Legends of Amacia Srandi: Last Bastion of the Caverias

Everyone grew quiet as Hannibal prepared to speak. After a few moments, Hannibal declared sternly, “I will again remind you that I cannot tell everything that happened. The world is not ready to hear it. It’s so heinously evil that I hesitate to even remember it, much less tell it. However, many other things of no small importance took place there at the same time that you should know about.”

When Hannibal paused, Tau looked Hannibal in the eye, saying softly, “It’s okay...please continue, milord.”

“Well, as you all remember, Selina and I touched the King of the Air and we froze up,” Hannibal stated, holding Selina close as he spoke. “We could not move or even speak the paralysis was so complete. In that moment, the King of the Air shared the tiniest fraction of his immense history with us, which included his sorrow and rage over what he’d seen and endured over the ages. You have no idea of how old he really is, or the evils he’s seen and suffered with over the eons. It makes my pain look meaningless. That’s one of the reasons we froze up. His sharing what he did completely overwhelmed us to such an extent it froze our minds. We were not capable of comprehending or handling it because of our incredibly short lifespans when compared to him. Yet all our senses remained highly active, allowing us to see everything that was happening around us without us having any ability to respond to outside stimuli.

“Then, in the blink of an eye, the physical world seemed to disappear from our perception. We found ourselves lost in a deep gray foggy void so dense all sense of direction vanished. I could barely see Selina as she clung to me, and then came the sensation of falling. It was most disconcerting falling through that foggy void. It made us right down nauseous. The closest thing to which I can compare it is what happened when Selina and I were pulled into the deadly monolith that imprisoned Anastasia’s mind when we freed her identity. It was as if we were falling between worlds and dimensions. After falling for what felt like an eternity, we suddenly stopped without any ill effects, feeling something solid beneath our feet, though we could not see anything in the fog. Rumblings and voices suddenly started echoing through the fog...deep alien voices of extreme power that seemed to surround us. I became rather angry when the voices refused to answer us initially, especially when I saw how it freaked out Selina. When I called them out in my anger, the fog suddenly rolled back, creating a dome of clear air nearly ninety cubits across. With the fog out of the way, we found ourselves inside a circular construct about forty cubits across of impossibly ancient and alien manufacture with samples of every known and unknown language carved in concentric circles on the floor mixed with all manner of symbols and arabesques, and some done in bas-relief. Hell, I even saw Aklo...Cthulhu’s language there, along with variations of angelic and demoniac script, some of which I’ve never encountered before. Selina even found some Etherian. It seems every language in the multiverse was present there. In a way, it reminded me of the altar inside the Crystal Circle of the Ancients on Olympus, only much larger, far more complex and vastly more alien than anything I’ve ever seen before in my entire life.

“Around the outer perimeter of the circle lay giant runes two cubits across that were completely unknown to me as if to make magical or elemental protection circle. It’s the only way I can describe it since I’m very familiar with thaumaturgical engineering and how it works to protect one from the Dark Powers. The runes and the writing seemed to be carved directly into the deck of this construct with every letter and symbol encrusted with crystals of impossible beauty and purity. The deck, which stretched off into the fog, seemed to be made from a some alien variation of dark andesitic granite mixed with crystals and an odd metallic alloy that appeared to me to be a mix of gold, titanium, platinum, mercury, and electronium. It’s absolutely the most alien metal I’ve ever encountered. Furthermore, this alloy glowed uncannily with an eerie light I cannot even find the words to describe. It looked liquid when we looked at it, but when I touched it, it was solid and smooth...its smoothness being unbelievable. This metal alloy seemed to outline every rune, symbol, and letter carved into the dark stone and crystal deck. I thought the Archive of History was beautiful, but this Sacred Circle is many magnitudes above it in its magnificence, beauty, power level, and sheer alien nature. No human mind can comprehend what it was like to be standing in the center of that ultimate alien construct. Only the mercy of the Almighty kept us from completely losing it at the sight of it. Even now, icy chills fill me at the impossibility it presented to us. No place, except for maybe the throne room of the Almighty Himself exudes that much power, magnificence, and beauty.” He paused to catch his breath.

“What Hannibal didn’t tell you is how dangerous the place is,” Selina said, taking up the account. “We both felt it the moment it appeared before us. It’s a place of impossible, insane levels of power that no mortal being should ever see or be allowed to enter. Both life and death in their purest most powerful forms emanated from it...seemingly hanging in balance at the order of a vastly higher power that appeared to be in utter control of it.”

