Legends of Amacia The Caverias Rebellion

Muriel’s Exorcism

Minutes later, Hanna and Selina walked into the living room and stopped. Selina looked around, drinking up her surroundings as quickly as she drank her milk. She noticed the enormous size of the room with its lofty cathedral ceilings with more than enough space to accommodate the dining and living areas. Selina noted the table with many chairs at it. Plates and silverware were already laid out on it. Her gaze then panned over to the actual living area where there were several large couches and chairs. She immediately saw several people sitting there, some of them very strange looking to her eyes. Behind the chairs and sofa was a large exit. Her attention then went back to the people present. Hanna glanced over her shoulder at Selina and asked, “Are you ready?”

Selina nodded, saying, “As ready as I will ever be.” At that, they walked over.

As they walked over, the conversation going on suddenly ceased as all eyes turned to them. “Is there room for two more?” Hanna asked as she walked up with Selina riding piggyback. Selina looked around at the people. They proved a strange group of giants and creatures to Selina. Sitting there were Enoch, Elias, Hunter, Andrew, Morpheus, Muriel, Xavier, Amelia, Harry, and Joshua.

“Of course there is room!” Enoch replied. “There’s always room here for you both.” Elias immediately vacated a chair that resembled a love seat. He retrieved a chair from the table and returned with it. He sat it next to the love seat as Hanna carefully sat Selina down on it, and then sat down beside her. Elias sat down next to Hanna in the chair he’d brought from the table. Hanna and Selina instantly became the center of attention. Hunter and Andrew stared at Selina in wondrous fascination, as did Morpheus and Muriel.

“Well, I see nearly every group I’ve encountered is here,” Hanna said pleasantly. “Everyone, I would like you to meet my soul mate, Selina. She’s the daughter of Nathanael and Electra and is Kida’s sister. Selina and I were married on the surface long before my mutation.”

Muriel gazed in astonishment, saying softly, “It’s the prophecy come true!” Muriel slipped out of her seat and approached both of them. She dropped to her knees in front of them and bowed her head, saying softly, “Milady. It’s such an honor and privilege to finally meet you. I am at you command.” Selina was speechless, not knowing what to make of this strange creature before her. But she immediately sensed no hostility. She did however, sense that this strange misshapen creature before her was highly intelligent and maybe older than she knew.

“Selina,” Hanna said gently. “You know this woman. You saw her in my memories. This is Muriel, what I think may be one of the first Xenian prototypes. She’s a treasure: unique amongst all the peoples and things I have encountered.” Muriel knelt humbly at Selina’s feet. Selina’s hand started to rise but held back. “Go on, touch her Selina. She’s a dear friend to both of us,” Hanna urged.

Everyone watched silently as Selina slowly reached out and touched Muriel on the side of the face. She suddenly cringed and flew back with a cry as if repelled by an unknown force. Selina’s violent reaction to touching Muriel genuinely surprised her. Hanna caught Selina and asked, “Are you all right? What happened?”

Tears streamed down Selina’s cheeks. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “I was overwhelmed by something. I don’t know what it was, but I sensed something malevolent, something incredibly dangerous lurking inside her mind.”

The news horrified Muriel. “What can it be, milady?” she cried. “Hurting you or anyone else is the last thing I want!”

Selina composed herself and looked Muriel in the eye saying, “I know. I sensed two entities: you and this other thing. I know you mean us no harm. But there is something lurking in your mind, something that’s incredibly dangerous to you as well as us. It stinks to high heaven of the Cadre. I have endured their telepathic assaults as well as physical attacks while their prisoner in the Black Fortress. I see their vile fingerprints all over your mind.”

Hanna leaned forward and asked Muriel, “Can I have your mind for a moment?” She consented and Hanna touched her on the forehead, gently probing her mind. In seconds, Hanna recoiled with a growl as if hit. She immediately back out of Muriel’s mind, pulling her hand back.

Everyone saw Hanna’s reaction and Morpheus asked, “What is it? You look like you were hit!”

Hanna shook her head, trying to stabilize her mind. “Ugh,” she moaned, looking up. “That smarted. But Selina’s right. I don’t know how I missed it before. There’s a dangerous entity guarding her mind. She knows something very important to have had such a violent entity there guarding it. Muriel?”

Muriel looked at Hanna with the terror of someone not knowing what was going to happen. “What happens when you try to remember the time before they engineered you?” Hanna asked plainly.

Muriel suddenly cringed in pain and cried out, “My mind burns when I try to do that! It’s burning now! The thing is punishing me!” She shrieked in agony as a demoniac entity tormented her for straying near those sealed memories.

