Fantasy The Empyrean's Conquest Clash

[Shoya]

Rain rushed her way into her room, quickly dressing into a more comfortable clothing before putting her headset on and activating the program. Logging in, she is spawned in her wing of the Empyrean. She checks her notifications quickly, then sends SatinScale a voice message, saying "Sorry I'm a bit late, the school had me stay behind and watch over some brats in afterschool detention." She walks out of her room, immediatley being met by Andromeda, asking her "How are the children?"

"All is fine my Queen. Needle had to shoot a couple wannabes trying to make their way up the mountain, but it's silent otherwise." she says, twirling her cape as she turns to follow Rain, who was walking down the hall.

"Excellent, make sure the security is at maximum today. It's a... special day, a lot of guilds doing last minute, all out raids on top guilds before the time." Rain wondered to herself why she felt weird mentioning the servers shutting down to her NPCs. She did feel rather bad in a way, she had an attachment to her NPCs and it was hard to believe it would all be gone soon. She walks into the Celestial Falls, where Seraph awaits her next to her chair.

"Your highness. Miss Andromeda." He says, taking a bow when they enter the room.

Rain sits on her seat, waiting for SatinScale. I wonder if we'll do any last minute raid of our own. Though, I think it's a little too late for that. I'll enjoy just spending my time with any of the active members, and my NPCs. She thinks, looking around the Celestial Falls. What they built was incredible and she felt rather nostalgic about things.

LadyOfStars

 

[LadyOfStars]

SatinScale​

Being a self-employed artist left Satin with plenty of freedom and him being an introvert meant that he preferred being on Yggdrasil than meeting people in real life. It was how he first got into the game and why he was able to dedicate so much time to it, even as it was scheduled for shut down. He'd spent the past few days managing the guild's dwindling membership as people left the game in advance of it going dark or they left the guild to spend their last online days chasing their own goals. He made sure everyone got what they were owed, with a little extra snuck in so they could really live it up in the last days. Most of them were noobs so there was a lot they could get down with some extra coin in their accounts.

And finally when the guild hall was emptied of everyone but himself and the NPCs, Satin realized this meant he would go back to his self made isolation. His heart sank in his chest and his throat tightened at that though that he might never speak with his guildmates again. They'd become something of a family for him, despite the circumstances of their relationships.

But a notification cleared away the dak clouds in an instant. "Crimson is online." He whispered to himself with a grin stretched across his face. "Rani, finish closing out all the temporary members please. I'm going to see Crimson." Satin instructed as he rose from behind the mahogany desk and started to power walk through the guild hall. It took no time at all for Satin to navigate the Olympian structure and when he finally arrived to the meeting room with long locks of brown hair out of place, he called out. "Crimson. You're late." He declared in a playful, scolding tone. "There's a scheduled shut down of the thing we've spent so much time on and you can't even be on time for that." As he entered the meeting hall with excitement plastered upon his face, another voice called out.

"Satin! Crimson!" The youthful voice filled the hall, accompanied by the pitter patter of little feet as Umbra rushed in to wrap his arms around Satin's legs. "I've missed you both." The human npc declared.

Satin wanted to bring attention to the fact that he'd just seen Umbra less than an hour ago, but he knew it didn't truly matter. Instead he just patted him on the head. "Rani and I spent the day clearing our members out. The last names on the roster will be the three of us, just like when we started." Satin explained before he sat Umbra down and then sat down beside him. "It won't be long now."

Shoya Garbage.

 

[Shoya]

SwordRain64​

"My bad, but you know how it is. Life duties come first. Did you want to run a last minute raid? Not much time left, but knowing us, I'm sure we could manage it. We could even go after the Ainz Ooal Gown guild if we wanted to. By this time, most of their guild leaders must be logging off." says Rain, who admittingly found the idea of her last moments on the server being a battle as quite poetic. Still, maybe a peaceful end is more poetic than all.

Andromeda greets Satin as he enters, giving him a respectful bow. She does the same for Umbra when he comes running in, laughing to herself a bit as he hugs Satin's legs.

Rain does the same. She always found it charming how energetic Satin made his NPCs. She always had more of a utilitarian perspective, giving them small quirks for entertainment and focusing moreso on their builds and purpose. Guess that's Satin for ya. His artistic flare shows itself even in his creations. I wonder if he views his NPC's as his art pieces. I've never thought about it that way... Crimson thinks, coming to the conclusion that peace was what their NPCs deserved.

