Legends of Amacia The Awakening

Twin Crises

A couple of hours after leaving the shop with Harry to get a snack, Hanna returned to the therapy pool alone. Finding the pool complex deserted, she walked over to the therapy pool where she’d helped with Josephine’s physical therapy. Still wearing her one-piece leopard-print swimsuit and knee-length skirt around her waist, Hanna scanned the area, seeing the lounge chairs around the pool still present and unattended. A troubled sigh escaped her lips as she stopped by the nearest chair to the pool. Untying her skirt and tossing it in the chair, Hanna turned to the pool with a deep feeling of foreboding filling her. The telepathic noise inside Hanna’s mind steadily increased in volume, adding to Hanna’s souring mood. Icy chills raced down her spine as she stopped and sat down on the edge of the pool, dangling her legs and feet in the therapy pool’s warm waters. Slumping in her posture, an intense sadness swept over her. Tears started to spill out onto her cheeks as soft sobs of grief and pain welled up. Covering her eyes with one hand, she let out a mournful wail that echoed throughout the Pool chamber.

“Why am I crying like this?” Hanna sobbed softly. “I should be happy. In five days, I’m going to be restored to my proper station. But I’m not happy. I’m utterly miserable. What’s wrong with me? What’s this incredible fear and sorrow I’m feeling? It’s insane. It makes me want to kill myself. It doesn’t make any sense.”

As Hanna continued to sob, she didn’t notice Selina approach in her wheelchair with Emma pushing her. Selina wore a one-piece shiny silver swimsuit with a pretzel halter-top and high-cut legs. In her lap lay a large lavender towel folded up. Emma, on the other hand, sported a sleek speckled midnight blue one-piece swimsuit with low circular cut on the chest and high-cut legs. Around her waist, she wore a knee-length midnight blue skirt tied at her hip. They saw Hanna crying, and rushed over, hearing her last comments.

“That would be a mistake,” Selina called out as she and Emma stopped just away from the edge of the pool. “Taking your own life is never an answer, and you know it.”

Hanna turned abruptly towards Selina with a squeal of frightened surprise. “Don’t do that, sis,” she chided grumpily. “You scared the be-Jesus out of me.”

“Oh, man,” Selina purred with concern. “You’re really messed up right now. You didn’t even feel my approach. What’s wrong, Hanna?”

“I don’t know,” Hanna admitted, choking on her sobs. “I should be happy, but I’m not. I’m so depressed I started crying for no reason. It’s as if the world decided to drop all its sorrow and angst on me at once. Even worse, the noise of everyone’s thoughts and fears are becoming intolerable. I can’t tune them out, and it’s driving me nuts. My head feels like it’s about to explode. How do I shut them out? I have to shut them out! If I don’t, I’ll never be able to relax and prepare for the mutation reversal. Can you tell me where the off button is, Selina? Please tell me.”

“Ah,” Selina purred. “I see. That’s why you didn’t sense me. You’ve become over-stimulated by your telepathy.” She could feel Hanna’s pain and angst telepathically. Tears welled up in her eyes as she sympathized with Hanna’s plight. “I feel your pain, Hanna,” Selina declared, her tone shaky from the sorrow and fear she felt. “And I know your angst. You’ve hit a crisis point in your telepathy. Emma, sit me down next to Hanna. I need to be with her.”

“Yes, Selina,” Emma replied softly as Selina tossed the towel aside. She picked Selina up and sat her beside Hanna on the edge of the pool deck. Sitting down on the opposite side from Selina, Emma put a caring arm around Hanna, cooing, “You’re not alone, Hanna. Let us help you. Even I can feel your emotional pain and I’m not telepathic. Just relax and let us help.”

Selina scooted close to Hanna, putting her arm around her. Pulling Hanna into a caring embrace, Selina rocked Hanna gently. “It’s going to be okay, Hanna,” she cooed in Hanna’s ear as she leaned into Selina’s embrace. “Believe it or not, every telepath has this crisis...even me. I know what it’s like to be overwhelmed by the noise of everyone’s thoughts and fears.”

“How do you shut them out?” Hanna whimpered. “I know I’m a powerful telepath, but I’m inexperienced. I still don’t know how to filter the input or even shut it out. How do you turn off the noise?”

