The Adventures of Emily Tual Book Four: The Rising

Tokyo Japan

In their office, five people were sitting in the dark facing a large monitor. These five were members of the Black Hand but they owed no allegiance to any faction of the Black Hand. They only served the Darkness. They didn’t partake in the ritual that the Man with the German Accent failed to perform correctly and they didn’t join Anthony in his failed attempt to upstage the Darkness with his own version of the Apocalypse. The five had stayed in the shadows during all of it. They didn’t want to ruin their perfect record of serving the Darkness.

The five members for years had carried out their missions perfectly. From pulling off heists to assassinating anyone who would be considered a threat to the Darkness’s plans. The five did what they were ordered and they did it perfectly.

The first member was Duchess Annamarie. She had been recruited to the Black Hand as a child during World War Two. The Black Hand had found her in a concentration camp when she had fought against a few ignorant Nazis guards. The Black Hand prison guard had removed Duchess Annamarie from the camp and had taken her to the Darkness’s palace. There, the Darkness had swayed the young girl to the Black Hand by promising the chance to get revenge on the people who had wronged her. Duchess Annamarie had agreed to the Darkness’s deal and became immortal once she was old enough. By then, she had amassed enough wealth and stature to become a duchess. She oversaw the wealthier Black Hands.

The second member was simply known as the Professor. He was an elderly man. He was rumored to have been there to cause the Great Depression in America. He was cunning and ruthless. Some would even say he was an extremist. He would recruit potential candidates to become new Black Hands. No one ever wanted to know what happened to the failures. His own associates didn’t even know what happened to the failures. The Professor kept that information locked up in a secret file on a computer somewhere.

The third member was Doctor Vilt. She was the scientific one. She was rumored to be behind all of the technology that the Black Hand used. No one really knew how she was recruited. Some said she was as old as the Mayan calendar. Others said she was recruited out of Soviet Russia. No one knew. She was able to change her accent with ease. Doctor Vilt was one never to be questioned. Her devices worked perfectly.

The fourth member was a being known as Wolf Slicer. He, if Wolf Slicer was a he, was more of a mystery than any other member of the five. No one ever saw Wolf Slicer’s face. It was hard to with a mask helmet on. Wolf Slicer’s entire body was covered in silver armor. On the center of the chest was an orange wolf head. On the shoulder pads was the Black Hand emblem. No one knew who Wolf Slicer was or how the Darkness recruited the warrior. Wolf Slicer never revealed that information. Not even the other four members of their group knew much about him.

The last member was Head Mistress Prom. She was from the southwestern part of the United States of America. Before the Darkness had sent her to the other four members, she had been a headmistress of a prestigious school. Only certain kids were allowed into the school. She had been fired once it was revealed that Head Mistress Prom had been choosing only certain students by taking bribes from parents. She was recruited by a Black Hand who was interested in her work.

The five members were looking at the monitor. On the screen was a video recording of the Man with the German Accent and Virginia Dare in an airport. The two of them were talking very quietly to each other.

“What do you think they were talking about?” Doctor Vilt asked.

The Professor interlaced his fingers together as he leaned towards the screen. He was focused on the lips of the Man with the German Accent. He was trying to read what the Magician was saying. He could tell that it was very serious. He got what looked like the Magician saying something about “Camazot”, “Chosen One” and something about a “Dark One”. He was curious about what the Dark One meant. Was it a reference to the Darkness? If so, why would the Man with the German Accent refer to the Darkness with a different name?

“Do you think we should let the Darkness know about the Magician and his new friend?” Duchess Annamarie asked. She knew of Virginia Dare and she loathed the immortal. Virginia Dare was a loose cannon and no friend of the Black Hand. It surprised the Duchess that the Man with the German Accent would be with the dangerous immortal.

“I think we should wait to see what the two of them are doing.” Wolf Slicer said, a male voice coming from where the mouthpiece in the helmet would be. “After all, the Magician was just coming from the Darkness’s castle. He wouldn’t be dumb enough to challenge the Darkness after his failure.” Wolf Slicer’s arms were crossed over the chest armor. “No doubt the Darkness is watching the Magician’s every move.”

With that, the monitor went black and the power went out in the room. The five members looked at each other. They all knew that something was about to happen. The tower never lost power before. The screen came back on. Instead of showing the video recording, it was just a black screen. The five members looked down. They knew who it was on the screen.

“Be rest assured my loyal servants, I am watching Ahzessers’s every move.” The Darkness said from within the screen. “The Magician will not try anything funny. Even if he is working with Virginia Dare, he will still do what I demand of him.”

Head Mistress Prom looked up at the screen. “Why would he be in Russia though?” She asked. “I know it’s where the Great War happened the last time but your palace is in Germany currently. Why would he be in Russia?” It didn’t make any sense to her.

“Ahzesser will do what is expected of him. He has always been a loyal servant even if he did fail at completing the last ritual.” The Darkness answered. “He will get the Camazot out of his prison for the ritual on All Hallows Eve.” The screen changed to showing Black Hands all over the world. “All of our remaining Black Hands who are alive and not locked up will be gathering at the ceremonial grounds.” The Darkness continued. The screen showed the ceremonial ground where the Man with the German Accent had tried to sacrifice Emily to bring back the Darkness and had failed.

“Are we expected to be there as well?” Wolf Slicer asked. It would be the first time in a very long time for any of them to be a part of any major Black Hand event. They usually did major things without being in the spotlight. Unlike the Man with the German Accent and Anthony.

The screen changed back to the black screen. “All Black Hands, including you five are to be there.” The Darkness said. “It is important that all of my loyal followers are there.” With that, the screen went black.

A few minutes later, the power came back on. The five members were silent for a few minutes. “Do you think we’re being left in the dark about something?” Doctor Vilt asked. She couldn’t help but feel like there was something that none of them knew about that had to do with this ritual summoning.

The Professor leaned back in his chair. “I think it would be best if we did show up at the ritual summoning.” He said. “If Ahzesser thinks that he’ll take credit for this ritual being a success, he is sorely mistaken.” He looked at the other four members. “We’re all in agreement that for too long the Magician has been ignorant and acting like he is the most powerful member of the Black Hand. Let’s remind him of why he isn’t.”