We're back. Not much to say here, other than you should watch Darling in the Franxx
Chapter 2: Chance Encounter with a Player of Questionable Behavior
"We're stuck here, aren't we?" asked Selim after ten minutes of Lyra frantically punching things into the menu had elapsed.
His sister huffed frustratedly, blowing a strand of her hair out of her face. "No we aren't. It's just weird that there's no logout button." She received a triumphant smirk from Selim.
"Fine, we're stuck here for now. Happy now?" she huffed.
Despite their banter, Lyra wasn't unreasonably worried. Worst case scenario would be that her parents manually removed the NerveGear from their head when they found her unconscious. It just felt kind of strange to her that at the current moment, she was essentially a "prisoner" stuck in a jail cell, albeit a very pretty cell. And despite all her reassurances, she felt a slight chill spread across her back.
"Oh well," Lyra said in the most optimistic tone she could muster, "There's not much we can do about it right now, so we may as well continue where we left off." Selim seemed to perk up a little at those words, although Lyra was unsure as to why that might be. Carefully, she took her brother's hand and guided him across the field, pointing out potentially dangerous obstacles along the way.
There was a lot to teach Selim, and Lyra could feel his breathless excitement. For the first time, her brother could experience the world. And he was taking full advantage of that, constantly asking questions and putting names to things that were only abstract in his imagination before. With varying degrees of difficulty, Lyra managed to sate most of Selim's curiosity. However, there was one that she couldn't answer.
"What does it mean to be small?" he had asked.
"We-well," she stammered, knocked off balance by the seemingly simple inquiry. "It's like this blade of grass compared to me. It is smaller than me, because… because…" before trailing off.
Lyra thought for a long time, but simply could not return a satisfactory response. Eventually, she gave up with a sheepish grin and they returned to naming arbitrary objects in the world. Still, the question nagged at her mind as she constantly tried to think of a way to explain the word "small" to Selim.
Wrapped in the wonder and bliss of discovery, neither Selim nor Lyra had noticed the time. By then, another half hour had elapsed without any sign from moderators or the appearance of the logout button, and Lyra began to feel wary. For a game so widely advertised and praised, the absence of such a crucial feature seemed inconceivable.
Selim, too, seemed to sense that something was wrong, and turned to Lyra, but was cut off by a flashing blue light that erupted the ground, engulfing the two of them in its misty tendrils.
The chiming of bells sounded, accompanied by a monotone, female voice repeating "Forced System Teleport" over and over again until everything else ceased to exist. Lyra cried out in horror and squeezed her eyes shut as her body vanished. A faint breeze washed over the area where she once stood, erasing all signs of previous human activity, save for a tiny area of trampled grass.
Lyra opened her eyes to the sight of hundreds, no thousands, of players, all gathered in the center of the starting town. This event was no co The robotic voice had disappeared, but the words still rang fresh in Lyra's mind. Before she could utter a single word to express her confusion, a red, semi-transparent dome built of tiny hexagons swiftly rose up around the entire area, imprisoning them. A thick, bloodred liquid began to seep from the cracks, congealing into a massive, hooded figure that towered over the town and those congregated in it.
From her side came an audible whimper. Lyra numbly wrapped her arm around her brother, trying to reassure him, but it was all she could do not to panic. It wasn't just them either. From all around, a chorus of dissent, anger, and annoyance mixed with fear and terror, rose to a frenzied pace. Some shouted empty threats at the hooded figure. Others simply broke down crying. Either way, it was clear that the figure in front of them held all the cards.
Among the shouts and cries, the figure raised one bony hand into the air; as if held by magic, the ten thousand players fell silent, eyes and faces turned.
"Welcome to my world," the figure boomed. His world? It didn't take long for the players to realize exactly who was standing in front of them.
Kayaba Akihiko.
The genius who had developed this game from scratch. The prodigy who had made VMMORPGs a reality. And he was standing only a few meters away from Lyra.
The silence shattered like glass. Cries rose up louder than before, each frenzied voice blending into another until they became a tide of indistinguishable sound that threatened to drown Lyra. Kayaba gazed calmly at the uproar, twitching not one muscle.
"As you probably have guessed, I am Kayaba Akihiko," he said, voice devoid of emotion. "As of this moment, I am the sole person in control of this world." Although no anger had dissipated from the player, all grew silent as a new emotion overtook them -awe.
