It was after the fall of the Red Flame Dragon. The boss of level seventy had been a peeling burn for over an hour, with its own regenerative powers in the lava pits. No lives had been lost, but it had cost a plethora of healing potions.
Kirito had not dealt the killing blow, so he volunteered to activate the next level’s portal. Joined by a few others, they ascended the pumice stone staircase that had fallen into one of the lava pools.
Once they reached the top flight of stairs, Kirito fell behind the others while opening his inventory. Upon realizing he had no more healing potions, he pulled out some food parcels to heal his health-even a little.
“Please … help.” Kirito looked around. The group was already on the hilltop, out of calling distance; he snapped to a defensive position, looking for the distress call. A bush rustled, and a maimed AI character crawled out onto the village path. Kirito rushed over, and checked the man. The man was fatally wounded, with a dropping health bar. Kirito was surprised; most AI characters were Immortal, unable to die. “My daughter! She is trapped out in the swamp. If you are willing, take this. Aid her!” A blue gemmed pendant dropped out of a clenched fist.
Kirito picked it up, and accepted the challenge, “I will help her. Hold on.” Kirito tried to feed some jerky to the man. The man nibbled, and the bar stalled. “Where is she? How do I help her?”
The man groaned, “The Malady Swamp is to the east. The sunken boulders will point you towards her. The pendant will help her.” A sigh escaped his lips as the health meter finally emptied. The man burst into a pile of blue data shards.
Kirito zoned out, until a notification pinged on his screen. It read, ‘New objective added. New Item added: Goul Syrup Pendant.’ Kirito shook himself out of his daze. He slipped it onto his neck as he started to jog towards the eastern marsh swamps, determined to save the girl.
Kirito found the Malady Swamp easily. He followed the sunken boulders with a little difficulty. The early afternoon sun shone on his back as he followed his shadow deeper into the swamp. Looking at the ruined bog in front of him, Kirito realized he had no idea what to do next.
The bog was covered in a layer of algae, hiding the open water and the mud holes from the safe rock trails. Torches illuminated the area, indicating an enemy intelligence inhabited the bog. An island of flowers blossomed in the distant center. A body lay still, possibly sleeping at the crown of the island. Looming over the petite body was a massive carnivorous plant. It looked like a Venus Fly Trap, with a bluish hue on the outer hinged parts, and a stem of watermelon red.
Wary of alerting enemy monsters, Kirito called out, “Hey there? Are you awake? I’m here to help you.”
The petite body stirred; a child in a torn dress with lots of grass stains stood. Seeing Kirito, she sank low and tried to crawl down the hill. A frenzied rustling of fabric and flora reached Kirito’s sensitive ears.
Sudden bursts of flowers and vines covered the island. When the petals settled, the girl was bound in vines. Kirito tried to start across the swamp, but a tiny high voice amplified across the swamp, “Stop, you’ll sink!” Kirito looked closer; the girl was holding a pure white flower to her lips. “Find a white vocal flower. It will help you talk to me without waking the ghouls or vine plants.”
Following the AI’s instruction, Kirito scoured the bog’s boundary for such a flower. Pulling a small, white flower, Kirito whispered, “Is this the flower?”
“Yes. The roots of these flowers are hollow and wiry with a long stretching stem. It allows for vocal messages, provided they’re in the ground to allow vibrations. How did you find me?”
“Your father sent me to find you.” Kirito was not sure if the cyber girl was aware of the loss of her father. If not, she did not need to kill herself with frantic struggles. “I want to help you. If I could cross the swamp, I would cut you loose from the vines and carry you out. Can you tell me if there is anybody around here?”
The little girl spoke into the flower in hushed tones, “The ghouls roam more towards sunset. If you add me to your party list, I can help navigate you to this island. Do you trust me?”
An invite appeared in front of Kirito. Skimming the generic script of the message window, he accepted the invite from Amelia Grace. Amelia’s health bar popped down under Kirito’s; the girl’s life was not dropping, but it was much larger than Kirito expected for an AI child character. Holding the white flower up to his mouth, he asked, “I trust that you know what you are doing. Now, how do I get to you?”
Amelia responded, “You can’t get to me, but I have a plan. Did my father give you a pendant? If you don’t have it, you can’t help me.”
