DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN OVERLORD
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CHAPTER 2: Ripples of an ancient dragon
A rocky passage, in a small hill. Close to midnight
Young Corcel was very eager in his first ever assignment.
Coming from the oldest family of centaurs in the Kombine he was ready to prove himself and keep in high place his family name.
Even if his first assignment was patrolling the safest zones of the territory.
He had the disposition, the energy and the responsibility.
Sadly, not the proper equipment for the job.
Brass as a spearhead material wasn't the most appropriate metal to use as a weapon, and having only a thick tunic as protection gear won't help much if a fight occurs.
Despite those deficiencies, Corcel felt eager to do his job.
After focusing again in order to prevent his over eagerness to ruin it, he got up and reunited with his brother.
"Just in time"
His brother, a bigger centaur, already experienced in the area, greeted him
It was painfully clear that both of them were brothers: Same dark brown hair, same dark brown eyes and same physical proportions. The difference is that the elder Potro had longer hair, a slightly longer tail, was bigger and had a perm stubble.
And he was also as badly equipped as his younger brother, save for the fact that he also had and old wooden and canvas buckler.
"I'm not going to make a mess in my first night isn't?"
"No you not" answered proudly his big brother. "Now let's go"
They walked slowly; Potro teaching Corcel the last remaining part of the passage still unknown to the younger centaur, and eventually reached an exit.
There were located two female half elf sentries. One with short, chestnut hair and honey colored eyes and the other was slightly taller with long red hair arranged in a braid and turquoise eyes.
Both had short bows that albeit a bit sub optimal, were something that could be called a proper bow.
Sadly the rest of equipment was bad.
The only protection was an attempt of light padding that, although surprisingly functional, was showing the age and decay of use. The quiver was homemade and the arrows had the proper fletching, but no metal head. Instead, the wood end was sharpened to a tip and then burned in order to harden it.
One could wonder why they were using those sad attempts of equipment, but the answer was simple: they had no choice.
"So is this your brother?" The taller half elf greeted the centaurs
"My name is Corcel. I will be your comrade in this area starting this night"
The confident answer made both girls giggle.
"Young, confident and cute. I like that" The short haired elf answered. And also made a wink.
Corcel was annoyed. Of all the things he expected to hear, the last one was being called cute. And he didn't reacted to the flirt either. They were good looking actually and pleasant to his eyes, but he wasn't interested in bipedals at all.
"Oh! He is angry! Too bad kid, it will take more than a confident introduction to impress us"
The smug words of the redhead were making Corcel angry, but he had to remind himself that they were their superiors, and he had to respect the chain of command.
"I'm very capable in case you are doubting my abilities"
The eager and very prideful answer amused the half elves, and as a sign of respect they stopped the teasing… for now.
"Anyway, our patrolling is over, so your turn then." The girls winked at both and then proceeded to leave, swaying their hips.
"Safe travel" Said Potro
"G-good night" said Corcel, shuddering.
He had become aware that a lot of teasing was waiting him the days to come. So he shuddered without realizing it. Of course, the half elves noticed that, prompting some chuckles.
"Looks like they like you" said Potro, with a clearly teasing tone.
Corcel could only sight. So he decided to get a proper posture and started his job as a sentry.
He started to analyze the plains and territory he had to guard from now on, and started to take mental notes on what has to be done and what not.
Until something caught his attention.
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Alkor' Ziggurat, Arkandia's Guildbase
Six Floor's Guildmembers's rooms
Jotunnheim
The guild known as Arkandia, named after a low budget but ridiculously well done roguelike game, whose greatest appeal was it's enormous replay value, was founded as the Roguedivers clan, by four roguelike gamer fanatics, which included the two angel players. With no racial restrictions, conditions or any kind of prequisites (barring the interest for roguelikes) soon became a haven for players who have been expelled from their former guilds for failing to roleplay, players who left their former clans/guilds fed up of them (for the rights reasons, not petty ones) and lone players looking for a clan. They started very small but eventually grew, forming a strong bond of genuine fun gaming.
