June 24th, 2024

Rain should've been suspicious right from the start, really. The Sixty-Second Floor's boss simply hadn't been hard enough for the Sixty-Third Floor to be a breather, not the way Kayaba and his unwitting accomplices had chosen to balance Sword Art Online. That should've been a red flag right there, telling her that things were about to be complicated.

That things had been pretty much smooth sailing—well, for a death game—since the weirdness of the Fifty-Ninth Floor's heist quest ought to have been another warning sign. With Team Kirito, life never stayed calm for very long.

The floor's main city, Hyryuu Castle Town, was about as stereotypical an RPG town as it got. With Hyryuu Castle itself snugged up against the outer edge of the floor, half a kilometer of rectangular wall protected a blandly average Medieval European settlement. It was, quite obviously, a hub for the floor's quests, but showed absolutely no sign of any special gimmick.

Yep. My own fault for not seeing this coming.

Team Kirito had just left the Weathertop Inn, having bought Argo's introductory guide to Hyryuu's local quests, when it happened. Out of a dark alley a block or so from the inn, a low voice called out. "Swordmasters!" came the hiss, pitched so low Rain herself barely heard it. "Might I have a moment of your time?"

If there was one truism that transcended worlds, it was to not trust strangers in dark alleys. Even with the Safe Haven protections, all four of Team Kirito had loosened blades when they turned to face the speaker. Not drawn, but… ready. "Can we help you?" Kirito asked, voice level but with just a touch of warning.

A figure stepped out of the shadows, just far enough for them to see he was wearing a hooded cloak in royal purple, his hands raised. "Easy now, Swordmasters. I am hardly your enemy. Indeed, I'm here as a friend, as you've been a friend to me and mine."

"Pardon me, but I don't recall your voice," Kizmel said, edging just a bit closer to her husband. Her hand was oh-so-casually resting on the hilt of her saber. "And if you'll forgive me, the only 'friend' I know who favors dark alleys is shorter than you."

And happened to be cuter, and—probably—still back in the inn they'd just left. Of course, Rain could see this was an NPC, and from the exclamation point over his head he was part of a quest—but quests didn't usually come looking for players.

"Ah, 'tis true we've not met." A low chuckle. "But I believe you are acquainted with a colleague of mine. Surely you recall the name Bouhroum?"

Actually, Rain didn't, and a quick glance at Philia's confused look told her the treasure hunter didn't. Kizmel, on the other hand, twitched, and Kirito outright winced.

"The Sage of Galey Castle," he said, covering his face with one hand. "Yeah… I remember him. He's a friend of yours? Then you must be…."

"'Friend' might be putting it a bit strongly," the cloaked figure said, with another chuckle. "But yes, we are long acquainted." Stepping a little closer to the light, he reached up, grasped his hood, and pushed it back—revealing dusky skin, white hair that still kept a hint of lilac, and long, pointed ears. "I am the Sage Sahasra. And you would be Kirito, Kizmel, and companions, yes?"

Rain couldn't suppress a flinch at that one. Never a good sign when a quest NPC knows your name. Though the Dark Elf Vanel had been nothing but supportive, it was still enough to remind her of the more memorable situation that had surrounded that particular encounter.

From the looks on her friends' faces, she wasn't alone in thinking of that. Kizmel, though, only squared her shoulders, and let her hand fall away from her sword. "Indeed, that would be us. Are you here representing the Queen? Is there something which Lyusula would ask of us?"

"Not exactly. Although," Sahasra added with a sly grin Rain didn't quite trust, "there are a few tasks with which my brethren might perhaps ask your aid… ahem. In truth, I was informed of your encounter with Lady Vanel, and it was suggested I await your arrival on this floor. There is, you see, something which we may be able to do for you."

The self-proclaimed "Sage" half-turned then, gesturing toward the alley from which he'd emerged. At that, Rain exchanged uneasy looks with her friends. Though they'd never had cause to distrust a Dark Elf, there was always a first time. After all, now that she thought about it, the Fallen Elves hadn't exactly sprung up from nowhere….

Sahasra obviously had enough AI to recognize their hesitation, and he turned his beckoning hand palm-up. "Ah, forgive me. This is merely the path my brethren and I take in and out of the city. Though we Dark Elves are more welcome in human settlements than we once were, we still find it better to be discreet." He shook his head, smiling wryly. "Is it really so hard to believe that Lyusula might wish to offer help, after all you have done for our Kingdom? You've earned a treasure more valuable than gold, for your deeds."

"Treasure?!"

Philia's blurted interjection, if nothing else, deflated the tension before it could really rise. "Of course that's what you'd catch," Rain said, ruefully shaking her own head. "But the guy's got a point. And between the four of us, it's not like we'd be caught by an ambush." She paused, lowering her voice—though with a Dark Elf's hearing, it probably didn't help. "Besides. I think it's pretty obvious by now you-know-who isn't out to kill us with these quests."

The quests Kayaba tailored to Kirito and Kizmel had definitely been hazardous, often as not. But fair. Whatever his reasons, traps didn't seem to be what he had in mind. Which, I'll admit, kinda makes it creepier. Still….

Kirito and Kizmel exchanged a silent glance, apparently came to an equally-silent agreement, and turned back to Sahasra. "Okay, then," Kirito said, resigned. "Lead on, sir."

The exclamation point over the NPC's head blinked, turning into the question mark of an active quest. Smiling, Sahasra bowed, pulled his hood back up, and turned to lead the way down the alley. The four Swordmasters followed, some more cheerfully than others. Within just a few steps, the dark swallowed them, daylight replaced with the sourceless blue glow SAO used in place of true darkness in most areas.

Well. Here goes. Why do I get the feeling we're about to spend the floor away from the main clearing? Again? …At least it isn't likely to be boring.

Normally Kirito liked any excuse to get away from the hustle and bustle of a town, especially a town still full of lower-floor tourists checking out the new scenery. His people skills were getting better, gradually, the longer he was in Aincrad, but crowds still made him feel like a trapped rat. There were more reasons than pragmatism that he liked to get started on a new floor's quests as soon as possible.

Following a quest NPC—one who'd come looking for him and his wife by name—down a dark alley… wasn't exactly how he preferred to go about it. Obviously, Kayaba had decided it was time to mess with them again, for whatever obscure reason. The quests he set for them had altogether too great a tendency to make them confront issues they didn't want to even think about.

Despite those reservations, Kirito still led his team into that dark alley. As the noise of the crowd faded along with the light of the main streets, he had to acknowledge that those quests were too important to pass up. The Baneblade, for one, had more than proven its worth, however little he liked it. The same quest had gotten Kizmel player status, the first step down the road that had brought them together as more than friends.

And besides, he admitted to himself, following close as Sahasra turned a corner, stopped at at a seemingly blank wall, and pushed a hidden switch, we really can't afford to pass up a chance like this now. Not after the Nazzoth quest.

The wall slid away with a whisper, revealing a stairwell down into deeper darkness, deep enough that his Night Vision skill kicked in to show him the world in eerie green. It still wasn't as dark as the old nightmares that heist had stirred up. Though his team hadn't personally encountered any further references to "the Echo", Klein had brought news about a month later—and the key items from that quest were still in storage at the team's cabana.

Ever since finding that imperfect copy of the Jade Key, Kirito had been hoping to find a Dark Elf who knew something. All the surviving NPCs he and his team had checked with had claimed ignorance, so his gamble was that one from a higher floor might have some information. If they were lucky, this Sahasra would.

Yeah, right. Like we'll get that lucky with a "sage". Even if we are, it'll be after hours of crazy antics and weird training.

Something must've shown on his face, even in the dark. A glance at Kizmel showed him violet eyes gleaming like a cat's, and a playful smile. "Easy, husband," she murmured. "I doubt the good sage is anywhere close to as… eccentric… as Bouhroum."

"Do remember, Swordmasters, I can hear you perfectly well," Sahasra said, before Kirito could reply. They'd just reached a landing, and the sage turned sharply left to go down another flight. "But no, I prefer to think I maintain greater decorum than Castle Galey's old goat. Those who bear the mantle of sage do have an image to maintain, and the Keepers more than most."

Kirito wasn't sure what surprised him more, Sahasra's casual insult or the bit of lore he dropped in the next sentence. "'Keepers'?" he repeated. "What are they?"

Another quick glance at Kizmel got him only a shrug, which didn't really surprise him. Even now, he was still learning the startlingly deep lore of her people, but this was likely a new concept Kayaba was improvising. Anything he'd introduced since she'd left the Royal Capital to join him on the Twenty-Sixth Floor would be as much a mystery to her as to him.

"The Keepers of Ancient Knowledge," Sahasra intoned. "To be honest, there's likely little we know that no one else in the Kingdom knows, but we know more than any single individual besides Queen Idhrendis herself."

The aged elf paused, reaching the end of the staircase. To Kirito's relief; by his estimation, they were no more than a couple of meters above where the Safe Haven would cut off. He had bad memories of dungeons beneath towns. Though the blank, black stone door waiting for them was kind of ominous anyway….

Sahasra pulled a key from his robes, slipped it into the concealed keyhole, and smoothly pushed the door aside. Leading the way into the black stone tunnel beyond, he continued, "It is the duty of myself and my brethren, in this age, to preserve and pass down the lore of old. The tales of the Great Separation, the war before, and the tumult that came after."

Only after the sight of those stone walls sent his adrenaline levels through the roof did Kirito realize they were the glossy black of Dark Elf architecture, not the light-drinking void of the Fallen. A quick look around at his companions showed he wasn't the only one to jump to conclusions; it was hard to tell in the dark, but he thought Rain and Philia had both gone pale.

