“Fraizure”—Speech
“Fraizure”—Thought
<
Fraizure—Whisper
Fraizure—Announcement
Chapter 1: Starting Anew
“Yo! Takasu you gonna log on today?” I grinned as I jogged up to my friend
It was a beautiful crisp fall afternoon. Students milled out of the school yard eager to get home to finish their homework. Or like myself eager to throw on our Nervegear and dive deep into a whole other world.
“You know it! I’ve waited two damn months for this game to reopen, do you really think I’m going to miss it?” Takasu had a rare excited face on for once, but it quickly fell back to his bored expression
“My god he actually showed emotion.” A feminine voice teased from behind
“I show emotion all the time, Aiyumi.” Takasu scoffed as he turned around and made his way home
“Oh I’m sorry.” Aiyumi mocked bowed “I just never happen to be around when you do.” She giggled “So Satoshi you gonna go with that absurd duel wielding class again?”
“Why of course!” I bowed humbly, while walking “It’s multifunctional as a tank and intense dps class. Why would I choose otherwise?”
“Oh I don’t know…….” Takasu drawled “Because that class is a huge pain in the ass. I don’t know how you can handle it.” He gave a teasing smirk over his shoulder at me “After all your physical endurance isn’t exactly stellar now is it?”
I laughed and socked his shoulder “Nah the system helps a lot, but I do agree it was hard at first but once you look past that it’s actually quite fun, besides once you hit level 35 you can choose a dual spec. I was thinking of trying the Martial Artists class.”
“You’re joking right?” Aiyumi looked at me questioningly “That class is purely combo based and takes away your range. At least swords still give you some distance.”
“Yeah but what happens when the enemy gets too close?” I raised a finger to emphasize my point “You guys read the latest patch right? It said the dual spec would be combined with your current class.”
“Yeah yeah I read it.” Takasu acknowledged with a sigh, waving a hand in dismissal “Do whatever you want, it’s your skill set.”
Aiyumi shrugged in defeat while I raised a fist in victory. This was just another banter, back and forth with all of us. We’ve been friends since high school started, all of us from different backgrounds, and schools in general. When we met, despite our likes and dislikes, we all got along just fine. It helped that we all had the same classes for the first year. Though our second year was different given our career choices. I was aiming for game design, Aiyumi going the writer’s route, and Takasu was working his way up to be an engineer. Right now, all of us are hyped to play the game that we all scored a beta test for; Sword Art Online.
My name is Satoshi Eston, and I’m half American and half Japanese. Unruly black hair, hazel eyes, and just under six feet tall even. To anyone looking at me I looked pretty average, and that was fine I didn’t really care. I had excellent grades, then again in our group of friends that didn’t really matter since all of us did. I also lived by myself given my parents were always out around the world taking care of family, and their jobs. Though they were coming home this evening for a bit, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to play beforehand.
Aiyumi Alcaland was full Japanese. She ‘had’ long chestnut hair, brown eyes, and was just about the same height I was, a rarity in Japan. Though believing she, like myself, was perceived to be average. Though there are some rumors that beg to differ. She lived by herself, she wanted independence and constant arguments at home pushed her away.
Then there’s Takasu Carter half Greek and half Japanese. He kept a shaved head most of the time, but his hair was black, with intimidating ice blue eyes. A taste in clothing along the lines of punk and retained a bored attitude. A quirk of his were witty comebacks that took a minute to fully sink in. He lived by himself, his parents being enormous control freaks of the religious variety. It tended to leave them at each other’s throats more often than naught.
Despite all of this we came together and made some incredible memories. Originally, I pressured my friends into applying for a beta test key. Shockingly we all won in the giveaway from hundreds of thousands of players in Japan. With the free NerveGear, and copy of Sword Art Online we dove into the virtual world expecting wonders…… Boy did it deliver. If I hadn’t known it was a game I would have for damn sure thought it was the real thing. The one thing that changed in the very beginning was the introduction of the ‘Class’ system. All of them were weapon based, and there were no healers in this game. I always found it odd, but hey I’m not the designer yet.
