Author's Note : So this is the last pre-written chapter. Expect the tempo to slow down a bit as I plot out the
next arc. But fear not, I am still writing. That said, I decided to leave you all with a slightly unorthodox viewpoint character for the coming arc. XD
Dreamers of the Day - Book One - Part Two - The Archer I
This was a dream. It had to be a dream. The calm voice conveying its terrible message. The roar of the crowd around her. The press of bodies against her own. Kyouko didn't understand. If this was a dream, why couldn't she wake up?
She glimpsed a figure sunken to his knees. The appearance was all wrong, the lean muscled heroic visage plucked from the pages of manga, but still she knew that was Kouichirou. She tried to reach out to him, but the press of the crowd wouldn't let her, she was being pushed in the opposite direction, pushed away. Trying to fight it was like trying to fight the tide, she felt herself being dragged under.
Yuuki Kyouko hit the ground hard, her temple striking paving stones, and her world going white. Her vision swam as she tried to rise, only for a dainty foot to stamp on the small of her back and push her flat once more. A heel came down on her hand, much heavier, she cried out as pain flared and curled, trying to protect her head and chest from the incidental pummeling of a terror stricken mob.
She struggled to get back up, but the press kept pushing her back down, kicking her, stamping on her. The sky was a narrow sliver glimpsed fleetingly, she felt like she was going to suffocate as she reached out for something, someone, to grab hold of . . . 'Please!' She thought, fear infecting her.
This wasn't a dream, it was a nightmare!
Her simple prayer was answered as a hand clasped around her wrist. Kyouko felt herself being dragged up into the air and the light. But her savior was not who she was expecting. Rather than the tall and lean frame sported by her son, she was met by the stout and modest Nishida.
"Atalanta-san!"
"Where is Kouichirou!" Kyouko's head spun about, but all she saw was a sea of faces gripped in confusion and madness.
"We have to get you to safety!" Nishida insisted, towing her by the wrist as he fought to make headway.
"But Kouichirou-" She couldn't just abandon her son in this insanity! Kyouko tried to pull free, but Nishida's grip was like a vice.
"I saw that big fellow he was dueling with during the tournament pulling him to his feet!" Nishida explained distractedly as he shouldered his way through the mob, "I'm sure he'll make it out on his own. For now, we must worry about ourselves!"
"But . . ." She began again only to stop, that was as far as her train of thought had gotten before derailing. Yuuki Kyouko had always prided herself on her drive. She'd clawed her way out of rural irrelevance and remade herself as someone worthy of marriage into a prestigious family. But all of the drive in the world didn't count for much if she didn't know what to do with it.
For the first time in a very long time, she didn't know what to do.
And so, in that moment, Kyouko's resistance had gone slack, she had found herself meekly led by the hand as Nishida navigated them to momentary safety. They'd found refuge by cutting through a narrow alley. For a time, as the roar of panic and fighting faded behind them, the only thing Kyouko recalled was the sound of hurried footsteps, Nishida's and her own, echoing off the renaissance-esque architecture all around them. Buildings that suddenly seemed far darker and less inviting than they had just minutes before.
They'd emerged onto a wider side street, receiving strange looks from the native inhabitants, the 'NPCs', as Nishida's head spun left and right, deciding which way to go. He settled on East, towards one of the city gates.
"Nishida, tell me what is happening!" Kyouko demanded, she was surprised she wasn't out of breath, until she glimpsed her own reflection in a passing window, the slender graceful figure of a beautiful adolescent, a stranger, long blond hair and the ribbons of her dress streaming behind her.
What had that girl at the Arena said? These bodies were calibrated to simulate high athleticism. If that were so, she pushed herself harder to keep up, breath deepening as her stride lengthened, finally breaking free of her escort's grasp in time to see the doubtful look on his features.
"I don't know." Nishida started. "I think that Akihiko has gone insane."
"What?"
"He's tampered with the Memeospheres somehow, made it so we can't log out."
"What?!" Kyouko skidded to a halt, making the menu gesture that Kouichirou had taught her, the menu materialized . . . as a flickering garbled mess . . . Some sort of strange angular writing, not any alphabet she was familiar with, haltingly transitioned to Japanese. It was as Nishida said, where the logout option should have been, there was nothing.
