Chapter 0: Prologue
Chapter 1: Prologue: Before the shutdown
The Shadow Garden
The witch watches on as her beloved once again begins his life in this world, knowing he can do nothing to survive the path he has chosen to walk.
The power she bestowed upon him was meant to help him, to ensure he was never separated from this world again. However, all it had brought him was pain and misery as he kept restarting from the beginning, just to die in vain repeatedly.
Why do you hurt yourself this way? Why can't you love yourself more?
With the knowledge he gained from his past lives, the boy could have taken a different path, taken alternate routes to a better future. He had the power to challenge fate, yet he kept marching headfirst towards death to save the silver-haired half-elf that looked just like her. She knew he would not face the danger he was running towards as he was still physically weak, and she could do nothing to help him.
Her beloved needed power, which she could not provide. Her beloved needed guidance, which she could not bestow. This prison she was trapped in so long ago completely sealed her from the outside world, and none of her efforts to escape this cage had worked. She had already forgotten how long she had been trapped here as memories of the outside world had gradually faded away, leaving only memories of the boy she loved.
She begins to remember the time spent with her cherished one. Oh, how she wishes to be in his embrace again, to hold him tight and never let go. But alas, they were both worlds apart, and the chance of them reuniting again seemed to drift away farther and farther.
By now, he had realised the powers given to him allowed him to restart his life from a certain "checkpoint" if he ever were to die, somewhat giving him insight into the future and how he could avoid those future deaths. She once again looks at what her lover is doing, hoping, no, PRAYING that he chose another path. But as her beloved once more finds himself in the alleyway where those thugs will eventually ambush him, she begins to weep as this world has once again put him in danger.
In her sorrow, she didn't notice the shadowy hands emerging from her, once again desperately clawing away at her prison, hoping to find some means of escape.
Perhaps in another timeline, she would've taken notice and managed to control herself, watching on as the one she loves finds help and begin his new life from zero, changing the world's fate through his actions. However, in this story, her sorrow blinds her from her surroundings until one of her hands notices a slight crack in her prison, stretching out into the greater void.
She immediately perks up, noticing this new tear in her prison. This was new. Believing the crack to be a weak point, her hands try to widen the crack to break her shackles. After struggling for what seemed like an eternity, one of her shadow hands could barely pierce through the crack, looking around for anything that could free her.
The hand navigates through the void, looking for anything to latch onto. The witch feels as if the hand is no longer a part of her world as if she has intruded into another world. A world that clearly does not want her here but watches on in silence as this alien object is new, and the world finds it rather intriguing. It will only observe as long as it doesn't tamper with the things that are yet to come.
Navigating through the darkness, a fragment of the world makes itself known to the witch, seemingly reacting to her presence. There is something about this fragment that catches the witch's attention, something that feels familiar even in this foreign environment. Though she couldn't describe it, the fragment also felt like it was part of the world her beloved once belonged to.
Getting closer, the witch realises the fragment emits darkness and power, rivalling her own. But at the same time, she feels an emotion that is all too familiar to her, which she now can clearly sense: loneliness. A feeling of emptiness that cannot be described in words. A wanting for something that will never come. The witch knew these feelings, and her hand unconsciously moved towards the fragment as if attracted by those emotions she had felt in this prison, wanting to save it from the loneliness no other being should ever feel.
When her hand is less than a hair's length away from the fragment, the witch ponders. Perhaps, this soul could be the key to her beloved's survival. If she could pull it to her world, maybe she could help it find companionship in her love, make it help her beloved!
Although the darkness radiating from the soul was concerning, the power that came with it was astounding; almost nothing in her world could match it. She thinks this being could surely help her beloved as the hand slowly begins to grab onto it.
Sensing what the witch intended to do, the world panics and begins to forcefully send the hand back to its world, the already small crack slowly beginning to reseal. It grabs the fragment upon sensing the witch's intention to take what wasn't hers. Without thinking further of the consequences and in her desperation to help the one she loves, the witch begins to pull the fragment towards her. The world that the fragment belongs to holds on and pulls, as it, too, needs the soul contained in it for what's to come, for the new world it would eventually transport to.
A tug of war ensues as both entities fight for this fragment; one wants it to help her beloved while, at the same time, giving it the companionship it needs, whereas the other entity pulls, wanting to provide the fragment with the world itself to rule, to forget the loneliness plaguing its very soul.
Although both beings tug away to help the fragment with its loneliness, the witch's love trumps the world's needs, and she manages to pull the fragment to her world, the crack sealing the moment the transfer is complete.
A piece from one of the leaves of the world tree has been stolen by the witch of Envy, with no means of returning to its previous world. The world tree cries as the piece was taken away from his home, from the creations that stayed with him until the end.
Watching as the piece becomes part of her own world, the witch finally speaks, "With this, my beloved, the world will never hurt you again."
However, the witch failed to notice the other fragments that had clung onto the one she pulled at the very last moment.
