8 The Beginning of the End...

(The chapter is a little shorter today since I didn't have much time to write. Next chapter will be back a full length)

I stood there without motion.

My current primary directive of fighting against the invaders had been fulfilled.

So unless I was given another set of orders I would be returning to my standard patrol routine very soon.

And while all around me the guild members were cheering and using different items resembling confetti and party hats, I was simply standing there, an ever present smile on my lips.

I didn't really mind it that much to be honest.

Of course most of my days would be boring again, but that was sure to come to an end soon enough.

Although most of the guild members were still quite active, to me it was obvious that over the last half a year the activities had been slowly decreasing.

It was probably still more than two years to go until the downfall of Yggdrasil, but the outcome was inevitable in the end.

I knew that I would finally gain most of the freedom that I had lost since becoming an NPC, but at the same time I felt sad knowing that the cheerful group of friends before my eyes would be disbanding before long.

Is it strange that I consider these people as something akin to friends even though they don't even know that I am truly alive.

*chuckles*

'I suppose I truly am quite strange...'

Not much happened after that really. The guild members continued partying until the first few started to leave.

Some stayed behind to rearrange me and the other NPCs as well as those that hadn't been revived during the battle due to their ineffectiveness in combat.

After all supplies had been restored the remaining few started to leave as well and peace returned to Nazarick.

I couldn't sleep in a bed, so I let my mind wander of into unconsciousness, standing alone in the throne room until everything went dark and I began to rest.

(That night)

I woke up.

No, that isn't true.

This was a dream.

'Strange' I thought. I hadn't dreamed since the first day of my life as Albedo. I wondered more than once how that came to be.

I don't know if it is because of me being in a game, or the fact that demons like me might just be different from humans in certain aspects.

I was standing in a room or at least something akin to one.

The walls were changing in an erratic and constant pattern. A cave, a nicely furnished living room or a windowless dungeon.

All these were places that seemed somehow familiar, but that I couldn't quite recognize like something lurking at the edge of my mind.

My attention was drawn elsewhere though.

I looked at the one "object" that seemed to stay the same regardless of it's environment.

It was an orb resembling those that I had seen in the endless void, emanating a lightless glow that felt comforting and familiar.

'My soul...'

Nobody told me what it was and nobody needed to do so. I simply knew.

It was almost hypnotic in a way. A core of bright colors surrounded by a shifting fog that looked like a mixture of ashes and snow. The most eye catching feature though were the red spider web like lines covering one third of it.

I reached towards it with my right hand.

Slowly tracing the red lines with my fingers to the point where they originated from. The lines seemed to almost brighten und pulse like veins, while emanating traces of eldritch energy's that defied any reason.

'Those must be the remnants of whatever hit my soul in the void' I thought as my fingers gently reached the point where all the veins began.

As soon as I touched it, I felt pricking sensation on my finger. Before I could take my hand away from it a small drop of blood had already fallen down and touched the center of the veins.

I looked on in fascination as my blood fused with the veins. A pulse went through them and before my eyes they seemed to grow just a little more.

'I am not quite sure what I am supposed to think about thi-'

Before I got the chance to contemplate about what I had just witnessed my mind once again fell into darkness.

(The next day)

I awoke like any other day, standing guard next to the throne.

Maybe I shouldn't have joked about looking for a soul doctor back then...

I might have to ask Momonga for a little help in that regard once we arrive in the new world, provided that something akin to that exists over there.

I haven't even thought about how I should confront the topic of me being alive this whole time.

Uhh... headaches over headaches.

Why can't anything ever be easy?

Though I suppose he might enjoy having someone he doesn't need to act like the evil Overlord around.

I suppose I have enough time to consider my choices until the end of Yggdrasil.

...

I had already begun making my way through the 9th floor like I had done so many times before.

Few of the members were actually online, since most of them must have still been working.

*Sigh* 'Hmm... I suppose it's going to be a boring few years from now on.'

And so I continued doing the most exiting job ever...

...being an NPC.

(2 years later)

As time continued many things changed over the years.

At first everyone was still actively playing, but sadly not for long.

Two months after the grand battle of Nazarick the game's fan base began to decrease rapidly and with it came a decline in player activity.

Ainz Ooal Gown wasn't spared by this.

I saw Momonga desperately trying to convince his guild members to stay.

He would single handedly start preparing the supplies for others just so they would stay with him.

I would hear him curse when he thought nobody was around.

Whenever another of his friends came to him with an apology about having to leave the guild because of their work he became a little more desperate.

One after another they left.

Bukubukuchagma

Touch Me

And even my own creator.

Until there was only one person left.

'The last day of Yggdrasil had arrived.'