Chapter 2 - Under The Night Sky
November/6th/2022
Daath
A million thoughts are going through my mind. Why would Akihiko do something like this? Why trap us all in a game of death? Why did I choose to play this damn game today? After all, I already played it for a damn month non-stop. I had other things to do back in the real world. I could've done that paper that was due for tomorrow, I could've gone out with my little sister to see that movie she wanted. I could've done…so many things. Here I am though; finding out a friend I met last month has just recently…retired from the world of the living. It is all too much for me to handle properly, so I went ahead and tried to assume the role of a leader. Something I'm really not fit for. I never stood out at school, I was never head of class. Yet here I am, asking two strangers to trust me with their lives.
"What is your plan?" Elina asks me.
"Well, first on the list is to wait for big guy," I reply.
"Big guy? You mean…that's a little mean, Daath," She says.
"I apologize, he got on my nerves a little back there."
She turns her head down. I think even she understands Alshep's little play back there was uncalled for. What annoys the most is his attitude, for a second there I thought he just threw all hope out of the window. Elina is thirteen, fourteen years tops, and I have this guy screaming about how we are all going to die. He really did get on my nerves.
"Sorry, I just feel sick right now," says Alshep as he comes out of the castle's door.
And I just feel a little sick of you.
"So, what's the plan?" he asks.
I start to think about things just that second. To be honest I didn't think that far ahead in terms of a plan. All I said in the now renamed "Monument of Life" was out of the blue, to keep our hopes up. To make them…trust me.
"Starting City is done for, I think it's actually dangerous to stay here any longer. I think our best bet is Tolbana Town but we'll have to get to Horunka Village first."
"What?" they say in sync.
Focus…these two aren't beta testers.
"Tolbana is the largest town after this one, at least on this floor. We could stay there for a while. It's safe; it has inns shops and food. If we want to make it there we'll have to stop at Horunka Village to rest and stock up."
This is a lie, Tolbana and Horunka are almost in opposite directions, but there is something that might help us in Horunka. It's something other than just shops and potions. I'm looking for a sword in particular.
"So, you want to take us through the grasslands? Isn't that dangerous?" Alshep asks.
"Not if you are with me, I know this place well," I say softly.
In a way I'm not exactly lying. It is dangerous to go to Horunka this early, but with a party of three I doubt it'll be much trouble. If we stick to the road we'll only encounter boars and some wolves, it is if we deviate to the forest that we'll maybe face trouble.
"Fine, where to then?" he asks.
"We need to go out of the city and northeast from there. This place is as big as your common prefecture so it'll still take us a bit to get to Horunka," I reply.
Alshep sighs and looks around a bit. I didn't notice until he took a look around, but it is almost pitch dark, for some reason the street lights aren't on yet. This bothers me a little since it is quite hard to see at night with no lights in SAO.
"It's getting dark…I don't like it when it's dark…" Elina mutters.
Starting City sells everything you needed to start playing SAO properly. It only makes sense to get some stuff quickly before heading out to Horunka. Maybe get a few potions, a lamp and if we have enough to go around, some armor.
"Alright then, follow me, and stay close," I order.
I start heading to the main road that leads out of the city with Alshep and Elina following me. An eerie feeling drops on me suddenly as I walk. Never before, not even during the beta did I feel so grounded to Sword Art Online. Something that I played for leisure and enjoyment suddenly became some kind of cage, a prison. The feeling in my feet as I walk, the cold air of the night going into my lungs, never did it feel as real as it does in this very moment. SAO has become my reality and there is nothing I can do about it.
"You sure you want to keep going straight? A large group of players seems to be ahead," says Alshep.
I stop and turn to my left just a bit before reaching the lake in-between the city gates and the main plaza. I stop near a small shop and wait for my partners to catch up.
"How much col do you guys have?" I ask.
Almost at the same time they bring up their menus. I do the same since I don't remember how much I'm currently carrying.
"I have four hundred and sixty eight," says Alshep.
"I…I have three hundred and five," says Elina.
