Rebirth Online 6

by Michael James Ploof

  Infliction: Holy Rage

  Reduces Dark Power by 10% per second

  The Throne howled in my mind as the light tore through me, and I screamed right along with it. Nymphora held me in place with her powerful beam of light, and I was helpless to do anything about it.

  “You would dare attack me, the Daughter of the God of War?”

  I felt her increase the power to her spell, and I knew that I would soon die. The Throne howled and thrashed, and his fear became my terror.

  Then it suddenly stopped, and I fell through the air like a ragdoll. Above me I saw my gilded sons battling with Nymphora, and I cried out and reached for them as she slaughtered them by the dozens.

  I landed upon the battlements of Samson Tower, and a notification appeared on my interface.

  Warning!

  Health 7%

  The city defenses finally turned their attention to Nymphora, and thousands of spells and enchanted cannonballs erupted from the city and flew toward the goddess.

  “Legion!” I managed to cry out as my sons fell lifelessly from the sky. But there was nothing that I could do. My body was broken, and the terrible spell that Nymphora had hit me with still left me reeling.

  I saw her up there amidst my sons, and she soon turned her attention back to me. With a scream that shook the city, she dove toward me as she conjured a large glowing ball of light. My gunners on the battlements bombarded her with spells and fireballs, but she surged through them, seemingly unaffected.

  With my left hand I frantically brought up my interface and tapped on the cannon connected to the Everstone, and I pushed it all the way to 100% power. The blast that issued from the cannon filled the night sky with brilliant green light and slammed into Nymphora. I didn’t wait to see what happened to her, but hurriedly enabled the shield.

  I lay there bleeding and clutching the stump on my right arm just below the elbow. Overhead, the emerald shield hummed. My gilded sons continued to drop to earth like fallen angels, and I felt that old rage begin to boil inside me again. This time, however, the power of the Dark Throne didn’t come with it.

  The Throne was just as injured as I was, if not more. I knew that instinctively. What I didn’t know was how long it would take us to recover. Whatever that spell had done to us had been pretty serious, and I couldn’t believe that Nymphora had been powerful enough to actually hurt the Throne. The agony that I felt was not only mental, but spiritual. I felt absolutely terrible. Every fiber of my being hurt, and my emotions were a rollercoaster that kept on bringing me down lower and lower still.

  I tried to get up but quickly lost my will. What was the point?

  “He’s over here!” I heard Cecilia call out, and I groggily opened my eyes

  “Oh my god, Big Daddy!” Kit cried as she and the other girls raced across the battlements.

  I felt healing energy wash over me, but rather than heal me it stung like a son of a bitch.

  “Stop!” I cried out in agony, and Kit withdrew her healing magic.

  “He cannot be healed,” said Anna, not by holy light anyway.

  “Sam, can you hear me?” It was Trinity, and she was hugging me tight.

  I tried to nod, but my outburst had taken the last of my strength. I heard them fussing over me and then felt them lift me up. Then darkness took me, and I slipped into oblivion.

  Chapter 4

  I swam in and out of consciousness for a time unknown. My parents came to me in my dreams, but I turned from them out of shame and flew away on demonic wings. Dr. Marks appeared before me as a giant three headed dragon who spoke in tongues, and I fled from him as well.

  The one thing that I couldn’t escape, however, was the Throne.

  It languished and writhed in agony in my mind like a snake that had embedded itself in my ear. Ancient language echoed through the tunnels of my mind, and tortured cries shook my dreamworld.

  “Sam?”

  I opened my eyes slowly. They felt swollen and sore, and when I tried to rub by left eye, I noticed the bandage covering the stump on my right arm.

  “Where am I?” I asked as I tried to sit up.

  “Shhh,” Kit encouraged as she dabbed my head with cold water.

  “Try to relax,” said Anna, “Or else you’re never going to heal.”

  “I already told you that he needs to heal in the Underworld,” said Nanaya.

