Apocalypse Now was a small guild hall, but that was to be expected as it was literally created just as a way to celebrate Yggdrasil's upcoming apocalypse aka the shutdown of all its servers. As befitting the place where several long time players were going to spend their final moments though, the small mountain fort was decorated with all sorts of expensive and random items as a way to show off the fruits of their labors. Suits of cool looking armor, various weapons, tapestries, useless unique curiosities that that were pretty much useless in the game world, and even a few NPCs had been transferred over to the guild. It was a random mess but glorious and a testament to the player's creativity none the less.

Players joked and talked with each other was the clock ticked down to the end of the servers. As the time grew nearer and nearer, more people logged out after giving their final goodbyes to the game. In-game rivals saluted each other, some cursed each other, others spammed character emojis to mirror their feelings, everyone reacted differently as the game that had become a major part of their lives for many years, came to an end.

David Lording's dark skinned Goddess, HideYourMen was one of the players in this guild that was waiting for the end. It was a little annoying that his character had lost a few levels by fighting in one of the hardest dungeon raids there were in the game near the end, but there was no time left to regain those levels if he wanted to enjoy the end of the game. Considering the game was going to end though it did not matter what level he was when the end finally came.

Standing next to his avatar was a male Seraphim character called HolyWings who he had fought against on multiple occasions. It had been a funny rivalry, the first time they had fought on the battlefield the Seraphim player had been totally unprepared for the Seductress skills that had made the character rather ineffective as a fighter. They had both been roleplayers so it became this hilarious game about how the Seraphim wanted to purify the evil HideYourMen's viles against men. Being nerds, they of course had made it this epic storyline about the heavenly hosts trying to prevent the rise of the tempting Serpent Goddess. After successfully achieving character divinity, it reached a new level of combat.

The two chatted over a cup of raspberry wine, a delicious sounding drink that unfortunately had no real purpose other than cosmetic. Still it seemed appropriate to indulge themselves for their final moments.

"Well it has been a good war." HolyWings lifted a cup up and HideYourMen followed suite in order to clink their glasses together.

"Those were some fun battles to be sure. If you weren't so focused on roleplaying you probably could have gotten more female members when we fought and actually stopped me. Glad I found an enemy who appreciates a good roleplaying session." HideYourMen had a laugh emoji appear as the character drank from the crystal cup the wine was in.

"Ha ha ya, I just never had the drive to be all super strategic and go the super serious PVP route. It's more fun to just live your own fantasy life."


"I agree there, the reason I chose such a unique character was so I could live a completely different way from my normal life. I must say, having a pair of boobs can be distracting!"

The laugh emoji appeared over HolyWing as a response to HideYourMen. "Ha ha that's right, you decided to make a female character even though you're a guy. You Perv."

"Well maybe just a little, but only in the game, plus thankfully as a non-adult game it made sure nothing got too weird. The game was real enough as it is, no need to go too far."

"Well I think I'll log out now, I really don't want the game to crash down around me and all that. Have fun with the rest of the party!"

"Have a good night!" HideYourMen said as HolyWing disappeared from view and the message, 'HolyWing has logged out' appeared on the screen. Only a few minutes of server life remained.

Only Three of the Twenty Members of Brique Squadz showed up to the event. Most of them had migrated to the newest DMMO-RPG. Jack didn't really join up with them. He had a busy life now and could barley play YGGDRASIL when he wanted, so this was not only the end for his Avatar Spooky Sk3let0nz, but of his overall Gaming in general. Just staying up this late for the End might land him in the Dog House, let alone actually putting time into another Game. At least he wasn't alone for the End. The Undead Elder Liche Leaders of Brique, ManH4ndle and one of the oldest members, NoMoNOZ. They arrived with some of other Known Hardcore PVP Guilds. All of them just finishing their Final Duels to prove who was the best among them. Spooky came in at 6th.

It was different then most of their meetups with other. Usually it involved cracking Jokes about the Roleplayers or Shit talking the other PVP Guilds, and occasionally putting bets for duels. It was a lot more friendly. The three of them interacting quite kindly to all those who stood to the end. In Jack's eyes it was the right thing to do and it rubbed him the wrong way that more didn't appear, but it wasn't really a surprise. Some of the community had been long gone to other games that weren't ending and throwing all their years of hard work down the Drain. Or at least some could look at it that way. Jack viewed it as a final thanks for all the great times.

After about half an hour of interacting in what was left of the Community. The three moved out of the way of everyone else to say goodbye to their old buddy. Possibly for the last time.

"Its been good boys. Got to head off tho. I'll see you around Spooky or never again... Hahaha. Peace Boisss. Stay Salty! Be bit-". The last words said before ManH4ndle logged off. NomoNOZ came to Spooky and shook his skeleton hand before saying his goodbyes. "See yah around Spooky. When your done being whipped, come join us on UNITA. It won't be the same without our Scrub Carebear mascot! Stay Salty and be Bitter, Brother."

All Spooky could do was laugh and utter "Stay Salty and be Bitter...". Their Guild Motto. He waved them both off as their Log-off Bubbles replaced their Avatars for good. Spooky felt some sadness, but also felt a jolt of happiness for having the opportunity to make these Friends. With a sigh, Spooky headed back into the Guild Hall. Patiently waiting the countdown to strike 0.

Selena sat amongst the other players, looking at the raspberry wine cup in front of her as she idly played with her hair.

She still couldn't believe this. After all these years, after all the hard work she had done, this would be the end.

She remembered when she first started, how she was terribly weak as she chose to go solo with a character designed for support. She had to grind on weak monsters, making her leveling up process longer than the average person. She remembered how some people had booted her out of their party when they discovered her that all she could do was cast some weak debuffs from a distance. She couldn't blame them, really, as debuffs from a weak character like her back then meant absolutely nothing.

But eventually, she hit her stride once her hexes became more powerful. There she could actually become an important member of a party and not just a hindrance taking up spot and EXP. But she was still weak in solo play, so she wasn't done yet. She was still not the ideal character she wanted to play as. She didn't wish to become a mere support character, having to have a party everywhere she went.

And so, after a lot more grinding, helped by her spending a significant amount of her wages in real life to buy EXP buffs and the like from the item shop, she finally managed to reach the level of strength she was in now.

And then this happened.

She sighed once again for what must have been a hundreth time today. Her thoughts then went into the farm she had built. That too would disappear. She had so much fun planting and growing her own crops, then cooking them to make her own food, then giving or selling them to people who needed them. She loved hearing them praising her cooking. In real life, she had no chance to do something like that after all. One of her deepest secret is wanting to become a cute bride and hearing her dear husband praise her cooking. And with her being 30 and still single in the real world, that dream was getting away from her for every day that passed.

