Chapter 13:Eyes That Never Close

July 31st 2032

As the inn on the second floor slept, almost silently (with the exception of Edmond and the two suddenly existent players from the past), a much more devious and obsessive-compulsive mental struggle was happening, 98 floors up, within the confines of the Ruby Palace.

Khale, still dressed in his "ceremonial" black, ruby encrusted, armor, sat viewing a multitude of screens. The one he currently viewed, which was now enlarged for better visual quality, showed the smoldering remains of the first floor's capital city: The Town of Beginnings. He felt a twinge of joy force a half grin on his face as he navigated throughout the landscape with the flick of one of his fingers. He sifted through images of buildings collapsing from the intense heat and flames weakening the structures. He then decided to have a look at what the players who'd fled outside the city were experiencing. He was instantly filled with joy, as he saw a multitude of miserable players. The sensation was so powerful that it moved him to vocal expression.

"Beautiful…Look at them all. Stranded, terrified, and without any sense of direction. It's chaos…delicious chaos!"

Khale continued to view the carnage. The sight would have been enough to move any sane person to tears. But Khale wasn't a sane person. To him, this was everything he'd dreamt of. He saw thousands of players looking into the blazing town, as it fell into heaps of dust, rock, and other building material, all clothed in flames. Many looked on in disbelief as they watched the items, which they'd thought to be immortal objects, fade and burn just like something from the real world.

Khale watched in pleasure as he saw many players weeping and suffering over the thirty or so players who were lost in the massacre. Other, mostly older and wiser players, with more intestinal fortitude, knelt down and took the distraught players into their arms, trying to console what could not be healed. Other players could be seen laying against large rocks, and trees, breathing heavily from the shock of panic and exhaust one must experience when running for their lives. These players did not cry, but merely sat like stones, petrified with sheer terror, as they stared into the inferno.

But what really intrigued Khale was the amount of players yelling, arguing, and even fighting one another, as they tried to come up with a proper plan of action. Even if many players had accessed higher floors at any point, Khale knew that many riches from guilds were stored within vaults on the first floor town. Many players knew their items would be safe, due to the low leveled opposition on the floor. Now that everything in the town had been destroyed, even the most lucrative and organized guilds were surely in a bankruptcy induced panic. This continued to fuel Khale's insatiable God complex. He now grinned widely, and continued to gloat to himself.

"That's right…quarrel with one another. Soon we will see who is strong, and who is too weak to continue. We will truly see the power that fear has on the human mind. What will you ants do? Now that your hill is completely demolished."

Khale then averted his view to many players who were crying out of fear, or of loss of someone close to them. His distaste for weakness caused him to scoff and clench his fist.

"Disgusting…What is love? Or compassion? They are wastes of emotion…Nothing but a barrier to restrict power and strength. This is why you must all be dealt with..."

Khale flicked a finger, opening a menu within the screen that he viewed. The new menu had many administrative commands, all taught to Khale by his now, incapacitated, minion, Ratchnot. Khale was aware of Ratchnot's untimely capture,iIt had been his expulsion of all players from his "guild" that had caused it, and his first attempt to keep him away from the likes of Thatch, had been unsuccessful. He'd need to create stronger and more emotionally damning beasts, next time. However, he wasn't too concerned about Ratchnot possibly divulging any information, in fact, he couldn't wait for Thatch to realize that every attempt to stop him would be completely in vain.

Ratchnot, yes, was the one who gave Khale access to such large amounts of power, but he'd been so potent at hacking the system, that he'd neglected to create a way for Khale to be stopped. Khale was as pleased with himself as ever, he'd successfully manipulated yet another, so-called, "weakling," to succeed in his quest of complete and utter submission of the (virtual) world.

Khale's strange and dark personality would have been viewed by many in the real world as "odd," but would have likely been ignored. He'd have been written off as "one of the weird people who played video games all day." However, now, with the ability to achieve most of his sick wishes with nothing more than the idea and a flick of the finger, nobody, real world or virtual, was scoffing at him.

He continued searching through the smaller menu he'd opened up, trying to find a suitable way to "take care" of the distraught players, still scattered about floor one. He knew it'd be some time before the heat would die down enough for them to cross over into the second floor teleport hub. This was the perfect opportunity to give them another test of strength and courage. His heart jumped in happiness as he thought of the possibilities. He began to think aloud, again.

