Welcome my readers. This is the first part of the interlude story, which I hope you all enjoy. This is a section of the story I've decided to implement in order to provide yet another perspective on the story (As if I didn't already have enough) that will run parallel to the main story and on occasion intersect. I have also provided it with a rough time keeping device to provide a measure on how much time has passed (It won't always be in hours, when I start hitting months that would be ridiculous), but be warned as this time scale only is relevant to the Interlude chapters, as they will not always run at the same time speed as the Main story. Though when it does intersect it will be coming forward to the Main Story's place in time, and not forcing flashback type occurrences upon you.

If you have any questions/concerns don't hesitate to mail me or leave a review with your questions (do so from an account so that I may respond to you directly please)

That's right people, early update this time. I've had this pre-written for months but couldn't find the spot to slot it in. Well now it fits nicely so enjoy.

Also a shout out to my FF mate, Indogma. Betaing for his story definitely gave me the inspiration to start writing again.

So, if you have the time, check out his story, "The Warband of Wolves" or his original work on Fictionpress, "A Mere Cadet"

A thanks to AnimeVamp1997 my Beta Reader, and a warm welcome back.

I do not own Sword Art Online or Zero no Tsukaima.

Opening premise inspired by FiF and HalO (Look at prologue for full crediting). Catsy is to be credited for OC city names.

OC's are mine, other characters are canon interpretations.

Interlude 1

Entry

Day 0

Before Transition

06:00:00 BT

05:59:59 BT

05:59:58 BT

05:59:57 BT

Light filtered through the tree canopy above, passing through the interlocking leaves, casting a green tinged light across the forest floor. The sound of birds and insects permeated the air, echoing amongst the trees. A sudden rush of air passed by, a lonely leaf falling away from its family, floating down, riding among the subtle shifting of air. As it landed on the moist, mossy earth below, surrounded by its fellows, lying there, dying, away from home, a steel boot came crashing down upon it. The boot pushed away, sending its owner into the air as a taloned hand swept through the space the owners torso had occupied.

The steel boot clad figure landed, feet propped against a tree, readied its sword and kicked away, sending itself flying at the creature with clawed hands. As the figure neared its target, the creature's tail lashed out, catching the swordsman in the midriff and cast him aside, a glowing red slash marking the area he had been struck. The swordsman crashed into the branches of a nearby tree, halting his horizontal flight, redirecting him to crash into the floor.

The swordsman let out a grunt of pain as he struck the ground. He didn't really feel pain, it was more of a very irritating numbing sensation. As he pushed himself to his feet, the red glow dissipating, a figure landed in front of him, with a clash of steel.

"Oh My God! You bloody noob."

Looking up, the swordsman saw his companion, his dual knives raised above his head, holding a clawed hand with razor bladed claws from striking him. Cat tail waving mockingly in the swordsman's face, his companion gave a push, sending the creature stumbling backwards. The creature was forced to retreat even further as a stream of flame erupted from behind the crouching swordsman.

"Geez Saito," said a redheaded girl as she walked out from the shadow of the trees. "We can't take you anywhere can we?"

"Yeah yeah," sighed the swordsman, "Get off my back woman."

The Cait Sith turned to face the bickering pair, but immediately sprang into the air, wings humming frantically as a pillar of flame erupted where he had stood, engulfing the unfortunate Saito. A high pitched scream of fear echoing in its wake, which was all that remained of the unfortunate target…apart from a flickering purple flame, his 'Remain Light' which hung, floating freely a couple feet above the roots upon which he'd been crouched.

A fourth figure emerged from amongst the trees, a flowing, golden script of runes spiralling around him, bathing him in a soft yellow light, giving his azure blue hair a greenish tinge. With a gesture of his arms, as the runes appeared to be compressing in on him, a blue sphere of light surrounded the 'Remain Light', and as the sphere faded away, the silhouette of the bedraggled swordsman appeared.

"God dammit Ringo!" The revived swordsman shouted in frustration, "Stop doing that! Fuck."

"I wouldn't be so inclined, if you stopped mouthing off."

The blue haired revivalist raised his hands in a placating manner as he cautiously stepped between the arguing pair. "Now, now," he said gently, "Let's take a deep breath," he took a slow, deep breath inwards, "and breathe out," he let the air flow out from his mouth, "now, let's back off and let Saito finish his fight with the Dire Wolf. I'm sure Pen is getting bored holding it at bay."

