Necromancers, Demons & Kings Read online

  Table of Contents

  Join Us for More Fun!

  Chapter 01

  Chapter 02

  Chapter 03

  Chapter 04

  Chapter 05

  Chapter 06

  Chapter 07

  Chapter 08

  Chapter 09

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Necromancers, Demons & Kings

  -World of Samar: Book II-

  A “LitRPG Freaks” work by Jared Mandani

  Necromancers, Demons & Kings

  Copyright © 2017 LitRPG Freaks

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the author.

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  Chapter 01

  Bishop… come to me Bishop.

  The half-breed jumped, surprised to find himself standing in the front doorway of the guild house. He stared down at his boots and the mud caked on the bottom of them. Where did they go today that had this much sludge? He swore they stayed in the mines north of the Sanctuary.

  “Willy?” He whistled for his wolf, but the white beast remained absent.

  He stepped inside, squinting in the semi-darkness of the house. The fire burned low in the hearth and only a few candles were lit around the living space. Why was he alone? He remembered turning in the last of the quests at the Sanctuary and then… and then… he brought everyone back to the house, right?

  A sharp pain ricocheted around his mind and he staggered, holding his forehead as he leaned against the wall. Everything past that turn in was a blur. He shook his head, hoping to clear out the sudden cobwebs, but all it did was increase the pain until it threatened to send him crashing to his knees.

  “Maverick? Jimmy?” he yelled, but his words echoed back to him.

  Worried there was a glitch in the game and he was somehow trapped inside, he swiped his hand in front of him, cringing at the pain throbbing at his temples. But no menus popped up. He tried again and again, panic tightening his chest and making his mouth go dry. No windows appeared before his face, no prompts, no messages of some players being stuck in the game. Nothing.

  “Guys? Anyone?” He stepped forward, his legs wobbly as if he was drunk. “Can anyone hear me? Tyler? Dennis? This isn’t funny. I think something’s seriously wrong with the game!”

  No my sweet darling Bishop, a voice he wished he never heard in the first place whispered against his ear, her hot breath making him break out in a sweat even though she was not physically beside him. This is exactly right.

  “Get away from me, Valen,” he growled, whirling around as if to attack her, though he was alone.

  Oh come now, is that any way to treat your Queen?

  “You are not my queen!” Bishop whirled around again, the head above the mantel making him jump in alarm until he remembered he was the one who hung it there. Heart hammering against his ribs, he tried to bring up the menus again, still to no avail. “Did you do this?” he asked, as the fear of a character from a computer game trapping him in her world rose up in his mind.

  No need to look so alarmed, Bishop. I have told you time and again, I will not harm you.

  What happened? Why was she here? Bishop shut his eyes, desperate to remember. Screams. The sharp sound of screams and the clashing of a blade against another met his ears. He flinched when he swore he saw the horrified face of Maverick hovering before him before she was cut down in her human player form. Another voice overrode the screaming, someone begging for his life. Jimmy maybe? Bishop couldn’t tell, but a cry that ended in a gurgle as the person choked on blood was the last noise he heard before he forced his eyes open, not wanting to see or hear anymore.

  “What did you do?” he hissed. “Where are they?”

  He knew Valen could appear at will, despite Dennis assuring him she should not be able to enter the guild house or the capital of Weston at all. If she hurt his guild, he didn’t care what her level was, he would hunt her down and relieve her of her head.

  Who said I had anything to do with what happened?

  “And what the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  “It means,” she said from right beside him this time, making him jump, “open your eyes and see for yourself. I had no hand in what happened to your friends. I am afraid you did it.”

  “Me? What are you talking about?”

  “See for yourself? How horrible it was,” she mused with delight, her lips curling into a too wide smile as she directed his gaze towards the room before him. “The screams, they were quite delicious I must say. I knew you had it in you.”

  Bishop couldn’t make out anything in the dark; however, with a snap of Valen’s fingers, the fire blared to life and he fought not to be sick.

  “No… no!”

  “Don’t look away from what you have done,” Valen ordered, and Bishop’s head whipped back around to stare at the bodies strewn about the room. “This was by your hand after all. You should be proud.”

  Bishop’s mouth fell open as he focused on each body in turn. “This… this isn’t right.”

  In the game, there was no fake blood, no visible wounds left behind. But here, with the bodies of all his guild mates, blood dripped from gaping wounds in their sides, their chests and skulls. Each one’s eyes were fixed open, glazed over in death.

  Bishop fell to his knees beside Maverick, her body draped across Jimmy’s as if shielding him from the attack that inevitably killed him. He found her hand and squeezed it, willing her to revive and blink her eyes, tell him it was all a bad joke and they were messing with him. Her eyes remained fixed over his shoulder.

  “What did you do?” he whispered on a breath.

  “As I said, sweet thing, this is none of my doing.”

  She pointed towards his hands and Bishop fell backwards, scrambling away from the bodies as blood dripped from his fingertips. There was so much of it covering his front, staining his clothes. He moved away until he bumped into something soft. And when he reached out a hand and felt fur, he cried out in rage. Willy lay dead behind him, his ears back and tail tucked as if he was terrified when he was killed.

