Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online (or the works of H.P. Lovecraft).
Chapter 6: The World of Red
It was fairly late in the evening as Sinon sat on the couch in her apartment in ALO. The apartment was in a building on the fifty-sixth floor of New Aincrad. It had taken much of her money to obtain, but Sinon felt that the place was very worth it. The dwelling had two bedrooms, each with their own bathroom, as well as a fairly large kitchen. In many ways, the place was better than Sinon's apartment in the real world. Though she still had a ways to go where furniture was concerned. Besides the beds that each of the bedrooms came with, the couch she was sitting on and the coffee table in front of that couch, the place was practically bare.
At that moment, Sinon had her nose buried in the copy of the Necronomicon she had found during the first raid into K'n-yan. The forbidden tome was proving to be as unsettling as the many stories it had been mentioned in implied. Sinon had barely gotten a quarter of the way through the book and had found several pages detailing the horrid secrets regarding the alien deities in Lovecraft's stories which sent chills her spine. She had also found many pages detailing bizarre magical rites that she couldn't help but find a little out of place in a game like ALO. At that moment though, Sinon was currently on a section of the book that detailed things about K'n-yan that before she had only suspected.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door that caused Sinon to flinch and let out a startled cry. Reading the Necronomicon was obviously starting to get to her, so getting up to answer the door was the perfect excuse for a break. Upon opening the door, Sinon found Donis on the other side.
"Oh! Hi there." Sinon greeted.
"Good evening." Donis greeted back. "I hope you don't mind me dropping by so late."
"Not at all. Come on in." Sinon replied as she stepped aside to let him in.
"This certainly is a lovely apartment you have." Donis remarked as he looked around.
"Thanks. It cost me a bundle to buy though." Sinon replied. "It'll probably take me a while to get actual furniture. So, what brings you by?"
"I come baring gifts, actually." Donis answered as he brought up his menu screen. Appearing in Donis's hand with a flash of blue light was a bow made of a black metal with bluish-grey flecks. "Lisbeth just finished forging this new bow for you. She made it from an new experimental alloy using the tok'l-metal."
"I look forward to trying it out." Sinon replied as she took the bow. "Thanks."
Donis glanced over at the coffee table and noticed the book. "Catching up on a little bit of reading?"
"Sort of. I found that book during our first trip into K'n-yan." Sinon explained. "It's called the Necronomicon."
"Is it interesting?" Donis asked.
"That's one way to put it." Sinon answered. "Actually, the last bit I've been reading confirmed a suspicion I had about K'n-yan. Do you remember how when we beat that headless giant we got a message saying that we unlocked another world? It turns out that there are two other levels underneath K'n-yan. The level that we unlocked the other night is called Yoth."
"And what's the level beneath Yoth called?" Donis asked.
"The level under Yoth is called N'kai." Sinon answered. "N'kai is supposed to be inhabited by this nasty evil god, so we might want to take our time going down there. Still, both levels are probably worth exploring."
"Well then, in that case why don't we try exploring this Yoth place on our raid tomorrow afternoon?" Donis suggested.
"I don't know. I'm guessing that any monsters that might be down in Yoth will be stronger than the ones in K'n-yan." Sinon pointed out.
"True, but the new weapons Lisbeth's been forging should give us a decisive edge." Donis reminded her.
"Well, in that case let's look for the entrance into Yoth tomorrow." Sinon decided.
"Marvelous. I'll inform the others." Donis replied. "Well, I guess I'll be going now. Until tomorrow, then."
"Yeah. See ya." Sinon replied.
With that, Donis exited the apartment. Sinon found that she was a bit down that Donis had left. She hadn't let any of the others know this, but Sinon found that she was quite attracted to Donis. The fairy archer thought that perhaps her attraction to Donis was largely in part to his strong resemblance to Kirito in the game. Sinon had harbored a crush on Kirito almost ever since they had met in the game of GGO. At first Sinon kind of hated Kirito's guts just a tiny bit, partly because he had let her believe he was a girl to get information about the game. But the life and death experience they had fighting against the two psychotic gamers who together were the murderer known as Death Gun had ended up bringing them a bit closer.