"Ok, and with me we have a total of one thousand one hundred and thirty two," I say
The street lights suddenly turn on and the vendor behind me comes out of her house. We must make haste now that the city is up and running again, we need to buy what we need and get out of here as soon as possible.
"I'll buy a lamp and some armor. Elina, buy three potions and armor for yourself, you should have enough. Al, get some armor as well and save the rest maybe we'll need it later," I say firmly.
Expecting some backfire from this I look at Alshep as he approaches the street vendor. He says nothing nor looks at me. Good. I turn myself around and open the shops menu. I go through the items and find what I'm looking for quickly.
-Starter Oil Lamp: 50Col-
-Hard Leather Coat: 145Col-
-Total: 195Col-
-Buy- -Cancel-
I press the buy button and open my menu to equip the coat. Light envelops my upper body and a brown long coat appears over the starter set of clothes I'm wearing. My sheath strap goes over it as it appears on my body. Elina equips herself with two shoulder plates that stay beneath her cloak and Alshep purchases gauntlets that go up to his shoulders.
"Ok, you guys ready? We are going to run now," I say.
They nod and I turn around, heading to a side street to avoid the main road. We are better off not running into players right now. I may be over reacting, but if even beta testers went crazy with player killing I don't want to see how a crowd of stressed people reacts. Even if you can't PK inside a town or city, I don't want to risk it. At our pace we reach the city gates quickly and with no problems. I stop quickly to catch my breath.
"Is that Horunka?" Elina asks as she points to dim lights in the distance.
"Great guess, that's exactly it," I say.
She smiles and starts walking a bit in-front of me. Alshep walks past me and trails behind the girl. I start walking and bring up my menu to equip the lantern. The item materializes in front of me and starts shining brightly. It only lights up so much, but it'll give us some idea of where we are walking. Elina gasps and runs to me.
"Thank god, I thought we were going to walk the road in the dark," she says.
"He did mention he was getting a lamp," Alshep adds.
"Are you always this cynical?" I question.
He looks away and keeps walking. I look at Elina who is looking at him and our eyes meet for a moment before she sets them on the road. She doesn't seem to dislike this man, but I'm not sure if we'll be able to stay together for long.
"Stop," Alshep huffs as he unsheathes his sword.
He places it in front of him as he charges a sword skill up. What is he doing? There shouldn't be any enemies so close to the city. To my surprise a group of red shining eyes suddenly becomes visible in front of Alshep. Wolves…crap. I hand the lamp over to Elina and tell her to keep her weapon close and at the ready. I reach for my back and unsheathe my sword as I get close to Alshep.
"Why aren't they attacking?" he asks.
"They are examining our group," I whisper.
I ready a sword skill as I get next to him.
"Should we take initiative then?" he says.
"I don't think they will be too hard to take on. How many did you count?"
"Four," he replies.
He looks at me and we nod to each other. I let go and the sword quickly connects me with a fatal blow to one of the wolves. I see Alshep do the same and quickly dispatches of a wolf as well. Well at least he compensates on being battle proficient. The next wolf rapidly approaches me and I kick it to my left. Lifting my sword I stab the ground through the animal and kill it in the process. I see a flash of light close to Alshep confirming he's killed the other one.
"Is that it?" I shout.
He nods and sheathes his sword. This is bad…there's no result screen. I turn to the small spot of light with Elina in the middle and see two small red dots treading behind her.
"Elina! Behind you!"
I see her turn around quickly, but the wolf lunges over her faster than I expected. Elina starts screaming as the wolf bites and scratches her. I start running, but I fear I might not be quick enough. The wolf tears through her cloak and keeps attacking her. Suddenly the wolf bursts into light just as I reach the spot. A frightened Elina sits before me with a sword at hand and a scared face.
"Are you ok?!" Alshep asks as he arrives.
The result screen pops up, but I quickly discard it as I get on my knee. Her health points reached the red and she is just a few more scratches away from saying goodbye. I grab her shoulder and shake her lightly. She directs her sword to me and swipes quickly with it.
"Get away!" She screams.
"Calm down, ok? You are ok. Take one of the potions and get on your feet, alright?" I say gently.