  “Ready to join me now?” Valen asked, stalking towards him with her cloven feet. “Come, Bishop, take my hand. You don’t belong here with them, not anymore.”

  Her clawed hand hovered before his face as she licked her lips hungrily. Bishop shook his head and furiously shoved her hand to the side and tried to run for the door. A whip snapped out, wrapping around his waist, and dragged him back into the house even as he fought to get away.

  “I grow tired of these games, Bishop. You are coming with me now!”

  “No! Get off me!” He tore at the leather, but it held fast, turning into a snake around his body. It broke into two, slithering up and biting his neck. He screamed as burning hot venom soared through his body. His vision blurred and he was falling, falling into darkness… into a never ending abyss. It was over. He failed everyone.

  He failed…

  An alarm sounded and Harrison jerked out of bed with a yelp. His hands ran across his chest and his legs, searching for the snakes that had nearly killed him, but he was alone.

  Falling back
to the mattress, he dragged the pillow over his head and yelled into it. That dream, like all the others from the past three days, were so real he woke up fearing not only for his life, but that of his friends. Pulse throbbing so loud it was all he heard, he hopped out of bed, dressed in record time, and ran out his door. More players emerged around him, but the second he heard a familiar laugh, he sprinted backwards through the people and bear hugged Jimmy.

  “Dude, what the hell?” Jimmy asked, laughing. “Harrison?”

  “Sorry,” he muttered, and he let go of him. “Just uh, just happy to see you.”

  Jimmy studied him closely, yawning wide as he stretched his arms over his head. “Man, did you have another one of those nightmares of yours?”

  “No, of course not. I’m fine.”

  “Yeah, tell that to the bags under your eyes. Maybe you should tell Dennis about them.”

  “Not yet, I’m fine really. Just dreamt about our last quest was all.”

  “So you had a perfectly boring dream about collecting ore in the mines and slaughtering bats?” Jimmy asked and clapped him on the back. “You’re white as a sheet, you know that, right? You actually look like you’re going to be sick.”

  Harrison ran a hand through his hair and shrugged. “I’m allowed a rough night with everything going on.”

  “Oh, like how the game is very interested in you all of a sudden?”

  “Yeah, like that.”

  “Uh huh, and is that why you forgot your shoes?”

  Harrison glanced down at his feet. “Damn, guess I’ll be late to breakfast. Save me some bacon,” he requested, before darting back to his room. Maybe these dreams were getting to him more than he thought. Usually, they weren’t as intense as last night. He never imagined he would see his entire guild dead in that way, or have Valen try to drag him off with her.

  Yeah but this time you killed them, he reminded himself, and he nearly fell over as he tried to slip into his shoes. You killed them. Not her or another demon. You did.

  Harrison finished putting his shoes on and splashed water on his face in the tiny bathroom in his room. He stared at his reflection, willing himself to forget the dream, but the screams roared back as if he was back there and it was happening all over again. He wanted to chalk it all up to stress, but that was a lie. Since Dennis and the rest of his guild found out the truth about him, and Rodney and Paris were no longer a problem for him, his life should have been mostly stress-free. ‘Should have’ being the key phrase.

  “You’re fine,” he told himself. “You’re not going to turn in the game, and Dennis told you the characters cannot get out of their world.”

  He wanted to believe it, yet a nagging voice in the back of his mind said something still wasn’t quite right about this facility in the middle of nowhere. He needed to talk to Dennis, but he feared the moment he sat down with the older man, he would wind up spilling the beans about the dreams. Not that it would be hard to tell if anything was wrong with Harrison or not. Even Jimmy had noticed, and he wasn’t the most observant of their guild. Somehow, he would have to push through the day and try to avoid Dennis until he looked better.

  That was harder to do than he imagined. All of his friends asked if he was feeling alright at breakfast. Of them all, it was Alana who eyed him the worst, slowly chewing on her bacon. Her eyes focused so hard on him, he worried she would somehow hear his racing thoughts and get him to breakdown as she always managed to do.

  “So, plan for today?” Benji asked through a mouthful of his pancakes. “Are we going to finally head to Hillside?”

  “We haven’t finished up the cross roads quest yet,” Giles pointed out. “We got a bit distracted up north. If it’s almost night when we log back in, I say we wait and do those then move on.”

  A few others raised their hands in agreement.

  “What about you, boss?” Alana asked, nudging Harrison’s arm so hard it slipped off the table and he nearly face-planted in his eggs. “Man, Jimmy wasn’t kidding, you are out of it today.”

  “I’m fine, really, just didn’t sleep well.”

  “Again?” she challenged, her brow raising.

  “Yes, again. It’s fine. I say we go with Giles’ plan. I want to see what quests the king’s advisors might have for us. Could be interesting,” he said brightly, hoping they would all buy it. Alana clearly didn’t, watching him over her plate. Everyone else nodded in agreement.