“True,” Hannibal agreed, “I felt the very presence of the Almighty in that supremely alien space in a way like I’ve never felt before. It permeated everything about the place down to the subatomic levels. Every particle of existence obeyed His will in that place. Furthermore, now that I think about it, the place actually felt like an arena of some kind with the circles of runes, letters, and symbols being a safe haven with the Almighty standing over it as the ultimate Judge of all things.” He shuddered visibly again, adding in a very subdued tone, “I never felt so small in my entire life as I knew down deep in every particle of my being that I literally hung on the precipice of life and death with eternity staring me in the face. Now if that wasn’t bad enough, I also started sensing not just the Almighty’s power and control over the place, but also an eerie mechanical energy about it that defied everything I know and understand. The place IS a machine of some kind designed to test anyone the Lord deems worthy enough to be brought into that space. Cerrelius himself, who appeared just outside the circle in the fog bank right after the King of the Air appeared, confirmed this. Then if that wasn’t enough, he informed me that what we were seeing was a fully interactive hologram of an actual place I’d been to before. That declaration utterly stunned me and got my full attention. Apparently, this was where I was to face the King’s final test, which commenced when the rest of them arrived.”

When Hannibal paused, gathering his thoughts, Draco asked solemnly, “Who did you see there, Beowulf? We already know you said the King of the Air and Lord Cerrelius were present. Who else appeared?”

With a grave, sober look, Hannibal answered, “The King of the Sands showed up, followed by the King of the Sea, and Serge, who actually came into the rune circle and licked me in the face as a joke to get me to relax a bit. I still can’t believe how big he was there. I didn’t think a cat could get so big.”

“How big was he?” Harry asked with intense curiosity.

“Three times as big as you see him here,” Hannibal replied, gesturing to Serge. “He was damned near big as Argus. He could have easily swallowed me whole if he wanted, but no. All he wanted to do was marinade me like a steak. I was soaked when he slobbered all over me.” He chuckled at the memory adding, “Selina thought it was the funniest thing she’d ever seen and howled in laughter. The other Kings actually chuckled at the prank as well. Obviously, it was all to get me to release my fear, anxiety, and anger at everything that had happened up until then. Apparently, I needed to calm down a bit before they could start the test. Serge’s sloppy kiss worked very well and I relaxed enough to actually start to comprehend where I was.”

Those present looked at Serge with intense surprise, who rumbled pleasantly, “It’s true. I licked him dead in the face to get him to calm down enough to start taking in where he was. His reaction to my sloppy kiss was priceless and even got a chuckle out of the King of the Sands, who never laughs. I’m glad it got everyone to lighten up long enough for Hannibal to relax and get his bearings.”

“Interesting,” Aeolus rumbled. “You have a deep connection to Hannibal, don’t you Lord Serge.”

“I do,” Serge stated. “He’s my friend and I’ve watched over him from the moment he and his friends entered the caverns in Khitia. Just as my venerable ancestor Moro and Thoth’s Beowulf were kindred spirits and fast friends, I too am bound to the Beowulf of this era in a similar manner as his friend, familiar, and guardian by the order of the Almighty. My line since Moro has waited for this day when we can finally fulfill our mandate and help Beowulf end the Emperor forever. Now that day has come where we will make our stand with the Last Caverias. We will stand with Beowulf to the very end of this thing. You have my word on it as a King of Amacia.”

“Whoa,” Harry breathed in amazement. “But that does explain why you kept shadowing us as we made our way to Arionath. You and your wolves were just making sure we made it there safely.”

“That’s right,” Serge rumbled with a deep purr. “I knew for sure Hannibal was the Last Caverias when first saw him at what you call the Painted Cave. When I saw him lured into the cave by the restless spirits of that place, I sent my son in to retrieve him from that dangerous place. He was not prepared for the perils because of the restless spirit of the last King of Khitia, who resides in that cave and is hostile to any trespassers. When I saw my son bring Hannibal out with the seal of Khitia in his grasp, I was relieved and after examining him beside the stream, I knew he was the one...the Last Caverias destined from the beginning to bring down the dark Emperor for good. After all, only the Last Caverias could have retrieved the Seal of Khitia from the hand of the old King, who according to legends said he swore to only surrender the mighty Seal of Khitia to the Last Caverias in the Painted Cave, even if he had to wait until the end of time to do it. It appears that the old King of Khitia was good to his word for I saw the Seal in Hannibal’s possession when my son dragged him out of the cave.”

