Chương 9: Book 1 - Chapter 9: I Am The Master Of My Fate

Eyeing the two doors, Dominic found himself torn over which door to take. Though he still felt inclined to choose the unmarked door out of sheer curiosity and desire to seek more power, his tiredness made choosing the exit an enticing option. Perhaps there might even be food, he considered wistfully, his stomach feeling all-too-empty. Take exit, the lion agreed. In true contrary spirit, it was the lion's agreement that actually made Dominic not want to take the exit.

But think of the power we might gain if we get Conduit and Realm to match the other domains, he argued. Hadn't he said he was done telling himself it was fine if he failed? Yet now he was letting his tiredness limit him? When he thought about it that way, how could he not choose the bonus room? Challenging, it might be, but the last one proved that he was right in thinking that reward was proportionate to risk.

I've got to do it, thought Dominic, resolutely padding towards the door despite the reluctance he felt emanating from his passenger – and the part of him that just wanted to sleep. I've been waiting for an opportunity for so long – I'm not passing it up now I've been given one. He still didn't know exactly why he was here, or what would happen in the future, but what he did know was that growing stronger – smarter, faster – could only help. Not good idea, the lion warned.

It'll be fine, Dominic dismissed, then placed his paw on the imprint of the otherwise unmarked door. Once more into the breach. As Dominic stepped into the room, he noted the similarities and the differences between this room and the last one he had completed. Again, there was a podium in the dead centre of the room with a paw imprint. Again, there were tiles on the wall opposite him. However, the tiles weren't the same symbols he had seen before.

Narrowing his eyes, Dominic would have frowned were his leonine face capable of the expression. What is that? he wondered. The grid of six by eight squares seemed to be just a random collection of lines – some straight, some wavy, some curvy. Lion, his passenger suggested firmly, and his realisation sent a shiver through Dominic that sharpened the world around him. Lion? Dominic questioned. Then, his vision catching on certain lines and putting them together in a pattern, he saw what the lion had meant.

He also spotted the empty space up in the top right hand corner of the grid. Oh, I get it. It was a sliding tile game – where by correctly shifting the tiles around into an adjacent empty space, he could complete the puzzle and reveal the form hidden within. And, from what he could see, he was pretty sure his passenger was right in terms of the form it would ultimately take. A chime rang out in his mind and a message flashed up before his eyes. [Realm: Unlocked Basic Stage 1 achieved The world moves in patterns. Observe them to draw them for yourself.] Dominic blinked, surprised that it had been so easy. Then again, he supposed most of the work must have already been done in the previous room. Shaking his head, he focused on the message itself. Realm, huh? Dominic mused. Patterns… I guess that makes sense. Certainly, he'd noticed his ability to observe patterns had improved. And that matched the puzzles he'd done perfectly.

Though he did wonder exactly how he was supposed to draw them for himself – without a podium, at least. Observe first, the lion pointed out, and Dominic had to concede the point. Though that raised a new question of what exactly he was supposed to observe…. Dominic dismissed the message and padded forward to pause before the podium. This time, he hesitated before touching it – if doing so would trigger another… void encounter, he wanted to make sure he knew exactly what to do before he started.

This kind of tile game had never been his favourite, but he at least had an idea of how to approach it. To his surprise, it was easier than he had expected to decode the puzzle, and the mental picture he built of what it should look like was far more vivid than he'd ever managed before. The effect of Realm being activated? He also found it easier to keep multiple tiles in mind – the last time he'd done this kind of puzzle, he could only concentrate on one tile at a time.

Finally, feeling as ready as he would ever be, he took a deep breath, and then placed his paw on the podium. Once more, he felt that sensation of being part of a circuit even as the pawprint and the grid ahead of him illuminated. Those weren't the only things that activated, however. A grinding of rock and a sudden surge of growling brought Dominic's attention to three small doors that had been revealed in the other three walls. No, not doors – gates.

And behind each of the gates was a pig-dog, though these were double the size of the ones he'd encountered before – and looked doubly as mean. Above each of the gates was an illuminated display. The gate to Dominic's right was already ticking down from one minute. The gate to his left was ticking down from two minutes. Turning, Dominic saw that the gate behind him was ticking down from three. One minute intervals, he realised. No doubt it's ticking down to when the gates will open.

