Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online (or the works of H.P. Lovecraft).
Chapter 4: Playing With Fire
Rika sat alone in the cafeteria with a full tray of food still in front of her. She had been far too preoccupied to pay attention to her lunch. No matter how hard Rika tried, her mind kept going back to her steamy encounter with Donis the previous afternoon. The thing that truly preoccupied Rika the most about the encounter was how she really felt about Donis. Were her feelings for the Kirito lookalike simple lust, or were they something more? She had been turning that question in her mind over and over again since the night before and wasn't coming up with a clear answer. The only thing Rika had truly accomplished was getting all hot and bothered.
"Mind if I joined you?" a familiar voice asked, snapping Rika from her thoughts.
Rika looked, and standing before her with a lunch tray in her hands was a young woman with long orange-brown hair. This of course was one of Rika's closest friends, Asuna Yuki.
"Oh. Go right ahead." Rika replied. "I'm a little surprised you're not having lunch with Kirito."
"He has something that he wanted to take care of during the lunch period." Asuna explained as she sat down. "Is everything okay with you Rika? You seemed a little spaced out when I saw you over here."
"I'm good." Rika assured her. "…Hey Asuna, mind if I ask you something personal?"
"I don't see why not." Asuna replied. "What is it?"
"Have you and Kirito ever had sex in-game?" Rika asked.
Asuna nearly choked on the milk she was trying to drink the moment Rika asked her question. Rika couldn't help but smirk a little at Asuna's reaction. Though Asuna was one of the strongest players in the games of SAO and ALO, she was also very bashful when it came to things like sex. There were more than a few times when Rika enjoyed teasing her on the subject. Even so, Rika didn't have to many other people she could talk to when it came to her current predicament.
"Wh-wh-wh-why on earth are you asking me something about that?" a very flustered Asuna asked.
"Well… I recently met this guy in ALO." Rika admitted with some hesitation. "And even though we only just met, I find that I'm really interested in him. So I was just wondering… how real sex with someone in a virtual would feel. Assuming things even got that far, that is."
"Oh…" Asuna responded, finally calming down. "To be honest, I've never been able to tell the difference between the real and virtual worlds when it comes to sensation. I know in my head that things in a world like ALO, even the avatars that act as our bodies, are nothing more than pieces of code. But despite that, things in the virtual world still feel just as real as the things in this world do. I think it's the same for Kirito."
"I guess it's kind of the same for me too." Rika admitted. "Even though I know that world is just a game, it still feels like a real place to me."
"But the thing is, Rika," Asuna continued, putting her hand on the brown-haired girl's, "I pretty much knew what I was getting into with Kirito. I knew what he actually looked like thanks to SAO making our avatars look like our real selves, and during those few years as we fought together I got to know who he really was. My love for him was and is real, because I fell in love with the real person, not with some character in an online game. What I'm saying Rika, is that this person you're interested in may not be the person you think he is. He may be someone completely different in real life."
"I get what you're saying, Asuna." Rika assured her. "I'll be careful."
"Okay." Asuna replied. "So what's person you're interested in like?"
"Well…" Rika hesitantly began. She immediately decided to hold back the fact that Donis looked just like Kirito. "I guess he's a bit like Kirito. Seems you and I are interested in the same type of guy, huh?"
"I guess so." Asuna replied. "Just be careful."
"Relax, Asuna. I won't do anything crazy." Rika assured her.
With that, Rika and Asuna continued their lunch mostly in silence. While their conversation hadn't actually clarified anything for Rika, it did remind her of one important fact. Donis was most likely someone completely different in the real world, someone with his own face and his own voice. While it was true that the gold swordsman had his own distinct personality from Kirito, Rika couldn't be sure if even that personality was the real deal. Players of VRMMOs were often known to take on a completely different persona while playing. A person who was gentle and timid in the real world could easily become ruthless and bold in the setting of an online game. Rika realized that getting too close to Donis too fast would basically be playing with fire.
The evening of the second raid into K'n-yan arrived, and Lisbeth was waiting in her shop for Leafa and the others to show up. They had all previously agreed to meet at the shop before returning to the mound to pick up the new equipment that Lisbeth had forged. Lisbeth had already equipped herself with the new mace and shield she had created from the tok'l-metal, as well as a new pieces of black chest and shoulder armor she forged from an alloy made from the strange metal and another rare metal in ALO known for being super durable. As Lisbeth waited for the others, she found that she was super nervous about seeing Donis again. They had left things in a very awkward place at the end of their last meeting.
