“Alright.” I straightened my robes, unsheathed and inspected my blade, before sheathing it once more. “Here goes nothing.”
“Sam, wait!”
I had taken a step toward the portal when Dr. Marks spoke, and I quickly took my foot back and whirled around.
“Doctor? It’s about time you show up. What’s wrong?” I asked, noticing how ashen he appeared.
“Sam, we looked into it, and you’re right.”
“What did you find?” I said as I walked past Tweak and Cecilia and stood before the doctor.
“No proof of the torture that you said he was guilty of, but other things, disturbing things. He’s got his digital finger in nearly every system. We sent security to his pod inside the facility, but he’s locked himself inside and is starting to take over the facility’s systems as well.”
“The systems…” I said, my mind racing. “Like my life-support systems?”
“We’re not going to let that happen,” said Dr. Marks, but then he began to twitch and fade.
“Wait!” I said and reached for him.
“Sam…”
My hand went through him as though he were a ghost, and he turned static and suddenly winked out of view.
“Shit!” I cursed as I began pacing the room.
“This is bad…” said Cecilia, sounding more scared than I was.
“I’m on it!” Tweak yelled and ran into the computer room. “I’ll slow down his progress and give you some time. What room are you in?”
“My body is in room 27,” I told him.
“Alright, I’ll keep the fucker away from you in the static world, you go get that confession and try to distract his ass. If he’s fighting you he won’t be able to concentrate on hacking corporate.”
“I’m going with you,” said Cecilia as she began buffing us both.
“What? No, I can’t let you do that.”
“Love ya babe, but I wasn’t asking your permission,” she informed me. “Everything has changed. We’ve got to slow that prick down before he kills you in the real world.”
“Take the Purps,” said Tweak. “He then cupped his big ape hands around his lips and let out a high-pitched monkey call.
Two dozen purple monkeys ran into the main room, and those who had been lounging on the wicker furniture leapt to attention as well. Tweak said something to them in monkey talk, and they all began leaping up and down and pounding their chests excitedly. Dozens bounded through the portal, and others hurried outside to round up a bigger posse.
“They’ll make a circus of that place. Good luck,” Tweak said and returned to his computer.
“Alright,” I said to Cecilia. “Let’s do this!”
Chapter 19
Cecilia and I stepped out of the portal onto oily black stone. The purple monkeys were already hightailing it toward the castle, so we ran after them and prepared our spells. I conjured a fireball and felt it burning in my right palm, while Cecilia’s entire body began to glow with holy light.
I released my fireball and it sped across the black stone. It crossed the two-hundred-yard expanse in a matter of seconds and exploded against the black castle. An energy force absorbed the blast, but that was fine, I hadn’t been trying to cause damage, just alert Kincaid to our presence.
It worked; five seconds later the dragons sitting upon the spires took flight and began gliding down to intercept us.
“Hurry!” I said to Cecilia.
“We’ll never make it,” she said as she pumped her arms and legs and glanced up at the flock of dragons sailing toward us. “Here!”
She cast a spell on me, and I felt suddenly invigorated. I gained speed and was soon running three times as fast as I had been. I tried not to trip myself up on the rocks as I flew across the oily darkness, and we quickly outpaced the wild purple monkeys.
Cecilia and I dove into an alcove created by the jutting spears as dragon fire licked our asses. I conjured my fire shield and got in front of Cecilia as the dragons unleashed their hellish fury. My shield held the flames at bay, and when the onslaught finally ended I dared a peek. The dragons were circling back around, but they had picked up about a dozen purple hitchhikers. The monkeys rode upon the dragons’ heads, punching and poking the big eyeballs as the dragons thrashed about in midair, trying desperately to dislodge the purple monkey posse.
“Knock knock,” came a voice in my ear.
“Tweak is that you?” I asked and glanced at Cecilia.
“Who’s there?” she said hurriedly.
“You are!” Tweak laughed apishly, and a moment later a doorway opened behind us.
“Quit screwing around!” Cecelia yelled at him and pulled me through the door.
