ROR Part 1: The Prologue

Unknown Narrator

The Realm of Remnant or ROR as it is known by those who play it is what you would call a Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game or a MMORPG for short. And even though ROR was only released two years ago, it has quickly become not only the most poplar MMO but the most poplar video game in the world. I would image it is largely due to its incorporation of advanced VR or virtual reality technology and its unique combat mechanics that complement virtual reality so well. Though its massive success has caused several clones to pop up one after another and flood the market ROR still reins supreme as the only game that truly offers a complete immersive experience. And it does this while still delivering the fast paced and interesting game play that the fans crave.

Why am I telling you all of this? Well you're the one who came to me were you not? So do forgive me for assuming you wanted to know more about my work. What you want me to go on? Are you sure? Alright good, now then where was I? Oh that's right I was almost at the part where I tell you about our hero or our heroine in this case. As I told you earlier ROR is currently most poplar game in the world and being the most poplar game in the world means that it has an incredibly large and by extension diverse player base. And with the games deep lore and its incredibly large player base there is practically no end to the stories that could be told about it. There have been many adventures of all shapes and sizes, some happy, some sad, and some unlike any other. This story however is one of the latter. It is a story about a player who had rose above the crowd and built a legacy on their copses. However this is not a story about glory or fame. No, this is a story about what comes after. Where do you go once you have finally reached the mountain top? Logic dictates that there is only one direction left.

Who is this player? Well to her friends she is Nora Valkyrie a simple high school girl with far too much time on her hands. To everyone else however she is known as the Violet Valkyrie a level 30 Warrior with the sub class of Berserker and the leader of The Violet Crusaders one of the most hardcore raiding guilds in ROR's history. In short Nora is what we call a no-lifer.

Location: The Infernal Spire Raid Dungeon - Throne of the Dragon King

Difficulty: 10 Player Heroic

*RRROOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRR*

An ear piecing roar vibrated off the walls of the massive gilded chamber that made the stage for the final boss room. And at the roars epicenter stud a giant mass of armory scales, razor sharp claws, and leathery hide. The draconic figure's eyes emitted a hateful red glow and it's already armory body was covered in heavy plated golden armor that matched the chamber itself well enough to be called camouflage. Rested upon the creature's massive scaly scalp rested an equally decadent crown while it gripped a set of gilded scimitars with one in each of its hands. Reflected in the beast's hateful eyes and off nearly every surface in the chamber was the source of his ire. Before him at the entrance to the room stud a small group of five humanoid adventures. Completely dwarfed they were by the scale of the massive throne room and the opponent before them but each one stud tall and moved with quite confidence that suggested familiarity. Each of these adventures came equipped with weapons and armor so flashy they rivaled that of the king himself. Standing at the center of the group was a small girl who they called their leader. She was a Warrior dressed in hot pink and sterling silver armor and she wielding silver slug hammer so massive one would expect the petite girl to be crushed under its weight. However the girl seemed to wield the weapon with the same practiced easy a cheerleader would a devil stick.

When her opponent let out its fearsome battle cry the warrior girl simply shrugged off the ringing in her ears and set her expression into one of pure determination before she promptly returned the draconic beast's roar. "That's right come get us Dragon King!" She taunted.

This blatant act of challenge seemed to be all the incentive the draconic beast needed to go into an attack since it promptly broke into a rampaging charge with the pink clad warrior who had issued it said challenge directly in its path. The girl in question despite the fact she didn't even come up to her attackers kneecaps didn't seem slightest bit intimidated. Rather she only seemed to become more exited as she glanced up at her charging opponent. When she did she took note of the display that flashed above its head and its contents which read. Dagganoth, The Dragon King, Level ? Heroic Raid Boss. And it also showed a set of two bars one was green and represented its health while the other was a bright shade of blue and represented his mana and both bars seemed to have a ridiculously high numerical value attached to them.

As the creature closed the distance between itself and the warrior its jaw creaked open and something akin to words began to poor out of its gaping maw. "Such arrogance! such insolence! You foolish mongrels dare to think you can trespass in my domain!? Perhaps after I crush your bones to dust you will learn your place. And once you have I shall boil the blood of your kin so the rest of your kind will remember it! Prepare yourselves, for I will send you all to oblivion!" He spat with such venom one might mistake him for a snake rather than a dragon.

