So, where exactly do I begin this little tale of mine? The day I was born perhaps? I don't remember much about it, though I got a feeling I cried a lot. When I got into middle school maybe? That was when girls still had cooties, and they got taller than you, so a double whammy there. Nah. I'll make it easy and just start with how exactly I ended up in an entirely different world than the one I was born in.

For the record, I'd like to make it clear that while I used to know a few people who loved the idea of just up and leaving this boring, tedious, electricity powered world we were born in, I was never for it. I had a life outside of gaming. A job, a family, friends, and occasional girlfriend who popped up when she couldn't find someone better, the usual stuff I guess. I had all that even during my height of playing Yggdrasil, so I was never into the more hardcore aspects. Granted I knew a little more than a casual player but I never called myself an expert nor did I really think I was a very good player anyway. Of course, then a tournment would come a long and somehow I'd get lucky and end up in the semi finals. Usually losing out to some Japanese powerhouse player like Momonga or Touch Me, so I guess in hindsight I may have been better than most. My point is though, the idea of just leaving my life behind to join a fictional world was never one I would've seriously considered doing. So you could imagine my surprise when I woke up in a world with magic, orcs, goblins, lizards, and wizards.

The events leading towards that still don't really make sense, even as I look back on them years later. I was just getting over a pretty nasty cold and I had taken just one more day off from work so I wouldn't risk anyone else getting sick. It was dreary rainy day too, so I didn't feel all that bad about it. Nothing was on tv, and I was bored out of my mind so I figured I'd play YGGDRASIL for a while. When I eventually logged in, I was shocked to see that the old son of a bitch was about to expire on me, having just eight hours left till deactivation. Well that was a punch in the gut. I had way too many damn memories of this thing to not feel sad. So with a heavy heart, I decided to give the old game one last hurrah and spend a little bit of time inside it.

So I activated my character, whom I, in my infinite wisdom, named Haon the Handsome. I materialized inside a large tavern to the sounds of merriment and chatting. I had forgotten just how many people I knew in this MMO. Hundreds of them looked or sounded surprised to see me, asking where I had been all this time. I won't lie, it was good to see them again. Even more of a surprise was seeing several of the old gang from back during my all nighters.

Tommy, had settled with a chick he had met in a different game and the two had moved out west to Montana. Karly had just had twins and was getting ready for the full time job of motherhood. Plight had begun trying out for gaming championships, and Hanks was now working as a producer for some new talent show in LA, so it made sense that he was no where to be seen. Listening to their stories and how they all had pretty much moved on with their lives did admittedly hurt. I had stayed pretty much in the same spot ever since I had graduated from college so you can imagine how inadequate I we were chatting, we overheard another group talk about finally breaking through the Tomb of Nazarick down in the swamps. After they left, we all laughed long and hard. Those guys had no idea what they were in for.

For a little explanation, Nazarick, was the home to the most powerful players in the whole game. The guild Ainz Ooal Gown. A group so powerful, and a fortress so impenetrable that no one had ever made it passed the eighth floor. And that had taken a group of about fifteen hundred guys just to get that far. Not that I would know from first hand experience mind you. I knew damn well to keep away from those guys just by the look of them. The only time I ever really interacted with them was in the tournaments I mentioned earlier where I would every now and again hopefully give them a little challenge. Judging by the fact that they never killed me, maybe I left a good impression.

As for my class, I was a warrior through and through. Probably more so than what was thought of as normal. I carried a total of seven blades on my character at all times. Four steel knives strapped to my legs and arms, two rapiers strapped to both sides of my hips, and one long sword of solid jade sheathed across my back. Couple that with a dark blue trench coat pulled over a pretty standard light armor set and long flowing black hair and I wouldn't put it past you to say I looked the part of a badass. The old gang certainly thought so.

"How the hell did you ever make your guy look that cool?" Tommy asked indignant.

"I just picked what I liked." I replied, giving what must've been the world's worst hair flick. "Simplest design is always the best."

Tommy got a laugh out that particular movement. "I would agree with you save for the fact that Momonga and Ainz Ooal Goan's guys all look like demons straight out of a nightmare." Tommy said remembering the skeletal face of the master mage with a shiver.

I shook my head. "I told you don't go comparing me to those guys." I replied annoyed.

"Dude." Plight slapped the back of my head. "We don't really have a choice. You're the only one who ever managed to go toe to toe with them for a while." Plight reasoned.

"Yeah. Before getting knocked on my ass." I replied leaning back in my chair with a smile on my face.

"You should really let me train you some endurance sometime. We could be an unstoppable force of domination in the tag team circuit." Plight said with a raised fist.

"Tag team circuit?" I asked. "Great, I'll let you know when I get into wrestling games." I replied. Much to the chuckle of everyone else.

"Seriously though, you should try out for some gaming tournaments sometime. I hear they're going to be in the Olympics pretty soon." Plight said with a little awe in his voice.

"That'll be the day." Karly replied mimicking an announcers voice. "And now, ladies and gentlemen, after an exciting grueling wrestling match here are four out of shape assholes who will mash buttons for the next twenty minutes."

"Wow. No love for your own hobby." Plight replied depressed.

