by T5 and The Eurostar
The snowy mountaintops of Austria were a wonder to see. It was like a god knew there would be someone there to admire them.
At least this was what Futurists leader Stephan Hannoval thought. His time at the Castle, the headquarters of the Cloaks, had been a great strain these past years. Their enemies the Hoods were on the march, and more metas were showing up in the world every day.
He sat on his balcony on one of the slender towers facing the Wolfgangsee lake. The crystal-clear blue water had almost a hypnotic clarity to it. Sitting there almost made him feel young again, not the ancient, burdened, and grumpy old man that he had become.
Being the leader of a world-spanning occult organization had its moments, but most of the time it was just trouble: conspiracies here, conspiracies there. Which government should they endorse? Which government should they change? Who should be the president? Just bothersome, trivial matters that had gotten out of hand. Their true mission, the safeguarding of this world, was almost forgotten. They were on the brink of becoming the enemy. This had to change, but first they had to do something about the Hoods and their blasted Giorgios.
They would have to create a counter-agent.
His eyes rested on the newspaper, and he happened to see a small article about a young man saving a group of children from a blazing fire in America. Apparently he called himself Hero. He had a rather nondescript, unoriginal name, but this lad had caught his attention. It was perhaps worth looking into. This man could be what he was looking for.
Edulcore Cicciotto:
There is a red Ferrari parked at the border of the road just where the beach begins. The Giorgio, whatever the name means (the man uses it as his proper name, but I remember Jackie using it like it was referring to a thing, a model of something), opens the doors by remote control.
"Where are we going?" I ask.
"You will see. Have no fear."
The sports car flashes up the coast along on the flank of the volcano to the other side of the island, across the luscious vegetation of the forest, damaged by yesterday's hurricane.
Suddenly, Giorgio stops the car in the parking lot of a big palace not unlike our apartment complex, built on the south-facing slope of the volcano. There is a beautiful sight toward the open sea. A wooden sign reads Residence Buena Vista.
"The volcano has somehow protected this place from the hurricane, Euro. That's why I and my... associates... have set shop here. I have rented an apartment completely for you. Tomorrow, one of my superiors will come to talk with you."
"Maybe I should go back to Puerta Mibela to see if I can salvage some of my clothes."
"I took the liberty of buying you a wardrobe. You have not to worry about anything, Edulcore."
Giorgio walks toward the entrance. I follow him, my sword over my right shoulder.
The palace, built with a Scottish design, was rough and bulky, but it still managed to contain a certain medieval beauty that had captured modern man's artistic heart many a time. Its highest tower rose majestically, and the only thing that spoiled the setting were the two satellite dishes on the side of it.
As they stopped outside the entrance, a stunning woman in a long black dress came out and smiled at them. "Hello, Edulcore. I hope I can call you that?" she said in fluent Italian.
Taken off-guard, all he managed was a simple, "Hello... of course."
She embalmed him again with her smile and offered her hand, which he took in silence. They walked into the large hall of the castle, which was adorned by ancient paintings and a long Arabian carpet that ended at a huge double door.
With a forgiving look she said, "I am not allowed in there, but you are expected. No need for alarm. Just relax."
"Thank you." He watched the lovely curves of the woman that were revealed in the flowing dress. Then he steeled himself for what awaited him inside.
Edulcore Cicciotto:
The big walls made of stone look fake, like Cinderella's castle in Euro Disney. A big hotel, looking like a medieval castle, built for wealthy old tourists from Florida. How ironic it has been chosen by the Hoods, the so-called bringers of science.
The mysterious woman disappears beyond the distant corner of a long corridor, and I remain alone in front of a massive wooden door. After some seconds, which seems an eternity, the door opens and a butler invites me to enter.
The scene on the other side of the door is unexpected. I don't know whether I should laugh or be frightened.
It is a large room. The window is closed by heavy curtains, and hundreds of candles alone light the place. At the center there is a round table, and around it sit twelve people covered by dark purple mantles with hoods, their faces shadowed.
So that's why they call themselves Hoods. The situation seems like a joke. Now someone will shout: "You're on Candid Camera!"
But the chilling atmosphere brings me back to reality. These men, from what I have seen from their Giorgio -- or Giorgios? -- are dangerous people.
"Mr. Cicciotto, please take your seat. We are very pleased you have accepted our invitation to join us."
Join? "Sirs, I have come out of curiosity for what your man has said to me. I am eager to listen to your offer, but only then will I make any choice."
The same person that spoke first replies, "Sure, Mr. Cicciotto. Please relax yourself while we explain to you our mission and your possible role in the salvation of the Earth."
The candles dim at a whisper of the man. On the wall behind him a big movie screen appears. There is a flickering light, and then the space is filled by images -- three-dimensional images. There are stars and a spaceship, a spherical spaceship.
"This, Edulcore -- can I call you Edulcore?"
I nod, my eyes unable to move from the vision.
