Mine Cart Online

"Hey Liz?" I said.

I was in my home on floor 22, enjoying the company of my friends while snow fell out the window through a dark evening sky.

"Yes Kirito?" Lizbeth replied

"Asuna hasn't been on at all today and she wasn't at school. Do you know where she is?"

"No. Maybe she's just sick?"

"She would have texted me. Maybe I should go see her."

"Perhaps she got kidnapped in another game, again." Klein said, nursing a mug of hot cocoa.

"Very funny Klein," Leafa said defensively, "Kirito doesn't want to hear that!"

"No, no it's fine." I assured, "I'm going to log out though to make sure she's alright. Yui?"

"Yes daddy?" Yui replied as she came from my jacket breast pocket.

"Would you alert me if Asuna logs on?"

"Of course! I'll make sure of it."

I said goodbye to everyone else and left. Suddenly I was staring at my ceiling wall through the tinted visor of my NerveGear. The moonlight cascaded into my room with a silvery aura. I lay there in the dim light for a few moments before taking off the console helmet and pulling on my winter jacket. Suguha wasn't in the kitchen when I left, she must have stayed behind in ALO. Suddenly my phone vibrated.

"Bzzzt...Bzzzt!"

Asuna? I thought hopeful.

It wasn't Asuna, It was Yui.

"Good Luck, Daddy. I hope Mommy's alright."

I smiled and left out the door, the cold winter breeze chilling my face. There were a few patches of snow around but the weather had calmed down hours ago, right before I dived. The bike to Asuna's was still pretty hard with the cold breeze drying my eyes but I knew the route with my eyes closed. About halfway I must have hit a bump because my biked slipped and slid right into an ice patch. I skidded across the street and smacked into the wall of a convenience store. My head was pounding but I had been able to stay conscious.

"So sorry about that," a familiar male voice said, "I was just trying to stop you."

My vision was blurry but I could make out the man's face easily.

"Kikuoka," I exclaimed, "You could have just yelled at me."

"I've been trying that for the past five minutes while following you," He extended his hand and helped me back up, "I'm sorry. I have another job for you."

"Whatever it is can it wait until later? I'm going to make sure that Asuna is alright. I haven't heard from her all day."

"Actually this job sort of involves her."

He tried to explain but I was shivering and my head was pounding so I found it difficult to listen. He finally discerned this and suggested we stop at the nearest diner to talk.

"So you're saying Asuna is trapped in another VRMMO?" I asked while taking a bite of my BLT.

"Well, not exactly. This games isn't an MMO and we don't even know if she's there. We don't know where she is at all in fact."

"What do you mean?"

"Have you ever heard of the English game, Minecraft?"

"I've seen it on the internet once or twice. Doesn't look like my kind of game."

"I'll admit the graphics and gameplay are a bit, simpler, than what you're use too but I assure you something far more complicated has come up."

"What does this have to do with Asuna?" I asked impatiently

"Asuna, along with dozens of others, have sort of...disappeared."

"How so?"

"We don't know exactly but research has found that each person, including Asuna, were players of this Minecraft game. It's available for the NerveGear and Amusphere now and is quite popular. Anyway, most of the people have family or friends who said that before they went missing, they were complaining about someone hacking or bugging their Minecraft account. One victim apparently saw Herobrine."

"Who?"

"It's just a tale of a mob in the game that terrorizes players and is the supposed dead brother of the game's creator. Urban nonsense of course but it has been noted nevertheless. No traces of the gamers remained. No notes, no texts, nothing. All of their houses were locked and no sign of forced entry was shown. We don't know where they've gone. But the strangest thing is, we tried getting into one the accounts but a message popped up saying that the account was already use, even if we turned off their consoles."

"That is strange. Perhaps it's a hacker and kidnapper duo, sort of like the Death Gun gang from Gun Gale?"

"Perhaps but we want you to investigate. After all, you have beaten three criminal organizations in VRMMO's before. I can't think of anyone better."

"You said Minecraft isn't a VRMMO."

