Work Text:
(1)
The snowflakes swirled on the summit of Glory’s tallest mountain. At the tallest peak of the only mountainous area in the Heavenly Domain, this was also Glory’s highest point—the point closest to the other realm.
Amid the dancing whirls of ice, the frame of a magical doorway shimmered at the center of a glowing red magic circle. Mysterious runes and inscriptions rotated within the circle’s bounds, spinning clockwise and counterclockwise along the flow of magic.
”Are you sure you want to do this?” asked Vaccaria. “There’s no guarantee that this will work, or even if it will send you to the right place. Your data might even become corrupted, making you impossible to restore.”
Lord Grim and One Autumn Leaf glanced briefly at each other. Then, with a grin, Lord Grim clapped Vaccaria on the shoulder. “Of course we’re doing this. Even if it comes with risks, who among us can say they’ve never wanted to try?”
One Autumn Leaf crossed his arms. “We have no fears and no regrets. We’re going.”
“Either do it or don’t. But you’re gonna do it, you should do it like, now,” a strained voice called from the side. “Have some pity on these poor blokes who are working hard while you guys are chatting away!”
Visible trails of sweat dripped down Windward Formation’s face from where he stood at one end of the magic circle. His dark robes billowed as he waved his arms in wide sweeping motions, helping to orchestrate the flow of magic. Swoksaar stood on the opposite side of the circle, his face less sweaty but no less strained, mirroring Windward Formation’s movements.
“I hate to say it, but he has a point,” Swoksaar panted, breathless. The two of them on their own didn’t have enough mana to keep the circle going for much longer.
One Autumn Leaf glared, but otherwise didn’t bother to gratify the two warlocks with a response. He’d gotten more grumpy these past few years ever since his account had been taken over by Sun Xiang.
Lord Grim waved at them. “You’re doing great, jiayou!”
One Autumn Leaf nudged at Lord Grim, getting him back to the matter at hand.
“Give me your hands,” said Vaccaria. Lord Grim held out his left hand; One Autumn Leaf held out his right. Taking out a brush from his inventory, Vaccaria drew a diamond-shaped symbol on each of their palms. Upon finishing the last stroke, he held both their hands in his, imbuing the symbols with magic.
“I’ve created a temporary save state for you. When you want to return, touch this symbol and say ‘Load Save.’ If all goes well, that should bring you back to our world.”
“Thanks, we really appreciate it,” Lord Grim said. “We’d best get going now, or this one,” he gestured at One Autumn Leaf, “will start to get antsy with his spear. And of course, we don’t want to keep our two warlocks toiling away~”
“Oh, fuck you,” Windward Formation yelled from his end of the circle.
Lord Grim laughed. “Love you too, my darling teammate,” he said sweetly.
With that, he joined One Autumn Leaf who was already tapping his foot impatiently by the door.
“We’ll be back soon.”
Then, they stepped through the portal to see what was on the other side.
(2)
When the last glimpse of Lord Grim’s crimson scarf slipped into the ether, the two warlocks finally collapsed onto the snowy ground. The magic circle pulsed unsteadily and its reddish glow started to fade. In the breadth of a millisecond, the door blinked out of existence like it had never been there in the first place.
“Just like Death’s Door, my ass! That was at least 100 times more mana and effort. Why did we ever listen to those guys?” Windward Formation groaned.
“Proof of concept?” offered Vaccaria.
“Shut up, you did nothing.”
“I hope they make it through safely,” sighed Swoksaar, still breathing heavily. “Do you think they’ll be able to meet him?”
The three of them fell silent picturing what that fateful meeting might be like. How wonderful and euphoric it would be…
“Damn. If we didn’t have to hold the door open, we could’ve gone with them. Can you imagine us meeting Wei Chen?” Windward Formation asked Swoksaar.
“He would be speechless with joy upon seeing me,” said Swoksaar dreamily.
“What? No, he wouldn’t. He’d be speechless seeing me!”
“Yeah, speechless with horror.”
“He likes me better,” Windward Formation crowed. “You’re from his chuunibyou era. He’d be too embarrassed seeing his high wizard fantasies come to life.”
“And you’re from his grunge uncle era,” Swoksaar retorted. “Do you really think he’d like seeing his midlife crisis come to life?”
“Well, I have more skill points!”
“He only made you because he missed me!”
“Children, please,” said Vaccaria. He moved to help Swoksaar to his feet. “We have more pressing concerns to think about—like what to tell Dancing Rain.”
The two warlocks stopped squabbling. “Ah.”
“Hey, anyone want to run a dungeon with me?” Windward Formation asked. “I suddenly don’t want to go back to Guild Happy just yet.”
The other two couldn’t blame him. No one envied the poor soul who found themself at the business end of Dancing Rain’s cannon.
Somewhere from across the game, Dancing Rain, who had been sleeping in her room, felt a disturbance in the air and shot up straight in her bed.
“Those two blockheads are doing something without me again!”
(3)
“Achoo!” Lord Grim sneezed upon stepping out of the portal.
“Woah, what was that?” he asked, startled.
