Legends of Amacia Heart of Darkness
Chapter 24: The Mutation

A light flashed in the darkness and Hannibal awoke with a gasp. A series of deep broken coughs rattled from his chest. It sent flashes of pain through his chest and back that fully woke him, making him groan. He suddenly felt like himself again; however, he felt confined without being able to move his arms, legs, or head. Slowly, his blurry eyes cleared. In the dim light, Hannibal discovered he remained strapped to an elaborate laboratory chair inside some kind of high-tech capsule connected to a full-body electrode harness that hooked into the machinery of the capsule. He could not see outside of the capsule, only noticed the flashing, blinking lights around him within the silent high-tech tomb. Within moments, he noticed in the dim light that he was back in his true form, though it ached severely as if it had been badly beaten.

When it occurred to Hannibal that he’d been returned to his body as Josephine promised, he broke into sobs of relief. Then his memories of the tortures while in the female clone avatar rose into his consciousness, swamping him like a tsunami. His body tensed reflexively as he remembered every torture he endured in the clone on the Emperor’s sex floor, including the crucifixion rape, the forced lesbian mating with Selina while in the female clone avatar, the doll-making, and the visit to Hell’s Kitchen where people were processed into food stuffs. His body trembled uncontrollably as Hannibal let out a primal scream of anger and horror that slowly subsided as the scream released the emotional pain and despair of the tortures. Soft sobs and tears replaced the scream as he remembered the unspeakable horrors of that hell.

His mind once again became centered on Selina as her face kept returning to him. It gave him strength just being able to sense her again. He felt her weakness and despair somewhere within the fortress. Suddenly, he knew she no longer was on the sex floor, but back in the Harem. When he tried to reach out to her telepathically, his fatigue prevented it. His head started spinning as the dim lights of the capsule blurred. A prickling sensation all over his body filled him as he passed out.

Hannibal dreamed a strange dream while unconscious. He looked up seeing a monstrous saber-toothed feline cyborg carrying him like a father carries a sick child. “Relax, my friend. You’re safe for now,” the cat rumbled. The dream faded and became blurry as he felt someone sitting him down on a straw bed. The figure, which was enormous, snapped the shackles on his wrists, ankles and a collar around his neck. Leaning down, the figure rumbled, “Sleep now. You need to recover your strength from the Emperor’s assault on you.”

Hannibal felt a prick on his neck as the figure touched him and he plummeted into unconsciousness as the dream ended. A familiar voice echoed through his mind, “Be strong, my son, and not dismayed at your state when you wake. The Emperor isn’t finished with you yet.”

The darkness became so deep in Hannibal’s mind that he felt nothing around him, not even his own body. Haunting laughter of the Emperor echoed softly in the void. It soon lightened and Hannibal rose into the twilight just before waking. A moan escaped his lips, further solidifying his grip on reality. Yet, he felt incredibly strange, tingling from head to toe. The darkness continued to lighten and his body felt different from when he first awakened. Once again, he felt an eerie weight on his chest. The weight felt much too familiar. Furthermore, his groin felt different, as did his belly. His hips felt odd too. It felt like his body, yet it didn’t. Everything felt altered in some inexplicable way. For several moments, Hannibal refused to open his eyes, fearful that his nightmare wasn’t over.

A sympathetic voice echoed in his spirit, “Don’t be crestfallen when you wake. What the Emperor does to your body can be undone with the proper technology. Be brave and face your destiny, my son.”

Hannibal didn’t replace solace in the words, but he finally decided to open his eyes and see what new nightmare the Emperor had planned for him. His face fell as he discovered an awful truth. He looked down and once again saw two moderately large breasts of a woman that blocked his view of his groin. At the same moment, he discovered that he was no longer in the high-tech capsule, but in a laboratory of some sort strapped spread-eagle to a lab table, completely nude. Above him, he noticed the mirrored ceiling, showing his true state. It reminded him of the Mirror Cell 28 where he first awoke in the female clone avatar. Around the walls were all manner of alien machinery. His eyes grew wide and a despairing moan escaped his lips. His reflection in the ceiling mirror didn’t lie. He was once again a woman. However, he noticed his eye color remained ice-blue and his facial structure, build, and height remained subtly hidden within the woman’s reflection. His beard was gone and his black hair streaked with gray was now waist-length. However, he noticed something strange in the body he saw. It had a slightly feline look to it that reminded him of Selina. Blinking in astonishment, he hardly recognized himself. He then became aware of IVs and an electrode harness attached to him. “Hello,” he called out softly, replaceing that his voice was a distinctly feminine version of his own voice, unlike the melodious voice he had when in the clone avatar. “Is anyone there?”

For a few moments, no one answered, only the beeping of the machines and the tingling of his body, particularly his groin, belly, and breasts. Looking at his female counterpart in the mirrored ceiling, Hannibal abruptly realized he wasn’t done with the female identity he’d created in the female clone avatar. Now, the female identity wouldn’t be for a strange body, it would be for his now mutated form. He remembered the forced lesbian mating on the sex floor with Selina and what she told him about the prophecy she’d heard from Izanami in the Harem. It forced him to accept the unacceptable. “Oh, no,” he moaned, wrestling with the unacceptable fact of his mutation into his female counterpart. “Selina was right. What those girls told her was right. It’s impossible, but that’s me mutated into a woman. Damn it; it’s not fair!” Tears rolled down Hannibal’s cheeks as he was forced to readopt a female identity yet again.

