Chapter 8

Finally! The big climax! But enough of this. You didn't come here for talk, you came to read some action. SO READ!


Sheila heard another explosion outside the castle, followed by a sound she guessed to be orcs screaming.

Hank!

Venger suddenly stood up from the throne, eyes ablaze with anger. His hands suddenly burst into a silvery flame and his wings unfolded.

Sheila knew she had to do something. She couldn't let Venger do this alone. It would only end up in death.

Either his or Hank's.

Sheila spoke up, "Venger, you can't go against Hank. You're going to need my help."

Venger looked at her quizzically. "Why would I need your help, Thief? What would make you useful in this battle? Your cloak is in my possession and I doubt you are of any use in battle."

"He won't harm me. I'm the only one that he'll let get close to him and I'm the only one who can talk him out of this. I might be the only one who can stop him," she responded.

Venger pondered this for a moment. Sheila couldn't tell if he believed her or not and they didn't have time to argue over this.

"Thief, I will accept your aid," Venger spoke, "but, only as a last resort." Sheila didn't understand what he meant by this and she wasn't sure if she was going to like it. Before she could question him, Venger continued, "If my forces cannot stop him, and if it appears that I cannot stop him myself, you may try it your way. And if you fail, then all is lost."

Sheila wasn't too keen on this idea. She didn't want to wait for Venger to attack him first, she wanted to talk to him before Venger resorted to that, but she didn't argue. She wasn't in any position to argue with him.

"But I have one request," Sheila said. Venger raised his eyebrows at this, but he didn't speak. "If I do as you ask," she continued, "I want you to take my brother and his unicorn twenty miles north. I want them safe and out of the way."

"And, if I refuse?" Venger asked.

"Please, just get them away from here," she begged. "If you do, I'll let you keep the two weapons." Venger perked up at the sound of that. "I promise," she continued, "that if they are out of harm's way, I will let you keep the weapons and I won't do anything to try and take them back." Venger still looked skeptical, but Sheila spoke again. "And, if we succeed, I'll let you keep me as your prisoner."

Bobby suddenly yelled, "Sheila, no!" with Uni whimpering and looking at her. Sheila didn't acknowledge their concern, but on the inside she felt horrible.

Venger only stared at her, not sure of what to make of her care for her brother. He couldn't care less for his sister's well-being and he was positive the feeling was mutual. But nonetheless, he agreed.

"I accept," and he waved his hands and the shackles on Sheila's and Bobby's wrists snapped off. He then looked above Sheila and Bobby and his eyes glowed a deep crimson. Sheila heard an odd crackling sound above them, as if a rock were being crushed. She looked above her and she noticed that there was a plethora of stone gargoyles above them, but that wasn't the only thing she noticed. She noticed that two of them had glowing red eyes exactly like Venger's. The gargoyles started to move and jumped from their pedestal. Sheila was waiting for them to come crushing down with a loud crash, but somehow they were able to float down on their stony wings. They kneeled before Venger and their eyes stopped glowing, as did his. "Take the barbarian and his unicorn twenty miles north, into the forest. If he wishes to be dropped at a specific spot, do so. Then come back, and fight against the Ranger," Venger ordered. The two gargoyles looked at Bobby and Uni and they staggered towards them.

Bobby started to back away and said, "No, Sheila! I won't leave you, especially with Venger!" and Uni struggled to break the grip from the gargoyle already holding her.

"Bobby, it's okay. I'll be fine. Just get out of here, see if you can find the others. I promise everything will be alright," Sheila said comfortingly.

The second gargoyle grabbed Bobby and the two of them flew off, somehow being able to fly despite how heavy they looked. Sheila watched them fly out of sight and she wished that they would be alright.


Hank watched as the lightning dipped arrow shot towards the army of orcs. He smiled as it struck the middle of the army and about a dozen orcs died from the explosion of golden light. His smile disappeared after he saw no other effect.

Wait for it, the voice in his head spoke.

And then an even bigger explosion of electrical energy took out even more orcs and severely wounded countless others.

Hank smiled again as the rest of the orcs just stared in confusion of what happened.

Let's see what other tricks I can do, he said to himself.

As another group of orcs stormed out of the castle walls, Hank raised his bow again and created another arrow. But this time, instead of it being consumed by lighting, a miniature blizzard formed around the base of the arrow and it swirled around the arrow until it was connected to the tip and the entire arrow was encircled by a corkscrewing blizzard. He pointed it right at the new group of orcs and let the arrow go.

