1

About a month or so has passed since the first floor was cleared. Honestly being here, I didn't really keep track of time. The front has made decent progress, we made it all the way up to floor 15. Averaging almost a floor or more a week. That's saying something! Since it took us almost a month to clear the first floor.

Leading the charge was Kirito and Asuna. Who, to the best of my knowledge were partied only to teach Asuna the ropes.

Yea, OK. A likely story from one of them but whatever. As for me and Majiku, we hunted like crazy. we were averaging about 2 or 3 levels a week. which put us each at 38. I tried to talk Majiku into getting a smaller two-handed sword so he would move faster by default. But, he was hell bound to make the massive sword work. So we trained. Eventually, he was about as fast as an average one-handed sword user. Which, in terms of using a two-handed sword, was crazy.

As for me, there wasn't much to tell. I focused on the speed of my attacks on top of the damage I already knew how to do. We had perfected the art of switching in the style of me spinning over him and delivering the final blow to any monster. It worked 9 out of 10 times. If not it took a few extra slashes from me to do the trick.

As we all were getting stronger there was resentment forming in the other front liners.

They were convinced that all 4 of us were former testers and wanted them to die. This thought pissed me off to no end. It's not like we were hoarding information. Everything Majiku and I learned we sold to my info broker, Argo. She, in turn, depending on the kind of information, added it to the guide that was still being handed out for free, or added it to her store to sell. So no information hoarding. It was all about how much you worked and how fast. But they wouldn't listen to reason and I didn't care.

There was one fight when Kirito and Asuna had led a secret raid in order to get the Last Attack bonus on the boss. Normally I would have called him on it. But when he explained that it was to keep the 2 major front-line guilds from fighting I let him explain.

"The boss drops a banner. This banner, if used by an official guild, will empower all other guild members in a certain range," He explained while we ate at a local restaurant on floor 4. "The banner would cause a massive fight for who gets it."

"And that, in turn, could turn into a massive bloodbath and halt any progression" I finished.

"Prissy girls fighting over drapes. Why don't they make a unified guild to use it?" Majiku asked, clearly annoyed.

"I wondered the same thing, but the guild's leaders don't see eye to eye, so I can't see them joining forces anytime soon," Kirito finished.

We agreed to help him, along with other trusted players, fight the boss so he could get the banner to keep them from fighting. We succeed before the two guilds had even formed the party to take the boss on themselves. Needless to say, it drove in the reputation of the 4 of us as being lowly snakes that are trying to sabotage the game.

After all of that, we decided to take a week off from the front and go back to the 3rd floor. The only way to get around was by boat. It was like Venice, Italy. We both really enjoyed this place. It was calm. The stores were neat, and the food was awesome. While we were there we left each other to our own deal.

Majiku went on through the town, trying to find a girl apparently. I had to remind him that the odds of finding another American player here were slim since we were 2 of about 100 that were given access to play. He clearly didn't care.

So he went off to hunt for girls while I rode through town on a gondola. I didn't have a goal in mind. Just explore. I was thinking about going hunting later for materials to enhance my sword. As if her ears were ringing Argo the Rat swooped in from nowhere and sat in my boat. I nearly fell backward.

"Christ Argo! I did not give you permission to come aboard," I said regaining my balance.

"Oh come on, Flastorii," I'm not sure where she pulled the name from, but there was no arguing with her. "Can't ya show a girl a good time? Take me for a spin outside the city."

2

I guess I didn't have much of a choice. Argo situated herself to where she was laying on her back with her hands behind her head.

"So... I'll bite. Why am I taking you outside of the city?" I asked.

"Oh, you're so impatient! Just enjoy the company of a cute girl for the next hour or so," She chided back to me.

"Yea well normally when I hang out with you I find myself with about 1000 Col less than when we met."

"Don't worry, Flastii. This meeting is on-the-house," She said as she closed her eyes.

Did she really just fall asleep? I leaned over and lightly poked the top of her head. Nothing.

Dang, she's worse than my sister.

The eldest girl in my family had a crazy ability to fall asleep as soon as she found a comfy spot. I let her sleep as I navigated out of town. The floor was pretty much all woods, but instead of roads, there were river channels. I couldn't shake the feeling that Argo wanted to talk about something important... Or maybe she really did just want to take a load off.

