Chapter 7

I'm back! And yes, I'm alive. Since it's summer vacation, I'll be updating more often! Yay :) But I haven't been able to update for the past few weeks due to my new summer job and temporary living situation. Thank you, crappy Wi-Fi.

Plus, I have more news. Bad news is this story only has a few more chapters to go before it's finished. Good news is that the next chapter is where the violent action comes in! Awesome! And the better news is that as soon as this story is finished, I'll be able to start another story that's been in my head for months, and in my opinion, has a much better storyline than this one, plus more action, tragedy, and romance. All the things I know people love. So keep an eye out and enjoy this short, uneventful chapter, which ultimatley leads to the best, most actiony(is that a real word?), most confusing chapter of this story. (God willing, -_-)


Sheila slowly walked down the corridor following the dark figure of Venger. Iron shackles bound her wrists together and the same was for Bobby. Uni, who wasn't as fatigues as she was earlier, slowly trotted behind them, too afraid of Venger to move any quicker and too afraid of the orcs behind her to move any slower. The two orcs behind Uni held the Club and the Cloak in their hands.

Sheila had a river of thoughts flooding her head.

How will I get Bobby and Uni out of here? Can I get them out of here before Hank gets here? What about Venger? How will I convince him that Hank is coming to kill him? What if he doesn't believe me? Or worse, what if he finds a way to kill Hank first?

Sheila couldn't focus on just one question that popped in her head. Whenever she was close to a solution for one, another question came into her head and made her forget the answer of the first question.

They reached the end of the corridor and they entered the throne room Sheila saw earlier. Venger walked to the ebony throne and he sat down. Shadow Demon followed and floated in a spot near Venger's head. The two orcs pushed Sheila and Bobby right in front of the throne and Uni followed. Venger waved his hand and the chains of Sheila's shackles snapped in half, as well as Bobby's. But then the chains elongated and sunk into the ground, keeping them in place. Bobby and Sheila tried to break away, but to no avail. Uni ran up and tried to kick the chains off, but then Venger waved his hand again and one of Bobby's chains bound her down as well.

The two orcs deposited the weapons by Venger's feet and then they left. Venger picked up the Cloak and held it in his hands for a moment and then looked at the Thief with a slight smirk. He then deposited the Cloak right on the Club.

"Now that I have you two, the other weapons will soon be in my possession. I just have to wait for your allies to come to your rescue," he continued. Shadow Demon nodded his head approvingly.

Sheila looked to Bobby, already regretting about what she was about to say, and she looked to Venger and said, "No one is going to come for us."

The smile on Venger's face disappeared and was replaced by what Sheila guessed was a look of curiosity and anger, if such a look even existed. Sheila knew that Venger would question her about it.

Bobby on the other hand looked at Sheila with questioning eyes, and Sheila wasn't sure if she wanted to give the answers to either of them.

"And tell me Thief," Venger spoke, putting an extra amount of disdain in every word, "why is no one going to come to your rescue?"

Sheila didn't want to speak, but she did anyway.

"Hank…" Sheila started, but stopped, not sure if Venger even knew or cared for their names, "…The Ranger has gone insane. We got a hold of powerful weapons and Hank nearly killed everyone to get theirs," stopping after that, trying to hold back a sob, and then continued, "and he's coming to kill you."

There was an eerie silence in that room after she said that. Bobby looked grief-stricken. Sheila knew he looked up to Hank and trusted him whole-heartedly, and to here this must have been devastating for him.

Venger was just looking at Sheila. Not an intimidating death stare, but it still wasn't friendly. Shadow Demon on the other hand was twitching and it gave Sheila the creeps. Then Shadow Demon spoke, "You dare make false acquisitions in the presence of Venger!"

"Shadow Demon," Venger spoke.

"He should have your tongue cut out for even suggesting someone could kill his gloriousness," Shadow Demon interrupted.

"Shadow Demon, silence!" Venger ordered. Shadow Demon flinched and he sunk close to the ground, obeying his master, and Venger continued, "Thief, what makes you think that the Ranger can kill me? Do you believe these weapons will allow him to do so?"

Sheila replied, "Yes."

