Legends of Amacia Rise of the Caverias

In the same moment, the battle continued in free-fall between Hanna and Baal…the Beast of Fire. Hanna called on all her combat experience, especially her skills as a paratrooper as she, after about three thousand feet, managed to slow her fall using her long leather coat as a kind of parachute. She was able to arrest her fall enough for Baal to catch her, which she wanted. In a brilliant move, she turned and faced the demon, running directly into its blistering body, getting in so close it could not use its weapons. Hanna did, however, uses hers, striking repeatedly with Ezra’s blade with all her might and strength…a strength enhanced by not just wielding Ezra’s Sword, but also from the super adrenaline rush from the fury of her berserker rage. She and Baal fought for nearly two hours as they fell, each combatant giving and taking devastating hits. Finally, Hanna found a weak spot in Baal’s neck as they tumbled inexorably downwards.

Suddenly, they emerged into an immense cavern where the ruins of a great city lay. The ancient cyclopean city sat on an island in the middle of a sea of molten rock. An eerie light lit the cavern as they fell. There were many more devourers flying around in the cavern like those she’d seen on the bridge. They immediately noticed the mortal combat that had fallen into their midst. Hanna saw the end of her battle approaching, as well as the end of her life. Nevertheless, she fought on to the last. Finding the weak spot on the neck, Hanna first hewed off the demon’s arms, and then turned her sword on the neck of the beast, shrieking, “Die already, you malignant fiery fuck! My enemies die! They always die!” Repeatedly, she plunged the sword into the neck of her adversary, and then with one mighty swipe, hewed Baal’s head off completely as they came crashing into the great city. Baal’s head went flying in one direction, falling into the molten rock while his body plummeted towards the city. Fire and burning yellow blood gushed from the severed neck and from the other wounds as they fell into the ruined city like a falling star. The demoniac devourers that saw the climactic battle were stupefied that a mere human woman could bring down Baal…the Beast of Fire. At thirty feet off the ground, Hanna dove off the ruined carcass of Baal just before it slammed into the ground and exploded in a ball of fire, leaving streams of caustic burning yellow blood and chunks of charred flaming flesh scattered over a two hundred foot perimeter. Baal’s impact and explosion blew a crater thirty feet across and six feet deep in the ground. The concussion from the explosion caught Hanna, flinging her over a hundred feet from ground zero. She tumbled through the air from the blast and slammed hard into the side of a giant pillar ten feet in diameter, knocking her senseless for nearly fifteen minutes.

Hanna lay there in the midst of this hell, unable to move and barely conscious because of the fall and fight. The devourers circled and closed on her, remaining back nearly thirty feet, fearful to get too close because she’d slain their champion. Hanna came to, wheezing and clenching her chest with one hand and her sword with the other. They scattered when she moved. Slowly, she managed to sit up, leaning against the pillar, looking around at the ruins about her. Hanna saw devourers everywhere she looked, but noticed that they were not moving in on her. She then saw the remains of her adversary and prayed, giving thanks to the Lord who had given her victory over her most powerful adversary. The prayers seemed to drive the devourers back farther. After giving thanks, Hanna used her sword as a cane to push herself to her feet, at which time she looked at herself, seeing smoke rising from her clothes, armor, and even her hair. Her legs buckled, dropping her to her knees as she winced in excruciating, burning pain. “Damn,” she moaned, noticing that she had been badly burned. Her hair was singed and stinking, some of it burned completely off. Her leather coat was charred and burned. In addition, her armor was melted somewhat by Baal’s infernal heat. She ached and movement was very painful as she eyed everything suspiciously. Pushing herself to her feet again, she asked, “To what hell have I come to this time?”

Slowly, Hanna started walking until she topped a hill, seeing the island before her. Her arms and legs trembled from the burns and her ribs ached as she looked around. Her heart fell for she knew this island all too well from her dreams. It was a place of great torment and no escape in her dreams. The devourers flitted around her like ghosts as she looked at the city with its ruined structures and cyclopean architecture. A temple that sat inside a colossal Stonehenge-style circle stood out. Being drawn towards the temple, Hanna started toward it slowly. The clucking and hissing of the devourers constantly surrounded her and she wondered why they didn’t just finish her off. She knew if they were to swarm her, she would be finished. Roughly half way to the temple, which stood nearly a half mile from where she first saw it, the devourers closed in a bit.

