Awaken Online: Dominion

by Travis Bagwell

  Meanwhile, Riley turned her attention to Jerry. She approached slowly. Grunt already stood protectively over the innkeeper, snorting at any of the Kin who moved too close. Jerry was still alive, that much was clear from the raid menu. However, Riley still had unanswered questions. She could see Jerry’s movements in her mind’s eyes, his body little more than a blur as he had fought two members of the Order. She had no idea how he had pulled off that level of power.

  As she neared Grunt, he crossed his burly arms and practically growled at her, his glowing green eyes warning her to stay back.

  “I just want to make sure he’s okay,” Riley said, rummaging through her pack and pulling out another glowing-red health potion. “He could probably use this right now.”

  Grunt reluctantly stepped aside, living up to his name as he snorted at her. However, he remained close, watching her every movement with unblinking eyes.

  Riley knelt beside Jerry, unstoppering the potion, and placing the rim to his lips. As she administered the potion, she noted the way his armor was charred. Yet, as she gingerly peeled back the material, she could see that the skin of his chest was largely undamaged.

  What hurt him? Maybe there was internal damage? she wondered.

  That was the only way she could explain a single blow taking out the thief. It still didn’t feel right. She hadn’t forgotten that it was Jerry who had first taught her Blood Mist or that he had been involved with Lily – who had been one of the last Furies and the former owner of her bow. Could Jerry have other abilities that he hadn’t disclosed? Could he be using the same sort of blood magic as the Furies? From what Lily’s spirit had told her, the class was gender-locked.

  Jerry also hadn’t given her any sense that he could use the same spells – relying on more mundane movements and combat skills. Riley knew his combat abilities were extraordinary, but today’s battle put him in an entirely different league altogether. She was beginning to think that she had underestimated him.

  She sighed. Not that she had time to dwell on this mystery, and Jerry wasn’t exactly in any condition to answer her questions. Besides, they still had plenty of work to do before they reached Thorn’s deadline – assuming he didn’t try to move up the timetable on whatever he was planning now that his accomplices were dead.

  “Some help over here,” Riley called out to the nearby Kin. Several soldiers immediately rushed over to help her.

  “Please take Jerry to the…” she began and was cut off as Grunt simply knocked the soldiers aside, literally tossing them out of the way and sending them sprawling across the cobblestones. Their complaints froze in their throats when they saw who had knocked them back, self-preservation outweighing their irritation. The giant then turned and lifted Jerry’s body gently and cradled him in his arms, glaring at Riley and the soldiers as though challenging them.

  “Uh, or never mind…” Riley murmured as Grunt marched off with Jerry, heading in the direction of the tavern. The relationship there was yet another puzzle.

  Having taken care of Jerry, Riley looked around, suddenly realizing for the first time that Jason had vanished amid the chaos – along with the bodies of the Order agents. Riley’s brow furrowed in confusion and she pulled up her map, searching for the green dot that indicated Jason’s presence. She soon discovered his icon in the dark keep.

  Why would he have taken the bodies back to the keep? He hadn’t mentioned anything before he left. Jason had been acting strangely ever since the third trial and the dream-like memory they had experienced together – not to mention the eerie black cat. Riley could still visualize the way those feline eyes had stared at her, filled with an unnatural intelligence.

  Things had just gotten worse after the hearing and the confrontation with his parents. It could just be stress. If they were to trade places, she doubted that she would be acting normally after everything that he had endured lately.

  Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. Jason had just been so… cold since the hearing, and he had been channeling his dark mana almost constantly. He was even more ruthless and single-minded than usual. She was worried about what that meant for the city – not to mention their newfound relationship. At some point, she needed to talk to him. Really talk. Not just let him make up excuses to get out of the conversation.

  She shook her head. There would be time to address their real-life problems once they had dealt with Thorn. For now, she could answer one of her immediate questions. She was going to find out why Jason had taken the bodies to the keep and what he was up to.

  * * *

  Riley stepped off the final stair and into a circular stone room, the space illuminated by flickering blue torchlight. She was standing in one of the keep’s towers – a section of the massive structure she had never explored before. Two soldiers stood in the doorway, their pale eyes darting toward her as their hands lingered on their weapons. They hesitated once they recognized her hooded form, nodding ever-so-slightly and allowing her to step into the room.

  Her Perception skill triggered as she passed the soldiers, highlighting their hands in faint blue light. Their fingers were still wrapped around the hilts of their weapons, and their pale skin was stained with blood, crimson droplets dripping from their fingers.

  What the hell? Why do they look so on edge? she wondered.

  Riley didn’t have to wait long to find out. She froze as she took in the scene inside the room. The circular enclosure had been divided into several cells that ran the length of the walls, heavy dark crystal forming the bars. Inside two of these cages, Jason had placed the Order agents, or what was left of them. As she looked on, Jason tossed one agent’s dismembered head into the cell with his corpse, which hit the stone floor with a wet thud before rolling over to the body, leaving a red trail in its wake. Their crimson lifeblood still leaked onto the floor, mixing with the gray dust that coated the stone.

