The Prophet

By Jasmine Monica

Chapter 19
Serininas true nature really begins to show in this chapter

It was before sunrise on the island of Guanefer. Their leaders were just waking up and preparing for their day when the youngest daughter of the Duke woke up to see a strange but very angry woman standing alone in her bedroom. The girl was just over seventeen. She was startled when the older woman said, “Don’t bother trying to call for your guards. They can’t help you now.”

She knew that voice and gasped in terror, “Serinina!”

She knew that no one could help her now. The girl had heard about how powerful this woman was. She had defeated another Goddess in a one to one fight. She nearly killed one of the most experienced witches she had ever known, multiple times with almost no effort. The level of power Serinina could wield was far beyond anything she could do.

“I have no intention of harming you unless you force my hand.”

“Then what do you want?” The girl demanded defiantly.

“To warn you, and to save you. By noon, you may be one of the few people left alive on this entire island. The temple in the mountains has already collapsed. There were no survivors and everything and everyone except for you will be dead by noon.”

The girl had little doubt that Serinina could do what she was talking about. She truly felt fear by now.

“Serinina, please, we only did what we had to do. We had to end the rule of man. I wish you would understand that and stop your hatred.”

The girl's protests only angered her even more. “Nothing that was happening was my fault and you all shouldn’t have persecuted me for it. I refuse to discuss the issue with you. I only came to warn you and tell you that no matter what, I have shielded you from harm. You will be the only survivor.”

“I will,” the girl shouted when Serinina replied.

“Warn them? Go ahead, it will make no difference. There’s nowhere any of them can go to survive. Your family and everyone you know and love will still die.”

The girl began shouting and by the time the guards burst in, Serinina was gone.

No one knew much about how the world really worked back then. Plate tectonics and how the world's crust really worked was a foreign concept to everyone. To all except the Gods like Ares and beings like him. Serinina also knew what they were.

Serinina focused on the Goddess, making sure the Goddess could not influence what was about to happen. She reached out into the center of the Atlantic and found a serious stress point that was pointed directly at Guanefer thousands of miles away. All that was needed was to apply a more stress and it gave away. A huge part of the Atlantic floor shot up hundreds of feet along a ten mile ridge. The effect on the surface was hardly noticed. A tiny wave that was hardly noticed appeared and raced toward the island of Guanefer. None of them had any idea about the horror that was headed for their coastline.

On the docks in Guanefer, workers were enlarging the docks and rebuilding their fleet. The fleet was impressive during the restoration war under Patinea's leadership. Their blockade of Ansay crushed them and it eventually forced them to surrender. The lack of food had crushed their will and they fell into line.

Patinea had now given orders to build more ships. They all knew a greater threat was approaching them. Someone with an imposing war fleet and they would need a lot more ships to combat this empress when she finally arrived. They built extra slipways and new ships were rolling down every week. They would be ready for this bitch.

They were totally horrified to see the ocean pull back exposing the sand and leaving the docks without water. It was as if something far out to sea had sucked all of the water away. They had no clue what was happening. The ocean pulled back exposing everything. There was no ocean as far as their eyes could see.

Some brave individuals walked out to the edge of coastal shelf to see the ocean floor drop down thousands of feet. This was something that no one had any experience with an it terrified them all.

Their horror increased hours later when a distant roaring could be heard. Far out where the ocean should be was a black line that was growing closer and taller as the moments went by. Everyone stood in shocked terror as the black line grew higher in the sky until it seemed to be hundreds of feet tall.

Some of the more experienced sailors screamed a warning of a tidal wave and everyone began running away from the shore. The wave rushed at them with blinding speed. The beached fleet that had been guarding the shores was crushed like twigs. The new ships that were under construction were destroyed just as easily.

Water crashed down onto the docks and their slipways, scraping them away to leave empty rocks. People and buildings were swept away in an instant as the wave continued its march over the city. It swept away the palace and the temples to the Goddess and their secret library were destroyed. Nothing was left.

The water that drained back into the sea was filled with splintered wood, broken ships and bodies. The mystical island of Guanefer was removed as a political entity of the Golden Isles. There was only one survivor.

xxxxxxx

After the customary greetings, Helena asked where her father and brother were.