Hanna looked around at everyone, and then at Selina. Those present were powerless to stop Muriel’s torment. Hanna abruptly took Selina’s hand and pleaded, “Help me help her, Selina. Muriel’s a powerful telepath. But she needs our help. I promised her our help when I brought her out of that darkness.”

Selina saw Muriel crying in agony on the floor as the demon mercilessly tormented her. Compassion welled up in Selina’s soul for Muriel. She didn’t say a word but nodded to Hanna. Hanna held on to Selina with one hand and reached out to Muriel with the other, saying with authority, “In the name of Jesus, come out of her!” Hanna gripped Muriel’s shoulder firmly as she spoke.

Muriel’s voice changed instantly, crying out in a distinctly bass reptilian tone, “It burns! It burns!”

“Come out of her in the name of Jesus!” Selina blurted out, leaning forward with her left hand, touching Muriel on the other shoulder.

The demon shrieked and cried, “No! I can’t! I won’t! It burns!”

Harry instantly jumped into the fray, laying both hands on Muriel’s head, praying, “Father! Release this woman from this demon in Jesus’ name!”

Hanna called out to those present, saying, “Pray, my friends, and this demon will flee!”

In seconds, everyone prayed for Muriel’s deliverance. She writhed like a snake, in agony as the demon shrieked and refused to move. The noise from the incident brought Electra and Kida out of the kitchen. They came in to see everyone praying over Muriel, who was now literally foaming at the mouth. Immediately, they joined in. Seconds later, Nemesis came in, calling out, “What in the hell is going on in here? I heard it all the way to the portal chamber?” He immediately saw what was happening and strode forward, pushing himself into the inner circle. He looked down at Muriel, and then at Hanna and Selina as they prayed. Nemesis leaned down, putting one hand on Hanna and one on Muriel’s head and the demon shrieked like the fires of hell were licking at its feet. “Finish this,” Nemesis ordered.

“In the name of Jesus and the Almighty Ancient of Days, come out of her you foul spirit!” Hanna commanded with supernatural authority. Both Hanna and Selina’s eyes were opened and they saw the spiritual fight going on.

They saw Guildo and Caverias dragging the demon from Muriel with many of the other guardians assisting. The demon was a grotesque beast that looked like a cross between a spider, a veloci-raptor, and a scorpion. It snapped, bit, and clawed at the angels as they struggled with it, wounding several. At that point, Tsang appeared out of Nemesis and ordered them, “Hold him!” They had managed to pull the demon two-thirds the way out of Muriel when Tsang drew his sword and ran the beast through the chest. Instantly, the demon cried out in mortal agony as Tsang released his sword and latched on with Caverias, Guildo, and seven other mighty guardians, dragging the beast from her. Once the demon was free of Muriel, the guardians dragged it back and Tsang pulled his sword out as Caverias unsheathed his blade and cleaved the beast completely in two. It shrieked and disappeared in a cloud of foul, acrid smoke that everyone smelled. All of this happened in a matter of ten seconds of Hanna’s final command. Once the demon was dispatched, Hanna and Selina lost their spirit vision.

However, the stench from the dispatched demon was more than real and overpowering. Everyone began to cough and gag on the fetid smell. Mercifully, the smell quickly dissipated. Hanna looked down at Muriel, who lay unconscious on the floor. She then looked up at Nemesis, saying, “Thank you, my friend. Your help was the deciding factor.”

Tsang looked out of Nemesis’ eyes as Nemesis patted Hanna on the shoulder saying, “No problem, little sister. Always ready to help. Now, if you’re done playing with demons, I’ve got work to do.”

Hanna smiled, saying, “For now.” Nemesis smiled and went back to work, leaving everyone there in shock.

Hanna turned to Electra and Kida, saying, “Better check on lunch, sisters. I wouldn’t want it burned because of this.” Electra and Kida rushed off to the kitchen as Hanna looked at Selina. She seemed drained by the event. “Are you all right?” she asked Selina.

The look of shock still covered Selina’s face, but she replied, “I will be. Just give me a moment. Lord have mercy. It was as if I was back in the Harem casting the demon out of Gulez. God, it was ugly!”

Hanna put an arm around Selina, saying, “You did well. And yes, that one was really ugly. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen one like that before.”

“What are you talking about?” Morpheus asked.

“Selina and I saw the thing tormenting Muriel,” Hanna declared. “She’s just shaken by it because she hasn’t had the experience seeing spirits like I have.”

“You actually saw the entity that was doing that?” Hunter asked in amazement.

“Yes, we did. I’ll spare you a description. Just know that it was dark entity, very ugly and powerful. It was guarding Muriel’s sealed off memories, punishing her for going near them,” Hanna replied as she slipped off the love seat and gathered Muriel’s unconscious form into her arms. The mention of sealed off memories hit Amelia hard and she came forward to help Hanna. To Amelia, Muriel was now not just a failed experiment. She was someone like her who had their memories and identity tampered with by the Cadre. Everyone watched as Hanna gently shook Muriel, saying, “Muriel. Muriel. Wake up. Come back to us.”