“It’s that thing that humans do. Sneezing, or something,” said One Autumn Leaf. He had already begun inspecting the area in which they had spawned. They were in an alley of some kind, in between two buildings made of concrete.
Lord Grim rubbed his nose. “Do you think it’s because dust here actually has mass?” Dust in the Glory world affected visibility, but it didn’t affect physics—in essence, it was just a visual effect.
“That or Dancing Rain is cursing us out.”
Lord Grim shivered. “Don’t even joke about that.”
He picked his way around some discarded trash, following One Autumn Leaf to the end of the alley where it opened onto the street.
“Woah...” Lord Grim marveled, and One Autumn Leaf had to agree with the sentiment.
It was still morning, but the streets were already bustling. Cars wooshed by on the roads, while pedestrians hurried off to work and school. Along the road were rows of buildings: shops and apartments, little diners and small businesses. Glory was quite massive by game standards, but in this realm, the space felt so open, as if someone had taken the world by each of its three dimensions and stretched it far, far out.
“This is the right place, right?” asked Lord Grim.
“Only one way to find out,” said One Autumn Leaf.
They stepped out onto the street, earning them a few stares. They were, after all, in full plate armor.
Paying little attention to the weird looks they were getting, One Autumn Leaf stopped a middle-aged man wearing a suit as he walked briskly down the street.
The man took out one of his earbuds. “What do you—” He turned and finally saw One Autumn Leaf in all his 6 foot armored glory. “…want?” he squeaked.
“Do you know God Ye?” One Autumn Leaf demanded.
The man squinted.
“Who???”
(4)
“Let go of me!”
“Where are you going?” Lord Grim grabbed the other avatar by the arm as he tried to storm away.
“We need to go back. We are in the wrong place,” One Autumn Leaf said darkly.
“Ahh! We just got here though! How can you say we’re in the wrong place when you only asked one person!”
“Can you imagine a world where Ye Xiu is an unknown nobody?” One Autumn Leaf snapped. “If they don’t know him by Ye Xiu, they should at least know him as Ye Qiu!” He shook off Lord Grim and stalked back toward the alleyway where they had spawned.
Zip! Lord Grim instantly appeared in front of him.
One Autumn Leaf stopped abruptly. “You and your movement skills…” he sighed.
“Look, it wouldn’t hurt to ask a few more people,” reasoned Lord Grim. “It took so much effort just to get here. We can always go back after. Maybe that guy is just ignorant or only plays games casually.” Lord Grim scanned the street for another person to ask.
“Look! I think I see someone with a Glory logo on their shirt. Let’s go ask them!”
He zipped off across the street before One Autumn Leaf could protest.
“Those damn movement skills again…” the avatar grumbled as he set off in the direction Lord Grim was heading.
(5)
“Hello, excuse me. I saw your shirt and wanted to ask, are you a Glory fan?”
The young man in question looked about 20 years old. He had glasses and was wearing a black shirt emblazoned with a golden Glory logo.
Seeing the unspecialized character, the guy’s dark eyes lit up in recognition. “Oh my god! Are you Lord Grim? Damn, that rainbow armor in real life is making my eyes water. That’s freaking awesome,” he said with a wide grin.
Lord Grim smiled and pointed across the street to where One Autumn Leaf was waiting for a lull in the traffic. “I’m Lord Grim, and my brother over there is One Autumn Leaf.”
The young man got more and more excited as One Autumn Leaf approached and the intricate detailing on his black and gold armor became more apparent. Lord Grim could practically see the sparkles glimmering in his eyes. “Damn, that’s so cool,” the guy murmured.
”Do you know God Ye?” One Autumn Leaf demanded upon arrival, in lieu of a greeting. He had taken his spear out of his inventory and was casually swinging it around, much to Lord Grim’s chagrin.
“Who doesn’t?” the young man gushed. His fists rose to his chest in excited gesture. “Not only did he help a first-year grassroots team win the championships, he led the national team to victory at freaking World’s! He’s the real-life GOAT.”
One Autumn Leaf nodded approvingly. “I like this kid,” he said.
Lord Grim rolled his eyes good-naturedly. “See, I told you. Now put that away,” he said, eyeing Evil Anilhilation’s sharp point.
The young man was also looking at the weapon, admiring its ornamentation and the shining gloss of its metal blade. ”Your cosplays are so awesome. You must be going to the gaming convention too, right?”
The avatars both paused. “Gaming convention?”
The young man nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, GameExpo, held at the big convention center downtown? You guys must be going to see the Ye Xiu and Su Mucheng panel, right? This is their first official appearance since Worlds. I’m so excited.”
Lord Grim and One Autumn Leaf shared a look.
“Yes, we’re going to the convention, but we’re lost and don’t know the way. Can we go with you?” Lord Grim asked.
”Of course! Let’s go!”
(6)
Lord Grim sucked in a deep breath as he was let out of the train car onto the platform.
“Fresh air,” he exclaimed. “That was so awful.”
“It was pretty bad,” agreed One Autumn Leaf.
