(a/n: This is my first and probably Overlord fic. This is going mostly off of the anime. If the story progresses, I'll be trying to draw info on other sources as well. We'll see. Hope you like it.)

Ch.1: The End of the World (As We Know It)

It was the end of the world and nobody was there to see it, save for two of the virtual world's remaining occupants.

Gareth arrived at the tavern at the appointed hour. The tall, slender bard stopped and looked at the familiar old place for a moment. The building didn't look like much. It looked like your typical fantasy tavern: an aged building of wattle and daub with a thatched roof. The gigantic trees of the forest surrounding the long two-story building made it look like a dollhouse in comparison.

Around back were a pigpen, a collection of sheds and a large stable, into which Gareth led his hippogriff mount. Beside the stall in which he usually left his mount, the bard noticed a large black vampire wolf in the next stall. The enormous creature was gnawing away happily on a bone that looked a lot like a femur.

Gareth smiled. Even though he was sad that the stable was devoid of other familiar mounts, Gareth was glad to see that he could at least count on his brother. The bard decided to head inside.

At the front door, he paused once more, looking about the forest clearing. Memories played out in the deathly silent twilight, causing the blond man's heart to ache. Looking up, the tavern's wooden sign looked aged, then again it always looked old and weathered.

A faded bronze colored ox and its name, The Bronze Ox, were painted on the cracked wood. The light of the burnt orange sky and the lone lantern hanging from a hook above the door provided enough illumination for the sign and the tavern to bee seen in the growing shadows.

Gareth sighed and stepped inside.

The inside of the tavern was as he remembered it.

Scattered about the spacious interior were dozens of round wooden tables, which were all attended by stools and chairs. At the far end of the tavern to Gareth's right was a great stone fireplace, in which a great fire crackled away. Two big, cushy armchairs sat in front of the fire with an animal skin rug lying on the floor between the chairs and the fireplace. A bleached dragon's skull hung over the mantle. Its shadowed eye sockets appeared to be watching him.

They didn't appear to be watching, they were watching.

A hard earned trophy turned into a handy security device, courtesy of one of Gareth's old friends.

His eyes drifted to a corner near the fireplace and saw Neremyn Sartumal, the resident wizard and NPC. The wrinkly old elf looked every part the fantasy wizard one could imagine: flowing white beard, wise and analytical grey eyes and a pointed hat. This wizard was adorned in tattered blue robes that looked in desperate need of repair.

The wizened elf mage reclined peacefully in his chair, eyes closed and wooden tobacco pipe in his mouth. Thin fingers of grey smoke rose from the pipe, slowly forming rings and other shapes in the air above before melting into soft haze. Gareth was glad to see that the old wizard was still around, still sitting at that table, smoking his pipe and waiting to talk the ear off of anyone who just happens to bump into him.

The bard remembered encountering him a long time ago, back when the tavern was part of a quest he and his brother were on. The old guy was pretty helpful, gave some good tips on magic and even helped out in one battle. Although he was kind of annoying at times, Gareth was glad that the old elf came with the tavern when he won it at the end of that arduous quest.

"Evening Neremyn!" he greeted, doffing his feathered cap.

The wrinkly elf looked up, nodded and gave him one of the few pre-programmed greetings he always spouts when prompted, "Salutations Traveler!"

To the bard's left were some stairs that led to the second floor, there awaited some rooms and a sitting area where players could plan or relax without eavesdroppers or bumping into other players. There was a balcony that overlooked the ground floor.

In front of him were the bar and the door that led into various sleeping quarters, storerooms and the kitchen. The long wooden bar was polished to perfection. A long row of stools lined the front, usually occupied.

However, the bar appeared to have one attendee. A familiar figure in all black, with his back to the door, hunched over something.

"I like what you've done with the place," Gareth said aloud "Really…rustic."

"Not really my taste, if I were being honest," his brother said, turning to face him "The owner of this dump is a sucker for the classics. If I were the owner, I would've gutted it or pawned it off on some other nerd." A small silence passed between them. Both of their faces were devoid of emotion or feeling.

In Yggdrasil, the virtual world in which the two were currently in, facial expressions were difficult to animate, so expressions were always a blank mask. The only way to gauge expressions and moods were balloons displaying emoticons, which indicated what players were feeling based on the tone of their voices. Currently, the balloons both read happiness and both of their voices indicated that they were facetious.

Once that moment passed, the two laughed and Gareth joined his brother at the bar.

The tall vampire was sitting hunched over a tankard of dark red liquid, which he recognized as blood.

