July 10, 2023. Floor 20.

Kyou Komoto:

I walked into a room that was solid green and seemed to go on for years. The roof was too high to ever hope to see and amazing complicated buildings were aloft in the air seemingly unaffected by gravity. The structures were oddly shaped, with long and skinny rectangles randomly peering out from every side. In each building there was a circle that seemed to be the center point of each one, and had jigsaw-like patterns decorating it. They all varied in color, but mainly showed green and a royal purple at a glance. I didn't know where the lights were coming from but the room was brilliantly lit. A man flawlessly dressed and perfectly unshaven appeared before me introducing himself as the Komoto family founder. He explained to me that from him my life is possible. He began to phase, losing solid form in and out. His legs eroded into countless grains of sand, and torso melted into an orange liquid that seeped into the bright red floor. A small sun broke through the wall nearest me and engulfed the room in a fiery flame. In the middle of it were two lips, with a tongue hanging lazily from them. "Boy? Hey, Boy, are you alright?" it spoke to me.

I was confused when I opened my eyes to find Horn throbbing me with his magnificent thumb. "You were shaking like a dancer, you alright, Boy?"

"Y-yeah…" I was lying on the floor not far from my bed. "What time is it?"

"Dawn. If ya' feel up to it, we're going meet up with Coastors for a trade, and I'd like you to come along."

"Yeah, just give me a few moments alone. I had a strange- uhm…" I rubbed my forehead and felt instant relief, "…a pretty bizarre dream," I looked back up at Horn and when I saw the obviously curious expression brewing on his face, I already knew he'd make me tell him.

"Well tell me, Boy!" I am just so surprised.

"I don't really remember it…" I lied. Horn inverted his bottom lip so it was dramatically hanging. His cheeks slugged down.

"Well if you're gonna be like that…" Horn stomped out of my personal, leaving me unsure of how seriously I had actually hurt his feelings.

I stood up off the ground, accessed my drawer, planning to deposit most of my equipment so my load would press lighter. Upon activating my drawer, a small window appeared with a random assortment of numbers. The window read "Access code," I pressed the numbers in, while softly saying them aloud, "Two, one, two, five, one, two, two, eight," I like it. It has a certain ring to it. In one of the slots inside the drawer's storage was a letter that I quickly pulled into my inventory, opened, and began to read aloud under my breath.

"Greetings, Boy," I began to impersonate Horn's voice, "I picked that code out myself! It's very special to me so I ask you don't change it. Listen, Boy, I know about your treasure map," I stopped reading after that line. I reread it two then three times. Horn? How does Horn know? Does he think I've betrayed his trust? Gripping the letter tighter I continued to read. "Keep that map in your drawer if you know what's good for you. You've just about found a game-changing item there, Boy. I hope you don't mind but I took a look at it. The cave depicted in it is called Ruby Golem's Cavern, about a two hours hike west of here and you should be pretty near. But no matter what you do, do not go alone, Boy. You can't survive that cave with just your puny knives and daggers," I frowned ,"I made the mistake of going alone and if it weren't for Elker finding and saving me I'd be long dead by now. Find a lad with a longsword, a greatsword, just something, anything heavier than a one-handed axe. Find a lad who's faster than he his strong, 'cause that golem is about as slow as me. If you can outrun it, you can kill it.

The only reason I'm not telling you this myself is because a great sum of GnW's members can hear a whisper from minutes away…" Fuck. I'm so stupid. I am so. Fucking. Stupid. I peered from behind the pelts and saw that most of the house's men were sitting at the great table. Two unfamiliar men were sitting shoulder to shoulder and staring at me with a raging intensity. I frantically looked down at Horn's letter that was coming to an end.

The only way you'll find that cavern is if you got that map on ya'. So keep it in the drawer for safe keeping. Remember: 21-25-12-28.

-Horn

I followed Horn's advice, depositing the map, along with half of my potions, saving three in case of emergency, and two of my paralysis antidotes and poisons. I stored the majority of what I had on me, leaving me with what I'm wearing, a few bits of food, a dozen of needles, four knives, and one dagger. After I filled all the available slots in my storage I joined the men at the great table, sitting as far away from the menacing looking men as possible. I looked around and noticed how I'm one of the very few members of GnW without any facial hair. As I awkwardly rubbed the random hairs about my cheeks, Elker took the seat beside mine.

