Chapter 1: A Star Falls
AN: Much of Overlord, such as abilities and items, are often open to interpretation. I do my best to interpret these things in a way that makes sense, but some things in this story may work slightly differently than how others might understand them.
Also, any and all reviews are appreciated! I am really enjoying writing this, and would love if people let me know what they did or didn't like. Many thanks
Please Enjoy :)
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A lone figure peered out over the valley below him.
"Well it's finally come to an end. Man, I'm really bummed it's over." He sighed. "But I still can't believe I picked these up! I doubt anyone's even going to believe me when I tell them I collected 4 World Items. And I even got two of the Twenty! That's just bonkers." Matthew chuckled to himself as he opened up his inventory. Within that plain brown grid sat his glowing prizes, waiting to be put to use. He knew he'd never get the chance, but he was damn proud of his accomplishments.
He was right too, no one in their right mind would have believed he could collect that many legendary items. It wasn't to say he was a weak player within the game, in fact just the opposite. During the "golden months" as he and his friends called them, they were a feared group of player-killer assassins. So much so, that they had become known throughout the game as The Hunters.
But World Items were in their own league when it came to Yggdrasil equipment.
Just about every powerful group in the game coveted them, and fought tooth and nail to collect even one. The largest and most successful guilds could accumulate and maintain maybe two to three at a time normally, with the most famous being the group of Ainz Ooal Gown collecting an impressive 11 World Items.
But now, many of the once prominent guilds no longer buried their World Items behind impenetrable vaults and guards. As the end of Yggdrasil approached, players that remained became more cavalier with their playstyles. Normally it would have been unheard-of to carry around a World Item without a platoon of allies surrounding you, but what did it matter anymore? The game was finished and there wouldn't be any New Game Plus.
Most guilds were left with one or two players and many of them just wanted to have some fun flaunting their power one last time, perhaps in honor of their absent comrades.
Matthew however, wanted to make the most of the end times and so he began a fresh bounty hunting campaign. There had been plenty of player-killers and guilds that harbored them that Matthew and his merry band had never gotten the chance to eliminate, so now was the time. He wanted to see how far he could go, and what kind of treasure trove he could amass!
And amass he did, even more than he would have hoped for! World Items, unique one-time summons, and many fascinating divine-class items now sat in his inventory.
Although, not that it would truly matter much once the servers shut down. In just under an hour, he would be forcibly logged out, just like everyone else still left in the DMMORPG. He had enjoyed his time though and that's what mattered to him.
Reminiscing, he figured he could read through his player description one last time.
Name: Vörðr
Race: The Nebulous
Smiling he remembered how intrigued he and his friends were when they read about this race, and how much he loved his character's name. He had chosen his name because it meant a Warden or Caretaker spirit in Norse mythology, and that really fit well with the overtones of Yggdrasil itself. Clicking on the race link, another window popped up and he began to read.
Once, Vanaheimr was a peaceful and fertile land, but the Gods known as the Vanir saw a future of terror and destruction approaching. Soon their world would begin to break apart, and a void would threaten to rip the very fabric of their domain. So, the Vanir created what is now known as the Nebulous; a race of beings said to have been formed from the stars themselves.
The Nebulous begin life just barely corporeal. They appear as whisps, glowing faintly and emitting a continuous mist from their bodies. As they grow and mature, their form gains a more definite shape and pin pricks of light begin to shine inside of their body. If one were to look at a fully matured Nebulous without clothing, it would appear as a void of darkness in the shape of a human. They have no skin, bones, or organs, but nebulae, molten planets, and other cosmic entities that appear to float within them. This cosmic matter seems to shift and change like the universe itself, and it is said that a normal human can fall into a deep trance if they stare at an uncovered Nebulous for too long. Though its facial features are nearly impossible to distinguish, if a Nebulous even has any, each entity will have a pair of twin stars that serve as its eyes. These stars will pulsate in intensity based on the emotions of the Nebulous.
These beings do not have separate mana and health as most of the denizens of Yggdrasil do, but rather one bar called Essence. Their Essence represents their ability to remain corporeal as well as cast spells. This means that a Nebulous must carefully consider the weight of each spell that they cast and the damage they take, as any mistakes could leave them drained and unable to continue.
Note: A Nebulous can take health or mana potions and both will directly replenish their Essence.
Most describe the voice of a Nebulous not as a singular entity, but as a soft melody or gentle chorus of voices. There is always a dominating tone unique to each Nebulous, perhaps denoting male or female, but a million other voices would always whisper in tandem as they speak.
