Awakening

Chapter 14 - Edited

A Taste of the Bad Side

The thick wooden door at the end of the room opened and Heraclius pushed in what it looked like a hooded man. Rednius and Keltop set side to side in front of Heptanius protectively. The hooded creature kept his head low until Heraclius located him at the center. The rest of the group kept a distance in a mix of curiosity with anxiety.

Once the hood was removed, Caliope gasped. He looked like a young man, normal, mid 30's at the most. The man looked around showing no sign of surprise to the gathering, but when his eyes met Caliope, he started to get uncomfortable.

"Take me away, I don't want to be here, I have nothing to say, take me back to the jails."

Heptanius looked in surprise and amusement at the same time, observing how the man looked at Caliope then back to the doors expecting to be taken back. Heraclius squeezed his shoulder and held him tight. He showed a clear discomfort and released a low growl.

"I am quite surprised... since we caught you, no word came out of your mouth that was not insults towards me, and curses as well, of course... and now, you seem, a bit scared!"

"I do not want to be here... take me back!"

"Let me introduce you to the new personalities in the room, I am sure that you will soon change your mind about not speaking to us... This is Amrafel..."

He stood there watching the man not move a muscle after hearing the name. This made him uncomfortable, but not as much as it caused him disgust. He continued.

"This is Pronab, one of the highest ranks in our hierarchy on this earth..."

Same response, a growing discomfort on his face as the man did not even blink.

"...and this is Caliope..."

"She should not be here..."

Amra stood next to Caliope with a face that did not change. Pronab grew worried and walked towards the man.

"Whatever you have to say to us, it will be only the truth from now on..."

"And why would I talk to you?"

"You might be the most ignorant of all in this room, you might know who she is, but you are not aware of who she is with... which tells me your lack of knowledge in the higher ranks of the higher powers..."

"I am not afraid of another Arch... we got rid of one, we can get rid of another one... She is a piece of a bigger puzzle to us, she should not exist..."

Everyone in the room grew uncomfortable and serious; visibly upset as the man showed pleasure on the reaction he was provoking on them. Pronab kept his gaze on him shaking his head and growing a smirk. Amra squeezed Caliope's hand sensing her sadness at his words.

"And you just proved me right... you are an ignorant besides being an idiot... he is not an Archangel; he is an Arcane Angel..."

The man frowned, struggling on his locked place and looking with fear at Amra who seemed more concerned about putting himself between Caliope and him than anything he was saying.

"It can't be... is not possible...!"

"We should stop wasting time, please Amrafel, let's start this questioning in our own way."

Pronab looked at Amra who nodded without taking his eyes on the man who was growing more afraid by the second. Heptanius enjoyed this new change of events as he was obviously upset with the lack of respect and cooperation from his prisoner. Amra then finally broke the eye contact and looked around to each and every person in the room. Everyone was paying attention.

"I will ask you all to relax... do not speak... only Heptanius, Pronab and myself will be doing the talking, besides our guest."

Some people nodded, some others kept quiet and still. Heptanius stepped closer and so did Amra and Caliope, who tried to let his hand go without success. He wanted her there safe, right next to him.

Suddenly the room felt heavy, Caliope took a deep breath as this sensation was something now familiar to her. The people in the room reacted in different ways, but Amra was now focused on the man who squirmed in his seat. Pronab held his hand in front of him, palms up, and briefly that glowing chain Caliope saw once in her room was materializing in his hands. Heptanius stepped even closer, excited beyond belief. Pronab laid the chains around the man and he started to whimper and twist his body painfully.

"These are the Chains of Truth... in case you haven't heard about them before, let me tell you what it does... every time you tell a lie, it tightens around you... when you say the truth, it loosens some... I do not tell the Chains what to do, they are in contact with your core nature and they will know if what you say is true or not... I do not have to tell you either what happens when the chains tighten too much... and something tells me no one will miss you once you are gone..."

Amra started with the interrogatory "What is your name..."

"You can't be an Arcane Angel! It's impossible!"

The chains tightened around him and he growled loudly.

"Avoiding the answer will be the same as lying, so you better save yourself troubles and start to speak up..."

"...my name is Buer..."

As predicted, the chains loosened a little on his body and this caused him relief. He relaxed some but grew worried.

"You know who she is... how?"

Buer frowned "We all know who she is... she should have never existed but we can't harm her..."

The chains tightened around him some and he yelped again, looking up at Pronab with concern.

"He asked how..."

"We have seen her grow, we have seen her before... we kept a distance, she did not awake... she is the daughter of our fallen leader Beleth..."

Heptanius looked at Caliope in shock, he was surprised and all that excitement from before was now gone. Amra closed his eyes briefly and then opened them again to look at Pronab who nodded in response.

Pronab warned. "She is now taken... she belongs to us..."

"She could never belong to you all!"

"She is now an Asteria... Amrafel's Asteria..."

