Chapter 1: Departure
In the year 2138 AD there was a word: DMMO-RPG. That word was an acronym for "Dive Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game". These games were played by connecting a dedicated console to the brain via a neuronal nano-interface— an intracerebral nanocomputer network, created from the fusion of cyber- and nano-technology.
These were games that allowed one to enter a virtual world and experience it as though it were real life. And among the myriad DMMO-RPGs that thronged the market, one of them stood heads and shoulders above the others. Yggdrasil. This game had been painstakingly developed and released 12 years ago, in 2126. Compared to other DMMO-RPGs of the time, Yggdrasil's selling point was "player freedom".
It had easily over 2000 basic and advanced job classes. Every class had a maximum of 15 levels, and so in order to reach the overall level cap of 100, one would need at least 7 different classes. However, one could take as many classes as they wanted as long as they met each class' prerequisites. One could even take 100 classes at level 1 each, although it would be very inefficient. As such, in this system, it was virtually impossible to make identical characters unless one was deliberately trying to do so.
In addition, one could use various creator tools (sold separately) to fully customize one's armour, weaponry, flavour text, appearance, and other cosmetic settings. A vast playing field awaited its players. There were nine worlds in total: Asgard, Alfheim, Vanaheim, Nidavellir, Midgard, Jotunheim, Niflheim, Helheim, and Muspelheim.
A massive world, numerous classes, and freely customizable appearance. These features ignited the creative spirits of its Japanese players, and sparked what would later be known as a stylistic revolution. So popular was it that whenever the word "DMMO-RPG" was mentioned in Japan, listeners would immediately think of Yggdrasil.
However, all these were things of the past now.
In the skies of Vanaheim, high in the clouds, a white castle hovered. In the day its curtain walls shone with the brilliance of a crystal. So much so that it put the light spectrum to shame. It provided a breath-taking sight to all those who saw it at dawn and dusk. If an aesthete were to describe it he would compare its glow to the radiance of an uncut diamond. The white castle's beauty did not diminish in any way at night. When the players of Vanaheim looked up at night what they saw was the moonlight enveloping the castle, smothering it as if it were a precious child. Nothing in the realm could compare to it. Indeed, calling it beautiful would be a huge understatement.
This flying castle, this floating white fortress, was one of the Nine Great Guild Bases of Yggdrasil. As stated in the previous sentence only eight other bases were said to be as strong as the white castle. When cleared, most dungeons that can be turned into guild bases offered 1000 to 1500 levels of NPC storage data. The white fortress on the other hand offered the victors 3000 points. Its name was Zion.
Because there were so few bases that offered such a large amount NPC levels they were usually sites of intense conflict, changing ownership on a weekly basis. The guild that currently occupied Zion had been in possession of it for nearly a decade. Few dared to challenge this guild. It was the top-ranked guild in the entire game, the angel-type guild Seraphim.
With over 200 members it was no wonder they were the strongest guild. No guild was stupid enough to go up against such numbers. Especially with their leader Sephirah, she was widely recognized as the strongest player in the entire game. All the players in Yggdrasil knew to fear Seraphim.
At least the sane ones did.
There was once as fool from a foolish guild who went on the servers and insulted Seraphim. It resulted in his entire guild being wiped out. They were repeatedly PKed until their levels dropped to 0. From that day on no one dared to insult them anymore, until a fool from a foolish guild called them "stuck-up pricks with sticks up their arses who intimidate everyone with their numbers." To all the members of Seraphim this was a declaration of war.
Seraphim had marched its entire force to Helheim, where the guild base of the offender was situated. It was a tomb located in a swamp. Getting to the guild base had been annoying because of all the monsters located near it but alas they had finally made it. They were going to show everyone why Seraphim was feared. They were going to burn the guild base to the ground and PK them until they quit and left Yggdrasil.
The result, to say the least had not been what they had expected. They never got past the 4th Floor of the Great Tomb.
