The chaos of the first floor deafened Klein's ears. The atmosphere was choked with fear, and the players knew it. Some players ran for the exits, whether to get away from the screaming or to try and take advantage of the hostile creatures that roamed outside city limits, along with their loot and XP. Some remained paralyzed, shivering by thoughts of the future, their eyes staring in some far off space.
And Klein had to somehow find his companions in there.
He stepped to the side, narrowly dodging a panicked player running out the back alley, before being swamped with more. At first, he was polite, instead shimmying along as best as he could.
But shoves from the mob sent him backwards, almost tripping a dozen people at a time. And elbows to his stomach and chest and face, along with the bloodcurdling screams made him desperate. Klein tried pushing against the wave-like mob. He grunted, but didn't complain.
He stumbled out of the back of the crowd, panting. The cramped conditions made him feel claustrophobic. The cries of terror and help rang inside his head, impossible to ignore. He glanced around, now that he was somewhat deeper into the courtyard.
They should look like themselves in real life, right?
He kept looking, but with every unfamiliar face he saw, the more panicked he became. Whether it was the chaos that drew him to fear or not, it was apparent. His heart pounded faster and faster, forcing his legs into a run.
He frantically scanned the crowds for any familiar faces. He shouted, "Dale! Harry!" while sprinting, already out of breath. He looked back at the fleeing crowds.
Did they already leave, he thought to himself. He let himself slow to a halt, and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He didn't relent on his search, though doubt picked away at him.
He shook his head.
"Holy shit, Klein?!" Someone breathlessly shouted behind him. Klein twisted around. A man with a red bandana and a thin moustache waved and ran to him, and a giant smile grew on both their faces.
"Dynamm!" They both raised their right hands and grabbed each other's hand, before snapping into a friendly brief hug.
"Where are the rest of us?" Klein asked. Dynamm's smile fell.
"…we panicked. Kaito- sorry, Harry," he corrected himself, out of breath, "Dale, Kunimittz, Issin, they...they split up."
Klein scoured everyone within eyesight quickly, before looking at his childhood friend.
"We'll find them together then," He said, flashing an infectious grin bright with confidence.
"Damn straight," Dynamm said. He turned and noticed crowds of players were stuffing themselves into the various buildings. He tilted his heard towards them. "They might be in the buildings"
"You're right. Worth a shot, let's go," Klein agreed and walked forward towards the crowd. Dynamm started jogging to a different one, but Klein grabbed his shoulder.
"Wait; let's add each other first," Klein activated the menu, his scrolling and taps unhindered by adrenaline and panic. Beads of sweat ran down his jaw, once he was confronted with a lack of tutorial.
"Wow, uh, you're pretty fast. How'd you know how to do that?" Dynamm said, but Klein ignored him, still focused, and clicked on buttons vaguely related to adding friends into a list. Soon enough, Dynamm saw an alert pop up on the edges of his peripheral vision.
"I think we can track each other's location," Klein faced him again. Dynamm stared at him, impressed, but quickly shrugged it off.
"Let's split up."
Klein watched him head towards a shop, simply labeled "Crystal Genesis Goods". He looked toward his friend list. Only one other member was listed.
Kirito
"Damn," he whistled when he saw his location. The game listed him as 10 miles away. Klein jogged to the building straight ahead of him, a building with a giant hammer for a sign. He remembered Kunimittz's style of playing MMOs. Everything meticulously planned. He was crazy about "optimization", whatever that meant.
As he neared the building, he heard shouting, and multiple of the blunt-sounding bleeps the game plays when a player is too forceful against an object. Klein perked up once he heard a familiar voice and saw what was happening through the window. He rushed in, creating "Immortal Object" alerts himself.
"Goddamn selfish asshole! Why did you do that for?!" Kunimittz shouted, throwing a candle at another player, who ducked and avoided the wax projectile. Kunimittz held back his second volley of insults once he noticed Klein. He had a long, narrow face with unusually spiky brown hair, and gaunt cheeks.
"What's going on in here?" Klein immediately came up to him and asked. Kunimittz nodded towards a player at the counter, currently leaning against the counter, intimidated. Klein just noticed the other players in the shop, glaring at the one person.
"The prick literally just bought all the goddamn weapons in this shop!"
"There are other shops in the city! Just go to the other ones!" The supposed culprit shouted back, but Kunimittz shook his head. Klein didn't know if he should say anything.
