The Wolves of Night

January 4th, 2023

(2 months later)

"Take THAT, mister goblin!"

I let out a hearty yell as I slashed my dagger across the little green man's stomach, creating a gash along its sagging skin. Furious, the creature began swinging its wooden club wildly. I did my best to block its attacks, but exhaustion had already taken a grip of me and my stamina was draining fast. I tried to look around to see if any of the others could help, but with a single lapse of attention, the goblin managed to land a successful strike. My leg buckled and I fell to my knees as the club bashed my shin. A dull pain surrounded the area of impact, causing me to wince, but there was no time to whine about it. The goblin was already winding up for another attack.

"Hold on! I've got you covered!" the young man shouted as he ran over to me, jumping over me and smashing the goblins skull with his mace, killing it and allowing me enough time to get back to my feet. "Dyrk, get my six!"

"I don't take orders from you, Bran! I-ah, forget it! I'm on it, boss man!" yelled a boy in his late teens as he charged headfirst into battle with his great sword raised above his head.

"Luisa! On your left!" cried out Astrid sitting atop the old tree, firing her arrows off at the nearby enemies.

"Osaka, duck!" bellowed Luisa as she charged my direction from the left.

Without any time to question her order, I once again dropped to my knees as Luisa outstretched her spear over the top of me, impaling the two goblins to my side through the stomach. When she removed her spear, I turned to look at the goblins before they disappeared. There was a small fluorescent red mark on each of their stomachs where they were stabbed. Red light. The substitute for blood in this game that helped it keep PG rating.

"Gee, I'm sorry. I didn't even hear them," I bowed my head, groaning.

The battle was finally over after a gruelling ten minute assault. I brushed the long, brown hair from my eyes and looked down at the system window that had popped up before me. The battle completion window. It appeared after ever battle, displaying how much cor and XP (experience points) you earned, the duration of the battle as well as any items the enemies may have dropped that you received. While Astrid was climbing down the tree, my eyes grew with excitement as I saw the addition message next to my XP gain.

"Oh my gosh! Yes! Yes! Yes! I did it! I levelled up! I'm level 7!"

With the way this game operated, players only had two options when it came to survival. Option one, which many players chose was to stay in Starting City. Those people were too afraid to leave. It was understandable. This world was no joke, and I was close to choosing that option. Option two was to go out and get stronger. The only way you could hope to keep surviving in the field was to level up, and keep levelling.

I opened my stats menu and began speccing my points out. Each time you levelled up, you were given five points to distribute across five different main stats. There was VIT (vitality), which increased your base health and defence. STR (strength), which increased the amount of gear you could carry, as well as increase the base damage that you did. AGI (agility), which increased your movement speed, jump height and all round mobility. STA (stamina), which as specified, increased a players stamina, and finally DEX (dexterity), which allowed a player to use weapons more effectively. If your dexterity level wasn't equal to or higher than the number on the weapon, you'd be unable to use it to its full potential. Attacks would be slow and do a quarter of the damage they would otherwise do with a higher DEX stat. Those were just the main stats though. There were hundreds, possibly even thousands of other skills that you could only unlock when you performed an action related to that skill, and only levelled up as you continued to use it.

"Ah man," Bran groaned. "Only 200 XP? The Rat said this place was perfect for levelling up."

"For one person maybe," Astrid interrupted. "For a larger party with XP share set to evenly split it between five people, you don't end up with a whole lot in the end.

"You guys can turn my XP gain down if it helps. You guys should be getting more anyway. I don't really help much in battles anyway." I looked down at the ground in shame.

"Just because you're a child doesn't mean that you're any less entitled to levelling up than the rest of us," Luisa added. "If anything, we should be turning it up higher. All of us are at least level 14 or higher, and you're only on level 6. Well, 7 now."

"I'm tellin' ya," Dyrk chimed in, "boss battles are the way to go if we wanna level up, but Bran over 'ere's too chicken to do anythin'."

"We aren't ready yet, Dryk."