"If only we could share a toast here, wouldn't be able to taste anything. I guess we could do it anyway, for posterity. A posterity we won't see." she says, spawning glasses of whine, floating not just to her and Satin, but to any present NPCs as well.

"For The Empyrean!" she says, raising her glass.

 

[LadyOfStars]

SatinScale​

Real life. He couldn't fault her for having priorities, especially when he was known to be absent for days at a time when working with deadlines. Besides, she was here now. When it was suggested they do a little bit of raiding, Satin couldn't help but to smirk as he shook his head to decline. "Perhaps if some of the other members were here they would have taken you up on that idea to go after what remains of the game's guilds...but you know I never had a taste for it. Plus I've spent most of today supporting our defenses against groups who had similar ideas."

"Yeah! Satin and Cho have been rolling people back down the mountain!" Umbra chimed in. "I saw the whole thing from the balcony!" As wine glasses appeared, Umbra's eyes widened in excitement, but his hopes were quickly dashed when Rani scooped him up from his seat and placed him beside herself.

"Excluding the founding members, all members have successfully been removed from The Empyreans' roster, Satin." Rani declared with a hint of pride in her voice while she wiped her glasses off. "And Cho reports that she has finally routed that last group of invaders from the base of the mountain." Finally she turned to Rain and her NPCs and offered them a slight incline of her head in lieu of a vocal greeting.

As she spoke, Satin spied the timer for server shut down, at it already under ten seconds. Time had gone by so fast he barely had a chance to catch up with his guildmates properly or make plans to meet in another game or on another site. "Cheers." He declared in defeat. "To The Empyreans and all that we accomplished as a guild."

4...3...

Satin pressed the glass to his lips engaging in his last in-game activity as he pretended to enjoy the wine.

2...1...

As it hit zero the timer seemed to pause but only for the briefest millisecond as the world went dark. But like the dawn returned every morning, the light slowly came back and the timer started to count up from zero.

"Ack!!" Satin gagged, choking and coughing as the wine poured into his open mouth and actually entered his throat. "Satin should really slow down on the wine." Umbra whispered to Rani. "I believe that is the most clumsy thing that I've seen you do yet, Satin. In front of your guildmates no less."

Once he caught his breath Satin raised his head and looked across to where he heard Rani and Umbra's voices coming from. But before he could remark on that, he felt something tickle the side of his face. "Ah!" His voice resonated through the meeting hall as he leapt from his seat with panicked eyes that darted about. Only to find that a piece of his own hair had gotten stuck to his now wet face. "I...I can feel these hairs stuck to my face. And I can see Rani and Umbra's lips moving." His mind raced in confusion and filled with questions he had no idea how to answer. "What is going on?!" He cried out.

Shoya Garbage.

 

[Shoya]

Rain​

Rain was lost in thought as she "drank" her glass, feeling a tear roll down her cheek in real life. This was it, huh?

....

She feels herself fade to black for an instant, thinking it was the game shutting down, but is surprised it was more like a micro sleep. She's suddenly bombarded by the taste of whine in her mouth, which she chokes and coughs out immediately, not expecting an actual beverage in her throat. Not just that, but she almost never drinks in real life, so the flavor was new to her. Andromeda reflexively uses a healing spell on Rain, who waves at her.

"I'm fine, what the hell?" She says, looking at her hands. She tries to take her headset off, only to find herself reaching for her own head. Except, she didn't feel a headset. She merely felt her hair, and the drops of whine crawling down her chin. She turns to look at Satin, who she half expected to have been disappeared. To her surprise, she found her still there, or at least her avatar.

Seraph dipped a finger in Rain's glass, taking a lick at the whine. "Doesn't seem to be poisoned..." he says, as his eyes lose some of its intensity. Andromeda also sighs with relief. If she had stood by as her Queen was poisoned, she'd have never forgiven herself.

It was jarring, seeing Seraph and Andromeda behave so... real. She could see his lips move, Andromeda's eyes had more depth. It was like her perspective of the world had shifted.

