The shadow creeping over Ozara darkened, and I walked over to the shield generator. I brought up the Tower’s interface, tapped on add power source, and selected myself.
“What are you doing?” Ana asked behind me.
“Buying us some time,” I explained, then I activated the power transfer.
The emerald shield suddenly burst from the tip of the pyramid-shaped generator, and I felt my dark power flow into it. A steady humming sound accompanied the power transfer, and I ground my teeth against the odd sensation. I focused on my anger and pumped it into the shield. I thought of Kregos, my ego, and all the terrible things that I had done. The hate that I manifested into power for the shield was not directed at anyone but myself, and it seemed endless.
After a few minutes I began to grow weak, but the shield had become thicker, stronger, and brighter. I finally cut off the flow of power, and the emerald shield hummed with energy.
I looked through the emerald shield at the shadow of winged monsters descending on the city, and I saw Kregos among them.
“It’s go time,” I told my guild mates. “I’ll try to keep Kregos busy, you guys get as many kills as you can. No matter what happens, this battle is sure to make us a shit load of loot.”
“Good luck Big Daddy,” said Kit.
“See you soon,” said Anna, ad kissed me on the cheek.
I turned from them and focused on Kregos, letting my anger build, then I shot into the sky toward my alter ego.
Chapter 14
As soon as I emerged from the safety of the emerald shield, hundreds of spells came shooting toward me. I sent them back at their attackers with a telekinetic shockwave, then I unleashed a Nuclear Thunderclap that exploded above the clouds and incinerated thousands. Translucent loot floated through the air and into my pack, but I ignored the riches and found Kregos in the inferno.
He came screaming through the fire and smoke glowing like a meteor, and I prepared another Nuclear Thunderclap, knowing that he was likely about to cast the same thing. We unleashed our spells at the same time, and the explosion that followed was like nothing I had ever seen in game. The shockwave of the spell sent us both sailing end over end, and it completely obliterated every Underworld Minions within a quarter mile. I saw the Emerald Shield being bombarded by fire, and the shockwave that followed made the shield ripple, but it continued to hold.
I was about to teleport right behind Kregos and surprise him with a sword in the back, but he beat me to it. He slammed into me from behind and drove me into the ground like a meteorite, and when we hit, we kept right on going through the earth, crashing through underground caverns and solid rock like it was water. All the while we exchanged earth shattering blows, but we were so well matched, and our armor was so strong that neither of us was able to inflict much damage on the other.
We finally came to a stop in an underground cave beside a lake of lava, and I managed to wrestle myself out of Kregos’s grip and push him away. I could sense the lave below my feet that fed the lake, and a grand idea came to mind.
“You should have remained in the Underworld,” he said as he stalked toward me.
I didn’t bother with a reply, instead I focused on the endless river of lava below and yanked on it with a telekinetic pull, then I teleported back to the surface as the lake of lava exploded.
Pain surged through my nervous system, but I smiled to myself, knowing that the pain that I was feeling belonged to Kregos. A moment later a geyser of lava exploded in the distance, and I saw Kregos shoot out of it like a red-hot projectile. Lava shot into the air four hundred feet, consuming thousands of Underworld minions and splashing down over the Emerald Shield with a hiss.
Kregos appeared behind me, but I had been expecting the tactic, and I turned with my blade just in time to stop it’s twin. We faced each other, locked in battle, knowing that any injury inflicted on the other would be felt by ourselves as well.
“The blade has been found,” Kregos growled as we turned in a circle high above the earth. “We must work together, or all will be lost.”
“All is lost, Kregos. It’s over,” I told him.
Rage filled his glowing eyes, and he lashed out with Hell Fire. Green flames consumed me, and we both cried out in pain. I swung my blade with all my might, but so too did Kregos, and they collided with a thunderous retort.
“No, it is far from over. It has only just begun,” Kregos growled.
He moved in a blur of motion as he pushed my blade out wide and then came back around with his own and slashed me across the stomach. Hot pain ripped through my gut, but I saw the same look of pain in his eyes that I felt.
“Go ahead, kill me if you can, for if I die, then so do you, but you won’t be resurrected, not this time,” I said. “Your avatar was created by the dark throne, and without its power, you will be forced to return to where you belong.”
I saw real fear in his eyes, but that fear soon turned to rage, and he directed his next attack at the Emerald Shield. He unleashed his spell before I could stop him, and a moment later a Nuclear Thunderclap exploded against the shield. Miraculously, however, it held.
I slammed into Kregos and drove him away from the city, high into the clouds, and it was then that I saw Megulla’s heavenly army of angels descending from above. Kregos saw her as well, and I used the distraction to my advantage. I slashed him across the chest with my enchanted blade, and I felt the pain of the strike as well.
He tried to conjure a Nuclear Thunderclap, but I held his arms firm with telekinesis long enough for Megulla to reach us. When she did, she struck Kregos with a bolt of lightning that affected us both, and the next thing that I remember, I was waking up in a scorched field outside Haven.
