Legends of Amacia Srandi: Last Bastion of the Caverias

As they penetrated the gloom of Srandi’s entry corridor, those who had sources of light activated them to add to the light blazing from the Scepter Hannibal carried. Samantha used potent spotlights built into the arms and shoulders of her tiger armor, constantly sweeping the corridor for hidden threats as she, Harry, and Selina followed a couple of steps behind Hannibal. Nemesis and Ana moved along just behind the trio following Hannibal. Nemesis used his enormous feet to clear a narrow path of the ancient dead for Leila’s wheelchair. Ana stayed close to Nemesis, using Morpheus’ staff as a torch in much the same way Hannibal used Shadizar Kahn’s scepter to light the way. She kept a very critical eye on everything around them as Hannibal cautiously proceeded.

The entryway corridor matched the dimensions of the alcove entrance and stretched for one hundred feet before opening up into a cavernous great hall rising one hundred feet high and fifty feet across. It stretched out silently before the team like an endless corridor. The titan hall was lined with all manner of sculptures and statues that were toppled and broken in the sacking of the fortress. Just as in the entry just outside the broken down main doors, the fallen ancient dead littered the floors like so much dung. There were so many it was impossible to count and in many cases, the team was physically treading on the bones of the fallen with Nemesis constantly plowing a path for Leila’s wheelchair. Upon entering the great hall, Hannibal stopped the team with a raised fist. Gasps and swears rose from the various members of the team as they quietly demonstrated their revulsion at what laid before them. If the entry alcove outside the shattered main doors was a charnel house, the great hall was a charnel city. As the team gazed at the impossible carnage present, along with the human, alien, and demon bones of the fallen lying everywhere, they noted the remains of petrified flesh, blood, and viscera stuck on the walls and the fallen statuary of the great hall.

“My god,” Ned blurted out upon seeing the hellish scene. “Someone really humped the bunk in here. I’ve never seen anything like this in all my years as a soldier. This is wanton butchery.”

“That it is,” Hannibal growled icily, “But it’s more than that. I sense the hand of Chaos itself in what we’re seeing here. I bet if we do a closer examination of the fallen here, we’d find various Grimm among them for this is the type of carnage that draws the Grimm in to feast. I bet when we find the actual record of what happened here, we’ll see the Emperor attacked with his legions, including Baal’s Berserker legions only to have drawn the Grimm in en mass because of the darkness, rage, and hate he had for Thoth. It was like ringing the dinner bell for them. My gut says the Grimm swarmed in after Bolthor breeched the keep, going after attackers and defenders alike. It’s what they do, as I recall.”

“How can you be sure that the Grimm was involved in this atrocity too?” Tau asked. “I’ve yet to see any remains of the Grimm here.”

“I can’t,” Hannibal admitted, “It’s just a feeling I’m getting in the pit of my stomach. Furthermore, the Grimm attacking at the peak of the carnage here is just logical deduction when you consider they were rampaging at the same time Bolthor was in the 1st Age. A sacking of this magnitude would have drawn every Grimm for a hundred leagues of this place just to feast.” He continued to scan the great hall ahead of him as he spoke until he saw the bones of something different from everything else present. It silenced him when he saw it. His face paled and he ordered, “Stay here for a second; I see something that I prayed wasn’t here.” Moving swiftly like a great cat on the hunt, Hannibal moved cautiously forward holding the scepter forward as a spear.

“What is it?” Harry asked, tensed with his war hammer ready for action.

Within a minute, Hannibal reached his goal fifty yards away. Looking around urgently and seeing no hidden perils waited to pounce on him he relaxed his aggressive stance and leaned down to examine the bones closely. Procuring what seemed to be an oversized mutated wolf skull he stood up and examined it closely with growing agitation.

“Is it safe to approach, Hannibal?” Samantha asked.

“Yes,” Hannibal growled stiffly, “Just watch your step on the bones. They’re so many you can’t help but walk on them.”

The team moved forward, following Selina, Harry, and Samantha to Hannibal, carefully picking their way through the wreckage of the Ancient Dead. Upon reaching him, they instantly saw his eyes glaring menacingly at the skull, which was every bit as large as the skull of a dire wolf. However, this skull was not of any normal dire wolf. It was misshapen with partial human features as if it were the head of a werewolf decorated with twelve-inch long horns sprouting from its skull and sweeping back to the rear of it. The skull had six eye sockets: three on either side of the skull spanned a solid two feet from front to back. It boasted six-inch fangs with three-inch long wolf-teeth firmly set in its jaw. Finally, everyone saw the faded scarlet markings on the top and sides of the skull that made those who saw it curse and gasp in horror.

“By the Ancient of Days,” Enoch breathed in fearful awe, “That’s a Grimm skull, isn’t it little brother.”

Hannibal looked up at Enoch and the team, saying icily, “It’s not just a Grimm, Enoch. This is the skull of an alpha Grimm Beowulf. These markings prove it. However, it appears this pack leader didn’t fare much better than the rest of the humans, aliens and demons that attacked this place.” His face smoldered with rage as he suddenly threw the skull against the nearby wall, shattering it. “Shit!” he cursed venomously, “I was right! The Grimm came in here while Bolthor attacked and added to the carnage and the mayhem he unleashed. God damn it; the people here didn’t have a prayer! No one escaped this genocide, and the evidence of not just Baal’s Berserker hell-fiends being involved, but also the Grimm taking their own piece of this place makes my blood boil. This wasn’t just genocide, but a deliberate outright desecration of this place.” His face flushed with rising fury about to blow like a volcano.

