Jamal groaned as he blinked his eyes open, his head pounding badly. Squinting for a moment, he pulled himself up and looked beside him. Jordan was also stirring from whatever madness had just occurred.

“Jordan…” he muttered. “You good?”

“Define good,” Jordan replied groggily, sitting up next to him. “What… what even happened?”

“Not the slightest ide… what in the world…”

“Dayuuummmm…”

They both froze as their surroundings came into focus.

Gone were the ruins and overgrown vegetation. Instead, they found themselves in a vast, opulent hall. Replete with grand chandeliers, towering columns and rich tapestries lining the walls, this was a sight their eyes had never, ever beheld before. The marble floors shimmered under the light of the chandeliers, the ceiling painted with vibrant murals of mythical battles and serene skies, and servants bustled about, carrying trays of fruit and goblets of wine in their silken robes.

The duo breathed loudly in disbelief. This was such a glorious sight. But it was so contradictory to where they had been a few moments ago.

“Dude… what is this?” Jamal whispered, his voice barely audible.

“I don’t know,” Jordan replied, his jaw slack. “But-but this definitely isn’t the ruins. Did we… die or something?”

Jamal touched himself, then shook his head. “Can’t be. Our flesh is still intact. I haven’t got a clue what’s going on.”

“Bruh, this is really spooky. Super spooky.”

They exchanged a glance, their confusion mounting as they continued to wonder how they arrived there.

They stepped forward, looking around and shaking their heads. “Hot damn, this place is unlike anything I’ve ever seen in my life,” Jamal remarked, his voice still shaky.

“For real, man. This is one insane– wait a minute. Look!”

Jordan pointed in front of them, where in the center of the room, a royal couch stood on a raised dais. Reclining in it was a man of commanding presence, dressed in ornate robes of crimson and gold. His dark hair was tied back, and his face, albeit cheerful as he spoke to a servant serving him wine, bore the marks of a man who had seen countless battles.

Jordan frowned. “That… that’s supposed to be a king, right?”

Jamal squinted. “Yeah. But… look at those marks on his face. Kinda gives off warrior vibes.”

“Yeah, yeah, true… wait. Bro. Is that… is that the Aric guy Abryann was talking about?”

Jamal frowned. “That can’t be possible. She said he lived in the 19th century or something, right? That’s like the 1800s. There’s no way we could have travelled back in time. That’s not possible.”

“But how else do we explain this, man? One minute we were in the ruins, taking crazy pics. Suddenly, we’re here. Jamal, I think we triggered something back there. The wall, the inscriptions, the glowing… this isn’t some strange coincidence, man. We’re either in the world’s most elaborate LARP, or we’ve been transported to the past, coz this don’t make…”

“Well, hot damn!”

Jordan looked at his friend, whose attention had been captured. A group of young ladies in white glimmering bodysuits had gathered a distance away, giggling and chattering among themselves. They were all slim, slender and good-looking.

Exactly the kind of girls Jamal liked.

His expression of worry had given way to a smug smirk as he gazed at them. “Lawd have mercy, those are some damn fine hunnies over there! This place definitely isn’t lacking in anything beautiful. Nice sets of legs all around.”

Jordan stared at him in disbelief. Of all the times to ogle over girls, Jamal picked this time?!

“Are you for real right now!” he hissed furiously. “We’re stuck in some strange dimension, and you’re thinking about girls? Really, Jamal Pierce! Really?!”

Jamal wildly gestured at him to calm down. “Relax, broski! Relax! I know we’re in a weird place right now. That doesn’t take away my ability to admire beautiful creations, does it?”

Jordan rubbed his eyes in frustration. “This is not the time–“

“Bro, just calm down, okay? I’m just admiring them. It’s not as if I’m going for any good-good from them, anyways… or wait, wait. Dude, maybe we can find out from them how we can get out of here! Hold on, lemme talk to them! Gimme a moment!”

“Jamal, wait!” Jordan called out after him.

No use, Jamal was already excitedly walking towards them, ready to speak to them. Whether he really did have that in mind or not was to be seen.

He stepped in front of one of the concubines, and slyly started. “Hello, beautiful lady.”

She walked right through him as if he were nothing more than a shadow.

The smugness turned to extreme shock. He stared at Jordan, who had turned white with fright himself at the sight of that occurrence.

“What the hell?” Jamal whispered. He looked at his hand, then waved it in front of another concubine’s face.

No reaction.

He stepped back, running to join Jordan. “Okay, this is officially freaky,” he said, his tone sharp. “We’re invisible now?”

Jordan was frozen, unable to utter a word.

Jamal grabbed his friend’s arm. “What the hell did we trigger back there? We shouldn’t have read out that writing on the wall, should we?”

Jordan turned slowly to him, nodding, the fright apparent in his eyes. “Y-y-yeah.”