Above all, the Nebulous recognize that they are made as tools for the Vanir, and as such they are tasked with the protection and care of Vanaheimr. They are to fight back the encroaching void and its horrors. The old gods never told their creations whether they foresaw victory or defeat, but the Nebulous continue to fight their battle to protect all living things.
Matthew closed the window, and new memories flashed though his mind.
He remembered how entranced he and his buddies had been with that backstory. They decided to role-play that race, and take the story even further. That is when they decided to become player-killer hunters. For them, based on the Nebulous background, any sentient creature should have no time for the killing of other intelligent life. As the Yggdrasil tree was besieged by horrors and the world eater, they believed player killing, including the killing of demi-humans or heteromorphs, was an act of absolute evil.
As such, they would hunt those they deemed as malicious and punish them for their atrocities. Ultimately, it was their view that if the "in-fighting" were to cease, all life could be united to fight back against the end of the world.
While seemingly noble, their hunting did not come without rewards that they took great pleasure in displaying. Matthew and his friends managed to garner a number of impressive pieces of loot from their quarry. Given their chosen goals, they didn't have time to dungeon dive very often, but one wouldn't have guessed based on their equipment. Salvaged off of many slain foes, they sported impressive armor and weapons.
It wasn't all good for them though, as many guilds and players weren't happy about being targeted. Most of those that killed heteromorphs considered it an injustice that The Hunters targeted them as well, since the game itself didn't consider those killings "Pking". This created an interesting dynamic where many players appreciated what Matthew and his crew were trying to do, whereas other groups put out bounties for their heads. Sometimes they got caught and were killed, other times they gave their pursuers the slip or even a few nasty scars for their troubles.
His playstyle made him more enemies than friends overall he figured, but he was proud of his accomplishments. He and his band of miscreants had had a blast and role-played the hell out of their days.
Matthew brought himself back to the present continue to read through his character description.
Level: 100
Main Class: Paladin
Subclasses: Master Assassin, Spell Caster, Blacksmith, Bounty Hunter, World Champion of Vanaheimr, Fury of the Gods, Warden
Matthew rubbed his chin as he looked at his classes. Some were simply to assist in their bounty hunting, whereas others represented the best of his accomplishments. His World Champion of Vanaheimr title was his personal favorite as it took defeating countless other players in a world tournament. He knew that his PvP skills were top notch, considering his profession in-game, but to achieve the World Champion title had been nothing short of mind-blowing. It's safe to say that night Matthew had gathered as many people as he could and celebrated until he passed out drunk.
Maximum Level Traits: Immortal Instrument, Coalescence, Singularity
At level 100 a Nebulous gained three unique traits along with a healthy boost to all of their stats.
The first of these traits is called "Immortal Instrument", which unfortunately wasn't quite as amazing as it sounded. Quite simply, if the player was slain this trait would allow them to choose to forgo the loss in XP and the random item drop, but at the cost of being resurrected four weeks of real-time later. After resurrection the player would also be vulnerable for the next 30 hours of in-game time, unable to activate this trait. In the flavor text, it was stated that the old gods, rather than let their tool suffer a death, took the time to remake and repair them.
Matthew considered this trait cool and all, but for him four weeks of playtime was almost always more than enough to get back to his pre-death level and equipment status.
One might think that the guilds would have been all over this, and just stacked all their treasures on a Nebulous player in-case they were being raided, but that would mean waiting through a four-week gap without one of their top players and all the equipment he had been carrying. A few guilds had tried this tactic early on, but during those four weeks their bases had been raided so much that after the Nebulous player returned, they were almost entirely on their own and killed within hours.
The second end-game trait was called "Coalescence" and was a goldmine for a role-player like Matthew. It allowed for the player to assume a human form for a period of time each day. Although if the player performed any large spells or took enough damage, the form would be broken.
The human form was custom, so sticking with the Norse theme and paying tribute to his own red hair, Matthew made a red-haired Viking with what he described as a "glorious" red beard.
There were no inherent combat skills added via this spell, but it did allow Nebulous players to adopt their human form as a disguise if they were smart about it.
The final trait was an ability picked from a list of three. Each was equivalent to a Super-Tier spell, but with a unique twist related to the Nebulous origins.
The first option is called "Pulsar." A beam ability that caused massive piercing and magic damage. This ability had damage equivalent to some of the stronger Super-Tier offensive abilities, but with only a 10 second casting time. The downside being a 42% drain on the player's Essence to use this spell, meaning that the player could only cast this twice before killing themselves with the Essence cost.
