Legends of Amacia Attack on Tartarus

The Lair of Nidhoggr

“Relax, Ana,” Hannibal cooed, touching her on the shoulder. “We’re not going to let anything happen to you or any of us if I have anything to say about it. Are you sensing the same thing the rest of us are?”

“Yes,” Ana whimpered fearfully. “I do. You’re definitely sensing Nidhoggr. Even after all those centuries of imprisonment at the hands of the Cadre, I never forgot the hideous terror I felt while Nidhoggr devoured my family as I watched helplessly frozen in fear.”

“I’m so sorry,” Selina purred, touching Ana on the shoulder in emotional support. “I can’t even begin to imagine what that was like. Is there no way we can avoid this beast?”

“No,” Ana stated grimly as an executioner, pointing to the temple. “The only way out of this mountain is across the lake beyond the temple gates. Nidhoggr lives in the lake. It’s his domain.”

“Are you sure there’s no other way out of here?” Hannibal asked to be sure.

Ana shook her head, saying fearfully, “Absolutely not. The path I took all those centuries ago to escape Nidhoggr is beyond the temple. I have been this way before, long ago. The only consolation I can give you we do not have to traverse the lake by boat. A large stone path runs through the temple and across the lake to the far side. How far it is I don’t rightly remember. It becomes a labyrinth just inside the temple with only one path leading out. What I do remember of it is that I kept moving to the right as I encountered forks in the path. However, I cannot emphasize this enough. DO NOT go near the water, or disturb it. Nidhoggr’s minions prowl the river and lake, looking for victims. They will jump out of the water in order to get you so stay well away from the edge of the path if you don’t want to become their meal. Also, keep absolutely quiet for noise and rhythmic vibrations attracts both Nidhoggr and its minions. Our only chance to get out of this alive is to keep silent and walk in a random manner. That means we should not let our steps become rhythmic or harmonic while crossing the lake. Walking softly in a random fashion is essential.”

Hannibal grunted with a nod saying, “All right. Ana’s given us some very good safety tips. We’ll keep quiet and not walk in a rhythmic manner. Let’s go. Unfortunately, it seems that’s the only way out of here. Ana, you stay close to me and Andrew.”

Ana nodded, saying, “I plan to.”

Hannibal led them toward the temple, ever wary of their surroundings. The water churned and rushed like a torrent toward the Temple. The floor of the cavern dropped off steeply from where they came out of the passage. They picked their way through the ruins, making their way down strange avenues that switch-backed down the steep slope to the Temple. Overturned megalithic blocks and stalagmites littered the streets to such an extent it became a labyrinth unto itself. The team quickly realized the terraced nature of the city. Hannibal felt it resembled a bizarre alien version of Machu Picchu with its terraces. Approximately half way across the cavern, they began to see the full splendor of the Temple. The Temple rose to the ceiling, looking much like the ancient ruins of Petra, only much larger and more far more alien in its construction, spanning more than seven hundred feet across and rising to the ceiling. An odd-looking moat lay in front of the temple where the river turned into a strange lake.

The Temple itself seemed to rise out of the lake, and appeared as if it held up the roof of the cavern. A singular bridge thirty feet wide crossed the moat, giving the only access to the temple at a massive semi-circular platform eighty feet in radius lying before the colossal gate. The gate itself stood nearly eighty feet in height, spanning fifty feet across. The moat spanned almost three hundred feet across and lay twenty feet below the bridge. In all, the cavern floor dropped almost two hundred feet vertically and spanned a half mile from where the team entered the cavern to the moat.

Ana became increasingly agitated the closer they came to the Temple. Hannibal could sense her agitation, as well as the unease of the rest of his troupe. The feeling of dread and imminent danger was not getting better, but worse as they approached the bridge. Upon reaching the bridge, he noticed that it was stone and connected to the main platform at the entrance, which appeared to extend into the cursed Temple through the gate. The water seemed to flow into the Temple through a series of four sixty-foot wide archways peeking just above the water near the main entrance. The arches peaked approximately eight feet above the water line.

Hannibal looked at the Temple from the bridge and saw all manner of gargoyles, stone monsters, and alien engravings everywhere. He stopped the team to survey the gauntlet of alien sculptures facing them from both sides of the bridge. Alien gargoyle statues with four arms, two legs, and a barbed tails guarded the causeway. These statues, which vaguely resembled the Reptilian Xenians, stood fourteen feet in height and spanned twenty feet from its elongated toothy head to the tip of its tail. They sat crouched on their pedestals, staring menacingly at the bridge in front of them with the four eyes on their sneering reptilian faces.

Sculptures of truly alien abominations sat interspersed between the alien gargoyles: twelve-foot tall, five-foot diameter barrel-shaped tentacled things Hannibal and his team had no reference for. The things appeared to be some bizarre combination of giant tubeworms, sea anemones, and squids. The sculpture gave the impression that the barrel body of the creature connected with the platform with numerous tentacles of considerable size and length sprouting from the top of the barrel as if it were a sea anemone. The length of the anemone tentacles seemed to match the height of the creature’s twelve-foot barrel bodies. The carved anemone tentacles atop the barrel bodies made the creature look like some unearthly flower. The barrel bodies were hexagonal with six vertical ribs defining each face, which was concave between each vertical rib. Seven twenty-inch wide horizontal segments stacked one on top of the other made the barrel body resemble a giant segmented worm. In the concave cavities between each segment and rib sat a baseball-sized eye that seemed vaguely reptilian, but more squid-like. In all, each of the six facets of the barrel-body of the creature had seven eyes, giving it forty-two eyes looking out in all directions. This made it impossible for anything to sneak up on it. Yet, even though the carving gave the impressing the creature was attached to the platform, it was not for around the base of the barrel at platform level were ten massive squid-like tentacles coiled around the creature. The length of the squid tentacles couldn’t be determined because of how they coiled around the base of the creature, though the carvings showed them to be at least sixteen inches in diameter. These barrel-shaped aliens sat in regular intervals with the gargoyles: two gargoyles with one barrel-creature all the way across the bridge. The spacing made it seem as if the gargoyles were guards for the barrel creatures.

