Synopsis:
After the tragic events of The Malice of Abigale Quinlan, Jad Novus is left in a state of despair, traumatized by the horrific deeds he did during his time in another world. As he represses the truth from those he loves and struggles through life, his fragile mental state crumbles, and he soon finds his very existence compromised as his body starts transforming more and more with each passing day.
Disclaimers:
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, locales, and events are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any intellectual properties referenced are property of their respective owners.
This novel contains adult material including sexually explicit activities, strong language, homophobic language, extreme violence, suicide, depictions of trauma, and more. Reader discretion is advised.
Notes:
This novel is part of The Saga of Dawn and Dusk series created by Natalie Neumann and is a direct sequel to Verde’s Doohickey, The Malice of Abigale Quinlan, and Psycho Bullet Festival 2222.
The events of Verde’s Doohickey and The Malice of Abigale Quinlan are summarized in Shard 00: The Novus Logs Volumes 1 & 2.
The events of Psycho Bullet Festival 2222 are only relevant to understanding Shard 17: Enter The Three Wives. Readers not familiar with Psycho Bullet Festival 2222 are advised to skip over this chapter.
For an optimal experience, Natalie Neumann recommends reading Verde’s Doohickey, The Malice of Abigale Quinlan, and Psycho Bullet Festival 2222 before reading this novel.
The Dominance of Abigale Quinlan
Shard 00: The Novus Logs Volumes 1 & 2
Every night, it’s the same dream. Every night I am reminded of what I had and how… I lost it all.
It began on the evening of November 21, 2014. I had just gone to bed and as I drifted to sleep, I found myself transposed from my familiar bedroom and into a dimly lit room, sitting in a comfortable chair. A panic filled me, only for a soothing voice to appear within my ear, urging me to calm down. A figure then appeared before me. A woman in a green dress with flowing black hair. She sat in a chair parallel to mine and introduced herself, saying that her name was Verde Dusk, and she wanted me to partake in an… experiment.
“In this experiment, I shall provide you with a device beyond the limits of modern scientific understanding. A device most aptly summarized as a body swap remote. What you do with the device is up to you, but I want you to make the most of this experience, and, hopefully, learn something about yourself in the process. If you are not interested, you are free to walk out the door behind you at any time. If you do so, you will forget that this ever happened and will return to your ordinary life. So, what do you say, Jad Novus?”
Assuming this all to be a dream, I agreed to her offer. I then found myself stripped of my memories of meeting Miss Dusk, back in my bedroom, on the morning of Saturday, November 22, 2014.
From there, I relive those events. The events of Verde’s Doohickey.
Hours later, my oldest friend, Maxxie Flare, came bursting into my room with a package in tow. A package containing a device that resembled a graphing calculator with only three buttons. It was a curious thing with vague instructions but, as Maxxie played with it, I eventually found myself in Maxxie’s body, while she found herself in mine.
I was shocked by the warmth and comfort I felt within Maxxie’s body, while she quickly adapted to my form, encouraging me to make the most of this situation by spending a day as one another. We spent the afternoon together, doing our best to impersonate each other whenever my mother barged into the room, before I left to spend the night at her house. A night where Maxxie’s younger sister, Terra, approached me and told me she was transgender, thinking I was her beloved older sister.
It made for a harsh, awkward moment that left me in discomfort for the remainder of the evening. Especially when I showered in Maxxie’s body, feeling like a perverted freak as I averted my gaze from her naked form. This discomfort persisted through the morning, lasting until Maxxie, in my body, came over with the body swapping device— the VD— in hand. After our swap was undone, she spent some time with her sister, granting her a moment of euphoria as the two swapped bodies, before our good friends, Zoe Xing and Shiaka Kurokawa, arrived
During the preceding afternoon, the five of us switched bodies around to see what it was like to be in someone else’s skin, and through our observations, we chose to embark on a little experiment. An experiment where we would switch bodies and attend school as each other. We worked out the logistics, exchanged schedules and notes, and set about the plan, gathering before classes come Monday morning.
Those two days were ones where I got closer to my friends, both figuratively and literally, than ever before. I got to know Maxxie and Shiaka on a level I would have never imagined. By, as the adage goes, ‘walking a day in their shoes.’ During that time, I gained a newfound respect and admiration for them. By living their lives, seeing their accomplishments, and comparing everything they were, everything they overcame, to what I had done… left me feeling both empty and miserable inside.