I groggily rose to my feet and looked for Kregos, but it appeared that he had recouped faster than me, or else he hadn’t been as effected by the spell. When I looked toward my city, my heart dropped. The shield was down, and the Underworld Minions were pouring in. My guild mates and NPC defenders were steadily bombing the invaders, but the numbers were far to great to keep at bay, and soon, I knew, the city would fall.
I saw my silver and golden sons fighting the invaders, and I watched with growing anger as they fell from the sky by the dozens, lifeless and bleeding. But then I saw something that surprise me; thousands of real-world players had joined the fray, and to my surprise, they weren’t attacking Haven, but defending it.
My joy cost me strength, so I focused instead on my fury. I let it course through me, hot and righteous and powerful, then I shot into the sky and veered toward the city.
I landed atop Samson Tower and found my guild mates seated on the enchanted cannons, blasting away at the attackers.
“You guys have to get out of here!” I yelled as I sent a barrage of arrows and spears sailing back toward their wielders.
“We’re not going anywhere,” said Tweak as he unloaded rapid fire at the attackers.
“We’re staying with you until the end Bid Daddy!” Kit screamed as her cannon barked repeatedly.
Swarms of demons hovered above the city, but they didn’t attack, instead they seemed to be waiting for something.
“It’s time to make a decision,” came a voice, my voice, from behind me.
I unsheathed my blade and spun, but Kregos took mental hold of my body, and I was frozen stiff.
“Join me,” he said with a glance at my guild mates. “Or they die.”
“You won’t kill them,” I said through clenched teeth as I fought for control of my body. “You love them just as much as I do.”
“Sometimes you have to kill your darklings,” he said with a grin, then he unleashed a fireball that hit Trinity and turned her to ash.
“Stop!” I screamed.
“Then give yourself to me once more. Embrace your destiny!”
I pushed back hard with my own telekinetic power, but he overpowered me again.
“Wrong answer…” he said with a sneer.
I watched helplessly as he k
illed Cecilia, then Kit, and aimed his next spell at Anna, who was walking toward him.
“If you kill Anna,” I growled, “Then you have truly lost.”
He hesitated, but then he grinned at me.
“She means to do the same to you,” said Kregos, and he suddenly pulled her toward him and grabbed her by the neck.
The sight of Kregos in all his demonic glory manhandling my woman sent a surge of anger washing through me, and like a caged beast awakened, I tore through the mental bonds that held me.
A Fireball burned bright in my right hand, but I didn’t release it; Kregos still had Anna by the neck, and I knew that with a flick of the wrist he could kill her.
“Let her go, Kregos,” I said evenly. “This is between you and me.”
“You may as well give up on the sword,” Kregos said with a smirk, and my mind screamed a warning.
A moment later, he produced the blade out of thin air. I wouldn’t have believed it had the name of the sword not been hanging in the air above it.
“How?” was all that I could say.
“It isn’t hard to find things when you have two millions minions at your service,” he said with a snide grin. “But do you know what is most interesting about this blade?”
I didn’t give answer.
“The most interesting part,” he said as he put the Sword of Untold Fates up to Anna’s neck. “Is that it can kill anything.”
“Let her go and we’ll talk,” I said desperately.
“We can talk now,” said Kregos.
Angels and demons battled above us, and a stray spell or two hit the battlements, but the war raging around us felt like it was happening outside a bubble, and inside, time seemed to be moving slower.
I needed to disarm Kregos somehow, but I didn’t dare move out of fear that he would kill Anna.
“Don’t worry about me, Sam,” she said, as if reading my mind. “Do what you have to do.”
Kregos squeezed her neck a little tighter, and I fought the urge to lash out at him. I needed to keep my head and figure out what to do. If I couldn’t get the sword away from Kregos, all would be lost. It was the only way to stop him, but I didn’t want to sacrifice Anna to do so.
Then, suddenly, an idea popped into my head.
It took a millisecond for me to realize it, and in that time, I saw Kregos’s eyes widen.
I realized in that fleeting moment that if Kregos had the sword, and Kregos was a part of me, then that meant that I had the sword as well. We had always been one and the same. Kregos didn’t really have a body, nor had he somehow created an avatar. He was nothing more than an illusion that everyone could see; a clever copy.
“No…” I heard Kregos gasp, and I watched him turn his wide eyes toward his empty hands.
I felt a weight in my own hand, which was now wrapped around a cold hilt. I glanced down and found the Sword of Untold Truths glowing brightly beside me.
“NO!” Kregos screamed and lunged toward me, but it was too late for him.
I turned the sword around and wedged the hilt in a gap in the stone floor, then threw myself on top of it. The sword sank into my chest, piercing my heart, and I felt terrible pain shoot through me.
Kregos stopped dead, and his wide eyes went from mine to his chest, where a pool of blood had begun to form. He fell to his knees and reached for me feebly. When he tried to speak, blood gurgled out of his mouth.
“I’m sorry,” I croaked. “But it was the only way. Rest now, brother. Be at peace.”
Kregos reached for me with a shaky hand, but it fell short of reaching my own, and he fell dead before me.
Then darkness took me, and the warring world around me fell silent.
