PP - f1 "a new Arc

[Mari 1]

Mari tossed, flinging her small body to and fro, before finally settling- curling into a small ball. Her arms wrapping tightly around herself as she tossed off the warmth of the jacket. The air was by no means cold, but it still caused goosebumps to rise on her pale skin.

Her face still twisted, plagued by nightmares, hands curling into fists, clutching at clumps of grass as though it was her only tether between this world and the next. Every so often Mari's face would soften but those moments were short lived, few and far between.

[Ashrah 0]

"Tch!"

Arc let out a loud click of his tongue as the boar narrowly evaded his follow through. He was a hair's breadth from a finishing blow, and the creature caught a second wind. "How incredibly frustrating," he muttered.

The boar stabbed its tusks into his leg and raked as hard as it could manage, loosening another of Arc's precious health points. The youth growled in disdain for the loss, but made no other outward objection. It was frivolous to do so.

He staggered back from his attacker and readied his sword, seeking the opening that would put an end to this fight. It was still a matter of dire importance, and his diligence might save a life. Even though Tobias wasn't so pragmatic as all that, he wasn't about to just let someone die- he had to seem somewhat dependable if he wanted to make a reputation for himself.

[iD: 21997, BD: 3, Mob: 7]

[boar: 1/5]

[Arc: 9/11]

[Mari 1]

The air prickled at her skin, leeching whatever warmth she had- her body, if one were to touch it would be cool, not dangerously so- but enough for someone to be inclined to throw a blanket over her- or place her by a warm fire. Of course, that wasn't going to happen. Not that Mari wild show thanks at such an offer.

Her nightmares continued; and swear began to form on her brow.

From being pulled into hell by a distant fragment of a memory- to once again, a cold and suffocating darkness. She stood alone, her footsteps echoed as she walked toward the sound of a crying girl, calling out for her mother. Mari's footsteps hastened, as she recognised the owner of the voice- the more she ran, the further the voice seemed to become.

[Ashrah 0]

Once more they clashed, slowly getting ever closer to the sleeping Player Killer. Ideally, Arc would have slain the boar several swings ago, but things didn't always go as intended. He fought off the creature about as valiantly as a dog with a bone.

Sweat beaded on his forehead as he stared it down, gritting his teeth. He dug his blade into the dirt and steadied himself, mulling over several different choices for skills in the future. It would take some time until he had any of the skills he wanted, let alone all of them.

The girl seemed in a deep, restless sleep, but she was safe. That was all that mattered. If he let any harm come to her after a business venture, well... he certainly wouldn't get a repeat offer for a job.

[iD: 22000, BD: 2, Mob: 4]

[boar: 1/5]

[Arc: 9/11]

[Mari 1]

Dreaminc an endless dream;

Mari stopped running in her dream; having to stop and catch her breath. The crying in the distance continued for a few seconds before suddenly stopping. This caused alarm in Mari, as she frantically whipped her head to and fro, attempting to see something, anything in the darkness. "Evelyn?" She called out, but the only reply was her voice, bouncing back at her, echoing.

Then, there was an ear splitting screech, a pained, otherwordly cry. Mari's hands whipped up to her ears in s feeble attempt to drown out the sound; but to no avail. Mari curled into a ball as the scream got louder, till it sounded as though it was right in front of her.

Mari's blue eyes rose to come face to face with her daughter. Or what looked like her daughter. Sunken black holes sat where her eyes should have been, her skin was a sickly gray, and clawed points replaced her hands.

You killed me!"

The apparition screeched;

"Murderer! Murdurer! MURDURER!"

[Ashrah 0]

Once more, the boar came at Arc, and once more it attacked. This time, it drove both tusks as deeply into his chest as it could, albeit staved off to an arm's length. Arc took the beast to the ground with him, rolling in a tangled heap.

He fought against a strength that should not have been as impressive to him as it was and found himself on top, pressing the beast to the dirt. He brought his Bastard sword to the throat of the creature with a wavering hand, and he firmly pressed the edge down, down, down until it cleaved through the meat and bone, and the creature flickered into nonexistence.

Sweat pooled on the ground beneath him as a veritable wave of perspiration washed off him. Arc rose to his feet and turned his gaze back toward the pink woman who now tossed in her sleep.

