Wrong Domain

Wrong Domain
Jarox's POV...

Feran stood near the center of my room, his hands folded behind his back as he stared at me.

For a moment, I wondered if he had forgotten that I was his son. Then he spoke.

"Tonight's dinner was an olive branch."

I stood in silence and waited for him to continue speaking.

"I wanted to remind you that there is still a place for you beside me. You are my heir, Jarox. One day, all of this will belong to you. The palace. The empire. The vision."

I shook my head. "I don't believe I could ever carry your vision, Father. It is not my destiny to see from your eyes."

His expression barely changed. "Because you have been poisoned by these ridiculous teachings."

"Because I believe Yahweh's will matters more than yours."

Feran smiled. "And what exactly do you believe Yahweh's will is?"

"That a Bridge will unite the worlds."

"A Bridge?" He almost laughed.

"I believe one has already been formed."

His smile disappeared. "You mean the experiment child created from your sister's lab, formed from the womb of a leader of the resistance? The one my Keepers call Abigail?"

He walked closer. "The child whose DNA holds the key to the perfection of my hybrids and thus, human extinction? That thing? You believe that virus is Yahweh's so-called bridge?"

I stared at him. "What are you talking about?"

"The Keepers tested her. They tested whether she was a true Bridge."

Feran continued. "She failed."

I couldn't speak.

"She is a false Bridge, Jarox. And because she is false, she will eventually move against the natural order of this world."

"No, I don't believe you. I've been around the child. This is a trick of yours. It isn't the truth."

"It is." He stepped closer. "Whether I use her DNA to perfect my hybrids or someone else gets to her first, Abigail will become a danger, because that is her sole purpose in life."

I shook my head. "You don't know that."

"I know enough."

His voice became colder.

"The Keepers said they looked into her soul and found nothing but a black hole, sucking and destroying everything in its path. She will bring destruction. Humans will suffer. Krugs will suffer. Everyone caught in her path will suffer."

I stared at him. "And your solution?"

"Kill her."

The word struck me harder than I expected. Feran continued as though he had suggested something completely ordinary.

"If you truly wish to fulfill Yahweh's will, then have the child killed. That will prove that you actually believe this fairytale and aren't just playing a role."

I clenched my fists.

"With me, I will lock her up and extract the destruction within her and put it in my army. Only the humans will have to die," he said. "With Abigail, even our people could be swept into the chaos."

He walked toward the door.

"You have a choice, Jarox."

He stopped. "Protect the humans and risk everything."

He looked back at me. "Or eliminate the threat before it becomes unstoppable."

Then he left. The door closed. I stood there, staring at it. For several seconds, I couldn't move. Then the closet opened. Gary stepped out.

"Did he mean all of that?"

I looked at him. "I don't know."

"Do you believe him?"

I swallowed. "I don't know."

That was the worst part. I didn't. But I couldn't dismiss what he had said either.

If Abigail truly was a false Bridge... If the powers inside her really could turn against everything around her... Then she wasn't simply someone we were trying to protect anymore. She might also be something we needed to fear.

Gary watched me carefully. "So what now?"

"We have to leave,"

I was about to walk past him to grab my equipment, but he held my arm. "What are we going to do about Abigail?"

"I don't know yet, Gary," I pulled my arm away, "But we'll have to get to her first before we can start worrying about it"

I grabbed my bag. He went first. We left the room together.

.

.

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Trix's POV...

Something wasn't right. I had been thinking about Father's strange dinner all night. He had been too calm. Too deliberate. And then there was what the Narrator had told me.

A true Bridge. A false Bridge. Abigail.

I stared at the holographic genome map floating above my workstation. Every part of her genetic structure was displayed in synthetic 4D, rotating slowly as thousands of variables moved through the projection.

I had studied this genome for weeks. I still couldn't find anything new. But perhaps I had been looking at it the wrong way.

I opened another compartment.

Inside was a tiny vial. Holy Serum. The last drop I had managed to take from Jarox's supply.

I stared at it. "This might be crazy."

But crazy had become normal. I placed the vial into the scanner.nThe system immediately began reading the serum, analysing it.

I watched the variables populate the screen. The serum wasn't merely energy. It contained a structure. A pattern. A code. Something capable of interacting with living genetic material.

I downloaded the synthetic variables into my system. Then I pulled up the stabilized sequence I had isolated from Abigail's DNA—the very sequence that could potentially perfect the hybrids.

I hesitated. Then I merged them. The reaction was immediate. The cells exploded across the holographic display. They grew. Rapidly. Too rapidly.

I leaned closer. "What the..."

Something was wrong. Dark spots began appearing throughout the newly formed sequence. One. Then another. Then dozens. The genetic structure began collapsing into itself.

The cells became chaotic. Unstable. Wild. I increased the magnification. The system generated a prediction.

PSYCHOLOGICAL DECAY.

Another appeared.

NEURAL INSTABILITY.

Then another.

BEHAVIORAL DEGRADATION.

My eyes widened. The sequence wasn't simply defective. It was dangerous. The instability could spread. It could corrupt the entire structure. I stepped away from the screen.

"No."

The thought formed before I could stop it. I looked back at Abigail's genome. The child. The powers. The rapid growth. The strange behavior. The telekinesis. The nightmares. And the things about her that I was yet to see and didn't even know about. Everything suddenly connected.

I whispered to myself. "You're imperfect."

The words sounded horrible coming from my mouth. I shook my head.

I stared at the corrupted sequence. "If this spreads..."

I couldn't finish. The Narrator had been right. Feran had been right about one thing. Abigail wasn't what we thought she was. I lowered myself into my chair. My hands trembled. I looked at the genome again. Then I said the words I never wanted to believe.

"Abigail is a false Bridge."

Silence filled the laboratory. And for the first time since I had created her, I wasn't thinking about how to save Abigail. I was thinking about whether she had to be neutralized.