Chapter 1

Rescucitated Hope

February 18, 2023…

Three months later, Rayden and I gotten to level 29 without any luck of finding the friends we've been searching for. If Zumo or her brother had gotten the chance to tell me in real life what their in-game names were, then maybe it would have been made the search much easier. Probably. Maybe..It was technically our fault for starting off the game before they did since we were worrying about the name of our characters. However, the both of us had thought that naming ourselves with our real names would be easier too. I mean, the same could be advised for my other online friends wherever they are. Everyday, Rayden had to deal with me in my still vulnerable state. I was still depressed, and even shocked at what we had gotten ourselves into. I was frightened, and even now, I feel guilty for always apologizing then. I know it may sound repetitive, but I was scared. I couldn't sleep almost every night. The only way for me to sleep peacefully was sleeping beside someone. In this case, Rayden. I still owe that guy something.

Floor 11 Taft

While wandering around on the 11th floor, it took me a while to realize that people must love the color black. But, I guess when I meant people, I think I meant Rayden only. He got himself the outfit he is still wearing now. The guy almost looked like he was wearing a formal suit armor of some sort while showing off a bright red war hammer. He is the hammer wielder while I'm a katana user who doesn't like to use shields. Sure it adds more defense, but shields doesn't really appeal to me. It just doesn't click for me, and I don't think it will. The dark haired male mentioned to me that he bought a coat in case if we go to any place with very cold conditions. I guessed that was when it hit me that it was the month of February. All we had been doing was basically train ourselves to get better and survive. It was becoming an everyday thing (and still is).

"I'm surprised." Rayden once told me. "You usually buy a ton of outfits. When are you going to get a new one?"

At that time, I was simply wearing a light armor short dress with the colors of black and white that somewhat resembles a panda. That was one of the reasons why I could never get a new one because of that resemblance of my most favorite animal. There was simply no way that I will end up buying a new one..Pfft, too late for that.

I gave a murderous glare at Rayden, which he seems to be scared of it for some odd reason. I always find it hilarious now, but his fearful facial expression didn't faze me that time. "Why?"

"Uhh…Well, it's better to get new equipment now before we continue on." He smiled awkwardly as my gold eyes softened and glanced away from him timidly.

We only managed to reach the 23rd floor, so I only thought he was referring to the fact that the monsters are getting a bit more difficult. I didn't blame him, and I was way ahead of him in the thinking process. He didn't know at that time that I had bought a new outfit! And a new sword..Yeah, I totally wasted all my money and I refused to tell him that I did. Rayden would scold me if he found out because I have a terrible habit of buying a lot of things when I'm "rich." All I did was shake my head silently at the tall hammer wielder before placing my hand around my sword's hilt that was sheathed on my right side.

"It's fine. I'm not used to fighting yet.."
"Hey! So what am I? Your meatshield?" Rayden protested angrily. I smirked lightly and walked away, waving a small one with my free hand.

"Sure. Why not?" I replied carelessly before a frown gradually replaced my smirk.

Back in the beta, I wasn't afraid to fight. The both of us would challenge each other on killing things every time. We would constantly make bets and have a good time. Things were different now. Rayden is the frontline person while I support and it was because I was afraid of being in anyone's way. Both of us still watched each other's backs, but we would never join any guild or party. It was safe to say that my fear of trusting anyone got to me while Rayden makes friends all around just by being himself. Being myself was something hard to do now when the game is my reality. It took time for me to finally open up and it was all because…

Floor 24..

We were dealing with sword and shield wielding skeletons and I couldn't really say I was happy to be killing those things. The monsters were a pain in the ass to defend against. It was to the point where I started questioning how the people in the frontlines managed to get through that. Both Rayden and I had heard a rumor about these skeletons, so we were curious. I guess our curiosity led us to our fate despite I was afraid that we would die back then.