"Well, it is and it isn't. It IS a Virtual Reality game now but there is a setting to play online or offline which can be changed at any time. If you accept than you probably won't encounter many players, if any. Many people are getting spooked by the disappearances and have stopped playing the game anyway."

I thought about this. It could just be some kind of coincidence. Perhaps there WAS a kidnapper but the evidence I knew about suggested otherwise. However, if there was even the tiniest chance that Asuna was in danger I had to check it out.

"Fine. I'll do it, for Asuna."

"Wonderful." Kikuoka took a game case from his messenger bag, "Here is the game. You can go and have that cute nurse to watch over you in the hospital again if you feel that this might be dangerous." He said this with a wink and I blushed.

"Umm...That might not be necessary. I'll just play it at my home."

"If you wish. Have you sister call me if anything goes wrong just in case though. The SAO event made it to where you couldn't take off the NerveGear without dying and if that's a possibility in this case I wouldn't want to lose my best VRMMO investigator."

His words stuck into my mind. Could this be like SAO? Would I be trapped in a game for another two years? Or even more? Still, I had to see if Asuna was in danger. I said goodbye to Kikuoka and made my way home. Suguha was at the table eating an apple when I stepped inside.

"Big brother," she exclaimed, "You're back already? Is Asuna alright."

I sat down and explained everything to her.

"Wow. That sounds serious. Kirigaya, are you sure you want to go into another potentially dangerous game?"

"I do. For Asuna."

Suguha looked slightly somber.

"What's wrong Sugu?"

"Nothing. It's just...Kirigaya, you almost lost your life in SAO, almost got stabbed by Sugou Nobuyuki after ALO, and you were nearly poisoned by a murder guild after GGO. So many times I've almost lost you..."

She shook her head and her smile reappeared,

"But, you're Kirito. You beat Sword Art Online and stopped multiple murderers. I'm sure you can handle a simple English game."

I smiled.

"Apparently it's more complex than the graphics suggest. I just hope I can use a sword if there's any combat. Goodnight Sugu. You have Kikuoka's number, right?"

"Of course. Don't worry, I'll come to check on you every hour that I'm home. Good thing it's Christmas break right?"

"Yeah. Hopefully I can find Asuna soon if she's really trapped in the game."

I gave Sugu a kiss on her forehead and headed back up the stairs to my room. I fired on the Nerve Gear and let it boot up while I took off my jacket and put the disk in the console. The game case featured a rather strange artwork. There was a man in a blue shirt, blue jeans, and holding a blue pickaxe running form a small swarm monsters: A zombie, a skeleton, a slime monster, a green monster with big black eyes and a sad mouth, and a tall dark monster with purple eyes. Everything was made of small squares and cubes, even the stars and the moon in the background.

"English game designers." I muttered.

I popped in the disk and climbed into bed, strapping on my NerveGear.

"Link Start!" I said loudly.

What happened next was pretty standard: The visor turned white and a few cylinders of color fell towards me. The screen showed a few circles confirming language, connectivity, etc. Finally there was a big flash and I was in a strange new world.

______________________________________________________________________

"Odd." I mumbled.

Indeed this place was quite odd. I was standing on some sort of beach. The water was still and deep blue. I could feel the coarse sand sliding under my feet. Behind me was a forest of short trees and mountains loomed in the distance. The first thing I notice: Everything was made of cubes. Literally even the trees were square. I down and a black outline surrounded a section of the sand, separating it from the other sand. The next thing I noticed: I wasn't made of cubes. My entire body was still human like. I was wearing a light blue short-sleeve shirt, blue jeans, and grey boots.

Where do I go? The sun felt warm on my face and the wind was the only noise I could hear. I could see no one else around. The ocean was vast and there was nothing else in the distance so I started walking towards the forest. The trees were a dark brown, probably oak, and the leaves reached down low, nearly touching my head. I kept my senses wary for any sign of life but the trees were the only things around. Suddenly an Icon appeared in the sky:

"Press 'E' to open inventory." It said in big black letters above my head.