A moment later and he was within striking distance of the pink clad warrior and he let out another roar as he lifted one of his golden scimitars high above his head preparing to strike. The warrior however still remained in place unflinching until the beast's blade was bearing down on top of her with such strength that it threaten to peal her like a banana. However before that unfortunate outcome could befall her one of her fellow adventures threw himself out from behind her and raised his own equally massive blade to intercept the incoming blow. When the pair of huge blades met the force of the impact was so great a shockwave was released that could have been felt from every corner of the throne room and following the path of least resistance the ground beneath the boy's feet instantly took the brunt of the strike as cracks began to form under his feet. The girl glance over at her savor who was a young boy so large that he stud even taller than her warhammer and the boy'ss muscular frame was covered from head to toe in heavy tan and brown armor plating. After the shockwave had subsided the boy turned his head back to the pink warrior and was greeted by her wide smile just barely visible under her Viking style helmet and he promptly returned it with a small smile of his own before speaking. "Gees Nora, leave it to you to take agro before we are even done strategizing! You trying to get us all killed again?" He complained causing the girl to glance above his head at his display which showed YatsuXhashi, Level 30 Warrior/Guardian. And she focused on his rather hefty health bar that seemed to have a small chunk of it missing due to the attack he and the floor had just absorbed.

"Oh stop you're bellyaching you should be able to take a dozen more blows like that easy. And besides a noble knight such as yourself should be honor to be able to protect your queen should you not?" She retorted in a joking manor.

The boy shook his head before pushing up against his opponent and slamming his shoulder into the creature's chest with all his might startling and sending the boss monster staggering backward flailing wildly. "You never change do you Nora?" He asked dryly.

The pink armored warrior known as Nora just gave him an apologetic shrug. "Sorry Yatsu, you know how I get some times." She told him while letting out a nervous chuckle. "Besides we've done this a dozen times already, I think we all get the gist of it by now." She reasoned.

"By some times you mean every time right? And may I remind you that we haven't succeeded any of those times, so they hardly count." Another one of her party members chimed in as she stepped forward. The girl was dressed in light leather armor and hoisted a large Gatling-gun in her hands which soon began to rev up and litter the crumbling ground with spent shell casings as it unloaded rounds into the boss's body at a ridiculous pace. Instantly damage notifications began to fill up the area around the beast as each round impacted its armored hide. And once the girl began firing her own display appeared above her head showing the following. Caffeine Queen, Level 30 Gunslinger/Engineer, and it showed her mana bar slowly depleting with each shot of her Gatling-gun.

Finally once the Boss had steadied itself it let out another savage roar causing the adventures to stagger backward slightly. "I will crush you all!" He howled before his scaly hide began to turn bright red and emanate a powerful energy as her entered into an enraged mode. Once the boss was enraged it quickly proceeded to charge towards Caffeine Queen completely intent on slicing her to pieces. Noticing this Nora decided it was time for her to join the melee herself and sprang into action.

"No you don't!" She shouted as she activated her warrior leap ability to allow her to jump high into the air before going into a whirlwind attack that send her body into a spin allowing her to deliver savage strike to the side of the boss's face causing a critical hit icon to pop up as the beasts head to jerk around and take the rest of its body along with it sending the boss into a dizzying spin of his own. Then once Nora had landed back on the ground beside the disorientated boss she spun around heels of her greaves to deliver another struck strike to the back of its right leg completely knocking it out from under him and sending him tumbling down to the ground flat on his back.

