In the year 2126, a revolution was made on the entertainment market when a game development team announced their new title of YGGDRASIL. It utilized a new state-of-the-art module with neural implants, being one of the first attempts to optimize this level of nanotech for a multi-layered and interactive gaming purpose. And from it spawned a digital universe.

YGGDRASIL featured a hitherto unseen level of player freedom, from individual customization to the sheer size of its open world. It was a game the likes of which players had only been dreamed about for more than a century. Gone was the basic knowledge of the traditional massive multiplayer online franchise and instead people were introduced to a new generic mold where everything was learned anew, save for the exception of specific player controls. The developers were very hands off with the game's content allowing any expansions to fall into the creative hands of its playerbase. YGGDRASIL became a world of its own making.

There were many sellpoints to this ideology because it appealed to many different audiences. The first being the novel VR experience of being your avatar with their every move controlled through the neural interface. The second being the seemingly infinite adventures one could potentially have in the nine worlds of YGGDRASIL - worlds that seemed to grow and adapt over time. Third was the playerbase itself in the forming of guild communities and the conquering of dungeon systems sprouting the formation of guild bases across the nine worlds. This led in turn to the Guild Wars - a competitive time where capturing other guild bases and even player killing became common sights among the nine worlds.

Lastly there were those who just wanted to sight-see as such a thing was impossible to do in the real world. These lone wolves would sometimes get together to clear some hidden dungeon or band together to fight off some powerful foes (or players) in the overworld. YGGDRASIL was a game that appealed to everyone: from hikikomori who want to roleplay in a world unlike their own, to a frustrated salaryman venting their frustrations within this sword & sorcery setting, to creative minds using the game worlds as key visualization and inspiration material, to even weirdos with tendencies unthought of and more.

YGGDRASIL forever changed the digital market, even outside the boundaries of the game itself. Its reception was so great, that the company responsible for the production of the neural module - until then just a curious invention - had its stock emptied overnight and continued to be empty for months onward. Production even years afterwards would still be unable to keep up with the astronomical spike in demand. Soon after - the widespread use of neural interface technology became commonplace in the real world, most digital traffic going through it than any other device and the more traditional mediums such as computers and mobile devices fell to the wayside.

Companies had to adapt (or die), while many megacorporations began to see the neural modules in a new light. But for a time, no other attempt was even made to utilize this level of technology for gaming purposes. YGGDRASIL had truly become mainstream to half the world. But not all things can last...

Such a time was presently inconsequential to the YGGDRASIL player - Lord Serra. He was one of the few fantasy writers who could claim to make profits from their works of fiction in today's market. His gamer tag was not only a pseudonym but the name of one of his main characters of his fictional series set in the worlds of YGGDRASIL. His works were not widely circulated since many of his readers no longer played the game. But he preferred it that way. There was a time where he became an in-game celebrity but in all honesty, he considered that period to be extremely tedious. It got to the point where he had to stop pushing out new material and constricting access to what was currently online.

YGGDRASIL had been his greatest source of inspiration and it came out at the perfect time for him, while he was still fresh out of school in a world that had long lost any appeal. His mind already lived in a past mythological setting and the short stories he had written were those of an old Japanese culture now forgotten. But traversing through this digital universe inspired by old Norse mythologies was a most welcome change that expanded his mind into new horizons.

Like any writer, even his start within the game was carefully plotted out with his avatar becoming the protagonist of his new series. He had been unfamiliar with Norse mythology in general so a couple days were spent reading up on its generality. After getting this basic knowledge down to heart, he next considered the options of his in-game character's creation, realizing with delight of the many choices YGGDRASIL made available. And scrolling through these took up another couple days, but eventually he came to a decision.

He ultimately wanted his avatar to be a good aligned "primordial being" of this new world and the best option available was a particular heteromorphic race called the angels. This did come with a risk because at this point in YGGDRASIL, the game was going through a period called the Great Prosecution where the griefing of heteromorph players was at its all-time peak. However "angels" were one of the few hetero species that were not killed on sight.

It was mostly for two factors. Firstly, most could pass for a humanoid player at first glance. Secondly (but most importantly) the existence of the guild Seraphim more or less guaranteed the protection of most angel players in four of the nine worlds of YGGDRASIL, even if said player did not have any affiliation to one of its members. And lastly, "angels" did not count as "monsters" when they got above a certain racial level threshold. So in other words, player-killing them did not count towards certain achievements and titles. And oddly, killing enough "angels" became detrimental, something Seraphim used against PK'ers.

The original name he had wanted for his avatar was a cute Enochian one that fit well with an angel-like being. But sadly, that name was already in use by a previous player. Even a couple variants of it was also in use. This was a game that had an playerbase over 15 million after all. So he changed tact with a play on the word Seraph. Seraph itself was out of the question (and taken) but Sera and Serra were tagged, not that that surprised him. But even Sara and Sarra were taken; as well as Serrafine. In a last moment of desperation before changing to another course, he typed out Lord Serra and found a username which was not in play and thus his fledgling character acquired its name.

While this name did not meet his original goal, this alternate was easily worked around and it even gave his character idea a nuance into being a male 'deity' with androgynous features and quirks. Sure his story was no longer going to have a "goddess" protagonist, but this new idea could be even better than his earlier draft. But what he had not expected was that just a few months into playing the game, his priorities shifted from writing about this character into playing his character. It was fascinating to watch his chibi cupid evolve into a beautiful seraph. Not to say he was not writing anymore but it was certainly less than what he expected on this game's outset.

And so a few years passed in joys of exploring the Nine Worlds, grinding and losing levels to find the right balance for his build and playstyle, discovering secret locations and vistas, and even teaming up with others to explore the deeper reaches and mysteries of the game. Somewhere after four years of playing, his character was invited into the outer ranks of Seraphim, now considered to be the top guild in all of YGGDRASIL. Although his rank and position was not among the guild's inner sphere of its thirty elite members, Lord Serra had reached the pinnacle of YGGDRASIL's end game and thus began to write in earnest of his journey to the top. This is when he started to write his compendium of short stories detailing the long road of his in-game adventures as an ongoing fantasy series. Soon these began to circulate among the player community and earned himself an in-game celebrity status through his works. Even the top members of Seraphim were fans and began saving him raiding spots for even the hardest of dungeon encounters, them becoming novellas in their own right.

However not all was golden on the game front. Being in the end game of YGGDRASIL meant that to be at the top meant you had to stay at the top. And that meant most times money (in the real world) being spent. Lord Serra had avoided the use of the cash shop but he found that its use was virtually needed for these upper tier dungeons. And alot of in-game farming for rare materials. What followed was a very liberal use of the cash shop for not only premium items but spending yen at the gashapon for a chance at its best rewards, much of which amounted to a useless spending venture. That in of itself became the basis of another story which was quite relatable to the player community.

But it was a year after this period when the Fall of YGGDRASIL soon became the sunset of its player community. The megacorporations got wise and caught up to the early advantage the YGG development team had enjoyed. The game's original premise seemed aged compared to the numerous virtual consoles now hitting the market. YGGDRASIL no longer had its monopoly.

Such was the dilemma Lord Serra had faced because he too had hit the metaphorical wall - the character he had designed was mostly as he had imagined himself to be and he had seen enough of the Nine Worlds to have a solid base to develop his storylines without the need to play the game itself. That was until he made an incredible find, quite by accident, but with it a new route to expand Serra's character was born. A new arc so to say.

It was when he was exploring one of the zone edges of Alfhemir - the undying land of the elves. This particular area was called the Edge of Divinity and it was a twilight landscape of floating rocks and other various debris. Its skies were alight with misty streams of luminescent colors and its zone border was connected to the Great Reach - a starry abyss much like the farscape of a galaxy. One of the reasons Lord Serra risked this long trek was due to a forum post of the most spectacular views one could get out here. Nominally, every world in YGGDRASIL started at its center with its zones branching outward like a tree. So the further away from the World Tree you are, the more dangerous the zones and its mobs become.

But Lord Serra was running out of things to do in YGGDRASIL. Seraphim became an introverted mess that no longer coordinated their efforts towards any goal. The Fall had not only reduced the members of their inner sphere but it sapped their remaining number's will to explore any more of the game then they had become accustomed to. Serra realized it quicker than many other players - YGGDRASIL was a dying game.

However, the writings of the forum post of a beautiful vista near this zone's border struck his imagination to see such a sight. Perhaps he could include this area in one of his future works.

*** four years later ***

A lone but beautiful figure walked through a castle's richly designed hallway. Its stone walls were crafted with a detailed masonry and were decorated with coat of arms lettered with golden embroidery. Windows made of crystal glass were spaced evenly throughout, refracting light in a prism of colors onto the pristine marbled floor. Groups of armored statues (golems) stood in intervals along the floor level's large column structures. A grand stairway led the player towards a great double door that looked to be made entirely out of a bronzed metal.

This castle foyer area was last finished product Lord Serra had made upon the hour of YGGDRASIL's final shutdown. He could only lament this fact that he would lose so much of this visual work in a matter of minutes. And there was still so much that there could have been done and created here. Heck, even many of the character sheets he set aside had yet to be filled out among this city's populace.

Walking at a sedate pace, the Seraph motioned for the great double doors to open - sighing like many times before in both appreciation and sadness. After discovering this place and making it his very own city base, Serra had spent a great deal of time and money to make it the centerpiece in the continuation of his YGGDRASIL novel series. And this end result was truly a modern work of art.

Originally this area was not much to look at save for the horizon beyond the Edge of Divinity. Sure there were a few floating rocks above this landscape but not much to take a second glace at. Some were big, most others small and inconsequential. It was not until he used a racial skill of his avatar to sprout wings and fly to the rocks above to get an even better view that he found something he did not expect. Further above the these rocks was a floating island shrouded in the misty stream above, such that could easily be cloaked from view when on the ground level.

YGGDRASIL's typical floating islands were not uncommon in its nine worlds but most of the time these areas were just empty ruins with a treasure chest hidden somewhere on its grounds guarded by high level mobs. In the rarest of cases those chests could have something very valuable inside, like a World Class item. This floating island looked to be the old ruins of a small elf kingdom with a castle town in its center. Not at all out of the ordinary as this was Alfheimr, the land of the elves.

But what he happened next was something he did not expect. The moment he landed on the floating isle, it triggered a meta-event to free this kingdom from its oppressor's grasp. Finding an open world meta-event was rare in YGGDRASIL nowadays since most had already been completed with few being the known repeatables which were still kept active by the devs. But scouting the island further revealed that this "oppressor" was an Ancient Dragon in the castle ruin's courtyard sitting atop a treasure pile.

It was like hitting the YGGDRASIL jackpot as Ancient Dragons themselves were practically a goldmine worth of loot and it was sitting atop another pile of drops. This was certainly not a repeatable event, or at least not one that was known since this Ancient Dragon did not have 90 total levels. Serra likely found a dev easter egg for newbie players, the kind that were a few hundred all over the nine worlds when the game was still young. However by some miracle, this Ancient Dragon was still untouched.

While Lord Serra was over 10 levels superior to the meta-event's dragon boss, the likelihood of success was still a 50/50 due to the skull on its indicator and the purple border around its icon. This meant that it had not only boss levels but a high elite status as well. Serra may well have been facing a lv.100 player with triple their normal health range. It was barely a foe he could fight one-on-one.

Serra character's build was of the magic archer archetype. But unlike most that was some variant of mage and ranger, his was a "holy" archer - a rarely used combination of divine casting levels gained in both his angel racial and cleric class makeup. This was very uncommon in practice since rangers gained a heavier specialization towards bow usage than the cleric line but Serra's build was a bit of an exception to the rule. But like everything else in YGGDRASIL, having this type of combo came with its own respective perks and penalties - being a hybrid build meant that there are some abilities that were locked and could not be used, such as specialized spells and skills of the highest tiers, but the tradeoff was being able to use a rather unique spellcaster weapon called the spellbow. This weapon served in many ways like a staff to many mage classes with the spellbow being able to use arrows to launch spells, in addition to its traditional counterpart.

Being a magic archer was essentially like being a multitasker. One is able to deal out physical damages in the form of arrows (magic or otherwise) while being able to cast spells four to five times faster than other magic classes with the spellbow in hand, although that boon was gone when having to cast magic without that weapon equipped. And to be concise, the spells a magic archer did cast were weaker when compared to a true mage specialist but the former's mana costs were significantly lower. Serra's "holy" archer build also had a wider choice of skills for melee combat than most other magic casters though at such a reduced efficiency when compared to full-blown warrior players that there was hardly a point in even equipping a wand, dagger, sword, spear, or staff.

In a way, Lord Serra was running one of the more optimal hybrid builds out there and the addition of his angel racial skillset fitted with this combo perfectly. Flight mobility without mana consumption, casting spells in a fraction of the time compared to other magic casters (and on the cheap too), and with his "angel" skills - one could say he had become the ultimate partisan. Serra's build when combined with his gear score would rate in the topmost tier among all of YGGDRASIL's player base (though in its lower half) and a step behind optimized [World] class users.

And with all that said, Serra was not alone.

His current "party" consisted of himself and two NPCs that were known as a companion mercenary. These contracts were not part of a city clanhall or a guild base system and were gained through a super rare drop from the random gashapon. These particular mercenary npcs could be player customized but only by a dictation of their class set through their leveling process, and of course with a given name. They still bore the same preset limitation of each class earned in this manner. But unlike other mercenary mobs, their companion counterparts could be enhanced by armor and weapon upgrades.

Over time, the game developers discontinued these items due to an imbalance of single players managing to acquire multiples of five to ten of such contracts. Each contract could only summon one predetermined companion but there was no level cap on the mercenary, even if it started out at lv.1. This meant it was a cheap way to gain free party members. Another upside was the gold cost needed to upkeep these mercenaries was always low with them never having a penalty to loss of level due to their death or dismissal.

