Legends of Amacia Attack on Tartarus
Chapter 11: The Escape

They went into the mausoleum with Ana and Hannibal heading directly to the sarcophagus, looking into it. Leila’s hands lay on her chest in a traditional burial pose. “Well, what are we looking for?” Hannibal asked her.

Ana removed the mask and said softly, still choked with emotion, “Touch her neck like you would check for a pulse.”

Hannibal looked at her narrowly, asking, “What’re you saying?”

“Just do it,” Ana replied sternly with authority.

Hannibal shrugged, saying, “All right. But surely she isn’t a....” He trailed off as he touched Leila on the neck as if he were checking a pulse. Shock covered his face as he felt warmth emanating from her flesh. Not only was it warm, but the flesh was solid and seemingly alive. He gawked as he looked at Ana. Suddenly he felt it, a single bump of pulse. “Oh, my lord,” Hannibal cried as he scrambled in closer, leaning over the side of the sarcophagus with his ear right down on her mouth. He kept check on the pulse as he listened. Soft talking echoed through the mausoleum and Hannibal cried out, “Please be quiet!” Everyone gathered around and held their breath as Hannibal listened intently. A couple of minutes later, there was another bump of pulse and this time, the sound of breath, ever so slightly. He jumped up with amazement and looked at everyone with stupefied shock.

“What is it?” Selina asked.

“I don’t believe it,” Hannibal cried in amazement. “This is impossible! This woman is alive!”

“What?” Nathanael and Andrew cried out at the same time.

“I can’t explain it, but this woman is alive.” Hannibal declared. “She is warm. She has a pulse, though it be very little, and she has breath.”

“Let me see,” Nathanael answered, approaching the sarcophagus. He leaned over and put his Lynxian ear to the breastplate as he checked her pulse. After a couple of minutes, he gasped, moving back quickly. “By all that is holy; you’re right! She’s alive,” he stated. His scientific training kicked in as did his curiosity. He looked around the inside of the sarcophagus. It was strange, unearthly. It consisted of a combination of the strange metal in the scepter and the crystal that was latched into its head. The crystals in the sarcophagus glowed softly, almost imperceptibly. Nathanael examined the sarcophagus’ interior very closely. Leila lay on a soft velvety cushion that lined the whole bottom of the coffin. As he looked at the crystal interior, he noticed that the crystals occasionally pulsed ever so slightly. He backed away and looked at the sarcophagus from the outside as Hannibal examined at the mask. It had ruby crystals in the eyes. On the inside of the mask, there was writing that was the exact same type as was on the Relic. Nathanael moved around the sarcophagus, looking closely, even at one point pushing slightly on it. It appeared to just sitting on the pedestal. He looked around at the crystals on the walls of the mausoleum.

Andrew moved toward the doors, saying, “I’m going to check on the spiders.” Hannibal nodded to him as Andrew carefully peeked out the door, and then went out. Elle accompanied him.

Nathanael looked around at the tomb and gasped, suddenly realizing what they’d found. “I don’t believe it,” he declared in stunned wonder. “This is no tomb! This place is a machine with the sole purpose of keeping her alive. It’s astounding. They have managed to put her in some kind of suspended animation. Hannibal, look at the scepter, how it is reacting to everything around this place. Here Ana, let me see the scepter.” She handed the scepter into his gloved hands and he used the scepter like a tracking device. He backed away to the door and the crystal dimmed. Then he advanced toward the sarcophagus in a weaving pattern, going from crystal to crystal that hung on the walls. As he approached each crystal, the crystal in the scepter glowed brighter along with the crystals on the walls, and then faded as he moved away. “See, this place is a machine,” Nathanael stated with growing excitement. “And this sarcophagus is the core of it.”

Nathanael approached the sarcophagus, pointing the scepter at it as he walked to it. The scepter began to shine brilliantly as he stopped short of touching the metal casket with the scepter. “The scepter knows this stuff, just as your sword does. Look at it.” Selina was holding the Caverias sword, which was glowing softly as well.

