Legends of Amacia Heart of Darkness

Voices echoed in the darkness as Hannibal slowly came around. The voices were muffled and she couldn’t understand them as the darkness lightened. A moan escaped her lips as she stirred. A voice called out, “She’s waking up.”

A familiar voice echoed in Hannibal brain as it said, “Bring her here and lay her in my lap.”

Hannibal felt several hands bear her up and move her, gently sitting her down in someone’s lap, who curled their arms around her. “Easy sister,” the familiar voice said. “You took a nasty hit on the head.” Suddenly, she got whiff of a very familiar scent. Looking up as her vision cleared, she saw Selina’s face. She immediately felt Selina’s arms around him, holding her securely. A pleasant chill raced down Hannibal’s spine.

“Selina,” Hannibal moaned. “What happened?”

“Apparently, the Emperor clocked you good from the looks of this shiner on the side of your face, sister,” Selina murmured, feeling something very familiar with the woman she was helping. “How do you know my name? You look familiar.”

Hannibal focused, seeing Selina wearing the same leather restraining cocoon she last saw her in on the sex floor. The only difference from the last time Hannibal saw her was her arms were now free, but the rest of her remained wrapped in the leather-restraining suit that covered her up to her neck. Hannibal immediately noticed a collar around her neck with a chain fastened to it running to the nearest pillar. Chains were also fastened to her at the wrists and on the feet. Then Hannibal noticed they were not alone. Nearly fifty other women that seemed familiar were present in indecent outfits ranging from teddies and humiliating two-piece outfits no more than underwear to strap and rope outfits that kept them in a state of perpetual humiliation and tension.

Hannibal then noticed her female status again and that she now wore a cup-less, crotchless black leather teddy with high-cut legs, and thigh-length leather leggings that curiously had no shoes. The leggings hooked around the arch of her foot while leaving the heel, top of her foot, and toes bare. A collar, manacles, and shackles chained her same as Selina to the nearest pillar. All of the women who weren’t chained down had gathered around Selina and Hannibal. Hannibal let out a moan of dismay when she saw her status again, remembering vividly what the Emperor told her.

“Who is she?” one of the girls with snow-white hair wearing a leather strap playsuit that covered nothing. She had leather manacles and shackles that were not hooked to anything and a collar around her neck with a loop for a chain.

“Yes, Selina; who is she?” another girl with long silver hair wearing a humiliating monokini that barely covered her crotch and framed her bare breasts.

“Give her some space,” a woman with flaming red hair streaked with grey ordered. She wore a slightly more modest crotchless leather teddy with high-cut legs. It covered her breasts to just above the nipples while exposing all her cleavage. She also had leather leggings on with shackles and manacles on them that were not hooked to anything. A collar with a leash loop decorated this woman’s neck. She knelt down beside Selina as Selina held Hannibal in her lap without recognizing Hannibal. The woman’s order quieted the others. “Okay, Selina; go ahead,” she told Selina.

Selina looked down into Hannibal’s female face seeing something incredibly familiar to her in the woman’s features. “Who are you, sister?” she asked, “I feel that I know you somehow.”

Hannibal focused on her eyes and barely pushed through her fatigue to touch Selina’s mind through their fusion. “Selina…don’t you recognize me?” Hannibal asked weakly. “It’s me, Hannibal.”

Selina stared into Hannibal’s eyes and suddenly realized why this woman in her lap looked so familiar. The nightmare where she saw Hannibal transformed into a woman instantly came to mind. Her mouth fell open in utter astonishment as her mind linked fully with Hannibal. “Oh, my Lord have mercy: Hannibal!” she cried. “What happened? You’re a woman again. Don’t tell me this is another clone body the Emperor dunked you in like before?” A hushed rumble of amazement raced through the crowd of women. Selina hugged Hannibal tenderly, wondering what happened.

Hannibal blinked and sighed deeply, letting her supple breasts on her chest move up and down with the sigh. “I’m afraid not,” she whispered wearily, “...not this time. Apparently, when the Emperor realized he couldn’t break me by putting me in a clone woman, he so feared me that he surgically and genetically altered me after putting me back in my own body. He turned me into a woman for real out of spite and then told me the only chance I have of escaping him is to fight in the Arena as a woman. If I survive, he told me I could walk out of here without you, but I know he’s lying. He’s never going to let me leave this place as long as he has anything to say about it.”

Tears filled Hannibal’s eyes as she looked into Selina’s face. “Oh, how I’ve failed everyone, especially you, princess,” she wept. “As a woman, I don’t possess the strength to take him down man to man. Worse yet, I can’t be the man and husband you want now. Look at me! I’m a woman for real with no way to reverse it! How could you love me now?”

Selina saw and felt Hannibal’s despair through their fusion, which now blossomed since Hannibal was now sitting in her lap. Selina leaned down close so Hannibal could see her face clearly. Her face shined of unquestioned love and adoration. “Listen to me, my prince,” she murmured softly. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re a man or woman. I love you. Just because the Emperor changed your physical sex without your permission doesn’t mean that you’re a woman in your mind and heart, or that you’re a woman forever. Inside, you’re still the man I fell in love with. It wasn’t your body that I fell in love with when we first met. It’s wasn’t your female clone body I made love to on the sex floor. It was your mind, soul, and spirit, Hannibal. Would I do this if I didn’t believe you were still you?” She then passionately kissed Hannibal with one of her special kisses, wrapping her arms around Hannibal’s now female body as if nothing had changed. Hannibal responded instantly, tremendously energized by her love, but still too weak to hardly move. Selina’s kiss and contact with Hannibal settled her spirit.

