Chapter One: A Songbird in the City

Disclaimer: I do not own Overlord, or any of its related, products, characters, music, or affiliated merchandise. I also do not own any other franchises, series, music, or any other items I may mention in this story in any way much to my chagrin.

Also, a big shout out to my dear ol' dad, Matt (also known by a certain cynical nickname of theirs), some other friends, Minami and Yui, you two know who I'm talking about. They're all getting these mentions for helping iron out some plot issues I've had, not to mention figuring out how to portray portions of a certain group that will be mentioned in the story by allowing me to bounce ideas off of them for those characters and the story in general.

Any further assistance in the form of reviews and personal correspondence will be greatly appreciated, especially if it is constructive criticism, although I do find the occasional outbreak of flames to be a bit helpful for roasting marshmallows when I have them...

Now then, please review, and I hope you enjoy the story (semi-nervous author crosses fingers).

Now then, one game addicted amateur fanfic writer signing off to work on a story I've been letting sit for far too long.

o7 I salute you Ladies and Gentlemen. Also, if you're in the US where I am, I really hope you have the heating set to a comfortable level because it's only going to get colder.

"It was always dark in here whenever we entered this room, wasn't it LadyRaven?"

"Hai, it always has FallenKing..., I wish this game would keep going, people still came to us to learn from this guild right up until the end. We did have that one guy from PC Gamer Magazine come back for a quick dungeon dive with you and the rest of us since we taught him what he knew about this game, you remember when Watanuki almost burned his character with that fireball spell? Oh, I will miss this game, you're still going to call me when you get home from work right? I mean it's seven in the evening here in Japan, but..."

"Don't worry, I will still call , it isn't like I'm going to let my best friend in the whole world miss the chance to sing a song with me like we normally did on here right?"

I turned my character to the right to look at LadyRaven, she had been there since the start of Yggdrasil from its official release, and her character showed it both in its stats and her appearance. Her character was a female vampire that wore a regal looking dress that had definite ties to the eighteenth or perhaps early nineteenth century which was one of hundreds of thousands of 'Founder' items, and was a powerful magic user like my own since she had long since hit the level cap of one hundred and had practically become something of an item among several social circles with her subtly charismatic but almost aristocratic ways tempered by a wicked and subtle nature directed at anyone that openly made themselves an enemy. She was also the original founder of our guild along with myself, White-Imp, TheNameless1, and Hargrove. She was also perhaps the reason why we were always seen as benevolent teachers first, and powerful adversaries second.

Since many people in the game had a habit of looking down on non-human characters, which often led to discrimination whenever someone needed help of any kind if not outright violence, she had asked all of us if we could do anything about it early on when we first started adventuring together as a group, and I had to admit I was an absolute pessimist and said that we probably couldn't help more than a few, it was TheNameless1 that thought up the idea of trying to tutor people as part of our normal adventuring group originally but it was an idea we all liked. The idea to create the grand Raven's Spire was LadyRaven's alone though, a place where people could come to learn in Yggdrasil, and in the end it was White-Imp's choice of aesthetics that gave us the theme for the great hall and the majority of the Catacombs, but it was all of us that made the tower what it had become.

I watched the female vampire next to me put up her favorite emoji, a simple smiling text bubble, along with the message saying, "I'm so glad to hear that, it will be the lyrics from Arpeggio of Blue Steel's opening song this time!"

I gave the same emote back, along with the reply of, "I'm looking forward to it. It might be an old series, but damn, it is definitely running one of the best songs I have heard in a while with the crap they have been putting out lately."

"Well I better log off Fallen, maybe you'll tell me you're real name when we start singing in the morning?"

My character nodded and I replied the only way I wanted to, "I think I will, you've certainly earned that ages ago back when we were just starting out, I mean after all you did save me after I was duped into that level thirty dungeon when I was only a level thirteen skeletal mage, well that and you wanted to tell me what you thought of your singing, I think I more than owe it to you."

I was met with silence before I saw her favorite emoji again, "I know Fallen, and I know I haven't told you my name either... it's Asaga. I kind of wish we could sing karaoke without using a phone or something..."

"Well I have a month of vacation saved up, do think you could handle having a friend living in a hotel for about a week on vacation?"

"Do you mean it?"

"Yeah, I mean I've always wanted to see Japan since I was a kid, and I've got a cousin of mine that moved there a few months ago that I've been meaning to visit in the spring so it wouldn't be a problem."

"Okay! I'll find a few songs for spring Fallen, ja ne... Lord of Ash..."

I was going to say more but her character winked out of existence in the game, and I knew that I wouldn't see it again either since the servers were shutting down in about five hours. I couldn't help but think of the room I was in, it was absolutely against everything that LadyRaven, no her name was Asaga, imagined since we promoted equality amongst our members. It was a throne room, it was a place meant to show the power of the ruler of our guild, but despite that we did the only thing we could, we elected who would be the leader of the guild and shuffled the role between all of the more permanent members, or at least we did up until a few months ago when people stopped logging on, or slowly began to leave on their own for their own adventures before signing off for the last time. I was the last elected leader then and there was a vote to elect a leader once again but everyone said for me to keep it, and I did under extreme protest as now I was taking after the username I had chosen for myself, I was now a fallen king since my character was undead in origin, a lich to be precise but I always kept something of a noble air about my person and adhered to every single rule we set for our guild as well as I could. By the end of today however there were only two people left in the guild that remained active, myself and Asaga, we kept helping new players and even a few old players going for one last dungeon run right up until now.

I looked around the dark throne room in its dark ambiance, the throne was made out of a wood similar to ebony and stood atop a short platform of grey marble with wrought iron braziers shaped like dragons with their wings stretched toward the ceiling, the floor was made of a reflective white marble tile with a mirror like finish, grey banners that were devoid of any form of heraldry but were adorned with black and white designs meant to draw the eye away from the center of the room adorned the sides of the chamber and covered the grand pillars that were made of a similar white marble to the floor slowly grew darker in color as they reached the ceiling to give way to the rich black marble that the ceiling consisted of black granite enchanted to resemble the night sky.

The only banner that held the image of our guild heraldry was the one above the throne and it was a simple image at that. That image was nothing more than a closed book with an inkwell sitting next to it with a white feather sitting inside of it and a staff laid across the book. It was an accurate enough symbol for our guild after all, since we styled ourselves as more of a place of learning rather than a group of players interested in gaining power over the surrounding land in Yggdrasil, or over any other guilds for that matter. We never chose conflict when we could avoid it, but we did encourage the less experienced members to take part in organized player versus player duel brackets on the tower grounds to give them a taste of combat without putting them in danger of losing anything of value.