It disappeared behind us, and we found ourselves in a long onyx hallway. I could hear the chittering laughter of monkeys echoing in the big castle, and they seemed to be coming from every direction.
“Kincaid is in the highest tower, and so are your girls,” said Tweak in our ears. “Follow the hall and hang a right up the stairs.”
We did as he instructed and took the steps two at a time.
“At the landing, follow the hall to the left and take the stairs at the end,” Tweak instructed.
“Copy that,” I said as we reached the landing.
“Hey!” a voice rang out. I spun around with a magic bolt ready in my palm and saw a goblin warrior glaring at us from the other end of the hall.
“Catch!” I yelled and unleashed my magic bolt.
I didn't bother waiting to see if it hit as I ran to the end of the hall to take the stairs. We climbed at least seven stories up the spiraling staircase, and the heavy footfalls of the warrior followed close behind.
Cecilia stopped for a moment at the next landing to set a magical trap. Once it was set, we rushed through the door and entered a large circular room. Given the view offered by the nearby window, I guessed that we had reached the highest tower.
“You’re there. Good luck,” said Tweak in our ears.
Cecilia’s trap went off in the stairwell, and the warrior cursed painfully.
Before us was a large statue of Kincaid that looked to still be in progress, and when we walked left around it, we found the man waiting for us.
Kincaid stood near a window on the other side of the room. He wore dark robes the color of bruised clouds that churned with power. His eyes glowed bright red as he offered me a smirk from behind his low-drawn hood. To his left, Anna and Trinity hung from the wall in chains, and to the right hung Ember and Kit. Their mouths were all gagged with cloth, but they had seen me, and they squirmed against their chains and tried to cry out.
“I’ve been expecting you,” said Kincaid.
“Let them go and I’ll surrender,” I said.
He looked distracted for a moment, and I noticed how his right hand seemed to be typing on an invisible keyboard.
“Hey, asshole, I’m talking to you!” I yelled.
He looked up. “What makes you think that I need you to surrender?”
“Come on, Kincaid, let them go. This is between you and me.”
“No, I think I’ll keep them,” he said as his right hand continued to type. I knew that he was still trying to hack the systems in corporate, and I thought of myself lying there helpless in one of the underground facilities. “You’ve caused me a lot of trouble, Samson Sullivan. Everything was going smoothly until you showed up. Now you’ve forced my hand.”
I needed to distract him from his work, but I couldn’t fire a spell at him when he was so close to my women.
“Ah-hah…” he said with a sneer. “Room number 27. And what’s this?” Now both hands were typing furiously on the invisible keypad. “You’ve got someone guarding you.”
“You need to distract this dude…” came the urgent voice of Tweak in my ear.
“Dr. Marks is on to you, Arthur,” I said, and his brow furled at the mention of his real name. “Even as we speak they are working to hack into your pod. It’s only a matter of time before they get in,
then it’s all over for you. Just give up now before you accidentally kill someone else...like the man who died in the real world because of your in-game torture.”
“You think that was an accident?” he said with a grin. “That was no more of an accident than what I’m going to do to you once I hack into your room. Just like I killed Torrance Green, I’m going to kill you as well.”
I got you, asshole.
“Or perhaps,” he said with a devious grin. “Perhaps I’ll keep you alive, make you one of my minions, you and your little whores.”
“Tweak, can you get the girls out?” I whispered as I slowly stalked toward Kincaid.
“I’ve got about all I can do to keep this asshole at bay, but I’ll try,” said Tweak.
“Who are you talking to?” Kincaid snarled as his fingers moved over the keypad in a blur of motion. “Ah, the troublemaker who has been protecting your room. Well, he won’t be a problem much longer—”
Kincaid was interrupted by a dozen screaming purple monkeys who suddenly erupted from the doorway behind me. They charged across the room, whooping and shrieking and having a grand ole time. Kincaid stopped typing to bring up his glowing hands, and I took the opportunity to launch a well-placed Magic Bolt right at his chest. Cecilia struck then as well and cast a beam of golden light. Kincaid deflected my Magic Bolt, which ricocheted off his left bracer and blew a hole in the wall three feet wide. He deflected Cecilia’s spell as well and unsheathed a short sword as the monkeys leapt at him.