The Cait Sith jumped away from the wolf, landing beside his comrades, "Finally." And the group slowly backed up into the tree line as Saito stepped forward to meet the giant wolf, his sword raised in preparation to strike. The wolf lowered its head closer to the ground and, growling at Saito bone crunching teeth bared, it began to circle him, trying to find a weak spot, for Dire Wolves were intelligent beasts, they fought the Fae regularly.

Saito watched the wolf with baited breath, if this had been real he would have been sweating bullets in fear. The eyes of the wolf, watching him, examining him, tasting… he shook his head, 'That was just creepy'. As his head slowed from the sudden shake, to refocus on the predator in front of him, his eyes widened in shock and fear. Having seen the momentary lapse in concentration, the wolf had seized the opportunity and leapt at him, front paws extended, claws reaching for him, mouth open in eagerness of crunching down on its prey.

The jaws clamped shut, catching the arm that Saito had raised to defend himself. Teeth sank deep into his forearm, glowing red particles surrounding the point of entry, numbness spreading across the arm as his 'health bar' began to decrease further than the initial bite had caused due to the DoT from the teeth still buried in his arm. With a cry of rage he lifted his free arm, sword in hand, and brought it down on the creatures neck, a long red streak colouring the usually silver fur of the beast, indicating the area of impact and effect.

The wolf's claws raked against his breastplate as he struck again, hacking into the beast's exposed neck. DoT still eating away at his HP, Saito swung again and again, oblivious to the damage that he was accruing, uncaring when the 'Durability' on his armour reached critical levels moments before it shattered into a myriad of coloured polygons. With a final cry, as his HP started flashing red, a beeping sound alerting him to his dangerously low health and impending defeat, he thrust his sword into the Dire Wolf's eye. With a keening howl, the best disappeared in a burst of its own polygons.

Raising his fist into the air, Saito lowered his head, nodding slightly with his eyes tightly closed. A raised voice interrupted his moment of celebration.

"That was so not a 'win' moment you know," the Cait Sith said, amused at his friends antics.

"In fact…it's a FAIL!" Shouted the redheaded Ringo, planting a solid fist in the back of Saito's head as she approached, causing him to once again burst apart, a small flickering flame left floating in his stead. Gesturing at the purple flame she continued, "Just proves my point."

The Undine sighed and began the chant for his resurrection spell. When Saito reappeared, yet again, he merely glowered at the Salamander girl, but his eyes were soon distracted by a small icon that had appeared in the bottom left corner of his HUD, and his face lit up in response, "Ooh!"

"What is it now?" Ringo asked with a roll of her eyes.

"I just reached level three!" he answered happily, their previous argument forgotten, his fingers dancing wildly as he scanned through the level up point allocation options, "Ooh, I also got 200 Yurudo! I'm rich."

The Cait Sith snorted at Saito's reaction, "200 Yurudo and he thinks he's rich…noob."

"At least he should have enough to replace his armour by now," added the Undine thoughtfully.

Saito walked over to his comrades, a grin plastered across his face, "Thanks for helping me out guys. This VR stuff is totally beyond me."

'S'all right," the Cait Sith answered cheerfully, "Can't say it isn't amusing, watching you flail about."

Saito shot a half-hearted glare at his friend as the others burst out laughing. When the laughter began to die down the Undine spoke. "Alright, there is a town nearby, Deaner, I think. Should have a blacksmith that should be able to sell you a breastplate that'll last the rest of the night without repairs."

"Where is it?" Saito asked, checking the clock in his HUD to check how long he had until he had to get off. A guy needs to get some sleep after all.

"That way," the Undine answered politely, pointing to the southwest as he checked his map. "About ten minutes flight."

"Flight?! C'mon Jawad. You know I haven't figured out how to fly yet!"

"Guess we'll be seeing you in about an hour or so," P3N laughed, as with those parting words Saito's three friends powered up their wings and took flight, a cursing Saito falling away beneath them. His impotent rage reverberating around the forest he was abandoned in.

"Try not to agro any mobs on your way," Ringo called down to him, laughter bubbling out of her and the others as Saito shouted up his reply to his departing friends.

"You fuckers!"

03:14:34 BT

03:14:33 BT

03:14:32 BT

Jawad, Ringo and P3N were chatting away happily in the sole inn in Deaner, the candles on their table throwing faint and flickering shadows across the oaken tabletop, the sunlight filtering in through shuttered windows. A large beam of light was suddenly cast upon the three companions as the door to the inn was violently thrown open, the silhouette of their bedraggled companion standing in the open portal.