Kizmel's ears were definitely twitching, eyes dark with the same bad memories flashing through his mind. Quickly, he grabbed her hand, and pointedly cleared his throat. "In that case, sir… would you happen to know anything about something called the 'Echo'?"

"Or copies of the Keys of the Sanctuary?" Philia put in quickly. The treasure hunter's voice was a bit higher than usual; Kirito was left wondering if her Searching was showing her something he was missing. Or maybe not showing her something she expected.

"Not to mention weird copies of crystals," Rain said, voice lower than Philia's but still noticeably tight. "Those kinda give me a bad feeling, too."

For a long moment, Sahasra was silent. The only sound was five pairs of boots on smooth stone. An eerie quiet, beneath a town Kirito knew to be bustling. Once he'd have assumed they'd stumped the AI; at this point, he figured Cardinal was just simulating an emotional response of some kind, and he waited as patiently as he could.

"I know many things," Sahasra said finally, as the tunnel gradually began to brighten with flickering light. "The Keepers know many more. Some things remain beyond even our knowledge. But all knowledge, Swordmasters, comes with a price."

Kirito barely had time to take in that ominous statement when a message suddenly popped into the air: [Outside Field].

Adrenaline spiking again, his hand snapped up to Elucidator, not quite drawing it. If the sage was leading them into some kind of trap—

Torches flared to bright light, almost blinding him. When he could see clearly again, it was just in time to see Sahasra pushing open one more door—this one leading out into open space.

Only then did Kirito realize that the tunnel had had a subtle slope, carrying them down as well as out from Hyryuu's protections. At least, that was the only explanation he could think of for the size of the cavern Sahasra led them into; that, or they'd ended up beneath one of the Sixty-Third Floor's mountains. Otherwise, there shouldn't have been room for the structure that sat—crouched—in the center of that cavern.

There was a moat. A corner of his mind hoped that didn't mean there was another water-based dungeon ahead; the rest was occupied taking in the dungeon itself. A castle, smaller than Hyryuu's but more solid, and more than a bit run-down.

It was also, Kirito quickly realized, built of the gleaming onyx of the Dark Elves.

"Knowledge has a price, Swordmasters," Sahasra proclaimed, striding right up to the edge of that moat. "Queen Idhrendis has deemed you worthy of seeking the knowledge held by the Keepers—but now you must prove yourselves able to overcome the trials ahead. For if you cannot even manage that, the answers to your questions will place you in danger you cannot hope to face."

"…I knew there was a catch," Rain muttered. "There's always a catch…."

Sahasra had pulled a staff out of seemingly nowhere, and gestured grandly to the dungeon. "This, Swordmasters, is Castle Kelestraia, domain of Count Kelvor. Once the greatest teacher of the Royal Guard, he perished in the Great Separation, and his castle sank beneath the mountains. But training grounds he constructed eons past endure, waiting for those worthy to challenge them.

"So, Swordmasters. Have you the courage to face this test, and claim the answers you seek?"

When was it, Rain wondered, that she'd stopped thinking of grand statements like that as overblown melodrama, and just accepted them as part of the world that surrounded her? She knew there was a time when she'd have laughed at that kind of dialogue.

I guess things were different, when this was still a game. With the rest of her team, she walked to the crumbling stone bridge that crossed the moat, eyes locked on Castle Kelestraia. Sahasra might be a ham, but it's not so funny when it's real. Now it's just… how things work here, I guess. When you're trying to be a hero for real, tests are part of the journey.

The castle still should've been scary. Now that it really was their lives on the line, a big black castle should've just screamed "Death Inside!"

Of course, since launch day Rain had been through the Fiftieth Floor boss fight. And the zombies. If there was anything that could give a girl a different perspective on danger, it was surviving those events. While she didn't want to tempt Fate, she couldn't help but think there wasn't much worse that SAO could throw at her.

Crossing over that bridge, then passing between two shattered gates, Team Kirito came to a long staircase leading up to the wall of Kelestraia proper. "It looks like these go up to near the top," Philia commented. "Huh…. Why does it make me kinda nervous to be starting a dungeon from the top floor?"

"Because there's more chances for falling along the way, maybe?" Kirito suggested, giving the stairs a wary look himself. "I gotta say, I didn't like the way Sahasra was looking at us when we left him. Was it me, or was he snickering?"

"After the last sage of our mutual acquaintance, you should hardly be surprised, Kirito." Kizmel shot a glance back the way they'd come, violet eyes narrow. "And yes, he was laughing at us. I suspect that bodes ill. At least for our dignity."

Not for the first time, Rain was left wondering what exactly those two had gone through before she met them. The details Argo either wouldn't sell or had never been allowed to have in the first place. She sometimes got the impression there were secrets of Aincrad she'd never encountered—and maybe didn't want to.

Pushing that thought aside, she raised her hands in a shrug. "One way to find out, right, guys? Sooner we're in there, the sooner we've got some answers. And treasure," she added, giving Philia a wry glance.

The treasure hunter grinned, not even bothering to deny her priorities. Then, with only a little trepidation, they were all heading up those stairs. Carefully, given that some of them were crumbled and broken, with two gaping holes midway up. But steadily.

At the top, the first obstacle became clear: for all that Castle Kelestraia was otherwise in rough shape, the three doors waiting for them were perfectly intact, and their locks quite obviously in just as good shape. The one in the center was a strange lattice that didn't even seem to have hinges, while the door to the left had a conspicuous, ornate keyhole. The one to the right had visible hinges, but nothing resembling handle or lock, just a gap above it that seemed to lead into darkness.

"Well," Kirito said after a second, "I know what the middle one means." He turned a rueful smile on Kizmel. "I know it's not the Mistmoon Cloak, but do you think…?"

The elf girl smiled, returning a nod of her own. "It is of Dark Elven make. I should think it will suffice as well as the old." Stepping closer to the swordsman, she swept out her cloak to wrap around them both. "I will come back for the two of you, once I've brought Kirito through," she said over her shoulder. "Or at least, I will if I can. Somehow I fear this place may have other plans."

"Yeah, kinda getting that impression." Rain waved her hand, mock-shooing them off. "So this place is gonna have tricks. What else is new? We'll deal."

Kizmel nodded, pulled Kirito even closer, and drew her hood up. There was a brief wavering effect, and then they vanished completely. The only sign they were even still there was the ring of boots on stone, and just a hint of a shimmer in the latticework a moment later.

Rain thought there might've been another shimmer, as if Kizmel was letting Kirito out to come back. If that was the elf girl's intention, though, it was quickly cut short by a stone wall suddenly sliding into view, slamming into place just on the other side of the lattice.

"…Somehow, I knew that was going to happen." Shaking her head, Rain turned to Philia. "Well. I guess it's your turn, eh? Think you can handle that—oh. Okay, then."

The treasure hunter was already crouched by the left-hand door, tongue sticking out from her grimace of concentration. "Not to worry," she said absently, deftly working a pair of lock picks in the keyhole. "At least this one doesn't have a bomb attached…."

Yeah. That was kind of a relief. Only after the fact had Rain found out about the booby-traps on the chests in Nazzoth's basement, and she'd been just as glad not to know during the fighting. She remembered Kobayashi's destruction all too well.

That in mind, she forced herself to be patient. Next to that, she could live with Philia taking a little time to open a lock. It wasn't like Kirito and Kizmel were likely to be in any real danger in the time it would take; no more than they'd be from the time it would take just to meet up with them anyway.

"Okay! Think I've got it—oops."

Oops? Rain barely had time to register Philia's chagrined comment before there was a loud click. Then a louder "Eep!" as the floor abruptly opened right beneath the treasure hunter, dropping her out of sight in an instant.

The unexpected trap door promptly snapped shut again, sealing seamlessly with the rest of the floor and leaving the redhead to blink at it. "…This is going to be one of those days, isn't it?" she said to the empty air. "I knew today wasn't a good day to get out of bed."

Glancing back to the far end of the cavern, where Sahasra remained leaning on his staff, she was not at all surprised to see him wave back. Rolling her eyes, she stuck her tongue at him in return. Whether even a Dark Elf could see the gesture at that distance, she didn't know or particularly care.

Sighing, Rain turned back to the doors. Okay. One of them took an elf's cloak, and another lock-picking skills I don't have. So how does door number three work?

On closer examination, she still didn't see any kind of mechanism on the door. Even if she'd had Philia's skills, those wouldn't have done her any good. Which left the odd gap above it, which was far as she could tell was too narrow to squeeze through, even if she'd unequipped her gear.

She gave it a try anyway, backing up to the top of the stairs to get a running start. One flying leap later—and the virtual air knocked out of lungs from the impact on the onyx door—she was clinging to the top of the door, arms hanging over and feet braced against it. As she'd thought, it was too small to get her entire body in—but now she could see, farther in, a gem set conspicuously in the passage's ceiling.

A switch, out of reach. Kind of a no-brainer how that was meant to be tackled. Fishing into her belt pouch with one hand, Rain pulled out a throwing spike, took careful aim, and threw it as hard as she could.

It was a direct hit. She could see the sparks fly from the impact. It also did absolutely nothing.

Any other player would've gone hunting for another solution. Rain only closed her eyes, gritted her teeth, and uttered a choice imprecation at Kayaba Akihiko. Now she knew the mad game master was keeping up with Team Kirito's adventures. She didn't like the implications one bit.

Fumbling from the awkward position, she drew her sword, braced herself with every other limb. Reversed the blade in her hand, and flung it as hard as she could at the switch.

With a bright flash, the switch-gem shattered. Accompanying its destruction was the satisfying click of a lock opening. Much to her relief. "Well," she muttered to herself, "that's done. Let's get going."

