Legends of Amacia The Caverias Rebellion
Chapter 8: The Acheron Self-Destruct

At the selfsame moment, Hanna move through the bowels of the citadel in Acheron with Elle, Morpheus, and Muriel. They had just entered the power plant of the citadel, the core of its machinery when Hanna suddenly paused, feeling Selina’s sense of humiliation and desperation. It grieved her to her heart. “What is it?” Morpheus asked.

When Hanna didn’t reply, Muriel asked softly, “It’s her, isn’t it?”

Hanna sat the pummel end of the scepter on the floor and leaned on it heavily, with a tear welling up in her eye. She nodded, finally saying in a stressed, somewhat grieved tone, “Yes. It is. She’s humiliated and getting desperate.” Hanna’s face hardened with great resolve and she said stoutly, “Come on. Let’s do this and get out of here. Time is running out.” She led them on and within minutes, they were standing at a control panel similar to the control panel in the Red Tower. “Elle, did your people have anything to do with the making of this machinery?” Hanna asked.

“I believe so,” Elle replied. “But my recollection of it is only in stories. My people haven’t known how this machinery has worked for thousands of cycles. I personally have no idea how any of this machinery works. I am frankly astonished that you know how this stuff works.”

Hanna nodded as she approached the control panel. It was a conglomeration of cartouches and glyphs in a strange dialect of the Stone Language. “That’s all right,” Hanna said as she looked at the panel. “That is what I suspected. I really didn’t expect you to know how this machinery works. All of that knowledge of the machinery I suspect was lost in the Kragonar. Muriel; take a look at this. What do you make of these markings? They are strange to me. It is a dialect that I haven’t seen before.”

Muriel and Morpheus looked at the panel and Muriel said plainly, “This is the language of the Cadre. They have their own dialect for their own use. Can you read it?”

Hanna leaned the scepter on the console and said “Barely. It seems to be a corruption of the pure language, maybe some kind of code or something.” She tinkered with the controls, and the panel lit up while the whole room rumbled. Elle looked around nervously, keeping her weapon ready. Hanna shook her head, saying, “This system is different from the others. With the others I’ve encountered, I had a Teacher close by to show me the system. I’ve had no such luck here. I can’t seem to figure out how to access the power plant. Morpheus, Muriel, any advice would be helpful.”

Muriel looked at the panel with fear. Morpheus stared at it blankly, saying, “I wish I knew. I never had access to their machinery.”

Hanna looked at Muriel, who seemed to be wrestling with something mentally. “Muriel?” Hanna asked. “Can you help? Somehow, we need to get this thing to overload. Surely these machines have a self-destruct button here somewhere.” Hanna looked at the panel helplessly as she tinkered without success with the controls. Within a few moments, she sighed, exasperated by her inability to access the central core.

At that point, Muriel realized this was her moment, that she alone had the knowledge to do what needed to be done. Muriel stepped up beside Hanna, trembling with fear, and reached out with both hands, placing them in two curious hand-shaped hollows on the panel. Hanna immediately knew that Muriel was the key, so she encouraged Muriel, saying, “Go on. You can do it. Wreak your revenge on this darkness.”

Shaking with fear, Muriel said, “You’d better be ready for this.” She twisted her hands toward each other and the hollows turned with her hands, and then sank into the panel roughly half an inch. A hologram roared to life above the console, showing a tremendous hourglass-shaped reactor perched at the top of an abyss like the core of Tiamat and the Red Tower. Everything was identical to both cores, except this one was much smaller in scope, only half of the size of the ones in Tiamat and the Red Tower.

“Eureka!” Hanna cried with much relish. “Thank you so much, Muriel.”

Muriel glanced at Hanna soberly, still trembling with abject terror at what she was fixing to do. “Are you sure?” she asked.

Hanna looked at Muriel while picking up the scepter. Putting her hand on Muriel’s shoulder, Hanna said gently, “Do it.”

Muriel pulled her hands back, crying, “I can’t! I just can’t!”

Hanna looked her in the eye. “Do not be afraid,” she encouraged. “You can do it. I believe in you. Besides, you know this system somehow.”

Muriel shook her head, almost sobbing, “I can’t! You don’t know! The machines; what they did to me! I can’t!”

