Awaken Online: Dominion

by Travis Bagwell

  Jason followed close behind, not bothering to protect himself from the hungry fire.

  “Cecil,” he tried to shout over the roaring flames, his voice coming out as a croak. “Cecil are you here?”

  For a long moment, as he searched the room, he heard no response. Then he could barely make out a low groan, and his Perception ability flashed, highlighting a glimmer of blue beneath a pile of rubble. As he neared, he saw that his skill had caught the edge of a boot. It looked like the wall had partially collapsed, a beam now resting atop the mixture of broken timber and plaster. A quick inspection confirm that the trapped person was still alive.

  There was only one solution.

  Summoning what remaining strength he had left, Jason gripped the beam. Flames lapped at the wooden surface and streamed across his hands, burning and blistering his skin. He ignored the pain, channeling it away like he did during training. His muscles strained as he lifted, the beam creaking under the force but refusing to rise. He struggled harder, giving it everything he had, but it still wasn’t enough.

  Growling in frustration, Jason grabbed his staff, immediately channeling Soul Slash. He swiped at the beam twice, slicing out a chunk of the wood neatly. Then he ripped the block free and removed some of the rubble, exposing the fallen man beneath. He was greeted with Cecil’s ragged form. His chest was barely moving, and both of his legs rested at an unnatural angle. He was barely alive.

  Moving as fast as he could, Jason grabbed one of his new healing potions, his burnt and bleeding hand staining the vial black. He ripped the cork free with his teeth, splashing the contents on Cecil’s legs before dumping the remainder into his mouth. The engineer’s skin began to knit together slowly, but Jason wasn’t sure it was enough. His vision was already starting to blur from the lack of air and Cecil had been up here longer than him. If he didn’t die from his injuries, he would still asphyxiate.

  “Don’t you dare die on me, you asshole,” Jason growled at the man as he picked him up and slung him over his shoulder.

  The entire floor gave a shudder, and Jason felt the floorboards beginning to collapse. As he stumbled back into the hallway, he could see that the staircase was a ruined mass of flames and embers. He wasn’t getting out that way. That only left one option.

  He forced himself to move to the ruined hole in the side of the building, smoke streaming out of the opening. Each step felt like torture as the flames burnt away his skin, and his muscles screamed in protest – demanding fresh air. As he neared the hole, he gave himself over to his dark mana, channeling what little strength he had left. Then he leaped.

  If it were just him, he could have used his Dark Incarnation. But he couldn’t risk dropping Cecil, so instead he tensed – anticipating the landing. The bottom dropped out of his stomach as he launched into a freefall, the smoke obscuring his sight. It felt like an eternity passed, but only a few seconds later, he hit the ground. His boots slammed into the cobblestones of the street, and he felt something pop in his right ankle, the pain difficult to pinpoint beneath the burns that already riddled his skin.

  Jason promptly toppled to the ground, still managing to shelter Cecil with his ruined body. He was immediately encircled by his troops, who pulled the pair clear of the collapsing building. Then Jason turned back to the engineer, ignoring his burnt hands, broken ankle, and the notifications that still warned him of his precarious condition.

  He ripped open another healing potion and force-fed the contents to Cecil, watching the man expectantly. A torturous moment later, he moved slightly, and his breathing relaxed. His eyelids fluttered open, although his gaze was still vacant and confused.

  Jason leaned close. “Who did this? What happened?” he demanded, hoping the engineer could understand him.

  Cecil’s eyes seemed to focus on him for just a second, his throat contorting as he tried to make use of his ravaged vocal cords. “Th… Thorn,” he managed to croak before passing out.

  One of the nearby soldiers rested a hand on Jason’s shoulder. “Sir, you need to drink a healing potion. You’re badly injured.”

  Jason shrugged off the hand. Through pure force of will, he managed to pull himself back to his feet, favoring his injured ankle slightly and ignoring the black blood that dripped from his ruined skin. His cowl was pulled back, and the pale flesh of his face had been burned a charred black. He looked like a demon, his eyes glowing darkly as ash drifted off his cloak, the embers still burning along the cloth.

