Legends of Amacia: Mysteries of Tiamat

Hannibal sighed deeply again, remembering the torment the demon prince had given him years ago. “Its name is Dezarcus and it’s a demon prince of the highest order,” he declared. “I know for a fact that it’s a demon prince because of one simple incontestable fact: at a time before we first met, that monster had physical possession of me.” Hannibal paused a moment to let what he said sink in. Harry and Mary looked at each other in amazement as he continued. “I’d been in the military for some fifteen years before we met in Vietnam,” he explained. “I was one of those guys the military denied ever existed. For all practical purposes, I was an assassin. The black operations section was where I existed. My military records were classified with the highest top-secret classification the military had at the time, QA-6X. My identity was so top secret that even the President of the United States couldn’t get my records. While I was part of that sordid business, I did things that defy explanation or reason. I was a killing machine for the powers that be...the masters of the universe. Whenever there was someone who had to be eliminated, I was there. I did many things, killed many people, innocent and otherwise. I killed with every means known to man, and some not known by the hands of man. And while I was not killing, I was either training or studying to increase my power.”

Hannibal looked down at the floor, pausing for several moments. “I’m totally ashamed of what I did,” he stated. “I did things that most people would say are unforgivable. But let me get to the point here. While I was in the black opts, I learned much of the martial arts that I know now, rising to 9th Dan in several oriental systems. Also, I learned much about the occult and the power that is there. And don’t believe for an instant that the occult world hasn’t any power in our world, because it does. I was up to my eyeballs in all manner of occult teachings and practices. I didn’t know or understand at the time what I was dealing with. At the height of my training, I was levitating objects, including myself. I was also doing remote viewing, using telepathy, and had become an expert in psychic warfare. I was...”

Hannibal stopped for a moment and gathered himself, taking another long draught from his glass before rubbing the side of his face with his hand. His face became long and serious, etched with the sorrow of what he was remembering. “I was summoning demons and commanding them to attack the marks I was given. I guess you could say that I had become a master wizard,” he confessed, looking down at the floor as he spoke. “To be perfectly blunt, I was a 7th level master wizard with the power to command power. Seventh level is high as you can go as a wizard in the occult world. Only a handful of men or women ever reach that pinnacle of power. I was one of them. With the assistance of the demonic powers, I was able to do just about anything, including affecting the weather of a given area. Little did I know that I’d pay a heavy price for my actions.”

Hannibal looked up with a very dark look and continued after another pause. “I became the number one assassin in the world because of what I could do,” he stated bluntly. “My orders came directly from the highest levels of the occult world. I’m letting you know now that it’s the occult world that rules, not the governments of the world. The governments are just an extension of them. I don’t know how many times I encountered prominent politicians, lawyers, judges, financiers, and even the Hollywood elite, in the meetings I used to go to; all of them members of some occult brotherhood. These people were and still are constantly plotting and scheming how to control the population of not just this country, but also the entire world. They firmly believe it’s their birthright to rule the world with an iron fist. On many occasions, I had dealings directly with the Illuminati. I guess one of the reasons I’m still breathing is that I never did join any of those things. I was a rogue even in the occult world. On several occasions, they tried to eliminate me but it backfired on them. Every time they tried to get rid of me, I’d kill whoever came against me and would absorb their demonic power, making me all that much more powerful. After seven attempts, they realized that I was tapping a power larger than their power so they insinuated me into their ranks without making me a member, thus allowing me to rise to the top by the means of sheer power. As I said, I had the power to command power. Most of them stood in awe and dread of me. Then it happened: the time had come to pay up.

“I was given a mark by the Council: a prominent political figure in one of the larger North Vietnamese cities. Therefore, the night before the mark was supposed to be taken, I set up and conjured what I believed was a power. It was the most powerful demon I had ever summoned.” Hannibal looked at the picture and pointed at the shadowy figure. “It was him,” he declared with hate for the demon dripping from his lips, “the Demon Prince of the East, Dezarcus.” Hannibal then explained what happened after the conjuration of Dezarcus.

Hannibal the wizard stood inside his meticulously created pentagram circle made of salt that had five candles burning on the points. Just a few feet away in a hexagram circle ten feet across also made of salt stood a hideous living shadow standing twenty-five feet tall shrouded in darkness and infernal flames. Only the lower portion of its reptilian face showed from the darkness that encompassed the monster like a cloak. Its burning scarlet eyes stared at Hannibal with rage and hate. “Why have you summoned me here, little man?” the demon hissed.

