It was nearly six o'clock in the evening as the pair sat on the outskirts of the forest sharing another loaf of bread. Jayce watched the tree line noting the moving cursors of enemies too far away to attack. He wondered if there were people trapped in this game who had never played an MMO before. With the lack of understanding of how enemy creatures worked one would think that if you were within eyesight they would attack. Would you ever be able to feel safe if that were the case? Not everyone knew that there was a certain radius that dictated if a creature would become aggressive and attack.
"We're going on ten hours." Jemza said taking a drink of water.
"Yeah, I think I owe you now." The girl beside him returned the waterskin back into her inventory and shrugged.
"Nah, we've made quite a bit of experience so in the grand scheme of things, this was well worth it." The first two hours had been slow going. They operated with a higher margin of safety to make sure there was little danger involved while fighting the <<Little Nepenthes>>. After two hours of falling into a rhythm and understanding everything the creature was capable of they sped up. For eight hours straight they continuously killed the plant creatures, but failed to find one with the flower needed to cure the little girl.
The upside to such a long amount of time spent was that they accrued a large amount of experience. Both Jayce and Jemza were well into level eight now. Jemza in particular was ecstatic because that meant Jayce had earned six more points which he could throw into strength and not only meet the requirements to wield the quest reward sword, but also get closer to where his stats should be at this point.
"That's true. Well, shall we get back to it?" They both took a deep breath and pushed themselves to their feet. After returning to the forest and falling into their normal routine of attacking as a pair another two hours came and went. Night fell over the first floor of Aincrad which thankfully wasn't the same as it would be in the real world. If this were real the forest would be nearly pitch black. Since this was an MMO, the night hours were dark, but everything was always illuminated as if a full moon shone down on it.
The last <<Little Nepenthes>> shattered into fragments of light when Jemza retracted her dagger from its body. Jayce looked around the area making sure no other plant creatures were nearby before checking the time. His shoulders slumped after he thought about things for a few moment and came to a decision. Jemza had already spent so much time helping him, and it wasn't fair to ask any more of her.
"Let's go back. You've done enough and I don't think we'll ever see this thing." The white haired girl looked over at him cocking her head to the side.
"It's no trouble. Like I said, the experience is worth it." While her statement was true he still felt that this was a lost cause. The chances of the <<Little Nepenthes>> appearing with a flower was so minimal that the frustration had set in.
"We're far above the level of these things now, so the experience has greatly diminished. We would have to move on anyway. Let's..."
"Look!" Jemza interrupted him, grabbing his shoulder and spinning him around. Maybe it was due to the flood of relief within him, or just plain excitement, but without thinking he raised a hand to his shoulder placing it on top of hers. Ahead of them a few dozen yards away was a <<Little Nepenthes>>, a bright red flower sprouting from the top of its body.
"I've never seen anything so beautiful." Jayce said making the girl laugh. She didn't pull her hand away, but instead turned it and grabbed his hand tightly pulling him along.
"Come on!" Even with his higher agility score he still had to put a decent bit of effort in to keep up with her steps. What branches and logs she could effortlessly pass over without a second thought, he had to pay attention so as not to trip. She stopped just before entering the creature's threat range and turned her face towards him.
These last two days together had been full of a lot of different emotions. He had accomplished more in two days than all the other days combined. All thanks to this white haired girl he met by accident that night on the hills near the Town of Beginnings. A quirky, upbeat, and carefree girl who helped get him to this point. As much as she had smiled and seemingly enjoyed this world before the near death experience yesterday, the smile she had now was by far the most amazing thing Jayce had ever seen. If he didn't know any better, he would have guessed she was happier than he was.
All of a sudden he was very conscious of her presence. How long had they been staring at one another? Was it minutes, or only seconds? Although he wore black leather gloves he could feel her hand in his. The Nerve Gear even replicated the body heat from her palm in his. A familiar pain began to worm its way into his heart. His heart rate increased dramatically as a scream filled his head. He yanked his hand away stepping back from her. In the same motion he averted his eyes from her turning so she could no longer see him. Now, there was only silence for a few moments. She would be confused by his actions, possibly even upset.
"This was a long time in the making, so I think you can treat me to dinner once we're finished here." If she was angry or hurt, her voice did not show it. Jayce closed his eyes and took a deep breath pushing things out of his head before nodding.
"Deal." He still couldn't bear to look at her right now choosing instead to walk towards the plant creature. Whatever was going on in her mind was a mystery, but he heard her keeping pace just behind him. So, it came to pass that at 8:05 in the evening of December 3rd 2022, the pair found and killed the <<Little Nepenthes>> carrying the rare flower needed to complete Jayce's quest. Twelve straight hours of constant fighting finally came to an end.