The only thing we didn't dare tell anyone about our guild's emblem however was the fact that it actually held the likeness of a World class object, a powerful spell book called the Grimoire of Arcane Might and it was perhaps the most dangerous weapon a magic user could acquire since it didn't require an equipment slot to be used, and its abilities were absolutely devastating in the hands of even a new player but it was something that could destroy entire worlds if it was in the hands of a character devoted to the ways of magical combat if such a feat was possible, and that was due to passive spell immunity to spells tier four and above which essentially made a player untouchable once they reached their seventieth level or so, not to mention the ability to cast any spell instantly as long as it was tier eight or higher with a modest two seconds shaved off of the casting of Super-tier spells regardless of character class.

We had managed to collect a sizable bounty of items and materials from countless hours of farming as a personal source of wealth for our guild, not to mention fighting guilds that decided that a guild that taught new players should be a pushover, and many of our younger members had gained invaluable experience in player versus player combat both by observing the senior members, such as myself since I was one of the founding members and at the time current leader of the Scholars of Ravenspire, and in practical application of the knowledge we passed onto them. In the end however I always regretted not making it more of a priority to try to convince our members to stay after that since we had made ourselves into what equated to a guild where people came to learn to play Yggdrasil and develop their character's skills and stats to suit specific playstyles, meaning they were free to leave when they were finished learning what they required or found somewhere else to go.

In the end it was just myself standing in the throne room with messages of farewell from all of our former members open before me with the simple move to activate my mail inbox, slowly I made my way to the throne with my inbox open and sat down as I began to reread the messages one after another, that was until I came across a message I wasn't expecting. It was a message from Momonga, I read it of course thinking it was an old message that I had overlooked but I saw the timestamp and realized it was only a few minutes old, and without delay I sent a letter in reply stating that it had been an honor knowing them and the members of their guild even if it was for a short time, and that I would hopefully see them in another place or game with luck. I knew that I hadn't been paying attention to the time as I was reading the messages I had received and writing in response to a few, when I saw that it was almost nine in the evening on the server's internal time, meaning there was just three hours left, that was when I had the idea to assemble the most important NPCs from their duties in the tower and its grounds, and since much of the tower itself was actually built under the ground and spread out to cover the surrounding mixture of magically maintained jungle and swamps to the pond and surrounding gardens the NPCs would be either in the ancillary towers near the perimeter of the grounds themselves in the case of the main guardians, or in the tower itself attending to classrooms that would never be filled again with fresh faces for even a second. I however, happened to be a lazy person at heart whenever it came to games I could use developer tools in and chose to activate the NPC command system to summon them, a process that would cause them all to walk to the main hall at the base of the tower which could take up to a half hour considering how their path finding system was devised coupled with how the grounds were laid out.

I decided to take a quick walk by myself to what passed as my personal quarters in the tower, and change into my more 'ceremonial' appearance since this would be the last time I did anything in Yggdrasil. In reality however it was a far less ostentatious robe than the one I normally used, which in fact was a throwback to the very first robe I ever used in Yggdrasil, instead of the gold trimmed and gem studded robe that was a deep crimson meant to inspire feelings of awe in my foes during the few times I was truly required to take the field of battle or perform official duties for the guild. The robe I had equipped to my character was a simple black robe with silver trimmed matching black metal plates over the shoulders with a deep hood to cover my head. I chose this robe because it was the robe I had when I had been first elected to be the leader for the month I was originally intended to be in charge of the guild for. I felt it was appropriate since I also had a similar robe when I first joined this guild as one of its founders, and it evoked warm memories of past conquests, songs of celebration during triumphant returns, lamentations in the mercifully few instances when we were defeated, and the moment I met many of our first members, as well as the finest of our students at their 'graduation' from our guild by simply surviving in a timed duel with Hargrove, our very first students were accepted as our own after all. From then on it was a mad race to assemble a powerful arsenal of items that would be the symbols of our guild and in the end we had the weapons that secured the land from wandering monsters, and players that threatened our fledgling guild and its home.

My staff however was a simple item in terms of classification barely being considered a so-called God level item due to its sheer utility and enchantments making it an effective blunt instrument, as it was created from a gnarled piece of Umbral Yew from the very realm of death itself and it was etched by my character's own hand before being inlaid with five enchanted rubies imbued with powerful defensive magic in the form of passive anti-magic warding that would create a defensive barrier automatically, it did sadly have the unfortunate effect of leaving me open to spells relating to the cold, but then again it isn't like spells dealing cold damage would even be a threat to a Lich such as I after considering my level and natural resistances. My staff had perhaps one truly eye-catching feature however was the engraving created by White-Imp at his suggestion, and ever the artist as usual, he sculpted it over time to resemble the almost common image of the 'Western' depiction of a dragon with its wings spread in flight and its mouth open as if it was roaring with shining rubies set into its chest giving my staff three simple but effective offensive spells, Mist of Flame, Fireball, and Wall of Death. Mist of Flame was perhaps the most deadly of the three, a simple fog that could be cast as a magical trap that would ignite when something passed through a nearly undetectable magical boundary after a second before consuming whatever triggered it so long as it wasn't resistant or immune to a tier eight fire based spell, Fireball was a carbon copy of the tier three spell of the same name so it was a simple but effective tool meant to save mana, and Wall of Death was perhaps the most dangerous item effect I had after Mist of Flame since it acted like an extremely aggressive version of Anti-life Cocoon that would cause living beings to rot as if exposed to the spell Eternal Decay instead of simply blocking them, but it did that too making it probably one of the more dangerous barrier spells since enemies could pass through it, not that they would live long at any rate.

Then there was my robe of course since I personally enchanted it to the best of my ability, it was called the Robe of Shadows, its appearance was that of a black traveling cloak with some minor ornamentation in the form of the metal plates formed into protective covering for the shoulders as well as silver embroidery along the edges of the hood, sleeves, and a few gemstones holding warding magic to obscure my undead nature by various forms of magic including the ability to cover my face with extremely deep shadows to prevent my face being seen but the enchantments also to helped by warding off physical attacks in conjunction with my own innate resistance to necromantic spells such as Ray of Negative Energy since that spell would serve to strengthen me instead of harm me due to my undead racial abilities. Sadly proper healing spells meant for the living were considered a 'holy attack' when utilized on the undead so the majority of my robe's defensive enchantments were meant to nullify holy magic of any kind along with a few other more minor bonuses to speed up the time to cast my more basic spells belonging to tiers three and lower since some magical defenses could only be breached by lower tiered spells. My rings were more or less for decoration beyond bolstering my already considerable pool of mana points, aside from the fact that the rings served as a wearable mana potion to restore my mana points at any time by 'consuming' the built up magical charge they collected from a variety of sources, but my Guild Ring was essentially meant to safeguard half of the wearer's mana points against draining attacks, and the ability to teleport around the Tower and its grounds.