"You Mother Fuckers!" Saito yelled into the inn.

"Dude, what took you so long? I mailed you like thirty minutes ago." P3N chuckled, fighting to hold his face straight, "Should have only taken you like an hour to get here."

Saito glared at the cat eared menace and growled out, "You know damn well I wasn't at a level to solo my way here! I spent most of my time waiting to respawn! Got killed by one mob like five times cause I died in its nest area or something!"

This unexpected confession resulted in everyone in earshot to collapse to the floor in fits of laughter. Saito went bright red in embarrassment as he was ridiculed by a collection of strangers, as well as his own group of friends. Head bowed, he slowly trudged his was across the width of the inn to the table his companions occupied, mocking laughter crashing upon him in waves. Taking a seat at the table, he buried his head in his arms, after a rather impressive table related version of a facepalm, and groaned pitifully.

"Cheer up Saito," P3N said cheerfully, clapping his depressed friend on the back. "At least you levelled up again," then with a sideways look at the prone form of Saito, he narrowed his eyes, "Right?"

A muffled, "I guess," reached the Cait Sith's sensitive ears and he nodded smugly to himself, "Think of it as a good training exercise."

"But hey, now that you're here we can head out," Jawad began, though seeing the glare that Saito levelled at him, he smiled, "Don't worry. We'll walk this time," he assured the currently volatile Imp.

Saito sighed in resignation, "Where're we headed?"

"There's a Dungeon just west of here," Jawad explained, "When we walked into town we activated a Quest out there."

"Pretty simple one," P3N added, "Just have to hunt down a minor field boss mob. Been terrorizing the locals blah blah blah."

Saito perked, a smile formed solidly on his face, "A boss?! I can't wait!"

"We'll head out as soon as you've replaced and repaired your….equipment?..." Jawad tapered off as he began speaking to an empty chair. A quick glance to the entrance of the inn provided him with the fleeting glimpse of Saito's leg as it disappeared from sight. Chuckling to himself, he stood up, Ringo and P3N also rising to their feet, and the three of them started after their over eager companion.

02:34:18 BT

02:34:17 BT

02:34:16 BT

"Happy now?" P3N asked his cheerful companion with a faint smirk.

Rolling his shoulders experimentally, Saito happily responded, "Yup. Thanks for the extra money. Couldn't have afforded this kickass armour without it." Looking down at his new torso armour, Saito stroked it lovingly, muttering sweet nothings.

"You look like an idiot!" Ringo snorted, "You aren't even a tank, why would you get yourself plate armour?"

"She's right y'know…" Jawad added, "That stuff is rather bulky for your fighting style, from what I've seen." Saito shot him a dirty look, so Jawad continued," It's just that you've relied more on agility in your fights than brute strength. It's even where you put your stat points. You should have chosen something that'd enhance that." The dirty look slowly morphed into one of confusion. 'Oh my God!' Jawad sighed in exasperation, "Totally useless."

"Oh c'mon." Saito replied, completely fed up with the constant allusions to his gaming knowledge inadequacies. "This armour had the best defense score in the store, therefore its obviously the best!"

Shaking his head, Jawad resigned himself to further explanation, "Not even close. You are still a low level and as you've put your stat point boosts on HP and Agility boosts for the most part, I know you won't have access to the 'Heavy Armour' ability yet. Wearing that armour without that ability raised to a certain level, must have given you a huge decrease to your Agility scores. Now before your interrupt!" Jawad raised his voice a little as Saito opened his mouth to reply, "You wouldn't have noticed it yet unless you've checked your stat page, unlikely I know, but you'll notice for sure when you get into a fight. Quite frankly I'm surprised Pen didn't tell you this before…."

"What?" P3N asked innocently, failing to conceal a mischievous smile, "I thought it'd be funny when he found out and got killed again."

"Dude! You just made me waste all my money!" Saito growled, his hands clenching.

"Hey, I GAVE you the money to pay for it. I'm the one who's out of pocket. You could resell that armour and make more than you personally spent."

"Oh…okay," mused Saito, his hand scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

"How much farther is it?" Ringo asked as she jumped over a collection of protruding roots in her path, "We must be close by now."

Jawad turned to look at the volatile redhead, "Not too far," he replied, his voice hushed, "We should enter the roaming zone soon."

