Legends of Amacia Srandi: Last Bastion of the Caverias

“Ahh, right,” Hannibal crowed, remembering where he left off in the tale, “That’s right. At the time, Selina and I saw the King of the Sands, the King of the Air, the King of the Sea, and Cerrelius along with Serge. Everyone present except Serge stayed outside the Rune Circle. It seemed to me that the King of the Sands was acting as the ranking King since Cerrelius obvious differed to him even though I know Cerrelius is just as powerful as the King of the Sands. I thought it a bit odd, but was in no position to challenge the hierarchy of the Kings in that place.”

“You’re sure about this ranking as you saw it?” Aeolus asked, very intrigued at Hannibal’s suggestion. “After all, Lord Cerrelius is our King and a Guardian in his own right. You know this to be true.”

“I do,” Hannibal agreed, “And I’m sure about who was actually in charge there. I could sense it and the King of the Sands confirmed it when he told Selina and me the Almighty was the ultimate arbiter of that place. With that statement, I figured the Almighty had made him what I shall call the chief justice of that court, which is what it really was. The Sacred Circle is a very strange type of courtroom where the Almighty judges those who are brought there. This much I know.”

“Very interesting,” Draco commented. “Please, continue with your tale.”

“Very well,” Hannibal said soberly, “Once I saw who was in charge, I immediately noticed only their titan heads were visible in the edge of the fog. They were beyond enormous. If their heads were a measure of their full stature, I’d wager that had I seen the rest of them in that place, my mind would have snapped into permanent insanity.” He paused and shuddered visibly with a sigh, saying afterwards, “Legends say Cerrelius is the size of a mountain with the power to raze and destroy entire continents, possibly entire worlds if some of the more bizarre stories are true. If what I saw from just his head were any gauge, I’d say the legends weren’t exaggerating. The same goes for the other Kings there. They are truly titans of potentially cosmic power that we cannot comprehend who have been here since the beginning of life on this planet, maybe even before then. Serge, on the other hand, is an outlier amongst the other Kings because of his size, though he was three times as big there as you see him here. Furthermore, I’m certain he does not have the age the other Kings do. He’s far younger than they are. I’m sure of it. Serge; exactly how old are you? You haven’t been around as long as the other Kings have?”

Serge shook his head and said, “I’m nowhere nearly as old as they are. I’m just a minor King compared to them. However, I am of higher rank than the Kings you met at Olympus, making me a kind of intermediary between the Kings you met in Poseidia and all the lower kings such as Taros, Haruni, and even Draco here.”

“Interesting,” Nemesis rumbled thoughtfully, “I’m beginning to see the hierarchical structure now, which is very useful, but exactly how old are you?”

“I’m getting to that,” Serge replied patiently, “As Hannibal said quite correctly, Lord Cerrelius and the other three Kings have lived since life first appeared on this planet. I, on the other hand, am a very recent addition to their numbers. I’m Moro’s third generation descendant and have lived for about four thousand cycles. Therefore, I’m a relative newcomer to what I shall now call the Elder Kings of Amacia so as to make a distinction between us and the other lower Kings.”

“How long have you been an Elder King?” Selina asked.

“I gained the accepted rank as an Elder King of Amacia about fifteen hundred cycles ago,” Serge reported matter-of-factly, “In fact, the King of the Sands himself conferred the rank to me in the presence of the other Kings and their minions in Poseidon’s Square. The anointing of an Elder King of Amacia is a very rare event that happens only once in an age. I seem to recall Master Assad’s great grandfather was there to witness it.”

“That’s right,” Assad agreed, “I remember my great grandfather telling me how his father had witnessed Lord Serge’s ascendency when I was a very young cub who had just started to learn the ways of this savage world.”

“Whoa,” Hannibal breathed in awe. “That I didn’t know. Now I understand why you were so much smaller at the Sacred Circle than the other Kings were.”

“Indeed,” Serge replied, “I’m still but a young cub when put up next to other Elder Kings such as Lord Cerrelius and the great and mighty King of the Sands, who as far as I’m concerned is the true ruler of this cursed underworld. We’ve all been waiting for you since the Kragonar, my friend. Now the final resolution of this war with the Dark Powers can commence.”

