Legends of Amacia: Mysteries of Tiamat
Dreams and Portents

Three days later, Hannibal andSelina lay sound asleep in their quarters in the middle of the night. Selinawore what had become her usual pajamas: a tank-top t-shirt and sweat pants.Hannibal, on the other hand, lay asleep in a regular t-shirt and sweat pants.Deep in their subconscious minds, they shared the same dream at the same timethis particular evening. In the dream, they sat in a meadow on the brow of acliff, having a pleasant picnic together. A majestic mountain rose in thedistance and a river ran through a small valley at the base of the cliffbetween them and the mountain. They laughed and joked, enjoying the pleasure ofeach other’s company. Without warning, the warmth of the sun vanished as itappeared to dim significantly without any clouds present. An icy gust puffedthrough the meadow, chilling Hannibal and Selina to the bone.

“What was that,” Selina asked,“and why does the sky seem to be getting dark? Are we having an eclipse orsomething?”

“I don’t know,” Hannibalreplied in a concerned tone, looking around. “But something is amiss here.”

A soft eerie moan echoed fromthe forest that sent icy chills down their spines. Selina saw movement in theedge of the forest to her right and looked. Her mouth fell open with greatsurprise and fear. “What in heaven’s name is that?” she whispered, pointing toa vaporous apparition floating through the bushes.

“I wish I knew,” Hannibalanswered, rising to his feet with Selina. “But I think we’re about to replaceout.”

Once the ghostly manifestationstepped out of the undergrowth that hid it, Hannibal gasped, rubbing his eyesin disbelief. “Oh my god,” he breathed, seeing the Lynxian Leila standing therein her armor, sword sheathed at her side. “It’s her…it’s the Lynxian that keepshaunting my dreams.”

Selina stared in fearfulfascination at the Lynxian ghost before her. “Who are you?” Selina called outin a shaky voice.

“I’m Leila Carie Karac,” theghost replied, “a soul trapped between dimensions; neither living nor dead, SelinaMilineus of Kaitia. Time and the Darkness have trapped me in this never-endinglimbo as I wait for the Beowulf to return and set me free as he promised.”

Selina gasped in astonishment.

“What do you mean?” Hannibalreplied shivering as the apparition floated to within arm’s length. “Why do youhaunt me? I don’t understand. I don’t remember promising anything to anyone whoeven remotely resembles you.”

Leila’s ghost smiled wryly. “OhBeowulf, you don’t remember me, yet you do. Your blood burns even now at seeingme,” she answered cryptically. “But you should not let it trouble your heart.You’ll eventually see the truth and replace me. Time and the Darkness rob you ofyour memory just as it locked me in this limbo of never-ending oblivion. Seekyour destiny, my beloved Beowulf, and set things right.”

“What do you want, Leila?”Hannibal queried, his resolve wavering as his fear rose at her proclamation.

“You need have no fear of me,Beowulf, but I come bearing a dire warning. What you should fear lies withinthe mountain there,” the ghost warned, pointing towards the mountain with herclawed finger. “Even now it comes for you. Beware, Beowulf and seek shelter forthe storm of storms bears down on you. Take cover, my savior…the Dark Lordapproaches as the Hammer strikes the anvil. Remember me.” The apparitiondisappeared in another icy gust from the mountain across the valley, a mistvanishing in the wind.

Hannibal paled as the vaporousapparition of Leila Karac dissipated. “What’s going on here?” he asked, visiblyshaken. “Why am I haunted by her face? What does she mean Time and the Darknesshave robbed me of my memories? I know I have gaps and missing time in my mindwhere I cannot remember what happened. How could she know that?”

“I don’t know,” Selina murmured,deeply puzzled and concerned by the appearance of Leila’s apparition. “What’spuzzled me even more is how she knew who I was. Not once have I ever seen aLynxian of her stature. I’ve heard of a race of Lynxians called Kaitian Tigersthat were that big. But they haven’t been seen for several generations, thoughtto have died out long ago.”

Harry suddenly appeared out ofthe forest and ran to them. He grabbed Hannibal, pleading, “They’re coming. Wehave to get under cover!”

“Who’scoming?” Hannibal asked as they saw Nathanael emerge from the forest, runningtoward them.

“The DarkOne…he’s coming! Beware! We have to get under cover before we’re seen!” Harryinsisted.

As hespoke, Nathanael ran up and cried, “They’re here! We have to hide!” Hecollapsed on the ground after speaking.