Option two is "Singularity" which allowed the user to create a black hole for a period of time with only a 7 second cast time. The formed singularity would become a gravity well that pulled on nearby players and NPCs, no matter their size or flying capabilities. If an enemy stayed within range long enough, they would be picked up and begin to orbit the spell.
Another bonus was that the black hole would redirect and absorb any projectiles or projectile spells, as well as periodically disrupt spells that required casting time of any enemies nearby it through the buildup and release of "radiation".
The Singularity would act as a constant Essence drain on the player however. As if the player was an orbiting star, the black hole would suck their essence out in order to maintain itself. While initially minimal, the drain would increase multiplicatively over time. A larger Essence pool could keep the spell active longer, as could the use of mana or health potions, but eventually the spell would drain the player dry if not cancelled in time.
The last ability option was called "Worm Hole." As one might guess this ability allowed for instantaneous medium-range teleportation, usable two times a day. This spell did not use any Essence nor could it be interrupted like most other teleportation spells in the game.
Matthew, being a PK hunter, had decided that once he got the drop on someone, keeping them stuck to an area and absorbing all damage from them sounded really handy, so he had picked the "Singularity" ability.
Moving on past his character description, the man looked at his friends list. His excitement over his accomplishments was dulled by the graveyard of unlit names. "None of my buddies could get on for the end." He grimaced, but after a moment brightened, "but I'll see them in a few months for our get together, so I guess it's ok. I'll tell them all about how they missed my sweet kills."
His friends list may have been empty but as he scrolled through his acquaintance list, he saw a few names still lit up:
Altaier
Deadly Knees
Likeness
Massive Damage the 3rd
Momonga
Tomantics
ZeeDawg
He smiled to himself. Each of those players had been nice enough when he had interacted with them. Some even had messaged him to congratulate him after he killed them or one of their guild mates. He briefly considered reaching out to one or two of them, but held himself back.
"They're probably reminiscing just like I am. And honestly, I didn't really know most of these guys very well beyond a few messages here and there… I shouldn't intrude."
For his part, Matthew was content enough to peer out from his mountain hideout and look out into the starry sky above. Once his final hour in Yggdrasil was almost up he closed his eyes and waited.
23:59:58
23:59:59
00:00:00
He was still waiting, but suddenly the player felt… strange.
Matthew opened his eyes but all he saw was blackness. "Are you kidding me? Did my game really crash at the end?" He was going to try his menu or force a logout, but then a pale blue dot seemed to materialize off in the distance.
"That's… odd."
Mesmerized, he watched as the blue dot got bigger. It grew in size until he could start to make out details.
"Is that… a planet?" He pondered. Soon what had been a dot had become a great sphere, and was continuing to grow in size. Soon the planet took up most of his field of vision, and he finally noticed he was not going to sail by it. No, his trajectory would smash him directly into it!
"Ooooh hell no! This is fucking terrifying! What the hell is going on!?"
Matthew's heart-rate skyrocketed, his body hurtling forwards into the blue and green world below him. All thoughts of the game left his mind as his apparent demise rapidly approached. He entered the atmosphere and within a few seconds his vision was filled with a white-hot light, then everything went black again.
All was quiet.
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Momonga, flying high above the clouds stared down at the planet below him.
"I can see so far with just the light from the moon and stars!" He marveled to himself. "I can't believe that this world is real, Blue Planet-san!" Then he spoke aloud, "The stars in the sky are glittering like a box of jewels."
"I believe this world shines so that my lord can adorn himself with its riches" The Arch-Devil Demiurge spoke.
Momonga turned to look at his companion and chuckled lightly. "That may be true. I may have come to this land to obtain this box of treasures. No, it's not something I should hoard for myself. Perhaps, this is so I can adorn Nazarick and my friends of Ainz Ooal Gown with it."
Demiurge bowed slightly. "If you wish it, we will use all the forces of Nazarick to obtain it for you."
Momonga chuckled again. "At this point, when we don't even know what exists out there? But, well, taking over the world might be enjoyable." Demiurge started in awe, the plan that his master had begun to form also took root in his mind. Then the skeleton turned away and thought to himself, "Well, there's no way we'd be able to do something like that. Even so, am I really the only one who came here from Yggdrasil? My message skill didn't reach anyone, but it might be because they're too far away. Or the effects of the magic have changed. If that's the case," he sighed "if the name of Ainz Ooal Gown is spread throughout the world…"
Basking in the light of the moon above Momonga watched as a shooting star seemed to form. Transfixed by it, he was startled when a brilliant blue halo exploded off of the object, and then another halo erupted, this time in red. Just as quickly as it appeared the object fell beyond the horizon and the light faded.
