My miracle tally had hit two.
Two. First, out of pure luck, I'd run into Griffith in the general store, linked up, and stayed with him. Now, yet another person I was close to before everything started was standing in front of me. Takita, one of the few people in this world I'd prayed daily to meet, was finally within my grasp.
And boy, did she look pissed.
It's not that I didn't know the reason, or that I didn't want to apologize, but the opportunity to do so was yet to arise. All I could do was stare at the ground, mentally kicking myself to say the words that would never come out.
"Thanks for looking after Griffith." She saidsarcastically. I knew exactly what she was talking about, but even so, I couldn't say a word, I just nodded my head feebly and hoped Griff would speak up. He did.
"That's fantastic! You two already know each other?" He asked, scratching the back of his head at the awkwardness of the situation. I still refused to lock eyes with her, and kicked the ground as I waited for her to say something.
"No." She said coldly. "I've never seen him before in my life, I just saw his HP bar. Should we get moving, Griff?"
My heart skipped a beat. What I did was unforgiveable, but to say something like that was too much for me to handle. I lifted my head, cleared my throat and tried my utmost best to laugh it off.
"Ah, yeah, she's right. I don't-
"I know! We should go get some coffee before we start." Griffith interrupted. Even though she'd tried to cover it up, I still said her name aloud when we first met. There wasn't much you could sneak past Griff, although he lacked in the combat department, his mental side was a fully-functioning corporation.
"Oh, Takita, you never did actually say what you wanted to meet up about. And sorry, Tera, I may have used introducing you to her as an excuse to talk about some things as a group." Griffith stated with a hint of an apology twisting through is quiet voice.
"I want to take on the world boss. The two of you obviously aren't fighters, so I need help with some recruitment." She lied.
"Actually, Tera's…" Griff's voice trailed off before he finished.
Takita adjusted the strap on her two-handed claymore. The two of us were both fidgeting uncomfortably while Griffith struggled to repair the situation. After a few moments of silence, I spoke up.
"There's a grand coffee shop towards the northern end of the town. It'd be nice to head over there and talk about it, huh, Griff?" I asked. It was true that there was a coffee shop up north, but it was far from grand. It was actually a player-owned house, with a large bottom floor setup to somewhat crudely resemble a modern coffee shop. On a scale of one to ten, however, I'd give it a six.
The walk there was short, but it lasted an eternity. If you could see tension, a thick mist would have already consumed us three, a silence encasing us without mercy. Each step felt like a ninety degree staircase – each step felt impossible.
I took a swift glance to my right, a glance at Takita. At the same moment, she did the same, and an uncomfortable locking of eyes ensued. We both immediately looked away, blushing. Me, out of regret. Her, out of anger. We trudged onwards in that same, pure silence, only the occasional cough or a comment from Griffith.
When we finally arrived, I let out a sigh of relief. How long had it taken? Ten, twenty minutes? I could have almost sworn my perception of time had dropped ten-fold the whole way.
For the record, Takita was far from being an undesirable girl. She was loyal and trustworthy, but maybe it was the misplaced trust that lead to our current predicament, a misplaced trust in me. I never intended for what happened to actually happen, it was chance and fate that betrayed me in my time of need. You see, on the first day-
"Oi! Foyoki, Griffith!" Yelled a voice from across the street "Oh? Who's this kid?" The loud man finished with a question. I turned to my right to see three players standing in a bunch. One of them had wavy hair just brushing his eyes and over his ears, with golden blonde tips. He had a spear slung over his back and a dagger at his waist.
Uh-oh.
The second had medium length hair with a swept fringe across his forhead. It was jet-black and had 'tough guy' written all over it. A one-handed- no, two-handed sword at his waist, not an uncommon place for it to be positioned just seemingly unusual for his character style.
Double uh-oh.
The third and final one was the biggest of them all, having a one-handed blade at each side of his waist. I think he'd have realised by now he could only wield one at a time, but he had them both equipped regardless. Short, spiky black hair signified his leadership over the others, and the easiest way to put the trio was 'rough'.
Really rough.
"We thought you guys would be here. Can't go a day without a coffee, huh, Griff?" The double-bladed dimwit said as the three crossed the road to our side. The way he spoke was calm and coordinated, true leadership traits could be seen from miles away on this guy. Matching his personality to his academic capabilities would be a challenge.
A laugh came from Griffith as he replied. "You know me all too well, Fenyx." He smiled. Takita happily greeted the three of them.
"I mentioned I'd be bring a friend… Friends." She said with some hesitation. They all started to head inside.
I didn't move just yet, and simply waited until everyone was inside the coffee shop, despite Griffith calling my name.
I let out a long, deep sigh and held back my feelings. "I've never seen him before in my life." She'd said. Did she really say that, something so cruel? Deciding there was no point arguing with my own mind, I stepped through the door and into the bitter aroma of coffee beans. Beautiful.
