Chapter Text
“We didn't fall into this world like everyone else.”
“We were already here.”
Prologue - Lost Before the Fall
Before the world changed—
before the event that would one day be whispered among Adventurers as the Apocalypse—
two players had already vanished.
They hadn't logged in on the day chaos broke loose.
They weren't among the thousands trapped in Akiba's city square, blinking in disbelief at an unfamiliar sky.
They weren't caught mid-raid or frozen in system lag.
They weren't even on the mainland.
When the boundaries between code and consciousness blurred into something terrifyingly real, when the rules of the game shattered like glass, Yoshie and Setchi were already gone.
No one knew where they had disappeared to.
No messages had reached them.
No one even realized they were still inside.
And even if they had known…
Camellia Island wasn't on any map.
Elder Tale: More Than a Game
Elder Tale had been many things: a game, a distraction, a second home. A sprawling MMORPG with deep systems and limitless progression, it boasted eight playable races, thirteen major classes, and a subclass system so intricate it felt more like a life simulator than a combat engine. For millions, it was more than entertainment. It was purpose.
In Japan alone, over a hundred thousand users had carved out lives across the continent of Theldesia—from the peaceful hills of Yamato to the labyrinthine cities that pulsed with both mystery and magic.
Some logged in for the thrill of battle. Others came for the lore.
But for a few, Elder Tale had become a refuge.
And then, without warning, it became something else entirely.
The Awakening
Sunlight filtered down through the dense jungle canopy in shifting patches of gold. The air was thick with moisture, the scent of damp moss and wildflowers carried on the breeze. Somewhere in the distance, water fell in a steady hush, echoing off stone.
Someone stirred.
He blinked slowly, the brightness stinging his eyes, and sat up with a wince. The world around him moved with unnatural clarity—every leaf, every grain of soil more vivid than it had ever been on-screen.
“Where the hell am I?” he murmured.
He wasn't in bed.
Not in the mansion.
Not at his desk, waiting for a quest to load.
And he definitely wasn't in front of a screen.
Sawada Tsunayoshi—Boss of the Vongola Family—was inside the game.
Or rather, he was inside his avatar: Yoshie.
He looked down at his hands, gloved in fine spellcloth, and flexed his fingers. The familiar weight of his summoner's cloak rested on his shoulders. When he shifted, the earth beneath him felt gritty and real.
Too real.
Tsuna has been looking forward to the new expansion pack. After logging in, he decided to pass time as usual. He'd been doing a small quest, while his memory was abruptly cut.
Tsuna remembered seeing some sort of demo. Words of shining flames in a black scene. The sky was filled with sticky darkness like asphalt scrolling quickly and a white moon that cut out that blackness.
And now, Tsuna/Yoshie was sitting in the middle of the forest with no one around.
The bright of the sun.
The smell of forest trees.
The noise of waterfall from afar.
The cold feeling of wind brushing onto his cheeks.
Everything is… too real.
The runes along his forearms glowed faintly with their usual lilac shimmer. He brushed his fingers over them out of habit. The skin felt warm, humming faintly with energy.
He could feel everything—the breeze stirring his hair, the pull of gravity as he rose to his feet, the low ache in muscles that shouldn't exist.
This wasn’t just Elder Tale anymore.
This was... something else.
A Dangerous Kind of Magic
Yoshie was Ritian—a race introduced in the ninth expansion, known for their mastery of arcane knowledge. Ritians bore luminous runes etched across their skin like tattoos, each one tied directly to the game's magical framework.
In Elder Tale, he had always picked classes that gave him the most versatility. As a Summoner, he didn't need to specialize in any one style of combat; he could do a little of everything. That flexibility had made him deadly.
His summoned creatures were more than tools. They were extensions of his strategy, pieces in a living puzzle he never stopped rearranging. Yoshie had dozens of familiars bound to him—each with its own quirks, affinities, and functions—but none as loyal or reliable as Fenric.
At the thought, he raised his hand. With a whispered command, the air shimmered. Violet runes spiraled outward, forming a circle beneath his feet.
A shape emerged from the swirl of light: a wolf, massive and lean, its fur the color of midnight stone and eyes bright silver.
Fenric gave a soft growl and padded forward. He lowered his head, brushing against Yoshie's hand like a greeting.
“Well, at least one of us is still working properly,” Yoshie muttered.
He swung onto the wolf's back, gripping the saddle reins that had appeared with the summon. Fenric shifted, ready to run.
One Hour Earlier
He'd only meant to log in for a few hours.
For the first time after one year of ‘hiatus’, he heard the news about the release of the 12th expansion —Homesteading the Noosphere—and the patch notes had promised everything from subclass revamps to new map zones and a higher level cap. It was exciting, even if he had no plans to grind that hard right away.
So, to escape his reality about the mountain of paperwork sitting innocently in his office, he decided to play his favorite MMORPG again when he has (not really) a free time. His tutor and all Guardians are out for the mission or meeting somewhere.
Sawada Tsunayoshi was a veteran player in Elder Tales.
He started that game when he was the third year in middle school and had been playing it for 7 years or more. Even after became a boss of Mafia, he still played in his free time. Also, he invited some his friends to play with him. Surprising, the first person who joined him is his best friend and fellow boss, Kozato Enma.
Enma—Setchi, in-game—had messaged earlier to say he’d be late. Something about finishing up his Alchemist subclass quest or something.
The Only Name Online
As the jungle path unfolded ahead of him, Yoshie opened his friends menu.