"How should I deal with you? Should I test the strong by controlling the weak, and making them attack one another, against their will? Or, should I slowly spread the flames of your precious city throughout the entire woodland area of the forest?"

As Khale said this, something popped into his mind. He began to ponder how the fire had been started in the first place, and it irked him slightly. That…player, the mysterious one…Edmond? Was it? Khale, lucky for the dismantled players below, then discarded his menu's and opened a new one, he began looking through program files and trying to find this "mystery" player who'd been wise enough to call a dragon to his aid. There were many menu's to be accessed, and the time gave Khale the ability to agonize over his lack of information, vocally, of course.

"A dragon. That was wise of you. Well, Thatch, it looks like you're still an impeccable recruiter of talent. It doesn't matter, though, I'll still be waiting for you at every turn. You're nothing more than a pawn-"

Khale immediately stopped talking, and his eyes widened to a point of disbelief. Something…strange, began to creep into his conscience, and he started to feel something he'd not felt in a very long time. Fear.

Khale had successfully found the files he was looking for, and they displayed various outputs of data from each player. He reached Edmond's name and saw something shocking. Edmond's avatar was emitting enormous amounts of data, compared to every other name on the list. Khale quickly locked the page on screen, and opened up another one, navigating to the same list, only this time looking through the "K's" instead of the "E's." His discovery enraged him.

Edmond's data output was almost identical to Khale's. Khale briefly thought of the amount of power that he currently wielded, and then thought of what Edmond's own source of power could mean. He was anything but excited about it. He immediately sliced his hand through the air, dismissing all menus. He stood up and began pacing around the room, screaming and cursing at himself as he went.

"Dammit! Nobody can have this kind of power! Nobody but me! Taming dragons, saving lives, defying my creations! I will not allow it!"

Khale stomped his foot as hard as he could, sending a mighty earthquake like surge through the Ruby place, and forming a small crater where his foot was. He looked down and immediately changed his tone. He took a deep breath and groan in discontent, before opening a menu and somehow fixing what his foot had just created.

"No. A ruler…a god, does not act this way. I must act with decency and eloquent demeanor. After all, nobody can possibly reach me, and I will have my way, over the entire "Seed." Yes…It will be grand, wont it?"

Khale smiled and opened another menu. This time he accessed a secret panel within the map screen, one clearly unreachable by normal players. He was now staring directly at Edmond, from a top down view. He also saw two other, unidentified, players standing with him. He couldn't see their faces, or their heads, due to the large cloaks they were wearing. Edmond's head, however, being bald, shined slightly in the moonlit room of the inn.

"Well, now…who have we here? Wearing those cloaks won't help you, whoever you are. Let's take a look and see who these vigilantes are, shall well?"

Khale backed out to the map screen, while still watching Edmond, apparently, communicate with the two hooded figures. Khale scoffed as he could only see movement, and not hear audio. For all of Ratchnot's hacking ability, he'd forgotten the simple function of being able to access people's conversations…the idiot. When Khale had reached a map of the second floor, he accessed a list of players who were currently within it. The list had all of the names that he'd expected: Thatch, Klein (that moron who never shut up), Edmond, Kitami (The girl that Glog wouldn't ever shut up about), someone named Susan, Ratchnot (again, the idiot), several named he knew to be the Gunners, several small children, much to low leveled to be who he was looking for, and…that was it. The dragon, nor the two other players, which he was looking at, clear as crystal, were not listen on the names of players within that area.

"Well, now…what is this? A cloaking ability? No…Even still, I should be able to see you. Hacking? Someone other than myself? Ratchnot, perhaps. Let's take a look and see what you're doing."

Khale, still trying his best to remain calm and cool, averted his screen from Edmond and the two mysterious players, and navigated throughout specific parts of the inn, until he come to the basement. He had expected to find Ratchnot working viciously to foil his plans, but what he actually found was even more perplexing. The basement did, as predicted, hold Ratchnot, as well as one other person, who he figured to be the "Susan" on the list of player, given her level. But, instead of Ratchnot going through menus and screens, he was tied up, head to toe, with a sack on his head, and shoved in a corner. There was no possible way he was behind this. The other player, Susan, was simply sitting in front of him on a chair, legs crossed, waving a dagger. Although he couldn't hear it, Khale was sure that she was taunting Ratchnot. This only angered him more. What gave her the right to demean one of his own slaves? He though as he gradually became angrier at the lack of information.