Seconds clocked by like minutes, and minutes like hours as I sat in silence next to the close group of friends. Griffith still had a concerned feeling about him, and his swift looks in my direction only made it more obvious. He could tell I was out of place, uncomfortable, but as the others started asking me questions, I finally began to settle in. Things like "How'd you two meet?" and "How long have you know her" being tossed around stung me a bit, but eventually I adjusted to the barrage of questions. The group wasn't as bad as I'd first thought. I got to know them each better and we bonded reasonably well, not to mention I found out a lot more about Griff and his Flute-Arts.
"Melody of Pain is the title." He began. "You simple pull it to your shoulder and launch it like an ordinary punch, except, you know… With a flute." He laughed. The others joined in too, it was a comfortable group laughter, but even to a bystander, Takita and I were easy to single out.
"…Two, three…Five, six." Said Zephyr, the one with the now unequipped spear. "There's only six of us, and we'd need at least eight for a boss like this."
"You say it like it's not the very first boss in the game" I laughed. "Eight should do, it's likely to be Kobold, right? From Episode Two?"
"Right." The third, Curtis, added. "Big red guy, looks kinda like Fenyx?"
"That's the one." Fenyx unknowingly added. "HEY!" he screamed as we all burst into laughter again.
"Actually," Zephyr added. "Come to think of it, I do know two others who might be able to help. The name's Kuma and Regret. That is, assuming Terallian and Griffith mean to fight, too…"
The names caught me off guard. Kuma and Regret. Kuma… I'd met him on the first day of the game, a man I hoped I'd never walk into twice. I didn't even hear Griffith's answer.
"I guess it's all finally catching up, huh…" I muttered. The others turned to me with a questioning look but I shrugged it off and suggested we get moving and find them. We walked out the coffee shop after paying the 17 col for all our drinks and started on our walk to find the newest members of-
"The Brotherhood." Takita said as we walked. "We'll be known here on as the Brotherhood, alright?" It was less of a question and more of a statement, but we nodded in agreement regardless. Something in that very moment reminded me of a certain godly brigade leader. She sure had changed a lot since I met her before the game.
The newest members of The Brotherhood. A nice name, very catchy but very common. I was still a bit tense about meeting Kuma again, he was an unsteady individual. When everything began, it was true that everyone focused on survival, but he had a fire in his eyes that screamed he would live on. And from what I saw, what he did to people, he really would do anything to survive.
Regardless, they saw the pair as able bodied fighters, and that was exactly what we needed for our upcoming challenge. I glanced back over to Fenyx and his double blades. Well, able bodied doesn't necessarily mean they have to be logical with their weapon choices… Does it? I didn't know the answer myself.
The sun had finally started to set, and a peaceful orange glow shrouded the buildings as they darkened slowly but steadily.
It was one of The Age of Aincrad's truly magnificent moments - dusk. I wasn't really a morning person most days, and this was my favourite time of day. We were still walking seemingly aimlessly through the streets, but Zephyr lead us around every corner necessary in a natural fashion. Everything was so smooth and routine to us, like I'd known everyone here for my whole life. Even so, the dream crushing Takita hit me with her reality power just by being present. Who am I kidding; she's not going to forgive me anytime soon…
I guess I never really did explain. On the first day of the death ga-
"Foyoki, this inn here is where they're both staying. Doubt they're asleep this early, so we should just head on in." Said Zephyr, shaking my thoughts once more. With the amount they get shaken, it's a miracle I'm not always dizzy.
I pulled Griffith aside as the others made their way through the door. "Griff, that Kuma… Watch him, don't get to close and don't rely on him. Also, do you intend to fight the boss as well?" I asked, feeling a bit interrogative.
Griffith nodded. "I understand. And, well, I don't know… I might be able to help with the mobs using my Flute-Arts, but I definitely won't be taking the big guy on."
A decent answer, I suppose. We quickly followed the others through as to not draw attention to our delay. The place seemed like any other inn, except it was lacking a tavern-style first floor and was really small. The stairs straight ahead of us lead up into two pathways, Zephyr headed left and so we followed him along. The second to last door in the corridor had a light coming from it, likely Kuma and Regret.
Curtis knocked on the door and waited for a reply. It came quickly, in the form of…
"Regret!" Yelled Zephyr from behind.
"Hey! Zephyr, who're all these people?" He asked, one hand on the door, the other gesturing to the cramped corridor consisting of a rapier speed demon, a Flute-Master, a pouting a girl, a somewhat ordinary spear-user, a man with an oversized blade and a dimwit.
"Friends." He shrugged, not really adding much more.
Takita spoke up, "We'll be staying here the night, but we'd like to request you and your friend Kuma, if he is present, to join us in the morning to fight the Floor Boss, Kobold." She finished. Regret just stood there silently, waited a moment, turned and called for Kuma. There wasn't so much as a response from the other room.
"Ah, sorry… He's an early sleeper, but I'm sure he'll be interested in joining you all, as would I." Regret apologised, hand still on the door.