  The bodies of the two men had been practically torn apart – the damage clearly not caused by the recent battle. It looked like someone had deliberately carved into the flesh of their hands and feet, rectangular chunks of skin and muscle torn from their limbs. She looked back and forth between the two corpses and the nearby guards. Then the answer struck her.

  He ordered them to remove the crystals, she thought numbly. But why?

  Her attention quickly shifted to Jason. He hadn’t seemed to notice her presence, his gaze fixed on the corpses. She saw no sympathy or compassion on his face now – only a cold, hard rage that filled his eyes with unholy power and caused tattoos of energy to crawl across his pale skin. She started to say something, but one of the guards placed a hesitant hand on her shoulder, shaking his head slowly. Apparently, Jason’s behavior had even scared the Kin. Maybe she should wait to see what Jason was up to.

  A hollow feeling settled in her stomach as she watched Jason’s hands begin to dart through an intricate pattern, harsh guttural words spilling from his lips. She recognized this spell, and suddenly what Jason was doing clicked into place.

  Oh my god…

  Thunder cracked outside the tower, and a glance at a nearby window confirmed that the billowing, dark clouds above the city were swirling and colliding. A bolt of dark mana infused lightning suddenly arced into the room through the window. The light momentarily blinded her, and the sudden heat and force threw her back against the wall.

  Riley blinked rapidly to clear her vision as she struggled to regain her balance. Once her eyesight finally cleared, she saw what had become of the Order agents. Their bodies had transformed, flesh sloughing off one man’s body until only his ivory bones remained. The other man’s head reattached itself with a sickening squelching sound, his skin turning a pale, sickly green-white.

  The pair shifted and twitched inside their cells, and Jason remained quiet, studying them. The two men slowly sat up, looking around themselves with bleached eyes and soulless dark voids of energy. When they finally glanced at each other, their eyes widened in shock before their gaze shifted
to their own bodies – their hands running down ivory bone and decaying flesh experimentally.

  The look of horror on their faces would stick with Riley for years. Wordless screams of torment filled their eyes, a realization that not only had they died, but Jason had taken more from them than their lives. Almost in unison, they looked at Jason’s dark form, his face partially obscured by his hood and his mouth pressed into a grim line.

  “W-what have you done?” one of them managed to mutter, his voice coming out harsh and poorly formed – as though he was attempting to speak for the first time.

  “Nothing that you don’t deserve,” Jason answered coldly. “You died in that last battle. I have brought you back as the undead. You are now very much the thing that you hate. A being sustained by dark mana.”

  “Why would you do this?” the other agent asked, his jaw clacking slightly. He struggled to maintain his composure, forcibly turning his attention away from his body and revulsion flashing crossing his face. These two men might be accustomed to physical torment, but what Jason had just done to them went far beyond any torture they might have endured before.

  “For two reasons,” Jason replied, slowly approaching the cells. “The first reason is that I need to know what Thorn is planning.”

  “We will never tell you,” the man spat in return.

  “We will see about that,” Jason replied, unperturbed by the man’s reaction.

  With a shrug, he continued, “But what’s the second reason, you might ask?” Jason leaned forward, dark tendrils of energy snapping at the air around him. “The answer is simple. Revenge. You two will be spending quite some time in this tower. And I am going to make certain that you savor every single moment of your new existence.

  “You are now the thing you hate, your souls corrupted by one of the gods you are so intent upon destroying. I’m not going to kill you, and I’m not going to harm you. I don’t have to. For the remainder of your existence, you will live with the knowledge that you have failed. That your souls are damned.”

  Jason’s mana flared powerfully, creating an aura of darkness around him that made it difficult to make out his body. “You will serve as an example to others. When you mess with the Kin – with my people – I will take your gods damned soul.”

  The two agents unconsciously shifted away from Jason, backing up against the tower wall and their eyes widened in horror. Riley could see even their considerable mental fortitude cracking. Jason wouldn’t let them go. He wouldn’t kill them. There would be no end to their imprisonment. In some ways, he was doing the same thing to them that the former Keeper had done to Logan – trapping them inside the keep for eternity.

  Riley coughed slightly, and Jason whirled, his hand already reaching for his staff. He paused as he saw that it was Riley standing behind him. She could see the effort on his face as he tried to rein in the power that flowed through his veins. Ever-so-slowly, his mana began to recede until only the tattoos of energy crawled across his skin.

  “What are you doing?” Riley asked, stepping into the room.

  “Nothing that these two don’t deserve,” Jason answered, his glare shifting back to the two agents.

  Riley felt conflicted. These men might have hurt their people, but did that really justify what Jason was doing? In some ways it was even worse than what Thorn had done. They might have killed the Kin, but had they tortured them?

  Yet she could also feel her own anger simmering in her chest – her mana responding automatically and flowing through her veins in an icy surge. These men had harmed innocents and endangered their city. What if they had killed Jerry or had harmed more of their people? Her rage was warring with her concern for Jason. Even now, Thorn might continue to hurt their people.

  “I won’t argue with that,” she said in a cold voice, losing the fight against her dark mana and the righteous anger that welled in her chest. “Besides, we need to know what Thorn is planning to do.”

  “We won’t tell you anything,” one of the men interjected, but Riley could detect a faint quiver in his voice.

