Legends of Amacia The Awakening
Chapter 30 FATE Revealed

FATE Revealed

Once again, Dan and Paul gaped in astonishment as Gabriel kept them floating one-quarter of a mile above the giant volcano. It appeared to them that they had re-emerged onto the surface. “Whoa,” Paul whispered, absorbing everything. “Where are we? Have we returned to the surface?”

“No,” Gabriel replied. “We are now in the cursed pit of Amacia twelve miles below the surface. What you see before you is the wastelands of Tartarus...one of the strongholds of the Black Prince and the Emperor. This desert is far more dangerous than the Sahara with many unnatural creatures roaming it. Below us is Mt. Tartarus, the most dangerous volcano on the planet. It’s the only volcano the Emperor hasn’t been able to mine for its treasures.”

Dan looked east and felt an icy dagger of fear plunge into his heart. “Oh, man,” he moaned, pointing east. “My blood just went like ice water. Tell me we’re not going that way.”

“Unfortunately, yes,” Gabriel replied, keeping an alert eye around him. His angelic guards drew their weapons, keeping a wary eye on the landscape. “But never fear; we won’t get too close to what I’m going to show you.”

“Is that where the Emperor is?” Paul asked, feeling the creeping darkness trying to penetrate into his soul from that direction.

“Yes,” Gabriel answered, moving ahead slowly keeping Dan and Paul close. “To the east, southeast of here lie the Blister Fields and the City of the Damned. There in his Black Fortress, the Emperor plots the destruction of humanity and the subjugation of all life. But that is not our goal this day. What I have to show you lies in the heart of the Fornax. Pay close attention and do exactly what I tell you for we are deep in enemy territory.”

“Okay,” Dan said softly.

“Right,” Paul replied, staying close to Gabriel.

“Stay close,” Gabriel ordered as they streaked to the east like lightning.

As the passed over a massive fissure in the ground, Dan asked, “What is that down there?”

“You see a result of the Calamity that buried this land,” Gabriel stated. “That is the Chasm of Kartoom, a giant split in the Earth itself where the Hammer of Nibiru struck the planet in the 1st Age with a giant plasmatic discharge.”

“How deep is it?” Paul asked. “I cannot see the bottom or the end of it.”

“It spans two hundred miles and is nearly ten miles deep,” Gabriel stated. “No life, as you know it, can survive in the Chasm’s lower levels. It’s one of the few places that penetrate into the heart of the planet. The cursed city of Kartoom lies at its northern end. There the Emperor and his wicked Cadre of sorcerers and wizards build their war machines and do their wicked experiments in violation of the laws of the Lord. No depth is left unplumbed in their wickedness. Now look ahead of us, our goal is coming into sight.”

The jagged volcanic mountains of the Fornax loomed ahead of them. Many volcanoes spewed ash and lava from their summits in continuous eruptions, creating an ominous red cloud. Lightning streaked through the ash clouds almost continuously. Gabriel slowed them to a stop over the ridge bordering the desert. “What do you see?” Gabriel asked.

Dan and Paul looked around and immediately saw something was amiss. Just to the east of them through the ash clouds, they saw a ghostly bubble that pulsed and wavered as if it were some form of energy shield. Yet it didn’t look real. Beyond that bubble, they noticed the land looked bent and warped with a city and a fortress looming in the distance. The city appeared to have frozen in the midst of some calamity. The building collapses had stopped in mid-fall. Fountains of lava and billows of smoke stood still, not moving. Even more bizarre was fact the city seemed to consist of buildings from all ages, from the remote past to the far future from Dan and Paul’s perspective. In the middle of this frozen insanity sat a colossal fortress on the side of an immense volcano that, like the other lava fountains and smoke columns, seemed to have frozen in place; lava bombs still hanging in mid-air and a wave of lava stuck in time and space. The fortress itself appeared to be a conglomeration of thousands of differing fortress from countless different ages melded together into a single nightmare edifice. It had an enormous glowing eye set inside a twisted pyramid in the upper portions of the fortress conglomeration that seemed to look out in all directions. They stared in fearful fascination at something they could not comprehend.

After several moments, Dan found his tongue. “What in heaven’s name is that, Gabriel?” he asked softly with terror rising in him. “I see a bubble out there with everything frozen inside it. It doesn’t even seem real. Worse yet, I’m getting a really bad vibe from that thing in the middle of it. It’s worse than when you showed me the Black Prince that time we went to Hanna in the dungeons. I don’t want to be here.”