Turning back to his guardian, the guildmaster pondered. "Demiurge, do you suppose that was simply a regular meteorite?"
"I do not know Momonga-sama. If you desire, we shall send a group to find the cra – " The Arch-Devil's response was cut off as an incredible shockwave blew by them. After a few seconds he regained his voice. "No Momonga-sama, I do not suspect that it was a regular meteorite."
"I believe you are correct, but at this time I do not believe that it is wise to send a party so far away. We still have so much to learn about this land. We will remain in the immediate area for now. But we will need to keep a look out."
"As you wish!" He bowed as he hovered, humbled by his lord's wisdom.
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" – you think it is?"
"I'm not sure, but we need to find – "
" – go down there – "
" – your job."
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Matthew felt a weird sense of calm. His mind vaguely recalled a terrifying experience of falling to earth, but he was sure it was just a weird dream. He would open his eyes and find his sheets twisted up at the foot of his bed, as they tended to be when he had an intense dream. Then he would get up and get ready for a relatively boring Saturday.
Hm, his bed felt rather firm today. Or perhaps he was on his floor and not his bed, having fallen off in the night. As he reached out, all he felt was a solid warm surface, smooth ridges bumping against his fingers.
"What?!" His eyes burst open and he immediately beheld a bright blue sky above him. Puffy clouds meandered overhead, careless of the world below. Utterly confused the player rolled his head to the side and noted another oddity; it appeared as though he was laying at the bottom of a crater. Glossy smooth rock rolled upwards away from him like a wave, cresting far away. His jumbled thoughts seemed to stop and start as he rolled over and steadied himself, slowly rising to his feet.
Briefly, the ground lit up below him in a complex pattern of lines and runes that felt vaguely familiar.
"What is going on?" The man questioned internally. "I need to get myself out of this crater and find out where the hell I am." As he took a step forward the light from the pattern increased in intensity before shattering like a pane of glass at his feet. "What was that?!" He wondered as the runes and lines faded from existence.
Matthew's ever-increasing confusion grew to a raucous symphony in his head as he began to hear voices above him. They sounded like they were shouting or something.
"It shattered!" A high-pitched voice rang out.
"That was a triple-layered 5th tier binding spell!" A rumbling voice said in return.
"What in the blue blazes?!" Another voice called.
Yet another voice joined the fray, sounding surprisingly calm given the state of those around him. "Go inform the captain now! Ilta! Cedran! You're with me, we need to stop this thing from leaving the crater until the captain gets here."
Matthew barely had time to think before three figures appeared at the edge of the crater in front of him.
"Greetings!" A blond man in what appeared to be Mardi Gras-esque cloak called down to him. "Do you understand me?"
Beside the man, a woman floated on a red orb and peered down between locks of blue hair. Just to her left another man stood, this one stocky with massive bulging muscles, and deep auburn hair. Each of them took stock of what was looking back at them.
They had seen it earlier as their team had set up the binding trap, but their leader had kept them as far away as possible while they waited for further orders. It wore black armor over most of its body, except a grey hood covering its head. The armor glowed and pulsed a faint purple visible even in the daylight, running across its body in lines. A large weapon of some kind hung off of its back.
What startled everyone present was the apparent eyes of this armored figure. Though they could not see a face underneath the hood, two golden orbs of light shone out like stars.
The player stood silent for a moment, before mustering up the clarity to reply.
He reached out to wave but then stopped and turned to look at his own hand. Rather than pale flesh, he saw black metal.
"Huh… OH!"
His brain finally began to piece together the present moment, or at least part of it. Ignoring the blonde man, he brought up both hands towards his face and noted the gauntlets on them. Lines scattered around the ridges and creases of the armored fist, glowing faintly purple.
These were absolutely his gloves from Yggdrasil! He turned his palms over to examine the backside of his hands.
Such detail!
Never before had the game had such graphical capability! He could make out what had to be thousands of hair-thin lines roaming all over his metal gloves, each one glowing faintly and emitted what appeared to be some kind of smoke or mist. He brought his hands closer to his face and looked ever more intently at them. Indeed, there was no way this was the original Yggdrasil. While ground-breaking, the DMMORPG had been limited by the technology of its time. This level of breath-taking minutia would have taxed the Yggdrasil servers to the limit if even 100 players were playing.
As Matthew marveled at his own hands, the now completely ignored party at the top of the crater was beginning to grow impatient.
"Well it doesn't seem to want to talk. We can't leave it unrestrained lest it attempt to flee. Ilta, bind it." The blonde-haired man commanded.