“Look at me, Hanna,” Selina ordered gently. Hanna looked up into Selina’s eyes and saw them sparkling. “You have the strength to do this. Trust me. You can do this. Let me show you how I do it.” Selina opened her telepathic training to Hanna again, showing her how to tune out the unwanted telepathic noise of the world. “Do you see how I do it?” she asked Hanna, “It’s all about the volume. You need to turn the volume down. You’ve had your volume turned up almost all the way since you awoke to your gift. Now, just use your mind and turn down the volume. Visualize a volume knob in your mind that controls the outside input. Do you see it? It’s like the volume control on your short-wave radios at home.”

“Yes,” Hanna replied softly, becoming calmer as Selina instructed her. “I can see a knob in my mind. Will it truly turn down the racket that buffets me constantly?”

“It will,” Selina replied confidently. “All you need to do is reach out and turn that knob until the telepathic input becomes tolerable. You can even turn it all the way down so you don’t hear anything, except for maybe me because of our telepathic fusion. Try it.”

In Hanna’s mind, she saw a console with a knob on it that controlled her telepathic volume. Reaching out, Hanna turned it the wrong way and shrieked in pain. “It hurts!” she cried, holding her ears as the volume of the telepathic input became deafening. Tears burst forth and she sobbed in pain. “Oh, god, it’s overpowering!” she wept. “It’s like a multitude shouting in my ears with bullhorns!

“Turn it the other way,” Selina ordered.

“I can’t!” Hanna sobbed. “I can’t even think! It hurts so much!”

Taking the initiative, Selina reached into Hanna’s mind telepathically, found the telepathic volume control and turned it down to a very low level. “There,” she purred, “That should give you some relief. How’s that feel?”

A look of intense relief spread across Hanna’s face as the voices and telepathic noise subsided to mere whispers. “Oh, thank you, sis,” she breathed gratefully. “What did I do wrong?”

“You accidentally turned up the volume instead of turning it down,” Selina replied. “Now, why don’t you try it? Turn it slowly and get a feel for it. You can do it.”

“I’m afraid,” Hanna admitted.

“I know you are,” Selina purred. “But you can do this. I believe in you. This is your gift. You need to master it, and not the other way around. Otherwise, it will destroy you. Now, take hold of the knob and roll it slowly one way, and then the other. Only you can decide what’s right for you. I can’t do it for you.”

“I believe in you too,” Emma cooed, using her empathic touch on the shoulder to help Hanna calm herself. “You can do this. We believe in you.”

Selina’s encouragement helped to quell Hanna’s fear. Putting her hand on the telepathic volume control, Hanna slowly turned it. “That’s it,” Selina chimed, seeing telepathically which way Hanna was turning the volume knob. “Take it slow. That direction will lower the input volume until you can’t hear anything.”

Hanna’s face exploded with surprise as the telepathic volume level deceased to where she couldn’t hear anything from the outside, except for Selina’s thoughts. “My god,” she breathed, “I didn’t think I could really turn them off like that.”

“Very good,” Selina congratulated. “Now, try the other way. Bring the volume up slowly. Don’t do it too fast or you’ll get overpowered again.”

Turning the telepathic volume control the other direction, Hanna slowly brought up the level of telepathic noise. A smile crossed her face as she truly grasped the idea that she could actually control what came into her mind telepathically from outside. “I can really do this,” she declared in awe. “But where do I stop it?”

“Wherever you find the telepathic volume tolerable,” Selina instructed. “Only you can determine this. Play with it a bit to determine where your optimum level is. I tend to leave mine at a moderately low level unless I’m purposely probing someone. Then, I have to turn my volume level up. It takes a higher power level to probe someone. But for now, I’d suggest maybe a low level so you can relax. You don’t need the world intruding on you while you’re trying to rest. I suspect that’s what triggered this crisis. You had your level turned up too high without knowing it. As a result, you became awash in the thoughts and fears of everyone around you.”

“Thank you, princess,” Hanna said gratefully, hugging Selina warmly. “I couldn’t have done it without you. I may be more powerful, but you’re more experienced. Thank you for teaching me where the volume control for my telepathy is.”

“You’re so welcome,” Selina chimed. “I’m so glad I could help you resolve this. In fact, I’m stunned that you caught on so quickly. Often time, it takes days or weeks for a telepath to figure out how to quell the noise. It took me almost two weeks when it first happened to me. I’m impressed.”

“Well, I’m still working on it,” Hanna admitted. “I just have it turned down low like you suggested. I desperately needed some telepathic quiet. The only thoughts I want other than my own is yours and the Lord. I have some major work to do and I can’t do it if I’m being distracted by a deluge of thoughts and fears from other people. And thank you, Emma. Your touch and support really helped. I couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Emma replied with a sweet smile. Kissing Hanna on the cheek, she added, “I’m just glad I could help. Now why don’t we help Selina go for a swim? That’s the reason she wanted to come down here.”

