Lily found herself standing on the wall of Resovult once more, terrified of what she's learned. There was really no way to survive? Not a single one? She was going to die, and everyone else with her.
"You really seem to be struggling to take this all in." The Dark Lord's voice cut in as he walked up behind her. "For one with such an important role and one covered in the energy of the one above creation I figured you'd be handling this better."
"Well excuse me for not being able to handle the fact that I'm going to die apparently!" Lily throws her hands up in exasperation before looking back at him. "Also, I'm so tired of not understanding a single thing you or the others mean! Like what the hell makes me so special?! What is above creation?! I don't get it!"
The Dark Lord grins at this and shakes his head, the sight seeming rather amusing to him. "So, even you used to be like this… I wonder how much will change between then and now, you sure do become more… refined when you become a Goddess."
Lily pauses at this and whips her head around at him, eyes going wide before she blinks a few times and just says "what?"
"You heard me, you will become a Goddess, not just any Goddess but the Goddess of Creation…" The Dark Lord walks up beside her and looks out at the field. "This world here? This is the world you will create in the future."
"I- no no no, I'm just a girl stuck in a hospital bed playing a Full Dive VR Game! That makes no sense!!" Lily frantically replies, looking at him with even more confusion. "Besides if that's true why wouldn't Six o-or Yuria have told me?! They seem to know WAY more than I do!"
"I don't know who this Six is but if he's the source of that disgusting energy I feel… then he and the Witch are the same, they know far more than anyone and will try to guide without outright telling the answer for fear of messing with the flow of space and time."
"THEN SHOULDN'T YOU NOT BE TELLING ME THIS EITHER?!" Lily practically cries out in panic now, trying to wrap her poor brain around all this.
"I don't care to dance around these issues, if the universe didn't want you to learn this, it would've stopped me." The Dark Lord states rather calmly. "Just like how it made sure I met my end at the hands of one of your saints who also carried the same energy you do."
"You… you died? But then how are you…."
"How am I here?" The Dark Lord looks over at Lily while raising an eyebrow. "This world is a dream, likely your dream, most people seem to have had their memories wiped or altered to fit better into this world… for instance the red haired man and the beastkin girl? They know me and act like I know them but I have never met them a day in my life."
"Then only you know the truth? Why?" Lily asks, though she takes a seat in the process as she simply tries to take all of this in.
"I am what you and many others would call an Anomaly of the world, that Witch named Yuria and your 'Six' are as well. Even though we should be affected by this reality we aren't because of our unique circumstances… I'm a being capable of defying the gods themselves, thus my power ends up negating the laws of this reality."
Lily just groans at this, her brain slowly being fried trying to understand this. "Alright then… if I'm supposed to be this great goddess can't someone else just take my place? Like Demea for instance or even Ryder."
"I don't sense Creation's favor on them like I sense it on you… so aside from what lurks in the hole in the sky you are the only entity capable of ascending." The Dark Lord calmly replies.
"Great… that's just great… and let me guess, whatever is lurking there is really really really bad." Lily quietly says while looking out at the plains once more, now noticing a large group of people leaving… an evacuation order.
"I do not know, but whenever it tries to wake up this dream is purged with a horrific burning mud… only one stands when such a thing comes to pass, someone I've killed numerous times but has come back stronger and stronger each time." The Dark Lord draws his sword now and turns to walk back into the city. "I know who he is, no who "they" are, and I'll make them reveal themselves this time."
"Woah, wait you're gonna do what?!" Lily quickly runs up behind him, panic filling her mind. "How are you even going to do that without people attacking you?!"
"Simple…" The Dark Lord raises his free hand towards the sky as an ominous darkness begins to flow from it. Within a matter of seconds a large pitch black magic circle has formed over the entire walled city, the mana in the air becoming so dense that Lily has to kneel… and even that is a challenge. As the magic circle grows more and more in power, crushing those within the city and casting an all encompassing darkness around them… a ringing sound fills the air. It's a strange noise, almost like a cross between a bell and a tuning fork, and the mere sound of it makes Lily's blood run cold for reasons she can't even begin to understand. Then, before anyone can react, a bright red light breaks through one of the buildings and flies straight at The Dark Lord with enough Force that Lily is almost blown off the wall by the shock wave of the ensuing impact. Her ears are ringing and dust clouds the air, yet the magic circle is gone and she can stand now, but as she does so and looks to where The Dark Lord was standing she sees a sight that confuses her greatly.
