Mikael took charge of the coalition alongside Aegis, focusing attacks on the Avatar of Affliction while numerous intermediate and advanced cleric, druid, bard, and wizard class players removed Affliction's debuffs from both friend and foe across the battlefield. Within minutes of the coalition's arrival, he was defeated.
Greed was next. In preparation for the portal opening, all players in the coalition had copied what Aegis had done with Chax, and they’d given their gold to a trusted merchant class-player who had already logged out.
Thus, Greed never gained much power beyond the gold he could create himself. He was completely countered, and Miranda, with her advanced monk class, tanked him with her barefists; no weapons to turn to gold, she was able to manhandle him with sustained healing from Aegis and Sapphire.
Once both Avatars were down, the forces, 8 Airships strong, retook the skies above Rene, while all druids and farmers joined Seliolara, and under her instruction, tended to Bihi. The tree grew taller as the walls were retaken, and the golden section was repaired with stone and iron to reapply the defense bonus to all those within the walls.
The coalition lacked famously strong crafters, but Aegis created a work project mid-battle and took the best of them under his wings to get it done. Once repaired and re-manned, the walls held for several hours against an endless onslaught of abyssal forces. Juggernauts and Horrors and Broodmothers reinforced their ranks, but no more Avatars or Worldbreakers, which made it manageable.
Thanks to Aegis’ efforts in the early stages of the assault, all of the deadliest and major threats had been destroyed or weakened, making it a breeze for the coalition.
During that time, very few people addressed Aegis directly. They obediently followed his and Mikael’s commands without any wasted words. All members of the coalition were painfully aware of how many viewers Aegis’ livestream had, and were, in their own ways, trying to ‘show off’ and be ‘badass’. Most of them, as fans of Aegis, were doing it in a way that imitated Aegis’ behaviour of showing off through actions, not words or bragging.
It led to strong cohesion among determined players who worked without rest or complaint. Save for Joltblade, who started whining about how long the farmers and druids were taking to grow Bihi at the two-hour mark, once the defenses were established and protecting the city got ‘boring’ by his standards. Quiver kept him in line, though.
After 4 hours of fighting, Bihi’s roots began to protrude from the ground around Rene, with tiny branches poking up, glowing white leaves at their ends. Her taller branches stretched out over Amlie’s fields, shining down on the city from above. The tree had already grown to a size beyond that of world-record-setting ancient trees in the real world.
6 hours, and Bihi was huge. What remained of Aegis’ paved streets was being pushed up by the thick bugling roots of the tree, which grew out to the walls of Rene, and under them. Some parts of the wall were damaged by the roots, but Aegis worked with the crafters to reconstruct and redesign the wall, working around the roots.
It was at the 10-hour mark, after grueling work from the farmers and druids, that Bihi had finally fully grown.
Her branches stretched out wide all above Rene, gigantic and numerous. The bark of her trunk gave off faint white light, and the leaves shimmered like fluorescent bulbs. It was not as large as the City of the White tree, but it was close, and the branches grew both low and high, large enough to walk on, and even some, Aegis spotted, would be big enough to sustain structures.
To compensate for the large tree, Aegis was already working to grow the height of the walls surrounding Bihi’s trunk. Her roots, as if intentionally laid by Bihi, followed along the paths of Aegis’ paved roads, avoiding where the destroyed ground structures were built. Everything but the Forge of Rene was in ruin, though. And the forge now lacked a heat source.
Aegis tried to remain positive and saw it as an opportunity for redesign and improvement, now that all his skills were much higher than when he built most of the crafting hall structures. He wasn’t planning to do much with it yet, though, until Yuki, Tullan, Ruffily, and the other crafters of Kalmoore could log back in.
All of his planning and leading came to a quick, abrupt end with Bihi’s growth finished, due to a quest notification of completion spreading to everyone fighting alongside Aegis. The forces still charging at Rene’s walls turned tail and retreated, and cheers erupted that rivaled the roar of the Worldbreaker.
