"That which is sacrosanct I shall preserve.
That which is sublime I will protect.
That which threatens good I will destroy.
For my holy wrath will know no bounds…"
-The Grail Vow
The Hell Dragon bellowed, flames spewing from its mouth in a surge of torrid purple, scorching the cracked stone of the mountaintop. The dragon crashed to the ground, shining ethereal shackles wrapped around its body and wings, binding them tightly together. An Enraged Form Helldragon was considered by the player base to be a formidable foe for a small party, particularly to the ill-prepared, but the team arrayed against it left the beast no chance of victory; grounded, the beast could do nothing to prevent its foe from making his final charge.
Riding at a blistering pace through the purple flames came a shining figure. Clad in pure white Platemail, and mounted atop a Divine Griffin, a shining halo of light protected Ser Karolus Boucicaut from the flames, which split behind him as he levelled his golden lance and rode straight towards the Raid Boss.
The Helldragon reared back on its hind legs and its maw opened, a deep purple light gathering between its teeth before it unleashed a torrent of purple spears at the charging Paladin. The rain of spears hammered down against the divine halo surrounding Karolus, which pulsed once, expanding outwards and dissipating the spears before fading away.
His foe's chest now raised clearly in front of him, Karolus urged one last burst of speed out of his Griffin before hammering his lance home through the ribcage of the Helldragon. A resounding crack split the air out as the strike landed, plunging deep into the heart of the beast - its remaining health plummeted to zero in an instant, the model of the dragon writhing and screeching in front of Karolus as the force of his charge continued to hammer the beast backwards. Finally, he pushed forward with his lance and hurled the dying beast backwards over the side of the mountain, his trusty steed Blancheur sliding to a stop at the edge of the mountaintop.
As he stared down the mountainside at the smoking remains of his foe, Louis saw the notification congratulating him on finishing the Raid pop up, but he ignored it for now, taking the time to observe his handiwork before sighing deeply and turning his character back to view the rest of the mountaintop, and the two NPCs waiting patiently behind him.
To the left was Morgiana, a slender, tall, blonde woman, borne aloft on a pair of softly glowing wings which beat slowly as she hovered slightly off the ground, her long cream robes ornately worked with gold filigree and studded with rows of luminescent gems. In her hands she held a large golden chalice filled with a liquid which seemed to change colour almost constantly.
At her side knelt Ser Carloman, a boyishly attractive Knight-Errant clad in a steel cuirass and chainmail which (while it was all polished to a mirror finish) looked practically grimy compared to the pristine armor worn by Karolus. On his back was an enormous, savage looking claymore with an oversized red gem for the pommel, a deep red light glowing from it as it sat sheathed on Carloman's armoured back.
More faithful and unwavering than any player characters, these two had been at Louis' side since the moment he'd been able to afford them. Guild Base NPCs weren't able to leave the Base, so Louis had designed a pair of Level 100 Mercenary NPCs to accompany him, and had then kept paying for them ever since; they were heinously expensive, but their companionship and extra fighting ability more than justified their cost.
Now that this was his last night with them, Louis smiled sadly to himself as he observed them waiting on him. With the servers of YGGDRASIL going down in just minutes at this point, Louis had logged on as he had for the last two years to do what he always did, searching for a fight that would fulfil him, though as usual it was to no avail. This time he would also be here to say goodbye to a world that he had loved, and the companions he had travelled it with.
Louis joined the world of YGGDRASIL quite some years after its glory days. He had been apathetically flicking through his media feed when he came across an old article describing an in-game event, where eight guilds amassed over 1500 characters (both player and NPC) in an effort to take down the player-made dungeon owned by a guild of just 41 members, and still managed to be defeated in an epic series of fights.
That rush, the thrill of a close battle, the glorious taste of victory, or the cutting taste of defeat. He craved it. So much so that he downloaded the game that instant and spent the first of many evenings delving into the adventure.
It turns out that particular fight was years ago though, and the community had slowly waned away as YGGDRASIL aged and newer games arose to take its place. Ever a single-minded fellow, Louis nonetheless persisted with the game, and sought ever grander, more impressive, and more skill intensive fights, until at last he found himself at the very top of the server as the World Champion of Asgard.
The Tournament he won to achieve that lofty height, however, was a let down that served as the start of Louis' frustrations - he had entered in order to fight the previous World Champion who was a renowned duellist, but only after Louis had entered was he informed that the previous Champion had abandoned the game and would not be contesting the title. Disappointed at the lack of a real challenge, Louis was almost somber as his character Ser Karolus knelt to receive the sword and armour of the World Champion from the NPC after defeating his last opponent.