Venger scowled at her, but continued his questioning, "What were the weapons you acquired?" When Sheila didn't answer, Venger asked again, more impatiently, "What were the weapons you acquired?"

Sheila wasn't sure if she wanted to tell Venger of the rings or not. Dungeon Master had told her to warn Venger of them and Hank, but she was afraid if Venger knew about them, he would only find a way to kill Hank and take the rings for himself.

But then Venger waved his hand and Sheila's chains came up from the ground and wrapped around Bobby's and Uni's necks. Sheila tried to pull the chains away, but they only constricted themselves tighter around the Barbarian's and Unicorn's necks. Sheila couldn't stand to watch and she turned away, but then Shadow Demon flew from his spot near Venger and stopped behind Sheila and he slowly wrapped his shadowy fingers around Sheila's face. Sheila always wondered what a shadow would feel like, but it felt like nothing she ever imagined, and it wasn't something she would ever want to touch her again. Shadow Demon's hands were icy cold and they felt like living slime on her face, but that wasn't even the worst part. His touch made her feel like her guts were twisting, making her want to throw up, and it felt like needles were being were being pushed into her brain. He moved her face back to Bobby and Uni and forced her to watch. Bobby had slumped to his knees and was almost completely white. Uni, on the other hand, was thrashing around wildly trying to get a breath of air, but the chains kept getting tighter and cutting off her oxygen more. Tears started to fall from her eyes Watching this and having the torture of Shadow Demon's touch was too much for her to handle.

Sheila screamed out, "Alright, I'll tell you! Just let them go! Please!" Venger waved his hand again and the chains unwrapped themselves from Bobby's and Uni's necks. The two took a deep breath of air. Sheila wanted to embrace the two but the chains shot behind her and sunk into the ground, keeping her from moving and keeping her arms behind her. Shadow Demon removed his hands from her face, but he remained behind her.

Sheila remained silent, watching Bobby and Uni and recovering from Shadow Demon's horrible fingers. But Venger didn't want to wait for her answer. "Thief!" he said, "I'm waiting for your answer."

Venger didn't move his hands to rewrap the chains around Bobby and Uni's necks, but Sheila could feel Shadow Demon's icy presence behind her get closer and she didn't want to go through that again.

"They were five magical rings," she answered. "Each ring has a power similar to each of Tiamat's head. Hank has four of them. He couldn't get the fifth, but he's probably coming here to kill you as we speak."

Venger remained silent for a moment. Sheila couldn't guess what he was thinking about, but she knew it couldn't be good.

"Shadow Demon," Venger suddenly ordered, "Go tell the orcs to prepare for battle. I want the guards to keep an eye on anything that gets close to this castle and I want every available orc to stand at the ready!"

Shadow Demon bowed his head and flew off. Venger stayed there, staring at the Thief. "If he does not have all five, where is the fifth, Thief?" Venger questioned.

"Hidden," Sheila lied. Venger didn't need to know she had the other one. No need to give him any lethal ideas, Sheila told herself.

"I've searched for those rings since their creation," Venger spoke, "I had yearned for their power for so long. I had hoped to obtain them and rid myself of Tiamat and anyone else who stood in my way."

Sheila suddenly understood what that mine underneath the castle was. Venger was searching for the rings.

But that wasn't the only thing that Sheila realized. When Venger talked about the rings, he didn't quite sound like Venger. He sounded a lot more like… Hank.

But her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a loud explosion come from outside the castle.


Hank watched as the orcs scrambled around, trying to find out what had caused the explosion.

Amusing, he said to himself.

Indeed, replied the voice in his head.

The orcs suddenly noticed him and started to run towards him, their weapons raised and ready.

Hank only smiled.

He lifted his bow and created and arrow. But then his hand enveloped with electrical energy. The blue lightning eventually surrounded his golden arrow, leaving only a small amount of gold light in the middle of it, but the rest of it was electric blue and growing in size, bleeding excess electrical energy all around him.

Then he let the arrow go.


Hopefully I'll have the next chapter up in a week or so, the problem is that it's really long and I want to make sure it's really good so it was actually worth it to read the story so far. Please comment, it helps my self-esteem! ;)