Aria smiled as she watched the battle. They were doing great. The resistance had the element of surprise and had managed to reduce enemy forces in the short time they emerged. Then the fight had started in earnest.

The scary Super Natural beings were awesome and effective. Each killed at least five of more before being vanquished by their foes. Under Valentine, and under Allegra and Dimitri's competent command, Constantine and Kirana's army was being put to good use. Everywhere in the sieged city was crowded. It would take more fighting and dying on both sides before it was clear who would triumph. Right now, everything was a mess. The resistance was fighting with a desperate enraged spirit whilst the enemy was holding off their valiant efforts with their superior numbers.

It was time for her to help. She hoped her plan worked.

When she had heard Jace asking for help on the phone, a thought had struck her. If he was not shy about asking for help, she could also ask for help on his behalf. She was sure he wouldn't mind.

Aria had logged onto the secret gatekeepers blog. She rubbed her hands in anticipation. She typed out her message on the main page so that everyone would get to see it and tagged Lazarus' for his hard-core fans.

'URGENT ANNONCEMENT!!'

'YOUR GATEKEEPERS NEED YOUR HELP NOW! LAZARUS NEEDS YOU!'

'Attention all fans. Lazarus needs your help!! ... ' She gave a brief description of the situation listing down the twenty enemy Heroes with their respective city coordinates. 'Isis and Valentine are also there! Log in now, help save Lazarus and get a chance to play with the gatekeepers!'

'Constantine and Kirana are also fighting! ALL THE GATEKEEPERS ARE ONLINE NOW!!'

She posted a few screenshots she had taken to convince them. One was a group shot of her with Lazarus, Valentine and Isis on the high walls before the intense fighting had begun. 'If Lazarus's city is too far from your own place, you can help by attacking the enemy's city, whichever is nearer or more convenient to you! Every bit counts.'

There was immediate response.

'What is going on?'

'How can I help?'

'Why are they attacking Lazarus?'

'I'm here'

'Constantine!!!!!!!! And Kirana? Yes!'

'Valentine!! Online! Now!! You have made my day!'

'What do you need?'

'Oh my God! Isis is there. I'm in.'

'What about the others? Will they come on too?'

Soon she was busy answering questions and directing players to the enemy's cities.

'We can do to them what they did to Lazarus. Break down their Shields and get them when the gatekeepers kill them in Lazarus's city. Keep them busy in their own cities. Attack them there. They will be too busy defending their own cities to go back to the main fight!'

Ha ha ha, Aria laughed evilly and rubbed her hands together. Chloe looked up distractedly for a second and giggled at her friend. "I love how evil you sound. What's up?"

"I'm going to give them a taste of their own medicine. The gatekeepers' fans will be attacking the twenty cheating Players at their cities. Those nearer will help you guys at Lazarus' place."

Chloe clapped her hands. "Really? That's wonderful!! It will definitely help turn the tide. How many would that be? Fifty against twenty?"

"More I think. You won't believe the response I'm getting right now. More keep logging in."

"Oh my God! I love this. Does he know?" Chloe jutted her chin out in Jace's direction.

"Nope, not yet. It's a surprise if it works. I didn't want to get his hopes up in case it doesn't. I really hope it does. It would give those mean players a taste of their own medicine."

"It should. Those nasty players won't know what hit them!"

"I know right?" Aria laughed happily as she continued typing frantically in her chat box.

"Want me to help? I can't do much in there but I can help you out here."

Aria's eyes sparkled with the offer. "Would you? That's a great idea. There are too many fans for me to handle effectively plus I know how great you are at organizing."

"I'll let Valentine know I'm helping you before I go off." She sent a quick message to Valentine before she ported out of the fight and into her own safe city. Now she wouldn't have to worry about Jinx while she focused on the chat. "What do I do?"

Aria tore the list she had made and handed half to Chloe. "You handle this list, I'll handle the rest. I'm getting people to surround and attack those cheaters."