At the far end at the main entrance platform loomed two colossal stone drakens one hundred feet tall and completely alien to any draken any of them had seen. These drakens had six eyes on an elongated head that was very skull-like: three eyes on each side of the head. Each had two massive batwings that spread provocatively to the ceiling, spanning two hundred feet across. The sculptures showed four clawed arms with massive seven-fingered hands including two opposable thumbs on each hand. On the end of these fingers sat four-foot long claws. Each hand could easily pick up a bison. Everyone saw some form of staff-like weapons in two hands of each of the statues. These colossi stood on giant legs and feet more than ten feet across with three-toed clawed feet twenty feet wide. Its tail harbored a triple-claw that seemed able to grasp items. From its head to the tip of its clawed tail, each alien draken spanned two hundred fifty feet. Each of these colossal statues appeared to be leaning forward, crouching down as if its interest was on the main entrance of the temple.

Upon seeing the bizarre statues, strong chills raced down every spine. “These things are right down grotesque,” Elle commented softly in controlled revulsion. “And what in heaven’s name are those barrel things? I’ve never seen or even dreamed of anything like them.”

“None of these things are of this earth,” Nathanael commented darkly. “That much I can tell; their structure is unlike anything ever seen on this planet. They may even be images of Old Ones.”

“Never have I seen this like,” Morpheus stated. “Nothing in our oral tradition tells of the creatures depicted on this bridge, especially those barrel creatures. But they have to had existed at some point in our world since someone went to a great deal of trouble to depict them. If you look at the sculptures, they’re done with such fine detail that it makes me think they could even be alive.”

“Don’t say that,” Elle snapped softly. “I don’t want to see these things move. I’m going to have nightmares because of seeing these things. I just know it.”

“Don’t be afraid,” Selina urged softly, trying to keep her own fear in check. “Hannibal, what is this? What are these things?”

Hannibal’s belly soured as he stared at the stone monstrosities. With an extremely strong surge of déjà vu striking him, he whispered, “I’ve been here before.”

“Are you sure,” Andrew asked softly. “No one except for Ana has seen this place since before the Kragonar. My dad spoke of this place when he taught us about Ezra Karac, but I never believed I’d actually see it. And now that I do see it, I see he obviously left some things out; mainly these grotesque stone sculptures. I do believe Morpheus may be right about the Caverias not building it, but merely using it.”

“What are these things, Hannibal?” Amelia insisted, “And what about those drakens standing at the gate? They’re unlike any draken I know of.”

Hannibal turned to the team with an ashen look. “The drakens are images of the Grimm Drakens,” he declared in deadly seriousness. “I’m sure of it. As for these barrel-like creatures with the tentacles, I just as puzzled and amazed as you. I’ve never seen or even dreamed of anything like them. It’s possible they could be Old Ones as Nathanael suggested, but I just don’t know. They don’t strike me as being Old Ones. Something about them makes me think they may be even older than the Old Ones. It’s possible these could be one of the forms the Ancient Ones take, but I cannot be sure. They may even be Elder things. I just don’t know. It’s something I’m definitely going to look into supposing we get out of here intact. The gargoyles are obviously some alien reptilian race that came here long before humans inherited this planet. Yet, these gargoyles are strangely familiar, as if I’ve seen them before. However, I cannot remember when or where I’ve seen these creatures. My first thought is they may be Jagaras like the one I fought in the Circle of Hammunaptra, but I don’t think so. Their structure is not like that of the Jagara.

“Furthermore, just look at the scene before you. Something isn’t right here. These creatures appear to be guarding something, something inside the Temple as if they are trying to keep it from escaping. The Grimm Draken’s posture and attention on the gate really shows it. It just doesn’t fit with what I know of the Grimm, or the Old Ones. These statues seem to be showing behavior not commensurate with those alien species. We’re missing something very important here, but I can’t figure out what it is. What I do know with every ounce of my being is that I’ve been here before. It’s screaming inside my skull so loud it’s impossible to ignore.”

“Your destiny is tied to this place, Beowulf,” Morpheus stated categorically. “I can see it now. This place called to you, and now you’re responding to it now that you’re here. Something of great importance to you personally lies beyond these cyclopean gates. Don’t hesitate, my friend. Take hold of your destiny and drag it into the light of day. As troublesome as these sculptures are with their ramifications, we must not let them shake our resolve. We must go in there. Ana says it’s the only way out of here, and I tend to believe her.”

Selina touched Hannibal on the shoulder, looking him in the eye with a sober smile. “Leila awaits us, my prince, monsters or no,” Selina declared. “She’s in there, so let’s go visit her and put her soul to peace. Until you do, she will continue to haunt us creating unnecessary distractions for you.”

Hannibal sighed deeply as their words fortified his courage. “You’re right, all of you,” he agreed. “We have to go in there, if for nothing else it’s the way out of this labyrinth. All right, let’s move out in single file. Be very quiet and don’t walk in a rhythmic manner. Maybe we’ll get lucky and not encounter Nidhoggr, which I’m sure lurks somewhere in the dark of this place. Quickly and softly as shadows we must be. Let’s go.”

Hannibal stepped onto the bridge, leading the way, walking in a random fashion so he didn’t create a rhythm in with his steps. The others followed his example. Fatigue began plaguing Hannibal because of the spider’s wound. Unknown to anyone, including Ana, a tiny portion of the spider’s toxin remained in his system, causing him to fatigue easier than normal. He led them across the bridge, ready for anything. They walked cautiously and un-rhythmically into the temple and Ana’s fear jumped three fold over her present level. She looked around wildly, expecting the Nidhoggr to attack at any moment. They passed between the colossal Grimm Drakens at the gate without incident, getting a very close view of them that both astounded and intimidated them.

