Jax found himself on a deserted snowy plain, the thick white blanket stretching for miles around.
Peering into the distance, he glimpsed a couple of scattered buildings painted a bleak white by the falling flakes of snow.
A few moments passed by in silence, other entries appearing around him in brilliant flashes of light.
The newcomers looked dazed.
Despite watching the Audition before, nothing could quite prepare one for the experience.
Then it hit him.
The pungent smell of the toxic smog covering the entire place.
He gasped, frantically grabbing at his nose.
All around him, the other entries gasped similarly, falling to the ground, clawing at their throats.
A pale young man nearby grabbed at the snow, his eyes slowly turning bloodshot.
"Help me..."
Jax remained standing, holding his breath.
He held on for an entire minute...
Then two...
Despite his outwardly calm appearance, his lungs were on fire.
"What the hell..."
Stars appeared in the periphery of his vision.
A casual glance revealed that there were others still standing.
One thought immediately ran through his mind.
"Dangerous."
From the way they held themselves, he could instinctively tell.
These were no ordinary entrants.
Gritting his teeth, he stubbornly refused to fall out of sheer spite.
"What's taking them so long..."
[Commencing Audition in 5...4...3...2...1]
He was slowly approaching his limit.
Just then, a holographic screen in glowing orange neon appeared in the air in front of them.
[Welcome new entries to the Audition].
A smiling figure appeared on the screen in front of them.
The smiling man made Jax's stomach churn.
He knew the man.
Everyone in the Dominion did.
Nick Frost.
The enigmatic host of the Dominion's most revered show, The Broadcast.
Clad in a dashing, sleek black suit, Nick gave the camera a bow, then flashed his pearly white teeth for the entire Dominion.
A collective beeping sound echoed across the plain.
A subtle wave rippled across the plain, and with it, the toxic smog rapidly decomposed.
Suddenly, the air was breathable again.
The entries gasped, desperately gulping deep lungfuls of air, wildly clawing at the snow.
Jax calmly inhaled, then exhaled.
With Nick's arrival, the biometric bands attached to the entries' wrists flared to life, turning from a dull red to a startling green.
"So this is it...it's finally starting...
Jax expressionlessly watched Nick offer the crowd an exaggerated bow.
A large roar rippled through the air from the holographic screen.
It was the sound of exhilaration and tense anticipation.
And something potentially darker and much more primal.
Unhinged bloodlust.
Screams and frenzied cheers rang throughout the crowd of people gathered.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this year's Audition," he announced with a flourish.
The man grinned, his eyes sparkling with a mischievous light.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome! To this year's.... Culling," he announced with a flourish.
The man grinned, his eyes sparkling with a mischievous light.
"I'm sure you've all been itching, anticipating, and waiting with bated breath for this year's Audition."
Nick smiled.
"I assure you, I feel the same."
The Audition, as its name suggested, was a sort of qualifying round for the entries.
Before the Broadcast itself began, there was a test.
To make things interesting, not just anyone could make it to the Broadcast.
"And without further ado, this year's batch of entrants."
The Audition was being watched and transmitted everywhere.
Even in the lowly outer rims, the Dominion went through painstaking efforts to ensure that every one of its citizens could watch it.
On the holographic screen, several figures were slowly displayed.
The screen showed their stats, current tier, projected tier, and current Threat Index.
Soon enough, Jax's face appeared on the screen.
"And now folks, one of the Audition's most promising entries. Give it up for Jax."
Long dark hair, startling crimson eyes, and pale white skin projected to the entire Dominion.
Jax stared back at himself.
" Despite this being his debut, this entry was deemed to have a TI at tier three, a nearly unprecedented feat in the history of the Dominion.
The crowd went silent at this announcement.
A ripple of whispers echoed through the audience.
"A tier three threat index?"
" A new entry?"
His fellow entries turned to him, some in curiosity, others piercing him with more sinister gazes.
"Fools..."
Jax ignored them.
There was no point in making himself any more of a target than he already was at this point.
The transmission drone focused on his unmoving figure, zooming in on his face.
Almost coincidentally, a breeze stirred, blowing back his hair, and the camera snapped, immortalizing the captivating scene.
The crowd gasped, then cheered wildly.
Nick quickly moved on to the next contestant.
After several minutes, he was finally done with the announcements.
The arena swiftly transformed.
Snow surged all around them, moving with a life, morphing into the perfect arena for the Dominion to satiate its bloodlust.
The snow raged around, boiled, and then swiftly melted, revealing dark mounds on the soil underneath.
The ground shifted, collapsing into dark turned and rising into fortified, equally tenebrous ceilings.
Within moments, Jax found himself in an underground corridor, alone.
"Bloody hell..."
Despite the arena's transformation, the contestants could still see Nick's smiling face.
It was now a hologram, transmitting from the wrist bands on their arms.
[Entry, please turn to your biometric band and double-tap it.]
Jax calmly tapped his biometric band.
The small green screen lit up, projecting a different screen.
Jax's eyes widened slightly, then narrowed.
His name and details were displayed on the screen.
[Entry: Jax Arclet]
[Estimated Threat Index: Tier 1>>>Tier 3]
[Threat Index stats]
[Combat Ability: 5]
[Anomaly Factor:7]
[Influence Potential:5]
[Observation:7]
[Kill Count: 0]
[Overall ETI: Tier Three baseline]
Staring at his last name, he pursed his lips and then let out a weary sigh.
In the next moment, his eyes snapped back to the holographic screen.
[And now for the first Audition scenario. For the first phase, you must simply survive.]
Nick smiled, staring right into the camera.
[But that would be far too simple, so, to spice things up, the BRASS have set up a condition.]
[To clear this phase, each surviving entry should have at least one confirmed kill.
Right now, there are roughly three hundred entries still alive.]
Nick took on a saddened expression.
[Some died before their bands could be activated. But their sacrifice will be remembered. They will live on. Glory to the Dominion.]
The audience roared, repeating the chant.
[GLORY TO THE DOMINION!!!]
Nick confidently gestured for them to quiet down.
[To the surviving, of course, the higher your kill count, the more benefits you stand to gain. ]
Jax could already imagine the other entries drooling over said benefits.
Excelling in the arena guaranteed an immediate citizen upgrade.
Those who lived in the outer rims would immediately be transferred to Asphodel, one of the higher-class cities in the Middle rim.
For the entries already dwelling within Asphodel, their standards of living would be drastically improved.
And on rare occasions, some would be moved to Elysium.
And if an entry managed to survive up to the end...
Nick's expression changed ever slightly, his smile becoming a little twisted.
"Let the show begin..."
Staring at the space in front of him, Jax didn't move immediately.
That was guaranteed to make you a target.
On the screen in front of him, a colourful metre showed the current number of entries in pristine white characters.
Jax inhaled and then moved, delving deeper underground.
Then, less than a minute into the Audition, an entry died.
On the holographic screen in front of him, the entry's name turned red.
Jax paused, his eyes widening slightly.
His breathing quickened, his chest tightening uncomfortably.
"Already?"
The announcement rang out throughout the arena.
[First blood.]
TI-Threat index