Not wanting to make a show in front of the NP- should she even call them that? Whatever. She waves at Satin, saying "Can we speak in private, like, right now?" Surprised to find her voice was now also changed, something she barely noticed due to her inner thoughts still being in her original tone.

 

[LadyOfStars]

SatinScsle​

Disbelief clouded Satin’s mind as he stood in awe of the increased intensity of the environment. The lights were brighter, the smells were stronger, and his body felt…familiar yet different. It wasn’t until he heard Rain’s voice that he snapped out of his daydreaming. “Yes…of course…everyone clear the room please.” Satin requested softly.

“What?!” Umbra protested. “I want to talk more too!” He went on to explain. However he found himself apprehended as Rani took his shoulder in hand. “We will await your return to the second floor Satin.” The Legatus assured her creator.

As the two of them took their leave Satin made his way back to his chair and plopped down in his seat. “Is this some secret update to Yggdrasil? A surprise for those who stuck around?” While those questions spilled out of him Satin attempted to pull up the menu, but every failed attempt furrowed his brow deeper. “What’s going on?”

Shoya Garbage.

 

[Shoya]

Rain​

Rain waved off her own NPCs as well, straightening out from the drink. She feels her own face, finding herself fascinated by her own body. She feels energy coursing through her body, from her toes to her brain.

"How could this be an update? It's not like a videogame update could completely overhaul our home set ups. Besides, the option to log out is not even available to me anymore. Hell, most of the menus themselves are inaccessible to me now." She says, looking around her field of vision trying to open up menus.

"I-I guess we're here now. If my real body is still in my house I can't feel it at all. The only trace of me is my thoughts." she meant that literally and metaphorically.

"Well, what should we do? What does your body feel like to you? To me, I feel strength and warmth. We could start by testing it." she says, holding out her hand as Pandora's Touch appears in her grasp. This new world was in their hands now, and they seemingly kept their power. She looks at the rings on her hand and thinks about how she can cast a teleport to the indoor arena.

Should I just think it? Say it aloud? Hmmm....

 

[LadyOfStars]

SatinScale​

Computer coding and the inner workings of today's tech were kind of beyond Satin's understanding so as he tried to make sense of what they were experiencing and what Rain was saying he only found himself spiraling more and more. Then his hands suddenly mashed his face and slowly dragged downward to his throat. Everything felt...unmistakably real. Rain's words sounded almost like this was their new world, like they were to be trapped here and she seemed to be accepting that. What other choice did they have though when there were no menus with which to log out and no way to contact the outside world. The other world. The real world.

With a heavy sigh Satin conceded to their circumstances. "I feel...stronger and almost as if I have a lot more energy." He briefly explained before he pushed himself up out of the chair. "If this is our new reality then I suppose we should take some time to familiarize ourselves with the changes." As a spellcaster and a dragonoid there were a lot of mechanics that he'd need to verify before he'd be able to use his...body to its full potential.

When Rain mentioned testing the first place that came to Satin's mind was the College of Sorcery and Headmaster. They'd be perfect for teaching him to use magic in this new form. But then he spotted Rain's ring. A bunch of mages would do her no good to learn from and it was probably better that they worked together on this endeavor. "Gate!" As Satin raised his hand towards the wall behind Rain a portal tore itself open in the wall. On the other side was the arena, the guild's coliseum. "It worked. Fairly simple too." Though the feat was something to be proud of, Satin's face remained somewhat downcast and unimpressed. He wandered around Rain and started into the portal. "Come on, this should take us to the arena."

Shoya Garbage.

 

[Shoya]

Rain​

Rain was impressed by Satin's quick adaptation to the magic, watching as the water fall split open to reveal a portal to the guild coliseum. "Excellent work" she says, walking through the portal to the coliseum, surprised by the lack of a loading screen, frame drops, or anything. It was perfect. It was her new reality.

"Hmm.. I think it'd be best we don't practice on each other. Judging by how we feel everything else, I'd assume we could seriously hurt each other. We don't even know if we can respawn in this reality. Even if we could, I'd have to get Andromeda to resurrect you on my behalf." says Crimson, jokingly grinning at the last part. She focuses on how to contact her NPCs, finding herself connected to Seraph seemingly telepathically. "Can you come to the coliseum, please? I'd like to spar with you, like during your training days."