“That explains much,” Nathanael called out, clumsily moving up to those around Hannibal with the help of Electra since he was still learning to use his prosthetic arm and leg. “I saw the prints beside the stream just outside the Painted Cave. It puzzled me that I saw two different sized tracks of two different cats. The smaller set went into the cave and dragged Hannibal out without harming him. Then I saw the larger set around where we found him. The larger set was you, wasn’t it, Lord Serge?”

“Yes,” Serge stated, “The smaller tracks was that of my son. We snuck in without your human colleagues even noticing, and then left without them ever seeing us after we made sure Hannibal was alive and unharmed.” Seeing a bit of confusion on everyone’s face about the statement, Serge added, speaking directly to Joshua, “If you want to know how I did that, Master Joshua, it’s a little thing. Like the other Kings, I too have a mastery of the Elemental Earth. I merely used an elemental cloak to shield our presence from you and your men in the outer cave. In terms you can grasp, my son and I became invisible to you. The only things we could not hide were our paw prints and our scent.”

“I didn’t know you could do that,” Joshua replied with a bit of surprise. “How can I know for sure you can do that?”

Hannibal knew Serge spoke the truth and stated bluntly, “You need to show him, Serge. Show everyone here your mastery of the Elemental Earth.”

“I’d like to see that myself,” Enoch chimed in, very intrigued by the development.

“Me too,” Nemesis agreed. “I’ve only seen the Emperor, his Cadre, and Hannibal exercise elemental power at will. Seeing you exercise those abilities will settle this issue for all of us.”

Serge rumbled in a menacing deep feline chuckle that actually sent icy chills down every spine present except for Hannibal, Selina, Draco, and Lord Tau. It gave Serge a mysterious, right down ancient air to him that reflected just a small portion of his power as a King. With a wry grin on his saber-toothed feline face, Serge said, “Very well; I shall briefly demonstrate so everyone will see I speak the truth.” In the blink of an eye, Serge’s form seemed to evaporate before their eyes. Everyone went dead silent at Serge’s disappearance. Seconds later, quiet padding of feline paws echoed ghostlike across the roof of the Red Tower. It was so soft and quiet only the drakens, Draco, Josephine, Leila, Nemesis, Selina, and Hannibal heard the soft steps.

Hannibal smiled wryly at Serge’s demonstration. “Where did he go?” Enoch asked with great puzzlement, rushing forward and plunging into the space where Serge had once been, finding nothing there. “Can he teleport himself?”

“No, Master Enoch,” Serge called out from the very edge of the tower overlooking the sea as he reappeared with a brief shimmering of the air where he now stood, “I have no such power. However, I have mastered the cloaking elements and can approach without being detected by most beings. Only those who are powerful telepaths along with those with exceptional hearing and sense of smell can detect my presence. Here, let me demonstrate again.” Again, Serge vanished and those with exceptionally keen hearing, smell, and heightened telepathic prowess could sense him prowling the roof like a predator on the hunt, moving very quickly back to the group.

“He vanished again,” Joshua breathed in awe, “Where did he go?”

“Right here, Master Joshua,” Serge growled with a deep rumble right over Joshua’s left shoulder.

Joshua let out a shriek of surprise and fright as Serge appeared right beside him with less than a foot between them. The appearance so rattled Joshua, he staggered back in panic, falling down on his back. Serge instantly pounced and pinned Joshua down with his enormous foot, leaning down very close, looking him in the eye. “Don’t eat me, please,” Joshua begged in utter panic, being unable to move because of Serge’s heavy foot pinning him down the same way Serge had done Hannibal at Xavier’s Watchtower. “I have a family!”

A deep, menacing growl rumbled from Serge’s throat for a moment, just before he licked Joshua full in the face with a burst of a deep loud purr. Joshua grimaced as he suddenly realized Serge had not extended his claws, nor had he actually tried to bite him. Astonished belief filled Joshua’s face as Serge lifted his head after slobbering a sloppy cat kiss on him. Licking his chops, Serge said in a deep gruff feline tone, “Relax, Master Joshua; I don’t kill and eat my friends. However, I did need to prove to you my prowess at stealth. Now do you believe I snuck by you and your friends at the Painted Cave?”

