Vexen walked down the generally busy town street, the virtual sky hanging above her as she glanced up and sighed a little to herself, remembering what it felt like to look up at the real sky and feel the warmth of the sun. It hadn't been very long since this virtual reality became a prison like hellscape, every one of it's unfortunate players forced to trudge on in hopes that they would survive long enough to make it to the end. Vexen wasn't even sure if she would even make it that long, a large number of players had already fallen just trying to get past the first floors dungeon, which definitely didn't make her feel confident about where she stood. But in the end, the important thing for her was to make the best out of what she was given, and besides, at least she wasn't alone in all of this. Her long time MMO partner Ecliptor, and surprisingly his girlfriend, were there to make the horrific trip a slight bit easier to handle, so there was a small silver lining.

It seemed that Vexen had been wandering around, not completely sure where she was headed and eventually found herself entering a small tavern. The tavern itself wasn't very busy, a few players scattering the tables. It was a pleasant atmosphere though, not surrounded by the hectic bustling of the outside and getting a little peace and quiet was certainly a nice break. Vexen sat down at one of the tables in the back corner, ordering a small drink and taking a moment to just enjoy the calm space, but it didn't last long as someone suddenly burst into the tavern, a look of fear plastered on their face.

"Someone, anyone! Please help! My friend and I were leveling out in the forest and we got separated, I can't find him anywhere!" The player spoke in a panicked and desperate tone, looking for anyone to stand up and help.

After giving the others in the tavern a chance to help, which nobody did, they all just stared at the hapless victim as if they were purposefully interrupting their drink, Vexen stood, hand placed on the handle of her large, two-handed blade, and spoke up.

"I think I can lend a hand." As the other player thanked her and began to take her to the location the missing person was last seen, Vexen pulled up her menu, going into the friends tab and messaging the only friend on that list, Ecliptor.

Got someone who needs a bit of help, could use some back up. Meet me in the nearby forest and bring anyone you think could lend a hand. I'll explain the situation when you get there. -Vexen

Running, laughing, and having fun. Two little kids running after each other in a field. "Victor, promise to stay with me always" Firefox stared up into the blue sky of this game that she was now apart of. She felt a tear roll down her cheek as she laid on the roof of the house where she lived with Vexen, Ecliptor, and her twin Brother (if they could ever find him). It had been about two months since she joined in the game and the day she did, was also the day her brother went missing. "Victor where are you" She whispered to herself. As she laid there she felt a slight breeze, she smiled and closed her eyes. It was amazing to her how real this game felt. She didn't know how long she laid there until she heard someone call her name. Sighing she sat up and looked over the edge of the roof at the person who called her name. "I am up here darling" She called. Her green hair flowing over her shoulders.

Firewolf woke up in complete darkness with his head throbbing. Having no idea where he was, he reached up to feel his head and felt something wet which he could only imagine was blood. "HELLO!" He screamed several times with no answer. FireWolf had no idea where he was or how long he had been there. The last thing he remember was getting into the fight with Ecliptor and walking far away then everything went black.

Ecliptor had been sitting in the living room of the house he shared with his girlfriend and his friend Vexen. He had been pondering everything that had happened since joining the game that now held them all captive. He had gotten into a fight with Lilliana's brother Victor. The worst part of that is that he couldn't even remember what about, all he knew is that he ran off and now no one can find him. Not to mention the next head of the multi-headed dick hydra that had become his life as of late he had managed to get his girlfriend trapped here too and her life was at risk every time they ventured out. Way to go Jackson, Not only did you lose her brother but you run the risk of getting her killed because she wanted to spend time with you doing something you enjoy. In the corner of his vision a small notification lit up, opening the menu Ecliptor saw that it was a message from Vexen asking him for some help. Well I guess we can't stay here forever. he thought as he stood and equipped his gear.
"Hey Lily!" he shouted trying to find his girlfriend who was somewhere around the house.
"I am up here darling." came her reply from the roof. Ecliptor grinned slightly as he made his way out to where she now lay.
"Vexen just messaged me, She says she has someone with her that needs help finding a missing player if you want you can come with me and we can go help." He said with a smile curious to hear her response. As he waited he pulled open his menu and shot Vexen a reply.

"At the very least I'll be there. FireFox might come too not sure yet asking her now."