They’d followed their young companion onto the subway, but had lost him among the mass of bodies crammed into the train car. Luckily, the young man had suspected this might happen and had briefed them on which stop to get off on. It wasn’t hard to tell which one, though, since everyone seemed to be heading to the same place.
Many people on the train were wearing graphic t-shirts with game or esports team logos. Others dressed in colorful costumes and wigs in the style of their favorite game characters. Some were even donning armor like themselves (though their armor looked ostensibly less sturdy).
All these people, all going to the same place, all crammed into one train.
“I think that was even worse than the beginning villages during the tenth server opening,” Lord Grim complained as they followed the crowd of people out of the station.
One Autumn Leaf smirked. “Oh, child. If you thought the tenth server opening was bad, you should’ve seen opening night on the first server. The lines stretched around the village twenty times over.”
“Well, I hope you can muster up some of the patience you must’ve had on that day, because it looks like that’s the line to get in.”
The train station conveniently let out right in front of the convention center. But starting from the doors to the convention center there was a line several rows thick zigzagging back and forth in front of the building and then wrapping all the way around the side. It wasn’t moving.
”I just want to meet Ye Xiu,” One Autumn Leaf whimpered.
Lord Grim rubbed his back consolingly. “I know. Me too.”
(7)
Luckily, the line started moving much more quickly when the staff opened up a second line for people with no bags. The two avatars quickly switched to that lane. What use did they have for bags? They could store whatever they had in their inventories.
Soon, they reached the entrance of the convention center where a guy wearing a blue volunteer vest was yelling out to the lines of people. “Have your ID out and ready. You will need an ID and your ticket to pick up your badge!”
“What should we do?” whispered Lord Grim to the older avatar. “Can we get in without tickets? We don’t even have real identities!”
”Can we not just buy tickets when we get inside?” asked One Autumn Leaf.
Lord Grim frowned. ”What, do you have human money?”
”No, but I have Sun Xiang’s credit card number.”
”Huh? How did you even—“ Lord Grim shook his head. “You know what? Never mind. What happens if it gets labeled as a fraudulent charge?”
”Then we go back into the game, they dispute the charge, and Sun Xiang gets his money refunded.”
When he put it like that, Lord Grim couldn’t argue. ”I think we still need IDs, though,” he sighed.
One Autumn Leaf shrugged. ”We’ll figure it out when we get there.”
When the two reached the front of the line, they were ushered to one of many folding tables where a female staffer was sitting in front of a laptop and printer set-up.
“Hi, there. Are you picking up or buying?” the staffer asked.
“Buying,” said One Autumn Leaf. “Two tickets please. Can I give you my credit card number?”
“Sure. What’s the number?”
One Autumn Leaf recited the string of digits. The staffer typed them into her computer.
“Great, I just need a valid ID to verify the purchase.”
“We accidentally left them at home,” said Lord Grim quickly.
The staffer paused awkwardly. She called over another worker. They whispered between themselves for a moment. Then she looked at them apologetically.
“We’re going to see if we can use something else to verify your information. Please follow my colleague to a separate room,” the staffer told them.
“Next party in line please!”
The staffer’s colleague appeared to be a more senior member on the registration team in his mid 30s, and he wore a pair of square glasses along with his blue convention staff shirt.
He took the two to a room around the corner from where registrations were taking place. This seemed to be the registration team headquarters—although the room was empty, given that it was currently all hands on deck in the registration hall.
The man pulled out a stray rolling chair to sit behind a table with a desktop. He shifted around a bit to get comfortable as he logged onto the system. “Since you were buying tickets at the door, you probably didn’t make an account online, right?” he asked, addressing One Autumn Leaf.
One Autumn Leaf shook his head. The worker sighed. “Okay, do you have any electronic copies of documents showing your name and address saved on your phone or email? For example, a bill or bank statement...”
Lord Grim was starting to fidget, making eyes at One Autumn Leaf asking if they should just make a break for it, so One Autumn Leaf did the most sensible thing he could do.
He knocked the poor man out.
(8)
“What did you do?!” Lord Grim whispered in alarm when the man’s head suddenly slumped over. He quickly looked around to make sure no one saw what just happened.
“Calm down. It wasn’t even a skill,” said One Autumn Leaf. He rolled the man’s chair over to one side and started poking around on his computer. “Though, I wasn’t expecting him to go down in just one hit.”
Lord Grim moved around to check on the poor man lolling over in his chair. He sighed in relief when he found he was still breathing. “You should have been more careful.”
“How was I supposed to know humans only have 1 HP when they don’t even have a health bar?” One Autumn Leaf complained.
“That’s probably why they don’t have a health bar. What’s the point of having one if it would be so tiny?”
One Autumn Leaf rolled his eyes. Turning his attention back to the computer, he said, “I think we can print badges here without going through with the purchase. What name do you want on yours?”
Lord Grim shrugged. “Anything is fine.”
One Autumn Leaf smirked. “If you say so.”
(9)
“Lord Un-Smiley Face? That’s the name you chose for me?”
Lord Grim grimaced at the name printed on his bootleg badge as they walked down through the convention center, trying to find where Ye Xiu was having his panel.