Chapter 15
I opened my eyes and found Doctor Marks standing beside my bed reading a halo chart. At first, I couldn’t remember what had happened, but then everything came rushing back to me. I instinctively tried to sit up in bed, but my body didn’t respond.
Of course not, I thought to myself. I’m not in the game anymore. This is the real world.
“What happened?” I said, and my voice issued from the speaker box beside my bed.
Dr. Marks glanced at me, suddenly realizing that I was awake, and he smiled. The smile was a sympathetic one, and my heart sank.
“It’s complicated,” said the doctor. “We couldn’t take you out of the game until you defeated Kregos.”
“What do you mean? Why did you want to take me out of the game? Am I being banned from Rebirth Online?” I asked.
“No, nothing like that,” he said and pulled up a chair.
My mind whirled with questions: What had happened to everyone? Who had become the new Dark Lord? Were my guildmates alright? Had Haven survived.
The doctor took his sweet ass time settling in, and I waited expectantly in my paralyzed body, a body that I didn’t feel at home in anymore.
“Sam, I’ve got some news…”
I waited.
He smiled.
“Well then,” I said through the speaker. “What is it? Is everyone alright? What happened after I died?”
“This isn’t about the game Sam, it’s about your surgery.”
My heart fluttered. My hope surged. I hadn’t thought about my surgery for so long that I didn’t quite know what to think. I had given up on my body and embraced my role in Rebirth Online completely, but now…now the memories of my real life came rushing back to me.
“You’ve done it, Sam. You’ve completed the requirements needed to receive the surgery to fix your spine.”
Tears flooded my eyes. But then something that he said stuck out.
“What do you mean, I’ve completed the requirements?”
“Sam, this is going to be strange to hear, and I don’t really know where to begin.”
“Begin from the beginning,” I said with a mirthless laugh. “What the hell is going on?”
The doctor nodded and leaned closer. “You and your parents responded to an online ad a few months ago. Horizon Corp was looking for volunteers for an experiment, and as it turned out, you were a perfect candidate.”
“What experiment?” I asked, and something akin to fear crept into my heart.
“It’s a complicated,” he warned. “We do a lot of different neural work here at Horizon. Part of which is used for scientific purposes, as well as gaming applications. But we dabble in other areas, such as PTSD treatment, mostly through a program aimed at healing the subconscious through something akin to ego death. Are you following me?”
“Not really, but please continue,” I said.
My mind was racing, and I was trying to catch up to it.
“Well,” he said with a sigh. “You were put in a program where you would be steered toward ego separation. In the game, it manifested itself as Kregos. I apologize that we had to give you such a hard time to bring about the separation, but it was necessary to achieve the results we were looking for.”
“So…” I said carefully. “When I sacrificed all that power and killed Kregos, I passed your little test. It that what you’re telling me?”
“That’s exactly what I’m telling you,” the doctor replied. “You did amazing by the way Sam. We never expected you to give up so much for the good of others. I was a little worried there before the separation, but you came around eventually and surprised us all.”
I considered the new information, and a part of me wondered if this was even real.
“But…” I said when I thought of all the other players. “How the hell did you get so many people to play along with it? There are thousands of players in Rebirth Online.”
The doctor’s smile disappeared, and he regarded me with a knowing yet sympathetic look.
“What?” I asked, even as the answer sprang into my mind.
“They were all NPCs, Sam, all but you, me, and your parents.”
My heart sank. I didn’t want to believe it, but the doctor nodded at me in a way that told me he was speaking the truth.
/> “You’re lying,” I said in defiance. “They were nothing like NPCs. Anna, Ember, Trinity, Kit, Tweak… They had minds of their own, they had their own thoughts, they…”
“They are highly advanced A.I., Sam. Nothing more, nothing less.”
I was crushed, and even the prospect of regaining control of my body did nothing to extinguish the anguish that I felt.
“You’re lying. They were just as real as you or me,” I said defiantly.
“Sam, think about it,” said the doctor carefully. “Do you really think eight random women would all agree to having sex with you and each other all the time to gain levels in a virtual reality game?”
When he said it like that, it did seem a big far-fetched.
“Your subconscious was behind all that special power stuff,” he told me. “We gave it the framework, but your mind created many elements of the game.”
“I don’t believe it,” I whispered. “None of it was real? The game, the tournament…”
Then something occurred to me.
“But I saw myself on the real-world news after I defeated the digital ghost of Kincaid.”
“All part of the illusion, Sam. I’m sorry, but you had to believe that it was all real.”
“But I don’t remember answering an ad with my parents. I don’t remember agreeing to be part of some mind fuck experiment.”
“We blocked those memories,” he informed me, as if such a thing wasn’t an incredible feat.
I didn’t know what to say. I had a million questions, but I didn’t want to hear the answers anymore. A part of me thought this was just another mind fuck. But the more I thought about it, the more it seemed real.
“Try to put all that aside for a moment, Sam, and look at the big picture. You’re going to be able to walk again. You’re going to have a long full life…a REAL life.”
I knew that I should have been excited. I knew that I should have been grateful. But all I could think about was my guild mates. Tears blurred my vision, and the doctor’s sympathetic face blurred like a watercolor painting.
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