..or just another Beginning

(Momonga POV)

This was the last day.

I knew this day would come.

The still active players in this game were practically nonexistent and even among the members of Ainz Ooal Gown I was the only member that was still active.

'How could they just leave like this...' I wondered. Nazarick had been more of a home for me than the real world had.

There wasn't much to live for outside of this game after all and I didn't know what I would do once the servers were shut down for good.

Herohero had been here earlier and I was still silently sitting in the meeting room where we talked, our finely crafted guild weapon floating next to me and serving as a constant reminder to my friends.

'Maybe we'll see each other in Yggdrasil 2' he said.

A joke.

We both knew it.

The game company that produced Yggdrasil had made great losses in the last two years, since even though the game was declining, they didn't stop producing more content.

And now they had hit a point were even keeping the servers online was too expensive.

There was little chance that the company would be able to recover, even less get the necessary money to develop another game like Yggdrasil.

Life wasn't going well for me either.

When I said that Nazarick had been my real home I wasn't joking. Towards the end of the game I had been using most of the time I had available to somehow keep the guild running.

As a consequence to that I had less time to sleep and my work performance was dropping.

This was a fatal mistake in a time where mega corporations where ruling the world. There were always enough people looking for work even though you were barely able to live of of the income you got.

I had been warned twice by now that if my performance didn't increase I would be kicked out soon and I knew that the only reason I hadn't been yet was because my boss didn't want to fill out the necessary paperwork.

*Sigh*

My original plan had been to stay until the last second of Yggdrasil, but I wasn't so sure anymore.

Much like Herohero-san I needed every last minute of sleep I could get and I knew that if I wasn't able to leave now a part of me would die with Nazarick.

I opened the menu.

My finger was slowly hovering over to the options section of the interface and hesitating just a tiny bit above the [Log out] button.

'If... if there is even the tiniest chance that I will meet my friends again, I want to be ready.'

Even if this game was coming to an end and Nazarick would be lost, it wouldn't truly die.

As long as I and the others were still alive there was a chance that everything could be rebuild.

And when that day comes...

"...I will be ready."

It was fun.

It really was.

I logged out.

(Albedo POV)

I was a little excited to be honest.

After all I had been here for almost four years at this point.

I had heard Momonga talking to himself earlier in the day. He had said that the serves would be shut down at midnight.

I was standing at the same position that the Albedo in the show had been standing at.

Momonga and the Pleiades hadn't yet arrived in the throne room, but I knew they had to arrive shortly since the game was nearing it's end.

I looked at the great door serving as an entrance to the throne room, searching for any sign of movement.

I wasn't worried all that much.

I knew he had arrived at most five minutes before the server shutdown in the show and had barely enough time to read through my settings and change the last line.

That was another point I didn't know how to feel about.

'I suppose I will have to stay a virgin for a while longer, but I suppose it could have been much worse. After all he is probably the last person that is going to take advantage of me.'

He truly is a nice guy...

...a nice guy that was awfully late to make his great entrance.

I obviously didn't now the exact time since I couldn't access the player interface and a clock would look awfully out of place in a tomb like this.

My eyes were still roaming the huge entrance door.

'Huh... nothing.'

I was alone in the throne room since Sebas and the Pleiades would only come inside after being ordered by Momonga.

A hint of nervousness ran through my mind.

The I felt it.

The one thing that always reminded me about still being in a game.

The veil that had shrouded my senses had vanished.

I dropped to my knees.

"What-"

I was shocked at hearing my own voice. The last time I was able to speak had been well over four years ago, so that was to be expected I guess.

What shocked me even more was how I sounded. Albedo's- my voice sounded almost ethereal. It was inhumane, much more sweet and soothing than any sound had the right to be.

Still on my knees I lifted my hands in front of my face, slowly opening and closing my hand as to reaffirm that it was truly mine.

The skin was a beautifully pale, but somehow still looked natural. No blemishes or imperfections that I could see, even with my now enhanced senses.

Everything felt extremely sensitive.

"My brain has probably gotten used to the lessened senses over the years."

I slowly rose from the ground.

The settings I had been given had automatically ensured that my body would stand on it's own even if my mind were to sleep.

Having full control of my body again felt... strange, to say the least.

"This is probably how patients feel like after awaking from coma."

Still standing on slightly shaking legs I looked around me.

"At least nobody was around to see me like this. Wait..."

There was ABSOLUTELY NOBODY around.

I was quite sure that just now Nazarick had been teleported to the New World and yet the Pleiades weren't here. Sebas wasn't here.

Momonga wasn't here.

My mind was panicking.

'Maybe he is simply in another part of Nazarick.' I thought, but the last sliver of hope was slowly vanishing even as I tried to convince myself that there might still be a chance.

The throne room was the heart of Nazarick. If Momonga had waited until the end of Yggdrasil, then there would be no place better suited for it than this very room I was now standing in.

I was alone.

Momonga hadn't been here.

Had I changed something? But how? I wasn't even able to walk freely until now.

What could I have done that would keep the most dedicated member of Ainz Ooal Gown from staying until the end.

Except if I hadn't done anything.

Nobody ever told me that this was the very world that I had watched on TV.

It was just something that I assumed because of all the similarities.

Realization hit me like a sledgehammer and I said the only thing that went through my mind at this moment.

"Fuck."