Selina wentto him and knelt down, pulling him up in her lap. “What is it, dad? What’scoming?” she asked. As she spoke, a chilled wind arose, blowing stiffly throughthe trees while the sky darkened even further, turning a strange reddish hue.

Hannibaland Selina noticed the sudden decrease in the light as Nathanael whispered,pointing toward the mountain, “It’s too late. They’re here.” They looked towardthe mountain and it seemed to come alive and take the form of a great werecat’shead that glared and snarled at them. It appeared to move slowly toward themwith a dark cloud of locusts swarming around it.

Harrytugged insistently on Hannibal’s arm, saying, “We have to get out of here!”

BrotherPaul abruptly ran out of the forest, pointing insistently into the sky. “Lookup! Look up! Incoming! The Hammer strikes! Take cover!” he cried.

Everyoneturned their eyes skyward and saw what appeared to be a huge ringed planetlooming more than ten times the apparent diameter of the sun in the sky. It wasblood red and cast a scarlet hue over everything as it passed in front of thesun, eclipsing it. A great cloud of debris suddenly came into view around theplanet as it snuffed out the sun. Eight moons shined in the eerie darkness.Then massive rocks began falling from the sky all around them. Colossalfireballs fell in a deadly rain of fire on the mountain that had turned into awerecat’s head. Within twenty seconds, the entire mountain became a firestormsweeping toward them. Seconds later, the fireball rain hit the forest, turningit into an inferno. “Stay together!” Brother Paul cried out as he reached thegroup, gathering them into a huddle in the middle of the meadow. The grass inthe meadow withered in the intense heat that oddly didn’t penetrate to thecenter of the meadow. “Stay down and pray!” Brother Paul ordered adamantly as achunk of iron almost nine hundred feet across streaked toward the mountain. It hitwith the force of hundreds of atomic bombs. The ground shook and rolled like anearthquake as the shockwave and firestorm passed over them without touchingthem. An inhuman howl echoed in their ears from the mountain.

Amazed theasteroid strike hadn’t killed them, Hannibal looked up at the rogue planet,seeing an immense lightning bolt shoot directly from the giant planet andstrike the mountain with the force far greater than the meteor hit, blindingthe onlookers. The strike seemed to vaporize the entire mountain slowly fromtop to bottom. A wall of blue plasma energy spread like a giant tsunami comingat them. He grabbed Selina, Harry, Nathanael, and Brother Paul and closed hiseyes as the wave raced across the valley, consuming everything in its path.

As the wavewas about to engulf them, the dream abruptly ended. Both Hannibal and Selinaliterally jumped to their knees while in the bed, wide awake and scared out oftheir wits. They gasped for breath while looking around wildly, their heartspounding as they sweated profusely. Their heart rates slowed upon therealization it was just a dream. They looked at each other, and then hugged,truly thankful that it was just a dream. Selina remained latched onto Hannibaland began to weep softly. “I thought I had lost you again!” she wept.

“Shhh…It’sall right,” Hannibal whispered in her ear. “It was only a dream. Shhh…It’s allright.”

Theyremained in each other’s arms for nearly two minutes as Hannibal pondered thestrange dream. He abruptly realized that he had actually shared the dream withSelina and marveled. “Wait a minute. You saw it?” he asked her as they satdown.

Selinanodded, still shaken by the dream. “I think so. We were having a nice picnic ina meadow overlooking a valley with a huge mountain in the distance,” shewhispered. “The light dimmed and this ghost that said her name was Leila Karacappeared, saying all kinds of strange things while warning us something bad wasabout to happen. Then Harry appeared, babbling about how we had to hide becausethey had found us, followed by dad, who said the same thing. Then all hellbroke loose. The last thing I remember is seeing a strange planet in the skyraining fire down all around us and then shooting the largest lightning boltI’ve ever seen at the mountain.” Tears drained down her cheeks as sheremembered the dream.

“My God…weshared the same dream. That’s exactly what I saw. How can this be possible?”Hannibal exclaimed.

“I don’tknow. It must have to do with our telepathic link. But I’ve never heard of thishappening before,” Selina answered as she wrapped her arms around Hannibal likea frightened child. Hannibal put his arm around her and they sat there insilence for nearly an hour trying to calm down. Slowly, they relaxed anddrowsiness came over them. They were soon fast asleep again in each other’sarms.

Severalhours later, Hannibal woke up with a start, panting as if he had been running arace. His pulse raced as a strange voice resembling Leila’s echoed through hismind, “Remember.”