"I like it as just that. A hobby." Karly replied before suddenly sighing. "Sorry guys. May's hungry again."

"No problem. You coming right back?" I asked.

"Probably not." She said dissaopointed. "She won't go back to bed for a while after. Hey though, email me your numbers. We should all go celebrate sometime."

"Ditto."Plight said.

"Sounds good to me." Tommy chimed in. "I don't head out for a few weeks anyway."

"Definitely." I replied.

We then each emailed her before she waved goodbye and disappeared. We kept talking for a little while longer after. Recapping all the old conquests. There had been a few dragons and dungeons here and there but what we had really focused on were the seemingly lack luster side quests. For one reason or another, all of us had been drawn towards the idea of helping the ordinary folk. My son's gone missing in the forest. My frying pan's gone. That man murdered my family. That sort of thing. I can't say why they did it but I guess I did it because I'm cliched like that. I like the idea of there being someone out there who stands up for people. Rewards be damned. Of course if the NPCs did have some decent rewards, we'd never turn them down. Gotta make a living after all. The hours seemed to go by phenomenally fast before finally the inevitable came.

"Well, sorry guys. The wife's calling." Tommy said with a sigh bringing up his menu.

"Oh poor you. Getting to leave us for a reasonably hot woman." Plight replied causing to have a little laugh.

" Seriously though, let's keep in touch. At the very least until we find a new MMO to spend all our time in. See ya later." Tommy said with a little salute he always gave before vanishing. Not a second after him, Plight sighed in a similar way.

"Don't tell me you're leaving too?" I asked sounding more sad then I wanted to.

"Hey, some of us have try outs in the morning. Gotta get some good rest." Plight replied indignant.

"Right. Busy day of sitting on your ass." I yelled back

"Screw you man. You know damn well that it's harder that it looks." Plight said bringing up his own menu. He stopped just before logging out and looked towards me one last time.

"You'll keep in touch?"

"Damn straight man." I replied with a nod before extending to my clenched fist. He accepted the gesture by punching it with his own before vanishing back to reality. I looked around, noticing how quiet it had gotten and came to find that there was no one else around. The entire tavern which had once been filled with close to three hundred people had been deserted. With only a male waiter and a female barter set of NPCs remaining and looking at me with the same unending friendly smile. I pulled up my own menu to look at the time.

Thirty seconds till shutdown.

I gave one last look around the place and waved goodbye to the NPCs before finally logging out myself.

Or rather I would've if not for the fact that something out of the corner of my I caught my attention. Just behind the Female NPC a silver locket was hanging on the door knob that led to the wine cellar. And I, momentarily having the curiosity that would make a cat feel jealous, walked over to look at it. Strangely enough, it was a watch. A solid silver watch with a strange set of markings where the numbers should've been. Before I could even make out what in the hell it meant, A loud droning noise started bellowing into my brain. The damn noise was so loud that it caused me to lose my balance and fall to the floor which started to violently shake. Struggling against the motion, I pulled up my menu to get the hell out of here and just before my finger could touch the log out button, my eyes started falter. Every time I would try to hit the log out button my arm would miss it by an inch. I tried my best to power through it before the droning and shaking really took hold of me. For a second, all I could see were shapes and shadows that seemed to be morphing or disappearing around me and then finally, my world went black.

I don't think I'll ever know how much time really passed from when I passed out to when I woke up but all I know is that one I did, the headache that I hit me was worse than any hangover I had ever had. When it finally began to fade, I realized that I was laying on a rather funny feeling bed. I opened my eyes to figure out what the hell was going on and, well I was laying on grass. Probably the greenest grass I had ever seen.

Now things were getting weird, because the only park I lived close to was about twenty blocks away so I was pretty sure I was in a dream. Then when I moved to get up, I felt heavy, like I was being bogged down by a bunch of stuff attached to my body. When I finally did sit up though, I reached through my body to figure just what the hell was causing that and my eyes widened. I had four razor sharp blades strapped to the side of my arms and legs. I looked down to my side, and I saw two sheathed rapiers that looked startlingly like the ones my character had. My clothes had been switched out for a very familiar dark blue trench coat and on my back sitting nicely in its sheath was Jade.

That tore it. I was dreaming. I laughed out loud at the idea of what the hell was happening. I had never dreamed about actually being in YGGDRASIL before and I had to admit seeing this all on me felt really cool. My strength came back with this realization and I practically leapt to my feet. Problem was when I did a huge swath of hair folded down onto my face and into my mouth. After pushing it all back and spitting out whatever hairs fell on my tongue I realized that it was actually pretty nice out here. The sun was shining down though hidden by a few rapidly gliding clouds and all around me were just rolling fields of grass that just kept going for miles and miles before finally hitting some mountains and forests. Till the day I die, I'll never forget that fist gaze. Everything about was instantly etched into my memory. The smells, the sounds the colors, the sights, all of them compounded onto each other to make what was undoubtedly the most beautiful landscape I had ever seen. I could've collapsed right back on the ground and just stared at it for hours on end. For one reason or another, that unbelievable sight set something off somewhere deep inside my head. I began to realize that this was no dream.