Legends of Amacia Attack on Tartarus
Chapter 26: The Kartoom Gateway part 1

Three minutes later, the elevator stopped and a six-foot wide door opened in the far left corner from where they entered. The group scattered away from it as it opened, remembering the last time an elevator door opened unexpectedly. The first thing they encountered was the klaxon blaring from the passage outside the door. Lights flashed with the blaring siren, adding to the chaotic nature of the place. Hannibal stood to the left side of the door with everyone behind him. He motioned for everyone to stay put as he peeked around the corner into the passage, seeing a full platoon of spider and reptilian Xenians lying in wait under cover thirty cubits away. A barrage of plasma bolts sprayed through the door, barely missing his head as he pulled back. He motioned for Nemesis to come closer. Nemesis leaned over and Hannibal whispered into his ear, “We have a platoon of Xenian spiders and lizards out there under cover. They have us pinned down in a crossfire situation. We need something with a hefty punch to blast through them.”

“I have just the thing,” Nemesis growled softly, “I’ve been saving this bad boy for just such an emergency. Stand back.” Hannibal surrendered his position at the door to Nemesis, who switched his cybernetic arm into a large potent grenade launcher. Standing ready, Nemesis quickly peeked around the corner while pointing his grenade launcher arm down the passage, unloading a volley seven grenades into the passage in less than ten seconds. Plasma bolts from the Xenian guards buzzed through the opening the moment they saw movement. One bolt grazed Nemesis’ machine arm, ricocheting off it with no discernible damage. After launching the grenades, Nemesis quickly backed away from the door and barked, “Everyone get down!” Two seconds later, thunderous explosions roared in the corridor. A ball of fire filled the passage, spewing into the room, singeing Nemesis’ fur. The whole place shook with the grenade explosions. After the fire dissipated, Nemesis peeked around the corner and looked with his cybernetic eye through the smoke and burning walls of the passage. Switching back to his machine claws, he said, “All clear. Let’s go, and watch what you shoot at. There are things down here away from the elevator that don’t go well with grenades or plasma fire.”

“Got it,” Hannibal stated, readying the scepter and Caverias Sword. “Pick your targets with care, my friends. If you shoot, be sure of what you’re shooting at.” The rest of the team acknowledged the order as Hannibal got back in front with Nemesis right beside him. Andrew, Ana, and Horace following close behind with the Cimmerians and the two hybrids. They raced through the smoke filled passages, passing the gooey remains of sixteen Xenian spiders and reptiles. The grenades had turned them into bloody, gooey chunks on the walls, floor, and ceiling of the passage that continued to sizzle. The team raced on, slaying any they encountered with their edged weapons until Hannibal suddenly stopped at a large, ominous-looking door after another battle with twenty more guards composed of a mixture of elite human guards, spider Xenians, and reptilian Xenians. Hannibal, Nemesis, Ana, and Andrew had proved to be a lethal team their Cimmerian and hybrid backup. They killed all they encountered without mercy. The passage went past the doors to the right.

Taking a moment to regroup after the intense skirmish, Andrew asked, “Why aren’t they using their blasters down here? They were more than ready to use them back at the elevator.”

“Because we’re very close to the core,” Ana stated, “They fear plasma blasts in here will damage something vital.”

“Ana’s right,” Horace agreed. “It’s what Nemesis warned us about when we left the elevator. There are all kinds of energy conduits running through these walls. If one ruptures from a plasma blast or grenade, it would be very bad for everyone. The power running through the conduits down here is phenomenal and would vaporize anything and anyone it comes into contact with.”

“I’d say that’s a very good reason not to use blasters,” Tyr stated. “But where are these conduits? This passage looks like it’s carved from solid rock to me.”

“That’s because it is,” Horace stated, “But what we see around us is a composite shield mix of metal, crystal, and rock used to protect the power conduits that lie just a cubit inside these walls. Without this heavy shielding, the radiation from the power conduits would be lethal to any organic life form.”

“No wonder they stopped using the blasters,” Andrew stated, keeping a wary eye on their surroundings. “I assume the conduits channel a form of plasma energy. Is that right?”

“Yes,” Horace answered. “Down here, the plasma running through those conduits easily tops ten trillion volts and has a temperature of over a hundred thousand degrees. A rupture of a conduit into this passage would incinerate every living thing down here.”

“Let’s hope that doesn’t happen,” one of the Cimmerian warriors stated. “Besides, we’re much better with our swords than with the blasters anyway. I’d much rather kill them with my blade. It’s much more personal and satisfying.” The other Cimmerians agreed.