The arrow shot off, starting to spin just like the blizzard around it. Hank was expecting the arrow to explode and freeze all of the orcs, but instead, the spinning grew faster as the blizzard grew stronger and the tiny snowflakes started to grow until they formed large icicles that still encircled the arrow. The arrow eventually dropped the icicles and shot off by itself and hit one of the orcs. The icicles soon followed, stabbing several orcs, most of them fatally.

Hank smiled again. That works too, he thought to himself.


Sheila watched in silence as Venger awakened the other gargoyles. "Go, join the battle outside. Do what you must to stop him," he ordered before they flew off.

Sheila then walked alongside Venger down the corridors. She didn't know where they were going and she didn't ask either. They eventually reached a balcony where they could see the fighting. Sheila just looked at the destruction. She never thought Hank was capable of such violence.

No, she told herself, that isn't Hank! He's being controlled. But no matter how many times she retold herself that, she couldn't help but feel that part of it was Hank's doing. She just hoped she was wrong.


Hank noticed his prime target standing on a balcony on one of the towers of the castle. He also noticed a certain red-haired beauty standing next to him.

How dare he keep her captive! He thought. I'll enjoy killing him.

And remember, she needs to be punished, the voice spoke, she betrayed us.

I don't care, Hank fought back, just as long as she is safe and realizes she was wrong.

He created three arrows and he willed the ring on his ring finger to dip the arrows in a green, gaseous smoke. As soon as the arrows were bathed in the toxic gas, he let them go. The arrows hit three orcs, but the arrows seemed to go into them instead of actually harming them, but then they started to cough and clutch their stomachs. Suddenly, toxic gas started to pour out of their mouths and the orcs around them started to be affected by the toxic gas. The orcs tried to keep their mouths shut, but then the smoke started to seep out of their noses and eyes. The pain of that became too much and they opened their mouths again, pouring out even more gas than before. Eventually, they dropped dead but their corpses still breathed toxic gas out of their mouths, ears, eyes, and nose.

Hank was a little disturbed to watch that. Did I really do that?

Yes, we did, the voice replied.

Hank decided to brush it off and he created another arrow. He pointed it right at the group of orcs running towards him and willed lightning to surround the arrow. He let it go and the arrow struck the orc at the front of the group and it electrocuted him, and then the electricity shot through the rest of the group in a chain of lightning.

Hank suddenly noticed something large coming towards him, way bigger than an orc. Hank turned towards it and realized it was a large stone gargoyle lumbering towards him. Hank shot an arrow towards him, not even wanting to waste the rings energy on a sole gargoyle, and the creature disintegrated. He then looked above him and noticed a dozen more gargoyles flying towards him. He lifted his bow above his head and created another arrow. He filled the arrow with a black sludge that completely covered it, some of it dripping off of the tip. He then let it go and it flew off into the sky, way above the gargoyles. As the first of the gargoyles landed and started to stagger towards Hank, the arrow exploded in the sky, and a rain of black sludge came down right on top of the gargoyles. The sludge started to burn and smoke on the spots that landed on the gargoyles, causing them to shriek in pain. The sludge eventually grew and started to dissolve the parts of the gargoyle that they were touching until nothing was left but a smoldering pile of rocks.


Bobby held onto the gargoyle that was carrying him and looking down at the forest, searching for his friends, which was near impossible with all of the trees. He stole a look back and he saw that the area around the castle was starting to smoke heavily. He wanted to go back and help Sheila and Hank, but he couldn't do anything without his Club. So he just searched for his friends.

He suddenly noticed a light catch his eye and he looked down to see the sun reflecting off of golden armor.

Eric!

Bobby had never been happier to see the annoying Cavalier. Actually, this is the first time he was happy to see the annoying Cavalier. He seemed to be unconscious, but other than that, the Barbarian couldn't see anything wrong with him. "Put me down right there," Bobby told the gargoyle, pointing down towards the spot Eric was at. The gargoyle didn't respond, but it descended towards the ground and let Bobby go once it hit the ground. The second gargoyle carrying Uni did the same. Uni ran to Bobby and Bobby embraced her. The two gargoyles then turned around and starting flying back to the castle.

