The Skull Throne: A LitRPG novel (Kingdom of Heaven Book 1)

by J. A. Cipriano

  He hurled another dagger at me while trying to stay out of the reach of my deadly blade. Maybe he had heard of me after all and expected me to lean entirely on my sword. Well, this was a new Iron Jack and this new Jack cycled his Lightning Bolt into his off-hand. See, as a knight, I knew my weaknesses as well as my strengths. One weakness was all of that heavy metal armor. It protected great against most things, but against electrical attacks, well, that was a different story.

  Mr. 32’s eyes widened as electricity coiled up my hand, and he raised his arms in a futile effort to defend himself as I raised my hand skyward. That same tingle as before ran through me, but this time, it was more comfortable than before. I could maybe grow to like this.

  There was a clap of thunder as lightning blasted unerringly down on Mr. 32, block or not.

  Your Lightning Bolt hits Mr. 32! He takes 28,000 Electrical Damage! 13% Energy remaining.

  As his Energy went down to red, the bastard turned tail and ran. I could have just let him go, and if he was really here like Aaron and I were, I would have. I didn’t need more real blood on my hands.

  This dude wasn’t like Aaron though, and he had royally pissed me off with the whole “sword in your throat” debacle. Besides, he was a Shadow henchman, and that meant that not only was he the kind of douchebag that decided he wanted to work for the bad guys, but he was also one who had dug so far and deep into this game, he'd found out about a boss I didn’t even know existed.

  Nah, he was going to have to pay for that.

  Turns out Mr. 32 hadn’t done much to raise his Agility either. As he clanked and scrambled for cover, I had more than enough time to take aim and snap my fingers once more. Another bolt of lightning erupted at my command, angling with unerring accuracy for the fleeing henchmen. All of that metal armor made him a lightning rod, one that shook and shuddered as the bolt struck him atop the head. “How do you like them apples,” I muttered as he fell, blinking out of existence.

  Your Lightning Bolt hits Mr. 32! He takes 26,200 Electrical Damage! He dies.

  Congratulations! You gain 2 Ranks to the Woods Mystic Attunement!

  You have reached Rank 10 Woods Mystic Attunement!

  You gain the Passive Power “Building Wrath, Soothing Harmony”!

  You can now learn Grade 2 Nature Magic!

  Taking a deep breath, I reached into my virtual inventory and pulled out a healing potion. Drinking it down, I felt the cooling sensation as it rushed through my body, healing my wounds and filling my Energy bar back up to its maximum. It really helped with the pain too, which I totally appreciated.

  Rejuvenated, I turned toward the tents, my mind fixated on finding the Jackal and getting revenge for what he tricked me into doing to Aaron. I’d sit back and study my new magical powers later.

  Running toward the largest of the felt structures, I slammed through a bevy of Knights, Barbarians, and Ogres; all presumably working for The Shadow and all suspiciously low in terms of Level and skillset.

  I know Ori had a point in saying this place was out in the middle of nowhere and, as such, a pretty unimportant property for the Shadow. Still, this seemed more like lazy, if not something more sinister.

  I couldn’t help but think this was some sort of trap as I sliced and blasted through player after player on my way to the largest tent. As I approached it, a new thought struck me. What if the Jackal had brought me here on purpose and what if these people were put in place as mere minions, cannon fodder to keep pushing toward this place?

  The more I thought about it, the more sense it made. The Jackal knew these woods. He could blend in with them as easily and naturally as breathing. The fact that an ogre – even an ogre who claimed to be as good at tracking as Hecate did – could follow him here was suspect. I was feeling uneasy as I ran my sword through a large (but still only Level 24) Barbarian. As his body dropped to the ground, flickering out of existence, I saw that he’d left behind his fur pelt. This happened sometimes, especially with lower level players who didn’t know any better than to stock up on items that couldn’t be soulbound and thus weren’t attached to the avatar. These items wouldn’t reappear with the corpse at the Lake of Rebirth. As such, the victor got not only the player’s life but some of his personal crap too. Normally, I wouldn’t have wasted time with some lowbie’s trash gear except, for some bizarre reason, this particular drop wasn’t crap.

