The city of adventurers was filled with the noise of voices as usual. Adventurers arrived in Atrak, merchants organized a fair in honor of the new year, locals decorated their houses with festive decorations and baked various festive sweets. The weather was frosty. The first snow was falling from the sky, spinning in a cold dance. Snowflakes were falling on the cobblestone road. The children of the townspeople happily caught white flakes.

The joyful life of the city was interrupted by a sudden sound. The wind forgot, and the sky was covered with black clouds. Life froze.

System alert! There are 0 hours 0 minutes 3 seconds... 2 seconds... 1 second...0 left before the monster army attacks the city of Atrak.

Time seemed to slow down. At first, the noise of wings was heard. A huge black dragon figure soared over the city and began to rise up. Mesmerized by the spectacle, everyone looked up at the sky. Having risen high above the city, the dragon turned around and began to rapidly fall down. In the next instant, flames burst out of the dragon's mouth like the breath of hell. The fire burned everything in its path: players, houses and even stones. It seemed as if the fire was eating everything around. When the dragon soared into the sky again, the square was filled with the sounds of falling restoration stones. The green ones that belonged to the players were mixed with the blue ones.

As soon as the dragon flew away, the soldiers of the army of the dead began to enter the city. The battle began. Amid the chaos of the battle, the clang of metal, explosions and the sound of falling stones could be heard.

Nolad: Hurry up, collect the stones and bring them to the restoration mages!

The guild master gave orders to everyone who could move, fighting off the creatures that attacked the city.

Syne: There's something wrong here.

Nolad: Of course not! Monsters dared to attack the city. Ithras has been revived. Heroes and adventurers die faster than we can restore them.

Syne: That's not what I'm talking about. Skeletons... They also collect stones and carry them somewhere.

Nolad: Skeletons?! None of the monsters can see them. And even more so to keep.

Syne: You should see for yourself. The guild master was confused, but pursued the master. Fighting off monsters, I kept looking around. Why did this happen? He looked at the children who were trying to hide from this horror. He saw a mother desperately calling for her child. Why did the preparations for the holiday turn into a horror for everyone?

Syne: Look.

The Magister was pointing at a group of skeletons collecting crystals on the battlefield. The guildmaster wanted to attack them, but Syne pointed out the Dead Knights of the Tiat Order guarding the skeletons in time.

Syne: There are at least ten of them here.

Nolad: And what do you propose to do?

Syne: Let's follow them and find out what they're up to.

Nolad nodded approvingly. They didn't have to wait long. A group of skeletons, accompanied by knights, moved to the city square.

Nolad: What are we doing? We should have helped people and fought monsters. And we're wasting our time on a bunch of skeletons...

No sooner had the Guild Master finished his sentence than a strange picture opened before his eyes. Skeletons poured crystals into a pile in front of a figure in a black robe, near which Ithras was lying. The man in the robe took the crystals one by one and turned them into a pile of fragments with an unknown spell. The Master and the Guild Master stood in confusion.

Nolad: We need to stop this man.

There was no response to Nolad's words. He turned around to see why Syne was not responding and saw only blue particles everywhere.

Necromancer: It's wrong to spy on people.

Nolad swung his sword, but the sword fell to the ground with a clang. The severed limb was bleeding. He tried to raise his sword, but he didn't have time. Everything around suddenly disappeared. A white stone fell to the ground. The necromancer bent down and picked it up, approached Alme.

Lurg: It seems that we will finish faster than expected.

Alme took the stone from Lurg's hands. Having crushed it, she continued her occupation in silence.

***

- Players all over the world are losing their progress and we can't restore it.

- So solve this problem! What are we paying you for?! For the first time in a long time, interest returned to the game. If you don't fix everything, you will be fired!

- Actually, we found a possible mistake.

- So why are you standing here? Fix everything!

***

Atrak is a wonderful city of adventurers. Always lively, always noisy. But today everything is different. Instead of beautiful structures, piles of stones. Instead of cheerful noise, dead silence. The once beautiful city is now all in ruins, which are filled with evil spirits.

Necromancer: What now?

Alme: I want to get back to my daughter. She's waiting for me.

Necromancer: Alme... Your daughter... I can't feel her.

Alme: What did you say?!

Necromancer: I wanted to tell you, but you didn't notice anything. When you broke one of the stones, the connection with Uuna was cut off.

Alme: Can not...

Necromancer: You've had your revenge. Your daughter has found peace. You should get on with your life.

Alme: Live? What for? For whom or what?

Necromancer: For me. Let's go back to Asania and start a new life. Or we can go to Ligarchu. Together.

Alme: And what's the point of that?

Necromancer: We're alive. Our life goes on. So let's live it for us and our children?

Alme: It sounds too naive.

Necromancer: Naive or not, I don't want to live with anger anymore.

Alme: I need time.

Necromancer: I'll wait as long as it takes.

Alme smiled gently. She spent all her strength. Right now she just wanted to lie down and sleep. Anger burned everything inside her. Only emptiness remained. Lurg's offer seemed a little childish to her, but she was going to accept it. However, she didn't have time to say it. The world around her began to disappear. Lurg was holding Alme's hand when her image began to melt. He tried to grab it, but he didn't have time. The silence of the empty city was broken by the ringing of a fallen crystal.

System alert! The world will be rebooted in 3... 2...1.