While Horace explained why the guards stopped using blasters, Hannibal felt drawn to the ominous door. Its ten-foot wide by twenty-foot tall aperture sent icy chills down his spine. Arcane ancient runes of great dark power lay engraved into the posts and lentil of the doorway. A hydra with seven heads, a large bat-like creature, a tentacled monster similar to Nidhoggr, and a representation of a Triaskus spider queen with drones around her lay carved in the door. They surrounded what appeared to be an image of a stone circle surrounding a pentagram with another stone circle in the pentagram’s center. Inside the inner stone circle sat a sinister dark spiral. More sinister archaic runes and hieroglyphs also decorated the door. The monsters surrounding the circle appeared to be in summoning positions. Hannibal frowned deeply inside Grimm’s Mask as he scanned the door, seeing not just the images and runes, but the dark energy surging through it. A deep, unnamable alien horror oozed from behind the door, drawing Hannibal’s attention. It made Grimm’s Mask glow in a menacing fashion. A disapproving growl escaped Hannibal’s lips as what he sensed beyond the door sent his danger meter off the scale. “Horace, what lies beyond this door?” Hannibal demanded, setting himself into a defensive posture.

“You do not want to go in there,” Horace stated emphatically. “The core control room is not in there, but the infernal Gate Sanctuary where the Cadre attempts to contact the Old Ones. A horrible sleepless malice that’s ancient and evil beyond all human comprehension lies beyond that door. Please forget it! To go there means horrible gruesome death. I beg of you. Don’t go in there.”

Hannibal saw the absolute terror on Horace’s face about what lay beyond the blasphemous door. Yet, his instincts were telling him to go in. “Ana, you know how to set the self-destruct, don’t you?” he asked coldly.

Ana nodded, becoming unsure of what he was fixing to do. “Yeah, I do,” she stated with a puzzled expression. “But why are you asking this? Aren’t you coming with us, milord?”

“No,” Hannibal growled. “I’m afraid not. Something is going on behind this door I must put a stop to.”

“You mustn’t go in there, milord,” Horace pleaded. “The vile terrible abominations, the unnamable inconceivable horrors that guard that blasphemous ancient gate exist only to destroy. Only the most powerful and daring Cadre wizards dare to enter there.”

“I understand your concern, Horace,” Hannibal replied soberly. “And I appreciate it, but you don’t get it. I must do this. Whatever lies beyond this door is the heart of Kartoom’s Darkness and it feels incredibly familiar. I’ve felt this vile darkness before. Furthermore, I can feel it growing. It’s about to do something that may tip the balance forever in its favor. I must put a stop to it before it can tip that balance.”

“Do what you must, my friend,” Nemesis stated grimly, realizing a higher power was driving Hannibal to penetrate the horrors beyond. “I know better than to argue with you when you’re like this. However, I would strongly suggest you not go in there alone. Take someone with you.”

“I plan to,” Hannibal stated bluntly. “I may be impulsive and rash, but I’m not stupid. Andrew and Tyr will come with me. Ana...you, Nemesis, Horace, and the rest of you go to the core and finish this place now while we still have a chance. As I said, something very bad is going on in there that I must put a stop to now. GO!” He pointed down the corridor in the direction they’d been heading.

“But, Hannibal,” Ana protested.

Hannibal cut her off, saying, “That’s an order, Ana! Wreak your vengeance on the Cadre! Do it! GO, all of you!” Nemesis grabbed on to Ana and Horace and began pushing them down the passage with the Cimmerians and hybrids following.

Ana edged out of Nemesis’ grasp and ran back to Hannibal. She hugged him while Nemesis, Horace, the Cimmerians and hybrids waited. “Don’t do anything stupid,” she insisted. “Selina will kill us all if you don’t come back.”

A knowing chuckle escaped Hannibal’s lips as he returned the hug. “Go on,” he said softly, “Do what we came for. Of everyone here, you alone have the right to set the self-destruct on the core after what the Cadre did to you. I believe in you, Ana. Now go. I’ll see you on the way out after I stop them from completing their ritual. I’m sure they’re in the middle of it now. I can sense it and the darkness it’s calling forth getting deeper as I speak. It rattles in my mind and soul even now...a horrid, most forbidden chant meant to release the nameless horrors from beyond our reality. Go on. This is something I must do. I cannot rip off Grendel’s arm if I don’t stop them now.”

