The legacy of the dark blood

Chapter 90

Anneliese's return

Every day, every minute within the confines of Reich der Finsternis represented nothing more than a display of the worst nightmares of human beings. Nothing that had happened, nothing that had been experienced resembled what the agents had just lived, the fearsome witch Anneliese Holzmann was in front of them, Liz had never felt so much terror in her life, a frantic sensation that made her regret not having died on the repeated occasions she had escaped from the clutches of death. Her partner Jake didn't contain his astonishment either.

"Dear Anneliese," celebrated Mr. Holzmann before the wrathful face of the witch who showed no sign of confusion, "it is a pleasure to have you...."

"WHO ARE YOU?" shouted Anneliese, her voice paralyzing every living creature with a spasm, the stain of putrefaction had not spared her. The Holzmanns recoiled at the sound.

"We have followed your legacy, beloved queen, we have brought you here to rule over us," Anneliese smiled, her eyes shone like bloody rubies, "we have taken all your power to a new level, we can create a new order together, if you join me. No one will dare to challenge you, you, my family and I will be one being, conformed by the whole world, only those who accept us will be welcome in our world" Friedrich sentenced holding out his hand to Anneliese "a part of you is in our blood dear queen, accept my proposition, join me, we will be the new reformers".

The duchess, Ludwig and Ulrike joined their father, holding out their hand to their new queen.

An expression of discontent was perceptible in her, Anneliese approached, shaking hands with Friedrich, she smiled as she looked Ulrike in the eyes, apparently it was the young woman's intervention that was the piece to connect with the witch.

"Well" Anneliese smiled mischievously detailing everything around her "I can see that indeed you are not lying to me Friedrich, I see that you have done an excellent job restoring my entire kingdom, you are in control of everything, and I love that. But what makes you think that I have any interest in reuniting the same pathetic commoners who condemned me to total oblivion?" finally she pointed to Liz and Jake "just look at them, the very faces of the village impertinents, I am repulsed to see them!"

"I know, dear queen!" said Friedrich, "and that is the reason for my proposal. We will reunify the world and bring about a change for the better. The human kind will reach real enlightenment, death will no longer be the end of everything. We have established a new order".

Anneliese's unholy face was deformed, her sores gushed blood, Liz could not contain her anguish, not only to have Anneliese Holzmann in front of her, but also the fact that Anika had vanished.

"Your proposal is very interesting, dear Friedrich," Anneliese deduced, Liz and Jake were astonished to contemplate the way the sole of her feet was coming off the pavement, she was floating in the air, "I can feel the power of the dark blood, as never before, I rechannel the power of the mind into my body".

The duchess approached her as well, her children held their positions.

"I have been in these lands as the highest representative of your authority, great queen," said the duchess, "I Beatrix Marie Grünewald, wife of your great descendant, Friedrich Maximilian Holzmann. The same pathetic commoners you are talking about are now aware of the scope of our power" she pointed to the agents and passed to her children "my children, Ludwig Alexander Holzmann and Ulrike Margarette Holzmann and I are also at your entire disposal" Anneliese observed the two young people, with a single glance it was evident how much she empathized with Ulrike, in spite of not having spoken a single word with her.

"Well, that being the case, we'll join," Anneliese said, and the Holzmanns cheered her words, "but we'll do everything my way".

"Of course, of course we will," Friedrich agreed, Anneliese smiled, showing her rotten teeth, Liz thought that she would sprout worms from them. Her weight no longer exerted any power over her, she floated in the air killing every living organism near her, several of the trees in the forest had withered to give her life "We are going to create a new order, and for that, I am going to make it clear to everyone who is their new empress" she raised her hands, fire was raining around them, an aura was coming off the Holzmanns to touch the sorceress, they succumbed, Liz thought she was absorbing their souls "And you will no longer need your bodies, we will make it clear who is the ruler here, and for that, we will do what I have longed for since I parted from my stupid father and sister" the power of the beasts joined with her as well "this world will pay for all it did to me!"

"Wait," pleaded Friedrich, as he listened to his family members suffer from the absorption of their powers.

"From now on you will only live in my memories, I'm going to destroy this whole place! And on the ashes we will rebuild my empire," the flames that surrounded the area spread towards the forest, the fire consumed everything around it without mercy, "These are my domain," she finished with an unrestrained cruel laugh.

The bodies of the Holzmann family continued to lose power, the earth trembled, it even cracked, the vines that held Liz and Jake finally gave way, the agents were free, only to witness the proclamation of Anneliese Holzmann as the empress of their world and how she absorbed all the power of Friedrich and his family. All seemed lost, they could not fight against a similar power, the beasts and the environment obeyed the macabre wishes of Queen Holzmann.

"Now I will fulfill what I swore three centuries ago, these people will pay for everything they have done to us," Anneliese clenched her fists, the hills were crumbling around them, a strong wind storm prevented Liz and Jake from seeing everything clearly. Thunder lashed the forest, the beasts came to the witch's call, she had formed the army and put herself in command of her infernal clan "the time has come, let's put an end to all this, those who have not received my gift do not deserve to live in this world, my world!"

Mr. Holzmann and his family had remained static after Anneliese's proclamation, together with the strong winds, the witch moved towards the forest, while from her hand the temple crumbled causing a collapse on the hill, in a few seconds they would fall too. The figure of the witch was soaring through the air, the beasts were preparing to wipe out everything. Liz did not know if it was worth fighting any longer, they were surrounded, in the forest they heard the German officers fighting the beasts, waves of suffering were breaking her soul. Just then, she received a call on her radio transmitter, she had regained the signal.

"Sharrow," it was Nick, "the situation here is in chaos, it will take time to reach you" Liz was about to tell the officer what had happened, however, the temple was seconds away from collapsing.

"Anneliese is leading an attack towards the villages," Liz answered, "she has caused all this by herself, I don't know if...."

"Don't say that," Kira interjected on the horn, "we've come this far and we're going to the end. The road is full of monsters, but we'll get there soon, we have you located. For now we have to leave you, remember Judith's dagger!"

Kira hung up after uttering the last word. The cracks were growing over the temple, large rocks were preparing to fall from the top of the mountain, one of the helicopters that Jake had summoned to secure the area was now flying over the forest, it had not been able to approach before due to the strong wind currents that the ritual had unleashed. The helicopters opened fire on the beasts, they were arriving in groups towards the crumbling temple, they barely contained the attack, another thunderclap fell a few meters away from them, they would not resist any longer.

Jake desperately searched around him for a solution, everything seemed to be lost, he did not know how long he could fight against the beasts and against Anneliese's power, superior to that of the four Holzmann together. Her answer was in sight, Judith's dagger had not suffered any damage from the fire, it was intact.

"Liz, over there!" shouted Jake pointing. Liz nodded, shot two of the annihilators running towards her, together with her partner they ran towards the dagger.

The beasts knew deep down what their intention was, as did the sorceress; they launched a brutal onslaught against the agents, to such an extent that the helicopter was unable to slow them down. The temple crumbled just as Jake grabbed the dagger and handed it in an uncontrollable impulse to his partner. They both slid down the slope of the hill as the relentless death march raced after them, the beasts not giving up. They were still positioned on the segment of stone that had broken off and slid down the slope, the mountainside facing the Hausmännin River right into the forest of damnation. Shortly before the whole earth buried them, Liz and Jake jumped into the stream, its current was not very strong in that section, but they were aware of how many bloodthirsty beasts could navigate that place.