Lisbeth almost jumped when she heard the door to her shop open. She turned and breathed a small sigh of relief when she saw that it was only Leafa and Sinon.
"Sorry we're a little late." Leafa told Lisbeth as she and Sinon headed down the stairs.
"Is that armor you're wearing forged from that weird metal you found down in K'n-yan?" Sinon asked.
"Yep. And I made some armor for you and Leafa too." Lisbeth answered.
Within a few moments, Lisbeth transferred the new equipment to the others. Sinon ended up with a piece of black chest armor like the one she had been previously wearing. Leafa meanwhile had gained a piece of black chest armor with gold trim not unlike the white piece of armor she normally wore.
"Sorry I didn't make you any new weapons." Lisbeth told them. "I haven't been able to make any new equipment for Donis either."
"It's okay. The new sword you made for me works just fine." Leafa assured her.
"Really? It hasn't been acting… I don't know, weird or anything?" Lisbeth asked.
"Well, sometimes the blade seems to glow when I swing it, but it still cuts really well." The blonde fairy answered.
The door to the shop opened again, and Donis entered. Lisbeth's heart began to beat a little faster upon seeing the Kirito lookalike. She hoped very much that Sinon and Leafa wouldn't pick up on the awkwardness between them.
"Um, hello all." Donis greeted with a somewhat nervous expression. "Many apologies for being late."
"It's okay. We just got here too." Sinon assured him.
"Lisbeth just gave us some new armor she forged from that weird metal from K'n-yan." Leafa informed him.
"I'm sorry Donis, but I, uh… I haven't been able to make anything for you." Lisbeth told him. "I guess time just kind of got away from me. Plus I'm starting to run a bit low on material. You'll have to wait until I can scrounge up some more during this raid."
"It's quite alright. My current equipment will serve me just fine." Donis assured her. "Now then, shall we be going?"
"We probably should." Sinon agreed. "If the encounter rate for those headless girls picks up at night, we should probably get in there before it gets dark."
"Do we want to explore more of that building we were in last time?" Leafa asked.
"Sounds like a good idea to me." Lisbeth responded. "I might be able to find some more of that metal down there."
"We never did get a chance to fully explore that basement before that blob creature attacked us." Donis pointed out. "We may be able to find some rare items down there."
"But what if we run into one of those blobs again?" Leafa asked.
"If we did, it'd be a good chance to test how well some of our new equipment works." Lisbeth pointed out. "I say we go for it."
With that, the team headed off to the mound and arrived at the mound only a few minutes before sunset. As they traveled down through the opening corridor, they encountered none of the headless women that usually stalked the dungeon. The absence of the creatures seemed to track with the team's theory that the things were more active at night. The entire trip down into the underground city had been traveled largely in silence, and that silence had been getting to Lisbeth a little bit. She knew that she had to talk with Donis about what had happened between them, but such a task was impossible with Sinon and Leafa around.
The party finally arrived at the building they had searched during their last raid and immediately headed down into the vast dark basement below. Lisbeth began scanning the ground for any metal items. The search was taking her mind off of her current dilemma with Donis. The pink-haired blacksmith ended up finding quite a few metal objects as they traveled through the basement catacombs. The items were either pieces of discarded armor or more of the strange statuary objects of weird gods like most of the items she had found on the level above. Lisbeth also ended up finding some pieces of pure tok'l-metal ore.
"It's kind of creepy how quiet it is down here." Leafa remarked as she looked around.
"It should be dark out by now." Sinon informed them. "I bet we'll probably start seeing more monsters by now."
As if on cue, the party heard the sound of a creature approaching them from the darkness and froze. Rather than the thing being one of the headless women though, it was another one of the black blob creatures.
"Damn! And here I was kinda hoping the encounter rate for those blob things was rare." Lisbeth spoke.
"Shall we try the same strategy as before?" Donis asked.
"It's not like we've got anything better." Lisbeth pointed out. "Sinon! Cover me! I'm going in!"
The fairy archer nodded and took aim at the creature with her bow. As Sinon fired an arrow, Lisbeth charged in with her mace raised. Sinon's arrow struck the blob and took a little bit off of its HP. In the next instant though just as Lisbeth had gotten in range, the blob launched a sharpened tendril at the blacksmith and struck her in the chest. Lisbeth was knocked back, but her HP had only taken a slight drop.
"Are you okay, Liz?" Donis asked.
"Yeah, I'm good." Lisbeth assured him as she stood back up. "Looks like this new armor is just what we need down here."
"Liz! Donis! I wanna try something against this thing!" Leafa requested.
"Whatever it is, go for it!" Lisbeth told her.
