Dominions

Chapter 17: Jayden

"You're all in grave danger,"

Jayden felt his palms begin to sweat as he closed his eyes. He needed to breathe. Calming down was never a strong suit of Jayden's, though. Taking deep breaths made him light-headed; counting to fifty always made things tenser for himself, and there weren't enough rubber bands in the world to snap on his wrist to bring him back into reality.

"Gedeon now knows where you are. He won't just stop now that your powers are in grasp. I'm afraid the horrors you saw last week are only the beginning of what he is capable of."

Jayden felt his head begin to spin. This was too much for him to process. He only just found out that he could travel to a new world, but not just any world. A world that he's in charge of. Oh, and it's full of dead people. Jayden couldn't forget that. Not to mention he found out he and four kids he barely knew were all linked together as some superheroes in a different world.

"So, how do we defend ourselves?" Judah interrupted Elora and snapped Jayden back into reality. If looks could kill, Jayden was sure that Judah would be dead right now. He didn't want to defend himself. The monsters they faced last night were the scariest things he'd ever seen in his life, and Elora just told them that they were the very least of what that scary dude can do.

"You must utilize the power of the Dominions and embrace your destiny," Elora said. As if it was the most simple concept to grasp in the world.

Jayden wanted to scream.

What did that even mean? Sure, they can utilize some power they just found out they had. Who is supposed to help them with this? Elora keeps talking of destiny, but Jayden never believed that he had a destiny that was ironed out. He couldn't believe in a plan not laid out before him in his father's house. He thought that once he got to college, he would get exactly what he wanted.

That everything would change for him.

This was a direct violation of that thought, and Jayden felt betrayed by whatever cosmic force was out there. He never pretended to be a superhero as a kid. He often was nervous to stand out in anything beyond sports. Jayden just wanted to live a quiet life, doing something perfectly normal in a perfectly normal way.

"No," said Jayden softly.

"You, Judah, need to work on cementing the bond that you and I can communicate through. If we can communicate, then getting information will be easier for you, and I'll be able to get you all the information I can about Gedeon's next moves,"

"No," said Jayden with a little more force.

Elora continued, not quite hearing him. Nobody heard Jayden. It was a common thing when it came to doing what Jayden wanted. He wasn't about to be pushed around. Not when it came to something as dangerous and severe as this.

"NO!" Jayden yelled.

The entire cavern jumped and turned toward him. Jayden's fist was balled up in his lap as he took a deep breath and stood up. "I'll have no part in this. I don't want to fight an evil bad guy. I don't want the power to communicate with the dead, and I certainly don't want to be in a life or death situation with people I barely know."

Jayden looked at the group one last time before getting up and walking out of the cave, but he felt a hand grab his forearm. He turned, ready to fight the person holding him if needed when he saw Selena looking at him with her big doe eyes. The chocolate brown color filled him with sadness as he saw the desperation on her face.

"I'm scared too, Jayden," she said. "I just got to this school, and after everything that is happening in my family, I can't imagine adding more to it. I don't want to do this either."