A few moments later, a shadowy figure slithered out of the ruins just ahead of her to confront her. Hanna clenched the sword in her hand, but was too weak to use it. She stopped as the devourers closed on her to about twenty feet. One of the devourers slithered out of the shadows to about eight feet in front of her and reared up on its two hind legs, standing nearly seven feet tall when it stood up fully. It spanned eighteen feet in length, covered in a dense leathery, dark gray skin that seemed almost reptilian to Hanna. She looked at it with more curiosity than fear, assuming it was a devourer. The creature appeared to be bat-like with a small gaunt torso that seemed to be a fusion of veloci-raptor, snake, and human. Characteristics of each species showed in the strange undersized torso that spanned no more than three and a half feet in length and two feet wide to which all its limbs were attached. Its hip position reflected more of the veloci-raptor bone structure with two massive reverse hinged legs protruding out either side of the hip area, looking exactly like the legs of a veloci-raptor, right down to the oversized toe-claw on its big toe. Hanna noticed the powerfully muscled legs spanned more than four feet in length and sixteen inches across on its thigh above the reverse-hinged knees. The seven-inch toe claw on its big toe tapped nervously against the ground as the creature eyed Hanna. Two serpentine tails ten feet in length extended back from between the creature’s hind legs. Each tail resembled huge writhing snakes with a bony barb on the end the creature could use as a weapon. Hanna kept close eye on the tails as they writhed around as if they had a mind of their own.

Moving up towards the creature’s upper torso, Hanna noted the creature had a more bat-like appearance with two massive wings attached to its upper appendages. These strange arms stretched at least six feet in length and looked vaguely human. On the very end of these arms, Hanna saw an odd hand with three clawed fingers terminating in razor-sharp talons. One of these fingers seemed to be in a human-like opposable thumb position. The thick leather wings attached to these arms from the shoulder down past its elbow right to its wrist while also attaching to the creature’s torso down to its legs. The wing’s internal structure became plainly evident as they wrapped around the creature like a regal cloak. Hanna could see the bony framework beneath its leather webbing.

When Hanna’s eye came to the creature’s enormous head, she then realized how alien this creature was. Her burnt eyebrow rose as she noticed its elongated head seemed to be a hybrid mix of veloci-raptor and a misshapen human. Its head stretched three feet from front to back in an oval-like shape with two bony protrusions extending out of the skull two feet to either side approximately where its temple area would be located on the skull. A strange, three-inch compound eye sat at the end of each of these protrusions. On the main part of the skull just behind the snakelike nose on the end of its snout sat two widely spaced and deeply inset gray eyes three inches wide that looked vaguely human. These eyes lined up with the bony protrusions on the side of its head. A sharp bony blade ran from the rear of the skull where it attached onto its neck to the tip of the nose, making it a formidable weapon. The creature’s long jaws reached from the tip of its snout back eighteen inches to where the head attached to its sixteen inch wide, two-foot long neck. Seven-inch long, razor sharp needle teeth filled its massive maw. Hanna instantly realized this creature...this devourer could easily bite her head off. A foul sulfurous odor emanated from the creature, making Hanna grimace slightly.

The creature leaned down, standing nose to nose with Hanna, looking her in the eye as it flicked a forked tongue between its teeth. A hissing rumble echoed from it. Deciding not to antagonize the creature, Hanna said in the most amiable tone she could muster, “Hello. How are you?”

The creature backed off a little, taken off guard by Hanna speaking in a friendly manner. It hissed and clucked in response, raising one of its clawed hands and pointing to Hanna’s sword. Hanna immediately noticed it, asking, “You know this blade?”

The creature growled as it used the same appendage to point back to where she killed the fiery Baal.