"You know, there are thousands of players that would like to have better weapons too, y'know. You really think they would leave those shops alone? They'll also be crowded as hell, you dumb-"
"Kunimittz, that's enough man." Klein put his hand on his friend's shoulder, but he waved him off.
"You don't get it! He just stole all that shit from us!"
"Yeah!" Another player called out, "I bet these beta testers are hogging everything to themselves!" Klein saw Kunimittz nodding along.
He scoffed and elbowed him, before shouting. "Ok, did the guy buy a magical sword that shoots beams or something?! It's a store in the first level. Even if there was anything good the store had, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have enough money to buy it!"
"But if he did, you bet he would take all the stuff for himself! It's not that he kept everything to himself, it's that he has the balls to do so!"
"Wait, where the hell are you going?!" One of the players shouted when the "thief" shuffled towards the back door of the shop. Most of the players went after him, but Kunimittz sighed and left through the front.
"You know, I'm pretty sure you would've tried to pull the same kind of thing if this were just a normal MMO," Klein told him with certainty.
"This is life or death. There's PvP, right? And they made it open, to any area except the safe zones, as far as I can tell. The last thing I would want to do is piss someone off." Kunimittz grunted and sighed in frustration. Klein patted his back, waiting for him to calm down. Kunimittz sighed again, this time more tired than anything.
"So, what are we doing?" Kunimittz asked. Klein grinned.
"Do you know where to find the rest of us?" Klein said, while accessing the menu. Kunimittz saw a friend request prompt on the corner of his eye.
"No, sorry," Kunimittz responded, and tried to tap the floating message, only to have a look of confusion when his hand phased through.
"…you have to go through the menu. Those messages are apparently invisible to others, so you look like you're waving your hand at nothing."
Kunimittz recoiled, quickly looking around. Klein chuckled.
"Klein!"
His head involuntarily jerked up when he heard his name.
Dynamm called out, running to him. Two others were with him, one rather large, and the other lank and skinny.
"Dale! Issin!" Klein waved at them and ran to them. Kunimittz simply walked. Klein repeated the same handshake he did to Dynamm to both of them.
"It's so good to see you guys," Klein breathed out, beaming.
"Same, man." Dale said. He had curly short hair, and was the tallest of them all. Not to mention the largest. Issin simply grinned.
Klein's cheerfulness faded once he did a quick head count.
"Any one of you guys seen Harry?" Klein said to them. They all ether shrugged or muttered "no". He glanced around, only to see a mostly empty courtyard.
"Crap," He muttered out loud. Harry was the youngest of them all.
"Maybe he decided to grind as fast as possible?" Dynamm wondered. Kunimittz shrugged.
"He might be buying equipment. It's not his first time in an RPG." Dynamm nodded in response, but Dale shook his head. "I'm still worried about the guy. Yeah, he played RPGs, but MMOs are totally different. Everything's randomly generated, side quests boil down to collecting pointless shit, stuff like that."
"The man can handle himself," Kunimittz waved in dismissal but Dale frowned.
"He's 18. He just turned into one," he said back, "and if he makes a mistake, he might die, and we would have no way of knowing."
Kunimittz sighed. "Shit, you're right. Is there even a way to check who died so far, like a list or something? There must be something like that."
Nothing followed except the sound of their breath. Klein looked at them. They were all thinking, all trying to process the situation they were thrust into. The shadow of the Black Iron Castle slowly shrouded them in darkness.
"Guys," Klein called out to them, with as much confidence as he could muster. All of their heads turned, all downtrodden and bleak. He smiled, and motioned towards them. "Come on."
"Where are we going?" Dynamm asked, but Klein didn't answer, and kept his pace. The rest of them followed, now more confused than anything.
The courtyard still had stragglers, players still lost. Klein didn't know anything about Floor 1 and the game. He knew nothing about its enemies, the layout of the city around them, or even how to advance to the next floor. But he knew exactly where to go. He headed to the fanciest place he spotted.
They poured in through the hotel, into a room tiled with pearl white, and glided with gold.
"What are we doing here?" Issin asked on behalf of the others, while Klein interacted with the staff.
"And why the fancy place?" Issin continued.
"I'm guessing Klein's ordering the largest room possible to fit us." Kunimittz answered, and Klein nodded, brandishing a bronze key. He nudged them toward the stairs.
"Come on, it's not too high up,"
"Goddamn stairs," Issin cursed under his breath.
