Chapter 4
Hey again! So, first thing's first: sorry for the late update! The last couple of weeks have been really stressful at my job, as my company is entering its busy season, but I hope now I can keep a steady update schedule (approximately either every Friday evening or Saturday morning), and I hope what I have here was worth the wait. Oh, and for the two of you who left reviews, your praise and kindness means a lot to me. So, without further ado…
Lis groaned as she rolled over on the hard ground. The sun was shining down on her face, searing through her eyelids and causing her to shriek and throw her arms over her eyes. When the pain in the back of her eyes abated, she cautiously removed her arm from her face. The sky was a deep and calming blue that was visible through the tops of the trees, and the sun, now that it wasn't rendering her blind, was warm and invigorating. Carefully, she pushed herself up into a sitting position. She yawned as she looked around the makeshift campsite. She immediately became nervous when she didn't see Siren.
"Siren?" she called softly, beginning to scan the area quickly.
She was rewarded with a rustling in the tree-line behind her as a shadow engulfed her. She squealed in panic, quickly spinning on her butt to face the intruder. To her relief, and utter irritation, it was Siren. He had his arms crossed over his chest, and to her astonishment, he was actually chuckling. She growled at him in irritation, but despite her anger, she couldn't help but be swept off her feet. The small laugh was heavenly to hear, and it was a nice change from the quiet and neutral expression he always seemed to wear.
"Did I scare you?" he asked cheekily, giving her one of his small, almost-smiles that she was slowly falling in love with. When she realized how she was beginning to acknowledge her growing feelings, she shook her head to clear her thoughts. She wanted none of that, not on this little excursion.
"Of course not!" she almost, but not quite, shouted, "You…you…startled me! That's ALL! I mean, come on! Creeping through the forest like that! You're lucky you didn't get a mace in the face!"
He immediately put up his hands in a surrender motion, the smile staying on his face a few moments longer.
"Sorry about that," he said, "I didn't mean to…startle you."
She huffed and folded her arms across her chest, but the anger left as quickly as it came.
"What were you doing skulking around, anyway?" she asked. He looked like he'd been up for hours, not the slightest bit of evidence of any exhaustion, despite the long journey.
She watched as he smiled again, then opened up his menu for party view. What she saw made her mouth water. There were several pieces of boar meat, as well as eggs and wild berries displayed before her.
"Hunting," he said as he closed her view of his menu, "Thought you'd like some breakfast."
"Breakfast sounds great!" she said excitedly, only to realize that meant he'd been up since early morning. Checking her HUD's clock, she saw with a gasp that it was nearly ten in the morning, "Why didn't you wake me up earlier?! I could've helped you!"
He smiled again as he sat on his log and started gathering fire wood together to get breakfast started.
"You looked really peaceful," he replied as he brought out a flint and started striking it on a stone above the tinder he'd arranged, "I didn't want to disturb you. Besides, it's the least I could do after you let me stay in your shop. And for the sandwich."
Lis blushed at his comment, but kept quiet as he got the fire going. She watched as he opened his inventory and pulled out several pieces of meat in one hand, and a couple of eggs in the other.
"How does bacon and eggs, and biscuits with jam sound?" he asked casually.
"Great!" she responded enthusiastically.
She got up and brushed herself off as he pulled a frying pan out of his inventory. She walked over and sat down next to him as he held the pan over the flames. When the pan started smoking, indicating its rising heat, he began dropping in slices of meat, followed by a couple of eggs. The tantalizing smells drifting to her nose made her mouth water.
She watched as he gripped the pan with his left hand, and used his right to open his inventory. He pulled out two plates, and after loading them with food, handed her one filled with steaming meat, bubbling eggs, with two biscuits covered in jam on the side. She squealed happily, and removed her gloves as fat as she could before digging in. Out of the corner of eye, she noticed Siren daintily pick up morsels with his pointer finger and thumb. This caused her to chuckle. She noticed him look up with a confused expression.
"What?"
"Nothing!" she said through a mouth full of egg, trying to hold her chuckles in, "Just…the way you're eating…!"
He raised his eyebrows slightly.
"Something funny about the way I eat?"