"Not a problem. Thanks for helping us out." I added over the top of the others. We began shuffling our way back down stairs, paid the inn keeper for all the rooms for the night, then shuffled our way awkwardly back up before heading off to our own rooms. Takita stayed in her own, the three warriors had theirs and Griffith and I stayed in the end room. It was ten o'clock before we knew it, so we headed off to bed for the early wake up.
We each had a bed on opposite sides of the room, incredibly comfortable and worth the col. I laid awake for somewhere close to twenty minutes. Although he didn't make a sound, I sensed that Griffith was awake still too, so I poked a question at him.
"Griff, what do you think about the others?"
There wasn't a reply.
"Griff?"
Still nothing.
Then snoring.
I sighed, rolled over and pulled up the covers. My senses must be off.
Morning came with a bright blue light. Blue?
"Melody… Of Pain!" Griffith shouted, stabbing what would be head to toe of a person with his flute. Honestly, Flute-Arts…
"You're weird." I said, chuckling slightly.
"A-Ah, Tera, you're awake. There's nothing weird about my Flute-Arts!" He defended.
"No, I mean it's six-thirty in the morning and you're awake." I said, anti-morning-person mode activated.
"So are you."
"Not by choice." I sighed. There's a lot of ways to be woken up in a game, but this was by far the strangest. I pulled the covers off and struggled my way out of bed, stretching wildly with a yawn in addition.
After breakfast, we got dressed and met up with the others at the front gate to the town. Only Takita was there when we first arrived, and so we awkwardly drifted around the buildings until the others showed up. I assumed Griffith was being considerate between Takita and I's current relationship, but I couldn't be sure.
Soon, all of us had gathered. Zephyr the Spear-User, Fenyx the Dual-Blader, Griffith the Flute-Wielder, Takita the Claymore-Master, Kuma the Katana-User, Curtis the two-handed, Regret the Axe-Wielder and myself, the Rapier-Fighter.
One hell of an odd bunch.
We trekked across the floor as a group. Kuma wasn't nearly as bad as I'd thought; I can't blame him for his reaction. Everyone was getting along surprisingly well - we'd all adjusted to the group environment and not a single member was out of place.
The Floor Dungeon was intimidatingly large, looming over us with pure intensity. Everyone had the same feeling of anxiety; you could see it in their faces. But behind the wall of emotion, there was a fire burning within us all. Not one of us had fully considered it up until now, but we were truly taking the first step to freedom from this game…
And I didn't know how to feel about that.
We entered, and the mob fighting began. Skeletons were the first group we ran into. Linear took care of the majority, and a single Skeleton Master needed a Bone Crusher from Regret. Swinging the axe above his head, and a perfectly timed diagonal downward slash to the left with a complimentary stomp of the right foot burst the target into shards.
The second group, as we started to come up towards the boss room, was Lizardmen. These NPC's could be seen from floor 1-75, or at least that's where they should be, and they were capable of Sword-Skills. Curtis took an attack head on, but Takita intervened with an Avalanche two-handed Sword-Skill. It was a simple, downward slash, and put an end to the opponent.
"A lot of help you were, Terallian." She teased. That last comment was enough to push me that last inch.
"TAKTIA!" I screamed at her. All the others stopped and turned, a wave of silence swept over everyone.
They were all staring.
They were all watching.
They were all listening.
But it didn't matter.
"Enough of this, Takita. Enough, please, it's enough." I began. "We're sorting this out right here and now."
"Tera…" Griffith pitched in. I shot him a look, no.
Takita was the first to shout.
"You promised!" Takita cried back at me. Her reaction was sudden, unexpected. She threw her blade to the side and walked right up to me, inches away.
"You always promised you'd protect me, Tera, and you didn't! The days I spent alone in the game, I had no one. Before it all… B-before it all started, you p-promised you'd protect me! Tears were welling up in her eyes, a hesitation at every word.
This was what she'd been holding back. I thought I was the only one bottling it up. We'd all suffered in our short time here, but I never truly considered who'd really suffered the most.
"You managed to find Griffith but not me!" The tears were rolling down her cheeks now, emotions flooding out uncontrollably.
I argued back what I believed. "I tried to find you, Takita, but this isn't what I expected. This isn't even our world anymore; we're stuck in a game, bending to the will of its creator! I tried, I tried… but I couldn't find you."
"Am I that insignificant to you that you'd give up within three days!? 'No matter the circumstance' you said! I thought you'd always be there!" She cried.
"I couldn't protect you if I was so weak. Day after day I trained, telling myself I could protect you if I was strong enough!" I yelled, tearing up myself.
"We wouldn't have to leave the first town, Tera! A level is just a number! I don't want you to be powerful, I wanted you to be you."
The others were staring uncomfortably, a couple had walked off the other way. Bystanders or no bystanders, I had to speak my mind.
Right here.
Right now.
"I love you, Takita."
One less bottled feeling.
"Is that what you wanted to hear? I love you and I'm sorry, I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. I never wanted for any of this to happen."
One less regret.
"I love you, Takita. I love you."
But I never heard her response. Fenyx and Curtis were the first two to hit the ground.
They were everywhere.