Hanna reached out telepathically to see what was so troubling to Muriel, and she saw just a glimpse of a memory that had been jarred free by her touching the panel. Hanna was appalled as she saw bits and pieces of her memory where the Cadre wizards were fusing the cybernetics to Muriel’s flesh while she was aware. Hanna cringed and backed away telepathically. Muriel hadn’t even noticed Hanna’s intrusion. She put an arm around Muriel, saying, “It’s all right. You don’t have to. Just show me what to do and I’ll do it.”

Muriel pointed to a strange glyph all by itself near the top of the panel. Hanna looked at the glyph intensely, asking, “This it?” Muriel nodded. Hanna reached into her pocket and retrieved the communicator. “Elias, can you hear me?” she called. Nothing but static was received. “Elias,” Hanna repeated herself; Still no answer.

Putting the communicator back in her pocket, Hanna sighed, saying, “Is everyone ready to run?” Elle was more than ready to flee, as were Morpheus and Muriel. Hanna looked at Muriel and asked bluntly, “You know more than you let on. How is it that you know this machine?”

Muriel sighed, very troubled by the question, but answered regardless, “I’m not sure. It was so long ago. I have trouble remembering it. I want to say that I was once maybe an engineer or something. But I’m just not sure. This whole place seems so familiar, yet so alien to me.”

Hanna nodded and looked at the console with its glowing buttons and displays. It so reminded her of the core at Tiamat. Finally, with resolve, she reached out and touched the icon. The console suddenly shook and a panel opened just above the icon, revealing a cavity and three large octagonal crystals glowing softly. Hanna looked at the crystals with fascination. Energy arced between them as they glowed. She looked at Muriel with a questioning look.

Muriel responded without Hanna ever having to ask the question, saying, “Those are the fail safes. Destroy them and this place will be vaporized in a matter of two hours.”

Hanna looked at her wryly, beginning to suspect that she, at one time, may have actually been an operator of these very machines. “Destroy them?” Hanna asked plainly. She nodded and Hanna ordered sternly, “Okay, you all get out the door. I’ll be along in a minute.” Elle led the charge toward the door with Morpheus leading Muriel away from the console, to her great relief. They stopped just outside the door and looked back in time to see Hanna take the scepter and smack the floor with it.

“Okay Lord, show me how to do this,” Hanna prayed as the scepter blazed with unearthly brilliance. Energy crackled over its head and the instinct was to thrust the scepter into the panel. Hanna grabbed it with both hands and went to plunge it into the panel when energy began to erupt from the panel. The scepter seemed to drink it up, causing Hanna to freeze. Higher and higher the power levels went as the scepter drained the power out of the crystals in the console. The hologram began to flicker. The scepter became hot, smoking the gloves that Hanna wore. She knew something had to give otherwise she would die, so Hanna strained at the scepter, pulling it back as bolts of energy arced between the crystal on the scepter and the crystals in the machine like a Van De Graff generator. She managed to pull the scepter back into a vertical position when the still small voice said in her ear, Release the energy. Smite the floor with your staff. Hanna brought the scepter down on the floor with all of her might. The moment the pummel end hit the floor the energy flow abruptly reversed. A shockwave of electromagnetic energy erupted from the scepter as it hit the floor, driving Hanna to her knees. The whole place began to shake as the crystals in the panel shined like an arc welder. In less than a second, the pulse caused the crystals to explode, damaging the console beyond repair.

The energy wave pulsed out into the corridor where Muriel, Morpheus, and Elle were waiting. Muriel shrieked in pain as her cybernetics sizzled and arced. She collapsed to the floor. Morpheus gathered her up into his arms and checked her pulse. There was none and her breathing had ceased as well. “Miss Beowulf!” Morpheus called out as he tried to revive Muriel. “Miss Beowulf! You’d better get over here!”

Hanna struggled to her feet after the explosion and saw the console burning, completely wrecked. That is when she heard Morpheus’ urgent calls. She stumbled to them and saw Muriel unconscious on the floor. Her concern rose greatly. “Oh, no!” Hanna cried as she saw Morpheus trying to revive Muriel. “What happened? Why didn’t you get further away?” Hanna asked, terribly grieved by seeing Muriel down.