"Feeling peckish are we?" the bard asked, as a perplexed emoticon appeared over his head.

"You could say that," Kane replied, a smiling emoticon appeared. "It's the end of the world and I thought, 'what the hell?' Live it up a little and all, before the lights go out. Right, oh brother of mine?"

Gareth nodded "Indeed."

Kane, wasn't a big fan of role-play. Even in their early days, the elder sibling would do as he pleased. He dressed and acted how he liked and refused to play along in the fantasy adventures that Gareth and the others tried to create for themselves. However, it seemed that at long last he decided to play along, at the last possible second. That was so like him.

As he pulled up a stool, the angelic faced bard studied his brother's avatar. It looked the same as it did when they last saw each other in Yggdrasil. Dressed in a black tailcoat, a black vest over a white silk shirt and chainmail. With dark trousers and leather boots, the vampiric assassin looked like a dashing highwayman or an enigmatic count.

The attire was rather incomplete, though Gareth spotted the vampire's obsidian colored inverness cape hanging on a peg close by, along with his tricorn hat. Kane's face was handsome, pale like marble. His eyes were hypnotic rubies that glowed in the orange light of the candles scattered around the tavern. His long, silky raven hair was done up in a knot.

While Kane aimed, and succeeded, in adopting the look of a roguish vampire, Gareth went for something less gothic. His features were equally pale and beautiful, though his eyes were sky blue and his hair golden, which spilled down to his shoulders from beneath his feathered cap. The younger sibling wore a red doublet over a silk shirt and chainmail. He wore a green traveling cloak, leggings and boots.

Hanging at his side was his pack, containing everything of value to the bard. His whole attire came complete with a special lute, which was strapped to his back. Gareth was pretty much the archetypal fantasy bard and had lived like one during his time on Yggdrasil: traveling about, going on quests and joining in on some fantastic battles. What an odd pair the two of them made.

Despite their differences, the two stuck together and made the most of this expansive virtual world. Outside, neither of them had much of a family, just each other. Yggdrasil helped them pass the time and provided a lot of laughs. They were there in the early days and now it seemed appropriate that they were there for the end.

An elf girl with an aquiline face and green hair placed a tankard of mead on the bar in front of Gareth. He thanked her, out of habit, and took a swig.

He tasted nothing. Although Yggdrasil was advanced, it wasn't advanced enough to simulate taste, smell or feel. A set of blue numbers popped up in front of him and his magic bar rose a little. It was rather pointless to be drinking virtual beer, especially since there weren't any enemies to fight anymore, but it was a symbolic gesture. One last drink at their old hideout, what better to spend the end of the world?

"So, this is it," Kane observed, after Gareth took his drink. "The big one."

"Yep." The bard replied grimly. "All things end, it's a fact of life."

Kane nodded, gulping down his tankard of blood. Red numbers popped up around him.

"Where are the others?"

Kane lowered his tankard and snorted. "Elsewhere. I sent invites to the usual people and most didn't respond. The ones who did said they had other plans. I know that Mike died a while back and that the twins were dealing with troubles of their own."

Gareth nodded slowly as he listened to his brother, who informed him of their friends and comrades.

"And you'll love this," Kane said, an annoyed emoticon sprang into existence next to his head "But from what Alice told me, most of the guys had their own celebration a week back at the old clubhouse, with him." The annoyed emoticon turned angry.

Gareth said nothing, though he felt something sting his heart. Even though it's been a few years, the wound from that episode of their lives was still sore. He didn't blame their friends for wanting to hang out and celebrate Yggdrasil's passing without him. Gareth was persona non grata at the guild. Even though he was a still friend to a few of them, they couldn't be seen with him. It was guild law after all and they didn't want to be seen with the supposed traitor.

"Fantastic" the bard murmured bitterly. A teary faced emoticon joined his angry one.

Deciding to change topics and not spoil their mood, Kane changed topics.

"Forget about those dick bags. How've you been?" he asked, a smiling emoticon popped up beside his impassive face "How's life? Haven't seen you since Christmas."

"Good" Gareth answered, returning a smiling emoticon. "Just got a new job, it's looking pretty good. Pay is much better and I moved into a new place."

"Nice. I'm pretty much the same. I applied for some jobs down in Florida, haven't heard back yet. Hopefully something opens up."

The bard nodded appreciatively, sending a smiling emoticon.

After a few moments of odd silence, Kane sighed heavily. "Damn I'm bored. I'm gonna need to find something new to occupy my time."

Gareth tilted his head "What do you mean?"

