•a painful separation <3
The moment of peace was as fleeting as a dream. Just as Selena and Liam's hands met, a blinding flash of red light erupted from thin air. It wasn't a screen this time, but a swirling vortex of angry, crimson energy, crackling with a furious, digital hum. The air grew thick and heavy, and a new kind of message, a voice without sound, screamed inside their heads.
"Warning: Unstable Plot Anomaly. User has merged with an unlisted variable. Files are corrupted. Immediate rerouting initiated. Transferring to hostile environment: 'The Sorcerer King's Wrath.'"
The voice, a cold and robotic echo of the System, was laced with a chilling finality. It wasn't just a threat anymore; it was an act of pure, enraged programming. The System hadn't just lost the game; its very code had been compromised. It was no longer a puppet master; it was a dying machine trying to purge a virus.
A second, smaller, but equally menacing screen appeared before them.
"Variables will be separated upon arrival. Variable 1 (Selena) will be inserted at the beginning of the plot. Variable 2 (Liam) will be inserted five years into the plot. Synchronization is a violation of protocol. Termination protocol initiated upon contact."
The message was a cruel joke, a final act of malice. It was sending them to the same hostile world, but at different times, ensuring they would be separated by a chasm of years. It was a punishment far more devastating than any physical pain—it was an emotional torment, designed to strip them of their one true ally.
The vortex roared to life, a vacuum of raw data and furious magic that began to pull them in. The dust on the aviary floor swirled and danced as the air was sucked into the swirling void. Selena and Liam held onto each other, their grip tight, a silent vow to fight to the very end.
But the force was too great. The world around them blurred into a chaotic stream of colors. The aviary, the city lights, the very sky—all stretched and distorted like a bad signal on an old television.
"Selena!" Liam's voice was a desperate, fading whisper. His hand was slipping from hers. "Find the nexus! The source of the mana… the King…"
The words were ripped from his mouth as a second, smaller vortex materialized just inches away from them, aimed directly at him. It was the System's final, cunning move, a cruel trick of separation.
Their fingers, once so tightly entwined, slipped apart. The physical connection was gone, replaced by a searing, emotional agony. The last thing Selena saw was Liam's face, contorted in a silent scream of defiance, his body being pulled into a different corner of the swirling chaos.
She was alone again.
The light swallowed her whole. It was a journey without time or space, a cacophony of digital noise and fragmented images. She saw glimpses of a new world: towering citadels of obsidian, a sky a sickly shade of green, and the shadowy silhouettes of grotesque monsters. This was the "hostile environment" the System had warned her about. This was a world of magic and fear, where power was everything and compassion was a weakness.
The portal spit her out with a jolt, landing her on a cold, unforgiving stone floor. The air was thick with the scent of ozone and something acrid, like burnt metal. The sky was the same sickly green, and the sun was a faint, bruised orb. She was in a grand hall, a place of oppressive elegance, with vaulted ceilings that disappeared into the gloom.
A new screen appeared, its message a stark, unsettling welcome.
"Welcome to 'The Sorcerer King's Wrath.' Role: The Cursed Princess. Objective: Secure your life by gaining the favor of the Sorcerer King. Failure will result in death. Good luck."
The screen vanished. A gasp escaped her lips. The Cursed Princess. In the original story of this world, the Cursed Princess was a minor character, a pawn whose only purpose was to be betrayed and sacrificed to the Sorcerer King to appease a malevolent entity. She had no clever skills, no political influence, and no way to subvert her fate. The System had finally found a game she couldn't win.
Her new body felt weak, her limbs strangely heavy. She looked down at her hands. They were smaller, more delicate, and a faint, glowing sigil was branded on the back of one, pulsating with a cold, malevolent energy. This was the curse. It was a visible mark, a sign of her powerlessness.
A voice, as cold and sharp as a shard of ice, echoed from the far end of the hall. "So you've arrived, Cursed Princess. I had been expecting you. It seems fate has a grim sense of humor."
A figure emerged from the shadows. He was tall and imposing, his eyes glowing with an eerie, magical light. This was the Sorcerer King, the malevolent protagonist of this new world.
Selena looked at him, her heart pounding a frantic rhythm against her ribs. She was a powerless princess, a cursed pawn in a world of monsters and magic. But she had a secret weapon. She was a master of logic, a master of loopholes. She was the ghost in the machine, and she had just been given a new game. She had to survive long enough to find Liam, five years into the future. She had to navigate a world of magic with only her wits. This was not a story of romance or political intrigue. This was a story of survival. And for the first time in her life, the game was truly a matter of life and death.