Chapter 2
I would like to apologize for my poor first chapter. This is my first story and I'm really nervous.
This one will be better. Promise!
Sheila stepped into the tunnel and she felt a burst of hotness behind her. She turned and she screamed as the entrance was covered in a wall of flame. She heard Hank cry out her name on the other side and she yelled back.
"I'm fine! Don't worry, I'll find the ring!"
She wasn't sure if they heard her over the wall of fire but she turned and walked down the tunnel. As she walked she noticed the walls were decorated with portraits of various red dragons, depicting them burning down crops and villages or even killing knights and warriors. She looked at one depicting a man wearing a cloak being eaten. She shuddered and turned away from it.
In between each portrait were large torches lighting the tunnel. She also noticed canals beside the walls, but instead of water, magma flowed in it, as if the tunnel wasn't hot enough.
She walked on, hoping the ring would be at the end of the tunnel, and hopefully there WAS an end to the tunnel.
She started to think about Bobby. Her little brother and his unicorn were too weak to defend themselves and they were taken. Tears started to form in the corner of her eyes.
Bobby was her responsibility. She should have stayed by his side while he was injured. Why did she have to run off? Eric was just being Eric. He was upset and so were the others. She shouldn't have pushed. It was her fault.
In her head, she asked herself unanswerable questions. What was Venger going to do with Bobby? What will happen if they don't get there in time to save him? What if she was there when Venger attacked the gang? What would have happened if she wasn't in the forest hugging Hank?
Hank. She started thinking about the blonde, blue-eyed Ranger. She remembered back, way back, all the way back to when they were home. He was the popular jock and she was the shy girl always at the back of the crowd. He was tall, handsome, intelligent, strong, and he was the perfect leader. He was just perfect.
She, on the other hand, was a cute, shy red-head who nobody ever noticed. She only had a few friends back home, and even they seemed to barely notice her. But she apparently got noticed by Hank. She always questioned why he had noticed her. It wasn't like she hated it, she just wondered why. Then he asked her out. She had to bring her little brother and a few of his other friends showed up, but still, it was the best date she ever went on. But that was probably because it was her first date.
Then they went on the roller coaster that changed their lives. When they got to the realm, he became the leader. He is the one that got them this far. If it wasn't for him they probably wouldn't be together.
But he couldn't be with her. He couldn't show if he cared about her, he couldn't play favorites, and he couldn't give her special attention. But she didn't mind. She was used to being ignored.
Her train of thought was interrupted when she came to the end of the tunnel. Well, end isn't quite the word. The path ended, but it ended on a platform over a volcanic crater that carried on for a few miles. It reminded Sheila of the Citadel of Shadow, and just like the Citadel, there was a pedestal with a ring on it. But this ring was different. It was shaped just like Tiamat's middle head and it was colored the same. In its open jaw was a gemstone that changed from red to orange to yellow and back, just like a flame.
Sheila was inches away from touching the ring when…
"Thief!" something screeched, echoing through the magma chamber.
Sheila backed away from the ring and looked around for the person that said that. Then a giant form rose up from the crater and landed on the platform.
"Tiamat," Sheila screamed.
"You are trying to steal the rings that contain my power!" Tiamat screeched.
Sheila was frightened. She didn't know what to do. She raised the hood of her cloak and backed away, but Tiamat's middle head snaked towards where Sheila was standing, as if Tiamat could still see her. Sheila then closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable.
"Sheila!" Hank yelled.
Hank drew arrows and shot them at the fiery wall, but to no avail.
Eric walked up to him and said "Come on, there is no use. We got to find the other rings. Sheila is probably fine."
"No! She might be in trouble! I just go to see if she's all right!" Hank replied, his voice full of panic.
"But Hank, she'd want us to find the rings. She'd want to hurry out of here. To help Bobby," Diana said, trying to convince him.
This hit Hank. It was his fault Bobby was gone.
"Fine," Hank replied. "I'll try the blue tunnel. Presto will try the green, Diana, the white, and Eric, the black."
Hank watched the others go to their tunnels and waited for them to step through. Diana walked through the entrance of the white tunnel and nothing happened. Same thing happened with Presto and Eric. Nothing. Hank wondered why Sheila was shut in her tunnel while the others weren't.
He turned and walked through the entrance of his tunnel and turned. Nothing. He turned back around and walked down the tunnel. The walls around him looked like they moved and changed, like a bunch of storm clouds. The tunnel started to get dark as he went further down. Hank looked for some torches, but there was none. He drew and arrow for light, but as soon as he did the walls started to flash light, illuminating the tunnel. He looked at the lights and noticed they looked like bolts of lightning streaking through storm clouds.