  “Legion,” I said groggily. “Where are my sons?”

  “They’re flying above the castle like they usually do,” said Anna.

  “How many did Nymphora kill?” I asked, fearing the answer.

  “Fifty-five,” said Zoe with her head bowed low.

  “Give him some room ladies,” said Tweak as he shouldered into the group and gestured for them to back it up. “How you doing bro?”

  “I feel like I just got my ass kicked by a goddess,” I groaned.

  “That’s because you did.”

  “Why aren’t I healing?” I asked.

  “You’re power resides in the Underworld,” said Nanaya. “You need to get there ASAP if you want that arm to start growing back.”

  I sat up with Tweak’s help and tried to put together the fragmented memories of what happened. I remembered battling with Nymphora, then my sons falling from the sky, but the rest was a blur.

  “What happened, why did Nymphora and I begin fighting?”

  “You tried to choke a bitch,” said Tweak.

  “What? Why would I do that?”

  “She told you that you couldn’t see your angel babies, Big Daddy,” said Kit. “We saw it all on the security feed after the fight.”

  “Angel babies?” I groaned and rubbed my head, noticing that one of my horns was broken.

  “Yeah,” said Trinity. “Like 2,000 of them or something.”

  “We can chat later,” said Nanaya. “Sam, you’ve got to open a portal to the Underworld.”

  I nodded and tried to summon my dark power, but the Throne felt so distant that at first, I faltered. My hand shook in front of me as I focused on the dark tower and tried with all my might to perform the spell.

  “This never happens,” I said with frustration and let my weak left arm drop.

  “It happens to every Dark Lord sometimes,” said Nanaya with a wink. “Come on, try again.”

  I let out a slow breath and tried to clear my mind, then raised my hand once more. I focused on the mental image of the Dark Tower and willed a portal to the place to open before me. After twenty seconds, the portal finally opened.

  Tweak and Nanaya helped me walk to the portal, and I turned when I reached it and faced my guild mates.

  “I’ll be back soon, alright, you guys be safe.”

  “That sounds boring,” said Ember with a smirk.

  “We’ll see you soon, Sam,” said Anna and kissed me on the cheek.

  I turned from my friends with a heavy heart and walked through the portal. I emerged before the Dark Tower, and a moment later Frig appeared in the air next to me.

  “Baal’s balls!” he said with surprise. “You look like shit boss.”

  “Yeah, I know,” I said as I walked toward the palace gates.

  “You get in a fight with a god or something?” Frig asked as he hovered next to my arm stump and studied it with interest.

  “No, it was a goddess.”

  “Hah!” Frig yipped and flew a somersault. “You got your ass kicked by a girl?”

  “She’s the daughter of the god of war,” I said in my defense.

  “What a loser,” he said shaking his head.

  “You got something better to do than bust my balls?” I said as I flung open the black iron doors.

  “Actually, yeah, like run your whole damn realm,” he said with disdain. “You’re always up there with your girlfriends, and I’m down here busting my ass. Frig has had enough of busting ass. If I wanted to do that, I’d still be a dungeon janitor.”

  “What do you want, Frig? A raise?”

  “Wait, I get paid?” he sai
d and stopped in front of me.

  “I don’t know, man,” I said and swatted him away from me. “Just take care of shit, will you. Do your damn job and do it right. You’re the Dark Lord’s damn right-hand imp, have a little pride and quit being such a bitch.”

  “I’m your right-hand imp?” he said, and his greenish brown cheeks blushed rosy pink.

  “Yeah, you the Imp.”

  I left him gushing in the hall and took the stairs up to the throne room. The closer I got, the more I could feel the Throne’s power. It radiated from the throne room like heat from an oven. But it wasn’t heat that I felt, it was raw power. I felt my wounds begin to heal as I walked through the threshold, and the Throne spoke in my mind with a tired voice.

  Come, my son. Become one with your lord.