When the kiss ended, Selina looked Hannibal in the eye, seeing his male form buried deep within the female body she touched. “We’re one in a way that the Emperor cannot break,” she murmured, “Should we ever escape from this dismal hell, I’m sure the Lord will find a way to restore you to your true form. The prophecies say so. But until then, you should accept this fate and use it to confound the Emperor. The Lord always uses the weakest people and things to confound the mighty.”

“God, I love you,” Hannibal whispered. “You always know how to settle my troubled mind and heart. Moreover, you’re right. I shouldn’t shy away from this. I must take what the Emperor meant for evil and somehow turn it into something good.”

“That’s exactly what I’m talking about,” Selina murmured. “There’s the Hannibal I know and love. You should use this chance to make a real difference.” Then whispering into Hannibal’s ear she added, “When we were tied together on the Emperor’s sex floor while you were in the clone, I really enjoyed that intimate contact with you and wouldn’t mind doing that again. And what’s even better, I know you enjoyed it too. We mated physically without mating. It was my first time being intimate in that manner with anyone, though I despised how it was forced on us. After I was brought back here, I realized our vows are tied to you giving me a child as a man. With you in this form, we can be physically intimate without worrying about our vows.”

“I know,” Hannibal said with a soft smile. She put her arm around Selina and said, “Thank you, princess. Now, do you think it’s time we shared my story with your friends here?”

“Yes,” Selina agreed. “I’ve been telling them about you since I returned from what they call the sex floor where we were abused.”

“Who are you?” the flaming red-haired woman asked politely, having seen how passionately Selina kissed Hannibal. “We’re all sisters here and have a right to know who the Emperor has brought into our midst.”

“This is no stranger, Myra,” Selina declared. “This woman whom you saw me so passionately kiss is really my husband Hannibal from the surface. It appears that when the Emperor’s sadistic game of dumping his mind into a clone woman didn’t work the way he wanted, he returned Hannibal to his body and then surgically and genetically mutated him into a woman. Inside this female body is the mind and soul of my beloved husband. I’d stake my life and soul on it.”

The women of the Harem gasped in astonishment as Hannibal said, “I fear what Selina said is true. The Emperor himself told me of the change after I woke for the second time as a woman. He thinks that turning me into one of you will make me docile and no threat to him.”

The flaming red-haired Myra breathed in astonishment, “It’s the prophecy. He’s actually here as one of us, just like it said.”

An elderly woman with long snow-white hair walked up and knelt before Hannibal. She wore nothing but a net teddy that revealed all. Hannibal gasped at her savage beauty. Suddenly, she became aware of the elderly woman’s potent telepathic potential. “I can tell whether you speak the truth,” the elderly woman declared. “Please lend me your thoughts.” She reached out and touched Hannibal on the temple with one hand.

Hannibal felt Selina’s telepathic training surge within her mind. She gently reached out, took the elderly woman’s other hand and placed it on her other temple. Hannibal then held the elderly woman’s hands to her head while looking into her eyes, saying, “Please, see what the Emperor has done to me in his quest to destroy me, my elderly sister. I’m trapped and damned to this form by his infernal rage.”

The elderly woman’s eyes grew round and tears gushed forth. “By the elder gods of old; what terror and excruciating torment I see. Oh, you poor boy; you should have never been allowed to participate in our hellish existence like that.” She suddenly gasped and cried, “Oh, gods no, you saw the Kitchen; that bastard! He must have been desperate to break you if he showed you the Kitchen after turning you into the doll!” She let go as Hannibal suddenly crumbled before her probe, crying like a little girl, overcome by the horror of her experiences flooding her conscious mind. The elderly woman moved beside Selina and put her arms around Hannibal in a caring embrace. “Let it out,” she cooed, stroking Hannibal’s back. “Let it out, otherwise the pain and terror will destroy you. Let us help you bear this burden. It’s how we survive this dark world.” She looked to Selina and said, “Embrace your man with me, sister. He needs you now more than ever because he’s not just lost in our world in our form and knows not which way to turn, but he’s also seen the very heart of darkness where we’re prepared as literal meals for the Emperor’s amusement.”

Selina instantly tightened her arms around Hannibal in a loving embrace, leaning her head down as Hannibal buried her face in Selina’s leather-covered chest. She felt Hannibal’s pain, grief, and helplessness and wept too, seeing through Hannibal’s eye Hell’s Kitchen: a hideous horror that to her made the sex floor look like an amusement park. Stroking her hair gently, Selina wept, “What monstrous and hideous things you have seen and experienced! It’s beyond my gentle heart to comprehend such atrocities! It’s heinous beyond words! Oh, my prince, you must let go of that evil you saw; let go of it or it will destroy us!” She cradled Hannibal’s female form as if she were a long lost sister, rocking her gently, sobbing deeply at what she saw in Hannibal’s mind.

The elderly woman called out, “Sisters: our feline sister has not lied to us. This is indeed her husband, damned to our existence by the Emperor’s wrath as the prophecies foretold. Come; let us help him and her release the pain and grief of his experiences on the sex floor and Hell’s Kitchen and become part of our sisterhood.” The women not chained down surrounded Hannibal and Selina in a massive group hug; many just wanting to touch whom they came to believe would be their deliverer. The elderly woman felt Hannibal releasing the pain of her experience, as did Selina. “That’s it, my child. Release the poisonous pain and hate and become one of us,” the elderly woman cooed. “Release it.”

Hannibal slowly looked up from Selina’s leather-clad chest into her loving face as she felt the grief ebb away. Selina kissed Hannibal gently on the lips, touching her forehead to Hannibal’s forehead afterwards. “That’s it,” Selina whispered. “Let it go, my prince. Let go of the horror, pain, and hate that stains your soul. Let the Lord’s light cleanse you of this wicked darkness.”

