DISCLAIMER : Sword Art Online does not belong to me, but to its respective writers, developers, publishers, etc. You know how it goes. I do, however, have the right to any and all OC's than can and will appear throughout the story. That being said, let's get it done!
Eyes of the Falcon : Chapter 3
3rd Floor : Forest of Wavering Mist
"Halt."
Two elves which resemble uniformed castle guards simultaneously raised their bows in my direction and looked at me sternly.
"Your kind is not welcome in these parts. State your business, or leave now."
I didn't answer immediately. Argo specifically stated that to activate the quest, a key phrase had to be conveyed to the acting NPCs.
I squared my shoulders and said, "I will speak to your leader and no one else."
The elf guards gave a firm nod.
"Very well."
The trek through the elven forest raised my appreciation for the detail of this game. For someone who cursed at the irony of SAO, I have to admit that its intricacies are remarkable, almost lovingly crafted. As the guards led the way, I noticed its elaborate elements; the trees and their leaves sparkled a gentle silver, tinged with enchantments; the sky, blue and perfect; and softly filtered sunlight gave the place a mystical, mysterious feel. A sort of secret hidden magic.
We stopped at the foot of a large clearing. The trees here were extremely tall, garlanded with fresh pastel flowers; their branches decorated with cozy-looking woodland homes.
Almost suddenly, a congregational mass of elves started appearing. All of them wore a form of lightly colored garment— the clearing was suddenly dotted with pale blue, yellow, green, brown.
The groups of elves began to clear a wide, single path while some elf-children scurried off and peeked shyly past the tree trunks and boughs.
Other elf guards, similarly dressed to the ones in front of me, formally marched through the crowd and filed into a line, allowing a tall, young lady elf to pass through.
The guards who escorted me stepped into the clearing and bowed to the lady elf, "High Priestess, we bring you a human who wishes to speak to your Ladyship."
The High Priestess looked over and beckoned me with an elegant smile. I walked somewhat stiffly towards them, feeling slightly nervous because she was by far the most beautiful character I've ever encountered in the game.
Dressed in a cream, ceremonial gown, the Priestess with her long dark hair, milky skin, and wide green eyes gracefully extended her palms and welcomed me warmly.
"Greetings. I do apologize for the hostility of your escorts, but these are trying times for my people." Her expression turned sad as she continued, "You see, for a time now we have been at war with our former brothers and sisters, our counterparts; the Dark Elves. We held a happy past, living in peace and protecting the knowledge of our ancestors in harmony. However... that peace was destroyed when the Dark Elves stole a very valuable artifact..."
"May I ask what the artifact was?" I ventured curiously.
The High Priestess gave me a look that bordered on cold but said nothing.
Huh, maybe I should ask again when I get further into the quest line.
"So what can I do to help?" I asked.
She looked to my right, directing her gaze to a lightly-armored elf; presumably the captain, for a few moments before nodding. He responded with a nod of his own, and spoke.
"Our scouts have reported sightings of Dark Elves roaming around our territory." He said. "Go there and see if you can discover their intentions, and if need be, eliminate them."
As he finished speaking, a blip appeared on my map, showing me the location for the next part of the quest. With a slight bow, I turned and left.
6th Floor : Moonlit Caverns
The missions eventually ended up being your average fetch quests and hunt quests. You know, go here, kill 10 of these, collect 20 of those, then come back so you can do it again. There were parts of the missions that involved attacking these Dark Elves. It was... difficult because they looked so human. But I constantly reminded myself that they were just NPCs. No harm done... right? And besides, the exp was good. Like, really good. I've just gotten up to the 6th floor and I'm already level 19.
Also, each phase of the quest chain gave me a piece of equipment from what was called the "Alberich" set. So far, I've got the Alberich chest guard, leggings, boots, and gloves. It was made of a high quality leather that gave a huge boost to my DEX stat. Its defensive stats were decent too, but I still had little trouble with attacking from a distance. What annoyed me was that these elf mobs could also attack from a range with their bows.
