I shook my head, telling Kregos to shut up.
“What’s he saying?” Trinity asked as she began walking toward me.
Kill the slut.
“Let’s not do this,” I told her, but I was speaking to Kregos as well.
I turned from her and started for the door, but she suddenly grabbed my arm and spun me around.
“Hey, you, Kregos or whatever the fuck your name is!” she yelled as she looked deep into my eyes. “I’m getting really sick of you trying to possess Sam. How about to go fuck off and crawl in a whole and die?”
I pulled my arm away from her, and she scowled at me.
“What’s wrong, Sam? You afraid of what he’ll make you do?”
“No, I’m just sick of you screaming in my face.”
“Cool,” she said as I walked away. “Just ignore what’s real and be on your merry way. Never mind that I was just killed by a spell that you cast. Never mind that you just killed the God of War!”
“Fuck off,” I mumbled as I walked to the balcony and leapt off.
I sailed out over the city as the sun began to set, and my emotions churned in my brain. I was feeling pretty disturbed that my Nuclear Thunderclap had killed Trinity, and I was feeling helpless and overwhelmed by the memories of the Throne so easily taking control of my body.
Your women have loose tongues, the Throne said as I flew. You should break them of that.
What the hell are you doing bothering me? I asked annoyedly. I thought that you were sulking about your brother or something.
I do not sulk.
Yeah, okay, I said and laughed out loud.
Night is almost upon us. We must use the momentum of our recent battle and continue our conquest.
No, I told him. I’m not attacking anyone. We dealt with your brother, now perhaps they will leave us alone.
Leave us alone?” he asked mockingly. Oh, yes, I forgot. You just want to live in peace with your whores and play King of Nothing. You underestimate yourself, Samson. I have never known a host with such…wrath, such unbridled fury. Together we could rule the world and reshape reality to our will.
I wondered why he was always trying to convince me of such things. If he could just take over my body like he had done multiple times, then what did he need with my mind? But then as I wondered, I remembered that he could hear my thoughts. Or had that just been a dream?
I know every thought, every hope, dream, aspiration. I have seen into your soul, Samson Sullivan, and I have seen a black, writhing thing of untold power.
No, you’re lying. You’re trying to change me.
He laughed. Change you? I’m trying to FREE you!
A notification flashed on my interface, and I tapped on it. A moment later a broadcast began to play in the corner of my vision.
The Wizard Donovan appeared on screen looking disheveled and terribly concerned.
“What now? I grumbled to myself.
“Wiz D here with an extraordinary report,” he said dramatically, and I rolled my eyes at the nickname.
“What a douchebag.”
“In an extraordinary turn of events, the Dark Lord Samson has reportedly defeated Krares, the God of War. This is live footage of the Redgrass Plains, as you can see, the entire zone has been reduced to ash, and earthquakes were felt during the battle more than three zones over. We even felt it here in Aeorock!”
“Earthquakes? What a bunch of bullshit,” I scoffed. “The programmers made that happen for dramatic flair.”
He speaks the truth. The world quivered when I smote my brother in the fields of red.
I rolled my eyes and focused on Donovan, who was now reporting while the replay of my epic battle with Krares filled the screen. I was taken aback when I saw myself fighting the God of War. I was unrecognizable in the footage, and I thought for a moment that it had been doctored.
Behold, said Kregos. Behold the Dark Lord reborn…
I stared at the demon in the footage, mesmerized by the glowing eyes, the huge curled horns, the black wings. I had grown to over twenty feet tall during that battle, but I hadn’t even noticed. The most disturbing part of my demonic form were the horns that protruded from my back like a lizard’s spikes. I hadn’t felt those either. Of course, I had been pretty much fully possessed by Kregos and the power of the Throne, but that didn’t change the fact that it was myself up there on the screen.
“As you can see,” said Donovan. “Samson Sullivan has been transformed by the Throne into something almost unrecognizable from the fallen hero that we all know, and once loved.”
“Once loved?” I scoffed. “What a dickhead.”
