Chapter 1: Arrival

Deep within a colossal pit sunk into lifeless stone, past thick layers of overlapping cobwebs with numerous shiny black eyes staring out from within; past a cold and dark cavern so massive that one cannot see it in all of its entirety; past winding corridors with damp soil walls, inside a large study filled to the brim with all manner of preserved insect specimens, ranging from the size of a common fly to the size of an elephant, a pale man wearing a dark purple vest over a bright purple shirt, who had slicked back dark purple hair and bright green eyes, held a clear vial that contained a pulsating green ooze within one of his four hands.

"Ironic that after twelve years of frenzied searching for a World Class item that has some kind of relation to insects, I found one the day of the shutdown…"

The pale man moved the vial from his human arms towards one of his smaller arms, covered in a purple exoskeleton, that were attached to his waist. Two pairs of transparent papery wings at his back quivered in excitement.

"Still though, for a weaker guild like us, I'd say having two World Class Items in our possession is quite the feat, even if one of them was found by dumb luck."

Upon saying this the man pocketed the vial and moved to a different corner of the room, revealing that the lower half of his body was that of a dark purple centipede with large pincers at the tail end. The man stopped before a wooden desk cluttered with various papers, books, and knick knacks. When he set his gaze upon a picture frame holding a photo of a bipedal bee and himself in front of a dark abyss situated in grey rock, he smiled, revealing a mouth full of sharp teeth. Beneath the picture frame a small golden plaque read, "Pestil Revo Corrosi and Scrald Thornet claim the Pit of The World's End".

"I wish I could relive that moment, that was truly the happiest moment of my life."

His green eyes glazed over as he fondly recalled the hectic, beautiful day where he and the bipedal bee who had a reversed color scheme that was mainly black with yellow stripes, finally managed to claim a base of their own.

"I never did thank Scrald for convincing me to join him in his quest to create a utopia for insects… But someone like him would've been able to tell that I was grateful, he always was great with reading people."

As the man, Pestil, was reminiscing about how his guildmate was here an hour earlier to talk about the good old days before logging off for good, he was brought back to the present by the gentle tolling of an antique clock above the desk, informing him that the game was a mere hour away from shutting down. He moved over to the exit of the study, a sturdy wooden door with brass reinforcements, and strode out into the hallway. The hallway was a long tunnel that was dug into the compact earth with magical lanterns that lit the hallway at intervals. The hallway had tunnels that branched off into numerous different paths, and Pestil chose the path closest to him and followed it until he was standing before a sleek white door.

He tapped the door once with his hand and the door opened up before him. He walked through the doorway and was now inside an expansive white room with many shiny counters and high tech looking machinery taking up the space inside. Utop the counters were various magical instruments, scrolls, notebooks, and vials. Pestil moved over to a particularly complex looking device that had a magic circle drawn in silver on it's side, and saw a long golden staff leaning against the machine. Pestil grasped the staff, which had a miniature beehive attached to the top, in one of his hands and when he touched it small and agile bees were seen entering and exiting it.

"How irresponsible of him, leaving the guild weapon in his research lab… Well, I guess that's part of the charm of him, he was always too busy with his experiments to pay attention to what he considered trivial."

Pestil grabbed the staff and took it with him as he left the lab and and went down another earthen tunnel. He walked amongst the moist dirt and humid air until he was at the entrance of a large storeroom. He walked inside the cluttered storeroom, filled with wooden crates and chests, and opened up the only non-wooden container in the storeroom. The chest was made of a shiny metal that seemed to glow with every color of the rainbow. Inside the chest were many priceless looking items, each one looking like an ornate piece of art you'd see in a museum. Pestil rummaged inside and grabbed a sharp and jagged obsidian crown, and an amethyst staff that looked like a coiled mass of centipedes. He equipped the crown and held the staff. He then put the golden staff from the lab into the chest and closed it. He took a mirror out of his inventory and admired his reflection for a second before putting it back.