The amulet I wore was a gift from Hargrove, he was another Lich that focused on the bloody chaos of melee combat in direct contrast to my own choice of ranged spellcasting despite him having a personality mirroring my own, but he did take the time to focus a lot of his time on developing his racial abilities and saw that hordes of small flying creatures served as an effective distraction against ranged opponents, so he had taken the time to acquire the necessary skills to create amulets for all of our original adventuring party before we created our guild, the amulets were an item able to summon a horde of bats ranging into the thousands meant to harass archers and other ranged combatants by slowly whittling away at their hit-points, of course creative use of such an advantage was always found in PVP combat and the name of the amulet in question was something I could never remember but it had something about wings in its name.

The boots I wore were purely for aesthetic purposes and were unnamed, after all it would be in poor taste to not have a pair of black travelling boots that matched the already grim look black robe if they weren't meant for traveling at all. My equipment was always being joked about by the other members of the guild in private conversations I'm sure since I preferred the use of lower leveled items over my more powerful equipment, but I focused solely on my character's abilities and spells as well as my own skill to carry the day and not my equipment but I always made sure that they offered the same protection that the other founders of my guild had which left me as more or less a walking nightmare to anyone below level eighty, and an equal if they were ninety or higher where skill and raw power were what mattered.

I found myself looking into the mirror mounted on the inside of my personal wardrobe for far longer than I should have as I lost myself in more memories as I pulled each item from my wardrobe before eventually starting to hum a little tune I had heard somewhere long ago. I knew my character couldn't smile, but I so desperately wanted to have it mirror the expression I knew I was undoubtedly wearing subconsciously outside of Yggdrasil but I settled for the brighter glow in the glowing cobalt blue orbs set into its eye sockets. I looked at the in-game clock and saw that I had just less than an hour left but I just couldn't turn away from the sight of my character as he stood in the mirror, I kept the build of his body slightly average but leaned toward a thinner appearance overall in the hopes to make my character seem like less of a threat than they really were, and as many of my opponents in the past could attest it was a fatal assumption to make based on appearance alone in combination with the Robe of Shadows. My character had quite the horrifying appearance, but then again so did everyone who used a non-human character like a Lich for the most part as long as they had made an earnest attempt with their time in the creation of their character. I stood there for a few minutes longer before utilizing the guild ring that I wore to teleport to our guild's Great Hall.

I finished the transit to the Great Hall without issue, and I saw the assembly of no less than ten of the major NPC's belonging to what equated to my second home for nearly all of Yggdrasil's twelve year long life. The two Vampires, Nidus the Eternal, Melena the Night Stalker, and then of course the Lich Harald the Shadow Weaver, each were level ninety and all of them were powerful melee combatants due to their racial abilities in tandem with an odd assortment of equipment, but Nidus served as the head of the main defensive NPCs and was created by Asaga as a powerful barrier against intruders with the staying power of a level eighty warrior and a level twenty magic user, Melena was the secondary leader of the 'counter-offensive' troops with her incredible abilities intended to simply annihilate the enemy either in direct magical confrontation or as an infiltrator, and last was Harald. He was a collaboration by all of the founding members of our guild including myself, and Harald was the result of trying to create a powerful illusionist with a heavy focus on defensive spells, Harald was head of the NPCs that assisted in educating our members in magical defense and to a lesser extent magic meant to conceal oneself from spells meant to gather information. Then there was Illyana, a Dark Elf who was in charge of what could be argued was the main 'offensive' force, in short they were similar to the defensive NPCs except they were all of varying high level magic users and their various sub-classes allowing them to temporarily deal with actual players, but they were meant to supplement our members in an attack instead of replace them entirely.

Uthgar was a phantom, human in origin, that was bound to the small smithy that I myself had created several items in as one of the jobs I needed to take in order to create magical items during what would be considered 'end game' status as I neared level ninety, funnily enough the smithy was bought from another guild after an event in Yggdrasil that allowed randomly generated spirits to attach themselves to important guild objects, which most guilds didn't take kindly to while our guild simply warded the most important guild objects with protective spells that would reduce the chances of it happening and then hoped for the best as the hauntings were entirely random in what they attached themselves to, which oddly enough led to several ghostly caretakers for the tower grounds which cut overall maintenance since they didn't incur additional upkeep costs, but the private library we had was sadly not included in that list of warded areas which led to some rather annoying consequences.

The other NPCs however I couldn't remember offhand with the exception of the unnaturally tall and intelligent goblin that was the head butler, he was the de facto leader of the housekeeping staff, and almost all of said housekeepers were high level thieves and assassins to get their powerful stealth abilities put to good use to appear from nowhere despite their non-human origins in some cases. The head butler's name was Vargrim, a very old goblin that looked more like an elf than a goblin due to his overly pointed features, but that was where the similarity ended since his green and withered flesh seemed stretched and thin compared to what a normal goblin should look like, his eyes were sunken in ever so slightly but the yellow glow that seemed to radiate from within those malevolent eyes as he went about his duties when passing through dimly lit areas belied the reason he was a very powerful thief of level eighty with enough job classes thrown in to make it easily accepted as to why he was the head butler, then again his innate ability to disappear from sight only to reappear elsewhere, and in one case stab a level seventy fighter in the back with a pair of long talon-like daggers that dropped their hit-points to practically nil along with a lingering curse that prevented them from retaliating, and last I heard they never did get it removed. Overall the goblin was also nearly tall enough to come up to my waist, which considering how disproportionately large my character was to a normal skeleton would have had him standing at nearly five and a half feet tall if he stood upright instead of hunched over ever so slightly as he normally was in the loose fitting coat he wore.

I stood there admiring the culmination of the countless hours my friends and I had poured into perfecting how each character's gear and looks interacted so they matched their personalities. Nidus was a serious and generally stoic character with little imagination when it came to humor so his plain grey armor was devoid of decoration, Melena was a quiet individual but decisive in her responses lending her the necessity to have a very heavily enchanted robe along with a staff that was more of a trick than anything else, Harald was a bit grim but it was matched by solid determination according to his stats and settings which was matched with black robes similar to mine with more than a few of the same personality quirks I have, Illyana was energetic and forward thinking with a well developed strategic AI and it showed whenever her NPCs were utilized on the offense or defense leaving her with a robe that was bright and cheerful with a cuirass of adamantite with sleeves of chainmail covering her robe's own cloth sleeves.