Don’t be so dismayed, my friend, Bannon’s sweet voice echoed in his mind. This is a necessary evolution for you and it isn’t necessarily permanent. Just have faith. Everything will be okay. The Lord has foreseen and willed this. He’s still in charge and won’t let this travesty committed to your body stand for long. Believe in Him, my friend, and put on the female identity you learned in the clone. This is why we forged that identity. It’s so you could comfortably use it when the Emperor mutated you as he has now done. I know you feel betrayed by this, but you must trust the Lord in this. Now you’re going to see His mighty Hand move for you in ways you’ve never seen before. Remember, the Lord uses the weak and helpless to confound the mighty. Have faith and believe. Selina’s not going to reject you after what you and she did together on the sex floor. She’s with you, as are we.

Once again, it seems I have no choice, Hannibal complained silently to Bannon and the other guardian angels. I always seem to be the last to know about these things. You could’ve given me a little more heads up, you know.

But we did, the hooded angel retorted. When you and Selina were forced into that depraved mode of mating on the sex floor, Selina told you what was coming. You chose not to believe it, so you were caught off guard by this. It’s your own fault you didn’t see this coming. Now do you believe in the prophecy?

“Yes,” Hannibal whispered audibly. “I do, but I don’t much like it.”

Of course, you don’t like it, the hooded angel countered telepathically. It’s because you’re still trying to control your fate. Give up control of your fate to the Lord and these things will no longer have power over you. Whether you like it or not, this is part of your fate within the Lord’s will. He’s still trying to teach you the great mystery I told you about when you first awoke with the female clone. Stop being hardheaded towards the Lord and learn the lesson, my friend. Learn the truth of the completed soul the Lord’s trying to teach you. Only then will you begin to truly comprehend and understand your destiny. Please…don’t kick against the pricks any more. It’ll only bring you more suffering and heartache that you don’t need.

The hooded angel’s words had great impact on Hannibal. “Oh, god no,” Hannibal moaned softly. “I’m rebelling again. I’m kicking against the pricks. Please forgive me. I give up, Lord. I can’t let my will get in the way of what you want anymore. Please forgive me.”

Very good, the hooded angel chimed in Hannibal’s mind. You’re learning to see the darkness still residing within you, Hannibal…very good indeed. Now cast it aside and use the female identity we forged in the clone to keep your true identity secure until we can reverse this physical abomination the Emperor committed on you.

Hannibal closed his eyes and sighed deeply; knowing deep down that this time he’d been truly mutated into his female counterpart. In that instant, he pulled out the female identity forged in the clone and adopted it fully, letting Hannibal the woman step forward again as Hannibal the man stepped back into the shadows to be secured by the angelic guardians. Still, Hannibal’s male mind harbored a doubt about whether the female body he now inhabited was truly his. As he relinquished himself to his female identity, Hannibal decided to let his female identity replace the truth. Upon opening her eyes, Hannibal the woman now took charge, letting Hannibal the man give her direction while remaining hidden.

Hannibal glanced around the lab, calling out again, “Is anyone there?”

A sinister, yet familiar voice reached her ears. “I see you are finally awake,” the Emperor crowed with sadistic delight.

Hannibal’s face twisted in anger, but she had no strength to struggle against the restraints. “What did you do to me this time?” she demanded irately. “Don’t tell me you dunked me into another clone, you shit-faced demon fuck.”

The Emperor’s face rose in wicked delight at Hannibal’s anger. “Far from it,” the Emperor declared, leaning over Hannibal’s new nude female form. “Since you managed to resist me in the clone, I decided to give you a little makeover. Yes, you’re back in your own body now, but I had it surgically and genetically altered, making you a woman for real. I’ve permanently robbed you of your power and manhood and replaced it with a pussy and a pair of breasts, altering your male skeletal frame, internal organs, even your genetics into that of your female counterpart. You’re now just as much a bitch as your precious cat is. You’ll never be able to mate with her now and perpetuate the Caverias line. You’re a woman forever...bitch.”

“You bastard!” Hannibal roared, shaking so violently with anger that her new breasts trembled. “I’ll get you for this if it’s the last thing I do!”

The Emperor looked down into Hannibal’s female face with a sneer. “And that’s what it’ll be, worm; the last thing you ever do. Seems you still didn’t learn your lesson. Now, you’ll be condemned to a life as a woman, just as I promised. And to let you know that this isn’t a dream or illusion....” The Emperor violently strangled and fondled Hannibal’s mutated female body briefly in an abusive repeat of history. Hannibal gurgled from the strangulation, her body writhing reflexively from the vicious assault. She felt much more violated this time because she knew this was her real body and not the clone avatar where she first received this vile treatment.

