"The Illuminated Ones"

"Now, does anyone have questions?" Elaine said as the conference room was left in silence. It was one of the most unique and rare sights on television; not only the revelation of angels being real, but also journalists left without words.

Pronab's phone rang and he quickly picked it up. "Yes?"

Vanessa was still shocked as she stared at the screen and saw Elaine's flaming wings. It was af she was set on fire but never burning. Caliope was also shocked to see those wings for the first time, on live tv.

"Let them a little longer on the conference room and we will be down soon." Pronab finished as he cut the call. He then turned his attention to Gabrielle. "The Illuminated ones were watching all from the conference room as Elaine suggested, I think we should go clear some doubts before they panic."

Gabrielle nodded. "We might need Amra and Caliope as well." She mentioned as she looked at both of them.

"Lets all go down together. Elaine will join us once she arrives." Amra stated and took Caliope's hand. They all moved towards the same place where their big meeting took place before, this time they were going to face those who were chosen to be on their side and prepare the world.

As they open the door, the large number of people with cloaks focused their eyes on them. There was fuzzing and chatter but soon it died when Amra and Caliope walked first towards the center, followed by Pronab, Vanessa, Gabrielle and Magna. Chef Remesch stood at the door guarding.

"Who are you? what is going on?" A male voice started asking with an angry tone, Caliope stared at him with disbelief. "After what you saw on the tv, you still don't believe?"

The man stared back at her and frowned. "We have been in here for hours, how do we know you are not lying? or if that was just a movie?"

Caliope frowned even more and Amra pulled her gently into his arms before he whispered. 'Let it go love, they, just like everyone else, are having troubles to believe. We've let them in the dark too long, we promised them truth and we failed at giving them just that before we told the world. It was in part our fault.'

Caliope closed her eyes and sighed. She heard Pronab take the lead. "Welcome everyone, and we are sorry for the way things have evolved. I will make things pretty simple for you, so please take a deep breath and sit down, you will need it."

Amra sat down and got Caliope to sit next to him. They both locked their eyes on Pronab. Vanessa was now sitting next to Caliope and watching Gabrielle join Pronab for what they were about to share.

"First of all, everything you saw on the tv was true." Gabrielle began and the room burst into chatter, whispers and objections. Pronab grunted and raised his voice. "We are not going to held a freak show for your entertainment, you will shut up and listen before it is too late. Time is running against us." The warning did its effect and people became quiet, only whispers survived at just a few spots.

"We have failed you in keeping you updated and in constant communication with us, but most of this has been due to us wanting to affect as little as we could in your life. Our enemy has taken big risks into stepping out of the shadows and this had made everything blown out of proportion."

Caliope listened Pronab's words and saw the faces of every member in the room, they were a mix of disbelief and surprise. She felt helpless at first, but suddenly an idea occurred her and she started to ponder about it quickly.

"We owe you a long and detailed explanation, of who we are, what we are, how things work..." Gabrielle continued. Caliope squeezed Amra's hand and smiled at him, bringing his attention to her.

"I have an idea... Maybe I can help them understand." She whispered to him and he nodded.

'That is a good idea... you were once like them.' Amra replied in her head, and just a second later, Gabrielle stopped talking, both her and Pronab now looking at Caliope.

She blushed but took a deep breath and stood up. Now she was the center of everyone's eyes. "Hello everyone... My name is Caliope, and I was once human..." She paused and the entire room went mute. She felt goosebumps on her skin as she met their eyes. Then she continued. "Let me tell you that it is much easier if you set yourselves to believe rather than find objections or plot holes... Our father, God, is so great and wonderful, he created everything you see, including yourselves, out of love and passion. Like a father he watches over us. I won't tell you fairy tales, I will be honest with you, is not really that easy to cope with all of what is out there and you thought impossible, but then, you already know nothing in this life comes easy." She paused again, realizing she was perhaps ranting without aiming to a specific subject. She was letting her nervousness take over and so she shook her head and took a deep breath before she continued once more.

