Somewhere across the universe, in a meadow filled with dandelion seeds following the summer breeze and birds chirping in full melody, a couple spent their day off cozying under an oak tree. With their weapons at rest, it didn’t hurt to have their hands intertwined for a little while. Cloud conversations were their main focus at the moment.
Several topics had given them a few surprises and laughs, especially the story about a rookie warrior who tried slaying a [Cave Boar] with their starting iron sword. Their hide was tougher than fifty layers of kevlar, not that one of them describing it that way would make it less of a low-rank enemy.
“Did you hear about the recent reports, honey?”
“No, but if it’s about how much everyone loves your hair, I’ll gladly do that a million times more.”
“Oh, please, don’t make me laugh again. If that dude were here, he’d call this world ‘Blade Craft Online’ out of spite and mock how we look even further.”
“Well, annoying as it was, I’m starting to see why he said those things. So, what are the reports this time?”
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Hajime hit his head quite hard on the floor, or at least that was how he rationalized the aftermath of the nightmare chase throughout the cosmos. Whatever hellish creature it was, the mission became quite interesting. All he could remember in those last moments before lights out was yet another familiar snap.
“Motherfucker…” he said, stretching his neck until the crack of satisfaction. “Thank God that bastard saved our asses when we needed it, right, guys? Guys?”
Awkward would be a grave understatement for now. Hajime couldn’t catch a whiff of either Farkas or Paulie anywhere, even as he paced toward the bar section with a limp. He wished he could say everything would be okay like in the ending of a sci-fi film, but his salty-wet forehead told otherwise. He was scared—scared and alone.
No. No, no, it can’t be! With his heart rate matching that of a rabbit in heat, he raced through the contacts in his phone. He never would’ve guessed he had access to numerous players he never met, including not only the king and his Seven Miracles but a recent entry: the Lucky Strings.
Curiosity got the better of Hajime, seeing how there was no way it didn’t list his friends, too. Sure enough, his conscience proved him right, and he didn’t waste time calling Farkas first with a mantra of endless worry begging him to pick up the signal. He didn’t care if they were two universes apart; he needed to know.
“Come on, come on. Say something!” A few more minutes passed, but his resolve had yet to waver until he heard the voice of an equally worried Lupinian uttering his name. “Yes, finally! Jesus, man, I thought I needed a new team from now on.”
“Same, dude,” Farkas replied with a surprising clarity at the other end of the line. “Paulie is with me, thankfully, but he’s scouting the place we ended up in. Any idea where you are?”
Hajime chuckled in relief, returning to the cockpit’s seat. “I was about to ask the same. According to these charts, the Spruce Goose is still heading toward Swordland. How about you guys?”
“Honestly, it’s quite depressing. Everywhere I look, it’s all just empty buildings lying around. The sky is pretty gray, too, and the only plants I see are moss.”
“Interesting. Don’t get your brains eaten by the undead, all right? You never know if they can open doors.”
Farkas shared the laughter before calmly responding, “Stay safe, dude. The mission is in your hands now, so don’t make enemies everywhere you go. I would’ve loved to meet your two other friends because—”
Hajime asked hello at least three times before the other line ceased in a glitching noise. Now that he noticed it, the sound pervaded the karaoke section and then into the radio. Fearing another chase from that foul entity, he checked every camera in the ship, including the bottom, but found nothing.
Although his fright vanished ever so slightly, his confusion only increased. He did notice, however, that the front camera began to show an unmistakable planet of blue and green. The only difference between this and good old Earth was a phenomenon he learned in prehistory class—a supercontinental green surrounded by blue. In other words, it was awesome.
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The noise in the radio began to disappear, and as though a virus had infected the device, it played a peculiar melody. It had an epic vibe right out of a TV show about elves and sorcery, but more importantly, the melody’s title was too on the nose:
NOW PLAYING Swordland - Yuki Kaijura
Wait a minute. I know this tune. Hajime caressed his chin, wondering why it took him ages to figure out what kind of world he’d soon deal with. It came from a mile away, recalling the king’s words about their rule system. It wasn’t a melody fit for elves. It was fit for a lone gamer who suddenly mastered dual-wielding, the one term that stuck with him throughout the mission.
