SAO: The Other Side of the Sword

I walked down the shady path cloaked in trees and night. I looked up at the bright silver moon. I wondered if I would ever get out of this death game. It had only been two days after the first boss was defeated, it gave me hope. I had heard how many had died in those two years. I feared little for my own safety but mostly for that of my friends and family. I began wondering more about how I would protect them from this world.

I took a deep breathe and cleared my head. I sat down on the soft grass on the side of the path. Even though it was so unreal, it was so real at the same time. I ran my fingers through the grass becoming relaxed. I heard some of the grass russeling and quickly stood up and turned around. What I saw was just another player sleeping at a camp in a sleeping bag. I sighed in relief and decide to watch over the player until they woke.

I began to grow curious this player was alone in these woods, sleeping. I wondered why, why this player would put themselves in danger. I watch over this player because sleeping makes a player vulnerable and when another player can manipulate their hand into accepting a duel, the manipulated one is killed in sleep. I took a few paces toward the player so I could jump in if anyone tried to attack. I made sure not to wake the player I looked closer, and I could see it was a boy.

I let out a yawn and rubbed my eyes, I began to grow tired but I knew I had to stay awake. I waited until late at night, making sure he was not attacked. By the time it was morning and he had woke up I was falling asleep. He noticed me staring at him; I stood up and stretched my arms straight up trying to keep myself awake. We walked toward each other. "Why are you out here in the woods alone?" "That is very dangerous." I asked him. He looked around as if he was looking for someone. I tilted my head slightly in confusion, finally he spoke. "I wasn't alone when I got here, my whole guild was here." I was confused did his guild leave him behind? I questioned myself.

I saw his face grow pale and sad, he seemed scared and upset. He grew shaky and spoke in a nervous tone "My- my guild was all that was keeping me alive." I yawned and spoke in a calm voice "It's OK, you can come stay at the Inn my guild is staying at." "Al-alright." He agreed, while packing up his things. I lead him to the path and we began to walk back to the village.

"Were you watching me all night?" he asked as we walked down the path. "I watch over anyone I find sleeping in the wilderness." I informed him. "But I wasn't alone." He argued.

"You were when I found you, I didn't see anyone else." I explained. We walked down the path some more until we could see some buildings. I stopped and took out my blue teleportation crystal. I activated it and the portal opened. "Come on." I urged him while swaying my hand towards the portal.

We walked through the portal and teleported to the front door of the Inn. I opened the door walked through; next thing I saw was my brother staring down at me. "You didn't return after your walk last night" He pestered me. "I found this player sleeping the wilderness and watched over him for the night." I explained with a yawn as I gestured toward the player standing next to me.

My brother seemed to glare at him. "What is his name, Shizue?" my brother asked. "Well, uh, I don't know." I said while rubbing the back of my neck in embarrassment. "I'm Rinji, sir." He explained while looking up.

I yawned and questioned my brother "May I go to sleep now, Ruthless?" "No, we can't have you sleeping through battles, but you can stay here." I sighed and nodded, still respecting his decision. Ruthless simply waved his hand toward the door and the rest of our guild followed. I turned to Rinji. "You can stay in my room until the night." I offered.

As we walked up the stairs and through the hallway to my room, I informed Rinji "You can stay in my room until the night, then you can get your own room." He simply nodded than a quick question. "Who was that Ruthless guy?" I gave him a look and then answered "He's the leader of our guild, the Luminous Swords." I did not tell him of our relativity, as me and my brother decided it would be best kept secret from everyone.

"He seems…. nice." Rinji paused a little trying to make a fake compliment. "He is, it's just, he acts like that because he worries for everyone." I explained as we came to the door of my room. I opened the door and we stepped inside. I immediately lay on my bed looking up at the ceiling. I gestured to one of the chairs at a small table for Rinji to sit in.

"So, your Shizue." He started up another conversation as he sat down. "And you're Rinji." As I tried to think of what to do while lying in my soft bed. I began to talk to myself as I sat up and opened the stats of my crafting materials. "Maybe I should make some poisons."

I saw his head turn into a confused tilt. "But you don't use a dagger." He stated with a confused face, as that poisons could only be equipped to daggers. "Not exactly." I tried to explain.

I could tell he was in utter confusion. I sighed and said "I'll just show you." I raised my hand until my palm was facing toward Rinji. A small blade that reached to my fingertips popped up between my gloves and wrist. "What is that?" Rinji questioned.

"It's a rare skill called 'Hidden Blades', I don't think it's on the information broker's list." I explained as I still scrolled through my crafting materials looking for poisons to make. "How do you make poisons?" Rinji asked another question. "Well, there's poisonous like in real life and some monsters naturally have poison and drop it, I try to kill those monsters or ask guild members if they want the poison they have acquired, also some materials can be combined to make poisons even if they are normally harmless." I explained as I opened more stats.

"Ah, here we go." I spoke to myself as I clicked some poisonous berries and a bowl with a pounding stick. I also clicked on some poisonous herbs. They appeared in the bowl as the stick appeared in my hand. I simply tapped the berries and herbs with the stick and they turned into liquids then I stirred it all together. I added a piece of ice and begun mixing again as the purplish color turned to a light blue.

I clicked on some tiny flasks and gently poured the poison into as many flasks I could fill. I held up one flask to show Rinji. "Freezing poison." I stated as I applied it to my hidden blades. Then, I lay back down and looked up at the ceiling again with my green eyes. As an inch width of my curly dirty blonde hair came over my face as the rest of it was tied back in a ponytail. I closed my eyelids and began to rest them and waited for nightfall.

The sky turned a dark blue as I heard a knock at my door and opened my eyes. But Rinji had gotten to the door first and had already opened it. Ruthless stepped in "You have not been sleeping, have you Shizue?" he asked. "No, not yet." I replied with a yawn. Then he turned his head towards Rinji.

"It is time for you to get your own room." Rinji nodded "Yes, sir." And walked out the door and walked down the stairs to pay for a room for the night. I turned in for the night as my brother shut the door. Soon enough I was fast asleep in my comfortable unreal bed.