“Of course,” Hanna chimed, feeling much happier and mentally stable. Yet, that foreboding feeling kept gnawing at her in the background. “Maybe helping Selina with some physical therapy will get rid of the bad feeling I’ve got in the pit of my stomach.”

“What are you sensing, Hanna?” Selina queried bluntly. “I can feel it now that you’ve figured out how to filter your telepathic input.”

“I don’t know,” Hanna admitted as she slipped into the water. Turning to face Selina, she declared, “Shortly after Harry and I left the shop, this strange foreboding feeling fell into my mind and heart. I can’t shake it. It’s just like that feeling I got just before the Cadre attacked Kaal Bek with their weather weapon. You remember that, don’t you Selina?”

“I do,” Selina replied with a nod as Emma slid into the water. “It was a premonition that unfortunately proved to be true. What’s it telling you?”

Emma and Hanna helped Selina slide into the pool as Hanna stated grimly, “Just like the last time, I feel something bad is about to happen very soon. People are going to die, and....”

“And what?” Emma asked softly, noticing Hanna’s prolonged pause. “You can tell us.”

Tears started flowing from Hanna’s eyes again. “Tragedy is looming over me,” she wept. “Tragedy I can’t prevent. Something is going to happen to you, Selina, something heinously evil. But I can’t tell what it is. I don’t want to lose you, Selina! I can’t lose you now!”

Hanna’s words shook Selina to the core. “You’re not going to lose me, Hanna,” Selina declared, caressing Hanna’s cheek with her wet hand. “And nothing is going to happen to me. I won’t let it.”

“I don’t think that matters,” Hanna sobbed softly, tears flowing like a river. “Whatever is going to happen can’t be stopped. It’s been foreordained. You have an incredible trial of pain ahead of you that I can’t stop or prevent. And what’s worse, I’m not sure if you’ll survive it! God, I wish I didn’t have these damnable premonitions. They always fuck me up emotionally!”

Selina put her arm around Hanna, pulling her close. “Just calm down, Hanna,” she instructed gently. “I know better than to second guess your premonitions. If I have a trial of pain I must go through, then I trust the Lord to bring me through it, just as he brought me through the trial of my captivity. You must trust the Lord, Hanna. He knows what He’s doing. Now relax and get a grip. Compose and center yourself. Ask the Lord what this means. He’ll tell you. Maybe this isn’t a trial for me, but you. Be calm, little sister. I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. Heck, I can’t. I’m still crippled.” Selina let out a strained laugh, revealing her emotional pain about her condition.

“She’s right,” Emma chimed, once again, putting a sympathetic hand on Hanna’s shoulder. “You’re still uptight from your telepathic crisis. It could be interfering with your mind. Just calm down and ask the Ancient of Days to clarify this feeling. I know you can do it. Just believe. I do.”

Hanna once again calmed down and closed her eyes, relaxing and centering her spirit. Selina and Emma politely remained quiet as Hanna meditated on the meaning of the premonition. The foreboding feeling remained, but become tolerable as she broke through the interference. A noticeable sigh of relief hissed from her lips as peace came to her soul. “I’m so blessed to have such caring sisters to help me in my time of need,” Hanna declared.

“You look much calmer, Hanna,” Emma noted. “I must conclude you figured out what’s going on.”

“You could say that,” Hanna replied soberly. “Tragedy is coming and people are going to die, but Selina isn’t among them. But she and I are going to be tested again with a trial of pain. I can’t be helped. The Lord isn’t saying what’s going to happen, but suggested the Emperor may be responsible.”

“How could the Emperor be responsible?” Emma asked. “Selina and you are no longer under his thrall. He can’t touch you here. How can he cause you pain?”

“I don’t know,” Hanna admitted. “But I know I’m missing something important. The Emperor has many ways and devices with which he can inflict pain over a long...distance.” A shocked dismayed look crossed Hanna’s face as a single word abruptly dropped into her mind: shebat.

“What is it?” Selina asked, seeing and feeling Hanna’s dismay. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I just remember something from my own experience,” Hanna declared grimly.

“What did you remember?” Emma asked.

