Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online (or the works of H.P. Lovecraft).

Chapter 10: Gold On Black

"Leafa and the others were not exaggerating." Donis told Kirito. "The resemblance between us is quite uncanny."

"I'll say." Kirito agreed. "It's funny though. When my sister mentioned you to me, she didn't say anything about how much we look alike."

"I'm sorry, Kazuto." An apologetic Leafa told him. "I wasn't sure how you'd react if you knew."

"We were planning to tell you, Kirito." Lisbeth added. "It's just that there wasn't a good time with everything we had going on. Plus you've been pretty unreachable."

"Why don't we take this discussion inside?" Donis suggested.

With that, Kirito and the others entered the headquarters of the Order of Yig. The inside proved to be what it appeared to be on the outside, which was a large tavern with a very high ceiling. Towards the back of a building was a staircase leading to a second story. The tables were filled with the members of Donis's guild, and Sinon was at the bar talking with Selene and Aria. Almost as soon as Kirito entered the building though, every eye in the place fell on him and Donis.

"What the… since when does Donis have a twin brother?" Selene asked at the bar.

"Whoever that person is, he doesn't look all that happy." Aria noted.

"Oh great!" Sinon sighed. "I knew this was going to happen sooner or later."

"You and I should probably talk." Kirito told Donis.

"Indeed. But if you don't mind, I'd like to have such a discussion in private." Donis requested. "We can use the meeting room upstairs."

"…Fine." Kirito agreed. "Yui, you wait here with Asuna."

"Okay daddy." Yui agreed before flying off Kirito's shoulder.

Kirito silently followed Donis upstairs. In a few moments they were in a small room with a polished wood floor and a large window at the opposite end. The only pieces of furniture in the room were a long rectangular table with five chairs, and decorating the walls on the left and right were banners depicting the guild's symbol.

"From your expression, I can tell that you're not pleased with me." Donis noted. "That's why I thought we should talk things over in a more… intimate setting."

"Are you afraid of my sister and the rest of my friends finding out what you're actually like?" Kirito asked.

Donis chuckled and shook his head. "I can see little Silica must have painted a rather unflattering picture of me. You must think me some sort of tyrant to have my guild insist on exclusive use of the dungeons of K'n-yan and Yoth. I'm afraid it is necessary at the moment. My guild is still quite new and those dungeons are still very unexplored. Not only that, some of the metal that our dear Lisbeth needs for forging the proper equipment for those dungeons can be a little hard to find at times. That's why for the time being the Order of Yig must do everything in its power to keep those resources to ourselves."

"I'm not buying it." Kirito told him. "At least not entirely. I may have been busy with other stuff for the past few weeks, but I have been hearing things about those weird metal weapons you guys are using. Everything I've heard tells me that those weapons are only effective of the monsters living in those underground dungeons. Against just about every other kind of monster in ALO, those weapons are about as good as low-level battle gear. I can see only one reason why you'd have your guild hoard those dungeons to yourselves. You're looking for something down there, aren't you?"

"You are a shrewd one, Kirito." Donis praised as he leaned against the side of the table. "I suppose there's no harm in letting you in on my true objective. There is something specific down in those dungeons that I am seeking. It is said that down in those underground kingdoms is a portal to another domain, the Plateau of Leng. Unfortunately, I have yet to discover the portal's exact location, and I've certainly not had any success on my own."

"That's why you formed the guild." Kirito realized. "You're using it to find that portal for you."

"And to keep anyone else from finding it before me." Donis added. "I intend to be the first to set foot on Leng."

"Why? So you can make a name for yourself?" Kirito asked.

"…Perhaps." Donis answered with an ominous smirk. "In any case, I'm sure you can understand the reasons for my actions."

"I do, but that doesn't mean I'm cool with it." Kirito told him. "The fact is I don't trust you. You're up to something, and you're using my friends and my sister for whatever it is. I don't to see you taking advantage of them."