Uthgar was the only real oddity since they were generally giving off a depressive aura but nonetheless was quite inspiring whenever someone was forging an item in the smithy, even going so far as showing off his ability to forge items on his own as an NPC and often they were of superior quality of near Legendary rating for his simple items, but he had the innate ability to duplicate any item's effects to any extent as long as it was equal to or less effective than the item he was copying, often he would appear to be wearing tattered clothing that would shift about on some undetectable phantom wind. Waiting a moment longer I realized I had around a half hour left before the servers would shut down, and without delay I gave the simple order to follow and I began to lead the NPCs that helped us keep the guild I called home a functioning, and the thriving place I cherished, on one last walk around the Tower itself from room to room before taking them to the Throne Room for one last moment of reflection before the inevitable end of twelve short years of memories I wouldn't give up for the world.

I hated how time seemed to fly by whenever I got distracted, it reminded me too much of my real-life job.

I stood in the Throne Room for barely a minute before I did something I thought was absolutely insane after an odd notion stirred in my mind, I started to give a speech and looked around the Throne Room one last time with the assembled NPCs in their normal standby positions.

"For nearly twelve years this grand tower was our home, we are family in my eyes. LadyRaven was the mother of this great family, and the rest of us took our turns being bickering siblings and responsible guardians as we normally did, but I can honestly say that I was humbled to say that this was perhaps the most important thing I had for over a decade. I had friends here, I had challenges here, I could help people reach the height of their own potential if they gave me the time to help them do so, and for almost a decade I wanted nothing more than to have it last forever but as all things must end so too must this end. I hope we will all meet again soon my friends."

I felt myself begin to lose part of my composure as the time left until the servers finally shut down was less than a minute away since I took the briefest of routes that took nearly all of the half hour I had left before reaching the Throne Room, and several minutes remembering the events of the past took far longer than I would have liked, and being lost in a flight of fancy leading to a speech that was essentially unnecessary beyond how it helped me cope with losing somewhere I met with friends I had never met in person for over a decade in one specific case, and other friends I would more than likely never see again. My external composure was probably fine, but the internal chaos of my mind was completely out of control as the server's clock hit zero and my character began to slowly slip toward the ground to their knees just as the clock read 00:00:00.

So there I was sitting on the floor resting on my knees as my mind was reeling from the loss of friends, friends that while I truly never met them beyond Yggdrasil I still knew them, and they knew me well enough that both they and I could react to situations in an instant as we moved across the myriad dungeons we had entered over twelve years like a well maintained machine could effortlessly continue the task it was designed for with minimal complaint while receiving proper maintenance. I felt like sobbing, Hell, I felt like bawling my eyes out as I reached out to activate the command console and when it didn't respond as I expected I stopped as a weight was placed on my shoulder. I looked to where I felt the weight since it struck me as odd since touch was a sensation that wasn't able to be implemented in Yggdrasil and I saw the white glove belonging to White-Imp's favorite NPC, Vargrim and despite his choice to make them so unnerving in appearance Vargrim had the aura of being a grandfatherly individual but my mind was being wracked by a flurry of doubts and questions. How am I able to feel an NPC touching my shoulder, moreover the very action itself was not an NPC function or animation. To top it off I was becoming keenly aware of the hard, cold marble flooring beneath my knees.

I muttered quietly, "This can't be real..."

"My Lord, I assure you that this is real."

I stood there reeling from a surge of panic, despair, disbelief, and quite possibly excitement. I just wish that I knew what to say.

"My Lord, what is the matter? Is something in the tower not to your liking?"

"Vargrim, you can talk?"

I watched as Vargrim sighed and stepped back before speaking again, albeit with polite frustration evident in his expression similar to how a parent would gently push their child into behaving according to what they were taught for being in a social setting.

"I am not certain I know how to answer your questions Lord. Well I do but yes, I can talk, but can you get off of your knees? It is unseemly for a man of your position."

I watched him as I was unsure of what to say next but what I heard from him was at the very least comforting considering this situation, I wanted to give in to what I felt which was despair, and perhaps frustration because I felt helpless in this situation as I tried to bring up the system to contact a GM only to receive no answer.

"My Lord, I would like to say that from what we have all seen and heard during the last few minutes, we are happy to see that one of the beings that created us stayed here with us to what you perceived as the end, but we are saddened to see that only one of you did so, however, we are here and will continue our duties as instructed. Perhaps you should think of this as a new start?"

I watched him tilt his head to the side with a rather uncharacteristic smile that stretched his features to nearly disturbing proportions for the normally non-expressive butler my friends and I had known for over a decade.

"After all my Lord, if we didn't we wouldn't be fulfilling our roles as residents bound to the tower, and to be honest I rather enjoy my role as head butler, and I believe that you, and the rest of our creators put a piece of your own lives into us to bring us to life, that is a debt we can only hope to repay. So, doesn't it sound like a good reason to get up and find something to do?"

I had to be going insane because I was kneeling on the floor listening to an NPC giving me a philosophically sound reason to stop sulking like the emotionally fragile person I was in reality, and I had to say they made a compelling statement considering my emotional state. Slowly I got to my feet and took in a breath before letting out a heavy sigh that simply created a heavy aura of despair similar to my own feelings about what was happening, were my friends alright? Was I going to be missed? What about my job? What about my promise to sing songs with Asaga? What if I wasn't going insane, because if I'm not going insane what am I supposed to do?

"Yes, I suppose so..."

There was silence after I had replied and it dragged on for some time as I thought about what could have happened, and about what is happening. So I did the only thing I could, I focused on what I could solve right now, and that was figuring out what was going on, and laying the groundwork to eventually reverse it if I could.

"Vargrim?"

I watched as the smartly dressed butler straightened his back to be at what could only be described as something similar to what you could expect when a military officer inspected their troops stood at full attention. It was an impressive sight coming from a butler, but the shallow smile and excited look in his eyes as he expected orders dulled the image, only slightly however as it reminded me of an eager devil as it was intended by White-Imp.

"I want you to ensure that the household staff takes inventory of any and all foodstuffs currently available, perishable or not, I also require you to ensure that the Catacombs are still beneath the tower grounds. Melena, you along with your most trusted are to begin searching the area for anything that may be useful, as I am honestly at a loss to what is going on at the moment, and above all else do not engage in a conflict if it can be avoided, I know you enjoy the occasional hunt and frankly it is none of my business but I am asking you to subsist on the gifts of LadyRaven for as long as I tell you. Of course if you run into anything in the area... well, I don't need to tell you that you need to remain undetected. Uthgar, I would request that you take inventory of the smithy as well as the armories and barracks. The rest of you are to ensure the safety of the grounds, and provide assistance or support where it is needed should it not interfere with your other daily duties."

I watched as the majority of the assembled NPCs, no they were people I suppose considering the emotional responses some of them had, some gave a bow with several offering various forms of acceptance of my orders ranging from simple responses like 'Yes sir', to 'Yes my Lord', and it felt so surreal as they left the Throne Room. I was going to turn to the throne itself so I could sit and think, but I saw Vargrim was still in the room giving a sly smile.