Maxxie had an eccentric and immediately lovable personality that garnered her a positive reputation from all who knew her. She had a deluge of artistic accomplishments and, despite only being 18, she had already proven herself to be a brilliantly skilled illustrator. All in addition to being an incredibly cute young woman. With a smile that brightened up my day whenever I saw it, a casual look that only made her more approachable, and the most adorable freckles in the world.
Shiaka was definitely timid, and not the sort to speak out or make many friends, but she had a good reason to. At age 8, she was the victim of a trauma so severe that it would break anyone, and while she still had many scars from this incident, she developed the strength to face the world yet again, and accept us as her friends. Even when casting her trauma aside, she was still a brilliant person when it came to anything technological, a skilled programmer, and a woman of boundless kindness.
Zoe was an incredibly regimented and focused young man. He held a keen eye for detail, a mind filled with a wide plethora of knowledge, and academic honors that made him a prime pick for any university he aspired to attend. All wrapped in a tall, lean, yet muscular physique that would make him the envy of any man.
Meanwhile, what did I, Jad Novus, have to show for myself? My grades were good, yet barely enough to get me into the top 20% of my school. I did not have any particular skill where I excelled. After 18 years, I had few accomplishments to call my own. And I would have never considered myself to be anything more than average when it comes to looks. Compared to Maxxie, Zoe, and Shiaka… What was I?
“A piece of festering fecal matter littering this planet.”
It was harsh, but it was honest. It was what I learned from this experience. That I was not happy with myself on a deeper, more fundamental level. They all had clear dreams and aspirations, while I… didn’t.
But then, after our two days of body swapping adventurers were up, Maxxie came to me, and told me what I needed to hear, like she always did. That I was special because I mattered to my friends. That, without me, they would not be the same people they are today, as they were all broken to some extent before they joined our friend group. That she loves me as a person. That just “keeping my shit straight” as I go through life was enough to celebrate.
Maxxie and I were in each other’s bodies at this time and, with intense emotions running through us, we shared our first kiss, fumbled our words as we realized what we did, and walked off hand in hand, singing as we brushed past the snowflakes delicately falling from the sky.
That’s when the Scenario ended. When I found myself in that room with Verde again, and when I began explaining what I had experienced to her, going through the emotional gamut as I relived everything. It was a… messy encounter. I lashed out at her, frightened her part way through my summary, but I appreciated her. Both for this impossible experience and for what I learned about myself by living the lives of those dear to me.
I then woke up in my bedroom, on November 22, 2014. The events of Verde’s Doohickey had been relegated to an alternate world, and only I remembered what happened. I dared not share this with anyone, but I did take the lessons I learned in mind, and tried to better myself.
I tried learning more practical skills from my mother, started rearranging my room while getting rid of the crap I didn’t need, and tried to pursue the thing I was complimented for the most in the past: my writing skills. Writing is a skill that carries over to just about every profession, so I figured it would be a good idea to improve it by writing out some short-form fiction and essays. It was nothing special, yet I felt that things were looking up as the month passed.
As I went to sleep on December 19, 2014, I was once again greeted by Verde Dusk. There, I checked in with her, expressing how I was doing, and while she offered me the opportunity to have a more standard therapy session, she said she had another adventure lined up for me. While I carried a lot of negative feelings from the body swap adventure she took me on, it was something I found myself thinking of every day. Whether it be while looking down at my pale and flat male body, or when I remembered what it felt like to laugh with Maxxie’s mouth.
Verde was eager to send me on this adventure… and it was the worst experience of my life. An experience known as The Malice of Abigale Quinlan.
I woke up in an unfamiliar room, with no memory of Verde or the prior adventure she sent me on. And as I rose from a bed, I was greeted with an unfamiliar body. The body of a tall and muscular dark-skinned woman. Panic and confusion stirred within me as I found myself in this unfamiliar locale, and fear filled my mind as I saw another person’s naked form in place of my own. Yet through the aid of clothes and a conveniently placed computer, I was able to find the conviction to continue and piece together what had happened.
Through means unknown, this woman had stolen my body and used it to launch an attack on my high school, Oransen High. Over 100 people died in that attack, including the assailant, a young man known as Jad Novus. My life had not only been stolen from me, not only used to do the worst thing imaginable, but it was dead. My life was lost.
