Wolf in the New World

Only a few minutes remained until the end of YGGDRASIL. A fact that seemed so unreal to him as he looked at his profile. How long had he spent on this build? How many hours of grinding did he commit to? The exploits and bugs he had to discover in order to make this build a possibility.

To know it was all for nothing should've been devastating to him, instead he found himself grinning.

Upon notifying the player base, the GM's running the NA server for YGGDRASIL announced one final hurrah. A guild war so massive and consequences so dire that they decided to call it the 'Twilight of the Gods'. In this once in a lifetime event each guild was tasked with conquering and annihilating all other guilds. Those that fell here would have their characters deleted and their equipment plundered. Even NPCs weren't safe from this rule, however they could also be assimilated into one's ranks after obtaining the opposing guild's weapon.

It was for this lone event that he found himself not mourning for the end but rather excited to see how far he could go. Of the nine worlds he was only conquering seven, as he agreed with his other two guildmates that he'd that he'd leave both Helheim and Jotunheim to those two given their connection to them.

For the entirety of the event he went around each and every base and pillaged and plundered. Endlessly cutting down those that tried to fight back. His armies clashed against the defending forces of his newest targets only to be silenced with precision. While he had lost many of his mass produced and mercenary NPCs, it didn't make much of a difference as their numbers grew with each new conquest.

But what now? What now as the lost guild base had fallen by his hand? What was left for him to do now that he'd completed his own quest? The Twilight of the Gods was over and while he might've not been able to beat every guild underneath his heel, he did manage to get a rather big chunk.

6:59:09

In the end he figured it didn't really matter now, with only a minute left until the shutdown.

6:59:19

This was the end of the line and there wasn't anything he could do to change that.

6:59:29

Still he couldn't help but smile as he sat in his personal chambers inside his guild base.

6:59:39

Hopefully the next game he and his friends played together would be this much fun if not more so.

6:59:49

He had a good run.

6:59:59

Truly it was an honor.

7:00:00

7:00:01

"This isn't right. I should've been forced out of the game by now. Instead I'm still inside the guild base." He thought to himself, "On top of that why is my HUD missing? None of this makes sense."

"Hmm." He was surprised by the sound coming from him, his voice was different, deeper than before, "It seems the game has become reality, yeeessss."

He found himself drawing out the "yes" unconsciously, surprisingly it fit rather well with this new voice of his.

"Strange, I'm certain I should be freaking out, that it shouldn't be so easy coming to this conclusion and accepting it." He raised his right hand, he could feel the weight of the armor he was wearing.

"Yet, there is no feeling of panic, no feeling of worry, just a cold sense of apathy. Perhaps one of my passives is the culprit? Yes. If I had to make a wager it must be the [Ancient One's Mind]." He felt a growing sense of intrigue, after all if one passive was able to make the transition from game to reality so simple then what of his other skills?

"Milord, something is wrong." A gruff voice spoke out interrupting his train of thought.

The owner of the voice was a man dressed in heavy silver plate mail with accents of dark blue and a sash of matching color worn across his torso. His face was mostly obscured by a massive beard but his left eye was clearly covered by a brown eye-patch. He wore a helm that had five large feathers fanned out in a crown formation. At his sides were a claymore and a tankard.

"Toddy, please elaborate." The player asked why touching the side of his face mask.

"The surrounding area of the Scourge Foundry of Ragnarok has completely changed. We're no longer in Midgard, as a matter of fact no one seems to know where we are." Toddy explained.

"Gather your men, head to one of the Landing Castles and await further orders." He instructed much to the other man's excitement.

"Oh? Are we going to war once again?" Toddy asked with a glint in his eye.

"No. But I have a shaking suspicion that something isn't right and until I know for certain what that is I want you and the troops on standby just in case." The player answered.

"It shall be done milord!" The bearded man exclaimed before taking off.

"So, the NPCs are alive as well, that makes things easier. But it begs the question of how they'll all react. Their settings made it so that they'd all be loyal to me and the other guild members for one reason or another, however I can't rule out the possibility that they could turn on me. After all free will is something I can't account for. But then again, I sunk a lot of my levels into leadership classes. Yes, if everything from the game has been translated into reality then keeping my subjects in check should be easy." He stroked his chin, he knew he had work to do.

For now he'd need to figure out where he was and how to proceed. He left his chambers and headed towards the chambers of one of his personal NPCs. The inside of the room was modeled after a standard office with a large desk made of what looked to be mahogany with various potted plants scattered around. Sitting at the desk was a large tarasque that was currently playing a game of chess against a metal construct that was in a humanoid shape.

"Father, what brings you here?" The tarasque asked looking at the player.

"If I had to guess I'd say it has to do with the sudden change in our surroundings." The construct suggested and the player nodded.

"That's correct, I was hoping to have Klaus accompany me down below." The player explained.

"Of course it would be an honor to accompany you, father." The tarasque, named Klaus, nodded in agreement.

"As for you Grigori, I need you to send out some of your sentries to scout out the area in a 10 kilameter radius." The player ordered the construct, Grigori.

"I'm already on it, so far we've only found a city a few clicks east of the Scourge Foundry." Grigori said taking a bow.

"A city? In that case I'll be taking a Landing Castle and heading in that direction. They could be a good source of information, yes." The player stroked his chin.

"Lord, are you sure that's a good idea? We don't know if the locals are savage or not. I'd suggest to stay and let one of us take care of it." Grigori pointed out.

"No. That won't be necessary, after all it's the job of the king to handle diplomatic situations." The player once again found himself stretching out the "no".

"My apologies I meant no disrespect." Grigori bowed further.

"There's no need for that. Your suggestion came from good intentions so I don't find it insulting. However keep in mind that even if the locals are hostile I can easily take care of it myself." The player waved his hand.

"Of course, I'd never doubt you and your power, father." Grigori said before standing back up.

"Good, good. Now come Klaus. We have work to do." The player said gaining the attention of the tarasque.

"Right away!" He exclaimed happily leaving his desk and walking on all fours allowing the player to ride atop him.

While traversing the halls of the Scourge Foundry, the player took note of all the NPCs that populate the guild base. Most where duplicates of Grigori, his sentries. While the next most common were of masked NPCs fully clad in black clothes his personal Spawn NPCs that came with one of his job classes. The others were various custom NPCs that either he assimilated or that he and his guildmates had created, regardless of their backgrounds they all bowed and knelt when they saw him pass by.

The player was certain he should've felt something at the prospect of being treated as a gody idol, rather if it was excitement or an overwhelming sense of panic he wasn't sure. All he felt regarding the treatment of the NPCs was how it felt like nothing, as if he had spent his whole life living like this.

While thinking over his skills he recalled one that might help with the situation at hand the [Wolf Among Us]. It was a skill used to keep his status as a heteromorphic player a secret while at the cost of deactivating some of his passive, one of which was the [Ancient One's Mind] skill which he was certain was what was making him feel so apathetic towards everything. He decided to use it.

And then the feelings of dread, fear, panic, trepidation and dismay all came to the surface all at once.

He screamed startling the tarasque he was riding on.