Chapter 4: Resurrecting the Sorceress

            The rest of the trip, which was now back on course, was mostly quiet and uneventful. The passengers of the plane kept giving Chun glares. Chun decided to speak up.

            “Okay, what’s up with everyone? I did what I did because there was no other way,” explained Chun. One member angrily stood up and faced Chun.

            “That man, Alfred, was my friend. You did some kind of weird magic thing and I don’t understand what the hell to make of it. I’m scared. What is going on?” said the member. Chun smiled and brought out the Dragon’s Eye Talisman, causing the member to take a step back, without changing the expression on his face.

            “Relax. This talisman here requires one human sacrifice to banish a monster from this realm. The boss gave it to me just in case things got bad,” said Chun. Another member stood up angrily.

            “You expect us to believe this nonsense. There is no such thing as magic. I can’t explain what I saw but as far as I can tell, everything was going just fine for the last five years until just today. I joined the gang for the money but all this crazy stuff with the monsters is not worth it. Someone here is obviously playing a trick on us and I bet it’s you,” exclaimed the member shaking his fist at Chun.

            “Believe it or not, magic is real and the boss has a whole cluster of magical items. I’m sorry about what I did but there was no other way. Besides, since we’re alive and since one of us is missing, that means that overall we each get more of the $15,000,000 that boss promised us,” comforted Chun. The member who had first stood up twisted up his face, sarcastically murmuring that if they killed Chun, each of them would get even more money. Both members sat down and no one spoke for the rest of the trip.

            They finally reached the museum that evening, carrying the coffin with them. At the door of the museum stood a big chubby man who wore glasses and had a mustache. He wore a blue coat that barely fit him and husky brown pants. He had eyes that looked closed and a smile on his face, as he waited with anticipation for the coffin of the Sorceress. The Chain Gang members walked into the dark room of the museum. There were no museum visitors because the museum owner had closed the museum up early today in anticipation for the coffin.

            “Bring it this way, boys,” said the museum owner, his smile still planted in his face. Using a large trolley, the Chain Gang members brought the coffin to a room in the Egyptian exhibit. They laid the coffin down at an angle.

            “Mr. Ludwig. We brought you what you wanted. Now, where’s our money?” asked Chun, with a sly yet serious grin on his face. The other three members didn’t say anything, waiting patiently.

            “Oh yes. About that. You will get your reward in a moment. I want to see the talisman,” said Mr. Ludwig, still smiling as he took the Dragon’s Eye from Chun, who was beginning to look more impatient. Mr. Ludwig looked at the talisman and then at the coffin carefully and then a frown began to appear.

            “W-What’s wrong?” asked Chun, becoming nervous.

            “The coffin is not complete!” barked Mr. Ludwig so loudly that the echoes carried out for several minutes. He continued to stare.

            He then explained, “To open the coffin, I need four human sacrifices analogous to the four sorcerers who sealed away Queen Joysha 5,000 years ago.” Chun laughed.

            “Well, you can do that on your own time. Now show us the money, old man!” said Chun angrily, tightening his fist. Mr. Ludwig then smiled again, bringing up the Dragon’s Eye talisman. Chun paled suddenly, realizing why Mr. Ludwig had kept five of them in the company of the exploration team and why Mr. Ludwig had planned to pay only four of them. Chun trembled and took a step back.

            “You damned, dirty, double-crossing b*****d,” said Chun quietly and darkly. The other three members behind Chun looked up confused.

            One of them asked, “So, wait. Where’s our reward?” Mr. Ludwig began laughing uncontrollably as the talisman glowed red and all four members of the Chain Gang began to get absorbed by it.

            “This is your reward! HAHAHAHA!!!!” said Mr. Ludwig as the four members disappeared into the talisman as if they had never existed in the world to begin with. Then, Mr. Ludwig looked to the coffin of the Sorceress with an insane smile on his face. He then said, “Now to release you, so-called Sorceress.”