Hannibal went to Selina, taking the Caverias sword from her and swinging it slowly over the sarcophagus. The sword blazed and the interior lit up, the crystals inside the sarcophagus blazing as brightly as the Caverias sword. He moved it away quickly, seeing the glow from both the sword and the coffin’s crystals subsiding noticeably. “Wow. You’re right,” Hannibal agreed. “But the question is why? Why did they do this?” In that moment, he remembered the dreams of Leila, Beowulf, and Ragnar. A sharp chill raced down his spine despite his pain. Understanding flooded his being as he finally pieced together the mystery of Leila Karac. “Oh, my god,” he breathed, slinging the Caverias Sword over his shoulder. “I finally get it. This is the answer to the riddle. This is why I was driven into this Stygian world. Leila never really died in the traditional sense. She fell in the Battle of Caveria, but didn’t die. Thoth, Ezra, Beowulf, and it seems me, though I still can’t fathom how it happened, brought her here and placed her in stasis until an antidote could be found for the werack’s poisonous bite. What was meant to be a temporary stay in this device turned into a twelve thousand cycle entombment.”

“How do you know this?” Nathanael asked with puzzlement. “How could you have intimate knowledge of what happened here?”

“I wish I knew,” Hannibal admitted. “But it jives with the dreams involving Leila. It makes sense. But something has happened and now this machine, after over twelve thousand cycles is beginning to fail. That’s why they were so adamant that I come here as quickly as possible to fulfill the promise I made.”

“So you remember the promise now?” Ana asked.

“Not really, but now I can surmise what it was,” Hannibal stated, resting his hands on the edge of the sarcophagus, looking down at Leila. “If I truly did time jump back to that battle and assist in saving her life, the promise must have been to come back and expatriate her from this everlasting stasis. It has to be. Why else would they be so insistent in the dreams that I come here as quickly as possible. Still, I have no real memory of such a promise, or of being present when Thoth and Ezra sealed her in this machine. It’s something I must know or it’s going to eat me alive.”

Selina touched Hannibal on the shoulder, getting his attention. “You’ll eventually discover the truth about this event. I don’t know if you noticed it, but you led us here without a hint of hesitation. It was as if you’d been here before. Furthermore, you repeatedly said you felt you’d been here before as we descended into this darkness. Trust yourself and the Lord. He will reveal the truth to you about this event when the time is right.”

Hannibal touched Selina’s hand as it sat on his armored shoulder. “Once again, you know exactly what to say to calm my troubled spirit, Selina,” he murmured gratefully. “Thank you.”

“You’re most welcome, my prince,” Selina purred, giving him a warm embrace with one arm. “It’s what I do best.”

“That it is,” Hannibal agreed, returning the embrace.

Andrew burst in seconds later, followed by Elle, getting everyone’s attention. They heaved and pushed the heavy door shut while Andrew called out urgently, “We have lingered here far too long! The spiders are upon us. They’re everywhere and feasting on Nidhoggr’s carcass.”

Hannibal cursed, saying, “Shit! Here we have the greatest find in recorded history and we can’t get out to tell anyone! Where’s the justice in that?”

“I think we should close her back up,” Ana stated as she cleaned Leila Karac’s sword, returning it to her grasp, carefully clasping Leila’s fingers around the blade’s handle.

Hannibal nodded, putting the golden mask back on Leila’s face gently. At that, he took one last look, and then pulled the lid closed, re-latching it with the signet. They could hear the spiders scurrying around outside and on the mausoleum, hissing and chattering to one another. “One thing puzzles me,” Hannibal stated as he stood there with his hands on the lid of the sarcophagus. “Why did they say that she was slain of the Emperor here on the lid? She isn’t dead.”

Selina touched him on the elbow, saying, “Who knows. Stranger things have been. But we need you now to figure out how we’re going to escape this tomb.”

Selina’s request spurred Hannibal’s mind into action. Turning to Andrew, he asked, “How many spiders and did they see you?”

Andrew shook his head, saying, “No, they did not. They didn’t see us, which is in our favor. But, there appears to be at least twenty-five of them or more, some every bit as big as the one we killed in the great hall.”

Hannibal leaned on the sarcophagus and rubbed the side of his face. “These are no ordinary spiders. They are operating communally. Spiders, normal spiders, tend to be solitary. But these are like ants. In a way, they remind me of the gene-spliced spiders we encountered at the airfield at the beginning of our expedition. Let me see.”

Hannibal rushed to the door and Elle shook her head, saying, “Don’t go out there. They are swarming over the beast. If they see you, they’ll kill you.”