Firefox smiled at her loving boyfriend. Even though she blamed him for her brother being lost, she still loved him and was willing to look past those issues to be happy with. She just wished that her brother was still alive and they would find him soon. She snapped herself out of her own thoughts when she heard him ask if she wanted to go with him to help Vexen and another player. The players partner or friend was missing. She frowned for a second then nodded and smiled.
"Sure lets go help" She said as she flipped off the roof and landed on her feet in front of Ecliptor. Giggling she kissed him on the cheek and ran inside the house to grab her Katana from the bedroom. Bouncing back out and linking her arms with Ecliptor.
"I am ready to go Jackson" She smiled sweetly at him

Smiling Ecliptor quickly kissed her cheek upon her return as their arms linked as they started walking toward the forest where Vexen had asked them to meet. While they walked through the town toward the forest edge Jackson continued to mull over the thoughts that had plagued him before finally looking to Firefox with a sheepish grin that faded into a look of hurt.
"Hey, I hope you're not mad at me for getting you trapped here, and before you say anything if it wasn't for me you and Victor probably never would have even decided to play SAO. For that I'm sorry and I'm going to do everything I can to make it up to you." he said in a bit of a rush still looking to her.

The two eventually found themselves in a clearing within the forest, the troubled player frantically searching the area, "The last place I saw him was right around here."

Vexen placed a hand on the player's shoulder, "Well now is not the time to panic. Stay here, I have a couple friends headed this way, I'll start searching." She didn't give them anytime to respond as she walked deeper into the forest. As the clearing vanished behind her, Vexen felt a creeping, dark atmosphere surround her. Something felt off, but she couldn't put her finger on what. Pressing further, the sound of life around her began to diminish, as if the virtual life within was frozen with terror.

In a brief search of the area, Vexen noticed scratch marks on a nearby tree. The marks looked to be those of a human, seemingly gripping the tree for dear life, before being ripped free and dragged into the darkness. A small distance from the tree, a few drag marks were spotted, which took Vexen into a smaller clearing and to the mouth of a cave. A deep, guttural growl drifted from the never ending blackness within the cave, causing Vexen to shiver. She stood at the opening, almost too afraid to step in, but after a deep breath and a tightened grip of her blade, she cautiously entered, her vision slowly fading with the low light.

Firefox stopped walking and looked up at Ecliptor. "Love I am not mad. I am upset but you know that. I have never had to fight for life this hard, and all I can think is I hope Victor is okay. He is the only blood family I have left. After mom and dad died we have been taking care of each other" She said with a sad look in her eye. Shaking her head she smiled "Lets go help Vexen" She started walking again. She stopped suddenly when she saw the forest they were walking towards. "Hey Ecliptor, isn't this the forest you saw Victor run into?" She said with a little bit of hope in her voice.

Ecliptor having been watching her the entire time they walked and talked stopped suddenly looking up. He couldn't remember where Victor had run off other than it was a forest but he didn't think this was it.
"It could be, It's been months since then so my memory is a little hazy," he said looking to the ground before looking back up and leading the way into the forest searching for Vexen. Eventually, the pair came across a clearing leading directly into the mouth of a cave. this cave worried Jackson but he figured that was where Vexen had gone.

There was a overwhelming silence surrounding Vexen as she sightless wondered the inside of the cave. A warm, humid breeze washed over her face causing the hair on her neck stand up. She immediately realized that it wasn't any normal breeze, as a low deep growl echoed with it. Vexen stood there, frozen in horror, her mind racing as to what could possibly be mere inches from her face. Vexen didn't get too much time to think about it, though, as something large and spiked slammed into her stomach, knocking all the wind out of her and launching her out of the cave and towards a tree. She slammed against the tree with a sickening thud as her health bar dropped by half. Her body slumped to the ground, her vision fuzzy from the pain.

Vexen looked up, seeing her two companions and pointed towards the cave opening, "I think I found what kidnapped the missing player." That's when a bulky silhouette emerged from the blackness of the cave.

The creature squinted as the virtual sunlight bathed it's face. What stood before them, wielding a massive wooden club, was a pale ogre. A rumored rare encounter on the first floor. This was going to be a rough fight. With what little strength she had left, Vexen pulled her self up, grabbing her swords handle and unsheathing the hefty blade. Standing in a battle ready pose, still shaking slightly as her body throbbed in pain, she called to her friends with a pain, yet determined expression, "Better watch yourselves, I don't think this thing will go down easily."

Firefox looked at Vexen and tossed her a healing elixir. "You are right this thing is not going down easy so all of us need to be at full strength" She said pulling out her Katana. She looked at Ecliptor wanting to say something but decided to keep her mouth shut. If you are in there brother I am coming for you. Just hold on a bit longer she thought to herself closing her eyes before opening them with complete determination to get into this cave. She rushed towards the creature only to get knocked back against a tree. Coughing and using her sword to stand back up. Looking up to see Ecliptor looking at her "Don't worry about me love lets just kill this thing" she said with short breaths "and see about my brother" she added under her breath.

