Rebirth Online 6

by Michael James Ploof

  “To the door!” I beckoned my minions.

  An earth-shaking rumble suddenly issued from the peak of the mountain, and I looked up to see a dragon that looked to be made of stone spread its wings.

  “What the hell is that?” Nanaya asked as she came to hover beside me.

  “Looks like a big ass stone dragon,” I said glancing at her. “You and the others should stay behind until I secure the—”

  “Yeah, sure, we’ll stay behind,” she said with all seriousness, but then a smile spread across her face and she smiled, adding, “NOT!”

  “Legion!” I bellowed to my sons. “Attack the stone dragon!”

  A few hundred of my golden demons sped up the side of the mountain, and as one they released Fireballs, Magic Bolts, and Arcane Lightning. When the smoke cleared, however, that big son of a bitch of a stone dragon was still coming. Worse yet, he was batting my gilded demons aside like they were insects, and his fiery eyes were looking right at me.

  I read the title above it’s head and grinned to myself.

  Finally, a worthy opponent.

  Drac’ Scar

  Mythical Defender of Aeorock

  Level – 527

  I sped toward the dragon as it swooped down from the peak of the mountain. I prepared a Nuclear Thunderclap, took steady aim at the colossal stone beast, and let my spell fly. The dragon roared when my spell exploded in its face, but to my surprise, it kept on coming through the fire and smoke. The shockwave of my spell rattled the mountainside and caused a massive avalanche, and to my dismay, the falling stone battered my undead minotaurs and Underworld hordes as they fought to get inside Aeorock.

  My anger surged, and I felt the dark power of the throne intensify, but the dragon’s power also seemed to surge. I shot toward the beast with my enchanted sword leading the way, and I must have looked like a hummingbird attacking a bald eagle. The dragon opened its mouth to bathe me in fire, but I teleported to a spot right behind it. My momentum continued to carry me at high speeds, and when I suddenly appeared behind the dragon’s head, my sword struck true.

  But it didn’t pierce the thick stone hide.

  Instead, I bounced off.

  The dragon spun in midair, grabbed ahold of me in one of its big clawed hands, and slammed me into the side of the mountain. I was dragged down the face of a cliff before the dragon brought me to its mouth, and that’s when one-thousand gold and silver demons slammed into the creature.

  I broke loose and flew away from the powerful beast as my sons swarmed it like pesky bees. The dragon glided over my Underworld army and unleashed a plume of flames that completely consumed about 20% of my army, reducing them to ash.

  The gods have bestowed great power on the defender of Aeorock, said Kregos.

  Yeah, no shit! I said as I dove after the dragon.

  I unleashed a barrage of Fireballs and Magic Bolts, and I managed to take the attention off my sons. The dragon changed course and flew after me, and I smartly led it away from my army.

  “You want some of this, Big boy?” I screamed as I soared for the clouds. “Well come and get it!”

  The dragon roared and spewed fire toward me, but it only ended up flying through its own flames. I stopped high above the mountain, changed direction, and began to dive straight for the dragon’s open maw. Fire washed over me, but I felt nothing. I was determined to destroy the stone dragon, and I wasn’t going to let a little fire get in my way.

  “Suck on these!” I yelled as I sped into the dragon’s mouth.

  The big mouth chomped down around me, but I continued past the razor-sharp teeth and flew right down its throat.

  Then I conjured Nuclear Thunderclap, and things got interesting.

  My spell erupted inside the dragon’s throat like a fatal case of heart burn, and the explosion tore the creature’s head clean off. I floated high above Aeorock with my arms wide and roared like a victorious beast as the body of my opponent careened into the side of the mountain, and the severed head crashed through the battlements.

  With the dragon out of the way, I wasted no time and ordered my armies into the mountain.

  The defenders had more tricks up their sleeves, however, and cannons suddenly emerged from the mountainside all around the door like porcupine quills. There must have been a thousand enchanted cannons, but I had over twenty thousand minions and tens of thousands of minotaurs that I could use as cannon fodder, and I wasn’t beyond making that sacrifice.