"The government is going to have our heads for this!" Kyouko hissed as she pulled at her bangs, it was the sort of disaster that might even force Shou to step down. The damage this . . . disaster . . . would do to the Yuuki reputation would be . . . would be . . . It would be disastrous was what it would be!
"Right now, I'm more worried about Kayaba's ultimatum." Nishida said, taking the opportunity to catch his breath.
"The man was clearly having a psychotic episode," Kyouko scoffed, her tail lashing in agreement. He'd be suffering a lot worse once she got her hands on him!
Nishida didn't look so sure, the stout company man grimaced as gears turned behind his eyes. "I can entertain that Kayaba had some means of disabling the logout from within Sword Art Online, but if that's the case, why are we still here?"
"Are you speaking in riddles now?" Kyouko wondered aloud, "Of course we're still here, if he disabled the logout . . ."
"If he disabled the logout, then that only means we can't log ourselves out." Nishida elaborated, "But our bodies in the real world are at Argus HQ. The development team should have spotted that something was wrong and removed our headsets by now. Why haven't they?"
"Well because . . ." Kyouko started again without having an answer. Technically, she should only be a couple of meters from Kouchirou, reclined side by side in the same executive lounge. They'd been given privacy, but they were hardly out of reach if someone needed to get to them.
Nishida's expression darkened as he reached towards her. "Atalant . . . Yuuki-san . . . You're bleeding."
"What?" Kyouko was distracted, "Yes, I . . . hit my head when I fell . . ." She probed gingerly at a spot just forward of her left temple. "She winced as she found a tender bump forming, the blood already turning dry and tacky. Thankfully, it didn't seem too bad, it just . . ." Kyouko's eyes widened, "It hurts," she whispered. That was right, it hurt, through the buzz of adrenaline her body was still sore where she'd been hit and stepped on.
Even Kyouko knew the game was NOT supposed to simulate pain. This was much worse than she'd feared, forget the government, the private lawsuits alone would be ruinous!
"That shouldn't be possible." Nishida muttered under his breath, "None of this should be possible within the design parameters of the Memeosphere."
"What are you saying?" Kyouko shook her head, but she was only met by more confusion as Nishida unlimbered the short bow and quiver he'd been carrying for her.
"I'd like you to hold on to these, Yuuki-san, just for now." She stared at the offered weapon. "Whether Akihiko is delusional or not, it would be wise for us to assume the danger is real, at least for the time being. You may need to defend yourself."
Defend herself?! Did he expect her to fill someone with arrows like some sort of Samurai retainer? Whatever the Yuuki family's business partner had contracted, it must have been infectious, he was starting to sound as insane as Akihiko! But at Nishida's urging, she'd taken the bow, and the quiver, dawning them the way they had been worn and held when she'd first opened her eyes in this form, and resumed following Nishida towards the gate.
"Do you even know where we're going?" Kyouko asked, that was a good question, focus on the immediate, the concrete.
"Surprisingly," Nishida chuckled weakly, "Your son is quite a friendly fellow, you know."
"O-oh." Kyouko said, hesitantly. "I suppose he is, isn't he?"
Nishida nodded, "Well, he offered me a place in his party this evening in order to get acclimated. He mentioned that there is a small town in the hills to the East of here. It isn't too difficult to reach, but it was easily overlooked by players during the Beta Test. It was where he intended to drop off his avatar before logging out at Argus HQ and resuming at home." Nishida seemed anxious as he added, "The Safe Haven Protocols are no longer in effect, but it's probably safer there than staying here for the time being."
"And you think it's someplace Kouichirou will come looking for us?" Kyouko reasoned, receiving a hesitant nod from Nishida.
"That's right, so . . ." Her companion squinted as they approached the gate and the sounds of conflict grew louder once more " . . . what the devil?!"
A fight had broken out between some of the trapped players and the town guard, or rather, between the town guard and dozens of individuals. In fact, it was more of a senseless brawl, without order or reason, an outright riot of the type that was anathema in modern civilized country like Japan. Fearful players, seeking to escape, became unwilling reinforcements as the guards fell on them too.
