Questions being answered
Caliope noticed Amra's change in attitude. But something inside her told her to just follow and she would sooner, if not later, find out what was happening.
They arrived at the restaurant early, but Miss Clark and Pronab were already both waiting in a special table reserved and isolated for them. The latest probably under specific request. Miss Clark stood up and smiled at them both when they arrived, hugging Caliope. Pronab smiled from his seat and nodded at them. They sat down and a nervous silence surrounded the table for a while. Amra was worried and looked at Miss Clark, and in exchange, she looked worried at Caliope. Under the table, Amra held her hand to keep her calm.
"Caliope, I am sure you have questions for us."
"I am aware of what you all are, and though I do have questions, they pale in comparison to what is happening."
Miss Clark frowned and turned her eyes to Amra questioning. He nodded and closed his eyes, releasing a sigh. This quite simple act made the very uninterested Pronab sit straight and look worried at him. He kept his eyes closed as if looking for the right words.
"What happened?"
"The signs... are becoming more constant and evident. And, it is not just that, she saw one of them."
Miss Clark's eyes widened in panic, looking back at Caliope, who felt as if she was unaware of a terrible disaster that concerned her, but they were still keeping her uninformed. She turned to Amra and squeezed his hand, making him open his eyes again only to look at her.
"Remember your promise."
That was all it took for Amra to nod and turn his head slowly to Miss Clark and Pronab.
"She doesn't know about my mission, but she knows I am here for something. I need a moment to think."
He stood up and turned to Caliope.
"I will be back soon... Pronab, walk with me."
Pronab nodded and followed Amra outside the balcony, leaving Caliope with Miss Clark alone. She turned her head at her confused and nervous.
"I think I can start to ask some questions now."
"He doesn't know well how to deal with this Caliope, he left us alone because he knows I will do my best to help you understand; do you mind if I start explaining some things? That might already clear some of your doubts."
Caliope nodded and smiled slightly, comfortable somehow that she wouldn't lie to her, it was something she had hoped but also, something she felt from what she knew of her; Elaine Clark was someone who could hold many secrets, but she never lied.
"I know that you are aware we are Angels, and something tells me you know already how time moves different around Amra, but it is not the same with all of us, and he is not just any Angel."
"I can understand that, I guess... I feel quite different around him from what I feel around you and Pronab."
"Exactly... that is one very easy way to notice it. I don't know how much you know about Angels, so instead of asking you and discussing about it, I will just tell you how things are for us. At the beginning it was only Him... 'God' as all call him. He was all and nothing at the same time. He was only conscience of someone in trance, an idea, a something... He was -it-. I don't want to confuse you, but is the best way I can explain it. He was an imagination of himself that only he had. And then... he opened his eyes, as one does after waking up from a trance, and everything exploded. The universe was born, and he started to take form with it. He created the first Angels from his own conscience and they helped him shape the universe. A universe that is always changing."
"I need to ponder this a little... there is a universe, created by Him... how special are we when the universe is so big? there must be more like us."
"It is not easy to understand, but, there are other places like earth. Far from each other... When He created the Archangels, he made one to guard each realm, each world. One for each earth. He created creatures in each realm, and in each of them humans as the fruit of his most confused yet most pure idea of children. You are all what he values most, as it is in you that there are conflicts which are most like the ones in his mind, insecurities, pain, tears, joy, happiness... The way He thinks is different from all of us, his creations, but we are all part of Him... and you, humans, are the most fragile yet real part of Him."
Caliope nodded and closed her eyes, and Miss Clark held silent giving her time to cope with all she was hearing. And the truth was that Caliope was absorbing each word in a way she had learned a long time ago; not over thinking it. She was accepting each word as the truth, even though it was hard to confront her beliefs with what she was hearing. And then it was Amra, his role now here, and what those signs were, she wanted to know the present danger and what could ever make Angels, God's creatures, to worry.