  His obsidian gaze was fixed on the ruined school, flames leaping up into the air as the rest of the structure began to collapse. Nearby, his few remaining zombies and the survivors looked on – their expression a wary mixture of pain, concern, and fear as they watched Jason. Some of the Kin even reached for their weapons out of reflex at his menacing appearance. Yet no one moved to stop Jason.

  Rage bubbled and boiled in his veins as he witnessed the destruction. This was enough. The Order had gone unchecked for too long. He was responsible for this. For not being strong enough or smart enough to stop this massacre. That ended now.

  “Sir?” the soldier offered tentatively, trying to hand him a potion.

  “There will be time to heal my wounds later, soldier,” Jason said darkly, his voice unnaturally harsh from sucking in lungfuls of hot, ash-filled air. “Now is the time for vengeance.”

  He looked back at his people. “I pledge to you that I will find those responsible for this. I will personally hunt them down, and I will make them suffer a thousand-fold for what they’ve done here. No one fucks with the Twilight Throne and lives. No one.”

  Chapter 37 - Desiccated

  Nearly an hour later, Jason found himself below the keep once again. He had eventually succumbed to his troops’ insistence that he drink a healing potion. It didn’t take long for the elixir to repair his ruined skin and shift his ankle back into place with an unsettling crunch. His throat still felt raw, but otherwise, there was little evidence that he had nearly burned alive while trying to save Cecil. Looking back on the experience, he wasn’t certain he would have been able to endure the pain if not for his training and his dark mana, the energy numbing him to the sensation.

  When he managed to calm down, he had also been able to take stock of the situation. His hastily-summoned minions had rescued nearly two dozen students, force-feeding them potions and allowing them to escape the flaming building despite their injuries. More than one zombie had used its own decayed body as a shield, accepting the flames to save the Kin.

  In total, nearly twenty Kin were either dead or missing and many more were injured. There had been no sign of Thorn or his men, and it wasn’t clear whether they had been in the building during the blast or had planted some sort of bomb earlier in the day. No additional information was forthcoming from Cecil. The engineer had lapsed into a coma – a testament to how close he had come to dying. Jason had left the Kin with orders to keep feeding him health potions every few hours. Cecil’s work was not finished, and he would not let the Dark One claim him yet.

  As Jason entered the second challenge room, his gaze took in the shadows that hovered on the other end of the room, the lone sapphire torch barely pushing back at the soupy darkness. Even now, anger still simmered in his veins as he thought about the attack. They needed to beat this challenge. Only a little over a week remained in-game until Thorn’s deadline. This translated to roughly three days in the real world. Their time was almost up. More than that, Jason was hungry for a rematch. It was time someone taught that bastard a lesson.

  His thoughts were interrupted as a flash of multi-colored light tore open the air, and Riley appeared beside him. She looked around in confusion for a moment before her gaze trained on Jason. “Hey, how are…” she began, hesitating as she saw the look on his face.

  Without another word, Riley moved forward, wrapping her arms around him. The gesture was comforting and helped to mute his anger and worry. “What happened?” she murmured.

  Jason recounted the story, starting wi
th the factory that he and Eliza had built in The Grove and the message he had received from Cecil. By the time he’d finished, a similar expression of rage and horror lingered on Riley’s face.

  “Damn,” the fury muttered. “This is too much. What is this Thorn thinking? Is he really any better than the gods? Attacking our troops and sabotaging construction projects is one thing, but attacking a building full of students…”

  “It’s what I would have done,” Jason replied darkly, sparing a guilty look at Riley. “He’s doing the same thing I did to Alexion when he attacked the city, using a small force to terrorize our people. The goal is to reduce morale and keep your opponent on the defensive – since we aren’t certain where the hell he’ll strike next. Between the crippling injuries to our people and this latest attack, it’s clear that the bastard is waging a guerilla war against us,” he said in a grim voice.

