Dive Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game or DMMORPG , the type of game where you can enjoy an imaginary world as if you were in it. Yggdrasil, realeased in 2126, it stood above all other DMMORPGs due to its expansive map and usually high player freedom, making it explosively popular within the country of Japan. Now, 12 years later, Yggdrasil is about to see its end.
'It was fun.' He thought solemnly 'But as they say, all good things must come to an end.'
He had been playing Yggdrasil since almost the very beginning and had watched it slowly die out as people became less and less interested over the course of 12 years.
It saddened him to think that Yggdrasil would end not with a bang, as many had thought it would, but instead with a whisper that was barely heard over the roar of excitement that gave way to newer games.
Even his own guild mates had slowly either lost interest in the game or had chosen to live and spend more time in the real world instead of in the game world.
Now here he was on the last day of Yggdrasil in the meeting room with 42 chairs, only two of which were full.
'Abandoned again.' He thought bitterly.
'Well, mostly abandoned.' He thought, correcting himself as he glanced towards his skeleton friend and guild master Momonga to see how he was holding up.
When they had initially arrived hours ago they had been conversing happily, but as time went on and and no one else showed up, they had eventually delved into silence.
Momonga had sent out an email to all their guild members to remind them that it was the last day and that they should all come and say goodbye.
No one had come yet and there was less than two hours left on the clock and Hypnos had long since given up on anyone else coming.
That was his in game name by the way, Hypnos.
He was a 5'7" tall incubus with wavy lavender colored hair, silver eyes, and black horns that resembled those of a Springbok antelope. He also had black wings, like any incubus should, however, instead of the wings coming out of his lower back like they would for a succubus they came out of his shoulder blades like they would for an angel. He wore a silver long sleeve robe that had a gray outline which went down to his knees. Underneath the robe he wore black martial arts pants. Oddly enough his feet were bare but his was became of one of his classes which was "Martial Artist". Ha being bare feet with this class made fighting easier. He also carried a staff around, it was made of a dark wood and the top resembled a claw which held an orb that seemed to hold a galaxy within itself. This was due to another of his classes which were "Illusionist" and "Supporting Magician", both of which were support classes. "Illusionist" speaks for itself but "Supporting Magician" is essentially where one casts buffs and debuffs, and the higher the level of the class, the stronger the spell. The magic staff also doubled as a close combat staff which added to the "Martial Artist" job. And of course, he was level 100.
Lost in his thoughts Hypnos startled at the notification announcing Herohero's arrival.
"Hey there. It's been a really long time, Momonga-san, Hypnos-san." Herohero said, greeting them.
"I didn't think you'd come, Herohero-san" Momonga said "How long has it been?"
"It's been two year since his last log in." Hypnos said, slipping into a nonchalant tone after getting over his surprise.
"It's really been that long?" Herohero asked, exasperated "This is bad, I've been doing so much overtime lately that my concept of time is messing up."
"Isn't that a pretty bad symptom?" Momonga asked, concerned.
"My body? It's completely worn out." Herohero replied with a shrug
"Whoa." Both Momonga and Hypnos said at the same time, concerned for his health.
"I'm sorry. I didn't come here just to complain." Herohero appologized.
"Don't worry about it." Hypnos said.
"Oh, I have to go soon. I'm way too sleepy." Herohero said, pulling up his menu to logout.
"Oh." Momonga said dejectedly, Hypnos sharing his feelings. "Please rest well."
"I'm really sorry about this." Herohero said sincerely "But I'm really surprised that the Great Tomb of Nazarick is still here."
"Huh?!" Momonga made a quiet sound which Herohero didn't seem to pick up on.
Though it couldn't be seen in game, Hypnos's eyes squinted in displeasure at the statement.
"You must have been maintaining it as the guild leader, Momonga-san."
"Well, Nazarick was a base that we created together." Momonga said weakly "Plus, it wasn't all me, Hypnos also helped." He said gesturing to Hypnos.