What inthe world is going on? Hannibal thought as he turned on his side to look athis wife. Selina lay beside him motionless, still deep asleep. A purr rumbledfrom deep within her chest as she breathed. He laid there and just watched heras his pulse slowed and his breathing became less labored. Just watching hersleep had a calming effect on him. He wondered as he gazed at her. She lookedso innocent and childlike. Hannibal reached out and gently stroked her hair,marveling at how soft and beautiful it was. He abruptly decided to get up andslowly got out of the bed so as to not disturb her. Walking out to the kitchenin his T-shirt and sweat pants, Hannibal pondered the strange night. The lightscame up automatically as he entered the kitchen area and he proceeded to get aglass of water. “Radio on. Station one,” he said aloud. The radio turned onautomatically with Brother Paul preaching. It echoed through his quarters as hesat down in the recliner next to the sofa. After taking a draught from theglass, he rubbed his face with his hand and yawned. The strange nightmare fromearlier in the night remained fresh in his mind, troubling him. He took anotherdraught from his glass, listening intently to the radio.

Aftersitting and listening to the radio for a few minutes, Hannibal went to thebathroom, taking a quick shower that invigorated him. A few minutes later, hereturned to the living room, wearing a clean shirt and sweats. He sat in therecliner and relaxed, listening to the radio. A few minutes later, Selina cameout wearing her sweat pants and a tank top. She yawned and rubbed her eyes asshe walked over to the recliner where Hannibal sat. “Good morning, Princess.How’re you feeling this morning?” he asked.

Selina smiledand flopped down in his lap, putting her arm around his neck. He caught her,wrapping his arms around the beautiful cat. Giving him a little kiss, Selinareplied, “Better than last night. That was some nightmare. And you?”

“All right,I guess,” Hannibal replied as he responded with a gentle squeeze. “That was oneintense nightmare. It still troubles me some. I think someone was trying totell us something. Exactly what, I don’t know. That was the first time I’veever seen Leila where she wasn’t wounded and being put into stasis. Her wordsare haunting me. I wish I knew what she meant.”

“Only timewill tell,” Selina replied, cuddling with him. “But I believe you’re rightabout it. There’s more to it than we know. I guess we’ll replace out when the timeis right.”

Hannibalnodded and gave her a little kiss on the cheek. “So, are you ready to face thegreat unknown with me?” he inquired.

Selinalooked deep in his eyes and responded telepathically, Yes, my prince. I’mready to go into the depths of hell if need be.

Hannibalsmiled pleasantly. “Well, hopefully you won’t have to do that,” Hannibalresponded. “But regardless, today is the day we head out into that unknown.Come, we have much to do.”

Three hourslater after they ate breakfast in the cafeteria, Hannibal and Selina stood inthe portal chamber sharing the strange dream with Nathanael and Harry.Nathanael listened intently as they detailed the dream. Once they finished, hepondered the dream for a couple of minutes. “That’s a strange dream indeed,”Nathanael commented. “The planet you describe is especially interesting. Do youhave any thoughts on what it could mean?”

“Not aclue. But it does remind me of something I’ve seen in the ancient Sumerian andAkkadian writings,” Hannibal said. “It has to do with Nibiru or Planet X asthey call it now. In the ancient writings, they speak of something they calledthe planet of passing, which has wreaked havoc with the Earth on severaloccasions. Supposedly, this thing is where the old gods came from. It returns roughlyevery thirty-six hundred years, causing all manner of natural catastrophes thatusually ends up destroying the main civilization of the time. The reason I tendto pay attention to it is that the masters of the universe have researched itextensively and know what it’s supposedly capable of doing. But even amongtheir circles, there’s a lot of speculation as to what it’s actually capable ofdoing. As I remember, they’ve known about it for decades and have been planningaround it, hoping to maybe use it as a way to solidify their stranglehold onthe rest of humanity.”

Nathanaellistened intently as Hannibal explained the theory of Planet X. “You knowsomething…what you’re telling me rings true because just the other day, someinformation about this supposed planet came out of the translation computer,”he informed.

“You’rekidding!” Hannibal blurted out. “What did it say?”

Nathanaelscratched his head and declared, “Not much…we have information on what it is,its mass, density, and orbital path. Apparently, this thing had a whole lot todo with the fall of Amacia.”

“Tell meeverything!” Hannibal almost begged him.

Nathanaelshared with him the details of what they had found about the rogue planet. Hedescribed it as a brown dwarf with twenty-five times the mass and density ofJupiter with a tremendous gravitational and magnetic field about it fifty toseventy times as powerful as Jupiter. Furthermore, the strange planet had ringsand a tremendous debris field with several moons in the field in orbit aroundthe planet. Nathanael also provided a brief synopsis of its orbit and itsduration.

