A massive island floating above the clouds, teeming with life. The Island of the Gods, Kamishima. Manaka Suzuki spent all her free time in this game, yet here she lay by the Lake of Life, bored and broken, listening to the sound of flowing water and wildlife, staring at the pink, glistening water.

"You just gonna lay here until the servers shut down, Ghoti?" a voice behind her broke the silence. She turned her head to briefly glance at Link. The resemblance always amused her. As GMs, Link and Manaka had free reign to design their characters however they wanted without sacrificing stats. She questioned whether she could have designed something cool for her avatar, Ghoti, regardless of how satisfied she was with her Doppleganger's ability to look however she wanted.

She looked around at the forest surrounding them, more beautiful than anything she could have found in the real world. Green everywhere, ambient noises of wildlife, rich plant life, flowing water. It was like a paradise.

"You know this is my favorite spot, Link-San" She began, "It's a fitting place to be for the end of this world." Link chuckled,

"Dramatic as usual I see." He plopped down beside her. "I told you to stop saying 'San', you can just call me Link. We've been friends for like a decade now." Manaka mumbled an acknowledgement, preceding a brief silence. "You wanna spar one last time? I wanted to get even with you, and this'll probably be my last chance to do it." She laughed at him,

"You know, I think I'm perfectly satisfied with the score. Besides, you'd have to beat me twice to catch up with my fifty-one wins." Link shrugged.

"You're right, you're right. I don't have time for it anyways, I need to get to bed." Manaka frowned. She was hoping to spend her last moments here with a good friend.

"Sure, seeya." She quickly blurted, hiding her emotions behind a cold exterior.

"Hope to see you in another game sometime." He offered nostalgically, but sighed at the silence that followed.

Manaka typed vigorously at a keyboard, creating settings for the NPC standing before her. She bounced on her toes as she clicked 'enter'. Before her stood a dragon in human form. It appeared as if it were a woman just beginning the process of transforming into a dragon; yellow snake eyes, patches of scales, enormous wings, razor-sharp claws, and a long reptilian tale. Standing at three meters tall, Manaka had set it's stats with as many 9's as each category could hold, "because why not?" she told herself. Her GM privileges allowed her to do so. A creature that would require more players to beat than the server could hold in one place without crashing. A fitting being to leave guarding Kamishima.

Manaka spent a while lounging by the lake with her new creation, scrolling through a list of current online players. Surshana and 5 of his friends, Momonga, 8 players all near eachother, a few others. She gazed out onto the Lake of Life as the clock ticked away.

[23:59:20]

Less than a minute to go. She pondered what her daily life would be like after this game. She would have to find a new hobby. Maybe a new game.

[23:59:40]

She should have made another NPC. One to keep her dragon company.

[23:59:45]

That's stupid.

[23:59:55]

She would miss it here.

[23:59:56]

[23:59:57]

[23:59:58]

[23:59:59]

"Goodbye."

[00:00:00]

...

[00:00:01]

Huh?

She gazed at the Lake of Life, noting that it was still in front of her. Had they pushed the servers back? No, something was different. There was no HUD.

She also immediately noticed that all of her senses were suddenly not only active within this world, but heightened to levels she never knew possible. She could smell the sweet aroma of the water and plant life. She could feel the grass beneath her. She could hear... breathing. Shocked, she looked to her right to see the chest of her creation rising and falling as it breathed. The ambient sounds of the island were no longer just ambience. She could discern the location of every chirping bird and every leaping hare.

What the hell was going on?

She couldn't take her eyes off of her creation. She wanted to call out to it, perhaps issue a command, but what if this world had just become real? Manaka had seen shows before about people getting stuck in games. They were always just fictional shows, but she couldn't bring up the menu. She couldn't issue a GM command. She could sense the world around her as if it were real... maybe because it was real. If this was all real, what sort of creature stood there by the lake? Was it an evil dragon that would eat her in a second? Was it a guardian of the island, like she had set it up to be? Would it follow its programming and settings?

After what felt like an eternity, she mustered the courage to say it's name.

"Shyvanna." She addressed it. The creature turned its head to Manaka, looking down at her short frame.

"How may I serve?" the dragoness offered solemnly. A wave of relief flooded Manaka's system as she confirmed that its settings were intact.

But it had spoken.

"Who am I to you?" Manaka asked hesitantly. Shyvanna tilted her head in confusion, furrowing her brow.