She opened her menu with her now-empty hand, preparing to retrieve her thrown sword with Quick Change. At the same moment, she let go of the top of the door, dropping to the polished stone floor—

And kept dropping, the door swiftly disappearing from her sight. Falling into the chute that had opened instead of that door, Rain could only yell a curse at the mad game master, pull in her limbs, and hope that the drop wasn't too long. I knew this was going to be a bad day!

Flip, twirl. A Sonic Leap to hit a Man-Eating Vine hanging from the ceiling, and a twist midair to plant her feet on the wall. A shove at the moment of contact, launching her down to the floor in a dive, ending in a somersault that took her under the waist-high blades spinning out from the walls.

A beam of focused light speared out from the ceiling a few meters farther down the stone corridor. She turned the momentum of her somersault into a spin to the right, coming out of it in a crouch. The spear of light moved to track her, burning away at the plants growing out of cracks in the floor—

Her wrist flicked, flinging her sword straight at the eyeball-like Doomgaze. The blade cut through the deadly light, scattering it in all directions, and pierced the evil eye. The hit was true, a critical strong enough to shatter the mob to azure polygons.

Before the sword had even hit the floor, Rain was on her feet and pulling her second blade from the air. Without pausing, she dropped a smoke bomb to deter the skittering she heard coming up behind her, broke back into a run, and snatched up her first weapon without even breaking stride.

I'm really starting to hate the Dark Elf quests, she thought, swatting aside another Vine that made the mistake of getting within a couple meters of the floor. Kirito's right, Kayaba's tailoring these just for those two, and I don't like how creative he is. Next time we should just leave well enough alone!

Turning sideways to get through a gap just barely wide enough for her to slip past without being torn to bits by the saw blades that suddenly erupted from the walls, she had to admit she knew why they wouldn't. As bad as elf quests could be, from everything Kirito and Kizmel had said they were too significant to just ignore.

Even if they did apparently have a habit of neatly splitting up the team. It was really freaking annoying, but they were all clearers. If they couldn't handle the odd solo section, they wouldn't have still been alive.

For a "reward greater than any gold". That's sure got a Tolkien vibe to it. Better be worth it… maybe it's got something to do with the Baneblade?

…Or maybe the Chronicle. That Dark Elf knight described a place like this, I think. A training ground, wasn't it…?

No time to check, worse luck. Past a tangle of razor-edged Reaper Vines—torn up with a running Horizontal Square, at the expense of some tears in her own skin—the corridor suddenly twisted, becoming a strange spiral. Rain could tell the idea was to follow the path as it curved up the wall, because the "floor" was full of very sharp spikes.

With gleaming green coated on them, suggesting poison. This really isn't my day… well. Here goes nothing.

From the sound of it, the swarm of Piranha Beetles that had been chasing her since the first few meters of the corridor were catching up again, so there was no time to stop and think. Rain could only trust her AGI stat, and start running on the wall.

Twelve steps, she could reliably manage. If she was at a dead run. Beyond that, as the "floor" curved onto the ceiling, she had to let herself fall, at the same time managing the not exactly simple task of triggering a Sword Skill midair.

A Vorpal Strike was normally meant as the closest thing to a ranged attack in the One-Handed Sword category. In a pinch, its sheer force interacting with an Immortal Object produced enough knockback to fling Rain's feet back onto the ceiling. There was just enough momentum left over to let her run, upside-down, to an opening a few meters farther down the passage.

And I think I see—yes!

It was maybe the trickiest spinning jump she'd ever tried, but she was tumbling all over the place anyway. Coming out of the passage, Rain spun in the air in a Storm Strike, her whirling blade catching a pair of ropes just above a set of pulleys. The severed ends zipped up—and just before the carnivorous beetles chasing her could get out of the corridor, a stone gate slammed shut.

She slammed into the floor a second later, leaving her dazed and in a Tumble state. Since nothing seemed to be in the new room to try to eat her or cut her to pieces, she decided to just wait it out and catch her breath.

"Okay," she got out, to the universe at large. "That was a thing. I wonder how the others are doing?"

As if on cue, her quest log chimed. Wearily, she lifted her hand to check it, and almost laughed at what she saw. Totally normal, and totally like the game was laughing at her, compared to what she'd just done.

[Trial Passage Cleared], it said. [Prepare for the Trial of Combat].

"Trial of combat," Rain muttered, sighing. "They didn't consider that combat? I've got a bad feeling about this…." When the Tumble let go, she pushed herself upright and took stock of the room. "Fine. Where do I go to find the others?"

Nothing much of note in the room, as far as she could tell. Just one big square of gleaming black stone, with a few plants creeping through the cracks that weren't trying to eat her. She could hear buzzing coming from the door behind her, but at least it seemed like the beetles couldn't get through. No other doors at floor level, though….

About three meters up the opposite wall, she saw the way out. Not too high to jump, for a player at Level Eighty. How to open it was another question.

Finally looking up, Rain could only groan. There it was, on the ceiling ten meters up: a big red switch, looking like nothing so much as a bull's-eye.

Spinning her sword in one hand, she shook her head. "Here we go again," she muttered—and threw.

With an instruction like "prepare for the Trial of Combat", Rain had assumed there wouldn't be much else before the dungeon threw some serious opposition at her.

This really wasn't her day to make assumptions.

If nothing else, the corridor she was in now made it clear the interior of Castle Kelestraia was an instanced map. There was no way the outer walls she'd seen could have contained the passage that stretched out ahead. Not without going farther down than she thought the chute had taken her, anyway.

Cold, it was, leaving her pulling her coat tighter, grateful that the "Trial of Combat" at least didn't seem to be in that particular corridor. No monsters, just mirrors, reminding her eerily of Hyrus Fortress—except the mirrors lining this corridor were even spookier than those in the fort beneath the Fifty-First Floor's sea. As far as she could see, with maybe a meter's gap between, the walls were lined with those mirrors, and each one showed something different.

As her footsteps rang against black stone, the first pairs of mirrors to either side showed Rain a conflict between elves. Some of them the pale of Forest against the dusk of Dark, in a forest whose like she hadn't seen in Aincrad. A few steps farther, and the ashen skin and glowing eyes of the Fallen appeared, fighting with one race or the other. Eventually, Forest and Dark appeared united against Fallen, and then even humans joined the battle.

Is this supposed to be Aincrad's past? Rain wondered, glancing from one scene to the next. It was eerie, maybe especially because there was no sound accompanying the images. Wow. I wonder if Kirito and Kizmel are seeing anything like this?

She nearly stumbled, a few meters more down the corridor, when she spotted herself in one of those silent scenes of battle. Her ears were pointed, and ethereal wings sprouted from her back, but she knew her own face on the swordswoman fighting with the Dark Elves against a Fallen general.

Rain barely had a chance to take that in before the next set of mirrors showed two girls praying. One of them bore a disturbing resemblance to the rogue AI Tia, the other reminded her of the Dark Elf knight Vanel. Each of them was kneeling before a tree—and two more steps took her to visions of circles rising from the ground, carrying forests, plains, and towns into the sky.

The Great Separation. Huh. Cool, but… what's the point?

The mirrors along the next ten meters or so of corridor did nothing to clear up Rain's confusion. They went from weird histories to just showing Dark Elves in what looked like a training hall, practicing Sword Skills. Most of them she recognized, from the basic Reaver and Rage Spike of Curved and One-Handed Sword to more complicated skills like Dancing Hellraiser and Howling Octave. A few she didn't know; she made a mental note to ask later if anybody on the team knew of a ten-hit One-Handed skill—

"What dost thou seek?"

Rain stumbled, hearing the deep voice out of nowhere reverberate up and down the corridor. "Wh-who said that?!" she demanded, yanking her sword out. "Who's there?!"

"What wouldst thou become?"

She spun, facing one of the mirrors—and saw herself. Not as she was then, though, wearing a captain's coat similar to the one she'd won on the Fifty-First Floor. She saw her swimsuit-clad, monochromatic doppelgänger, from the boss fight in Hyrus Fortress. Unlike the self she'd seen fighting in an earlier mirror, this one stared right back at her, eyes glowing a deep and eerie red.

"Why dost thou bear arms?"

Shivering, Rain turned away from that mirror and started walking again, fast. The voice, she realized, was part of the quest—which didn't make it any less spooky. The sooner she was out of that corridor, the better.

The next set of mirrors showed her other familiar faces: Kirito and Asuna, fighting with Kizmel against a Forest Elf. Then, a few steps farther, a giant spider. Forest Elves, and Fallen; and as if to break the tension, a quick glimpse of Kirito washing Kizmel's back.

Okay, Rain thought, breaking into a trot, this must be when those three first met. Wow, Kirito looks embarrassed—bet he's used to it by now. But why the heck am I seeing any of this?

For a brief instant, she saw herself again—this time wearing a dark, hooded cloak. On the side of her neck, a tattoo of a grinning coffin….

"Why dost thou seek power?"

As Rain's trot turned into a run, she saw the two Swordmasters and the elf knight battling in a lake. Then a dungeon, deep and dark. At the battlements of a castle, in a place dry and dusty. Places she'd only read about, but never seen with her own eyes. Battles whose details she'd purchased from the Rat, live before her eyes.

"What road dost thou travel?"

Just for a blink, there was only herself, in an empty corridor of mirrors. Startling in its own way, after so many false images. Then the plain image was gone, and beyond it she saw more of the Elf War. Scenes that grew darker as she went, more desperate—

An obsidian castle, crumbling. A Fallen Elf in spiked armor and a robe that seemed to eat light, roaring silently as two familiar figures ran, one of them carrying a third. Rain had never seen that moment, either, but Kirito and Kizmel had told her about it. The reminder of the threat they'd never completely discounted sent a chill down her spine, spurring her faster and farther down the corridor.

