Chapter Two

Everything is too real and she can hear her breath – hear her scream ending – as she tries not to freak out. The things – the wings – on her back are moving and she can feel it. Every twitch, every brush through air, and it's almost painfully sensitive to feel such new appendages. Flutter Core imitates a statue as her chest heaves for air and her brain loops over and over to process the world. A reality. A new reality.

"Lady Flutter Core?" Increment hovers at the garden's edge with her weapons drawn. "Is everything alright?"

Manners. Flutter Core blinks and doesn't compute at the realistic NPC but, "Yes, sorry to worry you?"

Increment blinks, startled. She quickly recovers, weapons disappearing and bowing before quietly making her way over to the vine plants. Nearby, but far enough to let Flutter Core have her moment. In a less disorientated state, the fairy would appreciate it. As it is, Flutter Core swallows her scream at the newest realization that the quiet NPC just talked to her. Willingly. With sound and everything.

And Flutter Core spoke back.

It's not hard to connect the dots. Something went wrong when the game was to shut down and now she's here. Probably in the game. Since she can talk it's her mind here, probably. Else she'd be mute and unable to type in her words if it was some kind of coma. Everything looks too sharp, too clear. Her mind works too fast and registers too much. She is, for all intents and purposes, a fifteen-centimetre, level one-hundred fairy with all the skills and magic to stealth and steal information. Her best bet is to be as still and silent as possible as she explores the world looking for a way home-

Oh wait. What if others are here too?

Flutter Core has a skill only unlockable if one uses magic via a keyboard at least once a day for an entire year. Silent Casting. Here, in this place, she knows instinctually how much magic she has, all of her stats, and costs of using items. Everything is in her head, just sitting there like it always was and always will be. With silent casting, she doesn't have to open her mouth to cast Message.

She doesn't have to cast it. Someone else already has.

"-Flutter Core? Figmarent? Vivinacerac?" Momonga's voice echoes through her head. Except it isn't Momonga's real voice. It's not the one she's used to hearing. She wouldn't have guessed the deep voice to be him if not for her brain registering the Message. "Is anyone there?"

"I'm here," BombombBoom's voice comes through with actual bells echoing each word. Flutter Core blinks in confusion though her mind registers this as normal. It's not normal. "Same with Figmarent and Vivinacerac."

"Flutter Core?"

'Here,' she replies in her head. Silent casting has further reach than just spells, apparently. 'Anyone know what's happened?'

"It isn't the game," Momonga replies, almost ashamed. "I sent Sebas out to check the surroundings, but after a few tests I can confirm the game's age-rating rules aren't applying."

A pause.

"Momonga, you dog," comes a woman's voice over the line. Vivinacerac cuts off while the rest are startled. "What happened to my voice?!"

"Trying changing to male," comes Figmarent in a voice almost as deep as Momonga's, and twice as smooth.

"I don't have a male form!" Vivinacerac whines. "I mean, I don't hate this, but I liked my voice."

"We'll look for a way to fix it," BombombBoom offers.

'Maybe Entoma can help.' Flutter Core thinks of the voice modifier Genjiro spent so long grinding for. The arachnoid is bound to have some extras.

"How would an NPC help?" Figmarent grumbles.

Momonga answers while Flutter Core stares at the maid who's purposefully taking too long picking potion ingredients in order to keep an eye on the fairy. "The NPCs are alive."

Flutter Core finds she doesn't need to flinch even though the explosion of chatter would have made her shut off the connection until things calmed down. She listens to it all, patiently waiting as her own sensory-overload has calmed to a prickling on her skin. There is an itch to move. To spread her wings and fly.

It's almost freighting to realize she instinctually knows how to fly. It's unfortunately easy to realize she wants to get off the plant and flutter about.

"So wait," Figmarent cuts in with a dark chuckle, "which NPC did you test on, Momonga?"

Flutter Core falmpalms, drawing Increment's gaze.

"Albedo," he finally admits.

"Lady Flutter Core?"

"I am okay," Flutter Core sighs. Though Momonga would not be if Tabula – Albedo's creator – was here.

Momonga gives them the plan to meet the floor guardians on the sixth floor. As well as test magic and see how everything is. "Meet me there."

"Of course, guild leader."

"Alright, guild leader!"

"See you there, Momonga."

'Yes sir,' Flutter Core mutters and doesn't flinch when the message is closed. She forces a smile and gets unsteadily to her feet. "Increment," the maid whirls around and bow, "stop harvesting and return to the ninth floor. Something has happened and until further notice you are to only help with protection duties."

"Yes, Lady Flutter Core," she gets another bow. The maid waits until the fairy casts invisibility before walking away. Flutter Core wordlessly sighs and then teleports herself to the entrance of the sixth floor.

