Chapter 1: Its Good To Be The King

Reading the latest email sent by higher level developers than myself, I felt my rage growing. "How dare they!" The latest email sent detailed in agonizing detail exactly when Yggdrasil was shutting down. Never mind the popularity of the game, or the overwhelming hours spent developing characters. If it didn't make financial sense, then there was no need to continue keeping the servers online. Tapping my fingers and sighing with frustration, I decided to log in one last time. Looking around my room my eyes caught my favorite classic movie monster poster, a vintage Godzilla replica.

Pulling the VR helmet over my head, I began the deep dive into Yggdrasil's digital universe. With only a few hours remaining, I was determined to have fun one more time. Logging in as a developer gave a character special perks; not the least of which were things that would normally not be allowed by other players. As the world lit up around me and my login credentials were verified, I smirked to myself as I scrolled through my various character options.

Opting for my small, innocent looking saltwater iguana form I prepared to hunt the latest group of players who intruded upon my watery domain. Swimming through the water, I grinned to myself as my saltwater iguana form was mistaken for a background animal character. One of my favorite tactics as a boss character was the stealthy approach I was using now. Slowly swimming near to them, I observed a team of mid-tier human players. Taking a moment to dive, I swam around them and observed their magical equipment.

Smirking, I noticed that none of them appeared to be magic casters. Mid to high tier magic would be problematic for me. Sporting the standard water breathing and walking equipment, they were ill prepared for any encounter with me. Observing them closer, I nearly swam away as I considered them a waste of my time and resources. None of them were anywhere near my level and had no business even being in my domain. Breaching the water, I swam in lazy circles as I listened closer.

"Are you sure the boss isn't here this time of day? We can't handle someone of his caliber if he decides to show up." One of the female characters said in a worried tone of voice as she tapped her foot on the water's surface nervously.

"Shila, everyone knows he doesn't show up this time of day. Plus, his lair is around this lake area somewhere. Isn't it worth raiding his underwater cave if we can find it?" the human male responded, his armor indicating he was some type of fighter. "How do we even know his cave will be accessible to low level characters like us? Has anyone ever successfully raided it and returned?" another human spoke, this one appearing to be some sort of rogue.

Chuckling as I listened in on their naïve conversations, none of them realizing that my lair was actually inside a pocket dimension found within a sunken ship. Unless using high tier detection magic, they had no chance of stumbling upon my lair. The number of players who successfully did so, I could count on one hand. And every time this happened, I would use my developer credentials to move my lair to another location. Shaking my head, I go back to paying attention as one of the players unrolled a scroll.

With dawning anger, I realized that the scroll held a divine tier spell known as 'Eyes of Thoth'. With that scroll, they could locate my lair and possibly raid it. Growling to myself, I let my anger surface as I dove down deep and begin my transformation. My scales hardened, claws lengthened, and rage grew as I assumed my boss tier form. Modelled after my favorite movie monster, these low tier players were about to have a very bad day. Red eyes focusing, water flowing smoothly over my digital skin, I swam upwards and opened my mouth. Breaching, I roared as I chomped. Immediately crushing and chewing the players in my mighty jaws.

Chuckling to myself, I watched as their digital signatures were forcibly logged off by their character deaths. Typing a command option, I took control of their dropped gear and added it to my inventory listing. Hitting another command, I assumed my smaller and less noticeable form as I continued swimming around. Smiling as I observed the high level of virtual details in the sea life found in my boss domain until a pang of sadness hit; reminding me that soon all of this would be gone when the servers shut down.

Diving down once more into the digital water, I sadly observed the timer counting down.

23:07

Diving deeper, the digital fish surrounded me, and I observed the sea naiads as they moved along their programmed routes in the virtual water.

23:45

Pausing, I decided to breach one last magnificent time before the final moments. Rapidly shifting form with a quick button tap, I swam for the surface. My kaiju body moving rapidly upwards in the final seconds. Moments before breaching, the counter hit zero and with a mighty splash I crashed through the surface. My red eyes filled with bright sunlight as I felt the waves on my skin and the warm wind blowing across my scales. "What the hell?"

My exclamation came out in a painfully loud roar, my ears hurting painfully at the loudness of the sound as it reverberated across the ocean. Shocked, I realized I could feel the sun on my scales and taste the salt in the air. Even more strangely, a large wooden ship was rapidly approaching, cries of terror filling the air as fingers pointed and sailors rapidly tried to maneuver out of the way. Shocked, I tried to scream in fear as the ship bore down on me, my voice roaring loudly once more.

"What the hell is going on? What the holy fuck is happening?" Instinctively I dove, my voice roaring in an inarticulate scream of rage to the ears of those unlucky sailors bearing down on my position. Shocked, I watched as the hull of the ship cut through the water above my head, narrowly missing my pointed back scales. My mind spinning, I tried to open my command console. Nothing. Then I tried to hit my override command. Nothing. Shocked, I tried to hit developer override message to the server. Nothing. Was this some new game? Was this some new system I was unaware of?

Suddenly, something hit me hard as I looked down and realized… a small school of fish was nibbling on my skin…The level of detail struck me and then really struck me hard mentally. I was…. I was no longer in the game but somewhere else…With a gasp that came out as a muted roar underwater, I slowly sank deeper into the ocean, my body breathing the water as easily as air. My eyes adjusting to the changing darkness, I found myself soon resting on the silty bottom as my shock shook me to my core. Where was I? What was I? Why was I here? And…how do I go home? And why was I suddenly so hungry for…squid?