Chapter 1: Judgment Day

A/N: This story takes place in the same universe as reality deviant`s "Realocation" and is written with the expressed permission of reality deviant. Here is the link: s/10573291/1/Realocation

Disclaimer: I do not own Log Horizon, or the fanfiction "Realocation." I only own this story`s plots, locations, and OCs.

"Speech"

Thinking

Chapter 1: Judgment Day

Mooresville, MI. Earth

Octavius POV

After Octavius Abel Keys slapped the digital alarm clock on his nightstand into silence, he got up, went to the dining room, had a breakfast of Frosted Flakes, mumbled his morning greetings to his father before the man rushed out the door to work, cringed as his mother rubbed his hair again (he knew that she knew that he hated it when she did that, almost as much as being called "Doc Ock" at school), walked back into his room and got dressed for school. Putting on his preferred fashion style, black and red hoodie over a t-shirt with black jeans and dark violet sneakers. After hauling his backpack, he went to walk out the door, and then noticed the calendar he had tacked to his billboard next to it. Or, more specifically, the date circled on it.

The calendar, by virtue of all the days crossed out the night that they ended, announced that the date was November 2, 2018.

A special note written in the box noted that it was now the six month anniversary of the "Kidnapping."

Six months from the day of May 2 of that year when, mysteriously, a grand total of over 500,000 people simultaneously vanished from the face of the Earth. Coincidentally, it was the exact same moment that the immensely popular 20-year running MMORPG, Elder Tales, launched its twelfth expansion pack, "Novasphere of Pioneers", and then promptly crashed, bringing the game`s illustrious and rich history and game world to an ignominious end.

Six months since Octavius lost both of his elder siblings, Aaron and Emilia, to the event that many have come to identify by a plurality of names, such as the "Kidnapping", "Vanishing", "Rapture" (this fell out of favor fast), "Beaming Up" (mainly just the Trekkies), officially known as the "May Mass-Disappearance", but most commonly the "Elder Tales Event", or just the "Event."

Octavius` tears had long since dried up, but he still bowed his head a little in acknowledgement. Although he looked up to his two older siblings, he wasn`t all that close to the two of them, as they both preferred to do their own thing together, a thing that either he wasn`t interested in or couldn`t be a part of. He remembered how they would play one game or another for hours on end at times, while he preferred to listen to his rock music while reading one of his many comics, from the universally-recognized "Batman" and "Spider-man" titles to the more obscure likes of "Midnighter". Although their sudden absence made him realize that he did indeed care for them, it wasn`t something he dwelled upon, although a professional psychologist or good people-reader would note his ever-darkening fashion-styles as a sign that their absence was having a bigger effect on him than he realized.

He then walked out his door, out of the front door to his house, to begin yet another monotonous day at school, from 8:30 AM to 3:30 PM. And it certainly was, by his standards. Except –

"No one said anything," Octavius murmured under his breath.

"Say what?" asked his friend, Kyle Pulaski, who was walking home with him after the bus dropped them off at the stop.

"No one said anything about the Event. It was six months ago, today. The teachers, the faculty, the other students, everyone`s parents, none of them said so much as a word about it. And not about them."

"Come on," Kyle said, placing his hand on his friend`s shoulder. He had lost his father to the Event, and his mother had remarried since then. "You know that it`s a painful topic, I mean, our town lost, what, over 900 people? And our town was a little below 15,000 people in all before it happened. That`s like," he looked up, doing some mental math, he had a good head for it. "One out of every fifteen people in Mooresville going 'poof' to God knows where. That means that, odds are, just about everyone in town has lost someone they knew, and that someone was friend or family. Most people just want to move on, and I think most people wait for yearly anniversaries to commemorate occasions."

"Yeah, you`re probably right, as usual."

"Besides, I didn`t tell you this earlier, but my step-dad yesterday succeeded in convincing the city council to fund and erect a memorial for all the town residents who disappeared in the Event, so as to coincide with the one-year anniversary."

"You mean," Octavius said in a low voice, as he stopped walking, Kyle beside him. "If they don`t come back first."

Kyle was silent for a moment. "Well, they were all just simply spirited away in the blink of an eye. And you know the conspiracies that have flown around. Alien abduction. The Apocalypse. You name it, someone`s theorized it. Hell, there are even cults springing up to steal people`s souls and money to feed off of all this. But, no one has a single shred of concrete evidence to explain what really happened."

"Yeah," Octavius muttered. Looking up, he saw his house down the street. There weren`t any cars parked out front, which meant that Dad had yet to come back from the office, and Mom was likely at that Bible Church again. She had joined it in the immediate aftermath of the Event. Octavius personally didn`t consider himself a part of any church, but Kyle`s Roman Catholicism was something he found interesting, with its grand ceremonies and pop culture mystery surrounding it, and his friend`s quiet and well-thought out reasoning for being a Catholic sounded very convincing, more so than his mother`s grief-driven "read-your-Bible" approach to theology.

