Legends of Amacia Return of the Beowulf

A Close Call

The moment Hannibal set foot outside his quarters, instinct drove him to the roof of the Red Tower. Ten minutes later, he stood on the eastern edge of the Tower, looking out over the sea with the Bane slung over his shoulder. Pterodactyls and pteronadons glided on thermals as they fished. The sound of heavy breakers pounding the shore below him roared below him. The crystal capstones on the spires glowed softly like a lighthouse. A chilled wind blew from the southeast, causing Hannibal to pull his cloak around him to cut the wind. An ominous cloudbank to the south, southeast hung like a phantom on the horizon, flashing periodically in the night. “What is it, Lord? Why have you driven me out here at this hour with the Bane? What am I doing here?” he muttered in prayer. Once again, the Almighty Ancient of Days remained silent, as did Caverias and Hannibal’s other angelic guardians. His guardian angels had remained curiously silent since his mutation reversal. Only Caverias revealed himself in the dream of the sandstorm to keep Hannibal from being captured by the Black Prince just before he woke from that dream. His words to Hannibal in the dream were very enigmatic, puzzling Hannibal who felt as if he were being left out of the loop.

Being very irritated at being so wired, Hannibal sat down cross-legged on the Tower with a groan. For some unknown reason, his muscles started aching. Unslinging the Bane, he sat it in his lap with his hands resting on it. Sing Grimm’s Requiem, a disembodied soft voice whispered in Hannibal’s ear.

Seeing no reason not to and genuinely wanting to calm down, Hannibal began humming, and then singing Grimm’s Requiem softly. It slowly brought peace to his mind while relaxing his body. Within twenty minutes, Hannibal felt at complete peace with himself and his surroundings. The Requiem even soothed his aching muscles, to his surprise. A soft smile came to his face as he realized he should have used the song right after waking from the nightmare. “I’m so stupid,” he murmured. “I didn’t need to come out here to do this. Still, something doesn’t feel right. Even though I’m at peace, I’m still on edge. Something is happening, but I don’t know what. What’s really going on here? Why did the Lord drive me out here at this hour?”

An ominous rumble rose from the south, southeast cloudbank that drew Hannibal’s attention. “Hmmm,” he murmured, suddenly rising to his feet with the Bane feeling a crawling, tingling sensation over his skin. “I’ve seen that before. That looks like another one of those strange storms.” When curtains of blue, green, and red auroras appeared in the upper clouds while lightning started arcing between the sheets of light and clouds, Hannibal knew he was seeing another electromagnetic storm. “Whoa,” he breathed, entranced by the display of raw planetary power. “It’s just like the storm I saw before my mutation reversal. But something’s different with it this time. What could it be?” As he watched, the cloud phenomena started swirling clockwise. The clouds spiraled upwards forming an upside-down tornado. The auroras twisted and turned, following the same rotation of the clouds, funneling into a center point in the upper portions of the cloud cone. Lightning crackled between the auroras and the cloud looking much like a portal generator opening a gateway. A feeling of deep alien dread abruptly filled Hannibal as he stared at the phenomena. Grimm’s ancient malice that had been lurking in the back of Hannibal’s mind suddenly surged for a few moments before subsiding to its previous background level.

“Grimm’s trying to break through,” Hannibal whispered fearfully. “I can feel it, but he can’t get through yet. Somehow, I can sense his rage at his inability to get through. Why am I sensing his rage and malice now?” Before he could blink, the spiraling portal-like storm over the southeastern Sea of Calui flowed into a single point and set off a coronal flash along with a massive glowing shockwave that seemed to bend reality itself as it spread out in all directions. Hannibal cried out in surprise, turning away and hiding his eyes with his arm. Despite shielding his eyes, the flash blinded him. At the same time, he felt as if the Tower beneath him was dropping into a hole with him. Falling to the Tower’s deck, Hannibal curled into a fetal ball keeping Grimm’s Bane close. The sensation of being dragged into the center of the storm through a hole filled his being. “Not again,” he moaned. “This is Bolivia all over again. This thing is distorting reality. I can feel it.”

Seconds later, a roar filled his ears as he lost all sense of direction in an attack of intense vertigo. His sight returned, though blurry. It was enough to enhance the spinning vertigo he felt. At its worst, Hannibal felt as if the storm was dragging him into its spiraling center. The roar in his ears became a deep rumble that shook his bones. A scream escaped Hannibal’s lips as intense pain filled his body from some force pulling his bones in all directions. The scream echoed out into the night, a distress call of immense power heard by every telepathic being in the caverns. Then as quickly as it came, the pain subsided with the vertigo. The feeling of being torn apart by the powers of the universe vanished, allowing him to come out of his fetal position. However, the rumble remained, only to be joined by a trembling of the Tower beneath him. It shook violently, swaying the Tower noticeably.

