Chapter 5: Caged Canaries Pt.4
Arun was a beautiful city. It was unlike anything that Ren and the others had seen in the world of Aincrad. Players of all races populated the streets. It was the center of Alfheim, and home to the World Tree.
Ren and the others had all heard about the rumors of the World Tree. Armies of players had tried to clear the Grand Quest of the World Tree. All of them had failed. Not a single player had been able to make it to the top and reach the supposed golden city of Yggdrasil that was at the top. But none of that mattered to Ren right now. There was only one thing his mind was focussed on.
Alice was supposed to be at the top of that tree. And he was going to save her no matter what.
"Hang on Ren. Slow down." Helios said. It was only until his friend called out to him that Ren realized just how fast he was walking. "I know you're worried about Alice. We all are. But you can't go rushing ahead of us."
"I just can't help it." Ren said, clenching his fists. "I've had to sit on my ass doing nothing for two months. And now I finally have a chance to see her again. I can't sit still anymore."
Dagger walked up and put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "We understand Ren. You want to save Alice more than anybody. But if we're going to do this, we'll need to do it as a team. Just like all the other messes we've gotten through."
Ren sighed and nodded his head. "You're right. I'll try and keep myself in control."
"Don't worry Ren." Mai said with a smile as she walked up to him. "I know we can do this. We'll save Alice for sure."
Ren nodded his head understandingly. Next to him, Mai had the biggest motivation to save Alice. She was her sister after all. Ren knew that she wanted to rush up the tree right now to save Alice. But she managed to keep her cool. He needed to do the same.
"Let's get going guys." Ren told his friends. "Kirito's waiting for us at the base of the World Tree."
The group of Wyvern's Inferno all made their way through the city. Soon enough, they found a long set of stairs leading up to the base. At the top, they could make out Kirito somewhat. As they ran up the stairs to meet up with their friend, Ren noticed two other players standing with him. The first was a female Sylph with blonde hair tied up in a long ponytail. The other one was also a Sylph, though he didn't seem to be much of a fighter based on his appearance.
"Hey guys." Kirito greeted. "You ready to do this?"
"Yeah." Ren said with a nod of his head.
Mai looked at the two Sylph players with Kirito. "So not to ruin the serious mood or anything, but who exactly are these two?"
"Sorry, allow us to introduce ourselves." the blonde female said. "I'm Leafa. This here is my friend Recon. And I believe you're already acquainted with my brother." She gestured towards Kirito for the last part.
"Hang on… BROTHER?!" Dagger exclaimed. She looked back and forth between Kirito and Leafa. "But you two... I mean… You don't look anything alike."
"This isn't SAO where everyone looks exactly like their real world appearance." Kirito reminded her. "Believe it or not, this is my sister Suguha Kirigaya."
"It's nice to meet you." Leafa politely bowed. "Kirito's given me the short version of what's going on, so I know this is really important to you guys. But I still don't know if we'll be able to get through the World Tree with only us."
"We won't know unless we try." Kirito told her as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "We've just gotta give it our all."
"Yeah, let's kick some ass!" Helios cheered as he raised his fist into the air.
"You mean save our friends right?" Riku said.
"... I stand by what I said."
The group all walked up to the doors of the World Tree and opened them. As they walked in, light shined throughout the inner trunk of the tree. It stretched up for what seemed like a mile, with a closed passageway at the top.
Leafa brought her hand to her chin as she thought to herself. "Alright so the guardians are going to swarm us once we start climbing. How should we-" The Sylph was cut off as Ren and Kirito both took off into the air at full speed with a violent flap of their wings.
"Impatient idiots." Helios groaned as he spread his wings and took off. "Wait up you two!"
Ren and Kirito couldn't hear the calls from their friends telling them to wait up. They were too focussed on what was right in front of them. Once they made it to the top of this tree, they could see Alice and Asuna again. One last fight. That was all that was separating them from those they loved.
'Wait for me Asuna. I'm coming.'
'Hang on Alice. I'll be there soon.'
As they ascended, light shined from the mirrors at the side of the trunk. Multiple humanoid enemies emerged from them.
"Those are the guardians." Kirito explained. "I fought them a little earlier. Take one down and fifty more show up to take its place."
"So it's a never ending swarm of enemies?" Ren realized. "Only one thing to do then. Force our way through before they can spawn more of them." He looked at his friend. "You got my back?"
Kirito smiled and nodded his head. "We've got each other's."
