Awaken Online: Dominion

by Travis Bagwell

  Swish.

  He dived into a roll, somehow knowing this blow was coming for him. He felt a rush of air above him and something cracked against the stone, chips of rock flying from the impact and bouncing harmlessly off his armor.

  Then Jason froze against the wall in a crouch. He had seen a flash of blue again just as he heard the strange noise. It had been fleeting, but he felt positive that he hadn’t imagined it. The sound had come from the other side of the room – at least twenty or thirty feet away. He had at least a general sense of its location.

  Could this be the simple visualization? he wondered to himself. A small flame of hope flickered to life in his chest. If he could pinpoint the creatures’ locations, then it might be possible to kill them.

  “I-I want to try something,” Jason whispered, his voice reverberating loudly in the still room.

  “Okay, what—,” Riley began but was cutoff.

  Swish.

  Jason saw the flash of blue across the room, and he instinctively raised his arm to deflect the blow, his ivory armor cracking and then blowing apart as it felt like a warhammer struck his forearm. He had taken the hit, using the momentum this gave him to start to push off the wall and race across the room toward the source of the noise. He just needed to get close enough for a single Soul Slash.

  Swish. Swish. Swish.

  Just as Jason began to move forward, a rapid-fire series of the strange noises filled the room. Several things happened at once. Jason was already committed to his charge, unable to stop his forward momentum. At the same moment, Riley dodged into a roll to the side to avoid the series of oncoming blows that smashed against the stone wall behind her.

  Jason promptly stumbled into Riley, his shin striking her mid-roll. He couldn’t see her easily in the darkness and the sound of the blows raining down on them clouded his heightened senses. This sent him tumbling headfirst toward the floor. He absorbed most of the fall with his shoulder, trying to tilt in the air so he wouldn’t land face first. The breath rushed from his lungs in a whoosh as he struck the stone.

  He raised his head, trying to regain his bearings and he could hear Riley scrambling to her feet. He could just barely make out the flashes of blue that indicated she was standing a few feet behind him. However, before he could fully recover, something slammed into the side of his head, sending everything spinning and dancing – small, floating lights filling his vision.

  -1,289 Damage.

  Stunned.

  He heard someone calling his name from behind him, but he was having trouble focusing. “Jason,” Riley shouted, but her voice sounded garbled, as though she were speaking to him underwater. “You need… get up!”

  Jason tried to push himself to his feet, his arms straining and his vision slowly beginning to settle. Just as he was starting to recover, he heard the sound again and saw a flash of blue. He tried his best to roll out of the way, but the creature must have anticipated this move. Something crashed into his chest, caving in the bone plating and his leather armor offering little protection. He felt something snap – several somethings – and could only guess from the fiery pain in his chest that he had some broken ribs.

  His body was awash in pain, and he could barely focus. Red notifications flashed in the corner of his vision, likely telling him that he was incapacitated, and he had suffered limb or internal damage. He just laid there, blindly staring at the ceiling as he awaited the end. A final eerie sound whispered through the room, his enhanced senses picking out its location across the room – not that he could do anything about it.

  Swish.

  System Message

  You have died.

  Thanks for playing Awaken Online!

  * * *

  Jason gasped for breath and clutched at his chest. Yet his ribs were once again intact and whole, and his body showed no obvious signs of the abuse it had just endured. No matter how many times he died in these challenges, it was a struggle to get used to the way his body immediately recovered, but his mind still latched onto his final, pain-filled moments. It always seemed to take his brain a few minutes to catch up to the fact that he was okay.

  A flash of multi-colored light ripped open beside him, and Riley appeared nearby. She immediately dropped to her knees, her hands cradling her head. He pulled himself to his feet while he watched her. Her impromptu roll tripped up Jason, putting them at the mercy of whatever the hell was guarding that room. Why hadn’t she dodged the other way? Hadn’t she heard Jason standing beside her? He had literally just spoken to her from her left.

