[center][h1]Before Advent[/h1][/center]
[center][h3]13 Minutes Before Server Shut Down[/h3][/center]

Apocalypse Now was a small guild hall, but that was to be expected as it was literally created just as a way to celebrate Yggdrasil's upcoming apocalypse aka the shutdown of all its servers.  As befitting the place where several long time players were going to spend their final moments though, the small mountain fort was decorated with all sorts of expensive and random items as a way to show off the fruits of their labors.  Suits of cool looking armor, various weapons, tapestries, useless unique curiosities that that were pretty much useless in the game world, and even a few NPCs had been transferred over to the guild.  It was a random mess but glorious and a testament to the player's creativity none the less.

Players joked and talked with each other was the clock ticked down to the end of the servers.  As the time grew nearer and nearer, more people logged out after giving their final goodbyes to the game.  In-game rivals saluted each other, some cursed each other, others spammed character emojis to mirror their feelings, everyone reacted differently as the game that had become a major part of their lives for many years, came to an end.

David Lording's dark skinned Goddess, HideYourMen was one of the players in this guild that was waiting for the end.  It was a little annoying that his character had lost a few levels by fighting in one of the hardest dungeon raids there were in the game near the end, but there was no time left to regain those levels if he wanted to enjoy the end of the game.  Considering the game was going to end though it did not matter what level he was when the end finally came.

Standing next to his avatar was a male Seraphim character called HolyWings who he had fought against on multiple occasions.  It had been a funny rivalry, the first time they had fought on the battlefield the Seraphim player had been totally unprepared for the Seductress skills that had made the character rather ineffective as a fighter.  They had both been roleplayers so it became this hilarious game about how the Seraphim wanted to [i]purify[/i] the evil HideYourMen's viles against men.  Being nerds, they of course had made it this epic storyline about the heavenly hosts trying to prevent the rise of the tempting Serpent Goddess.  After successfully achieving character divinity, it reached a new level of combat.

The two chatted over a cup of raspberry wine, a delicious sounding drink that unfortunately had no real purpose other than cosmetic.  Still it seemed appropriate to [i]indulge[/i] themselves for their final moments.

"Well it has been a good war."  HolyWings lifted a cup up and HideYourMen followed suite in order to clink their glasses together.

[color=fff79a]"Those were some fun battles to be sure.  If you weren't so focused on roleplaying you probably could have gotten more female members when we fought and actually stopped me.  Glad I found an [i]enemy[/i] who appreciates a good roleplaying session."[/color] HideYourMen had a laugh emoji appear as the character drank from the crystal cup the wine was in.

"Ha ha ya, I just never had the drive to be all super strategic and go the super serious PVP route.  It's more fun to just live your own fantasy life."

[color=fff79a]
"I agree there, the reason I chose such a unique character was so I could live a completely different way from my normal life.  I must say, having a pair of boobs can be distracting!"[/color]

The laugh emoji appeared over HolyWing as a response to HideYourMen. "Ha ha that's right, you decided to make a female character even though you're a guy.  You Perv."

[color=fff79a]"Well maybe just a little, but only in the game, plus thankfully as a non-adult game it made sure nothing got too weird.  The game was real enough as it is, no need to go too far."[/color]

"Well I think I'll log out now, I really don't want the game to crash down around me and all that.  Have fun with the rest of the party!"

[color=fff79a]"Have a good night!"[/color]  HideYourMen said as HolyWing disappeared from view and the message, 'HolyWing has logged out' appeared on the screen.  Only a few minutes of server life remained.