"On your left Shorty!"

"My name's not Shorty!" THWACK!

I watch as the last of the skeleton horde goes flying through the air and bursts into pixels. a box appears in front of me with the words 'Quest Complete.'

"Alright, great job guys." I walk over to Ace O' Spades and Alakshmi, "Now let's go back to the town and cash in our reward."

My two party members nod in agreement and together the three of us head back to the town.

It has been about a month since the launch of SAO and so far, no one has been able to find the boss room. as a team, the three of us had decided not to aid in the search, instead focusing on leveling and improving our gear. Someone would eventually find the room. In the process, I'd finally gotten a real scythe as a reward from a quest (I can't find a shop that sells scythes.). Ace had replaced his previous weapon with a considerably stronger scimitar. Alakshmi had focused on upgrading her standard hammer and through liberal use of cor {A/N: SAO currency} and skill points, now had a dangerously powerful hammer with a sword skill that can stun an enemy (or Ace, when she gets annoyed by him.). Alakshmi leads the way back to the NPC that issued the quest, mostly because she was the one who convinced us to take the quest. It wasn't that difficult to convince Ace and I. A rejected quest is just a wasted chance to get stronger after all. We're going to need to be as strong as possible to survive the Death Game. As soon as we arrive in town, I notice a commotion in the town centre.

"Hey, what's going on over there?" Alakshmi wonders out loud.

"Don't look at me, I can't see the other players' cards." Ace relies, which is pretty much his way of saying he doesn't know.

"Alakshmi, you finish up the quest." I say, "Ace and I will check this out and see what it's about."

"Sure thing Azzy."

"I got your back, dude."

I watch as Alakshmi runs off, "Why in the world does she insist on calling me 'Azzy?'"

Ace just laughs and the two of us start walking into the center of the town.

"Yo man, what's the deal here?" Ace steps towards a random player.

"You mean you haven't heard? There's a massive meeting going on over in the ampitheatre. Someone found the boss room."

I blink. This is a major break. After a month of nothing, maybe this will give us the momentum we need to clear SAO.

"'Preciate that dude. We'll be going to check that out." Ace grins as the other player walks off.

"Well, it's about time." I mutter. Sure, we weren't searching, but there were so many people out there. It shouldn't have taken this long, "Come on, let's head to the ampitheatre."

"You got it bro."

Together the two of us race over to the ampitheatre. As we do, I pull up Alakshmi and contact her.

"Hey Alakshmi, head over to the ampitheatre when you're done." I vault over a crate and keep running.

"Why? What's going on?" Alaksmi's face appears in the top right corner of my HUD.

"We've just been dealt a winning hand girl, and the players are going all in." Ace's face appears next to Alakshmi's.

"Sorry, I don't speak gambler. Translation?"

"Someone found the boss room. There's a meeting going on right now to figure out what to do."

"Wow. This is big. I'm on my way now." Alakshmi cuts off the connection.

Thirty seconds later, I step into the ampitheatre, Ace a pace behind me. We sit down and wait for things to get started. And it certainly gets exciting fast. A guy named Kibaou gets up and starts insulting beta-testers. Alakshmi, Ace and I had dealt with him before, so I'm already aware of how annoying the guy is. He goes on about how beta-testers should apologise to the non beta-testers and hand over all of their gear, which is beyond absurd. I could tell that Ace was five seconds from going down there and attacking the idiot, and I wouldn't have stopped him. He may play it differently, but I can tell he cares about Alakshmi. Kibaou needs to realize that this lis life, and sometime life isn't fair.

Just as Ace is standing up, a voice calls out from the first row, "I got something to say."

Kibaou's arrogance dissappears real fast when he sees the mountain with a voice stand up. This man, who introduces himself as Agil, proceeds to completely shut down Kibaou's anti-beta sentiment.

Just as the altercation comes to a close, Alakshmi sits down next to me, "So what did I miss?"

"Some guy named Agil just verbally trounced the Beta-Hater." Ace replies.

"That sounds great." Alakshmi grins.

"Yeah, it was royal flush awesome." Ace grins back, "You should've seen it."