"I didn't really contribute that much Momonga, I just went and farmed materials while conquering the occasional abandoned guild base." Hypnos said dismissively.
"Both of you, thank you for your hard work." Herohero said with a smiling emoji. "I hope we meet again somewhere." He said before disappearing.
Both of them received the notification saying that Herohero logged out.
There was silence for a couple of seconds before Momonga said "Today is the last day Yggdrasil's servers will run. Why not stay until the end?" His voice slowly dying out with each word, ending with a sigh.
"He should have stayed until the end." Hypnos said quietly, looking down at the table, fist clenched.
"No, I'm happy that he even came today." Momonga said, sounding defeated. "But 'I hope we meet again someplace', huh? Just when and where would that be?" He finished mood becoming just as depressive as Hypnos's.
They soon fell into an oppressive silence.
Hypnos looked down at the table, not wanting to see the dejection that seemed to roll off Momonga in waves.
Hypnos, startled by the loud bang of something hitting the table, turned to look at his friend just as Momonga shouted "You've got to be kidding me! This is the Great Tomb of Nazarick we built together! How can he give it up so easily?!"
Hypnos, who was surprised by Momonga's uncharacteristic outburst, answered without thinking and said his true feelings in a bitter tone.
"He can give it up so easily simply because it never mattered as much to him as it did to us, to me. Unlike us, he still has something other than his job to go back to so he abandoned us for the real world."
"No, that's not it." Momonga said, calming down "No one has betrayed us."
As he talked, he stood up and walked towards the guild weapon, the Staff of Ains Ooal Gown.
"We played recklessly to make this, didn't we Hypnos?" Momonga said nostalgically
Hypnos stood up and made his way over to where Momonga stood, leaving his bitter emotions and thoughts behind for now.
"Yeah," Hypnos said, staring up at the weapon with a fond smile "I remember some of us used our paid vacations and others fought with their wives to make time and get the materials for this."
"Still," Momonga said "of the 42 of us, 37 quit and even the other three that stayed..." he trailed off but Hypnos knew exactly what he meant.
Other than Momonga and Hypnos no one really ever came on anymore. Other than the NPCs, the Great Tomb of Nazarick was a ghost town.
"Say, Hypnos..." Momonga started.
"Hm?" Hypnos said, turning his attention to Momonga.
"Do you think...that just this once...I could take the guild weapon out of this room?" Momonga asked, as though expecting the answer to be no.
"I don't see why not." Hypnos said, glad to see his selfless friend asking for something selfish for once.
"Do you mind if we walk to the throne room in these final minutes? I would like to look at as much as I can in what little time we have left." Momonga asked.
"Sure, I was thinking something similar." Hypnos replied with happiness, though with a tint of sadness seeing as Momonga had finally given up on anyone else joining them.
The walk to the throne room was filled with commentary on the various parts of Nazarick and its inhabitants as well as the reminiscing of the good times.
After walking down a flight of stairs Momonga stopped in front of a group of maids and a butler which looked different from the rest of the NPCs. These were the Pleiades combat maids who were meant to guard the 9th floor against intruders but no one had ever made it that far.
"As guild master, I should move them one last time." Momonga said suddenly.
"I agree." Hypnos said "Its a bit sad to have them unused until the very end."
"Follow." Momonga commanded.
The Pleiades marched in a straight line behind Momonga and Hypnos.
As they reached the throne room they were meet with a door where on one side there was a beautiful goddess and on the other there was a hideous demon.
The doors opened for them without delay and they walked in.
The throne room had always been one of Hypnos's favorite rooms in Nazarick. It was stunningly beautiful and it filled Hypnos with pride because he had a hand in creating it.
Looking around, he couldn't help but admire his own handy work. The exquisite pillars and floor, the overall ambiance. All in all it went right along with the guild theme.
Finally turning his head to the front he noticed the beautiful woman standing near the throne.