“Okay,” Ana answered, suddenly realizing Hannibal’s destiny lay beyond those cursed doors. “Be very careful. I expect to see you alive when we come back this way.”

“I will,” Hannibal stated, pushing Ana back gently. “Now go before the guards muster for a counterattack.”

“Right,” Ana agreed. “Let’s go, Nemesis.”

“All right, let’s move out,” Nemesis ordered, waving the team forward. With that, everyone except Hannibal, Andrew and Tyr headed down the passage to the core control room.

“Fortify yourselves to witness the unfathomable, my friends,” Hannibal ordered Andrew and Tyr coldly. “If this is truly the gateway for the Old Ones, we must stop them from using it. Are you ready?”

“Yes, Uncle,” Andrew replied grimly as Tyr nodded with a grunt.

Hannibal slung the scepter over his shoulder and pushed on the door with his left hand while holding the Caverias Sword in his right hand. The door swung silently open just far enough for them to get through. He stepped through the door into a large dimly lit tunnel approximately one hundred yards in length and fifteen feet in diameter. Torch-sized crystals with a slightly red tint lined the walls at ten-foot intervals, glowing softly and pulsing like a heartbeat. The far end of the tunnel lay shrouded in a dense darkness. A stench of decaying death mixed with burning ozone and sulfur permeated the air, causing Andrew’s and Tyr’s eyes to sting as they followed Hannibal through the door, which closed silently after Andrew and Tyr entered. The very atmosphere felt charged with a dark hideous power. It was so potent even Andrew and Tyr could feel it. A chorus of soft, menacing voices echoed like ghosts in the darkness.

“What is that?” Andrew asked; horrified by what he sensed. “I’ve never felt anything like this before, Uncle. I can’t even begin to describe this hideous feeling. It’s like something is trying to suck my soul out.”

“You’re sensing the true darkness of this place,” Hannibal said coldly. “It’s an evil older than humanity and wider than the known universe. I’ve felt it before in my dreams when the Old Ones tried to destroy me. I also felt it on the Isle of the Devourers in Acheron. It will drive you mad if you let it so fortify your mind and soul, nephew. Pray to the Almighty that He protects us from this infernal power.”

“I will,” Andrew replied stoutly, readying his sword with grim resolution.

“What’s this eerie fell chorus I’m hearing?” Tyr asked; hefting is axe in a defensive manner. “It’s clouding my mind and making my blood run like ice. I’ve never truly felt fear until now.”

“It’s what I feared,” Hannibal stated, clearly hearing the chorus chanting its fell chant. “The Cadre is in the middle of a ritual for opening gates to forbidden realms. We haven’t much time. If they finish the ritual, we’re fucked. Come on, and be quiet. We don’t want to give away our position.”

Andrew and Tyr nodded, going silent as they followed Hannibal down the tunnel, staying close to the wall. As they approached the end of the passage, the darkness beyond fled as fires erupted beyond the passage lighting what lay beyond. Hannibal stopped at the end of the passage and looked with Andrew and Tyr. Gazing out into the chamber beyond, they saw a huge cavern with a six hundred foot ceiling, nearly three miles across at the widest point, and an immense lake of molten rock in its center. Countless stalactites, stalagmites, columns, and flowstone encrusted with crystals of all shapes and sizes lay everywhere casting many deep menacing shadows. It made the cavern look like a bizarre petrified forest with many stalagmites towering thirty to forty feet. The tunnel’s terminus lay about a hundred fifty feet up the side of the wall of the cavern. A long stone staircase descended through the ominous forest of stalactites, stalagmites, and columns to an immense temple sitting in the middle of the lava lake a mile and a half away. Small pools of lava and flaming, boiling tar pits lay alongside the stairway scattered in the stone forest. At regular intervals along each side of the stone stairs sat large flaming braziers lighting the stairs up to the bridge to the temple. The braziers lay in carved notches in the stalagmites lining the stone stairs.

