Chapter:1. New trails
Font meanings:
𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐬
𝑺𝒑𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒔
𝗦𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹
[Thought]
Speech
"Alive"
Ilianor muttered to himself as he stood upon a lone hill overseeing grass plains that stretched until they meet the night sky in the far distance.
This landscape which for the men of the past would have been nothing of spectacle to him was breathtaking compared to the poison fog and caustic rain of the 22nd-century world.
"I feel so alive here."
Breathing in deeply the cool night air he was left disappointed by the stench of mold and decay of the stale recycled atmosphere which was perpetually present in his claustrophobic apartment.
With a sigh of a man who bears the weight of the world "I really should have joined sooner." he let slip from his lip.
With him was his companion, a beautiful horse with a grey coat and mane which shone like the purest silver and pearls under the starlight. Though he may not have known him for long riding with it through the forest trails had become his favorite pastime.
"Dawn will be here soon buddy…I will miss you." He said to his unmoving mount.
His stead had been his only companion in these last few weeks before The server's shutdown forever and with him, he was able to witness more of the great wonders that YGGDRASIL held and on him, he could outpace the many beasts of this world and be carried to safety.
Without it, he doubted that he would have ever made it far from spawn.
In his hud, he saw the timer steadily ticking upwards.
"Only a minute left…"
The Numbers rising ever higher were now accompanied by ticks and tocks of a clock but to him, they were the footsteps of his Executioner coming to take his head.
He turned to his mount and threw himself to embrace his only friend.
With a shuddering breath, he tried his hardest to stave off the fear and despair but he could not hold the rivers of tears nor could he hold the cries of heartache which broke the silence of the slope.
Through his mind flashed all the moments they had shared all the times he was whisked away from monsters and the last few PK'ers left and most prominent was the memory of the first time they met. The man was running from a band of hunters who had been hounding him for days killing him on sight reducing his level to one over and over again no matter how much he pleaded and begged to be left alone all for the sick joy of it.
After sprinting for god knows how long he found himself in a clearing and despaired at the meadow barren of any space where he might crawl into and hide until his eyes landed on his friend grazing in the middle of the field. It was beautiful under the moonlight its coat shone like the finest of pearls with a mane seeming to be of pure starlight and as he looked into its eyes which seemed to be of onyx he felt it call to him.
He rushed towards it incapable of resisting its pull his sprint was only hurried by the mocking laughter and jeers of the PK'ers somewhere behind him he jumped on his not-yet friend and it raced like the wind away from harm and carried him to all the sights he could only dream of before.
He felt nothing but love and gratitude to his stallion for letting him see the beauty of this land which was gone long ago in the real world taken by men of greed who lusted for power and wealth never sparing a thought for all the people who would never see a clear sky nor any flora all because of their desire's and he was filled with the deepest of sorrow's at the thought of it being unmade in less than a minute and him being alone in a cold empty dead world surrounded by danger on all sides and never again having his savior by his side.
-23:59:21-
"..N..No.I."
-23:59:34-
"Ple-please"
-23:59:46-
"I-I don-don't want to"
-23:59:55-
"I don't want to go"
-23:59:56-
-23:59:56-
-23:59:57-
-23:59:58-
-23:59:59-
Through his shut eyelids he could see the warm orange light of daybreak but to him, it was the cold scythe of the reaper.
"Please."
-00:00:00-
In the blink of an eye, the dawn light became a brilliant white glare and all he could hear was a cacophony of sounds that should have not been present on the plains.
Reflexively he tried to cover his eyes with his hands and let go of his faithful companion which he had leaned on for support which sent him falling backward.
With the sudden sense of vertigo and the pull of gravity dragging him down, he was filled with panic for a moment which ended before he could react by his momentum being stopped by hitting something behind him.
Uncovering his eyes he ignore the stinging pain and tried to identify whatever caught him he saw a brown trunk leading upwards to a sprawling green canopy reaching in all directions.
"Wh-what … where am I?"
He was confused at both the change of environment and that he was still in the game also at the fact that his voice was now a fair bit higher.
["The servers should have shut down by now why am I still here."]
As he contemplated the situation he had found himself in he saw movement in the corner of his eye and whirled around to face it but saw just a bird that had perched itself on a branch. It had a red-tipped head and a black breast and back he was pretty sure that was a woodpecker though he had never seen one.
It was a rare sight for him to see any bird's in YGGDRASIL now that the devs had shut most of the wildlife off so that they could have enough processing power to host the hordes of players who came to say goodbye to the DMMO RPG.
Suddenly the thing slammed its beak into the tree trunk rapidly creating weird rhythmic drumming.
Now that he had never seen in the game before usually the animals would just wander around mindlessly never having such a detailed animation.
He heard nickering from where he had been before and turned to see his companion with one eye turned in his direction seemingly curious as to what has him acting so odd.
Realizing that his friend was still with him he rejoiced and went to it and threw his arms around its neck once again only to stiffen as he felt
his mount rest his head on his shoulder. The dive headset allowed for the sense of touch but it was always dulled and you could never quite make out the texture but he could feel every hair of its silky smooth silvery mane as they hung off his arms and the weight of his steeds head.
["This shouldn't be possible."] He thought to himself.
Letting go once more he turned to observe his surroundings again and now noticed the detail of everything around him he could see the branches of the trees swaying in the wind with the rustling of the leaves he could hear the chirping of birds, buzzing of all manner of insects and he could feel a gentle breeze through his hair.
This couldn't be a game this was all too real.
As Ilianor was starting to panic he tried to breathe deeply through his nose to calm himself but was overwhelmed by the smell of the forest a mix of flowers, damp moss, and rain and the air was so fresh that he felt reborn through it.
He had heard of Isekai stories like this just like most of the world had sought any form of escape they could get from the dystopia that was modern-day life but he had long since given up hope of it happening to him.
He tried his best to fight off hope in case this was all just some cruel trick of a few devs who just wanted to see him suffer or a delusional dream but as he kept breathing in the wondrous air he could not keep a smile on his face nor could he keep the tears of happiness away and thrice more threw himself to his companion who even though its face was unreadable for a human its eyes were filled with concern for his rider.
Ilianor filled with joy decided to hoist himself onto his friend and see once more what the world had to offer.