Most names were grayed out.
Shiroe was listed as online, but marked unreachable.
Gyudon, Raito, and other friends were offline.
Setchi, however, was glowing bright green.
He tapped the telepathy icon and sent a ping.
“Setchi? You there?”
The reply came almost immediately.
“Yoshie?! Thank god—I thought I was the only one stuck here.”
“Where are you?” Yoshie asked.
“Still on Honey Mountain. Looking for that damn herb. You know, the one for the jungle toxin quest.”
Yoshie groaned. “You're still doing that quest?”
“Do you want potions later, or do you want to die from poison mushrooms?”
He sighed. “Fine. I'm coming to you.”
It took about ten minutes of fast riding to reach the summit trail. The island's terrain was brutal—steep cliffs, fog-thick jungles, valleys glowing faintly with residual mana. It was stunning, yes, but wild. Unrefined. Like parts of Elder Tale that hadn't finished rendering… except they had.
Honey Mountain; the 508m high mountain that dominates the island; Camellia Island, a small island located in the south of Akibahara. In real life, it's called Toshima Island, an island that lies approximately 147 km away from Tokyo.
Camellia Island was the kind of place most Adventurers never bothered with. Too far from the mainland. Too quiet. Too many hoops to jump through just to get here.
The island supported barely a couple hundred residents—Landers, all of them. Shopkeepers who knew everyone by name. Clerks who remembered which Adventurers caused trouble. Old men who handed out errands like they were favors instead of quests.
Yoshie had always thought of it as harmless background content.
Now, surrounded by them and unable to leave, it felt less like flavor text—and more like a cage.
Camellia Island is called a spiritual island for some reason. One of them because to reach the island, you must take a secret quest from a Traveling Merchant between 5 major cities, or you can’t enter the island easily. Yoshie and his friends ‘accidentally’ found the said NPC between Nakasu and Minami.
But it was a story for another time...
Setchi of the Flames
Setchi was waiting beneath a tall oak, arms crossed over his chest. He was dressed in dark blue hanfu robes stitched with golden trim, the long folds of fabric moving in the wind. His red hair was tucked under a matching mage's cap, and his staff rested casually against one shoulder.
Yoshie dismounted, eyebrows raised. “You look too calm for someone who just got isekai’d.”
Setchi gave him a lopsided smile. “Panicking won't change anything.”
As a Half-Alv, Setchi came from a lineage descended from the mysterious Alvs—the long-vanished architects of Elder Tale's deepest magic. He had always preferred the Sorcerer class for its raw firepower. No summons. No buffs. Just elemental annihilation.
His subclass, Alchemist, gave him all sorts of toys: potions, toxins, bombs, enhancers. He had once turned a raid boss bright purple with a single badly aimed debuff. He still called it a tactical success.
The Duo Magicians
Together, they had cleared dungeons meant for full parties, taken down hidden bosses with nothing but trick builds and tight timing, and turned down every guild invitation that came their way.
The community called them the Duo Magicians.
Unpredictable. Unstoppable.
And now, it seemed, unlogged-out.
They sat under the tree, overlooking the vast green expanse of the valley below. Monsters wandered lazily between treelines, glowing faintly in the shade.
“There's no logout,” Setchi said quietly.
“No system messages,” Yoshie added.
“This isn't a bug.”
Yoshie didn't answer. His silence was enough.
“What about 'Call of Home'?” Setchi asked.
Call of Home was an instantaneous transport spell every player could use in Elder Tales, warping you to the last of the 5 major cities you had visited. The casting time was several minutes and could only be used once every 24 hours, not suitable for use during battles. For the game, it was normally used when the player decided to call it a day and returned to the city before logging out. There was also an inter-city transport gate in each of them, so it was possible to move instantaneously between these 5 cities.
“Lambo, I mean Gyudon tried it last time. It failed at this island."
“Fairy Rings?” Setchi suggested.
Yoshie snorted. “Without Raito? You want to gamble with your life?”
Setchi frowned.
Yoshie could still remember the story; some idiot misreading the timing, stepping into a ring under the wrong moon, and vanishing off the server entirely. They’d joked about it back then.
“Those things don’t just send you somewhere else,” Yoshie said. “They send you wherever the math feels like sending you.”
“…Right,” Setchi said after a moment. “No Fairy Rings.”
Setchi leaned back against the trunk, letting his staff rest against his shoulder. His eyes narrowed.
“You realize we're the only Adventurers on this island?”
Yoshie nodded. “Our other teammate are offline. Shiroe’s online, but the system says he's unreachable. Still can’t contact him or anyone off-map."
“And Camellia Island’s exit… it’s locked behind quest completion, isn't it?”
“Yup.”
There was a beat of silence.
Yoshie exhaled slowly. “You remember when we first landed here?”
Setchi stiffened. “When none of the exits worked.”
“When the system wouldn’t let us leave,” Yoshie continued, “or contact anyone outside.”
Setchi’s grip tightened on his staff. “…This whole island is a dungeon,” he realized.
Not a raid. Not a field zone.
A dungeon that didn’t end until every last quest was cleared.
Yoshie glanced toward the village, where lanterns were beginning to light up one by one.
How many people lived here again?
“…We’re going to be here a while,” he said quietly.
Meanwhile, in Akiba…
Shiroe stood in stunned silence as Marielle dragged him—along with a protesting Naotsugu—into the Crescent Moon Alliance’s guild hall.
He had no idea the world was already missing two of its sharpest players.
To Be Continued…