Unfortunately for the heroic adventures however the king of dragons was far from slain. As it made apparent at it whipped its tail around knock back his attackers and promptly began to hoist himself back up onto his feet. Once he was back up on one knee he began to shake his head and realized that it felt quite a bit lighter. Some time during Nora's attack his crown had been knocked off his head and was now lying between himself and the pink clad warrior. So the king quickly sheathed one of his blades and reached out to reclaim it only to be halted when the same warhammer that had struck him came down on top of the flashy head ornament flatting it like a pancake. Instantly the burning red eyes of the beast darted upward to shoot an accusatory glare at the offending party. "Oops did I do that?! My deepest apologies your majesty my hand must have slipped. Though in my defense the crown never really suited you anyway, way too gouty." Nora said in tone that had a tad of faked innocence and practically seeped sarcastic spite. Then when the boss let out a low threatening growl Nora's expression and tone became slightly more serious as she took up another fighting stance. "I guess you can consider that payback for all the trouble you have caused up till now."

Now furious beyond its ability to reason the boss once again roared in anger before pushing itself back up onto both of its feet and taking another swing at the cause of his humiliation. And once again YatsuXhashi jumped in between them to absorb the blow. Only this time the blow not only shattered the ground beneath him but it also caused him to collapse onto one knee and lose a much larger chunk of his health bar in the process. "Ouch that's smarts! Even though we have done this so many times it still surprises me. The heroic enraged mode is really no joke!" He stated before activating a series of defensive abilities in an attempt to protect himself against the onslaught of blows that quickly followed the first. The boss was hammering away at him at a blinding speed and with an insane level of power causing his health bar jitter and shake violently as took critical hit after critical hit and he was quickly dropped below half of his maximum health. "Gees, you just had to antagonize him didn't you!?" He complained to his leader.

"Hey he's going to become enraged no matter what right? You know it's always better to make sure its on cool down win we unload on him!" Nora explained before turning back to the rest of her party and glancing over towards a girl standing far in the back of the group with a set of long rabbit like ears extending out of her long brown hair. And the rabbit girl's gaze was fixed tightly on Yatsu and the boss he was fighting. "Velvet he's getting hammered over here where are those heals!?" Nora shouted.

"Chill love, I'm already working on it!" The girl responded as she waved around her staff and incited an incantation of some sort. A moment later and she slammed her staff down on the floor releasing a flash of bright green light that engulfed the surrounding area and caused Yatsu's health bar to quickly climb back up into the green zone. And without missing a beat she once again began waving her hands around while calling out more incantations and a moment later stat buffs began appearing in her parties display boxes. "So, will that do?" The rabbit girl asked as she pulled out a blue potion from her satchel and promptly began to down it. Above her head her display appeared reading the following. The Velveteen Rabbit, Level 30 Mage/Cleric, and her slightly depleted mana bar began to steadily go back up as she drank the blue concoction.

After a few more minutes of narrowly avoiding cut in half or being burned to a crisp by boss and its enraged mode finally ended. This was the moment the adventures had been waiting for and they were prepared. "Alright Fox its time, do it!" Nora shouted towards the back of the chapter and right on queue a dark skinned boy with blood red hair came sprinting out of the shadows behind the boss's throne and towards his back wielding a set of arm bladed bracers. The display above the boys head read as the following. Crimson Fox, Level 30 Assassin/Trickster. And just as they had planned the moment he appeared the boy quickly activate an ability called Mark for Death on the boss. An enemy that has been marked for death takes increased damage from all party members for a short amount of time. And then he launched into a furious series of slashing attacks directed right at the boss's backside causing almost mind bogglingly large damage notifications to begin popping up which were also promptly followed by smaller bleed damage notifications.

The boss tried to turn around to shake off his new attacker but was pulled back by Yatsu's taunt ability. "No you don't big guy! It's you and me, come on!" Yatsu shouted as he activated the rest of his defective abilities and glanced back at the rest of his team. "Alright guys don't worry about pulling agro just nail him with everything you got!"

A wicked grin appeared across Nora's face as she gripped her hammer tightly and without wasting any time she activated her own berserker rage ability. "You heard him Coco! Let's end this!" She roared before leaping into the fray swinging wildly and was quickly followed by a rain of hot lead courtesy of Coco's Gattling-gun. And before long the whole group was engaged in the melee.

Two Hours Later

After two whole hours of none stop combat the sound of panicked shouting, angry roars, and clashing steel was finally replaced with the sounds of huffing and puffing that came with complete exhaustion. And the group of heroic adventures released them with glee as they rested upon the body of the fallen Dragon King and a large pile of their assorted loot from the victory.

