A New Dawn 52 A White Hand in a Black Glove

"Fine, you belong to the Organization, which I suppose has a big O. Nod if I am right?" The two humans began to quickly nod, in fear that they were too slow. The demon Ymir was still awfully too close for their preferences and only when they started nodding did he left them and returned at his sit. He was ready to just grab them and deliver the two living beings to Malakov.

"So, even if it is called like that, the group that you belong to should have maybe another name. Something related to colors, like white or black? Anything ring a bell?" As expected, the two humans reacted instantly and even began to understand why the demons in front of them were so mad. They couldn't see but they both had the face of an idiot finally getting a joke that was said ten minutes ago. But past that initial reaction, the leader began to describe what was the deal with the color.

"So, the principle of the black ga… wait, do you have any idea of who we are?" It was the first time that they had the initiative, but they were way past the point of thinking that they could save themselves. If the ones in front of them were not the dark gods reincarnated, neither the leader or the half-elf would believe that as the truth. Why he asked that was because he had no idea of from where he should start.

And of course, Ymir didn't understand it that way. But before he could even stand up, Meridiana put her hands on one of his arms and shook her head. She felt that he was asking that as innocently as he could have, it was just that it sounded horribly bad in their ears. She blinked at them while saying cheerfully "Keep going, suppose that we know nothing, it will be better."

"Alright, so, the Organization is perhaps the oldest criminal group of this planet. Its origin coincided more or less with the first important war between the Synnada Empire and the Massalia Kingdom. It was way after the First Calamity hit this world and plunged it into chaos. Because humans were greedy, when the war started, some bandits that were hunted by the army decided to ally with each other. It was just a small gang, but soon, they controlled the entire North of the Kingdom. As expected, it didn't end well for them."

Davion and Ymir looked at Meridiana, but she didn't have any reaction, meaning that it was the truth or the closer it could get. To rally numerous groups of criminals during a period of war was incredibly foolish since it meant that they had a nice target on them. The leader confirmed that immediately.

"But because they became so big, they had the entire kingdom behind them, hunting restlessly the bandits. Due to that immense pressure, the originally solid group fragmented into multiple gangs that tried to escape individually. Until a truce was concluded, none of the bandits dared to show their faces, but the moment the army was not present anymore, they returned to their fiefs. All their loots and treasures were taken and it nearly spelled the end for the Organization."

At this moment, he realized that he was awfully thirsty and that his tongue was as dry as the ground under him. Because of this, he also noticed that he was hungry, tired, had numerous injuries caused by the tight grip of Ymir and a headache was gradually coming. As he began to form a coherent sentence to talk about that, the previously warm stare of Meridiana turned extremely cold. Freezing in place, he decided that maybe that could wait a bit more.

"Glurp, so, the group still survived, even as weakened as they were. They understood that the reason why they failed was that they were concentrated in one place. But when they thought about spreading their subordinates everywhere, they stumbled into the main issue. How could they guarantee that their underlings would follow their orders when they were far away? The only thing that could prevent that was money, loots, coins. But they were not really rentable, and their funds were not infinite.

So for the next decades, they mainly operated inside the Massalia Kingdom but still managed to become the biggest gang of the capital and its surroundings. Unfortunately, the original group of leaders died of old age, injuries or were simply murdered, creating chaos amongst the ranks. And it was at that moment that someone arrived and changed everything. His name was never revealed to us, but he was called the Intendant. He supplied a massive amount of gold to that group of criminals, so much that it would have appeared reckless to anyone else.

But he had heard about the original plan and was immensely tempted by its potential. A group of criminals, thieves, murderers, and kidnappers controlling the entire dark side of the law. And not just the Massalia Kingdom, but everywhere. The Synnada Empire, the dwarven kingdoms and even the elves were grasped by it. It is still incredibly weird to think that it happened. As for your first question, the link with the two colors, black and white, it happened barely a thousand years ago. At that …"

"It's the White Hand and the Black Gauntlet!" The half-elf suddenly stopped the leader in his tracks, gaining a black stare from the latter. As he was monopolizing the conversation, he hadn't noticed that his companion was getting paler and paler, because he couldn't say anything. He was fearing that since the leader told them everything, they would torture him for all eternity. Understanding this, and because he didn't wish that to happen to even his worst enemy. Well, no, actually he wished to a lot of people to end up in his position, but not the half-elf.