Everyone looked to Serinina and she figured she would have to own up to it. She boldly stated, “I had to execute Hector near the end of the war. I caught him conspiring with Greek spies within the city. We rounded up his spies and executed them all. And your father Priam is in prison. He was also conspiring with the Greeks to surrender the city. They wanted to break the alliance with the Amazons and deprive your sister of her crown.”

She braced herself for Helena’s outrage but it never came. Helena looked upset at first but her look softened. “I understand and I must admit to not liking Hector myself. He was such a sexist ass just like our father and never liked the alliance with the Amazons because of your strong women. He wanted the Greeks to overrun us, and at least be subjugated by a male dominant culture and marry me off to them. You did what you had to, to defend my sister. Thank you Serinina. May I see my father?”

Cassandra conferred with Serinina and her other advisers and nodded at Helena. Guards were summoned and they led both Cassandra and Helena down to the prison cells where they found the cell their father was imprisoned.

Priam looked out arrogantly, “You stole my crown, Cassandra, you betrayed your family with this alliance with the Amazons and you pervert nature itself by acting like a man. The Amazons murdered my son. And now you wear my crown and lead my daughter Helena to see me in my shame. How cruel can you be?”

“The Amazons preserved the country and protected us when it was you betraying us all. If you had gotten your way, the Greeks would have burnt the entire city and enslaved us all. How can you even look at yourself after what you and my brotgher tried to do? He tried to trick us into bringing that horse in. You earned your shame, father. I feel ashamed to call you my father.”

Priam glared at his daughter Cassandra and looked defiantly at Helena hoping for some measure of sympathy. He only received a cold emotionless glare in return. He yelled in fury, “Don't you even care, Helena my daughter? I raised you, won’t you say anything in my defense?” He demanded hopefully.

Helena shook her head side to side glaring into her father’s eyes and responded coldly, “No. You betrayed us all. And you tried to use me to make peace with the Greeks. I pleaded and protested the marriage with Agamemnon. He was a monster. I don't want any marriage with a man like that. Perhaps if it would have helped the country, then I would have done it but I knew there was no need. We had our alliance with the Amazons to rely on. Then our savior Serinina came. She is the wife of Ares and a genius at military strategy. She subjugated the Greek states and has overrun Vienna. Thanks to her, we are free and my fiancée is dead. I have a new family that loves me. We are also allied with the Rushidun Empire. They offer a much more valuable alliance than the Greek states ever did.” Helena glared at her father and said, “You will get no help from me. I enjoy seeing you like this, and your daughter Cassandra is our Queen. She wears the crown and she has our loyalty. I am proud of my sister.” And with that Cassandra and Helena hugged.

Even Paris ran to his sister and gave her a heartfelt hug wrapping his arms tightly around her waist. “We all love you Sis. And I am proud to call you my queen. And I am glad to see my other sister returned. Thank you for finding her Serinina. I am ashamed to call you my father Priam, and I hated what you did to Helena. You turned your back on us all, most of all your daughter. At least she has a good husband. It's time to get to know her new family, let's celebrate the union of our families."

He turned to this father.

"Priam,” Paris said with a look of sadness on his face, "You earned this but you could have been part of the celebration and feasting with us had you not betrayed us all. Enjoy your fate, personally, I’d have you hanged.”

Then they all went back up the steps where steaming plates of food were being placed on the table. They sat around the table with Serinina sitting along the side of the table letting Cassandra sit at the head and motioning to them to eat. She didn't mind being sidelined at this time. She didn't even eat all that much, letting the other women feast on the food. She noticed that many of these women did eat as men did. They didn't take little demure bites of the meat. They ripped off huge hunks with their teeth and filled their mouths like hungry men did. This is how women acted when they were free to live by their own rule. This was how women should live. They couldn't be so worried about the judgment of society or what men think is ladylike. She briefly thought of what she had to teach the girls during the classes of feminine grace and she felt like she was betraying the girls that trusted her. Serinina also remembered the distaste the head teacher felt when she saw Serinina being so unhappy at teaching the girls those things. Mistakenly thinking it was that Serinina was a boy teaching girls about feminine grace. She mistakenly thought it was feeling humiliated together with masculine pride. But Serin had no masculine pride left by that time. She enjoyed teaching the girls, but she felt that she was betraying the girl’s trust. The teacher understood and explained she felt the same way but she had to teach these things. It was part of being a girl.

