Legends of Amacia Heart of Darkness
Chapter 23: Selina’s Return

In the Harem, the women were chatting and conversing with one another amiably. Sakura, Jasmine, Hitomi, Jennifer, Izanami, and Myra sat around Chizu checking on her when Hitomi heard a hissing and smelled something strange. “Hey, do you smell that?” Hitomi asked.

Before anyone could answer, the women in the Harem collapsed unconscious where they stood or sat. Once everyone was unconscious, a panel opened up in the floor near the wall and a large mechanical tentacle rose from the hole carrying Selina still wrapped in the leather restraining cocoon. However, the devices that had been perpetually violating her were gone and she’d been treated with medicated ointments. Furthermore, her arms were now free, dangling as the tentacle moved her. Two more tentacles rose with the one carrying Selina, following it. The tentacles laid her gently on the cushion and fastened the chains back on her: one to the collar, one on each wrist, and one on each leg. The tentacles stroked Selina’s face gently before returning to the hole in the floor. The trap door closed and a fan clicked on, pulling out the knockout gas from the Harem.

A half hour, the women came to. “Damn it,” Sakura cursed, holding her throbbing head. “I hate it when they gas us like that. It always gives me a damned headache.”

“Sakura...look!” Myra cried in delighted relief, pointing to Selina still encased in the leather restraining cocoon with her arms free. “They returned Selina!”

Sakura turned and saw Selina unconscious on the cushion and pillows, chained again. Tears rose in her eyes as she, Jasmine, Hitomi, Myra, and Izanami rushed to Selina’s side. For a moment, Sakura feared the worst until she saw Selina breathing. “Oh, thank the gods!” Sakura cried to the ceiling. “She’s still alive!”

“But she’s been to the floor,” Izanami noted sternly. “This leather restraint is one used on the floor. Something sinister is happening here.” Izanami reached out and touched Selina on the temple, trying to make telepathic contact. Her eyes glazed as tears gushed from her eyes, feeling only the agony of what happened to Selina. The pain forced her to break contact. “Oh, you poor girl,” Izanami wept, pulling Selina into her lap and holding her. “What horrors did you see in there to have caused you such agony? We’re here to help you.”

Selina moaned softly, slowly coming to. “She’s waking up,” Hitomi announced. Selina’s eyelids fluttered, and then opened as she gasped, bolting to a sitting position. For a few moments, Selina looked around wildly, almost in a panic.

“Calm down, sister,” Izanami cooed, rocking Selina gently. “You’re safe.”

Selina looked into Izanami’s face and whispered, “I know your face; Izanami?”

Izanami hugged Selina gently and said with a big smile, “Yes, Selina. It’s me and you have been returned safely to us in the Harem.”

“What happened?” Jasmine asked. “Where did they take you?” Selina’s eyes grew wide with horror and she broke emotionally, sobbing like a little girl clinging to Izanami’s arms.

“Don’t ask her such things,” Izanami scolded. “This restraint is all the proof we need to know where she went. The sex floor isn’t the type a place a gentle soul as hers should see or experience. Calm yourself, sister Selina. It’s over. Relax. No one is going to look down on you for having survived the sex floor.”

After several minutes, Selina calmed down. “Why am I still in this thing?” she whimpered.

“We don’t know,” Myra replied, touching her on the shoulder. “It’s up to the Emperor as to what we wear, especially once we come off the sex floor. Apparently, he wants you to remain at least partially restrained for now. But don’t worry; we’re here to help you. After all, we’re sisters and that’s what sisters do for one another.”

“Thank you,” Selina murmured. “That makes this bearable. At least I’m covered and it seems the prick decided to let me have use of my arms again. However, I have very little strength in them. They’re throbbing some too.”

“That’s to be expected considering the restraint you’re wearing,” Izanami chimed. “But it’s very good that you’ve managed to see something good in this. It means he hasn’t broken you.”

“He’s never going to break us,” Selina replied in a whisper. “Hannibal and I are one in ways he can’t comprehend. Not even death can separate us.”

“I hope the Emperor doesn’t test that boast,” Jasmine said softly. “I don’t want to see you die.”

“Me neither,” Selina agreed. “But can someone get me some water? I haven’t had anything to drink since they took me. I’m parched.”

“I’m on it,” Sakura cried, leaving quickly on a mission.

“Izanami,” Selina whispered. “Can I tell you something?”

“Of course, sister,” Izanami replied, leaning down to hear Selina, “You can tell me anything you wish. I’ll not divulge it without your permission.”

“Remember the prophecy you told me?” Selina answered softly.

“Yes?” Izanami said, feeling an icy chill race down her spine.

“It’s true,” Selina whispered. “Down there, wherever that hellish place is, Hannibal and I were tied together and forced to make love, but it wasn’t his body. The Emperor had somehow transferred his mind into a woman’s body and we were forced to....” Tears gushed from Selina’s eyes as she wept, “It was him, but it wasn’t him. It’s just like you told me. He was trapped in those cross-gendered avatars just as you said. The dreams I had before being taken weren’t just dreams. They were real. That woman was him!”

Izanami’s eyes grew round as a gasp escaped her lips. “Please share those memories with me, sister,” she begged Selina. Selina nodded and Izanami touched her on the temple, once again making contact telepathically. Seeing what Selina experienced through her eyes, Izanami suddenly knew the truth of Selina’s statement and what she’d witnessed and experienced on the sex floor. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she broke contact with Selina, embracing her. Looking into Selina’s eyes, she smiled warmly as hope blossomed like a flower in her heart. “You and your man are a marvel, my sister,” Izanami declared. “You go into the darkest blackest place this hell has to offer and bring back hope for us who have no hope. I shall treasure what you shared with me. Sure confirmation of this will be if he shows up here. After that, there will be no doubt.”