  Frustration bubbled in his chest, and he tried to tamp down on the emotion. He knew that getting angry wouldn’t help the situation, but a not-so-small part of him was beginning to wonder if it would be easier to tackle the challenge by himself, especially since Riley hadn’t seemed that dedicated to her training lately.

  Dark mist suddenly spiraled out of the globe affixed to the nearby pedestal, forming a familiar skeletal form. The substance seemed to suck in the light from the lone torch nearby. Rex observed the pair in silence as they recovered, tapping a single misty foot as he watched them.

  “Okay, what did you do wrong there?” he finally asked.

  “We died,” Riley snapped as she regained her feet, glaring at Rex. “Isn’t that obvious?” Apparently, she was equally frustrated with their hasty defeat.

  “Yes. That was the conclusion. I was focused more on why you died,” Rex replied dryly. “The purpose of these visits is to analyze what you did wrong so that you can improve.”

  “Fine. Then Jason kicking me in the side and then toppling over me headfirst was probably what killed us,” she answered, glancing at Jason irritably.

  He could feel his simmering anger growing stronger. “Really? And that wasn’t caused by you rolling into me? You had an entire empty room to dodge, and we’ve done this a dozen times now, but you picked my direction?”

  Riley looked momentarily surprised before irritation flooded her eyes as well. She stabbed a finger at him. “I wasn’t expecting you to sprint into the center of the room! Every single time we have done this challenge, we stay at the wall. We agreed that was safest strategy since we can’t be surrounded.”

  “I tried to explain what I was doing,” Jason retorted, attempting to defend himself.

  “Oh, you did, did you?” Riley demanded. “’I want to try something’ was incredibly informative! I totally got ‘I’m going to sprint across the room like an idiot’ from that! It’s a damn good thing I’m psychic, I guess.”

  “Enough,” Rex barked, interrupting them.

  The pair lapsed into an angry silence, glaring at each other.

  “What the hell is wrong with you two?” Rex demanded. “I already explained that these challenges are difficult and require teamwork, but you have been at each other’s throats since day one. I have no idea what’s going on here, but if you can’t deal with your shit, then you will not complete this challenge – much less the next one.”

  Jason tried to say something, but his former general cut him off. “No, shut it. I don’t want to hear excuses. I told you days ago to talk to each other. Since you two apparently can’t be bothered to talk to each other, why don’t I help? I’m locking you in here, and you can come out when you’ve worked out whatever this is.”

  Before they could react, Rex’s form burst apart in a swirl of smoke and the massive ivory portal behind the pair swung shut with a foreboding boom, slamming into the frame as though shoved by an angry giant. Clearly, Rex was upset.

  “Screw this,” Riley muttered. “If he’s going to trap us in here, I’ll just log out.”

  “Sure, just run away,” Jason snapped before he could stop himself, his anger getting the better of him. “Just like you’ve done every day since we started these challenges. Heaven forbid you should actually talk to me.”

  Riley whirled on him. “This coming from you? The master of communication himself? How many times have you come up with some dumbass plan and then not explain
ed anything at fucking all?”

  “Yet those plans work!” Jason said. “If you don’t like them, why play with me at all? Hell, it would probably be easier to tackle this thing without you anyway, especially if you’re just going to get in the way.”

  A hurt look flashed across Riley’s face before twisting into anger. Without realizing it, her irises had turned a solid black, a circle of crimson lingering at the center of each. “Really? You think you would be better off without me? How many times have I saved your ass? Until a few days ago, you didn’t even know how to swing that staff, and now you think you’re a badass?”

  “I think I’ve actually been focusing on training and completing these challenges,” he said, stepping toward her as his hand clutched his staff. He could feel dark mana flooding his veins without prompting, an icy river of power flowing through his body. This time, the cold didn’t mute his anger. It fed on it. Maybe he should teach Riley a lesson.