  I sat on the throne and instantly felt a surge of power rush through me. My enchanted blade hummed when I came in contact with the Throne, and it in turn did as well. I watched euphorically as my right arm began to grow back, and hollow feeling in my soul was replaced by the hot flames of rage.

  Images of just about every wrong that had been committed against me in my long life flashed before my eyes. Like wood to a fire, the memories stoked my anger, and the Throne greedily ate it up. I knew that it was feeding off me, but I didn’t care. I too felt the rage being turned into power, and I wanted more.

  I growled, and the sound of my fury only heightened my power. I let out a primal scream, and my human voice was matched by a guttural, demonic chorus. The only thing that stoked the flames of my fury more than the memories, was the Throne’s promises.

  We will hunt Nymphora down, destroy her realm, and ravish her until she bends to our will.

  “Yes!” I growled.

  We will smite our enemies near and far.

  “Yess!”

  We will conquer the world and rebuild it as we see fit.

  “Yesss!” I roared.

  Go now, my son. Show the gods that you are not afraid. Let your rage guide you, let my power flow through you, and rise as the harbinger of the new age!

  I shot off the Throne like a man on fire and spread my dark wings wide. My body hummed with power, my muscles bulged beneath my red skin, and my knuckles popped as I clenched my fists. I let out a roar that shook the palace as my horns grew long and curved. My hair became white-hot flames, and I opened a portal that would lead me back to Nymphora’s realm.

  I flew through the portal and into bright starlight. I’d come out above the waterfall that I had first seen upon venturing to Nymphora’s realm, and below me I could see the merry lover makers fornicating on the beach.

  “Nymphora!” I bellowed, and my voice sent birds fleeing from treetops for miles.

  I conjured a Nuclear Thunderclap and poured Endless Rage into it. When I finally released the spell, it shot from my palms like a volcanic eruption. The explosion that followed was like nothing I had seen, not even in the old footage of World War II. The entire realm went up in flames, and the shockwave that spread from ground zero incinerated the forest and leveled mountains. I watched the destruction with a smile as the fire-filled winds wafted over me. A glorious mushroom cloud rose up and spilled into the heavens, blurring the starlight and the swirling galaxies.

  I enabled Aura Detection and smiled when I saw nearly two-thousand angelic being rise from the ashes and fly toward me. They were led by none other then Nymphora, and she looked absolutely pissed.

  The sound of rushing wings caused me to turn around, and I saw hundreds of seraphim flying toward me with brilliant silver lances that parted the dust and smoke. I conjured Arcane Lightning and poured my dark power into the spell. It screamed from my palms, white hot and terrible, and slammed into the angelic warriors. The seraphim screamed as one in a tortured voice that made my heart surge.

  Summon the denizens of the Underworld, let them dine on the hearts of angels!

  I excitedly tapped on Summon Minions.

  You have selected Summon Minions.

  How many of your minions would you like to summon?

  A number pad appeared in front of me, and I typed in 5,000. A moment later a portal opened beside me, and I flew backward as it expanded until it was the size of a NY subway tunnel. A hellish chorus of groans, screams, and growls issued from the portal, then the denizens of the Underworld began to pour out.

  Monstrous demons, flocks of devilish imps, monsters made of fire, harpies, ghouls, and all manner of terrors flew out of the portal, and I directed them to attack the remaining seraphim.

  “My children!” I heard Nymphora call out. “Destroy the demonic horde!”

  I got my first good look at my angelic sons as they began to swoop down to intercept my minions, and I gasped when I beheld their beauty. They looked a lot like my Legion, except they were silver, and rather than golden, leathery wings, theirs were covered in magnificent white feathers. Halos glowed gold above their heads and matched their eyes. They carried glowing silver swords and spears, and some held oval shields embowed with pulsing runes.

  “Don’t hurt the silver angels!” I commanded my minions. “Destroy the seraphim, kill the goddess!”

  I tapped on Mind Control and selected the silver angels.