Press E? I guess it must be configured to someone without a NerveGear. I recall that Minecraft was a computer game long before the NerveGear was even invented. Eventually the letters faded and I kept walking. The sun rose directly above my head.

"This is ridiculous!" I exclaimed, "What do I do? Where is everyone?"

I became very frustrated and slammed my fist on the trunk of a tree.

"I don't know where to do or what to do. Maybe I'm offline?"

I looked back at my fist and saw that the bark of the tree was slightly cracked around it. My hand slowly fell down and the cracks suddenly filled it. What? How could they have filled it? I smacked the tree one more time and the cracks reappeared and disappeared when my hand fell back. I got an Idea and started to punch the tree repeatedly. Somehow it didn't hurt, there must have been a pain absorber in this game. The cracks in the wood expanded until the covered an entire cube of the tree and then...

Pop!

The section I was punching crumbled. I braced myself and waited for the tree to fall, but nothing happened. I looked back and the tree was still there. It had a huge cube carved out but the two untouched end still stood, levitating in the air. Strange, gravity must not work here. However, I jumped and came back down. Curiouser and curiouser. I wish I had read up on this game before I started playing. Even stranger, the cube I had broken was floating between the two broken ends, hovering in air and spinning. I reached out to touch it and it flew towards my hand. I didn't want to carry it so I just tossed it back on the tree. Suddenly, the cube expanded to its original size and filled the tree again. This place was strange. Gravity affected me but not the trees? And how could objects just shrink down and expand when I tossed them?

"This is too weird, I have to watch a tutorial or something before I continue."

I tried sliding my hand down to summon the menu like in SAO but nothing happened. That message appeared once again.

"Press 'E' to open inventory."

I was fed up already with this game.

"How am I supposed to press 'E'?" I yelled, "It's not like I have a keyboard."

Just then a keyboard appeared. It was more like a hologram, transparent.

"A keyboard?" I said in shock.

It disappeared.

"Hmm. Keyboard."

It appeared once again. Interesting. I decided to humor the message and pressed the 'E' button. Time seemed to freeze and my vision darkened. A small window popped up in front of me. The bottom half was a 4X9 grid of small squares while the top half was cut into two sections. The right half pictured a 2x2 grid of squares labeled 'crafting' and an arrow pointed right to a single square. To the left half as a 1x4 grid on the edge with a picture of a man right next to it. The man was wearing the same clothes I was. I moved my hand and so did he. I moved my head and he copied my movements It dawned on me that the person was me. My avatar at least. I leaned in and discovered that the game had registered my own face as my avatar. My own hair color, eye color, everything. I wasn't used to these clothes but they were pretty comfortable. I pressed 'E' once more and the window disappeared. Now how do I get out of here? Looking around the keyboard I decided to press the ESC button. Another menu popped up, this time a few bars with labels like "Settings" and "Resume Game." At the bottom was a bar that was completely blank. I tried pressing it but nothing happened, save for the message saying,

"An OP command prevents you from leaving."

My blood froze. I almost fell to the ground. I had no way to get out of here. A million thoughts raced through my head and memories of SAO haunted me. I couldn't leave. These words bounced around my mind. I couldn't leave. What if this game was as fatal as SAO? It did require a NerveGear after all. Many people were also missing, including Asuna. My legs went limp and suddenly I was sitting on the ground. I couldn't leave. I had no knowledge of this game and no way of obtaining knowledge. The people who were missing, could they be dead? Could they be trapped in this game?

"No." I told myself.

Their bodies had disappeared, nothing more. There's no way they could have been sucked into the game. Maybe this was just like the Laughing Coffin and somebody was kidnapping gamers. What if someone tried to kidnap me? My panic attack started to die down and I thought more rationally. In SAO the escape button was gone but here there was a message saying someone was preventing me from leaving. Maybe I had to complete a certain event or tutorial? Maybe the game was in the middle of an update and the button would return soon? I stood back up. My head cleared and I took a deep breath. IF this game was like SAO in the dangerous sense, I couldn't just sit around. If it was just an event, I should complete it as fast as I could. I pressed the "Resume Game" button and the menu disappeared.

