Today was the last day of Yggdrasil. For most, the lost of this MMO was nothing of note; while it was certainly the best of it's kind, it was simply a game, and bound to end like all mortal things. For those who truly did care they stayed on the server for their last moments, joining with friends to reminisce about time spent. Most would have decided to move onto a different game, a new world, to enjoy their time elsewhere. Perhaps some would just watch the counter clock down until they would finally be booted from the game. Marchosias and his compatriots are not like that.

[b]"Boris, with me! SHIELDS UP!"[/b]

A black knight raised his grand tower shield as a mighty dragon raised his head to fire a beam of burning energy towards him. But joining his shield was another stalwart warrior, his gift quite considerable as he hefted his twin tower shields to absorb the blow alongside the knight. [b]"Syndr, Lucille, nova now!"[/b] In the distance two female spell casters raised their hands to cast their spells. One was a powerful magician dressed in a black coat with a gold-hemmed hood. Her hand was engulfed in dark flames as she she raised her staff high into the air, surrounding the dragon in a Pestilence Mist that would eat it's flesh and scales as if they were tissues. The other was a holy knight donned in shining white armor. She raised her talisman in her hand as lightning formed the shape of a bow, which she drew back a great lightning arrow that she fired into the maw of the beast. Their combined efforts was enough to cause the dragon great pain and misfire his dark fire, grazing the two knights who took cover behind their mighty shields.

[b]"Go for his tail, hurry!"[/b] Recovering from their wounds, two swift warriors would charge out. One wielded a mighty split-leaf glaive, whirling it around his head to build momentum while another dressed in bloodstained armor had two wicked curved swords in both hands, jumping into the air to bare the full weight of her body onto the tail. Both slammed their weapons with a sickening crunch as they hacked through the dragon's weakened tail, slicing it clean off it's base as it spilled blood everywhere. "Gya ha ha ha ha! Blood! BLOOD EVERYWHERE! BUWA HA HA HA HA!" The other knight just sighed. "Briar, chill. This guy isn't dead yet." The warrior known as Briar just looked and nodded. "[i]Yet[/i], Dormic. Let's go!" With the tail sliced away the two warriors proceeded to jump onto the back of the dragon to try and reach another weakspot.

Already on this dragon was a feral looking orc of a man. Dressed in naught much more than rags, he had a battered leather shield on his back and a sturdy club in one hand, and a full metal javelin in the other. He hung off the neck of the dragon with his javelin impaled through scales, hammering his spear further in as much as he could in order to drive the entire thing into it's throat. Bestial grunts came from this man as he just kept smashing away, and every time the dragon would try to swipe him away, the black knight shouted at the beast. [b]"I am your enemy! FACE ME!"[/b] The other knight moved away, planting his shields into the ground like a fortress wall as he took out his greatbow, aiming with startling speed as he launched a spear-sized arrow into the neck of the dragon. "Malkus, climb higher! Get to it's eyes!"

The seven would continue to fight and work together to down the dragon so high on this mountain peak. Between the cusp of day and night, as the moon fell and the sun rose. A clashing of steel against scales, of claws against shields, of lightning breaking scales and fire burning flesh, until finally the great beast fell. The final blow being struck by the bloodthirsty warrior named Briar, who took her twin swords and sliced open the neck of the dragon, causing blood and fire to spill forth like a waterfall. She raised her aims as she was showered in gore, and everyone else celebrated their victory over the abyss dragon. They cheered, they roared, and they drank. The black knight raised his mighty cleaver and would butcher the monster, turning it's corpse into a macabre but comfy cabin for his party to lounge in, resting in the innards and dining on fine dragon flesh.

[b]"Well that was fun. A nice way to end things, yeah?"[/b] The black knight says as he drinks from his jolly barrel mug.

"Eh, suppose I can't complain. Always did want to take this guy on. Kinda thought he'd be harder than this though." The warrior, Dormic, commented as he sipped from his flask.

"It would be if we were fools. Unlike most we didn't just bare down on him with numbers. My plan was flawless." Said Syndr, the witch dressed like a wizard. Next to her Briar just laughed as she was squishing some gore in her hands. "Sure sure, make Marchosias and Boris tank all the hits while we attack it, a great plan."

"Now now Briar, you know it was more complicated then that. We needed to focus our attacks specifically to halt it's AoE attacks and prevent it from entering it's second phase mode." The holy knight Lucile said, who choose to stand instead of sit in any where. "Pfft. Would have been more fun that way." Briar pouted as she made a meat puppet.