They followed him to the suite silently, into a typical, if extravagant living room. Two sofas faced each other, with a coffee table in between. A window revealed the city's rooftops and empty streets.
"So, what are we doing here?" Dale slumped onto the couch with the rest of the group. Klein leaned on a table, rubbing his head.
"We gotta rest," Klein responded, "with everything going down like this, it would be a bad idea to go outside the city."
They looked at him silently, with downcast eyes. Issin got up and walked past him, exploring the suite. "How many rooms did you get?"
"Four. I'll sleep on the couch." Klein turned towards one of the couches, only to see Dynamm sprawled over one, one of his arms covering his eyes.
"...never mind."
"What are we gonna do tomorrow?" Dale wondered aloud, capturing everyone's attention. His hands fiddled and shook. His eyes were closed, locked in focus. Issin peeked from one of the rooms. Klein shrugged.
"I dunno. We'll figure that out tomorrow." He answered, but Dale turned to him quick, now with balled fists.
"Will sleep really give us some sort of plan?" Dale countered his voice louder and flimsier than his usual soft steady tone. "Harry's out there, without us. We should look for him as fast as possible!
"I doubt we'll find him today, man. Look," Klein pointed out to the window, directing everyone's attention. Already the sky was a deep blue violet, with no hint of the orange light that bathed the land moments ago.
"If we look for him now, we'd literally stumble around the dark. It's better to wait until morning." Klein's eyes were stern and unmoving. Dale scoffed, and stood, storming past him with a scowl. But not before Klein stopped him, grabbing his shoulder. From up close, Dale was pale. Despite his size, he looked fragile.
"We'll find him, I promise," Klein whispered, but he still avoided his gaze. "But none of us are in good shape to find him, and neither are you. I'm sorry, but-"
"You're right." His voice was weak, but discernible, and he nodded slowly. "Sorry about that." Klein released his grip, and gave a quick pat in the back. Dale entered a room as Klein looked at the rest of his group. Dynamm in particular nodded and smiled.
"What?"
Dynamm shook his head, with a smirk. "Nothing." Kunimittz walked past him, patting him in the back.
"Let's go to sleep, guys. We'll find him tomorrow." Klein said softly. Dynamm already turned his head over, sleeping comfortably despite the armor equipped on him. He resigned to his room, a small but cozy space with a medium sized bed, and an oak desk across it. He sat down, looking out on the silent streets of the city. Silver rays streamed through the curtains, framing the view.
"It looks beautiful, at least," he muttered, before burying his face into his hands, the fears of tomorrow filling his mind.
Kirito glanced at his inventory. He sat on a cot, with a small round window in front of him overlooking a grass plain, with forests in the distance. The air was stuffy and musky and smelled of pine and dust. He slowly pushed open the window in an effort to relieve his conditions. If he focused, he could hear the NPC farmers do their routines. There were no enemies in sight, either. He made sure of that.
The sun was still up, if only briefly. The edges of the impossibly bright, blurry circle now touched the trees. There was still time to grind. He stood up, being careful not to bang his head on the roof. He was sleeping in an average farmer's attic, a residence far cheaper than a village inn. His legs complained at his thoughts to continue training. Kirito groaned, and sat back down. His gradually sleepy mind coaxed his body to lie down on the strangely itchy mattress.
Why did I run straight to the village? XP is much better than attributes…
"Help! Please!"
His eyes shot open. Grabbing the window frame, he pulled himself up, looking outside with his right eye. What he saw made him scramble towards the door. His head crashed against the wooden roof. Even with a tingling head, he went down the creaky stairs quickly, shoving past the owners of the house, and darting towards the door. He opened the door, much to the displeasure of the NPCs caring for him.
A man in the default armor and brown hair ran desperately, a sword bouncing on his back, with several wolves behind him. Kirito saw the wolves catch up him, literally nipping at his heels.
"Get in!"
"Shitshitshit!" The player went through the door, and Kirito slammed it shut, but not before one of the wolves went through. The door caught its tail, but the wolf gnashed its fangs dangerously close to them. It barked at the player, flashing its teeth. The player stumbled back, falling over a chair. The wolf tried pulling its tail out the door gap, and turned, seeing Kirito right beside it, pushing the door. The wolf leapt at his face, but Kirito brought one arm in front of him, letting the wolf sink its teeth into his forearm instead. He felt the pack outside charge into the door, one arm not enough to hold them back.
The edges of his vision began to pulse red. He felt the wolf's breath as it thrashed his arm.
"Go up the stairs!"