"Keyboard." I said.

The hologram dissipated. I took a few more moments to collect myself, I couldn't let PDS get the better of me. I heard a cold chuckle behind me.

"So," a deep voice said, "A new hero enters my realm. How unfortunate."

I spun around and a figure stood before me. A man, around his twenties, stood leaning against a tree. He was wearing the exact same clothes as me and was also humanoid. His hair was a chestnut brown and fell in a mess to his shoulders and around his eyes. His mouth was twisted into an evil grin. The most terrifying feature was his eyes, which were blank and glowed white.

"Tell me, hero, do you want to go home? Are you confused in this world and wish to return to the comforts of Earth?"

"Who are you?" I said, though I felt like I knew the answer.

The man's face soured.

"You can't be serious. You don't know who I am? I am the disrupter of this world. Bringer of nightmares. I am the shadow in the fog and anti-god of this realm. You can't seriously have never heard of the great Minecraftia God, Herobrine!"

Herobrine. I recalled the name from Kikuoka.

"You're real?" I asked in amazement.

"Oh so you're not a believer? I can assure you that I am real. For decades I have waited to seek revenge and finally, when the NerveGear revolutionized virtual reality, I have the means to take it."

"What are you? Some PKer? A hacker? A kidnapper?"

"Of so you've heard of my recent work? And yet you still refuse to believe what I am. I am a god that has access to virtual reality at an extreme extent. You can call me what you like but I doubt you can even comprehend my abilities. I should blast you on the spot and get it over with. Still, it's amusing. Watching struggle that is."

"Struggle?"

"In this world. In any world unfamiliar to you. You have need of others' knowledge but are unable to obtain it. How do you think THEY got it? The first players never went online to search what to craft and how to craft it. They adapted, figured out the secrets and posted them to boast of their prowess to the weak and ignorant. You seem to be unadaptable and so quick to requesting help. That's not the way it works here."

"I can adapt! I'm just not used to a game as peaceful as this."

"Oh believe me, child, this game is far from peaceful."

He looked at the sky, thinking.

"You show promise, child. Normally I'd blast you or leave you helpless but I can read you. You'll give in to my army, join me. You don't care about AI's, do you? In a battle against coding you'd take the winning side wouldn't you? Many real players have. Are you going to save them? Or the weak ones, the ones whose numbers are dwindling?"

"I fight for the pure side, not the winning side. If innocent lives can be spared at the expense of remorseless lies, I would not hesitate to incapacitate the murderers."

"And that right there, is why you're not fit for this land. You seek to wound and capture rather than kill and conquer. It makes you weak, Kirito."

"How do you know my..."

"I guess I can't convince you of this now but you are playing on the fool's side. Good luck adapting. The next time you see me might be the last time."

He walked toward me and placed his hand on my shoulder.

"Such a shame, that I might have to kill you. You're stronger than the others. Figure out which side you're on. Oh and try not to stay outside too much longer, you're neutral right now so both sides will attack you at night."

"I don't understand, what is going on?"

He simply grinned and his whole body glowed. He started to disappear, bit by bit. Before he dissipated completely he spoke in a more familiar voice,

"Kirito, help me!"

It wasn't Asuna, this voice was male. Before I could respond Herobrine vanished. All that remained of him was a folded piece of paper, which I picked up. I was about to open it when the lighting dimmed. The sun started to sink.

'Try not to stay outside too much longer' Herobrine's words echoed.

