Chapter Two

Aincrad, 70th Floor, August 2024

Deep in the dungeons of the sixty-eight floor – a well-known, enormous shattering sound rang out.

In response, a few seconds later a huge, collective sigh – almost as loud as the other sound – was released.

"Uuaaahhhhh…"

Everyone's voice was filled with relief. It was in the boss room of this floor, and we had just defeated the boss. It had been a long, hard battle – the entire clearing group, myself included, was exhausted. Luckily, it had been a successful fight for us – we didn't lose a single player. It was probably sad that we could be so nonchalantly relieved to not have had anyone die – but, in this world, we were all used to it. Above our heads was the reward for our efforts – a giant, hovering icon floated in the air, displaying the word – "Congratulations!" This floor was cleared.

Everyone stood around catching their breath, many drinking healing potions – thinking of that, I looked up towards the upper left of my vision. My HP bar was yellow – I probably had about 40% remaining. Not too bad, but still – not good, either. My HP was my life-force, literally – nodding to myself, I quickly bought out a healing potion myself and drank it.

"Whew! That was one tough fight!"

It was the lighthearted, carefree voice of my friend Klein – of course, right now his voice sounded heavy and weary.

"Yeah…" I turned to look at Klein, who was leaning over with his hands on his knees. "We did good, though."

Despite the exhaustion that he'd shown just seconds ago, Klein nodded at my words and straightened up, throwing a fist into the air with a triumphant expression. "Yeah! We all made it! Hah!–"

Always so overly optimistic. That trait was probably one of my favorite things about Klein – he certainly wasn't a downer. That was more my job…smiling wryly, I called out to Klein who was in the middle of his energetic celebration.

"Careful with that – you wouldn't want to twist your ankle and lose the last of your HP, would you…"

Klein only deflated slightly, placing a fisted hand on his hip with a grin. "Eh, whatever, Kirito." He shook his head and puffed his chest a little. "I probably have more HP left than you, anyway. After all, you're the one who's always throwing yourself into the middle of the battle so carelessly–"

Now it was my turn to be upset. "Eh!? What are you talking about – I'm always totally in control!"

"But you're the one sitting on the floor catching your breath…"

"Better than dancing around looking like some kind of weirdo –"

To those around who didn't know either of us so well, it probably sounded like Klein and I were enemies of some sort. Of course, we weren't – our mock-fighting was more playful than not, even though we could sometimes say some pretty mean things to one another. It was a kind of banter that I personally enjoyed more than a lot of things – but, not something that I could enjoy often. That was because of the choice I'd made nearly two years ago. It was irreversible, no matter how much I privately regretted it, and so, I could only hope to talk casually with Klein like this every once in a while. Or, not so casually…

As our "playful yelling" got too annoying, another friend made his way over and broke into the conversation. Agil, the huge axe-user who looked a lot scarier than he really was, shuffled closer to the two of us and scowled as he crossed his enormous arms.

"Do you two need someone to crack your heads together or what?"

Both Klein and I snapped to attention, acting like Agil was some kind of high-ranking officer, and shook our heads rapidly – then, relaxing, we both broke into laughter. Agil started chucking too, shaking his head slowly. "You guys sure are strange…"

Klein continued to smile as he wiped imaginary sweat from his brow. "Sure, sure." Looking around, he apparently noticed something and looked back at me and Agil with more concern in his eyes. "Hey, you guys, we'd better get a move on. Looks like everyone's heading for the next floor."

As I got to my feet with a slight sigh, it was easy to see that Klein was right – the large clearing group was beginning to move as one towards the staircase at the end of the room, which would take them to the next floor. Sometimes, the players who'd successfully beaten the boss would linger in the boss room for a long time, even hours, before moving up to the next floor. That was usually because they'd lost a friend or party member in the fight, though. This time, everyone had survived, so it wasn't really that surprising that everyone was ready to move on so quickly.

I definitely had no objections – as always, I was just as eager as the next person to move on and get to work on the next floor. The empty boss room was a sign of victory – another battle won – but as a gamer, I could never afford to be sentimental and waste time hanging around in a place that no longer had any value. Watching the players start to disappear up the spiraling stairway, I nodded and set off along with the rest.

As we began to ascend up the grey, rather steep set of stairs, the voices of Klein and Agil floated up from behind me, along with the stomping sound of many boots pounding up the passage.

"I wonder what Floor 71 will be like…"

"Yeah, I can't wait to see if there are any good quests..."

"Oh, and what about new materials? Ah, I can just imagine the upgrades…"

Listening to their excited, cheerful words, I can't help but smile somewhat ruefully. This atmosphere, this anticipation – it's the reason that people play MMOs. That feeling of advancing onto a new level and being excited about seeing what's new and what can now be achieved – there's nothing else like it, not anywhere else.

