The longer I'm wandering through this dense forest, the more I'm regretting my decision to venture on my own. I don't know how long I've been walking, but I feel as though it's been hours and I haven't seen or heard a single player nearby, despite the fact that the town I had just left was filled with hundreds of players. But seeing as how complicated things can get just by walking through, I can understand why; for some odd reason, I'm continually being transported to another portion of the forest every minute or so. Unfortunately, I don't own a map so trying to locate where I am, let alone the others, is pretty much hopeless and I deduce that walking through this seemingly ever-meandering forest is proving to be a lot more difficult than I had anticipated.

I begin to feel anxious as I look up at the sky, peering through the thick branches, noticing that it's become a lot darker than when I had started. Still unknowing of where I am, I bolt into a sprint and head north, however, it doesn't seem to matter how fast I go because after every minute I'm being wrapped into a new location.

"Where am I?" I shout out frantically but no response can be heard and I continue running north until the fatigue kicks in and I'm forced to stop. Breathlessly, I scan the area around me but only see a thick wall of trees and shrubs. I admit defeat as I collapse on the ground to catch my breath, and to also rethink my strategy. The idea of reuniting with everyone starts to feel farfetched and my mood inevitably sinks.

"Did I really expect to find them this easily?" I berate myself with a scoff and I look up at the branches that are allowing only thin rays of light to shine through.

As I wait for the next minute to pass to warp me into a new location, I hear a rustling in the bush from behind me. I quickly turn my gaze and find three red cursors floating in the air then three tall monsters appear from the trees. I take a step back to get a good look at them. The name above them reads 'Drunken Ape' and despite that they are covered in dark red fur, every portion of them seems to be rippling with muscle, with the exception of their round protruding belly. Each of them carries a makeshift club in their right hand, and the left holds some sort of flask or beaker, most likely carrying alcohol, hence the name 'Drunken Ape'.

As soon as the apes raise their clubs with bared teeth, I rush to the monster closest to me to make my first strike. A good chunk of its HP is instantly gone and without waiting I unleash a relentless assault on the same ape until it cries in anguish and blasts into crystal polygons.

I've only been out of the game for two weeks, but it all feels nostalgic to me. I was worried that I would not be able to remember how to perform each sword skill but it comes naturally to me like riding a bike. With every stance I take, a surge of energy flows through me and I follow through with clean, lightning speed aggression on each ape. Perhaps they are just slow in general due to their inebriated state, however, I almost feel like someone had just pressed fast forward on only me and not a moment later, the area is wiped clean of apes but with scattering shimmering specs of light.

After I collect my col and items, I realize that more than a minute must have passed during my fight but I haven't been warped to another location. The thought strikes me as odd and as I'm trying to come up with a theory behind it, another odd feeling develops within me. I haven't seen another player nearby, however I get the sensation that I'm being watched. I close my eyes as I try to focus my ears on my surroundings and my hand hovers over the handle of my rapier in preparation. Within a second, I hear rustling in the woods to my left and I immediately pull out the Wind Fleuret from its sheath and get into position for a sword skill.

"I'm not a monster! Please don't attack!"

Surprised to hear a squeaky girly voice from behind the trees and I lower my rapier and resume my natural stance.

"W-who are you?" My attempt to sound threatening fails miserably, but I dig my heels into the ground to stand firm. "Show yourself!"

I squint my eyes to focus a few meters away from me and from behind a tree, a pair of shiny purple eyes peeks over.

"I-I promise, I don't mean any harm!" She stutters nervously and she cautiously steps out with her hands in the air to reveal herself. She looks incredibly young; she has the face of child with innocent and curious eyes that are somewhat hidden beneath her curly black hair. Her small frame is cloaked underneath a black cape, but as she moves towards me I can see a silver metal breastplate over a denim blue tunic, paired with pebble grey tights and brown leather boots accessorized with a buckle at the ankle. "My map got stolen and now I'm lost," she explains shyly as she avoids my eyes "I thought maybe you knew where you were going, so I followed you. I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"You don't need to apologize," I slide my rapier in the scabbard hanging at my waist then grin bashfully. "I'm actually lost as well."