"Well then… it appears we've reached an impasse with mere conversation." Donis observed. "Therefore, I think we should try and settle our differences with a duel. I've heard that you also fight using two swords, so a battle between us would be most interesting."

"Fine with me." Kirito agreed. "When do you want to do this?"

"There's no time like the present, old boy." Donis answered. "We'll go out front and let everyone here watch."

"Okay then." Kirito agreed.

"It should be quite the show." Donis remarked as he headed for the door. "I wonder which of us Leafa, Lisbeth and Sinon will root for?"

Asuna was sitting at a table with Yui perched on her shoulder, looking up at the staircase that Kirito and Donis had disappeared up. The blunette couldn't help but wonder about what Kirito and his doppelgänger were talking about. Leafa, Lisbeth and Sinon were sitting across from Asuna at the large round table with Aria and Selene. Silica and Siune had meanwhile taken the seats on Asuna's left, while Klein and Agil had taken the seats on her right. An awkward silence had been hanging over the group since they had sat down.

"Well… this is awkward." Lisbeth remarked, finally breaking the silence.

"How come you didn't tell us about this?" Asuna asked in a somewhat hostile tone.

"Mainly because we were afraid that you and Kirito might overreact." Lisbeth answered. "Which you kinda are, by the way."

"It is pretty strange that Mr. Donis looks like your friend in this game." Aria admitted.

"No kidding." Selene agreed. "And that Kirito guy is the one who nabbed Excalibur, right? What're the odds of that?"

"Donis looking like Kirito isn't the only thing that's wrong here." Silica interjected. "Liz, do you, Leafa and Sinon know about some of the things that this guild has been up to? I saw Donis take out a player who entered K'n-yan just because he wasn't a member of the guild."

"Yeah, we know about that stuff." Sinon revealed, surprising the dragon tamer.

"And the three of you are really okay with that kind of thing?" Asuna asked.

"It may not be very pleasant, but I understand why Donis is taking such drastic measures." Lisbeth replied. "Our guild is only just starting to build itself up, so we kinda need to protect what we have. Besides, it's not like this is SAO where a player getting killed here means death IRL."

"She's right." Selene agreed. "I don't know anything about the whole SAO thing like some of you guys do, but it seems like you're taking all this way too seriously."

"It's not about the PKing." Agil told them. "It's never cool when a guild tries to hoard a location for its resources, especially when it's a location like those underground dungeons you've been hanging out in. Besides, there's something kinda fishy about this whole operation to me."

"I agree. That Donis guy seems kinda shady." Klein declared. "I mean it's weird the way he looks so much like Kirito in this game."

"You guys are being way too suspicious." Leafa told them. "You don't know Donis the way we do."

"Leafa, we're not accusing Donis of anything." Siune assured her. "We're just a little bit concerned."

At long last, Kirito and Donis came back down the stairs. Asuna and the others rose from their seats as soon as they arrived.

"Everyone, if I may have your attention please!" Donis spoke, causing everyone else in the room to look. "Kirito and I are going to go out front to have a little duel. Everyone is of course welcome to come watch."

Asuna quickly walked up to Kirito. "You're actually going to duel him? Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"I want to see what this guy's made of." Kirito told her. "Besides, I don't think there's any way we can settle this by talking."

In moments everyone had gone out to the clearing out in front of the guild's headquarters. A very loose circle of spectators had formed around Kirito and Donis as they prepared to face off.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to keep this duel on the ground." Donis requested. "A midair battle might get a little out of control."

"Fine, but I'm not going to hold anything else back." Kirito told him.

Kirito accessed his menu screen and reequipped himself with Excalibur and the Master's Blade. Donis issued the challenge to duel, which Kirito accepted. The two swordsmen drew their blades and waited for the countdown clock that had appeared above them to reach zero. Once it did, Kirito and Donis charged at each other and began to swing. The air became filled with the sounds of metal hitting metal as both combatants managed block the other's blades.