”Why do you get to be One Falling Leaf while I’m Lord Un-Smiley Face?”
“You said anything was fine,” One Autumn Leaf said smugly.
“Yeah, but—” Lord Grim shook his head. “Okay, fine, I guess I walked right into that one.”
They wandered through the main hall, peering into rooms and offshoots, looking for any kind of sign that would lead them to Ye Xiu. The convention center was huge—easily four or five times larger than the largest battle map, not even counting the multiple floors. There were rooms for buying and selling merchandise, rooms that held panels or hosted cosplay meetups, and of course, rooms for playing games—on computers and consoles, displayed on monitors and projection screens.
Fortunately, it was less crowded than the subway had been, but the sheer number of people was massive. It would be hard to find anyone here, even if you knew their exact location.
Just when Lord Grim was sure they might have to sneak back into the registration hall to steal a map, he felt a tap on his arm.
”Umm, excuse me, are you Lord Grim and One Autumn Leaf?”
It was a young woman whose appearance looked quite familiar to them. She had a waist-length orangey-blonde wig, a pair of leather goggles, fake elf ears, and a cute lace-up yellow dress with brown knee-high boots. She was dressed as Dancing Rain.
”I love your cosplays!” the girl blurted out. “I can’t believe the attention to detail on your costumes and makeup. You even got the latest additions to Lord Grim’s hideous armor right! Can I please take a selfie with you two?”
“A what,” asked One Autumn Leaf.
“You know.” The young woman waved around her smartphone with the camera app already open. “A selfie with the three of us?”
Seeing the application on her phone, Lord Grim leaned over and whispered, “Brother, I believe she wishes to take a screenshot with us.”
“Oh, a screenshot,” One Autumn Leaf murmured in understanding.
With the notable exception of Team Happy, whose players had been forced to grind for their own materials, pro accounts rarely appeared in the game. However when they did appear, sometimes a brave player would come up and ask to take a screenshot of their avatars together.
One Autumn Leaf nodded. “Very well, we will permit it.”
The young woman beamed.
(10)
The two avatars gathered on either side of the Dancing Rain cosplayer, slightly crouching behind her petite figure to fit into the frame.
They took several “screenshots” with her using the front facing camera. When they’d finished, she asked if it was okay to take some posed photos as well. They both agreed, much to the girl’s delight, so she enlisted a random passerby to help take the photo.
In the resulting picture, the Dancing Rain cosplayer posed proudly in the center of the frame, her leather goggles pulled down over her eyes and a prop cannon made out of cardboard perched on her shoulder. The two avatars posed with their backs facing each other on opposite sides of the cosplayer, holding their own weapons newly taken out of their inventories.
As a extra touch, One Autumn Leaf held out his hand, casting Falling Flower Palm and holding it, as if aiming the skill. “I can do that too,” Lord Grim grumbled as he did the same, holding out a glowing pink lotus flower blossoming in his palm.
To finish it off, they all grinned, as if ready to take down a huge horde of enemies.
In short, the photo was totally epic.
“Are those holograms?” someone asked excitedly. A small crowd had started to gather around their little impromptu photoshoot.
“Did you make the flowers yourself?”
”What kind of LEDs are you using?”
One Autumn Leaf and Lord Grim canceled the skills before they could explode.
“It’s Falling Flower Palm,” Lord Grim answered with a smile, channeling Ye Xiu’s charming evasiveness when replying to reporters.
They ignored the crush of people who wanted to chat about cosplay and ask for more pictures and instead checked back in with the Dancing Rain cosplayer, who was very happily looking through the photos.
“These turned out amazing! Thank you so much! Is it okay if I post these on social media? This is my cosplay account. Do you have one? I’ll tag you!” she exclaimed. “Hehehe, my boyfriend will be so jealous. He’s the biggest Ye Xiu fan.”
“You can do what you want with them,” said Lord Grim. “We don’t have social media. But maybe you could help us? We’re trying to get to the Ye Xiu panel.”
The young woman gasped. “Oh no! It’s already started! Did I keep you too long?”
”It’s fine,” Lord Grim assured her. “But can you direct us to where it is?”
“It’s in Ballroom 2 on the second floor! If you run, I think you’ll be able to catch the rest of it!”
One Autumn Leaf and Lord Grim met eyes.
”Thanks for your help! We’ll be going now!” Lord Grim yelled as he dashed off along with One Autumn Leaf, still holding their weapons.
The small crowd of people who had gathered were all disappointed.
“Do you think they’ll come back this way again…?”
(11)
“Ahem,” the young man standing in front of the microphone cleared his throat. Ye Xiu fought the urge to roll his eyes.
The panel that he and Mucheng were asked to appear in was a simple Q&A format with a moderated section and time for audience questions. They were invited onto a raised stage at the front of a large auditorium where cameras, one in the center of the audience and one onstage, streamed live to two large projector screens on either side of the platform. The footage was also being broadcasted online for people could not make the event in person.