“Got em!” came Tweak’s voice in my ear, and Trinity, Ember, Anna, and Kit were all freed from their chains.
The girls’ gear suddenly appeared on them as well, and they all sprang into motion at once. Trinity and Ember came at Kincaid with blades drawn, while Ember and Kit unleashed their most powerful offensive spells. Cecilia and I joined in, and together we all bombarded Kincaid with an attack that should have killed him.
But Kincaid didn’t go down.
He absorbed every blow, brought his hands in toward his gut, and then with a primal scream he unleashed the spells back at us all. My fireball took me in the chest and slammed me against the tall statue behind me, Cecilia was similarly knocked on her ass by her spell, and my guild mates cried out as they too were thrown back.
“Get them out of here!” I screamed as Kincaid turned with murder in his eyes toward Anna and raised his glowing sword.
The blade came down, but to my relief my guild mates suddenly disappeared. I sprinted across the room and unsheathed my sword as I went. Kincaid was ready for me, however, and swung his glowing blade to meet mine. His sword cut right through mine, chopping it in two. He spun again, bringing the sword around to cut me in two, and I hurriedly brought up my fire shield. It erupted from the back of my left hand and burst to life with a surge of flame a millisecond before I would have been killed.
We glared at each other, locked in battle.
Cecilia suddenly surged forward with a glowing staff, and Kincaid was forced to use his blade to block the strike. That gave me the time I needed to unleash arcane lightning, which shot out of my fingertips and encased my opponent. He seemed unaffected, however, and shorn Cecilia’s staff in two before ripping his blade up and across her body.
Blood flew as Cecilia was spun around and hit the floor.
“I’m getting you two out of there,” said Tweak.
“Wait!” I said, knowing that I needed to keep distracting Kincaid.
“No can do,” said Tweak in my ear. “He’s drawing too much power, a killing blow from that sword might kill you in the real world.”
I had no time to object as Kincaid and the castle faded away, and the next moment I found myself standing in Aeorock, right next to the charred Gilded Chalice.
“Sam!” my guildies cried and ran toward me. Cecilia suddenly appeared on the ground beside me, and to my horror I saw that her chest had been opened wide by Kincaid’s blade.
“Help her!” I yelled to Kit and Anna.
They skidded to a stop beside me and unleashed glowing beams of healing light. Their magic encased Cecilia and lifted her off the ground like someone being abducted by aliens.
“Where’s Kincaid?” Ember asked. “Is it over?”
I watched as Cecilia’s terrible wound began to heal and shook my head.
“I think it’s far from over, but we got what we needed.” I glanced up at the big looking glass, surprised that Kincaid’s confession wasn’t yet playing. “Tweak, you there? Tweak?”
Players had begun to gather around us, whispering amongst themselves. I heard my name and Kincaid’s name, and something about a blood feud.
Cecilia was helped to her feet once she was fully healed, and her tail wagged happily behind her.
“We did it,” she said, and glanced up at the looking glass. “Any minute now Tweak will play the confession.”
“I don’t know,” I said as I watched the replay of someone’s questing play out on the big screen. “Something’s wrong.”
Just then a loud rumble shook the mountain, and the crowd became quiet. Everyone looked around, waiting with bated breath. I gathered my girls behind me and brought up my flaming shield, and a heartbeat later a portal ripped apart the air in front of me.
“Look out!” I yelled, as a streaking spell shot out of the portal.
I brought up my shield in time, and the fireball crashed into it with an explosion of a thousand glowing embers. The blast took me off my feet and deposited me on the ground ten feet away. I scrambled to get up, ignoring the warning of low health flashing on my interface, as Kincaid strode through the portal.
The crowd gave a collective gasp, for Kincaid was now fifteen feet tall, and he had grown black wings that protruded from his back. He wore a cloak of black flame, and his skin had taken on a dark sheen. Power emanated from him like heat from a fire, and he scanned the growing crowd.