“Just as I was beginning to recover from my wounds in the Arena, I was nearly killed by a shebat Ahriaman put in me as a failsafe,” Hanna whispered, the horror and pain of the incident rising in her face. “Apparently, Nathanael was giving me a bath when it attacked. I’d just started relaxing in the bath when a fiery pain hit my right chest and I blacked out. When I awoke, I had a brief vision of Ahriaman controlling the thing. I found out after I came to that I’d been infested by a cybernetic parasite while on Death Row in the Black Fortress’ dungeon. Ahriaman apparently controlled and tracked it and me to Acheron. If it hadn’t been for Magnus and Amelia, I’d be dead. Magnus removed the beast from me while Amelia used her healing gift to keep me stable while he removed the thing. It just occurred to me that Selina may have been infected too. She had much more intimate contact with Ahriaman and the Cadre than I did being locked in the Tower. I fear Ahriaman may have infected her against the Emperor’s order. I think that’s why I’m having this terrible feeling. I have an innate ability to sense danger, and since Selina and I are mates fused telepathically, I might be sensing the danger to her. I think it would be a good idea if we took Selina to the Healer and brought in Nemesis, Magnus, Horace, and Amelia. Nemesis and Magnus could scan her to see if she’s infected.”

A look of incredible shock filled Emma’s face. “Oh, Fate be merciful,” she breathed. “I never thought of that. We never scanned for shebats while Selina was in the Healer. It never occurred to us to do it, but I think you’re right. We should look into it right now. What do you think, Selina?”

Selina paled upon hearing what Hanna said. “I do think you may be right,” Selina declared softly. “I did have extended exposure to the snake and he was the last one to abuse me before Hanna rescued me. I remember he cursed me, railing about how I’d cost him everything because the Emperor wanted me. He was prepared to kill me in front of you, Hanna, if you didn’t surrender. But he failed to consider what happens when the Rage gets on you. He never got to the chance to even pull his blade when you broke into my cell. However, it doesn’t mean he didn’t do something to me when I wasn’t aware. Besides, my right chest is aching some in a way that doesn’t suggest broken ribs. I intimately know the pain of broken ribs. This is something different.” She groaned softly, pressing on her ribs just below her right breast feeling a solid knot. “What the hell?” Selina cursed. “Where did that knot come from?”

“Oh, no,” Hanna replied in dismay, immediately pulling Selina’s hand away from her chest. Even beneath her swimsuit, Hanna could see the walnut-sized mass just below Selina’s breast. She gently pressed on the mass, getting a very bad telepathic sensation from it. “This is very bad,” Hanna declared. “Emma, we need to get Selina to the Healer right now. I’m sensing the Cadre’s malice on this knot. We need to get Nemesis, Magnus, and Horace right away.”

Emma’s eyes grew round when she saw the knot on Selina’s right chest. “Yes, Hanna,” she agreed, jumping out of the water. Kneeling down, Emma slid her arms beneath Selina’s arms and picked her up out of the pool. Hanna instantly jumped out, position herself behind the wheelchair as Emma deposited Selina in it.

“Go find Nemesis, Magnus, Horace, and Amelia right now and bring them to the Healer,” Hanna ordered as Selina groaned in growing pain. “I’ll take her there right now. Go, sister. Fly!”

“Right,” Emma replied, taking off in a full run without putting on her skirt.

Hanna followed, pushing Selina along at a good clip. Neither of them bothered to retrieve their skirts. “How you’re doing?” Hanna asked with great concern.

“I’ve been better,” Selina moaned. “I’m amazed at how your intuition is so accurate. I’d been feeling okay until about two hours ago when my chest started aching. I just figured it was a residue of the broken ribs. But when I felt that knot just now, I knew you were right. That shit infected me out of spite when I wasn’t looking. It’s the only logical explanation for the knot.”

“I know he did,” Hanna stated, pushing Selina in her wheelchair at a brisk jog as they left the pool complex. “He did the same to me. I can only pray either Magnus or Nemesis can remove this thing before it begins to move.”

“How will I know when it starts moving,” Selina asked with a pained growl, holding the knot on her ribs.

“You will know,” Hanna declared. “The pain will explode as it starts eating its way towards your heart. Most likely, you’ll pass out as it starts to move. That’s what happened to me.”

“I hope it doesn’t move,” Selina hissed in growing pain. “It feels like something is trying to burst out of my chest.”

“Just hold on, princess,” Hanna replied as she started feeling Selina’s pain through their link. “We’re almost to the Healer.”

“It’s getting hard to breathe,” Selina wheezed in pain, holding her chest with both hands, gasping for breath.

“We’re almost there,” Hanna insisted, picking up the pace to a full run, racing down the corridors with Selina in her wheelchair. “Hold on.”