"Well, I`ll see you later, `kay?"

"Sure

He wondered then, why he suddenly had started to think about faith and God of all things, on a day that was, for him, nothing but monotonous sorrow. Because, that`s all today was.

River Arch, North Wen. Elder Tales World

Iraza POV

The sun`s morning light shone through the window, alerting Iraza, level 100 Human Sorcerer and Guildmaster of Inkblade, to the beginning of a new day. Groaning, he arose from his bed, walked down the stairs, had a breakfast of scrambled dragon egg and sausage, greeted all of the local junior members of the guild, from the young Elf monk, Robinn, to the recently-recruited Fox-Tail cleric, Justine, then walked back up the stairs to his bedroom, which also served as his private office, got dressed into his usual daily attire of long-sleeve dark shirt, rugged pants, dark brown boots, and his signature Midnight Aurora Coat, a black coat with shimmering rainbow seams. It was an item he cherished, as it was not only powerful, shortening cooldown times and strengthening his spells, but was the first major item he had earned as the Guildmaster of Inkblade, formed after the Apocalypse.

His guild, Inkblade, was created with the purpose of connecting the several different Adventurer cities scattered throughout North Wen, or the North American server of Elder Tales. Thanks to his encyclopedic knowledge of the Fairy Rings, he was able to travel to every major Adventurer city in North Wen and re-establish connections that he had with all of the Adventurers he knew before the Apocalypse, thus allowing him to, over the course of two years of traveling and talking, create a map of the politics of North Wen`s Divided States and the Adventurer cities. His guild, Inkblade, allowed all the Adventurers of North Wen to be able to establish communication, form relations, do business, and even band together in times of crisis. In fact, there was even talk going around the Adventurer cities to form a Union, not unlike the United States back home. It was all thanks to Inkblade, an organization comprised now of over 600 with members scattered across North Wen.

Here, in the guild`s headquarters in River Arch (stand-in for St. Louis), he oversaw everything that his guild members were working on, running an information network that ran from Big Apple (New York) to South Angels (Los Angeles). They even made successful attempts at contact with Adventurer cities overseas, most notably Londonheim (take a guess) and Leon City (Singapore). Thanks in large part to all of their efforts, all of North Wen was currently at peace, with the last major war with the world`s monsters having been resolved by the end of the second year, conflict with the People of the Land having been defused and resolved in the same time, and the last war between Adventurer cities ended just as the third year ended.

Hard to believe that six years ago, all of this was nothing but an online game.

As Iraza sat down at his desk, he couldn`t help but sigh at the thought. Six years was a long time. That kind of time is made even longer when it gets filled with transcontinental adventures, from leading parties through dungeons, navigating messy local and international politics, and leading one of the most active and far-flung guilds on the continent. Not to mention the twelve-to-one time dilation between the "real world" and Elder Tales, which made six years here into six months "back home."

Then, there was a very enthusiastic knocking on his door, which sounded more akin to explosives than a fist banging on wood, thus oh so neatly interrupting his line of thought and reminding him of the other thing that made his life seem longer-

Young, rambunctious, immortal, superhuman, children.

"The door`s unlocked," Iraza said, exasperated. "And I would rather not force you to pay for a new one, again, need I remind you, George."

"Sorry, master Guildmaster, sir," George said, opening the door much more gently than he was just treating it just a moment ago. He was a small boy of the Wolf Fangs, possibly ten years old in real life, but a Level 71 Guardian thanks to six years of experience and tutelage from senior Inkblade guild members. That meant the little boy, who was now six years older but still acting his real life age, had super-strength coupled with a still-innocent demeanor. Meaning that he has accidentally destroyed a grand total of 9 doors over the course of six years, three of them being Iraza`s door to his own room. Iraza was not eager to seeing the tally grow to ten with the addition of his fourth door.

"And how many times to I have to tell you, my name is Iraza, not 'master Guildmaster sir.' I mean, I`ve been telling you that for the past, oh I don`t know, four years?"

"Sorry, mas- I mean, Iraza. I`m just so excited, the Post-Apocalypse Festival has been going on for two days now, and since today is the day of the actual Apocalypse, that means the Parade is happening today!" Now George was acting even more excitedly, because what child did not enjoy a festival, which was essentially a giant party and a free ticket to go anywhere in town at all without supervision? "Besides, you`ve been stuck up here in your stuffy office all day for both of those days, doing nothing but boring paperwork. And before you say anything, it can wait! Come on outside with everyone and have a good time! After all, even you need to party every now and again. Besides, Aldaza is here, and she wants to see her big brother."

