Sword Art Online: New Reality (REWRITTEN)

Chapter 7 - A Bond Beyond Friends

I woke up within a void-like space again, looking around and trying to figure out what happened. "So you ended up back here again..?" a voice said as I looked and reached out for my sword, grabbing nothing but air since my sword was gone from its sheath.

"You're willing to go that far huh..."

The voice said again as I then turned around to see an even thinner version of myself, he had even longer hair with his eyes being dull brown and a tint of gray, He now wore a hospital gown as there was a IV cable in his forearm. I could see the Nervegear on his head as he sighed. "Same thing as last time me..." he said as he put out his hand, his hand was very skinny to where you can see his wrist joint.

I hesitated as I asked him "How can you be me..?" As I was confused at this, he didn't hesitate to reply as he said up-front, "It's a thing you and I share... Same person.. Same gifts...". I was confused at what he meant as I asked him "What gifts...?", he sighed and said "I'll tell you more when you wake up... just shake my hand...please..." as I hesitated to shake his hand.

He waited there patiently as I gently shook his hand, but within a second he gripped onto my hand, with a pretty strong grip too amongst his skinny structure. He then told me "You and I are born from the same mother, a Shawoman.. Just remember that..." as what I thought was a dream snapped me back into reality, waking up from the bedroom, sweating and breathing heavily.

I looked at my hand as I looked around and saw that it was the log cabin, I layed back down onto the bed thinking to myself "Am...Am I going insane..." as I tried to fall back to sleep once more. The thought of it couldn't leave my mind as I sat up and walked out into the living room, unable to sleep. I sat down as I rustled my hair a bit trying to get the thought out "Shawoman shawoman... What does that mean..." I thought as I heard footsteps walk down the hallway.

I stared at the hallway as I saw Toru walk out, wearing shorts and a shirt as she had a concerned look on her face. "Is...Is something wrong Toru..?" I asked her as she sighed saying "I'm...I'm just worried that's all..". I sighed and stood back up, walked to the door and opened it, "I can't sleep.. I'll be back when I run out of energy" I told her as she fiddled with something in her hand, I sighed and said "I won't be out long" as it raised her morale a bit more. She then said "Okay.. Goodnight Kirin.." as I waved bye to her, closing the door behind me and leaving for Kamdet City.

I rubbed my head thinking to myself "Man that head injury from the cave really did a number on me..." as I walked into the restaurant, seeing Izah and waving to him, he waved back as he remembered something and said "Kirin c'mere for a second". I walked over to Izah as he handed me a map saying "thanks for the herbs yesterday, as promised here's the map." He said as he handed me the map.

"Thanks Izah, and no problem"

I told him as I took the map as I remembered something as I checked the date. "December 7th, 2022..." I thought as I saw the date and swiped away the calendar. "Anyways.. I should be going now" I told Izah as I left the restaurant, Heading out towards the Darkwood Forest and following a path on the map. I headed down the pathway as I looked forward thinking to myself "Toru wouldn't be mad with me if I went ahead of her..." as I stopped halfway and opened my menu, checking my stats.

Name: Kirin

HP: 401/401

LVL: 17

EXP: 301/510

STR: 25

VIT: 20

AGI: 16

DEX: 7

LUK: 8

Proficiencies

1h Sword: 10

2h Sword: 1