"Sounds good to me," a grin stretched its way across Ringo's face, clapping Saito on the back, "I'm spoiling for a challenge after all that babysitting."

"As long as I'm not bait, this should be a blast." Saito added, laughing along with his companions.

P3N moved up beside him, "Don't worry, not this time," he said reassuringly, "…you'll be the decoy if we need to bail."

02:10:01 BT

02:10:00 BT

02:09:59 BT

Raising his hand, Jawad came to a stop, and turned to the others, "Alright guys, this is it. Keep your eyes peeled." Turning back around he began walking forward, into the roaming zone marked in red on their minimaps.

With a steadying breath, Saito started after him, Ringo and P3N falling in behind him, their eyes scanning the treetops and forest floor for their quarry.

00:14:43 BT

00:14:42 BT

00:14:41 BT

"I'm so bored!"

"Somebody must have just done this quest before we got here," suggested P3N. "We probably had just caught the start of the respawn cycle."

Saito flopped down onto the grass, and dragged himself up to a tree to lean on, "How much longer? I'm gonna log out soon anyway."

"Not until we do this quest you're not!" Ringo chirped, her hand squeezing his shoulder in a threatening manner. "You'll stay here until it's done. Won't you?" Saito nodded instantly.

"I'll check, hold up," Jawad's body suddenly went still and staring. A couple of minutes passed before he suddenly twitched, and looked over to his friends, "This is usually a two-hour respawn according to the forums, which," he checked his HUD clock, scratching his chin idly, "should be over soon if not already. If what I found was accurate info."

Saito and P3N gave exasperated groans, and moved to stand up in preparation for their renewed search, when a voice drifted into their rudimentary camp, "Hey there." Looking up, Saito saw a trio of people drifting down through the foliage, coming to rest of the large lower branches of the tree Saito was leaning against. Raising his hand, Saito gave the newcomers a little wave in reply.

"What do you want?" growled Ringo as she readied herself, arm raised to chest height, poised to unleash fiery destruction.

"Woah! Just hold on there. We're just here to do the quest from in the village, I assume the same as you," the one who had spoken earlier said quickly, raising his hands in an attempt to diffuse the situation, "I promise we aren't here to PK. If we were, I probably wouldn't have said 'hi' would I?"

P3N walked past Ringo, his daggers sliding back into their sheathes, "He's got a point." Directing his attention to the newcomers he added, "So…you guys gonna chill down here? Or are you keen on pursuing your bird imitation?"

The apparent leader of the trio dropped from the trees with a laugh, and clasped P3N's extended hand, "Name's Prote, and this is my party for the day," he indicated his companions dropping down behind him, "Exer and Calen." The two smiled and nodded in turn as they were introduced. "We met in the forums and decided to party up and see how it goes."

"Nice to meet you. My name's Pen, and these are my friends, Ringo, Saito and Jawad."

"Well friends might be a little generous after how much these lot were 'helping' me learn the game." Saito cut in.

"I'm sure they've done a stellar job," Prote chuckled.

"That we have," P3N added, his arm draped across Saito's shoulders, "I assure you." Looking at the trio he asked, "So what brings you guys out here?"

"The quest back in Deaner, hunting the field boss…same as you right?"

"Cool, that's what we're here for as well," Saito burst out, "Wanna team up with us for it?" Glancing at his friends, Saito took in their noncommittal shrugs and Ringo's flat out glare, and grinned back at them, "C'mon, it'll be fun. Should also be a load easier with the extra help." Ringo opened her mouth to complain about the decrease in her desired challenge, only to be cut off as Saito rolled on, "and this way, one of us won't have to wait on the next respawn if their group doesn't get the last hit."

"He's actually got a fair point," Prote added, "My party is up for a merge. How about it? As a side note, Exer has epic points in the 'Tracking' and 'Awareness' skills."

This quickly turned the tables. "Well that'll help loads," Ringo said cheerfully, "Welcome to the group. Jawad, send the party invites."

"Already on it."

"Just in time it seems," Exer said softly, his sword sliding from its scabbard. "Seems like the thing found us first," as he finished speaking he leapt away from the branch he had gone back to on another nearby tree. No sooner had his feet left their old spot, the branch was struck, a loud cracking sound echoed from the point of contact.