She looked around the room. She didn't recognize most of the people there. It couldn't be helped. She had been quite the anti-social player all this time after all.

"I suppose I would just drink myself away until the end... should be 15 minutes from now..." she mumbled to herself as she drank all the wine in her cup in one motion.

"For God's sake, Jake, just log out already. The shutdown is just a few minutes away, it's not like you're freaking abandoning me." A loud voice echoed by one of the hallways of mountain fort that acted as a guild hall for the newly-formed guild Apocalypse Now as two figures traversed it towards the main hall.

"You sure? I mean, I promised that at least I would be here with you for the shutdown. I know it's important for you, Artie." The taller of the figures, a humongous demon with goat-like characteristics and crow wings - presumably Jake, although his nickname was displayed as "KingSabbat" - seemed to be sorry about something, his voice clearly displaying some nervousness in despite of how his goat-like head maintained the same indifferent expression as always while he talked - a funny result of YGGDRASIL lacking the technology necessary for capturing and reproducing facial expressions.

"Chill down, mate, it's not like you're going to lose something. Just go help Linda with whatever she wants without using me as an excuse for slacking off. I don't want her glaring daggers at me in the commemorative dinner, her killing intent is away too much for my fragile mind!" The shorter figure seemed to be pretty amused by his companion's nervousness, with chuckles escaping from his character's deadpan-ish face as he confirmed that he didn't need his friend's company for the closing of the server.

"Kay then. Just don't get late for dinner. Linda has managed to get some fresh vegetables and she'll be really pissed if she loses the chance of impressing you with her "magnificent cooking skills"." The goatman logged out amidst a suspicious fit of laughter, leaving the white haired devil alone in the hallway.

"She's seriously going to cook..?" The humanoid devil - whose nickname was FirstbornCain - couldn't ignore the sudden chill that managed to find its way up his spine in despite of YGGDRASIL's lack of sensors for this kind of thing as he imagined how terrifyingly dangerous the dinner organized by his guildmates to say goodbye to the game would be. Linda's cooking skills were famous amongst their small guild for their lethality after all, with some of the members going as far as saying that they were the main reason for the pitiful amount of real life reunions the guild made in despite of all of its members living in the same district - quite the dangerous thing to say when considering how Linda loved to "randomly" throw her character's beloved artifact-class axes around and "accidentally" hit people who gossiped about her.

He quickly dismissed the issue of having to taste his friend's awful cooking from his head right in the next second though, as he managed to once more reach the richly (and chaotically) decorated hall of the mountain fort - A result of the sudden urge to show off their riches that some players felt due to the imminent closure of the server (quite the positive aspect of the server closure, as he managed to take a look at various rare furniture items and exotic equips whose view would otherwise be reserved to those closer to their respective owners). In the end, he didn't bother with searching for players he knew in the hall - after all he imagined the few players that remained to watch the last moments of the game either already had someone with them or weren't interested in using their last minutes in YGGDRASIL talking with others - instead choosing to use his time to check the multitude of rare and exotic items as he waited for the countdown for the server closure, hoping to at least find some new, unknown by most stuff to amuse him until the server's closing.

"Well, I appreciate you all taking me in." Sean said to the other players as the finale battle died down, "If other members of my old guild had been on, we could have given you quite a show."

He joined the loose throng of players as he descended from the sky on his flying mount, which was only a simple summon of a shadow-beast in that vaguely resembled a small dragon. In the sparring battle that had just taken place, Sean had used his character's multitude of advanced summoning abilities to create something of a PvE scenario for the players that desired it. He stepped off of his mount, unsummoning the creature when his feet were on the ground, and stepped into the crowd.

The avatar of his character, Azoth_Baal, was quite unique, and Sean had spent a great deal of time working on it so that it met his preferences. Interestingly, rather than having the dusky skin and amber eyes of a typical Dark Elf, he had managed to give his character an albino appearance, with bleached skin and hair, and eyes a malevolent blood red.

Sean got a whisper message notification, and checked his UI to see who it was from. The notification's source was listed as "Stormsorrow," the name of the chaotic runeblade that hung at his hip. A very rare and highly-scripted item, it sometimes "spoke" to Sean though whisper messages, meant to represent the cursed blade talking into his character's mind. Usually these messages were tied to certain bosses, global events, or were just generic messages put on a timer.

He checked the message, which stated, "The wheel turns, and the cycle begins anew. Those who sit beyond the veil watch eagerly, as this world draws its last breath. This is not the end, but the beginning of their great work."

Sean was quite amused by this. It seemed that the devs had put in a little message to coincide with the server shutdown. Given how rare these runeblade items were, Sean was probably one of a bare handful that actually got to experience this sort of message. He savored it quietly, adding it to a long list of good memories spent with YGGDRASIL.

“Three...”

“Two...”

“One!”

Oddly exhilarated, Emile jabbed the appropriate button on his pop-up menu with his gloved finger. Five other players, all of wildly different appearances and classes ranging from dwarf Dreadnought to centaur Sniper to sahuagin Sage, did the same. Their coordination made for perfect timing, and at once the six began to dance. Having lined up on top of a table (which being a static object obviously couldn't buckle even beneath their combined weight) on one side of Apocalypse Now's main hall, they resembled a bizarre burlesque as they began their samba in perfect sync. The localized burst of music that accompanied each dance harmonized with the rest to create a crescendo that resounded through the hall. Back and forth, side to side, the six danced. All had been strangers only an hour ago, but common ground in the form of an imminent end had allowed a superficial camaraderie to spring up. Emile himself, spurred on by a certain someone, had suggested this event to the room at large, and five good-natured partygoers had joined him.

All at once the synchronized dance animations ended, with each participant's left hand extended forward toward the the lone figure of Liana's character in front of their table, who raised her hands. For at least five minutes now she'd been wildly using Ham consumables bought from an on-site market NPC to fill up her Biomass bar, and now the moment had come. In an instant the entirety of her Biomass and MP bars were extinguished, and in a huge burst of flesh and blood SFX a Beholder appeared in the air above her. Constructed using her favorite skill, the Flesh that Hates, it was unfortunately only a palate-swap of the original monster, but given that its level was only ten below hers it was an accomplishment nonetheless—a showy display of her character's unique abilities here at the end of all things, despite the fact that her character was probably the lowest-leveled out of everyone here. /shock, /amazing, and /cheer emotes filled the little gallery behind her, and she turned her character around to give her uncle a /smile. Overhead, the Beholder floated listlessly, its behavior set to 'nonaggressive' by default. It could still be targeted and killed by the other players present if they wanted a little target practice before the game went offline. A few accepted, lazily battering the tentacled eye monster with spells and hurled projectiles.