“I’m not going out there, just taking a peek. Help me with this door,” Hannibal ordered and Andrew helped him open it just enough for him to see what was going on outside. He saw Nidhoggr’s carcass through the crack and watched in fascination as the spiders swarmed over it, literally tearing it to pieces and hauling the pieces back to the web. His eyes got wide as he saw the ruthless brutal precision with which the spiders dismembered Nidhoggr’s roasted corpse. He backed away and they closed the door. Turning to everyone, he announced, “They are harvesting the beast like ants! They are acting like ants. Surely, these spiders are not normal spiders. They have to be alien in origin. They must have a communal brain that directs them.” A thought hit him that made his blood run cold, sending icy chills down his spine. His face fell and everyone noticed his reaction. In a flash vision, he saw a monstrous spider of black and red many times the size of the ones outside the mausoleum. It roared, sweeping out of the darkness like a demon pouncing on an unsuspecting victim. He grabbed his head and shrieked, dropping to his knees as a blinding, burning pain filled his skull. However, as quickly as it hit him, it passed, leaving him shaken.

“What’s wrong, uncle?” Andrew asked, very concerned at Hannibal’s unexpected collapse. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah,” Hannibal answered softly, shaking his head as Andrew helped him to his feet. “Give me a moment.”

“What did you see?” Selina asked bluntly, her tone betraying the pain she felt from Hannibal. “Something of extraordinary telepathic power and hideous evil hit and hurt you. I felt it. What was it?”

“The question of the spider’s hive mind has been rendered academic,” Hannibal replied in a shaky yet grim tone. “The dark malignant force we felt apart from Nidhoggr is the spider’s queen, and she’s as big and dangerous as Nidhoggr is. She’s ancient, very intelligent, extremely malicious, and highly telepathic. She hit me with a dark telepathic pulse just now, revealing herself to me. She’s very pissed we intruded into her nest, and will kill us if she can. The only thing keeping her in check up until now was Nidhoggr, which was a creature of even darker power and evil. Now that we’ve dispatched her mortal enemy, she will fill this mountain with her brood, and eventually send them out to expand her territory. Their only thought is the need to feed. I can’t understand why the original Emperor even tried to utilize these malevolent creatures in his war against our ancestors. He bound to have known how violently unpredictable they were, especially when they turned on him in the Days of Darkness.”

“What happens if the Emperor regains control over these spiders and unleashes them on the world?” Andrew asked. “He’s made it perfectly clear he’s willing to kill all who won’t bow, even if it means slaughtering all of humanity. The spiders would be a perfect bio-weapon to do that.”

“It would be suicide for him to use the spiders,” Hannibal stated bluntly. “The Black Prince still has a foul taste in his mouth from the last time the spiders betrayed him. He only has a limited number of them locked in the most secure caverns of Kartoom because he needs their genetic material to breed the Spider Xenians. He’s not going to let them off their leash because he knows they’ll kill him and his people just as fast as anyone else. The Spiders have no allegiance to anyone or any power. I remember this from the records I’ve seen.”

“Still, what will happen if they swarm out of this mountain?” Elle asked bluntly.

“Spider apocalypse,” Selina stated fearfully. “They will overrun the world and eventually become the dominant species of this planet. No one will survive, not even the Emperor. This will become a spider world, not a human world. Because of that, we must get out of here and warn everyone. But how?”

Hannibal thought for a few moments, and then with an exasperated cry said, “I don’t know. We can’t outrun them, nor can we take them down. These beasts are far more intelligent than anything I’ve yet to encounter. They learn quickly. If it were only a handful of them, maybe we could do it but not with a swarm of them being led by the queen, which I can sense is directing them and who knows we’re here. Oh, if I only had a way to reach....” He suddenly stopped speaking and went to his pocket, pulling out the communicator. His face darkened when he saw it pulverized, smashed while Nidhoggr was crushing him in its tentacle. “Damn it!” he swore, hurling the broken communicator against the wall, shattering it. He run his fingers through his hair in desperation, fuming, “Now what do we do? No one is coming!” Amelia noticed his fatalistic anger as he plopped down next to the sarcophagus.

“Well, maybe we can try making a run for it,” Andrew stated, trying to give him alternatives. “The spiders are busy feeding. Maybe they will not notice us.”