Once inside the Temple, they found themselves on a twenty-foot wide stone causeway crossing a vast lake. Its far shore lay lost in the darkness. Giant sculpted pillars sixty feet wide rose from the water everywhere, holding up the roof with flying buttresses that lay lost in the darkness hundreds of feet above them. They moved on silently as the water lapped at the stone. No light could penetrate the inky blackness of the water around the team, hiding unknown perils and generating a deep penetrating fear of it. No one wanted to explore that abyss that smelled of stagnation, decay, and rotting death. Hannibal’s Scepter and Sword lit their way with Morpheus’ staff keeping the darkness behind them at bay. Everyone stayed close together in the center of the causeway. For ten minutes, they made their way through the drowned ruins of the Temple, moving ever deeper into its darkness. The darkness seemed to close in around them. The Scepter, Morpheus’s Staff, and the Caverias sword made a bubble of light sixty feet across. Toward the center of the Temple, the causeway split, making a fork. Hannibal stopped them and pondered the fork. He motioned for Ana and gave her a questioning look. She pointed to the right and they moved on to the right in silence. The water lapped and gurgled against the stone as the air stirred in the dark.

Occasionally, they heard a splash, like a fish jumping. Hannibal kept a wary eye on the darkness beyond their bubble of light. He could feel an ancient evil stirring beyond his sight, its presence and power in his mind becoming undeniable, almost smothering. They moved on for another ten minutes in silence as the right fork of the path snaked around through the Temple. Suddenly, the causeway came out of the Temple into an immense shaft that they couldn’t see the far side of. A beam of light shown down from above onto a large mausoleum standing in the open away from the temple a solid six hundred yards away. Beyond that, nothing could be seen.

The find sent chills down Hannibal’s spine as déjà vu hit slammed him hard, causing him to stop the team. Furthermore, his innate ability sense danger was pegging well off the scale, significantly riling him. His mouth fell open briefly as goose bumps rose on his skin. Leila’s call had grown louder as they entered the temple, and now, Hannibal could clearly hear it over the noise of the malignant power lurking in the darkness around them. After a moment of hesitation, he motioned for them to move on after noticing their dismayed faces. They grudgingly moved on, following him into the open. He motioned for them to be ready for anything, keeping the Scepter and Caverias Sword in a defensive position while constantly scanning the lake for danger. Minutes later, they reached the mausoleum without incident. The large megalithic stone edifice spanned seventy feet across, and rose forty feet high as it sat on a pedestal of stone one hundred sixty foot square. It sat right in the middle of the platform and the causeway hooked directly on it. As they approached it, Hannibal noticed the giant multi-ton stones used to construct the edifice, along with the downright alien look of the structure.

They moved on the platform and Hannibal motioned for them to stop. Deep icy chills raced down his spine while he scanned the structure. Everything within him screamed he’d been there before. “This is it,” he whispered. “This has to be Leila’s tomb. It has to be.” He quickly looked at Ana and noticed her pall of terror. He asked her telepathically what was wrong, and she said this was where she saw her family taken by Nidhoggr and she captured by the Rakshasar. Hannibal put his finger to his lips in the be-quiet signal. He motioned for Andrew and Nathanael to go to the left. He then motioned to Morpheus, indicating that he would accompany him to the right. Hannibal motioned for the rest to gather at the mausoleum’s door, and be still.

At that, they checked the perimeter of the mausoleum. They quickly found that the causeway continued on the opposite side of the platform into the darkness. Hannibal met up with Nathanael and Andrew on the other side and they returned to the rest of the team. Ana stood there at the doors of the mausoleum with Selina and Amelia, staring. Hannibal moved up to her side as everyone moved in close. The water lapped and gurgled gently against the platform, as if something was stirring in the water. Hannibal looked at Ana with a questioning look. She didn’t respond, but stared at the doors. He then looked at the doors and saw that the doors were exquisite: carved with a Roc and a draken, like the doors that sealed Muriel in her prison in Acheron. Hannibal stepped toward the doors and Ana reached out urgently and restrained him, shaking her head no. He smiled and told her telepathically to trust him. He moved toward the doors and stopped just in front of them. They stood twenty feet tall and ten feet wide, oppositely hinged.

A strange silence suddenly fell over the area, where not even the sound of water lapping was heard. Everything became absolutely still. Hannibal’s sense of danger exploded as he looked at the doors. At the same time, the Caverias and Griffin Seals cooled significantly against his chest. Hannibal gestured to everyone to be alert. Tucking the scepter beneath his arm to free his hand, Hannibal started to touch the doors when there was a large, loud splash off in the darkness, followed by a rumble that echoed through the place. Hannibal swore silently and motioned for everyone to flatten themselves against the side of the mausoleum beneath its overhanging roof. They moved quickly as the rumble turned into a roaring alien gurgle. Hannibal searched the door frantically, looking for the mechanism that locked it. The gurgling roar and splashing suddenly stopped and everyone became very uncomfortable. Hannibal then saw an indentation in the door and looked very closely at it. It was an exact match for the signet he was wearing on his finger, right down to the Roc engraving in the indentation. “Bingo,” he whispered inaudibly.

Suddenly, an explosion of water got everyone’s attention. A spray of water and an earsplitting roar rolled in from the darkness. Taking the scepter in hand, Hannibal rushed out, smacking the scepter down on the platform with considerable force. The Scepter blazed, lighting a bubble five hundred feet in diameter. There before them loomed a tentacled monster with a body the size of three semi-trucks and twenty tentacles three feet plus in diameter at least one hundred fifty feet in length lined with barbed suction cups like a squid or octopus. It had eight black eyes as big as basketballs, four on each side of its head like a spider. A gaping maw full of razor sharp teeth big enough to swallow a bison whole with one gulp opened in a skull-splitting roar that rattled everyone’s bones. The teeth were similar to that of a T-rex, almost six inches in length curved inwards to rip flesh and prevent prey from escaping. As it roared, everyone noticed five lines of these teeth lining the beast’s mouth with the innermost teeth only two inches long, but shaped like the outermost teeth, curving inward. Just then, two giant suction-cupped pads attached to two longer tentacles smashed down on the edge of the platform, shaking it violently as its main body rose one hundred fifty feet away in the lake. The hit made everyone stagger.