'What was her name again?' Hypnos thought just in time for Momonga to say "Albedo."
'Ah, that was it.' he thought, enjoying her visage as they walked closer to the throne.
As they began up the steps of the throne Momonga turned back towards the NPCs with an air of confusion.
"The command is 'stand by'" Hypnos said, amused.
"Ah, thank you, 'stand by'" Momonga said.
They bowed and moved off to the side.
As they reached the throne Hypnos gestured for Momonga to sit down.
Momonga seemed conflicted for a second before reluctantly doing so which made Hypnos give a chuckle.
Hypnos then turned his attention towards Albedo once more before asking Momonga "Hey, what were her settings again?"
"I'm not sure, let me look." Momonga replied. "So long!" He said as the screen popped up in front of him.
Hypnos leaned over his shoulder while saying "Well, she is Tabula-san's creation and he was always a settings maniac."
After much scrolling they reached the last two lines.
'On the outside, she is a perfect beauty.
On the inside, she's a bitch.'
"Eh?! A bitch?" Momonga said, surprised.
"Tabula, what the fuck?" Hypnos asked, exasperated.
"Well, Tabula-san always did love a contradiction in looks and character." Momonga said getting over his shock.
"But that's just too terrible." Hypnos said "We should change it."
"Normally I'd say no but since this is the last day I suppose we can." Momonga said agreeing.
After erasing it Momonga said "We should replace it."
"But with what?" Hypnos asked, thoughtful.
There was silence for a second before Momonga said "Oh! I have an idea." And quickly typed something in and saved it.
"What did you put?" Hypnos asked, curious.
Momonga seemed to be stifling laughter as he showed Hypnos Albedo's settings which now read
'On the outside, she is a perfect beauty.
On the inside, she secretly wants to hug and cuddle Hypnos.'
There was perfect silence for a couple seconds before Hypnos turned to Momonga and said "Momonga...change it to something else."
"What? No way, I think it's perfect." Momonga said dramatically.
"Momonga...why?" Hypnos said
"Because it's cute." Momonga replied bluntly.
Hypnos dramatically fell to the ground in defeat.
After a couple minutes of laughing together after that Momonga said
"I think the command was 'bow down'?"
At which all the NPCs present kneeled.
Hypnos sighed in happiness while looking around the throne room once more while taking his place at Momonga's left. As Momonga began to list who's flag belonged to who, Hypnos joined in until all of them were said.
Hypnos looked at the clock and saw the time was two minutes until midnight.
An indescribable sadness overcame him at that moment.
This was the end, wasn't it?
Momonga seemed to have realized it too for he fell quiet.
"It's been fun, hasn't it, Hypnos?" Momonga said sadly.
"Yes, but as they said 'nothing gold can stay'" Hypnos replied solemnly.
23:59:30
"I suppose this is goodbye then isn't it?" Momonga said.
23:59:40
"Yes, it is. Goodbye Momonga." Hypnos said, voice wavering with untold emotions.
23:59:50
"Goodbye Hypnos." Momonga said sadly.
23:59:55
Neither had anything to return to other than their jobs.
23:59:56
No family
No close friends
No lover
23:59:57
Nothing
23:59:58
The only thing they loved, ripped away from them without anyway to change it.
23:59:59
So, they shut their eyes for the last time in game and hoped that the pain would eventually fade with time.
00:00:00
...
00:00:01
00:00:02
00:00:03
...
"Hm?"
Momonga was the first to open his eyes closely followed by Hypnos.
Several things hit him first but that they were still in the throne room
It was only when he turned to Hypnos to ask if he noticed as well that Momonga realized that Hypnos was crying.
Tears were silently steaming down his face.
It was impossible to tell that he was crying if you weren't looking at him aside from slightly uneven breathing.
Just as he was about to ask what was wrong, someone beat him to the punch.
"Lord Hypnos?!" A feminine voice shouted out.
Judging by the way he tensed up he didn't recognize the voice.