“I have summoned you here to attack Woo Chin Sung, the head general of the Viet Cong,” Hannibal ordered. “He has violated his agreement with the Council and must be disposed of. Go to him and destroy his mind so I may destroy his body and send his soul to our master.”

The shadow demon’s eyes blazed brighter at Hannibal’s hate. “Do you know who I am, little man?” it asked.

“You are Dezarcus, my soldier,” Hannibal hissed. “You will do as you’re told, demon.”

The shadow demon laughed Hannibal to scorn. “You have no idea who the fuck you’re dealing with, little man,” the demon cackled. “I am the Draken Prince Dezarcus, Prince of the East and your doom. I answer to no one, especially a pestilent pathetic little maggot like you. You have no idea what you’ve done. I will show you the true meaning of pain for your insolence! Get him, my brothers and sisters, and drive him from his sanctuary.”

Hannibal suddenly felt his own powers rise against him and knock him out of the protective pentagram before completely paralyzing him and taking total control of his body. Mocking voices rose in his head as he felt control of his body ripped from his will. He wanted to cry out, but couldn’t. Hannibal felt his body move of its own accord, moving towards the hexagram and Dezarcus. This can’t be possible, Hannibal thought. How did I lose control of my own body?

Hannibal saw his body drop to its knees and bend over, brushing away the salt perimeter of the hexagram circle by itself. No! I can’t do this! I mustn’t break the circle! Hannibal thought in sheer horror, futilely trying to stop his body with his will.

Dezarcus laughed maniacally. “Poor deluded little fool,” the demon prince cackled. “You wonder how you lost control.” Dezarcus leaned down and looked Hannibal in the eye as he knelt, unable to move. “You never had control of us, little man,” Dezarcus hissed. “We manipulated you like a puppet into thinking that you controlled us. But the fact is we control you. Now you must pay for using our power. Your mission is known to me and because of the importance of it, I have been told by the Master to take you to insure the success of that mission. You will know great power from me, but you will also know torment like no other soul has ever seen. Do you still want my power? Let him speak, my infernal brothers and sisters. Do you still want my power?”

“Yes,” Hannibal hissed venomously. “The mission must come first and to insure the success of the mission, I accept your power, Dezarcus, Draken Prince of the East. Fill me with your power that we may destroy our enemies.” And once I have your power, you will obey my will, Hannibal thought, No demon gets the better of me.

“You have a strong will,” Dezarcus declared. “But I will soon break you of it. Think once you have my power that you will control me. Dream on, little insect. From now on, you will call me master and beg for the mercy of death before the end. You are now mine, FOREVER!”

Hannibal looked up at the hulking shadow form of Dezarcus as it swamped him. Hannibal felt like he was drowning in a vat of burning tar before the darkness and Dezarcus took over his mind and body, completing the possession.

Hannibal paused in his tale to gather his composure. The telling of the tale had reopened the old wound of Dezarcus’ possession. Tears dripped down his cheeks as he sipped from his glass of water. Mary put her hand on his knee as she sat next to him. “It’s okay,” she murmured. “It’s only a memory. You can’t be hurt by a memory.”

“I wish that were the case,” Hannibal replied in a soft, shaky tone. “Dezarcus’ possession is something I never really got over. That devil took me bodily in spite of all the precautions I took. That dreadful night I learned the hard way that the powers of darkness cannot be controlled by mere mortal men and women. They toy with us mortals as long as we amuse them. When we cease to be their fools, they decimate us in their hate for our species. The last thing I remember that night was that same hulking shadow with those burning eyes looming over me, laughing maniacally. Where I had thought to make Dezarcus a dog on my leash, he turned it around on me. Not only had I ceased to amuse them, I’d become a rabid dog they needed to muzzle. I had become the dog on a leash with Dezarcus holding the leash. The price for my use of the occult powers had just begun.

