"How do we even find the ring in this huge mess?" Haze complained as he walked towards Elena.
Then he felt it, the strong premonition he'd felt when the queen showed him the ring around her neck, the ring was in this room!
"It's here". He whispered to Elena who raised an eyebrow in confusion. "The ring, it's here". He said.
"How can you be so sure?" Elena asked.
"I don't know". Haze admitted. "I can just tell, I got the same feeling when she pulled it out on her neck too".
Elena nodded. "I'm guessing that has something to do with your connection with Hades".
"Maybe". Haze replied and walked to the drawer, he could tell the ring was here but he didn't know exactly where it was.
He pulled out the first drawer and rummaged through its content, looking for any circluar golden glint, there was none.
Exasperated, Haze sighed and pulled out the next drawer, there was nothing there as well. He knew they didn't have much time in the queen's bedroom, she could decide to come back at any time.
A thought crossed the back of his mind, in his previous world, witches usually had the ability to see things, either directly in their minds or through artifacts, what if the witches here had the same and the queen knew they were in the room now?
He shuddered slightly at the thought and became annoyed at himself for shuddering, he was not a coward, he would not be scared of a witch.
The thought came again, what if this was a trap and the queen was waiting for them outside or what if she had shut the door?
Instinctively, his head snapped up to look at the door, it was still open. Haze sighed and pulled out the third drawer, it still wasn't there.
He looked at Elena, "if you had to keep a ring, where would you put it?
Elena thought about it for a moment. "Well most people have a jewelry box where they put all their jewelry, if it's a singular piece of jewelry, one could put it near their bedside, maybe under the pillow".
Haze nodded. "Let's look for her jewelry box then". They went to the tables in the room, searching for it until Elena whispered.
"Here!"
Haze turned to see her holding a large box that was open, it was filled to the brim with all kinds of jewelry, beautiful silver ones -the kind he liked- were present, weird jewelry with stones that glowed different colors, jewelry that was made up of human bones, as well as golden jewelry that glittered enticingly.
Elena set it on the table and began to dig through it, Haze watched intently as she emptied the content, waiting to see if the ring was there but he didn't see the ring there, he didn't get the feeling he got when he was near the ring.
When the box was empty, Elena leaned on the table. "I guess it's not here". She said glumly.
Haze looked at the empty box and shook his head. "What are the other options?"
"Under her pillow". Elena replied.
"Okay, let's go check". He said and turned to leave.
Elena shook her head. "Not me, I'm not going over there". She replied with a wince.
Haze blinked. "Why?"
"Uhm, have you seen the two naked men lying down there?" Elena replied.
The corners of Haze's lips twitched as he fought to keep a smile down. "I didn't know you were scared of two scrawny humans".
Elena rolled her eyes. "Whatever, I'm not going anywhere near there".
Haze shrugged. "Fine, I'll do it myself". He said and walked towards the bed.
He stopped at the right side of the bed, the men were still fast asleep, shade wondered if it the sleep was natural or they were under some magic spell. He bent to the side and slowly slipped his fingers under the pillow and felt around.
The ring was not there.
Haze sighed and went over the left side, he was about to slide his fingers under the pillow when he saw a glint of gold on the sleeping man's hand. Haze looked through the veil of shadow and squinted, there was indeed a golden object around the man's fingers.
Haze looked up at Elena, could that be the ring?
"What is it?" Elena asked. "Have you found it?"
Haze shook his head and looked back at the ring on the man's finger, he slipped a finger through the shadows and touched the ring, immediately he got that feeling, the one he got anytime he was near the ring.
Haze smiled, he had found the ring.
He carefully lifted the man's hand and pulled the ring off, or at least he tried to, the ring refused to leave the man's hand, like it was fused to it.
Magic. Haze thought, the man still hadn't stirred from sleep.
"Give me your dagger". He whispered to Elena, she gave him a weird look but tossed a dagger to him, Haze caught the dagger and looked at the sleeping man.
Sorry but I have to get the ring one way or the other". Haze said to the man with a wicked grin. He held the man's hand and sunk the dagger in, then he began to cut it his hand from his wrist.
Blood sputtered as Haze separated the man's hand from his arm with the dagger, still the man didn't wake from his sleep, he laid their peacefully while his body was being dismembered.
As soon as Haze finished cutting the hand completely, that man suddenly woke up, he jerked up against the chains but they kept him down on the bed. He then opened his mouth and took a big inhale to scream.
Thudddd!
A loud thud was heard as Haze buried the knife into his chest, the scream died in the man's throat as blood began to flow out of his mouth, he crumpled to the bed and stopped moving.
[Mission complete]
[Hades' ring obtained]
[Reward: +10 Exp]
[1 kill made: +2 status points]
Haze raised the bloodied hand and smiled at Elena.