Amelia knelt beside them, taking Muriel’s hand saying, “Come on, sister. Come back to us. We can’t free your mind unless you come back.”

Hanna rocked Muriel, and then glanced at Selina, saying, “Touch her, Selina. Call her back.”

Selina hesitated, but reached out as she felt Hanna’s urgency in their link. She leaned forward and touched Muriel on the forehead saying as she realized exactly how old Muriel was, “Come on, my ancient sister. Wake up. Come back to the light.”

When Muriel didn’t response, it grieved Selina and she made a bold, somewhat dangerous move by reaching deep into Muriel’s mind to find her. Hanna immediately noticed it and backed her up, saying, “Be careful, sis. Her mind is more powerful than any we have yet encountered.”

“What’re they doing?” Andrew asked.

“Shhh!” Enoch replied stiffly. “Be still, son. Don’t distract them.”

Selina got a very intense look on her face as she placed both her hands on Muriel’s temples. Suddenly, after a few moments, she cried out, letting go and slumping forward.

Harry promptly caught Selina and pushed her back in her seat. “What happened?” he asked.

Just then, a moan escaped from Muriel’s lips as she slowly opened her eyes. “She was successful,” Hanna crowed. “Muriel.” Muriel looked up and saw Hanna’s smiling face. “Welcome back to the land of the living,” Hanna chimed pleasantly. “How are you feeling?”

“What happened?” Muriel asked in confusion. “The last thing I remember was being tormented by the thing because I strayed too close to those memories.”

Hanna sat her up, saying, “The thing has been dealt with. You should no longer have a problem with it, though we’re still no closer to knowing what it was guarding.”

Muriel was astonished and tried to remember her life before the Cadre. She still couldn’t remember it, but immediately found that it wasn’t a torment to stray into that area of her mind any more. Her expression revealed her shock at not being tormented when trying to remember. “Oh, thank you, milady!” Muriel cried out in gratitude.

Selina blinked and moaned a little. “Did I find her?” she asked weakly.

“You most surely did, Selina,” Hanna replied with great satisfaction in her accomplishment. “I knew you’d be able to reach her. You have a gift for doing that.”

“You flatter me, sis,” Selina replied softly. “But don’t think the danger is past.”

Hanna helped Muriel to her feet and then sat back down beside Selina, asking, “What do you mean?”

Muriel promptly knelt in front of them as Selina looked Muriel in the eye. “The demon was just one level of security the Cadre put in place,” Selina reported. “Even though she is free of the beast, there are other security measures there to insure that her memories are never freed. The measures are terrible and lethal to anyone who would try to breech it. Muriel’s mind is unlike any I have ever encountered. The sheer engineering that I witnessed trying to find her was staggering. It will not be easy to free her mind from what the Cadre did to her. It is going to take a great and concerted effort to breech the fortifications they put in place.”

“What’re you saying?” Elias asked.

“I’m saying that freeing Muriel’s mind will be much more dangerous than what we did for Amelia,” Selina stated bluntly. “Amelia knows what I speak of, the dangers of attacking the Cadre’s work. It could easily backfire and hurt or kill all that are involved. But I know this. Muriel has a past that no one has ever dreamed of. She has lived longer than all of us put together. She’s over six hundred cycles in age at least that I can see. That’s what I was saw when I found her. That doesn’t include what the Cadre hid. Can any of you fathom what it has been like for her to be imprisoned for that length of time, not allowed to leave or just to see the sky or to even see another person? Her life in Acheron has been a perpetual nightmare that seems to have no end.”

“You saw that?” Hunter asked in awe.

Selina nodded, replying wearily, “Yes. I saw it. It was because of that vast lifespan that I had such trouble retrieving her. I found her avatar near the Cadre’s handiwork, near the largest of the fortifications they constructed in her mind. I was assaulted by some kind of defensive mechanism from those monoliths as I reached her.” Selina gazed at Muriel, saying, “Your memories are dark and foreboding, Muriel. You have endured so much. I saw only a small portion of those memories you have while I searched for you. Yours has been a life of solitude and sorrow. Loneliness and grief have been your companions for ages. I hope and pray that we can help you find the answers that you’re searching for. If there is any way we can help, we will.” Selina reached out and touched her on the shoulder.

“Oh, milady, your words are gold to me! I am at your command,” Muriel replied in great gratitude. “I hope that I can be as much service to you as you have been to me.”

“I’m sure you will,” Hanna declared as Selina sat back in her seat. “Now that this has been dealt with, let’s get on with the introductions.”