"So let's say you believe, ok? For the sake of it... Now let me explain to you all what you will face outside from now on, and that is several types of people and angels, from dark angels, good angels, fallen angels, and more. From now on everything outside these city walls will be different; you will now see the dark angels interact openly with humans, they won't hide their influence and power with you... and trust me, they are so powerful..." She started to walk from side to side and felt their eyes move with her.

"Each angel or dark angel has a gift, an ability that they can use it for either good or bad. They will be less afraid to use those powers against you for now, but you have to be ready. Some of them can manipulate objects, some of them can control minds, persuade, influence... they are manipulatives by nature, and won't hesitate to do something or react against you..."

"Why now?" A woman interrupted, a few faces turned to face her, others remained on Caliope.

"The truth is, a huge catastrophe is on the edge of happening, and I won't lie... I am scared..." She spoke with honesty, the woman was about to ask something else but remained quiet. "I wonder... Amra?" She turned her head towards him and he stood up immediately. "Can we show them?"

"What do you mean?" He asked openly confused.

"Make them see my memories..." She half smiled, the memory of how she shared her past visions was very vivid on her mind.

Amra looked around and frowned slightly before he spoke. "Humans with such little faith, they need something to either witness or touch in order to believe." He declared and they listened; a few lowered their heads with shame. "You shall hold your hands and close your eyes, whatever you feel or see, do not let go of eachother's hands, so you can share the visions."

Amra took Caliope's hand and walked to one of the many humans in the room. Caliope smiled shyly while she spoke. "I talked about powers but, I know how hard is to believe in something like that unless you experience it by yourselves. So I ask you to remain calm once you go through my own gift... There will be darkness... and then, you will see through my eyes, the memories I chose to share... I will show you the truth..." And just then, she closed her eyes and squeezed Amra's hand, who had taken already the hand of one of the audience. The darkness surrounded them and more than a gasp and yelp was heard.

A sight of Caliope walking with Amra at Central Park, wild cats fighting and a dark figure laughing at a distance; another dark creature being pulled through her single room apartment. Amra vanishing the first of many traitors; Pronab jumping into the abism with a smile on his face. A sea of cursed souls staring at her while she commanded them to leave. Caliope's memories rushed through her and everyone around. She fighted the tears as some of her memories started to be too personal and she struggled to push them away.

Finally she was able to release Amra's hand and she felt herself float briefly right before Amra caught her an inch away from the floor. She was shivering, her body and mind affected by the amount of energy she used to project the memories on everyone else. She felt Amra's arms hold her but she was unable yet to open her eyes; she felt drained.

A few voices whispered close to her while she heard Vanessa rushing to her side. "Baby are you ok? do you feel any pain?"

Caliope's first thought was to not be touched by her. She tried to raise her hand but her body felt unresponsive. So she pushed her mind to the edge. 'I can't control myself... stop her...'

Amra's arms tightened around her and she felt his lips on her forehead. 'My love... you did it!' Those were the last words she heard from him before she fainted.

"I am sorry, for doubting, for everything. What can we do to help?" The one who seemed to lead the humans spoke. Amra held Caliope in his arms, unable to focus on him as he worried about her. Pronab held a tight grip on Vanessa not letting her reach to her friend, and at the same time he spoke. "If you can wait here, Elaine will be back soon and we have some plans to address them with you all. Magna is going to handle you folders with basic information you need to have. Now please excuse us while we give her some space and room to recover."

Next thing Caliope saw was her personal space, the one with liquid black walls that seemed to respond to her. She felt as if the liquid blackness moved around her on its own; soothing her. She sighed and closed her eyes again, letting the darkness embrace her. Slowly she felt the liquid mater feed her with energy, her body relaxing and at the same time recharging. Why did sharing her memories drained her so much? On the other hand, pushing herself made it able for her to communicate again mentally with Amra, something she had been craving to do.

She opened her eyes and felt the warmth of Amra's body laying next to her on the bed; he held her with such tenderness, almost as if she was about to break. She found his gaze and hurried to touch his face. 'You look like you went through hell...' She told him and he sighed.

'I would probably go there for you...' He said as he laid his forehead on hers and breathed deeply.

She kissed his lips briefly before she pulled back. 'How long was I out?'

