===== November 11, 2022 - Floor 1: Lakeside Village =====

Link stirred awake to find Zelda using his chest as a pillow. He started to wake her up, but thought better of it given their ordeal the day before.

That moment when they both almost lost each other, permanently... that moment was a nightmare in and of itself.

He was surprised that he was able to sleep as well as he had, much less her. Then again, she had been completely wiped out by the time they made it back to the inn in the first place. Perhaps he had as well, whether he knew it or not.

Link sat up, the events of the prior night weighing heavily on his mind. His train of thought was derailed by a hand on his shoulder pulling him back down to the bed. "Good morning," Zelda said sleepily. "Did you get some sleep?"

"Yeah... I slept fine, I think."

Zelda shook her head. "No, you didn't. You had a nightmare at some point."

"Really? How do you know?"

"Because your screaming woke me up."

"Oh... I'm sorry."

"Don't be."

"What was I screaming?"

"Nothing. You were just rambling." Somehow, she managed to look him in the eye and pull off that lie. The truth was he had been yelling her name, crying about 'losing' her. She did what she could to calm him down, and when he would finally hold still enough, she held his head against her breasts until he fell asleep again, whispering 'I love her' the whole time. Whether her calming touch had reached him, she didn't know then - although now it seemed clear enough that it hadn't - but at least the bad dreams weren't haunting his waking hours, which she counted as a win. If he didn't remember that nightmare, she certainly wasn't going to be the one to remind him of it. "I just sat with you and made sure you didn't hurt yourself."

"Oh... thank you." He kissed her softly and held her close to his chest. Zelda didn't feel any of his trademark passion with this kiss... it felt more like reassurance and gratitude, like he was happy having her close by, like she brought him peace of mind.

The next couple weeks went by fairly uneventfully by their standards. They were unable to locate the floor dungeon despite their best efforts. They tried their best to avoid the news of the mounting death tolls, but it was just unavoidable.

By the end of the month, almost 2,000 players had died.

They took solace in the fact that they were still alive, and they still had each other. Their bond grew stronger with each passing day, as did their skill in combat. They still restrained themselves from deeper physicality at night, even though the temptation did not subside; rather, it got so strong that they resigned themselves to sleeping in separate beds on multiple occasions.

On the last morning of November, an incoming message woke Link up. He opened it, wondering who could possibly be messaging him at this time of night:

Sender: Argo

Check this out: rumor has it there will be a meeting two days from now in the town of Tolbana to discuss how to find and defeat the floor boss. You might wanna make your way there as soon as possible.

Memories were jogged at the name 'Argo.' She was a beta tester just like Link and Zelda, and had acquired a reputation as an information merchant. Link and Zelda had been communicating back and forth with her as they traveled, contributing information for a guidebook she had been working on.

His jostling brought Zelda out of her slumber. "Good morning," she said with a kiss, which Link returned half-heartedly, a surefire sign that he was distracted by something. She would have been thrilled to spend the entire day in like this, but his mood told her that wouldn't be an option. "How much longer can we stay in bed?"

"Lemme check the map... we need to be in Tolbana two days from now." He pulled up the floor map and spotted Tolbana about a day's march east by northeast taking the fields and hunting their way through. They could take the eastern road and avoid a lot of monsters, but it would probably take an extra half day of travel. "We can stay in bed until the afternoon, if you don't mind traveling through the fields at night."

"I don't mind at all, as long as I have you with me." She smiled and hugged him tight, drawing a sigh and a smile from him. A few extra hours of cuddling would do wonders to put his mind as ease... yet Zelda seemingly had a different idea as she got up and started dressing. "Okay, what's the deal? You never get dressed before me."

Zelda smiled as she walked out the door. "Just stay here, okay?"

"...Okay."

Zelda sold off her excess loot at the marketplace - she would make sure Link did the same before leaving town - then did some serious shopping. She wanted to make sure Link was as relaxed as possible before the grind to Tolbana, and since he had agreed to stay at the inn a few extra hours, she knew just what she wanted to do...

Zelda came back to the room to find Link finally familiarizing himself with the shower system. Satisfied that her objective would be that much easier, she disrobed and waited for him to emerge, which he did after a few minutes. "How did the shower feel?" she asked with a smile.

"Great. I really do feel a lot better."

"Aww... so does that mean you don't want the surprise I got for you?"

"I didn't say that."

"Good. Now lie down on your stomach."

"If you insist..." He got comfortable on the bed, his hands propping up a pillow beneath his head (which conveniently enough also hid his hand motions). He then felt Zelda's entire weight suddenly applied to his lower back, and a cool liquid applied to his upper back. Her hands spread the oil out evenly before she pressed her entire upper body against his.

