The Skull Throne: A LitRPG novel (Kingdom of Heaven Book 1) Read online

  Kingdom of Heaven

  The Skull Throne

  J. A. Cipriano

  Conner Kressley

  Contents

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  Also by J. A. Cipriano

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Glossary

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  Ring of Promise

  Copyright © 2017 by J. A. Cipriano & Conner Kressley

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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  Also by J. A. Cipriano

  World of Ruul

  Soulstone: Awakening

  Soulstone: The Skeleton King

  Elements of Wrath Online

  Ring of Promise

  The Thrice Cursed Mage

  Cursed

  Marked

  Burned

  Seized

  Claimed

  Hellbound

  The Half-Demon Warlock

  Pound of Flesh

  Flesh and Blood

  Blood and Treasure

  The Lillim Callina Chronicles

  Wardbreaker

  Kill it with Magic

  The Hatter is Mad

  Fairy Tale

  Pursuit

  Hardboiled

  Mind Games

  Fatal Ties

  Clans of Shadow

  Heart of Gold

  Feet of Clay

  Fists of Iron

  The Spellslinger Chronicles

  Throne to the Wolves

  Prince of Blood and Thunder

  Found Magic

  May Contain Magic

  The Magic Within

  Magic for Hire

  Witching on a Starship

  Maverick

  1

  I never expected to reach the tunnel tonight. We’d looked for this thing for days, maybe a couple of weeks even, with no luck. We’d come all the way from the Barren Lands across the Narrow Straights and right into the heart of the Coast.

  I thought it was a fool’s errand, of course. The Tunnel of Enlightenment wasn’t even officially part of the landscape, but Ember had heard whisperings about it on some of the message boards and thought our little guild had the right mix of people to find it.

  I couldn’t blame him. Other than myself, the five people who made up The Avenging Angels guild were far from noobs. By the time I’d joined, this group had known each other for a while and made a name for themselves as one of the top fifty guilds in Kingdom of Heaven.

  They were tight and more than a little click-ish, but when their resident knight took some promotion that moved him to Bangladesh and really screwed up his hours, they needed a replacement.

  Meanwhile, I was a freaking phenom, kicking demon ass and raking in experience points like a sailor on leave. I’d have been a fool to pass up the invitation Ember offered me just a couple of months ago, especially considering it had led me here, to the Tunnel of freaking Enlightenment.

  “I can’t believe it, bro,” I said, looking over at Ember. “Seriously, this is off the chain.”

  As a Level seventy, soul wizard, the red glowing runes signifying his stature were etched all over his skin like fancy, fluorescent tattoos. His eyes matched those runes as he looked over at me. With intensity and pride beaming off his face, he was our stoic leader.

  “I know dude, right?” he answered.

  Cheers erupted over the group chat.

  “Calm down,” Glimmer said over the line. In the short time I’d been part of the Avenging Angels, I’d come to know her not only as our resident healer, but as the smart-ass voice of reason too. “If this place really is what you think it is, then we need to be careful. There’s probably a big ass monster waiting in the wings.”

  The thing I loved the most about Kingdom of Heaven was the complexity of the world. The whole gist of the place was that it was sort of a realm where people go after they die. In it, they could become anything they wanted; awesome sauce magic user, whip-smart healer, uber strong barbarian, and any players experienced enough to actually get up there would dwell. It was also where you’d find the Principalities, the mythical angel overlords of this game who (as per plot requirements) rule over this place with iron fists and winged backs.

  Of course, no one any of us had ever heard from had ever actually gone to this place. A couple of people on the message boards had talked about it, but they were always called out and proven to be frauds. Still, it was kind of cool to think we might actually get there one day; a place where weapons the likes of which we’d never encountered were on every corner and potions meant to give us unlimited Health and Strength were said to exist.

  There was also a lower level, but that place sucked, or so I’d heard from the message boards. You could get there through any common portal, not that you’d want to. It was the standard flame-filled shit hole you got in all your Sunday school pamphlets. All it lacked was the cartoon devil. Luckily, there were more than enough pitch fork carrying NPC demons to make up for that.

  Glim looked around, her long braid of red hair swinging as she moved to check the brush around the clearing where we now found ourselves.

  “Don’t be like that, Glim,” I told her. “You know this is the place. We had to cut down a horde of winged demons just to get to this field, not to mention the six hours and twelve energy boosts Ice went through just to punch through this barrier.

  I looked over at our barbarian, Ice. With a fur pelt around his chest and a skimpy ass loin cloth around his waist, he was like something out of a “swords and sandals” flick. You’d have never thought Ice was actually my friend Barry: a ginger coding major who looked a lot more like Conan O’Brien than Conan the Barbarian in real life.