"I…can't…believe…we really…did it." Nora squeezed in between breaths before she began chugging down an Elixir to restore her depleted health.

"Yeah, when he went into his third stage right before his enraged mode came off cool down I thought we were goners for sure. I'm amazed you managed to tank through all that abuse Yatsu!" Coco added.

"Tell me about it! He was doing so much damage that I was worried I might actually get one shot! It's a good thing we had Velvet keeping my health and buffs up." Yatsu stated while playfully nudging the rabbit ear mage resting next to him.

Velvet giggled in response. "It was nothing, it's really thanks Fox's DPS that we were able to drop him before he could get his inferno burst spell off right there at the end. There is just no way I could've healed through another one of those."

"Thanks Velvet but I only did a third of the damage, Coco and Nora really put in some work tonight." Fox corrected causing the whole group to begin chuckling to themselves. "I guess we shouldn't pat ourselves on the back so much huh?" He asked.

"What are you talking about silly!? We just beat the strongest boss in the game with only half a raid group! Sure it took us nearly a dozen tries but we're the first ones to ever pull it off! That means we're the best raiding party in the world!" Nora declared happily causing the rest of her group to give her a wide smile. "Just in time too, now we can go into the new expansion with our heads held high!" She declared while thrusting a fist up into the air in victory.

"Oh yeah the next expansion is coming soon isn't it?" Coco asked in a slightly less than interested tone. "What was it called again? It was The Something Crusade right?" Coco inquired.

Nora gave Coco an incredulous look before breaking into a spirited rant. "It's The Third Crusade silly buns! Come on I know you're not good with names but how can you not already know this Coco!? I mean its kind of a big deal for us and it's going to be completely amazing I can just feel it! They are adding improved AI functionality, a higher level cap, tons of new dungeons and quests, and of course there will be that new tournament mode as well!"

"Yeah that sounds cool I guess." Coco stated in the same disinterested tone.

"Okay not the reaction I expected." Nora thought to herself as she tilted her head slightly and stared intently at Coco as if trying to puzzle her out. "Alright I give, what's up with you girl? You're acting kind of weird you know that right? Come on show some excitement would you!" She said before glancing at the rest of her party for support. "Can you believe her you guys?!" She asked them in a half joking manner. However the pink clad warrior was surprised once again when the other three members of her team all gave her similarly weak responses and began to avoid her gaze. Seeing this unexpected reaction caused Nora's cheerful expression to dip until it was completely overtaken by concern. "Okay what's up with you guys?! Did I miss something here?! Why are all of you acting like somebody just died!? Shouldn't we be celebrating the greatest victory we have ever had rather than moping!?"

Coco let out an audible sigh as she pushed herself up onto her feet to meet her leaders gaze. "Yeah about that, listen Nora, the truth is…" She began before trailing off for a moment to glance back at the other three members of the party who each gave her a nod and gestured for her to continue.

"The truth is, what Coco?" Nora asked with worry now not only clear on her face but also her voice.

"UGH! The truth is we won't be playing much after the next expansion comes out." Coco spat out.

Completely caught off guard by the Coco's declaration Nora had to literally take a step back to process what the gunslinger girl had just told her. "Wait what…What do you mean? Why won't you be playing much!? How much is 'much' Coco!"

Coco groaned as she rubbed the back of her neck and once again glanced back towards her party members who all nodded once again. "I mean we won't really be able to play at all. I'm sorry Nora but this is it."

Suddenly Nora's body went ridged and her voice began to quake. "Wait hold on, I don't understand! Why won't you be playing!? Did I do something wrong!? If so I'm really sorry I didn't mean! I know I get a bit too into at time but I'm sure I can…" Nora was cut off when Coco placed her hands on her shoulders to clam her down before shaking her head.

"It's not your fault Nora, really it's been a blast playing with you and we all wish we could keep doing it!" Coco reassured her.

Nora was viably shaking now. "Then why are you leaving? I just don't understand."