"Ugh, I wish I did." She groans quietly.

"Shh, I'm trying to listen." I say, "That way, at least one of us knows what's going on."

"Hey..."

The guy leading the meeting, Diavel, wants the attack to happen tomorrow, so he had everyone in the ampitheatre get organized into parties. I look left and right, comfortable with my party. After a month of working together, we're a pretty good team. Everyone else is running around, looking for friends. I noticed a black-haired boy and a cloaked girl off to the side.

"Hey, um, excuse me?"

I look forward. Standing in front of me is a girl dressed in dark green. She had a brown shoulder piece with a green cloak hanging off one side. Her brown eyes looked up at me uncertainly from three rows below.

"Yeah, what's up?" I ask as I step down a row.

"Well, I was wondering if I could um... I mean, well um..." She petters out right there.

It was getting difficult to hear over the sound of Alakshmi and Ace bickering. Diavel mentions that we need to be back at the ampitheatre at 0800 sharp.

"Hey guys, I'm gonna find us an inn for the night" I call up to my two teammates, "I'll message you when I find one."

The two ignore me as they continue hurling insults at each other. I sigh and shake my head.

"Come on." I say to the nervous girl, "Let's try this again, somewhere quieter."

The girl nods and follows me out of the ampitheatre. I turn down a back alley and sit down on a ledge. The girl stands in front of me, shifting nervously.

I smile reassuringly, "Come on, I don't bite. Sit down and we can try this again."

The girl nods and sits down a solid two metres away from me. I sigh.

"My name is Azrael. What's yours?"

"I'm uh..." I see her face turn red, "I'm MelodicBeat. Please don't laugh. I like music."

"I'm not judging." I raise my hands, "So what did you want to ask?"

"I was wondering...for the attack tomorrow. Well you and your friends seem strong. Could I possibly join your party?" Her voice gets a little stronger, "I'm really fast! And I - "

"Woah!" I hold my hands up, "You don't need to sell yourself to me. Welcome to our team."

"Thank you." MelodicBeat replies, considerably happier.

"Alright, just give me a second..." I run through the party process and send MelodicBeat a party request, which she accepts.

"Don't you have to find a place for your party to stay for the night?" MelodicBeat asks.

"That won't be a problem, I already know where we're going to stay. Follow me." I stand up and begin walking father down the alley until we reach the inn, "Here we are."

MelodicBeat squints, "Does that say 'The Blind Duck?'"

"Not the best name, I'll admit." I shrug, "But it's cheap and I like the roof."

"The roof?"

"Sure." I send a quick message to Ace and Alakshmi, letting them know where I am, "The roof is a very important part of a building.

I enter and approach the innkeeper, "Three rooms for the night, please."

"Why only three?" MelodicBeat asks, "Am I... Am I not getting a room." Her voice reverts back to that of a nervous girl.

"Don't worry, you're getting a room." I smile.

"Then-"

"Like I said, don't worry."

"Here you go sir." The innkeeper hands me the keys, "These are your keys."

"Thank you."

"Yo Azzy! Why'd you pick this dump? And what's the big news?" Alakshmi comes barging into the lobby, Ace a step behind her.

"First, stop calling me Azzy. Second, because it's only twenty-five cor a night." I shake my head, "And third, we have a new party member for the boss raid tomorrow."

"New party member?"

"Alakshmi, AceO'Spades, meet MelodicBeat, our new teammate." I introduce her with a flourish.

"Hey there, pretty lady, welcome to our table." Ace grins and steps forward, but is quickly blocked by Alakshmi.

"Oh no you don't you freaking perv. I know that look."

"Oh come on Alakshmi, I was just being friendly." The fakest innocent look I've ever seen appears on Ace's face, "I was just offering to deal her in."

I shake my head, laughing softly, "Alright, it's late. We should probably crash so we're ready for tomorrow."

Ace and Alakshmi nod as I hand out the keys to the other three party members. MelodicBeat looks down at her key, then tries to give it back. I wave it off.

"But you don't have a room..." She says uncertainly, "Besides, I'm new to your party."

"But you are a member." I reply and close her hand over the key again, "And this is how we do things in this party."