Saito stared, dumbstruck, his gaze fixed upon the scythe-like appendage as it was raised into a tree, which shimmered as he stared at it, it's form dissolving to reveal a gigantic preying mantis. Letting out a shriek it dropped onto its other legs, the name 'Muneratis' appearing above its head, along with a collection of health bears.

"Well fuck me." Saito cursed.

"That thing must have a crazy 'Sneak' skill to have been able to get that close to me," Exer called out, "as well as definitely having a special camouflage ability." His mouth dropped open as Muneratis vanished, "Okay, that's a bit higher spec than a camo ability."

"What is it then?" Ringo yelled back.

"I have absolutely no idea," Exer admitted, "but it's certainly very effective."

"Group up," P3N suggested, "we'll be able to cover all directions."

"No!" Jawad countered immediately, "We need the room to manoeuvre. None of us are tanks."

"What about him?" Prote asked, pointing at Saito, "He's got heavy armour on."

"Not a tank. Just and idiot," chuckled P3N, "We've trained him well."

"Even if he was going tank, he's far too low level to be able to weather many of those attacks." Jawad added.

The group began inching apart, spreading out among the trees, but not too far as to prevent them helping each other, in case the need of a speedy assist arose. Saito was scanning the trees when his eyes caught a shimmer, his eyes snapped back to the offending tree, just in time to see a scythe-like claw snap out and catch Ringo in the back, instantly dropping her health into the red.

Activating her wings, Ringo quickly shot herself out of range, as Muneratis began to charge after her. Muneratis' claw snapped out again to catch the feeling fire mage but was cut off as P3N dropped down onto the creatures back from above, driving his twin daggers deep into the un-armoured flesh at the base of its neck. A blue aura also surrounded Ringo, indicative of the spell Jawad cast to restore her health. Ringo stopped and turned to face Muneratis, as it thrashed about to dislodge P3N from its back, and began a chant of her own, dual lines of golden glyphs formed around her, and moments later a pillar of flame exploded from beneath Muneratis, engulfing it in flame as P3N leapt out of range, to await his next opportunity for a critical strike. Prote and Calen swooped in towards the creature, and as the flames dissipated flew overhead, peppering their target with a multitude of cheap two word fire spells, drawing enough agro for P3N and Ringo to safely disengage, before Saito and Exer charged in with their swords raised. As the two swung their blades to strike at the soft underbelly of Muneratis, the creature vanished again, without a sound or hint as to wear it had gone.

"Shit!" Exer cursed, "That ability, it's the 'Meld' ability."

"How do we counter it?" Jawad asked, as he finished casting his group healing boost spell.

"As far as I know," Exer began, "you can't. It just instantly transfers the caster into an object of scenery of similar size, and the object becomes the caster. It's a flawless escape and camo ability."

"Shit, that sounds a little OP to me," P3N grumbled, "That shit needs to be nerfed."

"It's not an available player skill. So I guess its rarity is its offset."

Further conversation was cut off as Muneratis struck again, catching P3N by surprise, as the tree he was perched in suddenly became the thing he was hunting. Unable to get away, P3N jumped in close to the creature to avoid the main striking area for the creature's scythe arms. Jawad cast another healing spell on his trapped companion as Saito and Exer charged in again, small fireballs, cast by Ringo, Calen and Prote, flying overhead as they charged. This time the swords connected with Muneratis' exoskeleton, and bounced away, a tiny amount of health dropping from one of its health bars.

Ducking under a scythe bladed arm, Saito stabbed his blade upwards, into the things chest, then moved to strike again, but was suddenly lifted from his feet as Muneratis' scythe bladed arm folded back into it's body, catching the unsuspecting swordsman in a vice.

The razor sharp appendage sliced right through the brand new plate armour and sliced Saito in half. With a cry of anger and frustration, he burst apart in a shower of pixelated light, leaving only his small purple 'Remain Light' behind.

"Called it," P3N shouted, as he used Saito's demise as an opening to gain some distance.

"I'm on it," Jawad called out, raising his staff, "Just keep it away from me." He then began to chant the high-level resurrection spell, filling the air around him in glowing golden glyphs, which vanished in a single burst of light.

A sphere of light shone around Saito's purple flame, and then vanished, leaving a dejected looking Saito kneeling in its place.

"Fuck! My new armour," Saito grumbled, as he jumped out of striking range, mild surprise on his face as he realised how much faster he was moving, now that the armour's penalty was gone. 'I guess they were right…whoops.'

