Legends of Amacia Srandi: Last Bastion of the Caverias

“Interesting,” Draco murmured thoughtfully, stroking his chin with his clawed fingers. “Might you know what this darkness is, milord, since I know you’ve endured a similar trial because of the infernal Draken Prince of the East. If you know what it is, your mate deserves an answer if she’s to heal from these wounds, just as she admitted.”

A deep troubled sigh escaped Hannibal’s lips. “Unfortunately, I do,” Hannibal replied grimly. “It’s the same type of darkness I endured when that demon shit Dezarcus took me. It’s the Darkness of the Abyss and only demon princes and lords such as Belial, Dezarcus, and the Black Prince exude such vile caustic darkness.”

“Then where did that darkness come from?” Tau asked. “Did it come from the thing that we saw dragged through that portal in the storm that just dissipated?”

“Yes,” Hannibal declared with all the sternness of an executioner, “It came from that vile and accursed Belial for it was his darkness...his piece of the darkness from the depths of the Abyss itself that he made his own. I don’t know how they did it, but somehow, the Emperor or Ahriaman, or both of them summoned that beast from the Abyss and ordered the beast to infest Selina while we were separated and her still a prisoner in the Tower where I found her during the rescue operation.” A sinister, hideous thought intruded on his mind concerning the reason of Belial’s summoning and a furious scowl crossed his lips. “Shit!” he cursed with the terrible epiphany. “It was all a trap! They infested Selina before I rescued her as a backup means to eliminate me if their primary plan to take me out failed. I just know it! I bet Belial was ordered to merely infest Selina but not go for a full possession until I was at my most vulnerable with my guard down with Selina’s body and soul being Belial’s compensation for agreeing to it. Then when I was not expecting it, he’d finish possessing Selina and use her to kill me, and then he’d kill her and anyone else he could get his claws on, thus ending the threat I pose to them! Son of a bitchin shit-faced fucks; just when I think they couldn’t get any lower, they go and do that! Shit!”

Seeing and feeling Hannibal’s rage boiling at a dangerously high level, Selina looked over into Hannibal’s eyes as they burned with absolute blazing fury, purring softly, “But their evil plan failed, my prince. They failed to realize the strength of our love and bond to one another and to the Lord. He and you kept me from succumbing to that maddening hate and rage until what just happened.” Her very words visibly calmed Hannibal’s rage and everyone saw it, marveling at Selina’s power over Hannibal’s emotional state, even in her weakened condition. As she gathered her thoughts, something shocking and profound occurred to her and a gasp escaped her lips at the magnitude of the epiphany. Her face faltered with her eyes growing wide in horrified realization. The shock of the epiphany completely silenced her.

Seeing Selina’s sudden change of mood and expression, Leya asked softly, “What is it, milady? You look as if you figured something out so profound that it’s shaken your very soul. After what you just endured, it may be wise for you to share it with us since you’re still dealing with the aftermath of the removal of the fiend.”

“Grandma Leya is right, milady,” Tau agreed soberly. “You should share it with us. After all, we’re here to help you too since you’re Beowulf’s mate. Please; let us help you bear this burden.”

Selina looked at Assad, who nodded grimly, saying knowingly, “You know what needs to be done, milady. Only you can do this, just as it was up to Beowulf alone to call in the Light to free you of the fiend. Of course, it’s up to you. You still have a choice. No one will force you to share this revelation you just had if that’s what you truly want.”

“Master Assad is correct,” Kusanagi cooed sympathetically to Selina, looking her in the eye as she turned to him when he spoke. “It’s your choice. This revelation was meant for you specifically, so I’d let the Almighty show you what to do with it.”

Hannibal grunted knowingly, giving Selina a gentle strengthening squeeze as she turned, looking him in the eye. “I know what you saw, for it’s in my mind too,” he said softly but darkly. “As both Assad and Master Kusanagi said, this is your revelation. It’s up to you to choose what to do with it. That’s the price we pay for such revelations. We must choose what to do with them once we receive them. However, no matter what you choose, I’ll support your decision. No pressure here.” A soft, sober smile crossed his lips to further support Selina’s imminent choice.

Selina’s faltering expression solidified as she leaned in, kissing Hannibal gently on the lips with a quick peck. New confidence filled her features, though her fear still showed. “No pressure indeed,” she purred with a tremulous voice. “Thank you for allowing me to choose, Hannibal.”

“You’re welcome,” Hannibal chimed with a weary smile. “I wouldn’t be much of a husband if I didn’t try to help you.”

Selina embraced Hannibal while leaning her head against his shoulder, saying, “I couldn’t ask for a better husband and soul mate, my prince; but I think Leya, Master Assad, and Master Kusanagi are right. I need to share it or it’ll cause me trouble I don’t need right now. I don’t want to be tormented by it like I’ve seen things you knew torment you, Hannibal.”

“I totally understand,” Hannibal cooed, giving her a comforting, strengthening squeeze with his arm. “If you think you’re ready, go for it.”

“Indeed; please tell us what you just discovered, milady,” Draco urged gently, “...and take your time. You needn’t rush it. Let your instincts and the Almighty guide your words to us. Just from your reaction to it, I suspect it may be a very important to our cause.”

