King of the World (A Story from The Sealed Book)

King of the World is the story of a man who steals the secret of immortality and then has to live with the consequences.

The central character is a villain named Duke. At the start of the story, he’s running through the woods, late at night, after a botched robbery attempt. He’s already been shot in the arm more than once and his pursuers are still hot on his trail.

Then when Duke notices a house in the woods he barges his way inside and tells the homeowner, Professor Williams, to cover for him. Duke is a persuasive guy (he has a gun), so when Duke’s pursuers come to the door the professor tells them that he is alone.

The professor is an easygoing guy and does not appear too shaken by Duke’s presence in his home. The professor’s dog Caesar, on the other hand, takes an instant dislike to him and goes for his throat. Duke put three slugs into the hound, but it’s unstoppable, so it’s a good job the professor has a chain handy. Once it is safely chained up, Duke shoots the dog again and only succeeds in wasting another bullet.

Why is the dog immune to the bullets? The professor has been testing his new formula on it: Serum L. The ‘L’ is for ‘life’ and the dog cannot be harmed. Of course when he hears this Duke insists on having some of the serum. The professor warns him that the serum has not been fully tested yet, but Duke still has his gun and once again it proves to be very persuasive.

Filled with the benefits of Serum L, Duke is unstoppable and decides to take over all the rackets and be ‘king of the world’. He does this and steps on a lot of toes, but bullets can’t hurt him so there isn’t a lot anyone can do about it.

Filled with confidence he goes after the Haughton Diamond and kills two guards in the process, but the getaway driver crashes the car and is killed. Duke is okay but gets to sit in the electric chair for a while. “I’m one guy you can’t fry,” he tells the warden. Much to everyone’s amazement, he is right about that and after the juice has finished flowing through him he just gets up and walks away. That’s not the end of this story though. Duke is in for a surprise because there is a problem with the professor’s formula and the ‘king’s’ world soon becomes a living hell.

The Sealed Book: King of the World

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