Kane sighed "Well, I mean, now that Yggdrasil is going belly up, I'm in need of some new entertainment and I just about gone through all the classics again."

Gareth nodded slowly. While the game wasn't über popular in the States, it still had a huge following. To see it go down was like witnessing the end of an era. What will they do to fill the void now? There were scores of other games to be played. One game that was currently popular was a battle royal arena that pitted players against one another on a spacious map in order to win prizes, real and virtual.

Gareth considered trying it out but decided not to. It wasn't really his thing. The competition on that game was also far more intense than Yggdrasil and Gareth was not eager to endure the horrors of being a new player on a new game, again.

The two could go back and re-watch old episodes of classic American TV shows or dig through the vast wealth of archived pop culture for something that tickled their fancy. Unfortunately, even with a hundred or so years of pop culture at their fingertips, it just wasn't the same.

No, there's just no substitute. Yggdrasil was more than just a game. It was the thing that helped the two brothers reconnect. They hadn't seen each other in a long time and lived on opposite ends of the country. Through Yggdrasil, they were able to bond and enjoy life. Now, the future just seemed bleak and uncertain.

"I don't know what we'll do." Gareth said softly "But I'm sure we'll think of something. Just like we did with everything else, we do it together." He clapped his brother on the back.

The bard heard his brother snort, a laughing emoticon popped up.

"What?" Gareth asked.

"That sounded totally gay" Kane chuckled.

"It did not!"

"It did! If we weren't related, I would've thought that you were coming on to me!"

"Shut up!" The vampire burst out laughing.

The two brothers spent the rest of the time reminiscing on old times, better times. Kane regaled Gareth with various stories of how he would ambush various players with humanoid characters and clean them out of their gold and valuables.

While it seemed unfair, it bears reminding that Yggdrasil had all sorts of advantages and disadvantages. Players with humanoid characters, like elves and humans, were given a bit of a boost over those with heteromorphic or demihuman characters, like Gareth and Kane. To even the odds, Kane started screwing around with players who chased after him or one of his partners.

At first he got knocked around and lost a bit of gold, but he got tougher and fought smarter and managed to recoup his losses.

Once they started running out of stories, Kane decided to give Gareth a tour of the tavern.

The two were co owners of the place, having won it in a hidden quest a while back. They both know it very well but Gareth had left his brother in charge of the place while he was offline for a while. He had to take care of things in the real world and sort things out in the fallout of the incident with his old guild.

While parties and guilds conquered or rented out buildings to be their own guildhalls, there were some buildings that could be bought or won during a quest. At first they worried that the tavern would be a burden but, over time, the it came to be quite useful. It acted as their secret base and it earned them some gold pieces, though not very much. Many good times were had at the tavern changed.

At first Gareth was worried that Kane had changed it but was soon relieved to find that his fears were unfounded.

The upstairs rooms and the common area were all very much the same. The wine cellar was more crowded than normal. The spacious underground room was filled with barrels and wine racks. At the far end of the cellar were two great metal chests. The two were made of a grey alloy, covered in green intricate scrollwork.

"Specially made" Kane said proudly, kicking one of the metal chests with the toe of his boot. "I put all our old things in them. After the big dust up with Oswald and the others, I snuck back in to our old place and grabbed our items from the vault."

"How much did this cost?" Gareth asked, inspecting the chests closely.

The vampire shrugged "Not much. They would've gone for a lot but I got them for cheap from a buddy of mine." He sighed, "Seems like a waste now."

Up the stairs, the two inspected the kitchens.

A dozen workers currently occupied the kitchen. The cook, a hearty dwarf with a great ginger beard, was currently chopping up meat with a cleaver, barking orders to the other employees, all of who were young and beautiful ladies. They scurried about to carry out those orders. Gareth vaguely recognized half of them and was unsure where the others came from, until Kane told him that the inn automatically gained extra NPC workers when the tavern reached a certain milestone and had earned enough gold.

"It probably could've turned into something massive, like a hotel chain or something" Kane lamented "I mean, if the game was still going and we left them to do their thing. Imagine that, us owning a whole hotel chain! Ma would be proud."

Gareth rolled his eyes.

Kane left the kitchen and Gareth moved to follow him but he paused. Sitting on a stool near the door was a silver haired elf girl, pealing a potato and humming a tune. Of all the NPC's that came with the tavern, he remembered her the most. Lydia was her name and she came with a rather sad backstory. Seeing Lydia sitting there on that stool, peeling potatoes like it was a normal day was strange. Pretty soon she, and all the other NPC's in the kitchen, in all of Yggdrasil, will cease to exist.