“I’d like to believe that,” Selina whimpered as Sakura returned with a cup and a pitcher of water. “At this point, I don’t know if he’s still alive or not. The last thing I remember is seeing the Emperor viciously violate, no...rape and choke Hannibal in that girl’s body, and then watch that monstrous machine cut off the arms and legs of that girl’s body he was trapped in. If that wasn’t bad enough, I then watched that demon machine ruthlessly defile him sexually with its tentacles before it mounted him on a table like some trophy. I passed out after that. I could take no more punishment. I felt everything it did to him in that girl’s body because of our link, though I suspect our link had been dampened by some higher power. I doubt I could have survived what I felt if our link had been at full strength.” She sobbed softly, briefly overcome by the experience again. Izanami cradled and rocked Selina as she wailed deeply, releasing the pain of her experience.

Gasps arose from those around Selina who heard her last statement. “You saw them turn your man into one of the dolls?” Hitomi asked in utter horror.

“Yes,” Selina replied after briefly calming down...her tone choking with emotion again as tears flowed. “And what makes it worse is I think he survived it. I vaguely remember seeing him still breathing after being mounted. I’d always prided myself on knowing how bad people could be, but I was utterly shamed by what I saw. The evil I saw down there is not of this world, maybe not even of this universe. The cruelty and barbarism of what I saw is....” Selina could no longer speak of it. She broke down and sobbed bitterly, “I watched them destroy my husband while he was trapped in someone else’s body! I can’t even feel his presence any more. He’s gone!” She wailed in grief-stricken rage. “What am I going to do?” she cried in despair. “I can’t fight such vile evil alone.”

“But you’re not alone, sister,” Izanami cooed to her, “We’re with you. With this incident, you have truly become one of us. We all know the terror and pain you saw because we have experienced it ourselves at one point or another. You must be strong now and not give up hope on your god or your man. Things are proceeding as the prophets foretold. Do not give up hope as we did.”

“Yes,” Myra agreed, holding Selina’s hand. “We all know the pain of the floor and will help you carry that burden. Please, let us help you carry it. It’s something no woman should be forced to carry alone.” Those around Selina chimed in agreement, putting their hands on Selina in moral and emotional support that quieted Selina’s sobs.

“Thank you,” Selina whimpered. “Thank you all for being such kind sisters to me. You don’t know what it means to me to have friends who accept me just as I am as Hannibal did.”

“You’re welcome,” Sakura replied. “We must stick together in times like this. That’s how we survive this hellish existence. Now, would you like some water now?”

“Yes,” Selina replied as Izanami pulled Selina into a more sitting position, causing her to groan in pain.

“That hurts?” Izanami asked.

“Yes,” Selina moaned, “My ribs are throbbing again. It may have been because of being hung up like a piece of meat, or it may have been from the fall when the Emperor cut Hannibal and me down when his sick game backfired in his face. We fell at least ten feet.” She saw Sakura with the water in a cup. “Please sister, I really need that drink. It may calm my throbbing ribs.”

“Of course,” Sakura replied, putting the cup in Selina’s hand and then helping her lift it to her lips so she could drink from it.

Selina slurped the water and felt the cool liquid run down her throat into her stomach, cooling and quenching some of her pain. After drinking about a third of the cup, she grunted and Sakura pulled the cup back, wiping Selina’s mouth with a washcloth she had brought. “Thanks, Sakura,” Selina breathed with a deep rattling sigh. “I needed that. It did quench some of my pain. Help me with it again. My arms and hands just aren’t working properly. I can barely feel them.”

“That’s most likely from the restraints you’re in,” Myra stated. “That restraint is designed to even keep the arms from moving. Why he let your arms free is a mystery to me.”

“Me too,” Sakura said as she helped Selina lift the cup to drink again.

“I could be the Emperor wanted to her to be able to have a little autonomy, but not be able to flee,” Izanami suggested. “That would explain why her legs are still bound.”

“Or maybe he wanted her to remember where she’d been and see him as benevolent by allowing her free use of her arms,” Hitomi added.

“It’s most likely a combination of reasons,” Myra declared as Sakura helped Selina drink from her cup.

Selina slurped the rest of the water up with Sakura’s help guiding her hands. Once the cup was empty, Selina became dizzy. “Oh, dear,” Selina murmured. “It seems I might be going out again. My head is spinning again and I can hardly stay....” She never finished her sentence, passing out in Izanami’s lap. Sakura caught the empty cup as Selina’s hands dropped limp at her side.

Izanami checked her pulse and breathing. “She’s exhausted both mentally and physically from the floor,” she reported. “We must help her with this trial, sisters; and Nemesis must know what happened. Is there any word from him, Myra?”

“No, sister,” Myra replied. “Not yet. I pray he returns quickly and gets Selina out of this thing before she chafes and gets an infection.”

“I hear you,” Izanami stated. “We can only pray now. The prophecies are coming to life before our eyes. You heard what she said. We must be ready to greet her husband when he shows up in here, whatever form he may be in.”

“We will,” Sakura declared. “Won’t we, sisters?” At this point, every woman in the Harem cried in agreement with Sakura’s declaration.