"I might as well wear my best equipment, as the game is shutting down. Also, what good are powerful items if you never use them?"

He left the storeroom and moved through the winding tunnels for a few minutes, his amethyst staff lightly resounding through the tunnels every time it struck the earth. Gradually the walls of the tunnels shifted from dirt to stone and, as he exited the tunnel, he was now in a gigantic stone cavern. This cavern was the second floor of the dungeon, with the third and final floor being the tunnels Pestil was in earlier. The cavern was pitch black, but with his Dark Vision, he was clearly able to make out three figures in the cavern. The closest one to him was a man in a black suit who wore a plague doctor mask, fur sticking out from between his neck and the mask. The man held in his hand a long silver cane that had a wolf's head for the handle. He was Renfield Boilburst, a level 80 wererat with job levels in plague doctor.

The next closest figure was someone who had the body of an overstuffed and decrepit scarecrow, and the head of a bright orange flames coming from within his head were the only illumination in the cave. He held in his hands, which were little more than tangled roots, a wooden staff that had a pumpkin as it's handle. He was Jackson Wallop, a level 60 scarecrow with job levels in pyromancer.

The third and final figure was a deathly pale woman with long, unkempt silver hair. She wore a black gothic ballroom dress and within her hands were two wooden crosses that held up marionette dolls with string. She was Elizabeth Hunten, a level 60 poltergeist with job levels in puppeteer. Pestil fondly remember the various insectoids and entomancers who had joined and left the guild, leaving behind these NPCs as a reminder of their contributions to the guild. While Pestil's guild, Jovial Mask, was made to nurture insectoids and entomancers, players who were often targeted by both heteromorph and humanoid players alike, many of the members would quit and go off on their own once they reached a level where they could defend themselves. Pestil moved past the three NPCs who guarded the second floor, and walked a ways through the cavern until he reached the entrance to the first floor. The first floor was the large pit that could be seen from the outside.

The visibility was very low in the first floor as the pit was filled with numerous crisscrossing spider webs that kept invaders from seeing into the dungeon. Pestil looked up from where he stood, the bottom of the pit, and was only able to see webs and red eyes. Amongst the webs, many man sized spiders, with soulless black eyes, wandered and patrolled the first floor. Pestil vibrated his transparent wings and flew up to about halfway up the pit, where there was a large spider nest amongst the webs, that held the three guardians of the first floor. When he was level with the nest, he flew into a small opening in the nest. Inside the nest were another three figures.

The first figure was a massive dark red spider with glowing yellow eyes and an exoskeleton that was covered in spikes. He was Racken Furyclaw, a level 40 rage spider with job levels in berserker. The second figure was a woman with short brown hair, blue eyes, and the arms and legs of a green bird. She wore a black and droopy witch hat, and wore a black gown over her body. She was Mina Spellorn, a level 30 harpy with job classes in witch. The third figure was a man in white nobles clothing who had an oversized and exaggerated head of a mosquito. His compound eyes were large and red, his proboscis ending in a sharp point that could shred flesh. His hands were covered in long hairs and his fingers ended in claws. He was Krinst Evengrad, a level 30 misquoteman with job levels in hemomancer. Pestil looked them over before nodding and leaving the nest.

He flew up out of the pit, and was now outside his guild base, Pit of the World's End. Outside the pit were the icy plains and mountains of Helheim. The guild base has thus evaded notice from other players as it is nestled behind a mountain that has little value and no rare items. Pestil sighed with nostalgia as he admired the icy view that he has come to know as home over the last few years. As he did so he checked the time and saw that the game was only a few minutes away from shutting down. He left the icy plains and flew back down into the base, going back to the research lab on the third floor. When he got there he sat down on the floor in one empty corner of the room and watched the time pass by. As the last few seconds of the game approached he quietly whispered,

"I wish these happy times would last forever…"

As the clock reset, Pestil was left with only one response to the game not shutting down as planned.

"Huh? Wait what?"

End of chapter 1