The floating woman, in a witch hat practically as big as she was, raised her arms.
"Imprisonment" she intoned flatly. As she finished her incantation, the tip of her hat extended and raced down into the crater. As it reached the armored being in the center it began to wrap around him.
Broken from his thoughts, Matthew was startled by the tightening bindings. He wasn't hoping to be tied like a hog today, so he began to press outward with his arms. He seemed to struggle for but a moment.
Up at the edge of the crater, beads of sweat began to form on the arms and forehead of the spellcaster as she held up her hands. Pulling backwards she attempted to hold herself in place.
Then she cried out as if some invisible wave had crashed into her, and fell forward with incredible force. Unfortunately for her, she had been near the edge of the crater and her fall caused her to careen over the edge and into the hole.
Surprised and startled, the pair next to her reached out but their hands caught empty air as she fell.
"Ilta!" The two men shouted.
At that moment a tall black-haired man ran up to the group followed by a number of others and looked down into the crater.
Within an instant the leader took stock of the situation. He realized how the figure at the bottom of the crater had pulled his strongest mage off her feet. The being's armor had struck him as odd before, when he had examined it from afar, but now it was even more impressive. There was no way that glowing black and purple armor was from any region known to his country. He also got a very uneasy feeling from even looking at this figure and its burning eyes.
Seemingly ignoring the yelps of the spellcaster as she bounced her way down the crater, he turned to an elderly woman. He had to act fast or this could get out of hand.
"Kaire, please begin the Downfall of Castle and Country. This is too dangerous."
In the process of unraveling the strange hat-thing from his body, the Nebulous came to an abrupt stop as a lance of pain shot through his head. "Gah! A migraine is not what I needed right now." He grunted internally.
Then somehow, he just knew the source of his discomfort. He glared up at the old woman in a white and golden dress.
"Hey! I know that item! That's the mind control thingy! The uh, the Downfall! Downfall of-ERG" More pain lanced through his head. "-Castle and Country!" He gripped his head tightly within his hands, his hood crumpling in his grip. "Fu-Grk… Stop it!"
And then it was over. The ache subsided and he could breathe again. "You know," he rubbed his head. "If they were players, they would have known that that item cannot control other players. And there's no way I look like an NPC."
As he looked back up at the group, a sense of indignation struck him. How dare these lower life forms attempt to control his mind! He was a guardian of the world! They had no right to attack him in such a way, and he would make them understand the consequences of making such a horrible mistake!
"…"
Huh… that was an odd train of thought. Cocking his head to one side, the man once again tuned out the world around him.
"I know I was into the role-play scene pretty heavily, but those thoughts… felt so visceral. Like… I actually believed that I was a 'guardian of the world'. Like they were insects below me." His internal monologue continued to swirl as the group above him threatened to break into chaos.
"Sho-taichō! It… it didn't work!" The elderly woman, Kaire, gasped. Her eyes darted back and forth from her own hands to the being below. Around them the other members of their group shared gasps and sputterings of disbelief.
"What do you mean?" Sho stared with increasing intensity at the woman.
"I can't feel any control over its mind!" She couldn't believe what she was saying. Her qipao was the World Item known as the Downfall of Castle and Country! Its sleeves shook as she stared at her own trembling hands. This was a sacred item bestowed upon her by the Theocracy! Its power shouldn't have limits but just now it had somehow fallen short. "I completed the spell but it-That thing fought me out! I… I don't understand sir." The woman fell to her knees, seemingly exhausted.
The burly red-haired man rushed over to her and helped steady her quivering form.
Down below, the ethereal being had decided to get a closer look at the other occupant of the crater. Just like in-game, he watched as his legs lifted off the ground and he began the glide over the terrain.
"This is fascinating!" He thought to himself. "I can feel my levitation, and command it!"
As he floated over towards the woman, he got a better look at her and her comically large hat.
She had thick sky-blue braids that appeared to be as long as she was tall. Her hat was a deep black with a ring of red and yellow fabric diamonds and a brown belt wrapping around it. Somehow, despite the fall the hat hadn't actually fallen off her head, but he figured that was some sort of magic. Her clothes, if you could call them such, appeared to be closer to lingerie than a shirt, pants, or even mage robe. He knew Yggdrasil allowed for plenty of clothing customization for players and NPCs, but this was way too risqué.
Given how he could practically see her nipples through her top, there was no way this was considered anything but 18+.