Normally Ye Xiu wouldn’t have even considered coming to such an event—he had never done this kind of promotional thing before, and besides, he was officially officially retired now—but Mucheng had already expressed her desire to attend, and Ye Xiu was not anything but a softie to his little sister-figure.
The guest appearance was divided into two sections, the Q&A panel, and later, a live Glory demonstration. The moderated portion of the panel had gone fine. The questions had been vetted ahead of time and mostly focused on their approach leading Team Happy through Season 10 and what the competition at World’s was like. But with audience questions… sometimes you got people like this.
“Yes, ahem. My question is mostly for God Ye. In Season 10, Lord Grim often entered the battle with… and… on your… Have you ever considered…”
Ye Xiu didn’t even bother fully listening to the question. It was clear this guy was just trying to one-up him with some obscure detail no one cared about.
“No, I can’t say I have.” Ye Xiu said with a bored expression. “Mucheng, have you?”
“Nope!” Mucheng answered cheerfully.
“Great, next person.”
“Wait, but I—” the guy stuttered.
“Sorry, we only have time for one question per person. Next!”
The next person in line came up to the microphone. They had stars in their eyes and Ye Xiu could already tell they were here to waste everyone’s time by not asking a question and instead using the microphone as a platform to express their admiration. Sigh…
But before they could start gushing about how they were such a big fan, they were interrupted by a commotion in the back of the room.
“Ye Xiu!!!”
(12)
Lord Grim and One Autumn Leaf found the room right where the Dancing Rain cosplayer said it would be. The huge double doors were marked by a big sign that read “The Glory We Seek: Q&A with Glory World Champions Ye Xiu and Su Mucheng.” Two life-sized cardboard cutouts of the players in their national team uniforms also stood right outside, welcoming guests to the event.
Wasting no time, One Autumn Leaf burst through the doors.
“Ye Xiu!!!”
There, projected onto two very large screens, was Ye Xiu. A feeling of breathlessness swept through them, pure joy rippling through every byte of their data. That was Ye Xiu, real and solid, right in front of them. Seeing their creator in the flesh was every bit as wonderful and euphoric as they imagined.
They started racing toward the stage, first slowly, and then faster.
The cameras captured Ye Xiu’s expression of shock from two angles. Su Mucheng scooched violently back from the table. Ye Xiu stood, one arm reaching protectively in front of her.
A row of security guards materialized in front of the avatars as they tried to run through the aisles to the stage.
“Stop right there!” one guard yelled.
One Autumn Leaf didn’t stop running. The guards braced for impact. But instead of crashing into them, One Autumn Leaf dug the foot of his spear into the ground and vaulted gracefully over the line of guards.
“?!?!”
For a split second, the guards were not sure what to do. Chase after the avatar? Try to make sure his partner can’t get through? Who should stay and who should go?
But Lord Grim was not stopping either. He opened his umbrella, and with a running start, launched into the air. The Myriad Manifestations Umbrella glowed as it transformed. The white canopy became a set of rotating blades, holding Lord Grim aloft in the air.
“?!?!!!!!”
Both the audience and the guards were unable to do anything but stare slack-jawed as Lord Grim flew like a helicopter toward the stage.
“Ye Xiu!”
One Autumn Leaf reached him first.
“Ye Xiu! It’s us! We’re here! I’ve missed you so much.” One Autumn Leaf reached out to hold Ye Xiu’s hand in his, to feel the warmth of those fingers that had guided him through both victory and defeat. “I can’t believe we’re really here,” he whispered, care and tenderness written on his face.
Lord Grim touched down gently right in front of the on-stage camera, such that everyone could see him on the projector screen.
“Oh,” Lord Grim exclaimed with curiosity. “Is this device making a screen recording?” he asked the cameraman, whose eyes had gone wide with shock.
Seeing that the cameraman was unable to answer, Lord Grim cheerfully turned back to Ye Xiu.
“Ye Xiu! We came to see you!”
Ye Xiu’s heart was still pumping wildly. His brain was still trying to process what just happened, is Mucheng safe?, a real-life transforming umbrella—but something in him calmed when he saw the two avatars’ faces. He knew these two faces.
”Are you… One Autumn Leaf and Lord Grim?” Ye Xiu tentatively asked.
”Yes!” they answered joyfully.
”I see…” said Ye Xiu slowly. “Why don’t we take this backstage and sort things out?” He then made eye contact with Su Mucheng, assuring her that he was safe and everything would be fine. “Mucheng, you can stay and finish the panel. I’ll meet up with you later.”
With that, Ye Xiu calmly walked off the stage, along with the two avatars, happy as ducklings.
Only once they were gone did the audience burst into confused and relieved chatter.
(13)
Upon exiting the ballroom, Ye Xiu had been met by a team of guards and the head of security, who, after assuring Ye Xiu’s safety and confirming that he did indeed know the two avatars, had apologized profusely for the massive security failure and promised this would never happen again.
Ye Xiu could only laugh awkwardly. How could mere security guards hope to catch magical game characters come to life? Instead, Ye Xiu apologized on the avatars’ behalf and promised to have a talk with them.