  It was a Pelt of Destiny! A coveted choice for many Strength-based warrior-types because it fit the normally stat-less tabard slot on your avatar, Pelts of Destiny were rare and not only that, they always dropped when you died. I sure as hell wasn’t going to pass up the chance to use this one, especially as I didn’t have to worry about losing it if I died. I only had one chance—one life, after all!

  I grabbed the pelt, swinging it around my chest. Instantly, I felt a surge of Energy run through me. Then, with a loud swooshing sound that had always told me something quasi-important had happened – the bar came up at the top of my vision, announcing my acquisition of the Pelt. I flicked my eyes to check the details on it.

  Pelt of Destiny

  Tabard, unable to be soulbound. Drops when the user dies.

  Requires Strength 120 to equip

  +20 Strength

  +10 Agility

  Armor 200

  Nature Resistance 200

  Arcane Resistance 200

  Grinning a little at my accomplishment, I soldiered forward, stronger than I had ever been. That wasn’t to say the barrage of thugs and minor beasties hadn’t done some damage to me, but my Energy bar was hovering at a manageable three-quarters. I still had more than enough healing potions to get myself in tip-top shape, but I didn’t see the point right now. I could pop into them at any moment. There was little need to get myself all jazzed up right yet. Besides, there didn’t look to be any more players blocking my path to the largest of the tents, which meant my natural regeneration would bring my health up to full since I wasn’t in combat anymore.

  I strode toward it, my fancy new pelt swaying in the light breeze. I hoped the thing looked as cool as it felt because, right now, I was picturing myself as a sort of Jon Snow type, all ready to take back the Seven Kingdoms in the name of my slain father (well, one of them).

  As I neared the tents, the world started to spin and shake. I got dizzy, and my stomach started to turn. Wafts of green energy surrounded me, encircling me in its grasp.

  I knew what this was. It was hardly the first time I had been subject to it. A Vertigo charm wasn’t the most common of mystical amulets to be found in the KOH landscape. Open to several of the magic-related Attunements at Rank 45 or higher, it definitely wasn’t small potatoes. Worse, those who had it usually knew how to use it. The whole gist was to make the affected person too dizzy, disoriented, and otherwise indisposed to fight back effectively. You know, like what it was doing to me right now.

  I fell to the ground as the Vertigo rendered me useless while sucking out a large portion of my Energy bar. Perhaps it would have taken it all if not for my newfound pelt’s Arcane Resistance. Damn. I guess I should have taken that healing potion when I had the chance.

  Looking up at the sky, I saw a woman stride toward me. She had dark skin, glowing green eyes, and wore a cranberry-colored hood. She shook her head at me.

  “He’s ready.” She obviously wasn’t talking to me because as the words left her mouth, a pair of hands grabbed ahold of my arms and pulled me into the large tent.

  The instant I was away from the green-eyed woman, I started to feel better. Blinking, my senses returned to me. Still being pulled, I found myself inside an elaborately decorated place. Weapons hung on the walls. Fur pelts lined the floor, and a fire crackled off in the distance.

  I pulled myself away, spinning as I stood and reached for my healing potions. It took two to get me back to full Strength, but once I was, I grabbed my sword and whirled around, trying to find the guy who had grabbed me.

  “That won’t be necessary,” a familiar voice sa
id from in front of me. Looking up, I saw the Jackal step out from the wall in a way that made me think he’d somehow rendered himself invisible before. Well, that was a new trick.

  He was hunched down close to the ground and behind him, stood a man about my size. He was dressed in armor like mine, though his armor was black and etched with glowing red symbols. His blond hair jutted out from his skull in neat spikes, and his jawline was strong. His eyes glowed a red that matched the symbols on his armor and – at his side – was a black iron sword, also glowing red.

  “We only want to talk,” the Jackal said.

  “We?” I muttered in response, my voice sounding sturdier than I would have thought.

  “Yes,” the Jackal answered, motioning back to the man. “Iron Jack, I’d like you to meet someone. This is the Shadow, and he has a proposition for you.”