Nemesis rushed out onto the top of the Tower after monitoring the storm from the portal chamber. He saw Hannibal lying on his side moaning as the structure trembled violently. Rushing to his side, Nemesis rolled Hannibal on his back, seeing a glazed look in his eyes while he trembled from head to toe. “Hannibal, are you okay?” he asked with great concern.

“I...don’t...know,” Hannibal moaned. “Give me a minute. Is the Tower okay?”

“Yes,” Nemesis reported. “The storm and quake haven’t damaged the Tower, only shaken it enough to knock loose items off of shelves. What are you doing up here? You shouldn’t be out here. This storm is very dangerous.”

“I couldn’t sleep,” Hannibal admitted as Nemesis helped him sit up. “The nightmares are back with a vengeance, and I came out here to find some repose from them. After singing Grimm’s Requiem to calm down, the storm to the southeast caught my attention. It’s no ordinary storm. It’s like the last one I saw before my mutation reversal, but somehow different. I sensed Grimm in the center of the storm at its peak, but he wasn’t able to get through. Then I felt like I was falling into a singularity again. Only this time it was far worse than the last time. It reminded me of that fateful day in Bolivia.”

“Indeed,” Nemesis replied. “You’re definitely right about the storm being like the other one. I was monitoring it from the portal when it peaked and blinded the machinery. There was definitely gravitational and dimensional anomalies recorded in the storm. They were much stronger than the last one I recorded over the Sea and was much closer to us. It triggered a massive quake thirty leagues offshore beneath the storm.”

“I know,” Hannibal admitted. “I felt it after whatever swamped me passed by. It’s unlike anything I ever remembered experiencing. Please tell me we don’t have anyone near the shoreline.”

“No one goes near the shores,” Nemesis stated. “Enoch forbade it because of the dangerous marine life; remember?”

“Something still isn’t right,” Hannibal declared. “Help me up.”

Nemesis helped Hannibal to his feet as the tower stopped shaking. “The tremor has stopped, but I still hear a roar coming from the sea,” Nemesis reported.

“Let’s take a look,” Hannibal insisted. They walked a few feet to the edge and looked down at the sea. “Oh, shit,” he growled. “Do you see the water rapidly receding from the shoreline? That can mean only one thing.”

“The quake has triggered a sea wave, hasn’t it?” Nemesis answered grimly.

“Indeed,” Hannibal stated. “But how big is the wave? I can’t see much in this dim light. Use that machine eye of yours and scan the water. You may be able to see it.”

Nemesis’ machine eye opened and zoomed as he scanned the horizon. “Fate, be merciful,” he growled. “I see a wave of forty cubits heading this way. It’s half a league from the shore and moving extremely fast. It’ll destroy anything it hits short of this tower. I estimate it will hit the shore in ten minutes. Fortunately, the cliffs at the shore are eighty cubits in height so the wave won’t overflow the land.”

“You’re sure there’s no one near the shore?” Hannibal asked bluntly.

“Absolutely,” Nemesis assured. “I checked with the portal hologram before coming up here. Besides, no one in his or her right mind would violate Enoch’s rule about the shore, much less be near the water this time of night. They know how dangerous this place is.”

“Good,” Hannibal replied. “I’d hate to be down there when it hits. That wave is a destroyer.” His legs suddenly failed him, causing Nemesis to catch him.

“You don’t look too good,” Nemesis observed, scanning Hannibal with his cyborg eye. “I see some internal damage to your organs and muscles. It’s as if something tried to tear you apart internally. I suggest you make use of the Healer right now.”

“You may be right,” Hannibal agreed. “I feel like something tried to beat me to death.” The taste of blood tickled his tongue as his nose, eyes, and ears began to bleed. “Get me to the Healer, because I don’t think I can make it on my own,” he ordered.

“Right away,” Nemesis stated, heading back into the Tower after scooping up Hannibal. “You definitely took damage. You’re bleeding from your eyes, nose, and ears now.”

“You’re right,” Hannibal moaned, wiping what he thought was a tear from his eye and finding blood. “I am bleeding out. I just hope it isn’t serious. I have too much to do to be sidelined by this storm.”

“Don’t worry,” Nemesis reassured, trotting through the corridors. “You just have some moderate damage. It’s not lethal and the Healer should repair it in no time.”

“Let’s hope so,” Hannibal stated. “This storm underscores how little time we have left.”

“I agree,” Nemesis agreed. Minutes later, he left Hannibal in the Healer, going to make sure the storm and quake didn’t do any damage to the people.