Awaken Online: Dominion

by Travis Bagwell

  Jason lifted himself from the bench as though operating on autopilot. He was soon being herded out of the room along with Claire and Robert. The security quickly navigated the halls of the courthouse building, leading the group to a side stairwell that took them back to the ground floor. Apparently, they were leery about getting stuck at the elevators.

  As they exited the building onto the courthouse steps, bright sunlight struck Jason’s eyes, and he put up a hand to block out the glare. Before his eyes had a chance to adjust, a roar of noise reached his ears, protestors on either side of the stairs shouting from behind the barricades erected by the local police. Digital signs flickered, and cameras flashed, creating a multi-colored splash of color and sounds that was overwhelming.

  Yet Jason wasn’t focused on this chaotic scene. His attention was fixed on the pair of individuals standing near the door – his parents. They each looked at one another at the same time, and Jason felt frozen in place, his legs refusing to budge.

  His mother approached him first, his father in tow. “I… I’m sorry, Jason,” she offered, tears beading at the corners of her eyes. His father rested a comforting hand on her shoulder. “I’ve wanted to say that for a while now – since we met at Gloria’s office.”

  Jason remained mute, his emotions a chaotic, soupy mess. He didn’t trust himself to speak.

  “We were just concerned about you,” his father added. “You have changed so much. And this… this game seems to be the source of that change. We didn’t know what to think…”

  “Or what to do,” his mother added as his father trailed off, at a loss for words. “Maybe this will help,” she offered tentatively. “Maybe, after this investigation, the CPSC will be able to say once and for all whether this game poses a risk to its players.”

  “Until then, we want you to come home,” his father said. “You should be with family. Forged evidence aside, it’s clear that something is going on here and Cerillion Entertainment is at the heart of it. You would be safer with us.”

  “Please, Jason,” his mother pleaded, hope shining in her eyes. “Please come home.”

  He could only stare back at them – his spinning thoughts beginning to settle. A tired numbness was replacing the whirlwind of emotion. It wasn’t his dark mana; it was resignation.

  Even now they thought they knew what was best for him and they were acting unliterally. This was just more of the same. They had sent him to Richmond and kept him there despite how much he despised the school. They felt the game had harmed him. But had they tried to talk to him about it? No, they had conspired with Gloria instead – going behind his back to do what they thought was best for him.

  They weren’t sorry for what they had done. They were sorry that they had lost. Or, at least, that the committee hadn’t concluded that the game was harming him. Hell, they were probably worried about their own careers. If they were at least able to reconcile with him, it would probably look like they had still been in the right – despite the committee’s verdict.

  Besides, where had they been when Jason had needed them? When he told them about how Alex had framed him at school? When he was scrambling for some way to feed himself? When he spent days in jail? When he was grappling with the fact that he had killed two people? When Gloria shoved him onto a public stage and told the world he was some sort of closeted sociopath?

  He felt something inside his mind finally shatter – although he struggled to put a name to it. Maybe it was some sort of hope – that people were good. That his parents really cared about him. That the world was fair and operated in a way that made sense. But none of that was true. It was all just an illusion – a fantasy – even less real than the video games he had clung to for an escape. Perhaps the Old Man had been right since the beginning.

  All that mattered was his desire and whether he had the strength to act on it.

  “No,” Jason finally said. His voice sounded strange to his own ears – cold and unforgiving. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

  He met their eyes, his gaze unflinching. “I think you both said it best. You’re not my parents – not anymore,” he said, throwing their own words back at them. “I have a new family now. One that actually cares about me.”

  Jason didn’t wait to see their reaction. He simply walked away, rejoining Robert and Claire and heading down the stairs toward a waiting car. He saw the looks that Robert and Claire gave him – the concern lingering on their faces as they watched the confrontation with his parents. At least one of the aerial drones had likely captured the exchange.

  But he didn’t care.