“I do now,” Joshua admitted in stunned relief. “You completely caught me unawares, and it takes a lot to do that.”

Serge lifted his paw off Joshua’s chest and backed away with rumbling growl. “I know,” he replied with a smug expression. “For a human, you are remarkably stealthy and it has served you well. You may want to look into more elemental or technological means of stealth to enhance your ability to move about without being seen. You may find it a useful skill to have for future use.”

Hannibal walked over and patted Serge on the shoulder with a chuckle. “Well done, my feline guardian,” he chimed. “I think everyone believes you now, though you didn’t have to be so aggressive with Joshua. He’s not as forgiving as I am when it comes to pranks and rough housing. He takes his job protecting me and the people very seriously since he is the military leader of the people of Arionath.” He then extended a hand to Joshua.

“I know. Please forgive me, Master Joshua,” Serge apologized, “I didn’t mean to make you look bad in front of your friends.”

“It’s quite all right,” Joshua answered, accepting the apology as he took Hannibal’s hand after wiping the cat slobber off his face. “I appreciate the fact you didn’t eat me. Sometimes I tend to be a bit hardheaded about things, so I deserved it. If anyone should be apologizing, it’s me for questioning your abilities as one of the Kings of Amacia. I’m sorry I doubted your word, Lord Serge. I shall not doubt you again.” With that, Hannibal heaved Joshua to his feet.

A semblance of a smile crossed Serge’s saber cat face as he said, “Apology accepted, Master Joshua. You’re a good human, and your loyalty to Hannibal and the people is without question. I am honored to have been able to convince you of my power and loyalty to Hannibal without having to resort to measures that, shall we say, are a bit more aggressive. I will stand with you and everyone here to the end of this matter, using all my power, intelligence, and skills to assist in taking down the Emperor.”

“It’s we who are honored by your presence and help, your majesty,” Joshua declared sincerely, “I’m sure I speak for all whom Hannibal has gathered in saying, welcome to our little rebellion.”

Serge rumbled a deep chuckle, replying as he moved up and stood nose to nose with Joshua while Hannibal stood beside him, “Well said, my warrior friend. Well said indeed; I will make my stand at your side, my friend.” Without warning, Serge licked Joshua on the cheek, choosing not to slobber all over him to seal the deal.

Joshua grimaced at Serge’s terrible bad breath and wiped his face off again. “Please, stop licking me, Lord Serge,” he chided mildly as he stepped back. “It’s disgusting and your breath is absolutely atrocious. If you have to lick me, please eat some mint or something to freshen up your breath before you do it. It’s so rank it’s about to make me hurl.”

Hannibal broke into a deep belly laugh, saying afterwards, “I’ve been telling him to do that all along since he’s done that to me on more than one occasion. The only time he had decent breath was in the Sacred Circle of Eternity. I suppose that’s because it was his avatar and not his physical body. Nevertheless, you do need to eat some mint or something to ease that breath of yours, Serge. It’s bad enough to stop a mammoth at fifty paces.”

Laughter broke out from everyone present, including the drakens and Draco. Even Serge chuckled, saying, “All right; all right. I get the message. I’ll try to do something about my breath. I admit it does smells rather rank at the moment.”

“It’s about as bad as any tarok I’ve seen,” Nemesis said with a smile on his bear face. “And believe me; I’ve seen my share of taroks up close and personal in my time in ways I’d rather not remember.”

“I know you have,” Serge agreed. “After all, not much escapes my notice in the wilds as the King of the saber cats, giant wolves, and smaller land predators of Amacia. They constantly bring me news on the movements of all creatures in the solid lands of Amacia. The only place I don’t get intel from is the sea and swamps, though I do have contacts in those areas that do feed me intelligence on what’s happening there when I need it.”

“That’s very interesting, Lord Serge,” Nathanael said with great interest. “But we have gotten a bit off the subject. We were talking about how you snuck past us at the Painted Cave when we got on this tangent. I say you’ve conclusively demonstrated how you got past us. Now, please continue with your account about how you discovered Hannibal was the Last Caverias.”