He quickly flicked his finger, prompting to return to the room where he'd seen the three players carrying on a conversation. However, when his screen focused, the three were gone. Khale panicked slightly, but maintained his composure, stopping himself from jumping in surprise, as if he was being watched. Khale quickly focused his view to outside the inn, and managed to catch the three going towards a path that led up a mountain (The second floor of Aincrad was notorious rocky, and treacherous to move through.) into a clearing that was cosmetically designed to look like an ordinary campsite. Khale chuckled at this.

"Fools, you're all so predictable. You slip from my gaze, but only for a moment. I'm watching your every move. I think it's time we had some fun. What will it be, Edmond? Would you like more beasts? More infernal atmosphere? Both? Or, would you perhaps prefer something completely new to decimate you and your pathetic team?"

Khale thought of how he could possibly dispose of Edmond, and his two mystery friends. But as he thought, his mind wandered, thanks to an incredibly short attention span, to yet another question in his mind. Who actually cleared this floor? Someone would have had to have cleared the boss, but who? Khale didn't know it, but Thatch and the Gunners figured that he had altered the game to be cleared, only when he wished it to be done. But, in all actuality, Khale had nothing to do with it. Khale had sent his beasts, yes, but he was just as surprised as any other player when the floor had been cleared. He took one last gaze at Edmond and then decided to scour the map for the source of this strange event.

Khale spent the next ten or so minutes viewing each area of the map. He figured the culprits must be close to Edmond and Thatch, given how soon they'd entered the teleportation hub. But he was having no luck finding anyone. He figured he'd be looking for a group. First level or not, a boss was a boss, and soloing one was definitely something that few players could manage. Yet, there was no large group to be seen. This angered Khale slightly. If there was one thing Khale hated more than someone doing better than he'd wanted them to do…it was them doing so, without his knowledge.

After more searching and empty handed results, Khale finally stumble across something he'd been looking for. In a ravine, from his aerial view, he could see a small flickering glow. It was almost passed over, but Khale managed to catch it, about a mile away from the inn at the beginning of the level.

"Gotcha!"

Khale said as he let out a chuckle and zoomed into the small glow. It turned out to be a small bonfire, surrounded by many players, all wearing armor that was identically worn by each person. Without yet taking a look at the player count, Khale estimated a body count of about three to four hundred players, quite a large group. But, as well outfitted as they were, Each one of them looked devastatingly exhausted. Many players slumped over whatever could prop up their bodies. Many of them were asleep. A small collection of them stood surrounding the bulk of the group in a defensive formation. One in particular was standing, arms crossed, by the fire. He wore a helmet that looked almost the same as everyone else's, but his had a different plume pattern on top. Khale had seen these players before, and unfortunately for them, he disliked them greatly.

"Well…if it isn't the Hounds of The Blade. Well, Narok, you surprise me more and more each time I see you. You even managed to sneak away from the town without Thatch sticking his nose into things…Normally I'd commend you, but this time, it's going to cost you! Let's see how you deal…with…this!"

Khale flicked a finger, selected several positions within the ravine, surrounding Narok and his men, and then grinned as he input an administrative command. Khale zoomed in on Narok's face as he waited for fear to come sweeping over it. Yes, any second now, he'd try to draw his blade and hopelessly defend what was left of his pitiful army.

Khale licked his lips as he envisioned the entirety of Narok's guild being swallowed by an unexpected enemy, assaulting them from the shadows. He continued to stare, but Narok didn't move, not yet. Soon enough, though, soon enough.

Of all of the things Khale could have sent towards Narok and his men, he figured skeletons would be appropriate. But, as there always was with Khale, there was a twist. A twist that he felt the need to vocally explain to himself.

"Now, Narok, see what's coming for you. You'll laugh, and you'll scoff, but you won't do so for long. These skeletons aren't your average every day grinding-for-col fodder…no, not in the slightest."

