Chương 5: Book 1 - Chapter 5: He Will Win Who Knows When To Fight

Shattered fragments. Cold. Nothing. Once it had been something. No. Not it. He. Remembering that, the fragments of him trembled, then drew towards each other like iron filings to a magnet, reconstructing something that had once been whole. He had been human – son, writer, friend. He had been Dominic. And he had fallen. Into this blackness. Into the watchful void.

Into a sightless, silent space that made Dominic question whether the physical world truly existed – or whether it had just been a vivid dream created to torture him. No, Dominic told himself firmly. That can't be. Because if all sensation was just a dream, that would mean everything Dominic loved had never existed. His plays. His drudgery at the cafe in pursuit of his future vision. His father. And that, he refused to accept.

Reaching instinctively with limbs that he was determined to force into existence through sheer will, Dominic felt desperately for a way out. His touch brushed against something more than just the void. Other fragments – not his own, but just as cold, just as alone. And his touch stirred them. The fragments reassembled, just as his had. Dominic felt the blossoming awareness as they remembered. For a moment, anger flowed across their connection. Dominic flinched, tempted to draw back entirely.

But he resisted – anger was better than isolation. He replied with impatience. Anger had no purpose here – they had to get out. The other responded reluctantly, but wordlessly agreed. Dominic felt insubstantial limbs encircle and latch onto him. Together they sought a way out, a crack, a foothold, a weak point. The darkness around them seemed impenetrable. But there was the faintest hint of light between their two existences. Dominic pressed at it, and a moment later, the other did as well.

A barrier blocked their way, a membrane that stretched at their pressure, but held firm. Dominic just pressed harder, and felt the other match him. The barrier flexed. A Watcher turned their way – curious. Hungry. Sensing a new feast of consciousness in their domain. A shiver of terror passed through Dominic and he renewed his efforts. He couldn't face the Watcher again. The other shuddered briefly, then matched him. The barrier flexed further. The Watcher approached, ripples of its presence spreading ahead of it.

Fear leant strength to their efforts; desperation offered focused clarity. The barrier flexed further…. And cracked. A different type of blackness waited for them on the other side of the hairline crack. Less deep. Less dangerous. Dominic and the other pressed themselves through the thin crack, almost battling with the other to be the first through. Neither wished to be torn apart once more – a meal of agony for the predatory Watchers that ruled this nothingness.

The barrier shuddered against the much vaster Watcher – but held. The alien howl of frustration ripped at the centre of his being, making him shudder as it triggered memories best forgotten. A few nerve-wracking moments later, the distinct sense of its attention faded. Dominic dared to relax a little – they had made it. For a moment, the two remained floating in a new kind of featureless blackness, uncertain of what to do next. And then Dominic opened his eyes.

His movement was the cue for every bodily sensation he'd been lacking to flood back into him. He whimpered, curling up on himself and closing his eyes again as shards of pain pierced them. He sniffed and smelled yellow; he strained his ears and heard strawberry. A flood of emotions poured through him – fear mingled with excitement; anger combined with grief. He didn't know whether to press himself tighter into a ball or to push himself to his feet and run restlessly.

I have to get hold of myself, he thought wildly, doing his best to breathe carefully, ignoring the confusing and conflicting information he received from his sense of smell. He forcibly focused on his body, each sensation reminding him that he was no longer in the… in there. He felt the way his body pressed into the floor, how his breathing ruffled the fur on his foreleg on every in-breath, how his tail twitched against his hind legs. By redirecting his focus, he regained a measure of calm.

A moment later, a shiver passed through him and the flood of emotions didn't fade, but settled. Not gone – but no longer in control. Remaining after the flood was fear alone, but he figured that that was expected considering everything that had happened. Out of the… back in physical form, the memories that had become unreachable were crystal clear.

With the emotional control he had lost suddenly in his grasp once more, Dominic noticed that his senses seemed to have sorted themselves out – his nose no longer smelled colours but his own scent; his ears heard the quiet sounds of his own breathing and not random fruit. Peeking through his eyelids had him shutting them quickly again a moment later – though not quite as painful as before, his environment was far brighter than what he was comfortable with.

While opening his eyes little by little, letting them become accustomed to the light, Dominic pushed himself up to a more upright position. His movements were slow, awkward. He didn't know why, but since he… since he fell, his body felt just that little bit more foreign to him, and not only because it wasn't his humanoid one. It was like he'd exchanged pyjamas warmed by his body heat for stiff, cold ones.

Carefully stretching one paw, then the other, and then his whole body, he found it loosening up again, felt his presence settling back into it. It didn't take too long for him to become comfortable in his leonine body once more, and as soon as he did, he felt another shiver go through him – this one far stronger than the one before. Half-expecting his teeth to have sharpened again, Dominic was disappointed when that didn't prove to be the case.

In fact, a quick internal investigation of his body didn't indicate anything felt different. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. A soft chime rang through the air, distracting just as he was about to visually inspect himself. Cautiously opening his eyes – the light still bright but no longer overwhelming, Dominic saw that words had appeared before him again.

Instead of immediately reading them, Dominic dismissed them for now and focused on his surroundings for the first time, needing to know if he was safe. Blinking and turning his head, he realised that he was sitting in the middle of a glowing blue cube with dimensions about twice his length. It was big enough that he could stand and move a little, but far too small for comfort and the lack of any sort of shadow made it even more discomforting.

Apparently they've stopped trying to hide the cage, Dominic concluded, baring his teeth at the walls. He was tired of being stuffed into boxes. Escape, he heard from inside his own mind, startling him enough to jump. Did… did you just say something? Dominic asked, directing the thoughts at where he'd felt the emotions coming from before. Yes. Escape, the lion urged – because who else could it be. Though speaking was new.