"Which path wilt thou choose?"

Another glimpse of her darker reflection, fighting with Laughing Coffin. Another step, and she was on the other side of the same battle, screaming at the PKers as she threw sword after sword, piercing them. Killing them….

"A choice must be made. Thou can escape it not. What wilt thou become?"

More Fallen Elves, amid the killers of Laughing Coffin. Two laughing shadows in the background; Rain had no idea if that scene was something that had happened, something the system was predicting, or just some warped vision the quest had come up with to mess with her.

"The world approaches the precipice. Dost thou seek the height, or the depths?"

One more flicker of that battle between clearers and Laughing Coffin—this time with Rain's own self split down the middle, half-PKer and half her normal self. Then a longer view, across several mirrors, of her in guild colors. First the blue of the Divine Dragons Alliance, then the green and gray of the Aincrad Liberation Force. One more showed her in the red-trimmed white of the Knights of Blood, standing at the head of a small army alongside Asuna the Flash.

Okay, this is starting to get really creepy. Would it kill this place to get to the point?

"Dost thou seek what comes after?"

Something in the hallway flickered, and suddenly several mirrors stood right in front of her. She skidded to a halt, just before she could run into them.

"A choice, Swordmaster. What path wilt thou choose? Dost thou desire power? Wilt thou revel in pain? Seek fortune? Join arms with others?"

With a start, Rain understood. The mirrors before her showed the selves she'd passed along the way. Herself as she was. As part of Laughing Coffin. As a member, even leader, of one of the major guilds.

"Dost thou seek hope, or despair? Destruction… or justice?"

She didn't know if it was really supposed to mean anything. On the one hand, Kirito had said the system had some grasp of players' emotions, and it was plain that Kayaba was monitoring their team, for whatever reason. On the other, the fact that one of the mirrors showed her dressed as a waitress at a maid cafe made her wonder if it was just one big joke.

"Is the future thou desires salvation or destruction, in this Steel Castle? Or dost thy seek something beyond the Castle's fate?"

In the end, Rain supposed it didn't matter. What did matter to her was whether the choice the voice was asking her had any direct impact on the rewards of the quest—and if it did, well, there was only one path to choose.

"I'm not a murderer," she said aloud, wondering if the processes behind that voice could hear her. "But I'm not a soldier, either. Being with one of the guilds—nah, that's just not my style." She walked forward, toward the last mirror. The one that showed her in a darker coat, alongside someone darker still who bore a shining sword. "The guilds are squabbling as much as they're leading, anyway. If I wanna make a difference, I have to take a third option."

"The path of which thou speaks is harsh. Battles unknown even to the Swordmasters' leaders await, with the fate of Aincrad itself at stake."

"So? Somebody's gotta do it. And in the end, if I'm going to find what I'm after on the other side—if I'm gonna be who I want to be—then I've gotta walk the hard road. I have to be the best I can be."

"Well said, Swordmaster! The greatest strength—the greatest hope—is born of the greatest challenge."

Rain walked right into the mirror showing Team Kirito, dressed like a dark guild, and passed through. Beyond, she could see in the distance one more mirror, showing exactly what she was looking for. And between her and her destination—

"Thy path is one of thorns. Cut through, Swordmaster! Rend illusion, and seize thy justice with thine own hands!"

Monsters, dark and whipping vines, burst from the walls. Rain only shook her head, grinned, and swept her sword out. With a yell, she charged.

A grinning specter, made of shadows and wielding a thin sword, met her halfway.

"Well," Kirito remarked, cautiously peering into the next room, sword in hand, "as Dark Elf quests go, this one's been pretty tame. I kinda expected it to be worse than this, after running into another sage."

"Please, Kirito," Kizmel said, taking the opposite side of the doorway. "Do not, what's the human expression, 'jinx' it? And Sahasra did say he wasn't exactly a friend of Bouhroum." She leaned around the corner, kite shield held high. "That being said… I admit I expected worse than a few Black Knights. We've not encountered a dungeon related to my people that was so simple since… the Trial of the Brave, I believe?"

He groaned. "Now who's jinxing it? If it's like that, we're only just about to hit the worst part."

It really was weird, though. After passing through the door clearly meant for the two of them, their run through the dungeon had mostly been straight-up fighting, with pretty minor mobs. Sure, Elucidator gave Kirito an advantage, and Kizmel's new saber Everdark was the best they'd yet gotten from Lisbeth. But still. Not even any major puzzles?

The Black Knights, maybe, could've been a threat. About thirty floors ago. The two of them had worked out how to handle their attack patterns back during the original Baneblade quest.

Which did make him nervous. After all, the real challenges for the first two dungeons of that quest had been of the mind. Kirito really didn't feel like having his head messed with again. Even with the elephant in the room of Kizmel's ignorance settled, there were still a few issues he wasn't ready to deal with himself. If anywhere was likely to drag them up again, it was a Dark Elf dungeon.

"Still," he said, when it was plain nothing was about to jump out and eat their faces, "could be that Philia or Rain ran into the bad stuff. Not that I think this place has anything that would be too much for either of them, but…."

"Indeed. Hopefully, the two of them will join us here soon—and if not, that we can follow the passages out of here to find them. As it is, husband, I believe we've found the core of Kelestraia."

Considering that it was at the top of the castle—after the passage they'd started in had taken them clear to the basement before going back up—Kirito figured she was probably right about that. Not to mention the two featureless doors that were the only other visible exits, which if he was right were the end points of Philia and Rain's entrances.

The fact that it was a huge room with almost nothing in it was another clue. Especially when the only notable features were a pedestal in the very center, ominous blue torches, and a giant mirror on the far wall that showed nothing but shimmering silver.

"I've got a bad feeling about that mirror," Kirito muttered, finally relaxing enough to walk into the chamber. "I just don't have good experiences with mirrors in Dark Elf fortresses." Hyrus Fortress' had run the gamut from being just a visual distraction, to being targets in a puzzle, to tossing out doppelgängers of his party.

Not to mention—

"Oh, I don't know," Kizmel said with a sly smile, following him in. "I was rather intrigued by the vision of me. And I must say, the vision you were shown—well. I think it broke the tension quite nicely, don't you?"

He shuddered, trying to shake off the memory. "I don't even want to think about it," he said, quickly going over to examine the side walls of the chamber. "If Argo ever got wind of that—no. Just, no."

There wasn't much left that Argo could realistically use to blackmail him. With his marriage to Kizmel, she'd lost a lot leverage. But the Forty-Third Floor and that one mirror in Hyrus Fortress… those were things he was never, ever going to allow the Rat to know about.

The chuckle behind him might've worried him, if he didn't know perfectly well Kizmel was as wary of the info broker as he was. Tease she might, and behind closed doors she was certainly forward enough. Risk public humiliation? Even a Dark Elf's standards weren't that different.

Kirito's train of thought was, thankfully, derailed by a low grinding noise, as one of the other doors slid open. "Heya!" Philia called out, twirling a lock pick in one hand. "Kirito, Kizmel, good to see you're already here! Everything smooth on your end?"

"More or less," he said, tracing one hand over the wall. Doesn't seem to be anything on this wall, but better safe than sorry…. "Some minor mobs and a few Black Knights, nothing the two of us couldn't handle. You?"

"Locks and puzzles," the treasure hunter replied, pouting. "Some pretty tricky ones, too. And not one treasure chest along the way! I'm starting to think that sage was just messing with us." She walked over to the side end of the wall, eyes glowing with Searching. "Unless this room has something we're not seeing, I'm gonna be kind of mad."

Another grinding noise shortstopped any reply Kirito might've made. The remaining door slid open, and Rain stalked in. "I'm going to be mad at the sage anyway," she said, not bothering with a greeting. "This whole place… it's crazy. What's the point, anyway?"

Kirito exchanged a surprised glance with Kizmel. That kind of downbeat attitude wasn't like the redhead at all. Nor the shadows in her eyes. She was standing tall, like she'd made some kind of decision, but she sure didn't look happy about it. He hadn't seen that kind of look on any player since around the Fifty-Seventh Floor.

"Rain?" Kizmel said cautiously. "Did something happen?"

"Nothing that bad," Rain said, shrugging. "Just splitting us up, tossing me into a hallway full of things trying to kill me, another hallway full of really weird mirrors, and hitting me with a bait and switch… never mind. I don't really wanna talk about it." She tossed her head, red hair glittering strangely in the blue torchlight. "So. What've we got here?"

"Nothing at all on this wall," Philia said, before Kirito could even think of pressing Rain. The glow faded from her eyes, and she turned to the pedestal in the center of the room. "Dunno what's here, but I think the key to it is that thing, and the mirror."

"Huh." Rain walked over to it first, and glared down at the stone. It wasn't much more than a cylindrical column, with a wide, flat top. There was some kind of writing on it, though Kirito couldn't read it from a distance, and… hand prints, in a circle around the writing? "Well… I have no idea what this says," the redhead said after a second. "I think it's Sindarin…?"

Kizmel quickly moved to join her. "It is," she said, glancing over it. "Hm. 'To be worthy of the keys of a treasure beyond gold, one must first confront oneself. Only those who know themselves may grasp the greater knowledge.' That is… perhaps not reassuring." Frowning, she traced a finger under the hand prints. "It appears we're meant to all touch this at once."