“Oh, my god!” Hannibal breathed in horror. “The beast in my dream; it’s a Kraken; Nidhoggr is a Kraken! It’s real! I thought Krakens were just a myth; quick, everyone around the back!” The team didn’t argue, but fled the tentacles of the monster as they swarmed forth in search of victims with the creature’s rapid approach. Hannibal backed away quickly as the beast moved in, its tentacles swarming the platform. He wondered how they would get out of this one.

The Holy Spirit spoke to him as the tentacles began to surround him, saying, “Use the scepter and sword together. Use the light to drive back the Dark Titan.”

Hannibal smacked the scepter on the platform again and touched Caverias sword blade to the shaft of the scepter. The scepter and sword glowed like a solar fire, shining with such brilliance that Nidhoggr retreated into the darkness with a roar, blinded by its brilliance. With a splash and large wave that washed over the platform, it disappeared into the water. Hannibal braced himself as two feet of water washed around his legs while Nidhoggr vanished into the stagnant lake. Once the water drained back into the lake, Hannibal sighed heavily, relieved he’d managed under the Almighty’s direction to drive the beast back temporarily. Quickly, he turned back to the door. His team came back around to the door, asking where the monster went. “I don’t know,” Hannibal replied as he stopped in front of the doors of the mausoleum. “But I’m sure it will be back.”

“What are you doing?” Ana asked Hannibal as he slung the Caverias sword over his shoulder.

Andrew watched as Hannibal clenched his fist, ramming the signet ring into the indentation of the door. “We’re going in while we have an opportunity. As soon as it realizes it’s not hurt, it will be back,” he said as he rotated his fist and the ring in the indentation. There was a grating sound from the doors, followed by a hissing when the doors cracked open. A foul rancid stench came out of the mausoleum when it opened. Hannibal removed the ring and began to push on the door with his shoulder. “Come on. Help me. We have little time. The Kraken is guarding this place. I’m sure of it. Opening it may bring it back.”

“Then why open it?” Elle asked bluntly.

“Because this is why we came; this is what called to us,” Hannibal replied as he pushed heavily on the door. “I dreamed of this tomb sitting on this artificial island in the middle of this subterranean lake. Leila must be here. The call from her is strongest here. I can feel it even now. She’s in here. Come on, help me.” Andrew, Morpheus, and Nathanael put their strength behind Hannibal’s and the door groaned loudly as it opened for the first time in over twelve thousand years.

The sound echoed though the shaft as the door groaned. A gurgling alien roar answered the groan from the darkness. The team became very concerned, being ready for anything as Hannibal moved into the mausoleum once they opened the door enough for someone to get through it. Everything became very quiet again as Hannibal entered the tomb. Everyone made a perimeter around the door and Hannibal called out, “Ana, you’re with me. The rest of you keep down and quiet. No unnecessary movements; the Kraken may use motion to hunt as well as sight.” Ana disappeared into the door and everyone else stayed very alert. Water splashed at the platform as something of great size moved in the darkness generating waves.

Andrew happened to look up and noticed far above them lay the giant Triaskus web and the enormous egg sack. He also noticed that spiders were descending slowly through the web. “Uh, I don’t want to be an alarmist, but we aren’t done with the spiders just yet. Look up, guys!” he warned. Those outside the mausoleum looked up and saw the bottom portion of the web nearly a thousand feet over their heads and the spiders descending through it, attracted by the movement of Nidhoggr.

“Great!” Nathanael returned with dismay. “As if the Kraken wasn’t enough; stay close to the structure. We may not have been spotted yet.” Everyone hid in the shadow of the mausoleum’s overhanging roof, backs to the wall, ever alert.

Meanwhile inside the mausoleum, Hannibal and Ana found themselves in a tomb fit for a king, lined with gold and precious stones of every sort. Crystals spaced equidistantly along the walls were glowing softly, lighting the tomb. Treasure lay piled around the walls. Roc and draken carvings lay etched into the stone and inlaid with gold and precious stones. The carvings told a tale of great disaster and loss. Hannibal looked around in awe; his déjà vu now screaming incessantly that he’d been there before. The sight stunned Ana, and she too felt that she had been there before, inside the tomb. At the far end of the room sat a gold sarcophagus inlaid with crystal and etched with drakens, Rocs, and other strange icons. They moved to the sarcophagus and looked at it. Ana’s blood ran cold as she remembered what it was like to be locked inside a sarcophagus.

Hannibal stepped up to the sarcophagus with Ana and examined it closely, taking in everything that was around it. He found an inscription that he could read and read it aloud saying, “Here lies Leila Karac, wife of Ezra Karac, sister to Ariel Caverias, slain by the Emperor in the last stand of Caveria, laid to rest here by Thoth Caverias and Ezra Karac in the third month of the eightieth cycle of the Darkness...I knew it. They really did bury Leila here. That’s why she kept haunting me. She wanted me to find her crypt. But what was the promise I made her? I just can’t remember. What am I supposed to do now that I’m here?” He looked around the perimeter of the sarcophagus, searching for the locking mechanism. He glanced at Ana and saw her shivering with fear. “It’s all right, Ana,” he reassured her. “Be brave. As soon as I put Leila’s spirit to peace, we’ll leave. I promise.” In seconds, he found the locking mechanism, seeing that it was like the one on the mausoleum doors. The indentation with the impression of the Caverias signet was there right in front of him. He balled his fist up again, pushed the ring into the indentation, and turned it counterclockwise. There was a grating sound as the lock unlocked. A hiss of escaping air rushed out of the sarcophagus.

Ana touched Hannibal on the shoulder asking, “Is it wise to disturb the dead like this?”

Hannibal looked at her, saying, “It’ll be all right. I have found that coffins and sarcophagi don’t always hold corpses. If Leila happens to be here as I suspect, we will not disturb her rest, but pay our respects as her descendants so she can rest properly.” He handed the scepter to Ana and proceeded to shove on the lid. To his shock, the lid rolled like it was on ball bearings lengthwise with the sarcophagus, which was fourteen feet long. The lid rumbled back and stopped two thirds of the way back. The movement was buttery smooth and it took very little effort to move it. For a moment, Hannibal was unsure as to whether he should look in it or not.