Hannibal turned to the elderly woman as she pushed up from Selina’s chest. With tears in her eyes, Hannibal whimpered, “Thank you, my precious sister. What’s your name?”

“Izanami,” the elderly woman replied softly, “...and you’re very welcome. I’m happy you were able to release the pain and evil without it destroying you. It truly shows your amazing strength.”

Hannibal grasped Izanami’s hand with both hands and held it to her chest. Looking Izanami in the eye, Hannibal murmured, “I would’ve been lost without Selina, you, and the rest of these precious sisters here to help me dispel this terrible heinous evil. Thank you, sisters. Thank you for helping me to cope with literally the worst thing to ever happen to me.”

Izanami smiled warmly at Hannibal as she clung to her hand like a frightened child. “Think nothing of it, sister,” Izanami replied, “It’s what we sisters do for one another in this place. Fate has truly favored us this day by bring the prince of our salvation into our midst just as the prophets of old foretold. It’s a great sign to all of us that our bondage is finally coming to an end.”

“It could be,” Hannibal whimpered as she released Izanami’s hand, feeling the overload of emotion slowly subsiding. “The Lord moves in strange ways; and this is about as bizarre as it gets. I definitely could’ve done without this mutation. I’m still trying to figure out why He allowed it.”

“Your god has cursed you to a very hard fate, my son,” Izanami stated. “I’ve seen the Emperor do this to other men and they become so violently unstable by being forced to live as a woman they kill themselves almost immediately. They just can’t take the strain of the modification or the loss of their manhood. It usually drives them mad within hours of the mutation. However, I don’t sense this instability in you. You have proven to be a very strong man, stronger than even the Emperor imagined; which is why the Emperor did this to you. He despises and destroys those whose power could challenge him. You must be aware, my son, that being trapped in a woman’s body is going to tax your male mind and soul to your breaking point. Don’t lose sight of who you really are. As long as you’re with us, you’re one of us, and we’ll teach you our ways so that you do not meet the fate of those men damned this this fate before you.”

“Thank you, Izanami,” Hannibal whimpered. “You’re so kind, as are the rest of these precious sisters. This is a nightmare I just can’t seem to wake from. Will I ever be a man again?”

“Only Fate and the Almighty know for sure,” Izanami stated as the other women sat down around them. Selina cradled Hannibal’s female body, holding it close.

“But I dare say that your presence in this place is an indelible sigh from the gods that our torment is coming to an end,” Izanami declared. “The prophecy fragment from Myria foretold that the Promised One from the outer world...the Last Caverias would come to our world and be caught by the Emperor, and damned to become one of us by him. In this altered form, he’d escape the Emperor’s treachery, find his true form once again, return to save his celestial mate, and destroy the Emperor, saving us from the lingering death the Emperor has for us. If the Emperor knew that I still held to this prophecy, he would make me into one of his dolls and I would never see the light of day or my sisters again.”

Hannibal shuddered visibly. “I pray no one else ever goes through that,” she murmured, reliving the horror of losing her arms and legs and being mounted as a trophy while still breathing. “When the Emperor had my mind trapped in that girl’s clone, he did that to me.” Sitting up and pulling her knees up to her chest, Hannibal wrapped her arms around her legs, hugging them to her chest while resting her chin on her knees. “I was stuck in the girl’s clone and had successfully withstood every deviant sexual attack he could think of, including a full crucifixion…red-hot nails and all while being raped at the same time with that damnable rubber piston,” she whispered softly while cringing, the horror of it still fresh in her mind. “When I didn’t break, the bastard had me tied down to that table, and then brutally raped and choked me until I was almost dead while Selina was forced to watch.” Sobs erupted uncontrollably from Hannibal as Selina sat up and put her arms around Hannibal again.

“I now truly understand what it’s like to be a victim of a sadistic sexual assault,” Hannibal wept. “It’s so hideous that it defies description. No man can understand the pain and terror that goes through a woman’s mind when she’s brutalized like that, but I know now from first-hand experience. That sadistic demon shit then had that machine of his cut off my arms and legs before it violated me with its tentacles for another two minutes. Then I was mounted like a trophy head while still alive. Furthermore, to add insult to injury, I was forced to see the horrors of that hellish kitchen. I’ve endured many things in my dark wicked life, but that was the darkest, vilest, most heinous thing I’ve ever encountered or endured. It’s evil beyond all human words. It scarred my soul forever. I underestimated the Emperor’s rage and evil and paid for it in the worst possible way. No one should have to go through that heinous process or see those horrors ever. It wouldn’t have been so bad had he just killed me outright, but he kept me alive through the whole damnable thing. I’ll never have a trophy mounted again as long as I live.” She turned to Selina’s warm embrace, crying on her shoulder. The women around him gawked in horror as Hannibal continued to release the terror of the doll-making process and the horrors of the Kitchen.

The silver-haired woman in the monokini knelt down and put her arms around Hannibal, crying for her pain. “Oh, you poor man trapped in our form,” the silver-haired woman wept. “You have no idea how to deal with such dreadful evil, but you don’t have to bear it alone. It’s impossible to bear it alone. You need to let us in, my friend. Let us help you bear this grievously heinous burden. Regardless of whether you’re a man or woman, no one should have to endure the doll-making or see Hell’s Kitchen. It’s reserved for those whom the Emperor hates the most or just cannot control. In your case, it’s apparently both. Please, let the grief and pain go, my friend. You must let it go or it will poison your soul and destroy you. Only by sharing our grief and pain with one another have we been able to resist the poison of the Emperor. It’s the only means we have left for resisting him.”

Hannibal looked into silver-haired girl’s eyes, seeing something very familiar. “Thank you, sister,” she whimpered. “Your words are golden to me. What’s your name?”

