My gilded sons suddenly joined the fight, and they swooped down at the doctor, attacking him with enchanted swords of their own in a steady barrage. The doctor was pushed back by the onslaught, and I watched gleefully, waiting for one of my sons to land a killing blow, but they never did.
To my horror, Doctor Marks pulled down lightning from the heavens that crashed into my flying children, and I screamed when nearly two dozen of them were reduced to ash before my eyes.
“Legion!” I screamed as I watched them die.
My rage had given me incredible power before, but it was nothing compared to the dark energy that was produced by my anguish. The doctor struck another group of my children, and a spell began to form in my mind that I had never known. It was a dark spell, borne from the depths of the Underworld and fed by the indominable Dark Throne.
I lashed out and screamed my hatred at the doctor, and a beam of pure darkness slammed into his chest.
“Sam…” the Doctor called out in anguish.
I poured everything the Dark Throne gave me into the spell, and cracks began to form in Dr. Marks’ skin. He retaliated with a spell made of pure light, but my dark beam extinguished his holy power, and a moment later the good doctor exploded into a million pixelated shards.
Silence filled the air, and I shattered it with a demonic bellow that made the Earth tremble.
Chapter 3
“What have you done?”
I turned to find Anna and the rest of my guildmates standing behind me, and I smiled at them all.
“Fret not, for you too shall know the power of the Dark Throne.” The words were not my own but came from the Throne.
I lifted my hand, barely aware of what I was doing. To my surprise, dark power issued from my hand and surrounded my friends. The spell that the Throne was casting through me didn’t hurt my friends, however, instead it filled them with dark power. The look in their eyes told me that they had never felt anything like it, and soon they were lifted off their feet and hovered above the ground, bathing in the incredible power of the Throne.
You have cast Blessing of the Dark One
My friends’ levels may have only been in the 70’s, but their overall power more than tripled when the blessing was applied. I watched enthralled as they all grew horns and black wings, and their eyes began to glow bright green.
“Now you understand,” I said to them as they floated back down to earth.
“Holy shit,” said Tweak as he looked at his own hands.
“Oh, Big Daddy, we had no idea,” said Kit as she shook with unbridled power.
“How is this possible?” said Anna.
“Anything is possible now,” I told her.
“Master,” came a slinky little voice, and a moment later Frig appeared before me in a ghostly form. “There is a disturbance in the Underworld.”
“A disturbance?” I said grinning wide.
“Yeah, weirdo,” said Frig as he shook his head. “It’s not exactly a good thing. You have been away too long, and Grymhook is planning a coup.”
“Is he now?” I said, and I realized that Grymhook, the Lord of the Sixth level, must have been the one that gave Bogrum the enchanted chains.
“Yeah man, that’s what I said!” Frig screeched.
“Watch over the kingdom,” I bade my guild mates. “I shall return shortly.”
With that I turned and opened a portal that would lead me to the Underworld.
“Be careful Big Daddy!” Kit called after me as I stepped through, and her words disappeared as I emerged in the Underworld.
A crimson tower loomed before me, and I glanced around at the denizens of the Underworld who had noticed my sudden appearance. Most of them instantly dropped to their knees and other fled, but I ignored them all and flew toward the tower. Frig appeared next to me, and the little imp looked pretty excited.
“Grymhook is meeting with the other lords,” he said with a devilish laugh. “Boy are they going to be surprised to see you!”
He led me to a balcony and pointed inside the tower.
“They’re in there, boss. You need some backup?”
“Probably not,” I said with a laugh. “But you can be my wingman if you want.”
The little imp flew in a big circle and laughed gleefully.
I could hear the other lords of the Underworld talking inside the tower, and it sounded like they were arguing about something. I thought about listening in on them for a little while, but I didn’t really care what the NPC’s were talking about, so I strode right in like I owned the place.
My heavy footsteps echoed off the thick stone walls, and the six lords all looked to me with surprise. They were sitting around a big round table, and they all rose to their feet when they saw me. One of them got up so fast that their chair skidded across the floor. I leveled my gaze on Grymhook, offering him a knowing grin. He looked surprised to see me, more so even than the others.
Grymhook was one messed up looking dude. He had the head of a goat and the body of a pitch-black demon. He wore oily black armor, and two human skulls had been impaled on his tall horns.
“My lord,” said the fifth level boss, a fat demon named Kyro. He bowed before me, as did the other four bosses, but Grymhook remained standing.
“I heard you were having a little meeting, Grymhook, and I was a little disheartened to not be invited,” I said as I stood before them all in all my demonic glory. I was fresh off the kill and boiling with dark power.
“The great and powerful Samson has returned,” said Grymhook with mock concern. “We thought that you had abandoned the Dark Throne.”
“And you thought to take it for yourself, is that it?” I asked.
“You care more for the surface world than you do your own realm,” said Grymhook, and his goat eyes narrowed. “You do not deserve to rule the seventh level.”
Grymhook glanced at the other bosses, seemingly searching for their support, but if they had planned to work together to dethrone me before, now it seemed that they had changed their minds.