“What has happened here?” Paul asked, likewise terrified by the inexplicable phenomena in front of him. “It looks like time suddenly stopped inside that bubble. And the thing in its center is so evil I’m having trouble even believing it’s there.”

“Both of you have seen truly,” Gabriel stated grimly. “What you see is the ruins of the FATE complex lost inside the Temporal Disruption. Time and space have splintered and twisted, coming to a halt and merging in the heart of the FATE complex in the central fortress. Past, present, and future have collapsed in there because of a calamity long ago. FATE tried to manipulate time and space in order to change history so it could assimilate all life in this universe. It’s experiment failed. The result is what you see here. This bubble has a seventy-mile radius in all directions. It’s sealed off from this reality, locked in a limbo of twisted dimensions. Unfortunately, the Black Prince and the Emperor have penetrated the bubble, and are mining FATE for its technology. By penetrating the bubble and mining FATE, he inadvertently reawakened FATE. Worse yet, his repeated excursions into FATE have created a way for it to escape its dimensional prison. FATE is awakening, to the peril of all life in the multiverse.”

“What is FATE?” Paul asked. “The evil I sense emanating from there feels artificial somehow.”

“FATE is the last piece in the Etherian puzzle,” Gabriel explained, keeping a very close eye on their surroundings. “It’s the Etherian master computer that links with the Four Winds to open the Nexus. At this point, FATE is no longer just a computer, but a sentient AI that is extremely hostile to all life in this universe. It assimilates anything and anyone who gets too close, consuming their life force and using what remains as a drone to expand its reach. FATE was allied with the Dark Gods back in the 1st Age.”

“This is very bad,” Dan murmured fearfully. “I’ve seen some of the records in Tiamat about this FATE thing. It’s been an enemy of humanity since the beginning. Is this thing connected with Lucifer?”

“Yes, and no,” Gabriel replied. “Lucifer seeks to make use of the FATE complex, but even he fears it. FATE has loyalty to no one. It will take out anyone who gets in its way, demon, angel, alien, or human. The Black Prince truly tempts the Lord by mining FATE. It has the power to destroy everything if it finishes the Leviathan program. It must never be allowed to fully reawaken.”

“Is it awake now?” Paul asked with great concern.

“No,” Gabriel answered, “but it is stirring and beginning to assimilate those who penetrate its core. The Emperor has put the entire multiverse in danger. FATE must be eliminated.”

“I agree,” Dan said softly, staring at the anomaly with FATE in its center. “Is this one of the ancient horrors you wanted to show us?”

“Yes,” Gabriel stated. “And now, you must share it with Hanna. She’s already had some contact with it, but doesn’t understand what she’s up against.”

“Can we go now?” Paul asked urgently. “It feels like that thing is trying to suck the life out of me.”

“Of course, brother,” Gabriel stated. “This is what you needed to see. The threat of FATE is now identified. Come; let us go to the Red Tower of Antilla. Hanna awaits us there.”

“You’ll get no arguments from me,” Dan chimed. “The sooner we’re away from here the better. I pray I never have to see this thing again.”

“Only the Lord knows,” Gabriel stated grimly, “come; we have much left to do.” With that, Gabriel took them west, away from the anomaly of FATE.

As they passed over the Chasm of Kartoom again, Paul asked, “What is this other horror we need to see? You said something about us bearing witness to the truth about both FATE and something called Grimm. We just saw FATE. What about this Grimm?”

“Not yet,” Gabriel stated. “Hanna must be present when I speak of Grimm.”

“What is Grimm?” Dan asked. “Or should I just not ask.”

“For now, know that Grimm is the ultimate threat,” Gabriel replied in a dark tone. “I will not share any more until we reach the Red Tower. Hanna’s destiny involves both of these dark powers. She must awaken to it and understand the threat both pose to her and all creation.”

“Is Grimm Lucifer?” Paul asked bluntly.

“No,” Gabriel said sharply. “Grimm is something far worse. Now, no more questions about Grimm.”

“All right,” Dan murmured. “Sorry I asked.”

Gabriel cast a smile at Dan. “I know you’re trying to gain intelligence on our enemies to protect Hanna,” he said in a more pleasant tone. “It’s admirable. All I ask is for you wait until Hanna is present.”

“Okay,” Dan replied with a smile.

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