Cosi

Cosi turned toward his Mirror striking as fast as he could, trying to give him no time to recover or counter-attack. Cosi swung his longsword with both hands, this time not aiming for any spot in particular just trying to hit the Mirror. 

The blow struck true, smashing across the Mirror’s chest piece and knocking him back. However it didn’t seem to do any real damage the armor was too thick and Cosi really didn’t know how to swing a sword. The blade felt alien in his hands. This would take a lot of practice. 

Cosi’s Mirror stumbled slightly but he resisted Cosi’s two handed strike. He swung a feeble counter-attack which, surprisingly, Cosi was able to just barely deflect. The mirror snarled. Sweat had begun dripping down his face as well and as one droplet fell, the world paused for a moment and the two regarded each other both now just alike. The stillness was broken as the Mirror pressed the attack. 

Each stood circling the other. They were exactly alike in armor, sword and features, except for their faces. One grinning a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. The other’s face etched with grim determination.  They servayed each other looking for weaknesses. Then, the Mirror struck in a flash, his sword merely a blur of metal, swinging in a high overhead cut aimed at Cosi’s head. He tried to block bringing his sword up and bracing it with both hands and whether by luck or gut reaction he stopped the blade dead though the force of the blow stil resonated through his arms. Cosi grimaced then with all his strength he pushed up and side-stepped letting the Mirror’s sword slide off of his blade and throwing of his balance. The Mirror stumbled past Cosi but managed to stop himself from falling. He spun back facing Cosi, sword point pointed up, and his grin more of a snarl now. 

As his Mirror spat onto the forest floor and grinned menacingly at him, Cosi pulled his sword free from his scabbard and gave a return stroke. Striking for his Mirror’s unarmored neck, Cosi swung with all his might. 

His Mirror effortless parried, turning aside Cosi’s blow with the flat of his own blade. Cosi stumbled and nearly fell as suddenly there was no resistant behind his sword. Catching himself, Cosis turned around and brought up his sword. 

Cosi’s mirror looked at him, that same crooked grin plastered on his face. No blood came from the abrasion on his face, there was only shimmering red code in that wound. He laughed again, cold and heartless. 

“I can’t believe I thought you would give me a challenge. You can hardly use that sword!” He brought his sword up, the dying sunlight reflecting off of it. 

“At least you’ll whet my appetite for the next person that comes along,” Cosi could hardly believe it but his Mirror’s slasher smile widened even more. 

The man threw back his cloak, letting it fall to the ground, and underneath was... Cosi. The man was him. Down to the finest detail. The blonde, unruly hair, his turquoise eyes, his facial structure, all was exactly like Cosi's. Even his armor and sword were carbon copies of Cosi's own equipment. It was like looking in a mirror...

Except for one thing: Cosi's Mirror wore a slanted, sinister grin which Cosi sincerely hoped his own smile didn't look the same. 

"Surprise," Cosi's twin said that grin still painted on his face, then he whipped out his sword and, in one smooth motion, attacked. 

Cosi was too surprised to even pull out his own blade to try and parry but he tried to shift and move, even just sidestep but it was just so surreal. Cosi never thought he'd have to fight his twin- his evil twin- in this game and it did not sit well with him. 

Cosi's Mirror's blade caught him right on his shoulder. Thankfully, his armor took most most of the damage but still pain flared and spots danced across his vision. 

The mirror laughed a thin, cruel laugh so Cosi punched him square in the jaw with his mailed fist. Then winced at the sight of blood dripping down his own face.

"Good," He grinned wickedly, "Let's go then.' and he started heading out of the town. Cosi followed the man, hand still on sword, and glared at the back of his head. Waht was this guys game. He was seriously freaky.

Once they made it out of the city Cosi was even more on edge because know the man could attack him if he wanted. Cosi clutched his sword and a bead of sweat dripped from his brow. He had to be ready for whatever this cloaked figure. Whatever happened he would be ready. And whatever happened he would not lose and he would not die. Not so close to the beginning of his adventure. 