Coco took a deep breath before responding. "Look Nora, you know we're all about to graduate from high school right? We have to prepare for collage entrances exams and we still have our part time jobs to worry about. We just don't have the time right now. It was one thing when it was just the weekly raids but having to basically start over from scratch when the expansion comes out? Sorry but we just can't do it, not right now."

"So…so when do you think you will be coming back?" Nora inquired. Coco simply shook her head in response. "No, please! I can't do this all on my own!" She pleaded.

Coco turned away from Nora and walked towards the rest of her party causing them to stand up to meet her. "I really am sorry Nora I wish we didn't have to leave like this but at least we had one last adventure right?" She asked before she finally allowed a smile to come to her lips. "Besides you're a great player and our… I mean your guild is really well known. I'm sure you won't have any trouble finding a new raiding party. Anyway I guess this is it goodbye." She said before reaching up to grasp the sides of her head and performing a pulling motion as if she were trying to remove her helmet and when she did she vanished into thin air.

*Caffeine Queen Logged Out*

Nora reached out to the rest of her party who were now waving to her. "No wait there's still so much we could still…"

*Crimson Fox Logged Out*

*YatsuXhashi Logged Out*

*The Velveteen Rabbit Logged Out*

All of Nora's please fell on depth ears as each of her friends vanished before her until she was the only one left remaining in the large ransacked throne room. And for a moment she was frozen as if waiting for some sign of her friends return. When nothing came she fell to her knees and her shaking returned with a vengeance. "What kind of joke is this? Why do things always turn out like this!? Why do I always end up alone!? I thought things would be different here! What have I been doing all this time!?" Then she began to scream in frustration as she reached her hands up around her head and pulled upward causing her character to vanish.

* Violet Valkyrie Logged Out*

Nora was now sat slumped over in her computer desk in the corner of her small pink colored bedroom. Lying on the floor beside her chair was her trusty VR headset. And as far as VR headsets went it was a cheap ugly looking thing but the heart shape sticker on the side always reminded her that it was hers and that she was lucky to even have this much. So she let out a long sigh before she reached over to fetch it off the floor and place it down on the desk in front of her. Then proceeded removed her motion sensor gloves that were covering her hands as well. With those out of the way she then glanced at her computer screen in front of her to see the ROR log in screen. Satisfied with knowing she was properly logged out she quickly grabbed hold of her mouse and closed out of the program. And with that she leaned for to rest her elbows on her desk and began cradling her head in her hands. There she stayed holding this position for several minutes until a familiar voice broke her from her stupor.

"Finally back in the real world huh?" A soft male voiced called out to her from behind.

Nora turned around to see her childhood friend and current caregiver Lie Ren standing at the door to her room wearing a silly pink apron. She quickly turned away for a moment to wipe her eyes before replying. "Yeah I'm back." She said while letting out a sigh.

This caused Ren to raise an eyebrow. "You seem down did you guys wipe again?" Ren asked.

Nora shook her head before forcing a smile on to her face. "No are you kidding!? The only wiping that accrued was between the Dragon King and the floor! We're totally legendary now! Do you want to get my autograph before I need to start charging for them?"

Ren shuck his head and chuckled. "Oh is that right? You must be quite tired then? I know just the thing for that." He said as he turned back towards the door. "Food is just about ready and just to let you know it's your favorite. I will see you in the dinning room." He told her as he slipped out of the room.

Once Ren was out of the room Nora's fake smile melted away and she began glancing around her room as if it were suddenly alien to her. Along pink painted wall were shelves adorned with all manner of trophies and ribbons for different athletic achievements most prominently track and field. After a moment of this her eyes seemed to snap back to her desk as if she were trying to look away from the sun. And when she did they lucked onto a set of two framed pictures next to her computer monitor. One was of her together with her parents about three years ago. And the next to it was one of her from just last year. In that picture she was with Ren and his family. It was taken the day they took her in. It was only a few weeks after the accident. Nora let out another long sigh as she placed her hands on chair and began rotating the wheels to back it up and turn it towards her door. After a moment of difficulty she glanced down at the wheeled chair she was rested on with distain. "Yep, this is the real world alright." She spat before forcing the chair into motion and wheeling herself towards her door and disappearing into the hallway.