Alkor

When the message came, Alkor was sat in the lazy rays of late afternoon orange that bled down over the 24th floor. The endless crash of waves from far below flowed together like a symphony, singing mind-numbingly beautiful Oblivion to someone desperate for silence. This was one of the few places he could isolate himself, on the property that he owned and did not have to share with anyone else. Sadly, the respite was to be short lived. After the boss meeting, there was a short window where they could do what they needed to prepare. For Alkor, that meant the rest and solitude he needed to c

Sunlight spilled out over the falls like gilded ink, slowly spreading to engulf the Elven city. Dawn and Dusk were spectacles unmatched in Ellesmera, designed by the great smiths and other artisans to truly capture the beauty of nature as it was, not as they might wish for it to be. The beauty of life existed in fleeting moments, never able to be captured but for the precious memories that remained in the thereafter. This was a truth the Elves had learned that many other races, other civilizations had not. Mankind attempted its greatest works with the presumption that their greatest minds

He locked gazes with Koga for a moment, though neither of them had to say a word. It was understood implicitly between both parties. The planning portion of the raid was important, mind; but many of them had been there for a time already, and things on that front were already well in hand. The best that Koga or Alkor could do was place themselves, and Koga spoke so Alkor didn't have to. The two of them would be in the third party, acting as the bulwark between their teammates and certain death. It wasn't like his old role as DPS, and after his own brush with mortality, Alkor understood the nee

To be frank, he wasn't interested in the social aspect of the meeting. That was always the case with Alkor, though. Whenever it came to the real meat and bones of Aincrad, the bloody stuff where people could get killed and never come back, he didn't even pretend. The mask that he donned mostly for everyone else's sake came off long before he entered the room, a grim expression and bags beneath his eyes evidence that he had spent far too long contemplating the coming trial. The last boss fight had spent him, sending him into a deep and dark depression that he still had yet to come to grip

He swayed as the others raced into action around him, holding a hand over his mouth to stifle any further vomiting. To say that his equilibrium had suddenly been thrown off would have been an understatement- Alkor felt like he had been afflicted with a sudden and terrible case of vertigo, seemingly induced by the boss' malefic aura coupled with some kind of stunning attack. Two could play at that game. Still channeling his rage and determination, the virulent, hazy red aura surged around him as Alkor drew on his violent and wild tendencies to further enhance his next strike. The darkness

Wushen centered its gaze on him as his defiance mounted. Alkor could feel the blood pumping in his veins, the adrenaline flowing like fire. Indignation coalesced with fury, together with determination to keep him on his feet. He faced down the primordial entity like a man who had come toe to toe with his own maker. It was too late to run, even if he wanted to. But the glare intensified, and the creature balked at his existence. The very fear-turned-strength that brought him to this point twisted inside his gut, wrenching it. Alkor reached down suddenly and grabbed at his stomach, a wave o

The most important thing now was that the boss kept its attention focused where it would do the least harm. With Alkor steadily healing off and taking considerably less damage on hit than his compatriots would, there were no doubts. Giant evil dragon beast had gone untargetable, and many heads were swooping in and harassing each group, all of them with different aspects. What those entailed mattered considerably less than staying alive. Hell, they'd figure out what they did as they attacked. Alkor glanced at the Cooldown timer as it refreshed on his taunt, and his body began to glow

When she mentioned that it would be a misbegotten situation that saw her put into the line of fire, Alkor showed no small amount of appreciation for her acceptance of the role she had chosen. It was difficult to relegate oneself to something less glorious than adventure, he thought. In a world where the sky was the limit, binding oneself to the dirt and creating magical treasures and tools for others to use but never to truly enjoy for oneself seemed like a special kind of hell. He could imagine that fear might drive some Players to never want to travel or endanger themselves, but how long cou

He had to keep the creature attacking him, even if it's attention were never directly given to any one member of the raid. It seemed to react to the highest accumulated hate, but that number also seemed to fluctuate wildly. As a result, NIGHT, Alkor, and now even Hidden had shared blows from the boss. There were only so many hits that the glassier members of this party could take before they splintered into fragments of data. Alkor grunted with some effort as he hefted his weapon once more, imbuing it with the power of a sword art to whittle away some of this strange new element of

Alkor doesn't know Raidou or Eruda that well, so I won't sign up, but I will say congratulations and I hope you all have a blast!

She was a kind woman, at least from the words she used. Instead of berating him harshly for not staying and fighting, she suggested that he should be respected for his efforts. Alkor lacked the perspective of a Player who never went on to join the fight, but many he'd met had not shared Iris' enthusiasm for what the top echelon of Players took upon themselves. At best, "better you than me" had been the resounding sentiment. He smiled faintly out of regard for that kindness, reminded of the way his grandmother suggested that people ought to be. Do good, and be kind; because there are very

The world that had been sullen was now anything but. Lunacy reigned in Wushen's domain, new and unfamiliar voices piercing through and staggering the Players as they stood in the face of a storm that they hadn't seen coming. Wushen was the eye, and they had been in the calm of it. Everything they'd known coming into this was a lie. He bore the brunt of it. Steel lightning streaked down around them, over them, through them. Wounds that none of them had anticipated taking appeared across all of their bodies in an instant, but the explosive blast of electricity smashed into Alkor's body as t

Her observation wasn't wrong. In fact, since they'd cleared the ninth floor, the only real reason to come here was for quests. There were still Players who did need the progression that the area offered, certainly, but it was far from a tourist destination. Alkor smiled faintly as he offered a congenial wave. "Granted, there was a time when this was the Apex of the Frontline initiative, and all of the Highest level players spent the lion's share of their time here," he responded at last. "I was there for that boss battle, too. It was the last major fight I was involved in." That led

Floor 9 Settlement // Yogan Village >> 14:00 Alkor rarely bothered to come to the Ninth floor, usually. It was a place filled with particularly nasty memories, and in the minds of many, it was where he became a ghost. Some people still looked at him that way. Why are you alive, when so many other Players aren't? The skies of the ninth floor were never day or night, just perpetual ash and flame. It was a ruined world rife with geothermal anomalies. The heat was sweltering in the most comfortable places, dry to the point where one's lips might crack from just standing around

The dismissive flick from the Dragon drilled him. It was like a God's wrath, but the god wasn't even using a fraction of its power. Still, he blow slammed into him, and the First Sword was tossed backward, into the wall. The armor did wonders for preventing damage, he noted. Much of the blow was ablated by the plates, however, the impact was still jarring. His HP, however, told a different tale. The blip of damage that the Dragon had incurred was far less drastic than the resultant animation. His recovery, in fact, made it appear as though it had never occurred at all. I can do this