They continued walking in silence. Over and away from the rolling hills and burbling brooks to a small thicket of trees that was plenty far from the Town of Beginnings. There they stopped and the cloaked man turned to Cosi and slasher smile on his face.

"If you're ready. Let's begin"

Log Entry Two

After helping out Zachariah and the blacksmith, I had the strangest and most sinister encounter ever. My hand is shaking even as I write this. But hear is the story of the Gemini...

---------------------------------------

Cosi was just leaving Lyle Tealeaf's Blacksmith shop, making a beeline for the gates because he wanted to go kill some monsters and there was still daylight left, when a hooded figure stepped out of an alley way. Cloaked all in black the man gave off a seriously creepy vibe. He looked straight at Cosi, standing right in his path. 

Cosi went straight for his sword when he remembered: the Town of Beginnings was a safe zone, no damage could be dealt he. So he waited for what the man wanted to say.

"You look pretty strong." The figure said, "I'm looking to test my skills. If you beat me, I'll teach you a hidden skill. What do you say?"

"Uhhh... sure," Cosi responded actually quite terrified of this man. Cosi definitely didn't feel strong. He had leveled up from completing the fetch quest but he was still only level three.   

Cosi stood politely by, package clutched to his chest, waiting for the smith to finish. Lyle took the red hot blade and doused it in the water bucket. A great hiss sounded as steam erupted from the water. Lyle set the blade aside as he caught sight of Cosi.

"You lookin' for a new blade?" He said wiping sweat from his brow

"No, sir," Cosi shook his head," Zachariah told me to give this to you." he held out the package. Again with a pop the thing disappeared from Cosi's grasp and reappeared in Lyle's.

"Thank ye', I've been expecting this for some time. Has Zachariah got you doing his errands?" Lyle chuckled, "Anyways thanks for this, it was sorely needed" 

"No problem, Sir"Cosi said. 

"I'll bet you want something as a reward," the Blacksmith said and reached back by his forge. 

"Here ye' go" as he handed Cosi two more potions. 

"Good Luck, Kid!"

Cosi waved goodbye as he left. Time to go monster hunting...

The man the shuffled off behind his shop counter and rummaged in his cupboards for a spell- not literally, it was just a figure of speech Cosi liked to use- and returned with some potions.

"Here, for helping this old man," and Zachariah handed them to Cosi. 

"Oh yes there is one more thing you could do for me" Cosi sighed internally but nodded. The old man again went behind the counter but this time returned with a simple brown paper package tied up with string.

"Please take this to Lyle Tealeaf. He's a blacksmith not far from here" Zachariah handed the package to Cosi

"of course," Cosi set off to the blacksmith shop, he thought he remembered it from when he left the Town of Beginnings, as Zachariah waved goodbye from his shop.

He reached the Blacksmith's shop no problem. Lyle the blacksmith was busy hammering away at a great-sword blade. 

Again Cosi chopped up the onion trying to get it into smaller pieces this time. In his concentration he nicked his finger. A whine went off in his head and he saw a green bar in the corner off his vision diminish by a single point. He inspected the wound. There was no blood just glittering turquoise code swirling in the cut. 

"Keep going Lad," Zachariah prompted, "All wounds heal with time" 

Cosi nodded and went back to work , his brow furrowed in concentration. He took the diced onion and added it the bottle, stirred it and then added the other herbs. He waited, looking to Zachariah for when he should take it off the heat, then stirred it once again. he crossed his fingers and hoped it would work this time.

Cosi watched as the potion turned a bright, clear red color. He grinned and turned to Zachariah. 

The old man patted Cosi on the back, took the potion and stoppered it the set it aside. 

"Well done Lad," he smiled 

But Cosi tried anyway. He cut the onions, added them to the boiling water, and added the herbs to mix, all while Zachariah coached him through the motions. He swore it was harder then it looked and it had looked hard when the wizard had done it so he'd be surprised if he got it on his first try. He mix the mixture and then hoped for the best. 