  She just laughed at him. “Really? You could train for weeks, and you still wouldn’t catch up with me. I heard Rex that first day. A mile ahead of you? Isn’t that what he said?”

  “Well, then let’s prove that theory,” Jason growled. The pair now stood facing each other, their hands resting on their weapons.

  “It would be my pleasure,” Riley hissed.

  Without warning, she lashed forward, a dagger appearing in her hand as though by magic. Jason moved instinctively, his forearm coming up to block the blow. The metal blade skittered off the bone plating. Riley immediately followed up with her other hand, driving her second blade toward his stomach. Jason twisted to dodge the attack and swung his staff with his other hand.

  Riley danced back, narrowly dodging the blade of dark energy that sliced through the air where she had been standing a moment ago. “See? You can’t hit shit,” she taunted. He had completely whiffed on the blow.

  Anger flared in Jason’s chest as he launched himself forward. Riley nimbly darted backward, almost instantaneously switching to her bow and dark missiles racing in his direction. Jason spun his staff quickly, deflecting the wooden missiles as he tried to close with the archer again. She shot at him repeatedly, not having time to charge a Void Arrow, but still managing to stay just barely out of his reach. Part of the difficulty was that deflecting her arrows slowed him down and allowed her to create a bigger pocket.

  Damn it, she’s fast, he thought to himself. He needed to close the distance and keep her close. He didn’t have time to cast a curse with the way she was pelting him. If he stopped putting pressure on her, she’d nail him with a Void Arrow. He could only think of a few ways to close with her, and he would need a distraction.

  “What’s the matter? This isn’t a big deal for you is it?” Riley taunted. She barely seemed out of breath.

  “Not at all,” he growled, catching on to the hidden meaning behind her jab. Was she really still angry at him for a comment he had made weeks ago in-game? “Running away still seems to be the only move you have. By the way, how’s your new boyfriend?”

  Riley’s widened slightly in surprise. “What are you…?”

  Jason didn’t wait for her to finish, using that moment to strike. While he had been chasing her, he had discretely formed a bone shield using the small pile of bones near the door as they passed the opening and held it behind him, making sure to keep it out of Riley’s line of sight. Now he whipped it forward as he closed the distance between them, keeping it low to the ground.

  The disc swung around behind Riley as she back pedaled away from Jason and she tripped over it, stumbling slightly. Jason capitalized on her moment of weakness, rushing forward for the grapple. He needed to get close and stay close if he was going to beat her. She was just too fast otherwise.

  Riley surprised him, though. She twisted even as she fell, her hands striking the ground and tumbling into an impromptu backflip. The move almost saved her, but not quite. Jason managed to grab at one arm, his fingers curling around the sleeve of her leather armor and locking tight.

  He had her now.

  She immediately retaliated, dropping her bow and a dagger appearing in her other hand. She stabbed at his arm, striking the same place she had a moment before. The Bone Armor crumbled, and the blade pierced his arm, thick black blood pooling around the wound. He hissed in pain, but he had endured worse lately. His grip never wavered even as he felt the blade sawing at the muscles of his arm.

  He found himself staring into Riley’s dark eyes from only a foot away. “I don’t have a boyfriend,” she said to him, anger simmering in her eyes. “Why the hell would you think that?”

  “Oh, really?” he demanded. “Because you didn’t bring that blond-haired guy to the hearing? What was his name, Caleb? And you haven’t been spending every waking moment with him instead of training?”

  “Caleb isn’t my boyfriend, you dumbass,” Riley said, barking out an incredulous laugh. “He’s my cousin.”

  For only a split second, Jason hesitated, surprised by her statement. Had he really read the situation wrong? Riley used this opportunity to shift to the side to avoid the blow. She spun, rotating their interlocked arms, and used the momentum to flip him over her slender frame. He slammed into the ground with Riley perched on top of him.