"Alright! This is going to be so fun." She cracked her knuckles, "Let's get to it"

'Mages and Warlocks!!' she typed quickly summoning the fans in that class. It was time to bring down those Shields.

Aria had already directed players to each opposing lord's cities. A crowd was gathering at each of the twenty cities and preparing to attack. Most of the forum's players had gone to check out the situation at the gatekeeper's ruin city before committing their armies. It might have been a trick or bogus prank. But when they saw the intense fighting and all five gatekeepers in action throughout the city, they were convinced of Nyx's urgent message on the blog. Lazarus was under attack by twenty cheating players who had ganged up on him for no apparent reason. The gatekeepers had come together to fight for him and with him. It was bloody awesome. Who wouldn't want in? They were all crazy hard-core gatekeeper fans. If their Idol was fighting, so would they!

Out of the twenty, only SubZero was aware of this new development. He had been ambushed at Lazarus' grave by the Red Warlock and had re-spawned in his city. Emerging from his underground temperature controlled room, he had collapsed in the hallway when he felt the first strike to his city's shield. It was taking everything he had just to hold onto the shield. He had no time to wonder or care what was happening at the main fight.

-----------

The player controlling SubZero's avatar was in a panic. The usually level-headed young man had ripped off his gaming headphone and was yelling for the Games Master not caring that the Director was there in the same room.

"Zen! Zen! What do I do? Where did all these people come from? I'm under attack! Zen?!!"

The Games Master's jaw had dropped when he checked SubZero's coordinates. It looked exactly like Lazarus's place earlier. In fact, it looked worse. Mages and Warlocks were attacking the assassin's city's shield whilst other players and their armies waited for the inevitable collapse of the protection. The only difference was ...more players were porting to the site even as he watched. He went to global view and gasped. Armies big and small were marching towards SubZero's city.

When SubZero's shield breaks down it was going to be a massacre. The assassin's city was defenceless; his whole army was at the gatekeeper's place. It was not practical to recall them, by the time whatever was left of his army reached home, it would be too late. Zen counted approximately thirty seven Heroes waiting outside, with more porting and marching in.

"Zen!! GamesMaster!! WHAT DO I DO?" he screamed

"J-just do your best," Zen stammered. He had never had to deal with a situation like this before. Where in the world did these players come from? That Lazarus surely couldn't be controlling them all. How many friends did he have? No, that was not it. How many friends who played the expensive Orc Wars did he have? The question was mind boggling. The sudden influx of help was overwhelming. The massive scale of people joining in what was supposed to be a fast and fail- safe operation to take Lazarus down a few levels had gone terribly wrong. It was something that could not be comprehended or predicted.

The other players were still not aware of the situation. All had headphones on and were concentrating on their game. They were engrossed with their own fights in Lazarus's city. He had fresh scary troops and was fighting back, desperation giving him an edge.

Nadine took charge. "You! Stay in there and bear with it. Take as many potions as you need." She tapped Zen on his arm to get his attention. "Give him Energy and Health potions. As many as he needs to keep his shield up."

"Huh? Oh yes, right! I'm on it!"

Just as he was transferring ingame potions to SubZero, another two players tore off their headphones. The two had just died and were now experiencing the nasty shock at their own cities.

"What the hell?"

"What's happening? How come we are under attack?"

Luna, Priestess Level 58 (killed by Isis) and Tempest, Priest Level 62 (killed by Kirana) couldn't go back to the main battle.

They turned in unison to face Zen. "Games Master!! Our cities are under attack!!"

Zen blanched. This simple operation was going really, really badly. The tables had turned on them. Quickly he gave them the same orders that Nadine had given SubZero. He went back to his control menu and pulled down their avatar profiles to start transfering more potions.

Nadine folded her arms across her chest. The director had taken a quick tour of each of their player's city. All were surrounded by numerous random Players and NPC armies. The same hopeless fate awaited all of them. She switched back the display to the main battle. Now it was the five gatekeepers against the opposing forces. The other two normal players (Nyx and Jinx) had gone off. The five gatekeepers were putting in a good fight but were all injured. Their forces had incredibly been halved and continued to dwindle as they faced the desperate gatekeepers.

