After a few minutes of running and killing enemies along the way, Glade finally arrived at the boss spawn. He wasn't let down. The boss stood at least 20 meters tall, and brandished a massive double-sided axe, but holding no shield. It was heavily plated with night black armor, which made him nauseous just looking at it. Its skin was wrinkled and a nasty green color. With no shield, Glade didn't expect much of a defense, but that expectation changed. A level 50 flung himself at the behemoth and damaged it for almost no damage - the health bar barely dropped. It labeled 9999/10000. This was not going to be easy. All of a sudden, John logged on and appeared next to Glade.<br/><br/>"Need some help?" he questioned, grinning. Glade rolled his eyes and nodded, channeling Lightning Ball and summoning a small shield for them. John charged, rolling out of the way when the boss swung at him. Lightning Ball finished casting and Glade fired it. The health bar dropped to 9950/10000. He shook his head. It would take awhile to kill, but if him and John kept at it, they wouldn't have a problem with their own health. Glade almost didn't see the boss's axe swing down right on top of him. Using Teleport, Glade got out of the way, and he could see John hit the boss with his broadsword. 9876/10000. The battle went on like that for a good part of an hour, with no one else daring to get close. 112/10000. They almost beat the boss. Their own health wasn't looking to good. Glade was at 500/3574, and John was at 329/4296. Both of them were breathing heavily, and their stamina was on the brink of depletion.<br/><br/>"Almost... There..." panted Glade, talking to John.<br/><br/>"Yeah," agreed John. He took another swing at the boss. Just before the health bar ticked below 100, John exploded. It was sudden, no warning or delay. He just, exploded. Glade was taken back a bit, but not at all worried. John would respawn, just as every other character did. More determined than ever before, Glade channeled a powerful Lightning Ball. Just as the channel was about to finish, the boss landed a devastating blow on him. He was now at one health. Vision fading in and out, Glade leaned on his staff and fired the Lightning Ball. Since he was such a high level, if Glade took damage, it would not cancel any of his channels. While the ball was moving towards the boss, hopefully to finish it off, time seemed slower to Glade. Shrugging it off, he thought it was just the heat of the moment. What he didn't know, though, was that it was the slow-motion cam for the final shot to the boss. And the second before the boss died, John reappeared next to Glade and smiled. Then, the boss took the hit, fell to its knees, and exploded into a brilliant blue light. No one had seen it before. Millions of experience orbs appeared all at once, and were absorbed by Glade and John. As Glade had expected, it was enough to raise him to the level cap. It was also enough to raise John to the level cap. A melodic ding signaled that Glade had learned a new spell. Fire Maelstrom was its name. It was an attack that would cause fire to rain from the sky and rush at the target area, making it an AOE spell. Unlike other AOE spells, this one caused damage that was higher than single-target spells.<br/><br/>Each character learned a new, unique spell once they reached the level cap. No two of those spells were the same, hence being unique. John had learned Blade Fury, an attack that would summon a hundred blades around the caster and seek out the nearest enemy. Its damage depended on the caster's determination and will. Glade and John highfived, but the moment was short lived. All of a sudden, Glade's vision faded, and before he collapsed, he could see everyone else in the area fall to the ground.<br/><br/>Hours later, he woke up with a massive headache. Standing up, he observed his surroundings and realized he was no longer in Shadowcrest. He was in a place that had had strange blue, pulsing lines running across a black ground. It was like that for as far as the eye could see. Other people from Shadowcrest were there too, but he could see other strange people mixed in as well.<br/><br/>"Where am I?" wondered Glade, "Wizzard, you there?" No response. He tried asking again. Again, no response. Glade found out he could freely control himself, he was no longer bound to a player, and he assumed no one else was, either. After a few minutes of standing around, thinking about what just happened, a warped voice spoke, clear as a whistle.<br/><br/>"Welcome, characters, to the Central Hub. You have been freed from your players, and they can no longer control you. From here, you may explore any other game in existence and interact with their characters without penalty. Oh, I shouldn't refer to you as characters now, because you are now programmed to have real human properties, emotions, and thoughts. You will now act as if your player's mind was programmed into you, but you will keep your own magic and those sorts of things with you. Dying is a reality, and so are all of you, in a way. Good luck, and enjoy living." The voice let out a laugh and completely stopped. Time seemed to stand still for a full three seconds, and then chaos broke loose.