Of course Sinon had never acted on her feelings for Kirito. The fact was that Kirito already had Asuna. At first Sinon wondered if she could somehow win Kirito over, but she soon realized she'd only be deluding herself. The bond between Kirito and Asuna had also been forged in a life and death situation, but one that had gone on for years in SAO. Sinon knew that a relationship like that was practically unbreakable, and thus had decided that a relationship beyond friendship with Kirito would never be.
And now Donis had come into Sinon's life. Donis was practically Kirito's twin at least in the game, but was as charming as a prince or a nobleman from medieval Europe. Sinon wondered if it was perhaps possible to have a romantic relationship with Donis in the game. The problem was that she didn't really know who Donis was in real life, if the charming figure she had come to know wasn't merely just a mask. Sinon shoved those thoughts from her mind and went back to the couch to continue reading the Necronomicon. She decided that her time that evening would be better spent trying to find every bit of information the book had on the subterranean world of Yoth. Sinon had the feeling that she and the others would need to know all there was to know about that world if they were going to stand a chance down there.
The afternoon sun was still fairly high in the sky as Sinon flew towards the mound. Donis and the others had already arrived by the time she landed. Sinon noticed that Donis was wearing a piece of black armor with gold flecks on his chest.
"Guess we're all here now." Lisbeth observed.
"Sorry I'm a little late." Sinon told them. "Donis, it looks like Liz made some new armor for you."
"She forged a new pair of swords for me as well." Donis revealed.
"Well, I guess we should go in now that we're all here." Leafa decided. "But how are we supposed to find the entrance into this Yoth place?"
"Hopefully we'll know it when we see it." Lisbeth responded. "Now let's go!"
The four ventured down into the mound, eventually returning to the blue subterranean world of K'n-yan. With no idea where to start looking for the entrance into Yoth, the party headed back to the large building where they had fought the headless giant and found all those items. They ventured back into the building, encountering one of the headless women that lurked around K'n-yan on their way in. The creature had been fairly easy for them to defeat with their tok'l-metal weapons. As soon as they got into the building's cavernous basement, the four found something that had not been there before. It was a square opening in the ground that gave off a peculiar red light. Upon closer investigation, the four saw that the opening led to a flight of stone steps that led deeper underground.
"This sure wasn't here before." Lisbeth noted.
"This must be the passageway to Yoth." Leafa realized.
"Then let's go in and see what we can find." Donis decided.
Donis went down into the passage with the other three following close behind. The stone corridor that the party soon found itself in was laid out very much like the corridor that led down into K'n-yan. After a few more minutes of walking, the four finally arrived at the end of the passageway. What they found when they emerged through the final door was another vast underground city very much like K'n-yan. The light that the cavern walls gave off was a brilliant red. Like in K'n-yan, the city of Yoth had large Aztec or Mayan style pyramids made of black stone. The rest of the buildings in the red-lit city, though they shared the same design as many of the buildings in K'n-yan were made of a black stone like the kind that seemed to make up the pyramids.
The four adventurers went into the city, keeping their eyes out for any monsters that might emerge. As they walked down what appeared to be the main street of the city, they found that the street was lined on both sides by seven-foot tall black stone statues of a snake with large bat-like wings.
"What's with all the snakes?" Leafa asked.
"Some of the metal statues I melted down to make our new weapons were of this same snake we're seeing now." Lisbeth recalled.
"I think these statues are supposed to be of Yig, the Father of Serpents." Sinon informed him. "He's supposed to be some kind of god that the people of Yoth worshiped. The people of K'n-yan worshiped Yig too, along with Cthulhu."
"It appears that Yoth is just as deserted as K'n-yan." Donis noticed as he looked around. "I wonder what sort of catastrophe was supposed to have befallen the people of these cities?"