“Excellent,” the Emperor chimed; pleased with the reaction he got from Hannibal. “With you as a woman, your power will be diminished to where you’re no longer a threat and I can proceed with my plans.” He let up slightly on the chokehold, allowing Hannibal to breathe for a moment as he ceased fondling her groin.

Hannibal mumbled incoherently, completely stunned by the assault and strangulation by the Emperor, gasping for air and slumping on the table. Then just out of pure meanness, the Emperor savagely slapped Hannibal, bloodying her nose slightly. “You were never a match for me, Beowulf,” he declared icily, “But I have come to respect you as an enemy, so I’m going to give you just one chance to win your freedom and life as a woman.”

Hannibal panted, gradually calming down after the Emperor’s violent assault. “That’s mighty white of you,” she said slowly, catching her breath while her face stung from the slap. “What do I have to do?”

“Simple,” the Emperor stated bluntly. “Survive my trial by combat in the Arena. If your mind is as truly formidable as my pet suggests, then you should be able to survive the Arena. If you defeat everything I throw at you, I’ll let you walk out of here alive as a woman. But you’ll never be allowed to be a man again. If you are beaten and don’t die, you will remain here as my slave for the rest of your pathetic life to service me at my whim like all the others.”

“Seems I have no choice,” Hannibal murmured in exhaustion.

“No, you don’t,” the Emperor replied coldly. “But if your will to live is as strong as I think it is, you’ll take it because it is your only shot at getting away from me.”

“What about Selina?” Hannibal asked pointedly.

“The Lynxian is not part of this deal,” the Emperor hissed. “She’s mine, forever. If you even think of trying to come for her if you win your trial by combat, I’ll kill her in front of you and then rip you apart with my bare hands. I’ve done it before, and I’ll do it again. This is your one and only chance to escape me.”

Hannibal’s warrior essence from decades as a man of war suddenly shined out of the altered body with a gleam in her eye and a fierce scowl on her face. “You’re on, you worthless shit-faced son of a demon bitch. I’ll show you exactly what I’m capable in the Arena, and then I’ll kill you where you stand for your desecration of my wife! You’ll rue the day you messed with me and Selina.”

The Emperor smiled wickedly. “Dream on, bitch,” he crowed. “As a woman, you don’t have the physical or elemental strength to take me. But you’re welcome to try. I give you three days to ready yourself for death in the Arena. Until then, you shall be my guest in the Harem. Let your precious Selina see you now knowing you’re a woman for the rest of your pathetic worthless life. Let’s see if she still loves you now.”

“You just don’t get it,” Hannibal retorted. “It matters not to Selina what I am. She loves my mind, spirit, and soul, not just my body. I could be an animal, but Selina would know who and what I am. You may have surgically and genetically changed me into a woman without my permission, but I’ll always be Hannibal Smith: a man you fear without cause who will not bow to your insanity.”

The Emperor again slapped Hannibal brutally, snarling, “Silence bitch; you will not speak to me in that tone.”

Hannibal laughed scornfully at the Emperor, her face stinging from the hit. “Oh, come now, your most un-royal majesty,” she chided, “You can’t still be afraid of little old me, especially now that you’ve switched my sex without my permission. I’m now just a weak, delicate little human woman who cannot possibly stand against you. What’s there to fear from me now?” Hannibal’s tone dripped of biting sarcasm.

The Emperor slugged Hannibal, drawing more blood from her nose and lips. “I said silence, bitch,” he roared angrily. “You live by my good graces.”

Hannibal turned her face and spit blood on the floor. “No, I live by the will of the Ancient of Days, you fucking demon turd,” she declared, “If you were truly not afraid of me, you wouldn’t have resorted to this bullying, but even now you shake in your un-royal boots because of what I might do or become. I have no idea what I am or what I’ll become, thanks to your fucking meddling with my genetic makeup. That’s up to the Lord and you know it, Black Prince. The Lord has allowed you to do this to me for some strange reason I still don’t know or understand. But I can tell you this: you may alter this body and even kill it, but my holy soul will never be stained by your vile claws. That’s one thing you cannot change or contaminate. The Lord will sustain me in no matter what body you exile me to.”

The Emperor’s face grew beet red as he choked Hannibal with his right hand. “Your puny imbecilic god cannot save you from my grasp, you arrogant bitch!” When Hannibal’s face turned blue, the Emperor released his strangle hold. Bruises started forming on her neck from the strangulation.

Hannibal gasped for breath, coughing as tears of pain drained from her eyes. “May be,” she choked out in response. “But it doesn’t matter. Your days are numbered. My presence in this hell of yours is proof of it. You may kill me, but it won’t stop your downfall. You’re doomed by your own stupidity!”

“Enough!” the Emperor roared, hammering Hannibal in the face, knocking her unconscious. “You’ll not defy me again. I told you no one defies me and lives.” The Emperor looked at his handiwork: Hannibal’s male body surgically and genetically mutated into his female counterpart and shook his head. Respect for his enemy surged. “You have great courage to continue provoking me like that again; even after all I did to you,” he admitted. “I respect that strength so you will have your three days. Then you will die in front of your wife so she can see that no one defies me.”