The Adventures of Emily Tual Book Four: The Rising
Chapter One

October Fifteenth Two-Thousand and Eighteen

“You have failed me greatly Magician.” The Darkness’s velvety voice said from within the dark shroud. The Man with the German Accent was on his knees before the Darkness, his eyes were focused on the ground. He looked terrible. He had cuts and bruises all over him. His expensive suit coat was torn beyond repair. His cane was broke in two. His one eye was swollen shut. The once great Right Hand of the Darkness was now a broken Seventh Circle lowly servant. The Darkness had made sure that the Man with the German Accent had been punished severely for failing to complete the ritual and for letting his pride get in the way.

“If you had followed your orders like expected, you would be by my side as I rule over this wretched world.” The Darkness continued. She let that sink in. She wanted the Man with the German Accent to know what he could have had. “Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

The Man with the German Accent looked up nervously at the Darkness. “I didn’t trust Derdorm at all.” He told the Darkness. “That Horseman of War had secrets from you and I. A possible Chosen One that he decided to keep as a daughter for instance.” The Man with the German Accent knew that he was taking a chance trying to raise himself over another failure but he was willing to try. He wanted to get back on the Darkness’s good side. If she had one at all that is. He knew that his father had tried to do that his whole life after abandoning Gabriel and he still ended up dead.

“All I have ever done is try to serve you like a faithful servant. The same way that my father served you Dark One.” The Man with the German Accent continued. “I want to do what my father did once all those years ago. To bring you back to power.”

The dark shroud grew darker. “Victor, unlike you, managed to defeat Gabriel and his precious Chosen One all of those years ago.” The Darkness said in a dangerous voice. “If your father hadn’t grown weak over the years, he would be the one standing by my side as I come back.”

The Man with the German Accent flinched. He hadn’t heard his father’s name in over a thousand years. He had despised his old man for his entire life. Victor had never paid him any attention and had always been so focused on killing the Chosen One that was meant to defeat the Darkness. It was why he himself was so focused on killing Emily. To rub it into his father’s face and prove that he was able to do something that Victor could never do.

“It seems like I can’t trust any of my most powerful servants.” The Darkness said. She was clearly mad about that. “You failed to complete the ritual and then Anthony tries to go behind my back with killing a Witness he believed was the Chosen One. Because of you two, my plans have been set back greatly and so many Black Hands are either dead, locked up or forced to go into hiding. If Caterina hadn’t tried to outdo her mother, I would still have my Dark Guard.” The Darkness was angry about that. She wasn’t even going to mention Bastet. Both the Man with the German Accent and her knew that Bastet was locked up in Gabriel’s basement still.

“What would you have me do Mistress?” The Man with the German Accent asked, looking at the Darkness with a bit more bravery. He was determined to regain his honor and prove that he was loyal to the Darkness. He would do whatever it took. Even if it meant breaking Bastet out of Gabriel’s basement or kidnapping Emily Tual in front of everyone. He wasn’t sure how long he had been in the Darkness’s small corner of the world but he knew that it was October back in the rest of the world. Emily would be in school once again.

The Darkness didn’t speak. The Man with the German Accent didn’t look away. It was too late to now. He had spoken and now would have to do whatever the Darkness decided. He knew that the Darkness could order him to die but he was hoping that he wouldn’t have to do that. He wanted to regain his position as the right hand. There weren’t that many powerful leaders of the Black Hand left beside him. Harold, Hannah, Anthony, Caterina and Derdrom were dead. Bastet was captured. He was the only real really powerful leader left even if he was stuck as a member of the Seventh Circle.

The Darkness finally spoke. “The night of All Hollow’s Eve is approaching us.” She said. “That will be the perfect time to for me to rise up.” The dark shroud grew larger. “When spirits are believed to cross over into the mortal world, I shall come back to this world fully restored and we can rule this world once more.”

The Man with the German Accent realized what the Darkness was saying. “You’ll return on what the mortals have started calling Halloween or the Day of the Dead or whatever people call it.” He said before he smiled. “That is a brilliant plan. I of course shall do whatever I can to help.” He added hastily. He would use this moment to get on the Darkness’s good side.