One could see the need for this nerf on the dev's part as many lone wolf players could have had a small legion worth of viable lv.100 NPCs at the ready. But Lord Serra managed to acquire two before it was taken off the market. The first such contract was a lv.40 valkyrie spearmaiden. The second was a lv.30 lich summoner. Both were now lv.100 and decked out in relic class gear or top grade artifacts (at the time). And the farthest this dev nerf went was to reduce a player's total number of such contracts in possession to three, which thankfully did not affect Serra.

With his build in consideration, these two NPCs not only complimented the player but also each other. The valkyrie spearmaiden became a heavy tank with group support capability and the lich became a 10th tier magic caster capable of the spells Lord Serra was unable to cast.

The spearmaiden wore a set of heavy plate with a fur cloak and brandishing a longspear. Her starter build had leveled into a hybrid paladin/marshal combo capable not only of 10th tier divine magics but held great tanking ability while covering group support with her commander skills. This valkyrie would not win any dps race but her combat longevity was high tier even by lv.100 player standards. Over time, Serra had given this valkyrie a detailed backstory heavily influenced by norse mythology. In his fictional series, this valkyrie was named Falke - an exiled valkyrie from the Halls of Asgard who in her darkest hour, found new purpose upon meeting a "fallen" angel and later became his right hand.

The skeletal lich was garbed in a black robe with pieces of a bone-like armor fitted around his head and torso. His starter build had leveled into that of an Overlord Wiseman, a logical choice given the race's affinity to necro and arcane magics. Aside from cliches, his build was effective on what it was intended to be. As a high class undead, he held many natural resistances, could raise undead mobs, and had access to a wide range of spells to be used when the order was given. In Serra's future works, this lich would be known as Kharon - his Lord's kiss of death.

Together these two mercenaries were solid companions but naturally, they could not measure up to a player of equal level, especially if they were running an optimized build. Their downside is they ultimately lacked the flexibility of awareness in a PvP setting and held a more strict movepool. Mercenary mobs at their best acted on orders (whether voice or typed) but the time needed to give out those orders in an optimal fashion was a hindrance in PvP combat - no matter the user's skill. Thus voice commands were more widespread in use among those who used the NPCs, as most people would agree saying things out loud was faster than taking the time to write them, even if speaking them aloud gave off exactly what the NPC was going to do and giving the enemy (in a PvP scenario) precious seconds to prepare for it. But orders as written messages could be set to private so they would not be known to anyone aside the player giving them. Thus, Lord Serra's tactic was born then mastered to offset this penalty when having to deal with player killers or high level overworld encounters. Because after so many years of writing, Serra found he could type almost as fast as he could think. It was a flexibility of the mind combined with the dexterous use of the fingers.

But for an encounter such as this one, Lord Serra's chances to succeed in completing this meta-event against the Ancient Dragon was all but guaranteed even without this mastery. Only after making small (yet needed) preparations to offset a trap condition, the battle with possibly the last Ancient Dragon of YGGDRASIL commenced. The battle went about as smoothly as it could have. He had never fought one of these dragon mobs before and even with the level and numbers advantage, Serra could see how this would be a difficult encounter back when the game was young. More than half of the fight was done while having to use some form of flying mechanic. Without it, the fight could have lasted over 30 minutes but since his team had numerous ways to deal with the dragon when he was airborne, those phases were done rather neatly.

Falke soaked up most of the dragon's attacks while Serra both healed her and blitzed the dragon's sides with fast casting spell-infused barrages while the fight lasted long enough for Kharon to chaincast some of his strongest high tier spells. It still took ten minutes to defeat the miniboss as the Ancient Dragon had numerous damage buffering skills and even a [Complete Heal] skill, but a limited AI mob 10 levels lower than three combatants could only delay the inevitable.

The trip out here to the Alfheimr's edge was worth it for the rewards from this alone. An Ancient Dragon's loot table was a veritable pinata of rare mats like dragon scales, blood, hide, and fangs. Though the amount of these rare mats gained was randomized dragon to dragon. But the RNG was favorable to Serra as he gained enough quality mats that would sell well even in today's game market. And this did not include the quantity of gold coins and data crystals that dropped. Even Serra was amazed that the data crystals gathered were comparable to some high end dungeon drops.

Then came the treasure pile which gave him a larger stash of gold coins, data crystals, and a variety of rare drops. But as Serra was sorting out the rest of this loot, a message popped up again on his interface, saying the meta-event was completed. His mind absently went to close the window but he quickly noticed that he could not as more words continued to appear. Reading this, his surprise grew.

{With the oppressor vanquished, it is now possible to claim this kingdom for your own. Take ownership of this location?} There was a selection box for Yes or No.

Did he stumbled across a guild base? Serra could only wonder aloud. He had been playing YGGDRASIL for over six years and this is the first time a message like this was active on his screen. True Lord Serra was already a member of Seraphim, even still the top guild in the game, but his heart raced with possibility - a story nearing its end yet now finding a new beginning. His inner muse was singing. Thoughts were becoming lines and those lines started to form into plots, characters, even stories. This is when his mind realized - this had potential.

But Serra's senses snapped back. To own a guild base you had to be part of a guild to which he still was, and the base in question had to be a conquered dungeon to which this floating island certainly was not. Perhaps this remote area was an exception or was it something else entirely.

There is that old saying don't look a gift horse in the mouth, resolving himself to accept the consequences of his choice with a growing excitement. If this really is some sort of guild base, then depending on the amount of available levels, he could leave Seraphim and design this base as a featured area in his new story - a lost kingdom of elves Lord Serra and his servants freed from the grasp of an evil dragon. Then perhaps the characters of Serra, Falke, and Kharon can retire to being background figures while a new cast arises led by his own NPC creations to ensure this lost kingdom is born anew.

The possibilities were only limited to his own imagination. His time in YGGDRASIL may not be done yet. His selection box was on Yes.

However this did come with the drawback of becoming a target by other players and losing everything in one fell swoop. The certainty of being able to single-handedly best an opposing force with only a few NPCs and a guild base's automated defense system seemed nill at best. But this floating island managed to remain hidden even during the height of YGGDRASIL's player base and it even went uncontested during the Guild Wars. In fact the last player to visit this location in Alfhemir did not even notice its existence. That would make this area at the very least an obscure target and buy himself enough time to create a suitable defense system.

But what happened was neither what he hoped for nor what he feared, but something inbetween.

The window that first opened after his Yes selection showed what he knew of the editor functions that were used for guild bases, but many tabs were either locked while many others had a purpose he could not discern. Serra checked his guild status and it still showed him an active member of Seraphim. Perhaps he was not auto-kicked out because this was not a traditional guild base. But more interestingly was some of the editor tabs had elven structures like in those old simulation games that used the RTS system. Opening the main base tab, he found that the castle ruin was considered the central area that had its own functions and some sort built-in resource system that was found with the city guild bases.

That is when it dawned on Lord Serra what this area was. It was a hub used to gather rare resources. They used to be many in open world zones where individual players could complete an open world event to grant temporary ownership of a parcel of land in one of YGGDRASIL's nine overworlds. Eventually these utilities got removed by the dev team due to a "small" imbalance created by guilds monopolizing entire zones for months to years on end.

Once such occurrence happened when the top guild residing on Helheim cornered the market on one of the prismatic ores and drove their prices sky high in no time at all. To end their monopoly, a rival guild went as far to use one of the Twenty to banish the principal guild from the world their hubs were situated in, that was until their resets went into effect. And by the time the guild returned to reclaim their mines they found them under new ownership. Soon after this the devs removed the hub interface and streamlined their nodes into the overworld itself. Yet this created a whole new type of griefing known as the Camping Wars for now all these rare nodes were running on the first come first serve basis to any player that can successfully loot them first.

Lord Serra theorized since this hub was not yet active, it managed to escape the eye of the devs when they removed the hubs in-game. In short, these little areas were basically fortified towns that you spent gold coins build up in efforts to better harvest the special node in its region. But the central ruin tab also had a treasure chest inventory and upon opening it he obtained a trivial amount of gold coins, a few artifact items, and a World Class item.

Lord Serra's mind went completely blank. World Class items was the stuff of legends in this game world as their effects were truly balance breakers that could alter the very game world itself. He had only ever seen three of these items in effect, all done by the hands of the Seraphim guild leader in a very closed and controlled setting. Serra like many other YGGDRASIL players had yet to ever touch one of these before. But now one resides in his own inventory.

The item was called [Change the World!] and from its text description it looks like it is one of the Twenty whose effect is a superior version of the super-tier spell: The Creation. Basically this WCI can alter landscapes to varying degrees but any changes would be made permanent in the game world. It seems its only limitation is it can only affect one of the nine worlds at a time. But it seems the scope of its use is based on data values and not a preset selection of fields like The Creation is. Triggering its use allowed Serra to get a glimpse of its full capability but he noted the Twenty was governed by the user's final choice in when to make its effect a reality.

What he realized in this brief moment is how this WCI functioned. Think of it as a massive editing tool to be used upon one of YGGDRASIL's nine worlds. Entire zones could be changed, mountains grounded to dust, a high stone road raised through a treacherous swampland, or a volcano transformed into a snowy peak. Heck, this WCI could probably be used to naturally seal off a guild base from the overworld by moving it deep under the earth or piling a mountain on top of it.

However there was a data limit to how much can be changed. A couple terabytes' worth. Technically speaking, it could be used to alter a dozen handfuls of small bits found throughout one of the nine worlds or use those same handfuls to greatly alter one small area.

Lord Serra could not think of a more perfect World Class item for himself than this one.

Currently, this hub area did not count as a guild base so it could not be conquered by other players at the moment. They would have to wait for its reset event to occur. That means Serra had time, time to build and prepare to defend this plot of land in the coming month. Unless the devs notice this discrepancy first but it really would not matter in the end anyways. Because of [Change the World!]. The idea of how to abuse its use is already forming in his head.

Lord Serra is in the top guild and a famous player in his own right. He did manage to create a few of his fictional characters in this digital universe but their story was soon coming to an end. Seraphim like all the other top guilds is starting to fade into a stagnant period along with YGGDRASIL. And yet at this period of downtime, he just found the skeleton key to the future of his series. A new saga was ready to be born.

All that power was within his reach, for him and him alone. Even with his senses hooked into the neural interface, Lord Serra could feel his human body smirking madly, though it did not show on his avatar.

I'm going to have a good time with this, he thought.

And he had.

But now in the twilight hour of YGGDRASIL, Serra leisurely wandered through his greatest creation absorbing all the sights he could behold before before the game's end. What once was a sad excuse for a city ruin was now the majestic Celestial City - homeland of the Tel-Quessir (or moon elves) and the gateway to the divine realm of their savior and resident deity, Lord Serra.

The floating island was an unrecognizable site compared to its previous incarnation. First off the island is almost five times its original size in both width and height and had the look of three plateaus meshed into one. The first layer was the island's edge encompassed with a massive stone structure similar in concept to the Great Wall of China encircling its outer length. Its thick layers of triple walls, ramparts, guard towers, and ten great gatehouses decorate this borderline at almost even intervals with each fortification having a slight differing asian theme.

The second layer which was once the small deadwood existing around the ruined castle town is now a sprawling city-state that could only be described as being magically blessed by nature itself. Which in a way it was. Despite the greenery found in this layer, it was an elven metropolis more than half the the surface area of the island. A simple glance at this city from its outer wall would be a dizzying skyline to behold. The small ruined settlements once found across the isle was replaced with massive spired estates. The rather sizable patches of land that look to be the dedicated hub spots have been built up into large ziggurats which also doubles as a farming and irrigation system for this elvish community. And underneath them, the massive Underbelly of the island - a series of caverns holding its rare resource node, the prismatic ore known as [Star Silver].

And the island's center and its upper portion is the now massive castle town housing the Celestial City's city guild base of Highcrown. The guild castle itself has the old medieval feel of Camelot with a huge stone bridge guarding its way. But before it was a town protected by stone walls shaped like the Theodosian Walls of old surrounded not only the castle town's outer section but its inner sections as well. There might be less greenery in this center district but it has the distinct impression of a fantasy metropolis where magic supplants industrial technology.

There were so many buildings with a wide array of functions in this intercity and many more NPCs. In fact, much of his city's NPCs behaved a little differently. This was due to the World Class item Lord Serra had used bestowed this island an in-game city status, thus allowing him to not only implant a city guild base but giving himself the 'admin' functions to create a city itself. And he was quite meticulous in ensuring this hidden city functioned just like any other found in the nine worlds.

As such it was entirely self sufficient as Serra made sure the resource cost fell considerably below the tax threshold. City NPCs were a bit different than guild npcs (POP spawns and customized ones) because they only spawned in set numbers to compliment the city structures that were constructed. So if another city building or resource goes up, like a farm, then an appropriate set of NPCs would auto-spawn to do its needed function. Normal city spawns would start off at lv.1 but would grow in level up to 40 as time went on.

Lord Serra used his city admin functions to give many of these lv.40 NPCs names and gave slight alterations to their spawned appearances with cash shop items or transmogrification drops while writing out their various character backgrounds to be stored in his city's database and registry center. This served to make the city feel more alive than having a bunch of elves with the names of Guard, Knight, Farmer, Singer, Elder, and Noble walking about. Some of these city NPCs were tagged by the player and even had short stories devoted to them like the Owl Knights.

But the most difficulty Serra had was putting down names to everything. The floating island itself just became known in general as The Lost Kingdom with its great new city-state being dubbed Celestial City with the guild castle sitting in the middle becoming known as Highcrown registered under Lord Serra's 1-man guild, Alma. Inside Highcrown laid the Divine Realm, a temple labyrinth of a very many instanced sub-zones where Serra and his two compatriots had *retired* to after the finale of the second arc of his novel series.

And from atop Highcrown's raised castle entrance, he could see a beautiful vista of the Celestial City below. In less than an hour, all THIS would be gone, forever. Well only technically speaking. Serra had already taken numerous vidshots of his city zone and all the story data he compiled over the years had been saved and double saved onto drives outside the YGGDRASIL game servers. In fact he was still recording now so he could not say that it was all in vain or even been wasted time, because he probably had the most fun in his gaming life creating this Celestial City. It long served Serra as a new source of almost endless inspiration - but damn if this final shutdown did not hurt his soul.