  19

  I stared at the dude, all wrapped up in “bizarro me” armor. He was about my size, about my shape, but the way he stood there said everything and more about the differences between us. The Shadow had a really menacing quality about him, and more than that, he commanded the room. As he walked toward me, it took all I could do not to turn around and run. Hell, if I wasn’t worried about the vertigo bitch outside the tent I might have.

  I was where I was though, and that meant I had to deal with things as they came.

  As he neared me, the Shadow’s stats popped up unadulterated in my line of sight. The son of a bitch was Level 75. Now, that simply wasn’t possible, was it? The Level cap was 50 … except I wasn’t so sure anymore. I hadn’t really paid attention, but was my own experience bar starting to move again?

  All of his statistics were immense. He had multiple high-power Attunements: Rank 60 Soul Wizard, almost as powerful as Ember, Rank 75 Knight Attunement that bested my own by a measure, and Rank 32 Heretic Attunement, a divine-type caster that denied the Principalities instead of worshipping them. There was one other Attunement on his character inspection, but it was weird, garbled, constantly shifting in name. Was it a glitch or some other unknown waiting in this strange world? The one thing I could see was that the Rank was 100.

  Taking him in, I couldn’t help but think of Ori’s critique of me from before. The Shadow, it seemed, was the well-rounded player Ori had hoped I might be.

  “I’m not alone,” I stammered, looking at the man and instantly feeling my balls shoot back up into my body. “I have people with me, people who’ll come for me.”

  “I’m not going to hurt you,” the Shadow said in a slow and methodical voice. “What kind of person do you think I am anyway?”

  Was that a joke?

  “The worst kind, obviously,” I answered honestly. “The kind who lies, who tricks me into killing an innocent human being.”

  He grinned, settling in front of me, though far enough away that I didn’t feel as vulnerable as I could have. His stats were maddeningly superior to mine. So, even if I turned to run, this guy could catch me with ease. Still, it helped to keep some distance between us. My hand settled on my blade, readying myself to wield the thing and hoping against hope that it would be enough.

  “I didn’t trick you into anything,” the Shadow answered with a shrug. “You can blame our misshapen NPC friend for that.”

  “Am I supposed to believe he wasn’t working on your orders?” I balked, trying to keep my voice steady and calm. It probably didn’t work.

  “I don’t take orders, Iron Jack!” the Jackal spit back at me. “I would have thought that, as my best friend, you’d know that by now.”

  Was this disgusting piece of crap still intent on playing the “best friend” card?

  “Shut the fuck up,” I said, my tone flat and fierce. The Shadow might have had me when it came to skill and sheer stats, but I’d put a sword through Jackal’s gut without blinking twice.

  “You’ve got a lot of ne–”

  “He’s right, Jackal,” the Shadow said, his red eyes boring into me. “You should really shut the fuck up.”

  Though he had just got finished telling me how he didn’t take orders from anybody, the Jackal did as he was told, retreating into the corner of the tent in silence.

  “You’ll have to forgive him. He gets easily excited,” the Shadow said. “Can I offer you something? I know you don’t need to eat in your avatar form, but I think you’ll find the food here to be something special. It’s like everything is naturally soaked in just the right amount of grease.”

  Something about hearing him talk about food and grease, like he was a frat guy at a pizza parlor struck me as curious.

  “Who are you?” I asked, swallowing hard and looking at him, my hand still hovering over the hilt of my sword.

  “Did you not hear the Jackal, Iron Jack? I’m the Shadow,” he replied in his stalwart and easygoing tone. It was more than a little disconcerting.

  “No. Not that,” I answered, shaking my head. “Who are you really? Who’s the person behind this mask? You’ve obviously a human. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be so intent on taking the Skull Throne.”

  “Because I couldn’t sit on it,” he said, smiling. “You’re a shrewd one.”

  “Just telling the truth,” I answered. “And the truth, as I see it, is that you’re probably some ‘never was’ who was dissatisfied with his life. Were you bullied, Shadow? Were the kids on the football team mean to you so now you want to piss on an entire realm of people?”