"You are?" She exclaims in shock. If her eyes could go any wider, I'm certain they would fall out of her eye sockets. "Are you looking for a way out? M-may I come with? Please? I don't want to be in this forest anymore."

I study her carefully as her shoulders tremble, either with fear or from the cold. But since I don't sense a drop in temperature, I can only assume the former. She waits for my answer but as I'm tempted to let her know that I'm on a search, I can see that she desperately wants to leave and I contemplate whether she's been wandering in this forest as long as I have, or perhaps longer.

"Sure, why not?" I answer before I can stop myself and something weighs in on me, like regret. However, if I haven't found Kirito and the others by now, who knows when I will?

"Thank you!" She expresses with immense gratitude, and with tears in her eyes, "Thank you so much!" Before we take off, she steps in front of me and beams brightly, "My name is Lumera."

Her hand reaches out for me and I take it lightly. "My name is Asuna, it's nice to meet you."

After our short introductions, we head south from where we are on the path. We don't speak much, in fact, we don't speak at all. For myself, it's due to years of habit. Only speak when you are spoken to. There are times when I forget the sound of my own voice and when I do speak, it surprises me. Although I can't say the same for Lumera; I'm almost certain her reasoning isn't due to strict mothers. I sneak a glance at her and see her slouched over with her eyes staring at her feet as she slowly walks a few paces behind. I remember reading that it is possible for the player to become mentally tired and it can affect the performance of the avatar, regardless of stats. This works out to be true because I can recall crying real tears on my first FullDive. It doesn't matter that this is the virtual world, it's nearly impossible to keep the mind from doing what it wants.

"Would you like to take a break?" I finally speak out and Lumera nods with a sigh of exhaustion.

We rest alongside of the path and I take a look up past the trees to view the now darkened sky. I breathe heavily, disappointed that I have not found the others. However, I feel my chances of running into them again are slim to none and my chances of leaving this forest feels non-existent.

"Are you a solo player, Asuna?" Lumera asks quietly as she stretches out her legs.

"No, I was actually looking for…" My voice fades as I try to find the words to describe Kirito and the others. The term I used once feels like a distant memory. I fight myself for thinking they are now just people from my past but at this rate, I feel we might as well be strangers. "… For some people I know."

Sensing the silence fall upon us once again I clear my throat to keep that awkward vibe at bay. "Are you a solo player?"

Lumera pauses for a moment then shrugs, "I guess you can say that. I got into an argument with the guild I was in and they kicked me out."

"That's awful!" I express sympathetically, close to placing a hand on her shoulder for comfort but I stop myself. "And they left you here by yourself?"

"It's my fault," her shoulders sag as she sighs with regret. "If I hadn't started a fight with them, I wouldn't have been in this situation."

"What happened?" I immediately flinch as soon as I ask. I don't need my mother to tell me it's rude to pry into other people's business. I expect to hear her lecture me on questioning sensitive manner, but there's not another player or strict parent in sight. However, I still apologize for asking such a personal question.

However, I don't think Lumera is bothered by it. "We don't have the facts to back it up, but my guild and I heard of a rare item that's supposed to be kept in this very forest and so far, only one has been made." She turns to me with a grim look and our eyes lock. "It's called the Ring of Vectura, and apparently it can transport players to anywhere on Aincrad, even in areas where a Teleport Crystal can't be used! Not only that, it can lock onto a player's location and teleport you right next to them."

I instinctively want to laugh at the supposed rumour. It almost feels too convenient for an item such as that to pop up, especially when I could use one right now. "Such an item exists?" I ask skeptically with pursed lips.

"There's most likely a limit to how many times it can be used and even then, it still sounds too good to be true. But seeing the situation we're in right now, I want to believe it's here somewhere." She hugs her knees in close and takes in a deep breath. "This forest is supposedly the most difficult forest in all of Aincrad due to the confusing paths and short time limit, and to buy it, it costs thousands of Col. The only way to afford the map is to combine all your Col. Sometimes it's just not worth it and other players decide to take the risk."

With this new information, I almost feel a bit sheepish for venturing out on my own without any sort of preparation, however my mind is only clinging on to the words 'time limit'. I ask her what does she mean by that and she looks at me with a raised eyebrow, "Surely, you must know about the time limit. Unless you have a map or know where you're going, you will continue to be transported to another section of the forest every minute. Teleport Crystals will only bring you to another section as well, so it's best not to waste them. The only way to clear it is to walk through it and complete each section within one minute."

