Hey guys! What's going on? It's been A LONG TIME since I last came here. But I've been working on a new project that I am very excited about because it will be the first time I ever wrote story based on an anime that I REALLY love, and that would be Sword Art Online.
Seeing that I made plenty of Star Wars stories, and I am very happy to see that you guys love my Disney crossover, I feel like it was only a matter of time before I dove into some anime. And here we are.
The reason why this took so long was because I felt that if I was going to write an SAO story, I was going to do it right. So after I finished working on my Tarzan/Lion King crossover, I immediately began working on a story set in the Sword Art Online Franchise. This story has been a long time coming and I am excited that I can finally share this with you.
Before we go any further, all rights go to Reki Kawahara who was the original author of Sword Art Online, I just own my OC. Okay let's get started.
CHAPTER 1: The Disciple
For hundreds of years, The Axiom Church has expanded its kingdom under the rule of the Pontifex in a long lasting peace.
However a prophecy foretells that during the end of days, the walls separating the Human Empire from the Dark Territory will fall - signaling the final war.
Over the past month several attacks have occurred in the north east boarders of the kingdom.
A knight has been sent to reestablish a secure hold on that territory and drive off the forces that have plagued the people of the human empire
Wearing his silver and crimson armor, a knight walks through a plain of gold flowers. Feeling the soft pedals brush against his hardend hand, the knight walks aimlessly across the field. He feels the weight of his cape slow him down as he contuse his walk before suddenly stopping in the middle of the flowers.
He stairs in front of him and sees a young woman dressed in white. Her clear skin and pearl blonde hair are outshined by her eyes that are as blue as the ocean. She brushes her hair back and simply smiles at him as is she had been waiting for him for some time. However the silence was broken by the sound of voice calling out to him. "Captain?"
"Captain?" The knight blinks his eyes and sees that he is standing beside a cliff, staring at a barren wasteland somewhere in the dark territory. Holding his helmet one side, while firmly gripping onto the handle of his sword within its scabbard on the other, he looked out toward the horizon with a heavy sigh. He looks slightly behind him and acknowledges his second in command's pretense. "Sir, your troops are ready."
"Tell me Aaron, when was the last time you had a good dream?" The knight asks.
"It's hard to say Sir." Aaron responded. "A soldier's life requires sacrificing even the most simplest things, even dreams"
"Perhaps when this is over I'll finally be able to dream again." The Knight brings fourth a heavy sigh as he looks across the black field that was devoid of all life. Not a single piece of green could be seen for miles. The young knight puts on his helmet and turns away from the cliff. "Alright, let us welcome our guests"
Across the canyon from where the two young men were standing on lies a cloud of dust, quickly making its way over to them. Running across the desecrated land, a horde of beasts make their way to a hidden path that leads into the Human Empire. With their swords and spears, these creatures have laid waste to several villages leaving a trail of countless bodies in a sadistic game of cat and mouse. Today, it wall end.
The Integrity Knight that was dressed in all white, now known as Adam Synthesis Fourteen, walks in front of his troops carrying large shields. These soldiers were known as the Fourteenth Company and their shields bared the mark of the Pontifex. While the men in this unit carried their swords and large shields, the women carried their swords and spears.
Adam believed that strength can come from anyone who was from anywhere and embraced the idea of being the only unit that seemed impenetrable. With the men carrying their shields, the Fourteenth Company can hold their ground, while the women of this unit unsheathed their swords and provide an offensive assault. Because carrying shields seemed highly odd in the Axiom Church, Adam had to convince his superiors that his unit would be effective in battle.
Today would not only be a test to prove his company's worth, but it also be a test to see how this young knight can handle the heat of battle against the Dark Territory.
Adam walks in front of his troops. "My soldiers, the beasts across the field believe they can cross our boarders, raid our fields, pillage our homes, and dance across the bodies of the people we swore to protect. Today I say we join them in this dance. I say we drench these fields with their blood. What say you my brothers? My sisters? My knights?"
A roar of chants and screams can be heard from the mouths of every one of Adam's troops as they are loud enough to outcry the disgruntled noises that can be heard across the field where the monsters of the Dark Territory have arrived. Carrying barbaric weapons such as clubs, axes, and swords, the horde of goblins, orcs, and ogres are foaming at the mouth as they are itching for a fight. With their fans and claws, these beasts had an insatiable hunger for human flesh.