Ana trembled with fear, saying, “We should not be doing this. We will be punished for disturbing her.”

Hannibal looked into the sarcophagus and sure enough, there she was...Leila Carie Karac, twin sister of Ariel Caverias. She lay dressed in a beautiful armored outfit fitting of a warrior queen. Hannibal’s blood ran cold as he saw her in all her regal splendor. The outfit looked incredibly familiar to him as if he’d seen it before. A golden mask of incredible detail with ruby crystal eyes covered the face and her gauntleted hands were clasped around a strange, elegant sword. It resembled a katana with a narrow blade, but the hilt was like that of a broadsword. The handle was long and her large hands with their long fingers clasped the handle, which sat just below her breastplate on what would have been her stomach. She looked much like an oriental warrior with the armor on. “Ana, look at this,” he breathed in awe of the majestic warrioress, with great honor and respect for whom he was looking at. Ana heard his tone and came forward, fearfully peeking into the sarcophagus. Her heart fluttered and jumped upon seeing the sight.

“I must see her face,” Hannibal said with much anticipation.

“No, you mustn’t disturb her!” Ana retorted urgently, touching him on the hand with her organic hand. “We’ll be punished for desecrating her resting place.”

Hannibal looked at Ana, saying, “What I propose is no desecration. I have to know whether she was Lynxian or not. I must know, and I know you must know too.” He reached into the sarcophagus, going for the mask, saying softly to the body, “Forgive us, great lady. We just want to see your face.” With both hands, he slowly lifted the mask and revealed her face. Upon removing the mask, both Hannibal and Ana gasped in astonishment. Leila lay there perfectly preserved: everything, right down to her fur, eyes, and eyelashes. She was stunning to behold, beautiful beyond measure. She had flaming red hair streaked with gray and silvery gray fur that shined in the light.

Hannibal gawked and finally cried, “This is impossible! She’s intact, not a sign of decay! It’s like she was just laid here yesterday! She doesn’t even look dead! I can’t even fathom this depth of preservation! The others must see this!” He gently laid the mask on Leila’s breastplate and rushed out to the others, saying softly, “You guys have got to see this! Come here and see!”

The team was very concerned at their precarious situation, watching the water and the web above them as the spiders slowly descended. “Is that a good idea, Uncle?” Andrew asked bluntly. “Nidhoggr is moving in the darkness and the spiders are descending from above us. Also, I’m now sensing something incredibly dark and evil stirring that isn’t Nidhoggr. It’s lurking out there in the darkness, awakening. I think our disturbing of Nidhoggr may be awakening this thing. I suggest that you do very quickly what needs to be done so we can quit this place before this second thing fully awakens!”

Hannibal moved out and looked up, seeing the giant spiders moving in the web above them, some of them dangling by drag lines, slowly dropping toward them. His countenance darkened as he too sensed the new evil stirring in the darkness. “Point well put, Andrew,” he replied grimly. “I’m now sensing it too, this new dark menace. But this will only take a minute, and then we’ll leave post haste. Come on, guys. As I suspected, this is the resting place of Ezra Karac’s wife, Leila.” He rushed back into the mausoleum and they followed him in. Ana was standing beside the open sarcophagus hands clenched together in front of her chest, with a pale complexion as if she’s seen a ghost. She stared into the face of Leila.

Hannibal walked up next to her and asked, “Is everything all right?”

Ana shook her head, whispering in awed horror, “No. It is not. We’re not prepared for what we’ve found. I know I’m not.”

“I can’t argue with that,” Hannibal agreed. “I don’t think any of us was prepared for this.”

Selina was the first to look upon Leila, gasping in astonishment. “Hannibal! She’s Lynxian, intact, and perfectly preserved!” she cried in wondrous shock. “She also looks like that portrait of Ariel and Thoth in Enoch’s quarters! Are you sure that this isn’t Ariel?”

Hannibal nodded, pointing to the lid, saying, “Leila’s name is carved on the lid.” In seconds, everyone gathered around, staring in unbelief at the beautiful, perfectly preserved cadaver of Leila Karac in the sarcophagus.

“Holy Ancient of Days,” Morpheus breathed in awe. “This is very advanced work here. I’ve never seen anything like it.” He immediately stepped back and dropped to one knee, paying homage to the dead general’s wife.

“Dad, she’s Lynxian,” Selina said, turning to Nathanael, who stared with utter fascination.

“Yes, princess, she is. How they were able to preserve her like this is incredible. We had no such means of preserving bodies on Kaitia. She doesn’t even look dead,” Nathanael replied as he patted Selina on the shoulder while Selina looked at the body in the sarcophagus. “She looks like she could wake up and walk away at any moment. I’m stunned at what I’m seeing here.”

Nothing escaped Selina’s critical eye. She picked up the mask and looked at the outfit. The Roc was engraved on the breastplate and the gold bands on her arms had both draken and Roc engravings. Finally, Selina took the mask and laid it carefully back on Leila’s face, saying, “Every discovery gives credence to the legends. Lynxians were here long ago and our people never believed it. Do you know what this means, dad? The stories...the myths about the Etherians have truth to it.” The possibility rattled Nathanael to his core. “This must be the planet the myths speak of, the place he found the Ammkar!” Selina declared with growing excitement. “The gateway to the Etherian trove is here on this planet somewhere.”

“What is she talking about?” Andrew asked, completely puzzled by the baffling nature of Selina’s comments.

Unknown to those present, one of Nidhoggr’s tentacles crept stealthily through the open door without making a sound. No one noticed the slimy intruder approaching from behind. They were too engrossed in the spectacle of Leila’s perfectly preserved body. The tentacle inched towards Morpheus silently as he knelt on one knee before the sarcophagus. Hannibal suddenly noticed the Caverias Seal and Griffin Seal getting extremely icy against his chest. At the same time, his danger meter pegged off the scale. When he looked at the door, he saw the slimy intruder about to strike. “Morpheus, look out behind you!” he shouted urgently.