“I awoke the next morning with a pounding headache, dry mouth and a trickle of blood coming out of my nose and ears. Also, I felt cold as an icebox on the inside and nothing I did could get rid of it. I went on the mission with two others members of my squad. They were not into the occult like I was and when they saw me that morning, they said I looked awful and questioned whether the mission was still on. I snapped at them with a level of ferocity I never had before, informing them that yes it was still a go for the mission. Their job during the mission was to secure the area while I took out the mark. All I had was a picture and had no idea who the man was. The mission went off without a hitch. The mark was butchered and the pieces were scattered to the various Viet Cong establishments.” Hannibal looked down at the rug in shame again, tears welling up in his eyes. “I had that thing as my constant companion for two years,” he declared. “Dezarcus tormented me constantly physically and mentally. Every mission afterwards was done in a similar manner: violent and bloody, usually ending in the dismemberment of the victim in a most gruesome manner. You have no idea how it feels to be trapped inside your own mind and body and not be able to get out. No words can describe that hell.

“But little did I know another power was working against the Dark Prince of the East. Some eighteen months before we met Harry, the Lord God of Heaven had mercy on me. I was not looking for Him but apparently, He must have had His eye on me for a long time. I was on leave, having gone to Cambodia to visit and meditate at the many Buddhist temples that are there. That particular day, I was on the way to Angkor Watt to meditate. I took a wrong turn and got lost in the jungle. To this day, I believe it was God incident. I ended up in a small remote village of devout Christians who believed in true Christianity, not the diluted, polluted Christianity of organized Christendom infesting the world now. They had apparently separated from the rest of the religious world so they could just serve the Lord in peace. As I walked into the village, Dezarcus went into a rage. He wanted to slaughter everyone there. The thing is that as soon as I entered the village, the pastor and several elders met and surrounded me. Now mind you that everyone here is true Christian,” Hannibal said intensely through the pain of the memory. Harry and Mary nodded in the affirmative, sitting on the edge of their seats as Hannibal bared one of his deepest painful secrets to them.

“I don’t know how, but the village pastor and elders were waiting for me, ambushing me the moment I set foot in that village,” Hannibal said, going into detail about the account from the moment he entered the village.

Hannibal walked into village after leaving his broken down jeep three miles away on the small road leading to the village. At first, no one appeared to be around. “Hmmm, something’s not right here,” he growled, feeling Dezarcus’ tormenting anger in his mind and body growing.

“You stupid fool,” Dezarcus hissed in Hannibal’s ear. “Had you not taken that short cut, we wouldn’t be lost out here in enemy territory.”

“Don’t you blame this on me, you stupid shit,” Hannibal snapped at Dezarcus. “You were the one who told me to take this short cut. This is as much on you as it is on me.”

Hannibal winced in excruciating pain, falling to his knees and grabbing his belly. “You forget who you speak to, slave,” Dezarcus snarled. “I’m the master here.”

“Says you,” Hannibal wheezed. “If you were truly the master here, then you would have noticed we’ve stumbled into a nest of Light. This village has the smell of the Light and angels all over it.”

“What?” Dezarcus roared, ceasing his torment of Hannibal as a dozen men came out of the shadows, surrounding Hannibal at a distance of thirty feet.

Hannibal looked up through the haze of Dezarcus’ pain and saw the men, feeling their light and goodness. Dezarcus started to rage when the leader of the group stepped forward and extended his hand, crying out, “In the name of Jesus Christ, son of the Living God, we bind you Dezarcus, Draken Prince of the East, and command you to come out of him!”

Dezarcus took physical control from Hannibal and stood up. Hannibal’s eyes turned completely black and his face twisted into a hateful resemblance of Dezarcus’ face. “How dare you command me…you pestilent maggots!” Dezarcus bellowed. “I am the Draken Prince of the East, master of darkness and torments everlasting! I’ll destroy this infestation of Light within my darkness and eat your souls myself!”

“Silence your lying reptilian tongue in the name of Jesus!” the leader barked back. “You’re not in your dark fortress, demon. You stand on hallowed ground guarded by the fiery angels of Heaven itself. Now come out of him!”

“Insignificant worm,” Dezarcus roared in wrath. “You can’t defeat me. I am FOREVER! Now watch as I wipe this village from the face of the earth and eat your souls!”

The moment Dezarcus moved Hannibal’s hand the leader and his friends cried out in unison, “Lord, bind this man and the demon within him in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth!”