We all chatted more about how we were going to tackle the game when we arrived at our split off point. A simple three-way street, that was how we all met. It was amazing how something so simple could bring three different types of people together.
“Well guys I’ll see you in Aincrad!” I said with barely contained excitement, grinned and took off down the middle
“See you there!” Aiyumi hollered back with a smile and took off straight down the left-hand path.
“See you then!” Takasu shouted off and ran to his apartment down the right-hand path.
. . .
When I arrived at home I quickly opened the door, and shut it with a lock. Making sure, of course, the spare key was outside for my mom and dad. They both knew it was the release day so they were expecting that. I looked at my watch and saw I still had ten minutes before the servers went live. I decided to eat something before I dived, and fixed myself a quick sandwich. Eating on my way to my room I checked my phone one last time to make sure I had checked all my notifications.
As I got myself positioned on my bed staring at the ceiling. I eased the Nervegear onto my head and already felt the beginnings of the draw into the Virtual World. I closed my eyes, feeling the suspense in the air. Now was the time. I opened my eyes to see the clock click from twelve fifty-nine to one.
“Link Start!” I called out, and the world faded from around me.
. . .
I sighed and began messing with the characterization settings once more. I really wish I could have kept my previous game data, character creation was always my least favorite thing. I set the looks to mirror myself as best as I could, and then moved on to class selection. There were plenty to choose from but I quickly went to my favorite one, Dual Wielding.
“Why hello there old friend.” I chuckled and looked at my avatar as two scabbards appeared on its back. “Well time to get going.” I typed in my character name quickly using my beta name ‘West’. “There, that should help them find me. I wonder if they used their old beta names too.”
I clicked accept, and the world went dark around me. The next thing I saw was a bright light, and I closed my eyes feeling weightless for a moment, before I felt solid ground again. I opened my eyes, and stared out around me. I couldn’t help but smile at the familiar scenery. I was, no, we were finally back in our favorite game once more.
The familiar cobblestones laid beneath my feet as I gazed at the high reaching walls of the Town Square. There were already hundreds of players milling about testing their movement in the Virtual World. I could see a few players running towards vendors or gates out in the distance. I figured they must’ve been Beta Testers or at least people who read forums on the game.
I stretched my limbs a bit to get a feel for the new weight on my shoulders and nodded in approval. Gazing around looking for a familiar face, I wasn’t that successful. Didn’t surprise me, considering that when we first start you spawn random. So I headed to the place we agreed to meet, the first boar field to the left outside the Town of Beginnings.
Deciding to take my time, instead of running. No big hurry to do much, but I was itching to try out my sword skills a bit. I waved my hand in front of myself and the menu appeared. I gazed through my current abilities list <
As I walked, I gazed at the horizon. It was absolutely beautiful, and breathtaking. Pillars of stone lingered off in the distance being the foundation of Aincrad, the Iron Castle. There was also one, that pinpointed where the dungeon was to find the floor boss. Other than that the field was plenty open, with an occasional piece of land that was supported by another connecting piece of structure. It was just awesome to take it all in, all of this was game data that I would be working with, and it was astounding.
“Well well if it isn’t the ever empty minded West.” A familiar voice said rather close
“Gah!” I yelped, breaking me from my sightseeing, and looked at the two new players on my sides “Oh it’s just you guys, and how did you know my character name was ‘West’?”
“Really what else would you use?” The girl player laughed “We used our old ones too you know.”
“I figured as such.” I laughed, and sent a friend request followed by a party invite which they both accepted “You guys look similar to what you did last time.”
“Well yeah we like our old styles.” The male player responded
We all laughed a good laugh, and I took a moment to gaze at our party list it read “West, Luna, and Tycha…… yep, same as last time.”
I looked over at Tycha again, and noticed two square shields on his arms “So the ‘Bulwark’ class huh? Same as last time.”
“Yeah it kind of grew on me, after all the best defense is sometimes the best offense.” He smirked and folded his arms
I gazed over to Luna, and smiled at the sword at her hip “Samurai if I’m correct?”