"You gonna call up Cho? We could call up one of the stair guardians, if you'd like." she says, wondering if he'd be interested in sparring with Andromeda. She wouldn't be able to keep up with Satin, but Crimson was sure Andromeda could entertain him well enough. Just as she finishes the thought, Seraph flies into the coliseum, landing in front of her with some space in between.

Crimson instinctively analyzes the situation of the battle, saying "You put enough space between us that your masamune can reach me but I can't strike back. I've taught you well, but still..."

Okay, here we go...

Crimson takes a step forward, Pandora's touch in hand. She appears in front of Seraph in a flash, saying "you can't underestimate my speed."

 

[LadyOfStars]

SatinScale​

As they stepped through the portal and into a new environment, Satin squuinted his eyes to shield them from the unrestrained light of the sun. Everything about this seemed so real and yet he was still struggling to believe that it was. While Rain and her NPC made their way on to the sands Satin found himself a seat in the stands. If this was truly their new reality then they had a lot to learn and combat was just the beginning.

"The magic feels natural almost and casting is not complicated at all." As he spoke his thoughts aloud with Rain's battle happening in the background, Satin stretched outturned his gaze to the sky. "Remote Viewing." Satin's eyes glossed over as if he were in a trance and although his mind seemed elsewhere, his body maintained its perfect posture.

"Incredible." He thought to himself while he took in the view of the world outside of Celestial Falls. "This spell didn't work this way before but its a vast improvement." As he examined the the surrounding area right away there were several things that Satin noticed. With a heavy sigh his consciousness returned to his body and his eyes returned to normal. "Rain!" The dragonoid called out as he rose to his feet, the sound of urgency in his voice betrayed by the nonchalant pace of his walk across the sands.

"I've just used a spell to scout the area outside of the guild hall and it is not the same region that we know." Inside his chest Satin's heart was racing, beating like a drum ready to explode. "We are still in the mountains but these are not our mountains and the valleys and fields below are not the same either."

Shoya Garbage.

 

[Shoya]

Rain​

During her spar with Seraph, Crimson noticed something. Unsure if it was her speed, she percieved Seraph's attacks slower than prior to their new reality. Whenever he swung his masamune, it was like she could see it in slow motion.

"Seraph, is it just me or have you gotten slower?" she asks, unsure if it was something that he was doing or something on her end. To her, dodging Seraph's attacks was like dodging a shopping cart rolling down a hill.

"I-I apologize my queen! If I have, I will double my training until I meet your standards." says Seraph, taking a knee in front of her. His voice didn't display fear, moreso having a dabble of shame.

"No, that's not what I meant! Moreso, I think I just may be the one that's too fast. My perception of your attacks makes them seem slow in a way I hadn't noticed before." she says, with a complete and sincere honesty.

I have to remember to be more careful with what I say to them from now on. After all, they have real thoughts and emotions now. It's so awkward to be a queen, but it's not all bad.

Crimson's thoughts are interrupted by Satin's call for her to join him in the stands, jumping to him in a single leap. "Whoah, you think you could show me? Or better yet, we could just have a look around ourselves. Let me make the portal this time." She says, wiggling one of her ringed fingers.

"Should I have some members of my covert ops goups shadow us? Or I can just ask Fiji to shadow us. We might run into other players, after all." she says, also visibly excited by this new world and its possiblities. It kind of reminded her of her excitement when she first joined Yggdrasil, being excited to explore the map and get stronger. Either way, it could be the key to getting new information and finding out their purpose for being here.

 

[LadyOfStars]

SatinScale​

All credit to artist!

Just he thought of going outside to explore firsthand was enough to make Satin's arm hairs stand up. They were potentially in a video game, maybe even a new world, and they had no idea what was waiting for them in the lands outside their guildhall. While they appeared to maintain their level and power from Yggdrasil, there was no telling what awaited them.

"Perhaps a trip outside is required." It was not what he would have suggested, but perhaps Rain's idea was the best course of action. "And you may be right. Other players could be outside and we won't know if they're friendly or not." A soft sigh escaped Satin as he contemplated bringing along a Guardian. Cho would be needed here should anything happen while they are away, Umbra was not an option, Headmaster and Ivan had tasks that needed constant supervision. Rani.