In which case why me? There were plenty of other spots so rest. Better than a small gondola. We got a fair distance out of town when she yawned and stretched her arms.

"Ah, that was nice," She said.

"I bet, how long has it been since you slept?" I asked.

"Mmmm... Say about 3 days or so," She said, scratching her chin.

"Argo, what the hell?" I almost wanted to knock her out so she could sleep more.

"That's my line of work, can't rest for too long or my information will go south," She sat up and turned to me. "Were we followed?" She took a slightly serious tone. I turned to make sure there was no one in sight. Even so, I turned the boat into an outcropping to hide.

So she did have something to tell me, and she didn't want others to listen in.

"Ok, so you didn't come out here to hang out. What's up? Get messed up in the wrong crowd again?" I asked.

"I have no idea what yer on about! I'm an Angel!" She shot back.

"Yea, an Angel that had to be bailed out by Kirito when she got wrapped up with those weird ninja wannabes."

"I... You heard about that?" She tried to hide her face under her hood, but I knew she was blushing.

"Well I was on my way to help, I saw your marker on the map running faster than usual."

"Ah, so you were stalkin' me eh Falstii?" Walked right into that one. My turn to switch shades.

"Um... No! I was reading the map and just saw your cursor that's all," I said getting the conversation back on track. "So what's up?"

"Well, there's been an interesting development in the Town of Beginnings that involves you and your bro," She explained. I sat down across from her. "Rumor has it that A couple of people have been looking for you. They say that they know you."

My mind raced. I didn't know anyone else here. It was only me and my brother who dived in... Unless...

"Names... I need names, Argo," I said, trying to hide my panic.

"See that was one of the things that no one could get straight. So I went back to the Town to find out. I actually found them and said I would come get ya. It's a guy and a girl. The guy's name is Austin. The girl's name is Peyton," I shot to my feet so fast the boat almost rolled over. "Woah boy! This thing ain't built for rough seas," She said holding the sides of the gondola.

"Take me to them... Now!"

As soon as I felt the ground under my feet I raced off the teleport platform. I had sent a message to Majiku to meet me here in town. Sure enough there he was. I grabbed him and dragged him off to the edge of town where Argo had taken the two people in question.

"You seriously think it's him?" He asked as we swerved through the mass of people.

"I'm 90% sure I'll know the guy, I'm hoping I don't know the girl," I said back.

We left the town and turned hard left, following the walls that lined the entire town. Pretty soon a tree came into view, standing around it were 3 people. I recognized Argo right off. The other two had their backs to me. They must have heard our footsteps cause both of them turned around. When they locked eyes with me I nearly tripped. The guy was slightly shorter than my brother... So still taller than me.

The girl was about the same height as me with long black hair that was pulled back in a ponytail. I felt my face burn with anger. As we were running up the guy stepped forward, probably expecting the usual handshake.

"Hey man! Glad we finally fou-," I didn't give him the chance to finish his sentence. I planted my fist right on his face and sent him tumbling back. Good thing the girl and Maj grabbed my arm halfway through or it could have been a lot worse than his health going down 10%.

"Christ, Drake. That's what we get for coming in after you?" The girl asked.

"For crying out loud man, give them a break," Argo said putting herself in between me and the guy.

"You idiots! What the hell were you thinking coming in here?!" I yelled. Majiku let go of my arm and looked at the guy.

"I know who you are. Don't think I've had the pleasure of meeting you miss..?" He extended his hand to her.

"Peyton," She shook his hand.

"So, Peyton?" He looked at the guy. "And your Austin, right?" The guy got up and rubbed his face.

"Yup, good to see you again, Alex," He said. Another wave of anger settled in me, but I held back the urge to punch him again.

"Two questions, moron. Why are you here? And what in gods name were you thinking? Bringing your girl into all of this man?" I said as controlled as I could. Austin and Peyton exchanged looks and smiled.

"Well, multiple reasons. I had promised to game with you when I got out of school for the summer. And..." He looked down mournfully.

"And your sister asked us to come," Peyton finished. I was stunned. I looked at Majiku, he was clearly as stunned as I was.