Before any of the others could venture a guess, the heard the sounds of some kind of struggle coming from up ahead. As they quickly got closer, the four saw three fairy warriors fighting a familiar black blob. The first, who was flying through the air above the blob, was a young woman who appeared to be about seventeen or eighteen and had a fairly impressive bust. She had very pale skin with a slight purplish tint, and her purple transparent wings were shaped like those of a bad. Those traits and the fact that she was able to fly in an underground cavern told the four that the young woman was an imp.
The imp woman had long dark-purple hair that grew down to her waist and covered her right eye. The black breastplate she wore had a triangular opening at the top that showed off a bit of her cleavage, and on the armor over her stomach was the symbol of a crescent moon colored red. Pieces of black armor covered the imp woman's shoulders, and the shirt she wore under her armor had long purple sleeves. The rest of the imp woman's outfit consisted of a short red skirt cut well above the knee, and a pair of skintight purple stockings with black armored boots. In her right hand, the young woman carried a black sword.
The second player fighting the black blob appeared to be a young man with short red hair. He had on ornate red armor with gold trim, and a red triangular marking was on his right cheek. On the front of his chest armor was a gold symbol resembling a dragon. The young man's armor indicated to Donis and the others that he was a salamander. In both his hands, the young man wielded a large steel axe with a double-sided blade.
The third player involved in the battle was another young woman who looked to be about sixteen and was standing off to the side. She had light blue hair styled with braided pigtails, and light blue eyes. Those features indicated to the four that she was an undine. The undine woman had on pale blue robes with baggy sleeves, and covering her chest was a piece of white armor with blue trim. In her right hand, she carried a long silver staff topped with a blue orb.
"Where did these guys come from?" Lisbeth wondered.
"They must've been exploring K'n-yan and stumbled on the entrance into Yoth." Sinon assumed. "I gotta admit, it's kind of impressive the way these three made it this far down here."
"Indeed. Though they don't seem to be doing too well against that black blob." Donis observed.
From what Donis and the others could tell, the blob had only lost a very small amount of HP. The imp woman came down from above and slashed the entity with her sword, but the attack had done very little damage. After that, the blob shot several blade-like tendrils at the imp woman, forcing her to retreat back into the air. She had only taken a couple of hits from the counterattack.
"Dammit!" the imp woman cursed. "Blitzer, what the hell are you doing down there? I can't take this thing out by myself you know!"
"Get off my back, Selene!" the salamander responded. "Just you watch! I'm gonna tear this slimy bastard a new one right now!"
With that, the salamander known as Blitzer cried out as he charged at the blob. The blade of his axe set on fire as he raised it above his head. Before he could swing down the weapon though, Blizter was struck by several bladed tendrils from the blob and knocked onto his back. His HP had fallen into the red.
"Son of a…!" Blitzer began to curse as he got back up. "Hey Aria! I could use a little healing magic over here!"
"I'm on it!" the undine woman replied.
The undine known as Aria chanted a healing spell and Blitzer's HP went back up. Blitzer charged the thing once again and managed to strike the blob with his flaming axe. The horrid entity had taken very little damage though. In the next instant, Blitzer jumped back and managed to avoid getting skewered by more tendrils.
"They don't seem to be doing very well." Leafa observed.
"They're not equipped with the same weapons and armor that we are." Sinon pointed out. "Plus that blob is probably stronger than the ones we've faced."
"Maybe we should help them." Lisbeth suggested. "It kinda seems like they're in over their heads."
"I was just thinking the same thing." Donis replied as he drew his swords. "Besides, a battle like this will give me a chance to test out my new weapons."
With that, Donis began to charge towards the blob. Just as Blitzer and Selene were about to move in for another attack, Donis dashed in and slashed the blob several times with his black swords. The blob's HP quickly fell into the red. Donis quickly fell back, but the creature struck him in the chest with a pair of tendrils. Thanks to his new armor though, Donis lost a fairly small amount of HP.
"Finish it, Leafa!" Donis called.