He had no intention of getting closer, nor of prying her for information. She was asleep, and until she woke, his only obligation was to assure no harm came to her. Other new players could attack her without fear of reprisal, or a chance strong player might attack her while she was prone.

For some reason, that weighed on his conscience. At least if he did this, and she left, it wouldn't be on him if she were killed. "Rest well," he murmured as he sat down next to her body, albeit not too close. A woman that troubled could very well thrash awake and stab him dead.

He looked at his health, and his level, now elevated to new heights. "Level 5," he whispered in disbelief. "I just keep getting stronger."

[iD: 22011, BD: 7, Mob: 8]

[Arc: 8/11]

[boar: Dead]

[Mari 1]

Mari violently shook her head, before being jarred awake, gasping for air. Mari's heart was pounding in her chest. She gave a sigh as she wiped the sweat from her brow. "Well f**k me..." She muttered. Displeased with her nightmare- she noticed a figure to her side and without second thought pulled out her dagger. Lunging toward it. 

Mari placed her knee in the chest of the figure, pressing the person down to the floor - her dagger aimed at their throat; ready to strike. Pink hair tickled Arks cheeks as wild blue eyes stared the man down. It was all instantaneous, and it wasn't until Mari was hovering over Arc, that she realized who it was. "Oh." She muttered. Still on his chest she lifted her dagger away from his throat, tossing it to the side to signify she had no intent of attacking him. "Tis you. My bad." Mari took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself. The adrenaline from her nightmare still pumping through her veins. She slid off him.

"Weren't you fighting Boars?" She muttered dryly, glancing over at his form, she bit her tongue, "I mean...sorry." She muttered. Turning away from him. It wasn't really in her nature to apologize, and it sounded somewhat forced, despite her intentions to legitimately apologize for her actions.

[Ashrah 0]

It was over before it ever began.

The instinct to respond was dwarfed by the reaction she had to his presence. She moved faster than his character in the game could register, and instant death loomed like a shade over his throat for a fraction of an instant.

No fear gripped him, oddly, but the realization that she was inches from killing him only made him want to curse at his own ineptitude. "You would have done it, too," he observed tonelessly. "Killed me like I was a dog."

It wasn't a statement of rage or disgust, but a string of sentiment akin to pity. That someone could be so torn to bits by a game did terrify Tobias, on some fundamental level.

To him, all of this did remain a game. That the game carried serious implications was a minor detail with heavy ramifications. The only logical recourse was not to die, which while easier said than done was far easier than giving in to despair.

"This is why I want to fight," he said finally, a small voice that was at odds with the staunch valor he showed up to this point. "People fall prey to this inhumanity every day in a game where they lose their sense of self."

His breathing returned to normal, but his gaze grew distant. "I may not be much, and I may not be useful, but even if one person remains who is more alive than machine, this game didn't win."

Arc rose to his feet as she apologized, and he shrugged. "It's fine," he said, "stay alive, and maybe you'll see the real world again and remember why you decided to live. But don't steal any more hope from people who haven't given in."

He checked his inventory and then closed it in three quick motions. "Anyway, I watched your back while you slept, and you didn't kill me. We're square."

[Mari 1]

Mari scoffed at his remark, that he assumed she would kill so easily, but - it was sad to say that she could not exactly deny it. If he had any ill intention toward her she would have. She would have thrust her blade deep into his neck without hesitation. Mari wasn't sure if she would even feel remorse any more after killing. She didn't want to find out.

There was a strained silence between the two, before Arc gave his reasons for wanting to fight, he spoke truth; "I don't even know who Mari is." She muttered in response. She had abandoned everything she once held true and dear. She was just going through the motions of day to day life in the game. Fighting, Levelling, existing.

 

"But are people even worth saving?" Mari asked, turning her gaze to him, his eyes were elsewhere - focused on an unknown point in the distance. He stood, shrugging off her apology. Stating that she should simply stay alive, even going as far as to say she shouldn't steal hope from others. "Can't steal what doesn't exist."

It seemed as though their meeting was coming to an end. "Right. Even." She said

[Ashrah 0]

Some people, you just can't reason with. Beg, plead, bribe, blackmail, or break, some people only cared to watch the world whittle away around them as everything slowly swallowed itself. Sword Art Online was a world that lent to that dark nature of humanity all too readily and easily, and Arc didn't intend to give it the satisfaction of breaking him down.