[b]"Well we got what, ten more minutes before the server shuts down for good? You guys wanna try to go after another boss?"[/b]

[hr]

"Alright, on your marks, get set... DROP!"

The seven warriors, in their whimsy, decided to end their last few moments with a bang. Utilizing Syndr's epic level necromancy, she reanimated the Abyss Dragon to serve as their airship to fly above the skies of Yggdrasil. This was something they always did for fun: drop in from the skies thousands of feet from the air, utilizing a variety of items and abilities to somehow prevent themselves from dying. Syndr of course had a spell that would easily allow her to survive. Lucile could create wings whenever she wanted so she could simply fly down at her leisure. Dromic's cloak would allow him to glide and engage in some extreme sports like acrobatics. Briar had an ability that simply makes her immune to fall damage, so she was mostly just going to do tricks. Boris planned to use his shields to surf down the side of the mountain to safety. Malkus was hitching a ride with Boris.

Marchosias was just going to tank it. He's done this a few times before. He knows that at full health, he could easily survive the damage.

And so the seven would fall. They knew that at their positions and their current height, it would take about a minute or so before they would hit the ground. Others may take longer due to their abilities to maintain in the air, so really it was just a race between Marchosias and Briar to see who would hit the ground first. There was even a little game they head; whoever hit the ground first would get a free chance to strike down whoever comes second, bonus points if they can do it before they hit the ground. Briar often managed to hit the ground first due to her diving form, but Marchosias had also learned a more efficient position that would allow him an even more rapid decent as he began to spiral through the air like a drill, heading to the earth. However Marchosias didn't expect to actually beat Briar. He didn't expect to see his friends.

When they dropped, they only had 55 seconds before the server was going to shut down. In those 55 seconds, Marchosias reflected on his time with his friends. How he'll never see them again. Each one were going their own ways in life. Syndr was going to a university to become a nuclear physicist. Lucile would inherent her family business empire. Dormic was heading to serve his military. Briar now had twins to take care of. Boris was going to join a monastery. Malkus has already become the guild master in a different MMO. All that left was Marchosias, still aimless as he's always been. Just going at life one step at a time, but with no destination in mind but tomorrow. He looked around to his friends and noticed that despite their usual methods, they weren't using them. Syndr had no spells. Lucile had no wings. Dormic simply fell freely. Briar was trying to keep up but seemed to just be goofing off. Boris was also trying to do tricks but failing. Malkus seemed to be panicking. This made Marchosias chuckle.

[b]"Damn, did I just start a suicide pact?"[/b]

[hr]

Suddenly Marchosias was on the ground. But he wasn't dead. He wasn't even hurt. But he also had no idea where he was at. The first thing that he felt was the cold; he was on a mountain this much he knew. But it didn't look like the mountain he and his friends were one; that was more rocky and windy, not snowy. The next time Marchosias noticed was the lack of a hud. At first he thought he was back in real life, but he saw that he was still wearing his armor and equipment. [b]"What the fuck?"[/b] He tried to contact his friends. Nothing. He tried to open the menus. Nothing. [b]"Weird. Am I dreaming? Did I fall asleep while playing?"[/b] Before he could really think about it further he felt another shiver. He was... Cold. Physically cold. He reached underneath his helmet and touched his face, realizing.... It was wrinkled. Leathery.

He was undead.

[b]"Alright calm down Dominick. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up!"[/b] He started slapping his cheeks to wake up, pinching his skin, kicking his leg. The usual things he does to wake up from a bad dream. but he didn't wake up. He took a deep breath and tried to figure out where he was first. He wasn't familiar with these mountains and he had no map. He tried to see what he could find as a landmark. Down the mountain... Was too misty. Looking up... He noticed something in the snow. he wasn't sure what it was, but it didn't look like a cliff. He could vaguely make our a source of light. It was either the sun, or possibly a fire. Having no where else to go Marchosias started going up. He felt each step carry weight as he realized he was in full armor, his shield was on his arm, and on his back was his cleaver. [b]"Am I still in the game?"[/b] His footsteps through the snow was easy. Weirdly easy. He looked at his fingers and remembered he had the Rusted Iron Ring on; it would help him traverse this sort of terrain. He clenched his fists and continued onward. Hopefully he'll find some answers. And maybe his friends while he was at it.