"Welcome back among the living," P3N chuckled as he sped past Saito to land a series of quick strikes to one of the legs supporting the creatures quick movement.

"Saved your ass though."

"He got you there Pen," Ringo called out with a laugh, as she jumped into the air to avoid a scythe arm that whistled through the space she had occupied, before unleashing another blast of flame.

00:00:05 BT

A wild grin on his face, Saito powered up his wings and flew in at Muneratis and swung in towards the creature's side, blade poised to stab into its torso.

00:00:04 BT

Muneratis reacted, reaching around it's body with a bladed arm to impede Saito's charge to bide time while it turned the rest of its body to face him. Ducking under the strike, Saito planted a foot on its flank and kicked himself away from the vicious scythe arms, and out of range of the one already cutting it's way towards him.

00:00:03 BT

Saito came to a stop braced against a tree, readying himself for another strike when Muneratis vanished again.

Swinging his head around, he tried to spot the tell-tale shimmer. He smirked a little as he saw P3N make a hasty retreat from the tree he had been poised in.

00:00:02 BT

It didn't take long for the giant mantis to reappear, its final health bar edging into the yellow as more fireballs were pelted at it upon its appearance. Flicking a claw out, it lashed at Prote, who deactivated his wings as the scythe swung for his neck, reactivating them as the strike passed over his head, ruffling his hair.

00:00:01 BT

With a cry, everyone but Ringo and Jawad charged at Muneratis, weapons poised to finish it off in a single collective strike. Saito bared his teeth, ready to end the fight…

00:00:00 –

…when a pain, unlike anything he had felt before, ripped its way through his head.

Dropping his sword, he collapsed, hands tearing at his head, a primal scream of pain exuding from his mouth.

Before blacking out, he was vaguely aware of his friends all screaming and writhing on the ground.

-00:01:00 AT

-00:01:01 AT

-00:01:02 AT

Eyes flickering sluggishly, Saito placed his hands against the ground, and began to push himself into a kneeling position. Head spinning, body swaying, he managed to force himself upright, his eyes staring out blankly around him. The prone bodies of his friends scattered among the trees. Lifting himself to his feet, Saito stumbled over to the nearest body, and dropped down to his knees beside it.

Barely registering the new pain in his knees, he reached out a trembling hand, taking a grip on their shoulder, and gave a little shake. "Ringo? Are you okay?" She didn't respond. Saito leant over her, his other hand taking hold of her other arm, and gave her another shake, "Ringo? What's going on?" No response.

Raising his gaze, he focused on another one of the bodies, this one was moving. Leaping unsteadily to his feet, he hurried over to kneel beside them. Placing his arm around their shoulders, he helped pull them into a sitting position. "Prote, you okay?"

Prote looked back up at him, his head swaying slightly. And gave a small smile, "Yeah…I think so…" He gave his head a quick shake in an attempt to clear his spotted vision and immediately brought his hands to cover his mouth. He paused for a moment, a confused look on his face before he turned to the side, managing little more than a half turn before he vomited. "Yup," he said hoarsely, "Just peachy."

Saito patted him on the back, "I can tell." Looking away, his eyes taking in the prone forms of their companions, his voice taking on a serious tone he continued, "So, do you know what just happened?"

"I think I just had my mind sexually assaulted!" The body beside them muttered as it began to stir, "Quick! Somebody call the police!"

With a snort of involuntary laughter, Saito made his way over to the speaker, "Pen! You're okay!"

"Well, apart from the aforementioned mind rape, yes." P3N grumbled, his hands clutching his head as he lay there, taking in slow and measured breaths.

"Such pleasant imagery," Ringo quipped as she began to force herself to her feet. Upon seeing this, Saito ran to her side, arms wide, ready to give her a helping hand and a hug. Only to be sent crashing to the ground in a whimpering heap as Ringo's fist met his face. "Back off!"

P3N knelt next to the whimpering Saito and tapped him on the shoulder, "Okay mate. You've played it long enough now. Time to get up."

"But it fucking hurts though!" Saito whined, hands still clutching his face.

Ringo snorted, " It's a game. I can't hurt you."

Saito removed his hands from his face and glared up at Ringo, blood pouring freely from his shattered nose, which was crumpled inwards and to the side, the bones clearly pulverized. "Tell vat to my fuckin face!"