A warning horn blared somewhere in the mountain, and dwarven NPCs suddenly appeared before me.
“Halt, intruder!” said one, but Kincaid only laughed at the dwarf and his half a dozen comrades.
The guards charged, but one after another they were swept aside by Kincaid’s massive sword. They flew through the air screaming, and to everyone’s shock and horror, they broke up into a million pixelated pieces and faded to nothing.
The crowd gasped and backed up from the insane mage.
“Kneel before your new god!” Kincaid commanded everyone in a voice that shook the dwarven halls.
Trinity and Kit healed me as I rejoined them and stood defiantly before the maniac.
“You’re no god of ours, Arthur Gains!” I yelled.
Kincaid’s face twisted in rage, and he cocked back a glowing hand. I braced myself for the blast, but then the looking glass flared to life, and my own voice echoed through the cavern.
“Dr. Marks is on to you, Arthur. Even as we speak they are working to hack into your pod. It’s only a matter of time before they get in, then it’s all over for you. Just give up now before you accidentally kill someone else...like the man who died in the real world because of your in-game torture.”
Everyone, even Kincaid, glanced up at the looking glass, where the feed from my GoPwn was now playing.
“You think that was an accident?” said Kincaid on the big screen. “That was no more of an accident than what I’m going to do to you once I hack into your room. Just like I killed Torrance Green, I’m going to kill you as well.”
The crowd gasped, and shocked murmurs began to echo through the cavern.
“You think any of this matters now?” said Kincaid as he turned from the looking glass. “This world is mine!”
He thrust his right hand forward, and I was suddenly pulled off my feet and yanked across the cavern toward him. Kincaid caught me by the neck and I unleashed a magic bolt right in his face. The blast did nothing but elicit a grin from the mad mage.
“I shall reshape this world to my liking, and I will start with you,” he said, and I felt a stran
ge burning sensation begin to spread through my entire being.
I cried out in pain and hit Kincaid with magic bolt, fireball, and arcane lightning, but none of my spells had any effect. The burning became intolerable, and I watched in horror as my avatar began to pixelate.
Then a spell hit Kincaid in the shoulder, and another hit him in the face. Ember suddenly appeared on Kincaid’s back and thrust a dagger into his neck. Trinity struck as well, chopping into his leg with her big sword. But none of the attacks hurt him, and with a wave of his hand the two women were engulfed in flames.
“Behold!” Kincaid bellowed. “For this is the fate of those who oppose me!”
He held me aloft and sent a surge of terrible power through my body. I clutched the big hand that held me and watched in horror as my skin began to crack, and white light poured out. My tortured cry became fragmented and digital as the power grew unbearable.
I screamed, Kincaid laughed, and my body suddenly exploded.
Silence replaced the tumult, and I opened my eyes.
I was back in my hospital bed at corporate. Dr. Marks was standing over me. He was yelling something to a nearby nurse. I watched, confused, as defibrillation paddles were placed on my chest. I felt nothing, heard nothing, and panic rose to a crescendo in my mind. I glanced at the heartbeat monitor as my vision blurred, and I tried to understand what I was seeing. The chaos surrounding my bed grew, but I was seeing everything in slow motion. I tried to speak. I tried to tell them to send me back to the game, but I was as helpless to communicate as I had been to defend myself against Kincaid.
My body jerked as the defibrillator surged, and my vision began to fade.
“I got you,” came a voice through the fog of my mind. It was tweak’s voice, and with it came darkness.
Sound rushed back to my ears and I snapped my eyes open.
Somehow, I was back in Aeorock...and I was alive.
But I couldn’t say the same thing for half of the players in the dwarf mountain. Bodies littered the stone floor, NPCs and real-world characters alike. Fires raged in the destroyed shops along the south wall, pillars lay in ruins, and Kincaid stood above the destruction, now twenty-five feet tall and wreathed in hellish flames.
Rebirth Online Page 17