Sorrow and panic stewed within me as I lashed out over this tragedy and, in my lowest of lows, he appeared. An androgynous voice in my head known as Peatrice. As soon as I could hear his voice, he began to flippantly explain what happened. That my body was stolen by the woman whose body I occupied. A woman named Abigale Quinlan. A terrorist who wanted to use my body for a joy ride, to spread fear and discontent, before switching back to her body. Unfortunately for her, something went wrong in the process, and unfortunately for me, that meant I was trapped in her body.
Having lost so much, the only thing I could focus on was trying to reclaim what little I had, and returning to my home. To Oransen. Peatrice, for his many vices and constant pestering, assisted me in this quest, and with his aid, I began a two-day-long journey of 1,000 kilometers. Traveling from the rural Colorado wilderness I woke up in, to the city of Funke, and finally to the only place I ever called home.
A journey where I was constantly tormented by the electric devil within my mind. Peatrice knew I was in a vulnerable situation, but he did not care. He would use me as a plaything whenever he grew bored, pestering me into situations that would only harm me. I had to travel through a harsh mountainous blizzard on foot. I was assaulted by a man, a woman, and a bear. With every passing hour, I found myself sinking deeper and deeper into despair.
I was divorced from everything I had known. I did not know if my friends and mother were still alive. I was in a different body that… I’ve never been the most secure about my body, but being in her’s… it brought me a certain comfort. Not because of the power or beauty it held, but… something else. Something I could never dwell on too deeply because of what this body represented. Because I knew who it belonged to.
A monster. A monster who derived pleasure from harming others. A monster who was… not even truly human. She was an immortal being, one whose body recovered from all wounds, one whose body would never tire like a human’s, and one whose brain could operate on an inhuman level. That is, if one knew how to use it.
With my resolve crumbling, I finally returned to my home in Oransen and found it empty, my mother having left in the two days it had taken me to get there. Fear and worry gripped me yet again and, in this vulnerable moment, Peatrice went on a tirade about how I was a fool to reclaim my life, that I was doomed to become a psychopath, and that I would be rejected by those I loved.
My tolerance was exceeded, and I determined that I could not live with this synthetic tumor lodged within my frontal lobe. So I decided to kill him. Kill Peatrice. With a hammer in hand, I stripped myself, entered my shower, and assaulted my cranium, smashing my head open again and again as I wallowed in a daze of half-conscious fury, continuing until the tub, walls, and curtains were painted red with blood. While I could not find the computer chip Peatrice said he was stored on, the silence in my head told me that it was gone. A revelation that granted me a bittersweet solace. I had solved one problem, but in doing so, I had to sacrifice a shard of my own humanity.
As I recovered from this, I sought out my friends, traveling to the empty homes of Maxxie, Zoe, and Shiaka, yet all were empty. Desperation then drove me to visit the only other home I could think of. There, I was met with a series of school acquaintances: Anita Neukar, Vivi Gaimz, and Gem Stone. Despite my suspicious disposition, they took me in, treated me with kindness, and provided me with the phone numbers of my friends.
I called Maxxie, Zoe, and Shiaka as soon as I returned home, knowing that I would need to cling onto hope and slash away whatever doubt I could in order to convince them of who I truly was. Fortunately, they believed my story. They accepted that the Jad they saw on the morning of December 19th was an imposter. And once they shared this theory with each other, they promised they would return home to see me in a few days.
My friendships were secured, I knew that my mother, while distraught, was safe, and I was inside my home, resting in my bed. I should have been happy, but doubt and regret kept me up throughout the night, until I was ready to embrace the day. When I did, I saw my English teacher, Raiyne Underwood, in my home, doing some house sitting for my mother. After some confusion, Raiyne explained to me that she encountered Abigale Quinlan 15 years ago, how Abigale Quinlan killed her parents, and inspired Raiyne to go on a 5-year-long hunt for Abigale. At least, before her conviction faltered and she took on a job as a high school teacher.
During this hunt, Raiyne made several connections, and when she saw me, inside of Abigale’s body, she decided to make use of them. All in order to help me with my new body, and prevent me from making an even bigger mess of my life.
Hours later, a van arrived to transport us to a military base. Going in, I put much trust in the authorities, hoping that they could help me out of my screwed up situation, and Raiyne did the same… but we were both proven wrong. When we were taken into the base, I was shot repeatedly, Raiyne was assaulted for standing up to me, and I was imprisoned. Once the doors were sealed, panic got the better of me once again and I was sedated, sending me into a slumber where… I lost another part of myself.