With the stunt completed, the other players filtered away. One -the sahuagin, username Snark Tickleback- produced a speech bubble that said, “so fun to see family playing together. wish I had someone like that. have a great life!” before he blinked out of existence, logged out too fast for Liana to even have her character wave /goodbye. Emile remained focused on Liana, reminded of just how amazing Yggdrasil had been by the bizarre character that stood before him. Where else could somebody play a hideous monster made of meat somehow made to be elegant, compassionate, and ladylike, complete with the title “Heroine of Peace” earned by beating the main storyline? Not for the first time, he wished that if he de-equipped his character's mask, there could be a smile underneath to convey the joy he felt. "Man. Nostalgia's a heck of a drug."

"careful u don't OD, old man"

It didn't take long for Emile's thoughts to shift elsewhere. One couldn't get too hung up on the past right now. The seconds were counting down, after all. Any minute now, Yggdrasil would be gone forever. For his part, Emile didn't feel too emotional. Games closed all the time; getting worked up over this one seemed pretty darn cheesy. Even coming here to participate in this celebration made him feel like a bit of a goofball, and a little guilty on the side for asking Liana to log back in after a few years' inactivity to join him. Still, it was all in good fun, and if nothing else Yggdrasil had earned it. It had done a lot for him over the years. Seeing it put to bed felt as appropriate as he thought it might.

For what might be the last time, Emile summoned his wings and blasted off the ground in a burst of aether, coming to a stop just below the rafters in the great hall to motionlessly, and after a few seconds his automatic idle animation kicked in to cross his arms. Liana, having apparently recognized someone, steered her Flesh Smith over to talk with a female human Ki Master. An old friend met here by unbelievable happenstance, perhaps? Who knew. It was her business. In the last minute or so of Yggdrasil, Emile felt like flying for one last time, right up until the moment the system kicked him back into his brother's guest room. Even if this game offered an imperfect facsimile, he still enjoyed the sensation after all this time. This was the world that helped him piece together his broken wings and learn to fly again, after all. Of course, his family and the old comrades he connected to through it were even more important. He had a lot to be thankful for.

All the same, he felt glad that it was about to be over. It was time to move on.

The Black Clad figure stood motionless, next to the Guildhall's main entrance. The tall knight with his shield upon his back and his blade planted before him, stood still as a stone. He couldn't move, he didn't talk, nor did he think. As the minutes ticked down to YGGDRASIL's end, he was unaware and uncaring as always. Such was the life for a NPC, and Revenmar Veyas was one such NPC, practically abandoned and almost forgotten in his old master's room. By chance, a guild mate had found him as he wandered through the now derelict base of the guild that once claimed him. Of his guild, only that sad soul remained, reminiscent of things long gone. Needless to say, he was taken from his home and transported to a new place, then joined with Apocalypse Now, so that he could gain entry to the small guild.

Then the same guild mate had commanded him to stand guard by the front door, because why not? It looked cool and was visually appealing along with all of the other items gathered in the room. As players came, or even looked around they would find him in his current position, the only testament of a guild long passed.His nature prevented him from acting as a player would, he was simply code given form, but that same code told him what to do when required or asked by the player.

So Revenmar stood there, watching the festivities around him. Many players said their goodbye's to friends, even family, before they logged off the game for good. Revenmar would remain however, until the very end..

Outside Carne Village, an innocent noob was frolicking through the fields, hacking through pink lesser slime blobs with a wooden sword. The fields were pretty deserted. Most players had already abandoned the game. Whatever. The blonde future Holy Knight was going to make the most of the experience. The slimes aggroed the wooden shield-wielding fighter, surrounding him on all sides. The human with the boyish character creation features frowned with determination glinting in his blue eyes.

“Bring it on! I’ll take you scrubs,” he declared.

As the pink blobs closed in, he barely got a whirling swing in when a massive hammer landed right next to him. In an explosive animation, the earth erupted about the hammer and rose in an enormous geyser of fire and magma that sent the blobs disintegrating into the sky on blazing orange and red currents. As the animation subsided, the noob boy stood there as “[dot][dot][dot]” filled the chat screen. In response a “LULZ!” appeared in response as a towering warrior strode over to rip the hammer from the earth and heft it onto his fur and steel-laden shoulder. His eyes glowed white like ghostly wisps as he regarded the noob through his horned helm.

“Did you just start the game?” the War Lord, Lord DoThis! asked.

The fighter replied, “Um…yeah.”

“LULZ! You know it’s about to end in 15 minutes right? Why did you even bother to download it?”

“Because I wanted to try it out before it disappeared, so what?”

“LULZ!”

“…”

A red aura erupted about the War Lord, rising on sanguine wisps about his body. He had activated a buff that made blood drip from his hammer as he lowered it from his shoulder into both of his hands.

“Well let me welcome you!”

“You’re going to PK me, man? Really?”

“YUP!”

The War Lord swung his hammer like a golf club, the blunt head rising up to hit the noob with an animation that sent his body flipping into the air. Just as the blonde-haired fighter was descending toward the ground, he waited for him to take fall damage, which he knew would be enough to end his life and increase his kill streak. The fighter landed face down on the ground and then rose to his feet as the words:



Flashed. The War Lord stood there still glowing from his buff.

“[dot][dot][dot]” he typed. “Wtf?”

“What was that? You even have Ixazel, the Blood God’s hammer, maxed out and fully enchanted,” the fighter scoffed, gazing at the shiny gleam the maxed out weapon had. “Let me guess, you put all of your points into physical attack and HP?”

“Hax! You’re a hacker! Testing your new script bitch?”

“What if I am? You gonna report me with 12 minutes left in the game?”

“I better not see your ass in any future DMMOs!”

“And what if you do, nub?”

“I’M THE NOOB? LAWLZ!”

The fighter flashed, and a smokebomb exploded in front of the War Lord before a blood sphere appeared over his head, dripping blood like rain on top of him. The War Lord’s HP bar dropped dramatically.

“WTF!!!”

His camera panned about the field, looking for the fighter who had suddenly disappeared. Desperately, his character performed a Super HP Potion drink animation before a dark figure appeared behind him, sticking a red sickle through his back that emerged through his stomach on a spurt of blood.



Argh! the War Lord’s character animation cried as he flopped over on the ground.

“WTF!!!”

The lanky doppleganger assassin stood behind him twirling the claw end of his sickle as his character raised a hand to its hole for a mouth and tilted his head back in laughter.

“FUCK YOU! YOU ASSHOLE!”

The character known only as (σωσ) proceeded to troll dance over his corpse. He stopped to duck, tea bagging the War Lord’s face over and over.