What did he mean that both sides would attack me at night? Then it dawned on me, the artwork on the cave showed the main character being chased by monsters...at night. I started to run and the sun started to sink. A house, I have to find a house? The sky grew dimmer and dimmer and my hope of finding a house grew smaller and smaller. I realized that it might be faster to just build a house. When I broke that tree, I could take the cube and place it back. Would it still expand if I placed it somewhere else? I frantically began cutting down trees before hearing moans and clicks. Monsters. I was out of time so I just continued running. Just like the artwork, I was being chased by an assortment of monsters. Whenever I though I lost a skeleton a zombie just joined the horde. Whenever a spider lost its way one of those green things spotted me I ran through the forest eventually making my way to a plain. At least now I had a better view of the dozens of monsters trying to kill me. As I continued running I could feel myself tiring. Strange seeing I was in a virtual world. Just then something appeared below me. I glanced at it while running and saw a line of hearts and a line of hams, about ten each. Below that was a bar of squares. In the first square was all the wood I had gathered, this must be a smaller inventory. The hams started to move. One of them started disappearing, making it seem like someone was eating it. I started to notice my stomach feeling less and less comfortable. A hunger bar! The hearts must be my health bar. I started to run out of land as I ran, approaching the mountains. The sun still wasn't up. Could I break the stone? The wood took long enough to break and I could only imagine stone took longer. Then I saw it, a section of the mountain was made of dirt. I could quickly scoop out dirt. Soon I was at the foot of the mountain. Monsters were coming at me from all sides. I hurriedly dug out the cubes of dirt until I had made myself a little hole. I filled up the side of the mountain and relaxed. I couldn't see, but at least the monsters could see me. But how would I know when the sun came up? I could dig out the dirt again but the monsters might see me. I decided to look around in my inventory. Not much, just 17 wood blocks and a book which I guess was the note Herobrine left me. It was too dark to read it and for some reason I could see my inventory window but it emitted no light. The man in the window looked scared. I was scared. I was confused, frightened. My PDS was on high alert right now. Usually I could contain it in ALO and the real world because I had friends with me but in this world I had no one. If I died no one would know until Sugu discovered my dead body on my bed, if I was even there. I decided to see what the crafting squares were for. I pressed the wood block icon and found that I could drag all my wood anywhere in my inventory. I dropped them in one of the crafting squares and a second icon appeared in the square farthest right. It looked similar to the wood blocks but was a lighter brown and covered in black lines. A label above it read

"Oak wood planks."

I pressed the icon and 68 blocks of wooden planks appeared in my inventory, replacing the 17 wood blocks. I guess an item's stack limit was 64 because 64 blocks appeared in the first square of my inventory and the remaining four appeared in my third, next to the book. It was slowly coming to me, this game was called Minecraft. I could take materials and turn them into new ones. I could mine things and craft things, simple yet elegant. Drat, I wish I could have kept some of the regular wood to find out what else I could make. I was careful in experimenting with the planks, only dropping one plank at a time. I found out four different combinations:

A single plank anywhere yielded a button, whatever that was for.

A plank on a plank yielded four sticks.

A plank next to a plank yielded a pressure plate.

And a plank in each square yielded something called a crafting table.