The teacher was also wrong. This right here is what being a girl is all about. Girls should be free. That's what was so frustrating to Serinina and why she hated the Goddess Prognita. Even the Goddess had no idea what being a girl was about. She thought being a girl was living by men's rules, as men. These women know how to really live free. They made their own rules and lived by them. They were proud of their femininity. They fight but they also know how to be exceedingly feminine. Dianna Prince is going to be very disappointed when she learns how her homeland teaches girls. She would be ready to forgive them when they returned.

Serinina silently watched Cassandra reunite with her lost sister Helena. She was happy to have been part of it. She found Helena and reunited her with her family. Serinina knew she was good. She also knew that many people had raised serious questions about her morality. The fact that she had no mercy on witches and her intentions in her homeland raised many serious questions and she accepted that. She knew that very few people could really comprehend her feelings on this matter. She accepted that and didn't care. She accepted those who failed to accept her wisdom. There were many people who did understand. She could not accept witches in any way. Especially witches who followed Prognita or Hecate. There could be no mercy for them.

Cassandra saw that her sister Serinina was deep in thought and barely touching her food. She had said nothing through the entire feast. She was just staring out into space, deep in her own thoughts. “Sister Serinina, would you care to join us here? What has got your attention?”

She spoke up, “I understand that the course I have embarked on will lose many of my supporters. I may even lose your support, dear sister Cassandra. I know what I want will horrify many of our people. But I am fully committed and I know that many will follow me. I hope you can follow me here.”

Cassandra laughed, “I will follow you to the end, My Queen. If you think killing some rich traitor's sons will make me weak, you have to think again. They all choose their fate Serinina and if you want to execute their sons in front of them and make them bury their children before you send them to the same graves, I will still follow you. We are hardened Amazons who don't shrink from the will of our queen. I know they all turned their back on you after pledging loyalty to you upon your father's death. They deserve the horror they will be facing and I will be proud to bring it to them.”

Emily turned to Cassandra with pride.

“Anyone who pledged to Patinea is a traitor who deserves a traitor's death, and their family cannot be trusted. Wipe them all out.” Emily said harshly.

“What of the Witches? I know that also makes many question me,” asked Serinina.

“You have convinced me that the witches need to be dealt with.” Cassandra replied. “I know what they did to you and they had no reason to. We have powers but we would never even consider transforming an unwilling male that was like you. I understand you were raised to be sexist, we wouldn't have allowed that. And even if you were, we wouldn't have transformed you.”

Serinina snorted rudely. “Of course not,” She spat. “This is a female supremacist society and you would see transforming me much of the same way they did, except they were too stupid to see what they were really doing for me. But they did see transforming me as an elevation in status and how you used to see men, you wouldn't have even dreamed of transforming a male like me. You would have probably abducted and had me sold as a field hand somewhere and had me castrated.”

“But you would have still been male and allowed to live a male life.” Said Cassandra, not attempting to contradict Serinina. “I know that would have been wrong and that's why you are enforcing the royal Edicts you did about male captives. I may have tried to help you but I don’t know for sure. But you helped show us how wrong we were and that's why I will follow you Serinina.”

Abu was very disturbed by the level of loyalty these women had toward Serinina. She had a way about her that inspired such an extreme level of loyalty helped by the way she explained things. He saw it when Serinina attempted to explain herself to him in such a way that it almost seemed like a logical conclusion. Until it meant that she would be ordering the execution of children for no other reason than who their parents were. And it had nothing to do with the children. This act of horror would be done to destroy the parents. He understood that was the ultimate horror for any parent. That was why it was being done. Abu knew it would work. It would punish those nobles in ways they could not even begin to cope with. But even that doesn't even begin to approach the level of horror of execution of the witches. That would be the whole sole slaughter of innocent children. Whole schools of girls would be slaughtered there. Many witches began training at around four to five years old. This would be an unimaginable horror and these women were totally accepting it.

Abu felt horror clutching at his heart. He turned to his wife Helena who was totally enraptured by what Serinina was saying to her about the witches. She was explaining what the witches did to her and why.

