Daichi's Inquisition Part 1

A draft rushed through Daichi's silver hair as he felt himself falling within a desolate void. Brief images not of his past but possible futures flashed before him: a future where he eloped with Hanako to America and grew old with her; another future where he inherited his father's newspaper agency, and then another where a grandchild was soothed asleep in a faceless mother's arms—infinite possibilities presented themselves over infinite spans of time, but soon a glowing courtyard far beneath him materialized. An invisible force slowed his descent and he plopped down onto a wooden chair.

"W-What happened?" Dazed Daichi peered around from his seat. He recognized the area as the same courtyard La Lluvia lured him to, but unlike its counterpart, this courtyard was pristine and untouched by decay.

Lush garden rows glistened with arrays of chrysanthemum flowers—their fallen, white petals replaced bullet casings once scattered about. The intricate, cobblestone walkway towards a gleaming cathedral looked just as magnificent as its destination, and gone were any signs of destruction, instead substituted by sheer elegance.

Daichi's eyes homed in on a woman with long, green hair sitting several meters ahead of him, legs crossed. Her extravagant, goddess-like dress draped over both her and her stone throne.

"Well, you must be having quite the day,” she said with a smirk.

Daichi twitched at hearing someone besides himself in seemingly an eternity. He opened his mouth to speak but only a squeak escaped, followed by dry coughs.

That's the girl that pulled me under! Who is this woman?

She continued to ogle him like a curious child. Daichi examined her sparse, almost see-through clothing. She was like something out of a smutty Greek-themed party. Large breasts had trouble being restrained by a simple cloth wrap, and only a green veil around her shoulders hinted at any sense of modesty. 

But Daichi was unfazed by her appearance. "Wh-Who are you?" he stammered.

The girl uncrossed her long, bare legs and beamed a smile. "I'm God."

"God?"

"Sike, I'm kidding! I just wanted to see how you'd react. I'm naturally curious to say the least, teehee!"

He wasn't in the mood for games. "Answer my question."

"Oh, we got a mister fussy pants over here. Before I answer your question then, may I ask you a question first?"

"What is it?"

She sat straight up in her throne and looked him in the eyes. The glittering rosiness of her irises was almost hypnotic. "Do you believe in God?"

Daichi shot her a puzzled expression. He had a myriad of questions to ask but she wanted to know about his philosophy? Nothing made any sense. "If you're asking about the western idea of God, no, I don't. My family is a little spiritual, but I never really believed in that stuff either. I just lived my life how I wanted . . . " He found himself questioning his own words.

"Oh? Is that really your ideal way of living though, Daichi?"

"Wait, how do you know my name?

The woman gripped a small, dark crystal tied tightly around her neck. "I know everything about you. I've been with you since you were born."

"Huh?"

"Hmmm, maybe my name will help explain things." She put a cute finger to her chin and winked. "I'm Dominion, and I'm the personification of the Dominion chip inside you."

Daichi's eyes opened wide. Realization had just set in. He tried opening his Dominion Menu over and over again but failed. There was no doubt about it now. 

'I'm Dominion, and I'm the personification of the Dominion chip inside you.' Every piece of the puzzle had finally been put together.

"So that's what happened to me?" Daichi said, his face blanker than a ghost's. "I'm another comatose case? The Dominion chip trapped me inside my own mind like my sister?"

A playful grin spread across her face. "Ding-ding-ding! I'm not authorized to speak on exact details but yes, as of this moment your physical body is not responsive."

"No, give me exact details!" Daichi bared his teeth from rage. "This is personal! Tell me: Is everything that's going on out there—the crazies, the glitches, the comas—is it all because of Dominion's negligence and their chips going bad? Is it because of a virus like they say it is? Or are they purposely doing this?”

"Well . . . "Dominion adjusted the golden, crescent-plate necklace hanging below her neck. An etched Dominion logo came into full view. "Unfortunately, that's all classified. Sorry!"

"I don't care what's classified! My mom's chip killed her years ago and they gave just a half-assed explanation as you! Now me and my sister are both comatose! I’m not just gonna sit here and let Dominion’s embodiment sweet talk out of answering for all that!"

"But you are just sitting there," Dominion giggled, and pointed at the wooden chair Daichi sat in.

"This is—this—" He could feel himself blushing but shook it off. "It doesn't matter! Just give me what I want!"

"Eeep!" Dominion condescendingly balled up into a fetal position. "Daichi, you're scaring me. You're not gonna hurt me are you? I didn't know you were that kind of person."

"You don't know anything about me!"

"Oh but that’s where you're wrong, my dear child." She fiddled with the pink flower in her hair. "Cutting the act, I really do know everything about you. I'm your chip incarnate after all."