"Our sister? Courtney asked you to come?" Maj asked. In the real world, Peyton was a good friend and classmate to my sister, also dating Austin. He was also a friend of mine from way back in grade school... Small world we lived in sometimes.

"We were hanging out with her the other day. She's grown really depressed. Thinking that you two were all alone and freaking out in here."

"Except, from what Argo has told us, and your right hook, you two are heading up the front-lines, clearing the game," Austin said. He got up and brushed himself off. "We talked, and Payton and I both decided to dive in and help. Even got it cleared from your parents, our parents, and even schools, after about a month of begging that is," I stared at him in awe.

This was not like Austin. He normally thought things through, So why in the hell did he decide this was a good idea? "So... Yea... Your family says 'hi'. Courtney wants to slap you both," This made me lighten up a bit. It was hard to turn my sister down. Especially when she was sad... Which was normally never.

"So... You both are here now. What exactly is your plan? There is no way we can let you go to the front now. You are too far behind and we can't stay away for very long," I explained. "So you guys have one of two options, grind like hell to at least get up to par with the front lines level. Which currently sits at like, 20 or so. Or set up a shop somewhere. Work on a craft skill. Both would be helpful in the fight right now," Maj stepped forward to add to it.

"If you guys want to level and fight that's fine, we can help you at least get the hang of fighting and carry you to level 10 or so. After that me and Drake, or Falstor, in this world-" Argo spoke up and looked at me.

"That's your name IRL? Like the explorer?"

"Same spelling at least yeah," I realized my mistake too late. "If I find out you sell any of our real names Argo, I swear, I will sick every fluffy puppy I can find on you," This made her flinch.

"Ah, Jesus," She said, clearly flustered. "Don't worry I wouldn't even with the threat of those mongrels," she said crossing her arms. "Stupid beasts," For some reason, she was deathly afraid of dogs. "Besides, this whole meeting is off the record. Especially since it's a rare case."

"Good, thank you," I said. I faced Austin and Peyton... Which reminded me of something else. "Also with the names you two. Why? Why use your real names?" I chuckled a small but.

Austin smiled. "We figured if you were still in the first town it would have been the fastest way for you to spot us."

"Turns out you were so far out of the first town that it was a miracle we found Argo, selling a newspaper of the latest boss fight," Peyton said, fishing out a newspaper with a screenshot on the front. The picture had me mid-spin over Majiku with my sword in the pre-slash stage on the right side, and Kirito and Asuna on the left. I'm pretty sure that Kirito and myself were racing for the last attack.

"You didn't catch my good side, Argo," Majiku said.

"You try taking good screenshots during a boss fight and get back to me slick," she said. Majiku laughed.

"Alright fair point," Maj said, surrendering.

"Anyway, we found Argo and bought her paper. We both had a mini panic attack when we saw you. So Argo asked if we knew you, and we explained" Peyton finished.

"That was about a half an hour before we went on our little cruise alone Falstii," Argo said. Majiku elbowed me and Austin flashed me a wicked huge smile.

"You dog you, And you were telling me not to flirt with the ladies," Maj said. I was trying extremely hard not to turn red.

"It wasn't like that! Ugh, I'm not gonna hear the end of this one," I said. I turned to Argo who was, weirdly enough also turning a slight shade of red, but still smiling. "Anyway, what do you guys want to do? If you want to go down the crafting route I've got some people in mind that I'm sure would be happy to mentor you. That's not saying that you aren't gonna learn to fight. But we will have to spread the times out between craft, and battle," Peyton and Austin exchanged looks like they were having a mental conversation.

Couples, how they did that, I will never know. Though I guess I couldn't say because I never actually found that one person I click with. They both looked back to me and Austin spoke up.

"I think we are gonna go down the crafts route. There's too much for us to learn in terms of combat and not enough time to learn it," I was relieved in a way. I wouldn't have to worry about them being in any tough line of fire.

"Ok. So I have an idea of who can help you. A blacksmith, and a shopkeeper. Austin, I'll pair you up with the shopkeeper, Agil. Peyton, I'll introduce you to Liz. She's just getting started, but she knows her way around an anvil," I said. I turned to Maj. "Since you know Austin more, could you take him to see Agil? I'm almost positive he will accept the extra help."

