Author's note: Hey, guys. We've reached chapter twelve and I still have one season of SRMTHFG left to watch.
Chiro, Mandarin, and Skeleton King walked inside the eerie cave, each step beckoning them closer. The light seemed almost ritualistic and Chiro had the feeling that they stepped inside a mystic place. Stalagmites and stalactites were everywhere in sight, and Mandarin was keeping a tight, possessive hold on his hand. If he didn't know any better, he would have thought that he was going to be sacrificed to some irate god.
They began to walk more quickly and, after advancing so far away, they came to a wall with the shape of a scepter, the right shape for Skeleton King's scepter, even. He placed it inside, the wall began to rotate, and after taking the monstrous staff back, the one, which had been an instrument of torment for so many defeated planets, the bloodthirsty king began to smirk and wait.
Mere seconds later, a hooded figure approached, seeming to almost blend in with the darkness, yet he marched towards them, stepping into the light. He was fairly short, the same high as Chiro's and he was wearing a brown hood. As soon as his onix eyes scanned Skeleton King's face, he began to tremble. With shaky hands, he took off the coverage, exposing his dark mane of hair and his aged, tired visage.
Despite being afraid, he tried not to show it and addressed Skeleton King respectfully.
"My King, what brings you to such a faraway place as my humble abode?" the man asked.
Skeleton King merely glared, enjoying the anguish such an action would provoke. He loved watching his prey squirm and playing with his food.
"Who is that?" Chiro asked Mandarin, while barely refraining from pointing at the stranger.
"That, my young apprentice is the chief warlock, Kayden. However, his name is inconsequential. He is a failure, take heed not to repeat his mistakes and become like him."
Chiro was suddenly overwhelmed with pity and a desire to make friends with the man who was in hot water at the moment.
"Pathetic fool, you and your kind have not paid for my continued mercy. If I don't see any change, when the dark one worm comes a-knocking, you shall be its first target!" Skeleton King's soft, chilling voice rang out.
The warlock nodded and said "Yes, your majesty, yes. The reviving crystals are on their way."
"Dark one worm?" Chiro wondered aloud yet Mandarin did not answer.
They resumed their walk, the cave becoming a complicated set of mazes which Chiro tried to memorize to the best of his ability, yet a pen and a paper to draw on wouldn't have been remiss. They stepped out of the maze and entered a luxurious room decorated in vermilion, the color of fine wine and black. The chairs made of cherry wood were very sturdy and of course, the table linen was white and almost seemed to sparkle.
On the table, there were many delicacies like fried chicken filled with cream cheese, baked potatoes with gravy, and healthy spinach. There was also dessert and all kinds of bread. Chiro was hungry and couldn't wait to take a bite, however, Skeleton King was not impressed with the festivities. He raised a mocking eyebrow and said "My, Kayden, it almost looks like you want to hide your inadequacies behind mountains of food."
"I think Kayden is a nice host and you should stop terrifying him...sir," Chiro said, spitting out the last word in a sarcastic manner.
"You would," Skeleton King responded while Mandarin shook his head at what he considered gross audacity. The warlock was looking at Chiro, searching for hidden intentions.
They all sat down, yet before the boy could take a bite, Skeleton King took hold of his hand and said "Let us check for poisons first, little thorn."
Blue magical energy was waved around the table, encompassing all of the food for a couple of minutes. Finally, it died down, and Skeleton King seemed to approve enough to let Chiro eat. The child was looking around, eating dessert first and chewing slowly, savoring the dark pudding. He began to inspect what everyone else was doing. Kayden could barely take a bite, too tensed and frightened to do more than nibble now and then. Mandarin was ravenous and Chiro was halfway thinking of telling him jokingly to mind his manners because he was setting a bad example while Skeleton King, well, he seemed dispassionate, too much used to eating more delicious food at the castle to care about 'peasant food.' Or at least that was Chiro's impression.
The following action happened fast, despite its brutality. Skeleton King's eyes narrowed and without saying a word he threw Chiro out of the chair, just in time for a poisoned arrow to embed itself in the wall near the child's head.
"Ahhhh!" Chiro screamed in surprise while Mandarin twitched.
Seven battle-ready warlocks descended from the shadows, their weapons pointed at Skeleton King but the evil warlord did not panic. With a single hand, he summoned them towards him, enveloping them in magical energy and suspending them in the air, almost like he was playing with dolls. But he had a grave expression on his face, his heated glare alone could make their hearts shrink away in terror.
"Kayden, what is this?" Skeleton King grumbled rhetorically.
"Your Majesty, please! I had no idea they would dare try to attack you!" the poor man said.
Skeleton King seemed to be deliberating for a minute before he muttered a couple of spells, then all the arrows from the rebel magicians, fired towards the chief warlock, almost hitting him, were it not for Chiro who jumped on the table and used a silver plate to block the arrows. Chiro looked back at his captors, Skeleton King was smirking and Mandarin was shaking his head disapprovingly at his show of benevolence.
Chiro glowered.
Skeleton King ignored him in favor of asking Mandarin "If he is not even capable of reigning in a couple of renegades, how useful would he be in reviving the dark worm? Mandarin, shall I end his pitiful existence?"
"Oh, yes, my Lord. That would be spectacular," the orange robot simian said.
'Dinner and a show,' Mandarin thought.
"Wait! Don't kill him, It's not his fault. Why must you punish someone for the mistakes of others?" Chiro shouted aloud, his voice resonating in the cave.
"Fair point, Chiro. Shall I slowly torture this pitiful rebellion and then kill them according to their deeds?" Skeleton King mused.
"No!" Chiro continued yelling scandalized, while Mandarin cackled softly.
"Spare them, please," Chiro begged as Skeleton King walked towards him, grabbed Chiro's chin, tilted it up so they were eye to eye, and asked softly, "You do remember they tried to kill you, don't you boy?"
"So did you, on numerous occasions," Chiro pointed out, arms crossed.
'They must have done that because they thought I was on Skeleton King's side,' Chiro suddenly thought, feeling slightly ill.
"One drop of that poison could have ensured you would die a slow, agonizing death. There is no antidote," Skeleton King said and the boy knew that every second mattered in this argument that he should not give up. His arch-enemy was like a ticking time bomb, ready to detonate, unless...
"Please, just, keep them alive. You want me to be more respectful or insanely filial, I-I'll learn. Just please…"Chiro whispered.
Skeleton King looked pleased with himself while Mandarin seemed a bit jealous because of Chiro's compliance and promises.
"Very well, they shall live..." Skeleton King began to announce, but not before taking one last contemptuous look at the rebels. With swiftness and mercilessness, he extended his other hand, and almost immediately the aging curse began to take effect. Bones began to ache, hair began to whiten, groans and moans of pain could be heard as Chiro looked on in horror.
"...the extremely short life they have left."
Author's note: end of chapter twelve.