“YOU TROLL BITCH! FUCK YOU!”

“lol! Just respawn so I can get your loot.”

“Fuck you!”

“The timer is gonna run out any way. You can’t stay dead forever.”

“I’M GONNA COME BACK AND KILL YOU! YOU BETTER STAY THERE NOOB!”

The War Lord’s body vanished leaving behind a sack. (σωσ) crouched next to the sack and the wares appeared in an inventory window next to his own. The gear was complete garbage. He had upgraded everything to max level but the gems were all phys attack and HP. Even if he removed them, they would shatter and he would have to spend cash to upgrade the gems to max level…well, he would have if the game wasn’t ending in 10 minutes. (σωσ) pulled up the Guild Chat and asked, “Does any of you guys want max Gaylord armor with phys attack and HP gems all over it? Oh and the Ixzael, Blood God hammer?”

(σωσ) had joined Apocalypse Now when his guild had long disbanded in anticipation of the server closure. Get Some hadn’t really been his guild. When the guild leader left, the leadership automatically went to him and the remaining guild members quit one at a time. Rather than watch a guild deteriorate, (σωσ) went back to being solo until a new guild announced in World Chat how it planned to stay open until the server disconnected. Bored and not having much else to do during the wait, (σωσ) joined.

Apocalypse Now. Vander never would have imagined joining a guild like this. He never really imagined YGGDRASIL being shut down. He enjoyed being a member of the Roleplaying PvP guild The Last Rites. He had been a sub-leader in the guild being a master of tactics. They disbanded against The Watcher's wishes after the server shut down was announced. PvP queue became impossibly long making his desire to mindlessly fight in the arena until the shutdown happened just a dream.

Now he sat and observed his new guild mates chat as the clock ticked down to zero. Fifteen minutes felt agonizing. He recognized several players as fellow PvPers and Roleplayers. He smiled and nodded silently at each one of them.

"Anyone have any good arena battles before the queue times made it impossible to participate?" He asked the crowd in general. There was a lot of chatter going on around him, so he did not expect a response. Even so, he was genuinely curious. "I missed my chance earlier."

A bittersweet feeling had begun to well up inside of Vander as he remembered the friends he made and the challenges he overcame since YGGDRASIL launched. He took a drink from the mug he had before him. "I hope to play with you all in another world someday." He had no idea which game he would move onto after this one. YGGDRASIL had been exclusively the game he played all these years and now it was not going to be an option anymore. The thought of the change scared him.

He truly wished he could stay here forever as Vander The Watcher instead of Warrick Thane.

~Senna~

@Hammerman

---

Apocalypse now, eh?

She had never once permanently joined a guild. She wasn't really one to stayed tied down to one thing for very long. She liked to keep things exciting, new, and fresh. Predictability was the bane of creativity and she might as well say it was the bane of life. That was the reason she had mixed feelings about the shutdown. On one hand, she was disappointed. In the years she had played she had made some great friends, allies, and comrades...it was so much easier to talk to people over the internet rather than in person. Where she could actually be something she liked, not restrained by social norms.

On the other hand, finding a new game to play would be pretty fun, as well. Reincarnating herself into another game, would be fun as well, wouldn't it?

Just one last little hurrah here and she'd be done.

The demon in question was laying on a couch, in an almost comical fashion as she laid on it, her rather revealing clothing not leaving much to the imagination. Her bored expression eventually started turning into a small frown, the demonic tail she had

"Gaaaah~" She whined, comically flailing her arms against the couch. Honestly, she'd have rather been causing chaos in the final days of the PvP, but it seemed she wouldn't be able to do it. She had a final few matches with some of her more rival like acquaintances, but now? Nothing to do but sit and wait for the end of the world. "Boring, boring boring! Where's the excitement! Drama! Chaos!? I want to see someone get their heads lopped off!" It was admittedly, a rather childish display but she was feeling rather bored.

"Hey hey, its edgy demon McEdgeface!" A high pitched, somewhat childishly grating voice met her ears causing her eyes to widen, cat like pupils dilating in small annoyance. She'd recognize that childish voice anywhere! Her head swiveled to the source of it, and lo and behold, a tall armored silver knight wielding an almost ridiculously large shield that was used more for bashing peoples faces in and a tiny fairy sitting on her head met her eyes.

"Oh haha, because you haven't used that one before." She replied, standing up as she clicked her tongue in a derisive fashion as a small smirk crossed her face. "At least I didn't make an NPC just to write terrible fiction between me and them like a pervert."

"Oooh, buuurn." The fairy in question replied with a light giggle, not entirely seeming offended by the comment. "I might cry, edge face. At least I'm not some sicko that gets off from murdering people."

"Tsk, you don't understand anything do you, pest?" Senna replied, feigning a hurt voice. "I, create art on the battlefield! I can't help it you uncultured fools don't understand. Besides, unlike a certain Fairy I'm not mentioning, I am actually good at fighting and can do more than just sprinkle drugs on people to make them hallucinate."

"Gah! Ow, right to the heart you uncouth demon! My fairy dust is high quality and 100% not hallucinogenic!...usually." She stuck her tongue out at the demon. "Not like you'd ever get any of my fairy dust~" Senna's face turned into a small frown before turning into a smirk, chuckling lightly.

"I'm going to take that as a bad innuendo and just laugh." She proceeded to do just that. "Nice to see ya, Tea." In response, the tiny fairy suddenly grew in size, turning to one similar to that of a human child, practically hopping off of the knights head and enveloping the demon in a tackle hug hard enough to knock the demon over.

"Hehe, hey there Sen!" She returned the demons laughter. "Wow, its been so long since I last saw ya, hasn't it?"

"Not since you decided to 'play a game' with me in that forest you use as your guild base. That was...five months ago, almost?"

"Hehe, yeah! My butts still sore from the instant Karma I got from that. How's it going? We should really get each others contact info since this place is gonna get the big 'ol red nuke button in a few minutes." She chuckled childishly, finally releasing the taller demon from her hug. "Maaaaybe then you could get some of this fairy's dust?~"

"Shush you," She said, thumping the fairy on the head as a rather delightful squee-sounding noise was heard. "No more bad innuendos. Besides, I bet your just a perverted old man in real life."

"G-geh! I'll have you know I am neither perverted nor old!"

"...but you are a man, then?"

"Gah! No!" Shrinking back down to her self proclaimed 'fun size' the pixie fluttered back onto her NPC's head as Senna laughed. "Here ya go! Write it down, don't forget it!" The two took a few minutes to exchange contact info for meeting outside of the game. After which, the two went their separate ways. The fairy and her favorite NPC walking towards a few of the others. "Onwards Lena, to the food table! One last offering to the Fairy queen!"