"Sure, I've got some stuff to sell to him anyway," Majiku said turning to Austin and Peyton. "We all need to friend each other. So if you get in a jam, you can message us," After the friend's list exchange we parted ways, promising to meet up on floor 3 for some good seafood.

"I'll go along with Flastor to make sure he doesn't bust any moves on ya girl Austin," I grabbed her by the back of her collar and dragged her away. Once again, when she decides something there was no talking her out of it. We traveled to the 15th floor. where Lizbeth had set up a blacksmiths shop for the front. As we walked Peyton spoke up.

"So, I'm not that great with a hammer, will that be a problem?"

"Most likely no. Unless Liz wants to go all out on training you. Most likely you will work the actual storefront while she works on the weapons," I said.

"Yea, she needs a pretty face for the front of the house! Ain't that right Flastii?" Argo asked. Clearly trying to tick me off.

"Argo, you're seriously killing me, don't you have.. info to go broke or something?" It wasn't a very good comeback.

Argo looked at Peyton and made a weird face that I assume was supposed to be mine. They laughed. I felt bad because she apparently remembered me from when I was back in High School and I completely didn't know anything about her. It wasn't that I didn't try. It was that she was one of my sister's friends that I probably used to drive around when they couldn't drive.

So having Argo there, to help lighten the mood by annoying me was helpful. We got to the town where Liz had bought a small building to operate out of. We walked in the door and I called out.

"Liz? Are you in? It's Flastor and Argo! I have a friend here who wants to ask you something!" Peyton looked at me really nervous all of the sudden.

"Wait, I'm gonna ask her? I thought it was gonna be you?"

"Well, I'm not the one that's gonna work with her," She puffed her cheek out in annoyance.

"Fine,"

We walked in and found Liz hard at work in the back of the building. She must not have heard me because of the hammer. I walked up behind her and tapped her shoulder. She yelped and swung her hammer at my face, which connected perfectly, and sent me flying into the wall.

"Ow... Hey, long time, no see," I groaned. She got up and scolded me.

"Who the heck said you could scare me like that?" She said.

"Who the heck hammers her customers who are trying to get help?" I shot back.

"...Fair enough, sorry," She said as she offered a hand. I got up and turned to Peyton.

"Liz, this is Peyton, a friend of mine. She's interested in working with you," I explained.

"Ah... So you want to be a blacksmith huh?" Liz got that look of 'I so got this'. "In that case my apprentice best start while the day is young!"

She grabbed Peyton's arm and dragged her to a shelf and started explaining the differences between certain ores. She's in good hands. Especially if Liz was willing to actually teach her to be a blacksmith. There was something about the way Liz smithed her swords. Like there was more than just game data melded in them.

"Well ladies, have fun, don't make her brain explode Liz. She's had a long day," I called and walked out of the shop with Argo. As I was gonna ask if she was gonna go back to work Argo looped her arm around mine and got extremely close.

"Care to treat me to lunch, Boy?" I tried to free my arm but it was no good.

"Oh, I suppose. Got a place in mind, Girl?" I asked, looking away to hide my unease.

"There's a lovely place on floor 4. They have some good noodle bowls."

"You had me a Noodles, lead the way."

After a good meal, We went back to floor 15. It was weird that Argo was spending so much time away from the front. I decided not to ask because she probably wouldn't answer. As we were walking up to Liz's' shop I got a message.

"Go ahead in, I'll be in shortly," She nodded and walked through the door.

The message was from Majiku. It read,

"You need to get down here... NOW,"

I replied with. "What happened? Are you ok?" Panic was filling my body. I thought something had happened to Austin.

After a few seconds, I got a message back. All he said was.

"PKers on Floor 2,"

3

My blood turned to ice. I ran in to grab Argo. When I did I was stunned. Peyton was standing in front of the anvil, Liz watching over her shoulder, pounding on a piece of metal. After one more hit it melded into a dagger.

"Awesome! Let's take a look," Liz said. She picked it up and tapped it, pulling up the stat window. "Hey, not bad for your first weapon," She handed it to Peyton. "Go ahead and keep it. Use it well."

"Thanks! I will," Peyton said, she inspected the blade proudly. She noticed me in the doorway. "Check this out! My first knife!" She held it up for me to see.

