Pain.

Real pain. Not the dull buzz of haptic feedback or the tingle of a VR stim-suit.

This was raw, white-hot, muscle-splitting agony.

Kael Juno screamed.

His lungs convulsed. His back arched against cold stone. Fire poured through his veins and sealed his mouth shut like steel.

Then—

[SYSTEM SYNC COMPLETE.]

The pain stopped.

Kael gasped. Trembling. Choking on air he hadn’t even realized he was breathing.

A blue screen hovered in his vision:

Welcome to BLOODCORE ONLINE
Status: Full-Dive Interface Engaged
Neural Integration: 100%
Player ID: ZERO
Class: UNASSIGNED
Warning: Data Anomaly Detected
Location: Zone 1 – Ashfall Courtyard

“What the hell…” he rasped.

Ash dust swirled around him, carried on a hot wind. Stone walls loomed like broken teeth. A courtyard—shattered and ancient.

He could smell sulfur.
Screams in the distance.
Steel on steel.

He wasn’t alone.

Around him, other players. Some screaming. Others vomiting. A few unconscious. A handful trying to stand.

Someone nearby yelled, “This isn’t a launch event! What is this?!”

“Log out! Someone—LOG US OUT!”

Kael checked again.

No logout.
No menus.

Just that same blinking message:

DATA ANOMALY DETECTED.

Then the sky dimmed.

A shadow passed over the courtyard.

Kael looked up—and saw it.