For one last time, he walked down the immaculate white stairs and through the beautiful castle grounds to the great stone bridge wide enough to hold a procession of elephants down to the High Road of this metropolis area. A series of small keeps and a massive watchtower was designed as part of this bridge structure, known as the City Watch where the castle guard of paladin-knights and their elite number resided.

The High Road of this bridge had three branching pathways that led to different parts of the city below. The south exit led to the Central District with its many street corners. Most of this city utility centers could be found here such as the Registry Center headed by the lv.100 NPC, Governor Gavin. This was a special NPC Lord Serra had copied and implanted from Alfheimr's own capital city then tweaked to be the diligent leader of the city's census and service center. Though still a 'civilian' NPC by game code, Gavin was still a rather unique NPC in his own right as he retained his admin status and functions after the crossover.

Further down the south avenue was the Bazaar - the Celestial City's giant marketplace. Serra spent a painstaking amount of time tweaking and re-tweaking the various buildings found to be similar to the markets found in one of the nine capitals of YGGDRASIL. Thus nearly every city resource could be found somewhere in one of these streets. In the lore, the regular lv.40 guards that spawned from the Great Bridge would do their daily patrols in this area, keeping its relatively quiet peace in good order. Serra even included a few non-elf settlements in this area as his own version of Easter eggs. There was even a hidden Shadow Street that led to the Undermarket, a city's black market grounds where exotic goods could be found to purchase.

But the main building of the Bazaar was the Clanhalls - a huge series of temple manses stacked together which held the plethora of crafting services to be used by visiting players, such as blacksmiths and tailors. One of the temples was a Wonder Forge that housed a non-combat lv.100 npc genie that would grant a random in-game item for any four thrown in as a tribute. Even the services of a city mercenary group could be found here called the Veiled Hand, a dark cast of exiles who had their own storyline in Serra's second and fourth arcs.

The High Road's east exit led to the district devoted to the Faith and standing in its centre was The Cathedral. According to Lord Serra's written lore, this was the main location where the elf populace prayed to their Lord Divine - in other words, himself. He even made a large golem with his avatar's truest visage out of the prismatic ore [Star Silver] to stand guard in front of the cathedral's entrance area. Obviously, the masses of NPCs did not pray here as such behavior could not be scripted out in the game world. However that did not mean that he could not make the functions of its religious order through background text. Their hierarchy was led by three lv.100 NPCs also copied and implanted from the elf capital city and were given new names and appearances - the High Priest, the Inquisitor, and the Holy Maiden. Each was also a 'trainer' NPC whom players could learn advanced divine spells and skills from. But in the story lore, these three were written to the archbishops who led the Faith of the many lv.40 priests and priestesses spawned throughout this city district. These latters had less detailed character sheets mixed into flavor text written of the city's general populace.

The High Road's north exit led to the Celestial City's Old Town district that featured the architectures once found in Lost Kingdom now fully restored and showcased. Many small castle estates resided here and even a side market that counted as an in-game bargain center or 'auction house'. The main building in this area was the Great Library that doubled as the city's museum center. This grand structure was full to the brim with a wide collection of in-game texts Lord Serra had either bought or found in-game or those manually copied from third party sites. Even a digital database of the various works of the real world was stored here (as data files) so even some 3000 years of human ingenuity could be accessed within these halls.

But there was a special hall devoted to Lord Serra himself - a floor of monuments displaying his many in-game achievements. Even his books detailing the various stories of his adventures were added to the *proof* of their God's divinity. Most of these "books" were just shorthand accounts of various things he did in the YGGDRASIL game while others were dab hands of other gamer accounts he found online relating to YGGDRASIL and its mysteries. But this hall was considered a most sacred place and was headed by a special high sage singled out for a love for all things lore, a beautiful sagesse who wears the moniker - Historia. She too is another lv.100 implant and was written out to be the Head Librarian and the leader of this intellectual branch of the Faith of its lv.40 city spawn sage NPCs.

There were two other city districts not connected to the High Road but each were large subsections of this city's limits.

On the western district stood the largest structure within the city proper - The Citadel. It was the combination of an Arcane Sanctum guild base resource that Serra shaped and expanded into a giant collegiate center that houses a further number of magical centers and massive estates serving as its university grounds. The city spawns gained here were multiple in number from basic wizardry classes to those who spawned with more specific sorcerer routes. Each still had a max level of 40 but their wide range allowed for better storytelling and background flavor. However there was only one mercenary group tied to this structural monstrosity - ten lv.80 elder magus capable of 10th tier spellcasting with their own descriptions being the instructors of the many city spawns who are its students. But the Headmaster of this cabal was Anorous the Wise, an wizened and lecherous moon elf who might have had a magical experiment or two gone awry. He was another lv.100 trainer NPC, copied and gained from Alfhemir's capital, who players would go to to learn special arcane spellcraft.

And on the road south of the Cathedral's district stood the Military Ward - a complex that held the City Barracks, the Sanitarium, the Mage Tower, and even the store bought resource structure in the Aviary. This is a key location because it held the highest number of combat ready NPCs, both of the city and mercenary kind.

The Barracks could auto-spawn two classes of moon elves: paladins or rangers with each getting a random assortment of skills. But oddly enough, many city NPCs spawned in this district generated a random class not of the former. There were also four lv.80 mercenary companies tied to the Barracks - ten paladins called the heavy knights, ten war clerics capable of 9th tier divine magic, ten sharpshooters with specialized sniping skills, and ten ranger lords with specialized stealth tactics. These NPCs were the main body of the Celestial City's armed forces and in Serra's works would number some 2000. One of the few singled out by Lord Serra was Hanya Hardback, a hard-nosed woman who became the rookies' (or 'wet-ears') master-at-arms. She was also a lv.100 trainer NPC, one that allowed players to learn advanced martial skills.

The Sanitarium was the large hospital center found in the Military Ward. Its own city spawns were not tied to the barracks but to small chapel structures that were reconfigured into houses of healing. These lv.40 clerics were capable of 5th tier divine spells and had background lore of field medic experiences. But the head of this wing was another lv.100 trainer NPC implant, the advanced healing specialist known as Doctor Oz who in-game was a special 'Healer' resource. Short for Ozmyneddgar, he is an eccentric man styled with the various quirks of several physicians from a famous late night program. "Ozzy" acts as the team leader for the ten war clerics summons who are written as PhD's in the human lore of modern surgeries.

The Mage Tower was a large towered spire on the premises that held two special lv.80 mercenary contracts. The first being spellbreakers, magic knights that specialized in counter-spelling. The second were spellweavers capable of 10th tier spells and boasted the spell-twisting meta-skill. The latter ten NPCs (along with the ranger lords) were written into the lore as the counter-intelligence squad under the command of the elf general known as the Emerald.

The Aviary was a special city structure in that it was one gained from the cash shop. Ownership of this building opened special taxi services from a city guild base. But the building also spawned a special type of owl griffon, a majestic beast of level 50 with 5th tier druid casting ability. Fifteen were fixtures within its stable and were written into the lore as being the virtuous steeds of the Owl Knights. Each of their riders are city spawns from the Barracks that randomed a Tamer class with three of their number becoming Lord Serra's subjects of many misadventures within the nine worlds of YGGDRASIL. The nesting grounds itself is guarded by two lv.100 elder owl griffons with 9th tier capability. Collectively these owl griffons were known as the *sacred beasts*.

But looking at the timer, Serra realized that there was less than ten minutes left until the shutdown. He would not be able to walk the druid circles on the lower level one last time, an elf city that looks superimposed with nature itself. Down there, you could find a plethora of small vanity stores amongst the huge spired manses of the moon elf nobility. The greatest structures that laid with the druid circles were the Amphitheatre and the Thousand Hearths. The Amphitheatre was a gorgeous enclave where the elves were entertained by a band of lv.40 doppelgangers. Festivities of song, dance, and even theater performances of famous YGGDRASIL events were written out to be a common sight in their arena, with many a play featuring the Lord Serra himself. Thousand Hearths was a massive double walled keep that functioned as the city inn and true to its name - there were 1000 rooms available for their guests. Stretched out over a half a mile and almost five stories in height, Thousand Hearths could be considered the greatest wonder of elfkind, anywhere to be found in YGGDRASIL.

Standing at the gates of the city's southern exit, Serra activated a racial skill found common in the angel race to sprout wings and fly back towards the guild castle. He had little time left to sightsee and reminisce anymore, no matter how captivating any and all visages he created turned out to be. Landing just in front of the castle's great double doors, he picked up his pace and soared through the exquisitely decorated hallways until reaching the castle's main throne room. Five figures dressed in a military uniform were standing before an imposing figure sitting upon a majestic marbled throne.

The floor was decorated with an even higher quality carpet and more intricate embroidery than the one leading to this room. Rows of columns supporting gothic arches divided the room into three equal halves, the top center being the most important as it is where the throne was placed while the two lower halves were designed for the use of castle attendants to do their duties without interfering any important business - not that any of this mattered in-game because no such thing could be programmed to happen. From the high vaulted ceiling a row of magical fixtures hung, all of them an extremely elegant in design, and in the wall just behind the throne was what looked like a great glass window, though no light seemed to shine through it.

The five military figures were the Celestial City's Five Generals, all lv.100 NPCs gained from the City Watch - the special watchtower resource. Each was of a similar build being a paladin hybrid with 8th tier divine casting ability. But what separated these five from the other 30 elite paladin-knights of their company is they were sword wielding Avengers. Each may have only had one or two levels in this elite class but that little difference was enough for Serra to revamp their appearance as much as he could and while giving them fleshed out backstories to their fellows. These five were the most prominent secondary characters seen in the third arc of Serra's fictional saga. Serving directly under Prince Kaineng, they were the High Command and his military commanders. The rest of the 25 paladin-knights were written as the royal guard led by the youngest of the Five, the Crimson.

And the one seated on the throne was the firstborn of the Lord Serra's custom guild NPCs, Prince Kaineng. This is the one NPC he had thought out the most, since the Prince was the main character of the fourth arc and was introduced in the third arc's climax. In short - Kaineng is the messiah of the Celestial City's religious order and the Prince of the City. The Prince was dressed with a set of heavy armor consisting of a decorated plated coat and covered by a highly decorated purple and golden surcoat, dark plated gauntlets and pauldrons, similar looking leg plates and sabatons. Finishing the look was a crown-like helm decorated with runes that seemed to illuminated his very presence. Each and every single item he wore was of divine class, with even his accessories baring enchantments that complimented his build perfectly. And before the Prince rested his greatsword of gold, in its regal sheath form, completing his overbearing countenance.

This Prince differed very little in-game when compared to his saga counterpart. The only thing Serra needed to explain why he was currently found as the monarch of the Celestial City, which was easy enough with flavor text stating that the Tel-Quessir messiah was there to help guide and protect the Lord Serra's followers in the time of the Ragnarok. It was slightly ironic now, that that had been written foreshadowing the future as this world would soon be at its end with YGGDRASIL shutting down its servers for good.

Serra could not help but to extend his arm towards the Prince as if wanting to touch the shoulder of his digital body. Of course the feeling of such an action was impossible with the neural module but sadness of soon seeing him and this wondrous city gone overloaded his emotions. His mind was aware of a tear coming down his cheeks. But there was not much time left. Giving his NPC an order to follow and he took one last pensive look at the Five Generals before giving them the order to kneel. Without looking back, he extended his angelic wings and flew towards the portal that was on the window, and he knew Kaineng was right behind using his own [Pegasus Wings] ability.

What awaited them beyond the portal was the first subspace zone within the guild castle. One might call it an instanced area separate from the overworld. It functioned similar to that of a dungeon whose floors were that of different dimensions. This was but one of many subspaces that was created when [Change the World!] had been used to alter the floating island.

This first room was a series of great halls similar to that of the Hall of Heroes found in the Valhalla instance on Asgard. It even shared its same name and theme. Large tables full of food and drink where its many ghostly inhabitants were gathered in revelry. Granted these ghosts were not exactly the souls of the Einherjar but lv.20-24 guild base POP spawns that merely represent those that were lost to battle but were now honored as fallen heroes. But this zone also held the "Six Heroic Spirits", guild NPCs of Serra's own creation that sat on the top tier of the ghost tree.

The ghost tree was treated by most players as a joke, as it is had immunity to physical damages while having severe penalties to deal out physical damages themselves. Coupled with a bad resistance factor and the ghost tree was considered at best a novelty class. But what most players did not know was the fact that from [Spectre] and onwards, ghosts not only had the ability to not only possess enemy mobs and deal direct damage without penalty but also the ability to possess allies, power sharing some of their own skillset onto the target for as long as the possession was active.

So in a way, players using the ghost tree could be considered the ultimate support player. Not a thing many people liked to be sure but the information on the web about the particulars on these classes was very thin. But what even less people knew was a special class that could be unlocked called [Noble Phantasm] that could not only power share their skillset onto their ally possessed but also upwards to ten of their own class levels. Meaning the right "ghost build" could level buff a lv.100 ten levels higher to be near equal to high end dungeon encounters. But the real kicker was the possession by a [Noble Phantasm] counted in-game as a magic "buff" and thus not registered as a ghostly possession. Thus the possibility was there being no set limit to how many of these phantasms could be stacked onto a single character.

Lord Serra had discovered this accidentally, but that did not mean that he would not abuse it while keeping his mouth shut. Sadly, guild base NPCs could not leave the boundaries of the guild base thus he could not use these level buff on his own person. But that means he could not do it for Prince Kaineng. As it is, the Six Heroic Spirits have backstories of being the amalgamation of specific souls that had fallen in battle and rescued by the Lord Serra. The Six as individuals are based off characters of high fantasy each with a specific build that not only adds to the Prince's level but his moveset. There is the Bishop who increases his casting ability to the 10th tier, the Wizard that grants the Prince access to high tier arcane magics, the Druid which adds to his divine spell listing, the Warlord who gives him commander buffs, the Monk which adds new Ki resources to his ability chart, and the Warlock that gives him demonic ability in the form of a soulmeld.