Hank looked at the portraits on the wall and they seemed to absorb the lightning and they glowed a light blue. Hank saw portraits of blue dragons flying in the air and zapping people. But he didn't care. All he cared about was if Sheila was okay.
He started to think about their relationship. He thought she was beautiful, inside and out. She was nice, sweet, and caring. He started to like her a lot, but he didn't have the courage to talk to her. If it wasn't for Diana he would have never done it. But when he finally took her on a date his friends and her brother came too. Great first date.
Then they went on that stupid roller coaster! He became the leader, not by choice, but by chance, but she was the sisterly figure everyone looked to for comfort. She was the one that got them that far. If it wasn't for her they probably wouldn't be together.
But he couldn't be with her. He hated not showing how much he cared for her, he hated that she couldn't be his favorite, and he hated not giving her special attention. He worried about it. He didn't like making her feel ignored.
But he couldn't do anything about it. Not now, not here. Not when he had to lead the group and not when she had a brother to take care of.
He suddenly remembered Bobby. "I am such an idiot!" he told himself. He was too worried about his relationship problems that he forgot about Bobby. How could he worry about being with Sheila when her brother is gone? And it was his fault too. He should have been protecting him and the others when Venger attacked. Why didn't he notice Bobby's disappearance sooner? What leader just forgets about one of his friends?
A bad leader.
He promised himself he would do everything in his power to save Bobby and destroy Venger once and for all.
For Sheila.
Eric continued walking down the black tunnel. It was hard to see in the tunnel because A) the tunnel was pitch black and B) the tunnel was colored black. He raised his shield to his chest and it started to glow. It wasn't bright but at least he could see a little better. Even with no torches the tunnel was hot. The kind of hot he felt when he went to the Florida Everglades by mistake. "I thought the Everglades were the name of your Florida estate, Dad!"
He looked back at the walls and barely noticed there were portraits. They were almost as black as the walls of the tunnels and Eric could barely see them, but he could tell there were dragons on them. But he didn't come here to look at the art. He came here to find a powerful ring.
He also wanted to get Hank off his back. He was in a snarky mood ever since they missed the last portal. Eric wanted to go home too! He was sick of this place. There was no air conditioning, no junk food, and no credit cards!
In this place there were dungeons they constantly got lost in. There were dragons that wanted to eat them. There was a psycho sorcerer who kept trying to kill or enslave them, and worst of all, he had to wear a 50-pound suit of armor with no car!
His thoughts were stopped when he felt a burning sensation on his shoulder. He looked at his shoulder and a big glob of smoking slime was on his armor. He brushed it off, but then his fingers and shoulders stung. He looked at his gauntlet and the tips were smoking. He looked up and the ceiling was dripping with globs of slime.
One hit the tip of his boot and it started to smoke. Eric screamed in pain, "Stop, Drop, and Roll! Stop, Drop, and Roll! STOP, DROP, AND ROLL."
He stopped yelling and looked at his boot, and he could see his blistered toes.
"That is not slime!" He yelled aloud. He raised his shield over his head and started to run for dear life. The further he ran down the tunnel the globs of black stuff were getting bigger and falling faster.
"Great! If a giant boulder tries to run me over or a weird priest tries to rip my heart out, I QUIT!"
Diana was starting to shiver as she went further down the tunnel. Diana knew it was impossible, but it was snowing in the tunnel. It was times like this when she wished she had a different outfit. It worked when they were in a desert or a swamp, but a fur bikini was not good for walking in snow. At least she had long fur boots on.
Even though the tunnel was white it got darker as she walked down the tunnel and she figured a torch wouldn't stay lit in this tunnel because of the cold. She extended her javelin for light and the tunnel filled with a dim green light.
She looked at the walls, trying to keep occupied. Portraits of white dragons hung on the walls. Diana thought they were green at first, but she remembered her staff was glowing on them.
She kept on walking, but it was getting difficult because the piles of snow were getting deeper and deeper. Luckily her javelin was able to help her walk across the drifts of snow.
The snow started falling faster. Diana put her hand over her face to prevent snow from getting in her eyes. The flurry of snow eventually became a blizzard and Diana was walking against the wind. Diana was starting to move slower.