"No!" she said, still trying to hide her smile, as well as her mouth full of food, "It's just…"
"Just…?"
"Well…," she stopped eating a moment to swallow, and gave a small, nervous cough, hoping to get her giggles under control, "It's just that…the way you eat…picking at your food so delicately…it's just funny!"
She couldn't hold it in anymore as she guffawed, nearly dropping the remainder of her food on the ground. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Siren wave her off, before resuming his meal. They ate in companionable silence after that, she enjoying both the food and the company.
When they were finished with their meal, they were back on the trail thorough the forest.
As they pushed through dense underbrush and tress that seemed to grow thicker the further they went, she could feel it getting hotter. Soon enough, she was sweating, and getting tired, and, to top it all off, she was getting cranky. She knew she needed to do something to keep her mind off of how uncomfortable she was getting, so she decided to think of what her three questions of the day would be.
It took her all of two minutes to decide on her first one.
"Hey, Siren?"
"Hmm?" he replied. His back was to her, and he seemed to be looking at something, probably his map, or his menu.
"Question one of the day: how old are you?"
He stopped suddenly, and, again, she almost ran in to him.
"Huh," she heard him say, slight confusion in his voice, "You know…I haven't thought about that in a while…"
Catching her breath now, she chuckled a little as she saw him stare off into space, obviously thinking of the answer. It's not like anyone celebrated birthdays anymore, but she at least still kept track of how old she was. Her giggles continued as she saw him bring his hand up to his chin in a thinking pose. She could also see his menu was open.
"I'll…be eighteen this December," he finally said.
"Really?" she said. Despite the fact that it was, for all intents and purposes, a seemingly inane bit of information, it still caused her mind to wander. She, unwilling as she was, was beginning to put together an image of him. A picture of him as a person. He was kind. He was pleasant, if a bit stand-offish. He was thoughtful. He was extremely intelligent. And not to mention, he was gorgeous; she couldn't deny it to herself anymore.
He started walking again, so she decided to keep the conversation going.
"I just turned seventeen," she said, waiting to see what his response would be.
"Really…" he said, but kept going.
She stopped walking. It was a mere off-hand comment, like he wasn't really paying attention to her. She leaned a little to the left, and noticed he was looking at is menu again. She huffed, slightly annoyed at being brushed off. She moved up next to him, hoping to get his attention, or at least catch a peek at what he was looking at. She was sure he wasn't paying attention to her, she looked at his display, and shocked at what saw. On his menu display, moving in and out of view for her due to the fluttering of his cloak, was a picture of a beautiful girl. That in itself wasn't the shocking part, however. No. What made it shocking, was that, not only was it a picture of a beautiful girl, but he was in the picture as well. He and the girl wore the same style of black leather jacket, and in the background, she could see a cherry blossom tree in full bloom. If she looked carefully, she could also see part of the great Shinto gate leading to the Meiji Shrine, and she knew the photo was taken at Yoyogi Park in Tokyo.
The picture was lovely, but none of those things caught her attention. What did was the pose he and the girl were in. They were facing each other, but their faces were turned towards the camera. She was leaning into him, her face pressed into his chest, and Lis could clearly see her arms wrapped lovingly around him, and a shy, but lovely, smile on her face. In turn, he had his arms wrapped around her shoulders, his chin resting on her head. What sealed the deal for her, though, was his face. If she thought his small half-smiles were incredible, the sight of the full-fledged grin on his face took her breath away. And she also noticed his eyes. As far as she's known him, his eyes were soft, holding kindness, warmth and, deep down, pain, a pain he seemed desperate to keep on the inside. But here, in this picture, his eyes held nothing but pure joy and happiness. The person in the photo, a young man, in absolute happiness and in his prime, was a stark contrast to the tired, defeated warrior she saw before her. Seeing the way he was back then, versus how he was now, she could see the pain and loneliness he radiated. She immediately felt a stab in her chest, right in her heart, and she couldn't help but gasp. When she looked up, however, the glare he was giving made shivers go down her spine.
"The hell are you looking at?!" he nearly yelled as he turned away from her.
