Footsteps echoed through the dimly lit corridor. Michelle sprinted as fast as she could, under the load of three weapons, back towards the sacrificial chamber. She burst through the throne room doors and down the winding stairs back to the gigantic steel door. She could still hear fighting right on the other side.

“Ryan! Mark! Vanya, anyone please open the door!” she cried while banging on the metal. But all she could hear were grunts, clangs, and people being thrown into the wall. Suddenly, a tremendous roar sounded from within the chamber. Without thinking, Michelle ducked and the pair of steel doors flew like paper into the opposite, black, stone wall, completely broken off from their hinges. The weapons in her hands scattered to the ground.

Hastily, she scrambled to collect the weapons back up, when two cloaked figures followed suit of the doors and slammed into the walls behind her. She looked up and gasped.

The monster was now grabbing anything it could reach and throwing it around the room. Ryan, Mark, and Vanya seemed not to have noticed, for they were still furiously dueling with the crowned man’s henchmen.

“Ryan! Ryan over here!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. Ryan whirled around and saw the most beautiful sight he had ever seen. Ryan took one glance at Michelle, smiled, and nodded. He yelled an inaudible command, and turned towards Michelle. Ryan swept his pole in a circle along the ground, sweeping many cloaked figures off their feet, their backs colliding with the stony ground painfully. Mark jumped over Ryan’s crouched figure and bashed another in the skull with his own pole, feeling the sickening crunch as the man’s head imploded. Vanya followed suit and rammed his pole into one of the henchmen, and impaled him into the ground, leaving blood dripping from his weapon.

Finally, the three fought their way up to the doors, but there seemed to be a limitless supply of the henchmen. Quickly, Ryan grabbed his Asianic Bow, Mark grasped his Holy Spear, and Vanya commanded his Kage. Weapons reunited with their masters. With the same evil grin spreading about their face, the three of them rammed their way back into the fray, shooting, slashing, and smashing.

Vanya raised his staff above his head, focusing all of his energy into it. His eyes turned white and he let out a bellowing cry, which turned into that of a dragon. Suddenly, a full size black dragon crashed through the hole the other monster had made. It released a stream of fire, incinerating many of the cloaked figures. However, this seemed to attract the attention of the monster, who engaged in a fearsome battle with Vanya’s great dragon. Ryan, summoning all his power into his bow, pulled four arrows back and instantly impaled four different people. Mark swung his Holy Spear around in an arc, cutting down many foes bloodily. Michelle stared from the entrance to the sacrificial chamber, watching the mass carnage. The sacrifice of hundreds of people had been made. With each second, more people added to this list of sacrifices.

All of a sudden, someone grabbed Michelle from the waist and dragged her up the stairs. “Ryan! Ryan help me!” With a scream, she disappeared from view. Ryan whipped around just in time to see her fly up the stairs. “NO!” he yelled in anger. He was just about to run after her, but something sprang into his mind. If he went after her, he would certainly leave Mark and Vanya to their deaths. He surveyed the carnage, as Vanya and Mark closed in around Ryan, protecting him from danger. He had to make the choice, but which one could he choose? Who could he save? The problem was choice. Then he made up his decision. With a final look at the two, he muttered to his friends, “See you guys in a next life my brothers.” Ryan sprinted away from the carnage, abandoning Mark and Vanya for Michelle. The clashes of battle grew faint. There was one last roar from Vanya’s dragon, and then Ryan heard nothing more.

Michelle landed hard on the cold marble floor of the throne room, crying in pain. The man with the crown towered over her threateningly. “So,” he snickered, “You have decided to reject your fate. We’ll see about that,” he drew a single Ilbi star. Slowly, he placed it on Michelle’s neck and muttered, “Good bye, Ms. Weirs.”

Suddenly, four arrows rained down on the crowned man, who immediately flash jumped out of the way. The arrows pinged and slid across the floor harmlessly. Ryan arrived on top of the stairwell, with a burning rage flashing in his eyes which matched the roaring fire inside his heart.

“Ha,” the crowned man laughed at Michelle who had scurried to a corner, “I believe my dear, we have a guest!” He turned towards Ryan. “Sir I bid you welcome. You are about to witness the greatest feat a man will ever do.”

Ryan stopped abruptly. “What the hell do you mean?”

“This sacrifice will save your world from destruction,” the man answered menacingly, now drawing another Ilbi star, “You see, while your friends aimlessly fight their way through my men, I hold the true reason why you are all here. Your friends will die Ryan, and for nothing. The happenings down there will have no effect, for I will be the one who completes it, and you will not stop me.”

“The hell I won’t,” Ryan raised his bow and fired four more arrows at the man. He quickly dodged out of the way, flash jumping onto the top of the throne and fired four Ilbis of his own. Ryan rolled out of the way hastily and the stars imbedded themselves into the marble. Ryan launched another volley of arrows, but missed again as the man continued to flash jump around the room, throwing more of his stars. Soon, the ground was littered with hundreds of Ilbis and chunks of marble displaced by the stars, along with many wasted steel arrows.

“Stay where you are,” a shout came from the corner. Ryan instantly drew four arrows from his shaft, his last four, and aimed it at the direction of the voice. But with a cry of dismay, he saw the man holding Michelle by the neck, wielding two Ilbis threateningly close to her throat. “You move, and she dies.”

“Stop!” Ryan screamed, “Please, stop, I give up, I will take her place, anything, please just let her live!” He lowered his arrows, loosening his grip on his bow. For a moment, it seemed the man had accepted Ryan’s surrender.

“Fool,” he muttered with a diabolical grin painted on his face. In a blurry mess, the man thrust his Ilbis deep into Michelle’s stomach. Her eyes widened in shock, gasped in pain and crumpled to the floor, a pool of blood slowly spreading on the marble. “NOOOOO!” Ryan screamed. Without thinking, he raised his remaining four arrows again and fired it into the man, who tried to jump away, but two caught his right shoulder, imbedding themselves into the man’s flesh. “AAARRGH!” he gasped in agony, “You cannot save her now! The deed is done!” Then without warning, a black hand shot out from the stairwell, grabbed the man with the crown, and withdrew him into the depths of the earth.

“Oh no, oh no no no!” Ryan whispered as he dropped his Asianic Bow with a clatter and ran over to Michelle. He rolled her onto her back and with one hand, tried to stem the blood flow. With the other, he grasped Michelle’s hand tightly. “Michelle, please, don’t go, don’t leave me here alone,” he cried, not bothering to stem the tears flowing freely from his hazel eyes. Michelle’s crystal blue eyes met Ryan’s. There were no tears in her eyes. She slowly reached up to his face and stroked it gently. “Thank you R-Ryan, for e-everything, but I-I must go now.” she whispered with great strain, “I-I love you Ryan.” She pulled his trembling neck gently down towards her and kissed Ryan on the mouth. Her eyes closed.