She puts away her weapon and stands up. Just out of the city and she is already about to die. I can't help but to feel responsible and apologize to her a couple of times before we keep going to Harunka. I can't help but to picture my sister when I see her. They don't look alike, but it is the fact that she is young and frightened that makes me think of my sister.
A few minutes of walking are all it takes to make Starting City look like tiny dots of light in the distance. Harunka becomes a little clearer as we walk, but it is still a bit away from us. In the distance I can see a spot of light moving quickly to Horunka. Perhaps it's another player? If it is, it has to be a beta tester. I don't think any new players would think of heading out of Starting City this soon. Let alone visit Horunka when Tolbana is closer to the City itself.
"I feel I'm close to level two," Alshep says.
"Oh yeah, that reminds me. How do I know when I'm going to level up?" Elina asks.
"Well, there isn't really anything in the UI that tells you how close you are. Like Al said, you just…well, feel it."
It took a few hours to reach level two in the beta, a couple more to reach three. It was after level eight when it really felt like it took days. As we get closer to Horunka, enough to be able to see a couple of buildings another pack of wolves appears on our right side. I'm already readying my sword when Elina presses the lamp against my side.
"Let me…try," she mumbles.
Unsure and almost unwillingly I take the lamp as she walks towards the wolves with Alshep on her side. Al unsheathes his weapon and Elina does the same along with her shield. With a sword skill on the ready he attacks the first wolf, killing it in one swift blow. He backs up and quickly prepares for the next one. Elina charges at the wolf closest to her, with incredible strength, she slams the animal to the ground with her shield, she then stabs it two times while it's down. I stand impressed; the sudden change in attitude is quite drastic. She looks fierce and determined in battle. After they are done with the pack, again the result screen doesn't show up. I place the lamp on the ground and unsheathed my sword as I see a big pair of eyes in front of my party.
"We got a pack leader! Be ready!" I yell.
Elina starts walking back to me with her weapons at the ready. Alshep decides to do something stupid and naively attacks head-on, barely being able to graze the big wolf.
"Yeah! We can tak-" he was interrupted as the leader sends him flying several feet away from me.
"Elina, do you remember how to switch?" I ask.
She nods and I charge at the wolf. He swipes at me with its paw, but I dodge it and quickly try to connect a few hits at its chest. I jump back and look at Elina.
"Switch!"
She immediately jumps in with a sword skill and does a three hit combo on the beast's side. She sides steps and looks back at me.
"Switch!" she yells.
Looking carefully at the beast I ready a sword skill and wait for it to lunge at me. It takes my bait jumping at me, I barely manage to side step around it and slash vertically with my sword. I see Alshep on the corner of my eye rushing at the wolf with his sword up. I look at him and nod as he does the same.
"Go for it! Switch!" I scream.
He growls as he runs and jumps at the wolf's face.
"Take this!" he roars.
He slashes its face and lands on his feet as he watches it topple in-front of him. The result screen appears before me.
-Result-
-Exp: 132-
-Col: 312-
-Items: 0-
I look up at my health bar and see that I leveled up. Well, that's a start.
"Woohoo! Got a rare sword!" shouts Alshep.
He equips it in his hand, a long slick blade with fur on the crossguard. Elina is jumping out of joy and starts to head for the lamp that I set on the ground a few moments ago.
"Hey Alshep!" I say.
He turns to look at me just as Elina arrives behind me with the lamp. I extend my arm and give him a really awkward thumbs up.
"Great job, man," I yell.
He sheathes his sword and walks over to us. Just as he is about to meet us he raises his hand above his head.
"You did well too," he says.
I smile and meet his hand with mine for a high-five. It has got to be the most satisfying high-five I've ever received. We managed to beat what in a way is a mid-level boss, and we did it in an extraordinary manner. He turns to Elina and ruffles her hair a bit.
"You did well too. I saw it all," he exclaims.
Elina blushes and pushes away his hand, but then giggles. I can't help but to smile at that and feel good about this journey so far.
"And here I thought you two wouldn't get along," I say.
They both look at me and laugh a little. They stop and look at each other before laughing some more. I join in the little laugh and then start walking towards Horunka. Alshep walks up my right and Elina up on my left side.