  “Besides, if a BAM is out here, let me take care of him.” I pulled out my soul sword and smiled. It was still shiny and had that “new weapon” smell. The runes etched into the blade glistened. I had been itching to use this thing ever since I’d found it last week during our ill-fated trip down Magellan’s Well.

  “Boys and their swords,” Glimmer shook her head.

  Our attention turned back to the tunnel. Ice had worked through the afternoon (and half of his evening class) to punch a hole in the barrier so we could get inside. He had been successful, but there was no telling how long said hole would stay open.

  We needed to move quickly, but we also needed to be smart. We wouldn’t have many chances at this, especially given Ice’s big
mouth on the forums. Hell, he had probably already spilled the beans. At best, we had tonight before his tales of our adventure sent every two-bit guild from here to the River of Eternal Flame out this way looking for glory that should rightfully be ours.

  “Hand to hand in the front. Magic and long range in the back,” Ember said, his voice exuding confidence. “And Glimmer, you keep your distance at first. I don’t know what the hell’s going to be down here, but something tells me we’ll need your healing hands intact if we want a chance at making it out of here with the emerald.

  “The Emerald of Isis,” Blackthorne, our archer with a long scraggly beard and a penchant for cursing when it really wasn’t necessary chimed it. “Call it what it is, dude. It’s the Emerald of fucking Isis!”

  My heart skipped a couple of beats as I heard the words over the chat line. Like the Tunnel of Enlightenment, the Emerald of Isis didn’t officially exist. Though, if it did, it would contain the power to access the Celestial Peak: the highest point in all of Kingdom of Heaven. All the power needed to sit on the Skull Throne, all the power needed to shoot us from top fifty to top one…and it was about to be ours.

  “This is giving me an erection,” Ice said, and all of us laughed.

  “You’re disgusting,” Glimmer added, though I could hear the smile in her voice too.

  “I might be,” he answered. “But I’m about to be disgusting and powerful.”

  He pulled the axe from the strap across his back and got into position.

  “Let’s go Avenging Angels!” Ember said, lifting his hand toward the sky and letting it light up with a flourish of red energy.

  “Hell yeah,” I grinned. “Let’s g—”

  And then the world went black.

  Looking up from the screen, I saw Amanda standing there, my three-month-old nephew in one hand, my power cord in the other, and a look on her face that would have single-handedly caused my testicles to retreat back into my body if I wasn’t so pissed off right now.

  “What are you doing?” I cried, my eyes wide. “You know my battery is fried. Put that back in!”

  “What are you saying, Iron Jack?” Ember asked from over the group chat. “Why aren’t you moving, dude? You’re going to throw off our entire balance. Group dynamic is key.”

  “I know group dynamic is key! Don’t you think I know that?!” I answered, perhaps too loudly. “My stupid sister accidentally unplugged my HP, and my battery is shit. I’m going to have to reboot.”

  “Dammit,” he mumbled. “Just get back on as soon as you can. Hopefully, the barrier to the tunnel will still be open.”

  “On it,” I said, as Amanda dropped the power cord before ripping the earpiece right out of my skull.

  You know…in a loving way.

  “What the hell, Amanda?” I asked again, looking up at her and reaching for my power cord.

  “Don’t you dare turn that thing back on,” she said, giving me the same “no nonsense” look I got after I asked her if it would be okay to drop her off at the ER and swing back in a couple of hours the day she went into labor which – to be fair – happened on Super Bowl Sunday, or when I suggested “Wick” as her son John’s middle name.

  I thought it would have been so cool.

  “I’m almost finished,” I said, holding my hand out and fully expecting her to drop my earpiece into it.

  She didn’t do what was expected.

  “I asked you to get diapers two hours ago,” she said in one of those rushed huffs women do that send men running for the nearest bridge to hide under.

  “I- I am,” I stammered, realizing that – if I’d ever heard her at all – I’d completely forgotten. “I’ll get them in just a few minutes.”

  “I already got them,” she snapped, tapping her foot at me.

  “Oh,” I said, narrowing my eyes. “Well good. Problem solved.”

  “No!” she answered, talking loudly enough that the idea she was going to wake the baby up didn’t seem out of the question. “The problem is most certainly not solved.”

  “But you got the diapers,” I said, honestly more confused than I probably should have been.

  “The diapers weren’t the problem,” she answered, taking deep breaths to calm herself down, which was even more frightening than when she wasn’t calm. “The fact I managed to leave this apartment, pack the baby in the car, go get the diapers, take the baby out of the car, and come back into this apartment without you even being aware I did is the problem.” She ground her teeth together. “And it’s not the first time it’s happened, Jack!”