Leafa drew her sword as Sinon shot the creature with another arrow. As the blonde fairy raised her sword, the blade began to glow with a peculiar green aura. Leafa cried out as she swung her sword and launched a blast of purple and green energy at the blob. The energy projectile struck the blob and changed into a crackling green sphere of light around it. The blob monster was continuously shocked by bolts of energy inside the sphere and its HP started dropping like a rock. In seconds the thing's HP fell to zero and its body swelled up like a balloon before shattering into blue polygons. Leafa and the others stood completely stunned.
"What… what the hell just happened?" Lisbeth asked.
"Did you know that was going to happen?" Sinon asked Leafa.
"I-I wasn't sure, really." Leafa answered. "I had the feeling that the sword could produce a magical attack of some kind from the way I swung it, but I didn't know it would be that powerful."
"It seems your earlier concerns about the sword being unstable weren't entirely misplaced." Donis told Lisbeth.
"No kidding." Lisbeth replied. "Well, shall we go back up top? I think I've collected enough metal to use for weapons for now."
"We've almost mapped all of this basement except for that chamber up ahead." Sinon reported. "I don't know about you guys, but I'd like to see what's in there before we leave."
"We may as well finish what we started." Donis agreed.
"Okay, we'll check out that room and call it a night." Lisbeth decided.
With that, the team continued onward and came upon a massive entryway. The four of them went through the archway and found that they had entered a large circular chamber with stadium seating all around them. It seemed to Lisbeth and the others that they had entered some kind of arena. Suddenly lines of blue light began to glow on the ground beneath them and a pair of large stone doors slammed shut behind them. Large black torches that were around the wall of the stadium began to light up with ghostly blue flames.
Suddenly standing before the four was a muscular male giant that stood at a height of about twenty feet. Its skin was chalk-white, and in place of a head it had a billowing blue flame. A black armored skirt hung from around the creature's waist, and in its right hand it wielded a large black metal club covered in spikes. Three HP gauges appeared in the air next to the creature.
"Oh crap! We just walked into a boss room!" Lisbeth realized.
"There's no helping it now!" Donis told them as he prepared to draw his two swords. "The only thing we can do now is fight!"
The headless giant quickly stepped forward and stomped the ground hard with his right foot, sending a tremor through the earth that nearly knocked the four fairies off their feet. Before Lisbeth and the others could regain their balance, the giant swung his spiked club at them and knocked them to the ground. The attack had taken a large chunk of HP off of each of them.
"Okay, coming into this room was probably a bad idea." Sinon admitted as they got back up.
"Let's see how my new sword does against this thing!" Leafa decided as she drew her weapon.
With one swing, Leafa sent a blast of energy from the blade at the headless giant. The attack hit the creature in the chest and a ball of crackling energy formed around its upper body just like when Leafa had attacked the blob. The giant's first HP gauge dropped rapidly until the sphere exploded with a flash of light. When the light faded the giant was still standing, but it lost over a quarter of the HP on its first gauge. Lisbeth then charged in with her mace raised and went for the giant's right leg. The head of the mace glowed with a crackling green light as Lisbeth swung her weapon into the giant's leg. The attack knocked another good-sized chunk of HP off the giant's first gauge, bringing it into the yellow zone.
"Looks like Liz and Leafa's new weapons are our best chance at beating this thing." Sinon observed.
"Then they shall be our key to victory!" Donis decided. He then suddenly noticed the giant starting to raise its leg. "Everyone! Jump back now!"
The entire team jumped backwards into the air just as the giant stomped the ground and sent forth another tremor. The four fell back again as the creature swung its spiked club. As the giant's attack ended, the team gathered back together and Donis used a healing spell on the girls.
"Guess we've figured out that thing's attack pattern." Sinon observed. "It stomps the ground to try and knock us off our feet, then it uses that club. After that though, it seems like it need to rest for about twenty or thirty seconds."
"It's a simple enough pattern, but lethal thanks to that beast's brute strength." Donis noted. "Fortunately I have a plan that I think we'll work. Lisbeth, you and Leafa will focus on attacking this boss, as your weapons seem to do the most damage to it. I'll focus on healing you as best I can. Meanwhile Sinon, you'll focus on doing as much damage as you can with your arrows."
"Sounds like a good plan to me." Lisbeth declared. "Let's do this!"