It's funny that, after everything, the players of SAO can still feel that. It doesn't happen often. Most of the time, everyone is more likely to be serious and somber – especially whenever a player dies – but every once in a while, they'll get like this and show that same excitement and adventurous attitude that we all used to be so familiar with. I can't help but smile whenever I see it here – it's a good thing to see. Despite everything, we're absolutely all still gamers – and, we can still enjoy this world.

"Hey, Kirito!" Klein shouted to be heard, only a few steps behind me. "What're you planning on doing first on the new floor?"

I paused for a second, taking a moment to think.

"Ahh…get something to eat, probably. Floor 70 had some pretty crappy restaurants."

Klein's voice sounded as exaggeratedly incredulous as ever as he shouted back at me. "You're going to eat?! Oh come on, Kirito, there's a whole new floor open and the only thing you can think about is your stomach?"

Fufu - I laughed internally, but put on a frown, turning back at Klein sternly. "Well, what are you going to do, then?"

The katana-user's eyes lit up with resolve as he lifted his fist into the air like before, grinning. "I've got very high expectations! I'm going to – wha…huh..."

Suddenly Klein stopped, turning his head quickly with his eyes moving to the top left of his vision. Agil paused too, watching him, and so did I – teetering on the stairway a few steps above, I stood still as Klein swiped his fingers to bring up his menu and quickly pressed a few buttons.

"…Oh… I've got a message…"

For some reason I hadn't started moving again yet – there must have been something telling me to stay and watch Klein as he skillfully manipulated his menu, blinking when he brought up the new message. Whatever it was, keeping me frozen like that – it didn't matter. I didn't have time to feel bored or impatient before Klein's eyebrows dove inwards to the center of his forehead in a frown – suddenly, before I could ask what was wrong –

karriin

The notification sound went off like a tiny bell, drawing my eyes immediately up towards the upper left-hand corner of my vision. There – was a small icon, floating beside my HP gauge. New Message.

How strange…

This message was the kind of message that could only be sent by a registered Friend. Except – nearly all of the people who were registered as my Friends were already here, as they were part of the assault team. The only other person I could think of was…

Before I could open my menu to check the new message – I inadvertently looked around, scanning the faces arrayed on the staircase below me. Almost half of the players had stopped, turning their faces up to look at the place where their HP gauge should be – swiveling around sharply, I could see that up ahead, it was the same. A large amount of players had stopped to pull up their menus, checking out what must have been the new mail…and, the people that weren't, were instead looking around in confusion, starting to get frustrated and asking concerned questions.

Back below – Klein was frowning with a confused look in his eyes, making an uncertain sound in his throat as he continued to stare. His eyes were just about glued to his menu. "Wha…what the heck…"

All these messages, all at once…

Something's happened.

It was surely that. Something big, something important – knowing that, I wasted no time in bringing up my menu and hurriedly opening the message. As I'd thought – it was from Argo the Rat, another person who was registered as a friend of mine. More than just technically, she was certainly something like a friend – but also, an information broker and a very knowledgeable person.

The message that I was so eager to read – was short. Only a few words appeared on the screen.

[Argo:

Get to the Town of Beginnings as fast as possible. ]

That was all.

I stared at the uninformative message for a few seconds that seemed to stretch into minutes, my mind blank. Town of Beginnings? As fast as possible...

Just what was all this about?

Feeling even more confused than before, I raised my head to see Klein still reading over his message, eyes racing back and forth across his screen. His lips moved as he muttered something under his breath, still frowning with frantic eyes. Beside him, Agil was staring with an irritated look. Apparently he hadn't received any messages–

I took half a step towards Klein, suddenly urgent. My skin was crawling – I could feel, beyond a doubt, that something must be wrong. "Klein! Hey – what's going on!?"

Klein's eyes only flickered up to meet mine for a split-second – it seemed that he couldn't tear his gaze away from whatever was written on that message. It must have had some sort of information – my annoyance at being in the dark made me wish that mine had said something useful.

"Klein?!"

"…It's…I don't…understand…" He muttered the words at first, barely audible, before suddenly swiping his hand through his menu screen with an angry expression – it immediately vanished, dismissed. With his hands balled tightly into fists, Klein scowled with gritted teeth. "It doesn't make any sense! How could this be –"

"How could what be?" Agil, too, was annoyed – in fact, all around, the buzzing sound of whispers and mutterings was growing louder. A feeling of unease settled into the air, thick and heavy.

Klein was breathing heavily, staring at his clenched fist. "…It…it said…"

With his head bowed, I couldn't tell if Klein was in fact angry, or confused, or what else. He slowly spoke, with a suddenly blank voice.

"…that we should all go to the Town of Beginnings…because – there are new players there."

At first – it took a moment or two for the meaning to sink in.

–New players.

impossible.

As I stood frozen – their voices continued to wash over me, speaking while I still couldn't even think.

"What? That's crazy – who said that?"

"Some friends of mine – they've got a house down on Floor 3 – but, it's kind of impossible to make something like that up…"

"Well, what're all these messages that everyone seems to be getting right now, anyway?"