"I'm starting to think the rumors are true Rayden…" I had said the obvious to my partner, parrying a sword I was blocking before jumping away from the monster. We were situated in a rather dirty clearing near a tall mount. My poor white short boots were so smeared by the mud that I accidently slipped backwards to land on my back.

"What the hell, did you just slip? Stop being so clumsy!"
"Excuse me sir, but it's not my fault gravity and mud hates me!"

I retorted back before scoffing when he started laughing while killing the skeletons as if they weren't any trouble to him. It annoyed me that the first minute he was having trouble killing the monsters, and the next he was killing them like he had the power of banning those skeletons. No wonder he calls his weapon the ban hammer..But still, it made me feel so useless. The moment I stood up, I heard a scream for help that distracted me enough for my guard to lower. I hesitated on dodging an attack from a monster before moving closer to Rayden.

"You heard that too?" He had asked me as I nodded my head.

I was trying to pinpoint the exact direction where I heard the scream from while letting my team mate push back those coming near us. The scream was heard again, and it sounded much clearer than before. Thank goodness I had managed to figure out the direction it came from. "This way! Hurry!"

I called to Rayden before running to the direction, avoiding any monster in my way. The feeling that was overwhelming me at the time felt rather intense as if I was having one of those really bad feelings from fear and worry. My heart was beating so quickly from my concern that I was sprinting faster than Rayden himself. Ever since that day where I found that if we were to die here and we would too in the real world, I wanted to try to help as many people as possible from losing their lives. I still don't want to see deaths now but unfortunately, that day on the 24th floor was far enough.

As we continued running, we finally saw what it seemed to be a female player with long brown hair being cornered by a bunch of skeletons wielding an axe. I tried my best to observe her hp bar from my spot, but had to wait until I was closer. I became distracted at another thing I noticed. There were so many monsters around the girl, who was trying her best to ward them away from her, and two other people were trying their hardest to reach that girl. When I first looked at the duo, I couldn't help back then but to think that they looked awfully familiar. If I wasn't distracted enough by that constant wondering who they could be, I would have foreseen an attack coming at me from a hidden monster.

"Watch out!" Rayden's voice brought me back to reality as he pushed me down on the ground to avoid the attack.

I was shocked at first because I didn't understand what just happened, but the moment I witnessed a giant skeleton hammering the spot I was at with an axe over Rayden's shoulder, my mouth was wide open in astonishment mixed with fear. I knew that the situation wasn't good at all..The cursor on top of the hidden monster was red.

"Be careful next time!" The man yelled at me after getting off of me from protecting me.

"Thanks again.." I murmured softly as I slowly sat up, thinking at the angry tone of his voice and the skeleton near us. It took me a few seconds to remember about the trio in trouble near us.

I gasped, "Rayden, the others!"

"Oh right! Shit!"

I knew that our problem was that giant skeleton, so I told him that I would hold it off while he goes to help the trapped girl. Of course, he protested against it and to be honest, I was feeling so pressured and frightened. Those monsters may be slow, but dude, they hit hard! I simply ignored Rayden's continuous cries and stood up to stare up at the skeleton with my hand ready to take out my katana. "Just go! Please.."

I demanded desperately before launching myself in the air to dodge an attack. Now that I thought about it, that was probably the first time Rayden had heard me scream like that. I couldn't blame him if he was surprised. I was usually so calm and soft-spoken. My emotions were just running wild, but I knew I had to let the heavy hitter do the saving. I wasn't entirely sure if he heard my soft pleading at the end, but I was sure..that I was ready to die doing something for once. I wish I wasn't so over-exaggerating back then. The rumored skeleton was right in front of me after all.

Successfully holding it off and looking back to the others occasionally, I noticed Rayden had achieved on saving the female and seemed to be smiling at her and at the others. It was probably to reassure them that they were going to be okay, but my thoughts of that sight weren't exactly that. I was feeling indifferent, and I realize now that if it wasn't for that irritating feeling of him being all happy-go-lucky while I was struggling alone I wouldn't have gotten much more depressed. I know that I was so pathetic back then that now I swear that I will never let that feeling get the best of me. That feeling..I couldn't describe it, but all I know that it just had me start attacking the giant skeleton with all my might. I was dying just after one hit from his axe that left me tumbling on the ground.