"I'm beginning to suspect I'm not in Yggdrasil anymore…" The celestial pondered as he came upon the woman. She was groaning and attempting to sit up from where she had been laying, only to gaze directly up into his hood. What could only be described as a pair of burning suns surrounded by infinite darkness stared back at her.
"What are you…?" She couldn't help but whisper.
Smiling internally Matthew decided he'd ham it up a little, just for fun.
"I am a guardian! A caretaker of all living beings and the great world tree! One of the… No. The last Nebulous…" He paused for a moment, thinking of his friends. Where were they now? None of them had been online at the end, but he couldn't rule out the possibility that they had arrived here as well. Somewhere in the back of his mind though, he felt incredibly alone.
The choir that accompanied his voice surprised him a little, and it seemed to send the woman below him into a stupor. It made him think a million voices were whispering along with him, and it could not sound more badass in his opinion.
Not wanting to lose her to unconsciousness he crouched down. "My name is Vörðr. What is your name?"
The Nebulous waited patiently as the woman gained her voice. "I-Ilta…" was all she managed to get out.
"Ilta. Why have you chosen to attack a Warden?" As he peered at her his eyes flared and writhed in barely concealed intensity. To her, those orbs seemed as though they were stripping her of her physical form, leaving her soul bare. Any words she had died in her throat and her mouth hung open.
"Hmm, I don't think she can handle me in this form. Maybe my 'Coalescence' can actually serve more of a purpose than just role-play." Vörðr hummed to himself.
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Up above them the group was beginning to panic.
"We cannot jus' leave 'er down th'r!" A huge man with a mane of grey hair rumbled. He readied his massive war-axe and looked ready to jump. Beside him some of the other members readied their weapons.
"Stand down!" Sho left no room for negotiation. "We will not jump into such a situation without more information. Clearly, we've already erred! It was able to shrug off the Downfall of Castle and Country." He glanced to his right at the still kneeling woman. "I had thought such a thing was not possible." He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "I am beginning to understand though. This… thing is not of this world. As such, I will not allow us to risk ourselves recklessly anymore!"
"Oh please!" A woman to Sho's left seemed to be giddy with excitement. "Let me fight him! He's has to be strong! If he defeats me, I want to mate with him! I need to!" She was bubbling over with anticipation. A manic smile on her normally passive face.
"You will do no such thing. We will take formation Epsilon and approach. Carefully."
Just as he was summing up the courage to begin their descent towards the unknown figure, a blinding light emanated from it.
Everyone was forced to shield their eyes from the extreme light. Once it had died down and they peered into the hole. The being had pulled back its hood to reveal a human head. Bright red hair adorned its-no his head, falling around his shoulders and ending just above his chest. A beard spilled out and appeared to be neatly cut and rounded. From where they stood, they couldn't see much more, but it was now obvious that this figure appeared to be human.
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Ilta finished uncovering her eyes assuming that he was going to end her existence. However, she was greeted not by death or even the burning pair of stars, but by a human face! A grizzled red-headed man greeted her with what looked to her as a predatory grin. His golden eyes weren't glowing like the twin suns from earlier, but they still felt like they were piercing into her.
The player was doing his best to hold back a huge goofy smile. His magic still seemed to work, which was a huge relief. Although he no longer needed to pull up a menu, he just… willed it to work. He decided to think more on that later.
But what really gave him such an elated state was he noticed he could feel the breeze! He hadn't even noticed it before, given the whirlwind of events, but he hadn't felt anything on his skin until now! It was like he hadn't had any skin before, but that he just knew there was a breeze and that it was a pleasant temperature. But now, he could actually feel it. It was like he had been floating in a void and now he was back on the planet, sensitive to everything around him.
And he felt… new emotions too!
Everything had been muted before, almost like he had no need for extraneous thoughts, but now everything came full force. And like a slap in the face, he felt a creeping heat begin to rise to his cheeks as his eyes roamed the body of the woman below him.
Now to be fair, Matthew was no stranger to women. He had dated through college and while he never considered himself overly suave or smooth, he was known to flirt from time to time. This however, was something he was not prepared for. Besides her, in his mind, hilarious looking hat, she was not wearing much of anything. And the fall she took down the crater wall definitely didn't help the state of her… clothing.
Lingerie was something he expected to see after months of dating someone, not within the first moments of meeting them.
Attempting to get them both on track, Vörðr cleared his throat. "So, where were we? Ah yes, why did you and your group deign it necessary to attack me?" Gone was the chorus of whispers and the deep central tone. Now his voice sounded like a regular man. Perhaps a bit rough around the edges, but smooth enough to not imply he was some sort of illiterate barbarian.