This was the first loss Seraphim had ever experienced and they were not going to take it lying down. Somehow Sephirah, with her charisma, was able to amass a never seen before-or-since force of 1500 to attack the Tomb known as Nazarick. With their numbers they had managed to bulldoze their way from level 1 past level 7 to the last floor. This time they would destroy the guild Ainz Ooal Gown. They were certain they would find the members cowering on the 8th Floor, readying themselves to beg for mercy.
The result, they were all wiped out. None of them made it out alive and to make it worse the members of Ainz Ooal Gown never raised a finger. They had been wiped out by NPCs.
That was the last time they went after Ainz Ooal Gown. Many of Seraphim's members even stopped coming to the guild base, including Sephirah. In spite of that Seraphim still remained the top ranked guild because no one quit and they were in possession of six World Items, including two of the Twenty. Only one other guild had more items than them.
The guild base of Zion had seen happy and sad times. And now it was coming to an end.
On the 1st Floor of Zion was a lush green forest with amazing waterfalls. It was inhabited by beautiful animals such as unicorns and pegasi as well as majestic creatures like lions. This place was known as Eden, the paradise that can tempt anyone to death.
Although right now its state was far from beautiful.
In the middle of the garden stood a lone figure. It was a female that wore a white pantsuit. She had dark skin with white short hair and red eyes, about 170cm and in her hand was a golden staff. This young woman's name in the game was Shiva and in the last half hour she had been using her Druid, Arch-Druid and Forest Shaman classes to fix the place.
Damn those jerks, she thought angrily. They had been absent for months and then just show up out of the blue to wreck the place. What a bunch of dicks!
The people she was complaining about were her comrades, the other members of Seraphim. None of them had entered the guild hall in nearly a year and then they had suddenly showed up and hosted a farewell party, messing up the place with their littering and destructive spells. Why did they throw a party anyway? It's not like you can get any sense of pleasure out of eating and drinking in this game. I guess they only did it because Yggdrasil is ending.
The game Yggdrasil had become outdated and as a result the developers had decided to pull the plug. It was scheduled to happen at midnight. It was currently 23:51 so there were only a few minutes left and Shiva was mad that she was left to clean the mess of the other guild members.
Finally, after two minutes she was done. Now to see if those morons have messed up anything else.
She was in luck, because the second floor was not messy and neither was the third floor. Despite being a gigantic castle Zion only had three floors. The 1st Floor was the Garden of Eden, the biggest, in which beautiful but majestic and dangerous creatures roamed. It was guarded by the Five Sacred Beasts. The 2nd Floor was the city of Babylon, guarded by the Watchers. The 3rd Floor was the heart of the dungeon Jerusalem, the city in which the Seraphim Palace could be found. Because of a magic item created by the guild's top mage, Tsukiko, teleportation inside Zion was impossible for all those who were not angels. The gates to the upper floor will not open either until all the creatures on that floor were defeated. However, getting to Jerusalem is a little more complicated than getting to Babylon.
After defeating the Watchers smaller gates open to the six towers of the white castle. In these six towers the invading party will have to kill all mobs, including the six Archangels that guard the towers. Only then will the gate to Jerusalem open. In the heart of Jerusalem, in the Seraph Palace's throne room, the prince of the angels awaited.
There's no mess here either.
Shiva was now in the throne room. There was the usual red carpet that led up to a golden throne which was flanked by two NPCs. The first was a small girl who looked no older than ten. She wore a white blouse with a yellow skirt and white trainers. She had neck-length hair that was black on one side white on the other. Her eyes were mismatched too, one eye had black sclera and a white iris and the other eye had the normal sclera with an obsidian iris. This adorable little creature was called Ein; she was one of the guardians of the throne room.