In the hypothetical case of an enemy raid reaching the previous throne room and aggroing the Prince, Serra had typed in a command for the Six Heroic Spirits to pass through the portal and immediately enhance Kaineng to give him a ludicrous power-up of 60 levels plus a skillset of ten extra classes. This combination made the Prince one of the most powerful entities in the whole of YGGDRASIL, even comparable to the World Enemy mobs themselves. Coupled with the dimensional shift (trap) built into the throne room, it was a nightmare encounter for even a hardcore raid of players.

Sadly this encounter was never triggered nor could really be beta tested during Serra's time in the game world as no attempt had ever been made to sack his island city. That is outside of the rare Elder Dragon mob that would wander into the island's outer radius.

The Six were all seated at the head table presiding over the great hall and a host of fallen warriors. But Serra bypassed this scene and made his way towards the left wing of this hall to a dead end corridor where a rather plain wooden door carved with a line of ancient runes barred their way.

After three precise 'knocks' - this door opened into a huge five layered temple labyrinth, a maze of hallways filled with single panel doors made of various types of wood and metal ores. Each door would lead to a different subzone within this Divine Realm. But there was only one door he wanted to see one last time. Following the maze's correct path to the upper floor's special quadrant, Serra and his companion had reached a dead end but held the most handsome set of grand double doors he ever constructed within this Celestial City. And with good reason as it led to his own personal quarters - the seat of the Lord Divine himself. It was made with a type of very rare wood drop that came from the World Tree itself. The fact Serra had collected enough to mold it into the framework of a door would be seen as a ridiculous venture by his fellow playerbase but the finished product was a true work of art.

It was a golden wood was ornamented with a bas-relief depicting a skeleton on its left side of the doors and a valkyrie on its right, both standing vigil with their heads facing to its upward framework of a pretty boy angel with his wings and arms opened in pose. Said figures were no other than Kharon and Falke looking up to his own avatar, Lord Serra. He was very proud this the artwork as he spent a good part of a month detailing its final design, balancing and re-balancing the size and shape of its depictions. The work was elegant and so overly done that the impression of the figures seem really real. Truly, a masterpiece.

It was also imbued with several magic wards even greater than those found in the Great Walls surrounding the floating isle. Outside his guild ring, this doorway was password protected so unless you knew the right phrase of words, it could only be opened with high tiered magic of ward removals, which in of itself would trigger the pitfall trap before it. But instead of simply teleporting all the way here in a couple seconds, he wanted to make the trek all the way up to this special door to say the phrase one last time, plus he had to escort Kaineng. The pitfall trap did not activate, since Serra is the only recognized guild member, as the door went through a its programmed cutscene of the valkyrie and overlord coming alive to salute the depiction of Lord Serra whose pose became a welcoming gesture. Then the doors swung open.

Stepping through its archway, he entered a rather large temple like floor, stooped in various layers of height as the further one went in. The rooms were of stone walls embellished with a silver luster and similarly decorated with a golden wood arches, although these were of a generic make but the quality none the less sublime to look upon. The floors were a pristine white marble while the highest quality of tapestries depicting many a screenshot he took in YGGDRASIL hung in a full display. The top most room was a zenith, the most richly decorated room within this instance. The stone walls gleamed like a diamond, the ceiling was looked as if it was made of crystal, the dim lights from the magic candle wall ornaments refracted all throughout the room to make it seem aglow. And at its head a stylish pink divan sofa with its delicate golden framework depicting cute little cupids and an elegant swan. From its terrace the light of the golden lands that laid below and beyond - although the zone limit was but a bare meter away from this balcony.

A figure was standing on each side of this elegant sofa. On the left was Kharon, his Lord's kiss of death and on the right was Falke, her Lord's sworn champion. Both were now garbed in a various collection of top end artifacts gained from YGGDRASIL's high level dungeons and in the valkyrie's case, a divine-class player-made warspear that cost Serra a small fortune to make.

Kharon, no matter the upgrades to the equipment he has had, always ended up resembling the grim reaper due to his racial structure, but that was acceptable since he was supposed to be an analogue. He was now dressed on a fine black robe embroidered with a silver runic design. He also wore a rather oversized shroud that shimmered with a black mist that covered the entirety of his skeletal figure. A total of six rings adorned his hands, the five on his left were top grade relics that granted a resistance combo to his racial weaknesses while the lone ring of his right was the ultra-rare artifact Ring of Wand Mastery that allowed the Wiseman to use his large collection of wands without restriction, beyond its obligatory cooldown. Serra also placed several high end staves into his collection for appropriate encounters.

Falke, on the other hand, had a quite noticeable wardrobe change. Instead of looking like a traditional armored knight in full plate sporting a fur overcloak, the valkyrie was now sporting a complete set of legendary dungeon drops designed for paladin use. Although Serra had used a cash shop item to transmog the helm's visual into one of the more popular valkyrie designs in the game. This helm had an open face showing her carefully sculpted face with her silver hair and eyes in plain view.

There was never much work to do with Kharon, appearance wise, so any time to visually modify him always went to Falke's looks instead. But just like Prince Kaineng who was a stunning looking man of tall frame and fit body in the prime of his youth with a mane of golden hair and eyes (hunk), the valkyrie was his silver counterpart as a visual paradigm of feminine beauty.

Lord Serra reached his divine seat and resting upon it was the symbol of this guild and a weapon that could be described as the living embodiment of his avatar. It was a longbow that bore the legendary name [Sharanga] - bow of the celestial heaven. And the time went into crafting this masterpiece was the better part of two years to put the last finishing touch upon it. Although Serra has had this guild weapon for over a year now, sadly he never got a real chance to use it save for on some of the nearby spawns outside the floating island's walls. It was too risky to brandish about due to the vulnerability of either losing it or being destroyed could affect everything he had accomplished on that floating island. His guild weapon was a spellbow with a humongous data value and especially tailored to his build. Like all guild weapons, his was a compository of high level artifact items all rolled up into one but this bow was augmented even further by an upgrade fashioned from a World Item [Caloric Stone]. This not only increased the guild weapon's data value beyond its original threshold but it also super enhanced all the data values that was present within it at the time.

And ALL this was about to be lost forever. He could only sigh in his exacerbation. His eyes barely left the corner of his HUD where the countdown was present, as though it was mocking him and everything he had built over these past four years. He really could not fault the dev team though, it was not really their fault most of the playerbase had left. All things must come to an end, in time.

But that realization still stung his soul. The only thing left to do is to logout in style. Lord Serra equipped his guild weapon one last time and had his avatar reposed prettily on that divine seat. Standing beside him were his three greatest NPCs standing before their creator to give him the last sendoff. He still had enough wits to make sure to pan out and take this vidshot to be saved for future reference.

Serra's final moments in YGGDRASIL were plagued with the same recurrent thoughts and pangs of emotion. He really did not want to see anything he made just disappear like a puff of smoke but the cold reality was he had to accept the fact that there was nothing he could possibly do to stop what was coming.

23:58:50

"Hmm… I guess it's time to go back to nonstop writing again. Perhaps I should first finish out all my drafts for the fourth arc and tie it to a Ragnarok theme." Serra had ideas for a fifth arc how it were to follow the end of YGGDRASIL was still unclear.

23:59:35

Lord Serra closed his eyes. "Goodbye, my children," because that is what he felt about not only every single character he created, but also every single structure and every detail found in the Celestial City. It truly was his own magnum opus, one that only he had ever seen, and no one else could ever possibly fully envision.

23:59:58

23:59:59

His last online thought was almost a prayer to one day see his vision once again realized.

00:00:00

00:00:01

00:00:02

00:00:03

Huh...

Many things overloaded Lord Serra's senses at once - the softness of the fabrics he was wearing and the divan he was resting on, the pure air he breathed, and an 'unfamiliarity' of his own body. More importantly when he opened his eyes again, expecting to see the boring dull grey of his apartment's ceiling, he instead saw his last scene in YGGDRASIL but in an all new light.

Several conflicting thoughts assaulted his mind:

Am I still logged in?

Or was the shutdown postponed?

Faint hope. Perhaps the game was prolonged. But why was his HUD not showing up? And why did everything feel different in this room. He could almost see and smell things as though it was real.

Lord Serra first tried several times to access the game menu. But nothing happened.

I can't logoff? Emergency functions are not responding either. What the hell is this!

"GM," he spoke aloud and was not only shocked to hear a distinctly different voice in his ear but to feel it come out of his own mouth. Panic now started to set in.

"[Message]" he spoke again, hearing the same musical tone leave his lips. But nothing happened. His right hand went immediately to his temple to activate the Message function again but was shocked into silence for he felt the slight pressure of his avatar's fingers upon his brow.

"My Lord? Is something the matter?" A soft voice was carried through the room. Serra turned his head towards the source, and his surprise grew as he concluded that indeed, Falke had just asked him that question. She was looking at him with an expression of genuine concern, something that should be impossible for YGGDRASIL character save for certain emote functions. Heck - he could even feel his own body looking at her in a gaping stupor.

This is impossible.

A pit at the bottom of his stomach started to grow. It couldn't be that...

Yet both maintained eye contact, before Falke flushed and dropped her gaze downward. "Forgive me, Serra-sama. I noticed your distress and wanted to be of use, please understand."

Serra regained enough of his composure to try and calm her down, as none of this was the valkyrie's fault. So he raised his avatar's arm, feeling yet another strange difference, and said in his melodic voice, "Please, do not worry so, Falke. I was only pondering..." Serra could not help but to pause midsentence, hardly believing this voice coming from his own mouth. He sounded too strange with this velvety tone. But what would he expect his beautiful Seraph avatar to have, a rough undertone?

Dread continued to pool in his stomach.

"What is it, the subject that brought you so much distress, my Lord?" Now it was Prince Kaineng sharp commanding voice who spoke up. His golden eyes were glittering dangerously as though he wanted to identify the object of his Lord Father's confusion, then put an end to it for good.

Lord Serra had to take a moment to organize his thoughts into a believable reason. Was any of this actually 'real'? He doubted the NPCs would know what he could be stressing about here.

But it was also strange the fact that he could sense the two's worry for his own well-being even though they had barely done anything to demonstrate it outside of a spoken sentence or two. Even the Overlord's worry was starting to grate on his nerves. Was this part of his avatar's empathic sense? His own stress was evident in his behavior. That much could be discerned by the naked eye. But why did he feel the strange wave of emotions coming from the three present in the room with him.

Man, this seat is so comfortable. Realizing he was still in a lying in a lax position that showed a little too much of his thighs, Lord Serra adjusted himself into a suitable sitting position before continuing. Even the movement of his body was strange as if this lithe form held supernatural ability.

"… please forgive my unsightly blunder here, my Prince. I was disoriented." The worrying look on Prince Kaineng's face seemed to subside as he looked down to mutter a "not at all" before Serra went on, "but I do not think we are in the world of Alfheimr any longer. I feared the Ragnarok would end our fair isle but it seems I was mistaken."

It was true in a sense if you replace *Ragnarok* with *YGGDRASIL shutting its servers down*. After all, the best fibs are the ones that have a sprinkling of truth in them. The other three occupants of the room visibly tensed to his statement, to which he continued.

"… Kaineng, it would be best if you returned to the castle. The generals are likely worried and the kingdom will surely need its Prince in this uncertain time."

His strongest NPC complied with reverence before swiftly leaving the room. At least by judging by first glances, the Prince is acting the way Serra had written him to be. Which was a good thing because HE was the most viable character on their side. But it was equally as important to stay within his own avatar's limits because if one thing was certain then it was the uncertainty of this situation. Serra had written the Celestial City to venerate *himself* as their Lord Divine, but it was the Prince who was their acting monarch. But the nagging question was - how much of this became real. Because if *everything* became as real (as he fears), then how will the rest of the NPCs acts. It could so easily spiral out of hand.

Lord Serra turned his head to address the other two still in the room. They were still visibly tense from the last exchange.

"Please, be at ease my friends," he put as best as he could roleplay with his new voice. Both hesitated but he sensed their moods relaxed, if only by a bit.

"If I may, my Lord," Kharon's voice was just as Serra imagined in his head. Rich and full of bass with no sinister undertone. "Did the Ragnarok really come and pass?" Serra could not help but note every word of his was perfectly accentuated.

"I do believe so, Kharon," trying to put his words as mildly as possible to avoid any worry.

The brief silence that followed was broken by an almost giddy voice. It came from the silver-haired valkyrie in her shining armor.

"And yet we still survived," came Falke's voice with a hint of excitement. "As expected of Serra-sama."

But this isn't my doing! Of course he could not voice his thought aloud. But he needed to shift track.

"Could I ask the two of you to leave me to my thoughts for awhile?" Serra tried to say this in such a way that did not try to seem too imposing. The last thing he wanted was to create any more tension. Afterall, if what his gut is telling him is true, then he will need Falke and Kharon now more than ever before. But he needed to be alone at this moment to test out a couple theories.

Both turned to leave then seemed to hesitate. Falke in particular had a visible expression of uncertainty, although Kharon may have a similar train of thought as her but given his racial structure it would be more difficult to deduce.

Lord Serra addressed his right hand that was his valkyrie war maiden, "Do ask your question, Falke," to which the silver-haired beauty tensed but answered with her inquiry.

"No… I mean, yes, my Lord. It's just… I thought…" she trailed off, trying not to make any visual contact.

Come on... "Please speak your mind," trying to urge her on.

"Is this like with the Old Kingdom again?" the valkyrie finally asked. What she was referencing was a specific piece of lore Lord Serra had written that described how the Celestial City had been born anew. This former kingdom of moon elves had been conquered by an evil Ancient Dragon that had long kept their race in bondage and servitude, until an angel and his companions had descended upon their ruined kingdom to free them from the dragon's grasp. The centuries that followed saw the Tel-Quessir recover from their near extinction and grow into a fledgling kingdom until the Lord Serra unleashed a powerful artifact to *bless* their floating isle into a rich landscape that grew a metropolis never before seen in Alfheimr's undying lands.