"Must be the same…"

Everyone's voices began to get louder, swelling up with confusion and panic. All the while, I silently thought –

New players, huh…

It was easy to see why everyone was reacting as dramatically as they were.

When this death game first started almost two years ago, many people kept up the hope that they'd somehow be rescued – as unlikely as it seemed. For some people, the idea of literally being trapped in a game just made no sense. For a long while, they experienced this world in a blur, always expecting it to abruptly end like a bad dream – even the people who were more realistic still had hopes. People would meet at restaurants, eagerly talking about a mutual dream – that somehow, people from outside would come here, logging into the game and bringing us all out again. As ridiculous as it was, the dream was shared by a lot of players for quite a while.

Eventually, of course, it must have died out. After a while, everyone probably realized the obvious – it just didn't make sense for something like that to happen. I myself already knew that, and never thought much of it – but the players around me certainly did, for a while. But once they all figured out that no one was coming to rescue them…then, they must have also realized something else, too. That was – if any new players were ever logged into this game, it wouldn't mean rescue. More likely – it would mean, death.

Because – if new players were coming into this world, for whatever reason, that also meant that getting out was even further away…

So at that moment – as Klein and Agil continued yelling with panicked voices, talking with the rest of the players I didn't know as well, I forced myself out of my stupor.

If anything – I knew how to clear up this confusion.

Turning abruptly to face the stairway spiraling up, I shot forward – using all of my hard-earned Agility and Speed, I leapt up the stairs three steps at a time. I weaved my way through the crowd of bewildered players who stood around, blocking the stairway annoyingly – but, there was no time to make them move. It only took a few seconds, anyway, before I was near the front of the group, where I knew she would be.

Just like I'd expected, there she was – standing with a slight hunch that she'd probably deny immediately if pointed out, she was furiously swiping and flicking around a series of screens and popups on her menu. With her magnificent, glittering armor and radiant chestnut hair, she was standing so that she was facing away from me. But, I was sure that if I could see her face, there would be quite the angry scowl there.

By now, I was sure enough of our relationship to be able to call her a friend – despite, or probably because of, her strong spirit and quick temper, I sincerely liked this girl. And just then, she was the highest-ranking member of the most important guild present. Rushing towards her, I called out with a voice only slightly out of breath–

"Asuna!"

The sub-leader of the prestigious guild Knights of the Blood Oath didn't turn even when I called out – but, I noticed, several people standing nearby definitely did. Even now that I should be a familiar face with the assault team, they felt the need to scoff at me and clench their teeth. Of course, I guess that might be because she's their leader, too – I thought, idly wondering if perhaps next time I should try addressing her as 'san' to get them to stop growling at me…

As I came to a stop beside her, bringing a gust of air that ruffled her clothes slightly – she only glanced up at my face for a second, before looking back at the menu that hovered before her.

"A-Asuna?"

Maybe in response to the concern in my voice – Asuna let out a puff of breath, exasperated. Still, her eyes remained tight on her menu as she spoke quickly. "Hold on, Kirito –"

She continued to manipulate her menu at an almost ridiculous speed. I was left with no choice but to wait, with an anxious and apprehensive feeling in my gut. It was only a few moments more before Asuna sighed decisively, straightening – she dismissed her menu with a wave of her hand.

I had to ask. "Well? What's going on? Is it really –"

Asuna turned to look down the descending stairway behind us, making an angry sound in her throat as she slowly nodded. "Well, you probably know just about as much as I do, right now…but…" Her head bobbed fractionally as she gulped, squaring her shoulders – for a short second, she shifted just slightly turn her gaze so that her liquid amber eyes could meet mine. "Apparently it's true."

True – I was about to open my mouth to speak and ask more questions, but Asuna quickly turned back towards the rest of the players arranged all the way down the spiraling staircase. Standing straight and tall, she didn't look worried at all – just as fiery and determined as she ever did. I could only take a small step back, watching her address the crowd.

"Listen up, everyone! You probably all already know – there's been an emergency in the Town of Beginnings," declared Asuna firmly. Her voice echoed off the stone walls, louder because of the narrowness of the room. "As far as we know, it's true – there are new players in SAO. It's not yet known why, or what they're doing here – so. We need to get there as soon as possible. Everyone! Use your Teleport Crystals! Let's go!"

Her delicate hand reached into the pouch hanging from her hip, and I imitated her movements – in just seconds, it seemed that everyone had done as Asuna had told them. The stone stairway filled with those words, over and over again –

"Teleport! Town of Beginnings!"

And with that – the sound of a million bells chimed urgently, along with the sound effects of all our crystals shattering. Instantly, a pale blue light sprang up, engulfing the entire space – pressing closer, it faded to white. The world melted away.


So...I decided to post the next chapter, just because...I love this story. :) I hope you're liking it as well! Please review and tell me what you think! I haven't written the next chapter yet but I will definitely hurry up and do it if I know someone other than myself is looking forward to it. :)

Thanks for reading!

~whatswiththemustache