Sword Art Online: Kasey's Story

Forest of Terrors

"Angel! Look out!"

I see the tentacle-like vine coming my way. I flip backwards to avoid it. It swings again and wraps itself around Toshi.

"Help me, please!"

I can see the grip tighten around his body and his HP is slowly going down. I jump in the air so I'm above the creature that looks like a Venus flytrap. I take my sword and strike directly down on its head. The creature dies and Toshi falls to the ground with a little over half his HP gone.

"Are you crazy!? That was so stupid! You're gonna get yourself killed!"

I glare at him for his ignorant decision. He looks up at me and his eyes say it all. 'I know, sorry..'

"Come on, lets go. Don't forget to use a healing crystal."

I continue walking through the dense forest. Light is shining through the branches. I hear a cry for help, but it wasn't another player, it was an animal of some sorts. I run towards the cry, not stopping for anything. I see a huge web with Feathered Little Dragons stuck in it. I walk towards the helpless creatures and attempt to help.

"What are you doing? Lets just keep going. Besides, what if when we free them, they attack us?"

"Maybe if you read that info book you made such a big deal about getting, you'd know that they don't attack, and I refuse to let anything die if I have the ability to help."

I take one step before 5 furry spiders about the size of a Great Dane crawl out from the darkness surrounding the web. I'm frozen with fear, I can't even breathe.

"Get back!"

I feel a hand grab me and pull me back away from the danger crawling my way. Toshi sprints full speed ahead and slashes one of them and it turns on its back and quivers and twitches before it dies. Just then we hear a screeching sound, its so loud the ground is shaking. I see 4 glowing red eyes behind the web and a giant snake slithers out from behind it. Its scaly and sleek looking and its 5 times the size of a horse. It shoots a web onto Toshi and the smaller spiders are rushing over to where he lies, wrapped in the strong thread. One of them bites Toshi and the fear leaves my body. I will not allow him to die. I rush over and slice the spider in half. The small ones run over and begin to attack the little dragons.

"Go and help them, I'm okay, Just a little, tied up at the moment."

I nod and see that 2 out of the 3 dragons have been killed. I jump and spin with my blade causing me to look like a glowing twister. In one attack, I kill the remaining 3 spiders. I cut loose the third tiny dragon and it falls in my arms. Its a shiny green with the tips of its many tails being purple. It looks like I'm holding a jewel. I feed it some food that looks like blueberries and its HP goes right back up. A notification popped up in front of me stating

'Congratulations! You Have Tamed A Beast! What will you name it?'

I don't even have to think twice about what to call it.

'Jade'

It had such a beautiful sound to it, plus it had a nice ring to it. I looked by my health bar and saw that Jade now has one. Jade grew to my level as well, which was 13.

"Noo! Ahhh! Help me!"

I rush over to see that the huge snake had stabbed him in the stomach with its sharp knife-like tail. I run under it and strike directly up. It backs up away from us.

"The web.. it must have had.. some kind of.. Toxin in it.. It cut me loose and then it.."

He coughed and I noticed on his health bar had an ailment on it.

'Poisoned'

He was loosing HP quickly.

"That thing is level 25, there's no way I can beat it myself."

I start to panic when I see him stagger.

"You won't.. have to.."

He runs towards it and attacks it. He punctures one of its eyes and the sword gets stuck in there. The giant snake whacks him away like a fly and he hits a tree and falls to the ground.

"No! Please no! You're all that I have in here. I can't lose you. You're my only friend."

"Well, its time for that to change. You have this little one to be with you. Live on for me.. Please. Make it out of here for me. Make friends.. real friends."

I nod with tears in my eyes.

"Don't let me down.. newb.."

He disintegrates in my arms and it hits me. My friend is gone, forever. Jade blew some kind of mist on me that healed me completely. I grab my sword and charge towards the beast. I jump and do the same spinning move I did earlier and I knocked down half of its health. I use my above average agility to avoid its swinging tail and toxic thread. I swing at its face 3 times, again and again, until It turns on its back and twitches.

'One more strike, that should do it!'

I take my sword and drive it through the stomach. I run down the body of the creature leaving a long red line down its body and it explodes into the multiple blue particles I've been waiting to see. I looked at the items dropped and one of them caught my eye.

'Steel Silk Thread'

I put it into my item storage and notice all of Toshi's items are here. Jade lands on my shoulder and licks my face. I look at the spot he died in and started to walk away.

'I promise you, I'll make it out of here. I promise, I'll find the courage to be strong.'

I make it to the end of the forest and walk out. I walk down the path and see the next village ahead.