  “They’re not people, Iron Jack,” he said simply. “You said so yourself by defining us as human. If the creatures here aren’t human, then what are they?”

  “You’re mincing my words,” I said, shaking my head. “You know that’s not what I meant.”

  “It doesn’t matter what you meant,” the Shadow scoffed, his armored hands balling into fists. “Because that’s not the only mistake you’ve made. You see, you still think that we are the people we were before all of this matter. You still think there’s a way out of here, a life beyond this.” He shook his super evil head. “There isn’t, Jack. They might have told you that they can get you home, that they can reunite you with who or whatever you think is waiting for you back there.” He chuckled again. “Obviously, there isn’t. They’ve lied to you more than once, the angel and bad girl.”

  “Hecate and Ori?” I asked. “You know them?”

  “I know them intimately, Jack. They told you that you were the first one, and then you found out you weren’t. Did you think Aaron was the first too? Did you think they are being honest with you now?” He leaned so far forward I thought he might tip over. “Or are they still lying? You think you know this game, Jack. You think you know this world, but you only know what they’ve shown you. The game is built to make me seem like the bad guy. You’re filtered through a narrative that paints me as a villain and them as the poor, put-upon heroes who have to save the innocents. What if the innocents are the bad ones? What if the people you think of as heroes are nothing more than con artists?”

  “You’re lying,” I said, through clenched teeth. This wasn’t right. It wasn’t real.

  “Maybe,” he answered, cackling. “Or maybe I’m not. Out of the lot of us, I’m the only one you don’t know for sure has lied to you. Aaron left them for a reason, Jack. He was powerful. He was brave, but he wouldn’t fight for them. Have you ever thought that it might have been because they weren’t worth fighting for?”

  My entire body started to shake. I couldn’t let him see that though. I couldn’t let the Shadow know I wasn’t really even listening to what he had to say, much less considering it. What if he was right? He certainly did make some good points, but he was evil. He had to be. I mean, he was dressed all in black, his eyes glowed red like some killer dog from a Stephen King novel, and his name was the Shadow for God’s sake.

  “So if what you want is to be the cliché, the person they thought you would be when they chose you, then go ahead. Dance their little dance and be the puppet they wished for when they singled you out.” He shook his head. “But
if not, if you’re even slightly more complicated than they think you are, maybe you should consider changing your allegiance.”

  I balked, my eyes growing wide with shock. “You want me to work for you? You can’t be serious.”

  “For me. With me. Away from me. Whatever works best for you,” he answered. “The important part is, I don’t want you in my way.”

  To my surprise, a quest notification popped up before my eyes. Sure, I expected it as a possibility from any NPC, but the Shadow was a player … wasn't he?

  Do you want to drop the Primary Quest “Hero of the Principalities” and accept Primary Quest “At the Right Hand of the Shadow”? Y/N

  “Is this what you did to Aaron?” I asked, anger rising in my chest as I ignored the quest prompt for now. “You convinced him that he was wrong to trust Ori and Hecate, to trust the Principalities?”

  “The Principalities are on your side this time?” he asked, a sinister smile playing across his features. “Hecate has really moved up in the world, hasn’t she? Saucy little thing.”

  Uneasiness settled in my gut. I probably shouldn’t have said that, but words couldn’t be taken back, even in KOH.

  “It won’t work this time,” I said, pushing past my verbal snag. “I’m not some idiot you can just dazzle with alternative facts and push off into a forest.”

  “Good for you then,” he said, shaking his head. “But I don’t believe you. I don’t believe this bluster, this confidence. You know I’m right, and sooner or later, you’ll see that these people and their cause aren’t worth your life. When you do that, come to me, and I’ll give you a new purpose. I’ll give you a brand new life.”

  “And if I don’t?” I asked, breathing heavy and setting my stance.

  “Then I’ll kill you and put your head on a spike for the rest of the realm to see.” He shrugged. “Simple as that. Doesn’t seem like a difficult choice to me, but to each his own. Now get the hell out of my outpost.”