Elle said with a lump in her throat, “When that scepter went off, the energy pulse hit her and she cried out like she was in agony, and then fell.”

Hanna dropped down next to Muriel, pushing Morpheus aside. She laid the scepter down next to him as she listened for any breath and checked for pulse. Her face darkened dramatically when she found none. “Shit! The pulse must have shorted out her cybernetics!” Hanna hissed, terribly grieved that her action had caused grievous injury, if not death to one whom she had become fairly attached to. Hanna performed CPR on Muriel, trying futilely to bring her back.

When Hanna was about to give up, that still small voice whispered in her ear, “Am I not He who killeth and make alive? Fear not, little sister. Muriel will not die yet. Take the staff in your hand and bring it near her.”

Morpheus and Elle saw Hanna take the scepter in her hand, wondering what she was doing. Morpheus started to speak when Hanna shushed him as the still small voice ordered, Place it in her hands and believe in my power.

Hanna, with tears running down her face, obeyed. She gently laid the scepter on Muriel’s chest with the head over her heart. She then clamped her hands around the handle and prayed, saying, “I obey, Lord. I am helpless here. Raise her as you said you would.” It was a simple prayer, short and to the point. Hanna sobbed over Muriel.

Then Elle and Morpheus watched the unfathomable. The scepter’s glow changed from a white to the most beautiful blue they had ever seen and a hum started to come from it. Morpheus and Elle watched, dumbfounded, and Hanna’s wails suddenly ceased as she saw what was going on as well. As they watched, the scepter resonated with sweet music as the core began to go critical. Small electrical charges began to race down the handle from the crystal into Muriel’s hands and into her cybernetics and the rest of her body. The charges raced all over her cybernetics and through her nerves and into her brain. Muriel began to quiver and shake.

Moments later, Muriel’s heart restarted as a gurgled gasp of breath escaped her lips, followed by a cough, and then a deep gasp of air. Muriel’s eyes opened and Morpheus was awestruck. Elle was utterly stunned and covered her mouth with her hand, trying to hide the astonishment. Hanna looked up at the ceiling and praised God loudly, crying, “Oh, thank you Lord! Truly, thou are He who killest and maketh alive! Who can stand against thee, o Lord of Hosts! Thou art God!” Muriel coughed, not sure where she was. Hanna leaned over Muriel, looking her in the eye. She took the scepter out of her hand, laying it on the floor.

“What happened?” Muriel asked with puzzlement. “Where am I?”

Hanna covered her mouth with her hand, fighting back the tears of joy. “Milady, why are you crying?” Muriel asked.

Hanna immediately scooped her up and hugged her tightly, saying, “Oh, our God is so merciful. I thought I had lost you!” She let Muriel go and wiped the tears from her eyes.

Muriel looked at Hanna, and then at Morpheus and Elle, who were still in a state of shock. “What’s going on?” she asked again.

The passage rumbled as the entire citadel began to quiver slightly with the building overload. Morpheus snapped out of the shock as the passage began to shake. “We should leave now!” he said urgently as he came to Muriel’s side. Hanna nodded, taking the scepter in one hand and helping Muriel to her feet. However, she could not stand, which puzzled her even further.

“Wait a minute,” Muriel demanded. “We are not going anywhere until someone tells me what happened.”

Hanna looked at Morpheus and then Muriel, saying, “The self-destruct was activated on the core by the scepter, but there was an unforeseen consequence of it. The scepter drew power from the generator, and then released it in some kind of EMP. It destroyed the control station and all the fail-safe mechanisms, but it also got you. It shorted out your cybernetics and killed you. It was only the mercy and instruction of the Lord that brought you back. The Lord used very instrument that killed you to bring you back. Now can we please leave?”

Muriel was flabbergasted. She had no idea that she had been dead. She nodded numbly and Hanna asked Morpheus, “Can you carry her?”

Morpheus nodded, saying, “Yes. Let’s get out of here. We have less than two hours before this place is vaporized.” Morpheus scooped up Muriel effortlessly and in seconds, they were racing away from the core, heading out of the citadel.

Sᴇarch the FindNovel.net website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.