Buer growled and frowned at this news, he was disgusted and in horror, as if this new relationship could ruin any plan or thought he had. After some long seconds of silence Heptanius spoke, not amused and with the lack of any joy left in his voice.

"What happened to our Archangel? Where is he?"

Buer smirked. "I do not know..."

The chains loosened some and this took everyone by surprise. Heptanius was now more worried, but much worse, he was out of words. All he could have thought to ask was now useless if he really did not know.

"Your orders, what were your orders?"

"I had to kidnap one of your soldiers and lead him back to the safe house... a place outside of the city where they would take him to another location that I do not know..."

"...our other prisoner knows you?"

"What? Another prisoner?"

Pronab turned his head to look at Heptanius, who nodded slowly.

"We caught someone who came before you, I assume each of them is told only what is necessary then send out without major knowledge... preventing the case of any of them being caught... The girl, though, seemed to really be voiceless, not much we can take out of her like that."

"What happened to my father?"

Everyone in the room now turned their attention to Caliope, and Amra squeezed her hand tighter, shaking his head. She felt there was something there that they all knew but were not telling her. She was curious, but Amra's reaction now made her stand back quietly. But the question was made, and now Buer had to answer. He smirked again as he looked back at Caliope.

"Your new family killed him..."

Caliope gasped, the chains loosened another knot, and she closed her eyes biting her lip. A long silence took over the room; the thickness grew in the environment, making it visibly harder to breath for everyone. Caliope noticed this and gently pulled Amra's hand as she opened her eyes searching for his, he turned his head to look at her, she smiled softly and the environment went lighter a tiny bit. In their eye contact, she showed him she was ok, and this helped him focus back on the prisoner.

"What do you know about the way our Archangel was taken down?"

Buer frowned. "All I know is that my people found a weapon, created with parts of ancient pieces from other creatures... something like your chains, but more powerful... they bound him, took him down, away. He is not in this realm anymore..."

Heptanius finally spoke. "Since you do not know where he is... you will tell us where your people are..."

Buer smirked. "Don't you get it? They must be gone by now... we are soldiers, spendable soldiers... what we know is only what we need to know... if one gets caught, the others leave and move on..."

"How did you communicated with your superior?"

Buer frowned "I met him once a week in a Hotel..."

Heptanius continued. "What day, what time, what hotel..."

Buer growled "Tuesdays at noon... Hotel Andronis..."

Heptanius finally smiled, now they had something to work with, a possibility of meeting someone else that had a higher rank, someone who could know more, give more information as well. Before anyone asked anything else, Buer locked his eyes on Caliope who was reflecting a sad gaze upon him. He was upset.

"...do not look at me like that..."

Caliope blinked in surprise, and Heptanius perked a brow as curiosity took over him again. Amra closed his eyes and then stepped aside letting Caliope face directly at Buer. By instinct, she gave a step closer. Buer tried to back away.

"Stay away..."

Amra drew a grin on his face and finally spoke. "Whatever she is, it is scaring you... and you should be scared... she will choose your fate... I am going to let her decide if we let you go or not..."

Caliope looked at Amra with curiosity, he was giving her so much power, and no one in the room seemed to object to his words. They were all afraid of him, but for something beyond belief, Buer was only afraid of her. The fact that she was surrounded by angels and her very own protector armed her in courage and she stepped some more towards him. Now there was only Pronab between them, and he stepped aside as well. Caliope looked back at Amra one more time, just to be sure. He nodded.

"Just do whatever you feel like doing... what your curiosity tells you..."

"Anything?"

"Everything..."

Heptanius now was visibly expectant. He stepped closer and watched Caliope look at Buer as she carefully walked in front of him. Then suddenly a voice echoed in her mind, a whisper, something soft but very clear.

'He is afraid of you... you have powers you never... we never imagined... let your curiosity guide you my Asteria...'

She looked back at him in shock, he nodded at her. She now remembered the first time she saw him, so long ago. She thought he was speaking to her without moving his lips, now he was confirming this. She swallowed hard and turned her gaze at Buer one more time, and started to wonder. Walking around him she thought to herself 'What should I do?' and almost instantly a reply in her mind came from Amra.

'Do what you feel like doing... just be you...'

She took a deep breath and did exactly what she would do. She stretched her arm and with her fingertips she touched him. The room went dark, void spinning around her making her dizzy. She gasped and felt as she was falling from a never ending cliff. Her body was heavy as the endless fall continued, she started to panic. Desperately trying to find Amra she kept looking around but all she found was darkness. Then she hit bottom; the room went light just as fast, and she was now in a blurry scene, a restaurant, or a café. The place and people seemed unaware of her presence as if she was an invisible creature. She turned her head to a side and saw Buer in a suit shaking hands of an older man, the face as clear as day. She felt as fear crawled up in her body, as the face of the person was one she had seen before, in the same house where all the angels gathered.