Selina looked over to Draco with a fearful sober expression plastering her face. “You may be right about that, milord,” she answered timidly in a shaky tone. “In fact, it has to do with us being taken to the Sacred Circle by the Kings.”

This got everyone’s attention, especially Hannibal. “It’s okay,” he cooed in her ear. “Take your time.”

Selina nodded to Hannibal, scanning the crowd around them, saying hesitantly, “I think there may have been more than one reason the Kings took us to the Sacred Circle in the manner that they did.” She paused for a second, looking at Hannibal for support. He nodded for her to continue. “It was more than just bringing us to a secure location to seal the alliance with them, even though I know that was the primary reason,” she declared in an obviously scared tone. “I believe the Kings may have known about the thing infesting me, and had orders from the Lord to spirit us to that place in order to maybe force it into the open so it could be dealt with.”

“Hmmm,” Assad rumbled thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. “That’s a very interesting hypothesis, milady. The Almighty may indeed have ordered your being brought there with Beowulf. However, I don’t think that was the main reason you were there, which the Almighty is confirming in my spirit right now. You were there primarily to back up your mate since together you and he are the Last Caverias. Both of you had to be there to seal the alliance with the Kings. This thing about the demon concealed in you being shaken loose by what happened there is a beneficial side-effect for you that the Almighty already knew would happen with what He had planned for the both of you in that place. Remember, all things follow His divine will, even if we can’t see it with our limited perceptions.”

“That they do,” Draco agreed, “But Miss Selina needs to continue with her tale. First off, did you notice the dark infestation when you first got there?”

“As a matter of fact, I didn’t,” Selina admitted with surprise at the question. “I was so freaked out about just being there and seeing what I did it never crossed my mind. It was as if that terrible pain, rage, hate, and horror I’d been tormented with since escaping the Emperor was somehow blotted out. Not once did it ever rise up. It actually gave me a moment of peace and relief not to have to fight it constantly, though my terror of the place may have just drowned it out. The place was completely unknown to me. It absolutely terrified me until the Kings explained where we were and that we were safe, even though both Hannibal and I could feel the extreme peril of the place. Something was so very wrong with that place, but when Serge planted that sloppy kiss on Hannibal, I laughed myself to tears and calmed down a bit afterwards. I haven’t laughed like that since I was a child.” She paused for a moment smiling as she added, “It felt so good to laugh like that again. After I lost my fiancé to that tragic incident with the planetary defense ion cannon destroying the shuttle he was on back at Kaitia, I never believed I’d love or laugh like that ever again. Then Hannibal rescued Dad and me from the Interceptor when our blue sun went supernova and everything changed.” She looked Hannibal in the eye with absolute love while leaning into his embrace. “He saved us, and taught me how to love and laugh again,” she admitted, “...despite everything we’ve gone through since our rescue. He’s my life and soul. I cannot live without him.”

“Same here, princess,” Hannibal replied softly, kissing her on the temple, “Same here. We’re truly one mind and soul, thanks to the Lord. I’m glad Serge’s prank in the Circle helped to raise your spirits too. You definitely needed it. I could tell.”

“That it did,” Selina agreed softly. “It helped to laugh like that after everything we’ve gone through.”

“I’m pleased my joke helped you to calm down as well, milady,” Serge called out. “When both of you calmed down and started to really take in where you were, that’s when things started happening in ways I never expected to see or anticipate...bad things.”

“What happened,” Draco asked Serge urgently, an ominous feeling settling in the pit of his drakenite stomach at Serge’s last comment.

“It’s best we let Hannibal and Selina tell this tale,” Serge insisted soberly, “They need to tell the tale, not me since it directly affected both of them in ways they’re still dealing with. Only they are cleared to tell the tale. This much I know.”

“I see,” Draco rumbled thoughtfully, not being able to shake the growing ominous feel in his gut and mind. “In that case, please continue, milady. Tell us what you’re cleared to share.”

“After becoming aware of where we were, we started to look around at the Circle with a much more critical eye while waiting for everyone to gather,” Selina said softly, the horror of the experience in the Sacred Circle still haunting her memories. “Hannibal pointed out all the writing we were standing on when he noticed it. He said there might have been samples of every language in the multiverse there, both known and unknown. While we examined the circular lines of writing, I found a section of Etherian writing that stopped me cold. I think you can image how I reacted since I knew of the Etherian Empire from our studies of the myths of my people. We’d found samples of their writing and few enigmatic ruins scattered in the most remote corners of the Kaitian Empire, but never were able to decipher the language, so I knew it when I saw it. Hannibal said he even saw sections of Cthulhu’s language in that circle. What did you call it, Hannibal?”

“Aklo,” Hannibal reported grimly, remembering his astonishment at the find. “I never expected to see Aklo there amongst all those languages. The last time I saw any Aklo was when I was working for the other side, so it shook me profoundly when I found it.”

“Fascinating,” Tau purred, enthralled by the report. “What else did you see while you were looking around?”