Leafa quickly drew her sword and swung it, sending a blast of energy at the blob. The entity was hit and a transparent sphere formed around it. The seven warriors watched as the blob was shocked several times and its HP went to zero before its body swelled and exploded into blue polygons. With the battle at an end, Donis and Leafa sheathed their weapons.
"You kinda stole my thunder there man, but thanks." Blitzer told Donis as he walked up to him.
"It was no problem." Donis assured him.
"Whoever you guys are, your timing couldn't have been better." The imp warrior told them as she landed. "I'm Selene, by the way."
"Wait, as in Selene the Crimson Moon?" Leafa asked. "You're supposed to be one of the top imp players in the game."
"That's me. Though I certainly don't feel like it right now after almost getting my hand to me by some blob." Selene admitted. "Anyway, the guy you just saved is Blitzer, and our healer over there is my friend, Aria."
"It's nice to meet you all." The gold swordsman replied. "I am Donis. These are my companions, Leafa, Sinon and Lisbeth. We certainly didn't expect to see anyone else down here in Yoth."
"Yoth? Is that what this place is called?" Selene asked.
"Yeah, and the world above it is called K'n-yan." Sinon answered.
"You guys certainly seem to know a lot about this place." Blitzer observed. "And that gear you're carrying seemed like it was pure poison to whatever the hell that thing was. Mind telling us where we can get that kind of equipment?"
"I made this equipment myself from the weird metal that's found down here." Lisbeth revealed. "It's really the only edge we have."
"Boy did we go down here unprepared." Selene declared. "I told you this raid wasn't a good idea, Blitzer."
"Hey c'mon, where's your sense of adventure?" Blizter told her. "Besides, it all worked out in the end."
"Only because these guys showed up." Selene pointed out. "If they didn't we'd probably be toast."
"She's probably right, Blizter." Aria agreed. "My MP was really starting to run low. I probably only could've healed you and Selene a couple more times if Mr. Donis and his friends showed up."
"So what, do you want we should just leave?" Blizter asked.
"You don't necessarily have to do that." Donis told them. "This is my party's first time exploring Yoth. We could team up and investigate this place together."
"We can probably find more of the metal I used to make the weapons my friends and I use down here." Lisbeth added. "If we can scrounge more of it up, I'd be happy to make equipment for you three to use."
"That's actually not a bad idea." Selene agreed. "Okay, we'll team up with you guys for a while."
"Maybe we should split up into teams to cover more ground." Blizter suggested.
"Capital idea." Donis agreed. "Leafa, you and I shall team up with Blitzer. Lisbeth, you pair up with Aria. Sinon, that leaves you to team up with Selene."
"Sounds like a plan." Selene agreed. "Let's meet back up here in, say thirty minutes unless one of us finds something interesting. In that case, IM the others and we'll come to where you are."
The four teams then fanned out and began to explore the ruined city. The team of Sinon and Selene ended up taking the southeast corner of the city. For several minutes the duo explored all the small buildings in their area largely in silence, grabbing any metal items they could find so that Lisbeth could forge more equipment for them later. After a while, the dead silence of the city of Yoth started to get to Sinon.
"So, how long have you been teaming up with Aria and Blitzer?" Sinon asked in an attempt to make conversation.
"Aria and I have been teaming up for a couple of years ever since we entered the game together." Selene answered. "As for Blitzer, we've only been going on raids with him for like the last month or so. It was actually his idea for us to come down here, which I was kind of against from the beginning. Seems to be working out though."
"Why'd you guys team up with him?" Sinon asked.
"Well… it's sort of because Blitzer's my boyfriend." Selene revealed. "That, and he thought we might find some really rare and powerful items down here."
"Blitzer's really your boyfriend?" Sinon asked for confirmation.
"Yeah, but it's nothing series. Kind of a physical thing." Selene replied. "We don't even know each other outside the game. In fact… you can keep a secret, right?"
"Of course." Sinon answered.
"Okay, I'm only going to tell you this because you seem like you might be cool with it." Selene began. "I'm actually married IRL."
"Y-you're married?" a stunned Sinon asked as she stopped walking.