The temple itself was unlike anything Hannibal had ever seen before. It had elements of the gateway temple in Acheron along with elements of the alien temple beneath Ezra’s Watchtower. However, it was constructed in such a way to make it unique. The structure sat upon an artificial island a half mile across in the lava lake. The temple itself appeared to resemble a colossal pentagram in a stone circle three-eighths of a mile across. A cyclopean colonnade two hundred feet tall with twenty-foot thick columns capped with gigantic lentil stones formed the outer circle. Odd-looking walls made of something that couldn’t be made out from the tunnel rose fifty feet between the columns of the outer circle. Just inside the outer circle, lines of colossal standing stones formed the temple’s immense pentagram, many of the stones standing one hundred feet high. In the core of the pentagram at the center of the temple sat another circle made from gigantic octagonal crystals seventy feet high and fifteen feet across. Like the outer stone colonnade, the crystal circle lay capped with cyclopean crystals. The center crystal circle spanned six hundred sixty-six feet. Unfortunately, Hannibal couldn’t see the very center of the temple where he suspected the altar lay from where he stood. The sheer unfathomable size and orientation of the temple made viewing its core impossible from the outside. A bridge crossed the moat of lava to get to the temple and its gate in the outer circle. They could see three guards on the bridge and hear chanting voices from inside the temple. In addition to all this, Hannibal heard a familiar noise of alien clicking along with the fluttering of wings in the darkness. Andrew and Tyr gazed in utter fearful astonishment at the hellish scene; a scene one would expect to see in Dante’s Inferno.

“Holy Ancient of Days, protect us,” Andrew breathed, not believing his eyes. “I’ve never seen the Abyss, but I believe this is as close as we can get to it on this good Earth.”

“I must agree,” Tyr said softly, “This is truly the inferno of the Damned.”

“Steady, fellas,” Hannibal urged them. “Yes, this is very similar to what I saw in Acheron. However, there are major differences. In Acheron, there was an entire city surrounding the gate temple. I do not see a city here, only that infernal temple there and a forest of stone and shadow we must traverse to reach it. We need to be extra careful for I suspect there are Devourers lurking in the shadows. I can hear them chattering and fluttering in the darkness.”

“Devourers?” Andrew asked, “Are you sure?”

“Absolutely,” Hannibal stated grimly, scanning the darkness with Grimm’s Mask. “I can not only hear them, I can see them with the Mask’s night-vision capabilities. They’re lurking in the shadows waiting for us to let our guards down and step out of the light. Do that to your own peril.” A disapproving growl rumbled from Hannibal as he saw a flock of ten devourers fluttering into the deeper shadows, realizing they’d been spotted.

“How many do you see?” Tyr asked in a worried tone.

“You don’t want to know,” Hannibal stated severely. “But they will not attack as long as there’s light. If we stay were there’s light, we won’t have any problems with them. Moreover, they seem skittish of the light coming off the Caverias Sword and the Scepter on my back. This should give us an added edge over them. I also suspect there may be some basilisks lurking somewhere in the dark too so keep your eyes open. The Emperor is known to use them as guard dogs.”

“I’ve never seen a basilisk,” Andrew stated.

“Pray you never have to,” Hannibal replied. “If you do encounter one, run, and do not look it in the eye for it will mesmerize you before eating you.”

“Good safety tip,” Tyr stated. “I don’t want to see any of those fell creatures if I can help it. So what’s the plan?”

“We sneak down there, hopefully avoiding the devourers and any lurking basilisks,” Hannibal stated. “When we reach the bridge, we take out the guards there and storm the temple. Is that simple enough for you?”

“Quite,” Tyr answered, feeling his courage rise with Hannibal’s confident tone. “So what are we waiting for?”

“Nothing,” Hannibal stated, “Let’s go. Keep quiet and stay away from the deep shadows.”

“Right,” Andrew and Tyr replied simultaneously.

Hannibal took up the lead and they stole down the stairs like ghosts. The flapping of wings and clucking of alien sounds echoed everywhere. This dismayed Hannibal severely, making him even more cautious. Fortunately, the glowing scepter slung on Hannibal’s back and the glowing Caverias sword surrounded them in a light that the alien sounds wouldn’t come close to, as he said. In a matter of five minutes, they approached the bridge over the moat and darted under cover behind a thirty-foot wide column where stalactites and stalagmites grew together eons before. They could clearly see the three guards on the bridge and noticed four more at the entrance of the temple they hadn’t seen from where they entered the cavern. At this distance, the detail on the outer wall between the columns of the outer circle became clear. It consisted of countless human skulls and bones cemented together with a golden mortar. The gate itself rose to the height of the walls, but appeared to be constructed entirely of human bone glued together with gold. It lay open behind the four guards across the bridge. Decapitated human corpses hung impaled on spikes sticking out of the columns around the gate going in both directions. The bodies were in various stages of decomposition, some having their flesh literally rotting off. The infernal blasphemous desecration of human life portrayed by the temple incensed the trio. They quickly discussed the problem for a moment, and then adopted an old, but simple strategy. Someone would go out and draw the guards away from their posts to where the others could dispose of them without being seen. Tyr volunteered to be the bait.