"I was saying, this is the Annunaki earth-ship, a space vessel as big as an asteroid that was the last home of this dying race, the only survivors of their doomed planet. Forty-five-thousand years ago they arrived near the planet Earth, and their ship began orbiting around it."
As the man speaks, things happen in front of me. A big green planet explodes, the big spherical ship crosses the empty space, and inside the space vessels I see shapes moving and producing sounds. It's something totally different from anything I could have ever imagined. Nothing in common with man, yet beautiful and right in their own sense.
"What the Annunaki found was a planet full of life, even intelligent life of many species -- three species, to be precise. One in Africa, the ones your scientists now call Homo sapiens, your direct ancestors..." And I see tall black men hunting lions in the Savannah.
"One in Europe, the Homo neanderthalensis..." On snow-covered steppes, short, heavy, pale white men with big, bony eyebrows and very big, fat noses and dressed with bear furs hunt mammoths.
"And a third in the forests of Asia, the ancient Homo erectus." And I see furry, slim men, very apelike, building nests made of leaves on the lower branches of a large tree.
"The Annunaki found that the Earth was a lovely place, and so left the spaceship and descended over the Earth. They began building a city worthy of themselves. But they needed help, because they were few, and so they made their first gift to humanity: they took the Homo sapiens and enhanced him, giving him intelligence and language. And then, for more than thirty-thousand years, the Annunaki helped the new, advanced man to grow, teaching him technology, art, and science... mathematics, astronomy, music... domesticating animals, creating agriculture..."
In front of me, the evolution of the human culture during prehistory unfolds, and actual men and women appear hunting, gathering seeds, raising animals, and making incredible paintings on the walls of caverns. And every now and then in the distance appears a big fairy-tale city with tall, transparent towers.
"Sadly, so many gifts were not enough for a part of the human population. A few renegades left the city and joined the subhumans. They learned the only art the savages had discovered: magic. And they made a pact with the powers of the Underworld and finally attacked the city of the Basilisks more than twelve-thousand years ago. It was the end of the Golden Age. The world fell back into the darkness.
"Luckily, the teachings of the Annunaki were not forgotten. The descendants of the blessed aliens and their creations survived and created a secret society to enlighten humankind. And that is what the Hoods have been doing since then. Working to free the Earth from the evil of the Futurists, the accursed Cloaks, the ones who want to keep man enslaved, enchained in superstition and fear.
"But be warned: what I called magic is not what you think. It's not an art in the common sense. In fact, it doesn't exist. It is just illusion. What the renegades discovered was a gate to the Underworld. And the Underworld is not a mystic realm. It's just a dimension inhabited by powerful beings, yes, but not demons in the religious sense. What they gave the renegades were the means to channel their thoughts in the minds of their opponents. And that is what magic is. Just the ability to make the brain of another person experience things that don't exist. A vivid, realistic experience to the point of making that person die. But false, nevertheless.
"We have followed you, Edulcore, since your birth. You are the son of two renegades, a Hood and a Cloak, yet you bear great powers. We know your struggle to free the metahuman world. You have failed because -- until now -- you didn't have the right companions. Join us, and we'll free not only the metahumans, but ALL the humans. And the Golden Age will be reborn."
The candles light up all by themselves, one after another. The Hood that was talking stands up and offers me his hand to shake.
I firmly grab Ladnikia.
"Sir, your words are appealing. Yet I need time to decide. And I need answers."
The man sits back. "Ask us anything, Edulcore."
"I have seen things that are not easy to take as creations of my own mind. Thousands of people mind-wiped by a demon-monster. A giant beast on the beach just yesterday. Vampires..."
"I understand your gripe. But that's just what we want to fight: the curtain of lies created by the Futurists. Plagues, genetic alterations, products of the metagene -- all things that science can explain, but that the Cloaks manage to hide under the mist of their so-called magic. That's why we need you, Raptor. You and your claw are the only way to shred it."
Makes sense. Walker was experimenting with that black fluid, which was found in the survivors of the plague. Could it be that all is explainable?
"Another question. Your Giorgio said something about the dwarf that I keep dreaming about. How can he know? And what do you know about it?"
"Ah, the Dark Dwarf. It's bio-software, Edulcore. It was planted by your father in your brain just after your birth. Its duty is to help you make choices. If fully implemented, it should be a voice in your head. It's something we are working on these times, and it will take many years to be fully developed. Your father decided to experiment on you a beta -- well, make it an alpha -- version, because he thought it would have been important for you. But it seems that he is able to reach your mind only when you are sleeping."
A voice in my head? Just like Danny and his Hal. It will take many years to be fully developed? And Danny comes from the future... hmm...
"Have you more questions?"
"No. I just need time to think."
"Very well. You can go. In the corridor, Demeter -- the woman you met before -- awaits you. She will be your host in the castle. She will be with you for dinner and then will show you your room. I hope this night will be sufficient for you to make your decision."