“That you are.” Luna grinned, and folded her hands behind her head “and then there’s you with your Dual Wielding.”
“Oh come off it.” I waved her off “I didn’t give you guys crap for your chosen classes, so don’t bother me about mine.”
“Whatever.” Tycha shrugged “Like I said, it's your choice none of us have a say.” I waited for him to continue waiting for the insult “That’s it no insult geez rude much?”
“That’s a first.” I muttered and smiled again “Any ways you guys ready to get some Col in our pockets?”
“Sure! I’ve been itching to fight anyway.” Luna grinned
“May as well. What time do you have to log by the way?” Tycha looked over at me
I waved it off, turning around heading into the boar hunting field “I got a good four hours or so before their home so I’m good.”
With that out of the way we made our way to the first boar hunting field. As we approached the field we found it occupied by a group of five. One guy was confronting a boar while the others watched. Though it seemed they had amused grins on their faces. The guy facing the boar had a Samurai sword like Luna but was holding it completely wrong. He was wearing red armor, and a red headband. He also had light red hair that was rather long and fancy, maybe a bit too fancy. We decided to watch and see what would happen.
The boar charged at the man again, and the man decided to charge on his own not even using a sword skill “YAAAA!!” He yelled and ended up getting rammed in the stomach and thrown back.
His friends burst out laughing, and we couldn’t help but chuckle a bit. We couldn’t necessarily say anything considering that we, well, were the same as him at one point. That’s when we decided to make our presence known.
“You know it helps if you use a sword skill.” I call out, catching their attention. They turned to face us
The guy on the ground grunted and looked our way, picking himself off the ground “We know that, but it won’t work for me.” He complained
Luna giggled a bit “It helps if you hold the sword right of course.”
The guy noticed that there was a girl and charged forward “Hello! My name's Klein, age 24, and single and I’m oof!” He was cut off by two solid punches by me and Tycha, considering it wasn’t a skill we weren’t flagged so that was good “Hey what was that for?!”
“You sure know how to make an entrance boss.” One of them from behind chuckled
“Sorry but being her friends…” I trailed off
“We have to make sure you meet our approval.” Tycha finished with a stare
“Geez guys I was only joking around.” Klein rubbed his stomach “So what’s this about me not holding the sword right?”
I looked over at Luna and she nodded walked over to face the boar, before she spoke “In SAO you have to match certain position requirements, or movement requirements to be able to activate the sword skill.” She took a stance holding the sword with both her hands, in the correct position, and it began to glow orange “Once you activate the sword skill the system will practically guarantee you a hit on your enemy. For example” the boar started to charge her “This skill is <
“That didn’t seem to do much though.” One of the others in the group, said aloud
“That’s because <
As if on cue the boars health started to deplete leaving only a small sliver left, and Luna looked over at Klein “Now all you have to do is finish it off. Try using <
Same hold, but point behind and swing up Klein whispered to himself, and held his position. His sword began to glow green. With a grin Luna dodged the boar and it went charging at Klein. “YAAA!” Klein ran forward with the aid of the system, and swung upward, slicing clean through the boar. He looked behind himself and shouted “I did it!”
“Congratulations.” I clapped and walked over to him with a grin, and gave him a high five “Though just so you know that boar is the equivalent, most slimes in other games.”
Stolen novel; please report.
“What no way!” Klein’s jaw dropped “It had to be a mid-level boss or something!”
“You wish.” Tycha chuckled and pointed to where two more boars spawned “There’s your proof.”
“Well that’s embarrassing.” Klein scratched his chin sheepishly
We all busted out laughing. It was funny that we all could get along this well without really knowing each other, but that was what I called the miracle of games. It could bring people together just as much as it could push people apart.
After calming down from our laughing I looked over at the others “So what classes are you all?”
“I’m a ‘Berserker’ class.” The big guy said with a smile
“We’re both the ‘Knight’ class.” A guy with a stocking cap piped up, with another one wearing a red bandanna under his arm with a smile
“Then there’s me and him the ‘Spearman’” the last guys with shaggy brown hair, and the other with fire red hair.