"That other girl needs help!" The female warned loudly.

"What? No! Asaya!" I struggled to push myself up from the ground, looking up at the monster with glaring gold eyes.

"Asaya?" An all too familiar young male voice questioned that made me froze and had calmed me down back to my original demeanor.

"Wait that's Asaya?! We have to save her!"

That was the moment when I finally realized who they were and why they were familiar. I only imagined Rayden and that female stranger had no idea what was going on. I believed that I was the only one who caught on because I knew that they were familiar somehow. The only thing I could do was feel somewhat relieved, leaving me to smile to myself for the first time in months. I took a quick glance at my HP to notice only that the giant skeleton was ready to attack me once again. Immediately frowning in disapproval, I sighed heavily before managing to push myself away from the attack. I had my try on putting the monster's health down, I had thought, so now I had no choice but to let the others handle it. Suddenly, I heard footsteps approaching me that caused me to weakly lift my hand over my shoulder before crying out the words, "Your turn Zumo!"

"Right! Let's do this monkey!" The short haired girl replied in confidence as she gave me a high five.

I changed my sitting position to feel more relaxed while watching carefully the two as they battled the boss. My hands were planted behind me as one of my legs bent upward with my arm resting on it. It had taken me a short while to notice the unknown female was resting as well. Again at that time, I was stupid so all I did was ignore her..bitterly. I was panting heavily as I begin to open up the main menu to my equipment. Like hell I was going to let my friends fight alone..Not ever.

"What are you guys doing..? You should help Zumo and Zunaku."

"Wait..That's them?"

I rolled my eyes at Rayden's dense reaction while answering bluntly, "Of course."

I re-equipped to my better ones to put my stats up somehow before glaring at the hammer wielder standing beside me. The look on his face, I remembered, was full of fear and worry. It was as if he knew what I was planning to do next, but I only thought he was just surprised because of my sudden change of clothing. "If you're not going to fight..Then I will.." Dumbass..

As much as I wanted to say that last thought out loud, I knew I couldn't because I was already exhausted. I was all worn out to the point my legs was struggling to move from my command to as a steel breast plate covered my breasts underneath the revealing blue kimono outfit that replaced my panda outfit. My right naked shoulder was then covered by a shoulder plate while a rather stylish half steel greaves covered my feet and the black leggings. A light blue bow on my back can be seen flowing behind me. After managing to stand up, I took my katana with my hand as I glared at the skeleton boss. "Whatever..I'm going in."

The moment I was about to charge in the battle, I felt someone's hand on my shoulder before I myself fell back on the ground again on my bottom. "Uhh..No! I'm not letting you hurt yourself again. So stay back and recover your HP."

I froze and watched him joined the battle then with a look of apprehension. His words had surprised me. I remember how pathetic I was because I didn't care about dying. I felt useless and unneeded because I was far too worried if I was holding anyone back. Was I selfish and pathetic? I had thought so.

In the end, I only let the three finish off the giant skeleton.

"Man I'm so glad you two are alright!"

As mentioned before, Zumoka is my real life friend with short black hair and green eyes. She is slightly taller than me, and is a dagger wielder. Her outfit is rather normal, which surprises me still. And yes, it is still the same even to this day except it is upgraded courtesy to her little brother Zunaku. She wears a plain black long sleeved V-cut top underneath a checkered green sweater covering it and the sleeves midway. Because it is a light metal equipment, her too had a steel breast plate and her wrists covered by armguards. It looked like a wing actually. Along with a plain white skirt, the steel plates flowed around it in a wavy pattern as black leggings covered her entire legs. That's what I thought until realizing it ended to the point the same silver leg greaves covered most of her feet up to her knees. Those too looked like wings. It was similiar to my own leg greaves except mine had a somewhat criss-cross manner on covering my black leggings. My blue kimono would reveal my leggings in the bottom and no sleeve cover my left arm enough for people to see a plain bandage covering my breast when I'm not in battle mode. There was a reason why I didn't want to equip my new outfit back then...It was different than what I usually LIKE to wear.