The man stared at him helplessly, frozen.
"Now!" Kirito shouted out hoarsely, proceeding with a hastily thought out plan. The player ran up the stairs, while Kirito scrambled backwards to get up. The door burst open, and the pack charged in roaring. Kirito managed to wrestle the wolf off his arm, before hastily unsheathing his sword and scrambling up to his feet, before he scrambled backwards a few paces. He was at the centre of the small living room. Three wolves were in his vision, but the sounds of footsteps and snarling behind him alerted him of a fourth. The alpha, a wolf twice the size of the others was several feet on his right. Experience also told him that wolves tend to wait before pouncing all at the same time.
He raised his sword to a certain stance, and the blade glowed. He activated the skill without hesitation, speeding forward in a blur and running the blade through the length of the creature's body and killing it, before crashing to a kitchen counter, an Immortal Object warning appearing in response. The wolves were broke into a frenzy, sprinting towards him, one after the other.
Their bodies lined up one by one, with no semblance of cooperation.
He performed another stance, and gripped the sword with both of his hands and held it behind him, as if he was going to strike upwards. He activated it, and he swung three cleaving, chaining arcs, disintegrating each wolf as they leapt towards him, one wolf for each strike. The last wolf flew past him, in two chunks flying end to end.
He rummaged through his pouch, and drank from a glass flask full of red liquid, chugging it down fast while he reached the foot of the stairs.
He turned left, to see a wolf launch at him, its maw wide open.
The world around him deafened and blurred, his thoughts overridden by instinct. He felt the meaty stench of its breath. Something within him twitched.
Kirito dodged without thinking, his body lurching backwards on its own.
SLAM!
He blinked, winded while everything around him gradually refocused. The canine struggled to pick itself up, whimpering. A sword through its skull dispatched it quickly. Slowly, he climbed the stairs, and looked around, leaning on the door frame. The player flinched and scrambled towards the far wall, hitting Kirito's bed. He relaxed soon after, once he glanced towards Kirito's player cursor.
"You… you saved my life! Thank you!"
Kirito nodded, and noticed a sword in the far corner of the room. He walked towards it and picked it up. Silently, he picked it up, and examined the blade. Its edge was cluttered with rust and notches.
"Oh, it's my sword. Sorry, I panicked and I guess it slipped out of my hand." He held out his palm expecting Kirito to hand it to him.
"Are you going to use the longsword skill?"
"Huh?"
"Are you gonna use a longsword for the rest of the game?"
"…I guess so. Should I use something else? Is the Longsword skill good? It would be weird if it wasn't, but then again, I barely know anything about this game, so..." he rambled. Kirito examined him, and the blade again, concentrating.
"...anyway, uh, can I have my sword back?"
The player was speechless when Kirito tossed the sword aside, clattering against the wood. Kirito then opened his menu, and scrolled around. With a single press, a sword materialized in front of him with a sharp crack, particles coming out of the air, combining into a simple grey sword with a soft leather sheath.
"That sword is close to breaking apart," Kirito held it closer to him, Use this instead."
The player glanced at the sword hilt and back to Kirito several times. "Are you serious?"
"I have a couple more of them," Kirito said, holding it closer to him, "anything's better than the default sword."
The player gripped the untarnished hilt carefully. Kirito let go, letting him feel the full weight of the sword and scabbard. He smiled and chuckled. "Thank you, uh…"
"Kirito," he said, looking away.
He stuck his hand out.
"I'm Harry One."
Kirito nodded, and sat down on the bed. Harry nodded back, and headed down the staircase, attempting to stick the sword on his back.
He sighed deeply. It was almost torturous watching him.
"Wait." Kirito called out, stopping him. "You can stay here. The NPCs won't care."
"Oh, uh," Harry walked back up, and sat on the floor. "Thank you."
Kirito laid himself on the bed, and closed his eyes. The night breeze blew softly through the window, relieving him from the musty air of the attic. The first day was over, with many more to come. A maelstrom of thoughts rested beneath the surface, with concepts of plans for tomorrow, the quickest path to the Anneal Blade, and the location of the floor boss. He noticed subtle changes to the UI of the game, along with changes to some monster placement. Will that be the only change?, he couldn't help but think.
He was far from sleep. And random menu sounds from Harry didn't help.
"Hey, Kirito? Sorry, but, uh,"
"What?"
"How do you put things into your inventory?"
He sighed again.
Thank you for reading, and please don't forget to review.