Out of Time

Chapter 7: When It Falls

Fade in to a squinting red eye with a dark pupil. The eye opens. Pan to the Ghost Zone. The eye belongs to a black bird, which calls as it is flying. It flies around a flight of stairs and goes over to a murder of the birds in a tree. It lands on the tree and calls. Close up of the bird. It calls again. Plasmius stands by a box with a purple cushion inside. He turns around, an evil grin on his face. Cut to a view of the tree the birds are in, with Plasmius and the box. Plasmius flies away, satisfied.

From an overhead view of Pariah's Keep. Plasmius flies into view and flies into the castle. He flies through a hall full of skeletal guards and depressed-looking portraits of a guy who looks like George Washington. He opens a door at the end of the hall, leading into a room with a sarcophagus with an odd green light shining on it. He flies towards it.

"Here we are." He stops at the foot of some stairs. A skeleton holding a pumpkin with a sword sticking out of it is in the background. Vlad grins going up the stairs to the sarcophagus. "Pariah's Keep." He looks to the skeleton holding a pumpkin with a sword sticking out of it. "Home of the Fright Knight..." Plasmius looks up at a sphere a skeleton is holding. In the middle of the sphere is a ring- the Ring of Rage. "And before that..." Plasmius holds up the Skeleton Key. He sticks it into a skeleton's nose, which is key-shaped and turns it. The sphere around the Ring dissolves, leaving a liquid residue on the skeleton's hands and dropping the Ring into Plasmius' hand. "The Ghost King. And here I am, Vlad Plasmius-!" He puts the Ring on. "With all his power in the palm of my hand." He flies up dramatically, beginning to laugh. The ring, however, merely sputters and emits smoke. Plasmius, surprised, looks at the ring, and then looks away, frowning. He turns to the sarcophagus, specifically his gaze pans to the crown at the top of the sarcophagus.

"Ah, of course. The Ring of Rage only works when one wears the Crown of Fire."

He flies up to the sarcophagus and sticks the key into a triangle in its chest. One of the birds watches and caws. Plasmius turns the key. The sarcophagus' eyes glow red. The birds fly out of the tree, and the coffin opens, revealing Pariah Dark, the Ghost King.

"Separately, they're nothing, but together..." Pariah's uneyepatched eye opens. As Vlad speaks. "They give you power unimaginable."

Pariah stomps out of the coffin. Vlad looks at him, mortified. Vlad's gaze scans up from Pariah's feet to his face. He is a huge, Scottish, maybe Viking-like ghost, with only one eye, horns, one of which is broken, a beard thing, and LOTS of hair. He wears a flaming crown- the Crown of Fire, obviously.

Ghost King (Pariah) speaks Slow and dramatically. "Who dares?"

Plasmius grins uncertainly. "Uh, hello. Plasmius, Vlad Plasmius, did I mention I'm a huge fan of your work?" He smiles uncertainly. Pariah's eye narrows.

An explosion rocks the castle, throwing Plasmius out. Inside the castle, Pariah pulls the sword out of the purple pumpkin. The pumpkin flies into the air and explodes, revealing the Fright Knight.

"The Fright Knight lives!" Fright shouts.

Pariah throws the sword at Fright Knight. "To serve me."

The Knight looks quite surprised. He bows at the sight of the King.

"King Pariah! You're up!" Knight says utterly terrified.

Ghost King nods slightly. "And perhaps it's time to remind you-and that intruder- who RULES this place!'

Outside the castle, Plasmius is there, looking very beaten. "I've got to get out of here before he..." Pariah flies out of the castle, looming over Plasmius. "...Finds me!"

Pariah grabs Plasmius. "You have freed me from my sarcophagus, and thus woken me from the forever sleep." He brings Plasmius up to his face. He sees that he is not wearing the Ring of Rage. "You're not the one who woke me! YOU ARE A DUPLICATE!" The duplicate Plasmius disappears in a wisp of pink smoke. "So, where..."