They became a guild soon after getting big enough in members and, as typical of most recently formed guilds, they searched a dungeon to turn into their base.
It didn't took much time to get one, and, as commonly happened, it didn't got much time to get their base utterly thrashed and their guild weapon destroyed. So they found another base that also got destroyed pretty quickly.
It was disheartening yes, but stuff like that happened often. After all, it was part of the gaming experience.
Eventually they found another dungeon in one remote area of Jotunheim, and after being conquered, they turned it into their third base.
And this time, it stood. Until the last days of the game.
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As a guild, Arkandia wasn't particulary notorious as other ones like Seraphim, Ainz Ooal Gown, Trinity, 2nd Alliance and many other ones. But it had its own history and appeal.
A lot had happened between it's maximum of 63 members. Quests, events, raids, failures and successes.
Infighting wasn't absent, but fortunately it was very short and only two cases of expelling occurred.
There was also the fact that some of their members have to be protected and helped (Jotunnheim wasn't very friendly to heteromorphs), but they considered that as part of the gameplay experience, so they didn't really minded at all (after all, most were "refugees" in some way or another)
And now, the adventure of near 12 years was ending.
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In the hall of guildmember rooms, two angel players, a father and son team, were the only remains of the Arkandia's guild.
One tall, (1.85 meters) with platinum blond hair, turquoise eyes, a serene but very attractive face and a physical build on the lean side.
The other one, short (1.40 meters) with dark blond hair and silvery eyes, a cute but very regal face and a physical appearance that was the image of a kid about twelve or thirteen years old.
Beautiful white wings, with very long feathers that gave the feeling of being ethereal and made of solid translucent light, sprouted from their back. And a halo of white dim light was hovered over their head in an angle, the lower part reaching the back of the neck.
Of course, that was the humanoid form.
Because their real form were basically over two and a half meters golem-like entities made of solid light and sound, with their faces fused with their helmets, no discernible mouth or nose, and wing that looked more like a set of overlapping short sword make of solid yellowish light.
In any case, they usually preferred their human forms, and only switched when they were going to do something really good, for a duel or when they had their roleplay moments.
In YGGDRASIL, it was possible for some heteromorph races to shift to a more human form. However, there were races that, according to most lore and fantasy, should be also able to transform into a more humanoid shape, while it wasn't possible in the game.
So the devs added a quite expensive cash shop item that allowed some races (like demons) to have more humanoid form without turning truly humans. It was received with mixed feelings, because there were always players very immersed in roleplay who enjoyed being something not as boring as humans.
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If their human forms could express their feelings, it could show that they were sulking a bit about the last moments of YGGDRASIL.
Of course, they weren't overly attached to the game like other players (or more accurately, addicts). Real life always was a priority, but seeing their favorite haven in which they can forget about the crapsack real world reaching oblivion was sad.
"Sometimes I wish to stay here. Both of us, dad. Earth is hopeless"
His father could only agree. Becoming bitter and cynical was usually inevitable for any 22nd century earthling. And not hating the world in which they lived was something that only the elite plutocracy could think of.
"…at least we can say goodbye properly…" answered his father.
"…yeah…"
Reality was unavoidable, but there were times in which they were really fed up of Earth, and if a chance of staying in a fantasy world was possible, then the real world could go directly though Satan's hole.
However, they decided to give a good farewell to the ziggurat and started doing a slow walk thought the halls.
It was impossible to not admire the work of art that they had produced.
Beautiful, decorated walls, fake windows and doors (which let to an inaccessible, only decorative incomplete grassy area), small statues, larger statues, chandeliers and paintings (which were snapshots taken here and there by the guildmembers) adorned the inner halls.
Maid and manservant NPC were located and walking through the halls, doing they preprogrammed chores like cleaning and transporting objects.