Seeing Adam and his troops block the path leading to their food source, the creatures of the Dark Territory charge. Running wildly and animalistic, the goblins decide to run on all fours as it would allow them to run faster than any man could in his prime. The orcs charge beside them with their large bodies leaving deep footprints in the black soil beneath them. Using their string legs, the ogres took long strides as they made their way towards the Fourteenth Company.
Above the soon to be battlefield, two dragons can be seen in the sky as two of Adam's commanding officers observed the fight from a safe point. One of which was Bercouli Synthesis One - leader of the Integrity Knights and wielder of the Time-Splitting Sword. The other knight, who wore crimson armor was Deusolbert Synthesis Seven - wielder of the Conflagration Bow, and was also Adam's mentor.
The two men pondered about how effective Adam's unit would as they sat on their large dragons. Their moment of silence was broken as they heard roars of men and beast echo across the battle field. Bercouli is the first to speak. "It look like your disciple is going into battle without his dragon."
"He needs to learn that there are some battles he must handle on his own." Deusolbert responded for he knew how aggressive his student can be for when it comes to battle and his dragon was no exception. If this young man is to become a great knight, he must not rely on sheer power. The two knights soon see the waves of monsters quickly approach the human troops.
"Today we prove to the Pontifex herself why we bare these shields in her name." Adam said as he stood in front of the shields of his unit before he unsheathed his sword and grabbed hold of his shield. With rows of men holding their shields firmly beside one another, they held a tight grip onto their spears as they were perturbing out of the wall of steel, iron, and leather. The women of the unit waited behind the men as they held their hands slightly above their swords, waiting for what was about to come. "For The Empire!"
In the blink of an eye, both sides of light and dark had finally collided. Like a wave of water crashing down on rocks, the beasts of the dark territory slammed their bodies up against the shields of the Fourteenth Company. While some of the creatures were quickly impaled by the spears of men, the remaining beasts did not give up.
After the first wave of creatures collided against the shields, the orcs, goblins, and ogres pushed forward with all their strength. Adam could feel the hot breath from these creatures within his helmet which reeked a foul oder as both he and his men were pushed back. Their feet dragged across the dark soil beneath them as the humans were being forced back, but never broke their hold of one another.
"Hold!" Adam ordered. What felt like hours of constant battle, was only mere seconds after Adam and his troops held their ground against the beasts that bared their fangs at them. But after only being pushed back several feet, the monsters had finally stopped in their tracks. Now it was time to turn the tide of the battle in their favor. "Forward! Push!"
In an instant, Adam and his troops began their retaliation against the Dark Territory. The men standing beside Adam pushed forward with all their strength as they took a step forward knocked the first wave of beasts off their shields like dry leaves in height of autumn. The young knight then gave his next command. "Spears!"
Following his orders, the men of the Fourteenth Company thrusted their spears outward. Finding their target was easy as each man who held a spear managed to thrust it into the hearts of the orcs, goblins, and ogres. Blood splattered onto their armor as their spears went straight through countless chest made of skin, scales, and fur before exiting out the back. The sounds of despair could be heard from the victims that were stabbed by human spears.
At the same time, Adam took the opportunity to slash his sword across the bellies of several ogres. Given that these creatures were taller than the rest, a clean swipe from his sword meant that while he was able to gut several ogres, he also managed to slash his blade across the chests of several goblins and behead a few orcs that were short enough for his sword to go across their exposed necks.
Blood was spilt in that moment as Adam's clean white armor was splashed with red across his body. While it wiped across his clean armor, there were still bits of silver that still shined. His inner clothes that sat beneath his armor were another story. The newly spilt food sank deep within the fabrics of his clothes, causing his white clothes and cape to stain with crimson red.
With several monsters taken by his sword, Adam looked forward and saw the beasts charging forward. Before he could move an inch, his loyal troops advanced beside him as they covered their commanding officer with a wall of shields. The process was repeated once more.
In the first moments of the battle, Adam and his troops would secure a hold in the soil beneath them as several creatures from the Dark Territory would throw their bodies onto them, only to be impaled by the spears of men. Adam would then go out of his way to slash several goblins, ogres, and orcs before his soldiers would rally behind him and provide support.
