Muckie could have easily swatted me, but he didn’t even notice me.

I took advantage. I began my operation on the necklace. It was only by the time Muckie was on his feet and was searching the site for me, that he realized that there was a mini person dangling on his necklace. But it was too late.

The numerous teeth that composed the necklace were connected by a flimsy thread and this I tore. The necklace dropped to the ground and so did I. Muckie made a grab for me, but I was quick. I transformed into a manture and, beating my wings, flew away. Once at a safe distance, I changed to my human form.

Muckie was frantically picking up the different pieces of the necklace trying to join it back together. But it was futile, for the magic of the necklace was gone.

Muckie looked up, shaking his fist while his face twisted with anger.

“You… you…”

But that was all that he could speak. It dawned on him that he was quite helpless now. I observed as fear replaced the fury in his eyes.

“I will have my revenge,” Muckie said, baring his teeth, as he got back up. But I could see through his words. He was faking anger to distract me for sometime to escape.

I stood tall, watching him back away. A part of me was rather willing to let him go. After all he was only a poor noob. But I happened to turn my head and saw Kiara’s swollen face. Muckie and his companions had tortured her in cold blood.

No, forgiveness was not an option.

The blood leaking from underneath the wall combined with the cessation of Muckie’s scream confirmed his death.

I lifted Kiara on my stone shoulder and leisurely walked away, humming a tune. I gave her a health vial and it was a joy to see her heal.

The entire town of the players was laid out in front of me in a state of chaos. More and more monsters from faraway places in Dharti continued to stream into the town. The players had no chance. Eviluns outnumbered them one to five.

“I do not understand,” Kiara said to me, gazing at the ongoing carnage, holding to my thick neck for support. “How did this happen? I thought you were only the king of the Skhites and the Hornies.”

“I was,” I told her, “But now I am the lord of each and every monster that walks the game world.”

“But how?” she said.

“Let’s just say I found a cheat,” I said to her. She stared unblinking into my eyes, seeking the truth, but I only gave her a meek smile. I was glad that I was in my stone giant form, as my face was relatively less expressive. I reckoned calling my sacrifice a ‘cheat’ was not particularly fair. I wondered about our shared future. What was going to happen to us? I decided I was better off not thinking about it.

More and more of the players were logging out seeing they were doomed. Their numbers decreased steeply.

The town lay in ruins. Even the palace of the elf king was not spared. A group of stone giants were having the time of their lives attacking it. The elf king was powerful, but he could only tackle so many monsters single handedly. He was bound to fall. It was only a matter of time.

I reached the town square. Here there was the colossal sculpture depicting the various races present in Dharti. I recalled the first time I had seen it. So much had changed since then.

And then something odd happened. I received a quest notification.

I gasped because it was the sculpture that was sending it. Okay, not the whole sculpture, but a part of it was sending me the message–the monsters. My influence not only extended to living monsters, but also to statues of them apparently.

New quest available!

Our brothers and sisters are fighting against the players, and their effort is valiant. However, they will never truly conquer this town, unless you replace the statues of the players with us, monsters. The dead players will no longer be reborn in the town.

Would you like to claim the town of the players for the monsters?

Yes/No

Rewards: Become the ruler of the town!

Excitedly, I went to the sculpture. It was composed of a number of interlocking parts, not very different from kids’ construction toys. I started to replace the blocks constituting the players with blocks from monsters. I took care. I didn’t want to destroy the sculpture. Kiara aided, instructing me on the best ways to keep the blocks.

In about an hour we set the last piece in place. A glaring light emanated from the entire sculpture. It brightened even more and began to expand in all directions.

“I think we should close our eyes,” Kiara told me, as she put her hands over her face. The light was overpowering and I shut my eyes tight. It was only a minute later when I allowed myself to open them again. The light was dimming now.

But something had changed in the town of the players.

It was now the town of the monsters.

I could sense it in the air. There was a certain feeling of home in the town. It was mine.

“Look there!” Kiara said, pointing at the sky. My jaw dropped. Thousands of indistinct dots in the sky were rapidly moving away. What were those? I made circles with my hands and put them over my eyes like binoculars to reduce the sun’s glare and sharpen my vision. The dots were clearer now. They were actually stones.

Were they respawn stones of the players?

I guessed now whenever a player died and respawned they would find themselves in the new destination where those stones landed.

I reverted to my human form. Kiara and I sat down at the bottom of the sculpture and waited till the last of the players was killed and till the last respawn stone had zoomed away from the town. We even sighted a beaten up elf king fleeing with some of his servants on an abused carriage with wobbly wheels, monsters cheering victoriously as they chased him. Even if he succeeded in escaping, he was never going to rule over the town ever again.