They didn't land on ground this time.
They landed in chaos.
THUD—CRASH—AAAA—WHY ARE THERE SPEARS—?!
Aria rolled across burning dirt, coughing on smoke.
Dev barely caught Mira before she fell into a ditch of flaming arrows.
Kian faceplanted into a shield.
Yuvan screamed because a horse looked at him wrong.
Rhea blinked repeatedly.
"…Where ARE we?!"
The world around them exploded in every direction:
⚔️ Soldiers in armor clashed swords
🔥 Catapults hurled balls of fire
🌪️ Smoke choked the sky
🏰 A massive castle loomed in the distance, under siege
⚡ Lightning crackled unnaturally through the clouds
And above the battlefield, hanging like a glitching moon—
A red ring of corrupted code.
Ravi's voice cracked.
"Oh no. This story is infected too… the corruption followed us."
Aria stood quickly. "Guys—this is STORY THREE."
Zoya screamed over the thunder of war,
"WHY IS EVERY ROUND GETTING WORSE?! I MISS ROUND ONE'S ROMANCE—AT LEAST THEY HAD GOOD HAIR!"
A trumpet blared.
A commander shouted orders.
Arrows rained from the sky.
Mira gasped, "WE NEED TO MOVE—NOW!"
Because a soldier sprinted toward them yelling,
"GET DOWN!"
And a flaming boulder crashed exactly where they had been standing.
---
THE KINGDOM OF ASHENFALL
The scroll materialized midair with a violent burst of red light.
STORY 3: ASHENFALL – THE CURSE OF THE SHATTERED KING
Objectives:
1. Reach the castle.
2. Find the King.
3. Break the curse before dawn.
Warning: The battlefield is alive.
Yuvan screamed, "THE WHAT IS ALIVE—?!"
Before Ravi could explain, the ground beneath them rumbled—
and a pile of broken armor pieces came alive, forming a knight-shaped monster.
Zoya shrieked, "THE METAL IS POSSESSED?!"
The armor creature swung a jagged sword.
Kian dodged, yelling,
"I'M NOT READY FOR MEDIEVAL DEATH!"
Dev grabbed a fallen spear. "RUN NOW, ANALYZE LATER!"
They sprinted through the chaos as the armor monster chased them—
its steps clanging like thunder.
---
THE WOUNDED SOLDIER
As they ran, they stumbled upon a young soldier collapsed beside a burning wagon.
Blood stained his armor.
His breathing was shallow.
His eyes flickered open weakly.
Aria knelt beside him. "Hey—hey, stay with me!"
The soldier coughed, gripping her arm.
"You… you're not from the kingdom… are you?"
Dev muttered, "No sir, we are from the kingdom of We Don't Belong Here."
The soldier pulled out a sealed letter.
A royal crest burned on the wax.
"Take this… to the King…" he whispered.
"Only he can stop… the Nightfall Curse…"
A sword shattered nearby, spraying sparks.
Aria nodded fiercely.
"We'll deliver it. I promise."
The soldier managed a weak smile—
Then dissolved into golden particles.
Mira gasped. "He wasn't even a real person… he was a memory fragment."
Ravi's face went pale.
"That means the real curse killed them. All of them."
Before they could mourn,
the armor monster lunged again.
---
THE FIRST NEAR-DEATH MOMENT
The armor knight swung its massive blade toward Rhea.
She froze.
Too fast.
Too close.
"MIRA—!" Rhea cried.
But Mira wasn't close enough.
The blade was inches from slicing Rhea—
Dev sprinted forward with impossible speed.
He shoved Rhea out of the way—
SSSSLLLLASHHHH—!!
The blade cut across Dev's shoulder.
Blood splattered.
Zoya screamed.
Mira screamed.
Rhea screamed the loudest.
"DEV!!!"
Dev staggered, clutching his shoulder—
blood soaking through his clothes.
Kian's entire face drained.
"OH MY GOD—GUYS—HE'S BLEEDING. LIKE—REAL BLEEDING."
Ravi shouted,
"The game made this REAL! We need to move NOW before he loses more blood!"
The armor knight raised its blade again—
aiming at the weakened Dev.
Aria snarled, "NO."
She grabbed a fallen shield and slammed it into the monster's head.
"Yuvan! Kian! Block it!"
Yuvan grabbed a dented helmet as a "weapon."
Kian grabbed a broken spear.
They swung wildly—
missing everything—
but distracting the monster enough to pull Dev to safety.
Mira ripped part of her sleeve and pressed it on Dev's wound.
"Stay with us, Dev. Please."
Dev winced but forced a grin.
"I'm fine… just dramatic bleeding…"
Rhea sobbed, "DON'T JOKE RIGHT NOW YOU ALMOST DIED."
Aria looked at Ravi.
"Can he survive? Through the round?"
Ravi swallowed hard.
"If he loses more blood… no."
Silence.
Except for the battlefield screaming around them.
Kian whispered,
"We have to finish this round FAST."
---
THE CURSED KING APPEARS
A deep horn echoed across the valley.
The battlefield froze.
Even the monsters stopped moving.
A cold voice boomed from the castle:
"WHO ENTERS MY FALLEN LAND?"
Lightning cracked.
The castle gates opened.
A tall figure emerged.
The Shattered King.
Armor broken.
Crown cracked.
Eyes glowing with red corruption.
His cape burned like living fire.
His voice rumbled like thunder.
"You bring me a message."
Aria held up the sealed letter.
The king raised a hand—
and the letter ripped from her grasp, flying to him.
He opened it—
read—
and his expression twisted into grief.
"My son…" he whispered.
"My kingdom…"
The sky trembled.
The corrupted code ring above them pulsed like a living wound.
Ravi muttered,
"Something has infected this story too."
The king's sorrow turned into rage.
He pointed at the group.
"You wish to break my curse?"
Aria nodded, wiping sweat and blood from her face.
"Yes."
"Then…" the king growled,
"you must survive the Nightfall Trial."
The earth split open beneath them.
Fire shot into the sky.
Dev nearly collapsed from blood loss.
The king's voice thundered—
"Let Round 3 truly begin."
---