"One minute?" My jaw drops and I begin to envision myself wandering around this forest forever. My face turns as white as a ghost at the thought and my heart stops. "B-but earlier when I fought those apes, that was certainly more than a minute."

"My guess is that whenever the player is in combat, the timer stops," she contemplates deeply then shrugs again. "We also haven't warped to a new location since we've met, so we're probably just lucky."

I fall silent and I stare down at my hands, wrapping my head around the idea of possessing such a useful item—especially in a dilemma such as this! It does sound like it could be a rumour, however, it's just as Lumera said; given the major complications this forest can give, it must be like a 'get out of jail card'.

"Anyway, we had been searching for a while and were starting to lose hope. I suggested we go back and call it a lost cause but they all refused; they're determined, but at the same time stubborn. Not only that, our levels aren't very high to begin with, so if there's a monster guarding that ring, which I strongly believe there is, then I'm positive we can't beat it.

"It was then I decided I didn't want to keep searching anymore, but they did and if I wasn't going to be any help then I shouldn't benefit from the reward, so they kicked me out and took the map with them." She sniffles as she wipes the tears glistening down her porcelain face. "I know what they did was mean but I'm worried about them. It's been hours since I've last heard from them, one of them would have told me by now if they found it. Do you think they're still alive?"

I hold a firm lip to keep from answering. But even then my silence speaks out to her and her eyes widen with worry.

"I-I know it's too much to ask, but do you think you could help me find my friends?" Her voice sounds shaken and she eagerly leans towards me, "You were able to defeat those monsters all on your own, so you must be strong! Please! With your level you could save them and we can convince them to stop this stupid search!"

I sputter unintelligent words in response, looking rattled and clueless of what to say. But, I'm ultimately surprised that this player, a girl that I just met and barely know, is placing all of her faith in me. It seems reckless and irresponsible, as my father would say, but by the look of her face, she looks desperate and lonely.

She looks like me.

The thought of refusing to help already sends a heaping amount of guilt on me and I decide to put off looking for Kirito and the others a bit longer. Although, it feels as though I'm throwing in the towel.

"Alright," I finally say and almost in an instant, relief washes over Lumera. For a moment I feel warm hearted for helping out a stranger, until I look around us and realize that we are still lost in the forest. "I can try and help but I don't think I'll be of much use if we don't know where we're going," I mumble sheepishly as I scratch the back of my head.

Lumera pauses her moment of glee and pulls her hand to her mouth, nipping at her thumbnail looking deep in thought. "I may not have the map, but I do know where they are headed next; it's the last place we haven't checked and I'm certain it's close by here." She turns her back to me and points down the path we came. "I think if we head back now, we can catch up to them, but we have to hurry."

I nod as I gesture her to lead the way and she looks at me with a grim but uneasy look. Before we begin our search, she turns her back to me and opens up the menu with her left hand. After a press of a few buttons, a bright light flashes around her and in her hand is an elegant, silver bow with sleek blades attached on either ends of the limbs and around her back is a long cylindrical bag with matching silver arrows.

"If there is a monster, we should be prepared." She advises and she takes off in a light sprint. As we jog along the path, I witness how low her level is compared to mine in terms of agility and I force myself slow down to keep from running ahead so she can continue to lead the way. We encounter a few Drunken Apes, but Lumera insists we keep going. After a fair distance of running, suspicion slowly rises in me when I notice that she seems to be very familiar with the layout of this forest, there doesn't seem to be any hesitation or a brief moment of contemplation in her guiding and I'm wondering if whether it really was just luck that we haven't transported to another location yet.

As I'm following after Lumera, I take note of the trees; finding them looking barren and grey with thin, transparent white wisps clinging from the branches. My eyes are focusing on anywhere but Lumera, and when my gaze falls to the ground, I find a layer of shadows rushing at my heels, following me every step of the way. I look back and all along the mossy path and crawling down the trees are tiny arachnids racing after us. They eventually outrun us and the entire area around us is covered in black, almost acting like a canvas.

