Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, nor do I own the works of H.P. Lovecraft.
Chapter 2: The City of R'lyeh
It was just before 7:00 at night as Asuna headed for the real world bar known as the Dicey Café. The bar had become a regular hangout for the survivors of the infamous VRMMO death game known as Sword Art Online. Tending the bar when Asuna walked in was the establishment's owner, a bald dark-skinned man who Asuna knew in SAO and ALO as Agil, but in the real world was known as Andrew Gilbert Mills. There were also two customers sitting at the bar. One was a brown-haired scruffy-looking man wearing a headband that Asuna knew as Klein in the virtual world, but went by the name Ryoutarou Tsuboi in real life. The other customer at the bar was a fairly young spectacled woman with very short dark hair who Asuna knew as Siune's real world counterpart, An Si-eun. It was the first time that Asuna had seen Si-eun without the wig that she wore due to the cancer treatments she had previously undergone.
"Sorry I'm a little late, everyone." Asuna told the others as she took a seat at the bar.
"It's no problem." Andrew assured her as he polished an empty beer mug. "You were the one who called this little meeting, after all."
"Si-eun just told us a little bit about what happened between you and woman, Nytokris." Ryoutarou revealed.
"Are you doing okay now, Asuna?" Si-eun asked.
"I'm fine." Asuna assured them. "But I'll feel better once I make Nytokris pay for what she said. That's why I've already entered that tournament."
"Well… I hate to tell you this, but just because you've entered the Clash of Queens tournament, doesn't mean you'll actually get to compete." Andrew revealed. "The word is that almost every gal playing ALO has entered this thing, but only the top thirty-two players will qualify to actually play. Everyone who's entered has to go through a four-day qualifying period first."
"So how are the players supposed to qualify for this thing?" Ryoutarou asked.
"The admins assign a certain number of points to each player hoping to take part in the tournament during the qualifying period." Andrew explained. "These points are given out based on things like the quests that players successfully complete, the number of monsters they successfully take down, and even the number of other players they defeat in a battle."
"So what you're saying is, if I want to have a shot at qualifying for the tournament, I should complete some major quest here in the next few days." Asuna realized.
Andrew nodded. "Or beat some powerful monster like one of the bosses in New Aincrad. The thing is though that only the admins know how many points each player earns, so there's no real way to tell if the quest you decide to take on will really earn you enough to qualify."
"So what sort of quest should Asuna take on?" Si-eun asked.
"Actually… I have an idea about that." Asuna revealed. "Something strange happened to me after Nytokris beat me. As my remain light burned away, the village Si-eun and I were in was replaced with this weird city. Right before I was revived I saw the eyes of this big monster. Then later as I was going through my item storage, I found this weird logbook in my inventory. It talked about this sea captain who came across this city inhabited by a monster that killed his whole crew."
Andre held his chin in thought. "From the sound of it, you probably had a vision about R'lyeh."
"R'lyeh?" Ryoutarou repeated with a raised eyebrow. "What the heck is that?"
"It's the city that's supposed to be the home of Cthulhu." Andrew answered. "The most famous monster created by H.P. Lovecraft."
"Man! Things have just been a little weird ever since this Lovecraft stuff started showing up in ALO." Ryoutarou declared. "I mean… how does any of this mythos stuff fit in with the land of the fairies anyway?"
"I've actually been reading a lot of stories connected to the Cthulhu Mythos lately, so I know a little bit about it." Si-eun revealed. "There are apparently three types of gods in the mythos. First there are the Great Old Ones like Cthulhu and Tsathoggua. Then there are the Outer Gods, like Azathoth and Nyarlathotep. The third type of god in the mythos is the Elder Gods, more benevolent gods who have been protecting the earth for centuries. What the designers of ALO basically did was use the Norse and Greek gods like Thor and Poseidon that already existed in the game take the place of the Elder Gods."
"Ever since the whole Donis thing, the designers have been putting in the Great Old Ones as boss monsters in hidden parts of ALO." Andrew added. "And Cthulhu is the latest one to get put in as part of the last big update."
"And you really think what I saw has to do with R'lyeh?" Asuna asked.
"There's been word flying around on the message boards that undine players have been seeing these weird visions since the last update whenever they get killed in-game." Andrew revealed. "This is the first time that anyone's found a new item in their inventory after it happened though. Guess a lot of those players who had the same vision never thought to check their inventory afterward. But we do know that R'lyeh has been added to the game somewhere in the waters of undine territory. The problem is… nobody's been able to find it."
"How's it possible that nobody's been able to find R'lyeh so far?" Si-eun asked. "In the original story about Cthulhu, R'lyeh is supposed to be huge."
"Maybe there's some kind of task that's needed to unlock R'lyeh before anyone can get to it." Ryoutarou theorized. "Like a key that needs to be found or something."