Selina instantly rushed to him, put an arm around him, and purred in his ear, “Calm down, Hannibal. Don’t let this rattle you since you expected to see this. Calm yourself and focus on the task in front of us. You can’t do this if you let your Rage off its leash.” When she saw his rage slowly subsiding, she cooed, “That’s it, my prince. Let your Rage sleep until it’s needed. That’s it. Be calm and lucid. Focus on what you need to do here. Everyone is depending on us.”

The team marveled as they saw firsthand how Selina could calm Hannibal’s Battle Rage so easily. “You really do have a deep connection to your husband to be able to calm him down like that, milady,” Assad commented. “You truly balance him the same way the legends say Ariel kept Thoth in line.”

Hannibal sighed deeply, looking Selina in the eye while putting his free arm around her. “You’re so right, Assad,” he admitted. “Now you really see why I say she’s my salvation for only she can penetrate the fog of my berserker battle rages with her words and presence. She’s the calming yin to my raging yang. Thank you for calming me down, Selina. Just seeing that alpha Grimm’s skull in this place after I suggested the Grimm were part of the sacking of this place really got under my skin.”

“That’s why I’m here,” Selina chimed warmly, kissing Hannibal briefly on the lips. “You’re just a bit more temperamental than you should be and I’m just the right wet blanket to put that fire out.”

Hannibal chuckled, giving her a gentle squeeze with his arm before letting her go. “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he replied soberly, “We truly are a team, and it seems it’s going to take us operating as a team to truly ferret out the secrets of this place. What do say we go find the throne room?”

“After you, my prince,” Selina replied, “Lead the way.”

“Leila, do you recall where the throne room is?” Hannibal asked.

“Vaguely,” Leila answered. “If my memory isn’t lying to me, we’re now in the Great Hall of the Caverias. It was to be a celebration of the achievements of the Caverias line going back to the very first Caverias with their images enshrined in stone here for all time. It breaks my heart to see this magnificent hall in such a condition with the Caverias colossi torn down and desecrated.”

“Really,” Harry asked with genuine surprise. “These broken statues are supposed to be the images of the Caverias kings?”

“Yes, Harry,” Leila replied somberly, “This hall celebrates not just the line of the Caverias Kings, but of their greatest heroes. Somewhere amongst these fallen statues is the image of the greatest Caverias...Ragnar Omicron of the Silver Eyes. If I remember correctly, his image should be standing opposite of the doors to the throne room. With what I’m seeing here, I doubt these barbarians left his image alone. Ragnar Omicron was not only the greatest of us, but also the most hated by the Dark Powers since he single-handedly banished Lord Grimm back to the Void. I bet the invaders smashed his venerable image to gravel.” Tears started dripping from Leila’s eyes at the thought as she added mournfully, “I’ve lived too long to see our line so desecrated and destroyed.”

Hannibal walked up to Leila and placed a caring hand on her shoulder. Leaning in and looking her in the eye, he said softly, “Don’t grieve so, Leila. Our line isn’t done yet and you will see justice and vengeance come to those who did this. My presence here should be proof enough of that.”

“I know,” Leila whimpered emotionally, “but it’s so hard to see the devastation Bolthor wrought on this place. Only by being here with you and the rest of your family and friends makes this tolerable.”

“Leila, you ARE our family,” Hannibal reminded her gently but firmly, “You are Ariel’s twin sister and a Caverias by blood. That same blood runs through my veins as well. It also runs through Enoch’s veins, as well as his entire family. It even surges through Selina’s veins and if I may be so bold, Ana is your actual physical descendant. The Healer proved this when we analyzed our blood. You must not think you’re alone for you aren’t. You are family...our most venerable grandmother whom everyone adores. Never think you’re the last one, okay?”

Leila reached out and embraced Hannibal, sobbing softly as she finally accepted she wasn’t the last of her line. “Thank you, Hannibal,” she wept while hugging him. “You have once again placed a healing balm on my wounded heart. Thank you.”

Hannibal returned the embrace gently, whispering, “You’re welcome, Leila. It was my pleasure.” He backed out of the embrace and triggered his right Draken Gauntlet so it transformed back into its vambrace form. Lifting his right palm to her, he stared into her eyes without saying a word. Leila instantly pressed her palm to his, interlocking her fingers with his in the Lynxian grief-sharing ritual. A warm, compassionate smile crept across Hannibal’s lips as his eyes sparkled with life and love. “Remember, you are not alone in this new world, sis,” he said softly as he shared her grief, helping to disperse it.

“I know,” Leila purred softly as her emotions stabilized into a more focused lucid form, “...not anymore. Thank you, brother. I couldn’t have done it without you.” With that, she let go of his hand and wiped the tears from her eyes.

Hannibal smiled broadly and leaned in, kissing her gently on the cheek, saying, “It was my pleasure, sis. Now, can you tell us where the throne room is?”

Leila pointed into the darkness of the Great Hall ahead of them, saying, “If my memories aren’t complete fabrications, the entrance to the throne room should be about four hundred cubits in that direction on the left. The Ragnar Omicron colossus should be standing opposite of it, though I doubt his statue remains in one piece with what I see around us.”

“We shall see,” Hannibal crowed softly, patting Leila on the shoulder one last time before turning to face the darkness, “Come on, guys and gals; let’s find that throne room. Follow me and watch your step. The bones in here are a bit treacherous to walk on.” With that, Hannibal reactivated the right Draken Gauntlet to its operational form and again took up the lead, heading down the great hall deeper into the fortress using the Scepter to light the way.