Bobby tried to run over to Eric, but winced a little, forgetting his ankle hasn't quite healed yet. He walked a little slower to Eric. Up close, Bobby could tell Eric was injured. It wasn't just the fact that Eric was being quiet, something that almost never happened, but there was a big singe mark on the front of his armor.

Bobby tried to get the Cavalier to awaken, but nothing seemed to work. "Eric?" he asked. No response. Bobby started to shake him. "Eric, get up!" Still no response. "Eric!" Bobby suddenly felt a tear roll down his cheek.

Bobby suddenly stopped. He actually cried for Eric. He thought he would cry for Uni, or Sheila, or any of the others except Eric. But he did. He looked away from the still form and let a few more tears fall from his face, not sure of what to do.

Uni, also feeling sad for the Cavalier who always teased her, trotted up to him and licked his cheek.

"Gah! What the hell?" Eric suddenly sat up.

Bobby turned and exclaimed, "Eric!" Bobby gave the Cavalier a hug and Uni jumped on him, licking him some more.

"Alright, alright, enough! I'm fine, now will you let go of me," Eric said brushing Bobby off. "You too, you glorified donkey," he continued, pushing Uni away from him.

"Good to see you back to normal," Bobby said, suddenly regretting the tears he shed for the rude teenager. "I miss the unconscious Eric."

Eric looked to Bobby, noticing his damp cheeks and regretted his outburst. "Sorry," was all he could muster, not sure how to react. Eric stood up and a burning sensation shot through his chest. "Damn," he winced as he clutched his chest, remembering his last encounter with the Ranger. "Where's the hell is Robin Hood?" Eric asked. "I have some unfinished business with him."

Bobby didn't respond. He just looked back at the large tower of smoke behind him.


Hank walked through the rubble and orc corpses, trying to get through the courtyard and find a way into the castle. He looked at some of his work. A lot of the orcs were covered in singe marks from lightning and others were impaled with icicles that still haven't melted. He noticed the orcs he shot with the poison gas arrows still had a little bit of gas leaking out of their mouths.

He suddenly felt an eerie presence behind him. He created an arrow and turned, releasing it as he did so. Shadow Demon dodged the arrow and he flew towards Hank, shadowy fingers turned into talons. Hank jumped out of the way and turned back towards the dark creature. Shadow Demon lunged towards him again, but Hank shot an ice arrow towards him. The arrow exploded and Shadow Demon broke off into multiple pieces that hung there in the air. Before the pieces could reform, an explosion of cold froze Shadow Demon's tattered body in a giant hunk of ice.

Hank relaxed for a moment, noticing he took out all of the orcs and gargoyles and froze Shadow Demon.

But we are not finished yet, the voice reminded him.

Hank nodded and looked at one of the towers, staring right at Venger.


Sheila turned away from the gruesome scene, holding her hand to her mouth to hold back a few sobs. She couldn't stand to look at what Hank had done for one more second.

She suddenly felt movement beside her and she turned.

Venger was gone.

And the worst was yet to come.


Hank smiled as he saw evil wizard was only fifty feet away. He couldn't wait to plunge an icicle right through his ugly head or shoot lightning right through his non-existent heart.

Attack, the voice in his head ordered. Now.

With pleasure, Hank replied.

With that, he raised his hand and shot a bolt of lightning towards Venger. Venger raised his hand and pointed at the lightning. When the lightning was only about an inch away from his finger, it stopped. Venger twirled his hand around and the lightning followed until Venger pointed back to Hank and it shot towards him. Hank created a blast of ice and shot it at the ground in front of him. The blast created a pillar of ice to shield him from the lightning. But as soon as it hit the pillar, the pillar exploded and a chunk of ice hit Hank's head and he staggered backwards. He reached his hand up to touch his forehead. He pulled it back to see a red, sticky substance on his fingers.

He clenched his hand and gripped his bow harder. He looked back to Venger, who had a slight smirk on his face. Hank clenched his teeth and shot another lightning bolt at Venger, only more powerful. Venger raised his hand again, but this time the lightning did not stop. Instead, it made contact with Venger and shot him backwards. Venger's smirk disappeared instantly and it was replaced with a frown and an icy glare.