Tobias had never been a particularly happy youth with a loving family. What values he did have came from seeing the ones who he grew up around tear each other apart emotionally. He learned what he did not want to be, and somewhere in the course of getting trapped in SAO, he learned his lesson. When he got home, he would put away games and childish things, and he would seek a life of meaning.

For now, he was here, and this was his unnatural reality. Mari was brutally honest about not knowing herself, and it didn't really bother him to hear it. People lost themselves to an identity crisis every day that passed in this world. It was not shocking to hear a woman no longer had a grip on her true nature.

What bothered him was how quick she was to discard the hopes of others. He stared back at her for a long moment with a somber look in his eye, but he knew better than to argue. She was the sort of person who had to get the last word, and probably believed she was infallibly right about her glum world view.

None of that was his concern, of course. Arc didn't intend to save any one person. His intention was to save everyone- if he could. They could sort things out for themselves when it was all over. He was no hero.

"You may be a strong player," he said, "and hell, I may not survive long enough to ever learn your name or see you again. But you damn well have no right to tell anyone they don't have any hope just because you lost yours."

He turned his gaze back toward the Town of Beginnings and strode into the distance, dimly aware of whatever she might say back. He wasn't going to respond, but he wasn't going to tell her she couldn't talk, either.

[Mari 1]

Arc stared at her, his eyes dancing before her own - as though he was attempting to comprehend her words, and how she could say such a macabre thing. Surprisingly, he said nothing. He didn't attempt to argue, or prove her wrong. He didn't try to reason with her or give her false solace in an attempt to change her mind.  

"Mari." She said simply. "You would have read it when we traded items earlier today."  She wasn't sure if hearing her name would spark some sort of familiarity with him or not. She had gained some notoriety on the higher floors, but she was unsure just how far that trickled down.  "You're right, I don't." She admitted. He broke his gaze from hers. But Mari's eyes remained focused on the back of his head.

He was so absolute in his resolve, that much Mari could tell. She envied that. She used to be that, but it all fell apart. "It's admirable." She whispered out loud. "Your outlook, I just wonder how long it will take for you to shatter. Or what it would take." 

Mari lowered her gaze to the ground, running her hands over the blades of grass. "I watched my own daughter die. I watched friends disappear, and others die. You'd do best to not have such high aspirations. You can't break what is already broken." Mari stood too, turning her back on both Arc, and the town of beginnings.

"You'll survive, but will you remain you? Will you remain Arc?" 

 

[Ashrah 0]

"I'm not Arc," he responded simply. "And that's the thing most people in this game forget. You're not a character in a game anymore when that game superimposes itself over your reality." He doubted she would hear him, his voice barely above a whisper and his steps carrying him further away from her by the second. "I'm Tobias," he stated softly, reminding himself of a name that stretched back far beyond the beginning of this world, and one that would live on far beyond it.

It was tragic to see someone fall victim to Sword Art Online. Arc had witnessed many suicides from players too broken by the loss of their reality. He had watched people lose in battles against monsters that by all rights should have been too weak to kill them. And now, he had seen a woman lose a battle with herself for her own identity and fall into depravity. It was the sort of thing that caused most people to question their resolve, the way Mari inferred that he would.

The difference between them was that it only made Arc want to defy the game that much more. Every person it took was a loved one robbed from some family- a family like he never had, and might never have again. It was a person who could potentially do good and change the world, or one day end some horrific and inhumane injustice. The players in SAO were being robbed of precious time they would otherwise have spent making a difference in the world when they weren't playing a game recreationally.

The most audacious thing about Sword Art Online is that it presumed to steal people from the real world and thrust them into an alternate existence in a false world. The injustice in that was beyond right and wrong. It was almost sinful.

Tobias would never judge Mari for her loss. He wouldn't presume to tell her she was sick for her transgressions or try to change her mind after she had already made it for herself. But Tobias would also not try to help someone who did not want it, especially because he wouldn't have accepted help if their positions were reversed.

"I will fight this world alone if I have to," he rasped at last, almost back in the safe zone now, "if that's what it takes. I guess that depends on how many more Maris it makes before its all over."

[Mari 1]

COMPLETE

All participants: 1 SP 

 

 

Mari - 300 Col
Arc - +200 Col