[hr][h1][i][color=LightYellow][center][i]The Final Moments of YGGDRASIL[/i][/center][/color][/i][/h1] [hr] The holographic clock in Kirishima's field of view ticked closer towards midnight, which was to be the time YGGDRASIL was to be shut down forever. There were several minutes left until the timer reached 0:00:00, where she and everyone else in YGGDRASIL would be forced to logout by the game system. By now, the small handful of Seekers of Fate guild members who agreed to stay behind to join each other in the game's final moments were surely already gathered within the Throne Room of the Palace of Whispers. As the guild's leader, Kirishima had a responsibility to be with her guild members, especially during their final moments. Even if she was only a guild leader by title only, she was still their friend, and them to her. Therefore, it was her responsibility as their friend to be at their side. However, Kirishima was still within the futuristically-styled Avalon Facility, her personalized domain within the Palace of Whispers. She had one other responsibility that she had to take care of before she left for the Throne Room. Behind her, where numerous NPCs of various shapes and appearances, most of which were designed by her own hands and effort. Unlike the human guild members, which would return to the real world after YGGDRASIL's shutdown, each of these creations would simply cease to exist the moment the holographic clock struck midnight. Kirishima could not bear to simply leave them where they stood within the Palace of Whispers without a proper farewell. Although they were artificial creations, Kirishima considered them part of the Seekers of Fate due to the long history and experiences they shared together. Each of these NPCs were unique and reflected upon certain qualities of their creators, therefore, each of these creations deserved their own farewell. One by one, Kirishima issued a verbal order to each of the NPCs gathered behind her to stand upon the teleportation pad laid in the center of the wide room of futuristic holographic displays and high-tech computer consoles. As each NPC stepped upon the pad as ordered, Kirishima said her final farewells, referring to each NPC by their given name. As she touched upon the holographic panel, each NPC was bathed in a shimmering blue light as their bodies were dematerialized by the teleportation device. Eventually, only four NPCs remained, each one towered above Kirishima's head. Each of these NPCs were obviously non-human, mounted upon horses of strange and unique design. These NPCs possessed the title of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, representing four of the Seekers of Fate's strongest NPCs. Unlike any of the other NPCs serving within the Palace of Whispers, each one of the four Horsemen had a unique history that extended before the time the original Seekers set foot upon YGGDRASIL. Kirishima would never forget each of their names and their history. Conquest, the Deliverer of Promised Victory. Conquest was created in the image of the original leader of the Seekers of Fate. The leader of their group from the very first MMO the Seekers were established. His personality settings were designed to reflect upon the righteous and honorable nature of the original guild leader. Next was Famine, the Scourge of Corruption. One could easily feel a strange, eerie aura emanating from him due to his strange design. Out of all the four Horsemen, the design of his character was the most featureless, but at the same time the most intimidating. Famine's personality design was based upon one of the most powerful PVPers in the original Seekers of Fate who was known within the group to complete lose himself in the heat of battle, becoming a "berserker" of sorts who fought against his enemies without any regard to his character's safety. Famine's Karma setting was nearly at the lowest possible value, reflecting upon the vicious and bloodthirsty Seeker he was based upon. Kirishima was silently thankful that Famine was merely an NPC that followed her orders and not a real living being. The third was War, the Blade of Armageddon. Once could describe the Seeker he was based upon as the gruff "tough guy" that never showed any kindness or emotion, but was always loyal and protective of his friends to the very end. He was friends with the Seekers' guild leader in real life and acted as his faithful right hand in every MMO the Seekers played. The fourth and the last was Death, the Harvester of Departed Souls. This last NPC was different from the others as it was the only female within the group of four. The Seeker this NPC was based upon was none other than Kirishima herself. In fact, each of the Four Horsemen's character designs were based upon the four Seeker's characters from their past MMOs, from their character's physical appearances to their weapon of choice. In a way, each of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse represented the long history of the Seekers of Fate. With the exception of Death, they represented long-lost friends that Kirishima would never meet again or have the chance to say their final farewells. [color=8882be][b]"...Goodbye."[/b][/color] Kirishima managed to whisper out loud a single word of farewell as she was completely lost for words in this somber moment. After a short moment of silence, it was then that Kirishima realized that she had been unknowingly hesitating. As the holographic clock ticked closer to midnight, Kirishima commanded the four NPCs to step upon the teleportation pad, then with a final tap upon the holographic panel controlling the teleportation device, sent the Four Horsemen to the Avalon Facility's storage area. With the Avalon Facility now completely void of anyone's presence besides herself, Kirishima lifted the hand carrying her guild ring. [color=8882be][b]"Teleport destination: Throne Room."