Chapter 1: Goodbye

Krell stood up with a dark expression as he looked at the vase he was working on, looking at all its details. After making a slight adjustment, he nodded to himself, then teleported from the art exhibit to an artifact hall where two dragons stared at him from the walls.

He walked to an empty case in the center of the room and placed his gloves in it. He looked at the dragon on his right and held his right hand toward it. He chuckled to himself with the same dark expression as before, then turned to the other one as he put his hand down.

After a few moments, he teleported himself outside and walked into a small building with a double sarcophagus on the center of the floor in front of the back wall. Above the sarcophagus is a painting with two people on it, a man, and a woman.

The woman is sitting on a chair with a smile on her face as she holds the man's hands. She has black hair, green eyes, and pale skin. The man is hugging the woman with his hands around her stomach as he looked forward with a smile. His hair is blond and he has blue eyes and slightly tanned skin.

Krell looked at this painting for a few minutes, then walked down a set of stairs present on either side of the sarcophagus. At the bottom of the stairs is an art museum with a man standing next to an ornate door. Above the man's head is a name, Zamir The Curator.

Krell walked up to the curator and grabbed his hand as he looked up at him. 'Even though I created him, it was comforting having him here... My first NPC... Safeguarding all I hold dear...' Krell thought to himself as he felt tears begin to well in his eyes. He let go of the NPC's hand and wiped his eyes, then turned to the right and walked a few feet down the hall, Zamir following.

Krell stopped in front of a painting, it was of the woman that was in the first painting, in fron of the painting is a pedestal 'Layla Augur, deceased. Died age 42.'

"I'm sorry I was unable to save everyone... And... I'm sorry I didn't win..." Krell mumbled as his voice cracked and he put his hand on the painting, tracing the features of her face. He began to tear up again.

He wiped his eyes again, then moved on to the next painting, a painting of the man in the first painting, a pedestal in front of it saying 'Brandon Augur, deceased. Died age 43.' He stayed for a few moments, then went down the line, viewing a total of six paintings, four paintings of women and two of men, before stopping at the seventh one.

He looked down at the pedestal in front of it. 'Krell Augur, living. Age 6 (22).' The (22) is on a piece of paper as if it was a reminder.

'Oh yeah... I forgot about that.' Krell thought with a wry smile as he chuckled at himself. 'They said I wanted to feel safe, so I tried reverting to what I felt was my safest time.' He added as he put his hand on the pedestal. 'I just wanted to feel like it didn't happen...' He finished as he looked at the painting of himself, or rather, of his character.

He took the piece of paper and looked in his menu and cast flame magic on it. 'No point in dwelling on it. It won't matter in...' He looked at the clock in the top right of his vision.

'9:31' it said.

'two and a half hours.' He finished his thought and walked to the door at the bottom of the staircase. Inside is a large theater with hundreds of seats and a giant stage. He walked down the center row and got on the stage and went into the backstage area.

He walked to the green room and maneuvered to a door at the back of the room that looked like it should lead outdoors. After opening the door, it revealed another staircase and he walked down. At the bottom of the staircase is an enormous cafeteria with many butlers, cooks, maids, and various other workers sitting and standing around as if it was a three-dimensional still image.

He scanned the room, then nodded and turned right, and walked down a hallway. On the right wall is a large window that goes all along the hallway, and on the left wall are various doors. At the end of the hall, Krell turned left at the final door and walked down a staircase.

At the bottom of these stairs was a large garden space with a seemingly authentic sky. He walked out into the garden area and looked up at the hallway he was in just moments ago. He shook his head, then turned around and began to walk over to an eating area.

There stood two wolfkin seemingly talking over lunch. Krell gave a slight smile, then walked past the two, walked to a spiral staircase, and walked down into a large meadow. He walked over to a picnic scene where a woman in a maid costume and a young girl sat in the same still-frame as all other NPCs.

Krell sat between them and closed his eyes in preparation as he recalled all his memories of this game and his life.