In the ensuing dream, I met Peatrice once again, who explained that he was never dead. That there was never any chip lodged inside my borrowed brain. That this was all part of his plan. Or rather, her plan. Peatrice revealed themself to be Abigale Quinlan, and that this entire body swap was all part of an elaborate game of hers. One where she wanted to see a teenage boy embrace her body and powers, but instead she got me.
“An asexual coward who wanted nothing to do with the body of a goddess.”
So she modified her plan, and… it got me here. Imprisoned and trapped with her in my mind. I was weak, I was defeated, and I had succumbed to despair. In this state, it was all too easy for someone with the intellect and intimidation of Abigale Quinlan to take advantage of me, and she did. She told me of her powers, what made her more than a human, and as she brought up a way for me to be with those I loved until the end of time… I found myself growing desperate, detached, and dehumanized.
I woke up a week later on December 31, 2014. I knew what Abigale’s body could do, that she was not just immortal, but a demigod. Meaning I could reshape matter however she pleased, create explosions with a snap of her finger, and perform truly inhuman feats of strength and agility. With this power, I was able to escape from the military base, fleeing through the danger, destroying million-dollar equipment within seconds, yet taking no lives.
My consciousness flickered on and off as I fled and bullets passed through my skull, but I eventually made it past the walls of this base, through the snowy fields outside, and achieved my freedom. I ran back to Oransen, making the most of my powers as I traversed all breeds of terrain, before I finally reached my house. I was met with Raiyne Underwood, waiting for me in my darkened home. She was disappointed with me for fleeing, for making an enemy of the military, but I did not care. I had a mission, and she played a role in it. That mission was to… preserve those I loved.
I then thrust my skin against hers, willed my desire into reality, and within a matter of minutes, I consumed her, absorbing her person and leaving behind nothing but her clothes. Raiyne Underwood was now a part of me, and I wasted little time making the most of that, transforming my body into hers and, fueled by Abigale’s influence, I ‘made the most’ of this situation. Using the form of Raiyne, my mother’s friend, my English teacher, I… pleasured myself.
I then left my home, still wearing Raiyne’s form, and met with my family and friends at Maxxie’s house. Once I was there… I attacked them. Zoe Xing, his mother, Shiaka Kurokawa, her parents and older sister, Maxxie Flare, her parents and younger sister Terra, the Flare family caretaker Babs, and my own mother, Caroline Steticks. I thrust my body against them, and I consumed them. I absorbed all they were into me, robbed them of the ability to live their lives, of the autonomy of being an independent lifeform. And as I did so, as I consumed this group of twelve, I lost my composure, degenerating into a hulking mass of flesh and flailing limbs.
Then, once I had absorbed them all, I launched a ‘final climax.’ A burst of unbridled ecstasy so great, so intense… that it made me lose consciousness.
I woke up to find not only the entire Flare household destroyed, but the entire town of Oransen. Everyone who lived here had perished. Not a single building remained standing. And as I took in this sobering reality. It was all destroyed and the only things that remained were… me. I remained standing in these ruins, and within my head, there were 13 voices. Voices of my loved ones. Voices of grief. Voices that would forever be trapped within my mind. Voices I could never stop hearing.
I walked from Maxxie’s house and throughout the town, witnessing the destruction firsthand, before I reached the remnants of Oransen High. It was there that the magnitude of my destruction truly set in, for I had the opportunity to compare the damages done by Abigale to what I had just ‘accomplished.’
“This was not done by my hand, but I did so, so much worse. All because… I could not accept my situation. I refused to be remembered like that. I refused to give up my friends. I refused to let my mother go all her life, thinking that her son was a killer… Well, I sure as shit proved them all wrong. I’m not a killer… I’m worse. I’m a rapist. I’m a mass murderer. I’m a true monster. And I didn’t have to be! If I had given up, I could have led a normal life, I could have saved everybody whose life I so callously stole from them. If I started anew, if I played along with Abigale Quinlan from the beginning, if I was who she wanted, this might have never happened. If I was stronger, this would not have happened. But I’m not. I didn’t do any of those things. And this is how it all ended. All that matters is what happened… and what happened couldn’t have been worse.”
“I really am worse than her, aren’t I? I’m worse than Abigale Quinlan.”
I then assaulted myself with the rubble around me, wishing for death, wishing for punishment, and there, at the lowest point of my existence, I was freed from this prison, and returned to Verde’s Domain.
