I don't own Sword Art Online or Mataras the Red Swordsman. Sword Art Online is owned by Reki Kawahara. Mataras the Red Swordsman is owned by Mataras the Author. The Wyvern's Inferno guild is owned by TheSib. I only own my OCs.

Chapter 12: Birth of a Dragon Tamer, Rise of The Crimson Maiden

It had been a few days since Kirito, and Asuna's wedding, and Diabel's award ceremony, Silica woke up and changed into her usual set of casual clothes, mainly a sky blue sleeveless shirt, and a black skirt. She turned to she if Akira was all set, but when he woke up, his body felt weak.

"Akira, we may be taking a break but you shouldn't be still in bed." sighed Silica in a pout, but when Akira turned to her, he looked like he was breathing irregularly. She then wondered, "What's wrong?"

"I don't know, but suddenly I feel really weak. Almost like I not feeling well." explained Akira. Hearing this the duo decided to contact Argo and ask what was wrong with him.

Argo replied in her message, 'Akira might have a cold IRL, some players are known to have those now and then.' The two frowned, and realized one thing which the two agreed on, Akira was taking a sick day.

Akira went back to sleep, as Silica informed her guild mates about the situation and would nurse him until his body back IRL recovered.

Silica then calls for Pina, and instructs her to look after Akira, and to call when he wakes up, while she makes him some porridge for when he awakes.

She had just set the timer for her breakfast when Megumi came out.

"Good Morning, Megumi." greeted Silica.

"Hey Silica, where's Akira?" responded Megumi.

"He's in bed. He got a cold IRL, and it's affecting him here as a result." Silica explained

"Oh, that's possible? That must really suck for him." Megumi remarked.

"I guess, but I'm glad that I can help him to get better." Said Silica with a smile, then she heard Pina call out, "What is it, Pina?" she called.

The two girls went upstairs and saw Akira sitting upright in his bed, and petting Pina, making the dragon put like a house cat.

Akira turned and saw the girls as they came in. "Hey their, Silica. Morning Megumi." he said.

"Hey Akira." greeted Megumi.

"You getting hungry?" asked Silica, like a nurse tending to her patient.

"A little bit, but yeah." he replied.

Silica nodded and went down to get some breakfast ready, with Pina flying behind her.

Megumi went over to Akira, and spoke. "How do you feel?" she asked.

Akira shrugged as he answered. "Well I feel fine, but my avatar definitely isn't."

Megumi chuckled, "Well even warriors get sick once in a while, and your no exception." she said.

The clatter of dishes was heard as Silica came back up, she was carrying a tray of three bowls, along with three neatly stacked cups, while surprisingly, Pina carrying a large pot of tea.

She put the tray on the bed and passed out a bowl of porridge to Akira. Megumi was also given one, before she sat in her own chair.

Pina sat on the bed after placing the pot on the tray. and as the dragon cooed at Megumi, she laughed. "Hey Silica? How did you meet Pina? I'm a bit curious." asked Megumi.

"Now that you mention it, I'm pretty curious myself." nodded Akira.

Silica grinned at the memory, and started to think back upon that day.

Flashback

Two years ago, on the thirtieth floor, Silica was in a party of players, they were on a quest to find a missing child for an NPC in town, the child was supposedly kidnapped by a horde of goblins. Silica led the way as she checked her map to the dungeon, making sure they didn't get lost. Her teammates were mostly people in her late teens or early adult years.

The five mid-level players carefully traversed into the caverns were the child was kept hostage. From the Weekly Swordsman, this floor was just as trap set as floor 27, Silica led the group on a narrow ledge as they carefully moved passed, when the first trap was triggered. A small section that Silica was standing on broke off, as she sank down into the abyss below.

When she finally stopped, she panted and rubbed her behind as she got to her feet. "Ouch! I'm gonna feel that when I get back IRL." she muttered to herself, when she messages asking if she was alright. She replied that she was fine, and to let them go on ahead, for she'll catch up.

Once she was finished, Silica went to her map, and continued down the path, and found a lair of eyes inside the cavern, she couldn't see well, and used a skill for a torch to lighten up the place a bit. As she stepped into the center of the cave, she heard a load roar, thinking it to be the goblins, she drew her Ebon Dagger thinking, I'm dead meat, but what appeared instead, was a ferocious black dragon with a wild frill, red eyes, black skin, and large wings, but the creatures roar was more of a burble.