“I saw runes and letters that I’d never seen before, even with my extensive exposure to the Archives here at the Red Tower, in Kaal Bek before the Emperor sacked Arionath, and in Tiamat itself,” Hannibal reported. “As I said, I suspect there are languages from all creation in that alien place, and as Selina repeatedly has said, we both could feel the extreme power, antiquity, and danger associated with the place. From the little I could recognize, it seemed the symbols, letters, and runes carved into the floor of that circle were a much more extensive and ornate version of what I saw carved on the altar in the temple on Olympus. When we realized what we were seeing, I started asking questions of the Kings as we waited for the others to show up. As the Kings answered our few questions, that’s when I started sensing the titan Basilisk approaching along with the darkness of the Leader of the Old Ones. Yet, deep in the darkness of that fog beyond the circle that hid the true stature of the Kings and our reluctant Old One guest, I sensed a far deeper, viler, and incredibly hostile ancient darkness of unbelievable power stirring that really put me on edge, especially when it felt vaguely familiar.

“It truly worried me and I related my concern to the others, who couldn’t feel it initially. Only Cerrelius and the King of the Sands could feel what I did when I told them. Only later did the others notice it. Anyway, this other thing felt incredibly distant so I put it on the back burner so I could deal with the Old One Leader, who had been seemingly driven there by the Almighty for reasons unknown to me at the time. Apparently, one of the main parts of the test was for the Kings to see how I’d deal with the Leader of the Old Ones, who refused to actually show himself at first. Selina absolutely refused to look at the Old One’s shadow in the fog, especially after seeing that gigantic basilisk emerge from the fog. Then in the midst of dealing with the Old One Leader, we were interrupted as I suddenly sensed that hideously evil presence in the fog grow exponentially in moments. Before I could blink, the Lord Himself entered the fray, shined His most holy Light on me, and snatched some very weird and powerful memories from that black hole in my memory, bringing them up into my conscious mind. I almost lost it because of the power of it. It was like looking into the Abyss again. I didn’t want to see it again, but the Lord insisted that I confront those memories. He gave the strength and composure to deal with them. Then He instructed me in front of the Kings, telling me to confront with the new dark threat that loomed like a dark tsunami in my mind. Right after that, it...happened.” Hannibal stopped and swallowed hard, the color visibly draining from his face at the memory.

“What happened?” Kusanagi asked with true concern at Hannibal’s draining color.

Selina trembled visibly, saying in utter horror, “That’s when the new dark entity we all felt that wasn’t the shadow Hannibal had been dealing with attacked us without warning.”

“Indeed,” Assad chimed softly with great interest. “What attacked you and Beowulf in the Sacred Circle, Miss Selina?”

“I honestly don’t know what it was,” Selina admitted as horror filled her tone. “I vaguely recall my hair standing on end and my blood turning to ice as I felt a Darkness so hideously atrocious it made what I just endured with the thing look like a pleasant walk in the park. It..., I just can’t describe it. It felt like a sentient singularity that wanted to consume and erase my very existence...a thing of pure unbelievable malevolence and chaos as if it were chaos itself. I told Hannibal and the Kings what I was feeling, but before I could say anything more, this crazy, giant dark crimson lightning bolt from nowhere hit Hannibal and knocked me out cold. The next thing I knew, I felt the King of the Air’s mind stirring me to consciousness and Hannibal’s voice leading me out of the darkness. Once I was awake, we had to leave because that warp storm was reaching us even in the Sacred Circle, which I thought was nuts. I couldn’t comprehend how that storm was reaching us in that crazy alien place. That’s all I remember after the thing attacked us with the dark crimson lightning.” She turned and looked at Hannibal, pleading, “What happened after I was knocked out Hannibal? I must know, just as I need to know about what just happened to me. Stop avoiding the question. Just tell me, please. I deserved to know.”

A deep, troubled sigh escaped Hannibal’s lips. “You’re right, Selina,” he admitted soberly, “You do deserve to know since we are a team and soul mates. As for what happened in the Sacred Circle after that fiendish ambush, I cannot tell you everything, not yet, but you can hear what I have to say to our friends about it now that the Lord has cleansed you of the fiend. It seems that now you’re free of Belial, the Lord says it’s okay for you to hear what happened right now, minus the classified parts that I will share with you later when the Lord says it’s okay.”

“Right; I’m all ears,” Selina said soberly, “...and don’t hold back. I’m a big girl. I can take it, especially after what just happened with that...thing that’s thankfully now gone.”

A chuckle rose from Hannibal as he said, “That you are, princess. That you are.” He paused, screwing up the courage to tell what he could. The terror from the memory rose on Hannibal’s face, though he quickly mastered it after a few moments. With a trembling sigh, he declared in the darkest, most ominous tone he could muster, “I’m not going to beat around the bush here, nor lie to any of you about what attacked us in that sacred space. It was Lord Grimm. He tried to break out of the Void hoping to kill and eat me right in front of the Kings, and there wasn’t a thing any of them could do about it. Mercifully, for all of us, especially me, the Lord Himself intervened and helped me to push Grimm back into the Void. He literally saved me from the most powerful cosmic dark titan in existence, and put the beast back into his prison before it could do any real damage.”