"That's great bud! I gotta borrow your mentor for a sec, you too Argo," Liz patted Peyton on her back and handed her another bar.

"Go ahead and keep practicing!" I ushered Liz and Argo to the front half of the store so Peyton couldn't hear us talk. "So what's wrong? You look like a ghost."

"PKers..." I could feel the tension rise as I said it.

"PKers? Player Killers? Really?" Argo asked, clearly skeptical.

"Majiku messaged me, he said they were on Floor 2," I said. Liz looked horrified.

"Where on floor 2?" She asked.

"Not sure, but we need to meet up with Maj and the others. Peyton might need that knife sooner than I wished," I said, looking back to the doorway.

"We can't take her dumb-dumb, we haven't had the chance to train her," Argo said.

"I know, but we can't leave her here. I have a bad feeling," A thought was nagging in the back of my head, but I kept it at bay. "Liz, do you want to com-"

"Yes," She said before I could finish. "I sent my friends down there on a metal run this morning. I haven't heard from them since." I understood why she looked so bad.

"Got it. Let's grab Peyton and get moving."

We got to floor 2 and raced to the forest that Majiku and Austin were. Apparently, they were gathering some materials for Agil when they saw the group. They had stayed hidden but didn't want to move without backup. We got to the edge when I stopped the group.

"Since we don't know what's going on we need to be really careful. Stay on guard and keep a sharp eye out. If you see anything say something, but don't say it loud, just tap the nearest person," The girls nodded and readied their weapons. Liz, a mace and shield, Argo, some claws, and Peyton with her new dagger. "Alright let's go."

Before we left for the woods. I had gone to the nearest shop and bought a teleport crystal and set it to the prison. It cost almost all of my Col but it was better than going in and killing everyone.

I also sent a message to Kirito, letting him know to stay on guard and where we were heading, in case we didn't come back. So we ran, as fast and as quietly as we could. As we got deeper into the woods the canopy of leaves started blocking out the sun. It got to the point where it was almost night time.

Finally, we got to where Majiku and Austin were camped out. When I approached Majiku swung his sword behind him. I ducked under it and held my hands up.

"Easy man! It's us," I said. waving to the other to make sure they were all visible.

"Jesus. Don't do that," Majiku sheathed his sword.

"So what happened?" I turned to Austin and his eyes were wide. Peyton walked to his side and took his hand.

"It was bad, man. there was a huge ring of people maybe 6 in all. They had surrounded a group of 3. After they forced them to basically strip down to nothing, they just..." He didn't need to finish. I scanned our surroundings. I was working on my detection skill. Unless the players had a ridiculously high Hide Skill, I would sense them. Maj seemed to be reading my mind.

"Already tried man. They won't show up. They were wearing cloaks. I'm assuming they have a stealth ability. They won't appear to us until maybe they are 3-4 feet from us."

"Damn. Ok, we need to get out. Now." I looked at Liz and she looked like she was on the verge of tears.

"Was one guy wearing brown? Wielding an ax, with a dragon logo on the handle?" She asked, shakily.

From nowhere the ax she just described materialized into the ground right in front of me.

I turned, pulled Liz and Argo behind me, and had just enough time to deflect a throwing knife with my blade. 5 more whizzed past my head. I got two, while the others were knocked down by Majs' massive sword.

"Show yourself!" I yelled.

A sinister laughter raised from all around us. Six figures emerged from the shadows and surrounded us. Majiku pushed Austin and Peyton behind him. Liz and Argo flanked my shoulders. "What do you want?" I demanded in the sternest tone possible.

"Oooh. Not much really. Just everything you have on you. And maybe a crack at one of the lovely ladies you have with you," The guy in front of me sneered.

"How about you come over here and I'll crack you on the head pal?" Liz said. She sounded tough, but her arms were shaking a small bit. This must have been her first fight in a while. "Where did you get this ax?"

"Oh, one of our playthings left it for us. Such a shame, they were too weak to last very long. But you all look like you will last a good long while," The guy under the hood said. "Shall we get on with the show?"

This was bad. There was no way we could take all 6 while protecting Austin and Peyton. Argo leaned in so I could hear her.