Hannibal shook his head no, saying, “Not a chance; the queen knows we’re here, so the drones know. We escaped them once. They will not let it happen again now that the queen is awake. Besides, they have a taste for human blood. I’m sure you saw all the human skeletons in the web and burrows.” He shook his head and said gloomily, “I’m out of ideas and I’m out of strength. I can barely hold my head up. Please, if anyone has any idea, tell it. Not that your idea wasn’t a good one, Andrew. But I’m in a world of pain right now from what Nidhoggr did to me and I’m figuring the rest of you are likewise. Even if we could flee, we wouldn’t be able to far.”

Amelia looked at the defeated and desperate look on Hannibal’s face, and reached into a hidden pocket in her leather skirt, pulling out a communicator. She looked at it, and then at Hannibal. Holding it in the palm of her hand, she walked forward and humbly presented it to Hannibal, saying, “Enoch thought it wise for us to have more than one communicator in case something like this were to happen; here.”

Hannibal saw the communicator and looked into her eyes with shock. Tears welled up as he gently picked up the device, saying, “I don’t know what I’d do without you or Enoch. You may have saved our lives here.”

Amelia smiled as Hannibal stood, saying, “Probably perish.”

Hannibal chuckled at Amelia’s gallows humor, and hugged her gratefully, saying, “Very likely. Thank you.”

Amelia returned the embrace, saying, “You’re welcome, my friend. Now can we leave this place before the spiders decide to break in and eat us for dinner?”

Hannibal nodded and he keyed the sequence as he composed himself. Selina put an arm around him as he ordered Andrew, “Bar the door, Andrew. Push it till you hear it latch.” Andrew nodded and he, Elle, and Nathanael pushed on the door. It groaned and creaked until it clunked. They heard the latch fall into place and not more than ten seconds later, the spiders were banging on the door.

Hannibal tweaked the controls on the communicator and said into it, “Elias. Elias, are you there?” For a few seconds nothing but dead air: static. He called repeatedly with no answer. While he was doing that, Andrew and Elle were looking at and handling the treasure that was piled around. After five minutes of trying, Hannibal swore, saying, “Shit! The signal is not getting out of here. The stone of this place must be too thick for the communicators.”

“Well, maybe since this place is a machine, you can use it to your advantage. Surely, there’s something here that can boost the signal of that communicator,” Andrew suggested.

Hannibal thought for a moment, and then a smile crossed his face. “Yes!” he crowed. “You’re right. We have to make this place work for us instead of against us.” He sat the communicator on the sarcophagus and then removed both Draken Gauntlets so his hands were bare, laying them on the sarcophagus by the communicator. Picking up the communicator with his left hand, he said, “Give me the scepter, Nathanael.”

“But you don’t have the Draken Gauntlets on,” Nathanael responded. “The scepter will drain you.”

Hannibal looked at him sternly, saying, “I know, now let me have it.”

Nathanael handed over the Scepter. Hannibal took it in his right hand and felt the power of it tingling through his grip as he touched the scepter’s staff to the sarcophagus. The Scepter’s glow increased dramatically as Hannibal spoke into the communicator, saying, “Elias, are you there? Elias, come in.” The spiders’ assault on the Mausoleum grew in intensity to the point that the place was beginning to shake despite its megalithic structure.

A few moments after Hannibal spoke into the communicator, Elias’ voice came back through the static, “Hannibal, is that you? I can barely hear you.”

“God, I’m glad to hear your voice!” Hannibal replied with a strained but relieved tone. “Listen, we’re in deep trouble. Can you lock in on this signal? We are backed in a corner with no way out.”

For a few moments, there was static, and then Elias’ voice came back, saying, “You aren’t kidding. Are those giant spiders crawling all over your position?”

“Yes, they are: giant alien spiders not seen since before the Kragonar. They are trying to eat us. Open the portal now. We’re inside the mausoleum,” Hannibal ordered urgently as the scepter slowly drained his strength.

“Ah, I have you locked in now,” Elias stated, his voice coming through clearly on the communicator. “There was some interference from the structure, but I have a solid lock on you now. The portal will be open momentarily.” Moments later, the telltale ball of fire appeared near the door. In seconds, the portal opened and Hannibal thanked the Almighty. The spiders’ assault began buckling the door with their incessant pounding.