The bard turned and hurried after his brother, not wanting to be teased over ogling a fictional girl…again.

Back in the spacious taproom out front, the two brothers sat in the two armchairs before the crackling fire.

Gareth was strumming away on his lute, playing some sad music. In the upper corner of his vision, the bard saw the game clock continuously counting on. In a few minutes, this wonderful virtual world would be no more and it would be back to the real world again.

Kane had propped his head up on one hand, elbow resting on the armrest. The vampire lazily listened to the music his brother played. Having noticed the time they had left, the elder brother interrupted his sibling.

"Now what?" Kane asked sounding incredibly bored, interrupting the melodious flow from the lute.

"How about one more song?" Gareth suggested "One for the road?"

"Sure, whatever. Make it something cool, not one of those lame fantasy bard spiels with 'thee' and 'thou' and shit."

"I'll try" Gareth chuckled. The bard thought carefully for a moment. This was a special moment and he wanted to make it count. When he finally settled on a song, Gareth began to play.

The sound wasn't particularly sad or happy but rather melancholic. "Gone, long gone," he sang "Blink and I'll be gone, long gone."

"Sweet, that's some good shit" he heard Kane murmur. The vampire closed his eyes and hummed along.

As the song continued, memories played out before Gareth's eyes, good and bad. He saw the first time he logged into Yggdrasil, the first time he and Kane reconnected, the first friends he made, his first party and how they grew to be a competent guild.

He saw Alice, the one girl he thought he had a shot with. He shook his head, getting her out of his mind.

"Why have you left me?" he sang, sadness crept into his voice "amongst the tall trees, I know I gave her all I have…"

Whatever shot he thought he had went up in smoke when Oswald stepped into the picture. The thought of that conniving snake made Gareth's stomach turn but he pushed him from his mind. Maybe this was a good thing. An ending but with a new beginning.

"And I'm lost without you." Gareth sang, the clock in the corner of his vision was nearing the reported end "I'm lost within you, and I'm gone, so gone, long gone." The bard finished the song with a flourish of his arm, holding it for a moment then lowering his arm.

Gareth looked at his brother, who nodded and a smile emoticon appeared. For a moment, everything seemed to be perfect. It was a nice high note to go out on. The two remained in their seats, waiting as the clock reached the destined end. They closed their eyes and waited.

Darkness and silence seemed to enshroud them. For a moment, both brothers thought that it was finally over.

However, their silent wait was interrupted by what sounded like clapping.

Gareth and Kane opened their eyes and looked. Neremyn, the old elf wizard, was on his feet, clapping. His eyes glistened with tears.

"Fantastic!" the old elf cried, "Well done master Gareth! A stunning performance!"

The two brothers stared at the wizard in shock. Before they could wrap their heads around the wizard standing there and applauding Gareth, more clapping sounded from behind them. Craning their necks, the vampire and the bard saw the various tavern maids standing there, applauding along with the wizard.

At the front of the group was Lydia, who appeared to be shedding tears as well.

The sight shocked Gareth and Kane. Neither of them called for the NPC maids, let alone talked with Neremyn. This shouldn't be happening.

"You're seeing this right?" Kane whispered to Gareth, a worried expression written on his flawless face.

Gareth blinked. His brother's mouth was moving and was expressing worry. That wasn't in the game.

"Uh, dude" the bard said, pointing at his brother's face.

Kane looked at Gareth's face and his eyes widened. "Dude!" he pointed at Gareth's face.

"What's going on in here!" bellowed a deep and gravely voice. The door to the kitchen burst open and the burly dwarf cook stomped into view.

The two brothers were left speechless.

"Master Gareth was playing one of his new songs, Gomrael" Lydia informed the dwarf "It was beautiful!"

"That's it" Kane hissed, snapping out of his daze, moving his fingers through the air in front of him to access the menu "I'm outta-" he froze. "What the?"

"What?" Gareth hissed sideways at his brother "What is it?"

"I can't long out!" Kane breathed.

The bard frowned and tried to access his menu. Nothing. He tried to access chat and every other feature he could think of but got nothing. In fact, it would seem the displays and every other thing that filled his vision whenever he was in a game was gone.

What the hell is going on here? Gareth thought, panic beginning to settle in.

(a/n: So, what did you think? Let me know. Don't worry, they'll meet Ainz...eventually. I thought I'd try something different. Expect more music and stuff to happen. The lyrics were to Jupiter's Lament by the Smashing Pumpkins.)