"Listen. Liz and I will fall back and guard the two newbies. You and Maj wipe the floor with these clowns," It seemed solid.

Based on their gear the groups level had to average around low 20s at best. Maj and I almost had a 20 level difference on them.

But still, 2 on 6 were horrible odds. I was able to look far enough to the side to see Liz without taking my eyes off the guy in front of me. She had tears streaming from her face. But she nodded in agreement.

It was settled. If we were gonna go down, we were gonna go down swinging. I was able to catch a glimpse of Austin and Peyton. She was standing behind him with her knife clutched to her chest, while Austin held his arm out holding her back.

He held a curved sword that I assume Agil gave to him. At least he had some experience wielding a blade. But not a lot.

I locked eyes with Maj and mouthed 'Switch' as subtly as I could. He nodded. Then I turned to face the guy in front of me. His teeth were yellow and crooked like someone had punched him as a kid and they never grew right. "Fine," I said. "Let the show begin."

4

"Jump!" luckily Liz and Argo were the only ones that caught on. We launched into the air. I grabbed under their arms and flung them higher to make sure they got out of the way. The group advanced but Majiku stepped in and swiped his sword in a wide arc. He connected twice and sent 2 flying back. The others dodged.

2 down 4 to go.

The goal was to get them so far in the red that they couldn't fight, not to kill. I held up my sword horizontally to allow the girls a way to redirect to land in front of Austin and Peyton. Then I landed shoulder to shoulder with Majiku. I stared 2 down, taunting them. They hesitated but then charged. The two facing Maj did the same. The two advancing on me made the mistake of coming straight for me, instead of flanking me. Just before their blades hit, I jumped and spun, slashing both of their hands.

I hit them just right to where they dropped their knives. They stumbled as I landed behind them. I spun and slashed their backs. Both of their health bars had only a sliver of health left. They kneeled on the ground and yielded. I turned to face Maj and he had successfully disarmed his foes as well.

Was it really gonna be that easy?

"Stop!" I heard a man's voice say behind me. I turned. The two that had gotten knocked into the woods apparently were not down. They had disarmed Austin, Liz, and Argo. I couldn't tell if Peyton still had her knife, but I assumed she didn't. They pinned Argo and Liz to the ground, holding their heads up by their hair. Rage filled my entire body.

"Let them go!" I growled.

"Drop your weapons tough guys, and maybe I'll consider." I didn't have a choice. I dropped my sword, so did Maj, and raised my hands up.

"There, dropped, let them go, now!" I demanded. A sharp pain hit the back of my head. One of the ones that Maj disarmed had re-armed themselves and slammed the butt of his knife into my head. I fell down and he leaned on my back. He pulled my hair up and made me look towards Argo and Liz.

"Just for making our lives that much harder, you get to watch as we kill the girls." I squirmed but the guy put his knife to my throat. "Be a good boy now."

The guys holding down the girls held their knives up, getting ready to bring them down. From behind the guy, Peyton yelled defiantly as she revealed her knife that she had hidden behind Austin. She drove it into the back of the guy that had Liz. Then I felt the guy that had me ease up a bit. I used the opening to twist out and punch him in the face.

The guy that had Argo began to drive his knife to her neck. I grabbed my sword and did the only thing I could think. I swung upwards and cut his hand off. His hand fell to the ground, disappearing when it hit.

Maj swept his legs under the two in front of him and knocked them down. He picked up his sword and slashed all 4 back down to the red. I grabbed the guy's throat and shoved him into a tree, lifting him off of the ground by 4 inches.

"I am gonna rip your throat out and feed it to the nearest wolf I can find you f-ugly bastard!" I yelled in rage. Before I could do anything Argo ran up and grabbed me from behind. She buried her head in my back.

"Easy, boy," She said weakly. I felt the rage drain from my body. My head cleared up and I realized that everyone was staring at me, and I had my sword pressed so far into the guy's throat that there was a red cut mark, and his health was slowly draining.

When his health dropped into the red I let him go. He crumpled to the ground and looked up at me. I got a good look at his face. He had a tear streaming down his face, and he was in sheer panic.