Ah well...let's see...this should be the spot for the Dark Elves camp...I wonder whe-
"Halt."
Of course.
"Your kind is not welcome in these parts. State your business, or leave now."
I closed my eyes and sighed inwardly, before saying, "I will speak to your leader and no one else." Again.
The two elf guards nodded firmly. Again.
"Very well."
The Dark Elves encampment was different from the Forest Elves domain. The latter resided mostly in the tall trees, but the Dark Elves made their home in dimly lit caverns. As I approached, their leader stepped forward, a tall slender male elf with pale grey skin.
"Greetings. I am the Sentinel of the Night Elves. I hope you can forgive our hostility, but this is a difficult period for my people." He said grimly. "In past times, we had an alliance with our brothers, the Forest Elves. But it did not last, as they made off with a sacred artifact."
"What was the artifact, if I may ask?" I questioned, hoping to have better luck this time. He blinked at me before replying.
"There is a temple, hidden away, that holds the secret art of our ancestors. We, the elves, were charged to protect it at all costs. There exists a key, with the power to remove the seal that prevents entry into the inner sanctum. At all costs, we were to prevent this knowledge from falling into the wrong hands."
"But unfortunately," He continued, his eyes dark. "Our ex-brethren, the Forest Elves, believed themselves better, and stole the key."
That's odd...the Forest Elves clearly believed that the Dark Elves were the ones who betrayed them and stole this key thing. Well, regardless...
"So what can I do to help?" I asked, repeating the quest-activating phrase.
Here we go again.
9th Floor : Forest of Evening Shadow
Congratulations! You are now level 23!
Well. This was the exact same set of quests as before, only for the other side! I don't think it gets any more frustrating as it gets. It feels like I'm back to farming pigs on the 1st floor.
But hey, level 23! I brightened up as I closed the notification window. I suppose it could be worse. After all, this IS an exploit of doing both quest chains to get double the experience. That being said, I collected the loot and went back to the Dark Elves' encampment.
"Excellent work." The Sentinel said. "Despite being a human, you have more than proven yourself as an ally of the Dark Elves. Take this as a token of my gratitude."
And with that, I obtained the Alberich Pauldrons, completing the equipment set. As I equipped it, a popup window appeared above my equipment tab. Using my finger, I hovered over it to read what it said.
Full set bonus : [Acrobatics] skill levels twice as fast.
Acrobatics...If I wasn't mistaken, that was what affected jump height and aerial mobility. Mine was still level 1, which restrained me to the normal jump height of an average human. I testingly hopped up and down a few times to see what would happen. With my menu still open, I could see the skill leveling up every few jumps. Within 5 minutes my [Acrobatics] skill went up to 20, and I was backflipping and somersaulting around the Dark Elves cavern, the NPCs' heads bobbing up and down as their coding forced them to keep looking at me.
"With the tasks you have aided us in, we have come to the conclusion that the Forest Elves may not have stolen the artifact."
I noticed this as an opportunity to trigger the hidden quest to unite the two races. I recited what Argo told me a few days back.
"The Forest Elves feel the same way. It would be wise to unite to find the true culprit." As I finished speaking, the Elves around me started murmuring amongst themselves. The Elder raised his hand, followed by complete pin-drop silence.
"For years we may have been fighting, and spilling the blood of our own kind... because of a misunderstanding. What the human speaks is true. In 2 days' time, we will convene in front of the ancient temple. There, we will once again be united as Elves, one race, one people."
The Elves cheered, pumping their fists into the air. I, on the other hand, opened my map to see a new quest marker appear on the 9th floor. With a nod to the Sentinel, I turned and left the camp.
Congratulations! You are now level 24!
9th Floor : Ancient Elven Temple Grounds [5.30 AM]
As I walked towards the quest marker, I went through the instructions given to me by Argo once more.
