Goldenflame27

Far From Home

i

Far From Home

Alphard was quite surprised when Kazaro announced that they were all formally invited to join the Knights of the Blood Oath. These guys were the elite, the best of the best, the cream of the crop. They had been at every Boss Fight from the Town of Beginnings. Alphard was rather conflicted over the whole thing, though. On one hand, to even be asked to join the Knights was a huge honor. An honor she normally would have jumped on in seconds. On the other hand, did she really need to join the guild? Alphard had a partner now, one who had already stated his willingness to die for her if need be. A partner who was looking rather confused right now. Alphard slunk over to Jason and asked him what was the matter.

“Well the whole thing is rather confusing I must say!” the speedster responded.

Alphard put her arm around Jason’s shoulders and grinned a wicked grin. “It’s the whole Knights of the Blood Oath thing innit? I mean come on! They’re practically Arthurian and they have the same ideals as you mentioned that you have. You must be giddier than a schoolgirl at the thought of joining these guys.”

Jason laughed and shook off Alphard’s arm, “Nah milady, I don’t wanna join these guys. They already asked me to join them anyway. Yeah, one of Kazaro’s compatriots found me about ten floors ago and gave me the whole spiel but… I dunno. They seem to share my ideals on paper, but in practice… things are quite different. No, what I’m confused about is what’s up with this Fitch guy?”

Alphard’s grin froze on her face. “WHAT? You’ve already been asked to join the Knights? No, don’t answer that. I’ll just explain about Fitch and just forget what you said. Fitch was a member of our group before you joined and a beta tester to beat. Just before you joined us, we lost someone else. Her name was Yari and she was married to Fitch. It was really hard on all of us though; she was really the glue that held our group together. Ever since she died, Fitch has been…distant. He disappears a lot. I don’t know why he wasn’t invited to the Knights, but it’s pretty clear that it hurt him.” Alphard paused for breath and considered Jason with a raised eyebrow. “Here’s the real question though: are we going to join?”

Jason paused slightly before reminding Alphard that he would follow her wherever she went, so if she joined the Knights, he would as well. Alphard could tell that he was conflicted, though. She thought back to what he had said earlier: that, in practice, their actions were less… well knightly than they at first seemed. Despite the part that Jason played in Kenshin’s death, he was still the most honest, true, and trustworthy man Alphard had ever met. If he believed that it would be a mistake to join, then she would trust his judgment. Alphard nodded, mind made up. She turned to Kazaro and loudly announced, “Jason and I will not be joining the Knights of the Blood Oath. We intend on seeking our own truths in this world, not those set forward by Heathcliffe.” She bowed to Kazaro, “We mean no disrespect, but we want to find our own path. We won’t work against you or your recruitment of others. Indeed, we most likely will fight alongside you in future Boss Fights! But we do not wish to join your guild.”

Jason caught Alphard’s eye and gave her the slightest of nods, signifying that he was in agreement with all that she had said. Then he stepped forward and addressed the group as well, “We would also like to extend an invitation to any of you who do not wish to join the Knights. You may join us in our travels if you so please, for milady informs me that we will continue on the same path that we have already begun. We will continue to work alongside the Clearers and to take side quests in order to increase our chances of survival. We WILL get out of this hellhole. And we will do it with the strength of our own arms!” The last bit was said nearly at a shout. Clearly this was something that Jason believed in very strongly. With one final glance about the room, Jason turned to Alphard and inclined his head deeply. She smirked at his outburst and led the way out of the room. The two left and went to their separate rooms, spending the rest of the night contemplating the ramifications of what they had just witnessed and said.

Far From Home

It seemed to Jason that Alphard fought harder now than before Kenshin’s death. The two of them were locked in intense hand-to-hand combat with a group of marauding dungeon monsters reminiscent of a D&D campaign. The pair had actually even gone to an underground dungeon to, you know, dungeon crawl. The entrance had been hidden in Tarbinal’s catacombs, on the fourth level, behind a chrome and bloodstone sarcophagus. Not many others had been down into the monster-infested labyrinth yet, so the pair of warriors decided to be useful and map the dungeon while they were exploring. They hadn’t been in the dungeon twenty minutes before the first monsters came for them. A veritable horde of zombies surged from under a nearby arch and shambled menacingly towards them. Alphard drew her dragonbone shield and upgraded hand scythe and charged into the melee, calling out to Jason over her shoulder as she did so, “Cover me! I will take out the front lines, you clean up any that make it past me and protect my back.”