Senna simply chuckled, watching as they left.

Well, if there was one thing she knew, she at least had a permanent friend.

Scanning the room, she was suddenly in a much better mood after meeting that annoying little fairy, so she decided to mingle, if only a little. She didn't really know any people but there was always time to play with people a little bit...and she found the near perfect target. With a playful smirk, the demon walked over to Selena.

"You know, drinking alone is usually frowned upon I think." She chuckled, standing likely a bit to close to Selena. "Don't see anyone ya know? Aside from an annoying pixie neither do I. Might as well use the last minutes we have to get a little friendly. Just call me Sen."


@drewccapp

---

After leaving their demonic friend to whatever devices she got up to when they were alone, the self-proclaimed fairy queen was happily chugging a glass of wine in an almost comical manner, still using her NPC's head as a throne of sorts. Ah, this was really annoying wasn't it? So much work would be lost in the blink of an eye...at least she saved all her stories, NPCs, items, tales, and other works of slightly questionable and pervy fiction before hand. For the most part, the fairy kept to herself and to Lena. Senna hadn't been wrong. Over the years, she had gotten rather...attached, to the virtual character.

Probably not that healthy to get that attached to pixels on a screen...but eh. She didn't really have anyone else in life, did she?

The topic of PvP came up however, and Tania decided to join in on the camaraderie.

"Weeelll, this happened a few months ago." She started, seemingly barely holding onto the wineglass. "Buuut I made a guy beat his friend to death with my illusion magic then gave him flying lessons. It was great, heh!" She wasn't much of a PvP player, though, and she typically steered clear of such things. She was more into this for the writing and roleplaying aspect more than PvP like Sen. "It was great watching his friend run around trying to dodge fireballs cuz he thought they were me, heh! Classic."

---

^{Collab with: @13org (lol)}

---

On a matter of minutes, everything would be gone. All the time she spent on Yggdrasil, all the enemies, friends, alliances she made, the guilds she participated... To Ha Yun, games weren't only a pastime... they were part of her life, or better yet, it was her second life. She had not only a guild, but a family there. It was interesting how that started... Initially, she was simply RPing with a group of people, a small guild called "Blades of the Darkmoon". They all loved RPing and PVP, but they didn't wanted to simply be a group of crazy guys slaughtering everyone on sight, nor they wanted to be seen as the "bad guys", so they had the idea of using a concept of another game, the concept of a group that went after those who insulted and harmed innocent players and sometimes clearing dungeon bosses due to their massive single target dps. Putting in other words, they were PKers that hunted PKers. All the contracts were role-played. Even people who weren't that interested in RPing did it when talking to them.

After some time, they ended up bonding with each other. Ha Yun knew that she wasn't the only one who felt like that. They felt like a real connection, almost like a real family. If one of them was passing through difficult times in real life, he would only need to log in, and the rest of the group would promptly cheer him up. It was funny... Sad, but funny, how people who never saw each other's face, who didn't knew anything about each other, could have a relationship like that, which was hard to find even in the real world.
Ha Yun was losing a family, not only her character. It was agonizing to simply stay there, watching that world which brought her so many happy moments, which made her so happy, on it's final moments. In a few minutes, everything would be gone.

Pressing the button to see her friend list, she hovered her finger over each one of the names.
Momoji, Hardsicked, L0cust... All of them were already gone. She didn't know if she would ever see them again.
"It was worth it." She said, with a smile on her face.
"Good bye, dear brothers and sisters. It would be good to go hunting once more with you guys. I hope we meet each other again." She said, closing her friends list and opening the status menu, showing her avatar, it's status and equipment. She still remembered when she was creating it. Nyna. She was really adorable. Ha Yun spent a significant time personalizing it, making it look exactly how she wanted.

"Yup! No use just standing here feeling down. Yasha won't come... will she? She said something about having to work..." She said to herself, jumping down the small wall she was sitting on.
"Well, lets end all this the right way, having fun! Nyna deserves a better farewell than that!" she said to herself, hopping towards the central plaza.
It would be better to maybe go to the center of the city, where all the others were reuniting themselves to say their final farewell to that world.

"Oh~ If it isn't my favorite little bunny!" A very familiar voice came from behind her. A beautiful, white haired elf, wearing a dark Japanese kimono appeared from behind the wall she was a second ago. The peculiar figure had a white and blue magic rifle on her back. Nyna only knew one person on Yggdrasil that had that strange build and equipment. It was Yasha.
Yasha was also a Blade of the Darkmoon, but differently from Nyna, Yasha accepted only elimination contracts. Her coldness and somewhat cruel behavior when hunting were the reason why her karma was lower than the -50 that was the average for the rest of the guild, instead sitting on -100. That and thanks to some... collateral damage and friendly fire accidents on dungeons and when they were hunting bosses, since some of her attacks can affect a rather big area... The rest of the guild quickly learned to run away when Yasha started casting a stronger spell.

"Yasha!! You really came!" Nyna said, jumping on Yasha, hugging her.
"You said you needed to work, didn't you?" Nyna asked, still hugging her.

"Well... I am working ;-P" she answered.
"Didn't I said to you that my company was working on making a DMMO? They were inspired by Yggdrasil and it's huge success. Well... I might had some small hand on all this... Mainly convincing them to make a new game for me to play! ;-P" Yasha said, laughing.

While it was true that Akane was supposed to be working, asking the other players about what would they like to see in a new DMMO, she felt like it was terribly inappropriate to do so in that situation. Sure, Akane Hikawa was a businesswoman and had responsibilities towards the company, but Yasha was not. Yasha was a Blade of the Darkmoon, she was a player, and just like every other Yggdrasil player, was there to bid her final farewells to the game in a big party.

"But today I'm here as Yasha, and not as Akane. I knew you would feel sad if I you were the only guild member online on Yggdrasil's last day. Oh, and before I forget, here's my email. I hope to meet you again in another game." Yasha said hugging her back and pushing her back a little bit.

"Sure will do!! I look forward to playing with you again. I was going to the central plaza to have a bit of fun before everything ends, what do you say?" Nyna asked her, grabbing her hand and enthusiastically pushing her towards the central plaza.

"And by having some fun I don't mean PvP... So behave yourself, 'kay?" Nyna said, giggling.

"Oh, please~! I am an angel... I would never do something like sending a duel invitation to someone in the middle of the plaza and then watch as it desperately searches for me amongst the thousands of other people there..." Yasha said, laughing.
"Seriously though, I have something that may help lifting the moods around here." Yasha said, with a mischievous smile.

