Kingdom Fallen

Day Zero: Selected

Antornth could barely contain his excitement as his computer booted up. Today was the first day he and the rest of the gang would be recording a video together after the... Incident. At least that's what they agreed to call it, no one really spoke about it, and no one cared or wanted to. Josh had finally recovered from the ordeal, which was surprising in Ant's opinion. After the gang had discovered Death had been in cahoots with DannyDarko he didn't expect to find Josh mentally affected by the incident in any way, shape, or form.

Oh boy, how he had been wrong.

As it turned out, Josh had been blackmailed. However, it didn't justify his involvement. A solid five months passed from the extortion to the game. In that time frame, neither Josh nor Death said a thing. Through the many recording sessions, messages, calls, meet-ups, and social get-togethers-- not a single warning. Not a single hint. Ant was furious, and the others even more so. Mully had ripped Josh a new one, and Hubris had given it to Death the moment the duo had any time alone after the revival. To be honest, the only reason Ant had forgiven him was when he gave the crystal to Reaf so they could save the souls trapped inside. They were nowhere near the level of camaraderie they had once maintained, however, the dark thought a repeat may return.

We didn't win! It had been something he'd heard a detective-clad individual managing to sputter out through his uneven breathing. Anti's right! We've lost Night. It's only a matter of time before another grows enough spine to do this again.

What mattered now, however, was they put that behind them-- like they had been doing to some degree of success recently-- and somewhat returned to their lives. Even if that dark stain would never fail to be present.

Antornth typed in his password and the three dots appeared and spun in a circle before his computer unlocked. He instantly opened Discord and prepared his headset. He joined the call before standing up to shut his door, which closed with a thud as his microphone connected.

"So what game are we playing boys?" The voice of his friend Ayden, better known as Smashing, asked. He was currently tame, and Ant knew the fellow would stop being normal and begin to act like a human who was reverting to a monkey. He had a reputation for being insane just as Ant had one for being loud. Neither were gonna let that reputation be squashed by a single soundbite of them being the opposite of their internet personalities.

"Maybe Mafia, a stupid skit, or Prop Hunt," Mully was the first to reply. Ant noticed Josh, Gaege (better known online as JuicyFruitSnacks, or simply Juicy), and Grant (also better known as Your Narrator, or again simply Narrator), were still offline.

Please don't cancel, he silently prayed.

"So, Mafia, a random map, or Pavlov, got it," Smashing repeated.

"Not Pavlov--"

A glitchy, maniacal laugh. A haunted voice. "And your play?"

A response only a psychopathic mother could love, "Terminating the issue."

Eddie interrupted, "We found a different map for prop hunt that seems like it'll be fun."

"Nice! What's it called?"

"Uh, one second let me find it again," Eddie stammered.

"Ultimate Hunter," Antornth answered, readjusting his headset.

"Reekid! I did not see you join," Mully quickly took the opportunity to change the topic.

"I joined a couple of minutes ago," he answered with a small laugh. "No plan, that's new."

"Betcha it was left for Mully to decide, and the BFFR forgot," Eddie responded.

"Would not be surprised," Smashing replied with a laugh.

"HEY!"

Discord pinged as two more people joined the voice chat, Ant looked and saw Narrator and Josh had joined.

"Nice to see I'm not the last," Josh remarks.

"I'm pleasantly surprised I'm not last," Narrator added.

"So we're just on Juicy?" Smashing concludes.

"Yea-" Mully was interrupted by the sound of something shattering in the background.

"You good mate?" Josh implored.

"I'm fine, but something definitely broke, I'll be right back, going to check on the others..." Mully muttered before deafening.

Ant jumped when his phone buzzed; he quickly calmed himself before checking the message.

Narrator: Do you think it's happening again?

He noticed Eddie and Josh were the only other people in the chat, neither had a ... indicating they were typing so he responded with, What makes you think that?

Narrator's response was quick, Juicy isn't usually ten minutes late.

Josh: Narrator has a point and Anti was right, that ordeal only acted as a spark to encourage others to try it.

Faint footsteps echoed through someone's house, Ant looked up to see they were coming through Narrator's microphone, who simply said, "I'll be right back."

Eddie: Josh, are you still able to contact Reaf?

Josh: No. Disconnected from Limbo, you have to get Diablo.

Eddie: Fine. Someone inform Ayden of what's happening, Ant, be ready if this someone goes for you.

On the call, he said, "Hey, uh, Gabbie is calling me, if the others ever get back just text me," before leaving the call.

"Smashing, mate, remember when last year we all just randomly disappeared?" Josh suddenly broke the voice chat's silence.

"Yeah, you all said it was an unexpected vacation," Smashing replied.

"Well, we lied," Ant said, before noticing his screen glitch for a split second. He stood up and backed away confused as it glitched again. I think we have company, a voice in the back of his mind hissed as the screen began to glow a matrix, green-like hue.

"I have company," Ant growled as he, "and warning, someone is following in DannyDarko's footsteps."

"Danny-who now?" Smashing implored.

"No time to explain leave the call, he's moving like a computer virus," Josh snapped, as suddenly the ping noise of someone leaving the call echoed as someone (most likely Josh), kicked Mully, and Narrator from the call, and then Josh and Smashing left before Antornth noticed himself get kicked from the call too.

What happened next went by in a blur, what appeared to be a male jumped out of his computer and bit him in the chest. Ant quickly swapped control over to what Gaege dubbed 'their darker halves', whose reaction was to kick the man off of him and duck for cover.

Where the hell are your parents?! Destroyer snapped through the mind link as the intruder threw another punch at him, Destroyer caught the fist and kneed the male where the sun didn't shine.

They are at work! Ant replied. I'm sorry they are responsible, working members of society!

The intruder, seemingly not fazed by the attack at all, grabbed Destroyer's hair and pushed his head backward. Destroyer growled, before using his tongue to pull down his mask. The intruder tensed, as if knowing by simply speaking, Destroyer would bust his eardrums, however, he wasn't in the mood to destroy about two thousand, seven hundred thirty-nine Australian Dollars worth of stuff, so he yanked the intruder's hand towards him, and bit it.

The intruder yelped and let go of the teenager, not having expected to be bitten, which Destroyer used to pull his mask back up and retreat through the door. However, once he got past the doorframe, he felt something wrap around his legs, causing him to trip and fall. The intruder then knelt all his weight into the teenager's back, and Destroyer felt something small penetrate the skin of his neck before the world became fuzzy, then eventually black.