Enoch, Hunter, Corso, Joel, Kida, Electra, and Xavier rushed through the portal. Nathanael saw the scepter draining the life out of Hannibal and moved quickly, snatching the scepter away from him. Hannibal leaned heavily on the sarcophagus, saying weakly, “We must vacate now.”

Those with Enoch stopped and gawked at the battered state of the team. Immediately, he noticed Morpheus was dead, so he asked with great concern, “What happened?”

Hannibal shook his head, saying, “No time. The spiders are hungry and pissed. They will break through in moments. Get everyone out of here, including this sarcophagus.”

Enoch looked at him narrowly, asking, “Why this?”

Hannibal looked at him urgently, saying, “No time to argue. Go get Nemesis and Magnus right now along with the strongest guys you can find. We have to remove this sarcophagus. It has to come with us. There is a treasure in it that’s beyond your comprehension. It can’t be left to the spiders. Go!” His urgent tone and battered condition was enough to send Enoch back through the portal. Ana and Selina stayed close to him, as did Nathanael. “You guys need to go. I have to make sure she is safely retrieved,” Hannibal said in a drained manner.

“I’m not leaving you,” Selina retorted.

“Me neither,” Ana declared, “You’re my friend.”

“Go on; get out of here, Selina. Get to the healer. You too Nathanael, that’s an order,” Hannibal said sternly and with authority.

Not wishing to defy Hannibal at this point, Nathanael grabbed Selina by the arm saying, “Come on, Princess. Ana will stay with him.”

Selina looked at Hannibal as he grimaced in pain and fatigue, saying, “You hurry now. I know how badly wounded you are. You need the Healer worse than I do.”

Hannibal nodded saying, “Go. I’ll be along as soon as Nemesis and Magnus get here.” Nathanael and Selina then took their leave of him, heading through the portal as the Mausoleum shook and the doors bulged inwards. Electra immediately assisted Nathanael and Selina.

Kida came to Hannibal as Corso, Xavier, and Joel gawked at the treasure lying around. He noticed it and called out, “Clean the place out, guys. Take it all. Go get help if you must. But be quick. The clock is literally ticking. We can’t be here when those spiders break that door down.” Joel immediately bolted for the portal as Corso and Xavier looked through the treasure.

Kida looked Hannibal in the eye, saying, “You look terrible. Was this worth it?”

Hannibal nodded as Kida helped him stand. “Yes, Kida, it was,” he wheezed. “Just look at the inscription on the lid.”

Kida looked at it and was baffled, saying, “I can’t read it. It is an alien tongue to me.”

“It’s the language of ancient Amacia from before the Kragonar,” Ana stated.

“This is the sarcophagus of Ariel’s twin sister, Leila, who was married to Ezra Karac,” Hannibal added as he clung to Kida’s arm.

“You’re joking,” Kida replied in amazement.

Hannibal looked at the lid and said, “I wish I were. This is why I came into this damnable place of hideous alien monsters. This is what my dreams of Leila pointed to, but we paid a very high price for it. Morpheus is dead and everyone was nearly killed by Nidhoggr. Also, I was nearly killed by the very spiders that seek to feed on us.”

“What are you saying?” Kida asked as Enoch returned with Nemesis, Magnus, and several burly hybrids and Cimmerians. Joel followed them in with a cleanup crew carrying numerous sacks. Joel and the cleanup crew went to work on the treasure as Enoch led Magnus and Nemesis to Hannibal.

“Later,” Hannibal replied to Kida. “All right guys. Nemesis, Magnus, Hunter, Enoch; we need to move this sarcophagus out of here. And be very careful how you handle it. Its contents are fragile and special in ways you don’t yet comprehend. Let’s give them room, Kida. Ana, please pick up the Gauntlets if you would.” Ana picked up the Draken Gauntlets quickly, examining them closely for the first time.

At the same time, Kida helped Hannibal move away from the sarcophagus as the heavy lifters of Nemesis and Magnus came forward. They didn’t question Hannibal’s order because they heard the banging and groaning of the doors from the incessant attacks of the spiders. By this time, they could hear the hissing and shrieking of the monster spiders outside. Magnus and Nemesis latched on to the sarcophagus and gently lifted it. The moment they lifted it, Enoch, Hunter, Corso, and Xavier moved in on one side and two hybrids and one Cimmerian latched on to the other side. “Careful guys; now move out,” Hannibal ordered.