Getting the Requiem Aeternam from her back and pointing it up, Yasha began casting a spell. Even after owning that rifle for so long, Yasha was still surprised on how such a thing existed... It was able to literally modify all her attacks, even abilities.
It was also incredibly surprising on how the game treated it's special abilities. By using an offensive spell and modifying it to be harmless, such as casting Living Magic Artillery Shell with the Encased Shell and Fragmentation modifiers, housing a simple spell like 'flare' and adding a little bit of elemental energy to give it color it would result in a beautiful firework like effect. And it was even possible to use such skill inside safe zones, due to it not causing any damage.

"Thanks for everything! FAREWELL YGGDRASIL!" Yasha shouted after the spell finished casting.
A noticeable streak of blue greenish mana lightened up the sky, passing just above the central plaza and exploding in a beautiful white and blue firework effect.
"WHOOOAA!!" Nyna said, jumping and clapping her hands, amused.
"I never get tired of seeing that!! It's so pretty!!" Nyna said, smiling.
"It's been fun... Everything was so fun. Hunting with you guys, clearing dungeons, farming, the GvGs... The times I killed you accidentally incide dungeons..." Yasha said, resting her rifle on her shoulders and laughing.
"Our tale here is ending. This is the final chapter of this story. But I'm sure that there are still a lot of other games where we can write new stories, create new lives for ourselves. Lets go, Nyna. Maybe we can still take a nice screenshot with the other players on the central plaza as a recordation." Yasha said, smiling.
"Okay! Lets do a cute pose as well, shall we? :-3" Nyna replied before calmly walking towards the central plaza.
There were only a few minutes left, both Nyna and Yasha were decided to enjoy them.
"I wish we could save our avatars to use on other games though T__T I really liked this one..." Nyna said, as they walked towards the other players.

"SCREENSHOT IN 5...4...3..." Yasha shouted, holding her rifle in a pose as many other players started forming a line, making their own poses.
"2...1..."
"THANKS FOR EVERYTHING!!" Yasha, Nyna and many other players said together.
"Hey, Yasha, send me this screenshot by email, kay?" Nyna said, getting out of her bunny like pose.
"I'm certainly keeping this one as well." Yasha said, looking up. It was sad, but Yggdrasil was finally shutting down...

---

Selena continued to drink on her own, having no one to talk with. She enjoyed watching the others, if purely for nostalgic reasons as they would all disappear soon. Her character was always like that, watching people from the sidelines, coming and leaving as she wished. And so far, she still wished to stay. Might as well stay here until the very end, she thought. She had a thought of casting her hexes to the people here silently, just for... what's the term again... ah, "shits and giggles". But that would probably end with her being attacked back, and she preferred to enjoy her last moments at peace. Well, at least there was that player who summoned a Beholder for target practice. She silently cast her hexes to it from a distance, just because she could.

And then, she was interrupted.

"You know, drinking alone is usually frowned upon I think. Don't see anyone ya know? Aside from an annoying pixie neither do I. Might as well use the last minutes we have to get a little friendly. Just call me Sen."

She looked to the person now standing beside her. Hmm, a demoness. Unlike some players, she didn't really care about whether you're a heteromorphic or not.

"Selena. Call me Selena," she responded back with a smile.

@Rune_Alchemist@Lugubrious

This was what the Death Knight had been dreaming of all these years. The End, the Death of everything. Even the vile undead abominations could be, not exactly forgiven, but looked past at a time like this. In just a few minutes time all life would cease and be given its reward. He looked forward to it after granting it to so many.

He sat and nursed a drink, sipping it slowly to make it last until the very end. Kallahar stood with his back to a wall, not going to meet his fate sitting down. This was a celebration, of course. He was only here on a whim, the original plan being to dive once more into battle, to go out fighting and bringing Death.

Behind the avatar Katelyn wondered what she might choose next to fill her time and break up the monotony of life. Perhaps that shooter Dive game. It was a shame to lose all of the progress carefully earned since the games launch.

He recognized an individual with armor that he recognized as being that of a Death knight. He possessed a set of his own before adopting the profane Plate of the Dark Knight class. Kallahar walked closer with his drink. The drink of choice had a mild healing effect and his amulet left a trail of blood drops behind as it stored the excess HP.

"So this is the way that things end. Perhaps it is better this way than to have a lingering, suffering death."

@Dead Cruiser

@BurningDaisies

"the end is nigh! Repent, sinners! the mechanical angel, Lexus Dominiel declared.

IYamWhatIYam burst into laughter. Sure, he had programmed that particular phrase in, but seeing the awkward looks and general discomfort that this uptight, religious bigot caused to anyone within earshot was exactly what he wanted. "Sorry, December, but you'll only have to put up with it for a few more minutes," IYamWhatIYam half apologized, "as for myself, I think I'm going to log off early. Guess I'm getting sentimental, but I don't think I really want to stick around to the end. You never know with this virtual stuff anymore. Anyways, I'll see you and Khang on the upside." With a wave, IYamWhatIYam vanished.

Lexus Dominiel stood there next to December. "Our father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen." It was...praying.

@Rune_Alchemist

The Watcher chuckled at the thought of turning enemies on themselves. It appealed to his tactical sense. He certainly appreciated what Illusionists could do to change the tides of a battle especially chaotic large scale battles. Only the most organized of guilds could handle an Illusionist's spells without too much trouble. Even then they were annoying to deal with. He had the pleasure of working with a few on occasion and the trouble of handling a few. The Watcher's Longbow allowed for him to figure out the right target with some level of attention.

"I imagine they were really happy," he responded with a smile. "I went hunting for PKers a while back. I found a small camp of four of them and stalked them for a good day just to learn their behaviors and patrol patterns. They felt safe enough in their forest camp, but they weren't expecting me. Picked off the first two while they were alone before the other two realized what was going on. They walked right past my hiding place without seeing me. Sniped the third one and then used Whisper on the last one: a necromancer." He produced the custom-crafted dagger and showed it off. "Just felt right even though I'm not really made for melee."

He found himself sizing everyone in the room up, even the NPCs. Even if they were not always as powerful as a player, NPC followers - especially well built followers - were an intimidating force. He remembered watching a solo player using followers cleverly in high end PvE content. He wondered just how well this group would work in an arena or battleground. He shook those thoughts out of his mind. The game was over. None of that mattered anymore.

"Damnit!" He slapped his hand down on the table before him. "Old game or no, I don't want to leave YGGDRASIL."

He grit his teeth and clenched his fist slowly before taking a deep breath and recollecting himself. "I'm good now."

---

@Stern Algorithm

"Goon wasn't always most lucky goblin on planet. In goblin village, licking poison toad is good luck. Goon tried it once, but toad died instead. Goon had bad luck for long time after, and took on many quests to get it back."