Helena was disgusted of course. Abu interrupted, “Remember, Helena. They were wrong but Serinina is talking about declaring all of the Hekatin enemies of the Kingdom. Every young girl and woman, teacher and student. Girls as young as five being put to the sword for no other reason than they were going to school that day. And they will be hunted down. This isn't something we can be part of.”

Serinina felt anger but she accepted it, “I understand your point of view Abu. You are a man, after all and never faced having your masculinity being taken from you. I have a different view of the witches that practice this type of magic. I don't want any hostility with the Rushidun Empire. You can keep your witches if you want. We don't want them here.”

Abu stood up and took his wife's hand, “Thank you for your hospitality. But I believe we must leave now.”

Helena allowed Abu to lead her from the banquet hall. They walked in silence to the chambers that had been assigned to them. Once they were behind closed doors, she turned to her husband and said, "Abu, I am sorry. I understand why Serinina feels the way she does and why she intends to do these things. I also understand why you find them so horrendous."

Abu looked at Helena sadly and said, "Thank you. I cannot support or even understand the depth of her hatred. Yes, she was treated evilly by the witches who made her into a girl. Maybe the witches do need to be removed from power in the Golden Isles because of their misuse of their magic. But she refuses to see that her behavior and intentions will make her even more monstrous than the witches or the goddess that they follow.”

"Anyone who opposes her in word or deed faces her anger and power. I heard from the servants that she even tried to kill one of the gods who supported her when she attempted to defend some of the women Serinina intended to torture and kill.”

"I'm sorry, Helena. I will not act like the typical men from my country and attempt to exert my authority over you. But I cannot tolerate being in Serinina's presence any further. I ask you to avoid her and her venomous rants as well."

Helena looked at Abu with love and even greater respect. Yes, the men of the Rashidun Empire did have a chauvinistic attitude toward the women in their households. But Abu had found that treating his wife as an equal made their home a much happier place. He was working to raise their children the same way.

"My husband, thank you for that. I know that you could order me to do these things and under the marriage vows that we took, I would have to obey you. I can see the wisdom of your words, and through them, I can see Serinina through your eyes.”

"If she continues on this path, I believe that she will lead a very cold and lonely existence. Everyone will be afraid to tell her what they think or believe lest she destroys them. I fear that the entire world will suffer from her hate and anger as it will continue to grow upon itself."

The couple held each other tightly out of sadness and fear. They did not know what kind of world they were raising their children into, but they hoped that it would be a very long time before their children's children would have to worry about. Abu began thinking of plans of returning to his homeland with his family and removing them from this city.

Xxxxxxx

Actonia had called for a meeting with the King and her advisers. She was the king's most trusted adviser and she had something serious to report. Patinea and her lover Lord Wensay had arrived with the Hekatin leaders. They seated themselves around the table with a new strange teenage girl. They knew she was the only survivor of the horror that befell Guanefer.

She began the meeting. “Early this morning, I woke up to see Serinina in my bedroom. From the things we heard of her, I knew calling for help would only put more people in danger. I was shocked to hear that she was there to save me. She told me that by noon, everyone would be dead except for me. She had shielded me from harm. The guards came when I panicked but she was gone. I tried to warn them and they barricaded themselves in the palace as if that would save them. None of us knew what was coming. The dock workers were the first to report the sea had been pulled back. We explored and some of the witches tried to understand what had just happened. We were horrified to find that the water all vanished all the way out for miles. Then it returned in a giant wave hundreds of feet above us. It destroyed everything and everyone. Every city on the coast was destroyed. There were close to one hundred thousand people and I was the only survivor. There is no more Guanefer. It’s just an empty island full of dead people and what is left of the great cities. No one can comprehend what had just happened. But I know it was Serinina. She admitted it but we don't know why none of us could prevent it or why the goddess couldn't stop her.”

Actonia spoke up, “This is just an example of Serinina’s cruelty and madness. I admit it’s all our doing. We know why she did this to Guanefer. It was the spiritual center of the religion of the Goddess. They had the great library of the Hekatin, they shielded the witches from the hunters. The last survivors of the hidden witches were there. They are there no longer. Guanefer was wiped from the map. There is no defending ourselves from Serinina’s rage.”

