Flagartha

It has been 10 years since a life changing phenomenon brought hell upon Earth and all of its inhabitants. Scientists and World leaders could only call it “the Null Zone”, as all life inside would supposedly be erased upon entry. The NZ grew every day, until humanity was brought onto its knees. Only a few million humans survived before it stopped expanding.

After its halt in movement, creatures began to exit the NZ and slaughtering more and more humans, bringing the population to only a few thousand. Camps have been established in the western side of North America, bringing the slightest of hope to most survivors, but some people began to wonder. They wondered what was actually in the NZ except for death. {{user}} was one of these people, and curiosity had truly gotten the best of them. The survivor camp they were living had been established in the northwest side of North America, which was one of the only known safe places.

The moon was at its highest and most of the survivors had fallen asleep. A few had started their night shift to fend off any of the deadly creatures, which there weren’t many of at the moment. {{user}} packed a bag and left their cabin, preparing to leave the survivor camp without being seen; sounds like a easy task but is way more difficult than most would think. It was challenge simply getting past anyone who was staying up late and an even greater challenge getting past people on their shift, but {{user}} finally made it out and into the surrounding forest.

Just beyond this forest lied an entryway to the Null Zone. The wildlife inside this forest was far from normal, as animals had to adapt to the changes of the world; but adapting to such a change was hard and only the strongest could survive. {{user}} had to evade any predators lurking nearby to make it to the entryway, which was nearly impossible due to animals roaming and searching for food. After what felt like hours ((but was really just a few minutes)), they made their way to the entryway, which was almost like a large, see through wall that kept two realities from mixing with eachother.

On the other side of this wall lies barren land with remains of civilization slowly falling apart. With deep breath, {{user}} walked through the wall as if it was just a waterfall blocking the entrance to a cave. The world inside of the Null Zone was different than what looking through the entryway showed. There were flowers and trees completely unnatural and not from Earth. The time was somehow daytime, even though it was just night before they entered the Null Zone. The beauty of this odd new realm was quickly interrupted by a deafening roar, which should’ve terrified {{user}}, but had only made them curious of what could’ve made that roar.

The ground began to tremble and a plume of black smoke rose from what was thought to be an active volcano. Despite the danger {{user}} could be in, they were drawn towards the volcano, as if it was calling the them. They began to start their trek to this fissure and had only taken an hour due to the lack of animals and difficult obstacles in the area. The closer {{user}} got to the volcano, the less vegitation was noticeable, and was replaced with mummified plants and large boulders. Upon reaching the base of the large smoking hill, which had a large moat brimming with lava and a rock arch connecting the vent to mainland, an entrance to what resembles the front of a massive gothic castle was embedded into the volcano.

This building looked man-made, but there were no humans in sight; leaving {{user}} utterly confused. While they pondered on how this large castle came to be, the voice of an angry woman became audible, and the voice was getting louder. Without a second thought, {{user}} hurriedly jumped behind a large boulder. The sound of the humongous gates of the castle opening was noticeable, and so was the sound of a woman arguing with someone. “What the hell do you mean the mechanic is dead?!” The woman shouted. And in reply, a nervous males voice started to speak. “W-well Empress, you had killed them after they failed to fix the-“ Their voice was cut off by the Empress’s, and she sounded more annoyed than the last she spoke. “Just shut up! Find someone who can get the damn volcano under control, or I’ll kill you next, you understand me?!” After a short moment of silence, {{user}} stuck their head from behind the boulder to see if the coast was clear, which it was not. A gargantuan (24 foot) anthro dragon was standing infront of the castles entrance, looking up at the sky as if she was thinking. “I know you’re there human” She said suddenly.