“You are so right, milord,” Draco answered Serge, “The time has finally come as the prophecies are being fulfilled in rapid succession. The days of the Emperor and his Dark Backers are finally coming to an end after many millennia of darkness.”

“That they are, Lord Draco,” Serge agreed, “But Hannibal needs to continue with his tale of what he experienced in the Sacred Circle. Please, Hannibal; continue and I shall fill in any details you may miss if I have permission to share it from the other Kings and you.”

“Thanks, Serge,” Hannibal chimed, “I appreciate that. Now, let’s see...ah yes. You’re the outlier in power, Serge, because of your relative size and age compared to the other Kings I saw there. However, you had something that they didn’t that allowed you to come inside the Circle with Selina and I after Cerrelius bid you to join the group since you weren’t there initially.”

“You mean Lord Serge wasn’t there from the beginning?” Assad asked with a raised eyebrow.

“That’s right,” Hannibal answered, “He only appeared out of the fog after the other Kings appeared with Cerrelius, who called him in after I begged them to tell me what the heck was going on.”

“Very interesting,” Aeolus called out with a deep thoughtful rumble. “I take it that’s when Lord Serge actually entered the Circle and played his joke on you?”

“Yep,” Hannibal replied with a troubled smile. “It caught me off guard and caused me to relax enough to think rationally after he broke my tension. At least in that place his breath actually smelled good. Anyway, once I calmed down and started to tune into my surroundings, I began sensing something definitely wasn’t right, and it didn’t have to do with the Kings gathered around Selina and I. For those of you who don’t know, I have the ability to sense when I’m in peril and it’s generally very accurate. Seldom has it ever failed me. I’ve had this ability since I was old enough to know anything. Those who had spent time around me have seen this ability in action. I sensed extreme danger lurking in the shadows beyond the Kings, but could not lock onto it, which made me even more leery. Furthermore, I also felt time was running out...that I needed to finish what I started with the Kings because of the Rising, so I asked them what this final test was. They didn’t tell me directly, but did say they were waiting for another player to show up who was to be part of this mysterious last test.”

“Really,” Assad rumbled softly, becoming very intrigued. “Did you sense this other player approaching?”

“As a matter of fact I did,” Hannibal admitted. “What I felt from this entity was unlike anything I’d ever sensed about anyone. It was as ancient and powerful as the other Kings, including the King of the Sands with a completely alien nature I’d never encountered before. The entity felt every bit as alien as Tsasthoagguah and Shiargoriath, but didn’t feel malevolent towards me or Selina. It had a somewhat benign, even friendly attitude toward both Selina and me though I couldn’t tell for sure because of the conflicting signals I kept getting from all directions. Despite all that, I found it even stranger that I could clearly sense this entity had a very important message for me.”

“Is that so,” Draco asked with piqued interest. “Did this entity show itself?”

“It did, but not before yet another entity intruded upon us that I absolutely knew shouldn’t have been there,” Hannibal stated darkly in a very stern tone, “The darkness I felt from this other entity was very familiar to me since I’ve encountered its kind before.” He paused and took a deep breath, steeling himself to bring forth the truth about the other entity. After letting a hissing sigh escape his lips, he declared sternly, “To be honest with you all, it was an extremely ancient and powerful Old One...an Old One had somehow intruded on that sacred space and everyone sensed it.”

Faces fell with great concern and Draco asked bluntly, “Are you sure?”

“No question it was an Old One,” Hannibal growled tensely, “I’ve been touched and haunted by them constantly since I was thirteen. I know their vile signatures intimately and know they constantly are trying to find a way to eat me, so believe me when say it was an Old One. However, as it approached, I instantly noticed it was doing so in a very hesitant manner, as if some higher power were forcing it to approach us at the Circle much as we would drive a cow or bison forward with a switch or electrical prod. I could clearly sense its fear, which truly surprised and intrigued me for I never knew the Old Ones to fear anything. After all, they were supposed to be emotionless engineered bioorganic weapon systems created by the Etherian for the sole purpose of harvesting entire civilizations...both its organic and inorganic components. However, this one felt different. I sensed vast intelligence and great fear about it approaching us. It obviously feared the Kings gathered around the circle, but it also feared me even more for some strange reason I initially didn’t understand.”

“Why would it do that?” Harry blurted out in puzzlement.