“The Throne has chosen me,” I reminded him. “I am the one true lord of the Underworld, yet you do not kneel before me.”
“You are no lord of mine!” he said with a growl.
“Is that so?” I said with a laugh.
He snarled and let out a strange goat-like laugh before leaping across the room toward me. I raised a hand, stopping him dead with telekinesis, then I tapped on the Mind Control icon on my interface.
“Hand me your heart,” I said evenly.
Grymhook’s eyes widened, and I glanced at the other lords, reveling in their terror.
“Now,” I said to Grymhook, who was trying to fight my influence.
He screamed, extended his right arm, and turned his clawed hand back at himself. His arm suddenly punched into his chest, and those clawed fingers sunk deep. With a cry of pain and terror, Grymhook yanked out his still beating heart and held it out toward me.
“Now eat it,” I commanded.
Grymhook couldn’t fight my influence, and he tore into his own heart like a ravenous beast. I knew that he wouldn’t die from his wounds. Indeed, his chest was already healing ever as he dined on his own heart. But the resulting shock and horror shared by the other lords at my complete mental control over Grymhook had been my real goal.
“I can make any of you do the same thing,” I reminded them all. “So don’t even think of fucking with me.”
I reached out and pulled Grymhook toward me and grabbed him by the throat, then I punched my left arm right through his teeth and down his throat. I released a Magic Bolt inside the goat-man’s throat, and he exploded in a shower of gore that rained down on the other surprised NPC’s.
“It looks like you’ve all been promoted to the next level,” I told the remaining lords.
“Thank you, my lord,” said a tall harpy with blue wings. She was the fourth level boss, and I could tell by the way she looked at me that she had no qualms sleeping her way to the top.
“Now that Grymhook’s little revolt is over, I would like to express to you the importance of a unified Underworld.” The bosses all sat, and I took the seat that Grimhook had occupied. “I need you all to prepare your legions, for soon we shall invade the Surface World.”
“You’ve been saying that,” said Frig, who I had forgotten was there. “But I don’t see you doing much in the form of invading the surface. Hell, you’re hardly ever here, and I for one—”
I blasted him with a fireball that reduced him to ash, then I laced my fingers and looked each boss in the eye.
“As I was saying, I expect total fealty. Soon the invasion will begin. There is to be no more petty squabbling, and if I hear a whisper of another planned revolution, I’ll fry each and every one of you and appoint new lords.”
“We won’t let you down, my lord,” said the harpy.
“See that you do not,” I told her.
When I returned to the Surface World, the sun had recently set. The city was quiet, and I took a few minutes to hover above it and marvel at all that we had accomplished in such a short time. The city walls now stretched for miles, and fine dwarven stone work had gone into the hundreds of buildings throughout the city. The farmland stretched for miles in every direction, and my good citizens were just retiring from the fields, most likely heading home to enjoy dinner with the family.
I didn’t care what anyone thought about me, because I knew the truth. I had set out to be the king of a peaceful land, and I had done everything in my power to ensure that my citizens were protected.
Isn’t that what any good king would do?
Even killing Dr, Marks had felt right to me. The asshole hadn’t done anything to help me, and then he had had the audacity to try and intervein to stop me.
Well, screw that guy and screw the game masters too.
I’d played by the rules. I’d gone well beyond my duty when I helped them deal with Kincaid.
On second thought, screw everyone in the game who had moved against me. I’d saved hundreds of players from the dungeons of the Underworld, and what thanks did I get?
I thought back for a long time, trying to determine where everything had gone wrong. Then I realized that it had been the moment I had sex with Megulla. Yes, that was it. Up until then everything had been fine, but once everyone learned that I had one-thousand demons sons, everything went to hell. They swiftly forgot what I had done for them, and like a demented mob they had set out on a witch hunt.
“Hello Samson.”
The voice shook me from my ponderings, and I turned to see Nymphora descending from the heavens on wings of silver. I noticed immediately that her belly was no longer swollen, and I wondered how many angelic children she had given birth to.
“Hello Nymphora,” I said as she came to hover beside me.
She had at first looked happy to see me, but as I watched her eyes travel over me and stop at my massive curved horns, her smile faded.
“You have changed,” she said.
“In appearance, perhaps,” I said with a smile. “And so have you.”
She glanced down at her flat stomach. “Yes, about that. I wanted to tell you that I have given birth, and the children are doing well.”
“Children? How many did you have?”
“Almost two thousand,” she said with a shrug. It was as though she had expected more.
“Two thousand? Damn, I guess you are the goddess of fertility. When can I see them?”
Her eyes darted away, and the look on her face told me that she never intended to let me see them.
“Nymphora…I’m their father, right?”
“You are the father, yes.”
An awkward silence followed, and I moved closer to her to gauge her reaction. When I did so, she backed away from my advance.
“I have received word from the Underworld that you intend on carrying out with Megulla’s invasion of the Surface. Is that true?”
“If my enemies continue to attack my kingdom, then I will do whatever I must to protect my people,” I told her.
