knights came to the building and between whispers and orders, sealed everything. They started to slid the decrepit bodies in cages and seal them. "What about this one?" One of the dark knights said looking at the person who was sharing the vision.

"Seal her as well like the rest, she would not last longer anyway." And like that, a darkness took over when her box was sealed.

--***--

Caliope cried as she opened her eyes and Amra held her tight. Elaine had tears in her eyes as well as she released her hand and started to cover her face. There was silence and commotion into those who witnessed what Caliope had shared; The Meng twins were looking at each other serious and shaken, they held each other in a tight embrace. Maxwell was standing still, his expression hard as he was still processing what he saw. Falshore seemed numb.

Pronab held Vanessa who was sobbing and shaking, he himself was tense and affected. Angelus had sadness and rage mixed in him, he gave his back to the dark Angels and kicked a rock as his fists tightened; he saw Gabrielle sobbing and walked to her and squeezed her to him. Remesch held his head in his hands as he shook it, while Wiltshire came to Elaine and she let him hold her.

Alexander exchanged looks with his men, every one of them shocked and without words. It was evident that what they had seen was not fake, it was too real. He finally looked back at Caliope and bowed his head. "I... apologize, in the name of my people." She looked at him and tried to talk but was unable, she was too weak.

Amra was focusing his rage into something useful, to protect and heal Caliope; he rested his head on hers and began to transfer some of his essence. She could feel the warmth from him fill her body, yet nothing he could do would erase what she saw, and as a result, what she was feeling. She squeezed his hand reassuringly, in her way, thanking him for his intentions.

She finally felt enough energy to continue, so she looked again at Alexander. "My guess is, that he had exhausted almost all the energy on the machine... he has one last use, and he will show up here. Before I touched the... corpse... I saw maps on the wall that were of this country, this city... maybe he was counting on the epic battle to take place here..."

"That light... Amra..." Elaine gasped and rubbed her tears away as she continued. "Maybe that is him about to get here, where was that?"

"Just behind us... right over there." Amra pointed with a hand towards an area not far from them.

"What... are you going to do?" Vanessa whispered as she leaned on Pronab's shoulders. They looked at her first, then at each other. Alexander turned his head to his men and exchanged some words then looked back at them.

"Amrafel... Caliope..." He said as he gave a step forward and extended his hand. "We will take our people and leave your land, Ignitious hasn't been a part of us in a long time, and now he will be officially casted away from our memories and records. You might do with him as you please." He held his hand in front of them as Amra looked at him. His words in front of his people and the promise that it carried were of the biggest significance to them all. He was about to take his hand when Caliope beated him to it. She took Alexander's hand and shook it once.

"Princess Morrighan... you are, without a doubt, the one who carries the change that it was needed in our world. My respects..." He bowed to her and his four generals did as well. He then turned around and walked away with his people. It was a slow procession of winged creatures and monsters, they left proud, without remorse, but knew this was not a war brought by them for the reasons they followed.

As predicted by Caliope, there was a big spark and from the air the large machine made its appearance with Ignitious. He was holding his sword in a hand, ready for battle, but he was caught in surprise when he saw his own people walking away, and him surrounded by the light Angels. What went wrong? What happened? Was he too late? A thousand questions crossed his mind but quickly fading to give room to the panic in his eyes.

The machine seemed to lost glow, and with that it and him both landed on the ground. Ignitious was about to make a move but Caliope raised her hand and with rage she made thorned ivies grow up from the ground and trap him, the thorns sinking on his flesh and bringing out a scream.

Amrafel walked with her to him and everyone else began to fly away. Everyone left, only the closest ones, Elaine and Wiltshire, Vanessa and Pronab, Maxwell and Falshore, Gabrielle and Angelus, the Meng Twins and Remesch, surrounded Ignitious who was left alone by his own people. From afar, Alexander turned around to look at him, then turned back to make it clear they were leaving him on purpose.

Caliope's ivies embraced Ignitious and slowly began to take his soul; it seemed to escape through his mouth as a fading ghost. They watched in silence, no one said a word and no one parted their eyes from him. 'I can banish him and end this quickly, my love...'

She squeezed his hand and shook her head. 'He doesn't deserve a quick final dead.'

They watch him squirm and saw his soul evaporate slowly, panic and fear took over him as he witnessed his own end without being able to move. He knew there was no escape, this was his doom, and they all knew everything was due to him.

--

Chapter 63

"Epilogue"

Caliope's POV

I wake up slowly, my mind at least does. I can't manage to open my eyes yet as I feel them almost glued. I must have slept for several hours. My mouth feels dry and realizing this triggers an uncomfortable sensation in my throat; I am so thirsty.

I feel movement near me, I panic briefly but then I calm myself as I sense Amra's aura; he will always be that warmth and peaceful presence that calms me down. 'My Asteria... you are awake, finally...' I hear him in my mind. I try to open my mouth and feel the horrible sensation of dryness, so I nod. 'Yes, I think I am'. I sent him back.

"Is she ok?" I hear Nessa now from not too far. My dear friend, she must have been worried.

"Yes, she is waking up slowly, I think she is thirsty..." Amra says to her and I nod quickly.

"I will go tell the others and bring her a big jar of juice!" I hear her enthusiasm as she runs away.

'Let me help you...' He reaches to me mentally but I feel him get away briefly. He comes back soon enough and I feel some wet piece of cloth rubbing slowly on my forehead and eyes. He moves it slowly as I sigh.