Momonga didn't recognize the voice either for that matter.
'But how is that possible?' Momonga thought 'The only people here is me and Hypnos...unless'
Momonga slowly turned his head to face the NPCs, all of which had an expression of alarm on their faces, especially Albedo who was slowly rising from her kneeling position seemingly to make her way over to Hypnos.
Momonga stared in shock.
The NPCs had expressions.
He could see the rise and fall of some of their chests, Hypnos's included.
Momonga's jaw dropped in surprise.
Hypnos also seemed to have stopped crying out of shock.
"Lord Hypnos?! Are you alright?! Tell us the problem and we shall immediately remedy it!" Albedo shouted once more, standing up all the way and slowly making her way towards him, arm outstretched in an attempt to reach him sooner than her body would allow. It looked as though Sebas and the Pleiades were going to make their way towards him as well.
He brought a hand up to his face and touched the tears that had were ready to fall off his face. He then brought his hand in front of his face to inspect the tears, as though to confirm that they were real. He stared at them confused for a second before shaking his head and wiping the tears on his pants and using his sleeve to wipe away the ones on his face.
"Lord Hypnos?" Albedo called out once more, this time quieter as she continued to approach Hypnos
"Ah, Albedo, I'm...fine." He replied hesitantly, before realizing that his voice had changed into a slightly deeper and smoother version of its original.
Obviously not convinced, she continued to approach him until she was directly in front of him. She seemed to bend a little in order to make herself seem small than him since they were almost the same height give or take a few inches and he would've found this action to be subservient had she not also been scrutinizing him for the cause of his crying.
Not finding what she was looking for she frowned and began looking him over once more. She looked like she wanted to touch him but she refrained.
It was only when Hypnos cleared his throat in discomfort that she looked him in the eye. Realizing that she had made him uncomfortable, a look of horror and sorrow settled on her face before she bowed so low that her head nearly touched the ground.
"Please forgive me Lord Hypnos! I have overstepped my bounds!" She cried out.
"It's...fine, Albedo," he started out hesitantly, still unused to talking to an NPC "I understand that you were just concerned for my wellbeing, but as I said, I'm fine."
While she still didn't look convinced that he was fine she also looked extremely relieved that he had forgiven her.
With one last glance at Hypnos she walked back to her post on the other side of the throne.
Momonga, who had been watching the entire exchange and had finally calmed down, turned to Hypnos to ask if he was able to contact the GM which is what he had tried to do once he had calmed down. However, he was cut off by Hypnos who asked him something similar.
"Momonga, are you able to contact anyone?"
Momonga paused for a moment before saying
"No, I am unable to."
There was a small moment of surprise over Momonga's significant voice change.
"Let me try." He said while making some gestures, most likely trying to contact the devs or the GM.
"So?" Momonga asked.
Hypnos simply shook his head.
While they both may have appeared calm on the outside, inside they were panicking.
Momonga decided to make the first move.
"Sebas. Step out of the tomb and confirm the surroundings around Nazarick."
"Understood, Lord Momonga." Sabas replied, standing up.
There was hardly a pause before Hypnos gave his own order.
"Pleiades. Go to the 9th floor and guard it from possible intruders."
"As you wish, Lord Hypnos." Yuri Alpha replied.
While Momonga was thinking Hypnos decided to run a little test on whether or not they could still use magic.
'Message: Momonga'
'Momonga, can you hear me?'
'Eh? Hypnos? What did you do?'
'I used 'message' to contact you, I figured that this way we could talk without being discovered and it proves that we can still use some magic.'
'Good thinking. Have you noticed that the NPCs can recognize orders that aren't specific commands?'
'Yes, that points to the idea that we are no longer in the game.'
'There's another way we can prove this isn't a game anymore.'
'I'm listening.'
'Remember how there's a no 18+ content restriction?'
'Yes...I don't think I like where this is going.'
'We could try to do something that the game would normally restrict, such as...hugging'
'...hug who exactly?'