"My Lord, I am pleased that a bit of encouragement brought you to your senses, and don't worry my Lord, we will do what we can to help you perform whatever you wish but I ask that you consider this situation carefully in the event that you decide to leave as well for whatever reason you may have, I mean that it wouldn't be the same without someone that we understand sitting upon the Black Throne."

It was nearly dusk and now I had an idea of where we were, we were in the middle of absolutely fucking nowhere, Melena's report confirmed a great deal of what the majority of her troops could tell me considering they numbered barely forty in total without counting herself among them which severely limited the amount of information they could acquire in a few hours, although it was balanced by the fact that Melena could summon her household to do a fair amount of the scouting with her familiars and handmaidens. Sadly it did leave us with a rather detailed idea of what surrounded our tower.

The tower and its grounds were now squarely located on a small plateau on he side of a mountain range that was possibly made from our arrival in this new area, but it was still considerably larger than the tower grounds and it was only made more pronounced with the fact that the region surrounding us was a massive jungle to one side bordered by the mountains we found ourselves sitting on with an area of soft stone that we could potentially carve a road utilizing physical means if needed. The other issue however was that we were now located on what was possibly a large peninsula that was either located on the coastline of a large lake which was discovered to be saltwater due to one of the human scouts in Melena's troops that had taken a tentative sip before spitting it back into the rest of the water so that meant it we may even possibly be on a large island surrounded by seawater in the worst scenario possible. The mountains nearest the coastline were surrounded by loamy soil before giving way to exceptionally white sand, but at least we knew that all of the tower and its grounds had made the transition to wherever we are. Everything beyond the perimeter cobblestone pathways that went from each ancillary tower to the ones next simply disappeared during our tower's transition, and it truly disturbed many of the NPCs that usually ran the patrols, but at least the Catacombs remained intact during transition, since according to Vargrim everything from the wine cellars to the tombs that the vampiric NPCs rested in during the daylight hours had survived our less than expected situation. The first things that had been checked however was the kitchen larders which had somewhere around three tons of both naturally and magically preserved food, and around one ton in what could be considered 'adventuring' foodstuffs, which in reality was preserved or cured food such as jerky, canned or jarred vegetables, and lastly to my great surprise the few orchards that were added to cut down some maintenance costs in Yggdrasil thankfully still produced a steady stream of produce, albeit slowly despite magic and the constant care of the groundskeepers.

The real problems however were entirely centered around the more important items such as crafting materials for alchemical uses as well as the creation of new equipment for just the NPCs dedicated to combat roles, crafting resources were truly a minor issue when compared to what could happen if anyone nearby saw the tower and reported our location to someone that would use that information against us in one way or another. The first solution for the problem came from Harald since he was the most well versed in magic and it was obviously the best choice since the tower itself held fifteen floors, ten of which were above ground and made it quite easy to spot from a distance if one knew where to look so the solution that Harald suggested was that we cast an illusion to make the tower appear to be a spire of stone jutting from the mountainside and additional illusions to mask the appearance of the plateau, he did however mention that a full illusion would be difficult so that left us with the choice of modifying the plan. However the only way to do so was to actually see what was exposed from the base of the mountains, in the forest, from the coastline, and most importantly from the road that Melena and her household had discovered. If all went well we would only have to hide part of the tower from the road and forest, since most of the coastline was far enough away to make seeing the tower difficult but sadly not impossible.

The only other problem however was of utmost importance, I was bored out of my mind considering that I had yet to leave the Tower for more than a simple walk through the grounds but that never did anything for me back in Yggdrasil since I always did something be it just running a dungeon for fun or to help another player, or maybe even the odd friendly duel with someone to keep my PVP skills sharp. With that said I really wanted to get out of the tower grounds and possibly even attend to see the tower from the road discovered by Melena, for all I knew I would get lucky and meet some friendly locals.

I opened a portal using the Gate spell, it was simple enough to utilize but it required the utilization of a reconnaissance spell for me to cast it since I hadn't been anywhere near the road yet. It was a requirement for a spell such as Gate or Teleportation since I didn't know if it would work the same way as it did in Yggdrasil, but that was only due to the fact I had to have previously been somewhere or could see where I wanted to go directly. I had to admit I wasn't surprised to see the rapidly shifting disk of black and purple light as it began to dissipate, as it looked quite similar to how it worked in Yggdrasil but in direct contrast to when it was a game mechanic I could feel the unnatural pulses of energy created from its very existence as it drained Mana Points before it slowly tapered off from a feeling of slowly tiring, to a persistent nagging sensation at the back of my mind before disappearing both physically, and metaphorically, within a few seconds after the portal finally became little more than a brief flicker of oily smoke that dissipated into nothingness just as the drain on my Mana finally ceased.

All that was left for me to do now was take a really long look at the mountains and see if I could spot the Tower from the road, which according to what I saw from where I was standing, the road gave any travelers using it a rather good view of the mountains but thankfully didn't reveal the existence of the Tower from where I stood, but that didn't mean much if it was able to be seen from further up the road in either direction so that meant that travelling on foot was a must, a welcome distraction from the boredom of being cooped up inside of what equated to a massive school staffed by a wide variety of former NPCs carrying an almost obsessive desire to perform tasks. What little time I had spent alone in the Tower when I wasn't planning out solutions to immediate problems was dedicated to figuring out what abilities I had in Yggdrasil actually worked, and after spending most of a day listening to the constant droning buzz of a disconnect signal for about an hour and then experimenting with offensive and defensive skills before going over list after list of what Vargrim had inventoried from the various stores ranging from the main kitchen's larder to every last candle and dustpan in the various storage closets I was more than merely eager for something as relaxing as a really long walk.

After all, life was full of challenges and I was really, really, really bored after running through what seemed to be an endless list of spells to the point that even a random low level monster would have been a pleasant change of pace in comparison to the seemingly endless testing I had performed on various targets specifically designed for trying new spells and equipment. There was however a smell that brought back many memories of my childhood... it was a mix of burning wood, coal and possibly oil, and my least favorite smell, filth similar to a busted sewer line.

Without thinking further on the matter I had another skill to check, and in order to do that I simply raised a hand to my head and concentrated on a single word, and that word was message and beyond that it was ensuring that I thought of the recipient since I had tested the skill over short distances back at the Tower with her as the initial test subject.

"Melena, do you hear me?"

I was almost pleased when I heard the silken voice of Melena echo through my mind in response to my use of the Message skill.

"My Lord, what may I do for you?"

"Well, first you can stop calling me 'My Lord' when we're in private or conversing like this."

"You're wish is my command my Dark Liege..."

I wanted to hit my head against something right after hearing that while thinking bitterly, "You're far too literal Melena, you know that right?".

"Melena, don't call me anything relating to a noble title or my position again when we are in private."