  She reached for her other dagger, and he smacked it aside with his free arm, the weapon skittering across the stone floor. “Then why the hell have you been avoiding me,” Jason demanded from underneath her, his mind struggling to grapple with this new information even as they each jockeyed for a hold on the floor.

  “Because you’re an asshole,” she said bluntly.

  Another bone shield whipped through the air and slammed into Riley’ side, knocking her off him. He rolled with the blow, still refusing to let go of her arm despite the way the blade embedded in his flesh twisted with each movement. In the next moment, he was on top of her, holding her down,

  “I’m the asshole?” he demanded. “I spent days thinking about how we almost kissed. It was the only thing that got me through Gloria’s bullshit and seeing my parents again. And you looked like I kicked your dog when I brought it up.”

  Riley stared up at him with wide eyes. “You… you what?” Then she seemed to shake herself, regaining some of her previous fire. “Of course, I was upset. You didn’t talk to me for days. Not a call. Not a text. And then you only seemed to want to keep me around to help you finish these stupid trials. What the hell was I supposed to think?”

  Tears had bloomed at the corner of her eyes, and she had begun to stop struggling. “You know who last did that to me? Used me and toyed with me? Fucking Alex.”

  A heavy weight settled in Jason’s chest. He tried to think back to their conversations over the last few weeks that had passed in-game. Had he misunderstood that much? From Riley’s perspective, had it looked like he was just using her? It was true that he hadn’t talked to her for a couple of days after their conversation at the bubble tea shop. The pieces were beginning to click together in his head.

  Her fist suddenly crashed into the side of his head, and he fell off her, stars swimming in his eyes for a moment. In the next instant, Riley had regained her position atop him, ripping the knife from his arm and the blade resting against his throat and causing a line of blood to well up under the sharp edge. She stared down at him, tears framing her dark eyes as she glared at him.

  “Suddenly silent? Don’t have a good comeback for that? I shouldn’t be surprised.”

  Jason looked up at her and said the only thing he could think of.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “W-what?” she demanded, faltering.

  “You’re right,” he admitted. “I should have called you. I shouldn’t have leapt to assumptions when we first spoke. I-I wasn’t thinking about this from your perspective.”

  Riley relaxed the blade at his neck.

  Jason kept going, his dark mana urging him forward and numbing him to what would have been difficult for him to say otherwise. “I wanted so badly to kiss yo
u that afternoon. It was on my mind for days, and I couldn’t wait to see you again. If it hadn’t been for Gloria…” he trailed off and then shook his head. “That’s just an excuse. I should have called.”

  He met her gaze. “I wanted you to stay in the Twilight Throne because I wanted to spend time with you. I was excited when you first came to help me with the challenges.”

  Jason raised a hand to her face, gently touching her skin. She didn’t flinch away – just stared at him in surprise. “I like you, Riley. I’ve liked you for years – long before Alex and this stupid game.”

  “I… you…,” she muttered, her anger still there but now lacking direction. She looked down at him, her face only a foot or so away. “You’re an idiot. You know that, don’t you?”

  Jason nodded, a small smile creeping across his face as the tension seemed to drain from both of them. “So I’ve heard.”

  They stared at each other for a long awkward second. Jason knew what he wanted to do next, but, even with his dark mana flooding his veins, he still hesitated. No, screw that, he told himself. Don’t be a wimp. That’s what got you in this mess in the first place. Just take what you want. Be direct.

  His hand still rested against her face. Without giving himself time to think, he leaned forward, pulling her toward him at the same time. Her face crept closer, but Riley made no move to pull away. Instead, she started to close her eyes. Only inches separated them now, and Jason could feel her breath on his face, the way her body pressed against him – no longer threatening, but distinctly pleasant.

  His lips were just about to touch hers.

  Yet, as they closed that final gap, Jason didn’t feel anything. He opened his eyes in confusion and found that the world had suddenly gone dark. Riley was no longer sitting on top of him, and he floated in an endless black void. A single blue notice hovered in the air in front of him.