Diana stumbled into something. She lifted her javelin over it and she saw that it was a pedestal with the ring on it. She tried to reach for it but her hand was shivering too much to grab it. Soon her arms stopped. One finger was on the ring but she couldn't move her hand anymore.
She was too weak. She was too cold. Then she whispered to herself.
"So this is what it's like to freeze to death."
Presto was holding his nose as soon as he entered the tunnel. It smelled worse than when Eric got sprayed by the Chicken-Skunk. Presto reluctantly took his hand from his nose and waved it over his hat.
"Abra Kadabra, Alakazank, Give me something to get rid of this stank," he whispered.
He reached in and felt something on fire. He pulled his hand out and sucked on his burning finger. He reached back in and grabbed something waxy and the smell of cinnamon came out of the hat.
"Great, a scented candle," he told himself. It was bad enough Eric called his robe a dress, but now Presto was pulling out a girly candle out of his hat. Thank god Eric wasn't there.
But as soon as he pulled the candle out it exploded.
Presto fell back and wiped the soot off his glasses. He guessed this tunnel was filled with flammable gas and fire was out of the question.
Presto just decided to just hold his nose and walk.
As he walked he looked at the portraits of various green dragons and weird holes in-between each portrait. He began to wonder what the holes were for.
It started to get dark so Presto mumbled a few magic words, "Hora Horu, Hora, Horame, give me a light that isn't powered by flame," and pulled out a flashlight. "Well, something useful for once," and he flipped it on.
Then he heard a hissing sound.
It got louder and louder.
Presto tried to look for the source but he couldn't find anything. "It's not like they have broken pipelines in this world," he told himself. Then he re-thought that sentence. "It's not like they have pipelines, period."
With every step he took, his legs felt weaker and his body felt heavier. He felt as if he needed to curl up and slip into a twenty year long coma.
He then remembered the holes in the walls. He focused the flashlight on one of the holes and noticed columns of green smoke were seeping out of the holes.
Presto started to run, realizing that the smoke was toxic. Presto then fell forward and he landed into something hard. He looked up and noticed a pedestal. He tried to pull himself up, but he was only able to keep himself up long enough to notice the ring on the pedestal. He just sat there, alternating from thinking to breathing.
He couldn't even remember his own name.
Breathe.
Was it Presto?
Breathe.
Or was it Albert?
Breathe.
Or was it Shirley?
Breathe.
What was he doing here?
Breathe.
He was here for something.
Breathe.
But what was it?
Breathe.
A ting?
Breathe.
A bing?
Breathe.
A ring?
Breathe.
A ring!
Breathe.
If only I had my hat.
Breathe.
MY HAT!
He suddenly remembered his hat and pulled it off.
"Hocus Pocus, Alakazing," he breathed. He couldn't think clearly. He couldn't find the right words to finish the spell. He started breathing slower and he was on the brink of passing out. He then yelled, "Fuck, just get me the ring!"
He reached in the hat, and pulled the ring out.
He started to crawl back to the entrance, but he only made it a few feet from the pedestal before he passed out.
Eric ran faster as he saw the pedestal. He knew the ring would be on it. At least, he hoped the ring would be there.
He could feel his shield getting hotter with all the acid on it, but thank god it wasn't melting.
As soon as he reached the pedestal the wall behind it started to melt and cover the floor.
"Oh, Great! What's next? Is that stuff going to melt the pedestal now?"
Eric jumped on the pedestal and watched as the stuff washed over the floor and the pedestal started melting into the floor.
"Me and my big, damn mouth!"
Eric grabbed the ring and decided to jump off and run for it.
He stood up, breathed in, and lost his balance.
As he fell off the pedestal, he closed his eyes before he touched the stuff-covered floor.
Then he hit the floor face first.
Hank stared at the ring. It was on a pedestal at the end of the tunnel and he was inches away from grabbing the ring.
Then a bolt of lightning shot him in the back.
His fist clinched around the ring as he fell back.
His body was numb.
His mind was black.
One word escaped his lips.
"Sheila."
Tiamat's five heads were raised, all ten of her eyes glowing. She smiled and purred at what she saw.
The Ranger was in pain.
The Cavalier was going to melt.
The Magician was dying slowly.
The Acrobat was freezing to death.
And the Thief was frightened and alone.
All was going according to plan.
But…
Well. End of Chapter Two. What exactly is Tiamat's plan? How will the kids survive? What about Bobby and Uni?
PLEASE REVIEW! I am anxious to hear from you.
P.S. How did you like my Indiana Jones reference? ;)