“and last, but surely not least, The ‘Samurai’” Klein jerked a thumb to himself, and then turned around to his comrades “Hey guys you forgot to give them your names.” They all shrugged “Geez” He pointed to the big guy “He’s Dale.” He pointed to the ‘Knights’ “That’s Dynamm, and Harry One.” And then pointed to the two spearman “and those two are Issin, and Kunimittz.”
“Pleasure to meet you.” I nodded “I’m West, ‘Dual Wielder’” and then pointed to Luna “This is Luna our ‘Samurai’, and” and I pointed over to Tycha “That’s Tycha our ‘Bulwark’.” They nodded in greeting with a grin
“No way you chose ‘Dual Wielder’?” Klein said in surprise, and the rest of his group had the same look
“I heard that class was a pain in the ass to use.” Dale said with hand on his chin
I put on a fixed expression as I heard both Luna and Tycha trying to contain their amusement “Yeah I’m well aware but I’ve played it enough before and it’s not as bad as people make it.”
“Wait played it before?” Klein said confused “No way are you guys Beta Testers?”
“Yeap three of the lucky thousand.” Tycha smirked
“No way that’s awesome!” Issin let out with a smile, “Do you think you could show us the ropes?”
I was kind of taken back from the question, and looked back at Luna and Tycha, and they shrugged not caring either way “I don’t see why not.” They high fived in approval “Just so long as we can rotate so we can get some rewards out of this as well.”
“That’s more than fair.” Klein nodded with a smile “Let’s go kill some more boars!”
. . .
For three hours we went from boar field to boar field teaching them how to use sword skills correctly, and obtaining Col for more goods. It was fun hanging out with them, they were a bunch of fun, and interesting people. I found out that Klein was a guild master from a previous game, and that the friends he had with him were a part of that, but he wasn't all that big of a hurry to make another. I could understand what he meant, I’ve played multiple games, and have been a member, and CoGM multiple times. It’s a lot of responsibility for a person regardless of the fact it’s just a game. But for now we all just decided to enjoy the setting sun on the horizon.
I was looking through my inventory seeing what I was going to sell and so on and so forth when Klein spoke up “I just can’t believe it. We’re actually inside a game guys.”
His friends nodded in approval while Tycha spoke “It’s not that big of a deal is it?”
“It’s our first dive man let us have it.” Dale laughed, and we all chuckled “Seriously though I never thought I would be here or at least this young when this all came around.”
“I know right?” Klein agreed then looked at us “but you guys were even luckier scoring a Beta key. I mean only a thousand people got the chance to play it first.”
“We were indeed lucky that’s for sure after all West was the one here to push us into it.” Luna nudged me from behind “Though I have to say for your guys’ first full dive you seem pretty good it took us quite some time to get used to it.”
“Well we are just having fun with it and it helps having some excellent teachers.” He gave us a thumbs up “Aside from that we all went and got the NerveGear together and even stood in line for the first ten thousand hard copies. You know if you want to friend us I have no objections, do you guys?” He looked back to his friends and they had no objections either, and looked back at us with a smile
I looked back at Luna and Tycha. They both knew I was going to say yes regardless, it is hard for me to say no. So Luna gave me a grin, and Tycha gave me a smirk “I don’t see a problem at all.” I said with a smile, and sent a friend request to them, and it cycled all the way around until we were all on each other’s friends list
“Wow not even one day down, and I got quite the friends list here.” Tycha chuckled at this list “Harry One, I just can’t get over that one.”
“Will you drop it!” Harry One retorted
“But that’s no fun that way.” Tycha snickered, and everyone chuckled
“So you ready to kill some more boars? We’re getting close to level two.” I suggested
“I would love too!” but then his stomach grumbled “But I’m starving. I gotta eat.”
“Yeah eating here only satisfies it here unfortunately.” Luna said with a sigh “Though I guess it helps to eat beforehand.”