Broken from her trance, Ilta brought her hands together in front of her as she sat up.
"Y-y-you f-fell from the sky." She squeaked out with considerable effort. Ilta was surprised that she was still so shaken. But those burning eyes... Nothing in her life had prepared her for that.
"Still a little dazed it seems." The man chuckled and grinned at her, doing his best to not look away from her face. An effort that seemed to only make the woman want to shrink further into her hat under his intense gaze. "Hmm, falling from the sky isn't normal for most people I suppose. But I don't really get why you, or your superiors, thought restraining me was necessary."
It was just at that moment that the rest of the group had gotten close enough down the side of the crater to warrant the man's attention. The black-haired warrior at the front was the first to speak.
"Who are you? And why have you come to our country?" His voice was reserved and somewhat feminine if you asked Vörðr. Observing this man up close he noted the paladin-like armor that encompassed the man's form. An interesting mix of black, white, gold, orange, and teal was interwoven throughout his apparel. In his right hand a long black lance glinted in the sun.
The guardian crossed his arms over his chest in defiance. "I just woke up mere moments ago and I've had to fight off assaults of my body and," he shot a glare to the old woman that was hiding behind the bulk of one of the men. "my mind. I'm not sure I'm feeling particularly willing to share anything with you lot."
Rebuffed, the leader of the group quickly rethought his strategy. "Please forgive our rudeness, but you are trespassing in our land and the Theocracy does not take kindly to that. We are merely protecting our country and its citizens." Surprising his subordinates, he bowed his head slightly. "My name is Sho Truthbrace and I am the Captain of this group. Now, I'm afraid I must impress upon you your current situation. You are in the presence of 13 hero-class and above individuals, known as the Black Scripture of the Thane Theocracy. I would prefer not to, but if we must we will take you down as a threat to our home." Sho fell silent, allowing the red-haired man a chance to analyze his situation.
Vörðr looked around at the people that stood in front of him, gazing at each of their forms. They varied in size and apparent strength, but most returned his stare with a look of reserved determination. He had to give them props for standing strong so far, given how much of an unknown he was to them.
He did however note a woman off to his right that seemed to be attempting to eat him with her eyes.
That definitely caught his attention.
She had an odd appearance even compared to the rest of her group. The hair on left side of her head was black while on the right it was pure white. Her eye colors were the reverse of her hair and her clothing seemed to stick to the black and white theme. Overall, not a normal look by any stretch of the imagination, but she seemed to be able to pull it off he supposed.
As her eyes trailed up his form their gazes locked. Her form seemed to vibrate with anticipation, before a grin broke out on her face.
"Yes! He is the one!" Overcome with excitement, she broke from her group and jumped into the air towards the red-haired man. Swinging her double-bladed scythe above her head, she began to bring it down as if to cleave Vörðr in half.
"No! Zesshi stop!" Sho shouted after her, but she either didn't hear him or chose to ignore his command.
As the woman fell towards him, the world seemed to slow down. "Hm, that scythe looks pretty nasty. Should I activate 'Singularity' now? Or perhaps a few defensive spells? Hmm… I have no good reference to the power levels of these people." He mentally shook his head. "I want to see what kind of damage she can do first. I've got plenty of backup plans if they're stronger than I think they are." Reaching above his shoulder, he gripped his war hammer and, faster than his opponents could perceive, swung it out in front of himself to block to incoming blow.
A sharp screech reverberated off the walls as metal met metal.
Zesshi's scythe ground against the hilt of his war hammer, sending sparks showering down to the ground. Despite the intensity, it was just now that everyone got a good look at Vörðr's war hammer.
Made of a shining silver hilt and hammer head, a black infinity knot wove its way from the butt of the hilt all the way the base of the hammer. The members of the Black scripture noticed the center of the hammer head had a hole in it, and within that cutout a burning orb floated. It was difficult to look at with the naked eye given how bright it was, and must not have been burning until Vörðr brought it out, as now the crater seemed to shine and flicker in its brilliance.
It was then that all sense of decorum and peace was shattered. Not leaving their teammate alone in her fight, each of the Scripture members unleashed their weapons and charged.
The next few moments were a blur. Wielding his war hammer with impressive grace, Vörðr danced around his opponents. The spell casters of the group attempted to impede him or boost their allies, but nothing they did seemed to have much effect. The melee specialists of the group seemed to spend most of the time playing catch up as the man belted out punishment left and right.
For his part Matthew felt like he was being swarmed by angry hornets. Not particularly deadly to his armored form, but not very pleasant either. He dodged a chain-like weapon from one of the men and decided to end the encounter before it went anything further.
