Sword Art Online: Global Revision

Innocence Lost

Chapter Seven: Innocence Lost

July 28th 2031

Edmond stared at his translucent menu. The various counters and clocks stared back at him. Khale’s counter was ticking down slowly. Would he stick exactly to his original time of arrival? Of course he would…People with god complexes usually were extremely obsessive compulsive. The clock read 00:01:32. Less than two minutes until arrival…arrival of…of what? Edmond, Thatch, Kitami, nor any of the other players standing nervously within the town walls knew what to expect.

                In this last peaceful moment Edmond stood with an arrow notched. He held his bow ready, aiming into the forest, waiting for the red glow of the player killer aura to appear. Edmond went over Thatch’s latest instructions one last time in his head.

                Just keep firing, and make sure to tell Klein where to throw…

                Edmond stopped, just as one more, critical, thought entered his mind and plastered itself at the very top of his to do list.

                Keep Kitami safe…at ALL costs. 

                Edmond was bent on protecting Kitami. She was his only source of joy and comfort, and he’d figured that without her, he’d be better off taking on Khale alone and ending it all.

                Suddenly, Edmond was ripped from his thoughts as a bright light appeared in the sky and ascended upwards into full view of everyone. The crowd of players began to make a low uproar at the light in the sky. When it had reached its desired point, it transformed into a counter, just like the one Khale displayed when he’d come the first time.

                The counter began a countdown from ten. This was it.

                Edmond looked over at Kitami, who was staring back at him, He reached out his hand, and took hers.

                “Remember my promise…I’m going to keep it.”

                Kitami nervously nodded and withdrew her hand, notching an arrow.

                Edmond gulped as he looked back into the sky. He counted down the final seconds of the clock…3…2………1.

                The clock disappeared. Silence fell over the expanse of the Town of New Beginnings.   

                Edmond looked to his side. He saw several archers with their bows trained on different areas of the forest, waiting for a target. Many of them, with the anticlimax of the clock reaching zero with no grandiose arrival, were now withdrawing their bows and looking at each other in confusion.

                Edmond looked back at Kitami, who shrugged, but kept her arrow notched as a safety precaution. Edmond then looked back at the archer closest to him. He was looking around at the some five hundred archers lining the Town’s walls. Then, he made eye contact with Edmond. He shrugged in confusion and trained his bow forward again. The player looked young, perhaps only fourteen or so. He was wearing green leather, and had short, silver hair.

                Edmond continued looking at him until he saw a throwing knife fly directly into his forehead. The boy ambled back and forth with a confused look on his face. Edmond stared in horror as he saw the boy’s health bar drain from green…to yellow…to red. Just as the health bar emptied, he slowly turned his head to look at Edmond. He was obviously in shock. He opened his mouth, as his lower lipped quivered.