"Holy shit!" P3N gasped, "How the fuck did you manage that?" Leaning in close he prodded the nose curiously, and leapt back as Saito let out a yell of pain and swung at him wildly in pain. "I didn't even know that was possible."

A bright light enveloped Saito, and when it dissipated, his nose had returned to it's original state, though the blood that had already dribbled from it remained, staining his undershirt with darkened patches. "Feel better?" Jawad asked, as he lowered his staff.

"Yeah." Saito replied in relief, twitching his nose experimentally, "Loads better. The pain's completely gone."

"That's good," Ringo said apologetically, "look Saito, I'm sorry about that. I didn't think that it would actually hurt."

"That's a point though," Jawad mused, "It's a game. He shouldn't have felt anything really."

"Maybe it's connected to that pain from earlier?" Prote suggested, "You all felt it right?"

"Yeah. It felt like somebody was jamming a rod hot poker right through my head."

"Update maybe?" Calen suggested, "Like a pain system implementation? Might explain why Saito had his face mangled."

"A pain function?" Saito grumbled, "At that level? Would definitely need to be bumped up a few age ratings. An adults only game at the very least."

"Saito has a point there," Jawad added, "Having a 'Pain' system would definitely force a reclassification, not to mention the amount of gamers it would push away. They'd be loosing a huge chunk of their player base."

"If getting punched hurt that much, getting stabbed in PvP or something must be absolute agony." Saito suddenly burst out. "The developers must be insane adding this feature."

"Uh, guys…I can't get the menu up!" Everyone looked over at Exer who was swiping his hand down through the air, fruitlessly, in an attempt to activate the menu. "How am I supposed to log out now?"

A tree shimmered behind Exer, and before anyone could utter a sound, the razor sharp arm of Muneratis came out of nowhere and burst through his chest, spraying blood across the ground. A scream of intense pain tore itself from Exer's damaged lungs as he was lifted into the air, then thrown from the claw as Muneratis shook his body free.

Exer hit the ground with a dull thump, blood dribbling from his mouth as he struggled to breathe, his eyes settled on the others, his hand twitching in their direction in a silent plea for help before all movement ceased.

Before the sight before them could sink in, Muneratis charged towards them, claws raised, an unearthly screech emitting from its mouth, mandibles clicking.

Saito dove out of the way, just in time to avoid it's claws, as the creature cut across the ground where he had been standing. Turning to pursue Saito, Muneratis was suddenly cut off as a torrent of flame engulfed it.

Looking behind him, Saito saw Ringo preparing another spell and gave her a nod of thanks, which she returned, before jumping behind a tree to get some distance from the creature.

A glow of light signified Jawad's desperate attempt at a resurrection spell, and the relief that emitted from every member of their group was palpable when Exer slowly sat up, hand shakily touching his chest where he'd been impaled. Glancing around the tree, Saito saw Exer motionless, sitting exactly where he'd been when he 'died', just staring blankly ahead. P3N dropped out of the overhead branches, and grabbed Exer around the waist before leaping away, Exer trailing behind him like a ragdoll. Prote and Calen swooped past the retreating Cait Sith, with hands raised, lines of glyphs flowing around their bodies. As they passed over the flailing creature they both shouted the final words to their spells, and two simultaneous pillars of flame erupted from beneath Muneratis, punching straight through its armoured carapace and throwing it into the air. As the creature fell back to the ground it landed on a nearby tree, pulverizing it under its weight.

After a few moments of tense silence Jawad's voice called out, "I think we beat it guys."

"I don't know about that," Prote's voice replied. "I didn't get a quest update message…did anyone get one?" A chorus of negative responses sounded out. "This sucks, I can't even open the menu to check the quest log either."

Saito glanced around the tree he was hiding behind, his eyes fixing on the smouldering body of the field boss, "Aren't things meant to disappear when they die?"

"That's how things usually work." P3N answered from his own hiding spot, "I think somebody should go check, Shotgun not!"

"Shotgun not!" Shouted the rest of the group, before they all looked at the obstacle that hid the owner of the voice that had spoken last. The figure behind the tree cursed himself before calling out, "I know you're looking at me, I can feel it. What about Exer? He didn't opt out…"

"I don't think he's in any shape right now to do anything." P3N answered, "now suck up Saito and go check if it's faking or not. Jawad will heal you if you need it."