“What?” Dezarcus shrieked as he discovered he could not move Hannibal’s body, nor conjure his infernal fires. “Let me go! You can’t have him. He’s mine forever! I’ll scatter your entrails across this jungle for this interference!”

As Hannibal watched helplessly from his pain-enhanced position inside his own mind, he saw an eerie light starting to surround him and the other men who were facing the demon prince Dezarcus. That warm light gave Hannibal’s mind peace that he’d never known.

“Liar!” the leader retorted. “He is not yours and never was! In the name of Jesus Christ, the name above every name to whom all authority in Heaven and Earth is given, I bind you up, Dezarcus, and cast you back into the abyss! Go back to the Darkness that spawned you, demon!”

Hannibal noticed the light grew brighter and seemed to form a huge luminous hand that kept him and Dezarcus firmly immobilized. A flicker of hope kindled in his mind and heart as he saw the other men praying loudly. Hannibal suddenly became aware there may be a power above that of the tormenting demon princes of Hell, and he wanted that power. Moreover, he wanted to be free of the torments of the demon princes too. The peace grew in his mind and heart and Hannibal began to plead from his prison to the God of Heaven for deliverance.

Dezarcus howled in rage, completely paralyzed by what Hannibal saw as a giant glowing hand. “No, it’s not possible! You cannot have power above me! I’m Dezarcus, Draken Prince of the East! Let me go, god damn it! He’s mine! We have permission! Let me go, you filthy treacherous apes!” When Dezarcus saw the leader and his followers approaching, the demon prince cried in fear, “No! Stay away from us! We have permission! You can’t have him!”

The leader and his followers surrounded Hannibal and laid hands on Hannibal. “Ahhh,” Dezarcus shrieked. “It burns! It burns! Let us go! He belongs to us! We have permission!”

Hannibal noticed a crowd of villagers coming out and surrounding him. The peace he felt doubled as the crowd, which included women and children began praying. In the next moment, Hannibal became aware that Dezarcus’ control over him was slipping and the flicker of hope became a forest fire in his mind and heart. Here total strangers were risking all to help save him from the Darkness that had swallowed him long ago.

Responding to Dezarcus’ last rant, the leader retorted, “Liar! He is not yours and never was. You do not have permission! His soul even now cries out to the Lord for deliverance and now the Lord of Heaven and Earth has come down to deliver him. Now leave him in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth! Come out of him!”

With this command, Hannibal unexpectedly felt an amazing peace as everything became dreamlike, despite the horrendous pain being inflicted by Dezarcus on Hannibal’s mind and body. In moments, the pain vanished as he became disconnected from what was going on. He rose out of his body and watched with fear-stricken fascination at the exorcism being performed at the hands of not a priest in the Catholic Church, but by a group of true believers in Christ. Hannibal abruptly realized the leader was the pastor of the village, who was literally wrestling with a spiritual being of incredibly dark, destructive power. He watched in amazement, floating just above the fray, clearly seeing the luminous hand holding his body as Dezarcus snarled and raged in fury to the point Hannibal’s body foamed at the mouth while writhing in that invisible grip. The people began singing songs as they prayed. Hannibal began singing with them as he floated over the spiritual battle between the pastor and the Demon Prince of the East.

After forty-five minutes of prayer and song, Dezarcus roared in wrath, “You can’t have him! I’ll kill this insect before I give him up! His soul is mine!” Hannibal watched in horror as great gashes and bite marks began to appear on his body. Blood flowed profusely as the people started singing songs about the blood of Jesus as they prayed.

“Oh Father,” the pastor cried out in a loud voice as Hannibal watched from above. “We plead with you in the name of your precious son Jesus for this man that you have sent to us. The enemy is very strong and threatens to snuff out the life of this man. We therefore plead with thee to rise up, bare your mighty arm, and deliver him out of this dread peril.”

From his positions suspended above the battle, Hannibal’s eyes grew wide as shock and amazement filled his ghostly features. The pastor’s face began shining with a blinding radiance as he roared in holy indignation, “Cease and desist, you agent of destruction! In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, come out of him NOW!” The pastor’s voice boomed supernaturally all over the village.