The dark shroud shifted. “You want a chance to regain your position as my right hand? Then you are to capture Emily and bring her to me.” She told the Man with the German Accent. “I require her for the Ritual of Diablos.” A dark orb appeared by the Darkness’s side. “And I require this beast.”

The Man with the German Accent looked at the orb. It showed a slumbering creature in a dark place. His heart sank. He hadn’t seen that creature since Gabriel had sealed it away thousands of years before. “Bring me the Camazot if you want the Ritual of Diablos to be a success.” The Darkness told the Man with the German Accent before the dark shroud vanished.

The Man with the German Accent stood up and straightened his suit jacket. He knew that it would be very tricky getting the Camazot out of his prison. Gabriel had sealed the monster with the lightest of magic and it would require very light magic to break the seal. He looked around him. The throne room was empty. He shook his head. It meant that he would have to recruit Black Hands off of the street or break them out of prison. He needed more people to help him with capturing Emily and someone who had light magic.

That raised another problem for him. There weren’t that many people left who practiced light magic. He knew that Jasper was dead but he wasn’t sure if Jasper ever had light magic. James was tainted by his father’s dark magic even if James didn’t remember who his father was and Gabriel’s light magic had been tainted by years of lies. Emily was required for the ritual so he wasn’t able to use her to break the Camazot out of his prison. Audrey, by the sound of things, did have magic but it also sounded like she didn’t know how to use it fully.

The Man with the German Accent decided that his best bet was Audrey. He just needed to replace a way to get her away from the others long enough to use her to break the Camazot out.

Outside the Darkness’s castle, the Man with the German Accent got into his rental car. He looked around him in disdain. And to think, he was once able to go anywhere he wanted in a limo. That was back when he had power and Black Hands feared him greatly. Now he was a member of the lowest Circle in just the States. The only ones he might be able to use were Black Hands who owed him favors, assuming they didn’t laugh or insult him first.

The Man with the German Accent started up his car and started driving towards the closest airport. He had a long way to go. It would give him time to start thinking of a plan. He knew that he had about fifteen days or so before All Hollow’s Eve to get everything together. It would be easy to kidnap Emily. Enough Black Hands knew that she was required to bring back the Darkness and he knew that they would all be willing to get her. That was the part where he wouldn’t need to get to Black Hands that owed him favors. He would just let it leak to a few Black Hands who would spread the word.

The real problem he knew he had was getting Audrey and then breaking the seal. Once the Camazot had been a great ally of the Black Hand. It had even been there back during the Great War as one of the generals to the Darkness. Now it had spent the last thousands of years sealed away in a prison deep under the Himalayas as a monster. There was no telling if it still had a mind or not. Sure it had been asleep when the Darkness had shown the Camazot to him but there was no telling what it would be like once the beast was awakened.

The Man with the German Accent thought through the list of Black Hands that still owed him favors from over the years. Quite a few of them were either in prisons or dead. Sure he had landed quite a few of them in prison by accident because the ritual had failed but most of their deaths were caused by Anthony or Derdrom, mostly Anthony though.

That was when it happened. A woman walked right in front of his car. The Man with the German Accent slammed on his brakes, stopping mere inches away from the woman. The Man with the German Accent cursed silently and looked at the woman. His eyes widened. He recognized the woman. Her sleek black hair went down to her shoulders. Her brown eyes looked empty of all emotions. Her leather jacket and her backpack. All of it gave her identity away.

The Man with the German Accent parked his car right there in the middle of the road. He knew that there wouldn’t be anyone around. It would make it easier for the two of them to talk without being interrupted. He went up to the woman. “You should be more careful.” He told her. “If you had come out of the forest any closer, you might be dead.”

The woman laughed, making the Man with the German Accent flinch. “You’re not the first Black Hand to try to kill me.” She reminded him. Before the Man with the German Accent could do anything, the woman had drawn a knife from her belt and held it up to his neck. “And I killed each Black Hand who has ever tried to kill me since your thugs destroyed my home and my people all of those years ago.” She kept her knife at his neck. “I would kill you too without hesitation.” The woman cut the Man with the German Accent’s neck, causing him to bleed, to make a point.

