Dominus

by Terina Adams

  “And if they are?”

  “It’s impossible for them to move around within the Dome alone. That is why both factions formed the alliance. The most important parts of the Dome can only be accessed with two faction members present. It’s a way of reducing a possible threat to the senate’s power. I guess they figured no two factions could hold an alliance long enough to succeed. This means it’s likely Aris will share their tunnel success with us.”

  “But you can’t be sure.”

  “No. In fact, I would count on their deception. If their tunnel is anything like ours, it’s not a direct path. Before we were forced to divert, we created an underground maze in case factions other than Persal managed to find the tunnel. We hold the master plan; anyone else will only get lost.”

  “Aris have done the same. I saw a design on a wall in their hall. I think it’s their master plan.”

  “You’re probably right. Problem is no one from Persal can enter Aris HQ.”

  “Isn’t it safe in training mode?”

  “Due to its location, in Jax’s warehouse, I can’t enter Dominus without one of Aris present, which means I’ll never make it into their HQ. Besides, Jax is GM, which means he controls the way the game is played and at what level anyone can enter. And the doorway to the tunnel will only open for an Aris, as this one will only open for Persal.”

  “Jax has the master plan tattooed on his arm.”

  Holden delayed his reply, drawing my attention. “Is that so?”

  I missed the subtle expression because of his avatar face, but I didn’t like the tone in his voice. Were we on the verge of scheming against Aris?

  “I’m trying to understand why he took you to Aris HQ, why he showed you the tunnel. It makes no sense.”

  Best change the subject, somehow. As a part of Dominus now, I had begun to understand how the factions existed with each other. Their alliance was not for mutual benefit but for one to use the other and then finally win over them.

  “Perhaps there is something between you two that we’re all missing.”

  “What do you mean? I hate him.” Something told me I was about to become another pawn.

  “But why show you one of Aris’s greatest secrets? If Carter knew, I would hate to think what he would do to Jax.”

  Was that a threat? “I don’t understand either. I guess he did because there was little I would be able to do with the knowledge. Like you say, we can’t get into Aris HQ, and I wouldn’t remember the room—”

  “What was in the room, the master plan or the tunnel?”

  My mind swirled like the vortex, trying to think of a way to opt out. Holden no longer spoke like Holden.

  “Shouldn’t we be heading back? Jax gave us fifteen minutes.”

  “It’s important, Sable. Your dad would want to know this.”

  Low blow, Holden. A fire sparked in the pit of my stomach. I turned from the vortex and stormed out of the small room. Behind me, the noise of the vortex remaking itself drowned out my frantic thoughts. Holden, my faction, my supposed family, wanted to maneuver me into a position I did not choose.

  Holden grabbed my hand and spun me to face him. “You don’t understand yet what it means to be a faction member. Differing factions can’t be friends. Differing factions can’t be lovers. Sooner or later, the other is going to betray you. That’s just how it works.”

  I wrenched out of his hold. “But you said the factions were able to exist side by side before the senate introduced their draconian laws.”

  “We did, but we still kept a distance from each other. There were still constant skirmishes, which sometimes got serious enough to destroy a town.”

  “You didn’t keep your distance from Elva.”

  “It never would’ve worked, even if the senate hadn’t intervened. Our factional nature makes all of us too unalike for any relationship to work.”

  “But Elva was willing to try. You said she was ready to die loving you.”

  We were close. The heat of the argument cooked the small space between us. I’d grab Holden by the arms and give him a good shake-up, make him see the twisted justification for what we were doing, if I knew it would make any difference. The steely face of his avatar robbed me of what I needed to see in order to know if what I said had any meaning to him. Perhaps I didn’t want to reach his expression.

  “You don’t get it, Sable, because you’ve never lived it. We can’t exist in this sort of fantastical harmony you want to create.”

  How could he say that?

  “Then perhaps the senate is right to suppress your natures.” I stalked away.

  He jogged after me, then jumped in front to block my escape. “No one has the right to enforce their will on another. This is what the senate has done.”

  “They fear anyone more powerful than them.”

  “But we’re not. That’s the point. We still don’t trust each other. That hasn’t changed regardless of what the senate has done. Outside Califax there is no harmony. Factions never mix.”

  “From what I hear, it’s because the senate is afraid of mixed children. They don’t want powers concentrated in one individual.”

  “Isn’t that enough reason?”

  I leaned back against the wall, my argument punctured. I knew nothing about his world, what it was like to live in his world, which meant I wasn’t confident in my argument. I had seen Jax succumb to his factional nature. It wasn’t pretty, but I could understand Holden’s desire to live free of shackles and be the person he really was. There was no black-and-white answer here, only misty, swirling gray.

  “You’ve got to help us here. We’re at a disadvantage, but it seems you may be our key.”

  “And what happens when you make it to the Dome?”

  “We disband the senate, set the people free.”

  “And who will be leader? Who will make the new laws since you’re adamant no faction can trust the other? And what sort of laws will they be?”

  “I can’t talk about that now because it hasn’t been confirmed yet.”

  “Or maybe you’re just blindly following.”

