Kingdom Come

Book 4: Birthright: A Boronian Saga

by Ross Buzzell

Genres: Superheroes; Time Travel

Synopsis

Reborn!
With his powers re-awakened, Konner begins to plan his return home to free his people until he's surprised with the arrival of his first born, Ryan Lorian. Coming from the future, Ryan helps Konner piece the puzzle together to prevent the destruction of the universe.

As we return to Boron, old enemies will become allies. Older friends will turn traitor. And the dark magic pulling all the strings will be revealed. Grab a copy and join Konner and his team in this final adventure for the salvation of Boron and Earth as it turns to a dance of mistrust and backstabbing. When family's involved, sometimes blood isn't always thicker than water.

 

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Release date: February 7, 2024

Print pages: 402

Sample

Chapter 1: Displaced

With a soft pop, a tall, slender man appeared out of thin air. Taking a breath, his lungs
burned from the ash in the air. Mattias pulled a mask over his face as he looked at the leveled
Forbidden City around him.
“And I thought smog in China was bad five years ago,” Mattias muttered.
“Be careful, there are some strange energy signatures in your area,” the Operator said
over his earpiece.
“Isn’t that why I came, because of the weird energy signatures?” Mattias asked.
He crouched and ran to a part of the city wall that was still somewhat intact. As he
ducked behind it, several shadow monsters walked on a patrol on the other side.
“I’m talking Dark Titan and Seclusion energy, not the Lorian that we picked up,” the
Operator replied.
Mattias poked his head out from behind cover and looked around.
“Why are we looking for Konner?” Mattias asked. “They captured him right off the bat.
We’ve lost half the team already trying to get him back.”
“We’re not after Konner,” the Operator replied. “Before she died, Danielle made a
calculation that his son would appear here.”
“When?” Mattias asked.
“Now.”
A flash of light filled the smoldering courtyard of the Forbidden City. Every summoned
beast was destroyed by the force. Mattias teleported away from the wall he was using for cover
as it collapsed.
“Oh my gosh,” Mattias whispered in disbelief.

At the center of the courtyard sat a toddler, terrified, covered in soot and crying. Howls of
the monsters filled the air as everything that saw the flash started to rush toward it.
“It’s just a kid.”
“That is the full Boronian-blooded child of Konner Lorian,” the Operator replied. “If
we’re going to have a chance at stopping this, you need to get him!”
Mattias started to run at the crying child.
“Of course, I’m going to get him,” Mattias replied. “I’d have to be a monster to leave him
here.”
As Mattias passed the walls, his legs carrying him as quickly as they could, shadows
started to rise out of the ground. Taking several deep breaths, he started to focus on the jump he
needed to make.
Sliding next to the boy, he picked him up and smiled at him. Holding the child to face
him, Mattias made funny faces and noises while continuing to build up the power he needed to
jump. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw the beasts moving in for the kill. He forced himself to
stay calm for the bright, blue-eyed child in front of him. As the child started to mellow out, he
felt the hot breath of one of the monsters down his neck.
“Pop goes the weasel!” Mattias said.
With that, they vanished, teleporting away from the forbidden city.
KWUM!
A burst of air was displaced as Mattias teleported back to St. Louis with the child in his
arms. Gray clouds hung low in the sky, the stench of burned flesh and melted steel still
contaminating the air, even after all these years.

“Operator, initiate HQ unlock,” Mattias said as he stood up. “Jumper and the package are
home.”
“HQ unlocked Jumper, you have clearance to enter,” the Operator replied.
A low rumble filled the air from the midst of what was left of the arch. Ash covered the
ground like snow. Mattias carefully made his way to the opening doors in the ground. He looked
at the once thriving city. The buildings that still stood were little more than husks of what they
once were. He sighed, defeat washing over him at the sight.
Ryan’s small hand touched his face. As Mattias walked down the stairs underground, he
looked at the bright eyes of the boy in front of him. A flicker of hope ignited in his gut. As he
reached the bottom of the stairs, John, sitting at his barely functioning quantum computer,
sighed.
“At least the lining of this place will hide his signature from any prying eyes,” John said.
The buzz of his wheelchair filled the room as he rotated, steering the mechanical seat
with his eyes while the rest of his body was held in place by straps.
“How much of a chance does this kid give us?” Doug asked, emerging from another
room, scarred from battle.
“We lost,” John replied. “The chance he will give us isn’t for us; it’s to stop any of this
happening in the first place.”
“Isn’t that a little Days of Future Past?” Doug asked.
“No, because in Days of Future Past, when they were successful, it changed their
timeline,” Stephani added, emerging from a different room while inspecting a device. “Our fate
is sealed, there’s no coming back from this, our world is doomed. Our best chance is to raise that