She stumbled back a few steps. She had yet to see him angry, and she suddenly felt uneasy. With his seemingly kind persona, it was easy for her to forget that he was essentially a stranger, and she didn't know how he was going to react. Unconsciously, her right hand drifted ever so slightly to her mace's handle. She continued to watch his back, seeing him sigh, and his shoulders slump slightly. His arm moved in front of him, and she heard the chirp of his menu closing.
"I'm sorry," he said softly, and she relaxed at his calm tone, "But I would appreciate it if you didn't look over my shoulder at my personal files."
Without waiting for her response, he continued walking through the trees. Realizing, he was leaving her behind, Lis jogged to catch up, reaching out to touch his arm.
"Siren…?"
She nearly ran into him, again, when he stopped suddenly…again.
"Hey, what gives?!" she barked indignantly as she backed up, "That's the third time in two days that I almost ran into your…"
"Shhh!"
"Hey! Don't shush me! Who do you think…"
"Lis, SHUT UP!" he said loudly.
Completely startled by the forceful command, she did as he said. She kept her eyes on him, but he just stood there, occasionally turning his head slightly from side to side. After a couple of minutes, she began to feel foolish, but didn't want to provoke him. After another five minutes of waiting in the steadily rising heat, however, she decided to try and get his attention.
"Siren…?"
What happened next was so fast, she almost missed it.
He spun around so quickly she felt the vacuum of air swirl around her, and the next thing she knew, his hand was pushing down on her head. Before she had time to protest, she felt the centrifugal force of the wake of a heavy object passing through the place where her head had been not two seconds earlier. Siren then grabbed the front of her armored shirt, and she shrieked as he yanked her like a rag doll. The next thing she knew, she was standing behind him. She was about to yell at him in anger, when she heard an animal-like grunt.
She stood on her the tips of her toes, and looked over his shoulder. She screamed when she saw three huge Drunken Ape monsters standing not five feet from where she was standing, the one in the lead bent over, and the arm holding its club at an exaggerated angle. Tracing the path of the swing, she realized that the thing had tried to take her head off. A successful sneak attack, with its massive critical hit bonus, would've kill her instantly. Siren had saved her life.
She then heard the familiar scraping sound of a sword being pulled from its scabbard, as well as the whirl of a sword skill being activated. There was a boom, an inhuman shriek, and the thud of a large object impacting the ground. When the dust cleared, the Drunken Ape that had tried to kill her was ten yards behind its compatriots, with a quarter of its health bar gone. Siren still stood in front of her, right arm holding his rapier, left arm in front of her to block any potential threats.
"What are these guys doing here?" she heard Siren ask to no one in particular, "I thought they were only in the Wandering Forest on floor thirty-five."
The ape that was flung back by Siren's attack struggled to its feet, bringing the gourd it carried to its lips. Lis saw its health replenish to full. These versions were obviously far more powerful, and dangerous, than the ones on floor thirty-five.
"Lis…"
"Y-yeah?" she managed to squeak out. She couldn't remember ever being this afraid.
"Get out a teleport crystal."
She nodded, and immediately rummaged around in her pockets until she brought out the bright blue object. Without thinking, she reached out with her left hand and grabbed his left shoulder, and a feeling a warmth and comfort from where her hand currently was, then up her arm, and eventually radiating through her entire body. After a few moments, though, her mind caught up with her body. She gasped at her own forwardness, and tried to pull her hand away as she blushed furiously. However, he seemed to know that she wanted, needed, some form of comfort, and the next thing she knew, he had reached back and placed his own hand over hers. Her face felt like it was on fire, and his hand felt so good over hers, she never wanted him to let go. She felt him give her hand a gentle squeeze before lifting away, causing her to sigh softly in sadness.
"Stay behind me. If anything happens to me, teleport out as fast as you can."
Her blushing faded, if ever so slightly, as her pride came to the fore. She even ignored the fear currently coursing through her.
"I'm an expert mace-user! I can help!"
"Just do as I say!" he shouted. She flinched slightly, but kept her eyes on him. She watched as he turned his head to the left to look at her over his shoulder, "If anything happens to you, I'll never forgive myself. Find cover, and stay back…please."
She didn't know if it was what he said, the pleading of voice, or the absolutely breath taking look of concern in his eyes, but she found herself nodding to him just as the apes let out roars of rage. As they charged forward, she began stepping back, and Siren rushed to meet them.
