SAO :Guild of the Silent Knights :Ch 1

Chapter 1

         Floor 2, Forest of Darkness

Crap! This monster is tougher than I thought it would be. Its red gleaming eyes staring at me, its hand holding a wooden club that deals about 15 damage. The best part? I’m on level 10. It’s a level 13 monster. I have two health crystals left and my health is 15/135, while its health has gone down half-way and it took five health crystals to do that.

         I’m screwed.

         Panting heavily, I quickly think of a plan of attack and grasp my rapier. “Ok. If I dodge its next attack, then I can aim for its stomach. That way, its defense will go down.” I whisper.

         The scaly monster lifts its club and I quickly move over to the left, but it anticipated my move and strikes me right on the head, sending my body catapulting towards a big tree. My eyes are all blurry and my head is spinning like a top. I clutch onto my sword, but only grab air. I gasp, my eyes widening until it feels like they are being stretched beyond normal. With the monster slowly coming at me with my impending doom, I risk a glance at my health bar.

         Only 1/135! How am I still alive? I try to move, but I’m too tired and it’s agony to even move one muscle. I close my eyes, with one tear sliding down my cheek. Michael, Mom, Dad, I love you all. Suddenly there’s a blood curdling scream and they sound of glass shattering into millions of pieces. “Heal!” shouts a voice and I see my health bar zooming to its full health. Opening my eyes, I see the face of a young man. His brown eyes dark in the shadow of the tree and his brown-blonde hair shining thanks to the moonlight.

         “You okay there? You didn’t look so good.” He says smiling, his mouth slightly crooked. I blink and stare at him. Who the hell is this guy? I wonder, my face becoming stern. Is this jerk trying to flirt with me? Just because he saved me? I sigh and get up. Unbelievable. He offers me a hand. I look at it and wave it off, his warm hand smacking against mine.

“Thanks for the help, but I didn’t need it.” I say, finding my rapier and coolly put it into my sheath. I turn around and face the boy.

         Over all, he’s pretty tall and skinny although quite attractive. His face is of confusion and shock. “Well, to be quite honest, you looked like you needed it.” I cross my shoulders and give him a stern look.

“I was handling this perfectly, until you came along. I knew my tracking instincts picked up something nearby, and the monster probably did too, which is why he hit my on the head instead of hitting the ground where I was before, because someone distracted his attention.”

         The teenager looked confused, then started to suppress a smile, and eventually began to laugh, his voice ringing into the night. At first, I was surprised, my eyes slightly widening, then they started to turn into cold serpent like eyes, evaluating the stupid hyena in front of me. Wiping a tear from his eyes, he got up and smiled.

“You must be talking about the rest of my party. Yeah, Frik is one heck of an idiot when it comes to being sneaky.” Having heard enough of his poorly excused story, I marched across the clearing and slap his stupid smug face. His head turned sharply to the left from the impact, and he fell down onto the ground.

         The moment I did, about three more players jumped up from behind the bushes fully dressed in armor with shields, weapons, and a deadly look in their eyes. I grab for my sword and swish it out of my sheath and get into my attack mode, ready for a midnight shuffle. The boy gets up and motions with his hand to move away and calm down.

         “It’s fine guys, it’s fine. She didn’t know that you were right there.” I turn to face him and signal to him that I want them to back down. Nodding his head, he turns to his friends, his face serious, but calm and firm.

“Frik, drop the shield and mace and get out some food and water. Niciklog, help Jaeit set up camp for the night.” He commanded, his voice more like a five star general than a teenager. One of them, a tall teenager with short blonde hair, put down his weapons and sat down, taking his bag out and scavenging for supplies. That must be Frik. Kind of skinny. I think, turning to look at the boy in front of me. Almost like this jerk. The other two, both shorter than the others, one with black hair and one with brown hair, put their things by a nearby tree and started to take out a tent.

         “Hey, Yokii! What about her? Is she a prisoner now?” shouted the boy with the black hair, a wide grin across his face. The boy next to him got up and slapped him behind the head, causing the black haired boy to stumble and fall into thick mud.

“Don’t be so perverted, Jaeit. Besides,” he said, trying to contain a laugh, “you wouldn’t stand a chance since you look like you’ve been covered in shit!” The boy named Jaeit got up from the mud, his face turning red and his fists shaking.

“I swear to God, say that again and I will personally punch each tooth out of your mouth. One. By. One.” The brown haired boy, at this point, was laughing so hard, that he had to bend over and grab his stomach in order to not fall down. Frik was also laughing and Yokii was smiling a little too.

         “Okay then Niciklog, you’re on.” Said Jaeit, bringing up the menu and pressing a few buttons. Suddenly, Yokii’s smile vanished and was replaced by anger and a frown. He rushed over to the two boys and shoved them both away.

“Niciklog, you better not accept that duel.” Niciklog looked confused and upset.

“Why not? It’s a free online world, right?” he says, pushing Yokii to the side and reaching for the accept button. Yokii then grabs his hand and pulls Niciklog away.

“You idiot. Have you completely forgotten the orders from the commander? We aren’t supposed to mess around on our free time. Instead, we have to try to gain more experience and raise our levels, right?” he asks, squeezing his arm even harder. Niciklog shouts a little, but tries not to show much pain.

Instantly, I move as fast as I can and shove the tip of my sword to the barrier of Yokii’s skin, not even causing his health to go down, but ready to if I want to. Frik and Jaeit get up with their weapons in hand, ready to defend their party’s leader if they have to. Giving them all a look, I make sure they know that I’m not shitting around. Turning my attention back to the confident leader, I warn him about hurting anyone.