boy up to be even more deadly than his father, then send him back so that he can save their
future.”
“That’s a little dark.” Mattias chuckled. “And I have to admit, it’s a bit of a shame, I was
really starting to view you all like family.”
“Is that why you always argue with us?” John asked.
“It’s the end of the world. Gotta keep one thing constant,” Mattias teased.
“Whatever your family dynamic was growing up, it wasn’t healthy,” Stephani said,
setting the device down. “I would ask if you’d considered therapy, but that doesn’t seem like it’d
do much good at this point.”
“I think the only reason you all have survived this long is because you’re all crazy,” John
added.
“I’ll get the kid cleaned up. While I am, why don’t the three of you brainstorm a way to
send him back.”
“It wouldn’t be that hard.”
Disa’ani pushed off a wall, emerging from the shadows. His armor tattered along with his
hair and beard. He leaned against his trident with one broken prong and shrugged.
“You’d need an electron displacer and a computer powerful enough to calculate
coordinates for both space and time. The last thing we want to do is just send him back in time
and have him appear in the void of space. And a power source,” Disa’ani continued. “But not
just any power source, I’m talking jumpstart a dying star power source. Combine those three and
we can send him anywhere in time he needs to go.”
Mattias carried Ryan over to a deep sink. Turning the water on, he warmed it up before
wiping the dirt off the boy while playing games with him.

“And where are we going to find those three things?” Doug asked.
“If one of you would be so kind as to press the red button on my chair,” John said.
“You told us never to press the red button,” Doug replied.
“Which is the only reason he keeps trying to press it,” Stephani said.
Doug’s eyes widened. He looked at Stephani with a wide smile, and she nodded. Dashing
over to John, he pressed the small red button at the tip of John’s fingers. With a mechanical
whine, the side of the chair opened, revealing the orb.
“You asked me what was worth becoming a quadriplegic for? It was securing this,” John
said.
“That’s fantastic,” Mattias said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice, keeping his attention
on Ryan. “But we still have two more pieces and almost two decades to wait.”
“We do have almost two decades to wait, but the location of the other two pieces are
known,” John countered. “Disa’ani, would you do the honors?”
“Computer, bring up signatures for BR 1 and BR 2,” Disa’ani replied.
A map of the world appeared on the displays. Two dots, almost directly over one another,
blinked. Disa’ani pointed at them as they moved rapidly over the ocean.
“When do we strike?” Mattias asked.
“First off, it’s clearly being flown, and we don’t have a flier,” Stephani replied. “And if
we can find that energy signature, Dark Seclusion or his lap dog will be able to find us in a
heartbeat.”
“So, we wait,” Disa’ani replied. “Wait until Ryan is ready, then when he is, throw
everything we have at getting to the power source and computer to give him the best chance to
get out of this cursed universe.”

Silence fell over the room, and everyone looked at Disa’ani.
“I know, I know!” he shouted, holding up a hand. “I know I had a hand in making it like
this, but I’m helping now, aren’t I?”
“Too little too late,” Stephani muttered.
“We both know my influence was minimal at best. I mean, I couldn’t even beat this one
in a single one of our fights,” he said, motioning at Doug.
“Glad you can finally admit it!” Doug said.
“I am not the proud, arrogant man I was once...”
“Because I beat it out of you,” Doug interrupted.
Mattias finished cleaning up a still scared Ryan and picked the young boy off the sink
ledge before turning the water off. He returned to the group with the boy on his hip.
“It doesn’t matter who we were before the fall,” Mattias chimed in. “It doesn’t matter
who we were this morning. If we’re really willing to give our past a chance at a better future than
the scorched landscape above us, we are going to have to make hard choices.”
“What were you thinking?” John asked before looking at Doug, then to the orb.
Doug placed the orb back into the wheelchair and hit the red button again, closing the
side of the device.
“We imprison ourselves down here,” Mattias said. “Every time we leave, it brings a risk
that this place is discovered, we seal the doors until we’re ready, then give everything we have to
the offensive once they open. No more being heroes. Any survivors up there, we leave them to
their fate. They’re all dead anyway; it’s just a matter of when.”
“That’s a dark way to look at things,” Stephani said.

“Maybe, but he’s not wrong,” Disa’ani replied. “If any other world still existed, then
maybe I’d argue, but there’s no one left to help us.”
“What’s better, to try and save everyone we can, only to be killed in the process?”
Mattias asked while looking at Ryan. “Or to put all our chips in the hope of the future.”...