Khale then opened another menu. It was a list of enemies within the same vicinity as The Hounds. He then opened a page that presented the output data of all from Narok and his men. He smiled as his newest plan took shape. He began to move his fingers furiously, opening and closing various menus. He completed his task and was presented with only one remaining piece of data. The page, He had entitled as: A Bone for the Dying Dogs.

"Let's see how you feel about facing your soon-to-be-reality, Narok. I assure you that these are unlike any enemy you've seen up until this point! You think you can sneak past me? You think it's acceptable to ignore my divinity, and authority? You'll see! You'll all feel my merciless instruction! You, Thatch, Edmond, and every other pathetic gamer in this fish bowl of a world!"

Khale began laughing so loudly that the Ruby Palace began to rattle slightly, as if hit by the gentlest of aftershocks following an earthquake. The earthquake being his plans of death and sorrow for anyone he saw fit. But, after the joy and adrenaline of setting an army of skeletons (extraordinary skeletons, of course, Narok wouldn't know that until it was too late.) upon a team of exhausted fighters wore off, Khale was left by himself, in silence, as the howls of his laughter echoed away. He began to look around, and survey the opulent palace he'd entered into.

The Ruby Palace was, as to be expected, a beautiful and gorgeous bit of architecture. The walls were all made of pure ruby, and looked as though they were crafted into perfect bricks to create a circular structure, fit for a proud king or valiant conquering hero. After all, that's what Aincrad's peak floor was supposed to be about. After fighting one's way through the other 99 levels of sheer combat and expeditionary teamwork, the final battle with the boss on this floor would enable a player or guild to, briefly, live in splendor, knowing that their skills and determination were far greater than every other player's.

The floors were of a beautiful red crystalline material that reflected light from the candles and torches like glaciers in an arctic sunrise. The doors entering the structure were made of a red-wooden material, with all manner of gems and precious metals covering almost every inch of its twenty foot tall structure. These enormous portals led into the central throne room, where Khale had sat, unopposed, for since he'd arrived. The throne room had a multitude of doors that led to stairwells, other rooms, eloquent dining halls, and much more. It truly was an amazing prize for any guild, strong enough to reach this point.

If one so wished to climb to the highest possible point in the entire game, it would be possible. Beside the massive doors leading into the structure, was a magnificent staircase that led upwards to the peak of the castle. From the outside view, the castle could be seen to have the same building material, inside and out. Outside the main lobby, before entering the castle, there were two tiers to the structure. Upon climbing to the peak of the staircase, one would find themselves in a large courtyard area, that contained one watchtower. The view, even Khale could not ignore, was spectacular, looking out into the very atmosphere of the world. Finally, on the second tier courtyard, there was one final staircase that led to one final level, a tower that contained many more rooms and treasures for guilds to indulge in.

And yet…Khale stood there, alone, with nobody to share in his glory. He looked around at the walls. He watched them light up, and fade to black as the flames on his many torches licked the air, pouring light into different parts of the area each time. It was terribly lonely. This angered Khale, and he began to have conflicting thoughts within his mind, which he, more than likely against his own power, voiced out loud.

"Why should I have to care about people? I'm better than them! I've been a gamer forever! What's wrong with wanting to eliminate weakness? If people, no, governments would listen to me, I could create a utopian paradise! No disease, no poverty, no debilitating tumors on the healthy body of all society! Nobody understands that? It's so simplistic!"

Khale clenched his fists and teeth as these questions poisoned his mind, again and again. The Palace began to shake with his anger. He began to breathe harshly. He continued, this time, a seemingly second personality spoke for him.

"It's because you're misunderstood, Khale. The world does not understand the true power of a lack of pitiful emotions. Love, and care? No. They create nothing but waste! We are born lucky, or we are born to be eliminated! All must know their place in the world, and all must be treated as such."

Khale then suddenly switched back to a point of view, in which he spoke of himself.

"I was born healthy, capable, and lacking the weakness of care and feeling! I am the newest level of evolution in the cycle of warfare! I am a psychological anomaly! I will perfect execution, and pour my wrath out onto everything in this world…and soon…soon the real world will see my power…they will cower before me!"