From then on, nothing could satisfy him - since he was playing the game solo with his NPC companions, he simply didn't have the stats needed to challenge the game's strongest world bosses or player dungeons; no matter how skilled he was, his small party couldn't ever conquer the monumental DPS checks of those elite bosses - Louis and his NPCs were decimated by party-wiping instant kill attacks whenever he tried. Thus, he was stuck hunting other players for fights and solo-running regular dungeons and raids - setting a couple of server records for fastest solo dungeon runs in the process - but as more and more players left the game and the quality of fights diminished, there was less and less content that scratched the itch. After bleeding enough of the playerbase, the 'shitty devs' finally decided YGGDRASIL had run its course, and announced that all servers would be shut down, and so Louis now found himself back atop the mountain where he had completed his very first level 100 solo raid; a fitting tribute he thought to his time in the game.
Louis sighed as he brought up the fast travel menu, taking one last look at the raid arena and accepting his meaningless rewards almost instinctively as he did so.
"I've slain the dragon, might as well claim my reward…"
Speaking quietly to himself as he selected his small guild base on the menu, a flash of light transported him and his party from the mountain and to the intimately familiar sight of the teleportation platform of his home on the server. An expansive garden sprawled off in all directions as far as the eye could see, sheltered by a vast flower and vine covered dome that bathed the entire garden in muted green light. Stepping off the platform, budding flowers and rustling grass bloomed green behind the trio as they made their way through the winding, branching paths of the maze of hedges and trees.
Having memorized this route years ago when he first took over this domain, Louis took some more time to gaze at everything as he strode confidently through the garden; appreciating it for the last time as he approached his destination. The path turned straight, and a great set of golden gates came into view, swinging wide to herald their approach. Beyond the gates sat a vast fountain, its centerpiece an enormous marble woman pouring an endless stream of water from a golden chalice into a ring of twelve kneeling knightly figures. As the three party members crossed the threshold, a pure line of white fire erupted around them, but they passed through its searing embrace without harm, their holy deeds granting them entry into the Sanctum of the Grail one last time.
Crossing to the platform in front of the fountain in slow steps, Louis saw that less than a minute remained until midnight and the subsequent closing of the server, and so as he had done almost a thousand times before, he unsheathed his sword and knelt on the platform, offering up his sword up to the beautiful statue before him. This minor dungeon in Asgard was one of the discoveries that had drawn him into the game, and supported the theme he had striven for when he created his character and eventually his following NPCs.
This dungeon was called the Garden of the Lady, and was designed off a combination of Arthurian Legend and the Garden of Eden. In the dungeon, there was a very small chance of spawning the [Lady's Grail], a World-class item modelled and themed off the Holy Grail of legend, a feature persisting even after the dungeon had been transformed into a player base. The [Lady's Grail] could be obtained elsewhere in the game, but as long as it was not possessed by another player, there was a tiny chance that a player who had achieved something deserving, and said the right words at this shrine, would be rewarded by the system by having the Grail taken from wherever it was and offered to the character to drink from by the Lady of the Lake, before it was returned to its previous owner.
As it happened, Ser Karolus Boucicaut was already in the presence of the actual World Item [Lady's Grail], as Louis had stalked the previous owner daily for nearly a week before finally separating him from his party, PK'ing him, and equipping the Grail to Morgiana as her casting item. As it was equipped to an NPC, however, he still qualified for the requirements of triggering the Lady of the Lake event, but he had still only ever successfully been lucky enough to do so once, after he became World Champion of Asgard.
He suspected that event was almost certainly something the Devs had quietly organized on his behalf; he had been seeking to get the event to pop entirely on his own merit for almost a year now, but unfortunately had not succeeded. Still, even if he didn't trigger the event from his last attempt, it would be a fitting end to his time here. So Louis held his sword aloft and intoned the words of the prayer that would start the event.
"O Blessed Lady, this Knight of yours has travelled far, ever searching for your Light and Grace.
True to your Commands, Pure of Heart, Righteous and Just, I have been the bane of your foes and the hand of mercy to those in need.
Grace me, I pray, with your presence, and let me sup from the Grail, that I might serve you with life everlasting, and duty eternal.
O Lady, hear my humble plea…"
As his voice faded in the quiet air, there was nothing but the still air to reply to him, and still the clock ticked down its final seconds.
23:59:58
Louis closed his eyes.
23:59:59
"I wish I could have seen you again…"
00:00:00
…
00:00:01
"Then rise, my Champion, and claim that which is yours by right. The Quest Eternal awaits you."
A/N: Hoo, realize this author's note is a bit late, since I'm writing it a few days after I uploaded the first parts of the fic, but if you're reading this, thank you! This is my first public fic (certainly on this site), so I look forward to any feedback or comments you might have as we go along. A note, the first few chapters are a little slow, but things start to pick up in pace at Chapter 4 - I find myself utterly incapable of writing anything with less than that much setup!
Anyway, hope you enjoy the story! I'm having a great time writing it so we might be going for quite some time :)