'It has only been a couple of hours, but any minute is enough to worry me... Elaine says your visions shared through so many was what did this to you. It also broke the last restrains you had apparently, since now you can talk to me mentally.'

She smiled and kissed him again. 'I think it was a fair price to pay to get back this... I missed it...' She whispered into his mind and he smiled back at her.

Just then some knocks on the door pulled their attention. "Come in." He said as he sat straight, pulling Caliope gently with him. Elaine walked in followed by Wiltshire, they were worried but smiling nonetheless. Elaine seemed serious, not her usual state. Wiltshire on the other hand seemed younger, if that was ever possible.

"Hello darling, how do you feel?" Elaine broke the silence and Caliope smiled at her.

"I feel ok, a little surprised but otherwise I am really well. I understand that you think me, sharing my memories to so many, drained me?" Caliope asked as she snuggled in Amra's arms. 'I think we need to tell Elaine now about my other... gifts... can we do it in front of Wiltshire?' She asked him privately.

"Yes, you see... my powers have influence on emotions, and each time one uses great amounts of power, there is a trace left, a signature energy print of some sort, that can be identified... I felt that energy signature, it was strong and emotional... you probably felt overwhelmed with so much going on at once. Probably new memories you recovered? All together, besides sharing it with so many, made this happen to you." Elaine nodded as she spoke.

'Wiltshire is a mysterious person but a very trusty one, you can share to both of them without worry my love.' Amra replied to Caliope.

"But since you are already becoming an Asteria, I would say you are almost fully one now, the drained energy did not affected you so long as it would on any other human or new Asteria... you were out only three hours..." Wiltshire added.

"That makes sense, I guess... but that is not all... I have been keeping something from you... Elaine and Wiltshire... Please understand I only asked Amra to keep quiet because I was both scared and surprised... but I found out more powers that manifest through me..." Caliope said finally, her eyes meeting Elaine as she stared back taken by surprise.

"More powers? what kind of powers?" Elaine managed to ask.

"Physical manifestations, isn't it?" Wiltshire added and Caliope looked back at him nodding, showing her surprise. He smiled gently at her. "My gifts are special... I don't read minds, but I read emotions and the secrets behind them... a strange, rare gift, very hard even to explain... If you are talking about it, and thinking about it, I can read it."

Caliope nodded, things making sense more about him now. "So I am not the only one with a rare gift." She said as she lifted her hand and pointed to the coffee table between them, Elaine and Wiltshire focused where she seemed to point, and out of thin air, vines started to materialize and grow slowly; Elaine gasped while Wiltshire put a hand on top of hers, containing her surprise in a certain way. Caliope lifted her fingers and the vines grew towards her directions, it grew steady and firm, then she moved her fingers to the sides, to show how versatile it moved. "I found out about this by accident... and it still hurts my hand a little bit after... but the more I practice, the steadier it becomes, and it stays that way. I think it has to do with my level of confidence and concentration, since both of them have grown ever since that first time."

Wiltshire stood up and walked towards the table; he carefully let his hand reach it and the vines pulled away from his touch. "I didn't do that..." Caliope rushed the words out just as her surprise. Wiltshire nodded and walked back to his chair. "I think it is a part of you on its own..." He replied.

"I don't like that... it is like someone else is living inside of me!" Caliope admitted with frustration. "I dont think it wants to harm me, but what is it? why can't I be alone like before?"

"Love, maybe... it is a side of you? That time I found you covered with the liquid blackness, remember?" Amra asked and Caliope nodded. "Like I told you, it reacted to me, it was never aggressive, it felt who I was and allowed me to touch you... To be honest, I was surprised but not afraid of it either... I think, really, it is perhaps a part of you... your dark angel half... maybe you should embrace it instead of rejecting it."

While Caliope pondered Amra's words, Elaine nodded. "Perhaps that is who you are in all this fight, Caly... you are the new race, the new angel, the evolution that it's needed in order to fight a new balance in the new world we have created... outside there is only chaos... I think you are the answer to find peace again. If not peace, perhaps, not the judge nor the executioner, you are the witness and changer of things... you are what we needed from the start."