The other guardian had deep crimson hair and green eyes. He was a handsome fellow who was 185 cm in height. He wore white armour and in his hand rested a golden sword, the Divine Artefact Excalibur. Whereas Ein's plain clothing would put off most visitors to the throne room the appearance of this NPC more than made up for it. He was Michael, the highest ranked NPC in Zion and the leader of Archangels.
Realising that there was nothing to worry about Shiva relaxed. She looked around the throne room. On the walls there hung pictures of many of their conquests. Among all of them, the biggest and most magnificent picture was hung above the entrance. It was a picture of Sephirah in her World Champion golden armour and shield, golden wings spread (Sephirah had probably placed it there so she could admire herself while she sat on the throne). In her right hand she held Excalibur as she charged the World Class monster Navagraha, the Devourer of the Nine Worlds. Behind her were other members Seraphim. Shiva particularly loved this picture because it was one of the few that showed her. She was flying high above the others with her crystal wings and her golden staff raised. On the ground there were vines coming from the ground trying to ensnare the Devourer.
The items we got from defeating that conquest were used to create the guild weapon, Seraph's Lance.
Indeed, fighting World Class disasters for items to make the golden spear which now rested on the arms of the throne was the only thing the entire guild had agreed on. Although they were a huge guild none of them ever got along. Shiva herself only got along with ten others in the guild.
When she got to the throne she let go of her staff, leaving it suspended in the air, and grabbed Seraph's Lance. It was decorated with intricate runes and gemstones. There was nothing magical about the runes; they were simply there for aesthetic purposes. These six gems on the spear were Divine level and spear itself was on par with a World Item.
Onee-Chan, she thought as she looked at the only picture on the wall with a single person. Sephirah was dressed in her golden armour with Seraph's Lance and her six golden wings spread out in their brilliance. The void you left was too big for us to fill.
Even in the guild the number of people who knew Shiva and Sephirah were related could be counted on one hand. In the real world Sephirah was Shiva's older sister, her elder by seven years. When Shiva once asked her why she created Seraphim she just smiled and said; "my little sister is an angel, so only angels should be in the same guild with her."
Sephirah was the heart of Seraphim. It was her charisma that attracted members and it was only after she left the game that members stopped coming to the guild hall. There was a rumour among outsiders that she quit the game because she could not handle defeat at the hands of Ainz Ooal Gown.
The real reason was that she never quit. Even to this day she was still listed as Guild Leader. All of Seraphim knew that she stopped coming to the guild because she got married. Lately she had a lot on her hands with the twins. Shiva was planning on visiting the next day to tell her how everything ended in the guild hall.
"Zion has been my life for ten years," Shiva said to no one in particular. "Thank you so much Onee-Chan. I know you introduced me to Yggdrasil and founded this guild because I was having trouble finding friends. Thank you so much. Thank you Masamune, for forging my awesome weapon, Tsukiko for making my clothes and Religious Nut for discussing theology with me. It was fun."
The time was 23:59:47, only a few seconds to midnight. Less than a quarter of a minute before the Yggdrasil server is taken down forever.
She would miss this place, but it couldn't be helped. There had been many who protested the shutting down of Yggdrasil but that did not stop the "shitty devs" from pulling the plug anyway. The sad reality was that no one cared about the feelings of others. Even if everyone begged and cried nothing would change. The game had been fun, now it was time to move on.
She closed her eyes while seated on the throne and began to count down to midnight. 23:59:57, 23:59:58, 23:59:59, 00:00:00. Now it was time to sleep.
But the Status Bar was still showing. 00:00:01, 00:00:02, 00:00:03... then it disappeared.
What's going here? Shiva thought as she opened her eyes.
The HUD was gone, but she was still in the throne room. She could not place her finger on it, but something felt different.
"What's going on?" she demanded. Why had she not been logged out?
"Chichi-ue? Is something wrong?"
"How can I help you Shiva-sama?"
Shiva froze. She had never heard those voices before in her life. However, considering the fact that they came from both sides of the throne and there were only two other people in the room, who just happened to be where the voices came from, it wasn't hard to guess who had spoken. However, logic dictated that it was impossible.
