The Dragon's Bounty II:Rising Shadow

Chapter 15

Dagger clutched his head as he stumbled out of bed, falling to the ground.
Kathrine awoke and looked over at him. "Are you alright, dear?" She asked.
Dagger nodded. "Just a little headache." He said.
"You sure?" Kathrine asked.
Dagger nodded. "I just need a moment." He stumbled out the door into the hall, snapping his fingers for a pair of pants. Still clutching his throbbing head, he propped himself on the wall and continued down the hallway. While descending the stairs, he tripped and tumbled down them, sitting at the bottom, focused only on the pain in his head. He pulled himself to his feet and continued on, until he found himself in the cellar. Two guards stood watch over the demon chest, which had just arrived earlier that night.
"Sir, are you alright?" One of the guards asked.
Dagger nodded. "I just want to see the chest." He said. The guards nodded and stepped aside, allowing him entrance into the center chamber. He waved his hand, sealing the stone door behind him, locking himself in the stone room with chains hanging from all directions, where he and his team had held back the Demon King once before. He opened the chest and took a deep breath, his head starting to slow its throb. When he took another breath, his head eased even more. "Much better." He said. He closed the chest and opened the door once more, nodding to the guards before heading back to his room.

Kai floated around in Limbo, reading a book about demons, trying to get as much information as he could.
He closed the book as he finished the last of it. "Got anything else?" He asked. The Gatekeeper looked up at him. A book appeared in his hand. He opened his hand for Kai to give him the book he had finished. Kai simply pushed the book in the right direction and it floated down to the skeleton hand, the Gatekeeper doing the same with his book. Kai looked at the title: The Shadow Realm. "You seriously need to work on how you title your journals." Kai said. The gatekeeper shrugged, the sound of moving bones echoing throughout the blue expanse. Kai shrugged and opened the book, starting on this book with a sigh.

