Wiping your eyes, you clicked on the screen, which returned you to the game's home screen. This was it, you'd done it all, every quest, every mission, every special event, everything in the game had been completed, there was nothing more left to do, and yet, the hole you felt in your heart only ached harder. The sense of impending loss was one you were never accustomed to, and it was beyond terrible.
You decided to take screenshots of everything, starting with your Summoner avatar and your beloved original squad, you were happy you were able to ride through the last battle with them, just as you took them to your first battles all those years ago. There were many other amazing units that served you and helped you beat some specific pieces of content, but nothing could compare to the originals. The memories you'd gotten from the game were precious, and you were determined to preserve them, and you found yourself crying again as you did, chuckling sadly that perhaps you were too soft, as Valentina's mother often said.
"Dammit" You said, wiping your tears again, but they kept flowing, the feeling in your heart was only getting worse, and after a couple more minutes of futile attempts at resisting, you ended up allowing yourself to actually cry. It felt like you were about to lose a childhood friend, feeling that along with the game, a piece of your soul would perish with it as well.
"Guess I'm a kind of pathetic summoner myself" You laughed a little, but still saddened. You looked at the computer's clock, 1 hour left until midnight, which is when the game would shut down for good.
You decided to record one last match against every boss in the game (not counting the final one since that took too long), as a sort of farewell sparring of your own, using the same squad you'd been using. That took about 40 minutes, and once that was done, you decided to do some last PvP matches, once again using your original team even if they weren't the very best for that. Yet, they managed to win most of the battles until the queue died, as there was nobody else around for arena. You looked again at the clock and saw that there were 10 minutes left.
You hadn't heard from Cindy ever since she sent you that message, you wondered if she'd beaten the game and taken screenshots already, but when you tried calling her you found your phone had no signal, which was a bit strange, but then you glanced out the window and realized that the weather had worsened, and it looked like it'd begin raining soon. You never liked rain much, since it meant that electricity would fail and you couldn't go anywhere out, even now, when you weren't even that fond of leaving your home, you still disliked rain because it often caused electricity to fail. You sighed and looked back at the computer's clock, 5 minutes left.
"Well, I guess that's it. I can't thank you guys enough, for everything... for all the fun, all the memories... I'm gonna miss you" You said to your characters, feeling a bit silly for talking to a screen, but you felt you were at least allowed to have this bit of silliness in the privacy of your home.
You took one more screenshot with your whole squad, and changed your player info message to "Goodbye VB, Thank you for everything" and then went to the bestiary section, which showed all the characters you'd unlocked along with their lore. You took screenshots of all of your squad members' lore, the last one being Reeva, who'd been your first summon ever. Her artwork was beautiful, but also a bit embarrassing to look at, since she posed in a way that had her back towards you, showing off her admittedly very big butt. It was an alternate art piece that was won during the game's 1st Guild Raid, one that Cindy actually tricked you into unlocking.
Even worse, for some reason your game bugged out with it, and the alt art became the permanent art for her, so whenever you wanted to look at her stats, lore or equipment you'd see her in that pose, which got Cindy to troll you over the years about it. But now, even if it was silly, you'd become fond of Reeva for her abilities, lore and for the fact that she faithfully served your team from the beginning to the end, nothing more could be asked from any game's character. You looked at her face and noticed a faint blush, which threw you off. Did she always have a blush? Didn't seem like it. Maybe they updated the art? You had no idea, but simply shrugged.
You clicked the back button and when the game tried going to the home screen, which was always preceded by a quick loading, this time you got an error. You clicked 'okay' and tried again, and this time the picture from the game's finale appeared, telling you that as of that moment, the game had reached its end of service, thanking everyone again. You took a deep breath and cried some more. This was a very sad night, and you felt like you'd probably grieve the game for a least a couple of days before you felt better, but the feelings were odd.
You'd done everything, you'd taken your original gang onto the last mission and won! You played the game until the very end! Why then, did you feel so sad? You couldn't answer this yourself, so all you could do was stand up and go for some cool water to drink, and then go back to your computer to see other people's farewell posts for the game. Almost as if in a movie, then it began to rain, looking like even the environment was catching onto your sadness.
