Chapter 1: For The Glory

This was it. The final battle, the final boss, the final raid, the final hour of Glory Online. Matthew, otherwise known as Rain_Fate in the MMORPG Glory Online, had finished the last bit of content which would be added.

Everyone knew that the player base of the game was dying. Combine that with a change in the company which ran the cash shop, with the new company being increasingly greedy in making even a simple Pet Name Change cost $50, and you have an easy explaination for why the game was going to be shut down.

Of course, the few players who remained were outraged, and fiercely commented on various forums for it to stay, however the decision was final. Seeing how passionate the players were about this game however, the original game design team who created the game when it first launched came back, adding one final content update.

The Last Will, a 200 floor dungeon which I included not just every enemy ever included into the game, but also had every NPC wrapped up in it's quest line. The main premise: All of Herula is at stake, and if the players could not defeat the dungeon, not only would their characters perish, but all the beings of that world would as well.

Including the permanent status effect "Last Will" when any player entered the dungeon, which caused any player that died having it to permanently be dead, it caused a massive resurgence of players.

Matthew had been an on and off player throughout the years, but when he heard the call to action, he heeded it, and remained the last player alive to see the final boss, called "Forgotten God of Sacrifice", lose its final point of HP.

As he heard the victory soundtrack play, he leaned back in his chair. Matthew wanted to cry, but he was too dehydrated to do so. His entire mouth hurt, his throat burning, but inside his heart was nothing except happiness.

Many players had begun to give up. They had until 2AM today to complete the dungeon, however at 1AM they were still only on the 94th floor, and lost 377 of their 400 player raid alliance that was left just from the 90th floor boss.

Despite this, they pushed on. Many of them, Matthew included, had to get ready for work at 4AM but still, they didn't stop.

As the last player in their raid group, Matthew saw the rewards from completing the Last Will dungeon quest being given to solely his character. Glancing over at the clock, he saw it read 1:57AM.

Letting his mental exhaustion overcome him, Matthew fell asleep in his chair, leaving the last moments of his character Rain_Fate standing in the final boss room of the 200th floor.

He smiled as his eyelids closed not wanting to see the servers close, and instead retain the memory of this moment of the game instead as it's end.

...

1:58AM

...

1:59AM

...

2AM

...

Matthew suddenly felt dizzy, and then felt warmness cover his body. Waking up refreshed, he got up only to find himself sitting outside.

To be specific, he was in a town.

Confused but curious, he got up only to trip on a large rock and land face first on the ground. It stung like hell, but Matthew realized that this wasn't a dream. Bolting to his feet, he looked around with more focus, and found many parts of the town were extremely familiar.

The more he paid attention to his surroundings, the more Matthew knew for certain where he was.

It was Fert Town. The first town beginner players encountered in Glory Online.