"I will call Rani to join me. Her attention to detail will be very useful in the exploration of foreign territory." Satin explained. He rose from his seat and dusted off the back of his dark brown leather pants. After having seen Rain call for Seraph without an audible command Satin deduced that it must have been done with Message. The change in the system was weird, but it still served a purpose all the same. "Rani."

"Yes Satin, is there something you need?" The older woman inquired.

"Rain and I are heading out, I'd like for you to join me. We may encounter other guilds or perhaps have a use for your keen eyes." While he had been explaining the situation to her, Rani did not hesitate to open up a Gate of her own to travel to the arena. "I am ready." She declared. And with that, Satin gestured for Rain to lead the way.

Shoya Garbage.

 

[Shoya]

Rain​

Rain looks behind her back, saying "Hmm..." To herself. She turns back towards Satin and snaps her fingers, saying "Fiji, you are needed."

At the snap of Crimson's fingers, Fiji appears behind Crimson, saying "You called?" She smirked to herself in satisfaction. Was it because Crimson had recognized her while she was concealed? Was it due to the fact her queen needed her in the first place? Either way, she was eager to help.

"We'll be going into unexplored and most likely unsafe land, whether it's from other Yggdrasil players, or some native creature to the land. Please, keep an eye on our back, and watch us from the shadows." Says Crimson, turning to Fiji and giving a reciprocating smile.

Crimson draws a circle with her fingers and a portal opens up, saying "I'll see you on the other side then!" To Satin, and leaps into her portal.

Landing in an open field of grass, she takes in everything. The feeling of the gust of wind through her hair, the smell of the grass beneath her, everything. She takes a knee and feels the grass, patting it to feel the grass blades. The sun on her skin was warm and energizing almost as if she was drinking from the sun directly. Was this what it felt like to be a plant? Oh well. Before she could analyze more, she took a moment to look around. Seeing mostly blue skies and trees, she's initially a bit relieved at the lack of monsters and creatures, but her heart skipped a beat when she looked farther in the horizon.

"Holy.... Satin, look!" She says, pointing at her discovery. Far off in the distance, you can see what seems like a kingdom, and a major one at that.

Too big to be a single guild, I think.

"Should we head over there right now?" She says, staring at the far off kingdom.

 

[LadyOfStars]

SatinScale​

Rani and Satin followed through the spell and while Rani seemed unphased by stepping outside, her master quickly covered his eyes with his hand. The sun was much brighter outside the guild hall and the air. Satin inhaled deeply through his nose and smelled this new world proper for the first time. As he exhaled he turned and let his eyes sweep across the terrain. Right away he looked to the mountains where their guild hall now resided and the unfamiliar mountain range was like a knife to his heart.

When Satin had first set out to build their base of operations he scouted many mountains in Yggdrasil to make sure he chose the correct one. It was safe to say that he could recognize any of those mountains and tell you why he didn't pick them. But seeing these mountains which were new to him put the final nail in his coffin. They definitely were not in Yggdrasil which meant this was an entirely new world with rules they did not know.

While his spirits sank lower and lower, Satin did not hear Rain calling to him. It wasn't until Rani grabbed him by his shoulder that he returned to the real world. "Rain has suggested that we journey to that foreign settlement." The Guardian explained.

Finally back in the moment with his guildmate, Satin set his sights on the distant buildings. "We should. It will be a bountiful source of information for us. And since it is fairly close to the guild hall we should assess whether these people are a potential threat." He let out a soft sigh with his eyes still fixed upon the city, but his thoughts ran deeper than just who they might meet. In his head Satin started to ponder if these people they were soon to meet were actually living beings since this was clearly not Yggdrasil and none of the game functions worked. Did that also mean Rani and the others were also not NPCs anymore even though they came from Yggdrasil? Satin shook his head and didn't hesitate to start walking without the rest of the group.

Shoya Garbage.