With a resigned sigh, Saito stepped out from behind his tree, the rest of the party standing out from behind their own cover, at the ready around Muneratis as they waited foe confirmation of the field boss' death. Taking a deep steadying breath, Saito settled his eyes on the motionless creature and began to crouch down, his fingers placed gently upon the ground. With a sudden burst of speed and strength, his fingers digging into the earth as they dragged Saito forward, his coiled legs thrusting him towards the charred body of Muneratis.

With a sickening crunch, Saito's sword cleaved into the corpse, spattering blood across the grass as it left the creatures body as he sped past the spot where it lay. Coming to a halt he kicked himself into a turn, his blade whipping about frantically in the direction of Muneratis, in an attempt to ward off the creatures strikes, that never came. Feeling no resistance, Saito opened his eyes, only to find Muneratis exactly where it lay prior to his strike. Sighing in relief he lowered his sword, the others all stepping out from their own vantage points.

"Guess we did beat it," P3N said warily, his eyes never leaving Muneratis. "But we should have received a notification for it."

"That and the body should have vanished…unless we had to harvest something from its corpse, but we didn't have to…" Ringo mused. "Something isn't right about all this," Walking over to Muneratis she nudged its corpse gingerly with her foot, "Seriously, this thing is bleeding, still. That's some high-res stuff right there. And what happened to our menu's?"

"Maybe it really is all linked to that pain we felt earlier…" P3N reasoned, his face pensive.

"Speaking of which," Saito started, his finger pointing at his friends in accusation, "What the hell was all that about? I swear you guys said it was all fake and safe… That certainly felt real to me!"

A whisper caught everyone's attention, they all looked at the source as he struggled with himself to repeat what he'd just said.

"It is real!" Exer ground out, his voice hoarse, "I've never felt anything like it before," his arms wrapped themselves around himself, holding tightly to reassure his shaken mind that he really was alive, "When it grabbed me, the pain was…it was pain beyond what I've ever felt before…including in real life."

"Maybe it was just a coding issue? Something that was meant to block those signals or something?" Prote suggested.

"No!" Exer yelled, his voice quivering as much as his body, "You didn't feel it! When I died…when I…" Then without warning Exer convulsed and he threw up, the contents of his stomach spattering across the ground. Prote knelt next to him, rubbing his back as Exer continued to retch.

"Well that's new." Ringo muttered in disgust, as she rubbed her foot against a nearby tree to remove the vomit that had landed on her boot.

Looking up at the others, Exer continued, "It felt so real, like I was actually dead, everything went black and I felt like I was fading away bit by bit. I felt it. Something wasn't right. I don't know how to explain it. But deep down I knew, knew that I was dying. You couldn't possibly understand until you've felt it….I wish that you never do."

"I think we should head back to Deaner," Calen suggested, "We might find someone back there who can answer our questions…or at least might know more than we do. All we are going to do is go in circles here…"

"Good idea," P3N agreed, before smacking his forehead with an open palm, "Who knows the way back? Cause, y'know…no menu, means no map system."

"It's okay Pen. I remember the way. I've always had a knack for that sort of thing." Jawad said reassuringly as he took a moment to orientate himself. Then with a nod of agreement to himself he started off into the tree line.

"Sweetness," P3N cheered softly, "Alright then, let's get on our way." Then after composing his tone he said, "Lead the way." Pausing for a moment, he bent down and helped Exer to his feet, draping one of Exer's arms across his own shoulders for extra support, before heading off after Jawad.

As the others started to fall in behind him, Jawad raised the end of his staff off the ground and placed it over his shoulders to lessen the weight in his arms.

-02:31:09 AT

-02:31:10 AT

-02:31:11 AT

Jawad smiled triumphantly to himself as he exited the tree line, to find his gaze settled on the village of Deaner in all it's homely glory. Only for his smile to fade as he started to see the people there, wandering around, lost and confused. Then his eyebrow quirked again as Prote exited the forest beside him and took in the sight himself and said, "Uh, I could have sworn that Deaner didn't have a river running through it."

What the Salamander said was true. The town of Deaner didn't originally have a river as a source of water, it had a couple wells instead. But now…now it had a ten-foot wide river running through it, a couple of the buildings in its path had collapsed within it, the water flowing around the wreckage. One by one the rest of their group left the trees behind them to see the sight ahead of them, and each one to a man paused in shock and confusion at the large change in topography before them.

"Guys…I have suddenly got an even worse feeling about all of this…"

Authors Note

My Beta reader has just returned. Able to re-upload with edits in place.

Welcome back Animevamp