Chapter 6

I flipped my sword in my hand, whistling as I glanced out over the square of Tolbana, leaning against a sandstone pillar.

Banto stepped up to me, slugging me in the shoulder.

"Still caught up on yesterday?"

I pursed my lips. Dropping the blade into my hand as I dropped into a low horizontal slash.

"What, and you're not?"

Banto shuffled from side to side, tucking his arms behind his back.

"Well, I mean…" He wiped his nose - a reflexive action. "Of course not, one doesn't just get over something like that. It's different with you though."

I growled, sheathing the blade and lifting my foot. The golden glow of a sword skill set in, and I slammed the ball of my foot into the base of the column. A purple hexagon popped into being, but I ignored it. I'd learned long ago that most structures couldn't be broken or harmed.

I lifted a hand for a punch- but banto caught it, preventing me from activating the skill.

"Jean, look, you- you need to calm down."

"Calm down? About loosing Ausben? We're down to just the three of us now- what do you want me to do?"

Banto's fists clenched, and he took a deep breath before releasing them.

"I'm just saying that you shouldn't blame yourself for everyone dying. It's not your fault."

"Oh? Oh really? Is that what Sika said?"

Banto sighed, sitting down heavily upon a ledge of stone and brick next to a fountain.

"She- she didn't mean it Jean, we did what we could, we used up all of our crystals. You fought harder than any of us, except maybe for Sika- she knows that. If it weren't for you and those crazy moves of yours that you throw together so naturally, we'd have died long before now."

I growled, turning and pacing back and forth.

"Yeah, but it's also because of me that we ended up in that part of the Laberynth, now isn't it?"

Banto said nothing, and I huffed, turning away from him.

"Look, I'll see you both at the strategy meeting later today, ok? I promise I won't leave town, or do anything stupid."

Banto rose, setting a hand on my shoulder.

"Jean, don't blame yourself for everyone who dies here."

I turned to him, eyes as hard as iron ingots.

"I don't, Banto. I only blame myself for the deaths that I cause - that I could have prevented."

I stepped away from him without saying anything more, bubbles of rage building in my chest as I cursed, slipping into spanish as profanities streamed from my lips.

We'd lost Ausben in the mountains on our way to Tolbana. Sika had added two new players to our group- like us the remnants of a party of players that had made their way to the Lakes Region, but that ambush had taken out one of them as well. The other- a man named Saito- hadn't taken it very well. Survivors guilt had kind of set into all of us, and it was making things tense.

I stopped at a store, glancing at the amount of Cor that I still had left after paying for our rooms at a local church here. I didn't have a lot, maybe 2,000 cor.

I sighed, glancing at the new longsword I'd bought the day before. Some day, better ones, better blades.

"I'll take a drink- and some food."

The NPC smiled amiably, returning shortly with a bowl full of some sort of steaming gruel, and a cup of bitter ale. It had been an acquired taste, and part of me still felt strange drinking the stuff. No one from my old life was there to judge per se, but still…. It was odd.

"Well, took me long enough to find you John."

I froze, the hackles raising on the back of my neck. I spat out the mouthful of bitter ale that I was about to swallow, nearly falling off of the wooden stool onto the busy street of tolbana.

I shook my head, staring up at a face that I had thought I wouldn't ever see.

Blue eyes locked with mine, short, straight brown hair hastily pushed out of the way to reveal the wide grin of my younger brother.

"BEN?"

He extended a hand. "Need help getting off the ground?"

I slapped my hand into his, standing up, eyes wide, shock anchoring me to the ground.

I lifted a hand, and slammed afist into his chest. He yelped, rolling along the ground and crashing into two other players across the way. I rushed over, latching onto him, lifting him to my eye level, my eyes nearly as wide as his.

"Que diablo está haciendo aquí hermanito? ¡Esperaba que se quedara lejos de este mundo! Cómo, ¡¿cómo es que estés aquí?!"

Ben lifted his hands, glancing around him.

"Hermano, you can put me back on the ground now."

I realized that I was lifting him a good foot off of the ground. Normally I couldn't do that.

"Sorry." I coughed. "But all honestly- what the hell are you doing here?"

Ben stood up, grinning wider than I'd seen anyone smile in the past two weeks that I'd lived in this bland, dangerous world.

"Senator Burns hooked me up."

"Hijo de re-mil-"

Ben cut me off.

"It was a family decision who would go in, John. All of us got together to decide who was going to follow you in."

I stood in shock, and Ben set a hand on my shoulder.

"Come with me, let's get some privacy, eh?"

I glanced around at the street, where a small crowd of players was gathering to watch the strange interchange between the two americans.

"Right- Right. Follow me."