 

[Shoya]

Rain​

"Yeah, hopefully they have an information center, or something like that. Though, if this isn't a game anymore, that may not even exist." Rain thinks about it for a bit, saying "I wonder if we should wear disguises... we are pretty flashy right now, and who knows what this kingdom's politics are. They may not welcome a dark elf freely. Either way, I think we'll be eye magnets if this is an average kingdom"

As they make their way towards the distant kingdom, Rain checked on Satin, asking him "How are you feeling about... all of this? I know it may seem creepy to you, but I'm actually pretty excited for this. No more worrying about money and shifts at the school for me. Not only that, but I get a power I never felt in the past. That's why I've been accepting this with open arms. I hope you can feel similarly." Rain felt a knot in her throat at the mention of her power, but it was true. It wasn't a matter of ego or wanting to hurt people, but moreso a feeling of her fate now being in her hands. Like she had the strength to do it herself, and had no reason to fear anyone other than her own guildmate.

She was glad they walked to the kingdom, as it gave her plenty of time to process the scenario they were in, and allowed her to come to an at least temporary conclusion of her opinions. She was glad to be here, and was determined to do best by her people, the Crimson Corp.

---

Fiji stayed in the shadows, making sure nothing was following them, as well as going a bit ahead in search for ambushes and other threats, but it seemed the land was almost boringly safe.

I guess this kingdom does good about keeping their nearby lands as safe as possible. How can they maintain this without a routine force of soldiers, unless they have powerful wizards? We have yet to run into somebody....

Fiji's boredom turned to concern with this thought, allowing her to maintain her focus on her task at hand.

 

[LadyOfStars]

SatinScale​

Listening to Rain, Satin started to understand why she had been behaving as if they'd just gotten a snow day and school was canceled. However it also brought up more things that they'd loss that he hadn't thought about, as well as things they did not know about the universe. "I guess I have been focusing on the negatives. We've left a world that wasn't perfect, but it was a world we knew. Also, if what's happening to us is truly real then what else do we not know about reality? I just...have so many questions now and I can't shake the feeling we may not get answers." Satin let out a soft sigh and looked back at Rani. She'd started to slow down, walking a few feet behind Satin and Rain. It was presumably to give them privacy while they spoke, but knowing her they'd probably talked too much and had become a distraction for her.

Satin looked ahead once more and pondered what the city might be like as well as how they should make their approach. "I don't think that anyone will notice I'm not a human." Satin declared. "But you're right about dark elf perception. This isn't Yggdrasil and we don't know how they will treat you, so perhaps a disguise is in order. Maybe a hood of some sort to cover your ears? Or a wig." The later suggestion brought a smile to Satin's face and he stifled a bit of laughter as he envisioned Rain in a big, over the top wig to hide her true identity.

"I doubt information gathering will be as easy as finding a kiosk, but we can always throw some coin around if we need to loosen a few tongues."

Shoya

 

[Shoya]

Rain​

Nodded in agreement with Satin's more inquisitive and apprehensive perspective of their new reality, but still felt confident in her optimisim. "You see, it's because I knew the world that I don't think I'll miss it. I know the limits of my past life and it was always something I fought with. That's why I joined a physically active field, because I wanted to test the limits of my body and my genetics. While I wouldn't say I was disappointed with my body by any means, it's moreso how limited everything else was around me. Here, at least we seemingly have the infinite potential that is.... well, fantasy. What we know about this world is secondary to what we do with this world, and how we can help mold it into something we approve of. I think we could have that power here." she was stops at that, realizing she was going on a tangeant and bordering on a motivational speech. Maybe it was her inner coach coming out.

At the mention of a wig, Rain gives Satin a jokingly disgusted face "You'll have to catch me if you want me to wear a wig." and chuckling, though she did consider what she could use to cover up. "Too bad I've never been a big hat collector, I only really have ones that were given away as gifts, or dropped alongside other loot. I probably left all of them back in the base too, and I don't think I'd carry one in my inventory other than.... oh." She remembers, as she spots it in her inventory. In this moment she heavily contemplated teleporting back to the guildhall and getting a different hat, but it wasn't really worth the trip. She grabs it from her inventory, revealing a black ushanka with the guild logo on it, something she wore as a joke a few times in the past. She remembers the last time she used it, getting a laugh out of the lower level guild members she was helping as she commanded them with the hat on. That raid was only what, like last week? But it felt like such a different vibe than now. It almost felt like she had lived it herself, visualizing the scene with the same luxury of details she has now.

"Guess this is all I've got for now..." she says, glaring at it unpleased. However, her glare was cut short by the mention of coin "Right, we're stinking rich! We could just throw money at the problem then." she says, grinning to herself.