“Jad… I cannot express how sorry I am,” Verde said, her voice quivering with sincerity.
“Verde, may I ask you a simple question?” I asked as I gripped my forehead, blocking my eyes
“ O-Of course Jad.”
“Do I have any reason to trust you after you subjected me to this hell? After being exposed to such damning and horrific things? I know what you are thinking, Verde, but I will not let you near my mind. Whatever trust I had for you has been demolished. You hurt me too much, and while these memories, along with the vile feelings they evoke, are ones I would rather live without, I would rather live with them than allow you to tamper with the inner workings of my brain.”
Verde looked to be on the verge of tears based on my words, but after what she subjected me to, I was not feeling even an iota of empathy toward her.
“Jad, please, please don’t… Look, this entire time, your actions, your emotions, they were not really your own. You were influenced by Abigale Quinlan’s body. She was in control of you even as you were moving her body as your own. She released pheromones that influenced those around you, having them want to be with you, trust you, to despise you depending on the person. You were tricked by a master, a genius who has gone insane as centuries passed. You did nothing wrong! This is my fault, all of it!”
“I am the idiot, the fool,” she continued, “the dimwitted ignoramus, the insufferable imbecile who dared to touch the foulness that is this Abigale Quinlan. I had the audacity to believe that a happy ending would happen from this scenario, a scenario I failed to review before subjecting you to it. I hurt you, I scarred you, and I… I fucked up! I really am a retard through and through! This is all a mess, all my fault, and I should be punished for making such a mistake, such a deadly and damnable decision. I do not deserve this power, this life, for I am flawed and unfit to hold the responsibility I do.”
“I am sorry Jad, beyond words,” Verde said as she brought her hands to her face. “I wanted to enrich your life, save you from an unsatisfactory and mediocre existence. One where you are unsuccessful, unsatisfied, and unhappy not only with your current position in life but your very self. I saw your future and knew that if I did not step in to help guide and enrich your life, you would be miserable, hateful, and too afraid to do anything but continue your actions. All while those you cherish and love drift away from you by your own accord, feeling as if you had grown apart from them. That you did not deserve their friendship. I wanted to save you from this existence, help you grow into a stronger person, into someone who would truly value and respect themselves.”
“But I made too many mistakes in pursuing that idea, and now… here we are.”
“Here you are, Verde,” I dismissively replied. “Thank you for telling me that. I will try to avoid ending up in such a miserable state. However… I still cannot trust you after what you put me through. It may have just been one mistake, it may have been genuine… but that does not change what happened to me. I’m leaving this pocket dimension of yours, and I will return home. I feel like I should thank you for everything you’ve done for me… but I don’t want to.”
“Is there really nothing I can do to make this up to you, Jad? Please, just—”
“Abschied, Verde Dusk.”
“…Ja, abschied, Jad Novus.”
Every night, I relive my time with Verde Dusk. And every night, I regret my actions even more. Verde Dusk was not a God, at least, she claimed she was not. She was a being with power beyond that of any human being, and one who, the more I think about it, loved and appreciated me. I just did not realize it at the time. Was I justified in my anger? Probably. But… it only took me a matter of hours before I began regretting my actions. I started going to sleep with the hope that she would take me into her Domain so I could apologize to her. But that never happened.
Every night, it was the same dream. Every night I was reminded of what I had and how… I lost it all.
The Dominance of Abigale Quinlan Main Page
Shard 00: The Novus Logs Volumes 1 & 2
Shard 01: 108 Days Later
Shard 02: Melancholic Mundanity
Shard 03: Another Day; Another Doubt
Shard 04: Fractured Family
Shard 05: Troublesome Tuesday
Shard 06: Despair And Die
Shard 07: The Enigmatic Sickness
Shard 08: The Erotic Fantasy (Osananajimi;Myself Part 3700)
Shard 09: The Egregious Downfall
Shard 10: The Oransen High Massacre
Shard 11: The Dark Metamorphosis
Shard 12: The Dominant Reflection
Shard 13: My Life As Jadigale Novus
Shard 14: Fade Unto Dusk
Shard 15: Re;Birth Unto Jade
Shard 16: Gender Reveal Party
Shard 17: Enter The Three Wives (Psycho Bullet Festival 2222 – Bout 21-2)
Shard 18: Novus X – Ten Years Later