He raised an eyebrow before nodding, following me through the city for a few blocks before we came to an alleyway in a little used part of town, where there were homes for sale. The prices were more than anyone on the first floor could reasonably pay, especially since we were all focused on improving our gear to advance to the next floor within the next few days. Because of this- the place was about as deserted as it could be.

"Ok." I barked. "Spill. What are you doing here?"

Ben set a hand on the hilt of a Katana that he had strapped to his hip.

"Senator burns showed up about a week ago. He told us that you were still alive- got the whole family together, even Ron and his wife came down from up north to meet us to speak with him- apparently everyone had gotten an e-mail from the federal government. A bit unsettling- but then he explained what happened to you, and that you were, essentially, a federal agent."

I scoffed. "Not really- I just try to survive here. I don't even know what they're trying to learn by tracking me, or whatever it is that they are doing."

Ben smiled again.

"Well, I can tell you a bit about that. The point though- your connection to the game isn't valid- you were hacked in. They took us to see you, there in the hospital."

His expression fell, and Ben grew very serious, his jovial attitude dissipating with a thought.

"It's good to see you John. I- I prefer to see you, as you were. That day."

A tear formed in the corner of his eye, and I stepped forward, wrapping him in a hug.

"Gah, you big idiot, you're going to make me cry"

I hurried and wiped a tear away from my eye as we stepped away.

"So it really did happen then? I really am basically a brain in a jar?"

Ben nodded. "More of a torso really- you still have half of your right arm. It would twitch occasionally."

"Putcha." I muttered. "I had hoped that the senator was lying, that he was just trying to force me into this so that they could get a spy into the machine."

Ben shook his head.

"He mentioned that your last request to him had been to let us know what had happened to you- where you were and what you were trying to do. We- well, we couldn't let you enter this warzone alone. We all knew how much you hated the idea of a draft- and that's basically what this sounded like to us. They are tracking you- that's how I knew where to go to find you, and they're scanning the code of this system through o"

I laughed, but there was no mirth to it.

"Well...welcome to SAO. Glad to see you made it this way alive."

Ben shrugged. "It was a bit touch and go, but, we made it alright."

"We?"

Ben nodded.

"I'm not here alone. Mom insisted that if one of us was going in after you, that they didn't do it alone."

My face probablydd paled. It would have if we'd been in the real world, but I felt my heart skip a beat.

"Oh no… who else went in with you?"

"Caleb." Ben declared. "The two unmarried, training brothers who had any chance of stayin alive with any sort of VR experience."

I leaned against the wall of one of the houses, sighing deeply.

"Mierda…" I muttered.

"We argued it for nearly three hours. Also- When did you start swearing so much?"

I laughed. "Since I entered a death game and found out that two of my brothers came in after me."

Ben smiled, setting a hand on my shoulder and gesturing with his head off down the alley.

"How about I take you to the others? Caleb and I picked up a friend or two along the way. He's using the same handle as always, Sansukon, and I'm Irongrip again."

I frowned. "How many people are in your party?"

"We number four- we almost lost one on the way here, but Caleb had a good stash of crystals and was able to bring her back. I think she's about his age too- don't know if Caleb's really into Asians though."

I shook my head, swiping down and checking the time.

"Ok, but look, I need to be at a strategy meeting in thirty minutes- they found the room of the first floor boss- we're deciding what to do about it today. My party is going to be in that fight- we've leveled up enough to make it through the labyrinth, and are confident that we can stick together pretty well."

"Ok, then we're coming with you, where's this meeting?"

I pointed a finger at him, practically growling.

"You and Caleb stay out of this one. You aren't nearly at the level you guys need to be to get through this one- you're only about mid-strength for this floor."

Ben frowned. "We came in here to keep you safe, Hermano. Don't go shoving us off right when we find you, this is what we came here for."

I folded my arms.

"I know, and really-" I couldn't help but smile as I looked up at his towering thin figure, shaking my head as I laughed despite myself. "It's good to see you. I would rather that you two hadn't taken this risk- not for me. I'm basically dead anyway. But, after this fight, after today, I promise to introduce you to my party- what's left of them anyway."

Ben's face fell, the shadow of sadness passing across his face.

"Ah- so, you have lost people."

I nodded.

"Inevitable, I suppose. We're nearly down 1100 people already. 8900 to go."

Ben frowned, and I extended a hand to him, which he met in a fist-bump.

"Come to the meeting." I told him. "We'll be at the amphitheater in the middle of Tolbana- I want you guys to hear the strategy, possibly even input- but you promise me that you and your party will stay out of this one. We'll team up on the next floor- get you guys where you need to be to help contribute to the exploration teams."

Ben shook his head, forcing a smile. "Sure thing brother- we'll be there. Caleb will be overjoyed to see you again.