Defeat the boss on each floor and make it to floor 100. It was understandable why he was so insistent on it. It was the main goal of SAO after all, and one of the only ways anybody could make a name for themselves in this world. Even so, it wasn't as glorious as he made it out to be. We were on floor 4 already, and thought it was always a happy event throughout the whole of the castle of Aincrad when a floor was cleared, but the battles themselves were far from glamorous. Tens of people died each time. One wrong move and suddenly their lives were extinguished. It's a frightening thought to think that everything could come to an end from something as simple as stepping left when you should have stepped right. Blocking when you should have dodged. Looking up when you should have looked down.

"Well, ladies and gentlemen, you know what time it is. Celebration time!" Bran declared.

"You're always celebrating!" I complained. "That's just your fancy way of saying 'let's get drunk'."

###

(A few hours later)

I still couldn't believe that it'd been almost two months since our lives were turned upside down. As much as I'd like to believe otherwise, I knew that if not for this guild, I couldn't have even dreamed of surviving as long as I have. I'd provided them with nothing but trouble, and yet they've kept me safe.

"Cheers!" Bran let out an enthusiastic yell. "To the Wolves of Night!"

They all let out a hearty "Cheers" along side him and then promptly shifted to drinking their alcohol while I sat back and sipped my juice. The glorious, unmatched flavour of affordable apple juice. They all drank for awhile until they began slurring their words, though the part that fascinated me is that Kayaba managed to program in the effects of alcohol. Why he did that, I still had no idea.

Finally, the innkeeper approached me with the food I had ordered and placed it down on the table in front of me. I sliced into the pikeberry pie, allowing its purple coloured goodness to spill out the side. The taste was an entirely different experience. A hint of ginger, or possibly ginseng, with the overwhelming flavour of something reminiscent of, but not quite baked blueberries. I continued to eat, trying to figure out what the flavours were, but I couldn't quite establish an exact match from my memories of different foods. That's when it occurred to me. The reason I couldn't figure it out wasn't due to bad memory, but rather the fact that the flavour I was trying to find simply didn't exist in the real world. It was a combination of existing flavours that the NerveGear had morphed together in order to create an original flavour. Was this kind of flavour even possibly in reality? It was so close to something else, but not quite there. Like sugar free soda. It tasted so similar to the real thing, but there was just something…off about it. Something that couldn't be ignored.

"You know," Astrid slurred, turning towards me with her vision obscured by her honey blonde hair. "I think you might be the young-*hick* youngest person I've seen in this game so far. Smallest and cutest too." She chuckled, cleared already feeling the effects of the ale.

"It's just a pity, you know," Luisa sighed. "You've got your whole life ahead of you, and yet we're all probably drooling away in some hospital bed somewhere.

Her statement was a disturbing one, but something that every player had thought about at least once. What was happening to our bodies in the real world? Where were they? How much did the people on the outside know? Did they know as much as us, or did people suddenly stop waking up and started dying? While the world was going on around us, none of us had any way of knowing what was happening out there. Thinking about it too long always made me, and many other feel depressed, so we usually tried out best to ignore the thought, but still it lingered, ever present in the back of our heads.

"Come on now." Bran interjected, "Enough of the doom and gloom. We're here to celebrate!"

"What are we celebratin' now, boss man?"

"To Osaka!" Astrid declared. "The youngest and damn cutest thing I've seen in this world! To her level up, and always keeping things interesting and cheery! Cheers!"

The words touched me in a way I didn't think I'd ever get to feel again trapped here. Despite the situation, I'd found great friends. No. That wasn't the word. With the way we treat each other, and how much we've already been through, it would have been far more accurate to call them family.

Astrid slammed her cup down on the table a little too hard, causing the system protection on it to activate. Across the table, a purple hexagon appeared with the words 'immortal object' written inside.

"Woops," she chuckled.

"You're already drunk, aren't you?" I giggled.

"Me? Nooooo," she smiled. "Not even close."

"Please don't drink away our budget," Luisa groaned. "You know that we aren't doing well on finances. Oh, who am I kidding. You won't stop. You shouldn't probably go to bed, Osaka. It's getting pretty late."