“Yes,” Hanna replied wearily. “I killed it. It left me no choice.” The creature balled its claw into a fist as if it were angry, and then relaxed it, hissing. It pushed right up to Hanna’s face and she knew not to show any fear. “I’ll kill you too, but I don’t want to,” she stated coldly. “I just want to see Muriel, not to pick a fight with you. The Beast was my enemy. You are not.” Hanna suddenly became aware the devourers had great intelligence and understood her. When she mentioned Muriel, it straightened up, backed away a step, and then turned its head toward the ruins briefly before looking back at Hanna.

“Yes. That’s where I’m going,” Hanna stated. “I don’t know why. I know one thing is for certain, I will not leave here the way I came in.” The creature hissed, showing its forked tongue again, and turned away from Hanna, leaning over until it sat balanced on its back legs, and slinked ahead of her, moving like a ghost. It stopped suddenly when Hanna didn’t follow and turned, hissing and clucking urgently. The creature turned back and started moving again, so Hanna began to move, following it toward the ruins. As she walked, Hanna could sense the malevolent evil emanating not just from the devourers, but also from the place itself. It concerned her greatly, but rather than try to get away from it, she chose to follow her devourer guide. With her telepathic abilities on high alert, Hanna could sense the devourer’s intentions, including her guide. For the moment, they still feared her and she knew it, giving her the edge.

The creature led Hanna toward the ruined temple with the other devourers following like shadows, hissing and clucking as they flitted like ghosts. As she walked, her strength gradually returned, allowing her to carry Ezra’s sword in more defensive manner. Hanna quickly realized her returning strength originated with her sword. She could feel its power flowing into her hands and up her arms into her core, strengthening her as she carried the giant blade. Still, her head ached and bled and her ribs throbbed from where she’d hit the pillar. Her arms and legs still burned from the blast furnace heat of Baal. The creature led her into the vast temple, and then flitted away like a ghost. Hanna stood in one end of a great colonnade, feeling like an ant inside a coliseum. She looked around at the cyclopean architecture and colossal sixty foot statues of pagan gods and demons from around the world. Huge flaming torches lined the colonnade. Towards the far end some two hundred yards distant, Hanna saw a gigantic throne of polished crimson-colored marble large enough for a thirty-foot giant to sit in it comfortably. The rest of the temple seemed to be constructed from a strange pinkish marble, giving the entire place a hellish look. All manner of pagan and occult symbols lay etched into the floor. A massive pedestal nearly five feet high, four feet across, and ten feet long, made from the same unknown metal as the Relic sat before the throne.

As she scanned the temple’s cathedral ceiling two hundred feet up, Hanna realized she’d found the evil, fiendish core of Acheron. She surmised the complex may have been some kind of power spot where the Cadre of the 1st Age tried to open gateways to forbidden realms. Hanna’s skin crawled and her mind revolted at the hideousness of the evil there. She prayed while moving towards the pedestal, eyes open. As she moved, a chorus of hisses and clucking arose from the devourers coming from all directions. Sweat poured from Hanna’s skin in the infernal heat, stinging her wounds as she moved boldly toward the pedestal. The chorus grew louder the closer she came to it. When she reached the pedestal, the throne sat a mere hundred feet away and the chorus ceased. Hanna looked around with some concern as the sound died away, making the place as silent as a tomb. Only an ominous distant rumble permeated the temple.

When Hanna’s eye fell on the pedestal, she saw two items lying on it: a sword similar the Sword of Ezra Karac and a strange crystalline amulet four inches wide on a chain lying next to it. A detailed engraving of the Roc lay embossed on the amulet. The sword was just a bit longer than Ezra’s sword and had an engraving of the Roc forming the hilt instead of a draken-like carving as seen on Ezra’s sword. The same ancient writing Hanna found on Ezra’s sword lay etched into both the sword and the crystalline amulet lying on the pedestal. Hanna’s mouth fell open at the sight of the sword.