So in-game, all of it was true in a sense but what could Serra really say here. Did everything he accomplish with his avatar in the YGGDRASIL game world become real memories in the minds of the NPCs. What about all the stories he wrote? Did they too become akin to a *real* timeline or an alternate reality?

Serra could only blink and blink again to the question Falke posed as he was clearly not expecting this NPC to ask him a question like this on the spot. But should he then give an answer based on all the lore he had written. He knew his fictional works inside and out but would that answer suffice?

Going by the worried tone Falke asked her question, was it really possible that all the game text and interactions they had together in the game world became fabricated memories? If so, had every NPC on the island experienced the same as this valkyrie? What a troubling prospect.

Serra briefly looked to the Overlord at his right, to buy some time as his thoughts ran wildly to come up with a suitable answer.

"Perhaps...," then, "it was a similar occurrence... indeed." Serra moved his eyes again to meet Falke's own. His answer was a vague yes but not one that had any definitive meaning. Which meant later Serra could reverse course if the situation was NOT similar.

"Does that mean...?" Kharon's voice cut in with its smooth tenor, "that we are yet in another world? Which is it, my Lord? Asgard?"

Please, I need time to process THIS too. He wanted to scream this out but he had to keep a cool head as his avatar was suppose to be their level-headed leader.

"I know for certain that the nine worlds of YGGDRASIL have fallen to the Ragnarok. And I doubt we are on any world we have current knowledge of." Which was another way to say, a DMMO-RPG we were in shut down its servers so it is unlikely that we will find ourselves in any of the worlds found therein. But this answer was enough for the Overlord as he merely bowed and made to excuse himself from the room.

However the valkyrie was still visibly bothered as though his answers were clearly not satisfactory.

"You have another question." This time Lord Serra did not ask this so much as plainly stating it.

The valkyrie gulped, taking a moment to strengthen her resolve to say whatever question was pestering her this time.

You aren't the only one stressing out here!

"I'm sorry... but it's, it is just... this is the first time we have ever heard your voice, my Lord." She said while her expression morphed into one of unrestrained awe. "Forgive me," she said in a half bow, "I was simply mesmerized by it."

Serra was taken aback by this piece of info the valkyrie just stated to him. There was nowhere in the lore that it was stated that the Lord Serra had not ever muttered a word to anyone. Was this a game memory or was Falke referencing something his character did in one of his literary pieces. A few seconds passed until Serra realized that the valkyrie had to be referencing not the lore in her own character summary, but how Serra had mastered the use of written commands when playing the game with his mercenary NPCs because typing it out was more convenient for him. So not only did Falke have fabricated memories, but she also *remembered* atleast some of their journeys within YGGDRASIL the game. This was getting confusing.

"Well... I saw it fitting for a... new era." Serra had trouble trying to find the correct balance of words to express without showing his own ignorance and confusion to all what is happening. But he still had to play that magnanimous character he is supposed to be, but he was now playing a game with too many unknown factors. And Serra did not think he could survive if his strongest NPCs turned on him.

But after a moment, Falke gave him a brilliant smile and bowed to followed after Kharon, finally leaving Serra alone in his room to gather his thoughts.

This whole development, the more he thought about it, reeked of an isekai more and more. Serra, as an author, hated this genre because its stories tended to be (generally speaking) lazily written, and not planned and thought out in advanced. They tend to be plagued with a myriad of horrendous cliches and recurring plot holes that are never resolved, and the only reason they tend to become popular is because the main character/s are *normal* people that abuse one mechanic or another in the new world they find themselves, only to become so overpowered that the character is a deus ex machina. Or it becomes a mindless wish-fulfillment story for the masses.

And now, HE was the avatar he had lovingly created over the course of ten years, finding himself in an eerily similar development as those fantasy series he bashed so much. But Lord Serra was here alongside the greatest of his literary creations, the ones who until very recently, he thought would be gone forever. So was this a punishment, or a reward? He could not yet decide.

But there was a very simple reason why the seraph wanted to have privacy and that was to try and understand what was going on without freaking out in front of others who (at the moment) see him as their Lord Divine. Which, again, was so cliche. But without the others around, an inexplicable calmness came over him, blanketing out his past stress and he started to have clarity over his thoughts. Serra could atleast THINK easier in this moment.

First thing he tried was to bring the game's HUD again, not yet discarding the possibility of some kind of tech failure with his neural link interface. It was a no go. Then the forced logout system again but that too was discounted as he no longer felt his real body being connected into his module. Then he tried the GM system. And nothing. Heck, he even tried to reach players he had interacted with in the game world with [Message]. And again, there was nothing. He then tried to bring up the guild base's management tab but to his relief, THAT did show up. Although it looked a bit different, it was there nonetheless.

Progress. Then he started to experiment with this interface. Most of the tabs worked as they should but everything seemed to be locked in some fashion he did not quite understand. Even with his guild weapon in hand could he not bring up specific in-game commands. It only took Lord Serra a couple minutes to realize he was no longer in the game of YGGDRASIL.

Still further testing was needed. He unequipped his guild weapon to see if he could access the guild base interface and found that he could. But the moment Serra got up from the divan he was sitting upon, that interface quickly disappeared without its dismissal. He tried again to access it but nothing happened. Sitting back down on his pink sofa, he activated the interface and it came back up.

All this confirmed his early theory - the admin functions of the guild base and the city zone seem to still be item based. Although Lord Serra is the guildmaster of Alma, any administrator task could still only be done as though it was in the game world of YGGDRASIL. This was a good thing because that meant his guild base and the Celestial City still has built-in protections against outside hacks.

Next thing Lord Serra tried to do was equip his main use spellbow in his inventory. He hoped he would be able to access his inventory screen without the interface, and almost yelped in surprise when a small black portal opened a mere foot away from him. But the item he wanted to have from it would not fall out.

Do I have to stick my hand into this, black hole? It was a frightful task. But trusting his instincts (while hoping he would not lose a hand), Serra thrust his hand into it and found that this void's form and shape somehow etched itself into his memory. In this way he could see the entirety of his game inventory and all the items within it.

Thinking of his character's main weapon, he instinctively pulled his hand back out and in his grasp was [Herald's Reverence], a divine-class spellbow made from Star Silver with magic channelers made from a special golden alchemic alloy snaking around the main body of prismatic ore. When he held the handle, it glowed a dim white light, giving the impression of the classic "holy" weapons found in the fantasy setting.

This spellbow looked better with Serra's avatar outfit more so than his guild weapon, considering [Sharanga] was almost as tall as he is. But most of his gear which was admittedly more inclined to aesthetic than usefulness, at least appearance wise. Because in true MMO fashion, there was equipment in YGGDRASIL such as normal looking clothing that could be stronger in durability than a full plate heavy armor and for absolutely no logical reason.

Serra's main outfit consisted of a white tunic gown trimmed with golden embroidery that fell just above the knee. A white toga cloaks the gown with it having a silvery gloss and a dark runic pattern undertone. A myriad of shiny accessories completes his look: a golden scaled vambrace on his left arm, a [Gauntlet of Infinity] on his right imbued with five divine-class rings, a golden threaded rope for a belt, stylish knee pads, winged golden sandals with a small platform heel, and a goldleaf crown on his head. He may not look it but this gear setup was mostly of divine-class wear mixed with god artifact drops with only Prince Kaineng's armor and weapon set coming close to his equipment quality. Of course, Serra might have used a cash shop item here and there to visually change his gear's appearance into the look he desired.

To define Lord Serra's look concisely, one could simply say *white and gold* and you would be mostly correct. His skin was of a pale white tone but not sickly so with his golden hair tone cropped up into a half-mullet. The only thing that did not enter the category of either color was his crystalline blue eyes. With this overall facade, one would automatically think his avatar was a divine existence.

Next thing Serra looked for in his inventory were his cash shop items. Then his backup spellbows. Then potions. And so on and so forth, scrutinizing his inventory to its entirety while looking out for an irregularity - perhaps a dev's message or the like - not that he found anything of the sort. And there was nothing that indicated this was a bug on YGGDRASIL's side. Nothing pointing at maybe a tech upgrade or even a potential beta test of a sequel. Everything just felt too real which should still be an impossibility given the laws regulating virtual reality.

He then sat back down on the divan to see if the hub interface was still active, which it was. As each option was discarded, Serra prepared for a final and desperate way to log out and prove that this was still a game. It did not really matter if his account would get temporarily banned for indecency, as the game should have ended anyway.

The Lord Serra stood up, checked to make sure no one else was in this room before stashing all his equipment into his inventory space. He was now wearing nothing but a royal blue loincloth. This was the furthest his in-game character in YGGDRASIL could get to being naked... before shutting his eyes to try and remove even that. A felt a slight breeze on his privates.

With this, the devs should get a warning of a very improper (and impossible) action and he will be forcefully disconnected. But after ten seconds of standing there stark naked, well nothing happened. A faint cry of joy escaped his lips when he peeked - his 'pee pee' made it. Serra exhaled his relief and just as he was trying to figure out what his next move should be, his thoughts were interrupted by a [Message].

!!!

"… y-yes," Serra literally jumped at Prince Kaineng's horrible timing as he quickly re-equipped himself in his gear.

["Serra-sama, our sentinels on the walls confirmed that we are indeed in a completely different environment than back on Alfheimr. The terrain is utterly foreign from what they reported, and well I don't know how to explain this properly..."] He could feel Kaineng still resonating inside his own mind. The Prince had paused because he feared what he was about to say next would make no sense.

"Please, continue," Serra urged softly.

["Yes forgive me for I have not yet seen it myself but I was told the island itself is... well, no longer in the air..."]

!!!

"..."

["My Lord?"] The Prince's voice was once again full of concern.

"I'm here, please continue." Serra was definitely in a panic as he reopened the guild base management to get a bird's eye view of the situation.

["Yes, Serra-sama. The island seems to have landed in a forested region..."]

*** ten minutes ago ***

The Five Generals knelt in reverence as their Prince returned from the Hall of Heroes, something that would be considered only a fairy tale but Kaineng was not a normal humanoid being. Born under the light of their Lord Divine to guide their people into surviving the end times, the Prince had long since transcended the mortal coil of even the greatest men of legend.

The Prince's imposing figure slowly descended from the Divine Realm as he calmly walked towards his throne.

"Rise, my friends. We have an important matter to discuss." Kaineng said as he took his ornamented seat.

The Generals did as told, standing formally as characters of their position typically do. But one of them, Fyra the Crimson, could not resist to inquiry their Prince on his visit to the Divine Realm.

"My Prince, if I may, what was the reason our Lord invited you to his domain?" Her voice was tinted with envy and for the reason all present in the room expected. Fyra was a young moon elf barely a hundred years of age yet she has already become one of the greatest paladin-knights of the Celestial City. But her adoration for their Lord Divine went well beyond pious devotion. The elf's pale cheeks were almost as flushed as her crimson colored hair and her pale violet eyes were burning with jealousy.

The Prince chuckled at his youngest general's antics, but chose to answer despite her unwanton behavior since the movement of their world seems to be shifting anew.

"Honestly, I am not completely sure why my presence was required. I did not do much on the other side and came back almost immediately. But what appears to have happened - the world we were in, mayhaps all of YGGDRASIL, has just suffered the fate of the Ragnarok." There was an audible hush to the Prince's words.

"But I believe our Lord managed to save us and has transported this fair isle to a new world to escape the calamity." The Generals widened their eyes as they looked upon each other. The elves did feel some small shift in their surroundings but nothing to suggest something the likes of the *end of the world* had occurred. Surely they would all be dead if not for their Lord Divine who has saved them yet again from certain doom, and given their people another chance to live on.

"But we not yet know the nature of this world and so our Lord simply informed me of what had just occurred and suggested I return to my charge." The Prince looked pointedly at Alluin the Azure, the wizened general in command of the Rearguard. Also under his command is the Owl Knights.

"Lin, have the Bravo team scout outside our island's perimeter. Tell them to try and 'not' engage any natives in combat but only to be on the lookout. If the three meet any resistance, they are to use the sacred beasts to make a hasty retreat." The Azure nodded to the Prince's accentuation of the word *not* in his command.

"Our first objective is to know what we are dealing with here, even if it is nothing at all. Explain they can look for any sign of civilization and try to make contact but explain their own safety is paramount before their mission." Lin nodded once more to the orders and excused himself from the High Command.

Not long after the Azure left, a loud ruckus could be heard echoing through the castle halls before a wall sentry, who rushed his way through the castle guard of golem knights, collapsed on all fours in his exhaustion before the Prince and his generals.

"My Prince, please forgive this intrusion but I was chosen by the commander to tell... ehmm... the golems... hemmm" The poor elf was completely out of breath and visibly stressed from having to dodge his way through the golems which guard the castle's grounds. And that was probably after sprinting all the way here (a considerable distance in miles). It probably counted as a miracle that the sentry only doubled over and still had all his limbs in tact.

Kaineng immediately stood up from the throne and raised his right hand to his temple, his [Message] for the castle guard to stand down being sent to its golem defenders.

Kaineng then used a recovery spell upon the breathless elf to help alleviate his pain and fatigue before saying, "Do calm down, soldier. And please tell us what is the matter?" The Prince already had an inkling of the reason for this visit before four others came barging into the throne room and collapsing in their exhaustion as well. The remaining four generals in the room found these sentries' behavior a bit unseemly for their noble order but held their tongues knowing this was an uncommon situation.

"I-It's the landscape, my Prince. B-beyond the walls… it's completely different! There is no more mist in the sky." The sentry was explaining it all in a panic but his words were clear enough. The growing crowd in the room could only listen with bated breath to his next descriptions. "The black horizon, the Edge of Divinity, it is all gone. Even the island was grounded. W-we are atop some forested region but we can't make head or tails of our position relative to... well, anything. It seems that we've all been teleported to somewhere else!" The sentry said the last line while making wild motions with his arms.

