1 A Horror Story?

Within a darkened room, droplets from a sink slowly pounded on a surface, crying out to everything around it to complain how it feels to be here. Lifeless. Dull. Boring. Gloomy. This small cubed room was one of the four rooms in this apartment. It was a living room with a small space for a kitchen that could barely be qualified for so. This tiny room housed hardly any personal items and decorations. Excluding the kitchen, It could almost pass for a confinement room if not for the only two objects that stood out.

A small picture frame of a hundred millimeters stood upon a tiny table. Within it, it contained a happy family cradling a baby, providing a faint clue that the owner of this room was still sane to his visitors. If he had any visitors that is.

Next to it, an impressive exquisite chair with a foot-rest sat at the middle of the room. Although the chair was impressive at first glance, upon closer inspection one can see how it had been neglected. Faint dust sat upon it.

After a few seconds of something tumbling around from outside the room, a door to this room had flung open. As if alerting everyone that someone was coming into this apartment, the door yelped. It was not that the door had slammed into a wall or anything like that. The door was not in it's best shape and has always screeched regardless of the speed it went by, but the owner appreciated its quirkiness.

Lights automatically illuminated the still lifeless room to further welcome back the one man that had entered. He then began to take off his beat up shoes at the entrance in haste. He didn't bother to tidy them up and just left them as is.

Systematically unfastening his tie, removing his air filtering mask and goggles in one smooth motion, undressing his work suit, then proceeding to toss them to the corner of the room. What remained on this ordinary man were his shirt and boxer.

"Ah it's been a while."

The man, Suzuki Satoru reached for a towel within a neat stack against the wall, he eagerly wiped away his sticky body. A steam bath was what he wanted to use instead of the towel but fought against that idea. Resolving himself to only bathe after he cleaned this room.

Creeping up on his chair, he wiped the chair with the parts he had not wiped himself with. He mused at the fact that the Suzuki Satoru of the past would never let this place catch dust. At Least not to this level.

- Yggdrasil really ended… I wonder how everyone is doing.

A deep sigh emerged out from within the man. It had been months since Yggdrasil shut down their servers. After that, the only time he stayed in this room for a decent amount of time was during the weekend just to clean up this room.

With the end of the server, work had become even more busy and he did not have the luxury to ease into the virtual world. Over his rest days, he would also be too exhausted to hop on.

- Right in this chair was where my fondest memories were made... it was fun while it lasted Peroroncino, TouchMe, Bellriver, Bukubukuchagama, Ulbert Alain Odle, Bellriver, Punitto Moe, Tabula Smaragdina, Ancient One, Nishikienrai, Flatfoot, Warrior Takemikazuchi-

Deeply caught up in his thoughts, a tear trickled down his plain face. The small drop soon came crashing with a steady flow. Deeming that he couldn't continue on with his cleaning and that he had already cleaned the least he needed to, he chucked the towel aside. Sliding into his chair, he did not attempt to connect into the servers, instead only wiping his tears with his forearm.

- After all these years! Grinding for materials, exploring with everyone, I have nothing in the end!

He howled like a wounded animal in pain. After Yggdrasil ended, he never dared starting another DMMO-RPG. The thought of pouring his all into something, getting emotional involved, and then having it wiped over again sapped his energy. He could not and did not want to go through it again. If he started another DMMO-RPG he could possibly meet at least one of his guildmates but had ruled against it as it just simply wasn't the same.

The tear flow finally stopped after what seemed like an eternity although only just a few minutes had come to pass. Looking at his forearm wet with tears, he noticed he had become skinnier than he used to be. He usually grabbed dinner right after coming home and eating it so he could play uninterrupted back then. With no Yggdrasil, he no longer cared to keep his body maintained and skipped out on dinner too often.

- I need to let go, just like everyone else. Real life should be more important. I know I should move on but that's easier said than done.

Exhaling a sigh, he turned his heads towards a calendar hanging on the wall. The calendar had no markings on. He had nothing planned and there wasn't anything to plan about. The only use he had for it was to lament over how many more days he could be free before he had to go back and be a corporate slave. He was at the start of his resting period from work and did not need to feel the dread yet. He could let his future self worry about it when it came closer.

Although that would be the case usually, this time it was different. With this week over, his busy workplace had finally reached a satisfactory state and thus allowing it's employees more time off. With a longer rest period, he was now in a dilemma of having too much time.

Suzuki Satoru only graduated elementary grade but he did not need a higher education to know that drowning in the past repeatedly was unhealthy to the mind. He knew but what else was there to do?

The world was filled with toxic air and the rain was acidic with an absolute foul smell. The thick blackened clouds blocked the sun keeping all sources of positivity hostage. Staying outside for too long was not recommended at all and held a high risk of health issues the longer someone stayed out. Therefore when someone wanted to go out, they needed a clear destination at the start. It was foolish to aimlessly walk around. There wasn't anything that really interested him either.

- It would be nice If I had a memento of the Yggdrasil days.

Satoru had heard that some people printed their characters in a third dimensional printer. Albeit it was quite pricey. At that time he waved that suggestion aside and deemed it unnecessary but now he deeply regretted it.

As he wailed in his regrets, the lights flickered and the floor trembled.

- An earthquake?

A moment after the shaking and flickering came to a halt, the light source from the ceiling shut off. A new source of light emerged from the shape of a square directly in front of him. In this darkened room a purple light radiated out the square which was about half the size of the door he entered from. It seemed to be vast and deep although he couldn't clearly see into it.

- Eh! What!

His heart raced faster in fear. If this was a game, he would be fine but this was reality in which the current scene before him defied the laws of his world. Slowly, long Raven strands flowed out. He could tell a head was coming out. He couldn't see the face as he only saw the top of the head and the hair that dangled. A set of bloodied hands gripped the edge of the portal, slowly pulling itself into this world. His hoarse voice strained itself.

"OOH!"