I smiled. "He carrying a Katana as well?"

"Well of course- we half expected you to as well."

"You know I favor the longsword- always struck me as more useful."

"You just like Lord of the Rings."

I laughed.

"See you at the meeting. Stay safe, Irongrip. I'll send you a friend request at the meeting, you and Caleb both- that will let you keep tabs on me."

"You too John. See you then."

He walked off down the alleyway, and I made my way back to the center of town, thoughts racing through my mind. I found Banto and Sika at the entrance to the Amphitheater, and they both relaxed visibly when I stepped from the crowd and made my way to them.

"Am I late?" I asked.

"No," Sika said, eyes full of questions. "And, I'm sorry for what I said, earlier today."

I shook my head. "Don't be. He's dead. We move on, we learn. No time to worry about blame."

Sika glanced at me, eyes as hard as ever, but her face softening slightly.

"It's good to have you in front of us, Na'Has."

I smiled weakly, extending a hand, which she took, shaking it once in truce before we made out way into the large theater like space, stepping up to the ledge that led down into the dug out pit that had been lined with stonework to turn the space into a theater. Ornate columns, small, but well decorated, denoted the main floor, where a man with blue hair and nearly a full set of plate armor stood, surveying the crowd as people began to file in. There were fewer people than I had expected- given that there were still 9,000 or so of us left in the game, I had expected about half to be here at the advance meeting, but really, I would have been surprised if those of us in the arena totalled more than 100, just at a glance. We walked past a boy- maybe l4, I guessed, though it was hard to tell, who was sitting by himself near to the top of the arena before we made our way to a row of largely empty stone seats where the three of us could sit together. There were some whispers as the crowd gathered, and I turned to Sika bending close to her to whisper in her ear. Banto was busy chatting with a friend of his from the lakes region, and I didn't make an effort to include him.

"I met someone, here in town. They won't be able to help us with this fight- they aren't a high enough level yet- but they'll be able to help us on the next floor. I wanted them to meet you."

Sika raised an eyebrow, brushing a strand of dark hair behind her ear.

"Friends of yours?"

I took a deep breath, glancing back at the top level of the amphitheater, where a few people were still trickling in.

"Well, yes. Very close friends. They're my-" I glanced around to make sure no one else was listening- "They're my brothers."

Her eyes widened visibly. "Brothers?" she whispered back. "You never told me that you had brothers in the game!"

I set my head in my hands, staring at the floorboards of the stage.

"It's...a long story. I- I honestly didn't know that they were here. We live in different states, and I only found out when I ran into them earlier today."

She folded her arms, sitting back on her bench as she thought.

"Well, have they fought before?"

"They seemed to have formed a party and made their way here separately, they just got here today, from what my brother told me."

Sika glanced at Banto, then at me.

"Well...we, we could use the support. We're, we're running a bit low for safety."

I nodded.

I saw a familiar figure come over the edge of the amphitheater, and I made a point not to give it away, letting Ben survey the people in the arena. He picked me out in an instant and waved, and I nodded back. He waved to people behind him, and three other people came up to the edge of the arena. My breath caught for a second when a familiar lanky figure stepped up next to Ben, nearly matching his 6'2" frame, a mess of curly blond hair standing nearly straight up atop his head. He didn't have glasses, which weirded me out more than I care to say, and he waved enthusiastically, grabbing the hand of a much shorter girl with twin ponytails, actually beating Ben down the steps to where we were.

He practically pulled me up into a hug, and Banto nearly fell back in shock, eyes wide.

Caleb squeezed as hard as he could, and I felt a rib shift in my virtual body.

"Brother!" He bellowed out, and I did my best to get him to sit down, frantically urging him to be quiet for just a little bit.

Ben and their fourth companion followed more slowly, but eventually reached the row of seats where we sat and took up seats to my left, on the other side of me from the rest of my little party.

The man with the blue hair spoke up then, announcing himself as Diavol.

I didn't pay too much attention to the meeting- the plan was simple, really. Ilfang, the Kobold King, had several guards around him, and had several health bars. We had to remove the guardians, and shave away at his health, being wary that when his last bar reached 0, he would switch weapons and attack styles, and would come after us with a fury. What really caught my eye, was the interruption of a man by the name of Kibau. He leapt over the edge of the arena, and demanded that all Beta Testers surrender their gear and equipment, accusing them.

"Not good." I muttered, as everyone around me began to murmur. Banto even began to nod along, as he made his arguments.

"It's their fault that so many have died!" Kibau declared, "They took all the easy quests, and took the most powerful items for themselves, leaving the rest of us to die as they dashed for power!"

I started to stand, but was startled to see a large african american man step onto the stage, and pull out the Player's guide that by this point we all had a copy of.

