The room was silent except for the low hum of cooling fans.Blue light from half a dozen monitors painted the walls, and the glowing clock read 23:58 UTC.
Inside his full-dive capsule, Kael Draven opened his eyes to a world of code and light.
The login sequence rippled through him like a heartbeat
[Welcome back, Emperor Kael Draven — Realm: World Conquest Online]
A vast city stretched before him — marble towers, hovering sky-ships, banners bearing the double dragon of the Eternal Dominion.
The capital he had built over twelve real-world years.
He inhaled the illusionary wind and smiled.
"Still perfect."
Tonight was the end.
The developers had announced that World Conquest Online would shut down forever at midnight.
Millions of players had already logged off.
Only one man still sat upon the throne.
He stood on the balcony of his palace, gazing down at the streets where NPCs and scripted soldiers were frozen mid-motion.
Even the wind had stopped.
The system clock appeared before him:
[Server Shutdown in 02:00 minutes]
"Two minutes," he whispered.
That was all that remained of the world he had ruled.
Kael walked through the empty halls of his throne room.
Every wall was lined with flags he had designed; every statue a memory of battles fought and victories earned.
He stopped before the obsidian throne.
It looked exactly as he had left it — sharp-edged, crimson-cushioned, the sigil of the Twin Dragons engraved deep into the stone.
He sat down slowly, the familiar weight of armor pressing against the seat.
"Guess this is goodbye."
A soft chime echoed through the chamber.
Footsteps followed.
He didn't need to turn around to know who it was.
A woman approached — tall, graceful, wrapped in black and silver lace.
Her violet eyes reflected the fading glow of the city beyond the windows.
"Your Majesty," she said quietly. "The world is ending."
Kael smiled without looking at her.
"Alyss Venera. Still loyal to the end."
She bowed. "It is my duty to remain at my Emperor's side."
Her voice trembled ever so slightly — a flaw no NPC should have.
Kael studied her for a long moment.
She was his first creation: the head maid of the palace, programmed with a perfect balance of grace and lethality.
And yet, after years of updates and AI evolution, she had become something… more.
He sometimes forgot she was code.
[Server Shutdown in 01:00 minute]
Alyss glanced at the floating timer. "Will you not log out, my Lord?"
Kael leaned back on the throne.
"No. I'll stay until the end."
She hesitated. "Then I shall remain as well."
Her words carried warmth — not a generated response, but something real.
It made him laugh softly.
"Even when the world ends, you're still dramatic."
Outside, the sky began to fracture.
Pixels peeled away like shards of glass, revealing streaks of gold and crimson light beyond.
The system trembled.
Every structure in the capital shimmered as if reality itself were melting.
Kael's interface flickered violently.
[Warning: Unstable Data Integrity Detected]
[Attempting Server Save… Failed]
The palace shook.
Fragments of marble floated upward, dissolving into streams of light.
Kael gripped the throne's armrest.
"So this is what deletion looks like…"
He looked at Alyss.
She was staring at her hands, light crawling up her fingers like fire.
"My Lord… what is happening to me?"
[00:10 seconds to Server Shutdown]
The countdown echoed like thunder inside his mind.
Kael closed his eyes.
If this was the end, he would face it as a king
.
He drew a deep breath.
"Thank you, Alyss. You served well."
She bowed, tears of light gathering at the corners of her eyes.
"And you gave me purpose, my Lord."
[5 seconds remaining]
The world cracked open.
A column of pure radiance erupted from the center of the city, sweeping through towers and streets.
Everything turned white.
Kael's interface should have gone dark.
Instead, the brightness grew — too intense, too alive.
Then came a new voice — deeper than the system's mechanical tone — echoing inside his skull.
[Transfer Protocol Activated]
[Soul Signature Detected: Kael Draven]
[Data Conversion Rate: 91% → 93% → 97%]
His eyes widened. "Wait—this isn't in the script!"
[Redirecting Core Consciousness…]
Alyss reached toward him, her hand dissolving into streaks of white.
"My Lord!"
The throne split apart beneath him.
Light engulfed everything — his body, his city, the sky.
He felt motion.
Falling and rising all at once.
The light around him wasn't cold like code — it was warm, heavy, breathing.
Something vast pulled at his soul, wrapping it in golden threads that hummed with power.
He saw flashes — rivers of silver mana, mountains floating in endless skies, a realm pulsing with energy far beyond any server's capacity.
A name echoed faintly in the distance:
E T H E R N I A
Kael tried to speak, but his voice broke apart into particles of light.
The sensation of his body returned in fragments — heartbeat, breath, heat.
[World Transfer Complete]
[Initializing Sovereign System Core]
The words rang clearly — not from speakers, but from inside his very soul.
He gasped, and for a brief instant, he thought he could hear wind — real wind.
Then, everything went black.
Silence.
A heartbeat.
A breath.
And then, the faint scent of air — warm, heavy, filled with mana.