Ducking behind a large tree, Lis peaked around the trunk, and was amazed at what she saw.
Siren danced back and forth among the three clumsy creatures, stabbing and slashing like a man possessed, saving his sword skills for when they could do the most damage. Lis was amazed. He was unbelievably fast with his thrusts, his speed and dexterity keeping him out of harm's way, but he was also able to inflict heavy slashes like; very unusual for a rapier-user.
When an enraged ape tried an overhead strike, he again demonstrated speed, agility, and acrobatics. He was there one moment, and gone the next. The creature slammed its club through thin air, a thud echoing throughout the area when it impacted the ground, and as it roared in rage at having missed its target, it was slammed into a tree from a furious multi-stabbing sword skill in its flank. Before it could get back up, Siren rushed up to it, and in one smooth stroke, decapitated the monster in swift blow. As it shattered into thousands of digital polygons and disappeared, Lis saw one of the remaining two charge at him from behind. Before she could open her mouth to shout a warning, however, he'd spun around on his heels, and with a flick of his wrist, used a classic rapier riposte, knocking the beast's sideways strike back the it had come. With another flick of his wrist, he pulled his arm back, and charged up another sword skill, unleashing a powerful stab right into the ape's chest. It, too, exploded into a mess of glittering polygons before evaporating.
Lis was so amazed at what she was seeing, she didn't notice the shadow creeping up behind her until it completely covered her. Spinning around, she shrieked in terror as another Drunken Ape stood before her, club raised high over its head. She fell to her knees, in no position to defend herself, or flee, as it brought its weapon down.
"SIREN!" she screamed, closing her eyes hoping against hope…
She felt, then heard, a whoosh, and the shadow around her darkened. After a couple of moments, when she realized she was neither in pain, nor dead, she slowly opened her eyes. They then shot open in astonishment as she took in the scene before her. Siren was standing in front of her, left arm bracing his right hand, as he used all of his strength to hold off the ape.
Giving a loud grunt, Siren braced himself, then pushed off with his legs, forcing the Drunken Ape back. With lightning fast reflexes, he activated his multi-stab sword skill. The monster was thrown to the ground from the assault, and Lis gave a cheer as Siren held his blade up in a reverse grip, point down, to finish it off. As he brought his sword down in a coup de grace, the ape vaporizing like its compatriots, Lis saw another shadow approaching. In a heartbeat, Siren was thrown forward, and his health dipped into the severe red zone on her HUD. She looked to her left, and saw the remaining Drunken Ape standing over his still body.
"SIREN!" she screamed in fear again when he didn't get up. She guessed he was probably unconscious.
As the ape raised its club to deliver the final blow to her companion, time seemed to slow, then stop, for Lis. Her senses became hyper aware. The sweat running down her face. The way Siren's hair fell over his closed eyes. The drool dripping from the snarling creature's muzzle. Her harsh breathing. The chirps of virtual birds in the trees. The sound of a brook nearby. The smell of pine on the breeze. The ape's awful odor. The odd smell of a flower she couldn't identify. The weight of her body resting on her legs. The course grass surrounding her fingers. The chafe of her armored plates. The taste of bile and fear on her tongue…
It was as if she no longer had control of her body, like she had stepped out of herself, and was now a mere spectator. She watched as she stood up. She watched as she opened her menu as she brought up her left arm. Quickly equipping her buckler, she dove for Siren's body. Time suddenly sped up for her then, and she once again found herself in her body, again a part of this terrifying situation. She wasn't scared for herself, however. No. She was terrified she wouldn't reach Siren in time.
The massive ape roared as it brought its club down in full force, and Lis prayed to whatever god who might be listening that she wasn't too late. Just as the club was about to make contact with Siren's head, she managed to get her buckler under it. The pain was amazing, and she knew that if she were in the real world, her arm would very likely have been shattered. As it was, her status flashed with a warning message, indicating her left arm had been crippled.