"Innsmouth." Asuna suddenly spoke. "The end of that logbook I told you about said that there was some kind of key to finding R'lyeh in a seaport called Innsmouth."
"Now that you mention it, the other day I heard about some kind of abandoned village that showed up in undine territory kinda suddenly." Ryoutarou recalled. "Guess that's this Innsmouth place you're talking about."
"Then I say we all go to Innsmouth later and check the place out." Asuna decided.
"A boss raid against Cthulhu. Sounds like a blast." Andrew declared. "You can count the three of us in, but we'll probably need a bigger party if we're going to be taking on one of the strongest Great Old Ones in the game."
"Too bad Kirito's still outta town." Ryoutarou remarked. "How soon is he coming back?"
"Not for at least a couple of days." Asuna answered. "And if I want to make it into the tournament, we better do this quest quick. Guess we'll just have to ask Silica, Liz, Leafa and Sinon to come along."
"Yeah… I don't know if that's gonna happen." Ryoutarou spoke. "I mean Silica would probably be for this quest, but the other three… yeah, I can't really see them joining us after the whole Donis thing. Especially since we'd be going on a mythos-related quest."
Asuna had to admit that her friend had a good point. The month before, Asuna's other friends from ALO, Lisbeth, Sinon and Leafa had encountered another player who went by the name Donis. Leafa and the other two had practically fallen in love with Donis, partly due to the fact that his avatar in the game was almost identical to Kirito's. The sad truth though was that Donis hadn't even been real, but was merely an artificially intelligent NPC based on the Cthulhu Mythos deity known as Nyarlathotep. Nyarlathotep's existence in the game had actually been brought on by a computer virus that a hacker had inflicted on ALO to make the game generate Cthulhu Mythos elements, and had the virus totally succeeded the game would've been completely rewritten. Fortunately Nyarlathotep had been defeated and the virus was eliminated, but the entire incident had left deep wounds in the hearts of Asuna's three friends. Since that time, the group had slowly started to drift apart.
"…I know how badly Liz and the others were hurt by what happened with Donis, but I think this quest might be just what we need to bring us together again." Asuna told them. "As sad as it is, I think the reason why they've been staying away is because Kirito reminds them of Donis, but Kirito won't be with us this time."
"Well… it sure wouldn't hurt to ask them." Andrew admitted. "The way things are now though, we may have to pay Sinon quite a bit of cash in-game to get her to join us. Since the whole Donis thing, Sinon's become a player killer for higher. They've been calling her the Phantom Arrow."
"Lisbeth meanwhile has just been pretty mean to everyone since that time, especially to me." Ryoutarou added. "As for Leafa, I don't see her in the game as much as I used to. And whenever I have seen her, she's always seemed kinda sad."
"That's understandable. Leafa fell pretty hard for Donis." Asuna pointed out. "Much harder than Liz and Sinon did…. Anyway, I still think we should ask them to join us. I'll talk to all of them tomorrow to see if they're in."
"And if they're not?" Andrew asked.
"…Then I guess we'll have to figure out something else." Asuna answered.
Si-eun suddenly rose from her chair. "Be sure to call us and let us know what happens. Ryou, we should probably get going if we want to be on time for that movie."
"Oh yeah!" Ryoutarou replied as he stood up. "We'll catch you guys later."
Asuna and Andrew watched with quizzical expressions as the other two left the bar.
"Is there something going on between those two that we should know about?" Andrew asked.
"I was wondering the same thing earlier." Asuna replied.
Things had already started to wind down at the SAO Returnees' School with major exams finally out of the way. With testing done, it was the last day before the school closed for the week to give the students a nice rest. As Asuna walked into the cafeteria, she quickly spotted a familiar young girl with light-brown hair tied in pigtails. This girl was Asuna's friend, Keiko Ayano, known in the worlds of SAO and ALO as Silica the Dragon Tamer. Asuna went over to Keiko's table and sat across from her as the two exchanged greetings.
"I bet you're feeling more relaxed now that exams are finally over, huh Asuna?" Keiko assumed.
"Not as relaxed as I'd like to be." Asuna admitted. "Keiko, there's something I'd like to ask you. Siune, Klein, Agil and I are thinking of going on this quest in ALO here pretty soon. It's to explore this city that was added to the game called R'lyeh and probably fight the monster that lives there. I was wondering if you might be willing to join us."
"Sure! Sounds like it'd be interesting." Keiko cheerfully agreed.
"What sounds like it'd be interesting?" a voice interrupted.
Standing near Asuna and Keiko's table was a young woman with short brown hair who was holding a lunch tray. She had on a tan sweater instead of the jacket normally worn as part of the school uniform. This was Asuna's other friend, Rika Shinozaki, better known in the worlds of SAO and ALO as Lisbeth the Blacksmith.
"Oh! Rika! Asuna was just inviting me to go on this quest in ALO." Keiko explained.
