Legends of Amacia The Awakening

The Emperor’s Reaction to the Storm

At the same time Hanna and Aeolus witnessed the electromagnetic storm from the Red Tower, the Emperor stood on the roof of the Black Fortress looking west. “Something is happening,” he growled. “The magnetic fields are fluctuating wildly in the direction of Tartarus. I haven’t felt anything like this since the coup. But what is it? What’s going on there. I can’t see what’s happening.” As he stood there pondering what he sensed, Zeus approached.

“My Lord Emperor, I bring news,” Zeus announced, kneeling to the Emperor.

“What is it, Zeus?” the Emperor hissed. “Have you discovered where that mutated bitch is hiding yet?”

“The search is ongoing,” Zeus replied from his knees. “But this is more important than finding Beowulf.”

“There’s nothing more important than finding and ending Beowulf’s wretched mutated existence,” the Emperor snapped as he turned, giving Zeus a vicious backhand across the face. “That bitch is so dead, along with the pestilent human race that spawned her. Don’t you tell me there’s something more important than killing her!”

With his face throbbing, Zeus sat up on his butt looking up at the Emperor. “I must insist that it is,” Zeus insisted cautiously. “Please, just hear what I have to say.”

“You have thirty seconds,” the Emperor snarled.

“FATE is stirring rather significantly because of your tech mining operation there,” Zeus stated. “Whole crews are vanishing without a trace near the central brain. Others go in and when they come out, they’re mindless drones that attack the workers viciously, often dragging them into the central brain complex where they too vanish. It’s becoming increasingly dangerous for anyone to be inside the time bubble around FATE. It’s waking up, and I don’t think that would be to our best interests.”

“I decide what’s in my best interests,” the Emperor replied harshly. “I’m well aware that FATE is stirring. The tech FATE possesses is worth the risk of waking it up. The mining will continue, and if FATE wakes, I’ll deal with it myself.”

“Yes, my lord Emperor,” Zeus conceded, bowing with his face to the ground. “But there is another matter that’s of supreme importance, even more important than FATE stirring.”

“What’s that,” the Emperor asked bluntly.

“The Cadre in Kartoom is monitoring a category six electromagnetic storm in the Sea of Calui just west of Mt. Tartarus,” Zeus reported carefully. “That’s the same direction we traced the shebats before we lost contact with them. The storm is twisting and ripping the magnetic barrier around the caverns and creating anomalies we cannot identify. We strongly suspect this may be the first sign that the prophesied Rising may be upon us.”

“Now that is news,” the Emperor declared. “On your feet, Zeus; what else have they seen about this storm?”

Zeus got to his feet and stated, “It’s affecting an area of over one hundred square leagues just offshore of Shiar Eloi and Mt. Tartarus. It’s affecting local weather patterns and creating a cyclonic storm around it. Our instruments have registered intense electromagnetic and gravitational anomalies associated with this storm unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. It defies our ability to analyze it. The power levels are off the charts. I can’t explain it. It doesn’t follow any known laws of our universe. It’s as if the very fabric of space/time is being twisted into a knot. Have you ever encountered something like this before, your majesty?”

Before the Emperor could answer, a coronal flash filled the western sky so bright it penetrated the ash clouds of Tartarus, the Fornax, and the Blister Fields all the way to the Black Fortress. It caught the attention of both the Emperor and Zeus. “What was that, my Lord Emperor?” Zeus asked in amazement.

“That Lord Zeus was the closing of a warp,” the Emperor stated categorically. “What kind of warp it was I’m not sure, but it was definitely a warp. I’ve seen it before.”

“A warp,” Zeus questioned. “Are you talking about a wormhole? I didn’t think they existed.”

“Your species has a very limited understanding of the multiverse,” the Emperor growled. “But yes, you may think of it as a wormhole. That’s a very crude definition of it. Warps exist throughout the multiverse. They can breech space, time, even the barriers between universes and dimensions. Some are natural and others are artificial, like the gates we set up in Acheron and Kartoom. In order for me to know what kind of warp took place, I need the data gathered by the Cadre on the storm. Only after I see the data will I be able to identify the type of warp...whether it was natural or artificial. I must know what type of warp just took place. I don’t want any unwanted intrusions on my plans again. I’m not going to have it. Go...get me the data now. If this is what I think it is, your supposition about the Rising being imminent may be right. I don’t want to be blindsided again. I will not have a repeat of Drakonia, not when I’m this close.”

“Yes, my lord Emperor,” Zeus answered, bowing. “I’ll get right on it.” With that, he fled the Emperor’s presence.

The Emperor looked briefly to the west with a scowl. “A warp,” he growled with disdain. “That’s all I need now. Every time a warp appears without warning, something bad comes out of it that screws up everything. I know that bitch Beowulf is behind this somehow.” The thought infuriated him and he stormed back into the Black Fortress.