Elker looked at me with a straight expression. "Why are you an orange-player?" he asked unshaken. In GnW there's an unspoken rule: Don't ask. Don't tell. I could actually feel the confusion and sheer surprise on my face.

"Why are you?!" I countered. He sighed casually.

He scratched his head and began, "Well that's fair enough I suppose," his sharp chin seemed to stab the heavy air between us. "I attacked a player. Actually, I mugged him." He grabbed and shook a drink in front of him that I'm almost sure isn't his.

"I got caught pickpocketing," I lamely admitted. I still remember it plain as day too. Back then all I had was a cotton cloak that boosted my hiding by an epic one percent. Two frightened looking girls were walking together 'easy prey', I figured. I checked their pockets, and I had a near one hundred percent chance to get away with just enough Col for a drink or two, but I was feeling greedy. I saw a unique dagger and I couldn't help but go for it, even if I had only a twenty three percent chance of getting away with it. Safe to say I didn't. Before that I've never been caught, so I guess I felt invincible.

I'm far from invincible. I've figured that out.

Elker mumbled something angrily that I wasn't able to make sense of. He lifted what was probably not his drink to his lips and drank until the cup was nearly emptied. He sighed after, and I was able to smell fresh wine on his breath. He stood up suddenly, pushing his chair back. Several men around us went silent and looked at Elker, confused. "We're all scum here," he said spitefully. The room was filled with a denser air than usual. Soft mummers flooded the room.

"To being scum!"

Horn's voice echoed throughout the building. He held a robust glass high above his head and the men immediately in front of him all joined in mimicking his pose. The room soon was filled with yells and chants of approval, my voice joining the ruckus. I grabbed Elker's glass from the table and held it as high as my arm would let it go. I smiled widely, admiring Horn. A man so simple was at the same time a natural leader, who undoubtedly has a special charisma that no one can match. Horn beamed brightly with all twelve of his teeth. I felt like the men around me were more than just men, they were brothers, they're Gray n' Waste through and through, they're the rejects of Aincrad, but so am I.

Horn made way to my side, greeting me by touching his hand to my forearm. "Hey, Boy," he began, "We're all ready to leave for the trade; you're comin' right?"

"I-"

"Good!"

Horn pat my head hard enough for me to flinch. "We're leaving now, actually," he pointed at a party near the entrance, "There's gonn' be four parties of three, and since you're stupid, that means there's twelve of us going," he paused to chuckle at his jab, "Elker knows the rendezvous point so he's going tu' lead us."

Elker joined the parties, greeting them and saying farewell to the house. I was invited to Horn and Elker's party, and was assigned the role as lookout. Although my hearing isn't near what it probably should be, I can see further than any other player I've meet thus far.

Half an hour has gone by since we've trailed off and I quickly got lazy with looking for hostiles. We were in a safe area in terms of monster population so I decided to give my eyes a break, walking with them closed only opening them every now and again to make sure I was on track. I was last in the group, trailing behind the rest. The parties of three walked together, organized, casually talking about whatever they might be, I can't really hear them from here. Horn lagged, letting me catch up with him.

He poked my side, "What's your dream, Boy?" Horn asked earnestly. I took a long time to think about my answer.

"The idea of loving someone and that person loving me back always amazed me when I was a child. Still to this day, actually, I'm just blown away at the thought of that being possible. What I want most is my own family. I want to be a father, a husband. I want to be admired and leave my imprint on people. I want to be important, and to make a difference," I scratched the back of my head, looking at the ground, "I just want to be needed by someone. Other than that?" I shrugged, "To get out of this god-forsaken game."

Horn grunted approvingly. "Promise me you'll do just all that, or I'm going to be pissed." Horn smirked, amused.

"Sure, Horn-san, it's a promise," he nodded, "What about you, what's your dream?"

"My dream?"

"Yeah, your dream."

"Well, to chop Kayaba's head off." He chuckled, entertained with himself.

"Cut his head off?" I repeated.

"Right off his shoulders!" The fire that burned in his eyes escaped and glowed his entire face with a fiery blaze.