"You... are my creator, Ghoti-Sama. The almighty watcher of the realm, having tasked me with the sacred duty of protecting your home, Kamishima. You stayed behind when the rest of the watchers left." Shyvanna seemed perplexed by the question, but had answered it as formally and gracefully as she could. Manaka grabbed her face in thought. A speaking NPC. Real senses. No menu.

It was real. All of it.

Having accepted it, she was realizing she could feel her powers. The powers she had as a doppleganger, a player, and the powers she had given her character as a GM. Something was missing though, she could feel no powers relating to GM commands or privileges. Seeing a rabbit cleaning itself near a bush, she pointed at it and muttered "Kill."

It didn't die immediately like it would have if she had GM commands, but Shyvanna pounced on it and ripped its throat out with no hesitation.

"Will you feast on it, my lord, or was it a gift for me?" Manaka was more stunned at how unphased she was at the gore than at Shyvanna's actions.

"It's for you." She muttered, as Shyvanna enjoyed the meal her creator had graced her with.

"Okay, this world is real. Fine. What does that entail?" Manaka began talking to herself, reasoning out the situation as best as she could. "Am I stuck here? Is there a way out? Am I dead in the real world?" She started pacing. Unbeknownst to her, Shyvanna was staring at her, concerned. "Is it just this island? Is all of Yggdrasil now real? Were the other players I saw online transferred here as well?" Manaka grabbed her head as thoughts spun through it.

"My lord?" Shyvanna's words fell on deaf ears.

"Maybe it's still a game. Maybe this was the plan all along. They just transferred the servers over to Yggdrasil 2, I had heard rumors on the forums online about such a game. Could it be possible?"

"Um... My lord?"

"If that's the case, this game is insanely detailed. Am I still a GM? What kind of programming has gone into this game to produce smell and touch? If I could feel pain in this game, would that even be legal?"

"My lord, I-"

"If I am a GM here, who would I call for help? Contacting another GM would be pointless. Maybe I could use teleportation magic to get to the surface..."

"My-"

"What?!" Manaka interrupted. Shyvanna bowed her head in regret,

"I deeply apologize for breaking your train of thought, my lord. Perhaps I could assist with your problem. My wisdom does not measure to yours in the slightest, but you did create me to be ultimately powerful. Could that be of use to you?" She kept her head bowed and her eyes closed as she spoke.

Manaka thought over the proposition. If this world was real, then that means any dangers that could come with it would be real as well. Having a powerful dragon at her side certainly could help if something were to go wrong when she travels to the surface.

"I'm going to visit the surface. Could you come with me?"

Shyvanna hesitated, surprising Manaka. Up until now, she seemed like she would have given her life for Manaka.

"I-... I would, my lord, but I cannot leave this place. You created me for the sole purpose of protecting Kamishima, and leaving it unguarded is something I cannot do." Shyvanna knelt down in front of Manaka. "Please, forgive me! I will do anything in my power to serve you, but leaving this island is not within my power!" her face twisted into a grimace as she mentally reprimanded herself for defying her creator's direct order.

Her master did not seem surprised by her reaction though.

"Good answer." It had been a test, and she had passed it!

Manaka cursed at herself in her mind. If only she hadn't programmed Shyvanna with such a glaring weakness. What could she do now?

Perhaps she could still create NPCs as a GM. /kill didn't work, but maybe some other commands would?

"Patrol the edge of the island until I call for you, Shyvanna." The dragoness simply nodded, spread her wings, and flew away. "Any commands I say out loud, she's likely to follow. I don't want anything weird to happen while I experiment with my powers."

One of the thousands of thoughts racing through Manaka's mind seemed to stand out. It was that she was thinking a lot. Much more than she had ever thought in her life. Manaka herself had never been truly intelligent. She could be witty at times, and she was of above average intellect, but she was never a genius. Her mind now, however, seemed to fill with multiple possibilities, branching out into countless more possibilities. It was all happening so quickly, so cleanly, so clearly. There was no jumble or mess, it all seemed to make sense and fall into place. She was piecing things together with an ease she had never known.

The realization hit her. She had always roleplayed Ghoti as a hyper intelligent, levelheaded, tactically brilliant Doppleganger. Not only had she been somehow transported to this world, but she was no longer human. She was not a human inhabiting her avatar's body... she was now her avatar.

She was no longer Manaka,

She was now Ghoti.