From above, spiders are falling on my head and I can feel them crawling on my scalp. I shriek with terror and I shake my body like a dog shaking off water, although I'm not completely 'dry', I can still feel the uncomfortable tingle creeping all over my body. I can feel them running through my hair and crawling underneath my clothes.

"Spiders!" I shudder with discomfort and I pick up the pace, nearly stepping on Lumera's heels but she doesn't seem at all fazed by this. In fact she looks like she's expected this, she looks determined.

"We're almost there!"

Finally, I see a clearing at the end of the path and I'm temporarily relieved, however, it seems as though there are more to this forest than just trees and shrubs, and a sinking feeling develops in my gut. But anywhere is better than the infested predicament I'm in now and I push myself to run faster, exiting through the thicket of shrubs. Around us is a semi open space; it looks no different than the rest of the trail except for it deads, leafless trees covered in white fibrils, however the area acts as some sort of shield as it's keeping the wave of spiders at bay. Odd by this peculiar outcome I study the spiders carefully, discovering that they actually aren't being held back from reaching us, instead they look reluctant to follow us. While a portion of me is glad to be free from them, the rest of me is cautious. I feel a few creepy crawlers scrambling up my arm and I apathetically swipe them off, more interested in watching them scatter off and hide.

"Ace!" Lumera calls out worriedly and she warily steps to the center. "Nikolaos! Harpy! Please, be here!"

After a round of silence, I start to lose hope and I make my way towards her. "Lumera, I-

The sound of twig snapping catches our attention from our right and within an instant we draw our weapons and fix our focus on that general area. I squint my eyes, sharpening my concentration to get a glimpse of a red cursor floating around but nothing surfaces. Convinced it's just a false alarm, I allow my shoulders to relax when suddenly an agonizing pain penetrates my side and my entire body goes numb. Discovering a silver arrow sticking out of me, my knees give in and I collapse on the ground as a rapid beeping noise rings in my ears. I look at my HP bar and find a negative status icon blinking at me. Stun. I take in a sharp breath and gaze up finding Lumera standing over me with a venomous smile and the cursor floating above her head goes from green to orange. Speechless, I can only gawk at her with shock and confusion.

"That status isn't permanent so it'll wear off soon, but by the time is does, I'll be long gone," she assures in an amused tone, "but don't worry, she will be visiting you very soon."

I try to pull myself up but my body feels like it's been injected with lead and I can't move an inch. "W-what is this?"

Lumera grins evilly as she kneels beside me and points at the arrow sticking between my ribs. "You mean this? It's just a little trick I learned; it temporarily stuns players and monsters." She explains offhandedly with a shrug. "Unfortunately, it wears off in seconds for high level monsters, such as the one that's coming to see you, but on players, it lasts for a good 60 seconds, which is plenty of time."

A high pitched shrill pierces the air and the trees tremor in response. My eyes widen with fear and I will for my hand to reach my rapier, but it feels like it's trapped in stone.

"Don't bother struggling," Lumera smirks and she casually places the rapier in my hand, enclosing my fingers around the handle. "I suggest you save your energy for the fight."

"B-but why?" Although my body maybe be temporarily paralyzed, my voice shakes violently. "Why are you doing this?"

"You really are clueless, aren't you?" Lumera sneers with an incredulous look slapped on her face, "That rare item I was talking about? It's not a rumour, it does exist, and it hides in a locked chest in a cave where that monster lives and the only way it can be unlocked is if a player kills the monster."

Another blood-curdling screech reverberates in my ear drums and I squeeze my eyes shut as though to alleviate the discomfort.

"It's not a trap or a side quest, so anyone can leave the battle if they want. However, the Black Widow is so fast, no one has been known to escape it." She pauses for a moment then lowers her head until her lips reaches my ear. "That is, until I discovered it can be easily distracted with live bait—preferably players."

My thoughts instantly replays her talking about her guild members and I inhale sharply at the sudden realization. "You used your teammates!"

"Did you honestly think a group was going to share a ring? Of course, I used them, but what good did they do?" She barks with a laugh and sighs embarrassingly. "They couldn't even last five minutes with her, but you… You, I have faith in. You were able to take on three apes on your own without breaking a sweat! But it turns out, you don't need brute strength to beat a monster, all you need is couple of simple minded players to fall right into your hands. Honestly, this is all too easy."