Despite the realization, he tried his best not to burst into peak hilarity, knowing the two lovebirds in their inevitable reunion. If there was a pantheon in this reality, he could say the gods had a sense of humor. “Oh, Haruto, how I’ve missed you. You too, Tokiwa. Here’s hoping your kendo has paid off.”
Hajime never liked the show where this track came from. It made him stick out in the NicoNico comments praising its so-called “ingenuity,” but it was nice knowing how many Western reviewers shared the same complaints. Then again, he might be a hypocrite and a half on the subject, considering the jackpot powers he acquired. Not many could summon a burger and cola at will, after all.
“Ah, that’s the stuff.” Hajime finished his meal like an infant without a bib. Thankfully, no stain of ketchup or mustard had befallen him, just crumbs and sesame seeds. He needed to be presentable for Swordland no matter what, but as he dusted his shirt clean, the radio glitched again.
Several voices echoed amidst the grainy noise, but Hajime couldn’t tell if they even spoke a single phrase of English. Looking back, it was strange how he gained such fluency in a tongue that gave him too many failed tests. Still, whatever they mumbled about, it only began to sound English in the end, albeit with a heavy rhotic accent.
“Dad, I told you! General Theo wants us to play the new welcome song. Poor bastard must’ve thought we live in magic huts or something.”
“All right, my wee lass, all right. I just missed the old worm in my ears, really.”
“…you only listened to it three days ago.”
And so, another melody played around the ship. Hajime never heard one note of it at any point in his previous life, but it had a pleasant, upbeat kick. The intro of electronic strings even complimented the clouds surrounding him, almost as if it prepared him for a place like no other. Once again, the title was fitting:
NOW PLAYING Adventure of a Lifetime - Coldplay
He admitted that nothing could’ve prepared the thrill in his heart anyway. Now that the Spruce Goose was out of the stratosphere, he witnessed what the lyrics would describe as everything you wanted as a dream away. The sky alone teemed with birds sporting a lucid array of feathers, only to fall prey to several dragons from below.
It wasn’t like they had wings for arms like many modern iterations. These mighty reptilians bore claws as thick as tree trunks on each of their four legs. Some breathed the iconic flame of mass destruction, while others breathed the same lightning that flowed through Hajime’s veins. Suffice it to say he felt at home already.
The sprawling plains and hills weren’t anything to ignore, either. Everywhere his gaze fixed upon, the land showed a vein-like network of rivers, glistening under the morning sun as his heart couldn’t prepare again for what came next. He expected more palette-swapped dragons and maybe some unicorns, but not this.
A turf war between lions, tigers, and bears broke out, distinguished only from their Earth counterparts by their fur of respective bronze, silver, and gold. The grazing wildebeest sprinted as far as they could, disturbing the fish beneath their hooves. Despite the reasonably ordinary creatures in Swordland, they all had a role to play.
Hajime chuckled at the scene, the screen now zoomed to its limit. “Holy shit, there are unicorns!” he exclaimed, seeing a herd of them join the wildebeest. However, he’d forgive himself for believing they were merely zebras with horns based on the stripes on their undersides.
He began to understand a similar pattern with Swordland. Like Agrima, it had two mingling aspects in harmony. If Agrima had nature and modernity together, this world would have fantasy and mundanity. It wasn’t entirely groundbreaking, but still a breath of fresh air nonetheless.
The thrill in Hajime’s heart didn’t stop at any point once he zoomed out. In fact, his jaw might as well have fallen off. A white city loomed over the horizon, built around a marble sculpture of an arm wielding a blade, scraping the heavens with its tip.
image [https://i.imgur.com/V7ehlLa.jpeg]
“Oh, man, things are just getting more interesting. I can’t wait to see their faces.”