The Prince made a movement to appease everyone now present in the room as the commotion with the sentries drew in a larger crowd with many castle attendants, "Yes, thank you soldier. We are aware of this recent event and be assured we are trying to restore normalcy to the lives of our people - in fact, there will be official announcements addressing these current circumstances with a couple days' time. However, I will need you to go back to the Walls and alert your commanders to raise the level of security to a Code Black. Now go, but please... don't overexert yourselves." He dismissed the five sentries, whom bowed and excused themselves as they left the throne room with new orders.

The rest of the generals turned again towards their Prince, to which he raised a brow and stated simply, "Well? Are you waiting for direct orders here? This is a Code Black. We need to be fully prepared in case something pounces on us. Go back to your squads and prepare them for action. Now, move. You are dismissed." The generals saluted and got to their assignments.

Kaineng exhaled as he sat back down on the marbled throne. His last dismissal had sent not only the generals but the castle attendants into a small hurry. Various scenarios were running through his mind. Hopefully where they landed was in presence of non-hostiles, or better yet in an abandoned landscape for the best case scenario. He breathed in again before resting the fingers of his right hand again on his temple to communicate with his Lord Father via [Message].

...

["... and I believe it to be appropriate to let the Tel-Quessir know of this, lest unrest spill onto the streets throughout the Celestial City. I think it would be best if they hear it from you, my Lord. That way, most of their worries would vanish immediately. I know it is an unreasonable request, but please at least consider it."]

["Thank you for your report, my Prince. I will consider this proposition. And please... keep me updated on your findings. I wouldn't want anything to befall any of you - you are all my children, after all."]

Kaineng was deeply moved by his Lord's caring words, and promised to do as he said.

In just that short span of time, requests for meetings had already piled up. Speakers from the heads of the Noble Houses were now showing up on the castle grounds practically demanding the herald to see the Prince immediately. They want answers for this *disturbance*. Then he started getting Messages from members of the Clanhalls and even the druid circles.

Kaineng could only sigh. It was at times a ginormous headache but the Prince would always remember: he was his Father's son and THIS was his charge, to guide these elves to survive the end times.

*** a couple hours later ***

The Cathedral - the one and only house of worship in the entire metropolis of the Celestial City. It was an impressive and colossal structure made of stones too big for any mortal man to move around, let alone use to build which denotes the divine nature behind its construction.

Its high reaching vaulted ceilings were adorned with the tales of Creation and the Departure, alongside the foretelling of the Voidance, were sustained by similarly decorated pillars and walls, the latter also bearing several enormous windows of colored glass, lighting the extremely spacious interior perfectly without any kind of penumbra setting inside.

Many depictions of angels were scattered all throughout of the building, from paintings and bas-reliefs resting at the top of columns to the sculpture of giant angelic wings at the far side of the chamber, in the altar where the leaders of the faith stood.

The High Priest Vermond was concerned. Many of his people had come to him or his colleagues in the past few hours, visibly distraught. It appears that the Edge of Divinity and the black horizon that laid before the city disappeared (without anyone noticing). He, himself, had honestly not to react. Some were asking if the Ragnarok was nigh, to which he could give no concrete answer.

But then a divine [Message] had reached him - the Lord Divine himself was speaking to him! He had requested his High Priest do everything in his power so the most people possible could enter the sacred halls to hear an important announcement.

There had been no records of anything similar ever happening, save for the Prince himself, to ever hear the voice of their Divine. So he may be the first moon elf alive to be witness! Vermond was so happy he could have died at that moment and been completely at peace. But his Lord had made a request of him and he would be damned to fail Him now. Instantly, he held a small gathering of the priesthood to have them pass on this news to any and all pedestrians passing in front of the Cathedral, and ordered for the Silver Bells to be rung thrice. And the news spread like wildfire.

In the span of less than half an hour the great halls were bursting with elves, almost a third of the city's entire population stood within the Cathedral. An even larger crowd was gathered on the grand staircase leading up to the Cathedral's doors. The only few souls that were not present here were those with garrison duties like the City Watch or the sentinels of the great ziggurats or the castle attendants of Highcrown.

Everyone looked in the least, slightly troubled, no doubt news of the 'situation' had reached most if not all of the island dwellers by now, but everyone was respectful of the Faith so no one muttered a word.

But inside the Cathedral, a blinding light appeared which seemed to illuminate the upper reaches. As one, everyone lifted their heads to see this never before seen occurrence until they all realized what, or more accurately, who they were looking at. Then like a human wave, all witnesses from the most important noble to the most humble plebeian, adopted a praying position, their faces facing the floor.

Lord Serra knew that he had designed everything in here, even to how the NPCs would act in the presence of a *providence* but to see it happen outside of text was the most strange and uncomfortable feeling, even if his interactions with other NPCs that had gained sentience up to this point had amounted to four. To see more than a few thousand prostrated before his geeky self was beyond words.

This was a risky move to be sure – if he screws the pooch here, the NPCs may turn on him, and then what. To prepare for such a contingency, he was holding his guild weapon as if to show himself at his fullest capacity and authority. Serra had also activated several racial skills to make himself appear more *divine* to the natives but he was also prepared to teleport out of there should the situation prove awry. His wingspan behind him was the most strange and wonderful feeling as he hovered over the masses.

I should have started with a smaller crowd... but he wanted to get this done in one fell swoop because Lord Serra did not yet trust himself to stay in character over a longer period of time.

The Seraph looked at the gathered crowd and let out a small breath to calm his nerves as practically the whole civilian population of the Celestial City was on these grounds. Even outside the Cathedral, a projection of His image was displayed before the kneeling masses. But seeing as no one in the multitude made a move indicating aggression, he continued on to his secondary objective, to give a speech to calm the populace. Serra was surprised to find that even the city spawns had gained a large degree of sentience, outside the names and family structure he had set aside for them. It was as if they had always been 'real' people (elves no less), whom less than two hours ago had been nothing more than pieces of digital code. Another odd thing he noticed was these elf people were greater varied in age and appearance when compared to their in-game versions. Some were elders, few were children, but most were adults in the prime of their youth. But Serra was shocked to see one pretty elf girl in a pregnant state, as that was an in-game impossibility.

So how did all *that* occur. More questions arose but trying to find answers to them will have to wait.

"Please. Raise your heads, children of the stars." As one, everyone inside and outside, whipped their heads up so fast that it sounded like a sonic boom. All of them held expressions of open adoration with many in tears of joy, to which Lord Serra sweatdropped. Thankfully no one else could see this due to the brightness of his [Holy Aura].

"I have heard of your worries, and I am here to assure you that our world has not yet met its doom..." at that many of the gathered sighed in relief before Serra continued, "because it already did," with now everyone's breath frozen in their bodies. "The realm of Alfheimr and perhaps all of YGGDRASIL has just suffered the fate of the Ragnarok."

Soft cries rang out through the Cathedral before he quickly added in his most confident tone, "But fear not, children of the stars, for this fair isle has escaped that calamity. We are not within the confines of YGGDRASIL anymore." Breathless voices could now be heard.

And so Lord Serra finished with his right arm extending in an open gesture, "This is a brand new world and one that is unlikely to be 'ended' anytime soon. So lest not your hearts be troubled and continue your lives as before." And with a final blessing, the seraph used his guild weapon to teleport to his innermost chamber before he succumbed to a mild panic attack.

But the air left behind in his wake was in a heated excitement. Praises to the Lord Divine were shouted throughout the Cathedral grounds, moon elves all throughout the Celestial City were spreading the new gospel. All their worry was evaporated as if it had not been in the first place.

The High Priest Vermond could understand their relief for he too was basking in the glow of their Divine's providence. So he would not chastise these loud outbursts within the Cathedral's halls. He would tell them to take it outside, in another thirty minutes.

*** a hour before ***

In the western most part of the Celestial City and in the district south of the Cathedral, stood a fortress complex that consisted of two towered keeps that were fused with an abundance of dedicated structures dedicated to a garrison, armory, a medical wing, mess hall, latrines, and even silos large space storage. All these imposing buildings were made from the finest stonework around where one could not fit even the thinnest blade between its stones. It was nothing short of 'unconquerable' by normal ways and means.

This structure, the City Barracks held the greatest portion of the island's overall defensive capabilities outside of the elite guard of the City Watch and the defenders of Highcrown itself. One keep was dedicated as the headquarters of their military's two main branches: the Paladin's Order and the Ranger's Order. While they may not have been the strongest troops of the isle, they were an effective and unyielding combat force. The second keep held the offices of the elite troops: the Heavy Knights and the Ranger Lords. However the chambers of the Azure and Emerald also laid within these walls.

In the Azure's atrium, General Alluin was just finishing up giving the Bravo team the orders for their first assignment in this new world. The Bravo team were three members hailing from the Paladin or Ranger orders but had been blessed with a talent to ride one of the Lord Divine's fifteen owl griffons, or sacred beasts. They were part of the chosen airguard, the Owl Knights, to defend against outside threats against the island from above. Dragons were a hated enemy of the Tel-Quessir and a common sight in the Edge of Divinity so the High Command made sure their kingdom would be better protected to a future menace they posed. Various ballista called Bolt Throwers could be found all over the island, capable of firing lances faster than most creatures could fly which would cut through most dragon's hides like butter. Perhaps an elder dragon or some ancient creature that could fly might fare better enough to assault the island but only then they would have to contend with the air assaults of the fifteen Owl Knights and the two lv.100 elder griffons of the Rearguard.

However the Bravo team was a special wing that specialized in scouting as well as air defense. The three and their steeds held many experiences throughout the nine worlds of YGGDRASIL.

"... and remember, Captain. The first sign of things turning sour, you are to retreat and report on the enemy composition." The Azure said sternly, not leaving any room for disagreement. "No heroics, we do *not* need you to be buried before we know what we are dealing with," placing strict emphasis on the word not.

Alluin sometimes regretted his choice of this 'boy' rising to the position of his Field Captain. Yes, he was an exceedingly talented swordsman who held a strong bond with his partner, but the youth was rash and had a penchant for pulling off stupid 'heroical' stunts in the most inopportune of times. The old general blamed the Captain's upbringing on his noble house who bestowed him a very misguided view of warfare being more in the fantastical than its often hard practical nature.

But hopefully the Azure's best wingman sensed his attitude and would act accordingly. This was a mission that might shape the course of the Celestial City and all its inhabitants.

"Yessir!" Captain Theodas saluted, face serious and posture firm. Alluin gave the three one last order to prepare posthaste, the mission being critical, and so the Bravo team left for the Aviary to get their partners.

Theodas was born in one of the great houses of the noble lines, a house usually dedicated to commerce rather than wartime. But ever since he was little, young Theodas always dreamt of being part of the elite units of the elf metropolis. Then he was touched by their God. The Lord Divine himself would discover he had a latent talent in the Tamer class and had selected him to bond to the last unclaimed owl griffon within the Aviary. Singled out by their savior, the young elf was quickly moved to one of the Barracks dormitories where he was placed under the strict tutelage of Hanya Hardback, their master-at-arms. He was a ranger who excelled with the sword (not the bow) and his unique skills allowed him to quickly go up the ranks.

And the Lord Divine's selection proved to be true as Theodas's skills as a Tamer allowed him to form an incredible bond with his sacred beast, who he named Bucky. After the two proved themselves in a risky adventure, involving a flight of dragons in Midgard, he rose to a prominent position within the City Barracks. It would not be long after that when Theodas became the left hand of Alluin the Azure – acquiring his rank at an age that what was considered young even by human standards.

Now his time to shine has come again, but the young captain had to actively restrain himself from being all giddy in front of the Azure and maintain his bearing among his cohorts.

The first was his best friend, being near of age, when he arrived at the City Barracks. Ellwyn was a ranger who was a superb shot with his longbow and had the sharpest eye among the Owl Knights. The last member of their team was originally part of the Paladin's Order but had bonded to one of the sacred beasts, and quite by accident. Silvarr was well versed in two areas of divine casting and although his tier limit was 4th, he had the widest range of support spells among those who were also riders. The older moon elf was the most sensible of the group and helped balance the younger two's reckless tendencies.

All in all, they had a solid team composition without counting their sacred beasts, very intelligent owl griffons capable of druid spells of the 5th tier. Captain Theodas felt confident their mission would go without a hitch as the only thing that could possibly give their combined number trouble is a tango with an elder dragon, which may not be common around these parts. Or maybe a small army of demiliches but that too was an unlikely encounter.

Inside the Aviary, the Bravo team had just finished equipping into their gear and were saddled on their partners. Theodas's own was a male with the coloring of a red barn owl, and Bucky's rider could boast his had the largest wingspan being only dwarfed by their elderkin. But unlike them, his owl griffon's demeanor was of a calm nature with an astute sense of mind, even among his peers.

Ellwyn was astride his snowy steed with her many black-tipped feathers and Silvarr upon his owl griffon with his eagle coloring. They were all gorgeous beasts and contrasted from their traditional griffon counterparts. Normal griffons were half a eagle in the front and half a lion in the back. But the owl griffons had paws in the front and back. They were also considerably bigger being more in size to a fenrir mob found in the YGGDRASIL overworld. And despite their larger stature, they were also swifter in the air, being able to outmaneuver most adult dragons with ease and could soar for long periods of time without rest. And they were quite resilient and ruthless when the circumstance demanded it, being able to take alot of damage while dishing it out with growing ferocity.

After a brief check to make sure they were in good order, the three riders and their steeds were off from the Aviary and high in the air, the always majestic view of the Celestial City beneath them. The view always gave Theodas a sense of wonder and liberation, as though the whole word was within reach. However they had a job to do. As ordered, the three of them first began to encircle the island, which could be seen from their vantage having had landed in a densely forested region not unlike any world or area of YGGDRASIL the riders recognized.

It took them almost two hours to slowly circle around its some 30 mile radius looking for any deviation that could prove to be a future issue, but the three riders agreed there was none. Theodas messaged the Azure of their findings of no hot spots or areas of concern, reporting that the island seemed raised about 300 feet on top the forest's surface with the only creatures of note in its vicinity that could have any hostile nature were a couple packs of dire wolves. The young captain even noted the sky in this new setting never seemed to change the further they went away from the borderline as if it was similar to that of Midgard.

