Sword Art Online: Hollow Fable

Chapter 1

From Dust, Till Dawn. 

The words from the small shop leaped out at him like a jack-in-the-box. Their simple, yet elegant font burning themselves into Kirito's mind. He blinked once, then twice, then three times, a thick cloud of confusion settling over him

'This...isn't the RATH laboratory.' He thought to himself.

The boy swiveled his head around, finding himself to be right in the middle of an urban city area. Buildings made of brick and cement surrounded him and shops that closely resembled the one in front of him seemed to be littered the all over the street. The lack of people and the buzzing of the street lamps only added to the uneasy atmosphere.

But one thing was for sure, he was nowhere near Centoria anymore.

He scratched his head, "This better not be one of those elaborate pranks that Kikuoka set up."

He recalled Kikuoka's teasing nature. For him to pull off something like this would totally be in character. But Project Alicization was one of Japan's top government projects. For Kikuoka to be messing around with the STL in order to pull off a stunt like this would be way too childish even for his standards.

Kirito frowned, there had to be something else going on.

He felt his hand brush up against a cylindrical object resting near his waist. A single thought shot up into his brain.

'Hold on...'

The boy looked down to see his black sword fit snugly in it's sheath. His eyes widened in shock as he quickly examined the rest of his body. To his surprise, he found himself still wearing the black coat that he procured from the Central Cathedral. The wears and tears that had accumulated from his battles were no where to be found.

Kirito instinctively raised a hand towards his stomach, feeling out the area where his wound used to be only to find that it had disappeared. Upon closer inspection, he found that all the other scratches and bruises that were scattered all over his body were gone as well.

'Weird...' Kirito thought to himself.

A cold feeling slowly creeped up his back and enveloped him with thoughts of frustration and fear. Every explanation as to why he was here didn't make any sense.

"Breathe Kirito breathe..." He muttered under his breath, trying to calm himself down "You've been in worse situations before."

The boy closed his eyes and held out his hand. A familiar warmness flowed throughout his body as he recited a chant in his mind. He found it strange that the spatial resources seemed way denser than they were supposed to be, especially in a city area. Sacred Arts are an essential part of daily life in the Underworld, allowing you to cast commands akin to magic. Whether you wanted to light a fire or heal a wound, it's all made possible by Sacred Arts. However, if you wanted to cast an art, they require a certain amount of sacred power dubbed "spatial resources." Resources can be used up fairly quickly, depending on how many people are casting and what types of spells are being casted. So the fact that the resources were this heavy in a supposedly populated area came off as eerily unnatural.

"System call, generate umbra element, adhere possession, object ID: WLSS703."

Three purple balls formed at his finger tips in response to Kirito's chant and floated a few feet into the air before fizzling out.

Kirito clenched his teeth, "Am I really that far away from Eugeo?"

It was back to square one.

The weary swordsman shuffled over to a nearby bench and slumped himself down. He was usually never this nervous, but he knew if he wanted to meet back up with Eugeo and Alice again, every second counted.