Ryder, in an armor set she doesn't recognize, with a weapon she's never seen before, trying to spear The Dark Lord through the head with such murderous intent that it's genuinely frightening. Ryder's armor was comprised of mostly a dark silver metal that seemed to absorb the magic from The Dark Lord, dark leather around the arms and legs, a long red cloak… and was adorned with some kind of white fur. The weapon in his hands wasn't a sword, no, it was some crimson spear that looked simple in design but was making the Dark Lord bleed as grabbed the blade.
"There you are, the one who brings in the Crimson Dawn… so, you really were from the other world all along, tell me… how did you first discover it?" The Dark Lord says as he takes a step forward, grip firm on the spear head making Ryder be pushed a step back. "That thing… the energy you and it give off… I almost didn't recognize what it was until you attacked just now, you're-"
"I'LL KILL YOU WHERE YOU STAND!" Ryder cries out as a crimson flame engulfs his spear, a strange viscous burning liquid pooling at his feet as he does so.
Surprisingly The Dark Lord actually lets go of the spear and jumps back, avoiding both the flame and the liquid.
Lily shakily stands up, trying to figure out what's going, she looks to Ryder and asks "What is that, where- how- why?!" Ryder slowly looks over at her, and that's when she sees it. Those eyes aren't the ones she's known since the start of this "game".
They're hollow, broken, horrific, murderous even.
Ryder lets out a bit of a sigh as he repositions himself for another attack. "I was hoping I'd be able to deliver you properly this time." In an instant Ryder is upon her, spear inches from her face. "I'll just have to make you reset again."
Before he can land the fatal blow a burst of darkness launches him to the edge of the wall, though not completely off. The Dark Lord stands with his hand pointing at Ryder, ready to engage a fight to the death, but he looks to Lily one more time. "Leave, Stargazer… take her to the hole in the sky and let her glimpse the truth before this world comes to its end once again."
As Lily goes to question him she feels Six forcefully take over, her perspective being shifted again as they begin to run as quick as possible from the battle. So many questions are racing through her mind. What was going on with Ryder?
Is he really a villain?
What about the others, shouldn't they try to save them? "
Six, what about Oto, shouldn't we go back for him at least?!" Lily cries out now "He's still in the library, we never contacted him! The others can at least see what's going on and can run!"
"It doesn't matter now." Six replies, his voice lingering with concern and regret all the while. "All we can do now is what was asked of us before this place is swallowed whole."
"BUT-"
"THERE'S NO TIME!" Six snaps back, putting all his energy into running "What that man back there, Ryder, what he was using is not something any of us can control right now… if I had my physical body I could but that's not the case."
"I, I don't understand-" Right as they make it around thirty feet from the city walls the sky begins to go dark, an eerie chill begins to fill the air, and both Lily and Six begin to slow down. "Six what's going on?" Lily asks, fear building as more and more and more unfamiliar and terrifying events begin to unfold.
Six doesn't answer though, all he does is slow to a halt and take a deep breath. "This is where we'll part ways, I need to use the rest of my magic to get you to your destination in time and to make sure everything goes smoothly." He says as he begins to draw a circle on the ground.
"Why?! Why can't you just go with me?!"
"Because we won't be fast enough without teleportation." Six responds calmly. "We won't be able to meet again as well, that I know for certain… our meeting was one in quadrillion, though I learned plenty of things and why we were able to meet in the first place." The magic circle inscribed on the ground begins to glow brightly with a pure blue color, and as it does so Lily regains control of her body, the ghostly image of Six appearing in front of her.
"Six wait-" Lily tries to reach out to him but is blocked by the circle restricting her.
Six looks at Lily, for a brief moment he smiles and says "Good Luck, I'm sorry I can't be there with you when the next life comes… but I believe in you, It'll be confusing at first but I know you'll make your way through this whole mess." Lily just looks at him dumbfounded, unable to say anything as she's engulfed in this bright blue light, everything around her fading away. Everything was falling apart around her so rapidly, and now everyone she'd become friends with was just going to die?