If only my teachers had this kind of control, Lyra thought absently, gnawing on a fingernail.
Kayaba continued on, heedless of the change in atmosphere. "I'm sure you've already noticed that the logout button is missing. This is not a defect. I repeat, this is not a defect."
Selim could only make out red. Everywhere he looked, a dark, sickly red. No matter where he turned to, the color stained his vision and dripped down his eyelids, congealing into strange masses. This wasn't the sharp attack of the white of the loading screen. This red tried to smother him and drain him slowly of all life and vitality. Despite himself, he whimpered before kicking himself for being so weak.
He felt a comforting arm wrap around his shoulders, and for the millionth time in his life, Selim was glad that he had a sister. He tried to utter thanks, but his throat and tongue were dry Through the haze of red, an ominous shape began to form, though Selim couldn't quite make out what it was.
And then the world exploded.
Being blind meant that you had to compensate your lack of vision with other senses. Selim was remarkably adept at determining intricate textures through touch and his nose wasn't half bad either. But like most other blind people, the thing that Selim relied on most was his ears.
Just as most people develop their sense of sight, Selim developed his sense of hearing. In all those years of darkness, distinguishing between different sounds quite literally meant the difference between life or death. He could tell the difference between a FedEx truck and a UPS truck. He could make out soft whispers from conversations not meant for public ears. And there was a subtle but noticeable difference between a penny dropped in water versus a quarter dropped in water. Because of his sensitive hearing, he tended to avoid loud or crowded places, since the noise often became unbearable. It wasn't that those areas were too loud per se, rather that all the different words and conversations all at once tended to overwhelm him.
So when ten thousand cries rose up into the air, each voicing a new emotion, Selim became paralyzed on the spot. A tide of unrestrained sorrow, anger, hopelessness, washed over him and crashed over his ears.
His mind began to shut down in an effort to block out the noise. The world began to fade. Selim could no longer hear anything, see anything, do anything, think anything. His world became a blank canvas, devoid of any sight or sound.
Selim wasn't sure how long he remained in that state -an empty shell that could no longer respond to the outside world. Eventually though, he came to.
The first thing he saw was Lyra's arm still wrapped around him in the same position unmoving. With a start, he realized that his knuckles were white from clutching so tightly onto it. His fingernails dug into her skin, drawing fresh beads of blood.
He swore, releasing Lyra's arm and apologizing profusely. The noise had died down, and people were beginning to disperse. Something was off about everyone's attitude, though Selim was in no mood to pay attention to them.
Of more importance was Lyra, who had not moved or uttered a single word since Selim had awoken. Despite being unable to read her face, he felt shock and despair emanating from Lyra. Gently, he tugged at her arm that was still wrapped lifelessly around his shoulders.
"Lyra?" he prodded. He wasn't sure what could possibly have affected her that much. In general, anything short of the world ending didn't rattle Lyra, so Selim was quite worried about what Lyra had seen.
"I'm sorry," whispered Lyra, so soft that it was almost inaudible. "I'm sorry, Selim."
Selim looked at Lyra with concern, not quite knowing what she was apologizing for. "It's okay Lyra," he said gently. "Everything's going to be okay now."
"It's all my fault," breathed Lyra, as if she couldn't see or hear him.
Although the red had disappeared from the plaza, it still retained an ominous residue that didn't sit well with Selim. Without really knowing why, he knew that he needed to get out of there -fast. "C'mon Lyra," he coaxed. "Let's get out of here."
She continued to mutter apologies and bits of incoherent thought, but Selim tried to ignore it for now, continuing to reassure that everything was fine. Inch by inch, he managed to guide her away from the square to an empty field and helped her sit. Lyra's movements were robotic and devoid of life like an automaton taking orders from a punch card.
For Selim, who had always been protected and helped by Lyra, he wanted to repay all of her kindness and love. He had always been the weak one, and Lyra had taken the role of his knight with grace and no complaints. All those times she had guided him, saved him from dangers, helped him come to terms with the world.
Yet here, when Lyra was truly in trouble, he could do nothing but watch. He couldn't log her out even if he had tried, as the button was still missing. Selim wasn't sure how long Lyra was going to remain in that vacant state, but he vowed to stay by her side and doing everything he could to help. It was the least he could do.
He sat besides the stiff girl, rambling on about nonsense, more for his benefit than anything else. Selim was worried. What if Lyra never woke up?