“Indeed,” Serge said with a grunt. “Well, after my son retrieved Hannibal from the Painted Cave holding the Seal of Khitia in his hand, I examined him closely and sampled his sweat to confirm my suspicions. When I licked him, I knew he was the genetic descendant of Thoth through his daughter Cleo, which made him the Last Caverias. At that point when I saw he was okay, my son and I stole away using my cloaking ability to hide our presence.” A deep feline rumbling chuckle rolled from his throat as he added, “In fact Master Joshua, Lord Nathanael, and Lady Selina walked right past us and didn’t see us as we exited the cave. I’m sure they noticed my scent as we passed each other just outside of the grotto where the stream comes out from beneath the rock wall of the cave.”

A wry smile crossed Nathanael’s lips as he nodded. “I did indeed, but it was so elusive and faint, I wasn’t sure of what I smelled. After all, I was deeply concerned when we found Hannibal missing from his tent. That concern had me distracted.”

“I smelled you too,” Selina intruded, “But like dad said, I couldn’t quite identify your scent since it was faint and mixed with several other scents. Furthermore, I was in a panic because Hannibal’s panic attack in the cave had awakened me. When I saw him missing, I roused everyone else and I followed his scent and telepathic imprint to where we found him. I wasn’t actually looking for you, so I paid it little heed.”

“True,” Nathanael agreed, “Our primary concern was finding Hannibal in one piece, which we thankfully did. Only after he woke and told us of the incident did we start to pay attention to the scents on him, especially after we found marks on his neck that suggested a feline had dragged him out of the cave like a kitten.”

“Indeed, it definitely explains the scent we found on him,” Selina purred with a sober smile while looking at Serge. “It was the scent of you and your son we found on him after finding him outside the cave. Then my dad and I kept getting whiffs of your scent as we made our way across the plains of Khitia. Several times, we actually saw glimpses of you and your wolf packs shadowing us as we made our way to Xavier’s Watchtower, where you ambushed Hannibal. Why did you do that?”

“As you saw, I meant your mate no harm,” Serge stated. “But I had a lingering doubt of his identity that tormented me. I had to be completely sure, so decided to examine him a second time while he was awake, and to do that, I had to look into his eyes while awake and alert, and to sample his scent again to be sure of his identity. It’s why I licked him both at the cave and at the Tower. Once I looked into his waking eyes and tasted his sweat, I knew for sure the time of the prophecy had arrived...that the Last Caverias had finally stepped onto the stage. So, I released him and continued to shadow you all until you reached the valley of Arionath.”

“What would you have done if he hadn’t been the Last Caverias?” Enoch asked bluntly, now hearing the tale of Serge’s first encounter with Hannibal. “Would you have killed him?”

“If I had sensed he was completely taken by the Darkness, I would have bitten his head off right there at the Watchtower and ordered the pack to kill everyone present,” Serge answered with deadly seriousness. “As a King of Amacia, I am not just bound to protect the Last Caverias when he arrives. I’m also tasked with protecting Amacia from all those who worship and serve the Emperor and the Dark Powers he serves. We cannot have the Emperor uniting all the Dark Powers under his leadership and escaping this grave to spread his evil across the cosmos. It’s as simple as that. These caverns have been at war with the Emperor and the Dark Powers since the Kragonar. Fortunately, I confirmed Hannibal and all of you were allies, so we left without harming anyone.”

“I see,” Hannibal murmured thoughtfully. “That explains much, and I’m grateful you found my colleagues and I were allies, my great feline friend. However, if you shadowed us all the way to Arionath, why didn’t you help us when the Zarukar ambushed us at the Gate of Arionath? We definitely could have used help there, and I would have not lost control of my elemental power when those beasts swarmed me. I wiped out the entire group with a rage-fueled Inferno Firewall attack and would have killed everyone else had Selina not talked me down after the Rage took me.”

“I was forbidden by the other Kings to interfere except in a case of utter annihilation,” Serge stated bluntly, “At the time, we creatures couldn’t appear to take sides in the war between the Emperor and the rebels. If the Emperor suspected we were taking sides, he would have implemented an extermination of all creatures that were siding against him and not just stopped with the human rebels. However, things have changed now with your appearance. Your presence is a catalyst to all life in Amacia, causing all living things in this cursed underworld to see the time has come to take a side, just as the prophecies had foretold. The time has finally arrived for us to choose now that you have proven who and what you are to us. Word of your emergence is spreading as I speak throughout the wilds of Amacia, reaching every creature out there, both good and bad. The time of the great battle is upon us and we must do our part, those of us who chose to participate in this fight.”

“What do you mean?” Nathanael asked quizzically. “I thought you and the other Kings commanded all the creatures of this land. Why would they not fight when you do?”