  Riley grimaced. “Okay. I mean, I can’t really disagree with that. It also leaves us in a weakened state for whatever he has planned in the next week or so. I guess the only question is whether there is anything we can do about it.”

  “Jerry hasn’t been able to discover anything,” Jason replied, rubbing at his eyes. “I spoke with him briefly after the explosion. He’s about ready to pull his hair out looking for the Order. Not that he has much left,” he added, the joke landing flat given the seriousness of the problem they faced.

  Jason sighed. “Which leaves us with a single option. We need to finish these challenges and reinforce the city and our troops as much as we can while we wait for whatever is coming. That way, when Thorn does show his face again…”

  “We kill him. Preferably in as painful a way as possible,” Riley finished for him, channeling her dark mana. Her irises turned black, punctuated only by a thin circle of crimson where her pupils might have been.

  “Exactly,” Jason murmured darkly. His own mana surged through his veins, automatically responding to Riley’s bloodlust. “But first we need to beat this second challenge. At least I have an idea for how to tackle that problem. I was able to sense the location of whatever creatures occupy the room during our last attempt. If we work together, we may be able to corner them and complete this thing.”

  “Just tell me what you want me to do,” Riley replied evenly, pulling her daggers from their sheaths with the hiss of steel on leather.

  Damn, I like this girl, Jason thought to himself as he watched Riley – her hair tucked into her hood, robed in dark leather, and rage shining in her ebony eyes.

  * * *

  A few minutes later, the pair stood in a pitch-black room, eyes firmly shut and ears straining to pick out any sound amid the darkness. Their backs were pressed to the stone wall, its rough surface poking into their spines despite their armor. Jason could hear Riley’s faint breathing beside him, her arm almost touching his. Their plan would require pinpoint precision and timing. They were just waiting for the creatures to make their move.

  Swish.

  Almost before the sound finished, the pair launched forward. Jason pushed himself from the wall, using every ounce of strength he possessed. He rocketed forward, feeling the rush of air across his skin. A whooshing sound sped past him, signaling that he had narrowly avoided a strike. He could hear the muted sound of Riley’s footsteps as she raced along beside him. His Listening skill created small flashes in his mind’s eye to designate her location.

  Swish. Swish. Swish.

  The pair split to either side, Jason banking a hard right while Riley moved left. They had a sense of the creatures’ position now. They were clumped up against the far wall and moving slightly to the left, the second strike having given away their movements.

  Jason moved just a hair too slowly and a blow clipped his shoulder, sending him stumbling for a split second and cracking the bone armor on his shoulder. Yet he didn’t stop moving. They couldn’t. The pair kept moving forward, racing toward the creatures and boxing them in, pushing them toward a corner of the room.

  Their enemies seemed to anticipate what they were doing, the rustling sound coming hard and fast now. It took every ounce of concentration Jason had to avoid the blows and he gave himself over completely to his mana. Rage still bubbled in his chest, and he was acting entirely on instinct. There was no room for hesitation or doubt here. He dodged, weaved, and bobbed all while moving forward and keeping Riley to his left.

  Riley’s breath was coming in harsh gasps. The occasional grunt of pain indicated that she hadn’t quite dodged an attack and gave away her location. His own lungs were under a similar strain; the pair couldn’t keep this up for much longer. Their stamina was depleting quickly, but they were also getting closer. The sounds were now coming from only a few yards away, and they had boxed in whatever was attacking them, forcing the creatures into a corner.

  “Now,” Jason shouted.

  This was what they had been waiting for.

  Both Riley and Jason rushed forward, foregoing any sort of defense. A blow slammed into Jason’s chest, but he fought through the pain. This was nothing compared to nearly burning alive. He automatically reformed the Bone Armor with his free hand and a few muttered words even as he continued his headlong dash. Riley grunted in pain, and he noticed her health drop in his peripheral vision, a fleeting sense of concern filling his mind. He shook the worry off. He couldn’t be distracted by that. Riley was more than capable of taking care of herself.