Could there have been a bug at the end of the game? But even if that were so it wouldn't affect the shutting down of the game. I must be dreaming. She brought her hand to her cheek and pinched it. It seemed she was not dreaming, and the pain filter seemed to have been removed. I better find out what's going on. She raised her hand to access the game console, but it was no longer there. Feeling more confused than ever, she decided to call one of the Game Masters with [Message]. There was a beeping sound, but no answer. At that moment her chest began to rise in panic. She was usually a calm person; however, this situation was too strange. No one could be expected to keep calm such a situation.
"Chichi-ue, you looked bothered. Is there any way to alleviate your worries?"
She turned to the person who had spoken. The worry in his emerald eyes was obvious. This was how she had programmed him, the worrywart of the Archangels.
"I'm fine Michael," she replied. It was obviously a lie. No sane person with a rational mind would be fine in this situation. A freaking NPC is talking to me like a normal person! Not only that but his facial expression changed. My mouth moved when I talked! What is this! I need to think about it. "Leave me alone, I wish to be alone for a while."
"Hai," the two guardians of the throne replied.
She waited patiently until the two left the throne room before she went into hysterics.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?" she screamed, jumping out of the throne. The NPCs are talking like normal people and they just obeyed an order they are not even suppose to recognise. She set Seraph's Lance back on the throne the way it was. Her eyes drifted to her staff, which was still suspended in midair. She held her hand out, not expecting anything to happen, and willed it to come to her. Miraculously it did. I can recall my staff the way I usually do, although without the help of a GM console. Does it mean I can still use magic?
For some reason she knew that even without the aid of a GM console she would be able to use magic. Most level 100 magic casters had 300 spells at their disposal so it was a challenge to remember them all, however, she could remember all the spells she had learned and what they do vividly. She could so tell how much MP she had. Refusing to ponder on it further, she raised staff and cast the first spell that came to mind.
[Rosebush]
As the name implies, this was a 1st tier spell that summoned a rosebush no matter what surface the spell was cast on, as long as it was non-magical or living(plants not included). A bush of red roses sprung from the floor. Shiva bent down and plucked one. Its pleasant smell assaulted her nostrils as she retracted. Huh? Smell. That's impossible. In Yggdrasil you can't smell anything.
With that she came to a conclusion. Even though she was in her game avatar, this was not Yggdrasil. Everything felt too real. But if she stood here pondering her situation any second longer she would lose her mind.
"You can come in now," she called to the entrance.
As she figured, the two who guard the throne room had been right outside the door. In a matter of seconds they were kneeling in front of Shiva.
"You called us Chichi-ue," Michael spoke. "What can we do for you?"
Shiva smiled faintly when she heard him address her. When she created the seven Archangels she programmed them to call her Father even though she was a girl. In Hinduism Shiva is the god of creation (and destruction, but she liked to exclude that part) so in a moment of stupidity and inspiration she set them to call her Chichi-ue, not that she ever expected to ever hear them actually address her. And what's with the servile attitudes, even from Ein who I didn't create? No, I'll think about everything later.
"Does this place feel different for you Michael?" she asked.
After only a second of confusion he replied. "No Chichi-ue. There is nothing out of place. Everything is exactly as it should be."
"Well for me it isn't and I'm not liking it?" Shiva told him. "Check with your siblings, the Watchers and the Sacred Beasts to see if they feel something is off. On the other hand I will be go and see the situation outside."
The moment she finished the last sentence the two in the throne room's facial expressions became scandalised.
"But Chichi-ue," Michael began to protest. "You are the absolute ruler of Zion. Going outside is too risky."
"Huh?" Shiva gaped at him. "Do you think there's someone outside waiting to ambush me?"
"It is a possibility," Michael replied. "No matter how small the threat it is my job as Chief Angel to make sure you remain unharmed."