"I think you can do it."

Horn looked down and mumbled something inaudible. I suddenly found myself wrapped in the arms of a quietly weeping Horn. "I miss my son, Boy," his beard scratched the hair on my head, "He looks so much like you too." I was completely absorbed in his hug and felt like a little kid again. I was able to see that out the corner of my eye the other men gained a rather large lead ahead of us. I comforted the sobbing giant and informed him that we're falling very far behind the others. He told me that spreading out might be a good thing. We walked silently for a while, maybe ten minutes without saying anything. The men are far enough that I have to strain my eyes to see them, but I still know where they are.

The climate was changing from humid hot to an autumn like air. There was a thin breeze that swayed my hair and ruffled Horn's long beard. The grass was thicker and greener than earlier, boasting its vitality. Wildflowers were spread at random across the grass and the foliage got denser, causing me to lose sight of the parties ahead of us. I unsheathed a dagger and spun it around on my fingers, something I've mastered since coming to Aincrad.

"Kyou-kun," Horn spoke intently, my body felt strange when he called me by that name, "My son's been dead for two years. He was fourteen, and today he'd be your age. It's his birthday." I nodded, deciding not to investigate any further. It's funny, I thought, He's missing a son and I'm missing a father. Maybe that's why we get along so well.

"I don't know my dad, I never met him," I admitted, "Whenever I ask Mom about him she gets really weird and avoids talking to me. I just know I look like him and that he died before Mom even knew she was pregnant. I've never even seen a picture of him."

Horn laughed aloud and put a hand up saying Let me explain! "Maybe I can marry her and I'll be your dad and you my son."

My eyes watered but I quickly wiped them dry. What a stupid thing to say. "You're too ugly idiot, and she likes men with more than ten teeth."

"Twelve!" he promptly corrected me. "I have a way with love, Boy." He assured me. The idea of him wooing mom is just too funny. She might as well be asexual. Horn's head suddenly snapped forward with his eyes widened. He held his arm in front of me to stop my stride.

"Follow," he commanded. He vanished from the area he was just in, shocking me with his speed. I looked forward and saw he was already hundreds of meters ahead of me. I threw myself forward, hovering over the ground at amazing speed, landing then pushing with all fours back into the air. I caught sight of Horn again, and saw a familiar looking person lying near him. Horn hung his head, shadows casting over his eyes and the man yelled for God to save him. He broke into shards.

"How, why?!" I asked frantically.

Horn was silent but his shoulders came up then back down. I don't know.

I immediately drew my dagger and had two poisoned needles cocked back whenever I noticed the presence of over a dozen unknown men. They came from out the shadows, letting themselves be seen. They wore a uniform of dark green medium weight armor, with 'ALA' crests. Elker came into my line on vision. "Atten-tion!" clangs of armor echoed off the trunks of the surrounding trees. The green men around me all become statues in a unified order. "My name is Yomato, Misturugi, Lt. of the Aincrad Liberation Army. Under the order of the people of Aincrad you are sentenced to death, along with any green players that may have harbored or aided you." What is happening?

"Where are the other men?!" I demanded.

"Gone," Misturugi inched closer drawing a sabre and holding it angled from his side.

"Run!" Horn pushed me with all his might, surprising me enough that I was off balanced. My body flew passed the green men, and into the trees. I collided with a tree, quickly regained composure, and flung myself back to Horn's direction as hard as I possibly could.

I landed fifty meters away from Horn and I can't explain it. My body wasn't there for a few seconds. I felt dead. There wasn't anything I could feel throughout my being, not a pulse, nor a breath. Elker's sabre cut through the skin of Horn's neck, severing his head from his body. He busted into shards, as if he were made of glass. His head hit the ground, eyes still open, and went along with his body.

"I'll kill you! I'll fucking kill you!" The needles left my hands in Elker's direction but they simply bounced off his armor. I lunged at him head first, but he caught my arm and lifted me into the air, spitting on my face. His sabre cut into my stomach, sending me to yellow. He twisted the blade inside of me, sending me to red.

"Then I'll let you live to fail a second time."

He threw me on the ground, turned, and his men followed. A blackness took over my sight. I was gone again. Just for a while.