"Let us through!" Somebody shouted.
"You can't keep us here!"
"Out! I want out!"
Dozens of voices all saying the same thing. Whether they meant out of the town or out of this mad man's game, it didn't matter. But the guards had no intention of conceding to them, if anything, it was making the rough looking men more inclined to deny the players what they wanted. Staffs came down on arms, shoulders, and heads, swords were drawn by players, kicks and punches were thrown, guards and players wrestling each other to the ground . . .
"I thought the NPCs were like robots." Kyouko gasped fearfully, "How can they attack humans like that?!"
"That type of robot only exists in speculative fiction." Nishida explained as they tried to skirt the fighting. "The NPCs are only characters in a game world, so there was no reason to prevent them from attacking players if it suits the situation. That's just part of the game."
Perhaps that had made sense before, but if what Nishida was saying was true, if, and Akihiko had instated some sort of consequence for injury, even death, then . . .
Before Kyouko could complete that thought, the fighting grew to encompass the entire breadth of the street in front of the gate and they had no choice but to plunge into the brawl. Nishida was carrying no weapon of his own, but he soon proved to hardly need one. The stout man was no martial artist, but he certainly knew how to throw a punch, shouldering his way through the fighting, dislodging obstacles with an economical jab or hook, then moving on before his stunned target could recover.
Kyouko clung to her escort's shoulders, cringing at the sound of flesh striking flesh, and averting her eyes from the barbarity all around her. The gate house loomed before them, and beyond that a wide open country painted in late afternoon light. Never had she longed for open space more than in the middle of that maddening melee.
Then, a whistle had pierced the air, it had echoed off the walls, before fading, replaced by the rumble of gears. The gates, they were closing the gates! The mob surged as isolated players collectively came to the same conclusion and threw themselves forward all at once, overwhelming the guards and rushing the gatehouse.
'Idiots!' Kyouko thought fearfully, wouldn't it make more sense to just let them go? Why would they want to trap a riot inside of the city?! These stupid computer programs were going to get them killed!
Nishida had gotten them close enough to the front that they were able to ride the wave of bodies forward; they were beneath the gatehouse now, almost free. That was when Kyouko heard it, unfamiliar muscles twitching and pivoting her ears as a faster rattling of chains could be heard just above the noise of the gate mechanism.
"Yuuki-san!" Nishida shouted as she was taken by the arm and thrown forward roughly, Nishida's palms slammed into her back, propelling her, she stumbled, fell, and rolled as a deafening crash of iron shook the ground beneath her. An iron grate, a portcullis, had cut off most of the mob, thankfully not killing anyone, but it had been a near thing as another Pictish hissed and wailed, nursing the bloodied tip of his tail as he stumbled away.
"Nishida!" Kyouko shouted, realizing that her escort wasn't with her. Instead, he was trapped on the far side of the grate, another portcullis had crashed down on the far side of the gatehouse, closing them all inside. That must have been what the guards had intended, transforming the entire throat of the gatehouse into an enormous jail cell.
"Yuuki-san!" Nishida shouted, fighting to prevent himself from being crushed. "You need to run!"
"But . . ."
"Go to the village I told you about! Follow the road due east past the farmland and take a right at the first fork, there will be a second fork with a small wooden footbridge leading to a path up into the hills, that's the way you want to go!"
But Kyouko's feet were welded in place, she realized she was shaking as she clutched her bow, pinned, watching Nishida fight to keep breathing. If she ran now, she'd be all alone, she didn't understand this place. What if she got lost?
"Yuuki-san!" Nishida shouted, "You can't stay here, go!" Desperation caused him to speak with an irresistible tone of command. She had to do something, and this was something, and so her body obeyed even before her mind knew what she was doing.
Right at the first fork in the road, then over the footbridge at the second fork, follow the path up into the hills, there should be a small village there. Kyouko repeated this like a mantra as she ran from the town walls. A few others had escaped as well, the fastest of the players on foot, who had been ahead of even her and Nishida, and some of the other cat and elf eared players who had trusted their agility, or their wings to get them over the walls. Freed from the confines of the town, they were quickly beginning to scatter in the fading evening light. Were they as lost as her, or did they all have their own destinations in mind?