"Yesterday was a hard day, for both of us," she whispered in his ear. "But you were there for me in my time of need, like you always have been. Let me return the favor." Link nodded, and Zelda pushed herself upright again and began massaging his back. Like magic, he felt his stress and worries just melt away, and in fact he nodded off shortly. He wasn't awake to see his body start glowing, and his HP meter increasing. A notification flashed in Zelda's HUD:

New Skill Unlocked!

She dismissed it for the time being, continuing to administer her loving touch. After about half an hour, she had finished with his back and wanted to continue with his front, but opted to let him sleep. Instead, she opened up her Skills menu and navigated to the section labeled 'Unique Skills:'

Revitalizing Touch

Player 'Link' finds comfort and healing at your hands.

HP temporarily increased

Effectiveness: 10% of base HP plus 1% per caster level every 5 minutes.

Cast Time: Channeled. Minimum 10 minutes.

Duration: Lasts until target rests.

Limitations: Can only be cast on player 'Link.'

She scoffed at that last line; who else would she use it on?

Who else would she allow in her bed?

Who else would she touch like that?

Who else would she love like this?

She sighed at the realization; maybe that was why she could never find a boyfriend. She'd met plenty of guys, been on plenty of dates, but none of them ever really amounted to much. Was it because her heart belonged to him this whole time? And would they now die without ever getting the change to truly express how they felt toward each other?

She shook those thoughts out of her head. Her Hero needed her strong and focused, and "what-ifs" didn't do anything to help that situation. Besides, she had resolved to live her best life here and now, making the best of her life here in this world, not dwelling on the past or the outside world. Although now, she found another goal coming to mind: to live to see the end of this world, get back to being Lanay Ruzanaki, find Christopher Farron and tell him that she loved him. That she had loved him for years, and wanted to love him for the rest of their lives.

But that would have to wait... after all, they had a world to save.

Zelda got dressed and went shopping for supplies, leaving Link a message to meet her when he woke up. She focused on healing items since they would be straying from the relative safety of the roads and trekking through uncharted wilderness. As she made her way through the shops, she came across a peculiar shield. It was a perfect circle, its face made of a metal so shiny and polished she could see her reflection. "Got your eye on that shield, have you?" came the cross voice of the shopkeeper. "Well, don't bother. No way you can afford it-"

"I want it." If there was one thing both Lanay and Zelda both hated, it was being told she "couldn't" do something. She picked it up and the item's tooltip displayed:

Mirror Shield

Price: 100,000 Col

Buy?

{{Yes}} / {{No}}

Zelda swallowed hard; 100,000 was almost their entire cash reserve. What the hell, we'll earn it all back with today's hunting, she said to herself as she tapped the 'Yes' option and hers and Link's hard-earned money vanished into the shopkeeper's... hands? Where did NPCs keep the cash they bought and sold things with, anyway? Eh... another question for another day.

Link eventually woke up, got dressed and found Zelda waiting by a fountain. She was fully equipped, in a purple suit of full plate armor with her greatsword strapped to her back, and... wait a second, was that a shield?

"When did you decide to learn to use a shield?" he asked her as he sat next to her.

"Oh, this?" She removed the shield from her back and handed it to him. "It's for you... it was really expensive, so we don't have a lot of cash on hand anymore. But I thought you might like it."

Link stashed the shield he currently had and equipped the Mirror Shield. It was a significant upgrade in defense and durability, yet it was somehow lighter than any shield he had used so far. It was also a lot bigger, meaning he could cover more of himself with it. "Thank you... that was very thoughtful of you."

"You really like it? I probably spent a lot more on it than I should have..."

"It's okay, we'll earn it back today." He wasn't particularly thrilled about her burning up their cash reserves, but he wasn't about to act like an ungrateful asshole over it. Besides, they were right; they could earn that money back easily enough on their hunt traveling towards Tolbana.

He continued to look over the shield, and noticed that the front side had a relief in the exact same design as the eagle on his tabard. He inspected the back side and found a relief in the shape of three triangles, just like the tattoo on his right hand. As he pondered the strangeness of this coincidence, his vision suddenly went hazy. He saw flashes of images: spider-like creatures with a single eye that could shoot laser beams, and a person using a shield to deflect the laser beams away. Just as quickly as the vision came, it was gone.

"What the hell..." He stared at the shield with a mixture of trepidation and wonder.

"Your eyes just went all weird, like-"

"Like TV snow? The same way yours did when you touched your bow for the first time!" There was no mistaking it; he was supposed to have this shield, just like she was supposed to have that bow, just like he was supposed to have that Sheikah Slate. He gave Zelda a huge hug and a kiss on the forehead. "Have I told you lately that you're an absolute fucking genius?"

"Really?" She blushed at his praise; no, he had in fact not told her she was an absolute fucking genius lately, or ever for that matter. But knowing she had done something to garner such adulation erased all of her insecurities about the money. If that shield had given him a vision, then it was meant to be used by him and no one else, and thus it was worth every single Col.

