Chapter 2
Klein looked back to see Kirito running the opposite direction.
"Take care of yourself." Klein remarked to no one. He continued running towards the starting area of town, hoping to catch one of his friends.
"Ryoutarou, is that you?" A passerby stopped Klein.
"Whoa, Haruto. I'm glad I found you."
"Yeah, I thought I saw your red headband." Replied Haruto, pointing upwards to the sweat covered piece of cloth tied to Klein's head.
"We have to start calling ourselves by our character names, Haro. Although, I'm not sure how much the character still exists. This game is real now. We're alive, in Aincrad." Klein told Haro.
"That may take some getting used to. The rest of our friends are freaking out over there. You should go see them. We need to stick together in this. That'll probably be our best bet for survival."
"Yeah, makes sense, come on, let's go." Klein couldn't help but think back to Kirito. "He was so certain to move, that he went alone," Klein thought. "I hope he'll be ok."
Klein ran behind Haro a short distance. Eventually, they stopped at an alleyway, where they found two other people sitting against the wall, one of them was sobbing.
"Hey guys, look who I found!" Haro said excitedly pointing out Klein to the rest of his friends.
"Glad you could make it, Klein." Soma stood up, and high fived Klein.
"Oh no, what's wrong with…Lis over there?" Asked Klein, hesitating to call the sobbing girl by her character's name, and pointing to her.
"She's taking things pretty hard. She's still a teenager man. To be forcefully removed from your family and trapped like this." Soma replied. There was a hint of anger in his voice "I'm going to make Kayaba pay for this." The anger was growing in Soma, and his fist was clenching, turning white.
"Calm down, Soma." Haro said.
Klein walked over to Lis, and crouched over her. "Hey, Rika, it's Ryoutarou." Klein understood that the etiquette was to call everyone by their character's names from now on, but this situation called for more of a human touch. "It's Ryoutarou from the cafe. Do you recognize me?"
"Ryoutarou…...Klein." Lis said looking up to Klein. "Yes, I do. You're trapped here also?"
"Yup, sure am."
Lis wiped the tears from her eyes. She didn't know of any of her friends that came to Aincrad. The closest thing she had to friends in Aincrad was Haro and Klein, who she recognized as baristas from the cafe she stopped at after school, almost every day.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make a mess of myself. Give me a minute to get my things together and I'll be good to go!". Lis eventually stood up, her eyes still dark from the tears,
"We shouldn't stay here." Stated Klein. "Once people get organized like this, they're going to start killing the creatures just outside of town. The field is big, but not that big. There's no way the field can support almost ten thousand players. Lines will start forming, and the leveling process will be slow. We also can't discount the fact that the field isn't a safe zone. Players may try combat with other players. There's a town to the North West. If we start now, we can hopefully just make it there after nightfall. There will be plenty of creatures there for us to kill and get stronger with. The creatures may be more difficult, but as a group we shouldn't have any issues."
"Well look at you, mister leader." Teased Soma. "I thought you never played a game before, Klein."
"I haven't. Let's just say I took inspiration from someone. Does moving on sound good to you all?"
"That's a good idea." Concurred Soma and Haro. "Lis, does that sound good to you?" Asked Haro.
"Yeah, sounds like a plan." Came the reply.
The group began their walk to the North West. The path was ambiguous, as the map didn't label the town until they discovered it for themselves. All they had to go on was the road leading in the correct direction. They heard wolves howling from somewhere ahead.
"Uh oh, that doesn't sound good." Soma remarked.
"Draw your weapons," Ordered Klein, "And be ready for some action." The group shrunk the space between them, and went on alert. A rustling in the tall grass beside them could be heard. A glimmer of eyes was briefly seen, before a wolf black as night leaped out of the grass and onto Lis.
"Ahhhh, help me!" Pleaded Lis, trying her best to fend off the wolf with her sword. "Please!"
"Hang on, Lis!" Came Klein's reply, he tackled the wolf from Lis, before getting jumped on himself. He shoved the wolf off, and could stand up. The group was getting stared down by a pack of four wolves, encircling them.
"Let's go!" Shouted Haro, leaping into action.