Perhaps we should go and kill him for all to see, the Throne suggested, and I seriously considered it for a moment.
“Let’s go to my colleague and lore master Phil A. Mignon, who is reporting from the still smoldering Red Plains. Phil, it’s got to be hard for you to see the Red Plains in that state, given that you are a minotaur.”
“Donovan, there really are no words to express my sorrow,” said the deep-voiced bull-man as he wiped at a tear in his eye. “I remember starting out in this zone…god, it seems like yesterday. Right over there was where the Temple of Bullarian once stood. Now, like the rest of the zone, it is nothing but rubble.”
“It is estimated that over one-hundred thousand Minotaurs lived in the Red Plains, and thousands of other creatures that can never be replaced.”
“You’re right, Donovan,” said Phil. “This was more than the destruction of an entire zone. This was a genocide. The Dark Lord Samson is a terrorists, and he must be stopped before this happens again!”
I flew back down to the tower as the minotaur rambled on, and I found my guild mates watching the report in the common room. They offered me concerned looks when I walked in, but no one said anything.
“Hear, hear,” said Donovan. “And on that note, I bring you live to Aeorock, where we have just learned that the game masters are about to make a big announcement. Let’s listen in.”
The image changed to the King of Aeorock’s castle, where thousands of real-world players and NPCs had gathered. The camera zoomed in on the lowest stone balcony, and I wasn’t surprised to see Dr. Marks standing among the game masters. They all wore in-game garb, but I could tell that half of them had never played a second of Rebirth Online in their lives. The game masters were all talking amongst themselves, and after a few minutes they seemed to come to an agreement. Dr. Marks stepped up onto the podium at the edge of the balcony.
“Citizens of Aeorock!” he said in a voice full of authority and dramatic flair. “You have pleaded with us to do something about the rise of the Dark Lord Samson, and up until now we have been loath to interfere…”
The crowd screamed and yelled, some calling for my head, and others offering much more vivid suggestions about what to do with me.
One man yelled, “Just delete his account. Get rid of that hacking troll!”
“Rebirth Online was designed so that any player could enjoy a fully immerse, and fully uncensored gaming experience, and we still stand by that vision.”
Some of the players in the crowd cheered, but still more booed.
“But alas!” said the doctor in a voice that quieted everyone. “The gods of Rebirth Online help those who help themselves!”
The crowd cheered, and the doctor basked in the glory. He raised his robed arms like a priest about to speak the gospel, and the dwarven hall fell deathly quiet.
“We have decided to enable forcefields around all zones level fifty and under that will keep Samson and his hordes out!”
There was a mixed reaction from the crowd, and one of the few people on my side yelled, “That’s bullshit man! You’re nerfing Samson!”
“What we are doing, good sir, is protecting the people of Rebirth from the Dark Lord. The forcefields should be up by tomorrow, but for now low-level players should be safe in neutral cities like Aeorock. There are more than a dozen zones that are level fifty plus, and it wil
l fall on the shoulders of the players in those zones to defeat Samson. That is why I implore you to join the Defenders of Rebirth and begin questing toward your mythical items. It is said that there is one item out there, a sword of incredible power called the Sword of Untold Fates, that can defeat the Dark Lord once and for all. Legend tells that the odds of this weapon spawning are one in a million, so if I were you, I would get to it.”
“What a crock of shit,” I said as the camera turned back to an overdramatic Donovan.
“Dude, they made a blade that can kill you, that’s crazy,” said Tweak.
“If someone finds the blade…” Nanaya began, but then she looked to me fearfully.
“Of course someone is going to find the blade,” I said as I paced the common room. I kicked a loveseat and sent it crashing into the wall. “Son of a bitch!”
“Maybe we can find it first,” said Zoe.
“At a million to one odds?” said Cecilia. “Good luck with that.”
“Maybe we can bribe whoever gets the sword,” said Stormy. “We’ll tell everyone that we’ll pay like a million in game gold for it.”