["... in some distance west away from the forest, Ellwyn spotted a landscape of three hills. It could be home to a more varied population of life than the typical kind of critters we are picking up in this forest. But we don't see any sign of mortal civilization in our general proximity. Just a really dense and large woodland."] Theodas informed his superior general.

["Then you may proceed west to scout those hills but remain high enough to avoid being seen by the naked eye."] The Azure came back.

["Yessir!"]

["And report back in 20 minutes, even if you do not find anything there."] The Azure added before cutting off the Message.

Theodas then used [Message] to communicated to his teammates their next task. Their owl griffon partners rode a single draft all the way to these hills from the forest's edge. The trip out to the hills took a good fifteen minutes bringing them some 15 miles from the forest's edge and over their destination. Still soaring high over the hilly region, the three spotted a series of four hamlets nestled within the hills' valleys stretched over a couple square miles. But a couple Sensing spells gave Theodas no sign of life present below...

But then the Captain picked up a [Message] request from Ellywn. ["No trace of presence but I can tell from up here these villages are in good order. I think it was only recently abandoned."]

["Though we can't be for certain, right."] Theodas countered.

["Yes, Taichan. But they look like 'human' structures. Perhaps it is worth pursuing?"] His ranger friend questioned.

["Let's report this first, Ell-san."]

His [Message] spell to the Azure took longer to reach, due to the distance now between them. Almost ten seconds before it connected ["I'm here, report."]

["Sir, we found what could be a small human settlement. Ellwyn thinks it was recently evacuated, so maybe, a possible sign of..."] Theodas could not find the right words to say, "can we chase this down?"

So he was surprised to hear this without asking, ["Proceed with caution, report back in 20 minutes unless you find something of note."]

["Yessir."] And the connection was ended.

Theodas contacted Ellwyn and Silvarr through [Message] to tell them to descend and all three owl griffons landed their riders in a clearing inside the hamlet. After casting another round of Sensing spells, where nothing came up, Ellwyn started to use his Tracking skill. It barely took a couple minutes before the elf pulled up pointing in a direction west and north from their relative position.

Tracking is a common ranger skill, all three of them had it, but Ellwyn's was by far the most acute and effective for locating targets. "They are definitely humans," Ellwyn stated then asked Theodas, "Taichan, shall we send the scouts out ahead?"

"Sure thing," seeing no reason why not. All three riders raised their caster hand towards the direction Ellwyn's Tracking skill pointed them, though each was in a slightly different angle to better cover more ground.

"[Raven's Eye]!" three voices said in unison as three crows with a third eye on their forehead materialized out of thin air and raced high in the direction their hands were pointed. This a 3rd Tier spell in the druid tree that allows for the summon a temporary but specific familiar that can do an assortment of things. One can even use the familiar as a means to communicate over long distances. However its summoned time is limited to one hour unless a Permanency buff was placed on it. But since those are usually arcane magics of the 6th tier, the riders were stuck with its regular variant.

The Tracking skill itself is best used when being channeled and on a level surface so it was virtually useless when used high up in the air. Thus the raven scouts act as another pair of eyes when scouting for these targets in the wind. Plus they will be flying in a slightly different angle to their ravens so this strategy will cover four wide arcs.

But the next hour proved to be rather fruitless as none of the routes came across anything of note. Just two abandoned villages, one with a large stone manse. After his fifth report to the Azure, the sun was starting to set, the sky in the distance bathed in an orange glow. It was a beautiful sight high in the sky with the sacred beasts.

However another thirty minutes passed without any luck. Just as Theodas was about to have them all turn and head back home, Ellwyn spotted something in the far distance.

["Taichan, I see some kind of stone mill. It is a building with a silo."]

["Like a farm?"] Theodas asked.

["Kind of. It is more of a big granary. I might be seeing walls but it still too far out even with my Keen Sight active. It is atleast 10 miles out."]

["Well let us see if it is abandoned."] as Theodas informed Silvarr of their third's discovery.

But five miles out, each of the elves could better make out it being a walled up village (of a sort). It had an outer gate mostly made of piled rocks and a tall wooden fence with tripwire that circled the granary. Most of the buildings were small houses of wood and mortar with the mill being the only structure made entirely of stone and clumsily made at that. Two miles out and the amount of people there became visible.

Having their mounts pull up and slow their approaching speed, Theodas quickly opened a [Message] to the Azure. This time it took nearly two minutes for the contact to occur. ["Yes Captain, report."]

After telling his superior what they had found, ["How far out are you? What is your position now?"] were his first questions.

["About some 40 miles outside the forest line, west and some north."] he replied back.

["Okay listen, scout this place first and take note of its inhabitants. If they prove to be likely non-hostile, make contact and see if you can understand them. If so, try asking about any further civilization, if any. If not, double back immediately and we'll send a mage team out to communicate with them."]

["Roger that."]

["And do be cautious."] the general said before the connection broke.

["Yessir."] What else could the young captain say. It was as if the Azure was expecting Theodas to make leave of his good sense here.

The sun was lower on the horizon as they came upon the small settlement and from the long vantage, the riders could see this mill is hosting a larger population of humans than it should. There were atleast 800 people gathered there with only twelve buildings. In fact now that they were this close, they could make out an encampment. Ellwyn spotted uniform plate among some of the humans but most seemed to be various villagers wearing nothing but cloths. However with an evening fog starting to brew over into the area, the time to approach was now.

They had been scouting this perimeter for ten minutes until Theodas decided on a plan. He and Silvarr would appeal to these locals as recluses from a small forest kingdom in the woodland the Celestial City is now atop of. And Ellwyn would remain in the air, just in case. Having all agreed to his predetermined plan, Theodas and Silvarr had their steeds descended a hundred yards away from what looked to be their main encampment to make sure the human guard would see their coming.

In full view, a human crowd gathered when they noticed these majestic owl griffons gliding down to land a safe distance from their mill. But as their two riders dismounted, the crowd went into a panic and hurried off in the opposite direction. Except for the guards who had drawn their weapons and assumed a small battle formation.

Deciding it was still worth a shot to make contact, Theodas took off his helmet so the defenders could see his face to which many of the guard breathed out and relaxed moderately. Only two in their company still seemed on high alert but their weapons were lowered slightly. Feeling it was safer to go closer, he and Silvarr made their way (slowly) towards the mill with their owl griffons at their backs.

In a voice barely above a whisper, Theodas asked his elf companion, "Are you fluent in another human language but the Common?" Apparently there were a few lost languages in the Midgard realm of old but their use was long outmoded.

His low voice, slightly muffled by his helm's faceguard, answered, "Not fluent but I've heard a bit of the old Latin tongue to recognize it."

When both sides were about 20 yards apart, the humans suddenly tensed and took backward steps instead of continuing on. The answer was obvious enough as Theodas had Bucky sit in standby just as Silvarr did for his mount. Then raising his right hand in a hail, Theodas took a couple steps forward while whispering to Silvarr to remain a couple feet back from his position. Two of the human guard, dressed in mail chain and sporting cap shaped helmets, also raised their hand in approach.

The two were a tad shorter than Theodas himself but had stouts builds clearly developed from training with weapons for many years. The humans were still looked at their owl griffins with suspicion, to which their steeds appeared to take some offense as they tilted their heads at an angle in a comical gesture.

"You're an elf." It was the first thing out of the older of the two's mouth. Theodas was literally being pointed at but thankfully, he could understood the veteran looking gruff as he was speaking in the Common tongue. This would help make any exchange of words that the much easier.

The two humans exchanged glances and were still looking at him in very a bizarre way.

"Yes. I am one of the Tel-Quessir. Theodas is my name, good sir," as he gave the humans a half bow. "Might I inquire to whom I am speaking to?" The captain was trying to get the two off their guard with basic pleasantries. Instead of a direct answer though, Theodas got...

"I am the Vice-Captain of the Queen's Royal Guard. I have not seen that coat of arms on your cloth nor those winged creatures of yours. They look unlike any griffin I have ever heard about." The human was confused. Theodas knew enough to know this was one of those people who would hardly speak his mind unless he was sure of who he was talking to. But this guy said he was a second in a royal guard, so that means there is/are kingdoms out there.

"And did you say Tel-Quassar? Never heard of that country before. Are you noble knights from there?" More questions but...

"Kind of sir. We are the Owl Knights in the service of the... Tel-Quessir." The captain was about to say Celestial City but stopped short because he did not want to add another name into this mixed bag. "It means 'star child' in the Elder tongue. Technically, we are 'moon elves' sir." Thinking fast he added, "To be honest, we are from a forest kingdom to the east of here who find ourselves recently... out of place. We have come to this village here because it is the first occupied settlement we have come across. This is the first contact our people have made with anyone on the outside," Theodas finished, trying to plainly state their case in the simplest way he could think of.

But for some reason, this alarmed the two humans as they flinched back to look at each other than back at him. The Vice-Captain's face was in a scowl before stating, "Nonsense."

Theodas could feel Silvarr shift his position in response.

"Judging by your actions thus far, you don't seem to be here to pillage us but the only ones alive in THAT forest are the beastmen. Your kind cannot be from there. They would have feasted on you long ago." The Vice-Captain's face had settled into a frown. "Who are you really? More 'aid' from the Theocracy? I thought they hated elves."

Theodas was at a loss how to continue this conversation and it not end up on a sour note but he still had to try while the human was still willing to speak to him. But beast-men and Theocracy? Their team had scouted probably half that forest and their scans did not detect any humanoid or demi-human creature present.

"Please sir, I am speaking true. And we are not affiliated to any theocracy but our own Faith. But we do hail from the great forest east of our position. And I fear we don't know of these beast-men... you are referring to." The two humans looked shocked when Theodas paused over the word 'beastmen' but he could not picture a reason behind their reactions. "We did not see anything of the sort when we scanned our own island's perimeter."

"Island!?" The Vice-Captain exclaimed in shock. "You said you hailed from the forest."

"Yes yes..." Theodas quickly countered. "But our island is now within that forest."

"That doesn't make any sense." That retort came from the squeaky voice of the Vice-Captain's companion. Then he widely looked about before telling his superior in a quicker pitched tone, "Captain, maybe they are working for *them*."

The Vice-Captain seemed to consider it but only for a moment before shaking his head. "An unlikely proposition, Guston. They may not be human but I doubt the beastmen would not have tried to eat these fellows by now."

Eat? Theodas was so confused now. There was no hostile aura all throughout that forest save for the dire wolves. Or perhaps whatever kingdom these man-eating beastmen came from is under the island rock of the Celestial City now? Was that possible?

"Truly, I fear we do not know what you are talking about with these 'beastmen', good sir." The elf captain said warily before adding, "Something that dangerous would not have escaped our earlier reconnaissance."

Just as the Vice-Captain was about to reply, two cries could be heard from above. Both were coming from Ellwyn and his sacred beast as they were descending upon the clearing. The humans immediately pulled out their weapons and began a slow retreat just as more of their guardsmen came rushing to their side. The owl griffons in the rear immediately sprang into action, settling in an attack pose themselves while inching closer to their riders. Silvarr was brandishing his own weapon set - a morningstar and buckler shield.

In one swift motion, the elf ranger dismounted and landed a mere foot before his snowy owl griffon touched down. Ellwyn quickly rushed up to Theodas, completely ignoring the human's growing number and their orders to stand down and surrender.

"What are you doing, Ellwyn. Now..."

"No time taichan," the elf broke in a quick voice but loud enough to be heard by the human assembly. "There is a giant horde of beast-like creatures on the move here, their number..." Ellwyn broke off when shouts of indignation were heard from some of the humans in their formation.

"I knew it," came again the squeaky voice. "They led them here to kill us and eat us like jerky." The human's sword was visibly shaking as he pointed it at the three elves and their sacred beasts in accusation.

Theodas could see this group of humans looked entirely at their wits' end before asking Ellwyn, "How many?"

"Atleast four thousand!" A round of audible gasps could be heard from the human formation to Ellwyn's assessment.

The elves knew there were barely a hundred defenders here. It would be a slaughter.

"How in Hades did we not see any of this from on high?" came Silvarr's query.

"The fog covered them. They came west of our position and they all seem to be skirmishers. No mounts or supply line. Plus they are moving like beasts so they are covering alot of ground. I estimate they are running 32 kilometers an hour. They will be on this little town within 10 minutes."

Theodas looked back at the human group to see them in a locked formation, ready to jump at the minimum sign of hostility. Putting back on his helmet, the young captain had to come to a decision. Technically speaking, this counted as a sign to retreat - possible battle with an opposition of man-eating creatures while being greatly outnumbered. But his sense of honor could not accept leaving these humans to their slaughter.

And looking back to his fellow Bravo teammates, their eyes were also shining with resolve. Even their sacred beasts could sense the situation at hand, their posture tall and proud to face the coming enemy.

"What is their overall level?" Theodas asked of Ellwyn.

"Average line - 10, maybe a few standouts." The elf came back. "But they are so many," he stressed.

The young captain took a single glance at Silvarr to see him nod his head. The only reason Theodas did not signal the retreat was because he felt *they* had a 'chance' to win this.

"We need to set up some barriers," Theodas telling the two, having already come to a decision. The other two elves shouted "Hai!" before jumping onto the back of their steeds to make good on the task.

Theodas got back onto Bucky and approached the humans who clearly overheard their conversation just now. Even still their lines nearly broke as the owl griffon approached their position.

"Listen, if you don't believe me that's fine. But *we* will try to help mediate this situation." The Vice-Captain looked relieved as though he was very open to the idea of their aid for the coming conflict. That was progress on 'that' front atleast.

"Look - there is no negotiating with them," came another guardsman's voice. "They want us in their belly and they are not going to stop because three fancy elves riding magic steeds asked them to."

"Then we need to prepare for their ambush," came the fancy elf's voice in a loud commanding tone. This seemed to jolt the humans into action. The Vice-Captain looked to his side at the squeaky-voiced one. A few words were exchanged before he hurried off to round up as many of the villagers as he could. Soon after, the rest of the human brigade followed suit.