  “My children!” I bellowed, and my voice carried with it my mental will. “Your father commands you to stand down!”

  The silver angels faltered and grabbed their heads, screaming against the mental invasion. But I had them, I could feel it. The power of the Throne as like a tempest that crashed through their mental walls with a fury unmatched by any but mother nature.

  I heard Nymphora begin to command them once more, so I teleported to a spot ten feet in front of where she hovered above the battle. I didn’t bother wasting time with words, but immediately unleashed Crimson Fury. The goddess managed to bring up a spell of pure light in time, but it didn’t matter. In that moment, my power was greater than hers, and my spell obliterated her defenses. Green flames engulfed the goddess, and I pulled her toward me with Telekinesis.

  The screaming goddess flew into my grip, and I placed my hand directly on her forehead.

  “Swear fealty to me, or else die the one true death!”

  “Never!” she fired back. She thrust a dagger toward me, but my robes stopped the glowing weapon dead.

  “Wrong answer,” I said and stabbed her through the heart with my dark blade.

  Nymphora took in a shocked breath, and I watched through the green flames as her bright eyes turned black and oily. Power pulsed into her through the sword, and she began to moan with pleasure. The flames that had consumed her went out, and she was left naked and scorched and sexy as hell before me.

  I poured more power into the mind control, and she screamed in defiance. The battle raged around us, but my silver sons all just hovered around us looking hypnotized. My minions were tearing apart the seraphim, and blood rained from the sky onto a smoldering realm.

  “Swear fealty to me now,” I commanded Nymphora, and I finally felt her will break.

  “I swear fealty to you, Lord Samson,” she said in a voice that became more demonic with every word.

  I watched in awe as her eyes began to glow green, and her skin tone became dark crimson. Her long feathery wings burst into flames and black feathers grew in place of the white. The white robes that she wore turned blood red, marking her final transformation.

  I withdrew the sword and released her, and she bowed before me as she hovered.

  “Enough!” I bellowed to the angels and demons battling for dominance. “I have defeated your goddess, now bow before your new lord!”

  The defeated seraphim and other angels bowed before me, and my monsters let out victorious howls. I turned back to Nymphora and placed my sword on her left shoulder, then over her head before resting it on her right.

  “I dub thee, Lord of the First Level of the Underworld,” I declared, and Nymphora’s eyes sparkled with hellish light.

  “Thank you, my lord,” she said reverently.

&n
bsp; I opened a portal to send her to the first level, and she abandoned her angels and flew through. My silver sons gathered in the air around me, and just like Legion had done, one of them approached reverently.

  “Father?”

  “Yes, my son. My name is Samson, Lord of the Underworld, and you are my children. I name you Leviathan.”

  “Leviathan,” he said with reverence.

  “Bow before me, my Leviathans, and accept your father’s blessing.”

  They all bowed, and I enabled Mind Control.

  “Swear fealty to your father, and you shall be reborn,” I told them.

  As one, they swore featly to me now and forever, and I watched with a triumphant grin as their halos shattered and were replaced by a ring of shadow. Their silver skin remained the same, but they grew long pointed horns, and their eyes began to glow emerald green.

  “Come, my sons, meet your brothers,” I said and opened a portal back to Haven.

  As they poured through, I turned to my army of minions and considered our angelic captives.

  “Dine on their hearts,” I told my minions, and they all let out guttural screams.

  I stepped through the portal as the cries of the angels began to echo throughout the land, and I grinned to myself.

  The Surface World was next.

  Chapter 5

  I emerged above Samson Tower and introduced Legion to Leviathan, then I left them to consider each other and flew to the balcony of the common room. I found my guild mates watching something on the looking glass, and when they saw me, they leapt from the couches and rushed toward me.

  “Big Daddy!” Kit cried as she wrapped her arms around me.

  “You look horny again,” said Nanaya with a sly grin as she stroked one of my long horns.

  “We were so worried about you,” said Anna.