Iraza`s eyes widened in surprise. Aldaza, last he heard, was adventuring with her guild, Living Fantasy, on the islands and reefs near the Beautiful Ocean Bridge (Overseas Highway US-1; Key West, FL). Then again, that information was old, and his sister never missed a Post-Apocalypse Festival in River Arch, which was where the two had decided they should meet every year, so as to never go a year without catching up. When she hadn`t shown up the past two days, he had begun to think she wasn`t coming.

But, since she was here-

"Alright, George, go on back down, and tell her I`m right behind you." George rushed off. Iraza stood up, grabbed his favorite fedora, made with black felt and a royal blue ribbon band, placed it on his head, grasped his Fallen Star Staff, and made his way out of his doorway, with its door still intact, and walked down the stairs and into the guild hall`s lobby, where his sister stood.

He couldn`t help but smile at the sight. Although his sister was now a Werecat, with emerald eyes, a much more lithe and athletic figure than in real life, and soft gray and black fur, the smile of quiet joy was very much the same as he remembered from before.

"Well, I must say, I might have to start worshipping you now, considering the only other person to raise himself back from the dead was Jesus."

And six years of inhumanity hadn`t done anything to dull her sense of humor either, though they may have sharpened it. Iraza smiled, because although he had changed a lot, she hadn`t at all.

"Well then, petty mortal, get down on your knees and beg your new god for his most generous mercy, and salvation may come to you, however slight the chances."

Aldaza laughed. "You still can`t make a good comeback to my jokes, can you? I rate that as a six."

"Oh, come on! That was at least an eight! Besides, what right do you have for rating people`s jokes, you are neither a professional comedian nor a critic."

"I don`t know about that. I participated in a stand-up comedy contest in Masquerade Delta (New Orleans) once, and I got third place overall. That officially gives me better comedic chops than you."

"You know, how can you prove what you just said is true? Also, considering everything that`s happened, how can you prove to me beyond a doubt anything you said is true? How can you prove anything that is happening to any of us is real? We could, after all, simply be existing in a Matrix-style computer simulation, or it could all be just me, and I`ve simply dreamed up everything that`s happened to me over the course of my whole life. Or-"

"Stop it with the philosophical existential debating crap! You know how much I hate that!"

"Anything to get the final comeuppance."

Aldaza sighed, hand on face as she shook her head. "You still haven`t changed at all, have you?"

"Honestly, I think I`m very different than I was before, but hearing you say that is quite comforting."

Aldaza smiled once more, looking up. "Still don`t have a girlfriend, I bet."

Iraza simply shrugged. He was used to it after six years. "No. I have noticed a few who have harbored a crush over the years, but none of it was serious, or lasted that long. No boyfriend?"

Aldaza shook her head. "Nope, although I did have a brief crush on one of the People of the Land, before I learned he already had a special person in his life."

"Sorry to hear that. But, how about we continue this outside. I`m sure you still want vengeance for my victory last year in our go-round of Festival games."

"You bet!" she exclaimed, her thumb up.

And so, the two of them ran for the door, running out into the fresh, festive air, ready for anything the world had to throw at them.

Mooresville, MI. Earth

Octavius POV

He walked inside, and the very first thing he heard was a loud crash from upstairs. The next sounds were two loud pained groans of "Oooowww," and "Aaaahhh," followed by simultaneous cries of "What the hell?!" The very next moment, he had an impossible thought: he recognized those two voices, despite the fact that he hadn`t heard them in six months.

"Aaron?! Emilia?!" he shouted. "Was that you?!"

"Wait, is that you, Octavius?" "Doc Ock!" There was then the immediate sound of thumping as his long-lost siblings came rushing from the upstairs hallways to the stairs to see him at last. Just as he got to the stairs, he was immediately tackled in a bear hug.

"Ocky, it`s so good to see you again. It`s been ages since I`ve seen you. I just hope that I`m not dreaming, because this is just too good to be one."

"Need – air," he hacked out, as his sister was just about squeezing the life out of him.

"Oh-my-god I`m so sorry!" she yelped, releasing him. I guess I`ve forgotten how strong I am now."

As Octavius took a few moments to breathe again, he realized that although he could remember his sister being this energetic, he couldn`t quite remember her being this strong before…

When he looked up, what he saw was not his sister, Emilia. What he saw was a giant, bipedal, cosplay-dressed, sword-bearing, honest-to-God cat.

"E-Em-Emilia? Is that- really you?"

She looked down at herself, and then realized what she was again. "Oh yeah, well-"

"Suffice to say, a lot has happened over the course of the last six years," said Aaron`s voice. But what Octavius saw was a tall, handsome young man with piercing violet eyes wearing a black coat with shimmering rainbow edges and patterns, a black, blue-banded fedora, and holding what looked like a tall, silver staff topped with a glittering, star-shaped sapphire.