The cool breeze, which was usually a welcome feeling, now felt strangely hollow, as if it could transmit your melancholy too. You felt empty and alone. For some reason, you didn't feel like closing the game, even though you'd reached the EoS screen, instead, you had Steam download updates for other games in the background, turned the screen off and laid on your bed to sleep, maybe that was the only way to counter the sadness that overwhelmed you.
An unknown amount of time later, you woke up by the sun shining on your face, which was odd since you had your curtains closed. You also felt weird, as if the clothes you were weren't the same you went to sleep with. You then realized that you weren't even laying on a bed anymore, it felt like it was grass, outside. Despite being still groggy, you quickly sat up and looked around, alarmed by the obvious inconsistency.
"Huh?!" You said, your eyes quickly regaining their focus despite the rather intense sunlight, seeing that you seemed to be in the middle of a jungle. "What in the...?"
"Hey! You're finally awake!" A cheerful voice said behind you, and before you knew it, you were hugged from behind, and it felt like it was a pretty well-endowed woman, much to your growing embarrassment. The voice sounded awfully familiar, and as your brain still struggled to begin thinking coherently, you reached one shocking conclusion.
"R-Riddith?!" You exclaimed. This had to be the craziest, most lucid dream you'd ever had. Other times you'd dreamed about the game you usually dreamed yourself playing it, not being in it, so this was a first.
"Of course, silly! Who else would it be?" The playful goddess said before giving you a quick peck on the cheek.
"I know what you're thinking right now... and no, this is not a dream" She giggled before helping you up, then you turned around to face her and it was simply beyond breath-taking. There she was, the goddess that guided you in the game from the very beginning, but in the flesh, looking way better than any of her in-game art.
"This is obviously a dream" You chuckled "But you know what, I don't mind"
Riddith then pouted cutely, puffing her cheeks in a comical manner "No, silly Summoner! It's not a dream! You're really here!" She said, mock-hitting you in the head several times. It was then that you looked down and saw that you were indeed dressed in your Summoner's attire, which included the robe as well as a pretty formidable armor that felt surprisingly light. Seeing this, Riddith pulled out a mirror and held it in front of you, now you were shocked: You expected to be simply the Summoner as in the game, but what the mirror revealed was you, the actual you, dressed in the Summoner's clothes.
"No way!" You said.
"See? Told ya" Riddith giggled.
"This is the absolute craziest dream ever! Holy shit I'm gonna have to write this down when I wake up, Cindy will never believe it!" You laughed, making her groan.
"IT'S NOT A DREAM, GODDESS-DAMMIT!" She shouted, startling you a little.
"Why... why are you mad?" You asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Because it took so much effort to bring you here, and you think this is but a silly dream" She said, sounding genuinely sad.
"Okay, okay... I'm sorry..." You said.
'Geez, looks like I'm gonna have to stay in character for the duration of this dream'
"I heard that!" Riddith said, startling you again.
'She can read minds?!' You thought and she nodded in response.
"I'm gonna prove to you that this is the real deal" She said before pinching your arm on a sleeved part not covered by armor.
"Ow!"
"See? Not a dream" Riddith said "If you want even more proof, grab your sword and poke your finger with it, if that doesn't convince you nothing will"
Wanting to disprove her claims, you did exactly that, finding that your sword was absurdly sharp, and when you poked your fingertip with it, blood began to trickle out. Instinctively, you sucked on your finger to stop it, feeling the characteristic taste of blood, which made your eyes widen.
'Holy crap! Did I really get sucked into the game?! I thought that stuff only happened in Cindy's animes!' You thought. You still wanted to believe that this simply may be your most realistic dream to date, but for the time being it was best to roll along with whatever it threw at you.
"Okay, so, why am I here?" You decided to ask.
"Because I brought you, of course!" She giggled "You couldn't bear to part with all of us, could you?" She said in a more soothing tone. That struck a nerve, making you feel that dreadful pain in your heart again.