At the same moment, the tentacle surged forward, snatching Morpheus by the leg and dragging him towards the door. He cried out in surprise, dropping his staff and clawing at the floor in panic. In less than ten seconds, the tentacle dragged him screaming out of the tomb, which got everyone’s attention.

“Shit! The Kraken got the drop on us!” Hannibal cursed, rushing outside to rescue Morpheus. Upon stepping out the door, Hannibal saw the platform overrun with the Nidhoggr’s tentacles and Morpheus dangling twenty feet in the air upside down by his leg. Everyone except Ana rushed out the mausoleum to save Morpheus.

“This is bad, very bad,” Nathanael growled, pulling his executioner’s blade and going to work on the tentacles. Selina, Amelia, Andrew, and Elle followed his example going on the attack with their blades.

“Andrew, catch Morpheus!” Hannibal shouted, firing his right Draken Gauntlet at the tentacle holding Morpheus, blowing it off. It immediately released him after being severed from Nidhoggr’s main body. Andrew dodged several tentacles and jumped, catching Morpheus as he came down. Immediately upon landing, Morpheus drew his sword and attacked with Andrew and the others. Hannibal evaded several tentacle strikes and fired both Gauntlets at once into the face of Nidhoggr. It roared in fury as the heavy plasma rounds burned its face, bursting a couple of eyes on its right side. It backed away with the hit briefly, and then counterattacked brutally.

“Fall back!” Hannibal shouted over Nidhoggr’s roar as its tentacles swarmed forth again, snapping like whips. This time, Nidhoggr pushed its main body up to the edge of the platform, encircling the platform with its massive tentacles so none could escape. Seeing Nidhoggr wide-awake and aggressively attacking, the Spiders stopped their descent and retreat into their web well beyond its reach. Hannibal also sensed the other dark presence stirring even stronger with the battle.

After a slicing off four tentacles, Andrew shouted, “The beast is re-growing the tentacles as fast as we can cut them off. What do we do now?”

Hannibal blasted tentacle that tried to grab him, noticing it didn’t start regenerating. “We have to burn them!” he replied over the din. “Does anyone have any grenades? Now would be a good time to use them.”

“I have six,” Nathanael stated, already pulling a fragmentation grenade out of his belt pouch.

“So do I,” Andrew reported, popping the cap on his grenade and throwing it at the body of the beast, “Fire in the hole!”

Nathanael threw his grenade at the same time shouting, “Take cover!” Everyone dropped to the deck as the two grenades went off at the edge of the platform, blowing off five tentacles, rupturing three more of its eyes, and doing major damage to the abomination’s body with the shrapnel. A black, tarlike liquid that smelled of sulfur and decaying death spewed from the wounds on its main body where it hadn’t been scorched by the grenades. Nidhoggr shrieked so loud its cry shook the entire cavern while backing away from the platform a second time.

“Again, hit it again with the grenades!” Hannibal barked as he fired two more full-power plasma volleys from the Draken Gauntlets at the main body of the beast. The rounds found their mark. One hit it square in the face, blowing out the third left eye from the front, and sending chunks of its flesh flying with its putrid black blood. The second round hit high up on the head well above the eyes; gouging and burning a crater in its body that didn’t slow it down.

Andrew and Nathanael lobbed two more grenades at the beast, only to see it smack them away with its tentacles before they exploded. The grenades landed in the water, exploding with a spray of water. “Shit!” Nathanael cursed, “It’s on to our grenades, Hannibal. It’s knocking them away before they go off!”

“I can see that!” Hannibal replied in anger, seeing his attack on the main body with the Draken Gauntlets was not doing enough damage. “Hit it with the grenades again! I’ll try to distract it.” He fired a barrage of five shots from the Draken Gauntlets in rapid succession to blind and distract the beast as it again swarmed forth. The attack blew off three more tentacles while two of his shots made contact with the main body above the eyes, burning two more large craters in its flesh. Chunks of sizzling alien cephalopod flesh blasted off its body with a spray of its black blood.

Nathanael and Andrew threw their last four grenades at the same time. The creature again knocked away two grenades harmlessly. However, the other two grenades went off near its main body, blowing off another four tentacles and enraging the monstrosity with the wounds. With the remaining ten tentacles, it counterattacked the team with a mind-numbing roar. Its tentacles swarmed forward in a writhing mass faster than any snake on the planet, snapping like whips and striking like cobras. During the counterattack, the Draken Gauntlets ran out of ammunition, forcing Hannibal to resort to the Caverias Sword to keep the tentacles away. The others did what they could with their swords to fend off the tentacles, which kept regenerating as they cut them off since they ran out of grenades and plasma rounds.

In less than thirty seconds of the counterattack, Nidhoggr snared Morpheus, Amelia, Selina, and Nathanael. Hannibal, Andrew, and Elle danced around the giant tentacles, stabbing and slicing them to get the creature to release its victims. Hannibal cut Morpheus free only to be sideswiped by a tentacle, thrown against the side of the mausoleum, and knocked senseless for a few moments. The hard hit against the side of the mausoleum caused Hannibal to drop the Caverias Sword, which slid to the edge of the platform near the back of the structure. The tentacle then promptly picked him up with lightning speed, coiling around Hannibal’s torso, pinning his arms at his side. “Hannibal!” Selina cried out in horror seeing Hannibal knocked out and captured while she remained snared in its tentacle. A groan escaped her lips as it slow crushed her.

Andrew cut Selina loose, and then freed Nathanael only to have a tentacle whip him viciously. It knocked his sword away and crushed him to the platform, knocking him senseless and then snaring him with the same tentacle.

Elle attacked viciously with her bladed bo-staff, slicing tentacles at will. She cut Amelia loose only to be blindsided by a tentacle that disarmed and snared her, its tentacle coiled around her in a python-like fashion. Amelia then proceeded to free her, only to be caught again by the tentacles. For four minutes, they battled with the titanic Nidhoggr, repeatedly freeing themselves from its tentacles only to be caught again by the regenerating limbs.

