I blink, unable to make sense of what is going on. One moment I was using my powers against Shockwave and the next everything from the people to the wind in the trees has frozen. Frozen also is the incredible wave of power that had welled up inside me when I saw Shockwave going after John and Mycroft. Sure I can still feel it, a burning hot sensation in my stomach but I am unable to touch it, to use it. I feel oddly naked without it. The only thing left to me is my wings and even they aren't half as threatening as they were without my powers. Tucking back my wings I land on the ground, not even making a single sound or kicking up a cloud of dust. A cold shiver runs down my spine. There is something unnatural feeling about this whole situation and I do not like it. My sense of panic only increases when I glance over at my friends to find them also frozen, their eyes staring straight ahead with expressions of horror. I rush over to them and slowly pace around them for a circle, searching for any signs of life. Though they do not blink or notice I am there, their chests move faintly with every breath they take. I breath a small sigh of relief, grateful that, for now at least, my friends appear to be unharmed.

Reaching out I lightly place a hand on John's shoulder and gaze into his eyes. As well as horror I can see a tiny spark of fear; two emotions I never thought I would see when he looked at me. I swallow hard and stumble back, my breath catching in my throat. Even after everything we have been through so far I do not know if our friendship can survive this latest blow, if John will ever be able to look me in the eye again without seeing a monster with black wings. My knees tremble slightly and it takes some effort to stop myself from crumpling to the ground. I have to remain strong if I am to get through this with my sanity intact. Without John by my side my powers and my strength will be all I have to protect me from this dangerous new world I am now a part of. Slowly I open my eyes. The world around me is still frozen. I shake my head, unable to work out what might have happened. Yes, it is a little disconcerting to not know what is going on. Usually I can at least work out a vague idea from my observations. Here though there is nothing that could be of any help. The only thing I am certain about is that whatever Engifted did this must be incredibly powerful to have frozen time so completely... A deep voice cuts across my train of thought. A snarl escapes me as I instinctively crouch and stretch out my wings in preparation for flight.

"Now, now Mr Holmes. There's no need for that. I am not here to cause any harm to you or your friends.." There is a hint of friendliness to the voice but I still remain poised for a fight just in case this turns out to be another enemy. "I apologise if I have startled you Mr Holmes. I could see no other way to communicate with you without getting drawn into the fight. We are not supposed to get involved with such things you see. Our purpose is to merely observe the world without altering how it functions." I look around but am unable to find the owner of the voice...though maybe...no, they aren't above me either. I can't help but feel a little annoyed. After freezing time they could at least have the manners to meet me face to face. Unperturbed the voice continues talking, "But for one such as you Mr Holmes, with your powers, Celeste is prepared to make an exception."

A shiver runs down my spine at the mention of that name. Celeste isn't supposed to exist, a fairy tale told to young Engifted to make them feel better about what is going to happen to them. To think that she might actually exist- why it's like finding out that dragons and unicorns are real and living amongst us! I take a deep breath in an attempt to slow my pounding heart and try to force myself to relax. I have to at least give whoever this is the benefit of the doubt before I jump to conclusions after all. "Sorry, but who are exactly?" I ask, moving so I am in front of Lestrade and John and can easily protect them if the need should arise. This Engifted (there is nothing else in this world with the power to freeze time after all) is scarily powerful and I have never heard of anyone having abilities like these. I start when there is a quiet laugh from off to my left and I spin round to confront my fellow Engifted. When I see him my mouth falls open and a quiet gasp escapes me to my great embarrassment.

This Engifted is like no other I have seen. Instead of feathers his wings are made up of thousands of tiny pieces of moving clockwork grinding and whirring away every time the Engifted moves. There is also, almost too faint to be heard, the constant unending sound of a clock ticking. Without conscious thought I find myself taking a step back away from him, unable to look at the transparent glass skin and spinning cogs without my stomach giving an unpleasant lurch. I did not know that this was even capable. I thought that when you became an Engifted you gained a pair of wings and a unique set of powers... This guy though is actually living, breathing clockwork. "I know I look a little alarming Mr Holmes but you have no need to fear me." He reassures me, his bright golden eyes sparkling from a carved, mask like face as he bows his head. "My name is Chronos."

