Legends of Amacia Srandi: Last Bastion of the Caverias

“It is,” Selina admitted, “I was half a heartbeat away from permanently losing my mind when he spoke to me. I just can’t handle these cosmic entities the way Hannibal can. Their very existence demolishes everything I know and believe about the universe and reality. The myths and legends of my people have always spoken of these creatures, just as human myths and legends say the same thing. However, we never believed they existed for no one in our recorded history had ever encountered them and left hard evidence of their existence outside of our myths and legends. Then I ran into Hannibal when he rescued my dad and me from the destruction of our civilization. He literally stepped out of thin air with his portal and saved us just as the shockwave from the blue sun’s supernova reached our ship, the Interceptor.

“As I came to know Hannibal, he kept telling me that myths and legends always have grains of fact and truth in their cores, no matter who wrote them nor how exaggerated and twisted they became. I know now how right he was. Not only has he confirmed our myth of the Ammkar and the Etherians to be real with his conquest of the temple of Tiamat, he also has proven conclusively that demons and angels exist, that we do actually live in a multi-dimensional, multiversal reality with God Himself only knowing how many other dimensions and universes there are out there. The tales of the Abyss and the Void are real, along with the cosmic monstrosities and abominations that infest them.” She paused and visibly shuddered at the thought, adding, “I never believed such hideous insane abominations ever existed, but now I know better. We must accept their existence as fact for I have...seen them with my...waking eyes. I...saw them! They tried...to kill us!” She choked and soft sobs started bubbling up from deep within her as she covered her mouth with her hand.

Hannibal instantly put his arm around her in support and nodded grimly to her, telepathically strengthening her and urging her to continue. She wrapped both arms around him while laying her head on his shoulder. “It’s okay, princess,” he cooed in her ear. “Let it out. Our friends need to hear it in your own words. They will not mock you in your weakness.”

Assad moved in close, resting his giant clawed hand on Selina’s shoulder while leaning down to look her in the eye with less than a foot between their faces. “Your mate speaks the truth, my dear little princess of the stars,” he purred soothingly. “You have been tormented by the truth of the existence of these cosmic abominations. It’s time you faced your fears of them, but do not despair. We’re all here to help you face these things. We shall help you face your fears of these creatures and you will conquer them. We all believe in you.” A rumble of approval rose from all who heard Assad’s words.

“Listen to them, Selina,” Hannibal urged gently. “They’re here for us...for you. I know you have as much trouble accepting help from others just as I do. After all, we’re cut from the same bolt of cloth. We both have been loners for most of our lives, and have seldom accepted help because of the repeated betrayals we’ve endured by those we’ve trusted throughout our lives. However, now it’s time for you to do what you begged me to do for so long. You need to let them in as I finally let you in. You cannot fight these monsters alone, just as I cannot. Let them in and together with our friends, we will drive the fear of these things back into the Void where it belongs.”

“Well said, milord,” Assad chimed. “Well said indeed, for only together as a team and a family can we hope to overcome the power of these cosmic monstrosities in the power of the Almighty Ancient of Days. Only then will you be free of this terror and be able to rationally deal with them.”

As Assad was speaking, the snowy-haired granddaughter of Assad Leya strode up, leaning heavily on her ornate cane. Seeing Leya approaching, Assad stepped aside, allowing Leya access to Selina and Hannibal. Selina became entranced by the beautiful but ancient Leya as she stared sympathetically into her eyes. Leya knelt down and opened her arms to Selina, saying softly, “Come here, milady. You’re in a sore need of a hug by someone who truly knows what you’re going through. Believe me; I indeed know the terror you feel at having your entire world shattered by the dark gods and titans that shouldn’t exist for it has happened to me. It’s indeed a very lonely thing to have your soul touched by the denizens of the most Ancient Darkness.”

Selina stared in utter amazement, feeling an overpowering urge to leap into Leya’s arms, as a frightened child would run to a consoling parent. She briefly glanced at Hannibal, who nodded knowingly to Leya, understanding this is what Selina needed. “It’s okay,” he whispered. “Go to her. Share your pain with her.”