Jamal began to tremble. “Jordan, th-th-this isn’t a joke anymore. This is bad. This is really bad.”

“Yeah. We gotta get out of here. ASAP!”

“Absolutely! Bro, we gotta find the door and find our way out. There’s got to be a way out of here…”

Jamal was short as a little rumble reverberated through the palace, causing the chandeliers to sway. Servants near the grand doors paused for a moment, their expressions clouded with concern.

“What’s happening?” Jordan asked, panic creeping into his voice.

“I don’t know, but it doesn’t feel good,” Jamal replied, scanning the room. “This doesn’t feel good. This feels really bad…”

Suddenly, the grand doors at the far end of the hall burst open, and chaos poured in.

Armed attackers stormed the palace on horses, the blades of swords and spears gleaming under the chandelier lights. Servants and concubines began to scatter in terror, running for their lives.

Before their very eyes, Jamal and Jordan watched in abject horror as these attackers slashed their way through, and a wave of servants and concubines fell in screams, blood splattering the pristine marble floors.

Jordan felt sick to his stomach. “What the hell is this?” he screamed.

“I don’t know, but we need to get out of here!” Jamal cried, grabbing his hand and dragging him toward the dais.

The two ran towards a corner of the hall as the massacre carried on, the strange men showing no mercy to anyone in their way. Nestled up in the corner, they watched on as the horrid bloodbath unfolded in front of them.

Words could not describe how viscerally awful the scenes before them were. The ruthlessness with which innocent, unarmed people were stabbed and struck by these warriors. This was like standing right in the middle of the Red Wedding. And considering how frightful the two friends found the scene when they first watched it, this was ten times more horrific.

“This is horrible. So freaking horrible,” Jamal whimpered, tears running down his cheeks as he trembled violently.

Jordan, also shaking fiercely, nodded. “Yeah. Look at what they’re doing to them. Bruh, this is just awful. Cutting them down like trees.”

“I swear on my granny’s grave, when we get outta here, I’m never playing another war game for as long as I –“

“Aaaaaaagghhh!”

The duo nearly jumped out of their skins at the sound of that cry of agony. They turned in the direction of the yell, and saw Aric leaning against his royal couch, clutching a bloodied arm and groaning in pain.

Jordan shook his head. “Good lord, this is horrible. I can’t believe we’re witnessing this…”

“Look!” Jamal pointed.

An attacker with a spear in hand walked slowly towards the injured Aric, speaking in a language they couldn’t understand. They held their breath, wondering what he was saying.

“What is he saying?” Jamal wondered.

“I dunno, but it looks like he’s pretty mad at him,” Jordan answered.

Right after the words left his mouth, the attacker threw the spear at Aric.

It went right through his neck, killing him instantly.

The duo shrieked in fright. More tears spilled out of their eyes as they observed the warrior lying lifeless against the couch, the spear having gone right through his neck.

This was as gruesome as it could get. And they were beyond traumatized at that point.

“Get me out of here, man, get me out of here!” Jamal wailed. “Please, just get me out of here!”

Jordan, every bit as mortified as his friend, patted him on the back.

The assailant walked over to the dead body, and yanked out the spear with relentless force, ripping Aric’s head off.

Their stomachs hurled violently at the sight. Roadkill was enough to make them queasy, so this was beyond nauseating.

“Oww, sick!” Jamal moaned.

“I think I’m gonna throw up,” Jordan agreed, a wave of nausea washing over him.

But before his stomach could begin to release its contents, the attacker stopped.

Then he turned his head in their direction.

“Hai!”

A brand new wave of fright gripped the two as the assailant yelled at them. “No-no-no-no-no-no-no,” Jamal whispered.

“I thought we were invisible! I thought we were invisible!” Jordan wailed. “What’s going on?”

The assailant began to run toward them, his spear lifted high.

Whatever cloak of invisibility they had been covered with had been taken off. And this man was ready to add them to the bloody statistics.

“NOOOOOOOO!!” Jamal screamed.

“HE’S GONNA KILL US!” Jordan yelled.

They both scrambled to their feet, ready to spring away. Jamal was the first to move, running as fast as he could.

“LET’S GO, JORDA–“

The bloody spear flew through the air and connected with Jamal’s head, throwing him to the floor and ending him instantly.

Jordan stood frozen, the sight of his friend’s damaged head before him.

Then he let out a loud, bloodcurdling scream.

“NOOOOOOOO! JAMAAAAAALLLLLLL!”

Absolutely horrified at what just happened, the terror temporarily blinded him to the incoming attacker, who was pulling out his sword to deal with him.

It was only when he heard the sound of the sharp blade that he turned.

And saw it aimed at his head.

“NO–“

The blade landed…

… and instant darkness followed.

Damn! They got killed in the massacre? That’s horrible! What’s gonna happen now?