“Tasha,” the silver-haired girl stated. “My father was once king of Kadishar. Selina told me that my brother Joel still lives. Is this true?”

Hannibal nodded her head, saying, “Yes; he lives and is with the rebels now. I saw him go through to safety just before Selina and I were captured.”

Tasha fell on Hannibal’s neck with a grateful embrace while kissing her on the cheek. “You have restored my hope and faith,” she replied sincerely.

Hannibal touched her forehead to Tasha’s, saying softly, “And you have restored mine, sister. We can fight this monster, even in his deepest, vilest tortures. As I look around at you, all of you, I feel your humiliation and pain as one of you. Maybe this was why I was turned into one of you: so I could truly feel your humiliation and despair as a way to prod me into action.”

“Hannibal?” Selina asked, feeling a sweeping change suddenly falling over Hannibal coming from within. “Are you okay?”

Wiping the tears from her eyes, Hannibal said, “Yes, princess. I’m finally beginning to see the big picture here, despite my own stubbornness and rebellion. I was dumped into a clone girl and forced to endure the tortures of the sex floor, as you call it, including a crucifixion rape, the doll-making, and the horrors of that diabolical kitchen. However, while I was a doll trophy on the wall of that infernal place, something strange and marvelous happened.

“The machine that controls the sex floor and apparently the Kitchen, the one the Emperor calls his pet, treated me after my mounting as if it were a mother taking care of her wounded child. As it treated and fed me with a gentility that I never saw when the Emperor was present, my mind surged inside that clone, and I could see with my mind beyond the machine’s hideous Cyclops eye and terrible mechanical tentacles. I saw a kind gentle woman trapped in it, completely merged with the machine, and forced by the Emperor’s programming to do all those horrible, unspeakable things to you girls, and to me too. It spoke to me in my helpless state while it fed me milk and honey enhanced with vitamins and minerals.” Gasps escaped from the women upon hearing it.

“It said it took no pleasure in tormenting us; that the programming forced it to follow the Emperor’s sadistic wishes,” Hannibal reported. “When he isn’t around, the programming allows it to act autonomously from the Emperor, especially since he insists that the dolls and all the others trapped on the sex floor remain alive until he tires of them. Somewhere within that horrible machine is a woman named Josephine. I think she was the original Emperor’s wife before he became corrupted by the Darkness. By me calling her by that name, some of her programming apparently malfunctioned and she talked the Emperor into returning me to my real body: the male one. But I had no idea that the Emperor had changed his mind yet again and turned me into a woman for real this time by altering my real body until I awoke on the lab table and saw my reflection in the lab’s mirrored ceiling.”

“That’s truly an astounding account,” Izanami stated with great amazement. “No one has ever been able to influence his pet in that manner. It’s another indelible sign.”

A sigh escaped Hannibal’s lips. “It seems that my fate is now tied to everyone who has been abused by this demon monster,” she admitted. A chuckled suddenly escaped her lips.

“Why do you laugh?” Myra asked. “Surely, it’s not at our fate since you’ve admitted that you’re now bound to our fate.”

“I laughed because I have a bit of an embarrassing confession to make,” Hannibal said with a look of shame on her face.

“What is it?” Selina asked, knowing it was of a very personal nature.

“Well, there have been times when as a man I wanted to know what life was like as a woman,” Hannibal admitted, her face turning red. “I’ve watched Selina since the first day we met and marveled at how full of love and life she was and how much fun she had just being herself. I secretly wished I could experience that life from her side of the gender line, and in a way, I got that wish when the teaching machine at Tiamat fused our minds together. Now, it seems my secret wish has spiraled out of control to such extent that I’m now a woman for real, no thanks to the Emperor. I never wanted to be a woman permanently, just experience some of your vitality and to understand what made you girls tick. Now that evil djinn has granted my wish to my everlasting peril. I just hope that I don’t forget what it’s like to be a man.”

“Oh, my brave prince,” Selina cooed. “You’ve admitted one of your deepest and most intimate secrets to not just me, but everyone here. I can understand why you wanted to see life from my eyes. But why would you tell everyone something so terribly embarrassing and intimate to you as a man?”

“Because I have become one of them the same way they did,” Hannibal replied. “It was a trial by fire. These precious sisters around us helped me deal with the searing, mind-numbing pain they experience constantly. They helped me release it, so I see them as my sisters. Besides, it’s kind of pointless to hide it now since I’m now a woman by the Emperor’s hand.”

“What an amazing declaration,” Izanami chimed, reaching out and holding Hannibal’s hand. “No man in my lifetime has ever admitted to such a thing. You truly are an enigma, Hannibal Smith of the outer world. It’s like you are trying to reconcile your masculine and feminine sides so you can be a whole person. Most men don’t realize that they have a female part buried within them that they need to access and accept as a partner in their minds and souls before they can truly be a whole person. I see you trying to do that and my heart rejoices. It may be your salvation. All of us women who have experienced the sex floor have discovered this precious truth and we have integrated our male side. It gives us the strength to withstand the Emperor’s tortures. I look into your eyes, Hannibal Smith, and I see a powerful warrior, no a man who has deep faith and love in his friends and family, even in his god. However, on the outside, I see a trembling young girl who has no grasp of what it means to be a woman.

“To beat the Emperor at his own game, you must merge your two halves into one being. Do you understand what I’m saying? You’re now a woman on the outside. You need to become that woman on the inside too; become the Valkyrie that will save us from extinction. Do you understand, my son? Embrace your female essence, merge with her, and become one with her. Only then will you be able to deal with your state and if Fate allows, find a way to reverse what the Emperor did to you.”