Khale now threw his hands into the air and bellowed loudly. The Ruby Palace shook violently as torches fell from the wall. Khale's avatar burst into flames and his voice became deep and distorted. His eyes turned to pure flame, and his ceremonial armor was changed to a tight leather material that burned and glowed like the pits of a volcano. A black cloak, that emitted a constant flow of black smoke, appeared on his back. His long black hair flared out burst into flames, becoming literal fire. His flaming locks then come to rest, as his normal hair had done. In his raised hands, there appeared two new objects. In contrast to his demonic and terrifying appearance, Khale now held a simple sword made of steel that had a white hilt, with a red cross in the center. In his opposite hand, he held a shield that looked like a large cross, with a smaller red cross in the center of it.

"I will…Perfect, what you could not complete."

Khale's voice was deep and his words came out with an underlying screech that would have chilled any seasoned fighter to the bone. He lowered his new sword and shield, and the shaking of the Palace stopped. He looked up, above the entrance to the castle, at a statue. It was an effigy to the creator of the entire world of virtual gaming. Heathcliff. Leader of the Knights of the Blood Oath, and better known to all of the survivors as: Akihiko Kayaba. The statue of Heathcliff held the same sword and shield. Khale spoke reverently to it, in the same demonic voice.

"Your creation. Your death. Your sacrifice to expose the weakness in this world, shall be completed. I will wipe away the very fabric of disease. Order through chaos, and beauty through order. Until the day comes…"

Khale flicked his blade, bringing up three screens. On one was Edmond, and the two mysterious figures, who had come to a stop on the top of a high cliff. The second was of Thatch, who was not in his bed sleeping, back at the inn. He sat in a chair, staring out toward where the entrance to the third floor would be. He, however, had no idea of Edmond's night walking. The final was of Ratchnot, being taunted by Susan, and she tapped he dagger on his head, causing him to flinch each time.

"I will destroy all of you. Thatch, I'm going to truly remove those useless limbs of yours, and drown you in your own tears. Ratchnot, you pathetic little rat, I'm going to isolate you and show you just how little the world cares for a hacker with nothing to do! I'm going to make you rip out your eyes and jab knives through your ears, begging to escape from the relentless assault of your lonely life. And you-"

Khale zoomed in on Edmond.

"I don't know what you're hiding, and I don't know who your friends are, but I promise you it won't matter. I should kill you right now, but I'm not going to. No. Killing you would be too much of an easy way out for you. I'm going to kill everything around you that you care about, and turn the entirety of this world against you. I'll make you wish you were dead, but make it so death will never come."

Khale dismissed the screens and put the sword and shield on his back. He knelt before the statue of Heathcliff one last time, and began to walk towards the exit. He then left the Palace, and headed toward the teleport hub.

"What the hell was that? Did you feel that?"

Edmond said as he looked around then at Kirito and Asuna, who looked at each other and shrugged. Kirito then spoke.

"No, I didn't feel anything. What was it?"

Edmond looked up into the starry sky. He could have sworn he felt a jarring rumble on the ground, almost like an earthquake, but only much more subtle. After Seeing Kirito and Asuna's reaction, though, he quickly dismissed the thought, and boiled it down to being nervous. He shook his head slightly and looked at Kirito.

"Okay. I'm all ears. Why have you brought me here? Better yet, why are you here?"

Kirito drew back his cloak's hood, which he'd replaced on the walk up to the high peak.

"It's better if you just listen. We don't have much time, if Khale realizes we're here, it could jeopardize the safety of every surviving player still inside the game. Edmond, Asuna and I aren't actually a part of the game. We're more or less just after-imagines created by a program used to see through the eyes of a specific avatar."

Edmond thought, but just nodded and continued to listen. So, it's you two who are watching us? Better you than Khale I suppose. Kirito continued.

That's why we can "log-out" so to speak. It's extremely hard to explain, so please just continue to listen, and trust me. Edmond, we are your link to the outside world. We can periodically give you updates on what's going on outside in the real world. We chose you, because we noticed a large amount of data output from your avatar. We don't know what that means, but we've watched you, and you don't seem to be a threat…we trust you. Don't make us regret that decision. Do you understand?"

