The world blinked out like a dying screen.
Then Lin slammed onto cold, jagged ground. A metallic clang echoed as his palms hit the floor.
He pushed himself up, blinking.
Gone were the rolling pastures and swirling winds. Instead, spires of blackened iron rose all around him, twisted like ribs of a dead giant. The air was thick with a metallic tang. A faint drip, drip, drip echoed through the dark.
Lin squinted. The ground beneath him wasn't dirt. It was iron plates and rusted, stained a dark red.
> "Uhhh…" he muttered, looking around. "This… doesn't look like a pasture anymore more like a bloddy hell hole."
He stepped forward and nearly slipped.
The floor was slick with… something.
He sniffed. "Is that… blood?"
A crimson drop fell from above. Lin glanced up.
Overhead, massive chains swung from unseen ceilings, each dripping slow rivulets of glowing red liquid. The chains stretched into the darkness, as though the sky itself were bleeding.
---
Alone at Last
"Crystal?" he whispered.
No response.
"Nyra? Elara?" His voice echoed, swallowed by the dark.
Nothing.
He swallowed hard. "Okay. This is fine. Totally fine. Just alone in a biome full of… murder décor."
His system UI flickered weakly.
> [System Message: Connection Weak – Biome Interference Detected.]
"Great. My GPS doesn't even work now." Lin put his hands on his hips, scanning the spiky horizon.
Then he said, "Where's the Avatar now, huh? I've been through air, earth, probably fire and water… what's next? Bloodbending robots?"
As if in answer, something clanged deep within the biome.
---
First Signs of Life
From the shadows between the metal spires, shapes emerged.
They weren't beasts. They were humanoid — tall, skin glinting like polished steel. Their eyes glowed dull crimson, veins pulsing with liquid light. Their movements were jerky, mechanical yet disturbingly alive.
Lin stepped back. "Nope. No. I'm not fighting Terminator vampires today."
One of the creatures opened its mouth. Rows of metallic teeth dripped red fluid. Its voice was a grinding hiss:
> "Intruder… flesh detected…"
Lin raised his hands. "Hey, guys. I'm just here for the tour you go your way I go mine"
The creature's chest opened, revealing a rotating barrel of spines.
"—aaaand that's my cue to leave."
---
First Funny Death
He tried to Wind Step away. The air here felt sluggish, heavy with iron. His dash stumbled.
A metallic spike shot out from the creature's chest and skewered his sleeve, pinning him to a spire. Another creature leapt, its arms extending like blades.
Lin screamed, "I AM NOT A SHISH KEBAB!"
[Respawn]
He reappeared further down the spiked corridor, gasping. "I hate this biome. I hate everything about it."
---
The Biome Reveals Itself
A voice echoed — not the cloaked man, not Crystal. It was deeper, like metal grinding on bone:
> "WELCOME TO THE BIOME OF BLOOD AND METAL.
YOUR FLESH IS FUEL. YOUR BONES ARE WIRE."
Chains rattled. The iron spires pulsed with crimson veins. The humanoid creatures began moving toward him again, their claws scraping the ground.
Lin held his hands up, backing away. "Okay. This is actually worse than the tornado. At least the tornado didn't want to eat me."
He tripped over a small piece of metal sticking out of the floor. It was a skull. A metallic skull, half-filled with dried blood.
He dropped it, shuddering. "I've definitely left the Avatar world."
---
The chains above him shifted. A huge shadow dropped from the ceiling — a colossal beast, part-machine, part-flesh, with piston-driven limbs and a chest that glowed like a forge. Its roar was the sound of tearing steel.
Lin stared up, pale. "You've got to be kidding me."
Its claws slammed down inches from him, sparks flying. The ground shook.
Crystal's voice flickered back, faint and distorted: "Host… survive…"
The beast opened its mouth, a saw-toothed grinder dripping molten blood.
Lin whispered, "I want my tornado back Mommy…"
To be continued…