“Yes milady,” Jason responded and unlimbered his new weapon, a dragonbone maul topped with the neigh impenetrable ivory crown protecting Mordred’s head and with a grip made of the ebony flesh of the same beast. This new weapon was called <<Defiler>> and had a length and weight nearly equal to Jason’s old hammer. Indeed, the only real difference between the two tools was the overall look and stats. Moments later, Alphard purposely let an enemy past her whirling wall of blade and shield. The zombie seized the opportunity and opened its greasy maw wide to bite the woman. Imagine its dismay when all it got was a mouthful of maul. Later, Alphard tested Jason by unexpectedly calling for a switch whilst immersed in combat with a couple of particularly nasty wights. Jason complied, somersaulting over the first wight and braining it from behind before activating a sword art to brutally hammer the other into submission so that Alphard could deliver the coup de grace. Over and over Alphard set up difficult situations to test Jason’s ability to think on his feet and his willingness to dive into combat to help her. Over and over Jason unfailingly completed his duty; fighting where it was needed, healing at other times, and once even acting as a springboard so that Alphard could attack the enemies from above. He was the perfect picture of a loyal knight: loyal, brave, and true. And despite herself, Alphard began to feel for this man. Not in a romantic way. No, the wounds of Kenshin’s passing were too fresh for that. She felt for Jason as one feels for the great heroes of myth: Arthur, Diarmiud, Sun Wukong, and Sigurd. You always felt safer after you heard their stories, like they were there beside you, protecting you from harm. It was like having your very own Prince Charming looking over you. Quite touching when you stopped to think about it.

Several hours after setting out, Alphard called the mission off. She and Jason headed out of the dungeon, discussing their actions the whole way. Alphard informed Jason officially that she now trusted him and would accept his help as her personal knight and protector. Jason knelt before her and delivered unto her a solemn oath: “Ayano Nobunaga, I am now your personal knight. You will no longer fear evil, you will have no more need for anything in life, any problems that you have will be forgotten. I am yours as surely as if you had bought and paid for me. Do with me what you will.” He bowed his head and gave Ayano all of the loot that he had gained from their little excursion. She nodded and accepted his offer with the requisite solemnity. They walked the rest of the way to the shared inn in silence. When they got there, they noticed the mass amount of people at Suto’s room and decided to stop in for a visit. They showed up just in time to hear Suto greet Nero and a strange man with a dispassionate “That’s new, What’s up?”

Far From Home

Alphard sat on the edge of her bed in the small inn that had housed the whole team after Yari’s death. This home again housed Alphard in a great time of grief, though this time her sadness was much greater. Yari had been a great friend, but Kenshin was her husband. She had devoted her life to his happiness and to the happiness he could give her. She was so lost without him. Alphard’s scythe was gripped loosely in her right hand and the two iron rings in her left, as if weighing them against each other. She gazed down at the two set of items, tears streaming down her face, and let loose a soul-rending sob. “Oh god Kenshin, what am I supposed to do?”

“I was so lost when I got here, everything was a threat. The only way I could survive was to go back to my old ways, to embrace my old rage. Then, you came along and made it all go away. I still had to fight, but so does everyone in this world. I could let go of my issues and just be happy. And then we got married and I was happier than I ever have been in my life. It was…bliss. But now, you’re gone and I – I don’t know what to do. I just want to shut down and leave it all behind, like Fitch has. But I know that’s not what you’d do. You would continue to fight, to get out, to be free at any cost. You would make sure that the losses we’ve suffered weren’t in vain.”

Alphard swiped the back of her hand across her eyes and stood back up, sheathing her scythe on her back as she did so. She placed both iron rings on her left hand and made a fist. “The problem now is that I don’t know what to do with Jason. He’s kind following me around- I think he blames himself for your death. I, myself, still don’t know whether or not I blame him. I mean, it was him switching out while at full health that got you killed. But... at the same time, he really seems to want to make amends. I guess I’ll just have to test him in order to see if I can afford to have him at my side in combat.”

Jason stood outside the room with legs at shoulder width apart, his hammer resting headfirst on the ground and both hands folded on its pommel. He knew that Alphard was inside, doubtless consumed with terrible grief at the loss of her husband. A loss that was likely his fault. Well, he knew his duty as a knight: his life now belonged to Alphard. He was sworn to protect her in all her endeavors, to fulfill her every need. This would be no problem, as he was most likely a high enough level to deal with the vast majority of monsters on the surrounding floors Alphard would visit.