Link sold off his excess loot before leaving town (which ended up recouping about a third of the cost of the shield, as it were) before they struck out into the eastern fields around 10:00. They had their 'Well-Rested' and 'Revitalizing Touch' effects applied, which made hunting a little bit easier. They kept honing their individual skills as well as their team dynamic, inventing flashy and stylish ways to defeat their enemies. Hundreds of enemies fell to their blades, and by early afternoon they had made good progress to their destination. Eventually they spotted a small hilltop which would make a nice spot to rest and have lunch. They cooked, ate, and took a little while to rest from their travels and enjoy the view from the hill. They sat back-to-back for better security, but with their weapons on the ground to their sides for additional closeness. Zelda pulled her helmet off, and her long, jet-black hair fell across Link's shoulder and chest. Link said nothing, just chuckling slightly as he began to run his fingers though it.

"Stop that," she purred more than a little suggestively. "You're gonna end up putting me to sleep."

"Oh, yeah... and we wouldn't want that now, would we?"

"Nope, 'cuz if I do go to sleep, you're coming with me."

"Right out here, in the middle of the field... how long do you think we'd live?"

"Who cares... if I got to die in your arms, I'd be happy."

"Don't even joke like that."

"Who said I was joking?" Zelda removed her gloves and chestpiece and curled up in Link's lap, taking his hands between her own. "I don't so much worry about dying in this game, so much as I worry about dying without you."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because I know that you would fight to your last breath to keep me alive, and you know that I would do the same for you."

Link stared off into the distance. "Yeah, you're right about that... hey, look at that. To the northeast."

Zelda sat up and looked in the direction Link was now pointing. "What? What do you see?"

"That little tower out in the distance... is that a horse's head on top?"

"Yeah, I think you're right... do you think maybe it's a horse stable?"

"If it is, and we can find horses there-"

"We can get to Tolbana before nightfall."

"Come on, let's move!"

The pair reequipped their armor and weapons and headed for the landmark they had pointed out. After about half an hour, they reached their destination and found that it was indeed a horse stable. They inquired with the man at the front counter about possibly obtaining horses of their own.

"I'd be happy to help you out!" he replied cheerfully enough. "Except we've been having a problem lately: a Guardian has strayed too close to our stable and is scaring away all the horses."

"Scaring away all the horses... wait a sec, what's a 'Guardian?'" Zelda asked.

"A weapon created to fight the Calamity, but now gone completely amok," the stablehand shuddered. "Now they'll attack anyone and anything that gets within range of their eye, which can see damn near to forever. Not to mention, they're tough; I've seen entire platoons go after them and not put so much as a dent in their armor."

"Sounds scary... where can we find it?" Link asked.

"Well, it typically stays up north, and doesn't come too close to us unless some fool lets it chase them here. And with as many legs as they have, they can move pretty quick for something as big as they are."

"Many legs, huh?" Link recalled something in his vision from the Mirror Shield.

"Yeah, although I don't know which is worse, that or the lasers it shoots off."

Lasers? "And, umm... if we manage to take this thing down, you'll sell us a couple horses?"

"Well, we don't exactly sell horses. If you can catch a horse of your own, we'll sell you a bridle and saddle for it. We'll also register it, which means you can board it at any stable you come across."

"Thanks... we'll be back as soon as we've dealt with that Guardian." Link grabbed Zelda by the wrist and dragged her out of the stable, finally explaining the vision he saw when he first touched the Mirror Shield. "Spider robots that shoot lasers, that can be deflected by a shield... that sounds just like this Guardian that guy talked about!"

"And you really think we can take one of them on by ourselves?"

"Absolutely... if I can hold its attention and deflect its lasers, you should be able to hack its legs off. It sounds like it can move faster than us, but if it can't move at all, it gives us the advantage."

"Sounds like a plan... there it is!" A couple hundred meters away, a hunk of metal sat on six legs. Oddly enough, it was shaped like the surface portion of the Lakebed Shrine, with the same swirling patterns carved into the sides. It skittered about, clearly on the lookout for something. "It hasn't spotted us yet. Let's use the treeline to get closer before it does." Link agreed and followed her into a nearby patch of woods that covered all but the final thirty meters of their advance. They were also able to see just how intimidating this thing was, and why nobody had been able to destroy it so far. It was about fifteen feet tall, its legs were each about ten feet long with sinister-looking claws at the end of each one, and the top portion looked like it rotated a full 360 degrees. Its tooltip identified it as a 'Guardian Stalker' with 1,500 HP. Link typed a quick message to Zelda to try and avoid detection:

Great... it can track us even if we try to run. Or even if it tries to run...