“I know but I was just too excited!” Klein said with a grin, “Though I am prepared I kind of figured that this would happen so I ordered a pizza at four thirty.”
“Look at that a solid plan.” Tycha said, Klein grinned at the compliment “Did you make sure to hold the phone right?” and as quickly as the grin came it was gone, and was replaced with embarrassment
“You’re not going to let me live that one down are you?” Klein muttered
“Nope.” Tycha smirked, and then chuckled
This got everyone laughing again. I really liked these people, they were fun, and it felt so natural, kind of like how I met up with Luna and Tycha. I could definitely see meeting up with these guys more often now. I gazed up at the clock and saw it was about ten minutes to four thirty.
“Hey Klein you may wanna think about logging out here soon.” I said with a smile, “Wouldn’t want to make the delivery boy or ‘girl’ wait on you.”
He gazed up at the clock and his eyes grew a bit “Yeah you’re right. Alright guys I’m gonna log for a bit I shouldn’t be too long.”
“What about you West?” Luna piped up “Aren’t your parents going to be home soon?”
“Do his parents not want him playing or something?” Harry One spoke with a raised eyebrow
“No, no,” I shook my head “They aren’t home a lot and they’re coming home for a day or two. Today they should be coming home but not for another hour yet.”
“Oh yeah that’s right.” Luna remembered “You said four hours, well would it hurt logging a bit early?”
“Well I want to take care of my inventory before that.” I turned around “Besides I doubt I’ll be back on until either late tonight or for another couple of days.”
“I guess that makes sense.” Tycha shrugged, but Klein walked back over scratching his head “Aren’t you supposed to have logged already?”
“Yeah, but the logout button is gone.” He stated looking up
I let out a sigh “Well I guess I’ll just log too, here I’ll show ya.” I waved my hand and opened up my menu “It should be at the bottom of the…. Options menu?”
“What’s up West?” Luna questioned confused
“Klein’s right” I stated “The logout button is gone.”
“That can’t be right.” Tycha frowned and opened his own menu, and sure enough he found the same thing “Now that is odd.”
Everyone tried for themselves and it was true, none of their logout buttons’ were there. Something felt eerily off here, and I’m sure that both Tycha and Luna felt the same thing.
“Hey Klein did you try getting ahold of the Game Master?” I asked looking at him seriously.
“Yeah but he isn’t answering.” He looked back at me, “Isn’t there another way to logout?”
I crossed my arms, and thought for a moment “None that I can think of. There wasn’t anything in the new patch notes either. The only way to effectively logout, is to go through the menu.”
“You’re kidding me. I’ll just take it off!” He roared in defiance and tried to pull off his NerveGear
“It’s no use Klein.” Tycha bluntly stated “Did you forget? The NerveGear automatically intercepts your motor functions so that way you don’t move your actual body.”
“So you’re saying that because of this stupid bug, I can’t use my real body anymore.” Klein stated bluntly, his friends started to get worried looks
“Well there is another way, but it can’t be done by us.” I suddenly remembered because it happened to me “Someone from the outside can remove the NerveGear for us, or at least cut the internet connection so that we can.”
“We all live alone.” Klein gestured to his friends “You guys?”
“Pretty much the same here.” Luna said with a neutral face
“Well I do live with my parents which are gone most of the time but they should be home soon. So I could definitely help you guys out.” I offered
“No way you would do that?” Klein said surprised “For total strangers?”
Luna and Tycha, chuckled despite everything that was going on, and I smiled “Well yeah, I got to know you here. I can’t just say ‘no I’m not going to help you.’, that just cold and rude.”
“If only more gamers were like you.” Klein chuckled, shaking his head
“Though that all set aside something is up here.” I returned to my serious self “This isn’t just some ‘bug’ that’s plaguing the game. This could cause major problems for the game, and the ‘genre’ in general.”
“Not to mention they could just shut down the servers, forcing everyone to logout.” Tycha brought up a good point “At this point I don't even know if the people in the help desk even know what truly is going on.”