“On my mark we move: mark,” Nemesis growled straining under the weight of the sarcophagus. They began to move forward, carrying the sarcophagus like a coffin. In a matter of twenty seconds, they had moved through the portal. Kida, Hannibal, and Ana followed behind Magnus.

Elle kept an eye on the door, seeing it giving with each hit. “They are going to break through any minute!” she warned. “I suggest we leave now before they break in here!” She fled the door, taking up position behind Hannibal.

“Joel, guys. You heard the lady,” Hannibal shouted over the din of the attacking spiders. “Grab what you can and let’s go!” The cleanup crew under Joel’s command had been quick. Once they finished filling their sacks for the fourth time, Joel ordered them through the portal. They followed Hannibal, Kida, Elle, and Ana through the portal as the door broke open enough for legs to be seen. Once everyone was through, Hannibal ordered, “Shut it down Elias, now!” The portal vanished as the spiders broke the door down and poured into the mausoleum to find their prey gone.

Once the portal was closed, Hannibal looked at the mounds of treasure that were retrieved and the sarcophagus with Leila in it. He looked at everyone and said, “Good work guys, especially you Elias, and thank you.” At that, he collapsed. Kida caught him and he wheezed to Ana, “Don’t let them open the sarcophagus yet, Ana.”

Ana nodded, saying, “I won’t.” At that, Hannibal passed out. Ana looked at Kida, saying, “Get him to the Healer quick. Nidhoggr almost killed him.” Kida rushed Hannibal to the Healer.

Nemesis had heard his last order, so he asked Ana, “What shall we do with the sarcophagus?”

“Sit it with the treasure that was retrieved. Handle it carefully,” Ana replied, slipping the dormant Draken Gauntlets on her arms to free her hands. The Gauntlets adjusted themselves to her arm, but remained in their dormant setting, looking like large bracelets.

“What is so important about this thing?” Magnus asked as everyone gently moved it next to the piles of treasure.

Ana looked at the sarcophagus and put her hands on its lid after they sat it down. For a moment, she didn’t respond, and then announced, “The beginning of my line lies inside this crypt.” Her answer seemed to placate those present and they dispersed, leaving her alone with Nemesis, who stood by her, literally towering over her.

Nemesis had noticed a marked change in her temperament and attitude. He put his cybernetic hand on her shoulder and asked, “What happened in there? What did you find that has caused you to act this way?”

Ana didn’t even look at him, but said, “My past has risen from the grave. I know who I am and where I belong now.” She held up her organic hand, showing him the ring of Ezra Karac himself.

It was only then that Nemesis noticed that she no longer had a reptilian arm. This surprised him and he scanned her, finding no reptilian DNA anywhere. “What has happened?” Nemesis asked again. “What happened to your reptilian genetic material?”

Ana pulled the ring from her finger and laid it in her hand, saying, “I took this ring from the hand of Ezra Karac himself. If you look closely, you will see that it is like the strange items Beowulf has gathered. He put it on my finger and it purged the reptilian genes from my genetic makeup. It is on the floor in the great hall of the keep where Karac’s skeleton sits. This ring called to me. Ezra Karac is my forefather from before the Kragonar and his wife lies inside this metal casket.”

Nemesis scanned the ring with his cybernetic eye and said, “This ring is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. And you say that this ring was responsible for the removal of the reptilian element that was fused to your genetic structure?”

“Yes,” Ana replied in a subdued manner, “How I have no idea. But the moment it was placed on my finger, every fiber of my being burned like it was on fire. I’ve never had that kind of pain before. It was far worse than the fusion of the cybernetics to my flesh.”

Nemesis looked at her and wouldn’t have believed a word of it except for the glaring fact that she no longer had reptilian DNA in her. “You look weary,” he said softly. “Go and rest. I’ll make sure nothing happens to the sarcophagus.”

Ana smiled saying, “Don’t let anyone open it. However, I don’t think what will be a problem. Beowulf has the only key to opening it.”

“Really?” Nemesis replied with some interest. “That is interesting. Very well, no one touches it until he comes back.”

Ana put the ring back on and smiled wearily, saying, “Thank you.” She touched him on his organic hand as she started walking away.

“Ana, you should take the Draken Gauntlets back Hannibal’s quarters,” Nemesis called out. “They belong to him.”