'Albedo of course, we could take advantage of my little setting change.'
'I knew I didn't like where this was going.'
'Hear me out, normally something like hugging an NPC would be restricted by the game, a simple way to prove that this isn't a game is by doing something like that, also it gives us the chance to see if the NPCs stick to their created personalities. So, what do you say?'
Just as Hypnos was about to answer, Albedo unknowingly cut in and said
"What shall I do my lords?"
They both turned to face Albedo before turning to each other.
After what seemed like an eternity of just staring at each other Hypnos sighed and said
"Albedo, come here."
"Yes!" She replied, eager to please him, as she swiftly walked over to where he stood and stood only a foot in front of him.
'So close!' He thought 'but she kinda smells good...wait, smell? You can't smell anything in game.'
"Albedo...you have the choice on whether or not to reject but...will you hug me?" Hypnos said, internally cringing at how awkward that sounded.
"Of course!" She said, an overjoyed expression on her face as she quickly closed the gap between them and embraced him.
Having not really ready for her excitement at hugging him nor the actual action in of itself, he tensed up and stood ramrod still. However, Albedo didn't seem to mind seeing as she buried her head into his shoulder and wrapped her arms around him. Her chest was heavily touching his chest and she rubbed against him as though to hug as much of him as she could. He could definitely confirm that this wasn't a game anymore.
"A-Albedo t-that's enough." Hypnos stuttered out.
Albedo made a dejected face but pulled back from him, though she lingered a bit.
"M-more importantly, I have an order for you, Albedo." Momonga said.
She turned her attention towards him.
"I will do anything you wish." She said devotedly.
"Except for the guardians of the fourth and eighth floor, gather everyone to the fighting arena on the sixth floor. Have them gather there in an hour from now."
"Understood." She replied with a bow, and with one last glance towards Hypnos she made her way out of the throne room.
As soon as she left Momonga said "This is terrible, I dirtied the NPC that Tabula-san made." While covering his face.
"We can worry about that later. First off we need to test whether our magic works though I'm assuming that's why we're having the guardians meet on the sixth floor."
Momonga gave a nod before saying "Lets hope that the guild rings work, otherwise we'll have to walk there."
Hypnos closed his eyes and focused on the ring that sat on his right hand's middle finger and imagined going to the sixth floor amphitheater.
When he opened his eyes, he found himself next to Momonga in the hallway leading to the interior of the coliseum.
As they walked Momonga said "Be careful, we know Albedo and the others are loyal to us just like in their original settings but what about the other NPCs?"
"Yeah, if they've rebelled then we have a whole lot of trouble on are hands." Hypnos said with a sigh. "The dark elves that Chagama-san set should be the guardians here."
Just as he said that Aura jumped out of the VIP box and landed with a peace sign and a smile before quickly running over to where Momonga and Hypnos stood.
"Aura." Momonga greeted.
"Welcome, Lord Momonga, Lord Hypnos!" She greeted them happily, looking a bit like a puppy who was greeting their owner as they came home. "Welcome to the floor we guard!"
"We'll be intruding for awhile." Hypnos said.
"What are you saying?! You are the supreme beings of the Great Tomb of Nazarick! The absolute rulers! There's no way that anyone would ever consider you as intruding!" She said excitedly.
"Hm." Hypnos made a noise of approval while Momonga said "By the way..." while looking around.
Aura seemed to have caught on to what he meant and shouted "Mare! You're being rude to our lords! Hurry up and get down here!" Towards the VIP box where she had come from.
A meek voice responded by saying "I-I can't sis..."
"Mare!"
"F-Fine." Mare responded before before jumping down and almost falling after landing.
"Aw, jeez." Aura said, rubbing the back of her neck.
After making sure that his skirt was all the way down he ran over to where they stood, although not as fast as Aura had.
"I-I'm sorry for making you wait, Lord Momonga and Lord Hypnos." Mare said apologetically.