Just then, the door to Alphard’s room burst open and the grieving warrior herself strode out. Turning to Jason, she commanded in a strong voice, “Jason, if you are intent on following me, then get your gear on. We’re going hunting so that I can assess your true skills.”

Jason nodded and put on his armor. “As you wish milady, I am yours to command.”

Far From Home

After several hours spent fighting, Nero’s team had finally made it to the entrance of the dragon’s lair. In truth, it was much more dramatic than any of them had expected. A massive fissure had been carved in a soaring stone bluff. The entrance had clearly been carved out with massive claws, the blackened scrapes still evident in the rough stone. A large maroon banner bearing the same dragon crest as the horned knights’ armor was posted directly in front of the cave’s mouth and was guarded by two of the selfsame knights. Stopping well out of the knights’ attention range, the party settled in for the night and recounted the day’s various combats. Jason was leading the current tale, gesticulating wildly as he doled out some of his gathered food.

“D’you see how we beat those guys. I mean damn, we really handed them their asses on a platter. Those Shambling Corpse guys were pretty jenked up though, straight up freaky. Not that they were any big problem.” A wide grin split his face, “The way Nero took that one out, man. It was all like, ‘Imma eat your face, myeaah!’ N’ Nero just went, ‘Nope!’ and cut its freaky-ass head off! Beautiful!” Wiping tears of laughter from his eyes, Jason looked around the group and was met only with blank stares. “Uh, guys? You alright?”

Kenshin slowly shook his head, completely flabbergasted. “What the hell did you actually just say, Jason? I mean, I think it was Japanese, but I can’t be entirely sure. Care to explain?”

“Yeah, dude. It’s not actually Japanese, it’s English slang. Y’know the screen that came up when you first logged on with the Nerve Gear? With the language selection? Yeah, I chose the English option so it automatically translates for me. I hear English when you speak Japanese and you hear Japanese when I speak English.” Looking around the room again, Jason decided to answer the unspoken question they were all thinking. “Why? I’m from America- the state of Colorado to be exact. I moved to a small coastal town called Niigata in order to play SAO. It was supposed to be a Learning Abroad thing to begin with, but I suppose that I’ll be staying rather longer than originally expected.” This spawned a whole new conversation topic, of course, of the differences between Japanese society and that of the United States.

The next morning, all of the players once again prepared themselves and sallied forth on the quest. The two guardian knights were taken out with simultaneous Sword Arts from Nero, Kenshin, Alphard, and Jason. The team then moved into the cave and ran full tilt down the narrow passageway until reaching a wide open cavern covered with stalactites and stalagmites. Tsubu’s sister was in the center of the room chained to a massive stalagmite rising up from the floor. The room was strangely devoid of enemies, so the party stayed on guard the whole time. When they reached the young maiden, Kenshin slashed through the chains binding her and Tusbu ran forward to embrace his sister.

Suddenly, a section of the floor erupted in a massive column of blue-white flame. A gigantic black wyvern with a sheet of white bone over the crown of its head surged through the gaping hole and landed nimbly in the center of the room. According to the players’ HUD displays, this particular beast was named <<Mordred, Slayer of Kings>>. Oh well, Kenshin thought, it’s not like we weren’t prepared for a dragon. He and Alphard led the charge as usual, running straight at the monster and unleashing powerful thrusting Sword Arts. Both attacks were practically shrugged off by Mordred, which then swept both combatants away with a powerful blow from its tail. Jason used his unnatural speed to leap high into the air and bring his hammer down onto the dragon’s skull, striking chunks of bone away. Mordred responded with a swipe from its wing to send Jason tumbling. Upon landing, Jason instantly downed a healing drought. His light armor just couldn’t stand up to much more than a slight attack. Alphard turned to her teammates and called for a coordinated attack between Kenshin and Jason. While the two rushed in to comply, she opened her inventory and brought out her only medium range weapon: a javelin.

Alphard threw the javelin in a perfect arc, hitting the dragon in the head and flinching it. Jason took this opportunity to activate his most powerful Art, <<Gravity Crush>>. The Art began with a massive two-handed overhead blow. He then slid the hammer along the ground pushing the dragon backwards and lifting it up with great force. The Art finishes with another massive downward strike, this one executed during a jump. At the Art’s end, Jason called out for a Switch and Kenshin leapt forward for his turn at striking the dragon. This was doomed to failure, however, as the dragon knocked Kenshin away with a sharp head-butt.