Patinea asked, “So what do we do? I will follow your advice, I know what you can do.”

“She will come,” Actonia said to them. “Her armies will land in Ansay land and occupy the areas you had just restored into the Kingdom. She has a secret agreement with the Ansays. Serinina likes them and arranged a marriage with one of the girls of her lands. The Ansays will cede power to Serinina.”

“Thank you for the warning,” Patinea said misinterpreting her warning.

“My advice is to let them, and take no action against Serinina when she comes. Let her take the Ansays’ land and make peace with the new country.” Actonia said.

“What?” Patinea shouted.

“There’s no way to stop her, and that’s exactly what Serinina wants. Give her anything and anyone she wants, we know she will demand the lords that betrayed her. She will also demand your guard Elveres and possibly his family.”

“Why does she want Elveres?” Patinea demanded.

“That was the first guard that betrayed her and locked her in her bedroom. You know this. Serinina told the guard she would have him hanged for what he did to her.” Elveres watching this, felt all of the blood drain from his face in terror. “Serinina had not forgotten that betrayal. She means to hang Elveres. You must let her.”

Patinea could not believe what she was hearing from Actonia and shouted, “No way. How can I give my people to her knowing she will murder them?”

“Serinina will use any excuse to go to war. She will use your refusal as an act of war. She will count your refusal to deal with her as an excuse to finish her conquest and you know you don’t have the forces to defeat her. She will destroy us all if you give her any excuse. So please, don’t refuse her. Don’t give her any reason to go to war on us. We can have peace with Serinina if you agree to her demands. If not, she will consider that an act of war.”

Then Actonia shared a vision she had with them of Serinina in this same room after having suffered a horrific brutal attack. She had recovered and then in one act, Serinina declared every Hekatin to be an enemy of the Kingdom. Then she is seen leading thousands of troops into the girl’s school slaughtering them all from the teachers to the little girls hiding under their desks. Then an Edict goes out across the Kingdom to hunt down and kill every single Hekatin. She called it Royal Edict Sixty Six.

“This is what we are facing,” Actonia told Patinea. “Don’t give her the excuse to wipe us all out. Our victory and our liberation may be very short lived and there won’t be another chance this time.”

Xxxxxx

Patinea went back to her personal chambers to see her lover Asyrm sitting in front of a mirror applying shadow to his eyelids and extensions to his lashes. Then he started brightening his lips. He had already had a stylist do his hair earlier that week. She had tried everything to bring back the boy she loved so much. The Hekatin’s strongest spells could not reform his mind.

He already had one of the female staff help him the the laces of his corset tight and snug so he had a slim feminine waistline. Pattenea looked disgusted.

He had thrown away all of his male clothing and had chosen to wear only clothes fit for females. He had not worn a stich of male clothing in weeks. She had once tried to force him to wear male clothing but that didn’t go well.

She only succeeded when by her royal command her guards forced him in male clothing. But it angered Asyrn to no end and brought out a hateful rage that almost drove him to kill himself. He raged at her after that, “I am a girl, you bitch and you will let me dress according to my sex. After all, changing your brother to a girl, that’s exactly what you forced him to do. I would think you would demand the same for me. I am as much of a girl as you, or perhaps more of a girl.” Then Asyrn twirled and she was forced to continue to allow him to dress and live his life as a girl.

In doing so, she felt part of herself die inside every time she saw Asyrn dress himself as a girl. He was no longer Asyrn now. He insisted on being called Asryinea. He very successfully presented himself as a girl. But Patinea had forbidden the Hekatin to transform him no matter how much he begged for it.

Patinea wishes there was a way to stop him but there wasnt. The Hekatin could reform bodies but changing a mind was an act of the gods. There was no way to reform a persons mind. Suggestions could be implanted from time to time but not on this level. This was too much. It disgusted Patinea and she felt her sexual attraction to Ansyr vanish in revolution.