Selina stared in wonder at Izanami’s wisdom. “Oh, my,” she breathed, “What a marvelous truth of existence! She’s absolutely right, Hannibal. You must accept your present form and merge your mind with it fully if you expect to retain your power and defeat the Emperor. It’s the Lord’s will. With your male and female sides in complete fusion, you’ll have the power of both at your command. You need to create a new persona for this new mutated body, Hannibal. As long as you insist on being Hannibal while you have this mutated female body, you’ll be held back by your male side, even though I can sense you’ve already created a rudimentary female identity. However, she’s still chained to your male side and he’s holding her back. Unchain your female essence and merge with her same as you did with me. We can do it together. Then you’ll become something the Emperor has never seen: a completed soul beyond his power to corrupt, control, or destroy.”

Something clicked deep within Hannibal. A chill raced down Hannibal’s spine as she remembered the hooded angel’s words about becoming a completed soul. That small familiar voice whispered in her ear that this was the right path. A peaceful look came over Hannibal’s face as she sat there with her legs crossed and her hands resting in her lap. “Oh, my god, that’s it,” Hannibal breathed in awe. “That’s the missing piece, and what’s the Lord’s been trying to teach me with this. You’re absolutely right, Selina. I must not kick against the pricks any longer. The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away. I’ll not curse the Lord for this bizarre cruel fate. He made me a man, and now He takes it away and makes me a woman through the evil of the Emperor for some purpose that still mystifies me, but I’ll not fault Him for allowing it, nor will I curse Him for it. It could be I had this coming somehow because of my unrepented sin as a dark wizard in my younger days, or maybe there’s more going on here than I understand. Maybe in His infinite will and goodness, He’ll return me to my original state. But until then I must become this woman He’s created out of me for the good of not just you, Selina, but everyone. Selina, Izanami…please help me become the woman I need to be. Connect with me telepathically and show me the way of the woman from a woman’s perspective. Show me how to be one of you.”

“Of course, my friend,” Izanami murmured, “May Fate shine upon your transformation into one of us.” She reached out and touched Hannibal on the temples, gently pressing on it with her fingertips.

“I’m here for you, my prince,” Selina stated. “We’re all forced to do things we don’t want to do in this dark evil place. May the Lord help us escape this living death and give you back your proper form in His own time and pleasure.” Selina put her left arm around Hannibal and touched the side of Hannibal’s head with her right hand, pressing her fingers against Hannibal’s right temple with Izanami. “Now, my prince, merge with us telepathically so that we may show you the truth of womanhood,” Selina instructed.

They closed their eyes and concentrated as Hannibal closed her eyes, feeling them enter her mind telepathically. “Yes, come in and show me who and what I am,” she murmured softly.

The women of the Harem watched with awe and amazement as Izanami and Selina simultaneously mind-melded with Hannibal. After fifteen minutes, a soft smile crossed Hannibal’s lips. “Yes,” Hannibal said in a voice that was distinctly more feminine and melodious than before. “I understand now. We work together as yin and yang, as fire and ice, as male and female to become what is needed in this dark hour: the completed soul. In a female body, the female side rules while in a male body, the male side rules. However, only together as a completed unit and soul working together can we beat the Emperor at his own game. Thank you so much. I know who I am now. Thank you for showing me the way.”

Izanami let go of Hannibal with a deep sigh. Her shoulders slumped with obviously exhaustion. Selina opened her eyes and removed her hand from the side of Hannibal’s head.

“Did it work?” Tasha asked at the prompting of Jasmine, Hitomi, and the other women.

Hannibal opened her eyes. “Yes,” she said in a beautiful melodious alto voice that startled the other women because of how different it was from her voice before the mind-meld. “Selina and Izanami are wonderful teachers. I know who I am now at this point in time and space.”

“Then who are you, sister?” Izanami asked.

“I am Hanna,” Hannibal replied simply, adopting the persona. “Hannibal is safely ensconced within this body, within me as it should be, but now I’m in charge with his permission and will follow his direction without question since he has far more experience than I do. We’re one. Selina, touch me telepathically to verify this.”

Selina pressed her fingers to Hanna’s temple, telepathically connecting, and smiled. “It’s done,” she declared, “Hannibal the man is safely hidden and secured within Hanna’s mind and Hanna the woman has emerged. She is he and he is she. Their yin and yang are merged completely and she has access to everything he is, was, and will become.”

Izanami smiled as the women began chattering excitedly about the transformation. “Now girls,” she called out. “We must not let the Emperor know about this.”

The women swore on their graves to keep it secret. A tattooed woman six foot two with snow-white hair wearing an cup-less crotchless tan leather teddy stepped forward and knelt down at Hanna’s and Selina’s feet. Her face was still bruised and swollen, as were her arms and legs, but not as badly as it was before she was imprisoned in the Harem. She looked into Hanna’s eyes, seeing Hannibal in her features and behind the eyes. The woman’s lips started trembling as Hanna looked closely at the woman. “Jennifer?” Hanna asked hesitantly.

The woman nodded and swept Hanna up in a warm embrace. “Oh, thank you for saving Corso and the rest of my people. Thank you!” Jennifer cried gratefully.

Hanna rubbed Jennifer’s back gently letting the emotion of being a female empower her. “You’re welcome,” Hanna replied, feeling strangely energized by her emotional response. “But can you ever forgive me for not being able to save you too?”

Jennifer looked Hanna in the eye. “It’s not your fault, Hannibal; oh, I mean Hanna,” she replied. “The Emperor set a trap for all of us. We were merely bait for you. There’s no way you could have known, as there’s no way you could have known that you’d end up like this. I’m just happy you’re still alive.”

“That may be only for a short time more,” Hanna stated grimly. “I’ve been condemned to the Arena in three days. If I survive the trials by combat, the Emperor promised to let me go.”