Ecliptor watched Firefox fly through the air and moved to see how she was when he saw her standing up.
"Don't worry about me love lets just kill this thing," she said. He nodded and drew his sword moving as quickly as he could toward the ogre-like creature. I hope this thing goes down quicker than they're thinking he thought to himself.
"Vexen, come on! Let's do this partner!" he shouted over his shoulder as he blocked the attack of the ogre.

Vexen grabbed the elixir as it was tossed to her and drank it, throwing the bottle aside and allowing herself a few moments to recuperate from the injury. Her grip on her blade handle tightened a frustrated rage filling her. Everything's got to be difficult doesn't it? She thought to herself as she was finally able to stand on her feet without leaning against the tree.

She nodded at Ecliptor as he rushed in to block one of the Ogre's meaty swings, "Let's put this thing into the ground." Vexen lurched forward, kicking off the ground hard, gripping her blade with two hands. The blade began to glow as she let out a battle cry, charging up an attack and finally swinging hard and precisely. Given Ecliptor's distraction, Vexen's attack was able to land, carving a chunk out of the creatures side and dropping it's health bar a decent amount. She continued to follow through, sliding across the ground and positioning herself behind the massive creature. A few heavy breath left her lips as she took sometime to really access the situation, it definitely didn't look in there favor, but at this point running was not an option. "If we can keep it's attention shifting, we should be able to keep it busy enough to take it down." She called out as the Ogre reeled from her attack and turned preparing to swing a his massive club her way.

Firefox watched as Vexen moved around the creature. Watching the health bar go down but not fast enough. She pulled her last healing elixir out of her bag and drank it. Standing up she moved to where she was at the creatures back. She smiled as she jumped into the air two hands on her sword. Her sword stuck in the ogre's back and sliced down. The Ogre's health dropped almost into the red. "A couple more blows and this thing will be down" She yelled to Ecliptor and Vexen. Just keep hanging in there whoever is in that cave she thought to herself as shallow breaths escaped her lips.

Firewolf sat there on the cold dark floor of where ever he was. He sighed as he tried to pull up his menu with no luck. My darling sister where ever you are I hope you are safe and not in this death game. He thought to himself just has he heard foot steps and something clatter to the floor then the footstep were gone. Crawling to see if he could feel for what dropped his head hit bars. reaching his hands out touching the bars. He at least know some of where he was. He was in a cell or a cage of some kind.

Ecliptor grinned seeing his girlfriend soar through the air and took the opportunity to attack while the Ogre was distracted. Lunging forward dodging a blow from the creature's club Ecliptor stabbed his blade into the monster's belly and slashed upward and out of the creature's shoulder kicking off the creature's head and landing beside Firefox with a grin as the monster bellowed in pain.
"Vexen finish it!" he yelled noticing the health of the creature was nearly depleted.

Vexen placed her blade against the ground and breathed heavily, her grip tightening on the handle of her blade. This was it, time to put this behemoth down. She concentrated on controlling her breathing, her body was still, all of her focus was on the beast. The large ogre turned eyeing her down and let out a blood curdling roar as it's entire body began to glow a deep red. It seemed to be charging up some final attack, triggered by it's low heath bar. Vexen was ready for it, she had to be ready for it. Suddenly, with incredible speed, the ogre swung it's large wooden club overhead. Vexen was just barely able register the swing and roll out of the way, getting knocked off balance by the shock wave that followed the massive attack.

Now was her chance, correcting herself as quickly as she could, Vexen broke out into a full sprint, running up both the club and creatures arm. She kicked off the shoulder of the ogre hard, launching her a few feet above it's head. Lifting her two-handed blade over her head, she brought it down as hard as she could, letting out a cry of frustration and slicing open the ogre from the neck, all the way down it's torso, and finally slammed it full force into the ground bellow, digging the blade a few inches into the fake dirt. There was a small pause as the dust settled around her before the ogre burst into digital pieces and disappeared. Vexen stood up and the rewards window popped up, her breaths heavy. She looked over at her two comrades, giving them a single nod, speaking between her breaths, "The missing player should still be inside the cave." And with those final words, she sheathed her weapon and instinctively wiped her mouth, as if she was wiping away sweet.

Firefox jumped back as she watched this creature go down and dust settling around them. Standing up with heavy breaths accepted the rewards and looked into the mouth of the cave. She put away her weapon and saw Vexen nod but didn't hear what she said as Firefox took off running inside the mouth of the cave. "BROTHER!" She yelled as she was surrounded by the darkness of the cave. She knew it was stupid to run in without knowing what this death game had in store but at that persice moment she had not a care in the world other then to see if her brother was in this cave. I wish I had some light right about now She thought to herself. She stopped dead in her tracks when she heard a whimper of another player in the distance of the cave. "This missing player is in here" She yelled into the darkness hoping that her comrades heard her.