WarFall: Dominion – The First Strike
Date: March 20, 2010
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Aritra's Villa – Jadavpur, Kolkata
The gentle rustle of the evening breeze swept through the open balcony doors, carrying with it the faint scent of rain-washed earth from the lake behind the villa. Inside, the living room was dimly lit — the glow from the TV screen casting flickering shadows across the polished floor.
Katherine was sprawled across the sofa, her legs stretched out, toes wiggling absently as she scrolled through Omnilink on her sleek Nova Prime. Her usual simple black t-shirt hung loosely over her frame, paired with comfortable cotton shorts, her hair tied back in a low ponytail. Aritra sat at his desk, the soft blue hue of his laptop screen illuminating his face, though his attention kept flickering toward the TV.
The past two weeks had been a storm — not of chaos, but of sudden, silent dominance. The Nova Prime and Nova Pro had rewritten expectations, setting new benchmarks for mobile technology — unheard-of download speeds, zero-lag video calls, cameras that rivaled professional DSLRs, and battery life that lasted days instead of hours. Tech forums couldn't keep up. Reviewers struggled to find faults.
But tonight, the world was about to be hit with something else. Something even Aritra's closest advisors hadn't fully grasped yet.
Omnilink's live channel flickered to life, the bright red LIVE icon glowing in the top corner. The anchor's voice — crisp, excited, but carefully measured — welcomed viewers to what was being teased as "The Future of Mobile Entertainment."
Katherine squinted at the screen. "What's this about?" she asked, half-interested. She knew enough now to sense when something related to Aritra's companies was brewing — and his silence only confirmed it.
"You'll see," Aritra replied without looking up.
The broadcast cut to Aegis Gaming Headquarters, a gleaming new tower in Newtown, Kolkata, its glass façade reflecting the night sky. At the center stage stood Sandeep Rawat, the recently appointed CEO of Aegis Gaming, clad in a tailored suit, his slicked-back hair giving him the polished confidence of a man about to drop something historic.
"Good evening, gamers, creators, dreamers — and everyone who ever wanted more from their phone than just calls and texts," Sandeep's voice rang out, amplified by the massive screen behind him. "Tonight, Aegis Gaming is proud to introduce something no one believed was possible."
The screen flickered to life, displaying a sprawling open-world battlefield — rolling hills scarred by craters, ruined cities half-swallowed by nature, and distant airships descending from storm-filled skies. The graphics were cinematic-level — not cartoonish like the mobile games people knew — but eerily real.
"This," Sandeep continued, "is WarFall: Dominion — the world's first fully 3D, 400-player battle royale, built exclusively for the Nova Prime and Nova Pro."
Katherine's phone almost slipped from her hand. "Did he say… 400 players? On mobile?"
Aritra's lips quirked faintly, but he still said nothing.
The camera swept across the landscape, showing ten-player squads storming ancient castles, fighting off both enemy teams and AI-controlled monsters that roamed the map. Magic sigils lit up the sky, combining with futuristic plasma weapons in battles that made everything people had seen on PC look primitive.
"The first truly living battlefield, where magic and technology collide — every tree, every rock, every building destructible in real time," Sandeep continued, walking along the stage, his energy palpable. "This isn't a console game. This isn't for your PC. This is on your phone. And it's only possible because of Nova's revolutionary 5G network and hardware capabilities."
Katherine's eyes flicked to Aritra. "This isn't possible. Phones can't do that."
Aritra leaned back, arms folding loosely across his chest. "They couldn't. Until now."
The screen transitioned to show 12 fully developed maps, ranging from snow-covered mountain fortresses to sun-scorched deserts, neon-lit ruined cities to ancient underwater palaces. Each had distinct environmental challenges — sudden sandstorms, dynamic flooding, roaming bosses.
"Squads of ten," Sandeep added, "fighting for dominance — and fighting for survival against the environment itself. Monsters, from ancient dragons to cyber-enhanced beasts, stalk the landscape, dropping rare loot and magical abilities. Guns and spells — side by side."
The global chat feed — integrated into the broadcast — exploded.
This is fake. Phones can't handle that.400 players??? That's bigger than any PC game.No mobile graphics look like this. What the hell is this?INDIAN company did this??This has to be CGI.
Sandeep's smile widened. "And to make it even more interesting, Aegis Gaming is proud to announce the WarFall: Dominion Global Championship — the largest esports tournament in mobile gaming history, with a total prize pool of 100 million US dollars."
The chat froze. Then it erupted again.
100 MILLION? Liar!This is a prank, right?Who even has that money in mobile gaming?That's more than console and PC combined!
Katherine sat up straighter. Even she could feel the shift in the room — the sheer weight of what had just been announced.
Sandeep raised his hand. "Registration opens tomorrow — exclusively for Nova Prime and Nova Pro users. Regional qualifiers begin next month. The finals — in Mumbai, India — will decide the first WarFall World Champion."
A montage followed — high-speed, pulse-pounding clips of squads charging across battlefields, fireballs colliding with railgun blasts, massive dragons crashing through crumbling towers. All of it running in real-time, on mobile phones, the Nova Prime's UI faintly visible in the corner of the screen.
The chat descended into chaos.
Indian tech? Indian esports? This can't be real.India never does this. This is fake news.If this is real, it changes everything.
Katherine turned toward Aritra, her brow furrowed. "Is this… all yours?"