  Once breakfast was over, they left the cafeteria with the rest of the players and took up their usual positions at their stations. Tyler frowned as he set up Harrison’s gear. Harrison waited for the man to say he was going to page Dennis to come down, but then he shook his head and smiled.

  “Ready for another fun day in Samar?” Tyler asked.

  “Always.”

  “Good. You and your guild are still holding steady at the top,” he informed him, scrolling through the stats on the screen. “And it looks like you hold the record for most damage dealt still. Congrats man.”

  “Thanks, but I’m sure someone else will break it eventually.”

  “Maybe, maybe not. Either way, it’s a great bonus for you.”

  Harrison grinned. Any amount of money he made from this game was still exciting, but even more so was Dennis’ standing offer for him, his guild, and more players he would pick to continue testing the game once the month was up. Harrison looked forward to spending more time within this VR world where he was considered a hero and the leader he never thought he would be again. Tyler tilted the table back and Harrison closed his eyes.

  “Harrison, hoped to catch you before you went under,” Dennis’ voice sounded close by.

  “Dennis? What’s going on?”

  “Nothing that can’t wait until lunch. I hope you will join me today.”

  “Of course,” he said, even as the words to decline were on the tip of his tongue. “Looking forward to it as always.”

  “Good. Enjoy your morning.” Dennis patted his arm and Harrison closed his eyes again, willing his mind to relax before Tyler yelled at him for having too high of a blood pressure.

  After a few seconds, Harrison felt the familiar sensation of being dragged away from his body, and he braced for his feet to hit earth back in Samar.

  ***

  Bishop patted down the front of his body, then held up his hands to his face, sighing in relief to see them clean of blood.

  He whistled and Willy yipped, thundering down the stairs of the guild house to tackle him to the floor. His tongue swiped across Bishop’s face, and the hunter hugged the great white beast to him hard, burying his face in his fur.

  “Thank God,” he whispered. “Thought I lost you, boy.”

  “Ok seriously,” Maverick snapped, and Bishop rolled over to see her standing near the hearth, so near where he found her dead body. He gulped hard as the others materialized behind her. “Bishop, what is going on with you? And why are you looking at me like that?”

  Jimmy, Benji, and all the others spread out behind her, looking a mix of worried and confused by what was happening between their leader and Maverick. The shifter crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him fiercely, growling as she did so.

  “Alright,” Bishop gave in and stood. Willy sat right be his side and he was happy for the comfort of the warm body, alive, so close to him. “I’ve been having some nightmares lately, bad ones. That’s all.”

  “See, told you that’s what he said,” Jimmy whispered to Maverick.

  “Nightmares about what?” Maverick pushed. “You’re shaking, Bishop, so you’re clearly not just dreaming about what normal people dream about. And you hugged Jimmy this morning. You can’t tell me that’s normal behavior for you. Spill.”

  The rule of the guild was not to keep secrets. He broke that rule once and his guild let him die during their second dungeon as payback. He rubbed at his chest, where the pain of in-game deaths erupted. He couldn’t begin to imagine what they would do to him if he lied again. Blowing out a breath, he s
ank onto the couch and hung his head.

  “I dreamt that you all died, a few times,” he started to explain.

  “That’s it?” Jimmy asked and laughed. “Man, I dream I die all the time from this damn game. It’s all we do, of course you’re going to dream about it.”

  “It’s not just you all dying,” he whispered. “It’s worse than that.”

  “Worse how?” Maverick asked.

  “Worse as in I hear Valen’s voice calling to me in the dreams, as if she’s in my damn room,” he admitted, and he leaned back into the cushions, running a hand down his face. “Last night was worse than a nightmare. It was… it was hell.”

  Jimmy pulled up his inventory and, a moment later, a jug of red wine appeared in his hand. “Right, everyone pull up a glass. I think we’re going to need it.”

  The last thing Bishop wanted to do was relive the nightmare, sitting in the very room where he found all their corpses. But from the set glint in their eyes, there was no getting out of it. He brought out a mug of his own and waited for Jimmy to top everyone off and take a seat by Maverick before he told the tale of his past few nightmares.

  The first one had simply been of the last dungeon. They fell off the edge one by one and, instead of the Demon Lord, it was Valen who came for them all, riding that damn dragon.

  The next night, he dreamt he was lost in the mines they quested in and couldn’t find his way out. It was pitch black and he only managed to get around by touch while something chased after him, creeping closer all the time.

  “And last night?” Maverick asked when he hesitated. “Bishop?”

  “Last night,” he mumbled, “I dreamt I was here in this house and you… all of you… had been killed.”

  “By Valen?” Jimmy asked.

  “No, I wish,” he confessed. “I did it, and I was covered in your blood. And then Valen… she was here to take me away with her and I couldn’t stop her. I couldn’t save you from her and then I woke up and freaked out, that’s all.”

  The house was silent and he drained the wine in his mug, wishing it actually did something to him besides slake his thirst for a while in game. A few of them shifted in their seats, but he didn’t lift his head, not wanting to see their faces all turned towards him. Willy nudged at his hand and he absently pet his companion. Every time he blinked, he saw Willy’s dead body again, frozen in that terrified pose.