The dragon's name then popped up, The Jabberwocky. Silica was petrified, and could only do one thing, steel herself for a fight.

The battle was intense, while the Jabberwocky used its tail, and fire breath, along with catching claws, and biting jaws, Silica dodged, and struck back dealing the creature damage. The creature roared in fury as it charged its breath attack, while Silica, used her skills as a dagger user to move and avoid the attacks and seek shelter behind some stones, and prepare for her next attack.

What she saw however when got to her hiding place, was a small smooth stone with a crack, and as she got closer, more cracks were coming. It was then Silica realized that it was an egg, and it was about to hatch. Soon, a small creature appeared in the form of a small blue feathered dragon with two tail feathers sticking at the end. The creature also had red eyes, two wings, and legs with a stubby pair of arms. The dragon sniffed Silica as it staggered to its feet, and flew around her, making Silica giggle. Soon a burble like roar from The Jabberwocky brought her back to reality.

The hatchling then stopped in front of her and landed on Silica's shoulder, and started purring. Silica soon got a window stating that the creature wanted to be her pet, and asked if it will friend her.

Silica and realized that she found a secret quest in taming creatures from an info broker, but never thought she would find and complete it. So after some thought, she hit the yes button, and was asked to give the dragon a name.

Silica thought about it, and decided to name her dragon after pet cat IRL, Pina. When it was done, a small HP bar appeared under own.

She was given a quick look into Pina's abilities as the two had to face The Jabberwocky which was angry, because she then realized that her friend Pina, was going to be the monsters dinner. So, Silica struck at the creature as the creature tried to strike like a snake using its venom. She grabbed onto the creatures neck and used a dagger skill to strike into the creatures neck, making The Jabberwocky roar in agony as its HP dropped, Silica's was dropping as well, it reached the red zone when she hit the creature's head with another skill. Silica flipped back and sliced the creature right down the neck and gasped in joy as The Jabberwocky flickered and exploded into pixels.

Collapsing from the strain, Silica gave out a sigh of relief and her new friend Pina, the dragon fired a breath of healing magic that helped Silica regain some of her HP. Silica realized her familiar was a healing dragon, and could get stronger with this kind of ability.

"Silica!" her eyes squinting as she came out of the dungeon and finding her party members using their tracking skills in the menus.

"What?! You guys? Where were you?" asked Silica.

"We did the quest. The goblins weren't that hard for some reason though." explained one of the players, wielding a mace.

"Oh! Well I ended on a completely different quest and fought against a huge black dragon called The Jabberwocky." And she explained what afterwards when the group was separated. They were shocked, needless to say.

"And now I have a familiar tagging along with me." finished Silica, as she pointed to the dragon now resting on her head.

"This little dragon? It's so cute!" exclaimed a female member of the party.

"Silica?" said the leader of the party, "You should be proud of yourself. You did a quest on your own, and tamed a dragon familiar, not to much taking on a boss on your as well. You did very well, especially since this is your first MMO." He smiled.

End Flashback

Akira and Megumi were in awe struck, learning she fought against The Jabberwocky from the Alice in Wonderland book series. This make Akira curious about one last thing. "Hey Megumi, how did you earn your title as 'The Crimson Maiden'?" he asked.

Megumi explained that after the players cleared the fiftieth floor, that she decided to head out to the higher floors in a party, and eventually got the Crimson Lotus Sword, afterwards, she went solo and did pretty well, until they heard of Laughing Coffin's location and went to join in the fight to stop them. She then revealed she foughtt against some members who resisted capture and tried to escape only to be struck down by her and a boy in red with a fire dragon.

Akira then realized, "Megumi, that was Mataras you fought with the stop the remnants from fleeing the scene." he said, and the group chuckled known that because of his actions as The Red Swordsman, that the trio were now in the same guild.

Akira smiled, and the three knew he would get better in no time.

Kirito and Mataras: REALLY?!

Akira: What? I always figured Silica should battle against something fro literature, plus the creatures design is from the version done by Tim Burton.

Megrim: I found it cool.

Silica: Me too.

Kirito: Makes sense.

Matures: So what happens now?

Akira: We get another member of the family.

Author: Next Time on The Azure Swordsman: The Lost Fragment. Chapter 13: The Girl of Morning Dew.

All: LINK START!