Khan slammed his fist into the chest, but nothing happened.
"While Kai gets as much research from the gatekeeper as he can, we have to try our best to destroy this chest." He pointed at it for everyone else to see.
Aro slammed his fist into his palm. "Huey?" He asked. Huey nodded and placed his finger on Aro's neck. Aro's shout echoed around the small room, igniting his blue glimmer. He dashed forward and laid into the chest, sending a flurry of punches into the front of it. Duros punched the back of the chest with his stone fists, helping Aro along as his fists dimmed a small bit every few punches, but were refueled by somewhere else on his body. Lance fired his red energy at one side of the chest while Khan fired lightning bolts at the other side. Once everyone stopped, the chest had taken no damage.
"Step back." Alexander said, lightly pushing Aro aside. Aro nodded and stepped back. Alexander's stone began to glow, along with his throat. His eyes took a reptilian aesthetic and he opened his mouth, spreading hellfire all over the chest. Once he was out of flames, the chest still had taken no damage. Alexander fell backward and began breathing heavily. "Nothing?" He asked. Khan shook his head. Alexander sat down and continued to breathe heavily. Ethan held out his hands and fired a volley of spikes at the chest, but each one bounced off.
He sighed and shook his head. "It's no use. This thing's invincible."
Kai appeared beside Duros and grabbed the chest. "I'll need this. The Gatekeeper gave me an idea, not sure if it'll work." He activated his wings and flew at super speeds toward the cave in the ground. He landed next to the river Styx and dropped the chest into the water, watching it float down the stream. "Now, he should only be able to pop out of it in another dimension." He said with a grin. Once the chest disappeared from view, Kai dusted his hands off. He crouched down to take off, but heard a sound behind him. He turned to see the chest sitting on the riverbank. Kai jumped back in surprise. He slumped over. "Well that didn't work." He grabbed the chest and flew back to Freyan. He dropped the chest in front of the group, who all simply stared at it.
"What do we do now?" Andrew asked.
Khan sighed. "I'm not sure. Huey, you got anything?"
Huey shook his head. "Nothing. I can't think of a single way to destroy this chest."
Kai planted his fist into his palm. "Then we'll just have to prepare to fight the Demon King."
"That is a fight you cannot win." Everyone turned around to see Hydra, standing there in his human form. "The Demon King has power beyond comprehension. You cannot hope to ever destroy him."
"That's not entirely true." Everyone turned to see Dagger, holding a strange knife in his hand. "This knife has been heavily blessed by all the churches in the land, meaning it has the power to destroy any demon foolish enough to attack us, but it must be charged."
"How do we charge it?" Lance asked.
Dagger shrugged. "I'll have to read more about it, but until we figure it out, we'll just have to hope we have a while before he appears." Everyone nodded.
"No place is safe as long as this chest is intact." Huey said.
"But there's nothing we can do about that." Kai said.
Huey sighed. "I'm afraid he's right."
"We can't give up." Aro said. "Sure we're scared, but we've overcome everything thrown at us so far, so I'm sure we can pull one last one off with the Demon King."
Khan nodded. "We also need to beware the other two second level demons. We have no idea how powerful they are. They would probably present a challenge if we had to face them."
Duros put his hand to his chin. "What if we put the chest super far into the ground?" He asked.
Huey shook his head. "I'm pretty sure the Demon King can destroy a little stone and dirt, or at least move it out of his way."
"What about the spirit realm?" Andrew asked.
Kai sighed. "I can't take anything with me there, or back." Everyone thought as hard as they could, but came up with nothing. "Well, we could at least take our minds off of it for the time being." Kai said.
Khan shook his head. "This will be the fight of our lives, we can't just put it off when we don't even know what or when to expect it." He sighed. "Sorry, it's just we can't lose this fight. If we do it means the end of the mortal realm."
Kai nodded. "I was just thinking maybe if we cleared our minds we could have a more prominent idea."
Khan placed his hands on his face and groaned. "Why don't we have more time?!" He shouted.
"Calm down." Huey said. "We could have more time than we need, or we could have not enough time, but we can't rush anything. We have to take our time or we'll tear ourselves apart."
Khan nodded. "Maybe Kai's right. Let's take a day just to relax and have fun. Maybe then we'll have a new approach to all this." Everyone nodded, walking out of the cellar.
"So, what should we do on our fun day?" Duros asked.
Kai shrugged. "I was hoping maybe you guys would think of something." They walked into the dining room where the Minotaur was scarfing down an entire feast by himself. Kathrine was scolding him, but he ignored her.
"Maybe we could have that alliance offer?" Dagger asked.
Kai pointed to him. "Great idea! A few of us will head over to Raal, while a few of us stay here and watch the chest." Everyone smiled and nodded.
"And Maybe Elliot will be back by the time the Demon King comes, fully charged and ready for action." Huey said with a smile. Everyone nodded.
"So It's decided. Half of us will go to Raal, half will stay here." Dagger stood on one side on the dining room, while Khan stood on the other.
Kai joined Dagger. "I'm itching for an adventure!" He said.
Duros trudged over to Khan. "I'm not fit for travel at the moment.
Huey shrugged and backpedaled over to Khan. "I'll stay here." Lance and Destiny stood with Khan as well. Aro and Andrew walked over to Dagger, Emma close behind. Everyone looked to Alexander and Ethan.
Alexander walked over to Dagger. "I swore to protect you no matter what.
Ethan shrugged. "Guess that means I'll stay here."
Hydra appeared next to Khan. "I'll just stay and nap."
The Minotaur walked over to Dagger. "Where we going?" He asked.
"To Raal." Dagger said. The Minotaur shrugged and stayed on that side.
"Well, we probably should leave soon." Kai said. Dagger nodded.
"Be safe." Kathrine said, embracing Dagger before kissing him.
Dagger nodded. "I'll always come home to you." He said with a confident smile.
"Take the Stormy Fox, I guess, but she won't listen as well to you." Khan said.
Dagger nodded. "Let's head out. I want that alliance signed right away!" He marched out into the throne room, his group following him across the bridge and toward the tavern. The tavern lifted up and began walking south, toward Raal. "Alright, so I need everyone just to not embarrass us." Dagger said.
"Why did you even bring all of us along?" Kai asked.
"Well, this way, I don't use any of my army if they for some reason turn on us." Kai shrugged.
"So we're your meat shield?" Aro asked.
"Sorta, yeah." Dagger said with a shrug. Andrew strummed a tune and whistled a little number. The Minotaur, who had a bit of trouble getting through the door, blinked rapidly before closing his eyes completely and snoring very loudly. Andrew slowed down until he stopped and looked at the Minotaur, who was sound asleep.
"That's gonna get old." Dagger said.
"Gonna?" Kai asked, dropping his face onto the table.

Khan sat in the cellar and watched the chest. Lance knocked on the wall as he walked in.
"Khan, you can't sit here until he pops out. It's not good for you."
Khan glanced at him. "I can and I will. I'll hold him off until everyone else is ready."
Lance sighed. "Lemme take over. Go take a break."
Khan nodded. "I'll go grab a bite to eat and come back."
Lance nodded. He placed his hand on Khan's shoulder. "Like Aro said, we'll pull through. We have to."
Khan nodded and walked out of the cellar. "I sure hope so." He said.