Incongruously, his first reaction was relief. He'd take pig-dogs over the void any day. He lifted his paw from the podium, revealing that the action caused the illumination around the puzzle to fade, but changed nothing about the timers above the gates. No pause button, he murmured to himself, momentarily regretting entering the room. Then he pushed away such useless thoughts. Alright – let's do this.

As he focused on moving the tiles, he was relieved to feel that his practice in the previous room was really paying off now – moving the tiles with his mind was almost easy. At first, anyway. However each tile he moved made the next just slightly harder to shift. It wasn't noticeable between individual tiles, but it definitely was after ten moves.

The steady ticking away of the clock to his left became more and more distracting, and Dominic growled in frustration as he accidentally made the wrong move, needing to shift one tile back to its previous position before moving the one he'd intended on sliding originally. The timer ticked down to zero and a screech of metal against stone heralded its opening. Hesitating for a moment, Dominic eyed the puzzle and then the approaching pig-dog.

Then, with a snarl of frustration, he pulled his paw away and then leapt for the pig-dog, claws and teeth bared. The difference between this fight and the first he'd had with the creatures was like chalk and cheese. The pig-dog managed to dodge his first strike, and bite his shoulder, but its teeth barely managed to pierce his tougher skin and when he whirled around it and pinned it in place with his other paw, his claws sank deeply into its flesh.

A bite to its spine left it lying broken and bleeding, no threat to him anymore. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Dominic was highly tempted to eat the carcass to heal the scratch it had given him, but a glance at the puzzle left him cursing – apparently, in his absence, the puzzle would reset itself, as already he saw the tiles slowly undoing the last couple of moves he'd made. Leaping back to the podium, he jammed his bloody paw back into the pawprint.

Fortunately, it seemed blood didn't cause any malfunctions so he was quickly able to pick up where he left off. Peripherally, he was aware that the gate to the left had descended again and a new pig-dog had appeared behind it, the counter ticking down from three minutes. The gate to his right already had less than thirty seconds on the clock. Maybe I shouldn't bother to kill them, Dominic wondered. It went against the grain to allow potential enemies to just…

surround him, but if that pig-dog's attacks were anything to go by, the thicker hide and denser muscles he'd gained from Aegis were enough defence. Enemies, threat, the lion pointed out. No, they're a distraction, Dominic argued. Ultimately, the only way out of this room is completing this puzzle. You guess, the lion growled. Dominic hesitated a moment, then renewed his work on the puzzle with more fervor.

Because the lion had a point – he was assuming that the aim was to complete the puzzle rather than kill a certain number of beasts. But he had evidence based on the last time he'd taken the unmarked room over the exit. The shadow beasts had been a distraction – not the objective. If we complete the puzzle and it doesn't work, then we'll try something else, he decided. And I'm going to try not killing the next pig-dog that comes out – see what happens.

The lion seemed very dubious about the idea, but Dominic was determined to concentrate on the tiles, something that proved to be increasingly difficult with a pig-dog leaping around his legs and doing its best to catch his throat and rip at his skin with its teeth. After a few attempts of that, Dominic leaned his weight on the podium so he could use his free paw to deflect the pig-dog away. Fortunately, that didn't stop it working. The multi-tasking was more difficult, though.

I will not be distracted, Dominic growled as a promise to himself as he fixed his eyes on the puzzle while waving his paw practically blindly. The challenge became even greater when a second pig-dog came to join the first. They might not be able to bite deeply, but they could break his skin and draw blood, and the wounds hurt. Yet Dominic persevered. Even as the tiles became increasingly difficult to move. Even as he struggled to hold the image of what he wanted to achieve in his head.

Even as his blood trickled through his fur from wounds that stung like fire. As the third pig-dog emerged and Dominic darted a glance to either side and saw that the chambers of pig-dogs had been replenished, he realised that this wasn't sustainable, especially since each beast seemed to be able to bite deeper than the one that came before. If he allowed too many to accumulate, they might actually be able to do him real damage. Yes, kill them! the lion exhorted, clearly frustrated. Quickly, Dominic agreed.

It had taken ten seconds last time, and he'd lost two tiles' worth of progress. He couldn't afford to waste time. Without lifting his paw from the podium, Dominic snapped at the closest pig-dog. The beast wasn't expecting the attack, too used to him ignoring it unless it went for his throat, and he managed to catch its back in his jaws. Biting down hard, he heard the crunch of bone and felt the creature go limp.