Adam looks back at his soldiers with a grin that could not be seen through his helmet, but his voice carried a sense of confidence as he spoke to the Fourteenth Company. "Show no mercy!"
A roar of chants and screams can be heard from the men and women of the company as Adam breaks free from the wall of shields and runs into the battle. An unfortunate goblin stayed in his path as he rammed the face of his shield against the goblins face. The sound of bones cracking echoed inside his helmet as the young knight only saw teeth and splashes of blood splatter from behind his shield.
Determined t end the fight quickly, Adam begins his one man assault on the horde of beasts as he drives his sword into the belly of a nearby orc. The pig gives a horrific cry as he looks down at his belly before Adam removes his sword, gutting the creature before lifting his shield to defend himself from an oncoming attack.
He feels the weight of a goblin club come crushing down onto his shield but the young knight is unphased by the blow. Because the shield was well built, it would take more than a mere goblin club to break it. Adam retaliates and slashes his sword downward across the goblin, cleaving him in two before twirling around to slam his shield at an oncoming ogre, knocking him onto the ground. Before the feral beast could get up, he soon feels Adam's sword impale him through the heart.
As Adam continues his assault, he sees several men and women run past him as they do their part in this battle. The men who were tasked with carrying their large shields, make good work as they ram themselves into the enemy before quickly impaling them with their spears. While the men took on larger beasts, such as ogres and goblins, the women of the Fourteenth Company did their job as well.
To say that the Fourteenth Knight was impressed would be an understatement for he knew that he trained these women better than he could have ever hoped. Because their bodies, were small and slim, the women of the company knew how to use speed and agility to their advantage.
Adam looked beside him and saw several women gut several orcs like the pigs they were in mere moments. While some used their swords, others turned to their knives as the young knight saw how that with the flick of a small blade, a single woman could take on three orcs and slit each of their throats. Several other women used their agility to perform acrobatic moves in order to confuse their enemies before landing the killing blow. One woman managed to flip over an oncoming orcs before stabbing him through the back with her sword.
With battle still raging on, Adam runs into several ogres and makes quick with his work. While one ogre carried a crossbow on his forearm, another wielded two blades. Adam holds his shield up to protect himself from the oncoming arrows before using it to block several oncoming swords. With the wolf creature only inches away from him, the young knight could feel the hot breath coming from the beast, as well feel the gross saliva dripping down from its mouth. But as he held the wold in place, from behind him, he saw a goblin charging toward him with a spear.
Adam quickly turns away from the weapon and feels its presence slide over his back as it impales the large ogre.
With the swipe of his sword the knight, beheads the creature before turning his attention towards the goblin. Adam grabs hold of him and uses the green monster as a shield from the ogre carrying the crossbow. In the blink of an eye, the wolf fired several arrows only to make contact with eh flesh of a screaming goblin. Adam then throws the monster onto the ogre before he could reload and quickly stabs the beast while he was on the ground. With blood dripping from him, he focuses his attention on the battle and continues his assault.
Above the battle, both Bercouli and Deusolbert watch the battle from afar as they rode their large dragons in the sky. They noticed how Adam was hacking his way across the battlefield while his troops were still holding their formation. Bercouli placed a hand underneath his chin and was impressed with how this young knight was able to hold his own against a horde of monsters. "He's strong."
"He lacks restraint." Deusolbert responded, for he saw how his student was relying on rage and brute strength in order to fight this battle. Even at a young age, when Adam first become his disciple, Deusolbert saw how this boy showed much potential if only he knew how to control his anger.
There were times where old knight would intervene in his student's training as he would try to instruct Adam on how to control his anger. But those moments would only lead to them arguing as Adam felt that power and strength are what carry a person through battle. Even so, while those two elements may carry a person through battle, in the end it will lead to their downfall as Deusolbert knew that it takes more than sheer brute strength to win a battle, it also takes patience.
Patience was a word that never really sat well with Adam as he felt the need to get things done as fast as possible - strike quickly and move onto the next opponent. That method of thinking was certainly working for this knight as he continued to stab, slash, and hack his way through several monsters throughout the battlefield.
In the midst of the battle, after slaughtering countless beasts from the Dark Territory, the young knight feels something bump against his back. Acting on instinct he readies his sword for a quick thrust to whatever was behind him. But as he turns around to face his opponent he suddenly realizes that is was Aaron, his second in command.
