Maria’s vision wavered. Her face ached, and the taste of blood lingered on her tongue.

Her wrists were bound to the armrests of a wooden chair with rope. She could barely see anything outside of the single halo of light shining down onto her. Chariot and Tanalia were seated across from her, bound as well, though with both their heads slumped over.

“Guys?”

She struggled against her restraints. Her nose was throbbing, and as she licked the top of her lip where her skin felt the crustiest, her tongue scrapped against a streak of dried blood. Around her were backdrops of painted wooden sets. A long wooden board, painted and carved into the shape of ocean waves, was beside her, with a large flat cutout boat behind it. Not even the castle wall to her right was real. The stones had been painted onto it.

She was on the stage.

Even with it being so dark, Maria could tell the theater was empty. What time it was though, she had no earthly idea. What she did know, was that nothing good ever came when you were tied up… well most of the time. She pressed her palms against the chair and contemplated casting {Flames}, but the chair was made of wood. She’d light herself on fire trying to escape.

“It’s about time you awoke,” Horst’s voice echoed around Maria. “I was starting to wonder if I had to wake you myself.” He walked around Maria’s chair and came to stand in the center of the spotlight illuminating the trio.

“What's going on?” Maria grunted as she pulled at the restraints again. It was no use. She was bound so tight there wasn’t a chance in hell she was getting out on her fruition.

“What do you think is going on?” Horst asked, crossing his arms. “I find someone sneaking around my office and I’m supposed to let that slide. You were after something.”

"She sought not a thing, but sniffed out a soul like a bloodhound!” The Ringleader’s voice echoed through the theater. Maria scanned the room, but couldn’t find him. He had to be hiding amongst the shadows. “So congratulations, your journey was not for not, for it is me you have found!”

Chariot raised her head slowly. She had to crane her neck uncomfortably and crack it before it could move more fluidly. “What’s… what’s going on?”

“It’s The Ringleader!” Maria said, pulling against her restraints. “He’s here!”

Horst turned back to glare at Chariot, then set his eyes on Tanalia, who was still knocked out. “I was so disappointed to learn that you of all people were conspiring against me,” he frowned. “You can never trust the beautiful ones.” Horst slapped Tanalia across the face. She yelped and sat up, nearly toppling the chair over. Tanalia looked around frantically.

“Where am I? W- Why can’t I move? N- No! No! No!” she cried and tried to break free.

Horst turned away from her and walked back to Maria.

“No!” Tanalia yelled. “Let me go! Take them off!”

Chariot groaned as she struggled as well, but it was no use.

“You three should relax. Take a calming breath,” Horst said and stepped just outside the ring of the spotlight. “You found what you were after.”

A sudden, loud whistle startled the trio. From below the stage, a fluid had risen into the air. It bobbed slowly as a set of symbols rose next, and clashed together. Soon, the other instruments rose, and a cheerful, upbeat tune swelled. The instruments floated around the ring of light, picking up the pace of the music as the lights down the center aisle lit up one by one. The crystal spotlights above finally flashed on and illuminated the balcony section, where the Ringleader stood atop the railing on his toes, his arms thrust up into the shape of a Y as if he were praising the sun.

“Ah, if it isn’t my old friends, come to see me again. And in a place as fun as this. Oh, what a treat.” Just as before he wore his long patterned tailcoat, and so many belts wrapped around him he looked like he was about to perform an escape trick. He brushed his cascading red hair out of his face, jingling the bells adorned at the ends of the elongated clumped cones. Even with the spotlights on him, Maria couldn’t see beyond the black void behind his mask.

The instruments stopped abruptly, and as the Ringleader took a step off the balcony, his foot touched down onto a glyph that appeared beneath his boot. A new, slower, tune started, one to which The Ringleader playfully walked through thin air too. “Oh, how I’ve waited for the day when we could all meet again,” he said, hopping onto the stage. “I’m inclined to ask how you are, but I can see you a little tied up at the moment.”

“If we weren’t tied up you would be on the floor right now,” Tanalia growled. She was fighting more aggressively against her bonds but made no progress.

“Oh my, is that a threat? Coming from you that doesn’t mean much,” The Ringleader laughed. “You all did so pitiful last time I shouldn’t hold out hope for a decent show… and yet I do. What a spectacle tonight's encore will be. I am quite pleased to see you’ve dressed for the occasion, but I highly recommend changing into something else for this performance.”

“Why go through all this trouble tying them up?” Horst asked. “They snuck into my theater, snooped through our documents. Let’s just kill them and be done with this!”

The Ringleader chuckled mischievously. “Ah, but where’s the fun in that? If the villains kill off the heroes too quickly then what kind of story are we telling? Where’s the effort? The hard work and triumph? They’ve come a long way to find me, they deserve a chance to face me if they dare. I suspect they want revenge for what I did to… oh I don’t believe I know his name…”

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

“He’s alive,” Maria growled.

The Ringleader snapped his fingers. “No, no, that wasn’t his name.”

“You’re going to pay for what you did to him,” Chariot said.

“Oh, I wish you the best of luck, my dear. Sadly, I don’t think you quite know who you’re up against.”

“A joke,” Tanalia said.

The Ringleader chuckled. “So says my brothers and sisters. What a joke I am… But they are wrong, all of them. Would a joke find the map to the demon king's treasure?”

“Unbind us!” Chariot said, tugging at her restraints.

As the Ringleader walked past Chariot, without uttering a word, he withdrew a playing card, and sliced through her binds in one swift movement. Chariot jumped, her eyes going wide. She quickly shot to her feet, but before she could try anything, she started shimmering purple. Chariot was hoisted into the air. She flailed, trying to get a grasp on anything, but her efforts were fruitless.

