HEllo! I'm actually updating on time! Unbelievable right? So here is the next chapter. I hope you all enjoy it! No flames!
It was 1:23 am in the floating castle of Aincrad, and Natalie was still awake.
To her right, the two sisters were sleeping soundly. On the left wall, in the other bed, Maddy, Taylor, and Payge were also fast asleep, but someone was snoring. She just couldn't tell who.
There was a sliver of white moonlight that crept through the window. The night air outside was silent. There were no street vendors crying, no players talking and laughing. It was just silence.
She stared over at Payge. She could just barely see that her cuts were healing. In SAO, no blood spilled. Cuts and damage are symbolized by pixelated marks.
Blood would have made everything a lot scarier.
When the bear had struck her today, she felt a stinging pain on her face, then the force of hitting the ground. When she had regained conscience of what had just happened, she could see her HP bar.
It was decreasing. Just a little bit. But the sight of your HP bar decreasing is the same as watching your strength disappear, and death grow nearer.
A scary thing.
Once everyone got back to the room, Taylor helped heal Payge and Natalie's health. Their HP bars returned to normal, but the cuts were still leftover. Everyone else was tending to Aidan. She calmed down within five minutes, and they ate a simple dinner.
Natalie sat up in her bed, staring out the window. She wasn't what it was, but she wanted to go outside. To get away from her friends for a little bit.
She was careful not to wake her friends as she left the bed. She equipped her gear, and before leaving, checked herself in the mirror. The cuts were still there. One across her forehead, one below her eyes, and one on her chin, where the bear had just barely missed her neck.
She turned the doorknob silently and left the room. As she went down the stairs and crossed the lobby, she was thankful that no one was there.
Once she stepped out of the building and into the night air, she realized how much she needed this.
Everything was still and quiet. It was dark but the moon was so bright.
Natalie took out her teleport crystal and teleported to the Eastern Fields. Just to see what it was like.
Once she teleported there, she first thing she noticed and got excited about was the town in the distance.
Also, instead of boars, there were wolves. And the land was a lot hillier.
The wolves were fairly the right size. They had dark grey coats and eyes that glinted red when they turned. Here and there, a pair of wolves would be sitting. Most were sleeping.
That's weird, thought Natalie. Wolves travel in packs. I guess Akihiko Kayaba made a mistake. Or, he was too lazy to program them into travelling in packs.
One of the wolves stood up in alarm, just noticing her. It took a few steps in her direction, travelled sideways as if it were hesitating, then ran towards her.
Natalie slid her sword out of its scabbard and held it in front of her. As the wolf grew closer, it started to snarl ferociously.
Luckily, it only had one HP bar. It wasn't going to be that hard of a fight.
Natalie activated a sword skill and ran towards the wolf, both of them wild and free. The tip of her sword sliced through the wolf clean. It shattered instantly.
Natalie turned around and faced the place where the wolf had just died, panting but smiling. She like that sword skill. It was definitely useful for smaller mobs like wolves and boars.
The wolf dropped meat, hide, col, and of course some XP points for her! She could sell the meat to a butcher and the hide to trader, whoever wanted it.
There were more wolves, but she didn't feel like killing any more. As she stared off into the distance, tears started forming in her eyes for no reason whatsoever. Was she homesick? Did she actually miss going to school? And how did she end up as a swordswoman, not a normal girl?
She wiped away her tears before it could fall down her cheeks. She suddenly noticed that the sky looked conical in shape… and there was a strange marking about a mile away. Was it the entrance to the outside of Aincrad?
She slid her sword back into place, and started to run. She ran instead of using her teleport crystals, because then she could gain some XP that would increase her speed rate.
Also, she felt free.
Once she got close, her hypothesis was confirmed: it was one of the entryways to the outside.
She excitedly ran to the entranceway and stepped outside of Aincrad.
It was beautiful.
Outside of this death game was a gorgeous view of the heavens. The sky was a glistening golden color dotted with long clouds. She stepped out onto the balcony. It seemed to stretch around Aincrad's perimeter. She looked up, trying to see the top of Aincrad. But because of its conical shape, she couldn't.
She looked to her left and right. No one was there. She walked out to one of the outstretching decks and leaned against the edge, looking down.
She wondered if anything was down there. But as far as she could see, it was just golden clouds.
Suddenly, a strange feeling crept onto Natalie's conscience. Something was weird.
She whipped around to stare a swordsman. He seemed just as startled, probably because of her face.
"S-sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to scare you. But what happened to your face?"
Natalie realized he was the rude boy that saved Aidan last week. His dark brown hair and dark brown eyes was familiar.
"I got a little scratch from a Forest Ursa." Natalie replied. "But it's fine. My friends fixed me up. It should heal in a few days." She felt a little embarrassed, since the last thing she said to him was a snap.
But he was ruder. So he should be embarrassed.
"Oh," he said, leaning against the balcony like she was. "I hope those cuts heal soon." He sighed and stared off into the golden clouds. "Also, I would like to apologize for being rude last week. I realize that I was not being very respectful."
"Oh it's okay," Natalie answered quickly. "Don't worry about it. You did save my friend. From getting hurt, that is."
He was still looking away, into the clouds. "It wasn't… that bad. Your friend would have been fine….. I guess I just wanted to help." He shrugged and brushed his hair to the side, even though it looked perfect. Natalie smiled. It was what any boy would do-constantly brushing their hair to the side.
He turned to look at her. For some reason it was hard to look in his eyes. His dark brown eyes.
Why I am acting so weird.
"What's your name?" he asked.
"I'm Natalie. And in the real world I'm fourteen years old. I also look exactly like I do in the real world, so no secrets." she said.
"You can call me Ash. I'm fifteen." he said.
There were a few moments of silence. Both of them stared onto the moving golden clouds, wondering about the world.
Just so she wasn't awkward, Natalie opened up her menu and checked the time.
1:45. She had to go back or else she would never get enough sleep.
"I bet this is the place where they killed themselves." Ash said suddenly.
Natalie turned to look at him. "The suiciders?"
He nodded. "They just jump off and…"
"...shatter." Natalie finished. She could just picture it. "Well, I have to go now. It is, after all, almost two o'clock in the morning." She smiled at him in farewell and took out her teleport crystal.
"See you." he said.
"Teleport, Town of Beginnings!"