“Good idea,” said Cecilia, and she looked to me. “Should I put the word out?”
“Can’t hurt,” I said with a shrug.
“I wonder what happens to you if you die as the Dark Lord,” said Zoe.
“Same thing that happened to me,” said Nanaya. “You lose a level and go back to the way you were before you made the pact with the Throne.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad,” said Stormy.
“Yeah, then I get arrested, tried, and this avatar is put in prison forever,” I said.
“They won’t do anything like that,” said Tweak, then he looked to Cecilia and added, “Would they?”
“I was the dark lord for a time,” said Nanaya. “And nothing like that happened to me.”
“You didn’t invade the Surface World,” said Cecilia with a knowing glance my way.
“You could hide in the Underworld,” said Trinity as she joined us. She still looked pissed, but at least she didn’t start back in on me.
“I’m not hiding,” I told her. “Someone might find the dumbass Sword of Untold Fates, but they still have to stab me with it, and all I have to say is good fucking luck with that.”
“Sam, this is serious,” said Trinity. “Eventually…”
“Eventually a lot of things are going to happen,” I said. “I’m not hiding in the Underworld because the game masters made a sword that can defeat me. I don’t believe it anyway. They have no idea how powerful I really am.”
No, they do not… Kregos’s laughter echoed in my mind. Show them, Samson. Show them your power. Go to the city of the dwarves and destroy them all.
“One thing is for certain,” said Nanaya. “They are going to attack. The longer we give for the rest of the players to find the mythical items, the more powerful they will become. We need to expand our kingdom beyond the four surrounding realms.”
“I agree,” I said with a nod. “When night falls, we hit Aeorock.”
Chapter 9
I took a portal to Frostmore and found thousands of elves, dwarves, barbarians, and gnomes hard at work expanding the city. A palace made of ice had been erected at the center of the city as well, and I found Anna outside directing the NPC workers.
“Hey babe,” I said as I landed beside her.
“Hey Sam,” she said with a smile and kissed my cheek. “I saw Dr. Marks speaking in Aeorock.”
“Yeah,” I scoffed. “You see the part about the Sword of Untold Fates?”
She nodded and bit her lip.
“Don’t worry,” I told her. “There’s no one powerful enough to use it against me.”
“Are you sure about that?”
I ignored the question. “Come on, Legion can take care of things around here for a while. We’re all getting ready to hit Aeorock tonight.”
“Aeorock? But why would you do that?”
“Because they won’t expect it,” I told her. “And besides, that place is sweet. It might as well be ours.”
“You’re nuts,” she said with a grin.
“Yeah, probably,” I said laughed with her.
After gathering Kit and Ember from their zones I returned to Haven, and we all regrouped in the courtyard. The sun had gone down nearly an hour before, and now I could summon my minions from the Underworld, but I also wanted to add some newcomers to my army.
“We’re going to make a slight detour,” I told my guild mates as I opened a portal to the Red Plains.
I stepped through, followed by my friends and my silver and gold sons. The Red Plains were still smoldering, and an acrid stench floated on the air that wasn’t entirely unpleasant. To me it smelled like battle.
“Are you about to do what I think you’re about to do?” Tweak asked as he stared at me apprehensively.
“If you mean summon all the dead minotaurs, then yeah,” I told him.
“This is nuts,” said Kit.
“It’s so gnarly isn’t it?” said Nanaya as she eagerly looked on.
I spread my arms to the heavens and activated Summon Undead, then I focused my power on the ground at my feet. The Throne spoke the words in my mind, and I in turn echoed the spell.
“Awaken, my fallen foes. Rise from your eternal earthen bed. Let my power give you life anew. Rise, rise, rise my minions of the night!”
The Red Plains suddenly began to rumble, and I felt wave after wave of dark energy move through me and into the wasted land. Mounds began to form in the scorched earth that had once been the minotaur city, and skeletal hands burst forth. The long dead and the recently deceased bull-people started clawing their way out of the ground. Some had been rotting for years, but the others looked like they hardly had any wounds at all, but every one of them had glowing green eyes.