"Ok! Goodnight everyone!"

"Goodnight, sweety," she smiled.

Finishing my food, I rose from my chair and walked towards the door that lead to the sleeping quarters of the inn, but stopped at the doorway. Without thinking, I opened my mouth and blurted out "I-I love you all!"

I held my hand over my mouth after realizing that I'd said it out loud. Though it wasn't uncommon for somebody my age to say such bizarre thing out of the blue, it didn't make me feel any less embarrassed.

"Awww! Astrid cooed. "We love you too!"

With burning cheeks, I ran back to my room and slammed the door, diving onto my bed and hugging my pillow. My armour pressed against my body in an uncomfortable way, no matter how I laid, so like usual, I opened my menu and opted for unequipping it. I hadn't gotten around to purchasing any civilian clothes yet. Nobody in the guild ever had the money to spend on anything except the necessities, like healing potions since every day, most of our budget would get flushed down the drain due to their excessive drinking. I didn't mind though. With everything they'd done for me, it'd be rude of me to ask them to stop doing the one thing that keeps them happy in this world. I rolled over and faced the ceiling, glancing over at the small square guild icon to the right of my HP bar. A small symbol of a wolf howling at the moon.

###

January 5th, 2023

(The next day)

I heard a knock at the door that woke me up, followed by an alert underneath my HP bar, indicating that somebody was outside. Without verbal consent from the room owner, the person outside was unable to enter.

"Osaka? Are you decent?" Bran asked.

"Just a sec," I yawned, sleepily navigating my menu and re-equipping my armour before confirming with a "Come on."

He opened the door, standing in the doorway for a moment. The sunlight peaking in through the gap in caused his ocean blue eyes to glisten and his raven hair to shine. When my eyes adjusted, I finally took the time to examine his face. Though the game randomized things such as hair and eye colour, his face was his own. Scanners inside the NerveGear had created an exact recreation of his real face. From the slight distance he was away from me, he looked delicate and youthful, despite being almost 20 years old. The best way I could describe him would be to say he was reminiscent of a J-Pop idol. As I sat up in bed, he came and sat along side me with a warm smile upon his face.

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

"No, not at all. I just wanted to check in with you and see how you were holding up."

"Considering I'm trapped inside of a video game where dying is permanent, I'd say I'm doing surprisingly well thanks to you and the guild.

"I'm glad we found you when we did. You looked like you were ready to give up."

"I was."

It was only five days after the announcement and I wasn't sure I'd make it to six. I wasn't sure I even wanted to. After I'd fled the city square, I ran into a player by the name of Maxis. He took care of me, helping me level up and taking me on quests with him. To say that he was experienced would have been an understatement. He was supposedly a beta tester for the game, so he knew all about the lower floors. Unfortunately, his experience couldn't save him. He decided to try a new quest. One that he didn't recognize from the beta. 'Loaded Cave' it was called. It should have been obvious just by the name that the difficulty rating was misleading. It sounded too good to be true from the beginning. Go into a certain, kill a couple of goblins and come back for a huge cash reward. There were meant to be 5 goblins, each level 4, which was great, since we were both only level 5. There were 15, each coming in at level 10. He told me to run, and I did it without a second thought. When I finally got back to the city, the first thing I did was run to the church. There, there were two stone monuments on either side, in place of where the respawn alters were meant to be. The one on the left was blank, with only the words 'Floor 1 battle' at the very top. The next was a giant, long stone with the names of all 10,000 players written on it. Due to its nature, it had been adequately named the Monument of Life by the community. I searched across the tablet and sure enough, I found it. With a large cross going through it – Maxis. That was all that remained of his presence in this world. A name with a cross through it. It was so bland. So lifeless. There weren't even any words to describe what kind of person he was. Just a cross through his name. It was sickening. Stepping back, I saw that there were already hundreds of names on the monument cross out. I had no idea what I was meant to do afterwards, so I ran back to the plains and hid in a tree stump. I stayed there for ours, terrified of leaving. Though my stomach began to ache from hunger, I didn't move. That was until Bran and the guild found me. It was Luisa who made first contact. At first, they all thought I was an NPC (Non Player Character), but after they realized that I was a player – same as them, Luisa hugged me tightly and told me that everything was going to be ok. They took me in, feeding me with what little money they had and even let me join their guild, and I haven't looked back since.