With a wail of deep relief, Selina flew into Leya’s arms, who gently embraced her much as a caring grandmother would do. She sobbed deeply, releasing the horror and fears she’d been trying to tame as Leya purred deeply while stroking her head and back softly. “That’s it, milady,” Leya purred, “Release the fear, pain, and horror tormenting your soul. You have been trying to tame them instead of releasing it, as you need to. You cannot tame the fear, pain, and horrors the Dark Gods and Titans and their minions inflicted upon you. It must be released or it’ll destroy you. I know this from brutal experience. That’s it, milady, let it out...all of it.” The entire crowd remained quiet as a mouse as Leya ministered to Selina’s shattered mind and soul. They all sensed something profound was taking place.

Selina’s sobs suddenly quieted down as her face started to contort slowly with immense blinding rage she could not hide. She pushed back from Leya, looking down at the stone roof of the Red Tower, her eyes blazing with uncontrollable rage while she clenched her fists, extending her claws, which dug into her palms. Hannibal saw the shift in her mental state and instantly recognized the fury building up within her as the Caverias Battle Rage. He stepped up behind her, gently grabbing onto her arms at the shoulders. Leaning in, he whispered urgently in her ear, “Don’t let the Rage run out of control, Selina. Listen to my voice and let it bleed into the ground beneath you slowly. If you must, send it to me. Just don’t let it explode for you may hurt yourself or someone else. Trust me; I know what I’m talking about. The first Rage is always the worst and nearly impossible to reign in without help. Control it, Selina. Don’t let it control you.”

Leya reached out and grabbed both of Selina’s hands, which were now bleeding from where her claws had dug in. “Listen to him, my dear,” she urged gently with genuine concern in her eyes for Selina. “He knows the power of the Caverias Battle Rage that you are now feeling for the first time. Focus your anger and rage and release it constructively. You’re very powerful and skilled. You can do this. Vent your rage, fear, and horror into the Abyss. Direct it at those who have so wronged you with their very existence. Do it. It’s okay. Just don’t let it get out of control.” She looked at Hannibal with an urgent, knowing look. Hannibal nodded, understanding what she wanted Selina to do.

“Selina; you have to let it out,” Hannibal cooed urgently in her ear while tightening his grip on her arms. “Scream at the sky if you must. You must let it out or it will kill you. Trust me. We’re here to make sure you don’t hurt anyone.”

“I...mustn’t,” Selina growled with a hiss, “I can’t! I can’t lose control, not like this! I’ll break and hurt someone, even you, my prince in my rage! This is insane! My mind is on fire with this rage.” She suddenly winced and cried in panicked dismay, “Now my body is burning with this insane rage! My very blood is on fire with it! Oh God, it hurts so much I can’t stand it! It wants out!”

Draco suddenly became aware of a potent elemental power surge building up in Selina that seriously concerned him. He quickly stepped forward and leaned in while gently touching her on the right arm, saying softly but urgently, “It’s okay, milady. This is not your fault, but you must deal with it now. Your rage is triggering a dangerous surge of elemental power within you that you’ve never experienced before, so it’s scaring you. I know you can feel the fire of the Elemental Earth spreading throughout your body because I can sense it myself, so please, try to calm down and draw on your mate’s knowledge and power to release it safely. He’s learned how to do it and will teach you how to safely release it. Otherwise, it could irreparably damage you in its release and will most likely hurt those around you, so please, calm down. Relax so you can release your fear, horror, and rage as well as your elemental energy in a controlled manner. I’m here to help you do this if you wish, so is your husband, as well as Master Assad and Miss Leya. Tap our skills and knowledge to help you to safely release this emotional and elemental overload.”

“Listen to him, princess,” Hannibal urged her gently while wrapping his arms around her to restrain her from the back. “Draco knows what he’s talking about since his people were among the first to develop and master the Elemental Earth abilities. Please, tap into our strength and knowledge to help you control this thing that’s taken you.”