"The Elves will meet at 6.00 AM sharp. At 5.45 AM, there will be a treasure chest that spawns randomly inside the main room of the temple. You have 15 minutes to get in, open the chest, and exit the temple. If the Elves spot you exiting, the quest will fail and you won't get the exp bonus."
Sounded simple enough, but I wondered, what could be in that chest that warranted risking the entire quest for? When I asked Argo, she shrugged and told me that the beta-testers claimed it was a bugged item, as in it had no use in the game besides selling to NPCs.
I decided to go for the chest anyway, as something bugged in the beta would definitely be patched now, right? So I continued walking for another few minutes until the temple came into view.
The only word I could find for it was... well, it's... nice. But not as pretty as the Forest Elves' home; or as gothically grand as the Night Elves' place. It looks like it was encrusted into a mountain making the structure look huge; 20% stone blocks and columns, 80% mountain greens. I guess it was designed to be nature- friendly since you know... elves. I watched some gazelles playing and grazing on one of the temple's mountainsides before making my way to the entrance.
The temple had flat, wide stairs which stretched for about 30 meters to a marble door that was heavily carved with ivy vines.
I climbed up until there was a quarter-way to go and sat down on the steps of the temple, waiting for the 5.45 mark on my in-game clock.
10 seconds to go... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...
As soon as the countdown ended, a new icon appeared on my map, with the appearance of a treasure chest.
The door glowed a bright silver and slowly raised upwards.
I stood and hurriedly climbed the rest of the steps to the temple. As I reached the top, I received a new notification, but I paid it no mind as I continued jogging, passing the doorway and going through the halls, searching for the chest.
Okay, I know I'm looking for a chest, but as I ran, I couldn't help but notice all these great paintings of elf pictures on the walls; it was like an elf art museum. I caught some of the images as I ran by — a little elf girl singing with a bunch of animals; two guy elves with bulky armor clapping their hands in victory over a reunited family of deer; Forest Elves climbing trees and braiding flowers in their hair; Dark Elves gathered around a bonfire in the caves... great works of creation, and then I hit this collection's biggest motherlode.
Aha! There, I found it!
An ornamental-looking chest stood there, waiting like a lovely date to be picked up. The wall behind the chest signaled to me that this was the end of the building. It held the coolest picture so far. There were two elf guys; one was wearing a sort of greenish-brownish robe and the other one was wearing black armor with a gradient charcoal cloak— both were holding awesome looking bows that matched their respective color scheme, crossed over one another. They were looking straight ahead with what I think are happy expressions; as happy as elves go, I guess.
But whatever. Treasure, here I come!
Walking up to the delightfully beauteous chest, I checked the time again. 5.52 PM. Plenty of time to grab the goods and get back out the way I came. Let's see...
I opened the chest, expecting some phat loot, but I instead got...
-You obtained [h&211s%n] x100-
What.
No. No way. There has to be a mistake. I opened up my inventory to double confirm the name of the item I just got.
-[h&211s%n] x100-
There it is, plain as day. A hundred pieces of corrupted shit. How could they have let this go unfixed? It must have been reported several times in the beta. In the midst of my grumbling, I noticed that one of the entries on my inventory list was blinking, indicating a new updated item. I scrolled up to it and a popup appeared.
Item [Stolen Treasure] has transformed into [Stolen Artifact].
Artifact? ... Why do I feel like I've heard that word several times before?
Out of curiosity, I selected the item, summoning it into my hands. All of a sudden, the wall with the painting of the elf guys behind the chest started rumbling. With the sound of grinding stone, a hidden doorway unveiled itself, revealing a large room deeper within the temple.
Ok, now THIS is interesting. I peered around for any unusual movements and I stored the weird treasure back in my inventory to keep my hands free. A secret room... and I'm not sure if I want to go inside.
... slowly now.