Even though it is incredibly rude and Mycroft has frequently picked me up on the habit I can do nothing but stare at the Engifted, my brain unable to comprehend what I am seeing. Just as with Celeste there are tales told about Chronos, the living embodiment of time itself but once again they are nothing but bedtime stories. I swallow hard. He looks rather solid for a bedtime story though and I think, impossible though it may be, that Chronos is real...god only knows what this means about the rest of the tales I have heard about the world of the Engifted. It also bring into question some of the human stories as well. Who knows, maybe the Loch Ness Monster really does exist after all.

Chronos smiles gently. "Don't worry, I can understand how you are feeling right now. You are still new to this world after all." He pauses and glances down at the broken remains of Shockwave. His expression turns grim. "Mr Holmes, what do you know about the Elite Engifted?"

I continue to stare at him for a moment longer before I shake myself and finally answer his question. "I know you're supposed to be mythical..." Chronos looks amused to hear this but does not interrupt me. Eventually he is expecting to hear more than this but I have no idea what to say. Instead I decide to ask a question of my own. "What could you possibly want with me? I'm nothing." Deep down however I am not so sure about this. Maybe he is here because of my black wings. A shiver runs down my spine at this thought and I swallow hard. Hopefully it is not about that.

Chronos regards me thoughtfully, his golden eyes pulsing in time with the quiet ticking emanating from him. "Nothing? Mr Holmes when you gained your wings a ripple travelled through the fabric of our world that was strong enough for Celeste to sense. Naturally she was curious to find out what manner of Engifted you were and sent me out to find you. He says, his voice perfectly calm.

I meanwhile am struggling with all this. Celeste, the most powerful Engifted in all existence, wants to meet me?! It seems impossible, little more than a fantasy and I find myself growing suspicious. Usually, in my experience, if something seems too good to be true then it probably is. I can feel the beginnings of a nasty headache coming on. Somehow I force myself to meet Chronos' golden eyes. "Sorry if I'm missing something here but I still don't understand what makes me so important. Surely every Engifted gaining their powers alters the fabric of the world in some small way?" Even now, ten years on, I can remember Mycroft's transformation and the ripple of cold that had awoken me in the middle of the night. Of course other Engifted would have been aware of me joining their world- though no one actually knew why it happened in the first place.

Chronos looks disappointed at my ignorance and sighs heavily. "Many people think it must be great to be able to see the past, the present and the future but there are times when it can be a burden. While it is true every Engifted affects the world in some small way I have seen what you will become. Believe me when I say it is truly spectacular..." He pauses and glances down at Shockwave. An expression of sadness settles over his face then and his golden eyes darken slightly. "Of course there is still much ahead of you before you realise your full potential with many paths for you to tread..." He smiles but there is something behind it, a great sadness that I want to know the cause of. "Apologies Mr Holmes, I can get rather caught up in the future sometimes." The golden eyes clear and he holds out a hand towards me as though he intends for me to take it. "Come, it is time we were heading off. Celeste will be wondering what is taking me so long."

For a moment I am torn by indecision. What should I do? Go with Chronos and potentially find out more about my powers and or stay here and risk hurting my friends... Well there is not really much of a choice. It is pretty obvious what I should do. From the corner of my eye I can just about make out Shockwave's body and a wave of sickness crashes over me. I need to get control over my powers. There is always the chance I might accidentally lash out at Greg or (god forbid if this ever happened) John. No. I can not allow that to happen. Despite my misgivings I can not help but feel guilty at running off and leaving my friends with no idea of where I have gone. Especially after the events at St Bart's Hospital. I think John might actually kill me if I repeated that little stunt. "Can I at least tell me friends, my brother, what is going on?" I ask, glancing over at Greg and John who are still frozen to the spot. My heart sinks a little when Chronos shakes his head. Shaking my head I try to push my emotions away (they have an nasty habit of getting in the way after all) but apparently on this occasion they simply will not be suppressed. A wave of sorrow threatens to overcome me."