"What are those signs Amra was talking about... and, what is that I saw that made him so worried?"
"The moment He created light, there was also darkness. As a mirror, everything I told you, they had an opposite as well. Every now and then, those dark Angels try to take over, they are rebels, and they play with his creatures to cause chaos, and extend the power and control of their kind. There is and always will be a much better explanation, but we don't have time for that, it would take days to explain all of this better, as we should."
"Is Amra the Archangel in charge of earth? Of this earth?"
"Amrafel is not an Archangel, Caliope. He is older than that. He is an Arcane Angel..."
"You... You never mentioned Arcane Angels." Caliope's eyes widened.
"They were born almost instantly after He awoke. The first ones, the ones closest to Him."
She felt as if she was about to panic. Aside her feelings of love for someone older than the earth itself, he was above any other Angel, even Archangels. She wasn't aware of ranks in Heaven, but Miss Clark made it clear to her, that Amra was above them all. If something bad was going to happen, that required one of the most ancient Angels to come down to this earth, it was going to be something that would change the world.
Everything was crashing down on her, her vision of the world, how insignificant and tiny they were, yet how special as well. Amra's role in the universe and him being with her, in a tiny place of the universe, she felt desperate and overwhelmed.
"Caliope, please breathe... I need to know you are not panicking."
Caliope was breathing hard with her eyes closed, Amra walked fast to them with Pronab behind him. He worried and sat next to her, gently putting an arm around her. "Leave us alone..."
Miss Clark got up and walked away with Pronab. Amra pressed his forehead on her head and closed his eyes, holding her in silence. She could feel him breathe so close to her, his smell and warmth absorbing any fear that was inside her. She tried to open her eyes but wasn't ready yet. When his hand held hers, gently squeezing, her first thought was he was calming her in some way. But then she remembered what it must have been the first time she felt his powers, when she had her panic attack in their residence. It was not the same now, he was just there holding her hand, in silence.
"Thank you..." She whispered.
"For what?"
"For not trying to manipulate me. I might not know what exactly you can do, but I am sure that you can do that at least."
"I promised you."
"That is why I said thank you."
Only then she opened her eyes and looked up at him. He was worried, but he smiled relieved. She turned her head to look at the other room and chuckled watching Elaine and Pronab whispering things to each other.
Slowly looking back at him, she took a deep breath and nodded. "I am ok... at some point, I would like to talk more about some things with you, but for now, I am ok, we should go on."
Amra leaned and pressed his lips on hers, taking her by surprise. She blushed deeply, and felt her body drawn to his like a magnet. Her head was spinning, her body floating, and her breath heavy and fast. She opened her eyes and pulled back trying to recover some air looking up at him with disbelief.
"You promised."
"This is just as new for me as it is for you. Eons of my existence could have never prepared me for meeting you."
She blushed and smiled at him, caressing his face with the same tenderness he offered to her before. Amra looked towards Miss Clark and Pronab nodding, and they both joined them again. Both visibly worried, and confused.
"She is ok."
"I am so very sorry my dear. I don't really know how else to explain things to you."
"And how about the dark Angels? And her connection to them?" Pronab asked as he sat down again.
"Connection to who?" Caliope turned towards him.
Amra squeezed her hand gently to draw her attention.
"The dark shadow you saw in the park, it was a dark Angel, and humans aren't supposed to be able to see them... but you did. It is why I worried. Elaine?"
"It has happened before, a few times, but it doesn't happen often."
"Ok... can you try to explain that to me?"
"There is not an easy way to explain any of this Caliope, I am doing my best here... are you sure?"
"I am sure I want to know."
"Humans fall in love often. Some less some more. Angels don't, they fall only once in their entire existence. Dark Angels almost never fall in love, because they are dark creatures, with tendencies to violence, chaos, but love, in their own way, can happen as well. The only way you could see a dark Angel is... if you are a descendant of one."
"Are you saying my parents were dark Angels?!"