I stepped forwards cautiously, little by little; good... past the door, good good. It was just enough to get a decent look at the whole room.
The place was enormous. A few giant domes graced the ceiling and there's paneling everywhere. The only sources of light came from the gold-wood torches that circled around the higher parts of the walls and right in the middle of the room; a large rectangle of gleaming stone, was illuminated.
I hesitated before taking another step further inside. I mean, these kinds of rooms are usually the holy grounds for booby traps; poisoned darts, breakaway floors, and freaky lights that whiz around you before spotlighting a door that releases monsters.
Twenty three baby steps in and everything was still okay... I looked around again. Nothing really stood out except for the stone rectangle thing way over there...
The stone block looked a lot like an altar or sacrificial slab... but instead of a pretty girl or princess lying on it, there was a simple-looking archer's bow.
Usually, there'd be a sane sounding voice in my head to telling me not to touch anything in this sort of circumstances. But right now, it's practically screaming at me to take the bow... either that, or my sane voice is on vacation.
As soon as my fingers hit the oaky wood of the bow's grip, an orange notification icon appeared on my menu dashboard. I scanned the first few words quickly.
«New Message Received»
That's strange. I wonder who's—
«From: System Admin»
What?! But... there aren't any system admins... except for...
"As of this moment, I am the sole person who can control this world."
Kayaba Akihiko...
I opened up my inbox and selected the message quickly.
Unique Skill Unlocked : [Eyes of the Falcon]
Description: This skill allows for—
"So... in an ironic twist of fate, the newcomer who sought to aid us turned out to be the true traitor."
I stopped reading, startled by the soft voice... a voice filled with quiet rage.
I whirled around. Standing near the doorway was the High Priestess... and she did not look happy.
To make things worse, the Dark Elf Sentinel jumped out of nowhere from the shadows, pulled out a dagger and looked at his reflection in it, completely serious.
"It seems to me, my Lady, that we have been wrongfully at odds for far too long," he mused. "As I gaze upon myself, I see that our long standing expressions of unconfined abhorrence should finally reach an end. It is impossibly clear that our union is inevitable." He gave a dramatic pause and elegantly raised a long eyebrow at her.
The edges of the High Priestess' lips tugged upwards, "Our forefathers might have blanched at the thought of our adhesion due to our sordid past. But now here you are, mending the wreckage. My, how very astute. And, may I add, rather charming as well..."
I watched in bewilderment at their banter. Wait... she's blushing.
Are they... are they flirting with each other?
This is weird.
"As are you, my Lady", the Dark Elf gave an easy bow before continuing, "Might I suggest that we pick up from where we left off after we have come to terms with the root cause of our difficulties?"
Their flirty faces melted off in less than a second as they turned to me with angry elf stares.
And I must look really guilty holding the bow right now...
Uh oh.
Author's Note : Hey guys, sorry it took me so long to update this. Next chapter should be up a lot sooner than this one was. Promise. Sorta. Kinda. Now to answer some reviews! :D
ThisIsTheGreatestUsername : Hey there! Thanks for reading my story =) I get that chapters should be longer, and they will get progressively longer. I'm aiming for about 3,000 - 4,000 words per chapter on average, it's just short now since everything's just getting started. About character development and plot, don't worry your scientific mind about that, I've got everything planned out and it will blow your mind. Hypothetically. Maybe. Thanks for taking the time to review my story, it helps a lot to hear people's opinions about it! Hope you stick around to see it evolve!
madeleinemagical83 : Hello there! Thanks so much for reading my story :B I agree that the summary made me cringe too, but I've gone and changed it since then, hopefully it's a tad better now. About the story deviating from the canon, you can bet your magical pants it will! Hope you keep following this story and reviewing!
ScourgeofShadowsKarx (Guest) : Heya, thanks for reviewing my story :) Hope you leave a signed-in review the next time if possible =) Makes me feel fuzzier on the inside.