The potion turned into a sad grayish, purplish thick tincture. Cosi sighed. He felt about as disappointed as the potion looked, but the old man merely picked up the failed mess, tossed it into a bin and handed Cosi another purple onion. 
"Try again lad," Zachariah said. Cosi took the onion and set to work. 

This was no different then any other game. You played, tried, failed, but sonner or later you would succeed. And that feeling of success was everything. It lifted hopes and raised spirits. it pushed Cosi to keep going. And so he did.

Once inside Cosi saw the old man rushing around his shop gathering bottles and flasks, heating water, and gathering other dried ingredients.

"Uhh do you want these onions mister?" Cosi asked cautiously, not wanting to disturb the man.

"But of course" He responded, not turning around, and suddenly with a pop the onions disappeared from Cosi hand appeared on a cutting board, 

"Come here young man" Zachariah said beckoning Cosi closer, "I'd like you to help me make a potion, just to show you the ropes" 

Cosi silently groaned to himself of course it was potion making but he nodded to the old man and approached. 

"Good, good," he nodded to himself, "let me demonstrate for you" and in a flash he grabbed one of the onions, sliced it up, but it in a bottle of boiling water, let it sit for a second, added some other herbs, and suddenly- poof- the bottle turned into a bright red potion.

"Now you try," Zachariah said. 

Cosi simply nodded a little dumbfounded. How had the old guy made it so fast.  

So after a little while longer of walking over the green grasslands of floor one, Cosi has back at the main gate of the town, back to safety. Cosi entered moving past the countless NPCs and other players accepting and finishing quests and headed to what's his face's workshop. It was near the center of the Town of Beginnings, off the beaten path but still noticeable. Mostly because the entire outside of the shop was a bright blue. NPCs had weird tastes.

The breaded old guy-ah, Zachariah was his name, he knew cause it was floating above hi head-  was waiting outside his shop. As soon as the wizard saw Cosi he beckoned to him, "Welcome back brave traveler! Hve you brought me the ingredients I requested" then not waiting for Cosi to respond, "Good, good. Then come inside please. I've got one more task for you."

"okay," Cosi said to himself, holding a handful of purple onions, as the old man quickly shuffled back inside of his shop. So Cosi followed still holding the onions. 

And so Cosi walked, and walked, and walked some more because gosh darn apparently he had walked far from the Town of Beginnings. Cosi thought to himself, guess having something to distract you from the monotony of walking, like searching and collecting magic onions, really speeds up the time. But he had to get back and finish this quest so he could get whatever potions the old wizard would give him as a reward so Cosi didn't stop. But he didn't stop looking for the onions either.

Sweet there was one more! Guess his luck was still going strong after all. But he should still go and get the quest done. There was no point in collecting all these purple onions if he didn't go and complete the quest. So Cosi continued to slog his way back to the Town of Beginnings and to the old guy who would be rewarding him so handsomely for the magic onions that Cosi had so painstakingly found.

Pressing his luck, Cosi decided to continued to search because there was really no harm in doing so. It was high noon, he was nearly one hundred percent sure they didn't lock the gates to the Town of Beginnings and even if they did he wasn't too far from the town.

So Cosi continued along the meandering stream, walking along the bank and still looking for those magic, purple onions. 

And nothing what so ever. Looks like his luck had run out. Guess he should head back to the Town of Beginnings and maybe he'd find one more onion. So he started heading back. Back over the hills, through rivers, and past the streams to grandmother's house he went... actually he just went back to the Town of Beginnings. Cosi doubted there were grandmothers' houses out here. And if there were any and he saw them Cosi would probably run the other way because they couldn't be good in a game like this.

And so he continued to head back to the Town of Beginnings, but to still keep hunting for more mystical, glowing, purple onions. He keep his eyes open, looking along the riverbanks for more of the quest items hoping that he'd spot one, possibly two more. 

