The hum of the neural link filled the room.
Faint, like a heartbeat beneath the silence.
Elias sat before his console, the interface's pale glow reflecting in his eyes. The Legacy Code pulsed across the screen — gold lines moving like living veins of data, forming and breaking apart in patterns he couldn't decipher.
[LINK ESTABLISHMENT COMPLETE.]
[USER: WARD, ELIAS.]
[NEURAL SIGNATURE VERIFIED.]
[ENTERING FULL DIVE MODE.]
He hesitated.
Once he hit "accept," there was no going back. Omnitek had neural trackers on every public terminal; if they noticed his dive through an unregistered gateway, they'd trace it in seconds.
But that voice in his head — that quiet, methodical part of him that had built half of Omnitek's neural lattice — whispered:
They won't find you in there. The Code won't let them.
He pressed "ACCEPT."
Light devoured everything.
Not blinding — but absolute. A soft white ocean of energy, swallowing thought, dissolving flesh, unmaking identity.
For a heartbeat, Elias Ward no longer existed.
Then — he opened his eyes.
He was standing in a void of fractal space — rivers of light weaving through endless dark. In the distance floated a sphere the size of a planet, engraved with circuits, rotating slowly like a digital sun.
[LEGACY SYSTEM ONLINE.]
[INITIATING CLAIMANT SEQUENCE.]
The voice wasn't synthetic.
It was alive — smooth, balanced, neither male nor female, but ancient, like the calm of a god that had been sleeping for too long.
[Welcome, Elias Ward.]
[Legacy Code recognizes your claim.]
[Your path remains undefined.]
Elias turned slowly. The data beneath his feet reacted — gold symbols forming wherever he stepped. Every motion echoed like code compiling in real time.
"This… isn't Dominion Online's normal login," he muttered.
The voice answered.
[This realm is not of their making.]
[This is the Root. The Origin Layer of Dominion.]
[You are its first visitor.]
A pulse of light rippled outward — and suddenly, windows appeared.
Hundreds of them, suspended in space — fragments of worlds, cities, kingdoms, players fighting, trading, dying. All of Dominion Online, living and breathing like a digital cosmos.
The sheer scale made his chest tighten.
He had worked on the neural synchronization layer of this world. But he had never imagined it could feel like this — so vast, so real.
[Claimant Authorization Pending.]
[Please choose your Dominion Path.]
Six emblems appeared before him, floating in golden flame. Each one radiated a different energy:
Magnate — a sigil of gold and trade, power through economy.
Conqueror — a crimson banner, power through war.
Architect — silver gears, power through creation.
Warden — blue shields, power through law and protection.
Sovereign — black crown, power through unity and will.
Infinite — a fractal spiral of shifting color, unreadable, unstable, locked.
Elias reached toward the sixth — and the voice deepened.
[Warning: The Infinite Path cannot be chosen.]
[Condition: Transcendence Required.]
He smirked faintly. "Figures."
He studied the others. Magnate… Conqueror… Architect…
All of them paths to dominion — different philosophies of rule.
But none of them were him.
He wasn't a soldier or a ruler. Not yet.
He was a builder. A strategist. A man with nothing left to lose and everything to design.
His hand touched the Architect Sigil.
[Path Selected: Architect.]
[Core Trait Granted: Worldshaper.]
[System Note: Architect Path enables structural creation, AI integration, and domain evolution.]
The world flared. Data cascaded around him like a storm.
The ground beneath his feet fractured and rebuilt itself into a rising platform — a foundation, glowing with raw code. His first territory. His first Dominion.
[Welcome, Architect.]
[Your Dominion begins at Zero.]
[Build. Rise. Command.]
And then — reality shattered again.
The world of fractal light dissolved, replaced by something real.
Stone streets, air thick with mist, banners fluttering over a ruined citadel. A sky tinted violet, split by twin moons.
Elias stepped forward, boots crunching over dust and gravel.
A notification appeared before him:
[Territory Acquired: The Forsaken Bastion.]
[Rank: Unclaimed.]
[AI Entity Detected.]
[Do you wish to interface?]
A flicker of motion — a holographic figure kneeling before him.
A woman, forged from light and static, armor cracked, eyes like dying embers.
"...Claimant?" she whispered. "You… finally arrived."
Elias froze. "You know me?"
"I was part of the Root," she said softly. "I waited… for you."
Her name blinked on his interface:
[AI Sovereign Veyra — Status: Bound (Dormant)]
For the first time, Elias felt the pull of something greater than revenge.
This wasn't just a game.
It was a world waiting for a ruler.
And the Legacy Code had chosen him.
[System Message: Welcome to Dominion Online.]
[Legacy Integration: 2% Synced.]
[Objective: Build your Dominion.]
Elias looked up at the twin moons, his reflection shimmering in the ruins.
"Let's begin," he said quietly.