"I was actually hoping that you'd be willing to come along too." Asuna revealed.
"I see…" Rika said with a look of displeasure as she took a seat next to Keiko. "Is Kirito going to be on this quest too?"
"No. He's still out of town." Asuna answered. "Klein's going to be there though. Would that be a problem?"
"…Nah. I can usually tolerate Klein pretty well." Rika answered. "But you haven't said what this quest was."
"We're going to try and take on one of the Great Old Ones." Asuna answered. "In fact… we're going to fight Cthulhu."
"Uh, really Asuna?" Keiko asked as some of the color drained from her face. "You didn't mention that we'd be going after one of those Lovecraft monsters."
"You're not going to back out, are you Keiko?" a somewhat alarmed Asuna asked.
"No! Of course not!" Keiko assured her. "It's just… those Old Ones are pretty scary."
"Fine. I'm in." Rika finally decided. "If we're going to take on an Old One though, you should probably stop by my shop first. We'll need some of the tok'l-metal weapons I've made if we want a shot at taking down a monster like Cthulhu?"
"Then how 'bout we meet at your shop the day after tomorrow?" Asuna suggested. "I'll get back to you with the exact time."
"Whatever." Rika agreed as she stood back up. "Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'd like to eat alone for a change."
With that, Asuna and Keiko watched as Rika silently walked off.
Asuna let out a heavy sigh. "Well, at least she said yes. I just wish that she had a better attitude about it."
"I know. It seems like Rika's been mad at everyone this past month." Keiko remarked. "She's even snapped at me a few times for no reason. This must have to do with Donis, huh?"
"Yep. We're just going to have to give her some time." Asuna replied. "That's all we can really do."
"Then maybe we should just leave Rika out of this quest." Keiko suggested.
"No. We need her for this." Asuna declared. "Besides… I hate how it seems like we've all drifted apart. I really don't want to lose Rika's friendship. Or Shino's or Suguha's."
"Well then… maybe fighting this monster will be just what we need to bring us all back together." Keiko suggested with an optimistic smile.
"I hope you're right." Asuna replied.
It was fairly early in the evening as Asuna arrived at the front door of the Kirigaya residence. The orange-brown-haired girl knocked on the door, and after a few moments a well-endowed young woman with short dark hair answered the door. Asuna knew this girl as her boyfriend's younger sister, Suguha Kirigaya, better known in the world of ALO as the blonde fairy, Leafa.
"Hi Sugu!" Asuna spoke with a somewhat nervous smile. "How are you doing?"
"Fine." Sugu answered. "You do know that my brother still isn't home yet, right?"
"Of course. It was actually you who I came to see." Asuna revealed. "Some of the others and I were planning to go on this quest in ALO the day after tomorrow, and we were wondering if you'd be willing to join us."
"You cam all the way here just to ask me that?" Sugu asked with a raised eyebrow. "You could've just called, you know."
"Well, I actually wasn't sure if you'd answer the phone for me." Asuna revealed. "I mean… I know how you haven't been logging into ALO as much as you used to, so thought maybe you'd blow me off over the phone."
"Oh… well, you are right that I haven't been online as much as I used to." Sugu admitted. "Being in that world just reminds me too much of Donis sometimes. But, I might be willing to go on this quest with you. Can I have a little time to think about it though?"
"Sure. If you decide to come along, we'll be meeting up at Lisbeth's shop tomorrow afternoon." Asuna replied. "I hope I'll see you then."
With that, Asuna said her farewells and headed off. As she headed for home, Asuna couldn't help but kick herself a bit because she lied when she told Sugu the reason why she thought she wouldn't answer her over the phone. Asuna was afraid that Sugu hated her. She couldn't blame Sugu if she did. After all, Kirito was really only Sugu's cousin and also her first love, and thanks to what had happened in SAO Asuna had stolen Kirito away.
Asuna thought that perhaps Sugu's potential hatred for her might've grown since what happened with Donis. She and Kirito had tried to interfere with Sugu's relationship with Donis, and even though it had been the right thing to do because of what Donis really was, Asuna was afraid that what she did had only made Sugu despise her more. First Asuna had stolen away the first man Sugu ever loved, and then she butted into her relationship with the second man she had loved. With that sort of track record, Asuna felt certain that Sugu had started to see her as something or a mortal enemy. Of course the fact that Sugu was at least willing to entertain the idea of going on the quest to R'lyeh was an encouraging sign to Asuna. Now all that was left was to ask Sinon to join in, a task that Asuna found that she feared just as much as asking Sugu to come with. After all, nobody likes to run the risk of taking an arrow to the head.
Author's Note: Sorry if this chapter wasn't exactly my best work. It's going to take me a little while to get everything properly set up. I can assure everyone though that things in this story will start to pick up more soon.
Please review and let me know what you think.