The guardians all flew at Kirito and Ren. Ren ducked under a slash from one of them and stabbed his sword into it's body. The guardian evaporated into flames, only to reveal a second one charging at him. His sword clashed against the guardian's, easily knocking it back and allowing him to go in to finish it off. Meanwhile, Kirito swung his large sword in a full circle, cutting down a group of guardians that had surrounded him. He blocked an incoming slash from two guardians and fell back. Ren and Kirito hovered back to back with each other as the guardians swarmed and surrounded them.
"Geez, you weren't kidding about the 'never ending numbers' part." Ren said as he gripped his sword tightly. "This is gonna be a lot tougher than I thought."
Just as the guardians began to move in for the attack, Helios appeared and ripped through several guardians with his axe. Dagger and Riku joined in and sliced through several other guardians with their blades. As Ren watched in surprise, a emerald light surrounded his body, healing some of his HP. Looking down below, he saw Mai give him a thumbs up as she winked at him.
"Guys…" Ren gasped.
"You didn't think we'd let you two have all the fun, did you?" Helios asked with a grin.
"You don't have to handle by yourselves." Dagger told him. "You've got us to help you. Don't forget that."
"Just say the word Ren, and we'll do what you say." Riku said. "We're a guild and you're our leader. We're counting on you and so is Alice."
A small smile appeared on Ren's face. He felt blessed to have such loyal friends at his side. "Thanks you guys. Really. I can't thank you enough."
"Yeah, yeah, enough with the sentimental garbage. Let's kick some ass!" Helios said.
Ren nodded his head. "Riku, watch my back. Dagger, watch Kirito's. Mai, you Leafa and Recon keep healing us from below. And Helios…" Ren knew he might end up regretting his next words, but he said them anyway. "Go nuts."
Helios soon had a wide grin on his face as he got into a battle-ready stance. "I never thought I'd hear you say that."
Several groups of guardians all flew at them. Helios gripped his axe tightly and charged at the guardians with a loud war cry. He swung the heavy weapon around wildly, taking out the guardians one after another. Ren and the others joined in, slashing their way through the legion of enemies. But their numbers seemed to be endless. Guardians kept coming in swarms. Ren and the others eventually found themselves able to progress any further and were slowly being pushed back.
"Give us a break." Helios groaned as he tried to catch his breath. "How are we supposed to break through this many enemies?"
No one seemed to be able to come up with any ideas. Even with a full army, Ren wasn't sure they'd be able to make it to the end. Suddenly, they saw Recon fly past them, going straight into the swarm of guardians.
"Recon, what are you doing?! Get back here!" Leafa shouted.
Recpn ignored the female Sylph's call and began chanting a spell. The guardians that were flying at him all stopped as a ball of fire surrounded him. The ball gradually began to expand, engulfing guardians one after another. It created a large scale explosion, leaving only a remain light of Recon behind.
"A self-destruction spell?!" Leafa gasped. She clenched her fists and shed a small tear. "Recon… you dummy…"
"Let's not waste this chance he gave us." Kirito said. "We need to use this opportunity to break through."
"That might be a bit of a problem." Mai said, pointing at the guardians. "Look."
The guardians had already begun to regroup. Within a few seconds, the large hole in the formation that Recon had created was filled up, and more guardians kept appearing.
Ren growled as he watched their chance slip out the window. "Damnit. What do we do now?"
Suddenly a new voice appeared from below. "Well, well, what do we have here?"
The players all looked down and gasped as they saw an army of players at the base of the tree. It seemed to be a collection of Sylph and Cait Sith players. Ren and the others had never seen this many players together since the boss raids back in Aincrad.
"It's Sakuya and Alicia!" Leafa exclaimed.
"Sorry we took so long." Sakuya said. "Gearing everyone up took some time."
Alicia Rue gave a wink as she sat on her wyvern. "But we're here now so how about we give you guys a hand?"
Ren looked over towards Kirito. "Friends of yours?"
"Sort of." Kirito nodded. "Either way, with their numbers, we might just have a chance."
Sakuya pointed towards the guardians. "Everyone charge! Take them all down!"
At Sakuya's command, the army of players all flew at the guardians. The inside of the World Tree soon turned into a full battlefield as swords clashed left and right. There was no end to it.
"They're keeping the guardians busy. Now's our chance." Kirito said. The group all took off towards the top of the tree. Even with the large number of reinforcements though, there were still plenty of guardians waiting for them.
"Leave it to me!" Helios said. He charged in and roared as he got closer to the guardians. Helios began spinning his body around like a cyclone as he moved forward, ripping through the wall of guardians. Several of the guardians evaporated away as Helios's axe slashed them.
Helios kept building up more and more momentum as he continued to spin. Suddenly, he felt his body force to a stop as a sword pierced his body. Before he knew it, more and more swords were thrown at him, all impaling his body. Helios watched as his HP fell rapidly.
