End of the War

It had been about two days since we fended off the Demon Lord and she retreated to unknown lands. Not long after she vanished, everyone received a message on their HUD saying they would be teleported to their respawn point. Most of the people from Longevity were teleported to the main lobby of the guild, and those that weren't quickly teleported there. Everyone was either talking about the event or catching up with one another. The general consensus was that it was good but could have been better. Olivia managed to pull Mike aside for a minute to talk.

"So, is the event over? I thought it would have lasted longer."

"It's probably not over yet. There'll mos- *cough cough* Sorry about that, there'll most likely be a continuation to what happened soon, like probably within a week. Or at least that's what usually happens with big events."

Before Olivia could say anything else, Mike was being pulled back into the group of people she took him from.

"Sorry, let's talk later sis."

Mike was snatched away into the group and quickly started talking and reminiscing with everyone about the good old days and how much everyone misses each other. Olivia started feeling a bit left out, after all, she didn't know any of these people, and Mike seemed so chummy with them all, it's like he had a whole separate life online that she didn't know about. Luckily before she could feel too dejected someone approached her from behind. The person from behind went to grab her shoulder, then changed his mind as he went to tap her back, before ultimately lowering his hand and just saying…

"Hey"

She turned around, and behind her stood Josh.

"Oh, hi"

"You wanna get out of here?"

Olivia looked at the group of people in the lobby before shifting her gaze back to Josh and agreeing to go wherever it was that he wanted to take her. Josh gestured for her to follow him as he started walking away.

About a minute of walking around the guild had passed before Olivia spoke up.

"So where are we going."

"We're almost there, you're gonna like it. Maybe."

"What do you mean maybe?"

"Well, I don't know what you do and don't like. I think it's cool, but I'm not a psychic or a tarot card reader or anything like that."

"Okay, fair point."

We walked into a door that looked like it led to a bedroom, but once we were inside, there was no furniture, bed, or really anything here besides a ceiling light. Josh walked to the far corner of the left wall before placing his hands on it; it was like he was trying to find something.

"Ah, come on. Where was it."

"You're looking kind of crazy right now, are you okay?"

"Yeah… there's just so-"

*click*

Part of one of the walls shifted, revealing a staircase leading upward.

"There was a hidden button, but I forgot exactly where it was."

He made his way up the stairs, and I continued to follow.

"So how did you know about that button?"

"Well, that's because I made it of course, or rather me and Mike made it. We wanted to do something amazing, but we never got around to finishing it."

After reaching the top of the stairs, the first thought that came to her mind was that it was beautiful. What she saw was a large open area that was dimly lit up, but the main thing that caught her eye was the ceiling. Stars, galaxies, planets, space, and much more slowly moved on the ceiling; it was a planetarium. There was some depth to it too; just how did they pull this off?

"Come over here."

Olivia looked away from the ceiling, and back to Josh. There were five seats that were bolted to the ground, and they all seemed to have the option to recline back to get a better view of the ceiling. Josh was in the middle seat, and since Olivia approached from the right, she took the rightmost seat, leaving a one-seat gap between them. She then reclined her seat and looked at the ceiling; Josh then did the same. They both sat in silence for a minute before Josh eventually spoke up.

"So… how did you like your first event?"

"Hmm? Oh, it was alright."

"Just alright?"

"Well, I feel like it would have been better if my level was higher, but there wasn't much I could do against strong players or that final boss. Oh, and thanks for that necklace; I don't think I properly thanked you for that."

"No problem."

"…"

"…"

"So, how's Mike been?"

"I think he's been alright. He's been pretty secretive lately and we haven't been talking as much as usual."

"Hmm… I hope everything's alright with him."

"Yeah, me too."

"…"

"…"

"Alright, I get to ask a question now."

"What do you want to ask?"

"hmmm… how long… have you known brother?"

"Me and Mike have known each other for… I think around two years now; maybe a bit longer."

"Yeah? How did you guys meet?"

"hehe, we actually met on an online forum way back when. If I remember correctly he was trying to find some people to help him with another event. It took us two days to beat the whole thing, and after everything was over he was saying how he wanted to keep playing with people like me and the other members in the party. Some of the people said they didn't want to and left, but a few of us stayed and we eventually built up the guild to where it is now."

"Who are the other starting members?"

"Oh… they aren't in the guild anymore. I don't remember their names either, sorry."

"huh…"

"…"

"…"

*meow*

"Was that a cat?"

"Y- yeah, my cat got into my room, sorry about that."

"There's nothing to be sorry about, in fact…"

Josh opened his inventory and pulled something out. He reached his arm out, handing something to Olivia.

"What is it?"

She reached over and grabbed it.

"It's a sticker. You can put it on weapons, armor, and other things like that."

"Better luck nyaxt time? Hehe… hahaha… it's so stupid. Thanks, Josh."

"Yeah, you're welcome. I'm glad you like it. So what's the cat's name?"

"Mr. Whiskers"

"pfft..."

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing, Nothing."

We both kept casually chatting while looking at the beautiful sky above us.