A sudden silence fell upon us. I was sure that we weren’t the only ones that came to this conclusion either. Something was off, very off. As we were getting lost in our thoughts, the sound of a loan bell rang in the distance. It got all of our attention.
I gazed over at the lone Town of Beginnings “Looks like maybe there’s an event?” I speculated, but at that moment, we all started to be enveloped in a blue light.
. . .
When I opened my eyes I found that we were standing in the Town of Beginning’s town square.
“They forced a teleport?” I thought to myself, and looked up at the sky, and in it a red warning light flashed on and off
Once the last few people were ported into the square red spread across the sky encompassing the entirety of the town. It was ominous, and disturbing. In the next moment a blood red ooze started leaking out of it, forming a single entity in a blood red cloak. People were murmuring among themselves asking questions that no one knew the answers too. Though I guess the right phrase would be, no one knew the right questions to ask. After a few moments, the entity before us finally began to speak.
Welcome players, to my world. I am Kayaba Akihiko the entity spoke, his voice deep as velvet As of right now I am the soul person in control of this world
“Your world?” What was that supposed to mean?
I’m sure most of you by now have noticed that logout button is missing from the menu. This is not a defect, I repeat this is not a defect, but how Sword Art Online was made to be. Kayaba paused for a moment, letting the information sink in
You cannot log out of SAO by yourself. If any attempt is made to remove the NerveGear, then transmitter inside will emit a microwave destroying your brain, and ending your life. He paused for another moment
“This guy’s crazy, isn’t he West?” He looked at me but I had gone silent, and was holding my arms
“No there is a transmitter within the NerveGear, which acts just like a microwave.” Tycha said bluntly “If the safety is turned off then it can possibly do what he just said.”
“What about the power?” Dale pitched in “If that’s removed it won’t be able to emit will it?”
“Unfortunately yes” Luna said shakily “The NerveGear has an internal battery.”
“No way.” Klein said with a shocked face
Unfortunately most players’ parents and officials have ignored this warning, and now there are two hundred thirteen fewer players in the game, and in the real world.
“Two hundred….” Tycha left off
“Thirteen?” I finished
The media has around the clock coverage, of the incident. images appeared showing live footage Including all of the deaths. Thus, you can assume that the error of removing a NerveGear from you is minimal. Hopefully this will appease you enough to attempt to clear the game.
I stared at the screens, praying that our parents had seen this announcement and didn’t try to do the impossible. I saw for a brief moment, my apartment building which had officials circling around, but on the side I saw both my parents. If only for a brief moment I felt some relief.
There is no longer any method to revive anyone within the game. If your HP reaches zero, your avatar will be erased, and simultaneously the NerveGear will destroy your brain.
In my mind the image of my friends dying around me, their avatars breaking apart by nothing but mere boars hitting us and destroying our HP. Though right there I vowed I would not let that happen. I took a deep breath and stared at my prison guard. I will not give him the satisfaction of me withering.
There is only one way to escape, and that is to complete the game. Raising a hand and pressing something on his menu, an image of the one hundred floors of Aincrad appeared before him You are now on the lowest floor of Aincrad, floor one. You are to make your way through the dungeons on each floor defeating each floor boss in its way. Defeat the final boss on Floor one hundred, and you will clear the game.
“Clear all one hundred floors?” Klein muttered to himself, “But not even the Beta Testers made it that high!” He shouted out
He wasn’t lying, in an official statement, in two months-time the Beta Testers were only able to get up to floor eight. Me, Luna, and Tycha were a huge part of that. After all, considering that it would be safe to assume it would take years to make it to Floor One hundred.
Ignoring the outbursts Kayaba continued on Lastly I’ve added a present from me to your item storage. Please see for yourselves.
I swiped my hand in the air and pulled up my inventory. Sure enough there was a new item there “A ‘Mirror’?” I clicked on it and it appeared in my hands. All it did was show my current reflection.
Then all around me Klein, Luna, Tycha, and all the others were encompassed in a pale blue light once more. When the light died down I heard new and familiar voices.