Hanna suddenly knew why she’d been brought to this lower level of hell and why the devourers hadn’t lived up to their names. She looked around intensely at the temple as she slowly reached out to take the amulet. As her hand crossed over the threshold of the pedestal, shrieks arose from every direction. She backed off just in time to see the temple filling with devourers. Yet, they remained at a distance. Hanna looked at the signet ring on her hand, and then at the pieces lying before her. She reached out again, and this time, the shrieks came from every direction along with a demoniac roar from behind the throne. Hanna immediately went into a combative stance as she saw two huge demons appear physically, one on the throne and one standing to its left side. The one sitting on the throne looked like a giant version of the smaller devourers spanning nearly twenty-five in length. The second was an abomination: hideously ugly and very reptilian in nature with a long snout and eight compound eyes like a spider. Razor sharp teeth filled the mouth of the twenty-foot demon. Its wings were bat-like and draped around it like a royal robe. The one that sat on the throne hissed and clucked loudly and the smaller devourers suddenly fell silent. Both of demons looked on Hanna with disgust and pure hatred. Hanna looked at the Chief Devourer and the abomination. She immediately knew whom she was dealing with: two of the Old Ones, who were also demon princes like Dezarcus and the Black Prince. The Devourer suddenly spoke, saying, “So you have finally come, Miss mutated Beowulf. It took you long enough. I’m frankly surprised you made it this far. I thought your old friend, Prince Baal of the Belrock, would have finished you.”

Hanna’s gaze narrowed as Caverias strengthened her with the Lord’s strength. “I knew I would have to face Baal again,” she quipped sharply. “He just didn’t learn his lesson. It’s actually embarrassing on his part since I killed him as a woman and not a man. What a fucking shame he didn’t leave me the hell alone when he had the chance.”

The Devourer grinned hideously, saying, “Very powerful you have become, Miss Beowulf. But now is the time of your end. As you well know, there’s no escape from this sacred place, but you have impressed me, Miss Beowulf. Therefore, let’s play a game. You see the items before you?” Hanna nodded and the Devourer continued, “These are the last vestiges of the Caverias line, placed here by the Emperor himself eons ago in the 1st Age to be guarded by us so they could never again be used against the Darkness. That is the sword of Thoth Caverias himself, and the amulet is his seal. Whoever bears the Seal has access to the ancient weapons of the Caverias line.”

Hanna grinned slightly, knowing now why her plunge into the abyss and her climactic battle with Baal the Belrock was to be. “So, who do I have to kill to get them?” she hissed, feeling the Seal of Khitia freezing her chest again.

“I like your attitude. Do you know who I am?” the Devourer said with an evil smile.

Hanna shook her head, hissing, “Should I, demon?”

“You can call me The Devourer, for I and my kind have devoured entire worlds and their inhabitants before we came to this one. I used to be Lucifer’s second in command before the Black Prince deposed me long before you and your kind existed,” the Devourer hissed venomously. “Needless to say, it wouldn’t hurt my feelings if the Black Prince were deposed himself. So, here’s the deal, you inferior mutated she-ape. If you can defeat Dagos, you may have the sword and amulet and leave this place if you can find a way out. Otherwise, we shall feast upon you: body and soul, forever trapping your soul again in the Darkness you turned against.”

Hanna grinned, knowing the Devourer was lying. “All right then, big boy. Let’s play,” she retorted with a wry smile.

“By the way,” the Devourer hissed. “No human has ever defeated Dagos.”

Dagos looked on with glee and eagerness as Hanna countered, “Don’t tell me such lies, Devourer. I have dealt with Dagos many times, including here recently when we cast his vile ass out of a precious sister named Naomi who didn’t deserve such torment. I don’t know how he assumed a physical form in this place, but it will be short lived.”

“That’s what you think, you fucking maggot. I’ll rip you apart for what you did to me,” Dagos roared, rushing forward in a rage to tear Hanna to pieces. Hanna back up a couple of steps, and with a mighty throw, hurled Ezra’s sword into Dagos’ chest. It struck home with such force that it knocked the demon flat on his back, wailing in agony. Hanna pounced like a tiger; her berserker rage quickly rising again. In a matter of seconds, she jumped on top of the demon, yanking the sword from Dagos’ chest. Dagos flailed at Hanna with his claws only to have them removed by two expert sword strokes. However, he did get one good hit on Hanna as she removed Dagos’ second arm, knocking her across the floor, up against one of the pillars. Hanna’s power and speed surprised the Devourer, but he cackled with glee when Dagos connected. The hit stunned Hanna briefly, and as she panted, trying to get her breath, Dagos charged.

Instantly, the Holy Spirit ordered her, Slice the pillar.