  I pushed past him and walked toward the front door. Holden let me go, which was good because I wasn’t ready to continue our conversation. Outside, the sun washed across my face; god, even that was a physical sensation.

  The others waited across the street—our enemy, Aris. Was Holden’s argument valid? Was I being naive in my romantic belief in harmony?

  Chapter 23

  My perception had changed and I didn’t like the difference. At some point soon, I would change too, and I wasn’t sure if I would be comfortable with the person I became. If Holden got his way, I would be a manipulating cheat. I looked across the cobbled street to where Jax and his crew waited. Born a different faction, they would do the same to us; they probably were doing the same to us—we just didn’t know it yet. Dad was in prison because of Carter’s deceit and, no doubt, guilty himself of deception. Between the buildings on this side and the buildings across the street, there stretched plenty of space. It didn’t matter; I felt the streets narrowing, the game compressing in on me. The weight on my limbs threatened to sink me under.

  Holden appeared at my elbow. “We best get moving. Staying stationary increases our chances of being attacked.”

  He headed off down the street the way we’d come, not waiting to hear what Jax had to say. I watched him go. If only it was Holden I saw and not his avatar, then I would know if the man who walked away was the Holden who entered the game or someone else, perhaps the truer version of himself.

  The others came toward me. Elva’s gaze followed Holden’s back. Jax looked at me. He could sense the change. I didn’t need to see his real face to understand that.

  “You all right?”

  I nodded at him. “Sure. Is that all we need to do in this game? I think I’ve seen all I want to see.”

  “Soon we’ll have to fight. Confrontation is inevitable.” He glanced down the street. “He shouldn’t be so
far in front.”

  “That’s my fault.”

  Elva’s head snapped back to me. Missing the subtlety in Elva’s expression was the only bonus about being an avatar.

  Jax turned to Elva. “Bring him back.”

  She needed no more commands and set off at a lope down the street after him.

  “Can’t we just take our goggles off?”

  “No. Once you’re in, you must play through until a certain point before you can do that.”

  “What’s the certain point in level two?”

  “Victory or defeat. You must play at least one confrontation.”

  “If not?”

  “I’m sure you can answer that.”

  “I can’t fight.”

  The memory of bugs crawling from my arms spiked my adrenaline.

  “We all need to fight at least one bot. But don’t worry, one of us is allowed to intervene at some point on your behalf. You don’t have to finish a fight, but you do have to start one. At least that’s how it goes for level two.”

  “And higher levels?”

  “The higher you go, the more kills you need before you can exit. Beyond level three, the kills must be your own and you need to complete certain tasks along the way.”

  “Do you have any idea how screwed in the head you are for designing a game like this?”

  Tyren came up beside us. “I’m getting bored. Time to move, ladies.”

  Jax straightened. In that one gesture, he closed down to me and returned to being Aris.

  “We head this way.”

  Following his own command, he strode off toward Elva and Holden.

  Up ahead they were talking. I wasn’t sure if the discussion was heated or amicable, but at least talking was an improvement. I felt sorry for Elva, knowing how much she still loved him and how much he didn’t her. Unbelievably, it was Elva who gave me a faint glimmer of mortality in this world of fallen souls. Both Jax and Holden claimed she was loyal; she’d been willing to die for her love. I’m sure even now she would never betray him. And what would Holden do if he felt I wasn’t playing how a Persal should play, if I refused to betray Aris?

  We’d almost caught up with the other two when a savage battle cry sliced through the air. A warrior drew a lethal-looking club and raced toward Holden and Elva. The warrior had been close to passing them, so his sudden turn was startling. Holden reacted with lightning reflexes I’d not witnessed in our one training session. The swords were in his hands before I could gasp. Elva gave him space but remained at the ready.

  The attack from one bot triggered the rest. Harmless bots walking by turned lethal. The others reacted like Holden, and I was surrounded by an invasion. Although engaged in fighting, Tyren and Jax stayed close to me, while Elva fought her way over.

  I froze. That’s all I did. My snapshots of training vanished in a void of fear. Clashing metal, cries of fury, grunts, and anguish, all the sounds of brutal fighting rained down. I glanced at the stats on my left to find they all remained at low levels, skills and health good, my power still nonexistent. The others moved quickly, eliminating the few that had appeared. Compared to the bot that had confronted me in the alley, these moved slower, which had to have something to do with level two.

  When the job was done, Jax grabbed my hand and pulled me along. “Come.”

  He was barely panting, nor were any of the others.

  “Keep moving. Remaining in one spot brings on the biggest attack.”

  We moved as one group. We’d been detected by the computer already, which was perhaps the signal to forego the stealth. But we didn’t get far before another bot launched the next attack.

  Holden and Tyren engaged the next two bots while Jax turned to me. “We can leave the game if you play.”

  “Meaning I have to fight.”

  He nodded.

  “Okay.” I sounded anything but confident. Visions of my last confrontation continued to echo through my head. “I don’t want bugs coming out of me this time.”

  “If you strike quick, the bot won’t get a chance to engage their factional nature.”

  “I can’t strike quick.”

  “I’m here to help, but in Dominus, an attack by factional nature is a mental attack on the individual, which means I won’t see what you see.”