“Oi, you okay West?” I heard a new voice
“Yeah” I looked around and saw a face I didn’t recognize “Who are you?”
“Who are you?” Klein said after me
I looked down at my mirror, and sure enough it was my face, and my features even my height and body type had changed a bit. I looked behind me and sure enough there was Luna, and Tycha but they looked like Aiyumi, and Takasu “Are you Klein?!”
“Are you West?!” We asked at the same time
“So looks like the transmitters in NerveGear works rather well.” Tycha murmured “He’s got our faces to a ‘T’. Yet how did he get our body type?”
“Probably when the calibration setup, when we had to touch our bodies.” Luna suggested
“That would make sense.” Klein nodded in agreement but held a hand against his temple “But why? Why do all this it makes no sense?!”
I motioned up at Kayaba once more “I think he’s about to tell us.”
I’m sure you all must be thinking ‘Why would, Kayaba Akihiko designer of the NerveGear and developer of Sword Art Online, do all this?’ My goal was a simple one, to be in control of a world of my design. As you can see I have achieved this goal. This ends the tutorial of SAO, and the official launch of the game. Good luck players.
His avatar began to falter as if the person inside had left. It started turning into a static image as it fell to the ground before fully disappearing. The sky turned back to its usual setting, and there was complete silence. It was eerily quiet for greater than nine thousand players being in one place at one given time. There was only one sound of a shattering mirror, and a loan cry of ‘No!’, before the crowd got its voice back. They were in uproar all stating that knock off all the crap and let them out. People were having break downs, others were panicking, while some just stood motionless still trying to process. I was none of these.
“Guys!” I called out to my current group party and Klein's “Come with me to a quiet place to think!”
Luna and Tycha were right behind me with tight faces. I could tell this wasn’t settling well, but I couldn’t falter before them. I had to pull them through. Klein was still reeling himself, but I shook his shoulders, to get him out of his reverie. He with his own group finally followed closely behind me. I got us out of the plaza, and went through a couple of side alleys until the sound from the center had finally quieted enough to hold a conversation.
I turned and looked at everyone. They were still trying to process everything, so I spoke quietly “Everyone.” My voice seemed to make them jump a bit, almost foreign “I know everything that man said is true. I truly have no doubt in my mind. Yet I will say this, there is no point in just cowering in fear. We need to keep going if we’re going to survive here. The fields…”
“Will be cleaned soon. So we should just go ahead and head to the next town right?” Tycha spoke in with his bored expression back
“We can take care of our inventory there as well we still have room.” Luna had her menu open, gazing at it with determined eyes
I looked over at Klein with neutral eyes “What will you do Klein? You can go with us or go on your own.” It sounded so cruel, but yet it was an honest question
His group looked at him with questioning eyes “We’ll stay here for a bit, you guys go ahead and get your asses to the next town.”
His answer surprised me “Are you sure?”
“Yeah you get going, I gotta take care of these lugs.” He grinned and pointed back to his friends “We need a bit more training before we can go anywhere.”
“Well if that’s how you want it Klein, I won’t stop you.” I turned around and both Luna and Tycha looked at me with concerned expressions as I walked past them “If you ever need help don’t hesitate to contact us alright?”
“Of course. Oh and West.” He called out and I stopped for a moment “You guys look better that way.”
I grinned, and looked back “Yeah I didn’t like that fancy hair of yours anyway.” I gave a thumbs up and walked away. Luna and Tycha followed from behind and I stopped again, I turned my head to look back to find that Klein had already left
“West?” Tycha asked with his calm face
“Are you going to be alright?” Luna asked with a concerned tone
“Yeah I’ll be fine.” I chuckled a bit “I have no doubt we’ll see them again. Alright!” I slapped my hands on my face “Let’s get this show on the road.”
I can’t falter. I can’t falter. I can’t falter. I must remain strong for them, because we are all we got right now. Though if I can I will help all that I can, no matter how much it will hurt. This is only the beginning, but I’m going to show Kayaba that even though we are still trapped here we will be Breaking Free.