Aritra didn't reply. His eyes remained on the screen, his fingers tapping lightly against his forearm.
Date: March 20, 2010Time: 7:45 PMLocation: Aritra's Villa – Jadavpur, Kolkata
The Omnilink livestream kept surging, passing 110 million concurrent viewers — an all-time record for a technology or gaming broadcast. Every second, the chat scrolled at impossible speed, a chaotic blend of disbelief, excitement, nationalism, and outright denial.
On Aritra's laptop, Lumen automatically categorized the sentiment across platforms — social media sites, forums, gaming communities, and even private messaging boards. A cascading graph showed the sudden spike in mentions for:
Nova PrimeNova ProWarFall: DominionAegis GamingIndia Gaming Scene
Each keyword glowed brighter with every passing minute, fusing into a digital wildfire burning across the internet.
The global press wasn't far behind.
7:50 PM – International Tech Outlets Respond
On a split screen next to the livestream, Lumen pulled in live reactions from outlets around the world. The American tech portal TechEdge had gone live just minutes after the announcement. Their host, Jason Fields — a veteran who had covered every console war since the PlayStation 2 era — looked outright stunned.
"This isn't just a game announcement," Jason said, half to himself. "This is… someone rewrote what mobile hardware can even do."
He glanced at his co-host, Maria Chen, who was furiously typing notes.
"A hundred million dollars? For a mobile game tournament?" Maria muttered. "That's more than the entire combined prize pool of every major PC and console esports event of the last five years."
Jason shook his head. "Forget the money. The game itself. The textures. The draw distance. The physics simulations. No mobile hardware can do this — not Apple, not Samsung, nobody. What the hell is Nova running on?"
"Some sort of proprietary hardware," Maria guessed. "The press kit doesn't mention Snapdragon or any off-the-shelf ARM chip. Whatever they're using — it's custom."
Jason leaned forward. "And it's running on a network with no cell towers."
The chat on TechEdge Live exploded in parallel.
Indian hardware? LOL.It's fake. It's gotta be pre-rendered.China won't allow this in their market.If India pulls this off, it changes everything.I need that phone.
7:55 PM – European Telecom Reaction
In a sleek corporate boardroom in Frankfurt, executives from HeisenKomm, one of Europe's largest telecom operators, watched the stream in stony silence. They had spent the last decade investing billions into 4G infrastructure, planning to milk that investment until at least 2015.
Now, this.
A chubby executive in a navy suit broke the silence first. "We need to verify these speeds. They're claiming full 5G throughput on a satellite network. That's impossible."
Another shook his head. "If it's true, it's worse than impossible — it's catastrophic. Our infrastructure model collapses. No more spectrum auctions. No more tower leasing. This isn't an upgrade — it's a paradigm shift."
"Who the hell is funding this?" the CEO asked. "India's never led anything in telecom."
The room went silent. Because no one had an answer.
8:00 PM – Chinese Censorship & Quiet Fear
Across the border in Beijing, several members of the Telecommunications Regulatory Bureau watched in silence, their expressions unreadable.
"This product won't be allowed within our borders," one of them said quietly.
His colleague nodded. "We control the hardware ecosystem here. No foreign telecom can bypass our systems."
But even as they spoke, a quieter fear lingered.
Because they had seen the leaked internal specs of Nova Prime's hardware. And they knew China wasn't even close to matching it.
Not in 2010. Not by 2015.
8:15 PM – Competitor Tech CEOs React
In Silicon Valley, the CEO of Celestial Mobile, America's leading smartphone brand, paced his office, phone pressed to his ear.
"I don't care how they did it," he snapped. "What I want to know is whether we can block their entry into the US market."
His legal advisor's voice crackled over the line. "We have no grounds. Their patents are ironclad. Their hardware was certified by global standards bodies. And their network is independent — no reliance on our towers or spectrum."
The CEO cursed under his breath.
"Then we need dirt. Find anything. Labor violations, environmental concerns, hell — if their CEO swatted a fly in public, I want a report on it."
"Understood, sir."
He hung up and turned to his window, staring blankly at the California sunset.
He had spent his entire career preparing to fight Apple, Samsung, and Huawei.
He never saw Nova coming.
8:30 PM – Live Reaction on Omnilink – The Great Divide
Back on Omnilink, the livestream chat had split into two distinct camps.
On one side:
Indian tech supremacy, baby!Finally, we show the world!Can't wait to fry my enemies in 8K.WarFall is ours!
On the other:
Fake marketing hype. This isn't possible.No way Indian phones are better than ours.400 players? 8K? Magic and guns? Sounds like a cartoon.Let's see if they can even ship.
The global divide was stark — excitement bordering on nationalism from Indian users, mixed with outright disbelief and mockery from much of the West.
But the orders were already pouring in.
8:45 PM – Aritra's Calm Amidst the Storm
Katherine, leaning over the back of the couch, could barely process everything. "Are you seeing this? The world's losing its mind."
Aritra's gaze was still locked on the screen — but his mind was already several steps ahead.
The system interface hovered in his peripheral vision, data cascading rapidly:
Pre-orders: 1.2 million (India)Pre-orders: 3.6 million (Global)Projected Monthly Production Capacity: 2 million units
This wasn't just the launch of a game.
It was the launch of an ecosystem.
One that would redraw the global telecom, gaming, and hardware industries from the ground up.
And Aritra Naskar, the boy no one noticed just a year ago, was holding the brush.