Oh. Great. Wondering if it was going to trigger a boss fight, an apparition, or something even weirder, Kirito and Philia positioned themselves on the remaining side of the pedestal. A quick exchange of nods, and each of them placed a hand on it.

Nothing happened at first. No roars of incoming monsters, no ominous voices, not even any ghosts appearing out of thin air. Kirito knew, though, that Kayaba wouldn't have created something like that for no reason, and only waited patiently. The delay was probably just some kind of test in itself, if he knew Dark Elf quests.

But what's that tingling? Like fingers on the edge of my brain….

Light abruptly flared from the pedestal, tracing the edges of the hand prints and pouring into lines that raced down into the floor. From there, it flowed across the room, and into the shimmering mirror.

What he'd been expecting to see there, Kirito wasn't sure. Whatever it was, it wasn't the image that wavered into view—and when it did appear, he couldn't make heads or tails out of it. "Wha…?"

"Well, that's kinda weird," Philia said, staring. "Why's the mirror showing my house? How did the game even know what it looks like?"

Kirito's head whipped around. "What?" he blurted. "You're seeing—your house? Your IRL house, Philia?" What in the world…?

"Well, yeah." She blinked at him. "You mean, you aren't?"

"Unless you moved in with my family and nobody told me, that's not what I'm seeing," Rain said, when he hesitated. "I'm seeing my house, except… my whole family's there." She stared at the mirror, blinking rapidly. "Is… that what Nanairo looks like now…?"

What?

"Interesting." Kizmel stepped away from the pedestal, peering intently at whatever image the mirror was showing her. "For a moment, I thought I saw my childhood home in the Royal Capital. Now, though… a city of steel and smooth stone. I've never seen anything like it. Buildings so tall… is that what a city in your world looks like?"

Philia shrugged. "Can't say for sure without seeing what you're seeing, but it sounds like it. Huh. I wonder what's up with that." She turned. "What're you seeing, Kirito? …Kirito?"

Kirito tore his eyes away, shuddering. "J-just my house IRL," he said quickly. "And my family. Wow, if this is legit, my sister's really grown…. But what's the point of this, anyway?" He turned his attention back to the pedestal, crouching down to look under its top. "There doesn't seem to be any point to this, but quests always make some kind of sense. Unless Kayaba screwed up the code, even a genius makes mistakes sometimes…."

The others were probably staring at him. He knew Kizmel was going to push it later. Unless something happens right now to distract everybody. Please something happen—

"Hey, it's changing… what the heck is that supposed to be?"

He quickly straightened up, almost bonking his head on the stone. The vision that had so badly rattled him had disappeared, replaced by something he didn't recognize at all. A dark castle, one that reminded him of the Fallen Elves' Twilight Citadel—except this one sat on a cliff that seemingly floated in the air all by itself, and the sky around it was color-inverted. So were the monsters patrolling the stone bridge that connected it to some kind of mainland, visible as the view zoomed out.

What those monsters were, Kirito couldn't make out. He could see, though, a handful of humanoid figures moving past them. Figures with visible cursors, but of a type he'd never seen before. Like onyx crystals, lit from within by an ominous purple flame.

"…Well, that rates at least a six on the creepy scale," Philia said. "Um… are you guys all seeing the same thing, this time?"

"Creepy castle, weird mobs, bizarre cursor?" Rain tugged at her coat. "Yep. And… hang on, what's that?"

"That" was a door, shown by itself and zoomed in too close to see its surroundings. Large, heavy, and made of a very familiar black stone—with six large, unmistakable keyholes.

"…Kizmel?" Kirito got out, voice barely a whisper. "We never ended up seeing it, but… do you think that's what I think it is?"

"I fear it does resemble artwork I was shown, when first I was chosen for my mission," Kizmel said slowly, stepping in close to him. "It's been nearly two years now, but it made quite the impression. Especially when we learned what the Fallen King truly intended."

"That's what I was afraid of." He'd hardly thought about it in months, except as a reminder that SAO was not a game and didn't always behave like one. He hadn't wanted to think about it, given all the problems he already had, and anyway once the Fallen King had been defeated, it had all seemed over and done with.

The imitation Jade Key they'd found in the Nazzoth quest had made him wonder again. Now he was really starting to get twitchy. Between that and the way the Fifty-Seventh Floor had gone completely off the rails, there was no telling what Kayaba was willing to allow.

"We'd better check in with Argo after this. If she's even heard the wildest rumor, we need to know."

"Know what?" Philia broke in plaintively. "You two know what that is? 'Cause if I didn't know better, I'd say that was a final boss door, and we shouldn't be seeing anything like that for awhile yet. And you two look like you've seen a ghost, so—"

"Not a ghost, Swordmasters. But a possibility. Dark designs, whose ends even we cannot guess."

Kirito thought the collective "Eep!" from his team might just have included Kizmel. He wasn't going to tease her, though, startled as he was by the voice. Whirling, he saw the Sage Sahasra calmly emerging from the theretofore "blank" wall.

He was smiling, as if amused by the shock he'd given them. That smile disappeared quickly, though, as he nodded at the mirror. "Very interesting. That mirror shows the viewer's heart. One of you, at least, must have quite the attachment to Aincrad, if it showed you that place."

"That place?" Rain repeated. She glanced back at the mirror, which was flickering between the castle and the door. "What are we seeing?"

"Ask Kirito and Kizmel, when you are in a safer place," Sahasra replied, shaking his head. "Even in this place, I dare not speak the knowledge. Much as I would rather it otherwise, Swordmaster charms are more reliable than even Castle Kelestraia's…. Know this, Swordmasters: that realm, kept apart from Aincrad yet inseparable, is the greatest secret the Keepers hide. The Echo seeks it. If it is found, there will be calamity—one even we cannot predict."

"And what is the Echo?" Kizmel asked, folding her arms. "A person? A monster?"

"A pact." The sage shrugged. "The Keepers mind ancient knowledge, My Lady. The present is not so clear to us. We know only that the Echo is a pact among dark forces, seeking the realm you see within the mirror. They must not find it."

Too true. Kirito had no idea what the Gothic castle was, but if he and Kizmel were right about the door, it was bad. Bad enough even to distract him from what he'd seen in the mirror before that. …I don't think I want to know what it says about me that I'm kind of relieved. Or that I would be, if I wasn't terrified for a different reason.

Aloud, he said, "Is that why you brought us here? To see this? Why couldn't you just tell us?" Because he didn't like what the mirror had shown him, and he was pretty sure Rain had gone through something disturbing, and he was just plain tired of having his head messed with by quests.

"Knowledge is a treasure that must be earned, Swordmasters," Sahasra told him patiently. "And were you not of the proper character, I would not have wanted you to know even this much. As two of you may attest, there is knowledge too dangerous to fall into the wrong hands."

"What's that supposed to… wait." Philia stared at him. "Knowledge? Treasure? This was the treasure you promised?!"

Her indignant yell cut through the tension, and to Kirito's surprise Sahasra actually laughed. "Is not knowledge the greatest treasure of all, young Swordmaster?" he said. "'Tis hardly my fault if you thought otherwise. The things you have seen here—even you, My Lady," he added, glancing at Rain. "What you have seen may be more valuable to you than gold could ever be. Ashes it may be to you now, yet the trial through which you passed may save your life one day. Or others."

"…I know."

Kirito blinked, wondering again just what Rain had gone through on her way the final chamber. Before he could say anything, though, Sahasra turned to him. "What the visions you have seen here mean, and how much value they hold, only you can say. But if you seek knowledge, to find your way, to protect this world…." The sage pulled a key from under his robes, large and ornate, and handed it over. "Seek you the Library of the Ancients. There may you find your way—whether it be the path you expect, or something else."

July 7th, 2024

Now that she knew the truth of her own existence and the world around her, if there was one thing Kizmel hungered to learn, it was history. History of the world from which her husband and friends came—and the history that influenced the shape and theme of Aincrad's floors.

The Sixty-Fourth Floor was different from anything she'd yet seen, even if some of the monsters resembled those as far down as the Second. The ruined city she and her friends were walking into was one of stark white marble, with chiseled columns and broken statues abounding. In the light of a sun unobstructed by the floors above, she suspected the glare would've been blinding.

"What we got here," Argo remarked, picking her way between fallen columns, "is pure Classical architecture. Th' Greekest Greek I've seen this side o' Athens. Somebody went all-out on this floor. Pretty nice place, gotta admit. 'Side from the minotaurs, anyway, I'll just bet the Floor Boss is gonna be a palate-swap of the ones from the Second Floor…."

"I'm just wondering why this is a Safe Haven," Kirito said, keeping a wary eye on their surroundings as they made their way down the city's battered main road. "I haven't seen even one NPC. The last time we were in a town without NPCs, it had turned into a dungeon."

"Oh, that I think I can answer, Kii-bou." The Rat flashed a grin over her shoulder. "Fer the usual fee, o' course. The trivia rate," she amended, when he rolled his eyes and opened his menu. "This shouldn't be anything crucial to life an' limb."

"Why does that make me more nervous?" Philia muttered. "And there'd better be treasure here. I still haven't forgiven that sage for the last trick he pulled…."

Kizmel had to acknowledge the treasure hunter had something of a point. Sahasra had appeared just as inexplicably on this floor as he had the previous, and just as cryptically. While his "advice" had suggested their current quest would be safe enough, none of them really trusted him.

Bouhroum he may not be, but he is in his own way just as unreliable. I suppose Kirito would probably call it a "class trait"?

"Hush, you," Argo said to Philia, accepting a small bag of Cor from Kirito. "Argo-nee-chan's here to teach today, not tease. Mostly." She cleared her throat. "Ahem! First point, this town's called Athenazia, yeah? Clear reference to Athens right there. Second point?" The information broker pointed to the center of the city, where one unbroken statue stood tall.