“Of course,” Ana replied with a weary smile. “I’m heading that way now. See you later.” With that, she left the portal chamber.

Nemesis sighed as Ana walked away. “Something strange is going on here,” he muttered as he looked at and scanned the sarcophagus. His scanning abilities were not able to penetrate the casket. He examined the writing on the lid and found that he could not read it.

Just then, Elias returned and said to Nemesis, “There is something we need you to look at.”

“What is it?” Nemesis asked.

“Hannibal,” Elias stated soberly. “Magnus has encountered a toxin in Hannibal’s system that he’s not familiar with.”

Nemesis nodded, saying, “Let’s go.”

Minutes later, they were in the healing chamber. All the members of the team were there making use of the healer except for Morpheus, who had been placed in the morgue, and Ana, who was nowhere to be found. Enoch was there with Kida, Magnus, Electra, Emma, George, Ben, Xavier, Corso, Liu, Izanami, and Myra. Both Izanami and Myra hobbled around with canes. Everyone gathered around Hannibal as he lay there stripped of his armor and shirt with Magnus and Enoch right in front. Nemesis pushed up to the table as the Healer worked its magic on Hannibal.

“Look there, Nemesis,” Magnus stated, pointing to the spot where the spider had skewered him. “That’s a puncture wound that has been healed almost completely. I looked at it in X-ray and noticed that there were several broken bones, including the scapular that has been healed. I also saw traces of a toxin I’ve never encountered.” Nemesis scanned him with his cybernetic eye, seeing trace amounts of the spider’s toxin in his blood and flesh. It intrigued him as he leaned closer, looking at the wound.

“Can you identify it?” Enoch asked. After a few moments, Nemesis straightened up, saying, “Yes, it’s the stinger venom of a Triaskus Xenocerius, an alien spider that hasn’t been seen outside of Kartoom since well before the Kragonar. The Cadre uses these alien spiders as the base for the Spider Xenians. They have a hive mind and act much like ants or bees with a queen directing the entire colony. There are castes of them: some workers, some soldiers, and some maintenance. They have a communal web that tends to act like a hornet’s nest or anthill. There tends to be generally in a normal nest anywhere between fifty and a hundred of the spiders, all of whom are linked to their queen. They do her bidding. Of all the things they could have encountered, these are the worst. They are highly intelligent, unpredictable, and malevolent, capable of great violence.”

“Where did they come from?” Kida asked.

“Legends say the original Emperor had FATE bring them here from another planet during the time of the Great War before the Kragonar,” Nemesis said. “However, the legends also say when the original Emperor tried to utilize them, the spiders turned on him and he was forced to temporarily ally with the Caverias to wipe them out. That’s what the legends say. Josephine would know more about it than I do. But I do know this: the Cadre saw their potential and apparently had genetic material from them, with which they cloned the queen and some drones, thusly creating a controlled hive in Kartoom and supply for the manufacture of the spider Xenians. This particular venom I see here is a neural toxin from a soldier’s stinger in its front legs. The soldier will attack and use the stinger in its forelegs to paralyze its victim, making a live capture easy. The toxin is very potent, but is not lethal unless injected in high quantities with multiple strikes. When used to capture prey, the toxin will paralyze the victim completely. The toxin attacks the voluntary nerve impulses. It will affect the heart and lungs as well, slowing those muscles and completely paralyzing everything else. Once the paralysis sets in, the victim remains conscious, but unable to respond in any way. The spider then wraps the victim in a silk cocoon like normal spiders and carries it back to the nest where the spiders devour the person alive, sucking its fluids dry or sometimes even devouring the victim’s flesh. They literally strip the victim to the bone. It is not a very pleasant way to die. The Spider Xenians have a similar toxin they use. Does anyone know how this happened?”

“Nathanael said they found a giant web full of those monsters,” Xavier stated. “They killed what they thought was female, and then a male in the web itself while on a bridge. They fled into a burrow thinking that it was a way out, but it wasn’t. He said Hannibal moved to fend off the spiders with the Draken Gauntlets when Morpheus tripped on a trigger hidden in the silk lined floor and a slab fell, saving their lives, but not before a spider had managed to skewer Hannibal with its stinger. Ana and Amelia used their gifts in concert and saved his life. He said that Ana used her cybernetics to draw the spider’s venom out of Hannibal. Apparently, she didn’t get all of it, but enough to save him.”