Xxxxxx

Serinina had just arrived on the outskirts of Vienna to meet with the phalanx that she had left to take the entire Italian peninsula. She designated the rest to march on the Franks. Ajax was leading that assault. She wanted Italy and had prepared her Phalanx to cross the Rubicon. She stood in front of her forces wearing her gleaming bronze armor and her imperial crown shimmered in the sunlight overhead. “The Romans are not the imposing people we heard about. The days of the Caesars and the Senate are over. The Italians are occupied by the tyrant Theodoric and his sadistic Ostrogoths. They have no Italian lineage. They are imposing their will on the Italians and they are helpless to put up any form of resistance to the occupation by the Ostrogoths. So, our job is clear, we will liberate the Italians. We will cross the Rubicon with our swords. We will defeat the fake senate and their hero Magnus. At this moment, their hero and Theodoric march toward us with three of his legions. That will be close to twenty thousand soldiers. We must prepare for a siege and we will destroy him.”

Serinina looked up at the witch’s moon hovering so low in the sky. Its sheer size blotted out much of the sky by now. Its light was nearly blinding and almost made the night look like day. She just smiled at the moon knowing that she was the Goddess’s worst nightmare. “Prognita, you and I both know there is no hope for your people. I don’t even know why you have bothered to return. You just helped expose your people, and I will deal with them all. During the last war, your people were able to hide from the men and survive. The men didn’t know what to look for. I know exactly what to look for, my people will find all of your followers. Every last one of them.”

Serinina had led her vast army toward the outskirts of Vienna and found the perfect place to build a defensive camp. This was the largest army she had ever led. There were contingents from every Greek state here ready to liberate Italy. But first they had to defeat the vast army headed their way. Theodoric the great was leading his vast army to liberate Vienna and he was leading about one hundred thousand men their way.

Serinina’s army only numbered sixty thousand. They were outnumbered but many of her soldiers had received Spartan training. She had mandated that every solider under her command in this army be able to endure and match the Spartans. And there were almost an equal number of women that trained under the Amazons.

They decided to hold in an open field that the Roman Legions could not bypass. They were in a valley in between heavily wooded forests and streams. There was going to be a serious fight.

Then they heard the Roman Legions marching their way and Serinina yelled “Formations. Calvary you know the plan. Formations and positions.” And her Hoplites formed their line. Their bronze spears armed forward ready for the Legions to attack.

“This is where we make our stand!” Serinina yelled at her soldiers. “This is where we hold the Romans. This...is..wher..they….Die!!”

But she was impressed with the discipline of the roman legions marching against them with their heavy metal armor and their huge tower like shields with the roman standard on them. But they were not equal to the armor of the Hoplite's in any way. The Legions were going to fall. She had a feeling that they knew it.

The Legions lined up for advance and marched toward them at one unit holding their shields up and they pulled their gladeous sword. They got close enough and threw their spears at them. They did no damage at all.

Then it was time for the Greeks secret weapon. The greeks had readied a new weapon on their flanks. They had designed and built six powerful ballistas and set three of them on each flank. And then they Serinina designed crossbows for the Greeks. The Romans stood little chance now.

The front ranks of the Greeks unleashed a horrifying crossbow barrage on the Roman legions that their armor had no hope of repelling. They raised their shields and the powerful war bows in the rear ranks of the Greeks unleashed their storm that shot up 100s of feet in the air and plunged down with devastating affect. The ballistas did the rest. They sliced through the ranks of the legions like nothing and by the time the legions made contact with the Greeks, there was nothing left. There was little left for the main ranks of the Phalanxes to do. Serinina was sort of sad she got to cut down so few Romans. How can she satisfy her bloodlust? She wanted to kill more.

Now that they had so soundly defeated the main roman legions defending Italy, it was time to solidify control over the country. Her army had been camped in Ravenna for this battle and now it was time to move forward. She assembled her Phalanx of over eight thousand soldiers and marched toward Italy.

The few boys fishing in the tiny stream looked frightened at the army boldly marching across it. Serinina smiled at one of the small boys fishing as she marched her army across the Rubicon. Thousands of her horses and hoplies followed her and her general staff. This wasn't a common sight at all. It had sadly become more common than it was in the ancient times. Italy had been subjected to various invasions in the past two hundred years from the Goths to the Vandals and the Ostrogoth's are holding Italy. But this was seen as a liberation of the Roman culture from a foreign occupier and she had gone through extensive effort to let the local towns know she meant them no harm.

So when her army reached the outskirts of a small town called Ariminim, there was no resistance. They opened the gates and surrendered without a fight. They joined Serinina’s cause