Aegis didn’t join in the cheers, even with Lina, Darkshot, and Rakkan encouragingly shouting by his side, pumping their fists in the air. Unlike the rest, he’d been given 2 extra notifications.
One was for his advanced class quest, and the other was for establishing a city in the abyss. Both had his full attention.
Quest[2/10]: Consult with Bihi and extend her influence and the influence of the Light through the Abyss.
Objective: 0/1 Bihi’s Requests MetQuest Giver: Bihi, Rene, KalmooreReward: Master Class: (Unknown)Difficulty: ExtremeRestriction: Bihi must survive. You must be a Harbinger of Light to complete this quest.
The Unshattering
Quest[2/5]: Defeat all 8 lesser Avatars of Darkness simultaneously, breaking the seal placed on the Primary Avatars of Darkness(Fear, Anger, Death, Suffering).
Objective: Avatar of Jealousy: 1/1
Avatar of Hatred: 1/1
Avatar of Greed: 1/1
Avatar of Affliction: 1/1
Avatar of Despair: 0/1
Avatar of Chaos: 0/1
Avatar of Violence: 0/1
Avatar of Deceit: 0/1
Quest Giver: The Shattered World
Reward: None
Difficulty: Extreme(V)
Restrictions: Lesser Avatars will reappear throughout the world after their defeat if their element is concentrated. All 8 must be defeated simultaneously
WARNING: Unleashing the 4 Primary Avatars may have devastating consequences on the Shattered World.
Aegis confirmed with his companions that no one else had received the follow-up quest but him. He could only assume it had something to do with him presiding over Rene, the settlement that was now established within the abyss.
He released his aura of light and saw that, even without it, the leaves of Bihi were keeping the darkness of the abyss at bay. That was truly the moment he felt the victory sink into his bones, and his adrenaline began to subside. His hands trembled, and he fell to his knees at the base of his trees; his friends huddled around him.
“Sorry we took so long,” Rakkan put his hand on his shoulder. Aegis gave a nod.
“You alright?” Darkshot asked.
Aegis gave no answer; a lot was still on his mind, thoughts racing around. The first was how to move forward from here. No doubt, VGN knew about the unshattering quest. It was likely the reason they were restricting anyone else from coming into the abyss; they wanted the credit for destroying the Avatars. Yet despite that, they’d failed to find or kill any, even with their headstart into the abyss.
The continent from which the floating islands came spanned the space between them, which meant the abyss was huge. Gigantic, filled with secrets, unexplored dungeons, and mysteries. Here, he’d find new areas to grind. New, higher-tier crafting materials. So much to do, that excitement boiled up and nearly exploded out of him.
But it didn’t. It was kept at bay, as something else was burning through him. They’d won, but Aegis didn’t truly feel victorious.
He looked up at Darkshot and Rakkan, who had forced smiles on their faces. Lina made no attempt to hide it, though. She was sad. They were all sad. Their eyes wandered, and the reason was clear.
The victory came at a great cost. They’d lost everything. Every NPC they’d ever met was dead, with the exception of Savika and Seliolara. Their homes, structures, and friends were all wiped out. Kordas was gone, Orm was gone.
Aegis held himself together for his friends, burying his frustration with a deep breath. “The Mosmir Queen didn’t die; she’s hidden with Savika underground. It’ll take time, but we can get enough Voidsilk back to rebuild everything sturdier than before. Seliolara’s an expert at extracting wood from these trees without harming them, so Bihi will become an endless supply of tier 3 wood for the city. We have to hope we still have access to the Red River for Mithral. There was an Eternal Flame in the Night Hunter’s forge back in Kordas, if we-”
Mikael stepped up into the conversation, having been listening from a distance. “We’ll lead an expedition to Kordas right away, using our Airships. We’ll retrieve the Eternal flame and all usable construction materials, and bring them back here,” Mikael said.
Aegis turned to look him in the eyes for the first time since they’d spoken during the tournament. There was an awkward silence between the pair, staring at one another, until Aegis grew a slight grin.
“Aegis coalition? Really?” his eyebrows went up.