  As Jason settled onto the leather car cushions a moment later, and the door clicked closed with a certain finality, his thoughts were only on the future. The committee had given him an opportunity – a second chance – and he planned to take advantage of it. His parents and this entire hearing had taught him one final lesson.

  The world was a cruel, chaotic place and only the ruthless survived.

  Chapter 65 - Unexpected

  Alexion paced his cell, wearing only a tattered cloth tunic and trousers. Jason’s men had stripped him of his golden armor and weapons. His bags were gone too. The only thing that remained were his glowing wings, the extremities occasionally bumping into the rough stone walls of the cell as he trod a well-worn circle in the floor – reminding him of just how useless those wings were right now.

  Two of the Kin stood nearby, robed in dark leather armor. Their pale eyes watched him impassively, and he glared back at them. They hadn’t moved since he had been imprisoned here and he knew that they would only intervene if he tried to hurt himself. A glowing crimson gem was also embedded in the tower’s ceiling, casting a healing aura about the room.

  At this point, even suicide was starting to look like a blessing – one that was just out of reach.

  He had tried everything else. His only goal was to somehow respawn back in the Crystal Reach. He had logged off and back in. He had tried waiting variable amounts of time before logging back in. He had spoken to some of the techs in the control room at the Cerillion Entertainment headquarters, which had resulted in resounding defeat despite his attempts to explain that he was the CEO’s son. Apparently, the staff took the game’s integrity seriously. When that hadn’t worked, he had even tried praying to the Lady for assistance, but it seemed that even the goddess had abandoned him.

  At every turn he had reached a dead end, and Alexion was now forced to face the obvious.

  He was trapped.

  Just the thought made the burning sensation in his chest bubble and froth. The hollow voice in the back of his mind only added fuel to the fire, the whispers reminding him of his weakness. He had the almost irresistible urge to roar his rage – only holding himself back for fear that word would reach Jason. Alexion wouldn’t give his nemesis that satisfaction.

  Even so, it seemed that Jason had won.

  The reality was that Alexion may have lost months of work. His only escape from this place appeared to be to roll a new character and start over from scratch. He couldn’t be certain whether that new avatar would assume his role as Regent of the Crystal Reach, and since the game only allowed him one avatar at a time, there would be no going back once he made that decision. With the scrutiny that the company was currently under, it was unlikely that his father would be willing to grant him a concession.

  He slammed his palms against the crystalline bars with a dull thump. The guards didn’t even flinch. They just continued to stare at him with those eerie, pale eyes.

  “What are you dead assholes looking at?” he demanded. He knew that they wouldn’t respond – they never said anything. Bribes were one of the first things he had tried. However, the undead seemed unnaturally loyal to Jason. Although, the whispering voice reminded him that he had been caught stealing undead to sell as slaves. He would likely find no sympathy with the Kin.

  “Are you antagonizing our soldiers now, Alexion?” a feminine voice spoke up. He whirled to find Riley
watching him, a smirk on her lips. She was robed in black leather, the hems embroidered in crimson, and a crystalline bow was slung casually over her shoulder. He hadn’t even heard her enter the room.

  “I have little else to do,” he grunted. Just the sight of Riley’s mocking expression was enough to set his teeth on edge. How dare she taunt him. She had once been nothing more than a plaything.

  “And that’s not going to change any time soon,” she shot back. “You will be here for a very long time – that is, unless you want to spin up a new character.”

  Alexion grimaced. Jason had boxed him into a corner. Even the insidious voice in the back of his mind had been forced to acknowledge that this was clever. Imprisonment was likely the only way to truly destroy one of the god’s avatars – a point that he would remember if he ever got out of this gods-damned cell.

  “I can be patient,” Alexion retorted, meeting Riley’s gaze. “At some point, your men may drop their guard – give me an opening.”

  “To do what? Bash your brains against the bars?” Riley asked, pacing in front of him. “I would actually pay to see that,” she murmured with a cruel smile.