“This is a human being. Sure he it might be data, but he still feels pain in real life as well as in this one. What if it was you, huh? Would you want it to stop, or would you feel nothing at all? Do you feel the pain and agony inside as well as out, or is it just feelers in the system that sends messages to your brain, telling you what to and what not to feel? You tell me the answer.”

Yokii’s eyes were determined to not show fear, but I have seen fear in eyes a couple of times, and his wasn’t showing any. Despite my surprise, my blue-gray eyes held firm and I did my best to show no weakness. Finally, he spoke.

“I do feel pain. But when you’re stuck in a living hell like this, you have to do your best not to show it.” He spat out, his eyes dark. Cold. Unfriendly. Slowly, I made my sword retreat into its sheath and I step back, causing tension to lessen a little, but the boys were still on edge. I stare at the leader, my eyes as cold and unfriendly as his.

“You have a point.” I say, taking a couple of steps backwards. “It’s a good thing you choose the right answer. Otherwise, the ending could have been a little bit more… unfriendly.” I slither out the last few words, turn and run into the forest, my legs shaking and my heart pounding from fear and anxiety. I hear Yokii shouting an order and then the sound of distant footsteps follow me, another sound of my impending doom.

God. Freaking. DAMNIT! I’ve had enough of this crap for one night. I grab a blue block of crystal and shout out, “Teleport: Perostle!” and I feel my body being lifted into the sky. Closing my eyes, I hear the sound of the teleport crystal working its magic, open my eyes and find myself in a little courtyard.

Looking around, I run behind the stone sign, which states which floor I’m on, crouch down and hide. Catching my breath, I hear the sound of someone else teleporting into the peaceful town of Jeders. Holding my breath, I quietly access the menu and use my camouflage skill to hide, which also prevents me from being seen if they decide to use their tracking skill.

“Damnit! Hey, do you see her?” There’s a slight pause of silence, and then a reply.

“Yeah, she was here alright. She went south, towards the clock tower. Com’on, Yokii’s gonna kill us if we don’t find her.” The sound of footsteps going away is a perfect sign of success. Peeking over the side of the sign, I can see Frik and Jaeit running towards to clock tower, opening the door, and going inside. Slowly, I get up and make my way towards the teleporting station.

Moving a piece of my brown hair away from my face, I turn to face the stone sign and say, “Teleport: Hadia’s Fields!” Smiling, I feel the light coming again, preparing to lift me into the dark night. Only this time, I keep my eyes open and stare once again at the sign. Finally. I can go home in peace. I close my eyes in tranquility, until my eyes burst open. “Crap! I’m late for the dinner service!” I shout.

When the blue-white light vanished, I am in a little town, the town of Yetler. Sprinting across the dirt road, all I could manage to think was, Ebony is going to talk my fucking ass off, again!

~~~~~~~~~~

Floor 4, The Farmer’s Rake tavern

By the time it’s almost midnight, I manage to make it to a little tavern, The Farmer’s Rake. Creeping past the side of the building, a little girl is leaning on the side of the wall, looking back and forth every ten seconds. She looks about twelve years old and has brown hair in side pigtails, with purple ribbon holding them up. In a little purple dress, she is small and juvenile, but she’s holding a small dagger in her hands for protection. Finding me, her warm brown eyes sparkle and a little smile is shown on her face. She runs to me, grabs my hands and pulls me towards the door.

“Thank God you’re ok. Ebony is freaking out with you not here!” she says, staring at me while I try to catch my breath, her eyes noticing every detail. “Where were you? You look like you just faced a bunch of wolves!” I glance up at her, her little freckled face red because of the cold. I sigh, get up, open the menu, and change into my waitress dress, a knee high blue dress with long white sleeves. Although it’s meant for work, it has some defense in case a fight breaks loose in the bar.

“I guess you could say that I did face a bunch of wolves, Lilica.” I mutter, replacing my sword with my waiting tray. “Well, either way, you’re late!” shouts a voice. Startled, Lilica and I turn around to see a shadow blocking the door to a kitchen. Marching towards us, a girl about my age with light brown hair braided together walks towards us, her braid silky and smooth as it sways back and forth. Hands on her hips, her brown eyes are like stone, not friendly and not someone to mess around with.

“Where have you been? The dinner rush just ended, and all of the tables need to be cleaned up! Lilica and I are exhausted and need a break. When we tried to look for you, you weren’t here! So tell me,” she says, grabbing the front of my dress and pulling me towards her flaming face. “Where. The. Hell. Were. You?” she spat through clenched teeth, her hands shaking from anger. Sighing, I waved her hand to the side and moved past her.

“To be honest with you? It’s none of your concern. I just went out to get some extra cash and items. Is that such a big deal? No!” I say, looking at the teenager in the little red dress. God, I hate the fact that she’s so stubborn. She should learn to cool it a little. I walk through the doorway and about to turn into the kitchen, when she speaks again.

“I hope you remember that you are here to pay off a debt, right? You used to owe me Ⱪ 980,000, and now you still owe me Ⱪ 589,000. You still have to work, missy.” She says, her voice like claws on a chalkboard, at least to my ears. I stand there, trying my best to not turn around and punch her in the face. Instead, I turn around and smile.

“Ah, right! I was wondering about how much I owe you. Sorry Ebony, I’ll come earlier next time and I’ll work even harder.” I exclaim with fake, but realistic sounding enthusiasm. I walk into the building and close the door before Ebony or Lilica can reply. I am soo sick of this outhouse. I walk into the kitchen, and start on cleaning the dishes, the light above, the thoughts of Yokii’s face and his words hammering my mind as the moon watches over me after another long hard night.