It was about noon now which was surprising considering how far Cosi had gone. He could barely see the walls of the Town of Beginnings from where he was. Thankful he hadn't seen many monsters except for a couple boars which he had given a wide berth so as to not draw aggro. 

Wow! The Random Number Gods must be smiling on him today because he spotted another one nearly right away, its leafy green top sticking out of the mud. Cosi quickly ran over to it and picked it up. Sweet, sweet crafting materials. Cosi wondered if he kept finding these things if he could sell them, become a merchant or something. It might be a go way to make some cash but Cosi doubted his luck would last much longer.

As Cosi headed back though something stopped him, Maybe he should try and find a couple more of the magic purple plant- was an onion a plant or a root?- whatever. Because they were probably used in other potions and whatnot... salads perhaps? Cosi shrugged to himself. Anyways, it would probably be worth the time and effort if he found a couple more onions. at least Cosi hoped it would be worth his time. He swore if these things were only used in this quest he would kill the breaded wizard. Which the game probably wouldn't let him do. Still he would try to. 

Haha his luck was going strong! There was one more of the nasty purple roots... tubers. Cosi shrugged, he didn't care what they were as long as they were useful and he hoped they were. Well, he'd keep searching a little while longer, hopefull find one or two more, then he would head back to Zachary or whatever the NPCs' name is.

So Cosi surged on sensing that his quest was coming to an end, hopefully relatively soon. He continued searching the riverbanks and scouting for the elusive, mystical onions. Alec hated onions and so did Cosi, plus he doubted these purple ones would taste any better than real ones. Also he doubted just as much if the game would let him eat quest items. Best not to try lest he consume one and have to find another. 

And thank goodness for his senses because there was the last magic onion! Sweet success! It brought tears to his eyes which was not caused by cutting onions. Nope Cosi was trying very had to keep his treasured quest items in pristine condition, although he didn't think the game would allow that...
Oh well time to head back to the crazy wizard who wouldn't plant his own garden and grow his own magic onions.  

But still on he walked, avoiding monsters, not seeing any other players, and searching for mystical, magical, purple onions. Over hill, passed streams, and across bridges, all while getting further from the Town of Beginnings. Cosi wondered if there were any other settlements on the first floor, anywhere else safe for players to go, or did you have to try and scale the ranks and climb the floors. Quite literally in fact because this place was one big tower. One massive, hulking tower full of players, NPCs, and an absurd amount of monsters. 

And there was one more onion. Wow, his luck must've been turning around. Cosi had found two in relatively quick succession. Now he just needed one more than he could return to the old, bearded wizard and get his reward. Though Cosi expected that there would be a second part to this simple if time consuming task.

He wondered what everyone else's thought process about Aincrad went. He wondered how they mustered up the courage to go out into this hell hole of a game. They couldn't just want to escape. That couldn't be there only drive because...well it was Cosi's only drive and he had hidden in the Town of Beginnings for a month. 

Cosi sighed. He just hoped he could struggle along, fight, learn, not die, and by the end someone else would beat the last floor and he could go home.

Cosi continued down the river so lost in thought he didn't even bother to look for more onions. Not there were any to find because his luck had been rather bad this entire trip outside of the town.

Stupid NPCs, Cosi thought as he climbed out of the riverbank, can't get their own dumb magic ingredients. Had to ask hapless adventurers to go risk their lives and probably get killed just so they could make a couple potions. And again Cosi thought to himself, This better be worth it.

Cosi's mind began to wander again. He wondered how many other people were out there, still on the first floor. People who, like him, were too worried or scared to go outside the walls of the Town of Beginnings or to brave the higher levels. Cosi sighed. Probably not that many. Everyone else probably saw this as a game, easy to beat and easy to survive. Cosi however deep down was scared. In the real world, Cosi had been a pro-gamer but he's style of play was different then any other gamer. While most just had an inborn talent and ability for games, Alec, Cosi's real name, needed time to get good at a game which meant countless deaths, failures, and losses. If Cosi wasn't careful in this game and played as he always did he'd end up dead. and nevr seeing his family again...

