The Laws of Fear

Target: Captain Skull Head

"Move it you lazy sea-slugs!" yelled the undead pirate at the steering wheel of the ship. He had a blackened skull for a head with one red eye, a golden tooth, and a silver-colored eye-patch. His attire was the usual clothes of a pirate captain, and he had a pure black hook instead of a left hand. The pirate was calling down to the crew of the ship, the Siren Skull, which had just successfully raided a nearby mabu village, killing all the inhabitants in the process, and were trying to out-race a storm heading towards them.

Fears: Sailing through a storm.

"Captain!" yelled the skeleton pirate in the Crow's Nest on top of the mast. "There's a storm ahead! Even bigger than the one behind us!"

"WHAT!" yelled Skull Head, taking out a telescope. Looking through it, he saw that the skeleton was right; the storm ahead was massive and was coming fast. Suddenly, a shape flew across his field of vision, causing him to stumble backwards.

Crimes: Numerous accounts of raiding, murder, and theft.

Before he could have another thought on the matter, Captain Skull Head heard a scream. A moment later, the skeleton that was in the Crow's Nest landed right in front of the undead pirate captain. His skull was smashed inward, and a red and black smoke-like substance rose from it. Suddenly, another scream sounded from across the deck.

Punishment: Execution

What happened next was a blur of screaming and flailing bodies to Skull Head. The next thing he knew, the air was filled with black undead blood and cut-off body parts like bits of confetti, while the air was filled with the same black and red smoke and the less tangible screams of pain and fear coming from the undead pirates. It was a blood-bath. A massacre.

Seeing this, the cowardly pirate captain ran into his cabin, which was right behind the steering wheel of the ship. Locking the door behind him, he grabbed the gun next to the door and turned back to his cabin. It was a simply furnished place, with only a desk in the middle of the room, a chair behind the desk, and a bed at the very back. The windowless walls were covered with pictures of the many villages he'd attacked, each one taken right before he'd burned it down and killed all it's inhabitants. All of the walls were covered from top to bottom.

Captain Skull Head ran behind his desk with the gun in hand, and crouched down behind it. He was in that position for about an hour, listening to the screams of his fellow undead pirates and, after a while, the rumble of thunder. He knew the storms heading towards the ship wouldn't be far off. Then...silence. No more noise except the thunder. Not a single scream.

Peaking his head over the edge of his desk, he saw the door opened. In the threshold, a cloaked figure stood, carrying a huge double-edged sword made of a pure black metal in their right hand. Seeing this, Skull Head leaped up and pointed his gun at the dark figure.

"Stay back!" he yelled. The cloaked figure didn't seem to hear him, as they began to swing their sword like a baton, ripping the wooden floor like a plow across a field, and walked towards him slowly.

"I said, stay back!" Skull Head shouted before shooting at the figure. In an instant, a pale-blue hand shot out of the figures cloak and grabbed the bullet in midair between the thumb and forefinger. The skeleton pirate dropped his gun in shock. "What are you?"

The cloaked figure didn't answer, instead flinging the bullet away to the side and continuing forward towards Skull Head. Backing away, the pirate began to beg for his life, mumbling about all the things he didn't get to do and that he would change his ways if he could just be spared right now. When the cloaked figure got to the desk, they slammed the sword down in front of them, splitting the desk in two, and Skull Head began to just plain scream. Finally, the cloaked figure stopped right in front of the screaming pirate, heaved the sword above them, and brought it down upon Skull Head...

OOOOOOOO

Outside of the ship, the two storms in front of and behind the ship converged upon each other, and the Siren Skull was caught between them. Moments later, all that was left of the ship was a few charred and blackened pieces of debris and several smoldering pieces of bone.

OOOOOOOO

Reapers' Hall was a large place. In fact, some say it's the largest structure in the underworld. Though others argue that since it technically resides in one of the pocket dimensions of the underworld and doesn't really have any mass for the same reason, it can't be counted as the largest or even a structure in the underworld. This is where, an hour after the destruction of the Siren Skull, the cloaked figure who was responsible for it appeared. Quite literally appeared, as the cloaked figure had materialized out of nowhere in one of the side entrances of Reapers' Hall.

The entrance itself was fairly big, with black metal columns on either side and a dark marble floor carved in silver with a strange and intricate design. Torches were placed on poles stationed between each column, and the flames were a dark purple color. At the far end of the room, a marble desk was placed between two hallways. At the desk in front of a strangely shaped computer was what lookedto be a vampire, but who was actually a vampire reaper, signified by the missing pupils in his eyes. Looking up, the silver-haired vampire reaper saw the cloaked figure coming towards him.

"No cloaks in Reapers' Hall," he said. The figure paused, then the cloak appeared to dissolve into tattered bits of shadow, which quickly dissolved as well. The vampire reaper now saw that he was an undead elf with black hair and eyes that seemed to be filled with darkness(a physical trait that wasn't uncommon among reapers). He was wearing black jeans, a plain black shirt, and a black leather jacket. Coming up to the desk, the elf reaper asked for his next assignment.

"Very well," said the vampire. "I'll just need your name."

"Hades," responded the elf. "Hades Necromen."

At the mention of the elf's last name, the vampire reaper paused in his typing. Can...can it be? Is this the son...of the Skylanders Rider and Hex?, he thought. Realizing that from the rumors surrounding this particular reaper, the vampire-born reaper decided to look it up on Hades' file. A moment later, the search confirmed it; the vampire reaper was indeed talking to the Hades Necromen, and the file also confirmed that he was everything he was said to be. Mostly in the mission that was assigned to him.

"You...you have the Frostfest shade assignment," said the vampire reaper, more than a little surprised. Every reaper in the underworld had heard of that particular mission. Three reapers had already been assigned it. None had come back. What was even surprising was that Hades just nodded at this, almost as though he was glad.

"Excellent. I would have gotten it sooner, but I was busy with other things. Speaking of which...," said Hades, before he pulled out a pure black metal hook from his pocket and handed it to the vampire reaper. "Mind putting this in my locker?"

"I'll make sure it gets there," said the vampire reaper, taking the black hook.

"Good, because if you don't...well, you know how it goes. Right?" Hades asked. The vampire reaper nodded nervously. "Good." Satisfied that he had finished his business, the elf reaper disappeared just as his cloak had. Looking over at Hades file again, the vampire reaper read over it again. When he was finished, only one thought went through his mind.

May Mortalannis help anyone unlucky enough to come in the way of Hades Necromen...

A/N

A/N

What can I say...? I was thinking of Dragula, by Rob Zombie for the fight scene. Or is it massacre scene? That was both a question and a pun, ergo a very sick pun in this case. I mean, my mind scares me sometimes.

"It scares me too."

{glares}Don't test me Foaly. Otherwise, you may find that I can be a lot scarier...

"{gulps}Noted..."

Good. Anyway, I just want all you readers out there to know that I am not an "R.L Stein" as some may say. I'm really more of a "Christopher Paolini" when it comes to writing about fighting scenes. I tell it how it is. And if anybody has any complaints about it, read the rating people. I have a reason for making it T. Now for the riddle about next chapter's title:

When sneaking about,
Don't be _ out.

I guess I really like to have people guessing. Like you will once you read the next few sentences. How powerful is Hades? What will happen to Sparx, Triton Strike, Angela, and Lefa? Who is this mysterious, meatloaf-loving being? What are the Reborn? Why am I asking these questions when I already know the answer to them? Where's my sandwhich?! Oh here it is. Where was I? Oh yeah. Read or wait for(depending on when you're reading this)the next chapter to find out. Until then, stay magical!