“Trust us, milady,” Leya agreed, getting Selina to look her in the eye with the force of her will. “You will get through this. You’re strong, stronger than you think and will triumph over this crisis. We will open our minds, strength, knowledge, and will to you so you can learn how to control your awakening elemental power, Battle Rage, and release the poison of hate, horror, and fear that is enhancing your torments. Just let us in, and we’ll guide you to safety with your mate.”

Selina looked into Leya’s eyes as tears of fury streamed from her eyes and sobs erupted uncontrollably. She saw Leya’s sincerity and believed in her, crying, “Help me, please! I can’t deal with this fear, hate, and horror any longer! I’m broken and my blood feels like acid! Oh God, please help me in Jesus name! Everyone, help me! Please!”

“We’re here for you, Selina,” Hannibal said in a choked emotional tone, feeling Selina intense emotional and physical pain through their telepathic link. “Now that you’ve asked for help, we can act. Assad, Draco, Lord Tau, Nemesis, Josephine, lay hands on our precious queen with me and help her dispel this thing that’s taken her. Together in the power of the Almighty, we can free her from this dark crisis.”

“Let’s do this,” Nemesis growled as he walked up and touched Selina on the arm, getting her attention. As she looked at him, he smiled warmly, saying, “Now you will be free of this darkness, fear, and hate that I’ve seen tormenting you since your escape from the Emperor. Trust in the Almighty and us. Your freedom is at hand. You will be free of this thing.”

Assad moved in and placed his giant clawed hand on Selina’s head while leaning down to look her in the eye. “It seems the demon that has infested you has finally shown itself,” he purred softly. “Your encounter with those cosmic powers and abominations has pulled it to the surface and out of hiding. Please, work with us and you will be free as I promised you down in your portal chamber. The time has come for this purging to take place. Will you work with us against the thing that torments you?”

“Yes, yes,” Selina sobbed, her pain, fear, horror, and rage growing exponentially. “I’ll try! Please, just help me get rid of this thing that is now burning me alive! Oh God, every nerve in my body is on fire! My blood boils! My mind raves and melts! Oh Lord; please put out this fire in the name of Jesus.”

“The Almighty will deliver you, milady,” Draco reassured her, feeling her intense distress. “Just believe! He will not leave you in this distress.”

“I believe!” Selina cried in intense pain and panic. “Lord, forgive my unbelief and save me!”

“He’s already forgiven you, Selina,” Hannibal murmured in her ear. “Now He shows His mighty hand and pulls you out of Darkness like he did for me in Cambodia.” In that moment, the Almighty opened Hannibal’s eyes and he saw the true nature of Selina’s crisis. His face fell with intense horror followed by a nuclear level of righteous indignation verging on total wrath. In the blink of an eye, his spirit vision saw the vile demoniac lord that had its claws in Selina. “Oh, you vile piece of Grimm shit,” he swore venomously. “You dare to touch the Lord’s handmaiden in such a vile disgusting manner? Now you pay for your impunity and attempted corruption of my soul mate! You are so out of here!”

“You see the core of her trouble, milord,” Assad said, sensing the Almighty had imparted vital information about the crisis to Hannibal. “Has she been infested as I suspected?”

“Indeed,” Hannibal growled in near wrath, “Now we must free her of this beast! Pray, my friends. Pray that we overthrow and free her of this demon. As you said, the time for this is now. We can’t wait any longer to deal with this thing.”

“Then let’s call on the Almighty in prayer that He frees our sister from this sinister wicked enemy,” Assad called out. “Everyone pray for our precious sister and this beast will flee.” With those words, those who could kneel did so while the others bowed their heads, all praying for Selina’s deliverance. Even the drakens prayed with great power following Assad’s prompting as a prophet of the Almighty. Prayers filled the roof of the Red Tower, instantly rising to the throne of Heaven, eliciting an immediate response.

Hannibal held Selina firmly in his grip and prayed in her ear as she started writhing with great violence, shrieking in intense pain. Leya, Assad, Draco, Nemesis, and Josephine likewise assisted in restraining Selina, each of them praying aloud so she could hear their prayers. After seven minutes of loud intercessory prayer for Selina, she screamed in utter agony as deep claw wounds started forming on her face, arms, and body, drawing blood. “Oh God...it’s ripping me apart now!” she cried in horrified pain. “I can...feel it’s claws...ripping me apart and roasting me alive from the inside! Please...make it stop! I can’t take anymore!” Another primal shriek of agony wailed from her throat while a horrid invisible enemy ruthlessly mauled her body, mind, and soul.