  But the door was going to be too hard to get through. Spells were flying out of the entrance at a steady pace, and even my demonic sons could not make it through any longer. Whatever had happened to those who had made it in early on was a mystery to me, and I found myself growing worried about them.

  I flew down to the back of the demonic army, where my guild mates were trying to manage the hordes.

  “I’m going in,” I told them as I landed. “I didn’t want to take that risk, because I have no idea what might be waiting for me in there, but I don’t know if we can knock through those defenses. The game masters must have made this place 500% stronger or more. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  “Sam,” said Anna with severity. “I don’t think that the game masters are going to allow themselves to lose Aeorock.”

  “She’s right,” said Cecilia. “If they let you take the most popular city, then it’ll wreak havoc throughout the game.”

  “Good,” I said as I set my sights on the mountain door. “I’m telling you right now, I’m taking this mountain.”

  “Dude, they know how powerful you are,” said Tweak. “And they’re programmers. All they have to do is make the defenses more powerful.”

  “It’s a game, bro,” I said. “Relax.”

  With that I unsheathed my sword, closed my eyes, and imagined myself just on the other side of the mangled doors.

  I started swinging before I opened my eyes, and when I looked, I found that I was in the middle of the sea of defenders. I spun a circle and brought my sword around in a wide arch, severing heads and cutting bodies in half.

  The real-world players around me began to scream, and I unleashed Arcane Lightning and laughed balefully as my spell engulfed hundreds.

  “I’m back, motherfuckers!” I roared as my electrical fingers struck like vipers, and dozens of players burst into flames.

  Hundreds of spells slammed into me, and they hurt a little, but they barely dropped my health by 2%. It was going to take a hell of a lot more firepower to take me down, and soon everyone knew it.

  “Defenders of Aeorock!” came the voice of none other then Dr. Marks. “Now is the time!”

  Now’s the time for what? I wondered.

  Get out! Kregos tried to warn me, but too late.

  Blue swirling beams of light erupted from all around me. They didn’t explode against me or break my flesh, instead, they wrapped around me like lassos and squeezed me tight.

  Teleport! The Throne screamed.

  “I can’t!” I said allowed, and my desperate cry must have given the rest of the players renewed confidence.

  More beams wrapped themselves around me, and soon I was floating in a cocoon of sparkling blue light. It may as well have been white hot wire, however, because it burned the shit out of my skin. The collective grip of the many beams was incredible, and I fought helplessly as more and more joined in. I could see some of the players casting the spell with wands, and others had staffs or rings, and it became apparent that these were the mythical items that Dr. Marks had mentioned in his speech.

  Fear suddenly gripped my heart. Had the Sword of Untold Fates been found? Was someone even now charging toward me with the hated blade?

  Had I made a mistake in attacking Aeorock?

  My heart surged.

  My panic rose.

  Then Dr. Marks appeared before me looking solemn as I was pulled to my knees by the thousands of shimmering strands of light.

  “Sam, this is your chance to let go of the Throne…”

/>   “Fuck you!”

  “Sam, I beseech you. Give up the Throne. Return to the light.”

  “You bastards never did this against Kincaid!” I screamed. “You let him lay waste to Aeorock. You let him hurt me!”

  The pain and anger that I felt was like a tempest in my mind. What the programmers were doing was wrong. They were interfering directly with the game, something that they had been so loath to do. But back then they had me to defend them, and without someone in the game like me, the programmers had been forced to basically cheat the system that they themselves had put in place.

  Why?

  Because they were afraid of me…

  Yes…Yes…let your anger flow through you. They have wronged you yet again. They seek nothing but your destruction.

  Dr. Marks nodded to someone behind me, and suddenly twelve gods appeared out of nowhere and surrounded me. They all raised similar wands, and from them thick beams of light far more powerful than those of the regular players engulfed me.