Hannibal came to three minutes after hitting the mausoleum. Seeing Nidhoggr pulled up onto the causeway and everyone captured except for Morpheus and Ana, who had never come out of the mausoleum, a dark look crossed Hannibal’s face. Rage filled his features as he saw Selina dangling over the snapping maw of the abomination. In a blink, Hannibal’s rage went nuclear. “Selina!” he roared, desperately trying to get free to save her. However, he found that something not only kept his rage from enhancing his strength, skill, and speed, it also kept his elemental power from manifesting.

“Do something, Uncle!” Andrew pleaded. “It’s going to eat Aunt Selina!”

“I can’t!” Hannibal replied desperately. “My elemental power has been stifled and my rage isn’t focused enough for me to use it. I think Nidhoggr is doing this somehow! It’s infuriating!”

In that same moment, Morpheus saw Selina’s mortal peril and acted without hesitation. He rushed the beast with his sword, hurtling it into the right forward eye of the beast. The sword found its mark and burst the eye, penetrating into its hideous bulbous head up to the hilt. Nidhoggr shrieked and the tentacle that had Selina dangling over its maw moved with lightning speed without releasing her, trying to capture or crush Morpheus. When the tentacle came down on Morpheus, it let go of Selina, sending her flying almost into the mausoleum. Morpheus dove aside, only to be whipped by another tentacle and then caught. Selina landed unconscious when she came to a stop just outside the doors of the mausoleum. Nidhoggr then smashed Morpheus headfirst against the stone platform viciously until he was barely conscious. Blood coated his face and head.

At the same time, the monstrosity brought Andrew toward its maw, ready to devour him. Andrew was powerless against the beast. “Oh, man; I didn’t think I’d go this way, Uncle!” he called out painfully as the tentacle squeezed him while moving him into position.

“It isn’t over yet!” Hannibal wheezed from the tentacle’s increasing pressure as he saw Ana emerge from the mausoleum, seeing everyone in mortal peril. She looked different somehow. With the Shadizar Kahn’s scepter in her cybernetic hand, and Leila’s sword in her organic hand, her eyes blazed with burning hatred of Nidhoggr. Both the scepter and Leila’s sword glowed brightly, so bright it chased away darkness for three hundred feet in every direction. Nidhoggr roared, blinded by the brilliance of the two ancient weapons.

Ana rushed out like a maniac with a terrible war cry...her fear totally gone. She charged the beast, splitting any tentacle that impeded her progress with Leila’s sword. Nidhoggr’s tentacles sizzled as she sliced them off; Leila’s glowing sword blade apparently so hot it cauterized every cut she made. Without stopping, Ana severed the tentacle that held on to Andrew just before it reached the creature’s slavering maw. The force of the cut caused the tentacle holding Andrew to launch away from Nidhoggr’s body as if spring-loaded. Both Andrew and the tentacle crashed to the platform near the front of the mausoleum.

Ana reached the ponderous bulk of Nidhoggr with a malevolent gleam in her eye seconds after freeing Andrew. She jumped effortlessly onto the ponderous, slimy body of Nidhoggr. Ana used the scepter and Leila’s sword in tandem as she flew through the air, slicing any tentacles that came near her with white-hot glowing sword of Leila Karac. She landed right beside the gaping, snapping maw of the beast. A barbed tentacle tongue six inches in diameter shot out of its mouth, trying to grab Ana as she landed. Seeing the tongue, she severed it with a single slice of Leila’s glowing sword. Nidhoggr shrieked...retracting what was left of the tongue while writhing wildly in pain-enhanced rage. Ana moved with the speed of a cheetah up the body toward its eyes, ignoring Nidhoggr’s efforts to shake her off and into its snapping drooling mouth. When she reached the eyes, she plunged Leila’s sword into it up to the hilt, bursting the left front eye and burying the burning blade deep in its brain behind the eye. It shrieked and writhed violently as she clung to it like a tick.

When the violence of Nidhoggr’s writhing subsided slightly, Ana jammed the scepter into it above the two center eyes with both hands, shrieking, “Die, you fucking monster! This is for my family!” She had bare skin contact with the Scepter, as did the ring she was wearing. The ring and Scepter shined like the sun as she buried the head of the scepter in the beast, pushing it in almost half the length of the scepter’s staff. It shrieked as an energy pulse flared out of the crystal head of the scepter, arcing to both Leila’s sword and Morpheus’ blade and roasting the monster’s brain from the inside. It howled and roared in mortal agony as its enormous brain slowly burned to a cinder. It instantly released its victims as its shriek echoed up the shaft to the spiders, which retreated even farther. In the darkness, the other thing Hannibal sensed fully awakened and watched from a safe distance as Ana struck the killing blow to Nidhoggr.

“Yes!” Ana shrieked maniacally. “Die, Nidhoggr! Die! You will have no more victims, ever!” She twisted and pried on the scepter, pushing it deeper into the beast. Within seconds, the smell of Nidhoggr’s burning flesh rose and it snapped its deadly maw one last time before expiring, slumping to the platform. With a very satisfied look on her face, Ana yanked the scepter out of the beast first. It was dripping of its putrid black blood. Then she reached down and pulled Leila’s sword out of the monster. She instantly swung both the scepter and the sword, cleaning both weapons of Nidhoggr’s putrid blood that now stunk of its rotting, burning flesh. In that same moment, Ana noticed the glow from both weapons had softened tremendously with Leila’s sword blade no longer being white-hot. Looking down from her perch on the monster, she saw Hannibal and Andrew limping forward. Hannibal was clenching his chest in pain as he looked up at her. Selina sat with her back to the Mausoleum wall with Amelia and Nathanael sitting there with her. Morpheus lay off to the side of one tentacle, bloody and motionless. Elle staggered around, searching for Morpheus. Ana panted as she raised both the Scepter and Leila’s sword above her head and cried out the Kaitian victory cry. Nidhoggr twitched and trembled slightly, the last shivers of its immense nervous system firing in death.