“Chariot!” Maria said, looking around. From the darkness of the stage came another echo of footsteps. The Oracle walked into the spotlight. His lunar crest staff was shimmering purple. “What are you doing? Help us!”

“I’m helping her,” he said, “I’m ensuring she doesn’t do anything stupid now.”

“Are you working with him?” Tanalia asked, craning her neck back to try and look at the Oracle.

“I thank you for the caution, but there is no need for such magic,” the Ringleader said. “You may release her.”

The Oracle’s staff stopped shimmering, and Chariot crashed back onto the chair. It shattered, and she groaned as she played there.

“Chariot!” Maria said again, struggling harder against her binds.

“She is smart enough to recognize that she is in no position to do battle with me, not dressed like that,” the Ringleader said. “She asked to be freed, so I freed her.”

“You traderious bastard!” Tanalia yelled at the Oracle.

“I did warn you dear that the church paid for the theater,” The Oracle said. “You were simply too arrogant to consider me a threat.”

“We trusted you!” Maria said. “Master Eardwulf trusted you!”

“That he did, but his trust was misplaced. I’ve seen the future, I know the outcomes. Beside the Ringleader’s side is exactly where I want to be.”

“What you are doing is dishonorable!” Chariot said, slowly rising from the floor. “You’re a disgrace to the church if you’re conniving with this snake.”

“Do not hold such hard feelings for the old man,” the Ringleader said. “He was simply following my orders. He led you straight to me, isn’t that what you wanted all this time? You should be thanking him.”

“Like we would thank him for luring us into a trap,” Tanalia said.

The Ringleader simply waved his hand, then looked to Horst and the Oracle. “I thank you both for your assistance, but you two are dismissed, I can handle the performance from here.”

“Do try not to wreck the place too much,” Horst said as he walked off the stage with the Oracle. “I have a show tomorrow night.”

“I can not make any promises. A good show knows no bounds. If the theater must burn for the spectacular finish, then it will burn.”

“We’re coming for you next!” Tanalia yelled at the Oracle as he followed Horst. “Traderious bastard!”

“You have quite a mouth for someone so beautiful,” The Ringleader said, walking slowly towards Tanalia.

“Fuck you!” She growled and tugged at her restraints. She wasn’t letting up, even with the rope digging into her skin.

The Ringleader swiftly slapped her across the cheek.

“Ah! Bastard!”

“Tanalia, calm down!” Maria yelled.

“Let me go!” Tanalia said. “What are you going to do to us, huh? Just kill us?”

Chariot remained motionless, her fists tight. Maria hoped she would act, but the Ringleader was right. There was nothing she could do to resist him. They were in no condition to fight him. Without their gear giving them their stat boosts, their chances of succeeding felt even slimmer. Before they at least had something to protect them, but now there was nothing.

“What am I going to do to you? Nothing at the moment. That will all change in a minute though. You’ve come for my head, and so I’ll give you a chance to claim it, though I suspect it’s not the only thing you’re after.” The Ringleader held up his palm, and the puzzle cube materialized in his hand. “This is what you want, correct?”

“Untie us and hand it over, we might spare you,” Tanalia growled.

“If you want it you’ll have to earn it.”

“You didn’t earn it! We found it! We killed the Terra Elemental! It belongs to us!”

“I'm to be the one who found it, but you are mistaken. I was the one to learn of the map location, remember? I spent years tracking this map down, finding where it was hidden, and the dangers keeping it safe and secure. I had to plot a way to get your guild to clear the path for me, and it all paid off in the end, but even now my work is not complete.” The Ringleader fidgeted with the cube, playfully toying with it. “It cannot be opened, at least not traditionally. If I cannot open such a cube, what makes you think you can.”

“You’re stalling,” Chariot said. “You said you wanted to give us a chance, so give us one. We’ll beat you until you are bloody and battered and bring justice to the man you nearly killed.”

“Very well, but surely you have no intention of dueling me in nothing but rags and sparkling fabrics,” The Ringleader said.

“I can kill you in anything,” Tanalia said. She grunted and pulled at her restraints.

“Such confidence, I love it. Let it fuel the passion of your performance!” The Ringleader threw his arms up, and a hail of playing cards rained from above. They zipped through the air and sliced through the restraints keeping Maria and Tanalia bound to their chairs.

Tanalia jumped from her seat. Without missing a beat, she kicked her heels off and jumped away. Her bow materialized in her hand, and she fired an arrow. It missed. He was too fast. Before she even landed, he was beside her. He grabbed her by the throat and hurled her back into the spotlight. The dress ripped, and Tanalia rolled naked across the stage.

“Do you see what I mean, you cannot fight me in this. All it would take from me is one pull, and you’ll be left in nothing but your skin to finish me off.”

Maria jumped to her feet. Both she and Chariot stood in front of Tanalia as she rose slowly.

“Do you know how expensive that dress was, asshole?” Tanalia said.

The Ringleader tossed the tattered dress over to the trio. “Now please, prepare yourselves, the changing rooms are just back there behind the stage. Put on your armor, and show me how you’ve grown. I’m expecting a lot from you.”

The trio exchanged awkward glances at each other.

“What?” Maria said.

The Ringleader walked over to them. They quickly moved out of the way, but he simply walked to the edge of the stage. He ascended a stair of glyphs before sitting down on a large circular one that appeared beneath him. “I assure you I am not joking. Nothing waits beyond that door. For this duel, I would like an even ground, a proper show. Now, dress in your finest armor, equip your toughest weapons, and prepare yourselves for the show of your life. It’s time for your rematch!”