Bright marble, like everything else in Athenazia. It depicted a tall woman, dressed as if for battle and holding a spear in one hand. It was difficult to see fine detail from that distance, but Kizmel's sharp eyes seemed to catch an odd amulet hanging from the woman's neck, bearing a grotesque face.

"That, right there, is a classic statue o' Athena, namesake of Athens," Argo said, when she was sure everyone had gotten a good look. "Goddess of wisdom, war, that kinda thing—and protector of cities. You want my five Cor—and no, I'm not giving you any!—that's all s'posed to tell smart players this place is safe."

"Oh, great." Rain gave the statue—and Argo—a suspicious look, and shook her head with a sigh. "Safe, no monsters? There's gotta be a catch. Like nasty puzzles. Am I the only one remembering the Sixth Floor, and the puzzles to get into inns?"

Kirito winced, but Kizmel found herself smiling. "If that's all we have to fear, then you need only leave that to me. I enjoy puzzles." She turned an inquiring look on Argo, one eyebrow raised. "You know more about this than I might've expected, so soon after our arrival on this floor. Dare I ask why, or will that cost extra?"

The Rat cackled, almost tripping over the fallen head of a statue. "Nah, Kii-bou could prolly guess anyway, so this one's a freebee. Greek mythology's kind of a hobby of mine, is all. Y'know my name, Argo? I told ya once it means 'swift'. It's also the name of a ship from one of the big Greek myths."

Kirito slapped his forehead. "I can't believe I never made the connection," he said, when the rest of the team turned to look at him. "Asuna would be laughing at me right now…. But why take a name from that? I don't remember any of the Argonauts being sneaky gossipers—oof!"

Argo withdrew her elbow and strode ahead as if she hadn't just hit him with it. "Now that would cost ya more than ya got, Kii-bou. Unless you're ready to sell me your name?" She paused, glanced back over her shoulder, and grinned at the look on his face. "Yeah, didn't think so. The story's a good one, though, Kii-chan," she continued. "Lots of heroic feats and monster-slayin', plus some good ol' intrigue."

"I'd like to hear it, sometime," Kizmel said sincerely. "As many stories as Kayaba wrote into this world, it's become clear to me that it is nothing next to what exists in your world. Clearly, I have much to learn."

She'd known that for months, of course. The events at Castle Kelestraia had recently reinforced that, however. The towers of Reccoa City, and her friends' comments about how they paled beside the "real world's" structures had left her trying to imagine what the Swordmasters' people were really capable of. The mirror in Kelestraia had shown her she hadn't even begun to grasp the reality.

"Y'know, Kii-chan, that gives me an idea," Argo said thoughtfully. Conspicuously ignoring the looks of horror from the rest of the team, she tapped her chin. "How's about we take a night off sometime, an' trade stories at yer cabana? Might be a good way to blow off some steam. Free of charge, I promise!" she added, with another grin. "But—later. Right now, I think we found what we're here for."

The building had been so thoroughly obscured by the collapsed remains of a temple that Kizmel was genuinely surprised when it came into sight a few steps farther down the road. Huge, by the standards of an Aincrad city, and like every other building in Athenazia, built of polished marble. An arched roof, ornate reliefs along the walls, and a massive double-door flanked by two columns.

It was the first truly intact building they'd seen in the entire city. Likely, Argo was correct about it being their destination.

"Looks like this is it," Philia agreed, looking up at it with the green of Searching glowing in her eyes. "The Library of the Ancients…." She grinned, rubbing her hands together. "What are we waiting for? This isn't an instanced map, other players will be here soon. I don't know about you guys, but I'm not letting anybody get to any treasure before I do!"

In a city full of ruins that even Kizmel could tell were meant to represent an ancient culture, she'd had certain expectations of what a library would look like. Archives of rolled-up scrolls, like as not, the sort of thing that might crumble to dust at the slightest touch. A repository of ancient knowledge, perhaps contemporary with the Reliquary in which they'd found the Baneblade.

At the least, she'd anticipated that it would be dusty and neglected on the inside. A source for clues of a grander quest, little more than that.

Three floors of pristine shelves were not quite what she'd pictured. Fully-intact stairs led up from the first level, the center of which was dominated by a remarkably cozy-looking reading area with tables and soft chairs. The shelves, rather than fragile scrolls, appeared to be stocked with hardbound books not unlike that which might be found in a Dark Elf library.

The librarians might only have left yesterday, Kizmel thought, blinking at the perfectly clean and tidy library. A far cry from what we encountered when Sahasra led us to Castle Kelestraia. And, of course—

"Totally not fair," Philia muttered, hanging her head. "No treasure in sight. Just like that stupid castle. And this time we're not even the first ones here?!"

Kirito was giving the leader of the group who'd arrived first a flat stare. "Agil," he said, voice just as devoid of enthusiasm. "How did you get here before we did? And why?" He turned that deadened look on Argo. "Do you have something to say for yourself?"

The Rat shook her head, grinning. "Nope! Not me this time! I can't even think of anything I've sold these guys that coulda gotten them here ahead of us. Unless there's a quest flag I managed to miss…?"

Agil laughed, and shook a finger at Argo. "Oh, no, you don't, Rat! You'll get your info, but I'll be charging a finder's fee for it myself." Grinning, he waved them toward the reading area, where the others of his old merchant group already sat. "For right now, I'm just gonna revel in having gotten one over you guys for once. That never happens."

True enough. Only a fraction of Argo's information was initially found by the broker herself, but it was the daredevils among the Swordmasters who did tend to glean the most valuable hints. Often as not, by Kizmel's own team, with their habit of getting caught up in what Kirito still tended to call sidequests. She'd fully expected the Library of the Ancients would be another such.

Certainly, she thought, settling beside Kirito in a chair almost wide enough for both of them, I would never have expected this turn of events. "While I'll leave the details of 'how' for you to sell for profit, Agil," she said dryly, "I must second Kirito's other question. Why? Not," she hastened to add, "that I'm complaining. But I believe this is the first time I've seen you on the frontlines since the battle with Vemacitrin."

An uneasy silence followed her question. Not surprising, really. Argo was the only one in the building who hadn't been present for that terrible battle, and one of the casualties had been a close friend to Agil and his colleagues. Wolfgang's death had, indeed, been the reason they'd left the frontlines in the first place.

After a moment, Lowbacca raised his hands in a shrug. "We're merchants, Kizmel," he said, tone deliberately light. "Sometimes we do have to come up to the front, if we're gonna have the best items to sell. Who pays high prices for ordinary stuff?"

"So much for 'Buy cheap, sell cheap'," Rain muttered. She folded her arms, giving the merchants a narrow, sidelong glance. "At least you're admitting it for once."

"That's Agil's motto," Lowbacca said, unfazed. "Not mine."

"Quiet, you." Agil coughed into his fist. "Lowbacca's got it half right, though. I may not be doing any clearing lately, but any good merchant's gotta get the goods people need to buy. 'Sides, I like to keep my levels up. Someday you crazy clearers might need backup, and who you gonna call if there's no backbenchers who can keep up?"

Fair, that. And very welcome. Though she and her friends only rarely spent much time with the clearing group as a whole outside of boss raids, Kizmel had been paying attention. Over the past months, it seemed as if the number of people mapping out new floors had been decreasing, little by little. Some of the attrition, unfortunately, had been due to casualties; others, Kizmel had her own suspicions about.

Either way, knowing that there was some help waiting if it was ever needed was a hopeful sign she hadn't realized she needed. So far, there was never a shortage when the time came to fight Field and Floor Bosses, but someday….

"Good to know, Agil," Kirito said, before the silence could drag on too long. "Even if I still don't buy the 'sell cheap' line…. Anyway!" He nodded at the surrounding shelves. "You were here first. What in Aincrad is all this? I expected this to be just an ordinary quest location."

"Oh, now that's pretty interesting." Grinning, Agil stood and headed for the nearest bookshelf. "You know just about every book in SAO is public domain stuff, right? Written in English, which maybe half the players can actually read well enough to pretend to care?"

"Except for the odd quest item," Kirito said, nodding. "Which are usually empty except for quest flavor text…. And there's a few Sindarin books around." He frowned. "Still wondering when Kayaba found the time to put those together…."

So did Kizmel. Though usually she tried not to think about it too much. Other than proving her own existence, she preferred to leave her childhood memories untainted by worries about what her experiences had really meant.

"Huh. Didn't know about the Sindarin, but I guess I'm not surprised… well, whatever." Agil pulled a random book out of the shelf, handing it to Kirito. "Take a look."

He did, opening the hardcover with a puzzled frown. "Is there supposed to be something special about… this…?" He stiffened. "What the hell…?"

Kizmel leaned over his shoulder, and found her eyebrows lifting in surprise. Even now, she wasn't completely fluent in the script, but she was certainly conversant enough in it by now. Far more than enough to recognize it on sight. "That's in your own language. Japanese. The entire book?"

"Yep." Agil waved toward the other shelves. "Mind you, we haven't begun to look this place over. Hell, it'd take weeks to even crack every cover. But every book we have checked? Japanese. And not just public domain stuff. We knew Kayaba didn't mind skirting close to the legal edge—why would he, after setting us up to die here—but this?" He paused. "Kirito. Kizmel. I know Kayaba's set up some things just for the two of you, stuff that goes above and beyond. But this is a bit much. What the hell do you think this is all about?"

"…I have no idea," Kirito admitted, tracing a caption beneath a picture of buildings Kizmel had only ever seen in a strange vision. "But I think maybe we'd better find out."

