[PP-F3] In the Garden of the Gods <Date Night!>

[Alkor 0]

Shards of data coalesced and wrote him into existence, an inkblot of pixels stained on canvas.

The third floor of Aincrad was forested and filled with flora. When the system gambled on Alkor, he felt like some god was laughing down at him from on high. He seemed so out of place, a hardened warrior walking through a peaceful world. Sword Art Online had events like this too, it seemed. When Mari told him she'd slipped his name into selections Alkor hadn't known what to say back. She did it, she said, because he needed to lighten up and have fun. He needed to chance meeting new people and get over his embarrassment. She had come a long way. Maybe she was right. Maybe he did need to take some risks.

He reviewed the system message that appeared in his mail and continued down the path. Truth be told, he had seen many portions of the third floor in his training exercises and exploration but the path he was on now was new to him. He walked through the forest and deeper, toward a town overflowing with color where the flowers grew rampant. Buildings were wreathed with vines and covered with lush greens, and sunlight filtered through the canopy to flood the world with life. When it rained, the trees provided cover from the wild winds and so this place was a cradle of vitality. Even the harshest of storms was a soft whisper to the Elves that dwelled in it.

But, he was not done with his walk. As he continued, the path split off and he followed along a stream that gently flowed under a bridge in the middle of town. The pristine water reflected his gilded gaze, softened as he realized that perhaps he had taken himself and the situation too seriously. Who was he going to find when he got there? Where was there? Maybe all of it mattered, and maybe none of it did. Perhaps the point that Mari had wanted to emphasize was just beyond his ability to comprehend, but he was learning.

Regardless of who he found, he had to be open minded. He had to listen and learn. He had to acknowledge a world outside of his own mind, filled with people and things that were individuals on their own.

When he found himself at the listed coordinates, Alkor stopped and stared in awe. Flowers he had never seen in Aincrad bloomed beneath gentle sunlight and the open sky stretched a gentle azure color as far as he could see. Hydrangeas lined the outskirts of the garden, light blues and deep purples, even wild varieties of pink unlike anything he had ever seen. Gardenias and Camellias wrapped the inside of the path and created shade for smaller, albeit beautiful flowering plants that wanted for more shade than the garden might naturally provide. The stream that he had followed branched off in rows that irrigated the garden, with smaller wooden trellises that had ivy growing up around them and footbridges that made the pathways safe to navigate. If there was a groundskeeper, Alkor had not seen them and yet this place was well kept. 

He reached up and brushed his fingers across the branch of a flowering Dogwood, the pure white, tiny blossoms taking him back to a different time in his life. The system knew so much about them, it could recreate bits and pieces of their experience. Almost like witchcraft, he had been thrown into a hell that he might gladly never leave. 

@Arabelle