"You worry too much," Shiva said. "If the probability of falls under five percent you should ignore it."
"Chichi-ue, please don't be so nonchalant about it? If you get into any sort of trouble everyone in Zion will gladly give their lives to keep you safe."
"Is that so?" Shiva said slowly, pondering what she just heard. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Ein nod her head eagerly. Hm, it would be troublesome if I put them in such a situation. "Then I will have Ein accompany me. Does my choice satisfy you?"
"Yes Chichi-ue," Michael said, his expression back to normal. "You will be safer in her hands than anyone else in Zion."
"Is that so?" Shiva said as she walked past the two who were kneeling. "Then I'll leave everything to you. Ein, let's go."
"Yes Shiva-sama," came the child's voice.
A second later Shiva could hear the child's footsteps following behind her. She didn't speak to her until they were outside the throne room.
"Do you have a flying item?" she asked the little girl.
"Yes Shiva-sama," the girl answered.
"Then you should equip it. If you don't you will fall out of the sky."
Ein reached into her pocket space and pulled out a necklace. Shiva watched her put it around her neck before she decided to make preparations as well.
She began to glow all over, illuminating the entrance hall with silver light. Six great crystal clear wings sprouted from her back and began to flap, lifting her feet off the ground. Above her head a crystal halo appeared.
This was the angel form of Shiva, a Seraph Empyrean, the highest level angel. A normal Seraph angel usually had white wings, which meant Shiva's avatar was custom built. In a guild where everyone was an angel and many of them were either Seraphim or Cherubim too many people had white wings. Because the closest angel type monsters can come to walking is gliding several inches from the ground, almost all the members of Seraphim had favoured their human forms when not questing. When they were though, the flurry of white wings had annoyed her, so she decided to look different.
[Greater Teleportation]
Vanaheim was the home of the Vanir, a race of gods associated with intelligence fertility and nature. It was arguably the most beautiful realm of Yggdrasil. Dense evergreen jungles stretched as far as the eye can see. In the middle were great streams of crystal clear water. The vegetation was so thick that the only city in Vanaheim was built in the trees. The architecture was truly a sight to behold. Such was the beautiful realm of Vanaheim.
It was not what Shiva was seeing.
Below her, instead of a jungle there was a savannah. It was an endless plain of yellow grass with hardly any trees. If there were any water sources nearby, she could not see them. Her eyes, which were far superior to those of a human, could not spot a single sign of life, intelligent or otherwise. It was a barren wasteland.
Suddenly her composure left. Ever since all this had started she had been trying her best keep calm but no more. This was the last straw. She could not handle it anymore.
"GYAAAAAAH!"
-END-
Character Stats
Heteromorphic Races
Shiva: The Crystal-Winged Druid
Job: Ruler of Zion, "Father" of the Archangels
Alignment: Neutral, Sense of Justice: 5
Racial Level: Angel 15
Dominion 15
Seraph 15
Job Level: Druid 15
Arch Druid 10
Forest Shaman 10
Sword Saint 10
Fencer 10
Racial Level: 45, Job Level: 55, Total Level: 100
Ability Chart
HP: 80, MP:80, PHYATK:75, PHYDEF:80, AGI:70, MAGATK:80, MAGDEF:90, RESIST:60, SPECIAL:95
#####
Heteromorphic Races
Michael: Prince of Angels
Job: Leader of the Archangels, Virtue of Temperance
Alignment: Extreme Good, Sense of Justice: 500
Racial Level: Angel 5
Archangel 5
Principality 5
Dominion 15
Seraph 10
Job Level: Gaurdian 15
Holy Knight 15
Paladin 15
Battle Priest 15
Racial Level: 40, Job Level: 60, Total Level: 100
Ability Chart
HP:100, MP:50, PHYATK:95, PHYDEF:80, AGI:70, MAGATK:40, MAGDEF:85, RESIST:80, SPECIAL: 80