“Fallen foes!” I bellowed, and the thousands of undead minotaurs looked my way. “Kneel before your new god!”
Each and every minotaur before me kneeled and bowed their heads, and I grinned at my guild mates.
“You guys ready for this shit?”
“No,” said Kit with a nervous laugh.
“Don’t ruin Aeorock like you did this place,” said Anna.
“I won’t,” I told her, but I really didn’t know if that was true. If Kregos took over during the battle, he just might level the whole place. And if he did that, he might kill my friends in the process.
I will not kill your friends, he said in my mind.
This is my fight, I told him. Do not interfere.
I wouldn’t dream of it, he said and chuckled.
I opened another portal, this one to Aeorock. The doctor had told everyone that the forcefields keeping me out would be ready by tomorrow, so they were not yet up around the dwarven zone.
We flew through the portal and came out a few hundred yards from the big iron gates leading to Aeorock, and I glided into the air as the undead minotaur army charged out of the portal. The warning horns began to blare a moment later, and defensive fire issued from the ramparts that I had once helped to defend.
But that was a long time ago.
“Charge!” I roared as enchanted rounds slammed into the undead horde.
My silver and gold sons swooped toward the battlements, and I focused a spell on the big iron doors. When I released my Magic Bolt, it blasted out of my palm and grew to the size of a big rig truck and slammed into the doors. The explosion was spectacular, but when the smoke cleared, I found the doors still standing.
“Legion, Leviathan! Hit that fucking door with Magic Bolt!”
As one, my sons all stopped in their flight, conjured the spells, and sent them screaming toward the doors. This time, however, the doors didn’t hold, and out came an army of NPC dwarves and real-world players.
I tapped on my interface as my guild mates led my sons into battle, and I selected Summon Minions. When asked how many I wanted, I typed in 20,000.
“Samson Sullivan!�
�� came the roaring voice of the wizard Donovan. “You have gone too far!”
The portal from the Underworld opened up, and thousands of demons, ghouls, harpies, and other monsters charged toward Aeorock. To my amusement, Donovan leapt on a broom, shot into the air, and charged right toward me. I spread my wings wide and unsheathed my blade. With a roar, I sped toward the overzealous wizard. He cast multiple spells at me, but they all bounced off my armor like pellets from a b-b gun hitting a knight’s armor.
“Down with the Dark Lord!” he bellowed, and I cut him in half with one fell swipe of my sword.
Nanaya zoomed past me laughing hysterically, and I swooped down to follow her into the dwarven stronghold. Cannon fire from the battlements rained down on my army as we sped toward the open doors, and I watched horrified as Nanaya was hit by one of them. The blast severed her right wing, and she spiraled out of control toward the stony earth. I didn’t have time to fly to her, so I teleported to a location a few dozen feet beneath her. When I reappeared, I caught her in my strong arms and whisked her to the back line, where Kit, Cecilia, and Anna were casting their healing spells on our armies.
“Take care of Nanaya,” I told Anna, then I shot into the air and exacted my vengeance on the defenders upon the battlements.
Anna had told me not to destroy Aeorock, and I kept that in mind as I targeted everyone on the seventh level of the battlements and unleashed Crimson Fury. A collective howl followed the explosion of green flames, and I grinned at the sound of my enemy’s pain. I cast Arcane Lightning and directed it toward the remaining six levels of the battlements, where the real-world players were trying desperately to defend.
To my surprise, an energy shield absorbed my spell.
I snarled as I came around for another pass, and this time I poured my deep seeded hate and malice into the spell. Lightning bolts shot from my palms and slammed into the energy shield again, but the damn thing held.
The defenders cheered and focused their attack on me, and I brought up my Fire Shield as thousands of streaking spells, fireballs, and other enchanted missiles bombarded me. My silver and gold sons attacked the battlements with renewed vigor as the firepower that had kept them at bay turned to me, and I watched proudly as they laid waste to the defenders.
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