"I'd be dead if not for you," I sighed.

"Ah, nonsense. You're a lot stronger than you think."

"No I'm not. I'm only level 7, and I can't hold my own in a fight without backup."

"Not physically. I'm talking about in your heart. Trust me. You're gonna go far, kid."

He patted me on the shoulder before getting up walking to the door. As he opened the door and walked out, Luisa walked in.

"Hey, Saka," she smiled.

"Saka?"

"It's just a nickname I came up with. If you don't like it-"

"N-No! I like it. Then I'll call you…Lulu!"

"Sounds nice. Mind if I lay with you?"

"Not at all."

Luisa came in close and wrapped her arms around me as she laid down on the bed beside me. The warmth of her body comforted me, like a mothers embrace. It was uncomfortable with both of us in thick armour, but it was the best we had.

"I've got a question. If you make it our of here, what do you want to do? Do you have a brother or sister you want to see?" I asked.

"In the real world? No brothers or sisters, but I've got cousins who I grew up with who are like my sisters. I want to go visit them again. They're both in the hospital. They're really sick. The older one, Amiko... We don't get along very well. I haven't seen her in about a year, so I guess I'd try and patch things up with her before she dies. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I didn't. My younger cousin though, she's nice, but she lies a lot, always saying that she's not in pain or that she's feeling better. She's a good kid though. She's only a little younger than you now that I think about it."

"Th-That's really sad."

"It's alright. What is it Bran always says? 'Enough of the doom and gloom'? How about you? What do you want to do when you get out of here? You've got your whole life ahead of you. Surely you've got plans."

"I...don't know," I sighed. "I don't know if we'll even make it out."

A mindset of hopelessness was never a good mindset to have, but there was only so much one person could cling to. We'd been here for two months and only cleared three floors, yet it feels like a lifetime.

"We'll live through this. I promise."

It sounded silly, but just hearing somebody say that it was all going to be ok was enough to keep me going.

"Thank you. I think I might go out and train for a little. Just me this time. I need to get better at fighting on my own."

"Are you sure?" she asked, sounding concerned. "You can handle it on your own?"

"Don't worry, I'll be careful."

I sat up and equipped my dagger, heading our into the field. Just before I drew my weapon, I got distracted by a beautiful flower. I let go of the hilt of my weapon and crouched down to it. The flower was a rose, but with deep, royal azure blue pedals and an amber centre. I considered picking it, but decided against it. After all, that would kill the flower. Even though it was just an object rendered by the system, it was still alive in its own way. Everything in this world was. After admiring it for a bit longer, I got back to my feet and got ready to start my training, but once again, I was distracted. This time by shouting in the distance. I ran closer to the noise to see a player dressed in all black with a hood on attacking a blue skinned orc. I'd seen those monsters before. They were level 27, so I ran away, but this player was not only holding his own, but beating it.

"D-Do you need help?!" I called out.

"Huh?"

He got distracted for a moment, allowing the orc to just barely graze his skin with its mace. The player turned his attention back towards the orc and continued swinging his sword. It was a relatively short great sword, but the part that amazed me was that he was using it with one hand. How strong does a player need to be to use a two handed weapon with one hand?! With a single slash of his sword, he brings his weapon down onto the orcs head, killing it. He turned back to me to me for a moment before turning away and walking off. I was left in awe at the sight. Had players really gotten that strong already?

###

(An hour later)

I sat down against a tree, resting with labored breath. It was incredibly that the NerveGear could simulate exhaustion so accurately, yet you don't sweat, which I thought was a rather unusual feature. Just as I was about to get ready to leave, I received a message. I swiped my tired fingers downward and opened the message window. It was from Bran, telling me to come to the town square on this floor. With a sigh, I got up and started walking.