They remembered the hot debate between the guild members regarding the need for servants NPCs (something that most players with a guildbase would eventually discuss) and what race could be. Of course, it was agreed that they were part of the flavor of the ziggurat, but deciding race and appearance took a long time of discussion.
Ultimately, the golem player unexpectedly joined the "furry maids" teams, and casted the decisive vote.
"To think that he was a furry fan of that caliber…".
It was not-really-jokingly agreed that the only reason that they accepted turning the servants into a furry maid corps what to make him stop babbling about how he loved the "animal ears" trope, his first webcomic love…
Oh boy, how they regretted having opened that can.
But still, the design was surprisingly realistic. Nobody knew where the heck the golem obtained those facial and body designs, because he wasn't a mangaka or an illustrator of any kind, and nobody in the guild was asked for help for that (as far as they knew).
As they got close to them, the maids and manservants bowed, another nice detail programmed by the golem.
"A lot of their features were programmed by him. When and how he did all of that?"
After some walking around and admiring for a last time everything, they reached some stairs that led to their Throne Room.
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Something amusing was the fact that most guild bases would end having a throne room, maid corps, private rooms and some unnecessary facilities (jacuzzies, bars, swimming pools…). And considering how was the structure of most dungeons prior to be conquered by any guild, it seems to be that the devs were subtly suggesting how to make your own little haven.
Well, that; and the fact that most players won't be able to be wealthy lords in real life (or having a decent life, which is sadder).
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At the entrance they saw two NPC. At the left side there was a male character. Dressed in a light purple robe, a dark purple hooded cloak, a belt made of golden cords, a ring on each hand, a long orb shaped amulet, a circlet with two opals, a wand in his right hand and a tome book in his left, he gave the vibes of an elder arch sage. However, his face was anything but old. In fact, he looked quite young, with his soft, pale features, his long pointy ears and completely blue eyes with exuded flimsy blue stardust that flew upwards. A soft, misty bluish aura surrounding him added an even greater effect of mysticism and magic.
He was a mist elf, an ultra rare subspecies of the elf race.
At the left was a female NPC that could only be described as a war lady. A form fitting but also very efficient and realistically functional female armor, which coated her entire body in a very japanese style, with the helmet shaped like a wolf and the mask having canine features.
The armor, being magical and form fitting, also covered her tail, giving a visual aspect of segmented carapace and the wolf ears of the helmet were functional: they were designed to cover her wolf ears.
She was currently holding a polearm with a curved blade at the end, a very typical weapon of the noblewomen of the east.
The shorter angel sighted at the sight of the woman, earning a chuckle from his father.
"Dad…"
"What?"
He turned his face to his son. Although YGGDRASIL wasn't able to reproduce facial expressions, it was clear that he was smirking.
"Come on, don't tell me that you are not going to miss your girlfriend"
"Stop already! You all have been poking me with that since who knows when!"
"Oh sonny, I don't need to explain myself" He couldn't hold a chuckle anymore.
The son, annoyed, just assigned a command to the two NPCs.
"Follow"
"How many times I have to tell you… Bah! I don't have the energy to bicker. I'm getting my payback later father, anyway."
He opened the throne room doors.
A majestic audience room entered their field of view. Wide and tall enough for far more than a hundred people to fit comfortably inside.
Beautiful VIP spectator seats around, slightly elevated polished stone slabs big enough for five people, beautiful chandeliers hanging from the ceilings with had beautiful gems of all colors which shone very brightly, illuminating the entire room and orbs that shone with white bright light.
A long, blue carpet lead the way to the end of the room, where was a little set of stairs which ended in a very big stone slab beautifully carved and polished in which a magnificent throne seat was placed.
The throne looked like it was carved from gigantic otherworldly stalactites and stalagmites interlocked together, giving the visual of an advanced sci fi spaceship control console.
And behind it was a gigantic banner, which radiated a colossal amount of energy.
As they passed, they could enjoy for a last time the majestic view of it, and memories of the discussion of how to make it overflew within both of them.