Kenshin flew back and ricocheted off of the cave’s wall to land directly on the point of a stalagmite, impaling himself. His health dropped sharply and continued to drop steadily as he struggled to leaver himself off the stone spike. The stalagmite had penetrated too deeply, however, and if struck, was shown to be an <<Immortal Object>>. Mordred advanced slowly on the immobilized warrior, ignoring all of the party’s attacks. The same blue-white fire as before began to leak slowly from in between Mordred’s jaws. It was clear he was gathering energy for a flame-type breath attack, but none of the gathered fighters were able to flinch it away. Alphard and Jason changed their tactics and tried to run up the side of the imprisoning stalagmite to free Kenshin, but could only make it about halfway. So instead, the group was forced to watch on as Kenshin was consumed by the howling flames that burst forth from the dragon’s maw. When the flames died down, naught was left but the crystals of his essence falling slowly like a light snow. And a simple band of silvered iron, about the right size to be worn on a finger. Alphard caught the ring with a sob and fell to her knees. It should have dissolved along with the rest of Kenshin’s possessions. He must have slipped the ring off and cast it down at the last possible moment, while burning. Alphard hung her head and curled her entire body protectively around Kenshin’s ring and sobbed. She did not move until her friends informed her that the fight was over.

Jason looked over the items he had gained from the fight: a massive amount of col, enough materials to upgrade his weapons and armor several levels (or just forge a new set), and a decorative amulet with absolutely no stat effects. He had stayed true to his code. He had rescued the ‘damsel’. He had fought to the best of his ability. Why, then, did it feel as though he had abandoned all he stood for. No, he knew why. Kenshin had died because he had demanded a switch. He should have been more willing to take damage, to stand up to his adversaries without flinching. Jason looked to the grieving woman before him and made a silent oath: he would stand by this woman and ensure that she would never again feel pain.

---

The Real World

In the coastal city of Niigata, it was night. The moon hung full in a clear and cloudless sky against a backdrop of shimmering stars. The waves crashed against the shore in a soothing rhythm. It was summer, and the cool night breeze was enough to make even the hardest man sigh in contentment. The city’s largest hospital was silent, save for the quiet beeping of monitors and the soft hum of machinery. Room 266 held only two occupants that night. They were young adults, neighbors, according to their medical sheets. Both had severely atrophied limbs and overgrown hair underneath the Nerve Gear systems. The bed closest to the room’s sole window held a young man, long of limb and dark of hair. His form was still and calm, as if in sleep. It was not sleep, though, that stilled his body. It was the soft embrace of death. His heart would never again quicken at the sight of the woman he loved. His eyes would never again behold the beauty of the world. And his soul would never again grace the lives of those around him. Despite his passing, the man looked almost peaceful, as though a great burden had been lifted and he could now rest. By some random twist of fate, his monitors had inexpiably failed, as if to refrain from disturbing his slumber.

The bed next to his held the immobile form of a young woman. She still lived, though in the time to come she would often wish that it was she who had left the world instead. Her body was tense, as though straining to stop the passage of some inevitable occurrence. As her heart monitor slowly tolled its soft tone, a single tear slid from the corner of one closed eye and slipped down her face only to be caught and scattered by the cold and unfeeling material of the Nerve Gear.

And so the night passed on, undisturbed and pristine, crystalized in the silvery light of the moon above.

Far From Home

Floor 26 theme:

Far From Home

Finally, another quest! Both Kenshin and Alphard were absolutely ecstatic over the whole idea. They were in full agreement on the fact that one can only burn off so much steam on hunting without questing. Floor 26 of Ancraid was quite a beautiful place, modeled after a medieval castle town and surrounded by a primordial forest of epic proportions, but even such a magnificent city as Tarbinal could get constraining after a while. But then, to everyone’s surprise, Nero had come forward with a proposal for a quest. This quest would be different than nearly all of the others that the team had ever run before, mostly because of who they would be missing. Yari, the heart of the team. And Fitch, it’s muscle. Without these two, it was pretty unsure if they could actually function as a team. Hopefully, though, this mission would bring them closer together again.