Round Table Room
(An hour before the transfer)
"Nobody came in the end…"
Momonga looks around the room where the guild would gather for their meetings. A room that once was lively, full of chatter and bickering among friends, was now an empty room devoid of any signs of activity for years, save for the skeleton player that currently occupied one of the 41 chairs around the gigantic round table.
"Dammit!" he bangs his fist on the table, numbers showing up on his UI, indicating he took damage from the action, "Couldn't one of you have taken some time to visit!?"
As his words echo through the empty room, he leans back on his seat, looking at the guild logs to see if anyone has joined.
[Current active guild members: 1]
This is how it had been for a long time. YGGDRASIL's popularity had died years ago. Although the game had been trying to keep up with the new generation of video games, it just couldn't compete with the better game systems and eventually began to die out, its player base slowly dwindling to the few remaining loyal players. All his friends from the guild Ainz Ooal Gown had left one by one, leaving only its leader remaining.
Momonga had stayed, for YGGDRASIL WAS his home. The game was the only source of comfort he had in his life, the memories of his friends and the hope that they would one day return being the reason why he could still run their guild to this very day. But even that hope was slowly fading as Yggdrasil was nearing its end.
As this effort was no longer profitable to the developers, the game's shutdown was announced, with an hour remaining until it would be closed forever. To perhaps celebrate the legacy of their guild or just to see his friends once last time before he was pulled back into his harsh reality, Momonga/ Satoru Suzuki had sent emails to his friends in hopes that they would come back to relieve the old days once last time. But most members had not replied. The few who did respond had only done so to tell him that they would unfortunately not be coming back as they had their own jobs, which they needed to do.
Momonga understood why his friends couldn't come, and he couldn't blame them for choosing their jobs over the game. But the pain and loneliness remained as he tightened his grip on the [Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown], the guild weapon so many had poured countless hours and money on, the symbol of their guild's strength, now a relic of an age gone by.
"It's not their fault. They had a choice between fantasy and reality, and they chose the latter. If I were in their situation, I would've done the same", Momonga mutters, trying to acknowledge his friend's reasons for leaving.
"Still…" but a part of him still cannot forgive them for leaving him alone.
"Did this game, our home Nazarick, really not mean anything to you at the end!?" he shouts to no one but himself as he remembers his friend Tabula Smaragdina quitting after another game had piqued his interest.
"Yggdrasil is no longer fun. I have decided to move onto EternalCraft", the Brain Eater had plainly said before giving Momonga all his items and leaving for good.
"Was the home we built together less important than the shitty world of ours!?" he shouts, standing up in anger, banging the staff on the floor as his bitterness towards his guildmates rises.
"Apologies, my dear friend, but we both knew this wouldn't have lasted forever", the last words of his friend Ulbert Alain Oodle echoes in his head as he feels new levels of hatred he had never experienced before.
"Couldn't any of you have taken ONE DAMN hour of your time to join one last time?" he repeats as the memories of his friends leaving resurfaces one by one, his whole body shaking with fury.
"I have a family to care for, Momonga… and my family matters more to me than Yggdrasil. I truly am sorry.", the final words of the Paladin echoing in his head.
"Sorry big bro! But demands for my voice acting have been increasing recently. I might join less frequently from now on", the slime had said, never to return.
"I feel that there are no more challenges to look forward to ever since Touch-san left. I might not return until he does" The Nephilim had departed with those words.
"Sorry, man, but I'm quitting for now".
Suffering.
"You still play Yggdrasil? You should quit playing that relic".
Anger.
"Maybe we'll meet again in Yggdrasil 2".
Loneliness.
With the final words of his friends still ringing in his ears, Momonga collapses on his chair. Even after venting out all of his anger, all of his bitterness, he was still alone.
In the end, all that was left of the once-powerful Ainz Ooal Gown was the leader, who could only watch as his world crumbled around him. He still clung to the staff, as no matter how angry he got, he could never throw away the legacy of the guild that kept him going. But even he knew that the end of this legacy was near, and he would have to face it alone.
[23:05:41] The game timer read—less than an hour left till the shutdown.
"I just wanted to see at least one of you guys one more time…" reaching his breaking point, the player lets some tears finally escape, "Couldn't you have granted this one wish of mine?"
[23:05:52] The timer ticking is the only response he gets.
He sighs as he finally acknowledges his situation, letting his mind drift into daydreams of what it could've been. A small part of him is still hoping for someone to show up.
[23:05:56]
He wants his friends back.
[23:05:57]
He wants to go back on one last adventure.
[23:05:58]
He wants-
"No one is coming…" he sighs in defeat, closing his eyes as he listens to the clock in his UI ticking.
[23:05:59] [23:06:00] *Ping* [23:06:01]
The long-dead guild chat pops back into his UI as if listening to his prayers. The Overlord barely notices the sound at first, as his mind is still in tatters after the emotional outbreak. But as he begins to recompose himself, he realises the significance of that ping.
"Someone is here!"