"Yes my Lie-... Of course, but I don't have a name to call you by unless you want me to call you FallenKing, and I am unsure if you want to be called that all the time. It is after all related to what you just told me not to call you."

I let out a sigh of annoyance because despite her apparently literal nature, she had a point, and it was one that I would have to remedy with an old name I used on another RPG that had served as an inspiration for creating my character on Yggdrasil, with the exception that the character using that name became a Baron by right of conquest, knighthood, and deed.

"I have a name that you may call me if you wish, but I warn you that it is not my real name."

"I do not understand why you would tell me a false name, but I won't ask why. What is it that you wish to be called?"

"I wish to be called Dreisen, and if I end up in a situation that requires titles I will be addressed as Dreisen, Lord of Ravenspire, will that be acceptable to you Melena?"

"I believe it sounds quite fetching, but why are you asking me what I think of it?"

"Melena... I was interested in your opinion, but I suppose that I will get an answer about that later... I will contact you if I need your assistance."

I could almost hear an intrigued 'hmm' sound but it was more than likely a figment of my imagination so I waited a few seconds for a reply, and after waiting for what seemed like an eternity of endless hesitation I finally heard an eager reply, "I understand Dreisen, and I shall begin to notify the others of your wishes as well."

"Thank you Melena, do make sure that no one makes a mess of things while I'm gone."

There was a pause before I could practically hear the smile that was undoubtedly on her face along with a lilting note of excitement at the prospect of doing something, and it made me shiver without a reason as to why, "Of course, I am eager to please~...".

That was when it hit me, she was enjoying the conversation far too much for my liking considering I just want to get home.

I was faced with a decision, go toward the coast, or go further inland, and with the wind blowing ever so slightly I could catch the faint essence of manure and the scent of something burning from somewhere further within in the jungle, or perhaps it was actually a forest since some of the trees seemed to be from a more temperate climate compared to what began to feel like a sweltering heat that was a persistent but faint annoyance as if I felt the world through a thick wool cloth in regards to my sense of touch.

I looked ahead with a heavy sigh at the prospect of walking the whole way and began a slow and methodical trek up the road before I began to see a small building off to my right through the odd mix of trees, and I heard the sound of horses as they began to move about frantically as if something had spooked them. That was when I heard the voices, there were four of them, three of them were very loud and excited leading me to believe they belonged to children with a few shrill screams of joy and laughter. The fourth voice however piqued my interest since it was mature and was a rather articulated soprano as she called out in a language I could understand, it was surprisingly in what I thought was similar to Romanized Japanese which I could thankfully speak, albeit poorly in this since it sounded a lot like one that Asaga had attempted to teach me so I could sing a folk song with her for a contest for a winter festival in Yggdrasil, sadly I never could get the inflections for some words correctly without sounding horrible and occasionally making a very impressive mistake. Picking up the pace slightly I reached the edge of a clearing that was slowly making itself known with thinner foliage on the road's sides, and in it was the building I noticed through the foliage. The building as it turned out was one of several, a smaller outhouse that was large enough to be considered a shed, another that appeared to be a stable since there was a small enclosure made of a fence that came up to perhaps the neck of the horses inside the pen, and then there was a single story house that would have been considered a luxury in Japan according to what Asaga had mentioned in a past conversation, and considering it looked to be around a thousand square feet and had clear glass windows, it's owner must have been at least relatively well off in terms of wealth back home, but from what I knew history I remembered about the Feudal era in Europe let alone Japan glass was very rarely used unless it was either stained and used in the construction of a very important building like a church, or someone was very important or wealthy.

All of those were plausible, but then again I could be very wrong and that this was a typical farm, but considering that I hadn't noticed much on the lines of crops aside from a small garden partially hidden behind the shed I immediately began to wonder what they did for income. I probably would have kept thinking on those lines as I kept walking past trying to decide if it was worth stopping and knocking on the door of the house but I didn't get the chance as I heard what I knew was a formal greeting from my left side, and that was when I noticed the woman with a long handled axe laid across her right shoulder and arm with an armful of wood under her left.

She was far enough away to keep her features from being too obvious but she was close enough for me to notice she would have been rather attractive, and the dirty clothes she wore were definitely not what a woman would wear if she was expecting company as she was wearing a bright blue dress that showed she had definitely been cutting wood due to the large dark spots near her neck and arms that were probably caused from sweat, which only reinforced the impression the axe and bundle of wood she carried had suggested.

"Hello traveler! What brings you out my way?"

When she spoke I could hear uncertainty and more than a bit of caution, I personally wasn't going to allay any of her mistrust since living out in the middle of nowhere was quite obviously not a safe thing in any situation. I did however attempt to reply as best I could, but I knew that my use of the language was going to be broken, and more than likely I wouldn't be able to ask some of the questions I needed answered.

"I am new to these lands and I haven't been here very long. I don't suppose you could ask for your assistance in getting to town...?"

"Very smooth moron, if she doesn't believe that then she's going to immediately be on her guard and won't tell you anything."

"That won't be a problem," the woman points to her left with her eyes and a point of her chin, "...that way is the crossroad, you need to take the road to the right to get to Port Mantrus, but if you're heading to Xiuhpilli you need to take the cobblestone road to the left with the intention of having a four day journey through the Plaguelands since you're on foot, and I really suggest you don't do that because of the Undead Burg."

I though for a moment before deciding to ignore the port city for now, but Xiuhpilli sounded rather interesting.

"Thank you my lady, and I would be lying if I knew much about the country. Would I be able to perhaps ask you what type of services are available in Xiuhpilli?"

She paused before answering, "Oh my, you really are a stranger in these lands, aren't you?"

She smiled, "Well the biggest attraction in Xiuhpilli is the city itself aside from the main market area, a hundred vendors, and probably half as many artisans from all over the world are there too. I suppose the best attractions there would be the new tavern, the Arms of Midnight and then of course there would be Master Magnus' magic bazaar, he sells the best magic items for leagues around unless you went to the Dwarven colonial islands an hour's sea travel to the North. Magnus is also teaching Chandra, my eldest daughter, how to use magic so that's always worth looking at if you happen to be a budding magic user!"

I could tell she was quite happy living here from her early body posture coupled with a relative look of being pleased, but I was getting too much information too fast as I was starting to tune her out because she was also talking in rapid, excitable bursts of information after she mentioned her daughter, or at least tuning her out had been my intent before I heard yet another voice.

"Naomi, do you want me to bring anything back from town when I bring your daughter back at the end of the week..?"