“You don’t really believe that, do you?” Jennifer asked bluntly.

“Not a chance in hell; I know he’ll renege on that promise the moment I win,” Hanna stated. “That’s a given as far as I’m concerned, but I won’t go down without a fight. He’s not going to kill me without a whole lot of blood spilled on his side first. Besides, I seem to be getting stronger by the minute. Maybe it has to do with my integration. I feel strangely empowered by it. Something stirs within me...something that feels eerily familiar, yet ancient and powerful. Anyway, I may have a little surprise in mind for the Emperor.”

“We’ll pray for you, Hanna,” Myra stated. “And if Fate favors you, you may actually escape from here just as Princess Amelia did.”

“I appreciate that,” Hanna murmured. “What puzzles me is why the Emperor put me in here with you since he considers me such a threat.”

“Maybe he thought putting you in here would turn Selina against you once she saw you as a woman for real,” Tasha suggested. “He just doesn’t understand the connection you have to her.”

“Furthermore, his plan has backfired yet again,” Myra declared. “If that was his intention, it failed miserably because it led to Hanna’s acceptance of her situation and even worse for him, her integration into a completed soul and person.”

“Boy is he going to have a rude awakening,” Jennifer cackled. “Putting Hanna in here was supposed to weaken her by showing how we’re weak and helpless before him. Never did he realize that our weaknesses would become Hanna’s strength, making her stronger and that much more powerful, and give us hope where none existed before.”

“It may be,” Izanami said. “But it doesn’t change the fact that in three days, Hanna leaves here to die in the Arena. We need to help her rest and recover so that she can teach that beast a lesson in etiquette.”

“I agree,” Myra stated. “If you need anything, just ask. We’re here as your friends and sisters.”

“I’m tired,” Hanna admitted. “Some sleep will help, I hope. I haven’t had a good night’s sleep since I was captured in Cush.”

“Then feel free to sleep, sister,” Myra stated. “We’ll keep the noise level down the best we can. As long as the Emperor and his cronies don’t come in here, it should be okay.”

Tasha brought a large cushion big enough for two and several pillows. “Here you are: a soft place to lay your head.”

“Thank you,” Hanna replied, setting the cushion in place with its pillows. Lying down with the chains draped around her, Hanna sighed as she noticed the other women moving away.

Selina took one of her pillows and wormed her way over to Hanna, laying down facing her. A sweet smile lit her face. “Mind if I join you?” she asked.

“Not at all,” Hanna replied, feeling highly attracted to the Selina in that moment. After a pause, she whispered to Selina, “Seeing you wrapped up like that is really turning me on. I can see every curve you have, yet you are covered. It’s so seductive and sexy. It’s making Hannibal burn for you.”

“You’re not the only one,” Selina murmured, sliding over until she was pressing against Hanna, chest to chest. “I like this leather suit because of that fact, but it’s terribly confining and hot. I’m sweating like a pig. On the other hand, those outfits like the one you have on are supremely sexy when shared with the ones you love. But when forced to wear them in the open like this, it’s very humiliating. I had one of those on before that lunatic took me to the sex floor where he forced us into that forced lesbian mating shit. God, I hope he doesn’t make us do that again. I want you, but not like that. When and if we ever get out of this, I’d love to get some of these outfits just for us. I can tell it’s really got you going.”

“I can’t help it,” Hanna replied softly, tracing Selina’s leather-covered breast with her finger. “I’ve always been lost before your beauty and sexual prowess. Let me just hold you. It may be the last pleasant memory I ever have.”

Selina wrapped her arms around Hanna as she did the same. They pulled together with Hanna cuddling in against Selina on her side, feeling her warmth, strength, and peace of mind. Hanna laid her head on Selina’s leather-covered breasts and smiled, feeling her heart beating along with her purr. Hanna’s leg slowly slid over top of Selina’s thigh, curling behind Selina as she pushed even closer until they had full body contact. Hanna felt the contact and smiled warmly, soaking up Selina’s presence. “I love you,” Hanna murmured, letting her arm lay on Selina’s side.

“I love you too, Hanna,” Selina whispered in her ear. “You’re both my sister and husband, with Hannibal being the connection between us. I’m glad you’re allowing this because it could be the last time we have such a close intimate moment without the Emperor’s interference.”

“How could I be put off by your love,” Hanna whispered back. “Hannibal loves this kind of intimate contact with you. I wouldn’t dream of depriving us of this pleasure.”

Selina curled her arms around Hanna’s head and held her close to her chest as if Hanna were her daughter. “Be recharged with my love and life, my mutated prince. Rest yourself within my grasp. Be one with me in this hell.”

Hanna found her lips resting on Selina’s breast because of how Selina cradled her. She noticed that the leather casing Selina wore actually had holes in it where her nipple could stick through unobstructed. Hanna began licking it.

Selina moaned and her purr deepened. “Yes, my lover. Help yourself,” she purred, “Let my loving milk give you the strength to overcome our adversary.” Hanna began nursing gently on Selina’s breast same as Hannibal did in the clone body when Josephine fed her with the machine tentacle. Selina’s milk was pleasantly warm and tasty. “Ohhh,” Selina moaned softly with delight, “...that feels so good, Hanna. Hannibal really taught you well.” Hanna nursed for five minutes and then stopped, laying her head on Selina’s breast, listening to her heartbeat.

“Thank you for the snack, Selina,” Hanna murmured sleepily; looking into Selina’s eyes, “It was good, but now I’m going to sleep. I can’t fight it or your relaxing purr any longer.”

