Sword Art Online - Legends of Aincrad

Chapter 19 - Land of the Fairies

You guys! Firestorm40 here! Thank you all for continuing to wait for this new chapter, which I promise will be epic. Thanks for all the votes and reviews as well!

Now then, let's get ready to see Shoto and Kirito back in action!

(Opening Theme - No Game No Life) 

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The door to the Dicey Café set of a jingling bell as two teenage boys walked in. Both of them were tan with one that had black hair and dark eyes, and the other had blonde hair and green eyes. But what they shared in common was the look on their faces- grim and determined.

Looking up from his position at the bar, Andrew nodded at the duo. "Y'all are early," he said with a friendly smile as the door closed. "Wasn't expectin' you until noon."

"We had nothing better to do," Kazuto grinned as he sat, losing some of the hard light in his eyes as he greeted his old friend from Aincrad. "Looks like you scared off all your customers."

"Hah hah, very funny," Andrew grumbled. "You should the place in the evening- at night, it's off the hook in here!"

"Unless, you're ripping them off with your prices." Saito chuckled. "So, what's the deal is with those photos you sent? A friend showed them to us."

"Right, well that's gonna take some time to explain..." Andrew said grimly, suddenly all business. Reaching below the counter, he slapped a picture down flat on the countertop when he came back up. "You recognize this?"

On the countertop was the same image that Hana had shown Kazuto and Saito that same morning. It was kinda blurry, and it showed a massive, birdcage of some kind. Although pixelated, it was clear that there was somene within the cage, someone with flowing chestnut hair.

"Asuna..." Kazuto murmured.

 Looking at Andrew, Saito said, "Where were this taken?"

"That's the hard part to explain," Andrew said as he cleared his throat. He reached back down before sliding Saito the case for what was clearly a video game. The title of the box read 'Alfhime Online'. The cover showed what looked like a night sky with a full moon while below were a boy and a girl. The boy had a determined look on his face as he held a glowing orb of purple fire in his hand, wearing green colored clothes. The girl next to him was smiling confidently and holding a one-handed silver sword, dressed in red colored armor.

"Alfhime Online." Saito said. "Oh! I've heard about this. It's the newest VRMMORPG hit for the Amusphere."

"A VRMMO?" Kazuto asked as he looked away from the picture to see what Andrew was showing them. "The picture was taken in there?"

"Yup," Andrew nodded as he flipped the case over to reveal a map with many landmarks of what the boys could assume was the land that the game featured in. Andrew guided their gazes off to the middle of the map, where a tree marked 'The World Tree' stood. "That's where the picture was taken."

"What is that place?" Saito asked with a bent brow. While Andrew was pointing at the tower on the map, he and Kazuto were focusing on a symbol at the bottom left of the box that said 'RCT Progress'. Both of them immeditately thought of Sugou, and how he had bragged about his position in the company, and they both felt anger rise as they thought of the snake. However, they switched their attention back to Andrew as he started to talk again.

"It's what you might consider the grand quest of ALO right now," Andrew replied. "Inside the game, Alfheim online. In a place called World Tree. The players all divided in 9 races. And all their target is to reach the top of the World Tree."