"Neither could us. So, come on! Our adventure can continue... well, technically we're on vacation, but whatever!" She said...
You decided to take screenshots of everything, starting with your Summoner avatar and your beloved original squad, you were happy you were able to ride through the last battle with them, just as you took them to your first battles all those years ago. There were many other amazing units that served you and helped you beat some specific pieces of content, but nothing could compare to the originals. The memories you'd gotten from the game were precious, and you were determined to preserve them, and you found yourself crying again as you did, chuckling sadly that perhaps you were too soft, as Valentina's mother often said.
"Dammit" You said, wiping your tears again, but they kept flowing, the feeling in your heart was only getting worse, and after a couple more minutes of futile attempts at resisting, you ended up allowing yourself to actually cry. It felt like you were about to lose a childhood friend, feeling that along with the game, a piece of your soul would perish with it as well.
"Guess I'm a kind of pathetic summoner myself" You laughed a little, but still saddened. You looked at the computer's clock, 1 hour left until midnight, which is when the game would shut down for good.
You decided to record one last match against every boss in the game (not counting the final one since that took too long), as a sort of farewell sparring of your own, using the same squad you'd been using. That took about 40 minutes, and once that was done, you decided to do some last PvP matches, once again using your original team even if they weren't the very best for that. Yet, they managed to win most of the battles until the queue died, as there was nobody else around for arena. You looked again at the clock and saw that there were 10 minutes left.
You hadn't heard from Cindy ever since she sent you that message, you wondered if she'd beaten the game and taken screenshots already, but when you tried calling her you found your phone had no signal, which was a bit strange, but then you glanced out the window and realized that the weather had worsened, and it looked like it'd begin raining soon. You never liked rain much, since it meant that electricity would fail and you couldn't go anywhere out, even now, when you weren't even that fond of leaving your home, you still disliked rain because it often caused electricity to fail. You sighed and looked back at the computer's clock, 5 minutes left.
"Well, I guess that's it. I can't thank you guys enough, for everything... for all the fun, all the memories... I'm gonna miss you" You said to your characters, feeling a bit silly for talking to a screen, but you felt you were at least allowed to have this bit of silliness in the privacy of your home.
You took one more screenshot with your whole squad, and changed your player info message to "Goodbye VB, Thank you for everything" and then went to the bestiary section, which showed all the characters you'd unlocked along with their lore. You took screenshots of all of your squad members' lore, the last one being Reeva, who'd been your first summon ever. Her artwork was beautiful, but also a bit embarrassing to look at, since she posed in a way that had her back towards you, showing off her admittedly very big butt. It was an alternate art piece that was won during the game's 1st Guild Raid, one that Cindy actually tricked you into unlocking.
Even worse, for some reason your game bugged out with it, and the alt art became the permanent art for her, so whenever you wanted to look at her stats, lore or equipment you'd see her in that pose, which got Cindy to troll you over the years about it. But now, even if it was silly, you'd become fond of Reeva for her abilities, lore and for the fact that she faithfully served your team from the beginning to the end, nothing more could be asked from any game's character. You looked at her face and noticed a faint blush, which threw you off. Did she always have a blush? Didn't seem like it. Maybe they updated the art? You had no idea, but simply shrugged.
You clicked the back button and when the game tried going to the home screen, which was always preceded by a quick loading, this time you got an error. You clicked 'okay' and tried again, and this time the picture from the game's finale appeared, telling you that as of that moment, the game had reached its end of service, thanking everyone again. You took a deep breath and cried some more. This was a very sad night, and you felt like you'd probably grieve the game for a least a couple of days before you felt better, but the feelings were odd.
You'd done everything, you'd taken your original gang onto the last mission and won! You played the game until the very end! Why then, did you feel so sad? You couldn't answer this yourself, so all you could do was stand up and go for some cool water to drink, and then go back to your computer to see other people's farewell posts for the game. Almost as if in a movie, then it began to rain, looking like even the environment was catching onto your sadness.