  “You won’t have a choice,” Jason spat, whirling on the man and an evil grin curling his lips. “Before you came here, I didn’t understand the full scope of my powers, but I do now. You have Thorn to thank for that.”

  Jason paced toward the cages. “The Keepers of old had not just the ability to raise the dead – to give new life – but also the power to touch the souls of their people. They could tease out memories, those secrets that we keep buried deeply.”

  He leaned forward, and the two men inched back further. “I have been meaning to try this spell for some time now, but I haven’t had the opportunity. I don’t need your cooperation,” he murmured. “I will take the information I need by force.

  “So, what do you say? Who wants to go first?” Jason asked. Neither man said anything, but Riley could see the way their hands trembled, and they glanced at each other in fear. Torture was one thing, but what Jason was suggesting didn’t allow these two men any defense. How could they resist an invasion of their minds?

  Without warning, one of the men darted forward, brutally smashing his head against the bars repeatedly. Blood soon stained the dark crystal and dripped down the bars. The man fell onto his back. A ragged gash had opened in his forehead, and his breathing was harsh and rapid. Yet, as Riley looked on, the wound slowly closed, and his breathing evened out.

  “Killing yourselves is not an option,” Jason observed, seemingly unaffected by the man’s crude attempt to kill himself. “We administered multiple healing potions before placing you in the cells, and a friend of mine has created something new for just this sort of occasion. He pulled a blood-red gem from his pocket. “The healing effects won’t save you from a truly fatal blow and it’s costly to recharge, but the ambient healing is enough to prevent you from harming yourselves too badly.”

  The two agents stared the gem as though it had the power to drain hope. The undead man slumped to the ground, cradling his head in his hands. Jason had won. He had backed them firmly into a corner. “That’s right,” he said in a taunting voice. “There is no way out. You have become that which you hate, and, as your final act, you will betray your own beloved Order.

  As he finished speaking, Jason’s hands wound through another set of gestures. They were similar to the movements for Undead Devotion but subtly different. Tendrils of dark mana wound around Jason’s hands as they moved, thickening as Riley watched.

  As he completed the spell, the dark mana hardened and condensed into nearly solid tentacles of energy that reminded Riley of the tendrils that had once sprung from the mana well and snatched at her severed wrist. The mana raced across the room toward the zombie-like agent. The man tried to scramble away from the energy, pressing himself back against the wall. Yet he had nowhere to run, and this did nothing to slow the hungry mana.

  The tentacles speared toward his face, the tips whittling down to needle-like points before stabbing into his bleached-white eyes. The man let out a tortured scream, writhing on the ground in pain as the other agent looked on with a horrified expression.

  Then, as fast as the spell had overtaken him, the zombie’s body went limp and the energy dissipated. The former agent now lay whimpering on the ground, his hands clawing at his own eyes. Riley turned to look at Jason, dark mana radiating off of him in waves. He watched the man dispassionately, not a trace of sympathy lingering in his eyes.

  Jason turned to look at Riley. “It worked. Thorn didn’t tell them everything in case they were captured, and the memories were blurry and unfocused. However, I have a sense of what he is planning. We don’t have long now, and we need to prepare.”

  “O-okay,” Riley said, her own mana faltering in the face of the cold rage that filled Jason’s eyes. He turned and stepped away, not sparing a second glance at the Order agents.

  Jason waved at the soldiers at the door. “Stay here and watch them,” he ordered before retreating down the stairs.

  Riley couldn�
��t help but stare at Jason’s back as he left, a trace of doubt filling her mind and momentarily pushing back at her own mana. Was this the same timid, kind boy that she had once known? It was almost like looking into the eyes of a completely different person. The testimony of Jason’s parents returned to her. “This isn’t our son,” his mother had said.

  At that moment, she couldn’t help but wonder if they might be right. Had this game changed Jason? Had Alfred changed him? Or were these just the actions of a man pushed to his limit, both in the real world and in-game? A ruler faced with an impossible set of decisions and a constantly shifting moral line?

  She wasn’t certain how to answer any of those questions.

  However, Riley could feel her resolve hardening as her gaze shifted back to the Order agents. Perhaps it didn’t matter. They could face these issues once they were done. For now, they only had one objective: they needed to stop Thorn. At that thought, Riley stepped into the stairwell and followed Jason.

  Chapter 55 - Besieged

  Jason stood on the southern wall of the Twilight Throne. The stiff breeze that drifted over the stone barricade caused his cloak to sweep and billow behind him. Overhead, the dark clouds seemed to dance and swirl, as the occasional crack of thunder reverberated across the city. Even the weather around the Twilight Throne seemed to be anticipating the coming conflict. It seemed as though the entire region was responding to the threat that Thorn posed.

  As his thoughts turned to their enemy, anger welled in Jason’s chest and his fists clenched on the stone parapet. The bone plating of his magically-enhanced armor scraped harshly against the coarse rock. He knew his rage wasn’t entirely rational. The man had hurt his people, sure, but he didn’t deserve this level of anger – neither did his henchman. The truth was that Thorn represented something tangible that Jason could fight. Something he could control. Right now, he needed that.