When Hannibal saw the gashes forming on Selina’s exposed skin in front of everyone, he knew the critical time had come. A flashback of his deliverance in Cambodia many years before flooded his memory. The horrors and pain of being mauled by Dezarcus and his minions as the men of God exorcised the demons from his body filled his mind, driving his rage well into the lethal nuclear levels. Here before his very eyes, his soul mate was having the same thing happen to her that had happened to him and it drove him to violent wrath. His eyes started glowing brightly as a pale blue aura started swirling around him and Selina. As he was about to lash out elementally and physically against the infernal thing trying to kill Selina before his eyes, the still small voice of the Almighty penetrated his rage, calming it and instructing Hannibal on how to proceed, speaking directly to his mind. When Hannibal calmed down, the pale blue aura vanished with the rage-filled expression everyone saw. However, his eyes continued to glow brightly with white fire dancing in them as the power of the Almighty fell on him to such a point everyone saw it and marveled. He started glowing with a white aura rising, swirling around him and Selina. When those touching Selina started to withdraw their hands because of Hannibal’s swirling white aura, he ordered urgent with great authority, “Keep your hands on her, my friends. Together in the power of the Almighty that has just fallen upon me shall we purge her of this insidious demoniac infestation.”

“We will follow your lead, milord,” Assad said, stunned and awed as he saw the Almighty’s power literally pulsing through Hannibal’s person. “Please proceed and deliver your mate from this demoniac infestation. We shall back you up, as is proper.”

Hannibal felt Selina’s body physically heating up and roared, “Oh no you don’t, Belial; cease and desist in the name of the Jesus Christ of Nazareth, son of the most holy and mighty Almighty Creator and Father of us all...the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We command you in the name above all names, Jesus Yashua, son of the living God, to come out of Selina and not harm her any longer as you vacate her. Now come out of her, you vile demon lord of hate and wrath and return to the Abyss where you belong, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth!”

Assad, Tau, Draco, Josephine, and Leya mimicked Hannibal prayer, putting the full power of their faith in the Almighty to deliver Selina into their prayers. “Yes,” Assad roared, his eyes glowing with the holy fire of his position as prophet. “In the name of the most holy son of the most high Almighty Ancient of Days, come out of our precious sister without harming her and get thee hence into the Abyss, foul demon lord of hate and violence, and take your insidious minions with you!”

Draco, Tau, Leya, Nemesis, and Josephine repeated the same thing with great passion in turn. Aeolus started chanting the order in deep powerful resonating tones, prompting all the leaders to join in with Kusanagi leading the others in the chant. The chant became thunderous as Hannibal’s eyes blazed with holy determination to free his soul mate from the demon.

Selina writhed in Hannibal’s iron grip as he clung to her like a tick while Assad, Draco, Tau, Nemesis, and Josephine helped to restrain her. A primal shriek of utter horror suddenly erupted from Selina’s lungs followed by a deep hideous malevolent reptilian voice that was not Selina filled with the utmost violence and hate that roared in absolute wrath, “How dare you take my prize, you traitorous half-evolved human germ! I am Belial...Lord of Rage, Hate, and Horrors unending! Lord Rege gave her to me and I will not relinquish this body to anyone! She is mine by right of conquest. I will rip her limb from limb in front of you right now if you don’t release me now, you pestilent traitorous piece of ape-shit!”