Edmond quickly shook his head as he was caught off guard by this question. The conversation was going at a shotgun pace and he could barely keep up with it. Still, he nodded. He was still in slight disbelief that He was staring at two players who liberated the first Aincrad. That is, if they were, in fact, the real Kirito and Asuna, instead of just two puppets created by Khale to toy with his mind. He decided it would be best to clear this insecurity from the air

"Kirito, Asuna, how do I know I can trust you two? I mean. I see you once and then immediately after that conversation, I'm almost ripped to shreds by something Khale created. It knew exactly where to find me, too. How do I know you aren't just feeding Khale information?"

Asuna stepped forward and spoke.

"Edmond, listen to me, if Khale wanted to kill you, he would be able to do it within the blink of an eye. He can see everything within this game, you're never alone."

Edmond felt his heart fall down into the pits of his soul. He responded in a trembling tone.

"Why hasn't he just killed me, then?"

Asuna, not phased or concerned with Edmond's emotion, continued.

"We were here, in your position, once. Don't forget that. Khale and Kayaba aren't all that different. He hasn't killed you yet, because he's toying with you. If he went ahead and killed everyone, he'd be left with a vast world, with no subjects to torment. That is the only thing keeping you alive. That, and the fact that his emotions have stayed consistent, up until this point. The last thing you want is for him to go into an insanity induced killing spree, destroying everyone. "

Edmond gulped and nodded. He responded with a question, whose answer was probably so simple, that it could never work.

"Why doesn't somebody on the outside just kill him? His body has to be around there somewhere."

Kirito spoke up, this time.

"It's near impossible to convince any form of power on the outside that this is all the result of one person's lust for in-game power. Countries are prepping for war, Edmond. They're all fearful of one another, thinking that any of their enemies…or allies could be trapping their citizens within this world. It's up to you, and whoever else is willing to fight within this game."

Edmond knew about the unrest between countries. Kayaba had obviously told him, but he didn't want to voice that to Kirito or Asuna. He figured that if they knew he had ties to him, they might not trust him anymore. Given what he'd done to them in the past. He merely nodded and waited for the next instruction. Which Kirito promptly provided.

"Edmond, there's no way to get out, that we've seen, as of yet. But, rest assure, we've got many survivors on the outside, working as hard as they can to try and find a hole in the system. Until we can achieve that. We need you to carry on. Protect as many people as possible, and Do. Not. Provoke. Khale. I cannot stress that enough. He needs to continue assuming that he's invincible. That way he doesn't drastically lash out and kill everyone. Do you understand?"

Unfortunately, Edmond did understand, but he was as far from enthused about it as he could possibly be. Still, it was nice to know there were people on the outside, willing to help them. Plus, he said survivors, meaning that the tabloids were wrong, these people, these stories, they were all legitimate. Khale's overtaking should have convinced him of that, but the true realization didn't hit him until now. He felt horrible, thinking of all of those gamers as liars and attention grabbing lunatics. Thatch, Klein, and the Gunners…they were all there, too. He'd completely forgotten about them. He knew, finally, that he owed them something. He had the ability to do…nothing. But he was sure that he could at least try. He owed it, not only to the players who desperately clung to life on the floor below, but to everyone who'd believed in him up until this point. Especially Kitami…He had a promise to keep.

"Edmond? Do you understand?"

Asuna's voice, this time. It broke Edmond out of his trance and looked at them both.

"Yes. I understand. I'll do everything within my power to keep everyone safe. What should I tell the others?"

"Nothing."

Edmond cocked his head to the side slightly. It was Kirito who dropped this single-word bomb. He was confused by this. Why wouldn't they want everyone else to know about the hope that was growing on the outside?

"Why not? Don't you think everyone deserves to know that there's a chance to survive?"

Asuna spoke again. Edmond was beginning to notice a pattern. One would speak, then the other, and then repeat…and so on.

"The last thing you all need is chatter rising through the players of an outside uprising. Khale will catch wind of it. If he decides to destroy everyone before we can figure out a plan, you'll all be sitting ducks. People talk, Edmond, it's what they do. Why do you think we came to you, and you alone?"

Edmond understood this argument, and felt the weight of, yet another, responsibility get heaped onto his shoulders. It was going to be hard staying loyal to Thatch, while simultaneously making sure Khale felt that everyone was hopelessly lost.

"How long do you think it will take?"

Edmond asked, desperately needing some positivity. He would receive none from Kirito.