"This encounter has been most enlightening. While I don't take aggression lightly, I will spare you today." The Nebulous almost laughed as he spun the butt of his war hammer to bash the head of one of them. "You seem to not know of me or my kin, and you were mostly honorable in your intentions. This however will be the end of this fight." The spike of his war hammer impacted the ground and shook the vicinity, causing a few of his opponents to fight for balance. Utilizing the brief reprieve, he cast one of his favorite abilities.
"Singularity."
After a moment, a small black orb materialized into the air above him. At first, this orb didn't look like much, but quickly it began to grow and warp the space around it. One of the casters attempted to shoot an ice bolt at the red-haired man, but the bolt curve up and away from him. The freezing spell raced around the black hole moving faster and faster as it approached the orb before disappearing into it. Still the sphere continued to grow, approaching 1 meter in diameter. Soon the Black Scripture members began to sense a force pulling them into the air.
Sure enough, within seconds some of those closest to the orb got lifted off their feet.
Multiple shouts of confusion rang out and each person tried desperately to stay on the ground. Within moments all of the members that had no magical ability were floating in the air and began to orbit the black sphere. A few of the magic casters were able to hold themselves down, but their concentrated casting was broken as the orb appeared to release a wave of energy. Their incantations broken, one-by-one the spell casters were lifted as well. Ilta hadn't moved from the spot that she had arrived at originally, curiously enough.
There was no formal party and raid groupings that he could tell, so he wondered how his spell was able to tell friend from foe. Perhaps it was simply because he didn't consider her an enemy in this exchange? Oh well, something to think on later.
Shouts continued to fill the air as the scripture members began to rotate faster and faster around the sphere, often colliding into each other.
Within moments, the cries of the warriors began to die down as they fell unconscious, either from the increasing centripetal acceleration pulling the blood from their brains or just by getting knocked out running into each other as they orbited.
Finally, Vörðr released the spell and the sphere shrank down into non-existence, unceremoniously dropping everyone to the ground. He then positioned his hammer into place on his back and felt its burning star extinguish. Taking in a deep breathe, he looked around.
"Damn. That was a lot more powerful than what I could do in Yggdrasil! I hope I didn't kill them all." The warden thought to himself. He bent down to check the pulse of the black-and-white-haired woman and found a steady beat within her veins. Looking at her form he saw her hair had ended up sprawled out around her and noted her pointed ears. "Ah, an elf, how interesting."
Feeling a set of eyes boring into him, he looked up to see Ilta staring wide-eyed at him. Noting her risqué garb no longer seemed to affect him, a thought in the back of his mind told him his form had reverted.
"Hm, you don't seem to be much of a threat at the moment," his chorus sung sympathetically. "What will you do?"
"Such overwhelming power." The woman looked down at her hands. "We were the strongest, but… how can the world be protected from a force like you?" She shifted her hat to block his eyes from hers.
A deep melody of laughter emanated from the being. "The world does not need to be protected from me. Like I told you, I am its guardian. I protect all lives from those that wish to harm them. There are great evils that threaten the very fabric of the universe, and to waste time fighting one another is an atrocity that must not stand. Life is precious." He clenched is gauntleted fists. "I will cleanse this land of its petty bickering so that it may unite against the void that will swallow it whole." He glided over to Ilta and crouched down to meet her gaze once more.
She looked up into his eyes with fear and trepidation but didn't move as he placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Now sleep."
Utilizing a forced sleep spell, he noticed she didn't seem to resist and her eyes began to flutter closed. After gently guiding her body to the ground he stood back up.
"I still have so much to learn about where ever… this is. I'd rather not have your little team hounding me just yet." Vörðr smiled at her unconscious form and then straightened up. Leaving the Black Scripture where they lay, the ethereal man floated up the side of the crater.
Giving one last look, he turned and headed off into the forest that surrounded him. "Yes, I will root out the insolent and petulant violence that no doubt grips this world. That is my purpose." He continued to drift forward into the lush greenery.
Matthew's new convictions gripped him like a vice. He wasn't sure why, but he felt bound to that ambition with all of his being. However, he did feel a pang of loneliness amidst that resolve.
"And maybe I'll find one of my old friends. That would be nice."
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AU Note: I've had a couple readers note that my description of Downfall of Castle and Country is different than how many interpret canon. I have my reasons (and quite a few) but I am choosing to limit it so that it could never control Yggdrasil players. I honestly believe that a lot of the world items effects and limitations create weird and unnecessary plot holes, so you might see more notes like this in the future.