An involuntary turn of my head revealed a woman with surprise in her voice, but a white porcelain mask covered her face while a richly embroidered robe dyed a sky blue hid her body from view, but the wind shifted so it was coming from her direction and I caught an all too familiar scent from my teenage years, one that had left me with haunting images of hazel eyes, and the short hair of a long legged brunette that I had dated for months before I had finally tucked it away in the long forgotten memories since it ended in the same way most of my relationships had. It was a pungent mix of what smelled like lavender, sandalwood, and another scent that caressed the senses with a warming sensation before fading like a pleasant dream I could no longer remember. This was definitely someone that knew how to attract attention in a social setting if the mask didn't do it for her.

"I didn't realize you had a visitor Naomi, I can come back later if needed."

"It's fine Aisha, he is just passing through but he's a little lost. Maybe you can take him into Xiuhpilli with you?"

I watched as the masked woman turned her head in the first woman's direction and spoke in a cheery voice that caught me off-guard, but the way her words were articulated reminded me of my cousin, a woman that was far too kind for her own good. This woman sounded like others could manipulate her just as easily as my sister was if they tried.

"I'll help him Naomi, but I am afraid I can't give him lodging though..."

I took a moment to state that I was more than capable of handling my own affairs once I made it to town, but I did feel a bit of tact was in order.

"Excuse me my lady, but I am quite capable of providing for my own lodging once I get to Xiuhpilli, although I imagine a hired guide would be useful.", bowing slightly I then added, "I do hope you would be willing to show me around the city."

A soft chuckle escaped from behind this Aisha's mask, "I was about to make you such an offer actually. I hope you don't mind riding on the same wagon as I however, most people don't like me around them."

I eyed her with suspicion from beneath my robe's hood.

"I don't see why they would my lady, after all you do seem to be quite nice."

"That's actually what I don't understand. People don't trust men or women in masks to begin with, a magic user less so if they are also a merchant."

Just like that a few things immediately popped to mind, and they were all questions I would need to ask in private or at the very least in her shop, assuming what she said was a confession in regards to her profession.

"I think I would like to see your shop, perhaps you have something I may find to be of interest for my collection."

Aisha hesitated before asking, "What do you collect?"

"I collect many things, books, artifacts, weapons, armor, interesting crafting materials..., basically if I find something I like, I will most likely add it, especially if it is rare or unique."

"Oh, then I think you should take a look at my shop because I've got all kinds of things from my adventuring days!"

I appreciated the fact she was willing to show me whatever items she has for sale, but I really didn't think she fit the label of being an adventurer.

"You used to be an adventurer?" I chuckled, "Well, I think I would love to hear a tale or two on the road to Xiuhpilli, if you're willing to share."

What felt like a solid minute of silence ensued, and I could hear everything around me because of it. The sound of the wind rustling leaves and fabric, the animals nearby, and the children running the background as I started to zone out. I was also only faintly aware of the two women talking, Naomi however was yelling.

"YOU ARE NOT GOING TO TELL HIM ABOUT THAT TIME IN RE-ESTIZE ARE YOU?!"

"Eh?! Of course not, what you did with Victor isn't going to be brought up even if it is funny!"

After sitting through an almost lighthearted comedy of an argument for the better part of an hour I was now sitting in the back of a wagon, it had a small driver seat, and a shallow box that was maybe two feet deep. The only good thing about the cart in general was that it was at least a smooth ride aside from the odd issue with the road, and two hours into the ride to Xiuhpilli and an equal number of stops to rest the horse pulling Aisha's cart I was officially beginning to suspect that we might get there somewhere in the middle of the night, and according to Aisha it is going to be around dusk when we will finally get to the city's outlying farmlands.

My only complaints, which I had been keeping to myself, were that the stories I've been listening to have been less than entertaining, or informative. I attempted to steer the conversation toward Xiuhpilli, but every time I did Aisha politely dodged the question with the all too common phrase 'You'll see when we get there.' before I managed to get her to tell me a bit about the Coatl. I was however rather surprised by the description, lizardmen, very intelligent and agile lizardmen with a more compact body build who had control of an empire spanning an entire archipelago with a thriving trade relationship with a dwarven colony on another island to the North, a continent to the south ruled by a so-called vampire nobility, and another area on the same landmass controlled by more powerful undead such as King Angor's 'Eternal Kingdom'.

It was shortly after her mentioning a treaty that existed between the Coatl and the Lich, King Angor that I truly started taking interest in the Coatl empire, or more accurately what Aisha said about them. The treaty was called the Accord of Graves, it secured the purchase of the swamp outside of Xiuhpilli's provincial borders for use by a handful of powerful nobles from the King Angor's lands for anything they desired, which currently resulted in a small outpost, and an impressive smelting complex that the Coatl melted iron down and sent a quarter of the production as a liquid currency to pay for the use of the facility, and the rest of the treaty boiled down to mutual defense along with a surprisingly well laid out list of rules for conducting warfare in a civilized manner, even going so far as to include how to handle political prisoners among other things. The interests the Coatl had were widespread but mostly focused on what could only be described as a Roman mindset coupled with a true nationalistic zeal among their elite troops few could match. Then there were their resources, gemstones like rubies, emeralds, and turquoise were surprisingly abundant in the archipelago we were on seconded in abundance only to iron, gold, silver, adamantite and a variety of other metals like copper. Then of course there was the fact that the Coatl didn't worship any deity in particular but had a form of ancestor worship, and to top that off the city of Xiuhpilli was apparently the first city founded by the Coatl's ancestors and a national hero, a warlord that the city itself was named after.

Their culture was ruled by an oligarchy of sorts except it essentially had two houses of representatives in place to rule it, the High Council which was a collection of influential citizens ranging from generals to mages who had the initial say in government policy, and then the Senate would vote on the matter leading to a bureaucratic nightmare which was usually stopped by a single elected representative agreed upon by both the Senate and the High Council that essentially took on the role of an emperor with none of the perks aside from wealth, and respect if they were doing a good job, but realistically they had little power beyond being a figurehead unless special needs arose like being thrown into a war.

As I continued to sit in the back of the wagon conversing with Aisha as she urged the horses on, I kept finding comparisons between Earth, and wherever I found myself now. Tales of power struggles, greed, and war all intermingling with a backdrop of fragile peace and prosperity maintained by the likes of adventurers paid by local officials all worked to create a stage for the great game that was everyday life in the world. It made me nostalgic for my management job in my nice cushy office job at my company's main office branch where I only had to worry about burying myself in the endless paperwork that was sent my way or perhaps the occasional phone call, all before shuffling home in a crowded subway tunnel and a dreary walk to a cozy little one bedroom apartment barely bigger than my college dorm room. I wasn't exactly thrilled to see the comparisons to everything back home outside of Yggdrasil, especially because I didn't have anyone I could enjoy a good song with anymore, and that's what hurt most. I could hope someone I knew from Yggdrasil was here, like Asaga for example, I could just imagine how well she would be taking this new situation and she was the first I tried calling and messaging, and anything else I could think of because I knew she wouldn't be taking this 'well' at all.

