In the faraway tundra in the north of the Zafyre Empire, there was a large barren land, and a large array of carriages—at least a few hundred—were striding towards it. A few of these carriages came from the empire under the direct lead of the princess, and the rest of the hundreds came from different parts of the empire, with some arriving from beyond its borders to join here together.
This area was not completely barren; we can say not in the normal sense. Here grew those herbs which could only thrive in snowy terrain, and the beasts and monsters present were also of the ice element. After joining each other and arriving at the designated spot, the carriages came to a halt. A contingent of a hundred men stepped out, scanning the area with keen eyes, searching for any threats or anything that could pose a risk to the person inside who was very valuable to the empire.
It was none other than Princess Seraphina Von Zafyre. This was the area she had selected a few days ago; it was the perfect place to do what she had planned for so long. Seraphina's voice sounded loud and clear: "Bring out all the ladies. Tell them to be ready to use their charm skill at a moment's notice and remove the gold coins from the storage rings. Start spreading it in the form of small mountains."
It took a few hours for her subordinates to form ten hills of gold, each around the size of a ten-story building. It was a massive show of wealth; to do this, she had amassed almost two trillion gold coins. Buying and forcefully capturing women of different races was very difficult. Although in this day and age, slaves of different kinds existed, nymphs—ethereal beings—were very rare and even illegal to buy and sell in most of the empires and kingdoms.
So she had to scour the black market, and when that failed, she sent her personal brigade, which was supposed to be protecting her, to different areas to scour and capture nymphs, and that too under disguise and hidden from her father. Otherwise, she would have been cooked, quite literally, as those who committed the crime of capturing these beings, who were considered guardians of nature, were burned alive in a ceremonial march in front of all the subjects of the empire.
In collecting these coins and capturing these women, she had spent all her liquid assets and liquidated half her properties as well. If this process failed, the demon could kill her later, but she would kill herself first; she couldn't bear to see all these efforts go to waste. After all the preparations were done, the few thousand women lined up. They were willingly doing this because the princess had promised them freedom if her cause succeeded and even promised them enough money so they could live a life of leisure.
And hence, the summoning started.
"In the depths of night, I awaken the shadows, calling forth that which should never see the light. With blood upon my hands, I bind the unseen, drawing forth the darkness that lies beyond reality. By the echoes of the damned, I summon the lost souls, yearning to break the chains of their eternal torment. From the void where nightmares dwell, I beckon the ancient ones, craving the power that consumes all. I cast aside the veil of sanity, inviting chaos to seep into this world, as I embrace the darkness within. In the silence of the abyss, I offer my soul, a mere whisper in exchange for the power of the forsaken. Let the ground tremble and the air thicken, for I call upon the forces that devour hope and shatter dreams. In this cursed hour, I awaken the forgotten, unleashing the wrath of the abyss upon the living."
As the chilling words of the incantation echoed through the air, the atmosphere shifted with an unsettling intensity. Dark clouds swirled ominously above, blotting out the moonlight and casting the world into shadow. A crackling energy surged, igniting the sky with blazing forks of lightning that illuminated the landscape in stark, fleeting brilliance. Distant volcanoes rumbled to life, their molten fury erupting in fiery plumes that reached for the heavens.
A shockwave rippled through the realm, knocking the breath from those who stood witness and sending a tremor through the very ground beneath their feet. Ancient figures, guardians of forgotten lore, felt an instinctive shiver dance along their spines, their hairs standing on end as an unspeakable force awakened. Eyes widened in terror and awe as all gazes turned skyward, entranced by the purple lightning that descended like the fingers of a vengeful god, signaling the arrival of something beyond comprehension—something that should never have been summoned.
In that moment, the world held its breath, teetering on the brink of chaos as the boundaries between realms began to blur.
Back on Earth, Jasper's sight started to blur, and everything around him began to fade. His consciousness started to leave his body. He felt everything going wrong. He tried to log out of the game, but he couldn't. He even removed the headset, but still, even in reality, there was a vortex that sucked him in. And that was it; he disappeared out of existence, Or at least what he thought only his consciousness disappeared and he lay unconscious in his gaming cabin .
Meanwhile, his sister Mary, who had seen him disappear, thought not much of it, just as if it were a glitch. Maybe he would log in again. It wasn't as if anything extraordinary had happened; however much a game advances, it's still computer code—there are always glitches here and there. She waited and waited for five minutes… ten… twenty. She got impatient, logged out, and tried dialing his number on the holographic screen in front of her. It was due to her wristband; it was an Apple 6969, a very high-quality wrist phone that had everything in 9D. You could see almost everything as if it were happening in front of you. {Just kidding; it was as if it were happening to you. Hehe. Who let these children here? Where are their parents? Where were we? Aah, right.}
Mary called Jasper once… twice… thrice… fourth… tenth. She was scared a little. "What could have happened to him? Did he have any accident? No, she shouldn't have negative thoughts. She would just wait a few minutes and then try; maybe he went to the washroom or something."
Thirty minutes later, she called again—still no answer. She was done; she was horrified. All kinds of negative thoughts started to go through her mind. What could've happened? She called him once again for a last-ditch effort before calling her mother. "Mom, something happened to Jasper! He just kinda glitched out of the game, and it has been more than an hour. He neither joined the game nor picked up the phone. I am terrified!"
Her mother, who was on the 100th floor of The Ambrosia Building's restaurant, Astra Pearl, with her husband celebrating their anniversary, had a sinking feeling in her heart. She put down her fork, her hands shaking. "What do you mean glitched out?" she asked, her voice laced with concern, trying to make sense of what Mary was saying. "Is his phone still on?" she stuttered at last.
Mary's panicked voice only made her own anxiety spike. "Yes, Mom, it's on. I've called at least a hundred times! He's just… not answering."
Her mother glanced at her husband, her hand instinctively reaching for his, steadying herself. She knew Jasper was responsible and rarely missed his phone, let alone for this long. Thoughts raced through her mind—had something gone wrong with the game? Although it was rare for people to get hurt in the game, it wasn't that it had never happened. She tried to sound calm, but worry bled through. "Okay, Mary. Stay calm. Don't panic. We'll be there as soon as possible. Nothing will happen to him."
She exchanged a tense look with her husband, both on high alert, their anniversary all but forgotten as they prepared to return to their house as soon as possible.
Half an hour later, they arrived at their house and entered his gaming room. Everything seemed okay—no fire, no electricity problem, no nothing. As they opened the gaming cabin, there lay Jasper, quiet and asleep. "Haah," they released a sigh of relief. "Ah, making a mountain out of a molehill," Jasper's father remarked, getting a glare from his wife. "Were you hoping for something bad, you old man?" "What would we have done if something had happened to him?" said Jasper's mother as she gently tried to wake him up. But getting no response, she tried to shake him harder; still, nothing.
Jasper's father pushed her aside and started to shake him violently, but still, nothing. The couple panicked again. Adrian shouted in the room as if speaking to the room itself, "Arthur, call 911! It's a health emergency!"
Replied a middle-aged man's voice, "Calling 911 now." It was the house AI. In this day, most luxury houses had an inbuilt AI that could do most of the stuff like shopping, calling, even entertaining guests if they arrived and nobody was home. Adrian connected with 911 and told them everything that had happened.