NO SHIT! she thought as she struggled against the pain to keep her shield over Siren's body despite the ape putting its full wait against her arm. Come on! she thought, You're an expert mace-user! Time to prove it! She managed to get her legs under her and, after finding purchase with her boots, started pushing back. Knowing that she wouldn't win this contest of strength unless she did something fast, she brought up her right arm and locked it against her left like she'd seen with Siren. Trying her best to ignore the agony flaring from her crippled appendage, she gave a mighty heave, and somehow managed to shove the ape back.
Obviously not anticipating this, the ape gave a yowl of surprise as it struggled to maintain its balance. Lis knew she couldn't let this opportunity go to waste, so, pushing aside the throbbing pain in her arm, she grabbed her mace off of her belt, and as she swung she activated a sword skill. The blow landed right in the ape's left cheek, and sent it crashing back several feet back.
Cautiously, she got up and slowly made her way over to the fallen ape, cradling her crippled arm, but still managing to hold on to her mace. Making sure she stood between it and Siren, she approached it, she looked at her HUD, and saw that, amazingly, her attack had nearly drained all of its health bar. She smiled.
One more good whack, and its done! She thought happily as she raised her mace above her head.
Suddenly, the ape's fist shot up, the blow landing straight into the center of her face. She yelled out in pain, and closed her eyes as she was knocked back next to where Siren lay.
It seemed to take an eternity for her to finally be able to open her eyes, and when she did, she gasped as she saw the ape now leering over her, its club raised high. She looked at her health bar, and saw to her dismay that more than half of her hit points were gone. She knew she wouldn't survive this attack. Closing her eyes again, she waited for the inevitable.
Like before, the end didn't come. What she heard was a groan, like something someone would make after taking a punch to the stomach. Opening her eyes again, she saw the ape frozen in place, a look of complete shock on its face, and the point of a very thin blade in its chest. It then exploded into the digital polygons that marked an in-game death.
Still not quite believing what she was seeing, she blinked a couple of times, then, dropping her mace, used her hand to rub her eyes. Nope. The ape was gone, and she could still see the point of the sword above her head. She slowly turned around, and saw Siren, supporting himself on one arm, and panting heavily. She watched as he slowly pulled his arm back, sheathing his sword, then brought his hand up to wipe the sweat from his face. He looked horrible.
"Siren…?" at the sound of her voice, he turned to look at her, and she knew he was analyzing her.
Before she could say anything else he reached toward one of the pouches on his belt, and brought out a red vile. He took a shaky breath as he handed it to her.
"Here…take this. It'll recover your hit points, and heal your arm."
"But…what about you?" she asked as she hesitantly took the vile.
"I'll be fine. Just drink it."
Nodding, she brought the vile to her lips, and sighed in pleasure as the sweet liquid inside coated her tongue. She immediately began to feel better, her health bar recovering quickly and her arm was no longer in pain. When she was finished, the bottle evaporated, and she looked back towards Siren, wanting to thank him.
He was doubled over, and panting heavily, looking like he was going to pass out again. She looked at his health bar, and saw the crippling injuries he'd taken from the sneak attack, an attack that, by all rights, should've killed him. She gasped and immediately opened her menu and rushed through her items. As quickly as she could, she pulled out a healing crystal and held it up.
"Heal!" she cried out. The crystal disappeared, and to her relief, his injury status healed, and all of his hit points recovered. He groaned as he looked up at her, and smiled.
"Thanks," he said, "Thought I was going to black out there for a second."
She blushed and quickly looked away.
"No…I should…be thanking you," she managed to stammer out, "You…saved me…twice."
He continued to smile as he slowly got to his feet.
"And you saved me. We'll call it even."
She smiled at him as she tried to get up, but her legs wouldn't support her weight. Sighing she looked up, and saw Siren standing in front of her, his hand outstretched. Without a second thought, she took it, and the same warm, comforting, amazing feeling she had before came back with a vengeance. With a firm pull, she was on her feet again, and to her disappoint, he let go of her hand.
"That was too close…" she heard him mumble as he began rifling in more of his pouches.