I was about to further explore crafting when I heard cries of death outside. I broke a dirt block to make myself a window looking out onto the plains. The sun was up and monsters had disappeared. A few remaining skeletons and zombies were burning before vanishing in puffs of smoke. I was safe. Finally, I was able to get out of that hole and look around. The land was still pretty barren, no life save for a small herd of brown and white cows. Now I just had to build a shelter for the next night, and fast. I threw down a wooden plank and my theory proved correct, as the block expanded to full size. The forest was still in view so I cut down a few more trees, turned the wood into planks, and built a shack. It was humble, just a simple square shack, but it would do in helping me survive. It was 10x10 blocks and the ceiling was three blocks high, apparently a Minecraft character was around two blocks tall. I placed down the crafting table in one corner to see what it did. It was a simple wooden table. It had saws and hammers attached to the sides but strangely, I couldn't take them off. The top was covered in some sort of smooth material, leather maybe, and a 3x3 block design was printed on it. I placed my hands on it and another window popped up. It was similar to the crafting section of my inventory, a grid of squares with a single square to the right, but this grip was 3x3. Of course, a bigger grid meant for the ability to create more complex things. I still had a bunch of wooden planks so I went nuts. I found out that six planks, filling two columns with the remaining untouched, yielded a door. I took the door and placed it in the 1x2 hole in the front of my shack. The door expanded to full size and blocked the entrance, letting in a little light through the four square holes in its top half. Now I could see outside my shack and I wouldn't have to break anything to get out. The sun was starting to sink again so I went back to crafting. I decided to only make useful stuff but most of what I could craft was pretty useless. I couldn't even create a sword. Does this game not have swords? I remember seeing a pickaxe on the artwork but how do I make one? It finally dawned on me to try using the sticks I had crafted, maybe they could be used as handles. This game used a crafting system where the crafting pattern associating with an item was similar to the item itself. A pickaxe had a long handle so I put a stick in the bottom middle and a stick in the very center. I didn't have any metal but I tried substituting it with planks. I placed three planks all along the top row. Lo and behold, a wooden pickaxe could be crafted. I placed it in my inventory a switched to it. Somehow I could switch items in my outside inventory simply by willing the item to my hand. Any current item I was holding would vanish and was placed into a different square in my inventory. I help the pickaxe. It was light but seemed sturdy. I noticed that it wasn't pixilated like the one in the game artwork, perhaps weapons looked different to no cube characters? I started think on WHY I wasn't made of cubes while everything else was, even the monsters. Everything here was pixilated and blocky, why wasn't I? Then I remembered that Herobrine wasn't pixilated either. Were players not pixilated? Wait a minutes, was Herobrine even a player? The way Kikuoka explained Herobrine made him seem like a boss or AI. Maybe he was a player that was obsessed with the legend. But why could he disappear? A million thoughts raced through my head and I realized later that moonlight had replaced the sunlight cascading into my shack. I came out of my trance when I heard the noises of monsters outside. They were walking in front of my home but didn't seem to notice me, yet. Wait a minute, I could craft a pickaxe with sticks, could I craft swords with sticks? I still had two sticks left and four planks left so I went back to my table. A sword handle would be shorter than the blade, so I used one stick instead of two, right at the bottom middle. I placed planks in the middle and top middle and, thank god, a wooden sword could be crafted. I had enough materials for two so I decided to try my hand at duel wielding, just like back in ALO. The swords were, surprisingly, heavier than the pickaxe which was fine by me. They weren't exactly sharp but I assumed they could slice the head off a zombie. Speaking of the monsters, when I turned back they seemed to be...fighting. Not other players, the monsters were fighting each other. Two very small armies had gathered. One consisted purely of zombies while the other consisted of four different monsters. Skeletons and spiders where there, sometimes a skeleton would be riding a spider, along with those green things and the tall black things like in the artwork. One group had better variety but the zombies made up for that in numbers. In fact there seemed to be as much zombies as there were of all the other monsters combined, some were even carrying swords or wearing armor. The skeletons held bows while their buddies had nothing to fight with. I assumed the spiders could bite and poison but I didn't know what to make of the other two creatures. The green monsters had no arms at all. Just then the two armies clashed. Zombie killing skeleton, skeleton killing zombie. I had not seen this display last night, I guess the monsters saw me as a better meals. The black creatures seemed to possess teleportation and were zipping around the battle field. As for the green creatures, well, they blew up. As soon as they found themselves attacked they'd hiss, glow white, and explode leaving a few dead zombies to vanish and a good size hole in the ground. I watched this battle go on for hours. Until the zombies decided to flee. Both armies had taken a considerable amount of casualties and I was surprised they didn't see the fight through to the end. Then I saw it, the sun was peaking over the horizon. Many creatures disappeared into the forest but a few unlucky ones burst into flames and died, except for the spiders and green creatures. The black monsters didn't even get a chance to burn and teleported god knows where. I walked out cautiously, swords in hands. The spiders saw me but didn't attack. In fact they closed their eyes and twisted their mouths as if they were smiling at me. The green creatures, or creature as there was only one, saw me and walked towards me.

