Sword Art Online: The Crystal Swordsman

Epidemic

You're probably wondering why the lessons have been so inconsistent. Worry not. The more you learn, the less there will be to teach. That is of course, if you abide the laws of reality. But, there are other paths. Ones that will leave you with a hole in your chest and a scar on your mind. But these paths are not to be trifled with or taken lightly. It's all fun and games until your defences are down, and you become overrun.

Cat Sith, Turquoise, Sharp: Sinon

After returning home from the lake, I noticed K and Leafa were nowhere to be found. As soon as I went into my menu to check my friends list, K sent me an invite to Vestige. A message followed saying: "Urgent."

I logged out, swapped games and loaded into Vestige. As soon as I was in the menu, I was teleported to K. Once I appeared, I noticed that we were standing on the top of a building. K was kneeling at the edge and peering down. I approached him and he peeked over his shoulder at me.

"You said it was urgent?" I inquired.

K stood up and put his hand on my shoulder. He looked me in the eyes as I looked into his.

"It is." He says seriously as the sound of other teleportations could be heard behind me.

I turned around to see the rest of our quad. From the pure beams of white light emerged Kirito and a girl with short black hair. When they both appeared, they looked at each other and froze in place.

"Suguha?!" Kirito jumped and pointed.

"Kazuto?!" She pointed back.

"Yes yes, we'll need both the brother and the sister for this operation." K assured them.

I noticed that Sugu had never played with us prior to this game. I wondered if she contained the combat prowess we were looking for.

"You sure Sugu's up for it?" I wondered.

"She wiped an entire quad singlehandedly in her first game. You should show some respect." K told me.

I looked to Sugu who gave me a look, but I was asking a genuine question. A quad wipe in her first game? She's better than me when I was her rank.

"What's the beat?" Sugu asked.

"Hey! I was about to ask that!" Kirito said to her.

"Beat you to it!" Sugu smiled.

"The beat, ladies and gentlemen, is to survive." K said as if we didn't know.

"So like always?" I asked.

"No." K replied simply.

I gave him a confused look.

"Well whatever it is, we'll get through it together!" Sugu was optimistic.

"Yeah! We'll win this one!" Kirito chimed in too.

"Let us hope so. For it we do not, our very nightmares will become a reality." K spoke in a cryptic way.

"What are you on about, K?" I looked him in the eye and asked, hoping for a straight answer.

"Let us begin." K said and stared the game.

Our vision blackened and we became thrust into a chopper once again. The back was closed but K still stood up and faced it to be ready. We followed behind him. Suddenly, the game began to play scary music to initiate the start of the game. Something that doesn't usually happen. In that same moment, a maniacal voice echoed throughout the land saying one word.

"EPIDEMIC!" It shouted through a smile.

The back of the chopper opened and dense foggy mist covered the land. The rivers and oceans ran red with blood. The trees lost their leaves and the grass lost its colour. The land we were dropping into was unlike what we knew.