by Clara Ross
It all began in a church in Hamburg, the Niendorf Evangelical Church. A beautifully adorned octagonal structure with an angel suspended from the ceiling at the center of the church, just a few meters away from the elevated pulpit of the pastor, positioned a mere distance above the floor. Modern freehand drawings adorned the yellow-painted ceiling, with occasional perforations scattered across the base of the dome. A planned perforation, no doubt. That angel, so exquisite and heavy, must have been worth millions of dollars given its size, materials, craft skills, and age. In the midst of the noon service on January 12, 2023, many Black Shadows intruded. In mere seconds and with a stealth that had to be authentic, they turned the church into a blazing structure. Even the angel suspended in the air, though equipped with wings, couldn’t escape the flames.
Just like in the initial case, all the subsequent occurrences were meticulously planned. If you examine a map of Hamburg, you’ll notice an immense variety of churches, which played a crucial role in the Black Shadows plan. The second attack was on another nearby evangelical church. The third and fourth attacks targeted Catholic churches. These two were north of the first two churches, and the fifth and sixth burned churches were Christian, located south of the evangelical ones. The seventh attack was on the St. Pauli Evangelical Church on July 12, 2023. Can you guess the next target? The detectives in charge of investigating the Black Shadow immediately deduced it and wasted no time, attacking at noon on August 12. While five police officers attended the mass that day, the Black Shadow assassinated the parish priest, who began to read slower than usual and with a certain pain in his voice. He stumbled and had difficulty remaining upright until he collapsed upon himself. Simultaneously, the musician at the organ dropped his hands by his side, and his head slumped. He didn’t respond, remaining motionless. Soon, the sound of dripping water echoed from the ceiling, only it wasn’t water; it was gasoline. The police grew concerned; they hadn’t noticed the arrival of their adversaries and acted without expecting them. Now the priest and the organist were dead, and panic engulfed the people.
The police pursued the Black Shadow, but they were always a step behind, allowing the twelve black-clad figures to execute their plans as intended. After multiple incidents in churches around Hamburg, the detectives suggested a possible pattern to the past events. The incidents followed a clockwise sequence, so if they started in the northwest, that’s where they would conclude. Each police unit surrounded the church where, according to their calculations, the Black Shadow would strike. Throughout the noon mass, they awaited the twelve figures. As desperation grew, a call reached headquarters: the central church had caught fire, consuming thousands of people, including tourists, and thousands of years of history. However, the news failed to reach the police in time, and the black-clad figures succeeded in executing their plan flawlessly.
© Clara Ross 2023-08-27