"This was produced by beta testers- many have died, but it is not the fault of the Beta Testers. While many have been selfish, and have done as you have declared, many others have done all in their power to help those players without this experience! We cannot accuse them in this way, not when many of us have survived thanks to the information that they have provided in this guidebook."

He turned to Kibau. "Many of those here are likely beta testers, and have probably saved your life in the past."

I sat attentively, noticing sudden movement to my right. Sika was shuffling, and I noticed her hands trembling on her knees, face tight in either rage or worry.

I reached out, setting a hand on hers, raising my eyebrows questioningly.

She pulled away, eyes locked on Kibau, hands folded in her lap.

Kibau gritted his teeth when Diavol joined the dark skinned figure in opposing his demands on the Beta Testers, turning and falling dramatically to the stone of the front row of seats.

Diavol turned to the rest of us.

"We set out today, we'll reach the maze within an hour, and then, it's on to the second floor!"

Cheers rang out through the amphitheater, and I couldn't help but smile and applaud, letting the emotion surge for a moment within me.

"Everyone form parties of six players, we'll assign teams on the way to deal with the different tasks ahead of us. To arms!"

At that, Sika exhaled, sighing more deeply than I'd ever heard before.

"That was ugly." She commented, and I nodded.

She stood then, turning to my brothers, and their two companions.

"Alright then," She declared decisively, eyes narrowed, but smiling anyway, "Jean here says that you all made it here on your own. Levels?"

"Three." Caleb declared. "Mostly."

Sika's eyes widened. "Thats- that's not a very large margin of safety for what you've been dealing with to get here."

Ben stood, smiling, extending a hand.

"Irongrip." He declared. "Currenlty leading these idiots around. We happen to be very skilled in a more mundane fashion."

She smiled. Taking his hand. "Irongrip- a pleasure."

"This is my brother, Sansukon, and our friends, Tarvos and Naira."

Sika bowed her head to each person as they were introduced. Caleb spoke up next, turning to me, sitting down and clapping a hand on my shoulder.

"Found you at last, eh?"

I smiled weakly, nodding. "I still can't believe that you guys are here. I can't believe that I missed your handles while I was searching through things." I prayed that Caleb would pick up the hint and not mention that they had just logged on only a week or two ago.

Caleb - Sansukon, I suppose, clapped me on the shoulder, before swiping his right hand down and pulling up the friends menu. "I know! We saw your name pretty quickly, but you had a habit of moving on quickly and fighting like a demon."

A window popped up in front of me for a friend request, and I accepted without a thought, quickly sending one to Ben as well. Ben sent a request to Sika as well, and she accepted it, though not from anyone else in their party.

Sika sighed. "Unfortunately, as much as I would love to have you lucky bastards in our party, it seams that your...brother, has opinions to the contrary."

Banto's eyes widened in surprise, and Ben nodded, frowning.

"He mentioned that we were too low of level to be of much help. We had hoped to be of assistance anyhow."

He glanced at Naira, the girl who stood close to Caleb on the step above us, and she nodded, swiping down and pulling out several crystals. Three red ones stood out on top of the pile, and Sika's eyes widened.

"I- I can't take these." Sika declared, " You need them- you four are at more risk than we are!"

Ben smiled, bowing slightly. "Not today. Today you three join the rest of these fighters and march into near certain peril." He grinned. "I insist. If we can't join you, we'll keep you alive at the least."

Naira held out the crystals.

"We'll expect you to pay us back. Nothing for free, of course."

Sika nodded then, hesitantly reaching out and accepting the crystals into her inventory, blinking before turning and giving each of us one of the red ones, and handing Banto one of the teleportation crystals. I didn't mind- he was slightly lower in power than Sika and I. And I had gotten the last one that we had picked up from a monster drop.

Sika turned back to Ben, back straighter.

"We thank you, Irongrip. After this, We'll help you and your friends to level up."

Ben nodded, and then gave me one last hug.

"Go fill your party. We'll keep an eye on the friends list, little brother."

I sighed. "Just because you're three inches taller….."

Ben grinned. "Go get 'em Na'Has. We'll be waiting in the town square. For the three of you." He nodded to Sika and Banto, before turning with Caleb and the other two to leave the amphitheater.

Sika turned to me.

"He is very tall."

I sighed, looking over her head to where they were walking away.

"You're telling me."

We found three other people looking for a group, and we all agreed to meet at dawn the next day for the fight ahead. We invited my brothers and their group to stay with us in our room at the church for the night, and they were elated. We caught up with each other through the night, got to know our new party members, their fighting styles, and their mistakes to this point, and slept.

And then, at the break of dawn, we set off towards the labyrinth.