Chapter Two

Spike stood frozen. He could not believe what he had just seen. Illyria too had frozen. A shadow passed over her noble features. Even the Army of evil stopped. It was as if someone had hit a pause button, and no one could quite believe what they had just seen. Then Gunn fell to the ground.

Wesley felt queasy. 'How on earth do I feel queasy! I have no stomach!' And yet the feeling was there.

"Don't worry, mate. The feeling will pass." Doyle was standing there next to him.

Wesley looked around to find himself in a circular stone room. It was massive. Each rock was carved with a specific symbol, and oddly, ones he could not understand. High above was an open dome; the stars visible in the sky. He could not help but whisper his appreciation.

"Why am I here? What is this place?" he asked.

He turned to Doyle, but he was gone. Wesley was alone.

"Well," he said to himself, "I don't know what I can tell anyone." He looked at the dome above him. "You saw for yourself what happened. What we did."

"What you have done.."

"is to disturb..."

"the balance of things."

Wesley spun around to find himself in front of four men. Each man was tall and robed. Their silver hair and eyes gleamed in the starlight. Their voices were melodious, each a different timber and pitch.

"Disturb? The balance has been tipping for millennia. How did we disturb anything?"

One tipped his head and stepped forward. "By striking the Circle..."

Another stepped forward, "you started the end of days."

The third was suddenly behind him. 'How did he get there?' Wesley thought.

"You have started this.."

"Too soon," spoke the fourth. "It was not meant to be..."

"For millennia to come."

'Ok, back to the first one,' Wesley thought. Out loud he said, "Who are you?"

"We are the many.."

"And the one."

"We are the beginning..."

"And the end."

"We are the voice..."

"For them who are before speech."

"You speak for the Powers that Be," Wesley whispered.

"The Powers that Be..."

"Yes. We are their voice..."

"And their will."

The men appeared and reappeared randomly around him. It was almost as if they could not stay still.

"We have seen through your eyes..."

"How events played out."

"But we do not understand..."

"Why you attempted such a plan, when you knew it would not succeed."

The owner of this voice appeared right in front of Wesley, and stared into his brown eyes with his silver ones.

Wesley straightened, and stared back into his eyes. "We wanted to show the Senior Partners that humanity, and good, could still make a difference. That they were not all powerful and infallible."

"Then you succeeded..."

"And failed."

"Your choices were reckless..."

"Your method rash."

"The Wolf, Ram, and Hart are prideful..."

"Their vengeance will be swift..."

"Humanity will suffer..."

"Violence and chaos will reign."

Wesley was getting dizzy trying to keep track of their movements. "So what were we to do? Just simply walk away? To let them continue?"

"We did not say this..."

"We simply do not understand..."

"The reasoning is flawed..."

"This must be rectified..."

"Los Angeles will burn..."

"Many will die before this is over."

"Then intervene!" Wesley whispered. "You must be able to stop it! You must be able to prevent further loss of life! Stop watching! Do something!"

"He does not understand."

"He could not begin to..."

"The scope is too big for a lower lifeform."

They turned and looked at Wesley.

Wesley would not be deterred. "What about Jasmine? She interfered. She tried to help. Her methods were wrong, but her intentions were good."

One of the men, whom Wesley now noticed carried a sword at his side, strode up to him frowning. "The one you call Jasmine was an anomaly, an aberration. She is fallen from Grace."

Another stepped forward, and he had a golden horn on his side. "This matter is concluded."

"The battle has been decided," spoke the third.

"One champion is lost..."

"But another may arise."

"Lost?" Wesley asked. "Who has fallen?"

"The Vampire, Angel, has fallen."

"What about his shanshu? Isn't he supposed to live again?"

The golden horned one looked at him with sympathy. "This he gave for his plan to succeed. He will not live again, but he shall dwell in paradise."

"You must go. Your work is done. You must rejoin the fallen."

"What about the others?" Wesley asked.

"Vengeance is served. The Wolf, the Ram, and the Heart must return their soldiers to their fold."

"To not do so is to risk the Wrath. This they dare not do."

"Aid will be sent. We wish to see more. We wish to learn more...."

"What it means..."

"To be human."

And the room was silent. Wesley was gone, and the beings that appeared as men vanished on silver wings.