"Helios!" Ren exclaimed.
Helios grunted as he endured the pain. He looked at his friends and showed them a grin. "Go."
"HELIOS!" Dagger screamed as she watched her boyfriend burn away into a remain light. It took her a moment to remember that he wasn't dead for real. This wasn't SAO. But that didn't quell her rage as she glared at the guardians with hate in her eyes. She flew at the guardians with a murderous grip on her weapon. "I'LL KILL YOU!"
Ren and the others knew what Dagger was like when someone had tried to take away her money. It never ended well. But this was different. None of them had seen Dagger this angry before. She slashed through guardians as she took the lead. But unlike Helios, she wasn't a tank and couldn't endure the constant cuts she was getting from the counterattacks coming her way. As her HP fell into the red, Dagger's eyes widened as a guardian swooped down to finish her off.
"Look out!" Riku shouted as he moved in and shoved Dagger out of the way, but not before getting impaled by the sword that had been intended for her.
"Riku!" Dagger gasped.
Like Helios, the male Sylph's HP hit zero and he burned away into a remain light. Dagger gasped as she looked at her friend floating as a small emerald flame. Before she could do anything, a guardian appeared in front of her and ripped through her avatar. Dagger cried out in pain.
"Dagger!" Ren shouted as his eyes widened.
Dagger watched as he HP fell towards zero. Knowing she only had a few seconds, she raised her blade. "If I'm going down, I'm taking you with me." She stabbed her weapon into the guardian's back and they both burned away together, leaving Dagger as a remain light.
Now Ren was pissed. He had watched three of his friends fall, sacrificing themselves so he could go on. He, Kirito, and Mai all flew up towards the top of the World Tree. Their destination was just a little further. The only problem was the guardians standing in their path.
"Out of our way!" Mai yelled. She flew up and thrusted her rapier forward, impaling several guardians in the process. The weight of the enemies pushing back on her felt like a ton, but she kept pushing through. She was not planning on letting this all be for nothing. Too much was on the line. As Mai pushed forward through the guardians, she gasped as two flew to flank her from the sides.
"Mai! Look out!" Ren shouted.
Mai quickly tried to pull her rapier out of the bodies of the guardians it was currently impaled in, but it was too late. She felt two blades rip through her avatar, cutting her body in half. She looked down at Ren, seeing the tears in his eyes as he looked at her. She showed him a reassuring smile. "Go Ren… Save Alice… Bring her home…"
"MAI!" Ren yelled, his voice echoing throughout the World Tree. Mai's avatar vanished, leaving behind a small flickering flame.
And with that moment, any remaining feeling of mercy Ren had was gone.
His entire body shook with rage. Ren flapped his wings as hard as he could as he and Kirito both flew up towards the remaining guardians in their way. The two swordsmen gripped their swords tightly. They were not going to fall here. Not after everyone's sacrifices.
"Maybe you didn't hear my friend before." Ren said as he glared at the guardians. He pulled his blade back and got ready to thrust it forward. "She said… GET OUT OF OUR WAY!"
Ren and Kirito both pressed forward with every ounce of strength they could muster, plowing through the guardians. The two of them let out a loud war cry as they neared the end of the cluster of guardians.
"RAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"
Finally they broke through the wall of enemies with a powerful burst. Both Kirito and Ren landed at the top, finally at the end. The wall soon closed from guardians respawning. There was no turning back anymore.
Ren tried tapping his foot and several other motions, but the door leading to the top of the World Tree stayed closed. "Ok... any idea on how to open this thing?"
"Let me try." Yui suggested, flying out of Kirito's pocket and landing on the door. She touched it for a few seconds before gasping. "Papa, something's wrong. This isn't locked by a quest flag, but by the system administrator."
"What's that mean?" Kirito asked.
"This door was never meant to be open by a player!"
Kirito and Ren both gasped as they looked at each other. Their troubles weren't over though as guardians began to fly up towards them and surround them. The situation was growing worse by the minute.
Suddenly Kirito gasped as he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a card. "Yui, try this."
Ren stared curiously at the card. "What is that?"
"It dropped from the World Tree earlier." Kirito explained. "I think it's some kind of access code for the system."
"Let me see." Yui said. She touched the card for a few seconds. "Yes, this will work. I'm transferring the data now."
Kirito and Ren looked at each other and nodded. It was finally time. They were at the home stretch. Asuna and Alice would be just a little further past this door.
"It's going to teleport us!" Yui warned. "Papa! Ren! Grab onto me!"
Ren and Kirito both held Yui's hands as they became veiled in light. Their vision went white and before they knew what was happening, their consciousness faded away.