The cool breeze, which was usually a welcome feeling, now felt strangely hollow, as if it could transmit your melancholy too. You felt empty and alone. For some reason, you didn't feel like closing the game, even though you'd reached the EoS screen, instead, you had Steam download updates for other games in the background, turned the screen off and laid on your bed to sleep, maybe that was the only way to counter the sadness that overwhelmed you.
An unknown amount of time later, you woke up by the sun shining on your face, which was odd since you had your curtains closed. You also felt weird, as if the clothes you were weren't the same you went to sleep with. You then realized that you weren't even laying on a bed anymore, it felt like it was grass, outside. Despite being still groggy, you quickly sat up and looked around, alarmed by the obvious inconsistency.
"Huh?!" You said, your eyes quickly regaining their focus despite the rather intense sunlight, seeing that you seemed to be in the middle of a jungle. "What in the...?"
"Hey! You're finally awake!" A cheerful voice said behind you, and before you knew it, you were hugged from behind, and it felt like it was a pretty well-endowed woman, much to your growing embarrassment. The voice sounded awfully familiar, and as your brain still struggled to begin thinking coherently, you reached one shocking conclusion.
"R-Riddith?!" You exclaimed. This had to be the craziest, most lucid dream you'd ever had. Other times you'd dreamed about the game you usually dreamed yourself playing it, not being in it, so this was a first.
"Of course, silly! Who else would it be?" The playful goddess said before giving you a quick peck on the cheek.
"I know what you're thinking right now... and no, this is not a dream" She giggled before helping you up, then you turned around to face her and it was simply beyond breath-taking. There she was, the goddess that guided you in the game from the very beginning, but in the flesh, looking way better than any of her in-game art.
"This is obviously a dream" You chuckled "But you know what, I don't mind"
Riddith then pouted cutely, puffing her cheeks in a comical manner "No, silly Summoner! It's not a dream! You're really here!" She said, mock-hitting you in the head several times. It was then that you looked down and saw that you were indeed dressed in your Summoner's attire, which included the robe as well as a pretty formidable armor that felt surprisingly light. Seeing this, Riddith pulled out a mirror and held it in front of you, now you were shocked: You expected to be simply the Summoner as in the game, but what the mirror revealed was you, the actual you, dressed in the Summoner's clothes.
"No way!" You said.
"See? Told ya" Riddith giggled.
"This is the absolute craziest dream ever! Holy shit I'm gonna have to write this down when I wake up, Cindy will never believe it!" You laughed, making her groan.
"IT'S NOT A DREAM, GODDESS-DAMMIT!" She shouted, startling you a little.
"Why... why are you mad?" You asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Because it took so much effort to bring you here, and you think this is but a silly dream" She said, sounding genuinely sad.
"Okay, okay... I'm sorry..." You said.
'Geez, looks like I'm gonna have to stay in character for the duration of this dream'
"I heard that!" Riddith said, startling you again.
'She can read minds?!' You thought and she nodded in response.
"I'm gonna prove to you that this is the real deal" She said before pinching your arm on a sleeved part not covered by armor.
"Ow!"
"See? Not a dream" Riddith said "If you want even more proof, grab your sword and poke your finger with it, if that doesn't convince you nothing will"
Wanting to disprove her claims, you did exactly that, finding that your sword was absurdly sharp, and when you poked your fingertip with it, blood began to trickle out. Instinctively, you sucked on your finger to stop it, feeling the characteristic taste of blood, which made your eyes widen.
'Holy crap! Did I really get sucked into the game?! I thought that stuff only happened in Cindy's animes!' You thought. You still wanted to believe that this simply may be your most realistic dream to date, but for the time being it was best to roll along with whatever it threw at you.
"Okay, so, why am I here?" You decided to ask.
"Because I brought you, of course!" She giggled "You couldn't bear to part with all of us, could you?" She said in a more soothing tone. That struck a nerve, making you feel that dreadful pain in your heart again.
"Neither could us. So, come on! Our adventure can continue... well, technically we're on vacation, but whatever!" She said...
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May 12, 2023
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