Lazarus had broken ribs and was favouring his left side, the result of being caught by a dying Chimera's tail in its death throes. He hissed in pain, each time he drew the bowstring to shoot. Blood trickled down his face from a nasty gash on his forehead. He balanced his weight on his right foot, careful not to aggravate his left until it healed. His awesome bow did enhance his Healing tremendously; unfortunately he seemed to be sustaining injuries faster than he could heal.

Constantine was tiring. His magical spells drained him of Energy. The protective personal shield over himself and Lazarus, he had long dispelled. It took too much Energy to maintain and fight at the same time. His mind worked at top speed, selecting spell after spell from his memory whilst his lips never stopped murmuring the complicated incantations. His hands hurled whatever manifested in them at the nearest enemies.

Valentine was brandishing his sword expertly. He was fast too. Whichever way he turned, NPCs combusted disappearing from view. A broken arrow protruded from his left shoulder. The gatekeeper's fashionable silk shirt was torn and bloody. He needed a potion as soon as he got a breather. He hoped it would be soon. Valentine gritted his teeth in pain as he lunged at an enemy. Allegra and Dimitri fought tirelessly beside him.

Kirana had gone into berserk mode. It was the speciality of her class. The leather clad berserker fought like one possessed. She was fierce, using her rune enhanced deadly spear with perfect accuracy. There was a large clear space around her. NPCs circled warily around, anyone who got too close was despatched immediately. The beautiful Berserker was not going to wait for them to screw up their courage to attack. She screamed a challenge and charged, striking at those unfortunate enough to came within reach.

Isis's pure white robes were more greyish now. Her hair was a mess but she continued hurling poisons and acidic globes at the foes around her. They sizzled and burned before exploding in horrible deaths. She herself glowed with a healing aura, healing herself as she did damage to her attackers. Her usually calm and serene face was replaced with a determined almost mad façade as she concentrated on annihilating the cheating Players.

The three familiars had formed an effective team. Tania and Anya darted in between NPCs, biting them with their strong jaws. Deep gashes appeared on the enemy as the two wolves slashed them with their deadly claws before they died. Xico shrieked from above, diving again and again, claws extended as he picked off anyone who dared threaten his friends. His sharp beak ripped out more than one throat and other essential body parts. He was a predator and now he was in killing mode.

All aimed to kill the invaders. The Heroes were top priority Kills.

Three had died early on and amazingly did not come back. After that six more had died. The score so far was Constantine two, Lazarus two, Valentine two, Isis one and Kirana two. Perhaps they did not like dying and did not want to continue the battle. No, that was not it, the four Warlocks had died and came back, didn't they? Strangely, those Heroes who died left their armies in the City to fend for themselves. Without their Lords, they lost direction and morale, making them easier to kill.

Constantine laughed out loud as he gleefully slammed a melee freeze spell onto a group on his right. The Red Warlock had recently upgraded his Research Tree to expand the weapon's AOE (Area Of Effect) range. The area turned blue, then white, freezing anything that was in the zone. Toxic, Berserker Level 61 froze along with his battle master and sixteen other NPCs. Three seconds later, they cracked and exploded. The score was now three for him, the stupendous Red Warlock!

His triumph was short lived as a sudden huge surge of bodies came through the main gates. Fresh armies wearing differing colours climbed over parts of the broken walls yelling and screaming battle cries to join in the fray. They came like a tsunami of bodies, a huge wave of warriors eager for combat. They were led by unknown Heroes.

The gatekeepers fighting further in the city did not notice them. They had their hands full trying to stay alive. However, Lazarus and Constantine turned in horror at the incoming horde. At this rate, they would not last much longer. The two ranking gatekeepers exchanged hopeless looks and steeled themselves for death.