The young woman doesn't yelp as she drops from midair, but it's a close thing. Her wings work naturally, picking her up and keeping her hovering. It's an automatic response to recast invisibility after the teleport nulled it. Flutter Core takes it easy, flying slowly through the bars where she used to zoom through. Momonga can see her magic, giving her position away as she flies down to where the others are already seated and watching the twins battle a fire beast. Flutter Core nervously tugs her white hair behind her ears and settles on the banister, letting the excited babble between BombombBoom and Figmarent wash over her.

This is crazy, Flutter Core thinks as she watches the alive, energy-bursting NPC twins flips through the air. It gives her slivers of hope that maybe magic is their key to getting home. That, or the developers fixing the issue. It's all too real.

And she's working very, very hard not to think about her fiancé (how she wasn't logged out but brought further in and is he still waiting for her body to wake up).

Momonga hands the twins some water when they are done while the three other players discuss the tiers of magic. Flutter Core watches with a sad smile and pretends she isn't crying as she wipes away her tears. Her mind keeps pulling back to what she could be doing in reality – Earth – while her new mentality won't let her stop from glancing around the room. This is how she sees the guardians arrive. This is how she watches them interact. Her mind is filled with data as she casts silent spells to reveal their stats to her. She sees everything from their karma alignment to their list of skills. Magic spells to health points. It's all laid out as the spell is supposed to do, but she instantly memorizes it instead of having to reread. It takes a second to know everything.

That should be terrifying. Instead she's stuck covering her mouth to hold down the hysterical laughter as the guardians swear loyalty to their master, Momonga. The normally passive man flails a bit before attempting to be the overlord lich he looks like. Immune to their guildmate's aura of doom, BombombBoom the Seraph Empyrean palms a metal-white hand against his face while Figmarent the Abyssal Lord has his face planted on the table stone to hide his laughter. The beautiful Vivinacerac files his – her? Their – nails with a critical gleam in their eyes.

Albedo mentions Momonga as the last creator is her pretty loyalty speech. Flutter Core jerks a bit and stares with wide eyes (brushing away final tears). That's true, isn't it? Momonga is the only one of the five players here to have created an NPC. The four behind him, watching the dramatic scene unfold, were accepted by the guild long-past the days of making NPCs. The maximum cap had been reached, so they couldn't have made one even if they wanted to.

The three others sit up straight and solemn when Momonga mentions outside of the base – outside the Great Tomb of Nazarick – isn't the swap it was (in-game). "-I had Sebas survey the surrounding area."

Flutter Core noticed the moment the butler – Sebas Tian – had entered off to the side. Kind of hard not to when she was looking that way. Vivinacerac sits up on the barrier and swings her legs over, curious as to what Sebas says when he kneels at Momonga's feet. BombombBoom, Figmarent, and Flutter Core cast spells on themselves to hear the even-toned report.

"Grassland?" Figmarent mutters with a frown. As the report continues, his slim and narrow face tilts as he rubs a horn. "So we're in the middle of nowhere, left for dead."

"Don't need to sound to depressed about it," Vivinacerac mutters, flicking their nail file into their inventory.

Momonga is in-the-zone as he rolls with being the supreme commander. The floor guardians get their reports, and then he turns to the remaining players. "You three, run through stock and weapons cashes and report to Albedo and Sebas when you are finished. Also, see if you can enter the rooms of the other guild members. If you can think of any previous limitations you wish to try, inform me of the results."

"You got it, guild master!" Vivinacerac salutes.

"We'll handle it, Momonga," BombombBoom says evenly. "Come on, guys. Starting at the top and working down."

"We'll see you guys later," Figmarent waves towards the floor guardians with a friendly smile.

Once they've disappeared, the overlord turns to the fairy. "Flutter Core," a couple guardians glance up to look where he gazes. "go to the mausoleum and obtain your gear. We'll need full protection until we can deduce what's happened."

She cancels invisibility. Nobody blinks twice, but something shifts in Momonga's face as she clasps her hands behind her back, careful of the wings.

"When you are sufficiently prepared," Momonga continues, yet softer, "meet with Mare to discuss what can be done for protections with creating hills. We'll need to disguise Nazarick as quickly as possible."

"You got it, Mo," she tries for a smile and turns to where the guardians kneel. The young, dark elf shyly attempts to straighten in his kneel, eyes wide. In fact, a couple of the guardians look surprised. She waves, wings moving to hover her in the air. "I shouldn't be long, so I'll meet you back here, Mare. Okay?"

Seeing she waits for an answer, he nods, "Y-yes."

Flutter Core's smile is a bit more real. She turns and waves at Momonga before teleporting to the treasury once again for the night.

Though… it's really the first time today, isn't it?

The fairy can feel the poison in the air but having the guild's base previously in a swamp means constant poison immunity is a must. She gained a skill for it, rather than search for an item. And, the only way to the treasury is through teleportation use of the guild's rings. That is why, in her mind, this place is the most dangerous in the entire tomb.