"It is impossible for both of them to give birth. So, I believe, either your mother or your father was one."
Caliope laughed nervously, and neither Miss Clark, Amra nor Pronab thought she was thinking any of this was funny, but it was a more natural reaction to what she was hearing. She shook her head and held back the tears. Miss Clark continued.
"Due to their nature, they can be with humans many times, either be for to lust, need, or fun... but in order to get pregnant, or impregnate a human, they must have fallen in love. That emotion, so intense, pure and unique, is the only way they could create life. So you were indeed the creation of love Caliope."
"Does that mean I have weird powers like you sure have?"
Elaine blinked in shock to her question, and Pronab scratched his head. It was only Amra who laughed and Caliope joined him in a very simple but more relaxed gesture. She was taking the news much easier than they had expected, but Amra was not surprised at all.
Pronab chuckled "Powers huh? That would be cool, could help us a lot right now."
Miss Clark looked at them clearly confused "Well... I really... don't know."
Amra laughed again, and Pronab looked at her almost mockingly. "Miss Know-it-all!"
Elaine frowned and gave him a stare that quickly made him stop joking. Amra was amused, and took Caliope's hand up to his lips and kissed her knuckles gently.
"It can happen! I don't know! There are not many recorded cases and we just don't know more about it either!"
"We will find out in time, I am sure you are in no rush." Amra stated.
This time he was talking to her, and she looked up at him and nodded with a smile. She knew she was with him, and had just found out she was not just any other tiny and insignificant human. Granted, she was the one who an Arcane Angel fell in love with, but she was no longer a simple mortal, she was the creation of a rare love connection, and that filled her with more confidence. She was much calmer even though her new nature represented more questions. But for now she was happy, she could continue with this new incomplete knowledge for a while until they had more time for explanations, and time for her to figure which things she wanted to know more about first, as there were so many.
"You mentioned that there is one Archangel in charge of guarding Earth, who is that Archangel?"
"He has gone missing, and it has set an alarm throughout the universe. It is the first time an Archangel disappears without a trace in our entire history... This is the reason Amra is here darling."
Pronab grabbed a breadstick and started playing with it. "You see, there is always something dark being planned to take over, the dark ones are always twisting minds, manipulating lives, causing havoc, destroying civilizations, in order to create a new world, a new realm more to the shape of their ruling... we are in charge of keeping things in order, give humans, His children, the peace they need to live their lives as he wished you to do so... we bring back peace... Archangels can't be touched, or that is what we thought until now, they are the pendulum which keeps the balance between light and dark. If they have found a way to take down an Archangel, hold him against his will in a place or away long enough that no other Angel could find him... it is so extremely dangerous, it is a sign that there are more bad things to come. Things that we never saw coming before. This is a first for our kind, it just has never happened."
Miss Clark nodded "If they can do that with our Archangel, and they bring chaos in this earth... if they succeed."
"It would mean they can share this information to the rest of the dark creatures in the universe, and well... that phrase you hear... 'Hell will break loose'? Ok... it is close to what will happen. There won't be order anymore." Pronab finished.
"And how did you find out he was missing? How were you informed of this or made it known to Amra?"
"I report directly to him... let's say, there are many Angels guarding this Earth, they report to me. And I report to Gaius, our missing Archangel. He has been missing for the last 20 human years, and Amra has been sent to discover what they are planning, he and us need to find out what happened to Gaius and save him, make sure whatever they are planning with earth, does not happen. We can't fail Caliope... can you understand how important this is?"
Caliope nodded and they all went silent for a while. Amra was pensive and Pronab was visibly annoyed. Only when Miss Clark made a gesture to the waiters to approach, the silence was broken. "Let's try to finish eating something and worry about this later... shall we?"
"Gladly, I am starving." Caliope added.
This time they all laughed, a joyful laugh that washed away the worries at least for the moment, leaving them time to cope with things and relax.