RazorIsSharp

Howard awoke every morning with the taste of blood in his mouth. 

Every night before he went to sleep, the women sleeping next to him shot him to death so that he could reincarnate in the morning.

They did experiments on him, all because he had horns on the top of his head. 

Finally, after years of experiments, they tossed him into the abyss. A place worse than hell called the Furnace.

Down beneath the surface, the Furnace allows dreams to turn into reality, abilities to be amplified by a thousand fold, and for conquests to unfold. 

Howard, finally finding himself free in the Furnace, joins a team of reprobates from Hell's Academy, hoping to conquer the Furnace and build the ultimate kingdom in the darkest trenches of the world.

Hell's Academy

Howard woke a day later inside of the East Branch.

Everything in his memory was a blur, but he vaguely remembered seeing Harley shoot into the air with a metal rod lodged into her arm. Instantly, he screamed, "Monica", while he pulled the blanket off his body! This was terrible! He instantly moved to wipe sweat off his head before he jumped to his feet.

Finally, his vision cleared and he looked over only to find Monica crying in the corner. Howard instantly felt a terrifying feeling enter into his gut! Something terrible must have happened!"

"Monica, what happened? Where's Harley?"

"You-you shouldn't have fallen asleep," Monica's depressed voice entered in Howard's ears. "I-I can't sense Annibell or Reslan anymore! What-what are you doing?! Hurry up and go find them!"

"Don't blame him!" Harley walked into the room with a large bandage over her shoulder. "Ugh, Howard, we have bad news. Can you sit down for a minute?"

Fire King's Last Stand, Eighth Level