The beastly Dezarcus bellowed, “I won’t go! I won’t go!” Hannibal blinked and rubbed his eyes as out of nowhere, he saw two enormous angels holding his body still. Then he noticed the pastor and the people had angels with each of them that were praying too. Beyond the crowd of people who knelt in prayer with their angels were thousands of other angels who knelt in prayer also. At the perimeter of the village every four feet stood enormous warrior angels wielding great swords and other weapons guarding the perimeter, keeping a hideous black horde of demoniac entities from entering the village. The moment a demon would come within reach the village guardians would dispatch the foul creature. Next Hannibal noticed he had two large angels floating next to him. He looked one in the eye and the angel smiled warmly, motioning for Hannibal to pay attention to the battle below him.

When Hannibal’s attention came back to the battle below him, two more giant warrior angels approached Hannibal’s body and reached into it, literally dragging the reptilian Dezarcus from Hannibal’s physical body, which collapsed once Dezarcus had been expunged from it. The angels bound the demon with luminous chains while it railed and cursed at Hannibal. As the angels dragged Dezarcus away, it looked up at the ghostly Hannibal, bellowing, “Don’t think you’re rid of me, little man! I’ll be back when you least suspect it! You will always be mine! I’ll get you for this! You’ll wish God had never made you before I’m finished!”

The angel floating to Hannibal’s right turned to him and declared, “You must go back, my friend. Your time is not yet. Remember what you’ve seen and take heed for the Lord has very important work for you to do.” The angel touched Hannibal on the shoulder and darkness filled Hannibal’s mind along with a brief sensation of falling.

Slowly the darkness lightened and the excruciating pain returned, eliciting a moan from him; however, he had a feeling of profound peace. “Come on son, wake up,” a voice called to him to him in the darkness. Hannibal briefly glimpsed his long-dead father just before he cracked his eyes open, seeing the pastor hovering over him with a huge smile on his lips.

“Oh, praise the Lord for His infinite mercies,” the pastor crowed with delight. “You’re still alive.”

“What happened,” Hannibal whispered through the pain. “Where am I?”

“You’re free of the demon prince, Dezarcus, my son,” the pastor chimed. “You were possessed of a demon that hasn’t been seen since the days of the Flood. Breathe the free air, my friend. What’s your name?”

“Hannibal,” Hannibal whispered. “Please help me, whoever you are. I’m lost and don’t know where to go.”

The pastor smiled affectionately and held Hannibal’s hand. “That you were, but now you’re found,” the pastor replied happily. “We will take care of you so that you may fulfill your place in the Lord’s will. Now rest, Hannibal; you’re badly injured from the exorcism of the demon prince.”

“Thank you,” Hannibal replied in a hoarse whisper, falling unconscious.

“It took me five months to recover physically from that incident,” Hannibal declared as he finished the account of his deliverance. “Fortunately, because of who I was, I could just disappear whenever I wanted and no one dared complain.”

Hannibal paused a moment, taking another sip from his glass of water. Harry and Mary sat in stunned silence as Hannibal continued. “Little did I know at the time, I had many more demons to be rid of,” he stated. “You see, I’ve been in so many witchcraft duels that I couldn’t remember how many it was and every time I’d duel, I’d win and absorb the demonic powers and demons of the loser. Many demons fled my person when Dezarcus was expelled but many more stayed. For some seventeen weeks, the precious saints of that village purged me. If it hadn’t been for them, I wouldn’t be here.”

“How many demons were there?” Harry asked softly.

“Over four hundred devils infested me. Many times they would come out four and five at a time,” Hannibal said quietly. “And nearly every time I had a deliverance done, I was seriously injured by the vacating parties. Great gashes and bites were taken out of this old carcass.” Hannibal pulled his shirt up exposing his chest, revealing many large scars that looked like claw and bite marks. Mary covered her mouth in shock and Harry’s mouth hung open.