The Man with the German Accent cleared his throat. He wasn’t scared of her threat. This woman said she would kill him but he knew she wouldn’t. “Those Black Hands that destroyed Roanoke weren’t my thugs as you put it.” He told her. “They served the Phantom and he’s been dead for a very long time.”

The woman nodded and sheathed her knife. “I know.” She replied. “I was the one who killed that Phantom.” The woman then crossed her arms over her chest. “But I’m not here for a social call. I know you were just seeing the Darkness.”

The Man with the German Accent wasn’t surprised. Everyone who knew about the Darkness knew that the road the two of them were on was the only road leading to the Darkness’s castle. “And what? You decided to wait for three months until I was finally free to confront? Why?” He was curious.

The woman looked past the Man with the German Accent towards the Darkness’s castle. Seeing no one, she looked back at him. “I know that things are set in motion that can’t be undone.” She told him. “The Witnesses have completed the first Six Tribulations, the Horsemen of the Apocalypse had been set free before being defeated, more Black Hands are in jail or are dead. Not to mention other things have been happening since the failed ritual.” She gestured around them. “The animals have fled this part of the forest right after the ritual failed. Now it’s inhabited by monsters.”

The Man with the German Accent wasn’t scared of the monsters. He knew that they weren’t the real threat. They were scared of the woman before him now. It was the only reason why she was still alive. “And you want to join the Darkness’s side since you believe that the Darkness will win?” He asked. That had to be it.

The woman nodded. “I know you need my help.” She said. “And I know that the Darkness will reward those who help her return to this world. I want in.” There was no way that Gabriel could win. How could he when he hadn’t even been there for her family? Gabriel hadn’t been there when the Phantom destroyed her home, her people and her family. As far as the woman was concerned, Gabriel wasn’t the one she should join.

“And why should the Darkness let you join?” The Man with the German Accent asked. “You did after all confess to killing the Phantom and several Black Hands. That would give her a reason to want you dead. The Phantom was one of her favorite generals after the Great War.”

The woman simply laughed. “I have something that can help the Darkness get what she wants.” She replied. “Something that the Phantom could never do.” She took out a wooden flute from her backpack. “Something I stole from the Pied Piper when I killed him.”

The Man with the German Accent’s eyes widened. “You have his flute?” He asked. He had been searching for that flute for centuries. Now it was before him in the woman’s hands.

The woman nodded. “I killed him when he was luring children away to replace the Chosen One.” She answered, looking at the flute fondly. “It took me a few decades to learn how to use it but,” She blew softly into the mouthpiece. The air around the two of them was filled with eerie music. To the Man with the German Accent’s surprise, a few monsters came out of the forest. The woman lowered her flute. “I can control anything I want with this. If I wanted to, I could control you right now.”

That gave the Man with the German Accent a wicked idea. This woman might be the missing piece he needed for his plan to capture Audrey and then later to make sure that the Camazot didn’t get too savage once it was awakened. “Could you control a teenager?” He asked the woman.

The woman thought about it. “Depends on who the teen is.” She answered. She could tell that the Man with the German Accent had a certain teen in mind. “I don’t think it could work on the Chosen One if that’s what you were planning.”

“It wasn’t Emily I had in mind.” The Man with the German Accent told the woman. “But rather one of her friends, one who has light magic needed for the ritual.”

“Just tell me who it is.” The woman said. “I can easily capture the friend with my flute.” She twirled her flute, sending another eerie tune out, making the monsters around the two of them fall to the ground.

The Man with the German Accent’s smile grew bigger. “A girl named Audrey Tangen.” He told the woman. “Do you think that you can do that Virginia Dare?”

The woman laughed. “It’ll be my pleasure Azehesser.” She said.

The Man with the German Accent frowned. “Don’t ever use my name.” He told Virginia Dare. “You know I hate it.” Virginia Dare simply laughed.