Sword Art Online: Midnight Winds
Chapter 1: Gale Force
Green leaves crunched under Eagle's feet, as he swiftly dashed through the thick forest. The cold night air gave him a strong chill, and he allowed himself to slow down slightly. Behind him, two Spriggan mercenaries led a hot pursuit. They were unfazed by the sharp, icy winds. Darkness shrouded ALO's landscape like a dense fog, but this was not an obstacle for the mercenaries, or Eagle, who was a solo Imp bounty hunter. Both of the parties spotted trees, rocks, and brush ahead of them, long before evasion was necessary. What wasn't so easy to spot, however, was the end of the forest, and the cliffs succeeding it. Eagle leaped out of the brush, but stopped himself before passing over the seemingly endless sky. The Spriggans arrived shortly after. They had their broadswords and kite shields armed, and appeared ready to initiate combat.
"Hand over that map, Eagle. It's either it or you, and you've got nowhere to run."
Eagle looked distressed at this revelation. "Yeah... nowhere to run."
The two Spriggans drew closer.
"But look at all this room to fly!"
This statement caused both pursuer and escapist to activate their wings, and begin a dogfight in the midnight winds. Eagle unsheathed his longsword, and clutched it in a plow stance. One of the Spriggans charged Eagle, pointing his sword downward towards the invisible ground. Eagle predicted an upward slash, and held his sword horizontally to block accordingly. He had guessed incorrectly, as the first Spriggan slashed at Eagle's legs, causing him to lose his flight balance and begin plummeting. To regain control, Eagle produced the flight stick, commonly used by beginners to the flight system, but can be used to force control in situations like this.
Eagle realigned himself with his enemies, and pounced toward the one who had struck him. He activated a sword skill, Radiant Fury, by positioning his sword behind his right shoulder until it began to glow a deep purple. A slash downward, then upward, spinning clockwise to attack rightward, diagonally up and to the left, and ending with three full spins, aimed downward and causing Eagle to be positioned on his side. The Spriggan mercenary blocked the first two attacks, but was locked into the combo as soon as the horizontal slashes began. Eagle observed while he was still frozen from the cooldown, as his opponent's health bar quickly drained to nothing.
"Dammit, you haven't seen the last of me!" He spoke his final words before bursting into a cloud of crystals, leaving behind a small flame to allow his teammate to revive him, had he been able to.
"You killed my partner, now you die by my blade!"
He raised his broadsword above his left shoulder, where it faded to a shade of black, indistinguishable from the twilight skies. Before Eagle could react, the Spriggan launched a sword skill of his own, Vorpal Strike. One powerful thrust, straight through Eagle's heart, causing him to fall out of the air, and watch in horror, as the tables immediately turned on him, and his health bar became emptied. Eagle closed his eyes, and embraced one more death in this volatile MMO. He burst into a dense crystal mass of his own, and was surrounded by a void. The only thing that had form was a menu, asking if he wished to respawn from the last town he visited.
Eagle chose to respawn immediately, cutting the waiting time to nothing, but denying any passerby the chance to revive him, if they wished. He inspected his inventory upon reforming in the floating city of Ryne, to see that his only loss was his weapon. He still had the map containing the location to the Moonlight Greatsword's dungeon. Being in a safe zone, no one could kill him to steal the map, but he was without a method of combat in the first place. Before he could undertake the quest to find the first half of the sword, Equinox, he needed to buy a new sword.