Graceleaf Beach - 3rd Person
Philia had returned to the beach where she waited for Lukas, The words of PoH still bothered her.
"All alone I see." Out of the shadows, PoH showed himself.
"You again!?" Philia had her hand on her weapon.
"Tell me, how long do plan on being friendly with that Swed?"
"That's none of your business."
"I guess that means he hasn't told you, regardless you'll figure out what you really are soon enough... Then again, why don't you tell me... Hollow."
"H-Hollow, what are you talking about?!" Philia was taken aback
"An understandable response... you'll soon learn that you are bound here permanently."
"I-I don't believe you... Lukas warned me about you!"
"Heh heh heh... Tell me how much do you really trust him? How much has he not told you, do you even believe everything he has told you?" PoH knew he had backed her into a corner.
"I-"
"I'll tell you something he hasn't told you. You and me, we're not real people, just fakes made by data in this world, the Hollow Area. When this game is cleared, we die with it."
"NO! I'm human! I'm nothing like you!"
"And how do you know this? Did the Swed tell you? Listen, you and me are more alike than you think, we're not real, we're both orange cursored, and we're both murderers. I know every detail of what you did."
"H-How do you know about that!?"
"What's important is that I know... Last time we met, you seemed to have loyalty to that Swed, but you want nothing to do with me. Lukas and I are more alike than he wants to admit, let's just say we go a long way back. But aside from that, he could easily just be using you as a guide to gather resources for the assault team, the players that would lead to the death of us."
"Liar! You're lying!"
"Just keep telling yourself that, but it will happen in the end. He will put the two of us and many others in the Hollow Area, that's why I'm going to stop him... which is why I need your help."
"Y-You want me to betray him?!"
"Oh no no no no no, all you have to do is bring him to me. You don't need to worry about anything else, I won't kill him, I promise."
"I- I can't." Philia knew Lukas warned her about PoH, but any doubts about Lukas were beginning to yell at her louder and louder.
"All were going to do is make him part of this world, just like us."
"Part of this world..."
"Think about it, do you want to die and you will slowly be forgotten by him as this game and world becomes a distant memory. Or stay with him in this world for eternity?"
"I'll expect an answer from you next time we meet." PoH left the scene and left Philia to her thoughts.
"Lukas..." She fell to her knees and clutched her head. "I don't know what to do..."
Lukas POV
I wound up staying in the church for almost an hour, what initially was going to be a quick prayer, turned into a bunch of reminiscing back to when I still lived in Sweden. I missed those days, back when things were okay, back when I would hear the church bells chime on sunday morning, and back when my family was still together. I would want nothing more than to be with my siblings again. I do miss Sweden, even though it's where a lot of my life problems began.
"I better get going." I got up from my seat, I got a message notification, it was from Philia, she told me she went back to the Administration Area. I decided to scout around on my own for a bit. I looked at the map, sometimes you can learn where to go by interpreting path or location names. I the path that gave me the impression of finding was The Path to Sworn Salvation. It was the world "salvation" that's speaking to me. I followed the path to the location called Sea Drake's Roost. When I entered, I spotted what looked like a high priority target. The best way I could describe it was a mix between a legless three headed dragon and a sea horse.
"I think I'm better off getting Philia before taking on that thing." I turned around and made my way back to the teleport device on the beach. Something had been bothering me, I had thought about telling Philia what really caused my cursor, the players I killed, what I was before joining the frontlines, but I could never get around the mental barriers. Other than that these flashes back to November 29, five years ago. The worst day of my life doesn't even begin to describe it, someone who meant the world to me left this world behind too soon. I keep seeing how they died, I kept my mouth shut about it back home so no one knew about it. Of course they quit occurring during the late days of my first year of high school. Yet it was few days ago they started occurring again, and I had a good idea why.
Hollow Area - Location Unknown - 3rd Person
"I can't keep this up." Mei was clutching her head in pain. "I'm running out of time... There's only one thing left I can do." Due to not being able to do her primary function as a Mental Health Counseling Program, she had been having error after error pile up. She had been able to bear it up until now.
Aincrad - Floor 1
She ran to the console beneath the Town of Beginnings, her errors were the least of her problems, the Cardinal System had caught onto her prohibited interactions with the with players in the Hollow Area.
"This is my only hope." She hit the enter key just before the system began to delete her from SAO.
Hollow Area - Lukas POV
I teleported back to the Administration Area, I found Philia sitting against the console.
"Sorry I took a while." I said catching her attention.
"Oh...Don't worry about it Lukas." She looked like she was in some sort of dilemma from what I could tell.