Mikael let out a hearty laugh. “What? You got us all fired up. It’s a good name,”
“I disagree. I can think of a way better-” Darkshot was interrupted by Rakkan slapping his hand over his mouth and shaking his head.
“Thanks. You saved us.” Aegis gave a polite bow.
“Nah, you saved us. None of these people would’ve done what they did for anyone but you. And we wouldn’t have had a chance if you hadn’t held out as long as you did,” Mikael glanced over his shoulder, seeing that a large number of players around Rene, standing about Bihi’s glowing roots, were listening to their conversation. He raised his voice to compensate for this. “On behalf of everyone in the Shattered World Online, thank you for coming back and fighting for us,” Mikael said, taking a knee.
Like a wave, every one of the other nearby players (except Joltblade) knelt as well.
Aegis awkwardly scratched the back of his head at the scene. “Alright, guys, c’mon, cut it out. We’re all in this together. I’m nothing special. This isn’t just my city anymore, it’s all of ours, so I won’t keep it a secret…” Aegis cleared his throat as heads looked up at him curiously.
“I was given a follow-up quest, now that we’re established here in the Abyss. To unshatter the world, we’ve got to defeat all 8 lesser Avatars simultaneously, while keeping Bihi safe. Once we do, the big ones from Hrath’mir will be unleashed, no doubt the next part of this 5-part quest chain. The remaining lesser are Despair, Chaos, Violence, and Deceit.
They’re out there, in the abyss, waiting to be hunted down and defeated. No doubt, VGN knows about them and is working to defeat them as well. I can’t tell you all the reasons, but it’s important we defeat them first and beat VGN to everything else this game has to offer. If you’ll help me, we’ve got a lot of work to do. Do you guys want to take them down with me?” Aegis asked.
The cheers erupted once again, much louder than when they’d achieved victory. Leonard let out wild whistles from atop his Airship while Herilon let out a deep, thundering roar of a battle cry.
“Alright. We’ve got several priorities, and I’d like you to assign yourselves to teams and work together to achieve them efficiently. First, we need to establish this city by reconstructing several major infrastructure buildings under the guidance of Tullan and the Night Hunter leader Quinn. Once they log back in, I’ll be handing over leadership to them, if there are no objections,” Aegis paused, and no one objected. “Resecure the lower depths of Kalmoore for Mithril, restabilsh the Mosmir hive for Voidsilk, and work with Seliolara for Wildwood. Retrieve materials from fallen Kalmoore settlements, locate any surviving NPCs, and bring them back here.
“Two, we locate the nearest edges of Kalmoore and establish a path towards it, leading into the proper abyssal, unexplored lands, and establish an outpost there where we can begin to explore the abyss, looking for clues on where the last 4 avatars are, and finding grind spots, and potential new resources.
“Three, to that end, we can not settle with being on par with VGN, nor can we let our guard down. Track their movements and seek out tier 4 materials. I know they’re out there, and with them, VGN won’t stand a chance against us. Souldust leads would also be appreciated, as we lost many good NPCs, and a reliable source would allow me to bring them back.
“Four, grind spots and dungeons. We need to all get stronger, and there’s no doubt endless opportunities here in the abyss to do that. Find locations, share them, and make sure they’re always in use. Share methods to grind the monsters you find, and let’s all work together to keep getting stronger, improving Rene, and pushing back against VGN.
“Last but not least,” Aegis paused to look at Lina for a moment. “We’re still counted as a starting location. New players who choose to start on Kalmoore will start here, in this ruined city. I invite any and all of you who wish to start your adventure, or restart it, to come here to Rene. You’ll be welcome, we’ll use Bihi to establish lower-level areas around Rene throughout Kalmoore to accommodate them. No one has to start on, or play on, a VGN-controlled island anymore.” His last words were directed towards his livestream camera.
He pointed forward, giving Shinji a moment to adjust, looking forward at no one in particular. “You tried, and failed, to stop this and control the gameworld. Now, we’re coming for every single one of you,” he said to his audience of 20 million viewers.