Nemesis thought for a moment, and then announced, “He didn’t see the queen then.”

Enoch shook his head, saying, “Not that Nathanael said, but he did say everyone sensed her after they stirred up Nidhoggr. The female they killed in the great hall was as big as a bull bison we have outside in the pastures and the one that got him was as big as a large bull. But they never saw the queen.”

“This is not good,” Nemesis stated grimly. “Not since before the Kragonar has there been an uncontrolled infestation of the Triaskus Xenocerius. The fact Hannibal sensed the queen proves there’s a full hive there inside Ezra’s Watchtower. Did they happen to see an egg sack?”

“They did,” Enoch stated grimly. “Nathanael said it was far bigger than the large spider they killed in the great hall, which made them suspect a larger mother lurking in the darkness.”

“How big was the egg sack?” Nemesis asked bluntly.

“Nathanael claimed it was nearly fifty cubits in diameter,” Enoch reported. “He also reported to have seen movement in the sack, which would indicate it may be close to maturity and hatching.”

“Not good,” Nemesis growled with dismay. “Not good at all; that means we have a fully functioning hive with a queen who has spawned. If that sack hatches, the population of the hive will grow by twentyfold and the spiders seek to expand their nest and territory. This is not good at all.”

“You’re telling me,” Enoch agreed. “I can only assume the sack contains hundreds, maybe thousands of hatchling spiders that will need to feed.”

“Most likely,” Nemesis stated, “We must find a way to purge the spiders before that happens.”

“Since Hannibal’s been poisoned by these spiders, is there any antivenin that you can give him?” Izanami asked.

Nemesis nodded, saying, “Yes, Izanami, but there’s no need at this point. From what I’ve seen, his body, with the help of the Healer here, is cleansing itself of the toxin. Besides, it’s good that he has been exposed like this.”

“How can being exposed like that be good?” Emma asked pointedly, concerned for Hannibal.

“Well, milady Emma,” Nemesis explained. “Hannibal has been exposed and a tiny trace of the toxin remains in his system. By time the body purges the toxin, he will have some immunity to it. His body is producing antibodies to fight the toxin. Understand that the toxin of the spiders is organic in nature and acts very much like a viral agent. When the body heals, it will be able to withstand a larger dose if there is a next time. He will be all right. The Hydra’s venom is the same way. Selina will have some immunity to it just as Hannibal will have a level of immunity to the spider’s venom. Well, enough talk. Just leave him be and let the healer do its work. I will go find Ana. If she used her cybernetics to draw the venom out of the wound, then she will have it on her. With it we can develop an antivenin to the spiders of that hive.” Nemesis didn’t say another word, but went in search of Ana, urgently seeking the spider’s stinger venom.

As Nemesis turned to leave, Hannibal came around and called out, “The watchtower must be destroyed. The queen is awake and pissed. Destroy it and her or her arachnid brood will spread like a plague across the land. Destroy it now!” He dropped off into unconsciousness again. Nemesis looked at Enoch and the others, and then left.

“That tears it,” Enoch declared. “I’m going to start making preparations to blow that nest to hell. We cannot let those spiders spread. They’re as great a threat as the Emperor.”

“I believe that’s a very wise thing to do,” Magnus agreed. “I’ll help you find the appropriate explosives. I believe a sizeable charge of carite might be sufficient.”

“That it might,” Enoch agreed.

“One thing that puzzles me is why they went into that nest knowing it was infested with live Triaskus spiders,” Corso stated. “Was the contents of that sarcophagus worth the risk they took?”

“Hannibal insisted it was,” Enoch stated. “I guess we’ll find out soon enough what’s in that sarcophagus.”

“It better be really important, otherwise I’m going to be majorly pissed,” Corso stated. “Morpheus was my friend.”

“He was everyone’s friend,” Myra stated. “Hannibal wouldn’t have led them into such peril without a good reason. I believe in him.”

“We all do,” Enoch chimed. “We’ll just have to wait for the Healer to finish with him before we can find out what’s so important concerning the sarcophagus.” Everyone agreed with Enoch, who left with Magnus, Corso, and Liu to begin planning for purging the nest of Triaskus Spiders in Ezra’s Watchtower.

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