Cosi kicked at the sand and silt and sighed. No magical purple onions here. Actually wait, No! there was one here! Finally he was up to three!

Cosi blinked as his eyes focused. He must have fallen asleep. Which was quite understandable considering Cosi had been searching from morning til...mid morning. Okay so he hadn't been searching that long but still the sound of the burbling brook and the soft grass had been so enticing. So Cosi had took a quick nap. He sat up, rubbed his eyes, then got up. Time to start searching again. 

And more fruitless searching. Cosi swore these things should have been easier to find. Guess he was just unlucky.

Cosi shrugged and kept going since there was no sense in wallowing or standing around doing nothing. He continued walking through the open grasslands, past burbling brooks, and over bridges. He was straying further from the Town of Beginnings but there didn't seem to be too many enemies around. He did spot some boars a ways off but he stayed clear. Cosi didn't want to get into a fight just yet. 

Cosi swore under his breath as he again searched the banks of a third river. No more purple onions. Dang it. At least the scenery was nice, except that he had been staring at it for half the of the blasted day! 

Cosi breathed out and kept looking through the mud for those mystical bulbs that would grant him that oh so sweet SP. If only there was a way to improve the chances of finding those onions. There probably was at higher levels but Cosi was still level one and had honest to goodness nothing so no dice there. 

Ah hah! There was another one of those elusive purple bulbs sticking out of the loose mud. Finally another one! Now he was one step closer to completely the quest and by one step closer Cosi meant that he still needed to find three more. Three more ninja onions. *sigh*

On to find more. it looks like the purple onion quest items were...well planted in the ground by the banks of the babbling, no you know what Cosi was going to call them burbling brooks from now on, the burbling brooks. Maybe they needed lots of water. You never knew with virtual and most likely magical plant life because as with everything made up it all depended on the creator's prefence.

So he continued  down the brook looking for more purple onions. such a strange day...

And no, there were no more blasted magic onions on this or the other side of this river. Curse the Random Number Gods, for they were not with him today. Cosi still needed to find four more of the fancy flora and then go back to the bearded wizard and complete the quest. Unless there was a second part to this quest, which there probably was, but heaven's forbid there was a third part....

Alright, time to actually find stuff...hopefully. Cosi decided to jog to break up the monotony. He was still in view of the Town of Beginnings but he didn't care if he found a monster anymore. He just wanted to find the root, or flower, or whatever material the old man wanted so if he stumbled upon a monster he'd kill it and keep on searching. The reward for this quest better be worth the effort but considering it was the first quest he ever got in this game it probably was just some potions or whatnot.

Wait, was one of the o so sought after and treasured...ummm...Cosi actually still couldn't tell what it was. The only reason he knew it was one of the materials the old wizard wanted was because it was listed as quest item in his inventory. Literally, the thing looked like a small onion bulb except it was pinkish purple. Guess Aincrad couldn't be totally lifelike.

1 down, 4 to go.

Well back to being lost in thought. Cosi looked out over the fields of green framed by the blue sky. It really was picturesque. He wonder who had programmed and coded it all. Probably the idiot who made and designed it all. Cosi hoped someone would stab that guy in the chest someday but right now he had to find the dumb potion ingredients. Wasn't it a root of somekind? Maybe he should check some of those little shrubberies. 

Nope nothing but dirt, mud, poking bush fronds, and the wrong kind of roots under those shrubs. Cosi pulled out twigs and needles from his sleeves as he continued walking, and walking some more. Man, if all this game was was walking Cosi might just take a long walk off a short pier or something because he couldn't stand the tedious nature of it all. He was definitely going out to kill monsters next even if that might get him killed.