"Aaron?"

"To give you the short answer, Octavius, yes, I am Aaron Nathaniel Keys, and the cat that just gave you a tackle worthy of the NFL is indeed Emilia. However, we`ve just spent the past six years inside the world of Elder Tales living out life as our in-game avatars. My avatar`s name is Iraza. And hers is Aldaza."

This was a lot to process in a short amount of time. His sister was a superhuman cat, his brother looked like a cosplayer meld between a Prohibition-era mobster and a wizard, and his brother just said they had been for six years in a video game?!

So that conspiracy theory`s true, out of all of them. The idea of the game itself holding the players captive had been one of the more popular, albeit wilder and even more unbelievable theories, which qualified experts had regarded as less likely than even the likes of government conspiracy, alien abduction, and even divine intervention.

Octavius then realized something he said. "But wait, six years? Hasn`t-"

"Yes, due to Elder Tales twelve-to-one time dilation, for you it`s only been six months, but six years passed for everyone sent to that world."

"Oh." Then, another thought. "Wait, everyone? If you`re here, then that means-"

At that very moment, his cell phone rang. Taking it out of pocket, he saw it was Kyle. Answering it, he said, "Hello?"

"DAD`S HOME!" Kyle blasted through the phone, making Octavius wince.

"Wait, what, quiet down a little. Did you just say what you think I said? Your dad`s back?"

"Yeah! Only, now he`s a freaking badass ax-wielder! He`s AWESOME! Hey, are your brother and sister back too?"

"Yeah…"

Iraza POV

He walked to the window, and saw the sun in the sky, as it continued on its way towards the horizon, to give way to the night.

They were home.

After six, long, exciting, tiring years. They were home once more.

But the means by which they had returned chilled him.

He had spent so much time just trying to help everyone keep all their marbles from spilling everywhere, he had completely forgotten at times about the real world, about Earth, and all the friends and family that had been left behind by the Apocalypse. Up to that very day, he had stopped altogether on trying to find a way home. In fact, he come to regard that world as his home, and did so for years. It was only when he was reminded of his first home that he came to dedicate thought to it.

But now that they were home, the implications of their return immediately dawned upon him:

Confusion over their disappearance, return, and newfound forms and powers.

Fear, envy, pride, hatred, bigotry produced by differences between the Adventurers and normal people.

Differences lead to division, lines will be drawn, agendas will collide, and the very foundations of Earth`s societies and cultures will be fundamentally challenged.

Thus, violence will inevitably erupt, and the first conditions for war have already been met.

All this he knew, for he had read of it in history, time and again for thousands of years. And he had seen it himself, over the course of six years in the world of Elder Tales.

And so, he knew fear for the future.

Then, the sight of the sun reminded him of a story a Japanese player had told him, when he met her after her arrival in River Arch from Yamato (Japan), via Fairy Ring. She said that there was a guild in Akihabara led by Shiroe of the legendary Debauchery Tea Party, who formed a guild known as Log Horizon. The name came from the guild`s spirit of adventure, to go forth towards the horizon, and write down in the logs of history their travels and feats. They who were instrumental in bringing to Yamato peace and prosperity.

He smiled. His Inkblade had done much the same for North Wen. They had seen a world ready to plunge into chaos, and they battled the chaos with a sword in one hand, and a pen in the other. They sought to use information to bring everyone together, and bring about peace to their world, but never shied away from using all necessary force to resolve crises that could not be dissuaded with just words. Inkblade at once answered to everyone and no one, subservient, but independent. And their efforts paid off with the building of a world that everyone could partake in and experience a joyful, adventurous, ever-satisfying existence.

Upon this musing, his face hardened into a great resolve. Seeing a perfect moment for dramatic words, he spoke:

"It seems to me we now live in a world now twice shaken. The first Apocalypse turned everything upside down, but we righted ourselves. Now we face yet another Brave New World, when the faith and resolve of all the peoples of Earth will be tested as unlike anything before. But, we of Inkblade have faced down the Apocalypse and refused to be broken by it. Now, Inkblade will rise again, this time to pass the test of Judgment Day."

A/N: Phew! That took a long while! Please be sure to check out reality deviant`s "Realocation" for what`s going on in Japan at this time. If you want to read more real world-meets-virtual-reality stories, be sure to check out my SAO fanfiction, "Aincrad Realized." Also, I would love your input, from ideas about future plots, to possible OCs, as well as your take on the story. Please review!

Edit: I pushed the date back to November 2 seeing as November 3, 2018 is a Saturday, and time zone issues would put the Elder Tale Incident in America on May 2.