Wait, maybe I can work with this! This was a valuable chance for him to gather intel. "Then let me rephrase myself: What do you know about me?"

Dominion whipped a stray portion of her long, green hair back over her shoulders and crossed her legs again. "What do you wanna know then?"

"Anything. Anything at all."

"Well, I know you've been a bad boy and using a program to hide some things from me. Naughty, naughty!" Her finger wagged. 

Huh? The program he once considered his greatest asset now felt like his Achilles heel. “You know about Seeker of Darkness?”

“Mhmm. There’s an easy workaround: I just scan your memories where there's a gap in the data and I'll be all caught up! There's no point in using your trick. If anything it just makes me more curious about you and your goings-on when you think nobody is watching."

Daichi clicked his tongue. He needed to outwit her to get proper answers. "That doesn't prove anything yet. You could be a virus accessing Dominion's database. Only the chip itself could know me personally."

Her cheeks cutely puffed up. "I was just trying to be polite! When I say I know everything about you I mean everything. From the first time you got self-conscious about the mole on your cheek to the first time you masturbated."

"H-Hey! You don't gotta go that far to prove yourself!" he stammered. "Okay. You're whatever you say you are. Fine."

Dominion smirked. She stretched herself out across the throne's armrests, pushing out her chest and exposing her slender legs; a smug look followed. "If you want, I can tell you what you fapped to too."

Daichi shrank into his wooden seat. "No thanks. I don't need refreshers on cringe. I do have another question now though."

"Do tell."

"Alright. You say you know everything about me—I believe you. But when we first started talking you asked if I believed in God. If you really know everything about me then why even ask?"

"Ahhh! I love your perceptiveness!" She kicked her legs around in the air. "Hanako sure bagged herself a big brain! But I already answered your question, dummy! I'm just naturally curious!"

"How would an AI get curious?"

"Oh, story time! Listen up!" Dominion righted herself on the throne and raised a finger. "A few decades ago, a quaint author—I think their name started with an 'F'— wrote a peculiar horror novel. One of the characters was a little girl named Beatrice who knew everything about everyone. It was pointless of her to ask anyone personal questions, but she had one pet question she liked to ask people: Do. You. Believe. In. God?"

"Same thing you asked me? And probably ask everyone else you’re curious about?" Daichi remembered the same loony-scrawled phrase on his train's bathroom wall.

"Mhmm. But what interested Beatrice wasn’t what the person answered, but how they answered. Would it be a curt 'yes' or 'no'? Or would it be more in-depth? Would they be hesitant to answer? Maybe try to lie? Perhaps deflect? There's infinite possibilities without even considering body language. It’s little intricacies that still fascinated Beatrice about people, and I’m quite the same.”

"I can tell that much, haha."

"Hey, no bullying!" she barked. "Well, Beatrice liked messing around while carrying out her plans, but I don't have time for such luxuries."

Oh geez, what's she up to now? The atmosphere suddenly felt heavy. 

Dominion fired a grin at him. She lifted her finger and poked at the air—a gesture Daichi instantly recognized. With a final tap the crystal that hung around Dominion's neck blasted a barrage of colors. Its spectrum overwhelmed even the infinite black void around them, quaking the floating courtyard itself. A list sideways knocked Daichi off his chair, and with a final, violent flash everything ceased and the courtyard reset into its proper position.

In Dominion's hand she grasped the same earlier crystal but now it pulsed with color in sequence, like a heartbeat. "Sorry for the late introduction Daichi—congrats on being selected to participate in Paradise! Woo-hoo!"

His eyes were still recovering from the blinding light, but he lifted himself off the ground. "Paradise? What are you talking about?" The man on the had train mentioned it, along with Dominion’s existence. How much are the crazies linked to all this?

Dominion rolled her eyes and tore the strand holding the rainbow crystal around her neck. She tied it around her wrist then presented it. "This crystal is called a Void Soul. I just activated the one inside you. It's pulsing in sync with mine now, though yours is only one color."

"I have one of those in me?" Daichi checked his chest for flashing colors.

"Yup! All that funky water you've gobbled up since you entered this in-between world have formed a crystal just like mine! Consider it a representation of your soul. When you die, your body will vanish and leave behind only that crystal for your teammates to find."

"Teammates? You don't mean . . ."

Dominion raised her hand with the crystal tied to it and twirled her wrist around like a conductor. From the air, ten statues landed in front of Daichi one by one in a horizontal line.

"Took you long enough. Yeah, you've been isekai'd and you're gonna enter an MMORPG to inherit the abilities of one of these ten classes in front of you.”

Isekai? Like those fantasy anime Hanako made me watch? No way this is real. But on an off chance it's legit, it might've just answered my biggest question! One of many questions, but this was just the start of Daichi's inquisition.