SAO: The Story Of A Legend

Chapter 45: Hikaru's POV

I spawned in town and saw Iku standing alone, waiting for me. I ran up to her and smiled.

"Hey! Iku!"

She turned to me and smiled.

"Hi! You ready, yet?"

"Ready as can be!"

I smiled and we teleported out of town

We entered a field together that had maybe a small handful of monsters...we decided to just sneak past them, and successfully did so. We stood in front of a giant cave opening. I looked at Iku and she was about to walk in, but I stopped her.

"Woah, hey. Let me go first....we don't know what's in there and I'd rather have me get hurt first if we get ambushed...."

She nodded as I slowly walked into the darkness of the cave. I could barely see a thing...the coast was clear and I signaled Iku to come in. She came up beside me and looked at me oddly....

"H-hiku?! Why are your eyes glowing?!"

I blinked and suddenly I could see so clear in the cave....

"Maybe it's something I have equipped? Either way, I can see perfectly. But you can't...."

I turned to her and picked her up. She blushed and looked at me with wide eyes.

"W-what are you doing?!"

"Relax! You can't see, but I can so if we run into trouble you can't see it. I'm just gonna carry you until we find some light...."

Her blush got bigger and she held onto me.

"O-okay fine...."

I carried her quite a while and finally I found a torch on the wall! I set her down beside it, and used my fire powers to light it. It was much brighter than I thought, and lit up a lot! Suddenly other torches around the entire cave lit up....

"Hey, I'm gonna contact the others, to see if they're on ALO or not. If they are, maybe they can join us!"

For some reason I couldn't access my menu....

"U-ummm....why can't I access my menu??"

I kept swiping down, trying to get it to pop up, but it just wouldn't!

"Is yours working??"

Iku tried her menu, but it wasn't working either.....

"Great, looks like this is a player-made cave......"

"A player made this??? Even the whole quest?? Can players even do that?!"

"Yeah....there was a quest a long time ago that allowed players to create a dungeon, quest and boss and submit it for a contest. Well, the admins kept the dungeon and boss creating in, but only people on your friend's list could do it.....you're the only one that knows about it though....."

"Oh well.....either way, we should complete it. Looks like we can't get outside help either...."

I nodded and looked around....

"Well, let's get moving. The torches lit up in that direction and I don't see any other paths, so I guess we go that way?"

Me and Iku walked down the path of torches.

"Hmm...."

"What is it, Hiku?"

"Oh, nothing. It's just these torches remind me of someone I met, and SAO....his name was Torch. Very....poetic....and pretty crazy I have to say."

I smiled as we walked down the hall. We saw a big door at the end.....

"W-what? That's it?! No monsters, or anything?"

"Be careful, Hiku this could be a trap...."

I nodded, as me and Iku took out our weapons. We walked towards the door, and no monsters seemed to be spawning....it didn't seem like a trap at all....we opened up the doors, and the room was empty....it seems small for a boss room....

"Hiku watch out!!!"

Iku jumped off to the side and dodged to the right, dodging an attack from a dark shadow....I saw Iku facing a similar silhouette....she shadow slowly became more lit up, and visible....he was wearing the exact same armor as mine, and he had the same weapon....he was wearing a Hood, therefore I couldn't see him....he took it off and it was.....

It was me....