"I uhmm… thought things over. I want to say sorry. You know, about how I acted earlier and stuff," he says.
I grin to myself and pat his back.
"It's alright, we are in the same party. I'm sure things will just get harder."
With that Elina turns to her feet and Alshep sighs a little. After all I just keep amazing myself with these on the spot speeches.
"But as long as we stay together, and get stronger. I'm sure, I'm absolutely sure we can stay alive," I add.
Elina holds my hand and Al smiles while giving me a hard pat in the back.
"You sure know what to say," he laughs.
If only you knew…
We finally reach Harunka. I lift my arms and stretch out, groaning a bit in the process. Well that was awfully tiring. Alshep sits on a crate along the wall of one of the first buildings and Elina on the floor next to it.
"Hey! Not that fast! We need to at least get some rooms at the inn," I say.
"Ehh? But I'm tired," says Elina.
Alshep gets up and grabs Elina's arm.
"Come on, he is right. That way we will be safe," he says.
Well, before that. I think it's time I come clean as to why we came here. I'm just about to speak when a player comes up running behind me. He stops all of the sudden, he is heaving, and trying to catch his breath. He then opens his menu to change swords. It catches my eye, that's exactly the blade I'm looking for. This guy beat me to the quest. I'm sure I can still get it though. The player has black hair and looks startled, his clothes are the regular starter set. A blue shirt along with the standard leather chest piece nothing too fancy. He is either very skilled or didn't care to upgrade.
"Hey, are you alright?" Alshep asks.
The player looks at us as he sheaths his blade. He says nothing. He spastically looks away and starts running out of sight.
"Geez…what was that about?" Alshep groans.
I sigh as I realize it is time to tell the truth.
"We are not here to resupply," I say trying to hide my face
Al's and Elina's attention finds itself centered on me.
"What did you just say?" Alshep says as he gets closer.
"We are here…for a quest…"
I see as Al clenches his palms into fists and Elina catches up to him to grab his arm. This little girl may have just spared me a punch in the face.
"Are you freaking kidding me right now? We almost died outside of town for a stupid quest?!"
I nod and look away. I knew what I was doing. I knew it could backfire like it is.
"Look, this will help us. We'll get stronger and the item we'll get will spare us a lot of trouble," I say.
He growls at me and turns around. Elina looks worried and stands between me and him.
"Ok, fine…whatever. Where to?" he says.
Elina stares at me with a pouting face and for some reason it makes me feel horrendously bad. I would rather get punched in the face than have to stare at her disappointed expression.
"The NPC is right this way…follow me," I sigh.
As they follow me around I feel their eyes stabbing my back. It is almost painful. Almost.
"So we just get this Ovule thing, huh?" Alshep teases.
"Yes," I reply.
"You say they drop from these Nepents things?" he continues.
"Yes," I say.
"The ones that have these flowers on their head?" he adds.
"Yes," I say frustrated.
"He already explained this in the village Al!" says Elina.
"Thank you," I mutter.
This guy sure knows when to be an ass and when to be the nicest person in the world. It has been a bit since we left the village and headed into the woods to find the Nepents. We'll be searching for regular ones at first, but if we spot one with a red flower we are to defeat it quickly and return to the village since it will drop the item we need to complete the quest. Absolutely for no reason we should attack a Nepent with fruit on its head. The result of that…could be deadly.
"There," Elina whispers while pointing to a Nepent.
"Good eye. We should be careful. These things are a level higher than we are. Since we are three it shouldn't be much trouble, but still, be careful and watch out for the ones with fruit," I say.
We all nod at each other and approach the Nepent carefully. We all ready up our weapons and get in formation around the enemy.
"Now!" Elina shouts as she closes in to attack.
She hits it four times before yelling "switch" for Alshep to step in. He charges at the Nepent and slices quickly through it. To my surprise his attack kills it and the enemy disappears.
"Wow this sword sure is something," he says to himself.
"Don't let your guard down just now, we are just getting started," I say.