So for now there were only two things I could do, one was carry on until I either found a way back home where I could somehow find a way to settle back into my old life assuming I was experiencing something like a bizarre nightmare, or I could carry on and find out where the road took me on a daily basis. Somehow I felt the more exciting idea would be the better choice, but there was no way I was going to just give up trying to reach my friends.

Now there was another problem that was readily becoming apparent the longer I kept conversing with Aisha, the overall world view on anything that didn't look or act human was essentially seen as undesirable and marked for either annihilation or subjugation depending on what the situation was. I found out that in the case of undead such as myself however, extermination was the answer for the vast majority of the world but the Coatl Empire as a whole generally didn't care what its population comprised of in the long run, and was mostly concerned about how its citizens could benefit the Empire.

Shortly after a conversation about her normal occupation as a merchant I discovered that she was what was known as a Talent Holder, and in her case she was gifted with an unnatural affinity with weaving magic into items making her a very special but potentially dangerous member of the local economy. That was when I expressed an interest in wanting to see her shop, and she readily offered to show me what she had for sale without a single word to discourage me despite the late hour, that and she did so in an all too eager manner before finally settling into a rather intriguing discussion about the local plant life and its many uses until the city of Xiuhpilli loomed in the distance as a vaguely silhouetted mass of blocky shapes lined by dim lanterns and flickering flames in braziers supplemented by torches.

Asking Aisha about her shop was probably a mistake as I soon found out after we arrived at her shop after following a winding path through several dimly lit streets illuminated by very simple but large lights formed from what appeared to be very large versions of eighteenth century street lamps. She was eagerly asking incessant questions about what I might be interested in shortly after we entered the door to her shop, although it was now quite clear after the initial start of her impromptu questioning that it was due to a genuine love of her chosen line of work, and what I was starting to suspect was a sincere desire to help me acquire whatever I desired if she was able to. She also quite eagerly mentioned that if I needed potions of a specific kind and she didn't have them she could more than likely point me in the direction of someone who I could to go to acquire them for a cheap price but still find the specific quality I may be looking for, or else she could order them for me at cost like she would for the rest of her customers.

I wandered around her shop after I eventually managed to suggest that she prepare herself some sort of refreshment after travelling so far and to my surprise I found myself in a rather impressive little shop the size of my childhood home's living room from when I lived in a rather empty area outside of New Orleans, that of a ten foot wide by twenty foot long rectangular room but its walls were lined with shelves on one side, display cases on the other, bookshelves in a corner with a riot of colors comprising a collection of baubles and shiny gems of varying size and shape. There were more than a few weapons sitting on brackets behind a counter at the back of the room, including a falchion if my memories from spending time playing Yggdrasil served me correctly, and more than a few glass cases holding rings as well. A large aquarium filled with what I assumed was murky water sat on the counter with a sign holding a message written in some illegible language I didn't recognize, although I did notice the shape of some sort of fish moving around inside before I leaned forward to get a better look... right before the fish stopped moving and looked back with an open mouth containing a very impressive array of teeth more akin to curved needles that failed to remind me of anything I had ever seen in a nature documentary.

There were also a lot of books behind the counter, some were very large and obviously very heavy, while others were small and slim. There were also quite a few the size of a typical dictionary and a few that were a lot bigger, almost every one of the books however contained some form of written title in the same language as what was on the sign or was simply decorated with flowing symbols I suspected were wards as they shared similarities to what I had seen used in Yggdrasil from the few instances they were used. The last thing I noticed was an odd sensation, and it was similar to what I used to call my 'gut feeling' which was little more than a prickling sensation that gnawed at the back of my mind like a persistent doubt of having left something routine unfinished, or else a nagging feeling of having left out something important item for a presentation to the board of directors.

It was enough to make me look around the room before movement caught my eye on the side of the aquarium, a shadowy blur that was tall and slim behind my equally blurry reflection causing me to turn abruptly only to see that a woman was now standing in the entrance to Aisha's shop. She was for lack of a better description and utter irony, drop dead gorgeous. She was quite honestly an example of natural beauty, but there was something off about her as she moved into the shop while softly closing the door behind her. She had her chestnut colored hair long enough to pass halfway down her back if the hair resting on her shoulders was to be believed, her face was narrow and angular hinting at an exotic origin that reminded me of someone of Asian descent, but the rest of her was at odds with that interpretation. Her limbs were longer than what most would consider natural, her body was very trim to the point of being possibly painfully thin, her skin was a healthy color but paler than most in this kind of area would have compared to what I assumed were a mix of tropical and temperate plants which hinted at a lot of sun and high temperatures on a regular basis. There were a lot of things that felt wrong about her, but what screamed at me the most was how she moved because her every movement reminded me of a cat stalking a mouse, and every movement was far too fluid for even a dancer I had dated in my old office job. Every move was precise and measured but her movement was slightly stiff like she was ready to pounce or run, and then there was the fact that she was wearing a very long black dress with a white silk collar that spread out slightly in a stylized crescent shape around her neck, and a simple silken scarf with an odd insignia on one end and a large iridescent red gem of some kind on the other as it sat just nestled in a loose perch made from the scarf. What was eerie about this entire situation however wasn't her appearance, but the fact I didn't hear her footfalls when she moved closer to me, it was almost like she wasn't even there.

I heard a soft musical sound, and it took me a while to realize that the woman in front of me had spoken. Therefore I decided to ask her very politely to repeat herself, although I was very nervous about doing so simply because of my past experiences with several women my age and hoped that she spoke either English, or Japanese despite my lack of experience using it which was probably going to be changing soon if everyone spoke it as a common language.

I was about to say something but then Aisha came back and the woman's eyes shifted from me to her, and with it a soft sigh I didn't know I was holding back had escaped quietly, but it was noticed as the woman moved past and gave me a very thorough appraisal with her eyes as she passed me, while she moved toward Aisha with her arms raised in a very familiar fashion that made me long for the days I spent with family.

"Hey sissy, come here and let me give you a hug!"

Aisha looked at the new arrival with a surprised expression and returned the greeting with her own raised arms and gave a short jog forward and gave her a hug as she was picked up off of her feet in a display of almost sisterly love.

"Yuuko! You're back already?"

The woman, Yuuko, leaned back out of the hug and gave a sharp and confident nod with a wide smile, and then she turned her head toward me.

"So Aisha, who's tall, dark, and mysterious? Could it be you've finally found a dark and broody man to call your own?"

"Yuuko, this isn't one of your romance songs!"

I sighed, but internally I was screaming about how unfair it was I was undead and surrounded by people that would probably run at the first hint of my current situation.

I grimly thought, "Oh well, it can't be any worse than the majority of Yggdrasil's everyday anti-heteromorphic community, right?"