"Finally! Something useful from this crazy questline!" A rustle of papers. "Hm… I think I even recognize one of the dungeons here. Though this one, I'm pretty sure is on a floor we haven't reached yet…."

"Yeah? Huh. Maybe your party can coordinate with us sometime? There's some mats I need from around there. Demand for Crimson Bat fangs is up lately; a smith I know says they're used for upgrading a lot of recent weapons. Problem is, that cave has a lot of plague debuffs. Maybe Agil could handle that by himself, but Naijan and I really need an escort for that kind of thing."

"Don't touch my treasure, and maybe we can work something out. I've been waiting for a find like this…."

It was perhaps the calmest outcome to a quest that Kizmel could remember. Gathered in a library in a Safe Haven, there were no monsters involved at all, just books. While Philia happily pored over a series of treasure maps she'd found behind a false wall, and the merchants haggled with her for assistance in their own pursuits, Rain was perusing a book on swordsmanship. The redhead also had her Chronicle out, cross-checking between them. Why, Kizmel wasn't sure, but she had the quiet, intent air that had taken her over from time to time since the events in Castle Kelestraia.

For her part, Kizmel was tucked into a chair with Kirito, looking over the books he'd pulled out. "I don't believe this," he said, shaking his head. "All that mystery, going through a crazy castle and dealing with a sage almost as nuts as Bouhroum, and we find a library full of school textbooks?"

She couldn't help but chuckle at the bewildered indignation in her husband's voice. It was true, though, that aside from the hidden maps and a handful of tomes devoted to aspects of Aincrad itself, the majority of the books they'd checked were purely educational. A veritable treasure trove, really, of knowledge of the world from which the Swordmasters came.

"I mean," Kirito continued, tapping the book he was currently examining, "I know this book. This was for my English class. I was just reading this in class the day before launch, even!"

Agil laughed. "Oh, now there's a picture! The Black Swordsman, sitting in a classroom like a normal kid? Man, that's something I'd pay to see. Remember, Kizmel," he said, when she raised an eyebrow at him, "I first met this guy just before we fought Illfang. Practically my first impression of him was the whole 'Beater' act. He scared the daylights out of players twice his age. Can't imagine how school kids handled him."

Kizmel thought back to her own education as child, decades past. Kirito, as she'd always known him, probably would have fit right in; Dark Elves learned young the harsh realities of the world. Or such was the tale spun for me, at any rate… but that's neither here nor there.

She tried to imagine what schooling might have been like in a land without battle or blades, instead. Then thought what it would be like for Kirito, with his dark clothes, long coat, and ever-present sword, to be among "ordinary" school children.

She didn't bother trying to suppress the chuckle, or the smile, the image brought. "I think, Agil, the better question is, how did Kirito handle them?"

"Mostly, I didn't," Kirito muttered, staring determinedly down at the next book in the stack. "Does anyone here think I had anything resembling social skills back then? Don't answer that, Argo!"

The Rat, curled up in a chair across the table, clicked her tongue with a fangy grin. "What? I dunno anything about you before SAO, Kii-bou." She paused—for effect, Kizmel was sure. "I was just gonna say you haven't leveled up your social skills here, either!"

Kizmel gave his hand a comforting squeeze at that. "Now, now," she murmured in his ear. "I, for one, would never have guessed you had any such difficulties. You've always dealt with my people smoothly enough, after all."

"Not really helping, Kizmel… oh, whatever." Kirito sighed, slammed the book closed, and tossed it onto the table. "My point is that we've got books here ranging from middle to high school, and I'm pretty sure I saw some college-level computer programming manuals on the third floor. Why? Why would Kayaba include three schools' worth of textbooks here?"

That, she had to admit, was a genuine puzzle. Kayaba Akihiko's world was a detailed one, to be sure; while it was true she had nothing to which to compare it, she was fairly sure she'd have questioned it much sooner had it been less complete. There was nothing that had particularly stood out as "wrong" until the Swordmasters arrived and gave her just such a comparison. Yet those details had had a purpose, and as far as she could see a library such as this added nothing to Aincrad's verisimilitude.

Unless…?

"Kayaba's work, as terrible as it's been, has always been fair," Kizmel said slowly. She picked up one of the textbooks, one which proclaimed itself to be a history meant for "middle school" students, and cracked it open. "You've said that he proclaimed the beginning of his trap to be the end of his work, but perhaps even the end of the 'game' is meant to be fair."

"Well, he did say we'd all get out if we beat the final boss," Agil said, folding his arms. "If he wasn't lying, that's about as fair as it gets with a death game. What's that got to do with a school library?"

She traced the printed characters in the book's preface, mentally sounding them out. This book, and those like it, represented a treasure that to her was far greater than any gold. This was exactly what she'd sought, since the day she'd first thought to follow the Swordmasters to their own world. She could spend days, weeks even, in this one building, and never tire of it. If I'm to be anything but a burden to Kirito, in the "real world", I need to study it. I need to learn everything I can.

"How many students do you think were caught in Kayaba's trap, Agil?" she said aloud. Gesturing with her free hand at the younger Swordmasters present, she continued, "I'll not be so gauche as to ask ages, but I would suspect you, Lowbacca, and Naijan are the only Swordmasters here who were not still in school in your world."

Agil looked suddenly thoughtful, and Argo's eyebrows went up. "Oh ho," the Rat murmured. "Think you might be onto somethin' there, Kii-chan. Kinda hard for me to think of Kayaba bein' that nice, but if he's that set on 'fair'… yeah, could be he'd put in somethin' like this ta help. If players were clever enough—like us—ta find it." She pursed her lips, and after a moment gave a shrug. "Makes as much sense as anything else. With all these books being existing stuff, he wouldn't even have had to go that far out of his way."

"Wait." Kirito glanced at Kizmel, then Argo, and back to Kizmel, eyes widening in such comical horror the elf girl had to stifle a laugh. "Are you two seriously suggesting this place is set up for younger players to catch up on homework?!"

"Makes a hell of a lot more sense than this being for quests," Agil pointed out, not quite managing to suppress a grin. "Way too much even for Cardinal's random quests to ever need. Or, hell, maybe it's another way to mess with us—or with the kids, anyway—by convincing the older players to make 'em go to school even here."

Kirito groaned, burying his face in his hands. "That? Is pure evil, Agil." He looked up suddenly, eyes narrowing. "And if you even think of suggesting that to Asuna, I'll find you. And you will pay."

At that, Kizmel could no longer contain herself—though she liked to think her laughter lacked the mischievous edge of Argo's chortle. Because she could see Asuna trying to arrange exactly that. Her sister in all but blood had loosened up considerably since the battle with The Geocrawler, but if anything that made it more likely she'd want the Swordmasters in her age group to take the time to catch up.

Alas, Kirito-kun, you don't get out of it that easily. Clearing her throat, Kizmel raised one eyebrow in his direction. "And what makes you think Asuna is the one about whose reaction you should be worried, Kirito?"

Kirito stared at her, betrayal written all over his face. "You wouldn't."

"Ah, but I would. Surely you don't think I would accept my husband being at a disadvantage when this world is conquered?" She tsked, shaking her head. "No, that wouldn't do at all. I married a man with unshakeable conviction and an iron will. To fall in your world after flourishing in mine is unthinkable."

"But—but—"

Agil reached across to lay a hand on Kirito's shoulder, the sympathy in his eyes belied by the lurking grin. "Take it from a man who's been married longer than you have, Kirito: you're not gonna win this fight. You gotta know when to fold 'em, and this ain't the time to bluff."

Ah, Kizmel thought, listening to the axeman's words of wisdom with no small satisfaction. That is something in common between my upbringing and the "real" world. Perhaps I'll not be completely lost, then.

Even so, she gripped Kirito's hand again, giving him a genuine smile. "Now, now, Kirito. If anything, this will be harder for me than for you. After all, I have much more to learn—and I have every intention of catching up with you, by the time the Steel Castle is conquered. When the time comes for us to leave this world for yours, I intend to have some idea of the challenges that will then face me."

Though he flinched oddly, when she mentioned Aincrad's inevitable end, her words still had much the calming effect she'd hoped. He even smiled, looking almost as shy as he had in earlier days of their partnership. "W-well, when you put it that way…. We'll help each other out, then. It's always easier with a study partner, anyway."

That, Kizmel doubted was something with which Kirito had personal experience. She had little doubt he was right, however, and she was more than happy to take advantage of his lightened mood to pull him into searching the bookshelves again.

It was over an hour later, after they'd worked out the lending system that governed the library, that she was able to pull him into an alcove away from the others. She had a question that needed asking, and this was one she felt was too private for other ears. Were it not, surely he'd have answered it unasked a month ago.

"Kirito-kun," Kizmel murmured, low enough that even Argo could not possibly hear. "Every time the matter of this world's end is broached, you shy away. Why?" Once, she would've thought it was melancholy at having to part from her, but they'd learned from Tia, months before, that she wasn't bound to Aincrad. Not that way. "Kirito-kun… what did you really see, in Kelestraia's mirror?"

Aha. From Kirito's flinch, she knew she'd found the crux of the matter. That melancholy was one she'd seen from time to time, even in the months after their marriage, yet as with Rain something had definitely changed after Kelestraia. In his case, after looking into the mirror that had shown each of them what she now believed was what they thought of as home.

His words, that day, had been too quick, yet also too hesitant, for her to think them the full truth. Until now, she'd been content to let him answer in his own time, but now….

"I saw my family," he said finally, sinking into the alcove's cushioned bench. "Mom, Dad, Suguha, and you." He swallowed, looked down for a few moments, and finally looked up again to meet her gaze. "Except it wasn't at my house in Tokyo. That mirror was showing us 'home', and I saw…."