"Hello," I said as it got closer. I grew wary when I noticed the spiders backing away.

The green creature got closer and closer before bathing itself in a white light.

"Ahh!" I cried out as I slashed quickly, knocking the creature away. Its light disappeared and it charged again. I stepped into its path and jabbed it in the gut with one sword and struck its head with the other. The creature disappeared in a harmless plume of smoke. Where it was standing was a small pile of grey powder I somehow knew was gunpowder. Were there guns in Minecraft? I scooped it up and placed it in my inventory, maybe it'd come into use later. The spiders were looking at me oddly.

"Sorry if that was your friend but he DID just try and blow me up."

The spiders simply crawled away, deep into the forest. I didn't know what to do. I had built a shelter and now I know how to make swords, what should I do now? I could work on my house more but what good would that do? I had to find the missing gamers. I couldn't take on all those monsters without armor and only wooden swords, though. Maybe I could get stone now that I had a pickaxe? My stomach started growling and I realized that I hadn't eaten anything since I got here. But what was there to eat? There was that herd of cows but I had nothing to cook the meat with. I wish I knew more about this game...

"That's quite a nice house you have," A feminine voice said behind me.

I jumped and spun around, one of those green things stood in front of me. I panicked and slashed at it, cutting its arm. Wait, its arm? I saw that this figure was, well, human. It was just wearing a hoodie to make it look like one of those creatures. It had long light brown hair that stuck out its hoodie and cried out in a feminine voice so I assumed it was female. She threw her head back and I almost died on the spot. Time seemed to freeze and I saw everything about her. She was indeed human, merely wearing a green hoodie with the green creature's face on the top of the hood. She also wore brown gloves and green leggings that went up to her thighs. Besides her leggings, she wore nothing for pants but her hoodie was long enough to cover her past her waist and...other places. I saw that her eyes were a gleaming amber and her hair was just one shade darker, almost orange. She looked...she looked almost exactly like Asuna. As I stared into her eyes I noticed tears and time sped back up. She was crying and holding her arm, which was cut. My heart almost stopped as I looked at my sword, which was stained with blood.

"Oh god," I said, "I... I'm so, so sorry."

She didn't answer and ran into the forest.

"Wait!" I exclaimed as I pursued her, "I didn't mean it, let me help you."

I chased her for a solid ten minutes in the forest before she stopped at a pond. I caught up and she cleaned her wound with the water, still crying.

"Miss! I'm sorry. I knelt down next to her and she turned to me. "Let me help you."

"Get away," she said with fear in her eyes, "Go!"

"I'm sorry, I thought you were one of those green things."

"I am! Now go! When I get harmed I... uh oh."

She started to glow white. I felt paralyzed and stayed kneeling. I was about to die. She looked at me one last time before diving into the pond. I was about to go after her when I heard a muffled,

Boom!

That's it...she was dead. I had just killed someone, possibly a player. I started to turn back when I heard someone break the water's surface followed by coughing. The young lady was struggling to keep her head up but her wound kept her right arm stiff. I did the only thing I could think to do, jump into the pond with an explosive, slightly naked woman. My primal instincts took over and I pulled her out. We were both soaking wet but she seemed to calm down.

"Sorry about that," she said, "About scaring you, and almost killing you."

"You...you don't need to be sorry. I was the one who cut your arm."

I tore off part of my shirt, which was already about a size too big, and used it as a bandage.

"Wait," I continued, "So you're one of those green explosive monsters?"

"Creepers? Well, sort of. I'm half human, half creeper. Probably sounds strange to a newcomer but I can assure you I'm not the only half monster."

"Really?"

"Nope, in fact there's one for each type of monster."

She stood up and started to wring out her hood.

"I'm Cupa, princess of the creepers!"

I stood up too but upon hearing the word 'princess' I tensed. What was I supposed to do? I simply bowed awkwardly and extended my hand.

"Pleasure to meet you, your highne..."

I was interrupted by her suddenly embracing me in a hug.