Dropping it, Dominic eyed the other two, planning his movement, then pulled his paw from the podium and whirled on the other two pig-dogs. One skittered back out of his reach; the other wasn't fast enough and Dominic hit it in the flank with a paw full of claws. Leaping forward, he stepped on the downed pig-dog and leaned down to bite through its spine as he had the other. Dominic then eyed the third pig-dog that had retreated out of his reach. Five seconds had elapsed according to his inner clock.

It would probably take more than that to chase and kill the third. Kill! the lion urged him. No, Dominic replied, turning and leaping back to place his paw on the podium, causing the moving tile to freeze. Not worth it. At least the remaining pig-dog's attacks were back to being ineffectual – it seemed that they became more dangerous the more he allowed to accumulate. Having found a rhythm, Dominic stuck to it.

The puzzle remained his priority unless the number of pig-dogs grew too numerous, and then he took a few seconds away from it to kill all of those within easy reach. However, as he slowly solved more and more of the puzzle, it became increasingly challenging – and not only because the tiles themselves put up more and more resistance as he continued. Beast coming, warned the lion. Already? Dominic exclaimed, twisting his head to see fully what the lion had already noticed in his peripheral vision.

In the time it took to dispatch the beast, one of the tiles he'd painstakingly moved had shifted back into its previous position. Growling in frustration, Dominic set his will to the task and forced it back into place. Panting more with the effort of moving the tile than he had when attacking the pig-dog, he took a moment's pause to recuperate. At least, as long as his paw was on the podium, the tiles wouldn't shift by themselves.

Glancing to his right, a shiver of apprehension went through him – the timer was almost up. How? Dominic demanded – the other gate had only just opened! Quickly returning to his task, he managed to shift a tile just about halfway to where it needed to be before the gate opened and he had to redirect his focus briefly. Checking the timer over the gate when the pig-dog fell to the ground, Dominic felt a sinking sensation. The timer isn't starting at three minutes anymore, he realised.

Instead, it had reduced to two minutes and fifteen seconds – no wonder the beasts were coming more often. Frustration and panic threatened to overwhelm him but he forced them away. I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul, he reminded himself. I control them, not the other way around. Breathing carefully, he returned to the podium, forcing himself to think only of the puzzle – he'd deal with the beasts when they came, but the most important thing was making progress.

As if in response to his resolute actions, a ripple of sensation went through him, and the fire of his panic abruptly cooled to mere apprehension even as the distraction of his painful wounds lessened and became easier to ignore. Dominic wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth and took advantage to attack the tile puzzle with even more fervor. Yet even with that, the situation soon became increasingly difficult for him.

The time allotted between the release of pig-dogs steadily ticked down while the amount of pressure and force he needed to apply to each tile steadily increased. Eventually, he hit the point he'd dreaded – the tile that refused to move no matter how much mental pressure he applied to it. There were only three more moves he needed to make, but that required him to be able to shift the damn tiles.

Even though a pig-dog had just been released and the time was quickly ticking away to another one emerging, Dominic ignored everything other than the tiles. Seeing nothing but the illuminated squares, feeling nothing but the pulse of the circuit through him, Dominic engaged his will and pushed. For a long moment, nothing happened except the vague sensation of being ripped slowly to bits by the pig-dogs.

And then, with the sense of once more breaching some kind of barrier, a pulse of electricity stronger than any he had felt before rippled through his body, echoed by a chime. Dominic knew that a notification should be waiting for him, but nothing appeared in front of his eyes, which he was grateful for. As if it had been a river that had broken through a dam, the pulse of energy through him seemed to flow more easily, in turn making it so much easier to shift the tiles.

One move, two moves, three, and the puzzle was complete. The moment the final tile clicked into place, revealing the stylistic depiction of a lion in its full glory, the pig-dogs surrounding Dominic disappeared, as did all but one of the bodies of the ones he'd killed.

No door appeared this time, but Dominic was more concerned with finally seeing to his wounds, digging into the body of the pig-dog with gusto, this time around not even considering how weird it might be for a former-human to consume raw flesh that was still warm. His wounds healed quickly, and Dominic finished his moment of self-care by licking them clean. Then, feeling a bit more like himself, he looked around the room, confused about why no door had appeared. Maybe there's another puzzle to solve?

Before he could spend too much time thinking about that, a notification popped up in his vision. Huh, I wasn't expecting that, Dominic commented, surprised. [Conduit Evolved Stage 1 attained The channel widens. Direct what flows through you. Choose Mutation?]