With that, Sinon quickly went up into the arena stands to get a good vantage point for shooting the giant. The giant raised his foot again and brought it back down to stomp the earth. Lisbeth and the others jumped to avoid being knocked down by the resulting quake, and then stayed back to avoid the swing of the giant's club. With the end of the attack, Leafa swung her sword again and sent forth another energy blast. As the giant was shocked by another sphere or energy that formed around its upper body, Lisbeth charged in and struck the creature with her mace. Both attacks managed to take a large chunk off of the giant's first HP gauge. The creature recovered and attempted to stomp the ground again, but once again Lisbeth and the others managed to avoid getting knocked down by jumping back.
After the giant took another swing with its club, Sinon fired two arrows at it. The creature attempted to shield itself using its left arm, but the projectiles struck the forearm and did some slight damage to its HP. Leafa and Lisbeth then launched another attack, bringing the giant's first HP gauge into the red. Soon after, the two attackers avoided another tremor from the giant's foot but ended up getting hit by its club. Donis used a healing spell on Lisbeth and Leafa while Sinon fired a few more arrows at the giant, finally bringing its first HP gauge to zero.
The battle continued like this for several minutes, with Leafa and Lisbeth occasionally taking damage. When the giant's final HP gauge at last went into the red zone, the flame that burned at the top of its neck stump suddenly turned a deep crimson. Its spiked club began to burn crimson as well and it suddenly used it to repeatedly strike the ground as well. Lisbeth and Leafa managed to avoid each strike, but the impacts from the club were sending small tremors into the ground.
"Its attack pattern just got way worse!" Leafa observed. "If we don't finish it soon, we're toast!"
"Then it's time to take this thing down!" Lisbeth declared before charging at the giant head on.
Just as Lisbeth got in range and was about to strike the headless titan with her mace, the creature ended up kicking her and hurling her back towards the wall. The impact from the creature's foot had dropped the blacksmith's HP into the red zone. Before Lisbeth could hit the wall, Donis leapt in and caught her in his arms.
"Are you okay?" Donis asked with a look of concern.
"Yeah. I'm good." Lisbeth replied with a deep blush.
Meanwhile as the giant raised its club for another attack, Leafa sent forth another blast with her sword. The creature became trapped in another energy sphere and was shocked until the sphere exploded. As soon as the titan's HP went to zero, its body shattered into blue polygons with a burst of crimson flames. With the giant finally defeated, the word "Congratulations" appeared in the air in letters formed from white light. Right below the congratulatory message though was the phrase, "Next world unlocked".
"Next world unlocked? What's that mean?" Sinon wondered.
Before anyone could venture a guess to that riddle, the entire arena suddenly began to shake. A blinding white light filled the chamber, and when it cleared the four fairies found that they had been transported back to the top of the mound.
"What did we just do?" Leafa asked.
"If I'm interpreting the message that appeared when we defeated that giant correctly, it seems that we may have just unlocked another level of that underground world." Donis theorized. "One that most likely exists beneath that dead city of K'n-yan."
"That would track with the story that the whole dungeon is based on." Sinon responded. "If I'm remembering it right, there were at least two other worlds underneath K'n-yan."
"Well if we really did just unlock another level, I think we should wait for another time to explore it." Leafa suggested. "It's gotten late, and that boss fight took a lot out of me."
"We should probably wait to go down again until we're better equipped anyway." Sinon pointed out. "Liz, how long do you think it'll take you to make some more armor and weapons for us?"
"I'd say a couple of days, at least." Lisbeth answered.
"Then that's when we'll do our next raid." Sinon decided. "For now, let's just call it a night."
While Sinon and Leafa had logged out for the evening, Lisbeth decided to return to her shop to try and get a head start on forging some of the new equipment. As the blacksmith prepared to get to work, her mind went back to the moment when Donis came to her rescue at the end of the boss battle. That moment had made it clear to Lisbeth that she could deny her feelings no long. She was in love with Donis, or at least had very strong feelings for him. Of course she still didn't know if this young man she had fallen head over heels for was merely an illusion, yet Lisbeth felt like she had gotten a good glimpse of Donis's true personality in that moment when he saved her.
Despite her newfound certainty though, Lisbeth remembered the conversation she had with Asuna a couple of days before. She knew she couldn't be certain about anything when it came to Donis because the veil of his avatar still existed. There were no little mirrors like the ones at the start of SAO to lift that veil and reveal Donis's true face in the game. Even so, Lisbeth couldn't deny her feelings. Pursing a relationship with Donis was playing with fire, yet Lisbeth found that she was willing to take the risk. In the end, that kind of risk was involved in just about every kind of romantic relationship. There was always the danger of such a relationship ending badly and the hearts of both parties involved being crushed, but the reward was always worth the risk.