[/b][/color] --- As the sight of the Avalon Facility's softly glowing holographic panels faded from view and was replaced by the golden lighting reflecting off the Palace of Whisper's halls, Kirishima found herself standing before the grand and lengthy hall leading to the inner chamber of the Throne Room. As she stepped towards the chamber where the last of the Seekers were waiting, Kirishima realized that she was not alone in the hallway as three shadowed figures stood silently before her, motionless. To her left was a female dressed in white cloth and a flowing white cape. It was Mercuria, her first created NPC within the Palace of Whispers. To her right was a cloaked figure dressed in a robe of green. Kirishima recognized the NPC was Gwydion, the human NPC she had created to commemorate the joining of the first non-heteromorphic players into the Seekers of Fate's membership. The sight of the third NPC who stood in the middle immediately sent involuntary shivers down her spine. The female's glowing-red eyes shone brightly within the dimly-lit hallway, illuminating the dried blood that stained the sides of her mouth as well as the front of her long leather jacket. Kirishima stood frozen in her momentarily stunned state, although in her mind she let out a little mental yelp. Kirishima realized that she had neglected to store the NPCs of the Throne Room into the Avalon Facility's storage area. Sighing at her forgetfulness, Kirishima shook her head. It was too late to turn back and store these last few NPCs now. [b][color=8882be]"Mercuria, Gwydion, Erzsebet, follow me."[/color][/b] Kirishima ordered the three NPCs as she walked past them, who then responded by trailing behind her in single file. As Kirishima lead the other NPCs towards the Throne Room, she tried her best to avoid glancing over her shoulder, knowing Erzsebet's glowing-red eyes and bloody grinning lips were just behind her. As Kirishima and the other NPCs entered the main chamber of the Throne Room, Kirishima stopped for a moment to look upon the small handful of Seekers who had already gathered, seated around the round table positioned in the center of the room. For a moment, Kirishima's imagination took over, and for a moment, she thought she could see each of the original Seekers seated around the table, smiling and laughing at each other wholeheartedly as they conversed. [i][color=8882be]I wish I could see them all again, and say my goodbyes to each of them properly.[/color][/i] Shaking the imaginary sight from her mind, Kirishima turned to look at the NPCs behind her. [b][color=8882be]"Stand guard here and wait."[/color][/b] Kirishima issued what was to be her final orders to her three creations. At once, each of them nodded their heads in acknowledgement, and stood in a new formation with Erzsebet standing in the middle, Mercuria to her right, and Gwydion to her left. Each of the stared ahead blankly into the distance, although Erzsebet's faint grin remained fixed on her bloodied lips. Kirishima then took her place at the round table with the other gathered Seekers. With the Throne Room's extravagant size and grand design, the small handful of Seekers gathered around the table made the room seem incredibly abandoned and empty. Many of the guild members had already quit shortly after the announcement of YGGDRASIL's shutdown date, and this was all that was left of a once large and powerful guild. Kirishima clasped her hands together upon the table before her as looked towards the other Seekers. She had never been one who was particularly good, or even barely adequate, at long and elaborate speeches, but she felt the need to at least say something to these friends that willingly stayed behind to enjoy their last few minutes together as a guild. [color=8882be][b]"Thank you all for being here on our last day. After today, everything we have accomplished together as the Seekers of Fate will be no more, and each of us will return to our everyday lives. We all knew that this day would come eventually, but none of us could have thought it would come so suddenly. So, before we say our final goodbyes, I just want to say thank you. Thank you for everything. Thank you for being my friends, thank you for staying by my side until the very end."[/b][/color] Kirishima looked up at the holographic timer in her visual interface. There was less than a minute left before the server would shut down at 0:00:00. The timer was now counting down the final seconds. Kirishima leaned back into her seat at the round table as the clock ticked down to the end of YGGDRASIL. Then the end came: 0:00:00. But it didn't stop there. 0:00:01. ... 0:00:02. ... 0:00:03. Kirishima was expecting to be forcibly kicked off the server by a forced logout, but she remained at the round table within the Palace's Throne Room. She blinked once, twice, but the timer continued to count upwards. [b][color=8882be]"What's going on? Wasn't the server supposed to be shut down now? Why are we still here?"[/color][/b] Kirishima wondered out loud as her mind was expecting for her to be within the familiarity of her room in the real world. Then her mind began churning out several possible explanations, one after the other. Did the server adminstrators really delay the shutdown, or cancel it altogether? It was impossible, there were many official announcements on YGGDRASIL's main website clearly stating the server's shutdown date and time. There was absolutely no way they would suddenly go back on their decision on such short notice. Then her mind began formulating other possible theories. Ever since the first DMMO-RPG was released, there were many fictional stories about players being stuck within virtual worlds, or being forced to participate in a death game where death in the game meant the player dying in real life. These stories were popular and rather numerous, but as DMMO-RPGs became more widespread, these stories seemed more and more unlikely to happen. However, did those stories just become reality? Testing out what should be the most ridiculous of the possible theories, Kirishima waved her hand in the air to summon the control interface to manually log herself out from YGGDRASIL. But no interface appeared. Kirishima could barely hear the sound of herself uttering out several swear words as she tried frantically to summon some sort of control interface to log out or summon a GM for assistance. Despite her frantic movements, Kirishima could feel a strange lack of anxiety despite her current situation. There was no way that she could feel this calm while being unable to log out from the game. [b]"Lady Kirishima, is something the matter? Should you require it, I am yours to command."[/b] A calm male voice spoke. [b]"If there is a threat that needs to be dealt with, I shall take care of it by your command."[/b] Spoke a calm, emotionless female voice that flowed like cold metal. [b]"If something needs to be killed, I shall make the rivers run red with its blood!"[/b] Another female voice spoke proudly, although its speaker seemed like it was rather on the verge of insanity. Kirishima was stunned to hear these voices that she did not recognize. It was obviously not from the other Seekers, who were probably in the same state of confusion as she was. Then the source of the three voices became immediately apparent as she turned to face the three NPCs she had ordered to stand on guard minutes earlier: Gwydion, Mercuria, and Erzsebet.