They reached the throne, and they took some time to appreciate the majestic features of it and specially the banner behind it.
"Wait" The shorter angel ordered.
The two NPC stopped, bowed and moved to one side of the carpet.
The taller angel proceeded to sit on the throne and the shorter positioned at his right.
"Well, T minus three and counting" Said the guildmaster
"An almost 12 years adventure, ending like this…"
He couldn't agree more with his son. It was a nice adventure that helped them forget about the world they lived.
Again, they weren't overly attached like other players (proof of that is that they guild dungeon wasn't that impressive compared with other guilds, neither they had overpowered or ultra rare classes or a lot of divine tier items), but still, it was impossible to not feel sad about the end.
In reality, it was less that they were attached to the game and more that they absolutely loathed their home world (the shorter angel being more vocal about that). Something understandable.
"If only the countdown could be the end of Earth or us being jettisoned to another galaxy. Damn planet." He chuckled mentally.
The younger player managed to keep his thoughts for himself, preventing this moment to become a bitter one. And now all that remains is say goodbye.
Having to wake up at 4:40 am makes a bad idea to stay till 00:00 (shutdown time), but giving a last goodbye to what could be their last childish adventure was something worth of some lack of sleep.
[23:59:00]
The guildmaster observed everything he could from his throne, admiring it for a last time "Wasn't fun all of this?" He asked.
"I'm really going to miss all of this"
"Especially she isn't?"
"Dad"
The taller angel chuckled at his son exasperation.
[23:59:40]
"Guess it's time dad."
"Yes". A last reverence was done to their guild and the game that gave both of them a lot of joyful moment
[23:59:59]
[00:00:00]
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Nothing
In the same instant the clock reached 00:00:00, they saw nothing.
They heard nothing
They felt nothing
Suddenly, a warped sense of self soon entered both of them. A draconic feeling flooded their souls, deranging their cores and synchronizing them with the invader.
And they saw, they heard, they felt draconic.
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"What is this?! WHAT IS THIS?!"
A gigantic, immense, colossal tree spawned in their sight. Bigger than anything seen before. Bigger than the same world they lived.
Maybe even bigger than that
"…what power…"
Their eyes saw the biggest tree ever imagined in their live, but their spirit filled with greed and hunger for power, wealth and treasures saw the vibrant energy capable of world changing feats and physical treasures radiating an energy they were unable to understand, but their blood demanded to have.
However something was wrong. Only 9 leaves were in the tree.
And they were withering
And the magnificent bark started to die
"It's wasting away…"
"no…no…nooooooo… I want this…. I WANT THIS!"
They started to get close to the tree, their greedy soul filling with utmost joy.
"MINE!"
"NO FATHER, DON'T DO IT!"
"MINEEEEEEE!"
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Suddenly, they saw a tiny light. It enlarged and engulfed them. And felt how something behind them closed forever.
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[00:00:01]
[00:00:02]
[00:00:03]
Both angels saw themselves again within the throne room of their ziggurat. The vision was so powerful and real that it took some seconds to realize that they were back.
"WHAT….WAS….that….."
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Trivia:
Every player had the same vision prior to arriving to the New World.
But very few remember having it.
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Author's notes.
Hello! Buujack again
Here is my second chapter of my little fic.
An as all of you, I'm also happy that Maruyama released the new volume. And with the anime in the 4th season, that means a lot of fresh resources for my hyperactive mind to work
There is still a lot to write before I show what happened with the sorcerer kingdom in the time gap, but I think I'm doing it in a way that maybe only minor deviations should occur (for now).
Right now, my only threat is the possibility that Maruyama kills Ainz at the end of the novel (distant epilogue doesn't count) or the Sorcerer Kingdom ends with a reputation in the negative, both scenarios highly unlikable.
But aside from that, everything is easily readjustable. And I want to make a lot of worldbuilding of the not yet explored areas of the New World.
Well, I hope you like this chapter.
Buujack out!