They were currently in the small dressing room that organizers had given to Ye Xiu and Mucheng so they could rest in between their guest appearances. The two avatars were sitting on the two chairs provided while Ye Xiu leant on the dressing room table.
“So you guys are really One Autumn Leaf and Lord Grim? You really came from the game?”
“We came through a portal,” said Lord Grim, sipping on a soda Ye Xiu had hastily bought from a vending machine. His eyes went wide as the bubbles fizzed on his tongue. “Woah! It’s bubbly!” he exclaimed in delight.
“Brother, try this.” He handed the bottle to One Autumn Leaf, who promptly took a sip.
“!!!”
Meanwhile, Ye Xiu was still trying to piece things together. He tapped the edge of the table with his fingers in thought. “So Glory, the game we play, the characters are all alive? And when we aren’t playing, you guys can move independently?”
One Autumn Leaf explained. “When the player goes offline, we can set it so we’re no longer drawn on active players’ screens. Then we can go around wherever we want.”
“And when you log back in, we automatically get teleported to where you last logged out,” Lord Grim added.
Ye Xiu tried to imagine it: a world where game characters lived and breathed and played, working around the constraints of players logging in and out. “Does it bother you to be forcibly controlled like that?” he asked. “What if you were in the middle of doing something?”
The avatars shared a glance.
“We’re part of a game. Games are meant to be played.”
“Glory was never meant to be played alone.”
Ye Xiu shook his head and sighed. It was hard to believe but, “I guess that’s just how it is, isn’t it?”
“Yes!”
(14)
Su Mucheng arrived at the dressing room about 20 minutes after Ye Xiu took the avatars backstage.
“Sorry for leaving you,” Ye Xiu apologized sheepishly when she stopped in front of him. “I needed to sort some things out.” He gestured at the two avatars still happily sipping at their soda.
“Geez, you had it easy, you know? Do you know how hard it was to continue the panel after all that chaos?” Mucheng teased.
“You had it covered. Besides, you should be able to handle at least this much chaos to be Happy’s new captain.”
Mucheng giggled. “Of course,” she said. “So, who are our new friends here?”
“It’s Lord Grim and One Autumn Leaf. They came from inside the game. All the characters are real people,” he said.
“For real?”
“For real.”
Mucheng drew closer to inspect the two avatars. Indeed, they looked exactly as they looked in the game.
“Mucheng! Hello~” greeted Lord Grim with a bright smile on his face.
“Hello,” said One Autumn Leaf. “Thank you for coordinating with Ye Xiu. We have you to thank for our close relationship with Dancing Rain.”
Mucheng looked around. ”Is Dancing Rain a real person too? Where is she?”
”Ahaha,” Lord Grim laughed nervously. “We left her at home. Sis Mu, you should try this. It’s really bubbly!” He changed the subject quickly by showing Mucheng the half-drinken soda.
Ye Xiu shoved his hands in his pockets as he watched Mucheng converse with the avatars. He could somehow accept that his two most-played characters had crossed dimensions in order to see him, but to see them drinking and laughing and speaking with Mucheng was surreal.
Absent-mindedly, he started to run his thumb down the edges of Lord Grim’s account card in his pocket.
Wait.
“I need to use Lord Grim for the demonstration later. What happens if I log into the game while you’re,” he waved his hand vaguely at them, “here?”
Lord Grim tilted his head. “Umm, I’m not sure? Should we try it and see?”
Ye Xiu was understandably nervous about what would happen if he logged in and Lord Grim was not there. Forget the live audience demonstration, what if someone decided it was hacking and he lost his account?
Ye Xiu hurriedly brought out a laptop and Glory card reader from his backpack. He plugged everything in, and with a deep breath and Su Mucheng peering over his shoulder, he inserted Lord Grim’s account card into the reader.
(15)
Shoop! Lord Grim suddenly disappeared from sight.
The game loaded normally. Lord Grim showed up in the last place Ye Xiu had logged off. Ye Xiu moved around using the keys and went through all of his weapon transformations. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary. He opened the menu and made sure nothing was missing from the inventory. It was really just the same as normal.
Ding! A sudden ping came from One Autumn Leaf’s direction.
“Oh, he sent me a message,” said One Autumn Leaf. “He says to try taking the card out.”
Ye Xiu did as he said, logging off and taking the card from the reader. Mucheng gasped as Lord Grim popped back into existence.
Lord Grim sighed in relief. “It looks like Swoksaar and Windward did a good job with their circ—“
Shoop! Lord Grim disappeared as Ye Xiu inserted the card back into the reader.
Pop! He reappeared as Ye Xiu took the card out of the reader.
Shoop! Pop! Shoop! Pop! Lord Grim blinked in and out as Ye Xiu played, fascinated, with the card reader.
“Ahh, Ye Xiu, I’m dizzy,” Lord Grim complained.
“Oh. Sorry,” said Ye Xiu. He put Lord Grim’s account card down on the table, signaling he was done joking around. “In any case, we should be good to go with the demonstration.”