Hannibal looked up at Ana and despite the pain he was in, began to clap. Andrew did the same and seconds later, the rest of the team, except for Morpheus joined in. “Bravo! Bravo! Very well done!” Hannibal wheezed. “I knew that you were going to be a powerful ally; very well done indeed.” He doubled over and Andrew helped him stand as Ana leaped off Nidhoggr like a gazelle. She landed in front of Hannibal, holding the scepter and the sword of Leila Karac.

Looking her in the eye, Hannibal saw something that intrigued him. “Well, well; I see Leila’s guardian on you, Ana,” he declared through his pain. “You two make a good team.”

Ana smiled soberly, saying, “You were right to come here. There’s something very important you have to see before we leave. I suggest that we do it quickly before the spiders change their mind about having us for dinner and that other thing we’re sensing decides to come out of hiding and kill us. Our battle definitely woke it up.”

Hannibal smiled painfully, saying, “Sounds like very good advice. But first, have you seen Morpheus?”

Ana shook her head, saying, “No.” Her face fell with concern for her old friend.

“Morpheus is over here!” Elle called out urgently after finding him. She pushed the giant slimy tentacle away from him, adding, “He’s hurt pretty bad.” Selina, Amelia, and Nathanael managed to get up and stagger over to Elle and Morpheus. They arrived the same time Hannibal, Andrew, and Ana did. Selina grimaced when she saw Morpheus. It looked like he’d been crushed. His body was like a rag doll with blood coating his head and face turning his white hair scarlet. Ana dropped the scepter and Leila’s sword, sprinting to him as Elle held him in her lap. Morpheus wasn’t dead, but almost.

Hannibal knelt next to Morpheus as Elle managed to get him to come around. With a moan, he opened his bloody eyes, seeing Hannibal and Ana. “Looks like I just wasn’t fast enough,” he wheezed, coughing up blood. “I think I done as much as I care to do. Today was a very GOOD day.”

“Don’t talk like that!” Ana rebuked him in horror. “You’ll be better before you know it.”

Morpheus looked her in the eye, saying, “We both know that isn’t true. I saw what you did.” He paused as he gasped for air, coughing out more blood.

Hannibal looked at Amelia and she shook her head grimly, her expression saying everything. Morpheus couldn’t be saved and Amelia knew it.

“You finally found yourself, Ana,” Morpheus whispered in extreme pain. “I’m glad. You know who you are and where you belong now. I haven’t ever seen such courage and strength. Watch over my people, Ana. They’re your responsibility now. Lead them as I did.”

Ana knew Morpheus was dying and there wasn’t a thing she could do about it. “No, no!” she cried with tears in her eyes, grasping his crushed, bloody hand. “You can’t die! You’re my friend, the only friend I had all those long years in Acheron. I’ll use my gift to heal you! You can’t die!”

Morpheus shushed her, saying, “Shhh. We both know there’s nothing that can be done. You drained yourself healing Beowulf. You don’t have the strength to heal me too, even with Amelia’s help.” He gasped again, twitching in extreme pain, and then coughed, spitting out blood. “My body is crushed, Ana, my bones shattered and organs ruptured. There’s nothing left to save. My life ebbs away as surely as the night follows the day. But I’m not afraid to die. Beowulf has taught us that there is life after death. I believe in the power of his God. I will live again in the kingdom of Beowulf’s God,” he gurgled and Ana wept as did Elle, Amelia, and Selina. He closed his eyes momentarily as he coughed out more blood. Opening his eyes, he saw Ana crying as well as Hannibal. “Don’t cry for me, my friends. I go to a better place,” he whispered shallowly with great effort. “Beowulf, my king, take my staff. It is an heirloom of my people, of where we come from. It’s special, like the scepter you use and the other items you have gathered in your travels with the alien writing. Take it and use it wisely. Watch over my children. Guard them, keep them safe; let them see the sky I will never....” Morpheus breathed his last, dying in Elle’s arms.

Elle broke emotionally, having never had a person die in her arms. She shook him, crying, “Morpheus, don’t die! Please don’t die! Your people need you. We need you. I need you.”

Ana sat there, kneeling, looking down at the ground, tears flowing like a river. She suddenly raised her head and screamed at the top of her lungs, “Not again! Not again, I killed it! It’s not fair! I killed it!”

Hannibal looked at his fallen comrade and put his hand on Morpheus’ broken chest, saying choking with emotion, “Go, my friend. Fly to your rest. Paradise awaits you.” He wept bitterly, feeling responsible for leading Morpheus to his death.

Ana pounded the platform with her fists, sobbing deeply, “No! No! It’s not fair! I loved him! Why does everyone I love have to die?”

Selina moved around to Ana and knelt down beside her, wrapping her arms around Ana. They wept together in a sad embrace.

Andrew was very solemn and tremendously upset by the loss as well. He had come to know Morpheus as a good friend too, even a mentor. Morpheus had taught him many things in the little time they had been together, expanding Andrew’s view of the universe in profound ways.

Nathanael walked back to the Mausoleum, grieving for the loss, but kept a sharp eye on the web and spiders above them. He noticed that the spiders were slowly beginning to descend again towards their position, which caused him great concern. When he saw the movement, he rushed back to the group and said, “We’re going to have to do this another time. The spiders are moving again and I think a strategic retreat would be in order. We’re in no condition to fight off an army of spiders.”

The warning snapped Hannibal out of his grief. “Right,” he replied, putting on his warrior face again seeing the imminent peril descending upon them. “Everyone snap out of it. Morpheus is gone, but he would want us to live, otherwise his sacrifice will be in vain. Ana, show me what you were talking about earlier. Andrew, Nathanael, bring Morpheus into the mausoleum. Selina, Elle, Amelia, gather our weapons and come inside. Do it, quickly, before the spiders see us.” Hannibal rose, wiping the tears away. Selina helped Ana up as Nathanael and Andrew picked up Morpheus. Hannibal picked up the Scepter and sword of Leila Karac while Selina retrieved the Caverias Sword. Presented Leila’s sword to Ana, he said softly, “Show me what you saw, Ana.”