"It's hard to say, Edmond. We're all working as diligently as possible, and if we find something that we feel will help all of you, you'll surely see it come to fruition. But for now, we're only just breaking the surface. Ratchnot has everything locked up pretty tightly…maybe he'll be able to help you out."

Ratchnot. Edmond has completely forgotten about him. A small bit of hope danced in Edmond's stomach.

Suddenly a heart stopping, and desperate yell could be heard in the distance. Edmond, Kirito, and Asuna all turned around in the direction of the yell.

"Edmond, we have to go, remember what we told you. We're going to get you out, we promise."

Kirito said this, and then the two just disappeared into a wisp of light, leaving Edmond to deal with the problem on his own. The yell sounded oddly familiar, but he had no suspects in mind, as to who it belonged it. He contemplated running back to wake up Thatch (whom he had no idea was awake), but he knew it would only create more problems in having to explain where he was. In the end, he swallowed hard and sprinted down the path he'd taken to reach the top, and headed towards the yell for help.

Edmond, as he ran, could only imagine what horrendous fiends would be awaiting him when he got the point of incident, but he did his best to ignore it. He thought about recalling Chester, but he knew that would raise far too much attention. He drew his dagger as he approached what he thought was the site of the yell, but it was pitch dark, and nothing could be seen. His heart could be felt in his throat, and it was beating harder than ever before. Edmond had to physically strain his body not to breathe loudly.

Then he felt something blow through his left arm. It felt like a knife had just be jabbed into his bicep. He wailed in pain and quickly retrieved the projectile. It was an arrow. After the shock of the pain had worn off, thanks to the adrenaline rush, he looked at his arm. There was a small spot where turquoise and white could be seen. He looked out ahead and squinted. He saw creatures, a large group of them coming towards him, and fast. He felt another arrow whisk past his head, just barely missing the point of an instant killing blow.

Then Edmond felt his blood run cold. Something grabbed his foot. He yelled and fell backwards, kicking at whatever gripped him. A low groan of pain escaped the subject, it was a player!

"R-run. Skeletons. T-they look just like us."

Edmond knew that voice. It was Narok, the leader of The Hounds of the Blade. Only now he was alone, and his men were nowhere to be seen. Edmond knelt down and grabbed Narok. He had no time to spare, and as soon as he had a grip on him, he summoned all of his strength and pulled him on this his back, and tried his best to run in the direction that he came from. He didn't make it far though. Narok's armor was so heavy, that after only ten or so steps, Edmond collapsed from the weight of hundreds of pounds of metallic armor.

"Run kid. Just leave me here. Get out of this ravine."

Edmond hadn't noticed it, but he was walled in on both sides. He had run in the direction so quickly that he didn't even notice that he was running into a geographical trap. It looked like it was going to be costly, too. Edmond's strength was gone, and he was positive his avatar's fatigue was so high, that it was forcing him to stop doing strenuous activities. He saw the lumbering creatures come closer and closer, they were only about twenty feet away now. He reached for his dagger, but it wasn't there. He must have dropped it when Narok's grabbed him. It was hopeless, he braced for the inevitable.

Edmond, in one last display of defiance, pulled out a smoke bomb and planned to chuck it, hoping to take out at least a few of whatever was hunting him. But just before he threw it, he saw a tiny flare sail over his head, and land beside the line of black creatures coming towards him. An explosion followed and he was immediately filled with confusion.

"Edmond! Are you okay?"

Thatch. Thank God. Edmond yelled and flailed his arm wildly.

He felt a hand grab him and he immediately was slung over the shoulders of someone. He had no idea who, but he was glad it happened. He saw Thatch do the same for Narok, after removing his heavy armor. Suddenly, Edmond heard a voice speak to him, under the heavy stress of carrying a body, but still, it was as refreshing as ever.

"This is what happens when you stay up past your bed time, Edmond!"

Klein…Thank God for him too.

Edmond somehow heeded this advice, against his will and completely passed out as he felt Klein running out of the ravine, and hopefully to safety. He at first feared all the explaining he'd have to do, but soon the thoughts turned to nothing, and a wave a sleep washed over him. But, just before he lost consciousness, he raised his head one last time, and he could have sworn, that past all of what he thought to be an army of skeletons, he saw two flaming eyes, watching him, as he was carried to a temporary and false sense of safety.