  Alexion noticed a flash of light in his peripheral vision, and he froze – trying to maintain his composure with Riley standing in front of him. He had an incoming message. That was one option that he hadn’t considered, and he felt like kicking himself now. However, one thing was clear. It seemed that the in-game chat system was unaffected by his imprisonment.

  He snorted, turning away from Riley as though disgusted, and using the movement to conceal the way he swiped at the air to bring up the message. As his eyes skimmed the few short lines of text, an involuntary grin crept across his face. Perhaps he wasn’t entirely out of options.

  “Oh, don’t be like that, Alexion,” Riley said, likely thinking she had struck a chord. “I suspect you won’t get many of these visits. You should savor them.”

  Alexion turned back to her, his eyes flashing with golden light. “I have no need to speak with you. You’re nothing more than Jason’s errand girl.” He paused, a thought occurring to him. “Where is your master anyway? I expected him to come and taunt me by now.”

  Riley just chuckled, unaffected by Alexion’s insults. “I think you overestimate your importance. You have never been anything more than an annoyance. Now that you are rather… occupied, there are simply more pressing concerns.”

  Alexion grimaced, carefully maintaining his act for Riley’s benefit. Meanwhile, his thoughts were racing. He expected that Jason wasn’t online. That might explain why Riley had decided to confront him herself. He had no doubt that at some point Jason would return – if nothing else, in the hope of securing some information regarding the Crystal Reach and its forces. Riley alone was still a threat, but Jason and Riley together would likely destroy his tentative plan.

  If he was right, then the timing was perfect.

  Riley turned away from him, walking over to a nearby window, her gaze panning across the dark city far below. “This is a fitting punishment – you trapped here. In some ways, it’s worse than anything I could have done to you.”

  “How so?” Alexion muttered distractedly, trying to keep her occupied. Now that her back was to him, he only needed to turn slightly to hide his actions from the two guards. His fingers danced in the air, tapping out a short response. He just needed to buy himself a few more seconds.

  “Because you will experience the same thing I felt – that sense of being trapped – backed against the wall by someone who has power over you.” She whirled back to him, her eyes glowing darkly and a small crimson circle hovering in the center of each black iris. “People say that revenge is bitter-sweet, but I find I quite enjoy the taste.”

  Alexion saw the chat window update – a response. There was only a single line of text this time, “Get back and close your eyes.”

  A smile crept across his face as he slowly backed away from the bars toward the far wall. At the same time, he saw a familiar floating ship break the cloud cover through the window behind Riley. It was a rather ordinary-looking vessel, supported by massive balloons and dozens of figures scrambling across its deck.

  “Well, you better savor it,” Alexion said. “Because I have a feeling that it won’t last much longer.”

  A look of confusion swept across Riley’s face and she whirled back to the window, following his gaze. Her eyes widened as she caught sight of the ship, and her hands shifted to the bow slung across her back, her lips already trying to form a warning to the guards.

  She wasn’t fast enough.

  Blinding light and a roar of sound erupted inside the tower. Alexion was shoved back against the far wall as though slapped by a massive, invisible hand. He slumped against the floor a moment later, his ears ringing. He had managed to squeeze his eyes shut in time, but he could still see the harsh white light through his eyelids, leaving spots in his vision as he blinked rapidly.

  He pulled himself from the ground, trying to catch his bearings. What he witnessed was a scene of destruction. A massive bolt of lightning had slammed against the side of the tower near the window, melting through the stone and carving a jagged hole in the wall. Tendrils of smoke still wafted from the stone. The burnt corpses of the two guards lay on the floor and Riley had been sent flying across the small room. She let out a weak groan, shifting slightly.

  She was down, but not dead.