As the fury builds up inside me, we can hear the sounds of tree cracking in the distance and the monster stampedes closer to us with a deafening scream that makes my chest thump hardily. Lumera takes this as her sign to leave and she stands up straight.

"You won't get away with this!" I shout angrily and my brow furrows with frustration. "You will never get your hands on that ring!"

"Well it looks like you've got a choice to make then, Asuna," Lumera hums with a devilish smirk and raises her eyebrows. "You can either kill the Black Widow and live to tell the tale—but by then I'll have claimed the Ring of Vectura and will be long gone from here, or you can die, because no one can possibly outrun that giant freak of a monster."

The trees around us shakes more vigorously upon the monsters pending arrival, and Lumera dashes away from the clearing, waving at me as she leaves.

"I trust you'll make the right decision!" She exclaims happily and disappears into the forest.

I continue to lay helplessly on the ground and my breathing quickens with rage at Lumera's abandonment. But since her departure, it's been eerily quiet. Too quiet. I think for a moment that perhaps the monster has decided to follow her instead, but I'm quick to conclude that it is highly unlikely. I survey the area in front of me nervously but there's nothing in sight.

"How much longer?" I whisper to myself, willing for my body to move again and when I look down at my hands, my fingers begin to twitch.

Relieved that Lumera was honest about the stun effect, the arrow lodged in my side fades away and I begin to wiggle my fingers then make a fist, sensing the heaviness in my upper body gradually lightening up. After getting a noticeable feeling in my arms again I push myself up, still feeling weighted down, then abruptly stop when a viscous, sticky goo drops right by my hand. I stare at it for a moment, unsure of what it is until another blob of that same substance drops on my shoulder. My heart stops in that moment and I slowly tilt my head up, suddenly feeling like I've just been struck with Lumera's arrow a second time as my body solidifies even more so but this time with fear.

Dripping from the mouth, and standing ten feet above me is a twisted admixture of a human torso with the lower body of a giant spider. From the torso and up is the body of woman with white eyes and hair, and midnight black skin, she almost looks hauntingly beautiful but from her mouth she bares two sharp fangs that are secreting venom. In her hands are two weapons, one is a shiny silver spiked mace and in the other is a long and thorn studded whip. From the waist below is monstrous spider's thorax with eight arachnoid legs and on the bottom of the spider's abdomen is a bright red hourglass design.

I hesitantly focus my gaze on the name appearing above her head, reading 'The Black Widow' and beside her pops up six tiers of HP. The cursor lingering over her is dark crimson coloured, and I tremble at its significance. But before I get any more time to think, the Black Widow emits an ear piercing shriek that causes the ground to shake violently and the dried up trees to split in two. I panic as I force my legs to move but they seem to be disconnected from my body as they continue to look limp on the ground. Looking up again, I lose my voice to scream and I watch her raise her spiked mace high in the air then drives it towards my skull.

Sorry guys! No Kirito and the gang yet! But next chapter! I promise!

What did you think of this Lumera character? (Please excuse the lame gamer names I gave! They were the only names that popped up and I didn't want to think too much about it) Were you able to see right through her as soon as Asuna met her? Or was I really able to fool you guys into thinking that she was a good person? I'm really hoping the latter! Also, what did you think of Lumera's plan? Does it seem too farfetched? Does it even make sense? I tried explaining it to my boyfriend while we walked to get slurpees and he didn't really understand it. Although, when actually talking about it I couldn't explain it very well. But when I'm given, you know, a day or a week, I can write out the explanation!

Anyway, let me know what you think! I do apologize if I did put you in the same boat as my boyfriend and left you guys to drift away into a sea of confusion. My fantasy, action-y side isn't very good. It's something I have to work on!

Also, in case some of you were wondering –"Where the heck is the romance?!" I really should change up my genres, eh? I'm not sure what the other genre should be… General? But there will be romance! I have many ideas for that- in fact, not to spoil it for you, but they are coming up soon! With Hideki or Kazato? You'll just have to wait and see for sure you'll read it in the next couple chapters! But if you think I need to change the genre to be Fantasy/(Insert Genre Here) then please let me know! I don't want to enrage people with false advertisements!