"This is the wildest thing I've ever seen." Klein declared. "They don't just look alike. They fight alike too. It's like Kirito's fighting a mirror image of himself."

Neither Kirito nor Donis had managed to land a blow as the timer for the duel counted out. One thing Kirito did manage to accomplish though was push Donis back.

"You can do it, Donis!" Leafa called.

Kirito was taken aback a bit by what Leafa had just said. Donis saw the opening cut into Kirito six times in the chest. The black swordsman's HP gauge dropped to almost nearly half of what it originally was.

"You shouldn't have let your guard down like that, old boy." Donis told him. "The second you take your focus off the opponent is the second you lose!"

Kirito quickly regained his composure and managed to block the next few attacks from Donis. This time though, it was Kirito who was pushed back by his golden counterpart. As the battle raged on, Kirito noticed how every member of the guild was cheering for Donis, including Leafa, Sinon and Lisbeth. The clock for the duel was continuing to count down, and Kirito hadn't been able to land a single blow on Donis. The black swordsman knew that if he couldn't change the tide of the battle soon, he would lose.

At last Kirito saw an opening and cut into Donis's left side with the Master's Blade. Upon being hit, Donis cried out and his entire body seemed to change to an inverted color scheme from what it normally was for a moment. At the same time, the gold swordsman's HP took a sharp drop.

"What the hell was that?" Klein wondered.

"Looks like that new sword of Kirito's packs a real punch." Agil observed.

Donis appeared to be stunned by the strike from the Master's Blade. Kirito took the opportunity and hit Donis with Excalibur. He struck Donis with the Master's Blade again and took off another large chunk of HP. The same strange color inversion happened again to Donis when he was hit by Kirito's new weapon. With two more hits from Kirito, Donis' HP dropped down into the red zone. The timer for the duel ran out and Kirito was declared the winner. Donis fell to his knees as Kirito sheathed his two swords.

Leafa ran to the center of the battlefield with Sinon and Lisbeth following close behind. Rather than run up to Kirito though, the three ran to Donis's side and helped him to his feet.

"Are you okay?" a concerned Leafa asked him. "The attacks from that sword seemed like they hurt."

"I'm fine." Donis assured her. "Though I think that perhaps I should retire for the evening."

With that, Donis accessed his menu and flashed with a blue light. Leafa, Sinon and Lisbeth all turned to glare at Kirito.

"Jeez, Kirito! Couldn't you have pulled your punches just a little?" Lisbeth asked him.

"We get that you don't like some of the things that Donis has done since forming the guild, but you were way too hard on him in that duel!" Sinon told him. "What kind of attack did you use on him in that duel anyway?"

"Hey! Don't you guys think you're overacting a little?" Kirito responded.

"Us? What about you?" Leafa shot back. "You don't even know Donis and you've already judged him!"

"Look, why don't we just all calm down and talk about this." Kirito requested.

"There's nothing to talk about!" Leafa told him.

Before Kirito could respond, Leafa, Sinon and Lisbeth all logged out. The rest of the guild members either logged out as well or flew off into the sky, but not before giving Kirito a dirty look. Kirito sighed as soon as it was down to him and his friends outside the headquarters.

Asuna walked up to Kirito and put a hand on his shoulder. "You okay?"

"I think so." Kirito answered. "It's just… Sugu's never turned against me like that. I guess it's kinda getting to me."

"I have a feeling I know why she reacted like that." Asuna sighed.

"Yeah, I think I've got a pretty good idea about that too." Kirito replied.

"Who knows how that battle could've gone if Kirito didn't have that new sword?" Agil remarked. "It's just like Klein said. Donis seems like he's a mirror image of Kirito, not only in his looks but in his moves."

"They both look like each other, they both fight using two swords, and they both have similar moves." Siune spoke. "What are the chances of that?"

"Yui, what do you think about all this?" Asuna asked. "You've been pretty quiet ever since we first saw Donis."