The impish and shrill voice belonged to TheGreatBaGoon, a short, elderly green-skinned goblinoid who always sounded more ridiculous than he looked with the various talismans and fetishes hanging from his clothes and the pointy wide-brimmed hat which accounted for half of his height.

"W-Wait a second! Is that why tried to get us to lick a toad every time we started a difficult raid?" December was dumbfounded by this new revelation. Goon had been raiding with them for two years, and this was the first time she had ever heard of it.

"Of course! Why else would anyone lick a toad?!" The little goblin scolded her instantly.

TheGreatBaGoon was a shaman specializing in fatespinning magic, which manipulated luck, and he was a fantastic roleplayer who never broke character. He always claimed to need an escort, as his character build was very inefficient. But, he also seemed to survive even the harshest situations and got some of the rarest item drops in the game, even when he went by himself.

"Sometimes I really question your sanity." December met his condescending tone with a flat stare.

"Sanity boring. Goon traded it to fat man selling grilled lizard tail long time ago. Stomach more important than brain."

While the chat erupted in wave of /lol emojis and the nearby guild members fell down in a fit of laughter. Khang wore pleasant smile and chuckled quielty, but seemed distracted. Started to approach him, when IYamWhatIYam called to her. She stared as the angelic construct she had helped create started spouting biblical verse.

"Take care!" She shook her head and rolled her eyes as a faint smile played on her lips.

Khang placed a hand on the small of her back as he waved farewell to their friend. He leaned in and whispered, "I received an alert message. It seems little Nam woke up."

Without hesitation she pulled up the main menu and hunted for the log out button. Her hand was hovering over it, when Khang stopped her.

"You don't have to do that. You rocked him to sleep last time. I'll log out early, so just enjoy the rest of the party." He smiled warmly. "I'll see you when you get back."

She nodded and mouthed a silent thank you as he placed a kiss on her cheek and vanished.

~Senna~

@Hammerman

---

"Selena? Oh, that's a pretty name," Senna replied with a grin, sliding a bit closer towards Selena in a totally unconspicious manner. "And you're not one of those silly racist fools that don't like Heteromorphics. I must have been a good little demon to meet you on the last days of Yggdrasil." She paused for a moment, grabbing her own glass of wine with a sigh of her own. Flirtatious and somewhat catty? Definitely, but she did that most of the time when she wasn't busy ripping out an enemies heart.

"Really, shutting the game down? The apocalypse is Bittersweet, isn't it?" The demon took a sip of the wine. "On one hand, I'm going to miss the game. So many people I'll never see again. On the other hand...there's something exciting about potentially starting completely over. New reputation, new lives...meeting new people." Senna offered Selena a grin. "Aha, I would have expected the apocalypse to have a bit more...drama to it though, heh. But enough morbid talk!~" Senna gave Selena a bright grin.

"You don't look like you're one of the typical players, do you? Definitely don't look like someone who PvP's regularly. You do anything fun in the last month or so of the game?"


@drewccapp

---

"Hehe," Tania laughed. "Sounds like you're pretty good with stealthy stuff." The small fairy fluttered her wings, the guardian elf handing her what looked to be an apple of some sort...which was comically big to see the fairy try and lift it. She bit into the virtual item as Vander voiced pretty much what everyone else here was thinking. Ha, she was going to miss this place too. She had no idea how to go about even to begin getting into another game.

"That's a pretty fancy dagger, too!" Not that she could probably even use it, though. "Not as smashing as my girl's here shield of a thousand smashed in faces, but pretty neat! Hey hey, Lena give 'em a demonstration!" at the command, the elf with the human sized shield and large sword replied simply.

"Of course, my lady." As the NPC was programmed too. With an impressive display of strength, the NPC hefted the large shield over their head, and slammed it into the floor in front of her. The shield hit the ground with such a force that it cracked the floor, creating a large imprint of the bottom of the shield.

"Babe here's the best defensive NPC you'll ever meet, guarantee it." Tania continued. "Swords and axes? Pfft, a twenty pound shield smashing your face in and 'asplodin all your face bones hurts a looot worse. Can buff people like its nothing, either." She laughed, biting into the apple again.

"...ah man, I'm gonna miss her. Heh, gettin' a bit teary eyed."

---

Selena continued to take sips of her wine as Senna told her story. She didn't say anything to Senna's praise of her not being prejudiced towards heteromorphics. She thought it was a silly thing. This was just a game after all. Even if she loved roleplaying in it, she very well knew that it was just a game in the end. She didn't say anything either when Senna talked about the impending apocalypse. Instead, she only stared to the air in front of her with a melancholic expression.

"You don't look like you're one of the typical players, do you? Definitely don't look like someone who PvP's regularly. You do anything fun in the last month or so of the game?"

Now she's asking for her experiences these last days. Well, it wouldn't hurt to share, she supposed.


"Well, I actually like to PvP from time to time. But only against people who think I'm easy target though, thanks to how I look." She pointed at her casual village girl attire. "As for what I did this last month, I actually travelled all around, just to see the sights for one last time, taking down some naughty folks who thought it would be fun to try becoming PKers against the weaker players, especially newbies who joined just to check out this game before it is closed forever."

She took another sip of her wine before continuing.

"I don't think PKing people is an inherently bad act though. This is just a game after all and who am I to tell how people should play their characters? But seeing how I'm roleplaying your good and friendly neighborhood cute village girl, I have to take the side of the newbies. What can I say? I like being praised. You ever heard of the rumor of the legendary village girl? Yeah, that's me," she said with a sarcastic smile before once again looking melancholically to her cup. "Guess that legend ends now, huh? I just hope I can find another game where I can roleplay something like this again."

She poured her cup another round of wine before drinking it down in one move, emptying her cup once more.

"Or perhaps not. I feel like... I'm growing too old to roleplay as a cheerful and cute 17 years old girl. I normally don't tell anyone I just met about this, but since we're going to shut down soon, I guess it can't hurt. I'm actually a 30-year old woman IRL, living out her fantasies in this game. Quite pathetic, isn't it?"

She ended her speech with another cup of wine.

"You know, I'm glad I'm drinking myself to death in the game instead of IRL. I would be quite sure I would have needed to visit the bathroom a couple of times from all the drinking I've been doing. Not to mention me getting drunk from it. I am a terrible mess when I'm drunk," she said with a wry smile.