"You have heard about the arrival of the Dark Gods and the birth of the 12 Heroes? Well, you may know about the 13th one, the only real one. Someone that was not even noticed by the gods and without any extraordinary aptitude but an iron will. When the first god was slain, one his arms was dismembered and felt in front of the army. Because the Heroes disdained it, the now known as the Republic of Avenio quickly grabbed it. But they didn't expect the Organization to covet the artifact for themselves. He was the strongest warrior of the Organization and had trained well his close aides, but when they opened the box containing the deadly object, all his subordinates went mad. He had to single handily kill them all and when blood was flooding on the ground, he turned his sight to the black weapons in front of him.

A black gauntlet was shining, surrounded by a darkness that could even obscure the sun. No one knew what really happened inside the room after that, but when the man left, the gauntlet had attached itself to the arm of the human, like a parasite leeching the blood of its host. Thankfully for the rest of the leaders of the Organization, he didn't lose his mind but manage to absorb a small part of the power inside the terrible weapon. Using it, he challenged the dark gods any time they attacked his fellow members. But after the threat was either terminated or expulsed from this planet, all the nations turned their eyes to the gauntlet, killing his bearer."

Whether it was Davion, Meridiana or Ymir, none of them expected that one of the dark gods had a weapon like that. For them, it looked like one the Akûl of the World-Eaters could use and Ymir truly wished to see the weapon with his own eyes. The more they thought about it, the stranger it was because while Leilade hadn't transmitted anything about the Organization, she did say something about the 13th Hero. But only that because he was a criminal that possessed a treasure, he died hunted by the kingdoms. But nothing about a black gauntlet. Meridiana really wished to see the reaction of Malakov when he heard that. For she was not sure that the undead had told them everything and that the lich in the corner was not remotely controlled by him.

"But while they managed to kill him, the Organization still grabbed the gauntlet before anyone else. In honor of him, or maybe because it was only to mock the nations that attacked him, the criminals were separated into two groups. The White Hand was dealing with everything legal or at least, not deadly. Brothels, information, potions, merchandises, everything could be bought with a price and none is richer than us. The Black Gauntlet, on the other hand, assembled from the coldest assassins to the lousiest tavern brawlers every outlaw under its banner. At the same time, some protections fees could be extracted and most of the merchants pay without any problem those additional taxes.

For example, while we normally act as mercenaries from the Black Gauntlet, this mission was commanded by someone from the White Hand, for a hefty price. Some interactions are free, but most are either a trade, a service for a service, or paid in gold. There are only a few things that the Organization is not willing to do but they are known only to the higher ups. I just know that no sovereigns will be assassinated by the Black Gauntlet because war is far less profitable than peace. And that's more or less it."

The half-elf finally breathed after finishing his part. He realized the same thing that the leader previously, but they were not in a position of negotiating anything. They only hoped that the dark beings in front of them will respect their words. The main issue was the quite impassive faces of both the blue man and the red demon. Only the succubus was smiling widely but instead of comforting the two humans, it only sent more cold sweats in their backs. And what she said didn't arrange that fact.

"Well, they didn't hide anything and I don't really expect them to be so talkative. It is reasonable to think that the amount of information that one could extract from them would be severely limited now. Am I right?" Neither Davion and Ymir was a fool and they understood that she wanted to not break her promise. Maybe Malakov could betray them at any moment, but none of the rest was ready to cut their ties with Leilade. And what the latter hated the most was Candaith and people lying to her. After receiving the nods of the orodil and the Akûl, Meridiana approached the two humans that were shivering.

"My master wants them alive for the …"

CRACK CRUCK

She broke the two necks without even slowing down, making the lich go crazy. "YOU STUPID BITCH! I TOLD YOU NOT TO DO IT!" She smiled back at the obviously badly hidden Malakov. "You know; I don't think that Leilade would appreciate the fact that you forgot to tell us about the black gauntlet. And don't even dare to say that she hadn't told you about that, that's bullshit. Maybe you thought that it was not relevant, but from now on, Ymir will be present during your next contacts with the Empress."

The lich didn't say anything and just crumbled on itself. That will probably be the best answer they could get from him but no one was satisfied. Looking at the two bodies, Davion turned his eyes toward Ymir. "You want them?" As for that offer, the Akûl didn't even think about denying it. "With pleasure."

Chapter end