We stand there looking at each other in awkward silence. "Hey come on it's clear!" One of Grovers guild members shouts at him.
"Well, see you later." I say walking past him.
"Yeah...see ya." Grover says softly.
I teleport back to town, and a message pops up with a ding.
"Have you seen Rachel around? She left the lodge and has been gone for hours." The message is from Connor.
I go near the lodge and active my tracking skill, selecting Rachel her tracks light up in the street. I follow the tracks to a bridge, they lead off to the side and under it. I see Rachel sitting under the bridge staring into the water.
"Rachel, Everyone's worried about you." I walk to her and sit next to her.
"Hey Percy... we should run away together." She says staring into the water. "Run away from the White Ghosts, all the monsters, from this town... and Sword Art Online too."
"Are you talking about suicide?" I stare at her, my heart starting to race.
She gives a soft laugh. "That's not such a bad Idea... but sorry no. if I had the guts to die, I wouldn't be hiding in town." She says with a light smile. "Why do we have to die when it's a stupid game...what the point of all this." she curls up into a ball, still not breaking from the water.
"Yeah... there is no point, I guess." I say.
"I-I so afraid to die in here, I'm so scared I haven't been able to sleep lately." Her voice starting to break.
"Your not going to die." I say.
"Really? How can you be so sure about that." She says.
"The White Ghosts are strong enough as a guild, plus you got Nico and me up front. You don't need to be on the front lines." I say looking at her, my heart starting to calm.
"You honestly think I wont die? That I'll make it back to the real world?" she looks at me with red eyes.
"Yeah, you wont die. We'll clear this game and go home soon." I smile at her.
Later back in the lodge, I'm in my room changing clothes for bed in my inventory.
"Uh, come in." I say.
The door swings open and it's Rachel clutching a pillow in a night gown.
"I'm sorry I cant seem to get to sleep... can...can I sleep with you?" she says softly.
The room in dark, Rachels soft sleeping breath the only sound in the room. I stare at the wall, wondering how we can make it back to the real world. There must be more players like her, scared to leave the towns, and scared to die. People who laugh and cry, all wanting to go home in the real world...I never thought about it like that.
"Percy?" the bed shakes a bit.
I roll over and look at Rachel. Our faces close together. "It's ok, I promise your going to survive." I smile reassuring her. She smiles and goes back to sleep. No matter what I promise to protect all of you.
The next day.
"I'm heading out, teleport, town of new beginnings." Nico says, and melts away.
"Hey while he's out buying the house, what do you guys sat we go out and raise some extra cash?" Connor says.
"let's go to a dungeon on a higher floor." Travis says.
"We should stick to our usual hunting spots." I say.
"But up there we can make more and faster!" Connor says with Travis agreeing.
June 12, 2023, Floor 27: Dungeon
"You see I told you guys this was going to be cake!" Connor says.
"look!" Travis points to a small glowing pattern on the wall, and puts his hand to it. Wall opens up to a small room with a single chest in it. "A treasure chest!" Connor and Travis run to it.
"NO DON'T!" I shout.
But it was too late, they open the chest. The room's lights turn red and an alarm blares, the door shuts behind me. Dozens of enemies spawn in the room.
"Teleport!" I yell.
"Teleporting is disabled!" Connor screams. A monster pushes him to the floor and 6 of them dig their swords into his back. With a horrifying scream his character dies.
"No!" Travis yells staring at his twin brother as he dies, a spear explodes from his chest, he explodes into a pixels dying seconds after his brother.
I turn to Rachel, I try getting to her fighting off monsters as I go. She turn's and looks at me, a few monsters slash her back and it goes in slow motion. She falls forward so slowly, she says something but I'm too shocked to hear her.
Everything goes black, after she hit the floor melting into pixels and dying. I come too, the room empty. My inventory filled with 64 new items, and 14,274 Exp.