  “I’m not reassured.”

  Jax could say no more because we were once again under attack.

  A handful of bots turned menacing. Jax left one and launched himself at another. I took that to mean the big, muscular warrior in front of me was my opponent.

  He wasted no time releasing his impressive sword. At the tip, two thick spikes increased the length of the blade by at least five inches. Instead of slicing it through the air, he jabbed it forward, hoping to skewer me on the end. I danced back enough to prevent myself from being speared in the chest thanks to my jacked adrenaline. Fight or flight, all I wanted to do was run. I fought a hard battle with my mind to keep my limbs from turning and fleeing, with me screaming as I went. Settle and focus. I rattled the mantra through my head. Remain alert, find weaknesses. All I needed to do was hold out long enough to satisfy the computer I’d fought.

  He lunged again and I dived to the left. He was fast but not fast enough. I could outmaneuver him. The realization gave me courage. When he lunged again, I would dive to the left and kick him in the ribs. My attack would have minimal impact, but it would count. The bar registering my skill level remained depressingly low.

  He tricked me this time by slicing the blade through the air, but his swing opened up his right side and I took the opportunity.

  My leg jarred on impact with his side, but the effect was all in my mind. I had to remember that. He grunted like the whole thing was real, like he was real, which made it more than hard to convince myself it was only a simulation. My skill level increased by a smidgeon but remained too far to the left.

  I readied myself for another attack when darkness descended. The only thing I could see was the information crowding the corner of my vision. We were black shapes moving through a black night. Jesus, was this what happened in their world, day turned to night without warning? Although my vision was clouded, there was nothing wrong with my hearing. The subtle sound of a blade slicing through the air was enough to propel me sideways away from the noise.

  Because I couldn’t see, my balance was off. Without the ground for reference, I was jarred when my foot hit the cobbles. I staggered forward but somehow managed to keep standing. A shape to the side told me where he was; in front there was open street, somewhere. All I wanted to do was run, the most natural impulse when faced with possible death, but to run meant I would be stuck within Dominus. Ironically the only way to save myself was to stand my ground and fight.

  I spun and faced the dark shape front on. Before I had a chance to ready myself, he moved in a smooth motion toward me. The nighttime made his actions seem faster. All I could do was duck. The wind from his blade whizzed overhead.

  Where are you, Jax? Isn’t this enough? Perhaps fighting meant I had to attack him rather than dodge all the time. But how could I when I couldn’t see him enough to kick?

  I had to succeed or die.

  I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth to dredge out the cold steel of determination. By now my body was used to the adrenaline and had found a happy truce. My mind was working for me, not against me. I corralled my focus and tunneled it so I felt finely tuned, alive—in time for his next onslaught.

  My eyes had adjusted to the dark, so I was prepared for his sudden lunge, having somehow worked out a plan within the seconds I had before he struck. The plan was simple. It involved me dodging, but in such a way that I was positioned for a retaliatory kick, but as he drove his blade through the air toward me, his body dragged by his inertia, something hit me in the side of the head, enough to knock me off-balance. I fell sideways as he drove forward into the empty space where I’d been.

  I hit the ground at the same time pain hit my head. The headache arrive
d. I looked to my stats to find the power status bar had moved to about one third. My factional nature was coming through. If I faded now, I would be vulnerable to the warrior. Somehow through the disorientation of the pain, I rolled and tried to scramble to my feet, but something hit me in the shoulder and swiped my leg out from underneath me so that my face hit the cobbles. I grunted from the impact and the agony pounding through my mind.

  Something fluttered around my face. Disoriented, I raised my arm and helplessly battered the air to shoo it away. My hand hit fur. I shrieked and collapsed onto my back. The air around me filled with flapping sounds. Soft wind brushed my face. A sharp pain pinched my cheek and ran as a line down my jaw. Groggy from the pain in my mind, I wiped my face where it throbbed and felt wetness. I’d been cut, whether from the warrior’s blade or something else, I couldn’t say. My health status bar was on the move, inching up toward halfway. Below that my power status bar had reached halfway. Where was Holden? I needed to calm down. This was a simulation. It’s wasn’t real.

  Small claws tangled my hair as sharp pinpricks worked into my scalp. My head was sensitive from the searing throb of the headache, and this made it feel so much worse. Fear wound its way up my throat and came out screaming as a chunk of my flesh was torn from below my eye. I cried the agony through gritted teeth.

  The grogginess I’d felt slipped away as I found the last reserves of strength, perhaps not enough to save me, but I had to do it. I wasn’t going to die being eaten alive. I flailed about, trying to dislodge the creature that held on to my face with its teeth. I felt fine hairs and leathery skin and my mind conjured grotesque images.

  I screamed for Jax as I fell into a world of fear. Both my health and power status bars were moving beyond halfway. Don’t look at them.

  Blind, I was lost and terrified. My mind turned to chaos; there was nothing inside I could grab hold of to rescue me. My conscience collapsed inward and raced down pathways at lightning speed, funneling, funneling down to a central point. The barriers inside my mind slid aside as my factional nature rushed forth. My power bar now registered red. The bar began to flash. Jesus Christ, that wasn’t good.