  I looked up at her, all five-foot-three of brunette and brooding terror, and said the thing I had basically trained myself to say since the day our no account mother ran out on us seven years ago and turned me into the only family Amanda had left in the world, the cure-all I depended on with about as much frequency as I depended on oxygen.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Not good enough,” she said. Shaking her head, she turned and walked away.

  Okay. Well, that was new. Pulling my computer off of my lap and pushing the idea of the tunnel just barely out of the forefront of my mind, I stood to follow her.

  “Come on, Amanda. I didn’t mean anything by it,” I pleaded.

  She turned around, her eyes blazing with the kind of bright fury which, up to this point, I had only seen while looking directly into the sun.

  “You didn’t mean anything?!” she roared.

  “Okay. So that wasn’t the right thing to say,” I said, holding my hands out in front of me and displaying the universal sign of “I give up. Please don’t hurt me.”

  “Oh, I think it was the perfect thing to say, Jack Hammer!” she spit out at me, twisting her mouth disgustedly. “You didn’t mean anything because you never mean anything. All you care about is that damned game.”

  “Iron Jack,” I corrected in a small voice.

  “I don’t care what they call you,” she hissed. “Just like you don’t seem to care about us.”

  I ran a hand through my sandy hair, blinking hard and trying to keep myself calm and steady. There was absolutely no way my sister could have meant that. I worked two damned jobs all the way through high school just to make sure she could afford Hollister. While all my friends went out on dates during the weekend, I worked, serving their food while on those dates. And this was the thanks I got for it.

  “I said I was sorry,” I said as coolly as I could muster. “If you want me to go get more diapers, I’ll go get more diapers. If you want me to go pick you up some ice cream, I’ll do that too. Whatever you need.” I muttered under my breath. “Maybe some Midol.”

  Her face instantly got as red as a hot pepper.

  So, it wasn’t quite as under my breath as I’d have liked, it seemed.

  “You just couldn’t help yourself, could you?” she said, shaking her head. “You just had to get the last word. You had to ruin the only halfway decent gesture you’ve shown me in months.”

  “That’s not what I was doing,” I said, walking toward her. “I was being serious. I think you might need them. You’re not acting like yourself. Have you even stopped to look at the calendar?”

  “Have you?!” she responded, a couple of short steps away from exploding. “It’s February 26th. My cycle is in the middle of the month, not that it’s any of your business.” She pursed her lips together. “And even if it wasn’t, this has nothing to do with biology and everything to do with you being an ass hat.”

  She stomped toward me, bridging the gap. “I get that you’re probably stressed. You have finals in two weeks. You have a job you have to keep up in the evening, and you’ve got us. I know at twenty-one you didn’t ask to help raise a kid with your screw-up sister and no college degree.”

  “I never said you were a screw-up,” I answered, looking at her and seeing tears in her eyes.

  “You’re right,” she said, nodding firmly. “But you don’t have to say it. I can see it when you look at us. We’re a weight arou
nd your neck, and I don’t blame you for wanting to escape, I guess.” She looked down at the computer. “I guess I’d escape too if I could.”

  “That’s not fair,” I answered. The entire idea of what she'd just said sent little shocks through my heart. “You’re my family. I promised you when we were kids, I’d always look out for you.” I nodded firmly. “And that goes for the little booger too.” I looked down at John.

  She laughed hard, a bitter cold laugh. “Do you even know when you’re lying?”

  “I-I’m not,” I said, and I was more than sure I was telling the truth. “Amanda, I–”

  “Nope,” she said, shaking her head. “When I got pregnant, you were horrified.”

  “You were horrified too,” I reminded her. “No one told you to have sex with a Nickelback stagehand.” I shook my head. “What the hell were you even doing at a Nickelback concert in the first place?”

  “It was supposed to be ironic,” she answered.

  “Yeah,” I said, looking down at John again. “It definitely is.” I sighed loudly. “I want to help, Amanda. You’re not some horrible mess I feel obligated to clean up.” I shrugged. “I just need an outlet sometimes, you know.”

  “Because this isn’t the way you thought your life was going to turn out,” she said.

  “Right,” I answered.

  “And it’s not the way you wanted your life to turn out,” she continued.

  “Yeah … Wait,” I said.

  “And because you feel like we’re ruining things for you,” she said, shaking her head. “You don’t have to lie about it, Jack. I already know.”

  “You’re putting words in my mouth,” I said sternly. “I never said any of that. John means a lot to me, and I’m happy to have you guys here.”

  She shook her head furiously. “If that was true, you wouldn’t want to get away from here so badly. You wouldn’t spend every waking minute of your life pretending to be somewhere else, pretending to be someone else.”