Because of Ryder? The Dark Lord? None of it made any sense to her.
However she didn't have long to think about this at all, as when the light faded away she found herself in a place of darkness. The air was humid and hot, the floor was a strange viscous liquid that went up to her ankles, sticking and clinging to her every time she tried to take a step. Every so often that strange ringing sound would echo out from the dark, and with no other direction to go she began to follow it. Deeper and Deeper into this darkness she walked, confused… but not afraid.
It was a strange feeling that washed over her as she walked forward, one of… calmness? No, that wasn't entirely right, rather it was like she'd come to terms with everything that was here and had been happening. As she kept walking and mulling over this feeling an object began to come into view, a bright white spherical object that glowed softly in the dark.
The ringing was coming from it, though now that Lily was close the ringing in question was… gentle, soft even. Carefully she began to approach this "egg", curious and feeling drawn to it, and it seemed to respond in kind as the "egg" began to let out a bit more of a warm glow as she approached.
Though before she could fully reach it to understand it the ground underneath her opened up, the viscous liquid swallowing her and pulling her deep down into the darkness, quickly stinging her eyes and invading her lungs. Yet as she was drowned by this dark sludge the glimmer of the "egg" above could be seen, and for some reason… all Lily felt in this moment was sorrow. Sorrow that wasn't her own… or perhaps it had always been her own. In this current moment, wherever she was, where she had gone, where she would go, none of it mattered. All that mattered was this feeling of sorrow, so unending that everything else ceased to matter.
Quietly and weakly Lily reached up towards the light and thought one final thing as she closed her eyes.
"Why are you so sad?"
"Because I've hurt so many, and I've yet to even know who I am, and now I've hurt you too."
[HP: 0]
[Health has reached Zero]
[Death state of player character confirmed]
[Beginning "Digital Immortalization"]
[…]
[Error; Back Up Server "Reverse World" couldn't be accessed]
[Attempting reconnection… Connection Failed]
[Reading Player ID… Priority Player Confirmed]
[Disengaging Kill Switch]
[Forced log off-]
Lily quickly shot up in her bed, breathing heavily as she awoke in reality, the feeling of dying in the goop and the overwhelming sense of sorrow still weighing heavy on her mind.
Quickly she looked around the room, normally someone would've at least have been close by but… no, no one was… and her bed seems to have been moved to a completely different room than she was used to.
A strange sense of dejavu began washing over her as she looked over the edge of her bed, tempted to try and stand up but worried she'd just fall over on her own… and yet she still gave it a try.
Strangely her body was moving better than it ever had on her own, even though the Reflection was good the bleed through effect had never worked this strongly.
"No, now's not the time to worry about that." She scolded herself before quickly leaving the room.
This was reminding her too much of the vision, dream, whatever it was.
The hospital was empty for the most part and she was alone.
All that she had to do was… leave.
Yet she stood at the exit, hesitant, afraid to cross that boundary and see what awaits beyond.
For a moment she wondered "why?".
"Why now?""After everything I've gone through why is this the one thing I'm so afraid to do?"Perhaps it was the dread of confirming what she'd read while in the library.
Perhaps it was the realization that she might still be in the game.
Or perhaps she's just gone crazy.
Whatever the answer, she just need to open that door.
So with one breath to calm her nerves she pushed the door open to find… fire.
All of Neo Atlantis was burning to the ground.
Meteors fell from the sky.
People were dead in the streets.
Cars were turned over.
Not a single soul seemed to remain, aside from her.
Though she didn't have long to think about that, as while the flames grew closer a sudden wave of nasuea and pain overtook her, causing her to collapse to the floor before vomiting something up.
That something though surprised her greatly, for what she had expelled was that same dark liquid that she had drowned in earlier.
She stared down at it, looking at her own dark reflection in the liquid, trying to gather how this was even possible as the flames began to swallow the hospital with her still in it.
It didn't matter anyway, her body was in too much pain to move again, seems she had overexerted herself simple getting to this point… so all she could do was stay there, with her pain, sorrow, regrets, and confusion as the flames consumed her, bringing this life to a bleak and confusing end.