It's fine, he reassured himself. Worst comes to worst, I'll just wait for the logout button and log her out. That conclusion didn't satisfy him though as anxiousness gnawed a large hole in his chest.
The sun had set all the way below the horizon now, but thanks to some game mechanic, he could still make out the outlines of objects. Especially with the green cursor over the head of players, it was rather difficult to get lost.
Too late he remembered reading that mobs had a higher spawn rate at night as he heard the rustle of grass and a growl sound from behind him. Almost out of pure instinct, he dived sideways, evading a snarling wolf that had sank its jaws into the air where he was a second ago.
Selim drew his sword with trembling hands, gripping the handle until his hands hurt. He had never done combat in his life, nor had he ever tried out the SAO sword skills, so there was only really one way that this would go down. He knew that if things got bad, he would just respawn at the beginning, and Lyra would likely follow, yet somehow, he hated that outcome.
For his entire life, Selim had been weak, always relying on others. And for the first time, right now, he had the ability to save others. No matter the outcome, he wouldn't go down with a fight.
The wolf snarled and leapt again, and Selim barely had time to dodge. Still, he wasn't fast enough as he felt claws scrape his right arm, leaving a bloody trail it is wake. The SAO pain absorbers were only so effective, as hurt shot through his arm.
Selim began to panic, swinging his sword wildly in hopes of landing a hit. The wolf easily avoided his weak slashes and sank its teeth into Selim's left leg. Thrashing, he managed to shake the wolf off, sending it flying as it crumpled against a tree in a dazed heap. Through his foggy vision, a lights flashed in the top right corner of his vision.
It was too optimistic to hope that the wolf had died. Already, it had begun picking itself up and shaking off the stun effect. Gritting his teeth, Selim braced his sword and hardened his resolve. He would not lose. The pain from his arm and leg began to fade as the world around him began to sharpen in a way that seemed completely unique to Selim.
His vision began to dull, fading almost into a total black. Yet the world became more clear at the same time. The rustle of leaves, the soft breeze, the taste of wet earth, the hissing of steel, and the ragged breaths of the wolf became apparent.
Selim heard the padding of its steps, the dead leaves crunching under its feet. Twenty meters, fifteen, ten, and then the whoosh as it began its leap. Selim's senses took over, positioning the sword exactly where he knew the wolf would attack, meeting its gnashing teeth and claws with the smooth metal of his blade.
Blocked perfectly.
The wolf refused to let go though, as it pressed against the flat of Selim's sword, lunging for his throat. Selim tried to push back, but could feel himself giving ground. He simply did not have the strength necessary to block the killing blow. He kicked himself mentally for arrogantly meeting the monster head on.
The claws found their way into his chest and began pressing into his skin. Lights erupted from the top right of his vision.
Realizing his inevitable death, Selim heaved a heavy sigh. He was too weak as usual to protect anyone. He had been unable to defeat even a simple wolf. Resigned, he let the claws push deeper into his skin. It'd be a pain to start all the way from the beginning, but he'd make do. Loud chimes indicated that he was nearing dangerous levels of hp.
Then, a brown flash followed by the sound of ringing bells burst into the air. Surprisingly, the weight had disappeared from his sword. The first thing he thought of was that Lyra had awoken and defeated the wolf.
Yet a glance revealed that she was still sitting on the hill, her cursor green, emotionless and stiff.
His vision began to return to normal again. Peering at the brown, hooded figure, he was unable to distinguish anything about it at all.
"Um, thank you for saving me," he said, bowing.
The figure removed its hood, revealing a face. With the darkness and his poor eyesight though, Selim couldn't make out much else.
"Good ta meet ya!" the figure said cheerfully. It was evidently a female, close to Selim's age. "The name's Argo. Oh, and by the way? Ya owe me a favor, got it?"
Selim could only gape and nod.
On a completely unrelated note, I actually chose the names Selim and Lyra randomly. It worked out ridiculously well somehow. Selim is from FMA, and he does shadows. Lyra means light. Selim is blind. Lyra is his light. WTF I'm a genius and I don't even know it
Also, as I've said multiple times, school is a bitch. I literally just flunked a precalc test because I was too busy watching anime. AP tests are over now though, so I can probably write more. Wish me luck boys (and girls. Who can forget the girls)!
Also, anyone catch a VERY small fma reference? Hint: not selim's name