Kirito responded, “Yes, I’m wearing it. But how can you do anything when you’re tied up? How does this pendant help me help you?”
Amelia’s hands wiggled through her vine bonds and reached to her neck. She pulled out a flower like the ones around his feet. “Keep wearing the pendant and stand very still,” Amelia breathed steadily.
Kirito observed a small thin item slip out of her sleeve and into the new flower. Suddenly, a stabbing sensation blossomed in Kirito’s neck. He dropped to his knees and the screen darkened. Just as suddenly, the screen brightened to normal levels. Kirito checked his screen. Everything looked normal, but Amelia Grace’s health bar showed her as paralyzed now.
When Kirito tried to call out to her, there was no audio signal. His hands rose up, and clenched and flexed by themselves. His arm rose to his neck and pulled out a needle-thin blade from the back of his neck.
“You can relax for the moment, Mr. Kirito.” It was Kirito’s own voice, but he had not said anything. “If you want to talk, call up the message box.”
Kirito typed, ‘What did you do?’ He tried to move his arms and legs, but the program seemed to deny his actions.
“It’s Amelia. I used my pendant to hack your character. This needle is laced with doping nectar, producing body manipulation. I can control you to rescue me.”
Kirito typed furiously, ‘I could have come to you, while you spoke directions into the flower. You don’t have to steal my body.’
Amelia spoke again in Kirito’s voice, “That won’t work. Vocal flowers don’t work in water, and there are too many dangers in this swamp for swift responses. Relax, the possession process leaves no physical harm.”
Kirito fumed. He typed, ‘You could ask first.’ Lazily, Kirito’s arm pulled up the menu, and flipped through the inventory lists. Amelia changed his combat boots out for some simple sneakers and put away his Midnight Cloak. ‘Now what are you doing?’
Amelia explained, “I can control your inventory. Right now, I am accessorizing to make you light enough for the swamp; the alga drags anything that touches it underwater. Hey—why do you have two swords?”
Kirito banged out a harsh response, ‘THAT’S NONE OF YOUR BEESWAX! NOW GET THIS OVER WITH!’
“Fine. Watch and learn, human player.”
Amelia stood up and stretched Kirito’s legs, and paused for effect. She launched Kirito to the first boulder. Surprisingly, Kirito observed his body had a new grace and fluidity as Amelia piloted his body through a complex maze of sunken islands and marshy passages. No monsters appeared, but the setting sun put some pep into her step. Finally, Kirito’s body was just short of the center island.
“Okay, now for the monster slaying part,” Amelia whispered as she opened the weapon’s inventory. “I would have liked more throwing knives, but this will do, to get in close enough.”
Kirito scowled in his void. ‘Excuse me, but I just finished a boss fight. No time to resupply before I got swept into this rescue quest.’
Amelia equipped the white sword and a fistful of throwing spikes. She squatted down in Kirito’s body and dipped the spikes in the algae. The spikes suddenly took on a new poison ability. She noted, “The algae does have a toxic reaction to metal. Another reason to be light on your feet here. Now, I will either pin down or poison the vines, and then cut my body loose. Hopefully, I won’t have to cut the plant down.”
‘Whoa, why not? This thing could kill you and me!’ Kirito typed.
Amelia whispered, “The plant produces the alga that contains the ghouls to just the Malady Swamp. Otherwise, the whole level would be overrun.”
Kirito acknowledged, ‘Ok, level apocalypse would be nice to avoid. Keep it up, and let’s get out of this bog.’
Amelia armed and launched four shots. She marched onto the island and up to her own unconscious body. The blue Fly Trap was paralyzed, the tentacles flipping all over the island. Kirito’s sword arm swung the white blade; Amelia’s body slumped into the flowers. Sheathing the sword, Kirito’s body lifted the unconscious Amelia and slipped down the slope.
Kirito watched in awe as Amelia danced across the swamp with two bodies to balance. He even wondered if his own player skill could pull off such a feat. When Amelia reached the bog’s edge, Kirito suddenly felt a heavy weight on his shoulders. He was back in control.
Amelia’s petite body started heaving breaths. She wheezed, “Your turn, Kirito. Go out the way you came in.”
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