"I've been trying to figure out what to make of him." Yui answered. "There's just something… odd about Donis that I can't really figure out at the moment. But as far as his avatar goes… I'm not completely positive at the moment, but he seems to have almost exactly the same stats as daddy."

"The same stats? Are you sure?" a surprised Klein asked.

"There do seem to be a few small differences due to the race Donis chose to play the game as and some of his equipment, but his and daddy's stats seem to be almost exactly the same." Yui answered. "It's almost as if someone copied daddy's avatar and made a few alterations to it."

"That's the only thing this could be." Kirito agreed. "Sugu asked me around the same time she first met Donis what the chances are of a person's avatar looking like another player's in the game if they set their appearance settings to random. There's a small chance that an avatar with random appearance settings might have a very close resemblance, but there's no way that those two avatars would look exactly alike the way Donis and I do."

"So wait. Are you saying that Donis somehow hacked the game and copied your avatar data?" Asuna asked. "Why would anyone do that?"

"More importantly, how would anyone be able to do that?" Agil asked. "ALO is supposed to have top digital security."

"I know one person who might be able to give us some answers." Kirito replied. "I'll contact him tomorrow. For now though, we should probably log out for the night. It's pretty late."

"We'll catch you guys later then." Klein replied.

Kirito and Asuna had returned to New Aincrad with Yui to log out from their little cabin. As they made their way down the dirt path to their little home away from home, they spotted a figure sitting on a large rock up ahead of them. He was covered in a hooded robe that was colored a deep burgundy, and in his right hand he held a large gnarled wooden staff. A long snow-white beard hung down from the figure's hood, indicating that he was an old man. Kirito and Asuna looked to one another before approaching him.

"Excuse me." Kirito spoke, causing the old man to look.

The old man got up from his rock and looked Kirito over carefully as if to study him. Kirito couldn't tell for sure because of the old man's hood, but it seemed like he was missing his left eye.

"So… you are the fairy warrior who claimed the Master's Blade from the Dragon Skull King." The old man spoke. "I knew you would be here eventually."

"Daddy, this man's an NPC." Yui whispered into Kirito's ear. "But he's connected to the language database."

"So he's an A.I. like the NPCs in the Excalibur quest." Kirito whispered back. He turned his attention back to the old man. "Who are you?"

"Oh… I am merely a traveler." The old man answered. "But I have come here this night, swordsman to give you a warning. Beware the Crawling Chaos. Beware the Sleeper of N'kai."

"The Sleeper of N'kai?" Kirito repeated with a quirked brow. "Who or what is that?"

"A great battle is drawing near." The Traveler continued. "This realm has been invaded by gods who do not belong. If nothing is done, they will turn this world into one of endless chaos and madness. You are the one who wields the Master's Blade, which means you are the only one who can drive the invading gods from this land."

"What exactly is going to happen?" Kirito asked.

The Traveler simply walked past Kirito and Asuna. "It will begin when the door to N'kai is opened and the Sleeper's spawn begin to rise from the accursed mound. Be prepared for that day, noble fairy. Your sword will be needed then."

Kirito and Asuna watched the Traveler as he walked away. Before they could attempt to go after him, he was swallowed up into the night.

"What was all that about?" Asuna wondered.

"Yui said he was an NPC." Kirito explained. "But it's weird that he didn't assign a quest or anything."

"Maybe you somehow activated a quest when you obtained the Master's Blade." Yui theorized.

"I've never heard of a drop item from a boss battle activating a quest before." Asuna spoke.

"I never have either." Kirito replied. "There's something really weird happening with this game. And whatever it is, I think we better figure it out soon."

Author's Note: Originally I had planned on having the duel between Kirito and Donis end in a draw, but I decided that a draw wouldn't make sense with Kirito being armed with such powerful swords. Of course in the end, Kirito still kind of lost. Anyway, I did a little bit of foreshadowing at the end of this chapter. I actually hope that I didn't give a way too much though.

Please review and let me know what you think.