  And then, he was within range. Jason swung his staff in a wide arc while summoning his Soul Slash. Riley simultaneously stabbed forward, letting out a soft breath as she lunged. Their blows speared toward the location the creatures had occupied just a moment before.

  Without warning, torches sprang to life all around the room in a blinding blast of blue light. The flames were so intense that the light even penetrated Jason’s eyelids – his eyes still firmly shut. He stumbled slightly, caught off-guard. He’d almost regained his balance when something whipped through the air horizontally and smashed into his chest, throwing him backward. He heard a soft thump as Riley was struck as well, followed shortly by a grunt of pain as she landed on the floor.

  Jason hit the ground a few yards away, stone crushing into his back. The wind raced from his lungs as a red notification appeared in his peripheral vision indicating his stunned condition. He forced himself to keep moving. This couldn’t end here. He rolled to the side, hearing something slam against the stone beside him and feeling debris strike his face.

  He opened his eyes slightly, letting his pupils adjust to the light that now blazed through the room. What he saw left him staring in shock.

  “What the hell is that?” Riley muttered from nearby.

  Jason had been assuming they were fighting multiple opponents with the way the source of the attacks changed position so rapidly and with how many attacks were occurring simultaneously. However, only a single creature stood in the far corner of the room.

  It was roughly man-sized, yet that’s where its humanity ended. The creature was a roiling mass of cloth bandages that were wrapped around its form in tight bands – concealing nearly every inch of its body and completely covering its face. Between the bands, Jason could make out tendrils of dark energy which lapped at the air hungrily. However, the most disconcerting part was how the bandages seemed to shift and move like cloth snakes as they watched.

  Even as Jason stared, he heard a familiar swish, and two cloth straps launched forward from the creature’s body, racing through the air toward Jason and Riley. They both dodged successfully, now able to see their opponent’s attacks. The blows smashed into the stone floor and walls, cracking the rock, but seeming to have no effect on the bandages. As quickly as they struck, the cloth immediately retracted back to the monster’s body.

  “What now?” Riley asked between gasping breaths. Their stamina was already low from having cornered the creature, but at least they could see it now. That seemed like it had improved their odds.

  “We just need to get close,” Jason said. “If
I can get in one good hit, we might be able to end this.” At least, he hoped so. He wasn’t entirely confident that his Soul Slash would be enough to penetrate the steel-like bands, but it was their only hope.

  Riley gave a curt nod, and they launched forward again, going back on the offensive.

  The creature barely left them any room to breathe, much less attack. It gave up trying to move or reposition now that it no longer needed to conceal its presence. That seemed to give it an edge, making its attacks stronger and faster. The monster was now capable of focusing solely on using its bandages. Multiple cloth straps raced through the air toward them.

  Jason dodged one blow and hopped over another as he struggled to keep moving forward. Even as he avoided one strike, the band had already retracted and was racing toward him again, making it almost impossible to get close. He could see Riley was having a similar problem, although she wasn’t losing ground as quickly as he was.

  And then Jason messed up. He crouched under one bandage and side-stepped to the right to avoid another blow. However, instead of the bandage to his left retracting, the cloth abruptly whipped to the side, slamming into Jason’s hip. The blow threw him sideways into the wall, and another strap followed up immediately, crashing into his chest and slamming him into the stone. Despite his Bone Armor, he could feel something snap, and he knew at least one of his ribs was broken. He let out a hacking cough as he slipped to his knees, droplets of black blood spraying from his lips and staining the floor.

  “Damn it,” he croaked.

  He saw another blow incoming and knew he couldn’t dodge in time. He resigned himself to his fate as the cloth neared. Then a throwing knife slashed through the air and threw off the bandage’s aim, causing the blow to go wide and crash into the wall nearby. Riley appeared beside him, gripping his arm and hauling him to his feet.