  The pressure was incredible, but the pain was almost nonexistent, but when Kregos cried out in my mind, I realized that the attack wasn’t meant to hurt me, but the Throne. I felt a disconnect from the dark power, and for a moment I knew that my mind was my own. Whatever it was that was issuing from those wands, it was denying the Kregos’s connection to me.

  I was free…

  “Now, Samson,” said Dr. Marks as he reached out his hand.

  Samson… came the steadily fading voice of Kregos in my head.

  All I had to do was take the Doctor’s hand, and I knew that I would be pulled from the cold light. Kregos could not emerge from that holy light, however, and he would be torn from me when I crossed.

  I would go back to being regular ole Samson, and—

  And you will be persecuted! The Throne’s voice echoed in my mind. Fight, Samson. Fight for me…fight for yourself!

  “No!” I cried and pushed outward with my telekinetic power.

  The electric blue tethers holding me weakened for a moment, and the influence of the Throne came crashing back into me. My dark power surged, and mixed with my fury, it strengthened my kinetic energy. I roared like a caged beast as I lashed out, and the electric tethers that held me snapped and disappeared.

  The players who had been assaulting me were thrown back hundreds of feet, some slamming into the walls or stalagmites, and others colliding with those behind them. Dr. Marks was blown backward as well, and I hit him with a Magic Bolt right before he collided with a burly dwarf and rolled out of sight. I turned toward the door, where hundreds of defenders were manning huge cannons, and I unleashed Scorched Earth. My spell consumed the entire hall near the door, and a wall of flame fifty feet high raged in the threshold. Enchanted cannonballs exploded, and all hell broke loose.

  “Come, my children! Feast upon your father’s enemies!” I commanded, and a moment later my gold and silver sons shot through the smoke and into the mountain stronghold.

  The minotaurs and Underworld army raced in behind my demonic sons, and soon the dwarven halls echoed the alarmed cries of the Defenders of Aeorock. The big stone statues that I had once fought alongside stomped toward me, but my demonic sons attacked by the hundreds, and by the time they flew away, nothing remained of the defenders but smoldering piles of rubble.

  “Stand and fight!” a real-world player urged his friends as they took portals that would get them the hell out of there.

  Others were calling for a full retreat, however, and the numbers inside the halls were quickly thinning. I laughed and marched through the dwarven halls with my hordes behind me, killing would-be heroes who stupidly charged me with their pathetic weapons.

  When the horns of Aeorock changed their tune, I grinned to myself, for I knew that the king himself was marching to war. I stopped at the center of the massive hall and waited for the king. I didn’t want to kill my old ally, but if he refused to surrender, I wouldn’t lose too much sleep after lopping off his head.

  “Samson!” I heard the king call out, and his voice was followed by the sound of thousands of stomping boots.

  “Surrender now and spare your people!” I called out. “I promise that no harm will come to you if you do.”

  The dwarf king walked boldly across the hall and motioned for his warriors to wait. He stopped before me and glanced up at me with a pensive frown.

  “I remember when ye helped us defend against Kincaid and his dark hordes, and now it be ye who’s done brought the undead to me halls. Why?”

  That was a hell of a question. Why? Why was I doing this? Why had I decided to attack Aeorock? Why had I taken up the mantle of the Dark Lord?

  Because you were betrayed. Came the answer in my head, and I couldn’t quite tell if it was mine or that of Kregos.

  “I regret that I have had to bring war to your halls, good King,” I said with a small bow. “But this city harbors those who would see me and my guild mates persecuted. I promise you that under my rule—”

  “Your rule?” he said with a cocked brow. “My family has ruled these mountains for centuries. Ye think that I be givin’ it up to ye?”

  “I do not wish to take from you that which is yours,” I told him, then I activated NPC Mind Control and extended my will toward him. “You can remain king of the mountain. All I ask is that you swear fealty to me and acknowledge me as your lord.”

  “Me lord? Son, have ye done hit your damn head?”

  Kill the insolent little bastard! The Throne suddenly roared.

  I was surprised by Kregos’s sudden outburst and the rage that went with it. When he spoke the words, I felt his anger become mine, and the urge to kill the dwarf king was hard to ignore. The king must have noticed this, because he took a step back.