Suddenly the door to the blacksmith shop opened. Lisbeth was about to tell whomever it was who came in that she was closed, but when she turned around she saw that the person who had arrived was Donis.
"Um, good evening." Donis greeted somewhat nervously.
"Hi…" Lisbeth greeted back. "What brings you by so late."
"Well, I was hoping we could discuss what happened the other day I was here." Donis explained. "You know… when we let our passions run wild."
"Yeah, I've been wanting to talk to you about that too." Lisbeth admitted.
"I really feel I should apologize for what I did." Donis continued as he came down the steps and approached. "That odd crystal you found down in K'n-yan seemed to have some kind of strange effect on me."
"It kind of messed with my head too." Lisbeth replied. "But the thing is, Donis… I don't regret what happened that afternoon one bit. This may sound a little weird because I know we only just met very recently, but I have these… these really strong feelings about you."
"I confess that I feel strongly attracted to you as well." Donis admitted.
Lisbeth smiled and gave Donis a peck on the cheek. "Guess it was a good thing that I found that crystal, huh?"
"On that note, the other reason I dropped by was to suggest that I take if off your hands and dispose of it." Donis told her. "It might be better if it wasn't around to influence us."
"I can see that." Lisbeth agreed.
The pink-haired blacksmith glanced back down at the strange yellow metal box that was still on the same worktable they were standing next to. Lisbeth opened the lid and revealed the dark crystal within. Her eyes once again became locked on the nightmarish dreamscapes that seemed to dance around inside it. Donis appeared to be mesmerized by the crystal as well, and before either of them truly realized what they were doing they had become locked in a deep open-mouthed kiss. Donis pulled Lisbeth close as their tongues battled one another for dominance, while Lisbeth began to run her fingers through the Kirito lookalike's blonde hair.
After several moments of this, Donis regained her sensed and pulled away slightly. "Do you really want to be doing this?"
Lisbeth simply smiled and backed away from the gold swordsman. She brought up her menu screen, and after a few commands her clothes and even her undergarments vanished with a flash of blue light. Donis's jaw dropped upon seeing Lisbeth completely nude.
"Do me." Lisbeth told him as she sat up onto the edge of the table.
After a brief moment, Donis smirked and brought up his own menu screen. With only a couple of commands, his outfit vanished with a flash of blue light and he was left just as nude as Lisbeth. Lisbeth's eyes went rather wide upon seeing the size of Donis's erect manhood. For a brief moment she wondered if Kirito's was the same size and thought that Asuna was a lucky girl if it was. Donis came closer and the two of them became locked in another open-mouthed kiss.
When the two of them were finally forced to break apart for air, Donis began to suck on Lisbeth's neck, causing her to moan with pleasure. This went on for several more moments until at last Donis gently spread Lisbeth's legs apart and pushed his rod into her moist womanhood. Lisbeth let out a deep moan and threw her head back as the rod went into her. The feeling was more pleasurable than anything she had ever expected.
Donis took hold of the edge of the table and began to buck his hips into Lisbeth. The pink-haired blacksmith wrapped her arms around Donis's shoulders to help secure him in place. Lisbeth felt as if her whole body was on fire. She had no idea if sex in the real world felt as incredible as what she was experiencing, but at that moment she didn't give a damn. At Lisbeth's urging, Donis began to pound into her harder, causing her to wrap her legs tightly around his waist. Their bodies had become covered in sweat and Lisbeth's inner walls were starting to tighten around Donis's rod. With one last hard thrust from Donis, the two of them reached their climax in the same blissful moment. The two of them rested their foreheads against each other's as they came down from their high.
"Wow! You just rocked my world." Lisbeth declared.
"If you're willing, I can do it again." Donis offered. "Of course it would require you to turn around."
After a moment, Lisbeth smiled and nodded. Donis withdrew himself and allowed Lisbeth to get up from the table and turn around. The Kirito lookalike then bent Lisbeth over the table and inserted his still hardened manhood into her rear end. Lisbeth let out a silent scream and her eyes practically rolled to the back of her head. Donis began to pound into her, causing the blacksmith's lips to curve into an open-mouthed smile. All rational thought in Lisbeth's mind had completely gone out the window. A part of her still knew that she might get burned in this new relationship, but at that moment all she cared about was enjoying the ride.
Author's Note: I hope everyone enjoyed the little boss battle in that chapter. To be honest I had kind of a hard time writing it, particularly with coming up with the monster that the team would face. By the way, I forgot to mention before that the strange crystal in the story is based on an object called the Shining Trapezohedron from Lovecraft's story, The Haunter of the Dark.
Please review and let me know what you think.