Zelda was the middle of typing a response when the Guardian started to glow with an evil pink light, and a focusing beam shot forth from its eye right to Zelda's chest. "Stay behind me!" Without hesitation, Link got between Zelda and the Guardian and held his shield up in front of both of them. The automaton skittered back and forth, charging its optical beam the entire time. Suddenly it fired a white-hot blast at the two adventurers, which would have certainly been fatal had it not deflected harmlessly off Link's mirrored shield. Unfortunately, it happened to deflect into the forest, setting several trees and a patch of grass ablaze, forcing Link and Zelda out into the open. After a couple seconds, the focusing beam reappeared and the Guardian began charging its laser up again. Link counted ten seconds before another blast fired at him, and he again deflected it away from himself and Zelda, who was still hiding behind him. "Let's try to put some distance between us and that machine," she suggested, retreating about fifty feet away. Unfortunately it was seemingly fixated on her, and ran past Link to chase after her. Link started after her to keep her covered, but instead drew his sword and started hacking away at the nearest leg he could find.

Zelda panicked with nothing between her and this giant death-laser firing spider-bot... which suddenly wasn't moving as sharply as it had before. Around its back side, she could see Link slashing like mad at one of its legs, which must have been what was slowing it down. What he wasn't doing was preventing it from charging its laser for another attack. "Umm, Link... what do I do?!"

"Dodge the beam!"

"WHAT?!"

"It hits - like a truck - but it's slow. Get enough - distance - between you - and it - and you - should - have - an easier - time - of it!" Trying to coach Zelda and hack the Guardian's leg off at the same time was not easy by any means.

"I can't jump like you can, not in all this armor!"

"Then you better figure out a way to hide behind that big-ass sword of yours!"

Wait a sec... of course! Somehow it had never dawned on her that her greatsword was not much narrower than a conventional shield. She planted the blade into the ground and braced herself on her rear foot; she now had next to zero mobility, but with any luck her blade would withstand the impact and deflect the laser without too much injury to herself. She just had to keep the flat of the blade in front of the Guardian's focusing beam, which was becoming more and more steady...

*CRACK!*

A loud bang echoed from the far side of the Guardian near where Zelda had last seen Link. It rocked to one side away from the sound before crashing back to the ground, its head spinning and its eye laser no longer charging. Link emerged and started hacking at another leg. "Yo, Princess! I could use your help over here!"

Zelda didn't need to be told twice; she picked up her sword and started slashing at the same leg Link was. Thanks to her higher strength parameters, they were able to work together to destroy the rest of the robot's legs with no danger from its eye laser. As they destroyed the last appendage, the remaining husk sputtered, smoked, and shattered into a thousand polygon shards.

They leaned on their weapons as they caught their breath, exhausted but triumphant. Their loot screen showed a slew of various Guardian parts, as well as plenty of Col and enough XP to boost them two full levels. "Wow... I can't believe we took that thing down," Zelda huffed, plopping herself down on the ground.

"I can," Link retorted, sitting down next to her and placing his arm around her. "That's what you and I do, remember? We work as a team. In fact, we work better than probably any other two-player team out there."

"Yeah... we do seem to work pretty well together." She removed her helmet and leaned across his chest, so that they were almost face-to-face. Almost on cue, he tilted her chin up and kissed her full on the mouth. She hungrily kissed him back; his kisses and affections were the better than any loot drop or quest reward she had seen in the game thus far.

They made their way back to the stable, where they reported their success to the stable manager. "Excellent! I knew you could do it!" he beamed. "As a token of our thanks, we have a couple spare horses in the stable. You're welcome to them; they're not the fastest in the world but they're reliable enough to get you around."

Link and Zelda mounted their new steeds after receiving a brief tutorial on how to catch, tame and feed any other horses they might encounter. They rode through the fields towards the setting sun, arriving at Tolbana shortly after nightfall. They found lodging for the night and completed their chores early the following morning and, having nothing really important to do until the raid meeting the following day, spent the day relaxing and enjoying the town. One particular area caught their interest: a "black market" of sorts where, for a quite exaggerated amount of Col, a player could search for certain items on the Internet and have it recreated in the world of Aincrad. Weapons and armor were off-limits, but cosmetic items like clothes, furniture, and even tattoos were available.

They met a few new players who were also in town for the raid meeting: Agil, a giant of a man who wielded an axe to match; Diabel, a self-styled "knight" who was one of the organizers of the raid; Kibaou, who seemed skilled enough with a blade but had a really sour disposition; and a handful of others. They also saw Asuna again, and were glad to see she was still alive and doing well.

Link and Zelda returned to their room as the day wound down, and woke up to what felt like an enthusiastic buzz in the air. They would finally break through the 'glass ceiling' and advance to the second floor.

The only question at this point, was how many people would die trying.