@Rune_Alchemist

@Stern Algorithm@Rune_Alchemist@Hammerman

A few moments of chatting confirmed that Liana and the Ki Master knew one another, albeit in a rather strange way. By sheer coincidence, Liana had happened to be doing some main story quests at about the same point and same rate as this player, whose name was Anomala_Caris. Though they hadn't spoken for a while, they crossed paths over a dozen times, and eventually greeted one another and exchanged a few casual words. They did friend one another just as acknowledgment of their unique situation, but never did any dungeons or anything together, as each had their own group of friends. That the pair would be reunited here was nothing short of miraculous, fitting for the final few moments of a game advertized by the slogan, “anything's possible.”

The two exchanged small talk, with Liana occasionally glancing up to confirm that her uncle's character hadn't moved from the spot where he floated near the ceiling. Never once in her entire time playing with him had she dared make any mention of his fascination with flying, given the limb he'd lost in real life. It was only natural, she supposed, but she felt like drawing attention to it could only reopen that old wound. After a minute or so the two bid farewell -time had grown precious, after all- and Anomala logged off. With nothing really to do, she looked around.

To be fair, she could have spent a long time trying to take in everything this guild hall had to offer. The items that swamped it and the players who filled it up represented a vertical slice of everything the game had to offer, thrown together in a random mixture that nevertheless managed to be impressive indeed. For a moment Liana was distracted by the guild chat popping up, with what appeared to be a face asking if anyone wanted armor. Liana certainly didn't, and she wondered why anybody would. At this stage, there was no point at all. Unlike her, some of Yggdrasil's players certainly found a wealth of entertainment in the expansive postgame, grinding and grinding for better equipment or aesthetics, or trying to top the PvP or Guild leaderboards. None of it really spoke to her, and in an odd way, she felt gratified that the experience was about to end forever. Yggdrasil's close spoke of the futility of trying to gather more and more power in a virtual world; in a few more minutes, the efforts of everyone from the world's best Pker to the lowliest newbie would be wasted. Only memories would remain.

A chorus of messages in the server-wide chat swelled out of nowhere, along with a huge explosion of fireworks in the distance, stirring Liana from her reverie. Thanks for everything, they said. She missed some sort of big sendoff? Drat. Blinking, Liana realized that in getting lost in thought meant she was throwing away important time here. A look out the window confirmed some sort of display in the distance. In the spirit of the little event, far away though she was, she entered, ”thanks 4 everything” in the server-wide chat. She then kicked her character into motion, gliding around the hall's floor.

She spotted a few especially interesting things in quick succession. Near a few players stood one angel-looking thing, an NPC judging by its tag, and a formidable one if its armor was anything to go by. On some level Liana was still bummed out that players could make NPCs that would be better than she could ever be at this game, but it all fell beneath the great big banner of not really caring. This NPC, though, was uttering a prayer characteristic to Catholic mass—one of the very same prayers her own congregation recited in harmony every Sunday. Huh. The sight made her curious. Very rarely in her experience did anyone on the internet have anything nice to say, or any sort of tribute to pay, to Christianity. For all she knew, this NPC could have been designed as a parody. Still, it was neat to see. She guessed that one of the players next to it was its creator, but she didn't really want to start talking to some stranger. Instead, as she slid by, Liana stopped to give Lexus Dominiel a /pray emote.

On the subject of abrupt conversation, she did find something else that drew her attention. Having sidled up to a bar, wondering what debuffs the 'alcohol' incurred, she caught a glimpse of two female characters: one a very modest-looking girl, and the other a demoness in pretty slutty clothing. Odd mismatches were prevalent in Yggdrasil, but the manner in which these two conversed seemed unusual, so Liana /sat nearby and listened out of curiosity.

Racist fools that don't like heteromorphics? Were her character, Lenore XIV, able to express her player's emotions, the Shoggoth would have furrowed her brows. If this 'Senna' girl had received racism in real life, Liana thought, She wouldn't toss it around in here so casually. From experience, not presumption, Liana knew it wasn't something to make light of in a video game. After that her interest trailed off somewhat, and she called over the bartender NPC to see what he had available. As one might expect on such an exceptional occasion, everything was free. Bored, Liana scrolled through the list of options, and a moment later decided to get nothing. She didn't feel like bothering, plain and simple.

She was about to turn away and wander in the direction of a cluster of people until a few choice words from the unremarkable girl slipped into her ear. After a moment to make sure she heard right, Liana whirled around, her character's 'clothing' animating to mimic proper physics. For a moment she just stood there, dead still and silent, until a speech bubble appeared above her head.

”UR the legendary village girl!?!

...At least, that's what would have happened if Selena hadn't kept talking. Right before Liana submitted her awestruck question, she paused to listen to what Selena was saying over her mike. A few moments passed, and Liana suddenly felt as though she was eavesdropping. Though technically she'd been doing so the whole time, the two would have been using PM if they really cared to keep it secret. What Selena just said, however, seemed awfully private to Liana. Ooh... The next instant, Liana voided her message. From the sound of it, this lady made her uncle's dedication to the game seem cursory at most. The server shutdown, anywhere from minutes to seconds away, would mean the end of something that this lady valued more than her real life if her morbid words were anything to go by. All of a sudden, Liana felt an urge to apologize. Until now she'd generally dismissed people who prized this fiction over reality as losers, but at this moment she really understood what players like Selena were losing. The tale of a normal-looking villager with incredible debilitation powers had been a testament to Yggdrasil's incredible possibilities, and now that legend was passing away.

Liana wanted to say something to comfort her, but she couldn't think of a single thing to say. Anything she said could easily do more harm than good, and Selena probably wouldn't appreciate someone butting in. Hanging her head a little, she turned back to leave. Now more than ever, and perhaps a little selfishly, she wanted the server to hurry up and go dark already. Dragging on, like slowly pulling off a band-aid, was pretty much twisting the knife for the players who were about to lose something special.

Sean was approached by some sort of death knight player, who offered some words about the game's end. This person was apparently playing in-character, which caught Sean a bit off guard, but he appreciated it none the less. While aesthetically Sean's avatar and this individual's were rather similar, their character classes were actually quite distinct. The powers of undeath worked entirely differently from the powers of void and chaos, despite their surface similarities. This almost simulationist level of depth and complexity was one of the many things that Sean had liked about YGGDRASIL, and for a moment he lamented its passing even more.

Remembering what his sword had "said" to him a moment before, Sean decided to reply in-character, "Nothing ever ends. The wheel will turn, and the Games of Divinity will continue into the next cycle."

Nearby, an NPC spouted some pre-programmed lines. Evidently it was supposed to be some sort of holy character, as it recited the Lord's Prayer. Sean was able to surmise from this that the player that made the NPC knew next to nothing about YGGDRASIL's lore, and as well didn't know all that much about Christianity, either. Probably a Japanese player, if he had to guess. Sean didn't think much more on it.

Rather, he relaxed, took a seat on the ground, leaned back, and waited for the end.