Hanna rolled aside as Dagos tried to stomp her. She countered with a sword swipe to Dagos’ leg at the knee, completely severing the demon’s leg. The demon fell to the floor wailing in pain, spewing his caustic yellow blood from the leg wound. Without hesitation, Hanna rolled to her feet and brought Ezra’s sword down full force on one of the pillars. The blade flashed through it as if there were no stone present, making a diagonal cut through the four-foot wide stone pillar. Devourer’s face darkened dramatically as Hanna sliced through the pillar. The pillar stayed still for a second, and then began to slide off the cut same as a tree cut at its base. The pillar teetered and Hanna shouted, “You fucking devils still haven’t learned there is no match for the power of the Lord God!” Dagos suddenly found himself in the shadow of the falling column. In a moment, the pillar toppled, completely crushing Dagos underneath it. His demon body evaporated in a ball of fire and sulfurous smoke.

Devourer bolted from his seat at the defeat of Dagos in stunned outrage. Hanna took advantage of the situation, snarling, “You never meant to let me leave so here, let’s finish this now!” Deep-seated, long-forgotten fighting skills again rose to the surface in Hanna, energizing her. Her eyes glowed yellow as a yellow aura swirled around her. Ezra’s sword glowed bright yellow as she stepped menacingly towards the Devourer with her left foot, spinning her sword around so it pointed at the floor. Half a second later, she stabbed the floor of the temple with Ezra’s sword while focusing her attention on the Devourer rising from the throne. The temple floor abruptly buckled between Hanna and the throne as if something enormous was burrowing through it. When the buckling floor reached the throne, the throne exploded, forcing Hanna to take cover behind the pillar that killed Dagos. The blast caught the Devourer off guard, briefly stunning and wounding him with stone shrapnel from the throne. After the stone shrapnel blew by, Hanna looked over the pillar, seeing the Devourer wounded and staggering as he rose; his acidic yellow blood dripping from the wounds and eating away at the stone floor of the temple.

“Well played, Miss Beowulf,” the Devourer growled, searching the temple with his four eyes for Hanna. “I didn’t count on you having such potent elemental power this quickly. I will not underestimate you again.”

“That’s true,” Hanna snapped back as she rushed towards the nearest pillar still standing, sword ready. She struck the pillar in another diagonal cut so it would fall on the Devourer as he rushed her with a roar that echoed through the temple. The pillar groaned and started sliding on the cut, toppling towards the Devourer. Seeing the Devourer’s attack, Hanna threw Ezra’s sword like a spear, aiming for the demon’s oversized head. The demon dodged the blade, but didn’t completely miss it. Ezra’s sword whizzed by the Devourer’s head so close it severed the bony protrusion on the right side of his head...send it flying. He howled in pain and rage, staggering to the right into the path of the falling pillar, his equilibrium having been disrupted by the hit. Ezra’s sword came to a rest stuck in another pillar near the ruins of the throne. At the same moment, the pillar crashed onto the Devourer, pinning him down, but not killing him. A shriek of intense pain and rage rose from the demon as most of its body lay crushed under the pillar while his head lay in the open: a distress cry to his minions. When the Devourer’s minions saw the defeat of their chief, they went into a violent frenzy, swarming and shrieking as they started to attack.

Seeing the minion devourers swarming towards her, Hanna ran to retrieve Ezra’s sword stuck in the stone pillar, but couldn’t remove it. After several futile tugs on Ezra’s sword, she abandoned it and rushed to the pedestal, snatching up the Sword of Thoth Caverias and his seal. As she did it, she wondered how she would ever get out. Determined to finish the leader of the Devourers before his minions could get her, Hanna sprinted back to him as he lay howling under the stone pillar. “You shouldn’t play games with people you can’t beat, you evil fuck,” she snarled. “Go back to the Abyss where you belong!” Hanna brought the Caverias sword down on the Devourer’s head, slicing it off. It vanished in a puff of sulfurous smoke as his minions roared in rage, diving toward Hanna en mass to finish her.