"Don't sweat it." Alakshmi buts in, "You just have to get used to Azzy's weirdness."

"Um...okay." She still seems a little uncertain, but I smile at her after glaring at Alakshmi.

Together the four of us head upstairs to their rooms, "Hey Ace, you mind if I cut through your room?"

"Sure man, go right ahead."

"Thanks." The rooms are spartan, with just a bed and a nightstand. Oh, and a mirror.

I open a window and carefully navigate myself onto the roof. Once there, I lie down and clasp my hands behind my head. Looking up at the digital night sky, I think about my predicament. I'm an American exchange student, living in Japan for at most another year. To add onto that, I'm now a part of a group of ten thousand people who are now trapped in a freaking video game. It sounds like a comic or a cartoon, not real life.

I groan and sit up. It's gonna be one of those nights. Back in the states, a doctor diagnosed me with what he called 'selective insomnia.' I've discovered that 'selective' translates to 'the night before something big.' I shake my head to clear it. I can't be driting in my thoughts. The first boss raid is tomorrow and I've got to be ready. I close my eyes and begin to focus my breathing. In four seconds. Hold four seconds. Out four seconds. In four seconds. Hold four seconds. Out four seconds. I may not be able to sleep, but I do know how to reenergise my body. I do this until the sounds of the night slowly penetrate my focus. I sigh and sit up. Normally I can block out almost anything, but for some reason I can't tonight. It must be the crazy circumstances.

I stand up and stretch. Sitting down wasn't doing anything to help me relax. I need to move around. Taking quick stock of the area around me, I take a few steps back, then run towards the edge of the roof. As soon as I feel my foot at the edge, I push off and leap the distance to the other side of the street. Stumbling a little, I keep running. After regaining my footing, I grin. There is a large clock tower near the center of the town. I continue to run across the roofs, finally falling into a comfortable rhythm of running, jumping and sliding. I eventually reach the clock tower and begin the precarious climb up. After nearly falling a number of times, I make it to the top. I like to rock climb, but this is nothing like that. Scaling a building is a completely different challenge. I catch my breath and brush myself off, then gaze out over the town. I go to the edge and peer down. The whole town is laid out below me like a map. I could see everything. It was quite an experience.

"How...do you.. make it look...so easy?" A voice gasps behind me.

I turn around and instinctively reach for my scythe, then immediately relax, "Alakshmi? What are you doing up? You should be resting up for tomorrow."

"So should you." She replies.

"Fair enough."

Alakshmi comes up beside me and peers down, "That's a long way down."

I nod and we slip into a semi-comfortable silence. As I look out over the town, I become aware of Alakshmi staring intently at me.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer."

She jumps, "No! I wasn't -! I'm just curious, that's all."

"About me?"

"What's up with you? You never sleep. You never laugh. What are you? It's like you exist just to clear the game." She frowns.

I glance sidelong at her, "Isn't that the point? The sooner we clear SAO, the sooner we can go back to living our real lives." It seems pretty obvious to me.

"You mean this isn't real life."

"It's a video game. Virtual reality is still virtual."

"But aren't you living this right now?" Damn, she's asking a lot of questions.

I don't respond. Instead I stand up and walk to another side of the tower. I remember seeing a large pile of hay right below it. I'd always wanted to do this, and since you can't die inside the towns, this is pretty much my only chance to do it.

Quickly judging the angles, I turn around, "Good luck getting down, Alakshmi."

I spread my arms out and fall backwards to the sound of Alakshmi crying out in fear. The instant I leave the rooftop, I realise this is a bad idea. At least I can't die here. I hit the hay, which slows me down, then I hit the ground. The impact causes me to gasp. I know we can't actually feel pain in SAO but, jeez that hurt. I check my health bar and am pleasantly surprised. Only a twenty-five percent drop in health. Not bad. I then look up and see the anger pouring out of Alakshmi's face. Very bad. I have probably five minutes until she gets down. Time to head back to the inn. This time, I run through the streets. Quickly scaling the wall, I return to my spot on the roof. Tomorrow is going to be a long day and I have to be ready.