"Are you okay?"
"No, I'm fine... So did you find anything while you were there?"
"Yeah, I found what looks like a high priority target in the Seadrake's Roost. I thought I would come get you before going any further."
"Okay, let's get going."
Graceleaf - The Seadrake's Roost
"There it is." I pointed to the dragon. "That's the sjöhäst like dragon." Philia looked at me as if I was stupid or something.
"A what?"
"I don't know what they're called outside of Sweden. Anyway let's kill this thing regardless." I said.
"I've got your back."
Timeskip
After a hard fought battle the creature burst into pixels.
"We did- what the?!" We felt a tremor beneath us, and we saw the water had drained.
"The water drained!" Philia pointed out.
"Yeah, hmm, I doubt this would have happened without a good reason." I thought.
"Hey, when I looked at the hollow map I saw another tower structure, maybe there's something there." Philia showed me on her map.
"Alright let's go... I hope there isn't any warp pads."
Fortress of the Pirate King - Top Floor
We eventually got to the top of the tower, we were confronted by a strong looking grim reaper like monster, who carried a lantern.
"Certainly looks like a high priority target. Let's take it out." I pulled out my dagger.
Aincrad - No POV
Akihiko Kayaba, or better known as Aincrad as Heathcliff, was still able to communicate with staff outside of SAO. Mostly those loyal to him regardless.
"Mr Kayaba, we've detected strange activity in Hollow Area."
"What kind of activity?"
"There seems to be some unusual actions from a condemned player. It seems he somehow managed to enter Aincrad."
"Hmm... Keep me updated on this player."
"Yes sir, currently he is in the third area in the Hollow Area."
Lukas POV
We had managed to defeat the monster and received a weapon called the Quarry Mattock.
"Bonus damage to rocks? Seems kinda random doesn't it?" Philia asked me.
"I doubt this would have dropped if there wasn't somewhere around here that needs it to be used. Let's keep looking." We decided to search the Mines of the Betrayed Rest. it was the "Mines" part that spoke to me. It looked like an abandoned mineshaft overrun by large ants.
"Heh heh." I let ot a little chuckle due to remembering a funny little memory.
"What's so funny?" Philia was confused at my laughter.
"Oh, these ants remind me of when my little brother had an ant farm and it didn't end well."
"What happened?"
"He forgot to close the lid and they wound up in my little sister's room, scared the hell out of her." I said.
"I guess that would scare someone. The sooner you get out of SAO the sooner you get to see them right?"
"Not likely."
"Why not?"
"They don't even know I'm in here. I haven't seen either of them in forever. Short reason is my family split, my sister Eria stayed back in Sweden with my mother, and my brother Judai came to Japan with me and my father. Judai wound up back in our mother's custody after him and dad were in a drunk driving accident, they both survived but it paralyzed him and he's confined a wheelchair. I haven't seen either of them since then." I explained my sad story.
"Oh... Luke I'm so sorry."
"Thanks... The bible always said when things happen, they happen for a reason. No matter my faith I can never not question whatever reason." We soon found our path blocked by a stone wall.
"That's weird, it has a health bar as if it was an enemy." Philia pointed out.
"... I wonder if this is what that club was for." I opened my item menu and equipped it. "I swung at the wall three times and it burst into pixels.
"It worked!"
"We're making good progress, let's keep moving." I kept the club equipped as we proceeded. We did have to pick off a few ants. It felt awkward since I'm used to using lightweight daggers so I can move around more. I remember I once got an Elucidator myself, but I didn't keep it very long, to heavy for my taste, I gave it to Kirito even though he already had his two swords. He said he could use it as a backup if one his primary blades broke.
As we kept going I noticed several minecarts on incomplete rails. Occasionally I'd see huge quartz - like eventually got to the end of the mines and we found a silver treasure chest.
"Can you open it Philia?"
"Of course I can." She opened up the chest, we got a rusted key.
"We got a key..."
"Where could it open?"
"Wait, those gargoyle like marks... maybe that's a clue." I suggested.
"Maybe, but where would find a door for it?" We kept looking around for the door, our search brought us back to the Fortress of the Pirate King. We found a door with a golden keyhole on it. Our key worked and kept making our way through the fortress, we found another door with a red jewel, meaning the boss was just ahead of us.
"Wow, the boss is already here." Philia said.
"Yeah... we've already gone this far, let's take it out."
"Right." We opened the door and awaited what lied ahead of us.
Well there's chapter 10, sorry if this took too long, school and what not, remember to review and tell me what you think