  Alexion’s eyes flitted to the bars in front of him. He needed to move quickly. He summoned his mana, the golden energy rushing through his veins in a river of molten metal. He suddenly felt like he could do anything – accomplish anything. With a few quick gestures, he started casting buffs, enhancing his Strength, Dexterity, and Endurance. Only a moment later, a golden halo of energy surrounded him, and he could feel the muscles in his arms ripple with strength.

  He grabbed at the bars and pulled. The dense crystal resisted his effort, holding firm. Meanwhile, Riley was beginning to stir. It was only a matter of time before she was on her feet again and he was still unarmed. In the distance, Alexion could see the airship moving closer – the promise of freedom hovering just below the dense black clouds of the Twilight Throne.

  Desperation filled Alexion’s mind. He couldn’t be trapped here – he couldn’t. He wouldn’t allow Jason and Riley to steal everything he had built – everything he deserved.

  His mana surged powerfully, and he yanked against the bars as hard as he could. At first, the crystal still held, and he almost gave up hope. Then he felt the material give slightly, fractures forming in the surface. Stepping back, he kicked powerfully at the crystal, and the bars finally gave way, shattering into hundreds of obsidian shards that bounced off the stone floor.

  Alexion was already moving, squeezing through the bars, and dashing through the room toward the jagged hole in the wall, his golden wings streaming behind him. A dark missile raced past, ricocheting off the nearby wall. Riley must be up and firing, but he could only assume that her vision was blurry from the lightning strike.

  His hope was soon dashed as something struck his knee and a searing pain radiated from his leg. How the hell had she hit him? A lucky shot? He stumbled but was just barely able to keep his balance with his wings – half flying and half running. Glancing down, he could see a shaft jutting from his leg.

  Damn it, he thought. He didn’t turn around – he couldn’t waste time. Besides, Alexion knew Riley wouldn’t kill him. Her goal was capture.

  Another missile sped past him, and he felt its twin pierce one of his wings as he did his best to avoid them, twisting and spiraling through the air. He only had a few more feet left.

  And then he had cleared the tower, diving through the hole in the wall and speeding toward the airship as fast as he could. His injured wings beat hard, and his vision focused on the ship that loomed before him – his salvation floating below the dark cloud cover.

  More arrows streaked past now. He risked a glance backward and saw Riley standing at the mouth o
f the hole, her eyes glowing darkly as she launched arrow after arrow at him. She had given up any pretense of catching him now, the missiles imbued with unholy energy and exploding around him like malignant flak. The ambient tendrils of dark energy ate at his wings and flesh, but he didn’t let himself slow his frantic pace, ignoring the dull pain that now riddled his body.

  The mages lining the deck of the airship soon retaliated. Another blast of lightning forked from the clouds, striking the tower and sending Riley hurtling away from the edge of the jagged hole – her form disappearing inside the tower. The sizzling energy just barely missed Alexion, sending him careening off course. Yet he managed to right himself – barely.

  Then he crashed into the deck of the ship, not bothering to soften his landing. The wind rushed from his lungs. His body was a ruined mess, blood staining his wings and running from the many rents in his flesh. He felt hands grab at him, jerking him back to a sitting position even as flashes of light illuminated his body, swiftly healing his injuries.

  “Well, you look like shit,” Evelyn said from nearby.

  As Alexion caught his bearings, he looked up to find the woman staring down at him, a grin tugging at her blood-red lips. “What, no thank you for saving your ass?” she demanded.

  “It’s just taking me a second to recover from almost getting turned into a human pincushion,” Alexion muttered. “Not to mention nearly getting roasted by your mages.”

  Alexion gritted his teeth and yanked the arrow from his knee, blood jetting from the wound. The flow quickly stopped under the barrage of healing spells. He struggled back to his feet, pushing away the help of one of his Confessors.

  Evelyn shrugged as she watched him. “The mages tell me it’s difficult to aim the lightning. It’s more art than skill apparently.” Alexion could now clearly make out the line of yellow-robed men and women that lined the side of the ship facing the tower, tendrils of electricity still crackling along their hands.