Those who physically restrained Selina with Hannibal saw how her eyes went completely black when the demoniac entity took over. This utterly surprised them. However, Hannibal remained utterly calm to their eyes, even though his rage burned at lethal levels just under the nuclear level internally. “I think not, you foul demoniac piece of Grimm shit,” he hissed venomously in such an icy tone that it shocked everyone who heard it. “You fucked up big time and allowed yourself to be seen, Belial. You didn’t think Selina seeing the Old Ones or the cosmic monstrosities of the Void would cause her to reveal your presence to us, but it did. I knew someone like you had infested her when she admitted to Assad in the portal chamber how she had an inexplicable hate, fear, and horror tormenting her since we got her away from the Emperor. You never thought we’d find you, did you? Well, now you’re caught and you will come out her now without hurting her any longer, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. If you continue to resist, I will call forth our guardians and have them remove you by force.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” Belial snapped menacingly through Selina’s lips. “You have no such authority.”

“Oh no; try me, demon,” Hannibal said dangerously, “Caverias, come out and rally the troops to get rid of this pestilent piece of Grimm shit, and make sure he doesn’t hurt Selina any more than he’s already done. She’s endured enough of their shit already.”

The ghostly form of Caverias rose out of Hannibal, standing a full twelve feet in golden armor in plain sight of everyone present. “My fellow guardians; our little sister sorely needs our assistance in the name of the most merciful Father. Please come out and assist in removing the arch-traitor from her. It’s the will of the Father that we help deliver our precious sister.” When Caverias appeared as an apparition, gasps of fright and awe rose from the other leaders, causing them to pause in their chant. Then when Tsang rose from Nemesis, and the guardians rose from Assad, Tau, Josephine, and Draco, eyes grew wide as the ghostly guardian angels pressed in, surrounding Hannibal and Selina with their focus on Selina. Each guardian angel was massive, standing twelve to fourteen feet tall armed and armored for war, ready to attack at Caverias’ order. Caverias then bellowed loudly to the sky, “Reserves...fall in and prepare to attack at my order.”

In the blink of an eye, five companies of war angels with their weapons drawn appeared in ghostly forms on the top of the Red Tower, making an impenetrable perimeter around everyone. This stunned even the drakens, who marveled along with the leaders witnessing the crisis. The angelic warriors split their focus with half guarding the perimeter from outside attack while the rest focused on what was happening in the center with Caverias. One of the captains called out once the war angels had taken up position, “We’re ready to move on your order, General Caverias. Nothing is going to interfere with this deliverance and we will insure the arch-traitor doesn’t escape his fate.”

“Stand by,” Caverias ordered, turning back to Selina and Hannibal. Briefly glancing at Hannibal as he nodded with a sinister smirk, Caverias leaned down, looking into Selina’s black eyes. Addressing Belial directly, he said coldly, “Your move, fallen demon lord. You see you’re alone, outmatched, and outnumbered. Just come out of our little sister without harming her and you may be allowed to leave in one piece and not be exiled back into the Abyss. All we want is for you to leave the Lynxian without harming her any more. Come on; don’t make this any harder than it has to be. You’re bound to obey since Hannibal has exercised the name and authority of Jesus against you. You have to obey. Don’t make us rip you out of her by force, but’s your choice.”

“You forcibly remove me and I will end this cat’s life and soul out of spite,” Belial snarled viciously with such incredible animosity that those watching marveled at the demon’s vile hate. “I will dissolve her organs, annihilate her soul, and dismember her by blowing her body to rotting putrefying chunks in front of all of you before you or that cursed Yahweh can lay a hand on me. Neither He nor you have any power over me. If you think I’m bluffing about my power, watch this, you fucking pile of angelic steaming shit. I have total control of this cat’s body now and can do what I please to it. I am a GOD and you cannot stop me!”

Selina’s eyes cleared up, showing utter terror and agony in them. Before she could speak, she coughed and gasped as her breath suddenly stopped. She started turning blue from lack of air while thrashing futilely against those restraining her. As her thrashing slowed, her eyes started rolling back in her skull, bulging out of her eye sockets. Her mouth fell open as her tongue wagged out with choked gasps sporadically rising from her throat as the demon seemed to physically strangle her from the inside with hideous wicked laughter rising from her form, but not from her mouth. Blood started oozing from her nose, eyes, and ears at the same time. Hannibal felt her life slipping away and his wrath again blossomed against the demon lord, galvanizing his resolve to save Selina at any cost.