The Seven Chairs

  "This is the fifth time," the 19 year-old water Elementalist muttered. "The fifth bloody time!"

The fire Elementalist who stood beside his friend snorted at his antics. Both boys were residing in the Palace of Places, one of the many Elementalist headquarters all over the world, this one in Paris.

To the mortal eye, the Palace looked like nothing more then an abandoned cathedral. But to an Elementalist, the Palace was a 30ft tall, glowing -well, not abandoned church. Several concrete pillars held up an overhang that covered 2 large oak doors with intricate images carved into the wood.

Currently, the fire Elementalist -let's call him Ivan- and the water Elementalist -let's call him Rian- were standing over the dead body of supposed to be apprentice. But here's the thing, e wasn't dead. It was more along the lines of that her soul was horribly sucked out of her body.

She'd been found in a broken sock factory, tied to a chair via barbed wire.

But believe it or not, that wasn't the worst part. Inscribed on her face -well, more like carved- were multiple incantations in several demonic languages.

"It seems as though she was being used for a Satanic ritual. But what the ritual was supposed to do, I have no idea." Ivan stated with a shrug.

"Well, duh," Rian started. "This body is exactly like the 4 others. And out of all the books I've read in the Palace's library, there's only 1 ritual that needs 5 soulless bodies. Actually, it needs 7."

"The Ritual of the 7 Chairs." Ivan grimly said. Rian nodded.

The Ritual of the 7 Chairs was a ritual -obviously- made to open a gate to the Underworld. Whoever opens the Gate, has complete control of whatever comes out of it. At the time when the ritual was first created, 7 was considered a magical number, so 7 sacrifices.

"According to the archives, last time this ritual was preformed was over 1000 years ago. Who would be doing it now?" Ivan questioned.

As if on cue, near the entrance of the Palace, a wall of water began to form. When the water had finally settled, a man in a mask was revealed. (Little bit cliche, don't you think?)

"Greetings fellow Elementalists. I see you have discovered my plans. But I have a challenge for 2 boys by the names of Rian Thomas and Ivan Hunt. Come to Egypt -Giza Pyramid to be exact, and you might just save 2 more lives." As his message finished, the water wall broke and hit the tiles with a 'splat'. Ivan and Rian looked at each other.

"Well," Rian tapped his foot in the ground. "What are you bloody waiting for? An invitation to the ball? Let's get packing!" And once again, Ivan snorted at his friends antics.

*************

They'd been in Egypt for a few hours now. Water traveling to another continent had taken its toll on Rian, so rest was compulsory. Though passing put for 4 hours would be a better way to put it.

"Sooooooo. The Giza Pyramid. Shall we?" Asked Ivan.

"We shall good friend, we shall." Rian answered.

So off the 2 boys went. Hopefully they'd make it in time to stop the ritual, because if they didn't, then were all going to Hades. Or rather, Hades is coming to us.

*************

"Watch it, Human Torch!" Yelped Rian. "You nearly scorched my hair off!" This earned Rian an elbow to the gut via Ivan.

When they'd arrived, a note instructing them to be in the exact centre of the pyramid had been waiting for them. But, since neither of them had ever been there, water travel was out of the question. So they had to get it done the old fashioned way.

Finally, Rian and Ivan emerged into a vast cave-like room. Large stalactites hung from the ceiling. It was slightly illuminated due to some cracks in the walls, so Ivan was able to extinguish his for light. They assumed they were in the right place, for the masked man stood in the corner, sucking the soul of the seventh body. (The sixth was lying about ten away from the man, their soul being already sucked up.)

"IVAN!" Rian yelled. Ivan charged at the masked man, but instead of making any move to defend himself, the masked man -let's call him 'The Stranger' from now on- waited until Ivan was at arms length, then grabbed his wrist and jerked him forwards. The Stranger grabbed a knife and cut along Ivan's palm and turned it upside down. Ivan's blood dripped into the nearly soulless person's mouth, and once a good amount had covered the unknown's face, Ivan was blasted back by gust of wind. The Stranger started muttering an incantation Rian could not decipher, but even if he could, it may not be the first he would have on his mind, seeing as he still had to stop the Gate form opening.

Rian tried to run to his friends aid, but was too blasted back by a gust of strong wind.

"Air Elementalist," he thought, dazed. He tried getting up, but the attempt was futile, The Stranger had stopped his incantation, meaning that the ritual was complete. The gate was opening.

The wall across from Rian had begun to ripple, as though it were a mirage. Rian turned to his side and saw Ivan looking at him.

"Rian," Ivan shouted over the noise. The opening of the gate had caused the rest of the cave to rattle, creating an array of noise.

"If we kill who opened the Gate, then we might be able to stop this!" He finished. Rian nodded and got ready to defend his friend. It was an unspoken for the two of them. Whoever came up with the plan got to lead and the other would act as look-out of defender.

Ivan waited until he was in range to shoot a large fireball at The Stranger. But he ducked at the last second and let loose a cackle.

"Com'on Ivan! You can't be serious!" He shrieked. Ivan was a bit taken back by this, The Stranger's voice now seemed so familiar. Who is this guy, he thought.

"Your little boy toy may have figured out which ritual I was doing, but you're the one that knows what goes in it." The Stranger said evilly. Ivan thought about it for a moment. What did go into this ritual? Then it dawned on him.
"No...." His jaw went slack.

"Yes!" The Stranger screamed. "Yes! It requires the blood of your next of kin!" The Stranger's maniac grin only see to grow wider as he continued. "And I know you Ivan. You wouldn't dare strike down your dear old dad, would you?" Ivan's hand clenched into a fist. He always knew his father was a power hungry fool, but he'd never thought he'd go so low. As to condemn 7 souls to a fate worse than death. Out of impulse and anger he threw a punch at his 'father'.

Of course, he missed. But that was all the prompt Rian needed for his -mostly likely, at least- suicidal plan. Sneaking behind The Stranger, Rian summoned a ball of water and shaped it into a knife. Then, he froze it, so that it's actually be useful.

Without any hesitation Rian plunged the frozen knife hilt deep into The Stranger's heart. Rian caught his falling body by the shoulders and pulled him up towards his ear.
"Ivan May have a problem with killing you, but I certainly don't." He snarled into The Strangers ear before he flung his lifeless body to the ground.

The cave had stopped shaking. The Gate was closed. All was well.

The 2 boys looked at each other.
"Well," Rian started. "That went a lot better than I was expecting." Ivan grinned.
"Yeah, Rian, it sure did. Now come on! No time to dilly dally! We've got one heck of a story to tell!"

THE END