"I wonder what I will have for dinner. We should go to the next town; they probably have better selection." Jayce couldn't help, but smirk under the hood of his cloak. If she were serious then he wouldn't hesitate to follow her. He owed her at least that much after how long this took.
"It's already getting later, so if you wouldn't mind postponing until tomorrow then I would be more than happy to oblige." She tapped her chin a few times, deep in thought before shrugging.
"Let me think about it." He gave her a nod in acknowledgement as they stepped up to the door of the home where they had first acquired the quest. With a swift knock on the door and the familiar greeting within, the two stepped inside seeing the older woman still seated over the fire stirring the contents of a pot. Her eyes seemed to light up significantly upon their entrance as if she recognized them.
"You've returned. Were you successful?" So she had remembered them, which was obviously part of the programming of the quest, but still amazing. Without the cursor over her head that identified her as an NPC she seemed like a real person. Jayce manipulated the system menu and opened his inventory. He tapped once and the red flower appeared in his hand. If the NPC had seemed anxious when they arrived, then she was nearly overcome now.
"You've done it! Thank you so much!" She seemed younger now that the weight of the little girl's illness had been lifted. She hurriedly opened a container nearby and produced a scabbard. The cross hilt and handle of the sword that was sheathed within was visible from the top of the scabbard as she walked towards Jayce.
"Thank you." Jayce said reaching out to take the weapon from her hands. A window appeared indicating the experience, col, and the sword being given to him for completion of the quest. <<Anneal Blade>> was written across the window with the icon of a one longsword.
"Congratulations." Jemza whispered from behind him. She turned to leave the house now that the quest was officially finished, but stopped when she noticed Jayce was not following. She turned and noticed he was watching the woman break the leaves of the flower apart letting them fall into the pot.
Once the rewards of a quest were given there was no further need to remain. Something was keeping him in place watching the NPC brew a medicine from the flower they had retrieved. In a way it seemed odd that the developers would even go through the trouble of programming something like this. Most players would have received the rewards and left without a second thought. Yet, Jayce remained and most concerning was how hard he seemed to be gripping the scabbard of the sword he had just received.
"Here you go Agatha." The woman called out ladling a portion of the pot into a cup. She stood and walked towards the back room. Jayce followed her which in turn made Jemza move up behind him. She looked over his shoulder watching the woman hand the cup to the sick little girl who drank the brew down. Immediately the color in her face became more vibrant and even her motions seemed more energetic. The little girl named Agatha looked past the woman up at Jayce and smiled.
"Thank you, for saving me." Her voice was so cute that Jemza had to stop herself from reaching out to hug the little girl. She grinned and reached out to pat Jayce's arm. Her smile vanished as he slapped her hand away before she got close. Was it just her imagination or did the NPC's also seem to look concerned now.
"Don't...don't touch me." He was breathing erratically and now that she was paying attention she could see his entire body trembled.
"Hey, what's wrong? You saved her." Jemza reached out again to touch his arm, but faster than she could register he spun on her pushing her against the wall of the small room where the little girl rested. Both the NPC's shrank back in fear which made no sense. They should have specific programming parameters they followed. There would be no possible way to program NPC's to react to unexpected events like this.
"I didn't! I couldn't!" Jayce screamed holding Jemza's shoulder pinning her to the wall. A window immediately flashed up in her vision from the <<Anti-Harassment System>> asking to remove Jayce. If she pressed the blinking button he would be immediately teleported to the prison. She could also give a verbal command in the event that she could not physically press the button.
"Let go!" She could feel his grip on shoulders tightening keeping her pinned. The window flashed violently in her vision as the man shook his head back and forth. The hood fall back revealing his face and only now did she see the tears streaming down his face.
"I didn't save her! I didn't save anyone! Their dead!" She didn't struggle anymore, and continued to ignore the blinking window in her vision. She could see from his face that he wasn't attacking her. She wasn't in danger, in fact if anyone was it was him. Not from her or the NPC's or even creatures roaming all over Aincrad. He was in danger from himself, and she didn't know why. In those few breaths of silence as she came to that conclusion he must have realized what he was doing and let her go stumbling backwards out of the room. Never had she seen someone in the same pain he showed now.
"What is it?" She asked tentatively reaching out and dismissing the harassment window. She took a step forward, but he backpedaled quickly knocking a chair over. He fumbled for his hood flipping it back over his head.
"Don't! Just leave me alone!" Her mind was racing with how she could help. What had just happened to cause this?
"Talk to me! Please!" Her voice was pleading and it stopped him before he could get to the door and leave. He didn't turn to face her, but she could still see him gripping the sword tightly in his hands.
"Stay away from me...I'm a mistake." She had no time to respond before he threw the door open and vanished into the night. No more than a few seconds later did a window appear in front of her. Five words read across her vision filling her with more heartache than she'd felt in a long time. Worse because it was for reasons she didn't even fully comprehend.
<<Your party has been disbanded>>