Sounds of desperate cries started to echo throughout the village as the various townfolk realized what was soon to occur. Then despair ensued when the bestial roars came from the distance. The human's strategy seemed to be housing the non-combatants in the stone silo structure while forming battle lines before it.

That was as good a spot as any to make a last stand and Theodas began to set up some [Entanglement] traps in the area. Against high level opponents this would be a waste of mana but these magic vines might be able to pin down many of these low level beastmen, although it may still prove to be a small impediment against the some thousand of their number. Theodas also had Bucky use [Grand Column], each 3rd tier cast creating three 25 foot tall pillars to serve as a physical barrier around the mill and force combat into a more open chokepoint. It cost his sacred beast more than half his mana pool to raise this many pillars but it was a necessary precaution against the coming foe.

The human lines could only gawk in awe at the elf captain and his magic steed's preparations.

Barely five minutes later, Ellwyn and Silvarr made their way back on their mounts.

"Taichan - they are about two miles away from us now and moving fast."

Without speaking, Theodas immediately signaled for Ellwyn to secure a spot on top of the silo for better sniping position. His fighting skills were more effective from afar while his snowy owl griffon remained behind as a frontliner. Drawing out his curved longblade, the young captain took one last look around at their current defensive formation trying to find any flaw that could be exploited.

"We each set up about a couple dozen [Entanglement] and [Pitfall] traps out there," began the calm voice of Silvarr before a small series of explosions were sounded followed by loud screeches and sparks of fire flashing in the distance.

"[Flame Trap]s too." Even with his full plated helm on, Theodas knew the older elf was smirking. But those were the signal these beastmen would very soon be upon them.

"How much mana do you have left?" Theodas asked the ranger-paladin.

"Over half still," came his answer, "but our sacred beasts are nearly full. We didn't have them use any of their magics yet."

This was a great thing to hear as the owl griffons were actually a fair bit stronger than their own riders. While Bucky was well under half his true fighting capability, the other two would be starting off at their maximum. *They* were the trump card of their defense. The two elves and the human formation behind them just needed to hold the middle portion of the line.

"Shall we use full enhancements?" Theodas really wanted to say "yes" to his comrade but they were going to have to save as much of their remaining mana for healing spells, for this could end up being a drawn out contest. And the elf captain told Silvarr such before saying...

"Just use your [Shield of Faith]. I'll handle [Stoneskin]." Both were defensive spells of the 3rd and 4th tier, though Theodas's own 4th tier cast was inferior to the paladin's. Five of each were soon casted upon the members of their point position. Ellwyn's own sacred beast took the initiative to cast a [Lesser Mark of the Wild] upon the two elves, both of whom looked back at the ranger to see him give them the thumbs up. This druid spell of the 4th tier gave a humanoid a physical stat boost near that of a ferocious beast, in this case a saberfang. Thus the owl griffons themselves could not be the beneficiary of such an enhancement.

The elf captain did not hold any rank over the human regiment of some 100 guards behind them but he could not help but shout orders to them as well. The more these humans knew of their defense tactics, the better ALL would be able to survive this.

"Me and my partner here will be the point and our sacred beasts will guard our flanks in this chokepoint. Just focus on holding your backline against any beastman that manages to get past us."

The Vice-Captain signaled his affirmative as a single line of thirty or so troops separated from the main body and moved into a small gap behind their own position. Theodas threw him a nod before casting spells of [Lesser Strength], [Lesser Dexterity], and [Stoneskin] upon his form before Ellwyn's sacred beast casted her own buff to further augment him.

"Incredible," the human whispered as the strange magics flowed throughout his body, making the knight stronger now than he ever was.

The Vice-Captain felt like a soldier of 20 levels to Theodas so having another combatant on their side almost ten levels higher than their average opponent would only improve their chances to survive this.

It was a solid formation. Barely ten yards separated the frontline from its back and the three beasts guarded the flank of their position. Bucky was on their right with the other two guarding the larger left opening. If their opponent could breach their backs, then this formation would fall apart but the thick pillars of stone summoned were well placed and left little finger space around the stone mill. This would force any intruder to come up the small crossing gaps in its center which was still impeded with the [Entanglement] traps before it.

But the elves also knew the effect of [Grand Column] would only last for 20 to 30 minutes (unless destroyed or magically dispelled) so they had to kill as many beastmen as possible to either force them into a tactical retreat or reduce their number enough so the opposing force becomes more easily handled in an open setting.

Hopefully they can just intimidate these beast-folk into leaving. Their many a sound preceded their coming: various animal sounds of cries, calls, grunts, screeches, and even cheers as the beastmen horde continued to sludge their way through the various traps the elves had placed. Eventually the first couple hundred of them could be seen through the gaps of the stone pillars. Their silhouettes were something vaguely resembling humanoid beings but that ended there. Most of the creatures looked to be a varied race of animal walking upright, similar to the demi-human tribes found in YGGDRASIL. Although these looked like their more savage cousins wearing crude-looking armors with some carrying large weapons.

Theodas was relieved to feel through his Sense skill that none of these beastmen could meet a lv.40 threshold, let alone 30. It would be a small task for any in his company to easily take them on one by one, but their growing number now over a thousand, did give him pause for thought. Most of the ones in the front Theodas could tell wore some of the brunt of their traps as singed furs spotted their hides and their legs and abdomen regions were lashed. The beastmen seemed puzzled by their defensive formation, especially eying the pillars as some swung their heavy weapons upon them only for them to bounce cleanly off while others tried to jump or claw their way up only to find this physical impediment unyielding to both.

This was another relief for the elf captain as it does not seem these beast warriors bore 'magical' weaponry as baseline attacks and non-magical weapons would get automatically repelled by [Grand Column]. And no magic spells were being used on their side of the field which meant the likelihood of a dispel effect happening was very slim.

We might have the advantage here! Theodas thought to himself, a faint smile of his now showing. But that smile was lost when he noticed the looks bared on these animals' faces. It was that of a primal stalker, completely arrogant of their hunt's outcome. Their movements back and forth bled with confidence as if they were merely playing with their food.

The first odd hundred of them started entering through the gaping cracks forming a group nearing 300 before their last line. There was just simply not enough room for the other thousands to fit. However they were not blindly rushing at them for some strange reason. A big bear-like being whose front was striped with scars pushed his way to the front of the line. He wore no armor but carried a small axe, even for his large size. His brown body looked matted in fur and even his face's piercing blue eyes was masked by it. Through their Sense skill, the elves could feel this was one of their standouts having a level over 20.

Theodas pointed his curved blade towards this leader-looking fellow who he noted did not even flinch at his gesture before saying in his best commander-voice, "State your business here beast-man! What does a large warband such as yours want from a small hamlet such as this?" But soon after asking this, the elf knew his attempt to appear *imposing* looked silly when compared to this towering warbear figure who was flatly igoring him as his gaze was on their sacred beasts.

Theodas was answered by the mocking sounds of laughter coming from the small horde in front of him as well as those still trying to encircle their formation from the [Grand Column] boundary. The big bear himself answered in the Common tongue with a rough voice edged with a mocking tone.

"What do you think, human? How many times do we have to do the same thing until you all finally learn and get into the frying pot the moment we arrive?" More heckling ensued to the leader's taunt as shouts of "Meat, Meat, Meat!" began to chant around them. The human formation began to quiver as panic started to set in. The Vice-Captain turned his head to shout "Steady!" which seemed to snap some resolve back into line.

But the bear-man continued, "But this time you gave some of us a good scare with those paltry traps of yours. You are the game here, ningen." The bear-man beared his teeth in what looked to be a smile towards Theodas but the latter only narrowed his eyes which caused the bear-man to make a scoffing noise.

"Ha, this one here has spunk boys," he continued as more giggling continued around him. "In fact - I have never smelled your like and I wonder how you will taste." The bear-man's tongue was now as if trying to taste the air between them, his mouth starting to drool.

Theodas's response was a quick slashing motion with his blade through the air. This movement was enough to flinch some of their number, and it briefly paused all the heckling before snarling took its place.

"Careful bear-man. Some prey might have more bite than you. Do know your limits."

Booming laughter answered this as anyone could tell the battle was about to begin. The various beastmen inside their encampment stood ready to pounce just as the human's redoubled their tense formation. The owl griffons started to loudly screech their final warning. Silvarr was in an attack stance, his morningstar raised in a holy light.

"HA!" the bear-man said more in annoyance than genuine laughter. "I'm going to take my time chewing on you, human. I was going to give these flying chickens here a chance to join our Beast King's new order but if they seem ready to fight alongside you," his voice now raised to a screaming shout, "then they can die and be eaten alongside you!"

"Charrr..." The bear-man did not get the last syllable out as Ellwyn's arrow nearly took his head off his shoulders before slamming neatly through a row of beastmen behind him, crushing many with its weight. Theodas knew the attack was likely [Power Shot], a ranger maneuver that added a magic quality and blunt damage to a piercing projectile.

There was a short silence of three seconds before the beastmen roared then lunged. The battle was now in full but before the beastmen could get more than two steps in, strikes of lightning and wind - courtesy of the owl griffons - downed their frontal charge and created small openings for the frontline to pick off stragglers. Still there were too many enemies for them to continue to mow down with ease as more and more beastmen continued to rush through the chokepoint and into the fray.

In moments, the frontline was completely swamped in close combat against the hulking (and feral) attackers, with the two elves having a noticeably easier time than the human formation and the owl griffons even more so. In fact many of the beastmen avoided the flanks due to the ferocity of the sacred beasts.

The first five minutes went well for the defenders. The only casualties were only on the beastmen side and morale was pretty high. Theodas noted he could quickly overpower most of their number in one or two slashes but they were so heavily outnumbered that no matter how many beastmen he felled, another one or two was there to take its place. The same went for Silvarr whose Light-infused strikes with his morningstar were downing his opponents in single or double blows. Many of his blunted strikes were even hurling the felled yards in the opposite direction. And from his vantage, Ellwyn was killing most of the charging horde with his arrows backed by his ranger skills.

Even the Vice-Captain had his fair share of kills, leading the human line firm through wave after wave, charge after charge of beastmen. The two elves near him noted his attacks and skills were of a 'nature' they never seen before.

But something Theodas did not account for happened. The bodies of hundreds started to pile up to the point where after every passing minute, their own formation had to take a step or two backwards to avoid losing their solid footing on a beastmen corpse. The three owl griffons negated this disadvantage by simply spreading their wings to glide several feet above the battlefield but the three elves and humans found it more difficult to 'hold the line' as it kept going backwards despite their continued success. The beastmen added to this difficulty by launching themselves through the air in what amounted to suicide jumps to try and break their formation.

It became not just a race against time but a battle of holding their ground within its time frame. Ten more minutes passed and the frontline was now with the ranks of the backline. Corpses were everywhere, thousands, and yet the defenders were still greatly outnumbered. Theodas knew they were still winning this battle of attrition but for how much longer.

Another ten minutes passed and each of the sacred beasts was out of mana, their natural spells of [Thunderbolt] and [Wing Buffet] were no longer flashing in the beastmen ranks, whom were crawling atop the piles of their fellows' corpses to even move. However their air mobility was too great and their steeds switched to their natural [Multiattack] skills to kill the charging horde that just did not seem to stop. Every once in a while, one of the owl griffons would grab a beastman to fling them high into the air to let gravity do the rest.

Five minutes later, the elves could see firsthand the brutality of their adversaries as their battle line had been pushed into the wooden gate, which snapped and buckled under the pressure. Theodas was stuck between the last of the living behind him, the stack of corpses at his feet, and the living beastmen baring down from atop their bodies now just resorting to clawing and biting him in this sea of people. Silvarr had actually been pushed far left of his position and was just as swamped as his captain was. Ellwyn had long run out of arrows and ranger skills and was resorting to projectiles fired from his magic slingshot to down the opposing host. His kill count alone was almost 2000 due to the beastmen not having any ability to reach the elf's high position.

But most of the human frontline had fallen to some wound or to their own exhaustion. The beastmen each time spared no liberty, taking the poor man's body and ripping them apart in a gore of blood and splattered guts in what can only be described as a feeding frenzy. The fact it was happened mid-combat made it only more disgusting to behold. The Vice-Captain was still alive but was pulled back into the backline after taking a fifth blow to his head. Theodas spent most of his mana using healing spells to keep that human standing but now his mana was completely depleted and he had nothing left in the tank to heal even a scratch.

And the elf captain held a score of wounds himself. Thankfully all of the attacks he suffered were buffered by the combination of [Shield of Faith] and [Stoneskin] but after thirty minutes of straight combat, all these 'minor' wounds started to add up. Theodas's body was swimming in a state of fatigue mixed with throbbing pain and in his mind's eye, he can see the Azure berating him for doing *something so stupid*. But the young elf chuckled at its image.

Not long after that, Bucky's wall of [Grand Column]s faded into a magical dust. The remaining thousand still outside its walls were at first taken back by the sight but then all roared as one as their charge began to outflank the surviving number.

It was over. The owl griffons screeching became louder as they dive bombed in and out, killing or maiming dozens at a time with each swoop. But it was still over. There was still just too many of these beastmen.

The new rushing horde, no longer impeded, crashed into the already standing pile causing the inner wall of wood to break as the remainder of the last line fell flat to the ground. Not long after, Theodas lost his helm was pinned under the weight of many a ravenous beastmen trying to gouge him from under his armor plating yet the defensive magics still held strong. But it was just a matter of time before his fate was that of the humans who fell.

Theodas did not regret his decision. Even now. What he did regret was being unable to better protect these humans and his own teammates. Hopefully their sacred beasts would somehow get them off this killing field because he doubts his own will be able to get to him under this pileup. His last Tamer command to Bucky was to try and escape with as many of the Bravo team he could but he felt an emotional burning response from his chosen steed of "You better not die!".

The young elf closed his eyes, waiting, feeling his defenses struggle against the inevitable when-

The world was alight, a blazing sensation all around them.

Opening his eyes, what Theodas saw filled him with awe. All his attackers were gone. Reduced to a golden ash.

And a radiant figure hovered above them all.

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