Hank smiled. He raised his hand and created a dense cloud of green gas that kept growing more and more outward. Venger waved his hand as soon as the gas was getting close to him and the gas moved around him, leaving a large sphere of clean air surrounding him. He looked around him, searching for the Ranger, but he couldn't see anything in the toxic cloud.

Hank circled Venger, manipulating the gas to move around him and give him full visibility of Venger. He created an arrow and aimed it to the sky and coated it with black acid and shot it off. Venger looked towards the area where it came from and started to generate a ball of silver fire, but the arrow started to rain acid onto Venger.

Venger covered himself with his wings to shield himself from the acid, but it caused several holes all over his wings and a couple singe marks on other parts of his body. Hank waited for Venger to unfold his wings so he could attack, but Venger just crouched with his wings still folded.

Hank was about to shoot another arrow until Venger suddenly unfolded his wings and a wave of red energy covered the entire area, sending Hank tumbling backwards a couple feet.

Venger slowly walked towards the Ranger. He again created a ball of silver fire and was about to shoot it at Hank, until Hank moved his hand slightly and a cloud of gas streamed into Venger's face and disoriented him. Venger stumbled backwards which gave Hank enough time to shoot lightning right at his chest and Venger fell backwards. Hank walked over to him and created a tornado of ice and poison, pinning Venger's arms and legs down as well as knocking him out.

Hank stood over Venger, taking in the moment.

I am about to kill Venger once and for all, he thought. We will be rid of him once and for all!

Yes! We will! Now do it!

Hank raised his bow. An arrow formed, leaking with acid, surrounded by a vortex of ice and toxic gas, and surrounded by an aura of the most powerful bolt of lightning he could conjure and he aimed the arrow right at Venger's heart.

Let's end this!

"No!"


"Bobby, even if you wake them up, they won't be able to walk!" the Cavalier exclaimed as the Barbarian tried to awaken the Acrobat and the Magician.

"At least I'm trying, Eric!" Bobby yelled back.

"Ugh, do what you want! I'll just stand here and stare at the smokestack our noble leader has caused, because he got a little greedy with some jewelry," Eric yelled, annoyed at Bobby's stubbornness. He thought of Hank and Sheila. Bobby told him Hank had gone nuts and Sheila sold herself to Venger for Bobby's safety and a chance to talk to Hank.

What could she possibly have to talk to Hank about? He asked himself in frustration. What could she say to make Hank stop acting insane? 'Oh, Hank, those rings clash with you outfit. You should take them off before someone calls the fashion police!'

Eric turned when he heard Diana groan. "Diana, you're awake!" Bobby ran up to her and hugged her.

"Awake? Uh, what happened?" Diana asked as she tried to stretch her limbs.

"Oh, Hank went nuts, knocked you out, tried to kill me, Sheila went to rescue Bobby, but ended up giving herself up to Venger in order to save him," Eric listed off. "Did I miss anything?"

Diana already had a look of surprise on her face, not sure how to comprehend to so much all at once.

"Oh, yeah, and Hank is trying to destroy Venger while Venger is trying to destroy Hank." Eric continued. "I think that's about it."

"Then come on," Diana said, trying to help herself up, using her Javelin as a cane. "We need to help them." She tried to take a step, but she stumbled. Eric caught her before she fell to her knees.

"You aren't going anywhere," Eric ordered. "Presto could barely move when he was gassed the first time and me and Bobby can't carry the two of you."

"Well what are we supposed to do?" Diana questioned as Eric helped her sit back down.

Eric was quiet for a moment until he answered. "Wait for a miracle."


Hank turned his head to where the voice came from. "Sheila, don't try and stop me! I'm going to do it!"He yelled at her.

Sheila slowly walked up to him, saying "No, Hank! You can't do this! Please, don't!"

Hank's hand loosened, making the arrow grow slightly smaller, but the voice in his head reminded him of the goal and Hank increased the arrow's size again.

"I won't let him live through it this time. This time, I'm going to end it all. I won't fail you or the others again, like at the Graveyard."

"Hank, you already failed us! You attacked us, you stole from us. You did whatever you could to get those rings from us, even resort to threatening me!" She yelled at him, started to tear up at the end.

Hank was taken aback by all this. The arrow vanished from his hand and the ring's energies died out.

"I-I was just trying to help and protect all of you. I thought I was the only one willing to kill Venger and make everything right."