Without warning, the whole temple rumbled loudly and shuddered noticeably. The attacking devourer minions noticed the ominous rumble and fled in all directions without touching Hanna; coming as close as twenty feet before fleeing in a panic. “Oh, boy,” Hanna growled, suddenly noticing her chest felt incredibly cold where the Seal of Khitia hung around her neck. “Now, I’m in trouble.”

A deep rumbling growl came from all direction as the temple and island jolted violently, briefly making Hanna stagger and hold on to the pedestal. “I have to get out of here,” she muttered as the jolt subsided, but the trembling of the entire complex increased.

Reach into your pocket, the Holy Spirit told Hanna. She immediately obeyed and found the communicator. Get out of the temple now. Go to high ground, the Holy Spirit commanded urgently. Hanna obeyed and fled the temple as it began to crumble around her. She cut down any devourers that dared impeded her progress with Thoth’s sword. As she emerged from the temple, the roof collapsed and the remaining minion devourers went airborne, fleeing the island. The island shook and quaked as fountains of molten rock rose from the sea of lava surrounding the island. Fissures opened up all over the island, spewing geysers of lava. Hanna immediately knew that the island was going down, being consumed by the very lava that surrounded it. She rushed to higher ground and the Lord commanded audibly, “Call Elias now.”

Hanna fingered the communicator and Elias’ voice miraculously came through. “Yes, Hanna. What do you need?” he asked.

“I need the portal now. If you don’t open it in one minute, I’m dead,” Hanna ordered urgently. Explosions began to rock the island, so as the portal opened Hanna staggered, having trouble keeping her feet. Seeing the portal open a few feet away, she dove through it, landing in a heap. “Close it quick!” she cried out urgently and in an instant, Elias closed it. The iciness of the Seal of Khitia abruptly vanished once she was safe in the portal chamber.

Elias, George, and Ben rushed over to her and Elias gasped, “My god! What happened to you?” Hanna laid there for a moment, panting for breath, and then broke down into sobs once she knew that she was safe. Elias and George helped her sit up.

“Goodness; you look like you’ve been through hell, Hanna. How’d you get burned so badly?” Ben stated observantly.

Hanna dropped Thoth’s sword, the Caverias seal, and communicator. She cried and hugged each of them, sobbing, “That is not far from the truth. I have fallen into the abyss and survived! I bested Baal the Belrock, Dagos, and the Devourer in the chasm of Acheron.”

None of them knew what she meant. Elias then happened to look closer at the sword and seal and astonishment crossed his face. “Impossible!” he cried. “Is that really the sword and amulet of Thoth Caverias? They were lost at the time of the coup in the 1st Age!”

Hanna managed to reign in her emotions and said, “Yes, brother. It is. This is the reason I fell. The Emperor had the Cadre lock these items in the deepest, darkest place on Earth guarded by the Old Ones. Baal the Belrock, the Devourer, and Dagos are considered Old Ones as well as demon princes. Baal and Dagos I knew because I’ve tangled with them before. But never have I seen the manifested physically on this plane or been able to utterly defeat them like I did this time. I bested them all and they were among the most powerful demons in the universe.”

For a few moments, they were speechless, and then George asked, “Where are the others?”

Hanna sighed, saying, “Safe for the moment, but I need to get back to them. They probably believe I’m dead. I have to get back to them.” Hanna tried to get up, but her body screamed bloody murder. She cried out in agony as she collapsed from the pain. Elias, George, and Ben immediately knew what needed to be done, so they scooped her up and carried her to the healer. Hanna protested, saying, “There’s no time for this. I’ve got to get back to them.”

Elias scolded him, saying, “Nonsense, little sister. You can’t even move, much less go back. And these burns must be tended to immediately or they’ll get infected. They’re already blistering. Let the healer do its work.” Moments later, they laid Hanna on the table and the healer busied itself with the task of healing her wounds.

“How’d she get so burnt?” George asked. “These burns aren’t from any normal fire. It’s as if she went swimming in a pool of molten rock.”

“I don’t know,” Elias replied, noticing the Seal of Khitia hanging around her neck, partially covered by her burnt armor and coat. “But I suspect that has something to do with her survival.” He pointed to the Seal of Khitia. “If what she said is true, then the Seal of Khitia hanging around her neck may have protected her somehow.”