“What kind of demonstration is it?” One Autumn Leaf asked. Throughout the whole experiment, he’d just been chilling out while Lord Grim was getting motion-sick from all the inter-dimensional hopping. “Is it some kind of mini-game, like at All-Stars?”
Su Mucheng shook her head. “It’s a one-on-one battle between me and Ye Xiu!”
(16)
The live demonstration was, understandably, the most anticipated part of Su Mucheng and Ye Xiu’s guest appearance. They were world-class players—world champions!—and more than that, they were known for their cooperation and teamwork. The last and only time they had fought directly against each other like this had been during the Challenger League, and that had been a time full of conflict and heartbreak. Today, fans would be able to see the Best Partners pair clash in an environment where they could go all out without the fear and pressure of elimination. The amount of excitement for this battle was through the roof.
Ye Xiu and Su Mucheng came out onto the stage to huge fanfare and applause. Cameras streaming to the projector screens captured them waving to the audience as they crossed the stage, sitting down at opposite tables already fitted with all their preferred gear.
One Autumn Leaf and Lord Grim waited just offstage, filled with anticipation for a different reason.
“Just tell her we were concerned about the integrity of her data. Now that we know it’s safe, she can come with us next time,” whispered One Autumn Leaf.
“What if she’s really mad? I’m not sure she’ll accept any reason,” whispered Lord Grim.
”Then I’ll pray for you when you die.”
Lord Grim rolled his eyes. “Wow, thanks.”
“I think it’s starting. Tell Dancing Rain I said hi.”
The crowd cheered as Ye Xiu and Su Mucheng inserted their cards into the readers. Lord Grim disappeared from sight. The battle started streaming.
(17)
Lord Grim loaded into the battlefield. Since the map was relatively small, Dancing Rain loaded in not too far away. The radiant smile on her face was clear to see—AKA she was absolutely livid.
”Oh, Brother Grim, where have you been all day? I heard you and One Autumn Leaf went out somewhere,” she called out sweetly.
Lord Grim tried to play it cool. “Yeah, we just took a day trip. We’ll be back soon. One Autumn Leaf says hi.”
“Is that so?” she asked. “I heard you went to another realm to meet Ye Xiu. I think you forgot something, though. Or perhaps, someone?”
Lord Grim immediately gave up all pretenses. “I’m sorry. We were wrong.”
In response, Lord Grim heard the distinct sound of Dancing Rain’s cannon heating up.
”Brother Grim, I’m glad I have the chance to fight you today,” Dancing Rain said, her beautiful smile growing brighter. She tucked a strand of her orange-blonde hair behind her pointed ear.
“Eat my cannon fire.”
(18)
The fight was intense. Some online trolls had speculated that Ye Xiu and Su Mucheng wouldn’t take such an exhibition fight seriously. But Ye Xiu and Su Mucheng clashed on the battlefield as fiercely as if everything was on the line.
It was a close match. The two avatar’s HP bars remained head-to-head until the very last second.
At the end, it was a narrow victory for Lord Grim.
“Ahh, it’s such a pity,” Dancing Rain sighed as she fell. “Mucheng fought well today.”
”Next time we go to the other realm, you can come with us and meet her,” Lord Grim told her.
Dancing Rain smiled genuinely this time. “I really want to meet her,” she said, a warm fondness seeping through her voice. “Keep your promise and tell One Autumn Leaf to let me kill him once, then I might forgive you.”
Lord Grim felt a bead of sweat drip down his back. Even when defeated, Dancing Rain was scary.
“Okay, I’ll tell him.”
As Ye Xiu reached out to pull the card from the reader, Lord Grim patted Dancing Rain’s head. “We’ll be back soon.”
Then he blinked out from the game.
(19)
After the success of the live demonstration, Ye Xiu, Su Mucheng, Lord Grim and One Autumn Leaf returned to the dressing room.
“Sis Mu, Dancing Rain said you played really well today,” Lord Grim told Su Mucheng.
”Really? Tell her that means a lot to me,” she replied.
One Autumn Leaf seemed a little quiet, so Ye Xiu offered him a chair and pulled up the one next to him. “What are you thinking about?” he asked.
”I’m jealous of him,” the older avatar mumbled, gazing in Lord Grim’s direction. “Sun Xiang isn’t a bad player, but… I just miss you.”
Ye Xiu ruffled the avatar’s dark hair. “Come visit then. I’ll be around.”
One Autumn Leaf raised his head. “Can I really?”
”Of course,” Ye Xiu said. “I think it’s about time that I get to hear why you guys wanted to come here in the first place, though. Why did you decide to visit now when you’ve been doing well in the game all this time?”
Lord Grim had wandered over by then. Catching the tail end of Ye Xiu and Lord Grim’s conversation, “Should we say the reason together?” the unspecialized asked excitedly.
“In unison, one, two, three!”
“We love you, Ye Xiu!” “SunXiangkeepstryingtochangemyhaircolor!”
“Ehh??” Lord Grim turned to One Autumn Leaf. He was folded over in his chair, holding his head in his hands.
“He keeps trying to make my hair blonde,” One Autumn Leaf moaned. “I’ve been changing it back during the loading screen so he thinks it’s a bug. But now he’s planning to report it.”
