Sword Art Online: The Crystal Swordsman

The Fallen Soul

In the virtual world, anything is possible. The environments encapsulate you and help you experience the endless adventures you find yourself upon. Mobs to fight for XP, chaotic events to take part in, and quests to do for interesting rewards. But the real skill lies in PvP encounters. To fight against an intelligent opponent is sometimes the most thrilling experience you can have, especially when you have something to lose. It activates our most primal instincts as human beings. To survive and conquer. In other words, to win. It can be a fun experience. Sometimes, a gruelling one. But nonetheless, it's a series of lessons. You perfect your skills and become comfortable in the heat of the moment until hardly any mistakes are made. After that, it's odds that will determine skilled opponents. These worlds are an escape from reality that provide a form of raw excitement akin to a rollercoaster or drop ride. It's a relief from the stresses of everyday life and teaches morals thru interactive storytelling. It's also a place to make friends and memories. But I digress. We begin in a fantasy game of flight and magic where players choose to become different races of elven warriors. This was the realm of Alfheim Online.

"Whew! These grinds aren't getting any easier, are they?" Leafa, a yellow haired Sylph, sheathed her sword and looked around the midnight forest for more mobs to kill.

"Leafa? Come in, Leafa." A young boys voice could be heard from Leafa's in-game menu call.

"I've been here this whole time, Recon. You don't need to say come in." Leafa joked.

"Right, sorry. How's the grind coming along?" Recon asked.

"Alright I guess. It's getting harder to find enemies though." Leafa walked around and scanned the forest some more.

"That doesn't sound too good." Recon admitted.

That's when Leafa noticed a deer creature on the other side of a small river.

"Oh, Wait! There's a deer." Leafa pulled out a bow and attempted to get the kill from range.

"You're not going to get much XP from a deer, Leafa." Recon assured.

"I know. I still gotta practice my archery skills." Leafa reeled back her bowstring and waited patiently for her moment.

"Well, your archery skills are pretty good. In fact they're the best I have ever-"

"Recon? I need to focus." Leafa interrupted.

"Oh, right. Sorry." Recon quieted.

Leafa inhaled and exhaled slowly. She let go of the string and watched the arrow fly towards her supposed bulls eye mark. That's when the arrow suddenly flew past the deer, causing it to be spooked and run away.

"Dammit. I missed." Leafa put away her bow.

"Aww, don't beat yourself up over it. Why don't you come on back?" Recon suggested.

"Sure thing, Recon." Leafa turned to walk away but stopped stiff when she saw a large monster towering over her.

"Oh good. There are some pretty scary high level monsters if you stay out too late. Get here soon, alright Leafa? ...Leafa? Leafa?!" Recon got no response.

The monster roared and brought it's battleaxe up but Leafa was still frozen in place. She couldn't move her legs as the monster swung down so Leafa shut her eyes and braced for the heavy amount of damage she was to take. But to her surprise however, it never came. She instead opened her eyes to see a black cloaked player with a purple sword stopping the giant battleaxe from hitting her. The player forced the weapon upward and took the opportunity to quickly slash a few times at the creatures exposed stomach. After the fourth slash, the player spun and kicked the fat creature into a distant tree. The beast got up and roared loudly while holding its battleaxe at the ready. The player charged but was batted away by the stick part of the weapon. The monster, now having dealt with the nuisance, went back to finish off Leafa where she stood. As she tried to back away, she tripped on an exposed root sending her falling backwards to the ground. The monster cast a ball of fire in its clawed hands and readied for a toss. Leafa held up her hands as the monster threw the fire ball right towards her face. She tensed up to take the hit when suddenly many black feathers covered her vision.