“Sam, you promised me that you would do no such thing.”
“No, I didn’t. I said that I would bring order back to the Underworld and prevent Megulla from invading the Surface.”
“The Throne has taken hold of you, hasn’t it?” she asked with deep concern. “I’ve seen it before. It happened to my sister, and now it’s happening to you.”
“Don’t worry babe, I’ve got it under control.”
“Do you?” she asked with a raised brow.
She was starting to piss me off, so I tried to change the subject. “How is Megulla doing?”
“My sister is in great pain,” said Nymphora. “The loss of the Dark Throne has had a deep impact on her. She spends one day lamenting about the terrible things that she did under its influence, but the next day she falls into a fit of murderous rage.”
“She’s probably pretty pissed at me,” I said.
“That is an understatement. Megulla still loves you, you know, even if she wants you dead half the time.”
“And what about you?” I asked. “She must be a little angry with you for killing her.”
“That is an understatement as well,” she said with a mirthless laugh. “But Megulla will one day learn to forgive again. She is a good person deep down, Samson, and so are you.”
“If this is the part where you try to convince me to give up the Throne, then you can just save your breath.”
“You don’t understand the power of the Dark Throne,” she said as we floated around each other two-hundred feet above Samson Tower. “It will offer you great power, but there is a heavy toll to be paid. I have seen men and women alike driven mad by the Throne. It feeds off your darkest emotions, and the terror of your victims. Don’t you see? It will change you Sam, it already has. Soon you will be unrecognizable to your friends and even yourself.”
“I’ve got it under control,” I told her. She looked dubious, but there was no way for me to explain to her that this was all a game, and the Dark Throne was just another NPC program. It gave me power in exchange for a little anger, so what? It wasn’t like my soul was on the line or something.
“And when you lose control, Samson, then what? When you are reduced to a hateful, evil Dark Lord who thinks that the lives of everyone in the world doesn’t matter, then what?”
“Look, I don’t need to be lectured by a game character on morals, alright?”
“A game character?” She offered me a quizzical scowl.
“Never mind,” I said and pinched the bridge of my nose. “The important thing right now is that I want to see our angel babies or whatever you’re calling them.”
“Are you quite mad?” she asked dubiously. “Your power comes from the Dark Throne of the Underworld, and you think that I would let you near my children?”
“Our children,” I corrected her. “You basically raped my ass to get my seed, and now you refuse to let me see my own kids?”
“Give up the Throne, and you can see them.”
“You know, I’m really over everyone telling me what to do,” I said as my anger welled inside me.
I reached out a hand and pulled Nymphora to me and grabbed her firmly by the throat.
“Bring me to my fucking children, right now,” I growled, and I felt the Throne stir in my mind.
Nymphora didn’t fear me. Her eyes told me that much. Instead I saw pity, and that only pissed me off more. She reached up slowly and grabbed my wrist, but I held firm, even squeezing a little harder.
“Release me,” she said evenly, and I saw a dangerous light flash in her eyes.
“Let me see the children,” I growled back at her.
A sudden flash of light separated us, and I was thrown back through the air. I stopped myself with my wings and glared at Nymphora, who had begun to glow silver in the moonlight.
“You call this control?” she said pleadingly, and I felt the Throne awaken like a beast inside me.
I teleported to a spot a mere five feet behind Nymphora and unsheathed my sword as I made the jump. When I reappeared, I impaled her right between the wings. Nymphora took in a shocked breath and arched her back, and I whispered in her ear, “You should have given me what I wanted, but now we have to do it the hard way.
I summoned NPC mind control and placed my left hand on her head, while holding the blade firm in her back.
“Bring me to my children,” I hissed as I extended my will.
Nymphora screamed as I tried to take over her mind. She beat her wings in an attempt to get away, but I held the sword firm, even giving it a little twist.
“Bring me to the children!” I screamed as I pressed my hand against the back of her head.
Nymphora suddenly turned to pure light, and my sword moved forward, now having no resistance. She spun in a blur of motion and cast a bright white spell at me, but I met the attack with Crimson Fury. Our spells collided in the middle, and I growled against her powerful attack. She cried out in a passionate yet fierce kind of growl, and the power behind her spell doubled. I held firm, redoubling my efforts as well, and we hovered in the sky in a stalemate as the two battling spells crackled and hissed.
I teleported again when I felt her gaining the upper hand, but when I reappeared right behind her she was ready. She plunged her sword of light into my stomach, and for a moment I was breathless and unable to move. It felt like I had swallowed a glowing hot iron rod, and even the Throne cried out in my head. When I tried to retaliate with my own sword, Nymphora yanked her blade from my gut and chopped off my right arm. Dark blood gushed from the wound, and I stared at it in shock.
Warning!
Health 45%
I instinctively lashed out with my left hand and hit her with a beam of darkness, but she met the attack with another light attack. My rage had been extinguished by the shock of losing my arm, and in my weakened state her spell ripped through mine, chasing away the darkness and slamming into my chest.
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