“The Lord is good. These wounds healed miraculously in a matter of two to three hours,” Hannibal continued as he pulled his shirt back down. “Several times the wounds would have been lethal had the Lord not been present. I’ve had them break both my arms and legs in many places at the same time. I’ve had them sever my spine in at least five different places on several occasions. I’ve also had them shred my internal organs to the point that I would spit up blood. They tried to kill me so many times that I lost count. But I give thanks to the Lord for His mercy. It was during my stay at the village that I accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior. In fact, it was right after the expulsion of Dezarcus that the conversion took place. I learned about the love, mercy, and power of the Lord from them and very quickly realized that with the Lord, there was where the real power resided. I lost everything I knew because of it. With the final deliverance, which just happens to be some twenty-six years ago today, I lost all of my occult powers: the remote vision, ability to levitate, ability to astral project and do physical harm to others, etc…, etc…. Even my ability to see the spirit world was gone. I could no longer use any of those powers, even to defend myself because the source of those powers are demonic entities and in order to use them, you have to let them in. With that last deliverance, those powers fled me because I had achieved a greater power, that of the Lord Jesus...the power of love, life, faith, mercy, charity. At the time, I didn’t understand but now I do. The Lord’s power is infinitely more powerful than those I had been dealing with. The power of Light and Life always trumps the power of Darkness and Death. The Lord has been guiding my path ever since. As to the job I have to do that the angel spoke of, the ultimate end of it I know not, just that the way I’m going is the way the Lord wants me to go.”

Harry sat there in a continued stunned silence. “I had no idea; none at all,” he murmured after a lengthy silence. “That’s why Amacia has consumed all your time and worth. This is something the Lord wants you to do.”

“Yes, it is,” Hannibal replied, nodding. “Every place, every dig I’ve been to, every trinket or priceless artifact I’ve found since I come out of the military has pushed me in that direction. I can’t escape it. Take the map I showed you last week. It was God-incident that I found it. Everyone had overlooked that tomb before us. The Amulet, and of course, the finding of the Temple of Tiamat and the finding of the Library is the same way...God incident. Do you realize that in the Library under that incredible set of circumstances, I was led by the Lord and found the key to deciphering that strange language on both the Amulet and the map?”

“You mean the map is in that language too?” Harry asked with great surprise.

“Yes, the Rosetta stone, so to speak, was found in the seventh sarcophagus, in the twentieth book. On the hundred and fifty-third page, I found translations to both ancient Sumerian and Egyptian. Once that was found, it was child’s play to translate it to English,” Hannibal explained. “The Lord has been in this from the beginning. I don’t rightly understand it, but apparently, the Lord has had this job for me in His mind from the moment He decided to make me. He allowed me to be taken by the enemy and schooled by them in order to prepare me for this one thing. I know it sounds nuts but at this point, I believe it. He had me schooled in Pharaoh’s house I guess you could call it. He even allowed me to be taken by over four hundred devils, including Dezarcus, who I am sure is answerable to Lucifer only so I’d have the proper education to do this.”

Mary just sat there, feeling like a feather in the wind, helpless as to what to make or think of this incredible exchange. Finally, she spoke up. “Let me see if I understand what you’re telling me,” she said in a subdued tone. “You were one of the most powerful men in the world because you were possessed by whole pile of demons because you were in the top levels of the occult world. Am I right so far?”

Hannibal nodded affirmative. “Then the Lord had you take a wrong turn in the jungle and saved you out of it because He has a job for you; still right?” Mary asked.

“Yes, that’s it in a nutshell,” Hannibal said, looking deep into her eyes and loving her as a sister. He noticed she was having a problem comprehending or accepting what she had heard. She started to speak but Hannibal spoke up first, being prompted by the Holy Spirit. “I can see that you are hesitating a little about what I’ve told you about my past,” he said softly. “It’s imperative that you know what I’m saying is the truth.”

Hannibal slid from his seat and fell to his knees. Harry and Mary looked at each other with the look that said ‘What’s he doing now?’

Hannibal clasped his hands in front of him and prayed, “O Father in heaven. I have felt your prompt and humbly ask that you open the eyes of both Harry and Mary so that they may see and not doubt what I say. In Jesus name I humbly ask this, amen.”

Suddenly, the air shimmered in the living room. Harry and Mary looked at each other and mouthed ‘what the’.

Five angels abruptly appeared in the living room with them: two standing either side of Hannibal, one behind Harry, one behind Mary, and one standing in the middle of the floor. Their brilliance was blinding. The two that stood with Hannibal helped him to his seat as the one in the middle of the floor spoke. “Do not be afraid, Mary, Harry,” the angel instructed. “We are here because the Lord has commanded us to give you understanding.” Both Harry and Mary looked around wildly with great fear rising in their hearts. When the angel spoke, the fear disappeared and the love of the Lord flowed into them.