“It’s true we command the creatures of this cursed underworld,” Serge confirmed. “However, we do not force their obedience like the Emperor does. We give them a choice just as the Almighty Creator gives us a choice. Not everyone is willing or capable of going to war, even if the cause is just. I suspect you know this very well from your life experiences in both the Kaitian Empire and here on this planet.”

“Indeed I do,” Nathanael stated soberly. “In fact, we dealt with this very thing when gathering the teams for our Kartoom raid. As you said, not everyone has the mindset to make war, so we had to be very careful in whom we chose for the raid. We couldn’t risk having one of the team members panicking out of fear of what we would encounter and endangering the entire team. Fortunately, most of those who volunteered were more than willing to do what needed to be done. We only had to reject a couple of handfuls of people who just didn’t have the skill or mentality to fight against the worst the Emperor had to offer in Kartoom.”

“True,” Hannibal agreed, “Besides, those we turned away for the raid had good reasons for not going, ranging from needing to take care of family members to not being able to control their fears. There were also those we actually needed on this end because of their skills and expertise. We didn’t chide or belittle them when Enoch and Nemesis turned them away, reassuring them that they could best help by staying here and preparing for the inevitable wounded we were going to bring back. Is that what you’re going to do with your minions, Serge?”

“Yes,” Serge replied with a rumble, “We will give them the choice to help or stand back. However, we will make it perfectly clear that we will not tolerate them going over to the Emperor. Those who make that terrible choice will be considered enemies, and be destroyed along with the Emperor. The lines are being drawn now amongst the creatures of Amacia, and every creature must make the choice: fight with you and us against the Emperor, fight against us on the Emperor’s side, or just stand back and stay out of the way. They will know what each choice will bring them. However, I have faith in the creatures of Amacia that are not already turned to the Dark Powers and the Emperor. I believe most will join us with only a small remnant choosing to stay out of the way. Yet, we will obviously have a small number of traitors that will be exposed with this choice, and they will be dealt with appropriately.”

“It can’t be helped,” Nemesis growled deeply, “If there’s anything I learned with my time as a creation and slave of the Emperor is that there are always traitors who will give anything to get in with that demon with his plethora of false promises.”

“I agree,” Joshua stated grimly, “We had traitors and infiltrators wreak havoc in Arionath just as Hannibal and his teams arrived. They gave away our defensive secrets and tried to sabotage the keep with carite explosives. I give thanks to the Almighty that He had Hannibal and his team ferret out those traitors and stop them from killing us all with those carite bombs.”

“Indeed, your people were very fortunate that Beowulf managed to stop the traitors,” Assad rumbled with a sober smile. “The word of that miracle made it even to us in Poseidia.”

“Whoa,” Joshua replied with obvious surprise. “We didn’t know our message made it all the way to Poseidia. It seems our couriers did their job far better than we hoped.”

Assad smiled broadly, saying, “They certainly did. However, the messenger that reached us was not one you sent, but heard the message from your courier and relayed the message to us. It prompted us to begin preparations for Beowulf’s inevitable arrival in our lands.”

“Who brought the message?” Joshua asked with great interest.

“It doesn’t matter,” Hannibal intruded soberly, “For all we know, a war angel may have relayed the message. All that matters is that Assad and Tau got the message, and witnessed the forging of the most powerful alliance this planet has ever seen. I am supremely humbled that the Almighty was able to use me in such a profound way. I now have real hope that we may actually come out of this thing with the Emperor alive and in one piece.”

“Your alliance with the mighty Kings of Amacia has greatly increased our chances of surviving this war with the Emperor and the Dark Powers backing him,” Draco declared. “It is indeed a marvel that the Almighty Ancient of Days was able to use you, a mere human, to bring together the great powers of life in Amacia to stand against the rising Darkness. However, you still need to share the critical intelligence of what happened at the Sacred Circle of Eternity. What happened there is vital to our survival and you know it, Beowulf, so please, tell us who and what happened there.”

“Right,” Hannibal replied grimly, “It seems we got off on a little tangent with Serge’s first encounter with me. Let me get back on point here. Now where was I before we got distracted?”

“You were telling us who was there,” Josephine called out, “...and how their apparent avatars reflected their true power levels in their sizes. You claimed Lord Serge was as big as Argus is and then how he played a joke on you to get you to relax before what you said the King’s final test could commence. ”