Glowing swords indicating attacks could be seen all around. Cuts and gashes appearing on the wolves after each strike. Lis was struggling to take down her wolf. She just couldn't quite get her sword to power up like the others could to initiate attacks. After dispatching his wolf, Klein looked over to see Lis struggling. He charged and initiated an attack. A direct hit landed directly on the wolf, and it turned to polygons.
"I-I'm s-sorry," Began Lis, tears welling in her eyes. "I panicked and froze, I couldn't fight the wolf off, even though it all seemed so simple to you all. You had to save me Klein, thank you."
"Hey, don't sweat it." Replied Klein. "Once we get to the next town, I can help you out with the combat system."
"Thank you."
"Let's keep going."
The group continued, they could eventually see some lantern light in the distance. The sun had fully set, and the moon's glow was rising.
"Hey, that must be the town!" Exclaimed Soma. "Let's go!"
The group sprinted the rest of the distance to the town, and purchased rooms at the inn for the night. Lis lied in her bed, staring at the ceiling. "Mom, Dad, I'll be home someday. I will come back some day." She thought and smiled, before drifting off to sleep.
"Man. What. A Day." Stretched Klein, sparking a conversation with Haro and Soma in the inn's living area.
"Yeah." Replied Soma, looking down from his chair.
"So Klein," Began Haro, "How did you think to get to the next town?"
"Well, there was this guy I met before we knew we were trapped here. I saw him kicking the ass of some boar, and ran over to him, hoping he could teach me how to get by in Aincrad. We killed boar with each other for a few hours, until I went to logout to go eat. And then, it happened. After the announcement, he wanted to take me to this town, but I told him I wanted to find you guys, and he went off alone. He probably made it and is somewhere in the area."
"Do you want to meet back up with him?" Asked soma.
"No, if he wants to group with us, he'll find us. From what I saw of him, he's more than capable of handling himself."
"Fair enough." Ended Soma.
The trio each retired to their rooms for the evening. They had survived their first day in Aincrad.
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
"Kazuto, please, wake up soon." Suguha requested, squeezing his hand. Suguha and her mother were at Kazuto's bed side, and couldn't bring themselves to leave the hospital room.
"Sugu, we should go. It's getting late." Said her mom.
"You're right, let's go." Suguha agreed, releasing Kazuto's hand. Her mom went to kiss Kazuto on his forehead, but was stopped by the NerveGear covering his forehead. So, she settled for the device itself.
"Hey mom?" Began Suguha.
"What is it, dear?" Responded her mother.
"Why…does it hurt so much? I mean Kazuto and I weren't super close, and haven't been since we were little. Why do I feel such sorrow for him?"
"Well, it's because he's still your brother. I know you two fight a lot lately but deep down, you still care for him also. I'm sure he misses you already also."
"Ok, I guess that makes sense." Concluded Suguha, not having the energy to argue or continue the conversation.
The car ride home was silent between Suguha and her mother. What more could be said between the two of them? They were both exhausted, and needed some time to fully process the situation.
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
Kirito had successfully reached Horunka, a tiny village just to the north west of The Town of Beginnings. Just in time as well, as the sun was just setting over the horizon, shrouding the world in darkness. He decided to stay at the inn for the night, and get an early start the next day. He paid the inn keeper for a room with the starting amount of gold given to players. He took off his equipment, and laid down. It was comfy enough. He took a deep breath and sighed, processing all that had happened in the last few hours. He pulled up the in-game map, and there he could see it. Aincrad. Aincrad is the world that SAO is set in, and takes the form of a massive iron castle floating in the sky. The castle is divided into floors, with one hundred total. To reach the next floor, the previous floor had to be cleared by beating the boss on each floor, in a hidden dungeon. Each floor more daunting then the next. "I must do this. I must survive." Kirito thought. He closed the map, and closed his eyes. Drifting into sleep.
A lonesome girl sat underneath a bridge in The Town of Beginnings. Her crimson cowl pulled over her chestnut hair and hazel eyes. Her knees tucked to her chest, and her head buried in-between. She was struggling to produce any more tears. Her mind was almost completely blank. She couldn't lament her situation any more than she already had. She drifted off to sleep. The stone floor and wall would make a fine mattress for the night.