“All ofthat was in the books?” Hannibal asked.

“Yes,”Nathanael stated. “And if the calculations are correct, we should be seeingthis thing in the not too distant future. Exactly how close it’ll get and howmuch damage it’ll do this time is anyone’s guess. But the potential is therefor the entire surface of the planet to be redefined by it.”

Harrylistened intently to the exchange. “If the masters of the universe are soconcerned by it, then shouldn’t we be giving it consideration as well?” heasked bluntly.

“Yes, wedefinitely shouldn’t dismiss it,” Hannibal replied, looking at Harry.

“If it’sreally out there as the writings suggest it is,” Selina stated, “then we shouldbe able to replace it with the portal. Maybe we ought to see if it’s really outthere.”

“Goodthinking, princess,” Nathanael replied, walking to the console. He retrievedthe remote earpiece for the portal and fired it up, beginning to search thesolar system for the elusive planet with the holographic interface. Withinminutes, Nathanael pushed the search out into the outer fringes of the solarsystem into the edges of interstellar space. Suddenly, a tiny red disk appearedin the hologram out well beyond Pluto in the inner fringes of the Oort Cloud.Nathanael noticed it and zoomed in on it to the point they could clearly seethe giant planet.

“Holycow…it’s for real!” Harry exclaimed. They all looked in fascination at therogue planet. It glowed in a dull red, almost scarlet color, and a great cloudof debris surrounded it with eight good-sized moons swirling around in thedebris field.

“Ohman…that’s what we saw in the dream,” Hannibal breathed as Selina latched on tohis arm with fear rising in her heart. He noticed the fear because of theirtelepathic link and reassured her, saying, “We needn’t worry about this thingquite yet. It’s still a good ways off. But we’ll have to keep tabs on it.”

“That’s awise decision,” Nathanael announced, using the machine to do a quick orbitalcalculation for the planet. The results appeared next to the hologram of theplanet. “This brown dwarf may be a captured body from outside the solar system.From what I’m reading here, its orbital velocity is accelerating significantly.It’ll be penetrating into the inner solar system in about eighteen months; giveor take a month or two.”

“Do youhave any idea why it’s accelerating, Nathanael?” Hannibal asked.

“The scansfrom the portal machine here are indicating the body is highly magnetic with apolarity opposite of what your sun is now,” Nathanael answered. “I believe themagnetic attraction combined with the planet’s mass, density, and gravitationalfield is what’s causing this acceleration. We must keep a very close eye onthis thing. It has the potential to literally destroy this planet if it getstoo close.”

As Nathanaelfinished speaking, Dan walked up. “What’s going on?” he asked.

“Planet X,”Harry answered.

“Planet X?”Dan asked.

“Yes,Planet X,” Hannibal declared. “It’s for real. You might want to keep track ofit while we’re gone.”

“Ahh…sothat’s what demon planet looks like,” Dan said with an intrigued tone. “We’lldefinitely keep an eye on this thing. I read in the accounts from the Librarywhat this thing did to Amacia. It could very well do it again if it gets closeenough when it goes by this time.”

“Any ideawhen that might be happening?” Hannibal asked plainly.

“We’restill getting information out on this thing but from what we’ve gotten so far,it could very well come in this part of the solar system within two years orless. We still haven’t teased all the details out about it though. That figurecould change with new information,” Dan answered.

“Whoa,”Harry murmured. “That’s what Nathanael said when he used the portal machine tocalculate Planet X’s trajectory.”

“Indeed?”Dan replied, his tone reflecting his interest. “That’s some great outsideconfirmation of what the Library said about it. We’ll definitely keep a closeeye on it.”

“Good,”Hannibal ordered. Then changing the subject, he said, “I want base camp up andrunning in two hours in the hangar, Dan. Be careful when you go on the airfieldand in the hangar. Who knows what you may encounter.”

“Yes, sir,”Dan replied, nodding. “We’ll be extra careful. Your base camp will be ready intwo hours.” He turned and left.

“Harry, youshould go and say good-bye to Mary and Dennis. We go in three hours,” Hannibalsaid. Harry nodded and followed Dan. The hologram of the rogue planetdisappeared as Nathanael put the remote back into the control panel. “You needto tell Dan approximately where to replace Planet X before we go,” Hannibalordered.

“I will,”Nathanael answered. “I’m going back to my quarters to get my things. Do youwant to ride?”

“Yes, I believe I do,” Hannibal said. “Are you comingtoo, princess?” Selina nodded and they left with Nathanael.