Last thing I remember was when my vines took away Ignitious' life, his soul, his essence. As the last energy I had, which was borrowed from Amra already, was drained from me. I saw the ancient evil machine crack open and from within, the body of what my visions told me was Gaius, laid unresponsive. That was all I saw until my eyes shut down, as well as everything else. I simply couldn't stand on my own any longer. I fainted.

I try again to open my eyes and this time I make it, the light slightly bothering me as I get used to it again. At first I see Amra a bit blurry, but then I can see him in all his glory with a bright smile. I can't help but to smile back at him. "You had me worried... it has been five days since you fainted..."

I gasp and my eyes widen. Five days? I have been out for five days? Why I can't remember even a dream or anything else? Was this normal?

Nessa walks in and she smiles at me. "Baby! Gosh you had me so worried! But the guys here kept saying you were fine, that you were just resting and recovering some energy..." She brings me a big jar of purple juice and a glass, I extend my hand to it and she pours me some.

I haven't felt so good in ages, the way the liquid refreshes my mouth and throat makes me sigh and smile. "Yep, she was thirsty all right." I hear Nessa giggle.

I open my mouth and extend the glass to her. "More... please." I whisper with a raspy voice and she grins as she fills my glass to the top. She makes sure I catch the big ring on her finger and I widen my eyes as I look at her. "Congratulations! I am so happy for you!"

She grins and smiles and twirls around with happiness. "Thank you, he proposed yesterday..."

I see Elaine walk in with a wide smile as she sees me drink my juice. She looks well, happy, different. Perhaps a bit aged as well; but then, everything that happened has made us all age one way or the other. "Darling, finally you are rested. How do you feel?" Wiltshire comes right behind her, always at her side.

"I feel ok, normal? I was just, very, thirsty..." I chuckle and Amra smiles at me.

"Yes, that could be normal, you were resting for long. Pronab wanted me to nudge your head when you woke up, something about you pushing yourself too hard when you had all of us to fulfill the task. Yet I am not going to do that, but at least I delivered the message." She giggled and that was a sign of the old Elaine I knew, sweet and loving.

I smiled at her and shook my head. "Thank you... Where is he?"

"Well, things have changed a bit... Hard to pick where to start..." Elaine began. "There is a pact between the dark Angels and us; Angelus and Pronab have volunteered to lead the new movement we've called 'The Vindicators'; they lead together with two of their side, a specific group who is in charge of closing every research facility they had. Long ago, there were leaders who agreed to give the researchers some free will on what to experiment with and where, as well as with whom. They only kept a basic record of locations, but nothing more, they were that free."

"So they agreed to close them all?" I asked, really surprised but not less happy.

"Yes, they did. Alexander didn't hesitate to agree when I presented him with the idea." Elaine nodded.

"So... what happened after I fainted? And the machine?... And... what happened with Gaius?" Suddenly my fears of us reaching him too late made me shiver. Amra sat next to me in bed and shook his head as he took my hand.

"I can answer that..." A strong voice echoed the room as I saw Gaius himself walk in tall and proud. He seemed normal, healed completely, and in full strength. "Hello Caliope, it is a pleasure to finally meet you." He bowed his head and I blushed.

"It is an honor to meet you, I am so happy we weren't too late..." I managed to voice out.

"Indeed, I am surprised to this, but thankful of it. I had been dormant and drained from all energy for decades, without knowledge of anything happening. To me, it was like I had just been awoken from a large uncomfortable dream state." He smiled sadly and I lowered my head, I could imagine how it would feel like for him and it really moved me.

"So now... what is to come? Or what had come since I was gone...?" This time I sat straight on the bed, eager to hear about the changes.

"Like I said, the dark Angels and us have come to an agreement, about the Vindicators and also about our Earth itself. We can't do much about the fact that everyone now knows about us, so we agreed to try and affect as little as possible in their lives. Similar to the unspoken agreement we already had going for centuries, yet this time is written literally in stone and paper, signed by both sides." Elaine filled me in details, I was excited to hear it. "As about us, we have made an important change in regards to the human world politics; a gathering has been created, of our people to aid humans in their social and political issues, we have all agreed to interfere as little as possible but offer them assistance if they seek for it."

"We will see how this experiment goes; so far in the bigger picture, no riots or large scale movements. Small groups complained about us and some even tried to initiate trouble by wanting to push us out, but it didn't grow big. It has been an interesting couple of days." Wiltshire added and I smiled at him.

I am really amazed by everything, and couldn't wait to be able to walk amongst people to feel what it was like now, with all the changes.

"It seems not only you have awoken, Caliope... but all humanity did." Gaius spoke and drew my attention back at him. "They have come to worry less about their skin color differences and worry more about doing the right thing, they are seen doing more social humanitarian activities; I guess that knowing we are real and we are here watching over them has made a great impact on all."

I nodded, he was right. I could see how the news and information about the existence of angels would force humans to double think their priorities and their actions.

"Well I have to prepare myself and I am sure this young Asteria has plenty to catch up with her loved one, so perhaps we shall meet again in another time. It has been the greatest pleasure to meet you Caliope, and trust me, the honor is mine. Your courage and heart had made the difference in the last battle." Gaius bowed to me and I was left without words. I was moved by him, touched by his words. He turned around and walked out followed by Elaine, Wiltshire and Nessa, leaving me alone with Amra.

"Where is he leaving?" I asked him as soon as we were left alone. "Isnt he going to rest? Is he going to be sent to another place already?"