Dominic couldn't help flinching as he remembered what had happened the last time he'd tried to escape. Yeah… He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight. I'm not going back there. Dominic distinctly felt the lion's presence – brighter and stronger than ever before – shudder. Agreed. Patience. Ambush, the lion replied firmly. Glad we agree, Dominic commented sardonically, then attempted to call up the last notification. Obligingly, it appeared before him.

[Sovereignty: Unlocked Basic Stage 1 achieved You held yourself together when the Void would have unmade you. Hold tighter to your control.] Hold tighter to your control? What's that about? Dominic wondered even as he shuddered at the reminder of what had so recently happened. The lion kept quiet, apparently just as uncertain as he himself. The message resembled the one he'd received before. Pulling up his status screen, Dominic confirmed it was indeed the same. DOMINIC MARTIN COLE /? Species:? Form/s:?

Tier/Rank:? Domains Predation – Basic Stage 1 Sovereignty – Basic Stage 1 So, Sovereignty and Predation were indeed both 'Domains'. At least something good had come from his experience. He now had two of them, confirming that the plural in Domains was meaningful, yet something told him he wasn't done. However, that didn't help him know more about Sovereignty itself. Predation had been obvious. Less so Sovereignty. Control of what? And how do I hold tighter to it?

As for the name itself, it conjured images of kings – something that seemed very far from him right now. Then again, he was currently in the body of the 'king of the jungle'. Dominic considered everything that had happened, comparing it to his previous experience with the pig-dogs. There had been a barrier in both cases, and shivers of something that had had immediate impact, followed by a chime. Like the message that appeared before his eyes was only recording something that had already taken effect.

That was important – it implied he was earning something rather than being given it, that his actions were intrinsic to whatever happened. Last time, he'd broken through the barrier in the middle of a fight; this time, it had been when breaking out of… that place. The shivers that had followed had followed increasing stability in his emotional equilibrium and his sense of settling back into his body.

And then after that second shiver had been the first time the lion had started using words instead of vague emotions. No change, the lion told him firmly. Monkey understand better. That took a moment to decode, and when he did, Dominic instinctively bared his teeth in protest at being called a monkey. Or maybe cat has learned to speak better, he returned, bringing to mind an image of a kitten mewing cutely and doing his best to shove that at the lion.

There was a moment of silence, and then indignation exploded from the lion's presence. Perhaps he would have levied another insult at Dominic if a loud rumbling sound hadn't suddenly grabbed both of their attentions. Tensing, Dominic whirled around, his claws instinctively emerging and scraping against the smooth surface below him. The blue wall straight ahead of him was rising. Little by little, it revealed a long, narrow corridor, formed of rough stone blocks – like something out of a dungeon.

It was dimly-lit, and with a dampness to the air that made him want to sneeze. The biggest difference was that, instead of torches on the walls to give light, there were circular embedded lights – almost like LEDs but with a slightly different type of luminescence. His claws retracted once more, Dominic took two steps and cautiously pressed one paw onto the first flagstone, straining his ears to hear any hint of a trap activating. None came.

Moving little by little, Dominic edged out of the confining blue cube and into the corridor. Padding over to one of the walls, Dominic reached out and touched it. It certainly felt like stone-brick. He sniffed at it – it smelt like stone too. Though, given how messed up his senses had been not that long ago, he was uncertain whether to trust them or not. Still, the floor beneath his paws felt like the real deal, too. When he'd been standing on the blue screen, it had felt like cool glass.

This felt exactly like cold stone, including the way it sapped heat out of his paw pads. Growls suddenly echoed around him, making him tense once more. Looking around wildly, Dominic froze when he saw the source of the sounds. Two shadows were peeling away from the walls on either side, glaring at him. They appeared like shifting, amorphous clouds, their burning red eyes the only true features. And, a moment later, when they had fully emerged, watching wasn't the only thing they did.

Dominic backed away to where the blue cube was – cage it might have been, but he was somehow sure that they wouldn't be able to follow him into it. However, his tail and then back paws hit nothing but a wall. Glancing behind, his heart sank as he saw that the opening through which he'd come had disappeared, leaving only a blank stone wall. Cornered, Dominic snarled and bared his teeth at the shadow creatures that continued to step towards him.

Leaning into the instincts that had allowed him to fight before, Dominic leapt at the creature on the left, his sharpened claws fully extended. He was prepared to sink his teeth into flesh, but instead fell straight through the frigid cloud, stumbling as he landed on the stone floor. He twisted around to see that the shadowy cloud was reconstituting itself again, its burning red eyes the last to slide into place, fixing themselves on him once more.

Taking advantage of its relatively slow movement, Dominic swiped at the cloud-like substance. As now expected, his paw went straight through. All he felt was a bit of cold on his paw; nothing else. I can't touch them! he realised, then eyed the ghosts speculatively. Can they touch me, then? Perhaps all they could actually do was frighten him. As a shock of icy cold swiped across his left hindquarter and made him whirl around and leap away, he was swiftly disabused of that notion.

His experiments with one of the shadowy creatures had allowed the second to get close enough to wield its claws against him. His left hindquarter felt worrisomely stiff and numb, though it wore off after just a few limping steps. There was no visible wound, but he didn't like to think of what might happen if they managed to hit something more vital. Dominic glanced back at where he'd come from, then at the featureless wall, and then finally at the corridor. It was all too clear what he was meant to do.

Always forced to follow a predestined path, he growled, angry that it seemed true even in this new existence. He was determined to change that when he could. But for now, I seem to have no choice – and the best way out is always through. The shadows surged forwards. Snarling, Dominic turned and took off down the route as quickly as he dared, the lion urging him every step.