Still blushing, she watched as he pulled out a green vile. Next, he opened his menu, and an ornate, slim dagger materialized. Grabbing it, he pulled it out of its scabbard, and carefully holding each item, he opened the vile, and let a small drop of the sickly green liquid land on the blade. When it was fully absorbed into the metal, he nodded, then slid the dagger back into its scabbard. Attaching it to his right hip, he then pulled his rapier from its scabbard, and repeated the process. As the green vile disappeared, he put his sword away, then started dusting himself off. Lis could only stare. What was that stuff he put on his weapons? And how was he able to equip a dagger at the same time as his sword?
"That should even up the odds next time…" he continued to mumble.
As he started to walk away, she managed to pull herself out of her stupor, and rushed to catch up.
"Hey!" she said as she strolled up to his side, "What did you put on your blades? Was that…poison? And how did you equip your sword and a dagger?"
This time, he didn't stop as he answered.
"I'm able to equip two weapons because I have the dual wielding skill."
"Oh!" Lis said, "I've never heard of it…"
She opened her menu, and quickly scrolled through it.
"Hmmm…" she said as she read through the data, "It's not in the info broker's skill list. Is it unique to you?"
He continued walking as he answered.
"No, not unique, but extremely rare. I only know one other person who has it."
"Really?" Lis asked, intrigued, "Who is it?"
"Another solo-player. Name's Kirito. People call him the 'Black Swordsman'."
Lis gasped, then gave a happy laugh.
"I know him!" she said happily, "He's a good friend of mine! I just made a custom sword for him not too long ago! Now I see why he wanted a second one…"
Siren turned his head to look at her, a small smile on his face.
"Really?" he said, "Small world."
They walked in companionable silence for a few more minutes before Lis spoke up again.
"Siren?"
"Hmm?"
"That stuff you put on your blades? Was it…poison?"
She saw his face take on a slightly grim expression before he answered.
"Yeah, it was. I'm a master poison maker."
She gasped, and her eyes widened, but she kept pace with him. After a minute, he continued; she guessed he knew she wanted him to.
"They, the poisons, help me with combat. I'm an assassin class player."
When she turned sharply to look at him, he sighed, and brought up his hand to rub his forehead.
"It's just my fighting style," he explained, "I'm not a player-killer."
He gestured at his cursor, and she sighed in relief when she realized it was green, but her ears perked up when she heard him open his mouth, but he hesitated, and when he said nothing, she looked directly at him. He seemed to want to say something, and he began to slow down, so she matched his pace. She needed to hear this.
"Well…that's not entirely true…I've killed before…players, I mean…"
She brought her hand up to her mouth in shock. There was so much she wanted to say. So much she wanted to yell. But only one word came out, so quiet it was barely above a whisper, though in the quiet of the forest, it felt like it could be heard for miles.
"Why…?"
He looked away from her, and she could see his neutral expression return. He then seemed to harden before her, before turning back to face her, locking his eyes with her own.
"I was part of the assault team that took out Laughing Coffin."
The implication Stunned her. She'd heard about the infamous murder guild, of course; there wasn't anyone in Aincrad who hadn't. She'd also heard, through the daily newspaper and through Asuna, about the crusade, formed from the most powerful guilds and solo-players, that had annihilated them. Almost a dozen players from the alliance, and nearly all of the members of Laughing Coffin had died in that battle. To think, this guy she'd just met, a guy she was struggling with her feelings about, was part of the assault team that took them out…the morbid question entered her mind: how many of them had he killed? She immediately shook her head. There was no way on earth that she'd ever ask him that question. But, she did feel a great sense of relief. He'd never murdered anyone. In fact, when she looked at him now, she only felt warmth for him…he was a hero. Thanks to him, and the fifty other green players who risked their lives by going into that godforsaken dungeon, those psychopaths would never hurt anyone else again.
"Oh! Ok! That's different. You're a hero!"
He stopped, and the look he gave her sent a chill down her spine. It was empty. Emotionless. It froze her to the ground she stood on.
"No. I'm not."
With that, he continued through the forest. When she felt she could move again, she quickly followed him, her thoughts racing…
*On a side note, I know it may have been difficult to know when the page breaks were in the first three chapters, as the star symbols I used didn't transfer over for some reason. I hope by manually putting in page breaks, I can fix the issue. Anyway, just letting you all know, I've already started chapter five, and hopefully it will only take me a week to update. Til then, happy readings!
