Ascendants of Ancients Sovereign - By Phillip Jones Page 0,6

hoisted the doctor into the air. “You did it, bro! John-boy would be proud. C’mon, man, show the fans you love ‘em and enjoy the moment.” He dropped Sam to his feet.

It took a second to sink in, but once Sam reclaimed control, he smiled. He knew his fame was about to take another giant leap forward, yet his mind would not allow him to stay in the moment. He wondered what this new roller coaster would be like, and because of it, he was already planning months ahead.

Sam faced the announcer who had placed his arm around him for the interview. “That was one hell of a fight, Sam. How do you feel?”

Sam grabbed the mic and pulled it close to his mouth. “I feel awesome!”

The announcer laughed and then pointed to the cut on Sam’s head. “It looks like you’ll be stitching yourself up after all.”

Sam smiled. “How did I know you were going to say that?” He looked at the camera, winked and then flexed his pecs.

As the crowd screamed, a foreign sensation consumed Sam. Instead of the euphoria he was accustomed to, a chill spread throughout his body. Something was not right. As the interview continued, the arena faded into darkness.

To fight the awkwardness, Sam focused on the announcer. He reached out to shake the man’s hand, but as he did, an unexpected evil happened. The announcer’s eyes turned glowing red, and his smile transformed into a mouth filled with razor-sharp, pointed teeth.

Sam’s heart pounded. He tried to react, but he was unable to lift his hand to strike the threat. He was helpless and unable to respond to the orders coming from his mind. His eyelids turned heavy, as if he had gone days without sleep, and the overwhelming weight of his body caused his knees to begin to buckle. He did not understand why it was happening.

Then, as fast as the sensation came over him, it went away. The next thing Sam knew, he was being congratulated on a great fight and asked how it felt to accomplish such an unbelievable victory.

Realizing he had not collapsed to his knees, Sam took a second to regain his bearings. He looked again into the announcer’s eyes, but this time they were crystal blue, accompanied by a bright smile.

Confused, Sam shook off the illusion. “Umm … I’m happy,” he replied before continuing with a list of clichés. “I have a huge amount of respect for my opponent. It’s too bad one of us had to lose. I’m just glad it wasn’t me.”

The fighter managed an unnerved smile as the crowd cheered. He lifted his hands skyward to acknowledge them, but the urge to leave the arena outweighed his need to absorb their adulation.

Sam’s curiosity drove him to look back at the announcer as he stepped out of the cage. The man was staring at him. The fighter watched in horror as the red glow returned to the announcer’s eyes, and a mouthful of wickedly sharp teeth re-emerged to scream their silent threats.

Sam’s face showed his fear as he rushed to the locker room with his trainer on his heels. His thoughts were racing, but no rational explanation could justify what he had seen. He was stumped, yet his brilliant intellect knew, somehow, the red glowing eyes of the announcer and his pointed teeth felt familiar, but how and why, he did not know.

Entering the locker room, Sam lay down on a bench in an attempt to quiet his mind while he allowed the doctor to tend to his wound. Red eyes, he thought. What the heck? Was I hit that hard?

“Stop fidgeting!” the doctor barked. “I can’t fix you if you don’t lie still!”

Sam’s face tightened. “Just stitch me up, and get off my back! And you better not leave a scar! The stitches need to be tight, or I’ll do it myself!”

The doctor would have argued, but he did not get the chance. A loud hissing sound, seemingly from nowhere, filled the room. It pierced Sam’s body and reverberated throughout the essence of his soul. A chill slithered up his spine as everyone in the room heard the words, “Your wish is granted!”

The trio exchanged glances. The unspoken question was WTF?

A moment later, Sam’s eyes shut, and his body began to convulse. Over a minute passed, and still the shaking would not stop. As panic set in, Jerome and the doctor tried to stabilize the fighter, but Sam was too far gone. The needle used to