Selina kissed Hanna on the forehead. “The sleep on, my mutated prince; don’t let me keep you wake.” Hanna nodded and rested her head on Selina’s chest. Within minutes, Selina’s steady heartbeat and purr sent Hanna into a deep restful slumber despite the environment and the chains. Selina shifted position slightly and cradled Hanna while looking out into the Harem. The other women appeared to not have noticed her intimate moment with Hanna.

Izanami approached with a cushion of her own a few moments later. Laying it down next to the cushion Selina and Hanna occupied on the side where Selina could see her, Izanami laid down on her side with her head on a pillow, looking at Selina and Hanna with a motherly affection. A soft smile crossed her face. “You love him so much, don’t you?” Izanami asked softly.

“Yes,” Selina murmured, looking down into Hanna’s sleeping face while holding her close. “He’s the reason I’m still alive and not scattered space dust. I’d give my life, even my soul for him.”

“I can see that,” Izanami replied. “It’s such a delight to see such love in this place of pain. It gives my old soul hope. Yet, even as a mutated woman, you still treat him as your husband. Don’t you feel just a little uncomfortable being intimate with another woman like I just saw a few moments ago?”

“Not with Hannibal,” Selina replied, stroking Hanna’s back as she slept. “Even though the Emperor has robbed him of his masculinity in this manner, even his very sex…his mind and soul are still the same man I fell in love with. As you saw when we helped him integrate as a woman, he’s still in there...a powerful loving man who has seen far too much anger, hate, death, and evil. We heal each other with our very presence. We did it before. We can do it again. I have faith that he’ll find his way back into his proper station physically. But until that day, he’s my husband and my sister, as crazy as it sounds. Do you want to hear something really crazy?”

Izanami nodded. “This has to do with your time on the sex floor, doesn’t it?” she queried.

“Yes, it does,” Selina whispered. “When we were married, as part of our marriage vows, we were not to consummate our marriage physically until the Emperor was dealt with. It was the will of God himself. Somehow, the Emperor found out about this vow and as a way to break Hannibal, he tied us together face-to-face while Hannibal was in that clone girl’s body, forcing us into a lesbian mating with that...that vile oversized vibrating thing connecting us sexually. The Emperor thought if Hannibal screwed me while in that girl’s body, he’d break because of our marriage vows.” Selina shuddered in utter disgust, declaring, “Ugh...it makes me nauseous every time I think about it. At first, I felt so violated by it until I realized whom I was tied to. I saw Hannibal’s mind trapped within that poor girl’s body and....” She paused as sobs started to rise.

Izanami abruptly shifted her position, sitting down at Selina’s head. She slid in close and put one hand on Selina’s head and other on her back, stroking it softly. “It’s okay, sister,” Izanami cooed. “Let it out. Such is our lives when we’re taken to the sex floor. We’re all puppets to the Emperor’s vile power and appetites. We have no say as to what happens while we’re there.”

“You’re so kind,” Selina wept softly. “When I realized who I was being forced to mate with, my mind reeled. The possibility never entered my mind that I’d be forced to actually screw my own husband with his mind trapped inside another woman’s body. But that very thing came to life when I saw his mind inside that girl. Yet in the same moment, I realized our vows were not being broken, nor could they ever be broken by the perversion being perpetrated on us. Our vows were for meant to keep us from bringing a child into the world while the Emperor was still a threat, nothing more. Hannibal has to be a man physically for our vows to be broken. The Emperor never considered that. But the humiliation of being bound like that to the one I most loved and forced to mate with him using that damnable thing shook my very concept of what evil really was.”

Selina suddenly blushed, saying, “Yet, in that helpless state, I found myself highly attracted to Hannibal, so much so that it startled me. Here he was in a girl’s body and we were being forced into a lesbian mating, and I was enjoying it, even though were tied together from head to toe so tightly we could hardly move. The bindings had just enough elasticity to them to allow just enough movement to enhance the torture. Even stranger, he admitted that he was enjoying it too, being trapped in a woman’s body doing the same thing. How could I enjoy something like that when I had absolutely no control over it? Hannibal and I aren’t homosexual or bisexual. We’re heterosexuals and will always be that way. Why would I enjoy something so deviant and depraved? It doesn’t make any sense.”

Izanami stroked Selina’s hair and back. “You’ve never encountered this level of depravity before, have you, sister?” she queried gently, seeing Selina’s dilemma.

“No,” Selina whispered. “It’s not something I’d ever even considered. I’ve experienced vicious physical brutality, as my scars show, but being a sex puppet and slave is not something I ever dreamed would happen. However, I truly enjoyed the feelings and intimacy of mating with Hannibal in that clone body and I know he did the same. Why would we react like that? It baffles me that I’d feel like that.”

“It’s easy to enjoy the sensations when you’re immersed in them by force,” Izanami stated coolly. “I know this from brutal experience. But I think I know why you particularly enjoyed your session on the sex floor with Hannibal in that clone avatar.”

“Why?” Selina asked, looking up at Izanami with a pleading look.

“Because both of you weren’t acting on a purely physical level as the Emperor wanted you to,” Izanami stated. “You reacted to your husband as if he were still a man and so did he. Let me ask you something personal. Did you both willingly surrender to each other and stop resisting the sick sadistic game the Emperor put you into once you recognized each other?”

Selina gasped. “Yes,” she whispered, blushing deeply. “We tried to escape but the straps were too strong. The more we tried to pull apart, the more the straps just banged us back together, creating that much more sexual tension. When we surrendered to each other in that state, I....” Selina’s eyes grew wide. “Oh, my god, I knew intellectually that it was Hannibal in that girl’s body, but my heart refused to accept it,” she declared softly. “When we willingly surrendered to each other, we merged telepathically and my heart became at ease with the situation. I was making love to Hannibal as my husband, not to Hannibal as a man trapped in a woman’s body. I felt no shame, only the pure love of a physical, mental, and spiritual connection that we’ve denied ourselves since our marriage. I was mating with Hannibal, not the body he was in. That’s why I so enjoyed it. It was the joy of two soul mates intertwined in the bonds of pure love.”