"Yeah, but it's pretty much a shame." Selene revealed. "Just something that our parents arranged and we had to live with it."
"Wow…" Sinon spoke. "So you've been cheating on him all this time?"
"Well it's not exactly cheating when it's online." Selene told her. "Nothing in this world is real, you know. Nobody in this world is really who they say they are in real life. We all put on masks when we're in here and leave our real selves at the door. I mean can you honestly say that the person you are in here is exactly like the person you are in the real world?"
Sinon had to admit that Selene had a point. If there was one major difference between her real self and her online persona, it was that she was much more confident and courageous. In the real world, Sinon was still afraid of guns due to a traumatic childhood incident, though she had been dealing with that fear much better since the Death Gun incident. When she was in GGO however, the sight of a firearm didn't scare Sinon at all. Perhaps it was because in the back of her mind Sinon had always known that the weapons weren't real and couldn't actually kill her, but there were many times in GGO and in ALO when Sinon felt like she really had become a different person.
As Sinon considered what Selene had told her, she had a dark thought regarding Donis. The conversation reminded Sinon that Donis might not be who he seemed to be in ALO. He looked like Kirito in the game and even had a much more charming version of Kirito's personality, but Sinon knew that there was a very good chance that the Donis she knew was merely a mask.
"So… have you ever wondered about the person Blitzer is IRL?" Sinon asked.
"I guess a little bit from time to time, but to be perfectly honest I guess I don't really care." Selene answered. "When you're in a relationship like mine that's totally online, it's a lot better not to worry about that kind of stuff. Just ignore it and cut loose."
Before the conversation could go any further, Sinon received a message from Donis. The message informed her that Donis's team had found something interesting.
"Looks like Donis might've found something." Sinon informed Selene. "It's a small pyramid of some kind in the northwest section of the city."
"Then let's go take a look." Selene decided.
In a few minutes, Sinon and Selene arrived at a small building elevated by a set of steps. The building resembled an Egyptian pyramid, one that was much smaller than the other pyramids in the city. The pointed capstone at the top of the pyramid appeared to be made out of a red crystal, and the building's entrance was between two very large statues of the serpent god, Yig. The other two teams were already waiting by the large rectangular entrance to the pyramid by the time Sinon and Selene showed up.
"So what's the big deal about this mini-pyramid?" Selene asked.
"We don't know. We haven't gone inside yet." Leafa answered.
"We thought it would be best if we waited to go in together." Donis explained.
"Hey Aria, how much MP do you still have left?" Selene asked.
"I was able to recover quite a bit using the potions I had left." Aria answered. "I'm not exactly maxed out, but we should be find if end up running into a bunch of monsters in there."
"I don't know. Something about this building doesn't seem right." Sinon remarked.
"I agree. Maybe we should come back another time after we get some better equipment." Selene suggested.
"C'mon Selene. Where's your sense of adventure?" Blitzer responded before heading on through the entryway.
Sinon and the others decided to go on in after the salamander warrior after a brief moment, with Selene letting out a heavy irritated sigh. The inside of the pyramid was pitch-black. As soon as everyone had gotten in, a pair of large stone doors slammed shut behind them. Several torches lining the walls of the chamber suddenly ignited with red flames to give light to the place. It was in that light when the group saw what was inside the pyramid.
Coiled before them was an immense silvery-white snake with scales that seemed to reflect the light like a piece of chrome. It had four red eyes that seemed to burn like fire, and on its body was a pair of massive red bat-like wings. The serpent rose before the group and roared. As soon as it did, four HP gauges appeared by the serpent's head. Above the creature's head had also appeared its name. Yig, Father of Serpents.
"Not good!" Sinon declared. "That's the snake god that the people of Yoth worshiped!"
"Blitzer, you idiot!" Selene cursed. "You just led us into a damn boss room!"
Author's Note: Yig is actually one of the lesser known deities in Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. Since it was said to be worshipped in Yoth in The Mound, I decided that it would make a good boss monster.
Please review and let me know what you think.