  “Bend the knee and there shall be no more bloodshed,” I urged the King and tried to mentally control him again, but he was having none of it.

  “Never,” he said loudly, and his voice echoed throughout the hall.

  “Then I have no other choice,” I said and unsheathed my blade.

  “Neither do I…” The dwarf suddenly leapt toward me and swung his axe, and I was surprised by his speed.

  My Fire Shield flared to life and deflected the blow, but the force of the axe pushed me off balance.

  How the hell is he so strong? I wondered.

  Your heart is not in it, his is, the Kregos informed me.

  I deflected another blow and stabbed at the king, but he was not only strong but fast as hell. He spun away from the attack, but then changed direction and came back around with his axe gliding low. I blocked it with my Fire Shield and swung for his exposed left flank, but again he spun out of the way with supernatural speed.

  Your love of the dwarves and Aeorock has made you weak. Abandon your sympathies and take what is yours!

  I stepped up the fight and attacked the dwarf king with a flurry of blows that would have left just about any other NPC dead at my feet, but the king had found strength that I did not know he possessed. I should have been able to easily defeat him, yet he was meeting me blow for blow.

  Why are you holding back! Kill him!

  Kregos’ words echoed in my mind, and fury pressed against the walls of my mental reason. I found myself still wondering why in the hell I was doing this, why I was doing any of it, and my lack of concentration cost me.

  My shield was knocked wide and the axe suddenly slammed into my left side. It didn’t penetrate my robes, but it hurt like holy hell. I lurched to the side and deflected the next blow, and all the while the dwarf king’s grin widened.

  “I don’t want to kill you,” I warned. “But I will if I must.”

  Pain suddenly shot through my head that almost dropped me to my knees, and the memory of the crash that had left me paralyzed played in my mind. I heard the squealing tires, the busting glass, and the sound of metal being torn apart. Then I saw myself in the hospital bed tied up to a half a dozen machines.

  Finally, the doctor’s heart wrenching news
that I would never walk again.

  The king’s axe took me upside the head, jolting me from my flashback, and I reeled back from the blow and squared on him. Anger rose in me like boiling water in a tea kettle, and soon I could no longer contain it.

  “Take a knee!” I bellowed and cast a Magic Bolt that sent the King’s axe flying out of his hands.

  “Never!” He screamed back at me and cast a spell of his own.

  I deflected it with my shield, surprised by the King’s sudden show of magic.

  “Ancestors! Ancient Gods! Give me your strength!” the King bellowed and raised his arms to the sky.

  The walls of Aeorock began to glow and hum, and Kregos urged me to attack. I cast Scorched Earth at the King’s feet and followed it up with a Magic Bolt aimed for his head, but neither of my spells touched the king. He began to glow with magical light, and he grew twice the size in a matter of seconds.

  “Oh shit,” I said to myself as the King turned his glowing eyes my way and thrust out his arms.

  I was hit by a blast of kinetic energy that lifted me off my feet and send me shooting like a rocket into the wall. The stone shattered against my back, and I continued right through the thick wall and shot out the side of the mountain. I landed hard and rolled for some time before coming to stop against a large boulder three hundred yards from the mountain door.

  Get up! Kregos screamed furiously.

  I rose to my feet breathing like an angry bull and set my gaze on the doors to Aeorock. The sounds of renewed battle echoed from the mountain, and I knew that the king was attacking my demonic sons with his newfound power.

  Fury boiled over inside me, and my vision became hued in red. I felt Kregos’s anger as well, and our collective outrage became unbridled power. I leapt into the air, spread my wings, and shot like a bullet back through the hole that I had made.

  When I entered the mountain once more, I found the dwarves and my demonic hordes locked in a violent battle for dominance of the hall. I spotted the king among the warriors, for he was nearly twenty feet tall, and his axe crackled with lightning and the fury of his ancestors. My own wrath had caused me to grow as well, and I launched myself at the broad-shouldered bastard.