"Here," Kizmel finished softly. "You saw us all here in Aincrad, didn't you."

"…Yeah. All of you—us—at that cabana on the Fifty-First Floor." Kirito glanced back toward the others, still combing the library's collection. "Kizmel… who am I?"

There was no simple answer to that question, she was sure. She had never asked his true name, and she'd only even met him after he'd begun to adapt to the survival of the fittest that was Aincrad. Who he'd been before he took up the sword, she had no idea. What he would be, when the hardened swordsman returned to a world of peace, she couldn't guess.

But I do know one thing for certain.

Sitting beside him on the bench, Kizmel pulled Kirito close. "I don't know," she whispered in his ear. "For that matter, I can hardly guess who I will be, in your world. One thing that we may both count upon, however:

"We will find the answer together. Always."

August 3rd, 2024

The sound of seabirds gradually prodded Kirito from sleep, informing his unwilling brain that morning had come to the Fifty-First Floor of Aincrad. The sound of the birds, and the sunlight that streamed in for the few short hours before it rose above the upper floors.

Not so long before, Kirito would've set his alarm, and woken with—or before—the dawn. Always in a hurry to get the most out of every day, according to the need of a solo or near-solo player to keep leveling ahead of the curve. Survival demanded extraordinary effort, after all. But he'd put in that effort, pushed himself enough to have a margin even in Kayaba's death game. He didn't have to push himself to the brink of collapse anymore.

Besides, he thought, cracking his eyes open only to squint against the bright sun, who'd want to waste a morning like this?

There was just enough of a cool breeze blowing in through the open window, gently rustling the curtains, to offset the perpetual summer heat of the oceanic floor. The whisper of waves ebbing and flowing against the sand bar joined with the wind and bird calls to be a much gentler wake-up than any alarm.

Those, and the soft sound of breathing. That was the most relaxing sound of all, chasing away the last remnants of dark dreams. That, and the scent of pine and sakura blossoms—and the feel of soft skin and toned muscles against him.

Kirito couldn't help a smile, one arm going around Kizmel's stomach to pull her bare back closer to his chest. He'd finally gotten used to sharing his bed with the elf girl, but he never got tired of it. Whatever else his life had become, however frightening the future was, she was a constant he could count on. With her here, why would I be in a hurry to start the day?

Running his hand along her smooth flank, he wondered if she was really still asleep. If anything, she liked to savor the mornings even more than he did; weird for a veteran knight, though he suspected she took the time to affirm her own existence. Given when she'd picked up the habit, anyway….

The only response Kizmel gave to his touch was a sleepy, pleased-sounding hum. With her, that wasn't exactly conclusive either way, so Kirito let his hand continue down to her hip and along her thigh, then back up and around to her chest. Probably really is asleep, he mused, when even that provoked nothing more than another hum and faster breathing. She's not exactly subtle about this when she's awake. In that case….

Gently closing his hand on her right breast, he leaned in to nibble at the tip of one long, pointed ear.

No question that time. Kizmel quickly twisted in his arms, her own snaking around his neck to pull him into a deep kiss. His world narrowed to the feel of her lips and tongue and to the taste of moontear wine, to the feel of her skin on his. He was just as happy to lose himself in that, forgetting the worries of the world at large for at least a few moments.

Only when trained instinct told them suffocation damage would soon be kicking in—though a moment's thought would've reminded him such was impossible in a Safe Haven—did they break apart, and Kirito found himself looking into Kizmel's violet eyes. "Um. Good morning, Kizmel."

Her lips curved in a sleepy smile. "And good morning to you, Kirito-kun. Though it's really not fair for you to tease me, so early in the day. Much as I'd wish otherwise, we really must face the world soon."

"Too true." He returned her smile with a crooked one of his own, and shifted so that she was lying across his chest. "Are you really complaining?"

"Mm, not really. Not about you. About the world, perhaps…." The elf girl rested her head on his shoulder for a few moments, lilac hair brushing his chin. Then, sighing, she pushed herself upright. "Nonetheless, we do have responsibilities, and I suspect others have slept less than we. Shall we?"

Reluctantly, Kirito nodded. He could see the new message icon blinking in his HUD as it was; doubtless Kizmel had some of her own. If nothing else, she'd been having some kind of ongoing discussion with Sachi, which he'd decided was none of his business and that he didn't want it to be anyway. "Girl talk" was still one of the scariest phrases there was, in his book.

Though he did find it a bit hard to concentrate on his menu, as the elf girl slid out of bed and padded to the window. With no one but him in the bedroom with her, and no one likely to pass by on the sea outside, Kizmel simply didn't bother much with clothing until they officially began the day. How much was teasing and how much was just elven nonchalance, he still wasn't sure, even after five months of marriage.

Tearing his eyes from the sight of Kizmel leaning against the windowsill to open her menu, Kirito brought up his own. Hm… a sales pitch from Agil? Wonder what he's found that he thinks is so good. Klein? Ah, guess I shouldn't be surprised Sachi's dragging him to the Library. Don't think she thinks he's really an adult—not that I blame her with that attitude of his.

Argo, he wasn't too surprised to hear from, either; she was usually trying to sell him some piece of info. Usually for exorbitant prices, and—darn it—always worth the Cor. Though he found himself frowning at the contents of this particular message.

[Kii-bou. Got a lead on something important. Might be hard to contact for a few days. Don't worry 'bout me, I know what I'm doing. But watch yourself, got me?]

That was unusually ominous from the Rat. But if she said she was going to be "hard to contact", she probably meant it. There wasn't much point in trying to track her down until she was finished with… whatever it was.

The last message in his inbox, from Asuna, didn't help his nerves much either. [Kirito-kun. There's been a development in the PKer situation. The KoB are hosting a meeting in Granzam at 15:00. All clearers are invited. Please bring your team, too.]

Ulp. Kirito had heard rumors about the guilds trying to do something, but Asuna had more or less told him and his party to leave it to the larger groups for now. From the tone of her message, that hadn't gone so well. He wasn't at all sure he wanted to know just how bad the situation had gotten.

We've all known it was coming, though. Kuze's plot on the Fifty-Seventh Floor was a declaration of war.

"Well," Kizmel said into the silence, turning to look at him over her shoulder. "There's little of note in my morning correspondence, yet Sachi does inform me there are dark rumors about. Have you heard anything more solid?"

"A little, yeah." He grimaced, banishing his menu. "Argo's up to something, she won't say what. And Asuna wants us to attend a big meeting in Granzam. Apparently something big has happened with Laughing Coffin. She didn't say exactly what, but I can't imagine it's anything good."

"Likely not, no." She sighed, turning away from the window. "In that case, I suppose we'd best prepare ourselves to face the day. I fear we'll not be resting well, the next few days."

Kirito started to nod. Stopped, catching sight of the time display in his HUD: 0900. He hesitated a moment longer, glancing at the bedside table, atop which sat the stack of textbooks he and Kizmel had been studying together the night before. Japanese history had been the elf girl's subject of choice, while he struggled with English grammar.

He still didn't think it was that funny that he'd gotten "pragmatic" and "plastic" confused. For how genuinely happy she'd been, laughing at his mistake, he'd forgiven her in an instant.

Kizmel was just bringing her menu up again, to hide naked skin under practical armor, when he stood up and caught her hand. Before she could do more than gasp in surprise, he was pulling her close, kissing her with a desperate need to banish the darkness just a little longer.

Even as she reciprocated, he twisted around, swinging her back onto the bed. Once again, it was the phantom warning of suffocation that broke the kiss, and Kizmel looked up at him with a face as flushed as her dusky skin allowed. "Not that I'm complaining in the slightest, Kirito-kun," she said, breathing heavily, reaching up a hand to entwine her fingers with his. "But aren't you usually the one reminding me we cannot stay in bed all day?"

"It's six hours 'til the meeting," Kirito reminded her, feeling heat in his own cheeks. "We've got time today." Deliberately, he lowered his gaze from her eyes, slowly looking the elf girl over from bare, dusky chest to pelvis and back up. "I don't want to think about the future right now. Let's stay here, just a little longer."

Kizmel returned the close inspection, and when her eyes met his again, her lips curled in a smile that set his heart racing. With a low, throaty chuckle, she wrapped her free arm around his neck. "Yes, Kirito-kun," she murmured, pulling him down. "Let's."

Author's Note:

So. Breather chapters are surprisingly difficult for me to write, apparently. And I thought battle scenes gave me headaches. At least those tend to just flow, once I get going….

Ahem. Anyway. I'll be the first to say this probably isn't as good as the previous chapter; Rain's sequence in particular kind of got away from me. I had a good idea, but execution proved trickier than I expected, culminating in what I suspect is kind of anticlimactic mess. Hopefully at least some of the intent got through? (Regardless, I hope to delve more deeply into her development in the next chapter. Along with Asuna's, since in the end I decided her "What am I becoming?" segment is best saved for the chapter after next.)

Next chapter will not be a breather. At all. Enjoy the fluff from the end scene here, comrades, because next up is pretty heavy stuff. No promises about how long it'll take, but given that it's based on a canon event, it involves quite a bit of combat, and I've planned out some of it so thoroughly that I've literally got one scene half-scripted already, there's a decent chance it won't take as long as this one did.

Until then, let me just repeat again how awesome you guys are. Over fifteen hundred Follows? That puts Monochrome Duet in the top ten for SAO fics. I never dreamed the story would become so popular, back when I started my "short one-shot collection". Thanks, all of you, and I hope this continues to be worth following. -Solid