While the young soldier was at first scared, believing that he was about to be killed by a creature form the Dark Territory, his fear turned into relief as he was glad to see that it was his friend holding the blade. Both men took this short moment to sigh in relief before quickly having a small laugh that put a smile on their faces, even though Adam's smile was hiding behind his helmet.
The two quickly turned their attention towards the battle as they fought side by side one another. Adam was easily impressed to see how his friend, a young man who grew up in a small village but graduated from the academy and quickly rose through the ranks in the Imperial Army, was able to keep up with an integrity knight - or soon to be integrity knight. If they somehow manage to not get killed in this battle, then perhaps Adam would finally be given the official title of being called an Integrity Knight.
With both Adam and Aaron working side by side one another, the two worked in sync as they had each other's backs in this bloody mess that they found themselves in. While Adam used his strength to protect his friend with his shield, Aaron would follow up with a quick thrust of his blade. In return, he would deflect several strikes in order to provide Adam an opening for him to slash his blade down onto his enemy. Adam then stabs his sword onto the ground so that he could free his left hand. He raises it toward a large group of monsters and calls out a sacred art. "System Call! Generate thermal element! Form element, arrow shape!"
At the tips of his fingers, arrows made of pure fire began to form in front of Aaron's eyes. Using a sacred art ritual required that one must have a good knowledge in this area of magic. Adam rarely used these types of commands as it required the user to have some space in order to use the available resources to generate any object the user can imagine. This would take up too much time, and in the heat of battle, Adam preferred to rely on his sword. However, given that his fight has gone on for long enough, burning most of the beast from the Dark Territory would bring this battle to a quick end. "Flight straight! Discharge!"
Aaron watched as several fire arrows fly across the battlefield as they flew through a horde of goblins, ogres, and orcs. Even though the arrows did not impale any of the creatures, the flames took care of them as each and every monster was set ablaze. Adam and Aaron stood by one another as they could hear the horrific screams coming from the victims that were burning alive. Aaron then turns to his commanding officer and shakes his hand in a manner or honor and respect.
As Adam returned the hand shake, from the flames he sees something large running towards them. It's hard to make out of it, but the dark silhouette begins to take shape. Through the fire, a large creature jumps through the flames - a giant.
His blackened eyes are filled with anger and rage as his tattooed body jumps from out of the flames as he carried a large ax. With Aaron not paying attention, Adam acts quickly and shoves his friend onto the floor while reading his shield. The giant misses the young soldier as his ax would have chopped his head clean off were it not for Adam. But the ax still makes contact with Adam's shield as the young knight could feel the full weight and power of this giant send him flying several feet into the air. The force of the blow was so strong that it not only knocks Adam's helmet off with ease but also cracks his shield.
Adam falls onto the black soil soaked with blood as he catches his breath and recovers from that horrific blow. He coughs up a small amount of blood and wipes it off from his mouth. Seeing that this was the first time throughout this battle that someone has made him bleed, this knight was eager to fight this strong opponent.
With a grin on his face, Adam grabs hold of his sword and sees the giant jump toward him. With his ax raised into the air, this large beast comes hurdling down onto Adam like a comet falling from the sky. The fourteenth knight responds quick enough for him to roll out of the way as he feels the ground shake and crack from the giant's oncoming attack.
Getting back up on his feet, Adam attempts to slash his sword across the giant's neck but the beast acts quick enough to use the handle of his weapon as a shield to protect himself from the knight's sword. Adam was amazed to see how the wood of this handle was strong enough to withhold the force of his swing. The giant gives a small smirk before he kicks Adam in the chest, forcing him to fall back onto the ground.
Seeing that this giant is far more stronger than he could ever be, Adam switches his style of fighting and moves onto the defensive side and begins to avoid all all the heavy swings this giant was throwing. Adam ducked, dodged, and dove away from the giant's oncoming assault. A moment presented itself as Adam dove onto the ground and felt the ax nearly miss his legs before it wedged itself into the hard soil. With the giant's weapon stuck, Adam had dover behind him and in the moment, he slashed his sword behind the creature's knee.
A loud roar could be heard as Adam moved in front of the beast and attempted to behead him. The giant uses the handle of his ax to block the attack, but Adam had enough of this as he began to repeatedly strike the handle of the ax, hoping that it would break. But instead of slicing the handle in half, Adam's sword shattered right in front of his eyes.
Shocked in the moment, the young knight couldn't believe that he had shattered his sword, again. In many years, this knight has been known to let his anger get the best of him to the point where he would constantly get his swords shattered over and over during training. Maybe it was because he didn't know his own strength, or maybe it was mostly because he would let his anger get the best of him. One way or the other, the end result would be his master giving him a long boring lecture. However, breaking a sword during training, and breaking it in the heat of battler were two different things.
In the blink of an eye, the giant summons all his strength to reach out to Adam and grab him by the throat. The young knight could feel his body lift off the ground as the giant begins to stand on his two feet, holding Adam several feet off the ground.
While he struggled to break free from his grip, Adam still held the handle of his shattered sword as if he had forgotten that his only weapon was broken in half. But the giant savors the moment as he has a knight in his grasp and begins to put the squeeze on Adam. Feeling his armor crush, Adam knew that he only had mere moments before the giant would crush his bones. With several thoughts going through his head, Adam tries to think of a way to break free from the giant. If sheer strength would not break the giant's hold on him, then perhaps pain will.
Seeing that he was face to face with the giant, Adam prayed that his sword was long enough as he quickly thrusted what was left of his sword into the giant's exposed eye. A splash of blood splattered across the knight's face before a loud feral cry could be heard as the giant dropped everything he had to tend to his fresh wound.
Adam falls onto the floor and places his hand on his own throat to catch his breath before seeing the giant's ax lie right in front of him.
The giant, summons whatever strength he had left to remove the sword from his eye, which was what Adam wanted as he reached for the ax and roared at the top of his lungs. Using every once of strength, Adam swung the ax as hard as he could as he felt the weight of the weapon slice through one of the giant's arms before cutting the beast's head clean off like a hot knife through butter.
The weight of the giant's head was too heavy for his shoulders to bare as it quickly rolls off the body and falls onto the floor with Adam's sword still lodged into its head.
Adam slowly creates heavily before reaching for the head and holds it high in the air for all to see. The remaining goblins and orcs see how the strongest ally they had was defeated by a mere human. Adam's roar is long and loud, proclaiming that this battle was over. As he looked out to the battlefield, he watches the last of the enemy flee in terror before hearing the thunderous roar of cheers come from his soldier. Adam then turns to the Fourteenth Company and celebrates with his troops.
While Adam and his company returned to the other side of the wall, both Deusolbert, and Bercouli had mixed feelings for this victory. While Bercouli was impressed with Adam's strength, Deusolbert, on the other hand, felt that his disciple had once again fell victim to his own anger. More would be discussed later on as they would provide the young knight with their own assessment of the battle.
Shortly after the all the fighting Adam and his troops marched back to the other side of the wall that separated the Human Empire from the Dark Territory. With their armor, shields, and weapons, weighing them down, everyone was relieved to have a reached their small settlement. Several tents were established to not only allow the soldiers to rest, but to also aid those who were wounded from the battle.
This temporary establishment was not too far from a nearby village who were more than happy to provide food and water for the Fourteenth company. Adam walked to his tent and saw several small children run through the camp as they offered him food and water. Adam gratefully accepted this kind gesture as he grabbed a bucket of water from a little boy, and a long loaf of bread from a little girl. Stopping in his tracks, he reached into his pocket and pulled out two gold coins.
The look on the children's face was priceless as their eyes lit up light magic while a big smile appeared on their faces. Adam gave each of them a gold coin as a way of thanking them for their kind generous help. The sounds of laughter made Adam's heart feel warm as we watched the children run back home to their parents. Knowing that he had finally drove off the hordes of monsters that were plaguing these poor innocent people, made all the blood worth spilling if it meant that those children can sleep well at night.
As Adam reached his tent, he gave off a heavy sigh as he soon began to remove his armor. The once shiny armor that was brand new, was now covered in blood, and beaten to a pulp while several cracks could be seen in almost every piece of it. He would clean the blood off later, for now, he wanted to wipe all blood off from his face and hands. The young knight takes the bucket of water that he was given and first takes several gulps of it before using it wash his hands.
Wiping blood was always a hassle for it didn't come off that easy as opposed to dirt. Adam then grabs a nearby cloth and soaks it before wiping his face to get rid of some of the giant's blood that splattered all over him. But has he did his best to clean himself, he hears a subtle roar come from outside his tent. A gentle smile appears on his face as Adam walks to the backside of his tent and sees a large dragon sitting behind his tent. It was his dragon - Hiroshi.
Hiroshi was large and powerful creature, whom Adam had raised since he was small hatchling. It is custom that a knight should be paired with a dragon egg as it falls onto the human to care and nurture the small dragon when it hatches. Adam remembers the day when he was given the chance to choose his dragon egg as if it were yesterday. He remembers the joy and excitement of choosing the egg but then feeling a large amount of responsibility when he felt Hiroshi move inside his little egg.
After Hiroshi was brought into this world, Adam cared and nurtured hi dragon day in and day out as well as train him. As time went on, Hiroshi grew larger and larger as he grew a small crown of horns across his head while also growing a slightly large horn at the tip of his nose. His scales were were mix of colors as his normal set of scales were a shade of crimson red, while his horns and more thick scales that acted like armor were red as a ruby. However what made these colors pop were his eyes that were blue as the ocean.
He was a gentle creature whom Adam had trained to be as he could see several children standing and staring at this majestic animal from a safe distance. But once Adam walked over to his old friend, the children ran away, laughing at the mischief they were in.
Adam looks over to Hiroshi and pets the side of his face. "How are you my old friend? I really could have used your help."
The dragon gives a gentle puff of breath from his nose before licking Adam's face clean. The young knight laughs as he continues to pet his friend before Hiroshi looks up to the sky and gives out a small call. Adam turns around and sees both Bercouli and Deusolbert.
Showing his sign of respect, Adam bends the knee and kneels before the leader of the Integrity Knights. "General, it is an honor to meet you. Master?"
Deusolbert gives a subtle grunt which was a sound that Adam was all too familiar of which usually meant that his mentor was displeased. Bercouli puts his hand on Deusolbert's shoulder and tries to change the mood. "Hey lighten up. The kid did pretty good for his first battle. No younger than we were when you and first saw combat."
"Perhaps." Deusolbert responded.
"You got heart kid, I'll give you that." Bercouli said. "And based on what I saw from the battle, your company did pretty well too. With a strong unit like that, we could sure use them in the future."
"I am honored, General." Adam said.
Before anything else could be said, Deusolbert intervenes. "With that being said, there's still the matter of several flaws that were easily noticed."
"Like?"
"You once again allowed your anger to get the better of you as it almost had cost you for life." Deusolbert said as Adam looked at his broken sword that was dangling on his side. "And even though you had proven to us that your company can hold their own, you still went out of your way to break formation just so you could tackle the enemy on your own."
"He's right kid, with that kind of temper, it can be easy to lose control of a fight, and next time it won't cost you your sword." Bercouli stated. "You also need to remember that you were the one who wanted to form this company. If you want to lead a team, than you need to learn how work well with others."
"Understood General. I will be sure to keep that in mind next time." Adam said.
Oh, now he decides to listen. Deusolbert thought to himself. Normally when both he and Adam have these sort of conversations, it normally ends with the two of them having a big argument. But it seems that Adam has a huge respect for the general so maybe he'll for once take this advice into consideration.
"With that being said, the Pontifex has requested your presence." Deusolbert said. "You are to return to the Axiom Church this instant."
A look of shock and surprise fell onto Adam's face. "The Pontifex wishes to see me?"
"Pack your bags kid, you're about to meet the lady in charge." Bercouli said, and not a moment too soon, Adam gets on top of Hiroshi before the two take off into the clear blue sky. Normally when a young knight has proven themselves in the Pontifex's eyes, it usually means that they are ready to receive their divine object, which are known to be some of the most powerful weapons known to man. And Adam was very eager to wield such a weapon of sheer power. It seems that after all the hard work and training Adam had put himself through, he was finally worthy enough to meet Quinella - ruler of the Human Empire.
Alright everyone that'll do it for this first chapter! I hope you all enjoyed this strong opening! I certainly had a fun time diving into the underworld. I did my best to stay true to the lore and mythology of the underworld from the anime and light novels. With Adam on his way to meet the Pontifex what do you think his sacred object will be? We'll find out next time!
If you liked what you read so far, feel free to leave a comment, as well as fave and follow this story! Trust me! There are gonna be some twists and turns in this story.