The others would disagree. Flutter Core smiles a bit sadly. The eighth floor is supposed to be the most challenging. She finds it the simplest. Maybe it's because she's small and faster than everything it can throw her way. It was made by the players like her, who were originally going solo with no intention of joining a guild. Only groups could possibly make it that far, so the final line before the guild members is made to destroy groups of people.

The eighth floor is the ultimate nightmare for people like her remaining guild members.

Flutter Core wipes away her tears once again and speaks out loud the password to enter further in the treasury. She can't quite wipe away the growing fears while she attempts to focus. What if this new world is a nightmare? What if she's forever fifteen centimetres? What if she can never return?

What if they do return, and she's forever changed?

"Hi Pandora," Flutter Core greets, voice cracking a bit.

The egg-head in a yellow military uniform startles so bad he almost topples out of his chair. Whoops. Her silencing skills are on and she casted invisibility again. Just going to deactivate those… That's going to be a hard habit to break. Or she'll need to activate the silence voice skill with the rest of them. Not having a microphone means that skill never really needed to be active. All or nothing, just so this doesn't happen again. "Lady Flutter Core!"

"Hi," Flutter Core says again with the best smile she can muster. It fades a little from incredulousness as she watches him. He stands at attention, saluting and… is there wind making his jacket blow? She's hovering face-height, in a room with no entrances or exits. "I'm sorry to bother you, but there's been a situation and Momonga has said I'm to gather my things from the Mausoleum."

"It's no bother! I'm always glad to have company." His cape stops blowing. What the- "As for your items, well-"

He strikes a pose – multiple poses – and goes on a semi-rant, semi-dramatic stage play about how great it is for a Supreme Being to come back and get the items his creator placed in their after their retirement. And how he looks forward to hearing about the tricks she is to pull on the world since it must be an important situation for her to strive for more than a simple life tending to plants.

Flutter Core doesn't know whether to laugh or make a dying-inside noise. By the end of it she's smiling for real for the first time tonight. This is gold. Her cheeks hurt. Distantly, she wonders if Momonga made Pandora's Actor to be flamboyant in contrast to the overlord's heavy persona. "Well, if it's alright, I'll catch you up after I've gotten my things. Would you mind holding onto my ring for me?"

"Certainly, great Lady Flutter Core!" he does a showy bow before holding out a hand. The guild ring has resized to normal before it hits his palm, one of the few items which fits to whoever holds it.

Flutter Core cuts him off before her can continue. "I'll make sure to have Momonga give you a ring. Until things calm down, it's all hands on-deck!"

That, and she really wants to be there when Momonga meets his living NPC.

"Hey, Pandora's Actor," she pauses at then entrance to the mausoleum, glancing over her shoulder. "Just… thank you."

For proving one of her fears null and void.

(What if I can't find a reason to smile?)

;;;

It was a rule in YGGDRASIL that player rooms were safe zones. Only the owner of the room could enter. Not even during raids could the enemies force their way in. However, if a player was in their room when their base was overtaken, they would be forcibly kicked out and all their things left behind in the now-ownerless room. This safe zone leads to players being somewhere in the range of people who never locked their doors to people who trapped it with all sorts of problems. The doors automatically unlock if a guild base or dungeon leader is defeated, so some people don't see the point and tip their hats to the winners by leaving their doors trap-free. Especially since guild rings can teleport them directly into the room.

Most trap their room doors. It was well known in the guild that Tabula Smaragdina changed the door to his room into a beautiful masterpiece, so it was likely to be the most heavily trapped thing he created. The player Touch Me, on the other side of the tomb, was one of the fairest people the guild had. He was also one of the strongest players in YGGDRASIL. Of course his door is the first the three players decide to loot.

"Oh shiiii-" Vivinacerac shrilly jumps back before throwing themselves in front of the physical attack that follows the rounds of arrows. "What is this?!"

"It looks like Touch Me wasn't impressed with the thought of looters," BombombBoom says flatly, tossing a few potions to stop the lasers that came out of the wall. Then he starts casting spells on his friends.

"Well," Figmarent smiles happily and lets his leathery wings loose, face widening and twisting into something terrible, "he was the number one warrior."

"This isn't fair!" Vivinacerac cries and throws their self at the door-

Which they pass through with ease. They blink at the sight of the room and let out a small, "Huh." The smile on their face is pleased while their friends send Messages to ask if they are alright. "Oh absolutely."

Doesn't mean they're going out there to help with the traps.

;;;

Ugh. Momonga resists the urge to put his head on the desk. The worst part is he's tired but, as an undead, doesn't need to sleep. He runs through his inventory items, the map which isn't working, and tries to call the GMs once again. Nothing. I hope the others are having a better time.

Because what was with the guardians swearing loyalty to only him?

And the three active guild members blowing up the bar?

And Flutter Core crying?

(Unfortunately, being undead does not stop headaches.)


A/N: Thanks for reading. A really big thanks to TheParadoxicalOxymoron, Guest, Ameragi, and RyuujiVantek for reviewing! The support means a lot.

I hope the chapter was enjoyable. Have a fantastic day