ARCANA ONLINE

Chapter 2:Forest Of Trials

"This way!" Asuna signalled the gang.

Today was a special day. It was the day when Kirito cleared Sword Art Online and saved countless of lives, including his dear Asuna. So to commemorate this special day, Kirito and some of his former SAO friends decide to try out a new game. And this is how Kirito, Asuna, and Lyfa ended up in Arcana Online. But things are not going as planned...

"We should be reaching the meeting place anytime soon..."

"Umm...Asuna...wasn't this the way we just came from?" Lyfa said in a worried tone.

"Yui! Could you help us check if this map is accurate?" said Kirito

After lauching the program, small pixels started to materialize in front of them, and then there was a glow as bright as the sun. There stood Yui, dressed in an adorable costume with a small magical hat on top of her.

"YUI, YOU ARE SO CUUUUUUTE!" Asuna blushed and hugged Yui lovingly.

"Mama...you are gonna crush me.." Yui said while trying to break free from asuna's arms.

"Oh, haha, sorry about that. You were just too irresistable!"

"What about the map file Yui?" Kirito suddenly remembered.

"Sorry to say this papa, but the system console in Arcana Online is extremely strict, and it completely bans all forms of third-party plugins. This also means that i will only be able to spawn here for a limited time." Yui was dissapointed.

"Looks like we have no choice but to venture on without the map" Kirito sighed.

And so the gang continued through the huge plains. As they ventured furthur, they eventually reached a forest and came to a halt. Pass through this forest of trials to get to the town of new beginnings. That was what the signboard at the entrance of the forest wrote.

"Seems kind of suspicious, but let's go." said Lyfa

The moment they walked into the forest, huge, thick, vines grew and blocked the entrance of the forest. Kirito acknowledged the vines and continued walking. This was a common type of event in MMORPGs, and the fact that they went as far as to block the entrance meant that what they do here will drastically affect the outcome of something important in the game.

All of a sudden Kirito came to a halt.

"Stay quiet and don't move" Kirito signalled the gang

"Thump...Thump...Thump..." the sound of heavy footsteps could be heard from the distance.

"GYAAAAH!" a scream echoed through the forest.

Kirito immediately signalled everyone to take cover in the bushes.

"A player was probably killed by a powerful monster. I'm guessing that it's the boss of this dungeon." Kirito whispered.

"Thump...Thump...Thump..." the footsteps became softer and softer.

"It should be safe now. Let's keep going." Asuna heaved a sigh of relief

"But that was a close call. We have to be more careful from now on." Lyfa said while wiping the sweat off her forehead.

As weird as it sounds, Kirito and the gang have not seen a single player other than themselves. And to make things worse, they have not received or found a single weapon or obtained a single skill since the moment they logged in. This aroused the suspicion of Kirito, who found it ironic that an MMORPG would leave a newbie defenseless.

All of a sudden, the trees and vines rotated around Kirito and the gang, and sooon, they were completely barricaded and enclosed in an arena-shaped grassland.

"Thump...Thump...Thump..." the same familiar footsteps were heard, but this time, something was wrong.

"EVERYONE GET BACK!" Kirito commanded.

Out of the blue a deafening groan that was so strong blew Kirito and the gang back, and the wall in front of them was smashed through by a gigantic axe. Good thing they were standing at a safe distance, as the massive impact could have easily crushed them.

"Here he comes." Kirito eyes were filled with determination, and the expectation of a fearsome challenger.

A huge ogre entered the arena, and it carefully observed Kirito and the gang.

All of a sudden, the beast swung it's gigantic axe at them. Kirito and the gang darted to their sides, but he was seperated from Asuna and Lyfa. Kirito fell on his back when he saw the massive crater left behind by that single attack. He immediately noticed a weird phenomenon occuring. Several different coloured pillars of light shone forth and penetrated the roof of tree's and plants.

"Onii-Chan! I think those pillars represent the seven elements of Arcana!"

"What are the seven elements?" Kirito shouted while dodging another hit from the ogre.

"I am going to go with this one!" Said Asuna as she ran to the white pillar of light.

Suddenly, Asuna started to glow extremely bright and a staff appeared in her hand. Instinctively asuna waved the staff at the creature and a pillar of bright light struck the ogre, temporarily paralyzing it. Asuna has chosen the element of light, and the other pillars of light including the one Asuna chose represent fire, water, light, darkness, nature, thunder, and air; the seven elements of Arcana.

"I'm going for air!" Said Lyfa as she ran towards the grey pillar.

Immediately after reaching the pillar of light, Lyfa was equipped with a new pair of boots. The boots were unique, as they were lined with silk and had small cupid wings at the side of them. Suddenly, the ogre swung it's axe at Lyfa, but she skilfully jumped out of the point of impact. Lyfa's boots then responded and she gracefully glided to safety.

"Whoa...amazing!" exclaimed Kirito.

But not before long, the ogre drew it's attention back to Kirito. It continued it's barrage of attacks, relentlessly trying to hunt down the swift and agile Kirito, who was constantly dodging it's every blow.

"I will go with darkness!" Kirito said as he leap onto the pillar of Black light.

"Huh?"

Kirito stood beside the pillar, puzzled at why nothing happened to him.

"Kirito! Behind you!"

Kirito has let his guard down and when he turned behind, the ogre's axe collided with his body, flinging him to the wall.

"Gaaah!" Kirito bellowed in agony as his health bar drops to a dangerously low red zone.

Lyfa Channeled the air in her stomach and blew out an enormous gust of wind, flinging the ogre away from Kirito. The ogre hit the ground face-first, and it was left there standing in a confused state.

"Asuna! Do it now!" Lyfa siganalled Asuna.

Asuna began chanting in an ancient language and charging huge amounts of power in her staff. As she continued chanting, the glow on her staff got brighter and brighter.

"Shine forth, and show me the way! Luminari...Ultima!"

A gigantic magic circle formed in front of asuna, and after a short delayed, a huge , blinding laser was fired at the ogre. The ogre's health bar dropped all the way down, and it gave a loud moan, before turning into a huge lump of green, shiny orbs. Suddenly, the green orbs were split evenly, and flowed in Kirito, Lyfa, and Asuna. This was the experience points gained from slaying the beast.

"Come on Kirito, i don't know what happened back there, but we still have to move forward." Asuna reassured Kirito as she extended her hand to him.

Kirito grabbed the hand and pulled himself up. The trio then continued their journey through the forest.

Kirito remained silent, and continued thinking of a solution for his problem. Could he be one of the weakest players? Or maybe he wasn't fit to obtain an element? Maybe Darkness was a bad choice? Maybe the game is bugged? Countless thoughts raced through his mind as he continued the journey with Asuna and Lyfa.

Soon, Kirito and the gang saw the faintest light coming from the path in front of them. They immediately knew it was the exit and ran towards the narrow path. What awaits them will be far more difficult than the battle with the ogre. This is just the beggining, and in Arcana Online, there are still countless areas left unexplored by players. Kirito brushed aside his anxiety and looked ahead to the future.

To Be Continued...

Setsuna:Hello everyone! I hope you have enjoyed reading Arcana Online! It took quite some time for me to write and edit this story, and i do apologize if i missed out some spelling or grammar error here and in all, please do stayed subscribed for more content to a nice day.