"All is forgiven." Hypnos said, putting what he hoped to be an reassuring smile on his face.
"Yes." Momonga agreed "We came here today to have the two of you help us with something." He continued while tapping the Staff of Ains Ooal Gown on the ground.
While the twins were fanboying and fangirling respectively over the staff and Momonga was dorking out, Hypnos decided to study the twins for any sign of betrayal.
From what he had seen so far they were as loyal as can be with an extra side of zeal for their work but you could never be too cautious.
His train of thought was cut off by something Aura said when Momonga told her that all the guardians were meeting here in an hour.
"Huh? Is Shalltear coming as well?" She asked shyly.
Momonga simply nodded.
'She doesn't like Shalltear?' He thought, analyzing the statement for any sign of something that would cause any dissonance in the future.
'Well, I suppose it makes sense considering that her creator and Shalltear's creator were siblings that often fought.' He thought while giving out a small puff of air in amusement at the memory.
When Momonga summoned the Primal Fire Elemental for the twins to fight, Hypnos took the time to talk to Momonga and to study their fighting style.
"Since the Primal Fire Elemental is only in the upper 80s we're going to have to make this quick, but really the only thing I have to say is that they seem loyal for the time being." Hypnos said, giving his findings on the twins' loyalty.
"For the time being?" Momonga asked.
"Yes, since they are no longer programs but living things and living things are constantly changing, so there is always the possibility that they could betray us." Hypnos answered.
"What do you think would be a reason they could betray us for?" Momonga asked, growing worried.
"Well, there could be a number of reasons but the most prominent one I can think of is if we don't live up to their expectations. I mean, think about it, they think of us as 'supreme beings' despite the fact that we are the same level and they could probably kill us if 3 of them betrayed us. If we don't live up to their expectations then there is the possibility of revolt. I'm not going to say it's 100% certain but but it's not impossible either, it'd be best that we try to meet their expectations to the best of our abilities so that worst case doesn't happen."
Momonga sighed and said "I'll keep that in mind."
There was silence for a second before Hypnos clicked his tongue and said "Damn..."
"What? What's wrong?" Momonga said, turning to face Hypnos.
Hypnos had a bitter face when he said "I think I may have already dug my own grave when it comes to expectations."
"What do you mean?" Momonga said, now turning his whole body towards Hypnos in concern.
"Earlier in the throne room, I was crying." Hypnos said tartly.
"Yes, and? I don't think they will fault you for that." Momonga said, trying to reassure him.
"Tell me, when you imagine a leader do you ever imagine them crying?" Hypnos pressed bitterly.
"...no." Momonga admitted.
"Exactly, but unless we have a time machine then their is no changing what has already happened, we'll just have to fix it later or else I might find myself disposed of in my sleep." Hypnos said morbidly.
"Well, there might not be anything to fix, wait until you've met all the guardians until you make that assumption." Momonga said, resting his skeletal hand on Hypnos's shoulder.
"We'll see." Was all Hypnos said in reply.
Just then the twins finished fighting the Primal Fire Elemental and came rushing over to where they stood.
"Man! I haven't exercised that hard in a long time!" Aura said wiping the sweat off of her face as Mare made a noise of agreement.
As Momonga offered them water Hypnos schooled his expression into what he hoped was a neutral and relaxed face.
Clearly he didn't do it fast enough or his face wasn't natural enough because when the twins were finished drinking their water Mare turned to him and shyly asked
"L-Lord Hypnos, is something wrong?"
A wry, self-deprecating smile made its way onto his face as he shook his head and said
"Nothing you need to worry about."
Mare's brows furrowed in worry but he didn't press the issue, which Hypnos was thankful for.
Though it seems that Mare's question and Hypnos's answer had made Aura curious seeing as she began openly studying his facial expression and body language.
She looked like she was about to say something before she was cut off by the sound of a 'Gate' being opened.
"My, am I the first to arrive?"