Cursed Realm

"This here is the Cursed Realm... a place of where the souls of the doomed are sent once they are preserved within the Summoning Key... This whole plan... was unknowingly just a ticket to our eternal demise."

- Origins Ludvig Maxis

The Cursed Realm was a location featured in an altered version of Call of Duty: Black Ops III 's Zombies storyline. It is an alternate dimension, located in the belly of the giant Apothicon being.

History
In the non-canon version of the Zombies storyline, souls preserved within the Summoning Key are actually transported and banished into the Cursed Realm, where their essence is absorbed by the Apothicon being.

In Shadows of Evil, the four cursed souls manage to use the Summoning Key to capture the Shadowman, ultimately banishing him to the Cursed Realm. Inside the realm, the Shadowman was bounded in chains where the Pack-a-Punch Machine would be found, where he would remain imprisoned for a while.

After the Summoning Key was claimed by the Origins Edward Richtofen, he teleported to Der Riese, where the rest of the Origins Crew where, along with his original self. After shooting the original Edward Richtofen in the head with an MR6, the Origins Richtofen used the Summoning Key to capture his original self's soul, unaware that the Summoning Key was a way to banish souls. With that, the original Richtofen was banished to the Cursed Realm and placed in a pod by a green pool of the Apothicon's stomach acid, directly in front of the Shadowman's imprisonment.

After killing the original Dempsey at Griffin Castle, Richtofen captures the original Dempsey's soul within the Summoning Key, banishing it to the Cursed Realm. There, he was also placed in a pod directly across from the original Richtofen's pod.

After Takeo beheads his original self, Richtofen captures his soul, also banishing it to the Cursed Realm, where it was also placed in a pod to the left of the original Richtofen's.

After Nikolai brutally shoots his original self, Richtofen collects his soul, banishing it to the Cursed Realm like the other souls. Like the other original souls, he was placed in a pod to the right of the original Dempsey's.

Around this time, the Shadowman somehow managed to break free of his imprisonment, where he was able to contact the Origins Maxis once the Origins Crew arrived at the House. Convincing Maxis to take the Summoning Key, the Shadowman tricks Maxis into freeing the Shadowman in exchange of taking his place in the Cursed Realm. As a result, Maxis was absorbed into the Summoning Key, banishing him to the Cursed Realm while the Shadowman manages to escape. Now free, the Shadowman destroys the world, turning it into a set of floating islands. There, he manages to summon the giant Apothicon beast which contained the Cursed Realm within its belly to patrol the skies above the islands.

After the Origins Crew manage to entrap the Apothicon beast within a Death Ray trap, the heroes enter the beast through its mouth, where they arrive at the Cursed Realm. There, they find their original souls trapped within the pods, where they tried to free them, but they couldn't. Origins Richtofen then notices Maxis bound in chains and tries to break the chains, but Maxis says that no mortal can escape the cursed chains. Maxis tells the group that their plan was flawed drastically, saying that he failed to realize the true purpose of the Summoning Key. Maxis then tells the heroes that they must stop and destroy all of the Apothicons, with Richtofen stating that if they destroy the Apothicon beast, they would ultimate destroy the Cursed Realm and kill all of those trapped within it. Maxis confirms this, but tells them its better to save the entire universe than to save five weakened souls trapped for eternity. With that, the Origins Crew leave the beast through a rift found within it.

After defeating the Shadowman, Monty ultimately uses his powers to destroy the Apothicon sun. As a result, a black hole is created, ultimately sucking in all of the Apothicons and all of the damage they caused, ultimately destroying the Cursed Realm and killing all of its inhabitants. However, the soul of the original Richtofen managed to escape his pod and escape the realm prior to its destruction.

Trivia

 * The concept and name of the Cursed Realm is primarily based off of the realm of the same name from Lego Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu.