Chapter 6: Voice

It had been a couple days since I left Lisbeth with the Rainstone. I didn't know what I was going to do to get a metal that would be a good compliment to the other ingot, but all I really knew was that it was a big world. There was bound to be something.

So, with that mindset, I wandered through as much of the cleared 24 floors as possible, hoping to find the metal that I was looking for. Not the best strategy for someone who was a self-proclaimed treasure hunter, but what was the saying? The journey is more important than the destination.

Stepping out of the warp gate, my feet met solid cobblestone. The main town of Floor 17 was almost like a wasteland of canyons and cliffsides. A lot of people didn't like this floor because of that.

But every floor has its own beauty in its own way.

The town of Therion was rather interesting in its own right, because a vast majority of the buildings and structures were built right in the cliffs and crags, making every home here essentially like a cave. Yes, some of the wealthier areas in town were inlaid with wood floors and ceilings, but the fact remained that it was a cave nonetheless.

Honestly this was a town that reminded me a lot of Ikana Canyon. That was a good game. Good level.

Slowly walking through the town and taking in my surroundings, I felt the wind bite at my skin despite wearing a trench coat and scarf. It reminded me of the cold winds of Northern California if I was being perfectly honest.

My feet continued to trudge through the town, as if they were on auto pilot, leading me to my destination. Home. I haven't thought about my old home for a long time. It was odd. It was one of my favorite places in the world, and yet it slipped out of my memories...No, that wasn't what happened, and I knew it.

That memory was forced out. With so many others.

So then why now, of all times, have they been slowly coming back to me?

When I finally came back to my senses, I realized that I unconsciously walked out of the town and into the entrance of the canyon. Looking behind me briefly, It seemed to me like the town entrance was abandoned. Lifeless in a sense. I merely faced back forward and slowly trudged on.

I don't know why, but as I continued on my never-ending walk through the canyon and into the field of monsters, I felt down. There didn't even seem to be any particular reason for it. It was just one of those feelings that you had.

An enemy spawned in front of me. It seemed to be something akin to a miniature golem-like creature. It seemed almost inconsequential to me. Granted it somewhat was as this was a floor that was a bit below my skill level. Taking a sigh, I simply drew my dagger as it started running towards me in a wobbling fashion. It was almost comedic.

As it raised its rock-like fists to strike me, I rushed past it while slashing at it with my dagger, which promptly cut off its arm. Turning around, I saw that it brought his health down by a third. It started to turn around in a second attempt at my life, but its clunky slowness was its downfall. I was too fast, it didn't even have a chance to blink as I struck my dagger in what seemed to be it's head. The attack to its weak point plus my much higher level ended the pitiful creature's life as it shattered to nothing.

I simply put away my dagger and continued on my wandering way.

What was I doing? There was no reason for me to have this...empty feeling. I didn't know what it was or why I had it. And I hate not knowing.

I let out a small sigh to myself. Think, Phantom. Think. That's all you need to do. What is it that you want? In this moment? Two things. And what ARE those two things? The first is to find out the source of this emptiness. The second? Perhaps to find a metal for a new sword.

It was here when I realized I was talking to myself.

"What am I doing here?" I asked out loud. I stared up at the sky, which seemed to have gotten rather cloudy, to the point that sunlight was blocked out. Any other person would have thought that it might have started raining soon, but I recognized rain and their clouds. These weren't those clouds.

"When in doubt, just keep writing."

A voice spoke behind me. I whipped around while drawing my dagger from its sheath, only to find nothing but the environment of the canyon that I had walked. There was no one there.

My eyes scan the area this way and that, trying to find the source of the voice, but I couldn't find anything. That was...impossible.

I know I heard someone...this is practically a straight road, there is no way anyone could have disappeared that quickly...

Yet there was nothing with me but the silence of the wind.

Waiting for another second or two, I slowly put away my dagger. I sighed to myself, even bringing my head to my eye, as if I was having a headache. "What...what on earth was that?" I ask to no one in particular. I unconsciously wandered to one of the canyon's walls and took a seat, leaning my back against it. My thoughts were racing through my head. It wasn't until another mini-golem spawned in front of me while I was sitting down that I remembered where I was.

I may have been fast, but with my guard lowered, the mini-golem was able to take a few good hits on me before I sprung to my feet and was able to slash it a few times, thankfully in the head. It's HP reached zero, and I was safe.

Glancing at my own health bar, I found that the Golem was able to take just about a fifth of my health away.

I can't stop here. I told myself. Find the safe zone. Then I can stop and think...

Getting up, I start to head on my way. Not back to the town though, I continue down the dungeon. I walk. I think.

The voice...I felt as though I heard it before. It was eerie though. I couldn't have heard it. No one was there. It was impossible. It had to have been my imagination.

My walking sped up. I was imagining it. Yes, that was it...

I was speed walking at this point. My nerves were on edge, and I had no idea why. Why was I on edge? This voice...Was it truly my imagination? I know I heard it. No one was there. No one was there.

At the same time...Why was it so familiar?

I didn't even notice that I was running. All I knew was that I had to get somewhere. It didn't matter to me anymore if I made it to a safe zone or not, only that I had to be anywhere else. Anywhere.

I was sprinting. A couple of mini-golems spawned around me, but I kept sprinting past them. It didn't concern me that I was missing them.

I was thinking, and yet at the same time I couldn't think. My head was thinking of so many different things, the voice, what it could have been, why I was wandering out here instead of actually having a destination in mind, all of this running through my head like a cross country runner on his last leg, the finish line in sight. The thing was that I couldn't think of the thing that I NEEDED to be thinking of in that moment:

Where exactly I was running to.

Or rather, what exactly I was running into.

My thoughts and my speed are abruptly stopped when I feel something collide with me and my running course. With me having reached a rather high running speed, the result was both me and whatever I hit being flung through the air, and colliding with the ground several feet away.

I wasn't able to get up for a few seconds as my head was spinning too much for me to focus. I barely registered some type of yell from a bit away, and another sound next to me.

Letting out a small groan, I push myself off the ground and get into the sitting position where I was able to accurately gauge my surroundings and what happened. Lying not so far away from me was a person who seemed to be dressed completely in black. Looking towards the yell I heard, there was a young girl who was running towards us. She was dressed almost completely in a mix of blue and white. In my disoriented state, I initially thought that it was Saphira.

Bringing my hand to my head, covering my eye as if I had a headache, I took another look at the girl approaching us, and I noticed several differences to the friend I knew as Saphira. Mainly her hair being short as opposed to Saphira's long hair, and the fact that she carried herself around in a different manner, though I currently couldn't tell exactly how.

I brought myself to my feet, my eyes falling to the young man dressed in black as he slowly stood up also, obviously banged up from our collision, though nothing too bad. I looked to my HP bar, and found that only a 15th of my health was gone from our collision course. Nothing major, like I expected.

When he stood up though, something about him seemed...off to me. I couldn't place the feeling though.

"Kirito! Are you alright?" The young girl in blue reached us and I was able to tell her differences a bit more. While Saphira carried herself with a more confident yet gentle air, this girl showed more of...timidity, I suppose.

The person I ran into simply gave a nod and a stretch. "Yea, I'm fine. Just a scratch."

Feeling kind of awkward for having disturbed the pair, I bowed to both of them. "Erm...For-forgive me for running into-into you, Sir. I really need to-to watch where I'm-I'm going..."

"Oh, don't mention it. Not the first time I gained a scratch." The person in black told me. Head still looking down in the 'bowing' position, I stuttered out "Yea, but-but I feel bad for-for disturbing you..." I started to swiftly walk away. "I-I'll be going. So-so sorry again-"

"Hey, wait!" The person called to me. I froze in place, caught off guard by his reaction. I turned around to see him rubbing his neck while looking to the girl. "Don't beat yourself up over it. It's not that big a deal."

I was going to say something in response, I don't recall what, but taking in this character, it clicked with me on why he seemed so odd to me before.

"...Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're that player who was in Cafe Zephyr the other day? With the group of other players?"

Shock very briefly made its way to the person's face, but it soon passed after a few moments. "Erm...Yeah, actually. Do I know you?"

I shook my head. "No, I don't believe we've met officially, but I did notice you and your group in the cafe when you sat in my spot."

An embarrassed look briefly crossed his eyes. "Erm...I didn't know you had a seat in that cafe..."

I wave him off. "Oh, there was no way to know, it's fine. I was just curious to you, that's all." I extend my hand to him. "I'm Phantom."

He accepts my hand as we shake. "Kirito. Nice to meet you." He motions to the girl who stood next to him. "This is Sachi."

She simply nods to me before saying "Hello."

Awkward silence.

I brought my hands behind my back. Still awkward silence. "Well..." I start, trying to ease into something better than our current atmosphere. "...May I ask why-why the two of you are-are out here?"

Kirito seemed as relieved as I was that the awkward silence was broken. "Oh, I was actually training Sachi. She isn't as high of a level as the rest of the guild we're in, and...well, we're trying to change that."

Training session, huh? "Well, again, I'm-I'm sorry for colliding with you-you like that...I feel like I should-should make it up to you-you somehow." A thought comes to my head. "If you two are-are free sometime, maybe I-I could buy the two of you a drink..." I see Kirito raise his hand, as if he's about to protest, but I cut him off. "It-it's no trouble to me-me at all. It'll just stay-stay in my head until I can-can make it up."

Kirito seemed to think about it for a second. After a moment, Sachi spoke up. "If...if he really wants to, then it couldn't hurt."

…

This chapter was really difficult for me to write out. I dunno why though. Thought I should say that's why it took so long.

First, I want to address something: the last chapter basically ended with Lisbeth, and the reason I made a departure from that particular "arc" for lack of a better word is the fact that it will be taking place throughout the story. I didn't want to immediately give Phantom a sword from Lis, but I couldn't just NOT put that chapter, since Lisbeth without a shop would have happened pretty early in SAO's time.

Just something I wanted to say.

Also, I wanted to have Phantom meet Kirito and Sachi (and by extension the rest of the Black Cats), but I couldn't really think of a "good" way to make them meet up. I decided by chance encounter, and I was originally going to draw it out a bit more, my struggle in writing this made me cut it here. Rest assured, this is will become essential, and Phantom's and Kirito's/Black Cat's relation will be brought out more in the next chapter.

Granted I know this isn't my finest, but let me know what you think of it!

-Silver