The night of the Festival was brighter than any before it.
Robloxia City pulsed with color and music — floating lanterns drifted through the sky, fireworks boomed over the glass towers, and laughter spilled from every street. It was the one night of the year when the entire city came alive, when creators and coders danced side by side.
To everyone, it was joy.
To one man, it was the end of peace.
007n7 moved through the crowd, hood drawn low, keeping his face turned from the light. He could feel eyes on him — even in the chaos, even through the cheers. He knew they were there.
Not far behind, Builderman and Shedletsky cut through the crowd like a shadow and its echo. Their faces were calm, but their intent was steel.
"You're sure he's here?" Builderman's tone was low, almost buried beneath the music.
"He never misses the Festival," Shedletsky replied. "He wants to be seen. Just not caught."
---
Across the plaza, others moved through the festival unaware of what was coming.
Elliot lingered by the fountain, uneasy but unsure why.
Chance laughed nervously with Two Time near a food stall, both pretending not to notice how strange the air felt tonight.
Dusekar and Taph stood side by side, saying little — Taph couldn't speak at all, though his eyes said more than any words could.
Noob shuffled along the path, keeping his head down, hands stuffed in his pockets, trying to ignore the pounding noise of fireworks overhead.
They were ordinary lives, ordinary moments — and in a single blink, they were all erased.
---
It happened in silence.
The fireworks froze in midair. The crowd's cheer warped and fell away. The music stopped, stretched, then vanished entirely.
Every light in Robloxia dimmed at once.
The towers folded into mist.
The ground itself seemed to dissolve, like code being deleted line by line.
There was no time to scream, no time to run.
In one instant, Robloxia was gone — eviscerated, wiped clean from existence.
And in the next, they were somewhere else.
---
Cold air hit first.
They stood in a forest that didn't belong anywhere — tall black trees swaying under a blood-red sky. The soil beneath their feet was damp and dark, like it had soaked up centuries of rain and rot.
No one spoke.
Builderman steadied himself first, brushing off his coat, eyes scanning the shadows.
Shedletsky was already on alert, hand near his holster.
007 stood apart from them, silent, staring ahead at something deeper in the trees.
There — a cabin.
It leaned to one side, roof caved slightly, smoke curling weakly from its chimney. There was no sign, no name. Just a door, slightly open, letting out a faint flicker of light.
"Where the hell are we?" Chance muttered, voice shaking.
Dusekar took a step forward, hesitated. "Looks like… a lobby?"
"No," 007 said quietly. "This isn't any place Roblox made."
They approached together — the survivors and the admins.
When Builderman pushed the door open, the hinges groaned. The cabin's inside was dim, filled with the smell of damp wood and ash. The lantern light quivered against the walls.
And in the middle of the room, sitting silently by the cold hearth, was Guest.
He didn't move when they entered. He didn't blink. Just watched them — eyes pale and distant, like someone seeing the world for the second time.
No one dared speak.
The door shut behind them with a quiet thud.
The lantern flickered, then went out.
Darkness swallowed the cabin.
And then, from everywhere and nowhere, a voice whispered through the dark — low, fractured, and cruel:
"Welcome… Forsaken ones."
The nightmare had begun.