"You are all going to the Black Iron Palace. Or die by my sword," I said. I didn't mean the last part, but all 6 of them obliged. I held up the corridor crystal and opened it. Majiku ushered them in. I stood ready all the way until the corridor closed.

As soon as I was sure they weren't gonna come back through I sank to my knees, leaning on my sword. All of the energy just drained from my body. As I sat there I felt someone grip my head. Argo pulled my head down next to hers. We all just sat there, still and silent.

5

We decided to extend our stay away from the front for another 3 weeks. We still trained. Maj trained Austin, while I had help from Argo, training Peyton. We asked Liz if she wanted to hang with us for a while longer. She went from having great friends to being alone. She refused.

"I just... Want to be alone for awhile," She said, clearly broken. I told her I would stop by the shop later to check on her. She just nodded and walked away.

"Give her time, those guys were with her since the beginning. And I think she may have been crushin' on the one that had the ax," Argo said, standing extremely close to me.

After the incident, Majiku had recounted what had happened from his perspective. I had gotten out from under the guy that had me, picked up my sword, lobbed the guys hand off, and pinned him to the tree, all in the span of one second, at the most. My eyes were so dark that they might as well be black and bloodshot. So that would be why Argo held me back. I'm surprised she could stand near me after that.

Peyton never met my gaze, and Austin talked to me differently after that, like he met a different person. A darker one. I couldn't blame them. They were so eager to help, only to have that happen. But they were determined. Austin wanted to continue to train and he said he wanted to keep helping Agil in his shop. They must have really hit it off. So Maj took him back to Agils shop. Argo trained with Peyton while I sat under a tree. They spared while Argo shot out suggestions.

"Step left."

"Slide right."

"Jab now!"

Peyton was getting faster. Which was good if PKers were starting to appear. Maj kept me informed of Austin's training and he was also improving. After a few days, I took Peyton to Liz's new shop on the new front of floor 19. When we walked in she was wearing a pink dress, and had pink hair. She turned and smiled.

"Welcome to Lizbeth's Blacksmith Shop," She said. Her eyes were closed so she didn't see who it was, and I was worried when she did she would throw the nearest sharp object at my head. When she did open her eyes her face turned serious. I braced myself, but instead, she locked eyes with Peyton. "Where the hell have you been, apprentice? Makin' me set up shop by myself!" Peyton was wide-eyed.

"I.. Um... Well," Before Peyton could form a full sentence Liz walked up and grabbed her arm lightly.

"No time, we have a lot of work to do. Soon the front-liners will be here and I'm gonna need help keeping things organized!" She ushered Peyton into the shop and explained how the new arrangement was set up and laid out a schedule balancing store hours and Peyton's smith training. I watched, half amazed, half worried. There was no way she had gotten over something like that. But maybe helping Peyton and having someone to hang with while she worked was the best for her.

I looked at Argo who was standing next to me. She looked back and smiled.

"See? Told ya she would be fine," She turned to walk out. I looked back and Peyton was looking at me, smiling, but in sheer panic of the information overload from Liz. I smiled, gave her a thumbs up, and waved.

"So what's your plan, Argo?" I asked her, somewhat worried about her answer.

"I'm headin' back to the front. I made sure to publish the PK story so everyone knows to watch themselves. But being 4 weeks behind means there are 4 floors of info I need to gather."

"Yea Majiku and I are heading back there too. I'll make sure to keep you updated with anything we find."

"Sounds good, watch yourself out there Flastii," She hesitated like she changed her mind about something, then smiled.

"You too Argo, sound off if you need us, OK? And sleep more than every 3 days" I said.

Epilogue

A few weeks passed and both Austin and Peyton had settled into a routine of helping at their respective shops, training, and taking over when their mentors were either running errands or participating in boss fights if needed. The boss fights mainly applied to Agil.

Since the incident, Liz had mainly focused on smithing. Majku and I would stop by every once and awhile to either check on her or have our equipment serviced. She seemed to have her old charm back. She was also fiery as ever. Our visits were always pleasant. But leaving always left me with some dread.

Every time I would turn to leave. I would see the ax of her fallen friend that she always hung above the door to her shop. It was a truly beautiful ax, though I never asked her if it was for display or a reminder, or a warning to not leave a safe zone.

END OF PART TWO