"Yeah I could say the same to you guys!" Rayden answered cheerfully as I idled beside him with my arms folded. The steel plates now were gone due to un-equiping them after the battle.

"Never again will the ugly troll pick where we'll be going next.."

"What?! Why?!" Zumoka exploded at her calm brother, "I wanted to see if the rumors were true!"

I raised a brow in curiosity, "You guys too?"

Zunaku usually has black hair in real life, but he somehow dyed his hair white with that small ponytail of his hanging. Even now, I still haven't asked him how he managed to do such a thing. I thought there were no way of getting dye items..I mean otherwise, I would go crazy with getting them myself! The little brother's eyes were green as well as he played the role of a spear wielder with leather equipment. His entire outfit consisted of a gray furry long coat on top of a shirt with leather belting as well, gray belted leather pants, and plain black strap boots. His hands were covered by black gloves. He never wears steel plates at all.

"Yeah! A giant skeleton with a giant axe sounded interesting to fight!"

"And to see if it's true that it spawns with the souls of fallen ones here?" I added bluntly.

"Yup!" I sweat dropped at her answer. At first I thought that she was crazy to think fighting against something that powerful was interesting...But I had to consider that I was crazy too for thinking the same thing.

Rayden laughed before patting the girl's head, "Silly Zumo~ Those skeletons that you guys were fighting earlier was proof that it was true!"

"No shit Captain Obvious.." I grumbled, glancing at the male as I watched his facial expression turned to a startled and annoyed one. It was the typical reaction to my smart ass replies, I had called it. I immediately looked away with an amusing smirk. It was always fun back sassing at him because it seems so easy to do so. Hearing the laughter from the siblings calmed me down. The fact that they were alive had eased my worries, but that wasn't enough to cure those hidden feelings inside me. Especially..Not after that.

"Ah..Um.." A small voice interrupted our reunion, causing us to look at the person. It was the brown haired female that the two was with. "Thank you guys for saving me!"

Zumoka grinned, "You're welcome Syd! Do you want to keep moving though?"

Rayden and I both blinked dumbfounded, "Huh?"

Before the short haired girl could explain to us the reason why she asked that, I noticed the swift facial expression change of the brunette. I had been watching the girl named Syd rather closely. Something about her clicked still..And it wasn't because of the weird sensation earlier that caused me to go berserk. Okay, maybe it could be an option but…never mind that. She seemed to be in shock or rather, in pain. Finally my first sign of worry was shown to the girl as I slowly pursed my lips. I had assumed the others caught on to what was going on with her.

"Syd?" Zumoka asked again, but in a much more softer tone than earlier as she walked closer to her.

The brown haired girl suddenly fell forward to the ground, causing the majority of us to jump and let out a startled gasp. We saw a dagger attached to her back that made me raise my hands to cover my mouth in horror.

Zumoka quickly ran towards to her fallen friend before watching her body deteriorate into a thousand pieces. "Syd! No!"

The dark haired girl started crying out a scream of agony as tears rolled down her cheeks. Watching Rayden and her brother try to cheer her up while I was still frozen up, I couldn't help but blame myself for Syd's death. How could I not notice that she was in danger? If it wasn't for me being so...I mean, if I was paying more attention to that girl, I would have noticed that her HP was the same low HP still and possibly had no recovery items. I regret feeling so…jealous.

A/N: And cut! What did you guys think? Go ahead and chew me out on a couple things. I'm expecting that actually the next few chapters, and I really do appreciate reviews and criticism. Is it bad or good? Next chapter will be out..Uhm, Sunday. If not, next week. I just don't want to upload too much. Thank you! Hope you enjoyed it~

Next Chapter: Facing Reality.