"I'm sorry Mr Holmes but that is out of the question. As I said before we Elite are not supposed to meddle in the affairs of the human world and as a result there is no need for anyone but you to know of our existence." Chronos replies with sympathy in his golden eyes. "Still you won't be gone for long and I can easily return you to this exact moment of time once the meeting is over. Your friends will have no idea you were ever gone." He says, obviously intending to reassure me.

Still I can not help but hesitate for a second. Last time I left London it was a whole two years before I returned. Even now I sometimes see a haunted look behind John's eyes when he thinks I am not looking at him. Still... biting my lip I run a hand over the edge of one black wing, feeling the soft feathers beneath my fingers. After what I did to Shockwave it is highly doubtful John will ever be able to look me in the face again. Really I have nothing to loose. Slowly I raise my eyes to Chronos and reach for his hand.

Chronos smiles at me and grips my hand tightly. "This is always a little disorientating the first time." He says. When he does not elaborate further I find myself worrying about what he could mean. Before I can ask him however the clockwork making up his wings and whirring gently beneath his skin steps up a gear and begins to glow the same gold colour as his eyes. Then, raising one hand, he clicks his fingers with a loud snap and everything dissolves into blackness.

It only takes a few seconds for the darkness to lift and when it does I find myself faced with a brilliant starry landscape that stretches as far as the eye can see in every direction. Ahead of us, probably about five minutes walk away, is a swirl of gleaming pink and blue cloud that sparkles brightly with a rainbow of colour. It is much larger than in the stories Mycroft told me about the Celestial Plains, the passageway between the human world and the secret world of the Elite Engifted. Once again, similar to the Elite's themselves, it is supposed to be nothing but a legend. Yet here it is in all it's glory...unless of course I am somehow dreaming this whole thing...Impossible, this feels too real to be a dream. It has to be real. I start when a streak of garish scarlet lightning shatters about the glowing clouds and tears apart the stars to reveal a ominous looking darkness beyond. Around us the landscape changes and twists as the stars begin to blink out and are consumed by the darkness. "Chronos, what's going on?" I ask. This was not in any of the stories so I can probably safely assume that this is not good.

In answer Chronos grabs my arm and begins to run, disturbing great cloud of multi-coloured dust from the ground by our feet. "If we can reach the others we'll be fine." Okay, that's all well and good but it hardly answers my original question. Ahead of us a single point of light continues to burn. From behind there comes a powerful blast of wind that seems to be trying to suck us backwards to whatever horror has invaded this place.

At the same time a loud shriek rings out from behind us, high pitched and inhuman, and echoes in the empty landscape. I almost glance over my shoulder but stop myself at the last second. I do not think I want to see the thing that made that noise face to face. It is not any creature I recognise from my world. With a jolt I realise Chronos is just as alarmed by the sound as I am and his golden eyes are wide with fright. Somehow I suspect he knows exactly what manner of creature that is. Unable to fight the temptation any longer I go to glance over my shoulder.

Chronos tightens his grip on my arm. "No! Don't look! That's exactly what he wants you to do." There is a faint note of panic in Chronos` voice. Without warning a faint golden glow pulses around us and we are teleported several metres ahead of where we were minutes before.

I reel from the sudden shift and stumble, my fall only prevented by the hand on my arm. Even after teleporting us Chronos power continues to glow around us and I feel my power reach out in response. Though it takes an extraordinary effort I force it back down again. I am not ready to face it again just yet. If I am being honest my power and the darkness I had felt in my mind when I unleashed it against shock wave had scared me a little. After all the dire warnings about what having Black wings meant I had no desire to turn into one. Somehow I have to hold onto my humanity when so many others could not. Pushing the thoughts forcibly away I concentrate on running without tripping and falling headlong.

Ahead of us the pin-prick of light grows closer, warming my skin as Chronos and I step into its embrace. The Elite Engifted breathes a sigh of relief. The creature chasing us let out another shriek, an oddly triumphant sounding one considering we are now safe from...long talons wrap around my wrist and jerk me back hard enough for Chronos to loose his grip. The Engifted cries out but there is nothing he can do. I can not help but feel a little annoyed. To get so close to safety, only to have it snatched away...I get a brief glimpse of sneering reptilian features before a heavy blow to the back of my head plunges me into darkness.