“I’m not sure, bud,” Hannibal admitted, “But as it slowly approached, the form of the test the Kings had for me became apparent. They ordered me to confront the intruder while they watched to see how I’d handle it. I, of coursed consented and turned to confront the intruder. They wanted to see if I truly valued peace as I claimed in my earlier interactions with them, using violence as the absolute last resort. As it came closer, I suddenly realized what I was dealing with.” With a pause and a shaky sigh, he continued, “I hate to say it, but the reports of Poseidia being haunted by the Old Ones is not a fairy tale. The creature that approached us reluctantly was not just a powerful ancient Old One, but their leader. I sensed it clearly. It didn’t want to be there, but had no choice but to join the other Kings around the circle to be part of whatever was going on.”

“What happened next?” Nathanael asked as everyone, even the drakens became riveted by the account.

A sinister wry smile slowly crept across Hannibal’s lips as he said, “The Lord truly works in mysterious ways, which I think you will understand when I explain this confrontation. I called the Leader out and demanded to know why he was there.” With that, he went into a detailed account of his confrontation with the Leader of the Old Ones of Poseidia, including the appearance of the last King...a colossal titan alien basilisk of obscene age and power just as he started to engage the Old One leader. However, Hannibal kept back the names of both the Old One leader and the titan basilisk, opting to call the Old One the Leader and the other merely the titan basilisk for the moment. He gave a detailed description of the titan basilisk’s head when it appeared out of the fog, but only gave a vague picture of the Leader because it refused to show itself initially. The report of the titan basilisk showing up after the Old One Leader caused visible surprise in the faces of Draco, Aeolus, Tau, Assad, and many of the other leaders present. Even Nemesis and Josephine reacted with horrified surprise at the news.

“Are you certain it was a giant basilisk?” Draco asked gravely having a deep suspicion he knew the identity of this titan basilisk after Hannibal’s detailed description.

Hannibal smiled grimly, saying darkly, “Absolutely. I know a basilisk when I see it since I’ve killed several since I came into this savage cursed underworld. However, this basilisk is nothing like the ones I killed in Acheron and in Kartoom. As I said a few minutes ago, this basilisk is the alien entity I sensed and the one the other Kings were waiting for. It’s unlike anything any of you can imagine. Its head was every bit as big as the other Kings were, but its head was not like any basilisks I’d seen before. Its head was far more drakenish, looking much like Aeolus in its facial features that is completely alien to anything I knew with a nearly cosmic level of power I couldn’t help but notice. Yet....” He paused and rubbed the side of this face and neck with a perplexed look, adding, “Yet, I somehow knew this creature, though I cannot remember ever seeing such a vast and imposing cosmic creature before. The first thing that jumped into my mind when I comprehended what I saw when he appeared was the myths on the surface about a flying serpent god Quetzalcoatl. It so unnerved me when I first saw him I dropped to my knees in stunned fright and amazement. I’d never seen such an immense snake in my entire life. Despite its fearsome appearance and hideously alien feel, I could clearly sense it meant Selina and me no harm and that it had a somewhat friendly attitude toward us. Its intelligence was absurdly, obscenely vast...nearly as vast as both Cerrelius and the King of the Sands with power levels comparable to both of them. I felt it clearly. Yet it clearly didn’t challenge neither Cerrelius nor the King of the Sands. It knew who was in charge, and didn’t resist what they were doing there. In fact, once the titan basilisk showed up, Cerrelius said all the witnesses were now in place and the test could formally go forward.”

“How did Selina react to the basilisk?” Nathanael asked.

“She nearly freaked out,” Hannibal replied bluntly. “After everything we’d gone through with Tsasthoagguah and Shiargoriath, her mind started collapsing on itself in utter terror at what she thought was yet another cosmic abomination. Had I not been there to support her and remind her that Cerrelius told us we were protected inside the Sacred Circle, she would have definitely snapped and lost her mind. Then the titan basilisk spoke to her in such a way that it drove away her terror of him, just as Argus and Aeolus did when we first met them. I’m still amazed at how easily he tamed her fears of him by just speaking to her. I suspect there may have been a telepathic component to it, though it was so subtle I could hardly sense it.”

“Fascinating,” Assad purred, pleasantly surprised by the news. “Is this what happened, Miss Selina?”