He looked pleadingly at Ye Xiu. “Please help.”
Ye Xiu was unable to answer for a moment, too lost in his own shock and horror. “B-blonde? My One Autumn Leaf…?”
(20)
Ye Xiu didn’t have a cell phone, so they ended up using Su Mucheng’s phone to call Sun Xiang. Ye Xiu put it on speaker so everyone could hear.
Sun Xiang picked up within the first couple of rings. “Hello? Who is this? How did you get this number?”
“Wow, Sun Xiang, you didn’t save my number?” Su Mucheng asked. “And here I thought we had finally grown closer during worlds.”
“Su Mucheng?”
“And me,” said Ye Xiu. He leaned in closer to the phone as he continued. “Hey, I need you to do me a favor. Stop trying to change One Autumn Leaf’s hair color. Trust me, it looks worse than what you’re envisioning. Also, Samsara’s marketing department will hate you forever.”
“What? How did you know that? Who told you?!”
“One Autumn Leaf hated it so much, he leapt out of the game to tell you. Here’s proof.” Ye Xiu sent over a selfie with him, Mucheng, and the two avatars. They heard a ding over the phone as Sun Xiang received the message.
“Why’d you send me this dumb picture of you and some cosplayers?” Sun Xiang asked. “Are you messing with me right now?”
Ye Xiu looked to One Autumn Leaf for help. One Autumn Leaf leaned into the speaker.
“You have a habit of using my messages as a grocery list. Once you accidentally sent it to Samsara’s captain, who actually went out and bought you groceries. You felt so bad that you bought him an expensive in-game accessory with a sparkle effect. Should I recite the credit card number you used to buy it? The last four digits are 467—“
“Wait, stop! Okay! I believe you!” Sun Xiang shouted. If they could see Sun Xiang’s face over the phone, it surely would have been red as a tomato. “What did you want again?”
“Stop changing his hair color,” said Ye Xiu. “Also didn’t I tell you to save everyone’s numbers during Worlds? You’re lucky you didn’t get lost. Reflect on your mistakes with one hour extra training.”
”Worlds is over. You’re not my captain,” Sun Xiang grumbled. “ And fine, whatever. I’ll stop trying to change the color. Just… don’t tell that bastard anything else.”
“You mean like the time you forgot you were on voice and your grandmother called—“
There was a loud click as Sun Xiang abruptly hung up the phone.
(21)
Finally, after a long day of travel and hanging out at the convention, it was time for everyone to head home. The two avatars were both reluctant to part with Ye Xiu, but eventually their return to the game could be delayed no longer.
“You’ll really let us come visit again? Really, really?” One Autumn Leaf asked with big brown puppy dog eyes.
“Yes, I said you could a million times already,” sighed Ye Xiu, a gentle exasperation coming through as he ruffled One Autumn Leaf’s (thankfully still dark) head of hair.
Lord Grim rubbed against his other side like a cat. “What about me?”
Ye Xiu stroked his head too. “Yes, you too. Be safe going back, okay? I know you’ve been good so far, but still,” said Ye Xiu. “Be safe and visit soon.”
“Bring Dancing Rain next time,” Su Mucheng added.
“We will,” the avatars chorused.
“See you in game.”
“See you in game.”
Ye Xiu and Su Mucheng watched as they touched the symbols on their hands.
“Load Save.”
And just like that, the avatars disappeared as suddenly as they came.
“Shall we head home too?” asked Su Mucheng.
“Let’s go back. I’m in the mood to grind mats tonight,” said Ye Xiu. “But... I think I’ll use an alt account for now. Let them rest a bit.”
(22) Epilogue
Overenthusiastic Glory One Autumn Leaf cosplayer accosts retired World Champion Ye Xiu
1.1M views 1d ago #31 on Trending #glory #YeXiu #SuMucheng #GameExpo #cosplay
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I watched this go down live and even I don’t know what happened here lmao 😂
➤ Clipped from ▶️ LIVE: The Glory We Seek: Q&A with Glory World Champions Ye Xiu and Su Mucheng - GameExpo
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Comments 2.3K
Screaming crying throwing up at Lord Grim’s rainbow armor. The detailing on both their armors is INSANE. Like I’m for real about to cry—
Omg these were the two cosplayers I met in the main hall! I was dancing rain. We took cosplay photos together!!
Lmao, bro jumped over the guards like it was pole vaulting at the Olympics 🤣🤣🤣 Bro, where were you? We could’ve used you in Paris! 🤣🤣🤣
1:23 excuse me, is that fucking rotor wings ? How the fuck did they get that past weapons check
Ye Xiu handled it like a champ! Did you see how he tried to put himself in front of Su Mucheng? And how calmly he got them off stage? That’s the World Champ Difference, babey!
2:04 “is this device making a screen recording” - why is this lord grim so in character 😂
Wth happened here. I went to the bathroom during the q&a section and missed everything
I fully believe that no video recording can capture the feeling of being in the room that day. It was absolutely wild. You had to be there.