The Red Player (A Sword Art Online story)

Chapter 1: Link Start!

Chapter 1: LINK START!

Piifalo

His sword runs deep into my right shoulder, ripping straight through. I clench my teeth and bear the pain. I stare back into his eyes as he smiles maliciously. Leaving his weapon impaled in my arm, he kicks me hard in the ribs, and drops of blood escape my mouth on the hard ground, disintegrating on impact.

"You know," he says with his foot on my chest. "By now most people hand over all of their items and beg, but you - you're special!" he laughs. I glare back holding back the screams of agonizing pain.

"That's why I'll enjoy picking them off your corpse!" He tears his blade out of my useless shoulder and holds it over his head. His sleeve slides down his arm revealing the trademark image on his forearm: a dark black coffin with carefree eyes and a torturous smile. There's no difference between his face and the coffin as his weapon begins it's descent aimed at my heart.

I stare the blade down just as it's about to plunge into my chest when a shadow slams into my enemy's side, blasting him into a rock. The cloaked figure then rushes over to me and picks me up. Moments later we're running. I have no clue where, not that I have much of a choice anyway.

The emerald green grass rustles below us as we make our way to the center of the field where I am laid down delicately into the hard dirt. "We should be safe here," their voice is muffled by their cloak.

"Hey, you're in the way," I say barely louder than a whisper. He did more damage than I thought. "We were in the middle of a fight."

The person stands still for a moment. I don't need to see their face to see the scowl. Suddenly, they rip off their cloak to reveal... a girl. Her flowing ebony black hair drapes down to her hips. Her soft black eyes shined brightly with the sun. She towers over me with her long legs. She wears simple light armor: a bright red robe gliding just above the ground, black leggings, a steel breast plate and a dark blue scarf around her neck.

She looks down at my lacerated shoulder and immediately covers it with her light brown cloak as if it were dripping blood. She opens her mouth to speak but I quickly grab her hand and pull her to the ground with my left arm. I cover her mouth fast to keep her from making any noise. The effort drains even more of my energy, and the world starts to spin. At first she tries to struggle, but moments later she catches on.

The tall grass around us rustles softly, moving almost noiselessly. We both hold our breath as we watch the blades push forward past us. She releases her breath sharply when he appears to be a safe distance away and I exhale slowly. Any faster and I might have coughed up more blood.

She climbs back up to her knees, sitting before me. I slide onto my elbows, but my vision begins to blur, and I drop back to the ground on my back.

"How did you see him so quickly?" she asks surprised at my ability. I try to respond but the blood fills my lungs once again, and I keep my mouth shut. I open my menu and slide it to her. She stares at it for a moment before jumping back in surprise. "Detection level 25 already?!" She exclaims. Just then my eyes start to fade and I lose all muscle control. "It's no wonder you-" her mouth keeps moving but suddenly I can't hear a word, and all vision goes dark. Damn, what mess have I gotten myself into now? I still have so many questions... I think desperately as my mind slips out of consciousness.

End of Chapter 1. I've been meaning to write this for quite a while, but unfortunately the beginning wasn't very well thought through I must admit. Bear with me please?