Hannibal and Andrew laid in wait in the stalagmite forest just off the steps near the bridge as Tyr marched boldly to the guards on the bridge. “Gods! I’m so glad I found you guys!” he called out, “I’m totally lost down here! Can anyone show me the way out of here?” The guards immediately bristled, pulling their weapons.

One of the guards immediately shouted, “Hold it! You are not supposed to be here! This is a restricted area!”

Tyr feigned surprise as the guards rushed forward, saying, “I’m not? Oh, shit! Sorry about that!” He bolted and the three guards on the bridge raced after him with the other four guards in the entrance moving on the bridge because they had noticed Tyr’s intrusion. The three guards fell right into the trap. They opened fire with their blasters as Tyr dove into the darkness of the forest of stone stalagmites. The guards raced into the stone forest where Hannibal, Andrew, and Tyr wiped them out in the shadows. The death cries from the doomed guards echoed to their comrades on the bridge.

The four guards on the bridge looked at each other with great concern and fear, knowing that to venture into the darkness of this particular place was an extremely dangerous thing to do. Hideous gruesome inhuman death lay in the shadows. They knew the abominations haunting the shadows of the cavern prefer human meat above all other prey. Moments later, a severed head from one of the guards lured into the stalagmite forest landed and rolled up on the bridge. Tyr had stepped from the shadows and thrown the severed head at them, waving his large bloody axe at them. He grinned wickedly, making insulting gestures at the remaining guards. The head was all the guards needed to pursue, so they opened fire with their blasters, taking up the pursuit. Tyr once again led them into the trap. However, as he dove into the forest of stalagmites, a plasma bolt from one of the blasters hit his helmet, grazing his head and knocking the helmet off. It rendered him unconscious. However, he had done his job. The guards came upon him only to be slaughtered by Hannibal and Andrew without warning.

Andrew threw one of the guards bodily into a flaming tar pit with a strike from his sword across the chest. The guard thrown into the flaming tar pit shrieked in primal agony, his arms and legs flailing as the tar burned him alive before he could escape. In moments, the remains of the guard sank out of sight into the bubbling tar. Andrew fell on the second guard with the speed and brutality of a saber cat, removing his head with one hit, and then slicing him in two just below the chest. The guard’s head sprang from his severed neck like a spring-loaded toy a full two seconds before his top half fell off his bottom half, spilling his entrails everywhere.

At the same time, Hannibal cut one completely in two at the chest with the Caverias sword, sending the upper half of the guard flying into a small lava pool that incinerated the piece. He then pounced on the last guard with a vengeance, literally grabbing the man by the throat and lifting him off the ground. Grimm’s Mask glowed like a demon’s face as the guard choked in utter terror brought on by the Mask. With a flick of his wrist and an inhuman growl, Hannibal snapped the guard’s neck and threw his body with inhuman strength into the deep shadows of the stalagmite forest. Seconds later, he and Andrew heard the alien clicking mixed with the sound of something rending and chewing flesh in the darkness.

After Hannibal finished off the last guard, he and Andrew quickly located Tyr lying next to a small lava pool. The Cimmerian was out cold with a trickle of blood from the back of his head. His clothes and armor were starting to smoke from the close proximity to the lava pool. “We need to get him away from the pool,” Hannibal ordered Andrew, who helped him move Tyr to a safe distance from the lava pool. Hannibal set the Caverias sword down, and pulled off the left Draken Gauntlet, sitting it down by the sword. He then set his bare hand on Tyr’s forehead and prayed, still not knowing exactly how to engage the healing gift. Hannibal figured that if the Almighty would answer his prayer to heal Tyr, it would be enough. Hannibal felt the elemental energy flow through his hand into Tyr as he prayed. It marveled him that he could actually feel the energy transfer. Tyr quickly came to and Hannibal sighed in relief, saying, “That was a close one, Tyr. Too close; try to be more careful next time.”

Tyr nodded and groaned as Andrew helped him up. “Man, my head hurts,” he commented.

“It’ll pass,” Hannibal stated as he put the left Draken Gauntlet on and picked up the Caverias sword. “Do you think you can still fight?”

Tyr smiled wickedly, saying, “Is a saber cat vicious?”

“Good,” Hannibal replied as Andrew handed Tyr his axe. “Now let’s crash this party.”