We continue our battle through the forest with no luck in finding a Flower Nepent. We collect Col and Exp like nobody's business, but still, to no avail. Elina acquires a new shield and I get some shoulder plates. Al finds another sword but refuses to use it since his "Wolf Blade" is better.
"How many more do we have to kill? I'm already level three here," Alshep says.
"I don't know. It's bound to be here somewhere, just a little more, come on," I reply.
"Oh! There look! It's one with a flower!" Alshep shouts.
I turn around and spot it as it spawns behind us. Sweet, just in time. Now, to cut it down.
"Attack!" I shout.
Alshep goes in with a skill and slices the Nepent from the side. He makes it stagger and opens its defense for another attack.
"Switch," he says.
Elina jumps and hits it hard with her shield making it step back.
"Switch!" she yells.
I ready a sword skill and run towards the enemy. I quickly avoid it as it tries to get me with its mouth. With the flower at ground level I take my chance and attack its stem which is coming right out of the monster's head. My sword quickly cuts through and the Nepent bursts into pieces. The battle result pops up and I acquire the item we were looking for.
"Was that it?" Elina asks.
I nod and look at my inventory.
-Little Nepent's Ovule-
We put away our weapons and start walking towards Horunka Village again.
"Well that didn't take long whatsoever," says Al.
"Are you really like this all the time?" I ask.
He starts laughing and pushes me playfully as we walk. We reach Horunka again and meet with the NPC who gave us the quest.
"Thank you so much, I am forever in your debt. Please, take this as a token of my gratitude."
That line of dialogue alone isn't cliché at all. Since we were a party it only gives us one item. We talk about it and decide I should keep it since Alshep likes his current sword and Elina said she likes short swords better. I go through my equipment and change my sword for the Anneal Blade. I unsheathe it to take a look at it. A grip of a simple design; the blade starts out narrow then widens and then becomes narrow and widens again before becoming straight , it looks better than it did on the beta.
"So that's the sword huh?" Al asks.
I nod and put it away as we walk down Horunka Village.
"Can we go to the inn now?" Elina asks with tired eyes.
"Of course, but…it isn't really an inn," I say.
"I'm so close to punching you in the face…" Al grunts.
We walk to an NPC house and I knock on the door gently. An old woman comes out to greet us.
"Excuse me, do you have any rooms for rent?" I ask.
She nods and lets us into her home. She explains her price is 40 Col a night per room. We decide to stay there and rest up for the coming day. We are given access to our respective rooms and we wave each other good night.
In my room I switch to town clothing and lay myself on the bed. This day has only been tiring. Having to sleep in a game…it doesn't feel right. I wonder for a brief moment what is of my unconscious body back in the real world. Is my family ok? Do they know what happened to me? How is my sister doing? These are questions I won't have an answer for in a while. I roll to my side and close my eyes, but I receive a message.
-From: Elina
-To: Daath, Alshep
-Subject: -
-Message: I just remembered we'll have to sleep in this world…
She is right…as of now there's no way around it.
-From: Alshep
-To: Daath, Elina
-Subject: Reply
-Message: I know it's hard but just try not to think about. Ignorance is bliss.
This guy...he has the weirdest mood swings. In the end, he is a nice guy though. I feel like I've bonded with these two today.
-From: Elina
-To: Daath, Ashep
-Subject: Reply
-Message: I guess you are right…Well…good night you two. See you in the morning.
-From: Alshep
-To: Daath, Elina
-Subject: Reply
-Message: Good night.
I could've done so many things today…so many things.
-From: Daath
-To: Alshep, Elina
-Subject: Reply
-Message: Good night…
Crysina here!
I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
This chapter has been updated as of July/27/2016
For some reason re-revising these chapters is taking me more than it should, hopefully they are turning out to be better versions than before, then again they might not be perfect. Nevertheless this chapter holds a special place in my heart since it is here where I think I really establish who these characters are and stuff.
For those who've read the novels you might be able to tell who that other player was. Kudos if you spotted the brief cameo!
If you like what you read, please leave a review, it's always nice to see what people have to say about my story, be it good or bad.
Thank you for reading!
Next Chapter: "Netiquette"