And what a mission it was! According to Nero, the quest was titled <<Rescue the Damsel>> and was posted by an NPC found at the south gate of the city. Apparently, this young man by the name of Tsubu was out gathering food in the forest with his sister when seven huge knights in black armor emblazoned with the outline of a snarling dragon had attacked them and kidnapped the sister. Oh, and the knights had huge, twisting horns sprouting from their heads. Tsubu posted the quest as a plea for assistance from any strong team of four members or more. The team was offered any loot gathered from the knights themselves, and the likely cache at their hideout. It was obvious from the quest title and from the knights’ armor and visage that there would be a dragon involved at some point, so the possibility of even larger and more impressive rewards was great. The danger level of the quest would also increase dramatically with the addition of a dragon, but Kenshin, Suto, Luna, Nero, and Alphard were reasonably sure that they could take a dragon between them. Nero, especially was exceedingly excited about the chances of looting a dragon’s nest. Kenshin and Alphard had decided, with input from the others, that they ought to accept the quest now as it was unique and could only be done once.

So here they were, five heavily armored and armed warriors, carrying all manner of weapons and striding purposefully towards the south gate. When they arrived, however, there was already a young man at the gates and seemingly about to take on the quest. The man was short and lanky with long red hair tied back with a black cloth bearing gold lettering and an eyepatch over his right eye. The man wore a crisp white shirt under a black overcoat, grey dress trousers, and high black boots. Additionally, he wore four rings, a silver amulet, and a bejeweled silver armband on his left arm. All in all, it was a rather high-grade set of light armor with multiple stat-boosting accoutrements. The man sat on the pedestal of a statue depicting a knight riding a huge destrider, fiddling with a massive war hammer all the while.

“Shit! This guy’s jumping in and taking our quest,” Kenshin yelled. He and Alphard rushed forward to show the intruder the error of his ways. As they got closer, the stranger’s display came into focus. “What the hell? What kind of name is Icefang336? Is this dude an absolute idiot or something?”

Alphard shook her head in wonderment and skidded to a halt before the stranger. “Oi jerkwad, this here’s our quest, so bug off. We’ve been scoping out this quest for a while and we can’t have you simply waltzing in and taking it. Plus, you have to have your whole team here when you take the quest so they can all sign up.” As she thought about it, Alphard realized that there wasn’t anyone else waiting here with ‘Icefang336’. Was he planning on doing the quest alone? No way could he be that high-ranked!

Icefang336 blushed slightly and quickly stood up to address the now-gathered combat team. “Whoa there, lady! You can call me Jason. I’m not looking for trouble and I’m not part of a party taking this quest. I’m more of a loner looking to temporarily join a team just to take this quest.”

Kenshin scoffed. “Sure Jason, you just can’t handle this quest on your own so you’re gonna jump in with us so that you can get the reward!”

“No, no, that’s not it at all! I’m just doing this to help poor man, Tsubu! His sister was attacked and kidnapped, you know.”

Kenshin was completely taken aback. “What d’you mean it’s just to help Tsubu? He’s a kriffin’ NPC! He’s not even real. Some nerdy guy back in the real world decided it would be cool if there was a Middle Ages world and figured someone had to get kidnapped. It’s all just code! The NPC, his sister, and the guys who kidnapped her too!”

“NO!” Jason’s eyes flashed with sudden rage at Kenshin’s comment. “Here ‘NPCs’ as real as you or me! I can have a conversation with them, I can see them, I can reach out and touch them. Hell, I could even kill one if I so desired. This one wants help, and I’ve been raised to help anyone in need. It’s my code: A knight is sworn to valor; His heart knows only virtue; His blade defends the helpless; His might upholds the weak; His word speaks only truth; His wrath undoes the wicked. It was good enough for the knights of old and it’s good enough for me. If I need to go it alone and try to rescue the girl all by myself, so be it!”

Despite themselves, Kenshin and Alphard were moved. After some deliberation amongst the team, it was decided that Jason could join the team, if only for this one mission. The now-larger group accepted the <<Rescue the Damsel>> quest and set forth with Tsubu in tow. Some distance into the forest surrounding the castle town, Tsubu suddenly yelped in surprise and ducked behind a boulder. The seven knights warned of in the quest description appeared from behind some trees, drew steel and leapt forward in attack. Jason responded first by springing forth with far greater speed than any heavy-type ought to rightly develop. He slid spryly around the first knight and activated a Sword Art, snapping the enemy’s spine in three places with a single strike before spinning and decapitating it with one fell sweep of that massive hammer. He then sprang back before the attacking warriors could return the favor. Kenshin and Alphard worked together to methodically reduce the next warrior to miniscule glowing chunks. They called for the others to join the battle and held position until they complied.

Far From Home

ahhhhh yes. did I say villain? I meant ethically challenged individual with devious intentions...

Far From Home

Damn, you guys write a good villain

Far From Home

No problem.