She didn't spare them much thought, simply keeping to the road, keeping to her own goal, trusting what Nishida had said because without it she would have nothing else.
Even escaping the Town of Beginnings, however, did not mean she had escaped conflict. On the road in front of her, another player was being confronted by town guards doing what any confused lawmen might do when confronted people fleeing the seen of a disaster. They'd chased her down and singled her out, maybe because she looked to be barely more than a child, an easy target to subdue. This didn't seem to be quite true, however.
A lithe and slender thing, her long golden hair tied back in braids and a simple floral-band. The guards were trying to apprehend her, but she was having none of it, fending them off with her iron sword, and doing a better job of it than Kyouko would have expected.
"I said stay away!" The girl shouted, clutching the hilt of her sword with both hands, feet set in a wide solid stance, she met a blow from one of the guard's wooden staves and then pressed into it, pushing until there was almost no room between them.
The guard hadn't expected her to show so much fighting spirit, it seemed, nor for the ephemeral wings to ripple and stir to life on her back. They didn't so much 'beat' as glow and blur filling the air with faint melodic chords as they vibrated and conjured the air around her into gusts strong enough to push the guard back, overbalancing, and sending him tumbling down the slope of the road into the fields.
Before she could turn to escape, the other guard caught her, swinging his staff across her back. Her wings shivered and faded. The girl cried out as she too took a tumble from the road. Then the guard was on her, pushing her down as she struggled, pressing his staff across her neck, trying to force a submission. The way was clear, Kyouko could be well gone before either guard noticed her, all she had to do was keep running. Mind her own business, keep herself safe until Kouchirou came for her . . .
Her hearing was too good. The girl's cries for help wormed into her ears, the damned cat's ears she'd been cursed with, they had a mind of their own, pivoting to listen against her will.
"Let her go!" An angry mezzo pronounced between ragged breaths.
The guards looked up and were met by the ludicrous sight of a cat girl standing with her short bow at full draw. At least, Kyouko thought it must look ludicrous, she hoped to the guards it looked amply dangerous, because she wasn't sure what she'd do if they called her bluff.
She might have practiced kyudo, but that had only been for a couple of years in school, and she'd only ever been a middling practitioner for her age, before abandoning it to focus on her academics. She hadn't touched a bow since high school. And even if she had, the short bow in her hands wasn't anything like the traditional yumi she'd trained with back then.
Luckily, she didn't need to find out, the guards had understood her well enough and decided this wasn't a fight worth having, the one holding the girl falling off of her and allowing the child, at least she looked like a child, to scramble her way uphill to stand beside her rescuer. Kyouko held her bow at full draw for a moment longer, taking one step, then another, once she judged they were at about the limit of the weapon's range, she relaxed her draw, quickly returning the arrow to her quiver, and grabbed the girl by the hand, pulling her along.
"Thanks!" The girl, pointed ears, wings, a Si, spoke breathlessly, causing Kyouko to meet her fear widened eyes. Green eyes, bright and clear as emeralds in a face that was almost Nordic in its features and fairness. That was unlikely to be anything like her real self, but Kyouko could hardly complain, they were alike in that regard.
"Don't mention it." She couldn't even say she'd rescued this girl, not until they were someplace safe. It should have felt like a burden, but somehow, the sweat slicked hand clasping her own was a comfort. It was less frightening to be afraid together.
"Where are we running!" The girl asked.
"Away!" Was all Kyouko think to say at first, then adding, "I think there's a village in this direction, someone told me." That was right, if they could get there, they would be safe, at least for a little while.
"I'm Leafa." The girl supplied without prompting.
"Kyo-" Kyouko shook her head, that obviously wasn't her real name, so for now she'd answer in kind, "Atalanta."
Having exchanged names, it seemed there was nothing left to say, they spared their breath for running, racing the fading light of an old day in a strange new world.
LEAFA HAS JOINED THE FIGHT - "I know my way around a sword!"