Selina looked down at Hanna and stroked her hair, saying, “That’s why when I look at him here now in this mutated female body, I feel the same way. It’s not some deviant homosexual or lesbian impulse. It’s my deep love and care for the man who has been trapped in an impossible situation, literally robbed of his manhood by a demon monster.”

“I see,” Izanami murmured, stroking Selina’s hair as Selina caressed Hanna’s soft hair. “You have answered you own question, sister. Besides, in this place, the deviant and homosexual practices you fear and despise are the norm. Whether you believe it or not, we’re forced to do the same thing you endured with each other when the Emperor and his cronies so desire. You saw it on the sex floor. Yes, it’s a despicable thing to be forced to make lesbian love to your closest sisters, and if I may make a confession, we too enjoy it as you did. However, it doesn’t make us deviant or homosexual. Under normal circumstances where we have a choice, we would never have sex with one another. It isn’t natural, but we accept it as the price of our existence in this hellish place. We cannot change this of ourselves. As you said, we’re sex puppets of the Emperor and must perform as he pulls our strings.

“However, these repeated sex acts have caused us to create a sisterhood. We love each other as sisters through the pain of our existence. We don’t hate each other because we’re forced to fuck and screw one another in all manner of vile, disgusting ways. We endure it and pray for the day when we’re finally freed from this heinous sexual bondage.”

“Do you ever become intimate by choice?” Selina asked, genuinely curious. “Do you pleasure each other just because you want to?”

Izanami sighed, saying, “Yes, Selina; we do on occasion. Sometimes our hormones and sexual energy overwhelm us without the Emperor’s help and we must gratify ourselves to release the pressure. It’s part of our existence here and isn’t much different than what you and Hanna just did. But we never force our desires on one another. Just look at it this way. We’re all sisters here, having formed an intimate bond with one another through the pain we endure in this place. And as all sisters do, we help each other to explore our sexuality. Generally, kindred spirits among us will do this because we don’t trust anyone beyond our sisterhood. So if you ever feel the need to be intimate or need to vent some excess sexual tension, do not be embarrassed to ask for help, a partner, or to just be alone in that intimacy. At one time or another, every one of us has succumbed to the need to be intimate with someone we care for. We know what it’s like.

“But I must warn you now that at times the Emperor will flood this room with an aphrodisiac that’ll send us into a sexual frenzy we cannot stop until the drug dissipates. It makes us sex-crazed and we’ll do anything to relieve that itch. Fortunately when it does happen, we do not brutalize each other as you saw on the sex floor. We can retain enough control to only use willing partners in the orgies that inevitably erupt when he releases that diabolical gas on us. At other times, he’ll knock us all out and create a smaller version of the sex floor here. But he hasn’t done that in quite some time, several cycles as a matter of fact. Most of the time, he just knocks us out with the gas when he wants to snatch one of us, like he did to you.”

“Given your freedom and a warm caring man, would you choose him over this other form of pleasure?” Selina asked softly.

“Yes, we would in an instant,” Izanami replied. “But we only see the brutes that make us do these things. For us, being able to regulate our sexual desires in this manner is the only way we can keep from losing our mind in this place. In a way, the Emperor has done us a favor, in his own twisted way by keeping us like this.”

“What’s that?” Selina asked.

“He’s taught us how we can gratify ourselves without men,” Izanami declared with a blush. “Even though we all desire a warm loving man like you have, we’d still be able to satisfy our needs if he weren’t around. The Emperor has made us sexually independent in that manner. Still, the thought of making love to a warm sensitive man who only wants to love and pleasure me and not brutalize me haunts me continually. I can only dream of what it’s like. How I envy what I see here between you and Hanna. Your demonstrations of love have given us hope that not all men are brutes who want to abuse us as mere sex objects to be violated.”

“Not all guys are like that,” Selina murmured, feeling sleepy. “There are men beyond the Emperor’s reach that are so good to those they love. I’ve seen it.” Selina yawned widely with a growl, showing her canines. It caused Izanami to shudder slightly as she began to grasp how different Selina was from them. “Oh, excuse me,” she apologized. “I think I’m going to take a little cat nap now. Do you mind, sister?”

Izanami patted Selina on the shoulder. “Not at all, sister.” Izanami leaned down, kissing her on the cheek. “Please try to get some rest.”

“Thank you,” Selina mumbled, slipping into a slumber before Izanami’s eyes.

Izanami looked at her with admiration as Myra walked over with a blanket. “She’s a strong one,” Myra stated. “And she’s very strange. I heard what you told her. She still doesn’t understand our place here.”

“No, she doesn’t,” Izanami said, moving to her cushion and laying down. “But she’s a very quick study. It may be that strangeness and her ability to adapt that saves her and all of us.”

Myra covered Selina and Hanna with the blanket up to their necks and smiled warmly at them. “I hope so, sister,” she stated, “Seeing them together like that, even an imbecile could see that there’s something much deeper between these two. They accept each other regardless of what they look like. It boggles my imagination how close they are. I look at them and feel such envy. There isn’t even one of us here who have that closeness to another person. It’s almost as if they are one being.”

“In a way, they are one being,” Izanami declared. “Their mental and telepathic fusion has melded their minds in such a way that it makes them one, even when the Emperor mutated her man. It’s a marvel to behold. I just pray that the prophecies are true about his escape. I hate to contemplate what it would be like for Selina if he were to perish.”

“Me too, sister,” Myra agreed, “Me too.”