"Hank, killing Venger won't make everything right. You betrayed all of our trust and you think you can make up for it by killing someone? You said at the Graveyard you didn't kill him because it would only make us worse than him. Well look at you Hank! You are already worse than him!"

Hank's mouth opened in shock at what she just said.

Is it true? Am I really worse than Venger? He thought to himself

No, the voice told him. You are better than Venger, you are better than anyone. Don't let this wench persuade you otherwise.

Hank listened to the voice in his head for a moment, but it wasn't soothing or convincing anymore. He felt as if fire was in his brain and steam was coming out of his ears and eyes, just like some of the orcs he killed.

"Hank?" Sheila questioned. "What's wrong?" She walked over to him and looked him in the eyes.

"Sheila, your right…"

NO!

"I won't kill Venger. I'll take the rings back to the temple. I'll stop all of this…"

Sheila looked at him, wondering what he was going to say.

Don't do this!

"I'll stop all of this…" he continued, "if you can find it in your heart to forgive me."

Sheila stared at him for a moment. He wouldn't look at her directly, but Sheila could see that he meant what he was saying. She walked over to him and gave him a light kiss on the cheek and hugged him.

"I already have."

Hank hugged her back. Sheila stepped away and used her hand to wipe away the blood from his cut on his head. Then she held out her other hand.

"Give the rings to me. I'll make sure they are put away forever."

Hank hesitated, but reached to pull one of the rings off of his finger, but his hand started to tremble. His ringed hand clenched, making the energy from the rings start to grow.

"Hank, what's wrong?" Sheila questioned.

"I-I can't t-take them off. I ca-can't move my hands," Hank replied.

"You had to be difficult. You had to be the conquering hero, didn't you?"

Hank listened to the voice, but he realized that the comment wasn't directed to him. It was directed at Sheila. And the voice didn't speak in his head. It spoke through his mouth.

Sheila took a couple steps back, confused. "Hank, what's going on?"

"Sheila, you have to help me!" He yelled urgently. "You need to get these rings off of me, now! They are trying to control me!"

Sheila walked back over to him and grabbed his hand. "It's okay. I'll get them off, we'll be fine," she said trying to calm him down.

"No! One of us will not be fine!" the voice yelled through Hank's mouth. Then a volt of electricity shot from Hank's arm to Sheila's, electrocuting her.

"Ahhhhh!" she screamed in pain and let go. She backed away from Hank and looked at her hand. There was a black burn right on her palm, smoking slightly.

Hank tried to walk over to her, but she cringed when he got close. Hank stepped back, looking at the frightened girl.

He looked at his ringed hand, trembling slightly. Hank grew enraged and he grabbed his own fingers. He fought with the voice for control over his hands.

"Don't fight!" the voice yelled.

"Get. Out. Of. My. Head!" Hank fought back.

Hank pulled off the white ring and threw it to the ground.

"No!"

Hank felt the voice grow weaker. His hand was fighting less and the voice barely spoke out of Hank's mouth.

Not only that, but Hank's head felt lighter and a wave of regret suddenly hit him. About his friends, the orcs, Venger, and Sheila.

Hank used this new motivation to pluck off each of the other rings, starting with the black, and then the green. He hesitated with the blue. It was the last of the rings. Maybe he was making a mistake.

But then he looked at Sheila again. She had a pleading look on her face, still holding her burnt hand.

Hank slowly slipped off the ring and looked at it. He then threw it down to the ground with the other rings. He then fell to his knees and put his hands on the ground and lowered his head. He felt such relief with all that power suddenly stripped off of him and the voice out of his head.

But then the guilt started to flow into him and it felt much worse than before.

Sheila knelt next to him and put her hand on his shoulder. He couldn't look at her. He let her down as well as everyone else. He couldn't stand to look at any of them right now.

Sheila wanted to comfort him and make him feel better, but she couldn't think of anything that sounded right.

Hank started to stand back up and Sheila followed him. "I can't stay here," he said quietly.

"I know. We won't stay here long. We can go back and…" Sheila started but Hank interrupted her.

"No. I mean I can't go back to our friends yet. I can't face them now."

Sheila was confused. "Hank, I don't understand."

Hank looked at her. "I need to be alone. I…"

Sheila understood. She turned around and ripped off her sleeve. She picked up each ring and put them in the fabric and tied the ends together. When she looked back, Hank was gone.


One more chapter to go! Standby.