"No need to be so formal silly! I may be a princess but I'm just a girl."

I was blushing, hard.

"Umm...I, uh," I managed to stutter, "I'm Kirito."

She let me go.

"Well hello Kirito. That's quite a cute name."

She seemed pretty energetic and happy. Her face was bright and smiling. Another thing I noticed, she wasn't pixilated. She looked like a human, around my age as well.

"So," I said, "Do you hug every guys that accidentally cuts you?"

She giggled.

"Actually I don't meet many players anymore. I am however very friendly to everyone I meet, it's my programming."

My heart shattered. Programming? If she was and AI she couldn't be Asuna no matter how similar she looked to her.

"Programming? You're not a player?"

"Not exactly. I'm an artificial intelligence but lately my programming has become looser and I start to feel more real. Of course that's been happening with the others as well ever since HE showed up."

She frowned and looked away at the word HE.

"Anyway, I feel like a player sometimes but I'm an AI. Sometimes I forget I'm not a player, though. It doesn't help that a lot of my memories and coding were stolen. I feel, restricted. Like I should be something more powerful but all my current coding tells me to be this."

"Strange. This game is more complex than I though. You said there were others?"

"Oh yes, I have many mob princess friends."

"Mob?"

"Oh right, you're a new comer. Mob is the Minecraftian term for monster."

I shook my head.

"I know so little about this place."

Cupa giggled again.

"Well I can take you to my house if you'd like and my friends and I can tell you all you want to know. Wait... Has a man by the name of Herobrine hired you in his army?"

"He tried to yesterday but I wouldn't join. I've been warned about him by someone in the real world."

"Great! My friends are going to love you! We haven't seen a friendly player in ages!"

She took me by the hand and started leading me through the forest slowly. We exchanged small talk on the way and she explained a few things I should know. How Herobrine appeared a few months ago claiming to be a god. How many players and the mob princesses thought he was lying and attempted to kill him to put him to shame. Apparently an army of hundreds of players and mobs couldn't even make a scratch on him. Many players and even a few mob princesses submitted to his power and joined him. Many more were captured and forced to join his cause. Now after months of war Cupa thinks he's trying to kill the remaining mob princesses but she doesn't know exactly what Herobrine has planned. I tried asking her about the real world disappearances and all she knows is that when someone is killed, they don't seem to come back. They either quit the game or lost their ability to roam in this world. Now many players are gone, with Herobrine's army, or are in the neutral territory, where they hide and attack both sides. Apparently even a few mob princesses escaped and are now considered neutral AIs. Cupa said she doesn't know much more than that, save for the fact that zombies are the only overworld mobs on Herobrine's side but have proven quite the challenge for everyone else due to sheer numbers. This civil war in the overworld has been happening for weeks now and many villages and other lands have suffered from extensive battle damage.

"Blah, sorry," she said, "I'm just rambling on."

"No, no it's fine. I want to know as much as I can."

"Well my friends can tell you more. We're here."

Indeed we were standing in front of a grand house in a forest clearing. It was made from an assortment of stones and woods and looked big enough to house a boss from SAO. There were windows and banners and even lights, it certainly put my old shack to shame. There was also a river to the right and a small fence to the left. Behind the fence was a group of sheep, cows, chickens, and pigs. There was also a farm growing wheat, pumpkins, and watermelons fenced off near the animals. The sun was sinking. Suddenly I remembered the note in my inventory.

"Oh hey," I said, "Herobrine gave me this before he left."

"Mmm, it's probably just a recommendation to join his army."

"Maybe." I replied unfolding the single sheet of paper.

The writing was red and the words nearly made my heart stop,

Good luck Surviving, Kirito.

Try not to die, this is just

like SAO!

At first I thought he was referring to the fact that I couldn't leave but suddenly it all pieced together. How could an AI bleed? Why did people never come back when they died? I didn't want to believe it but I knew I had to.

If I died here, I'd die in real life. This is just like SAO

___________________________________________________________________

My knees started to give way. My worst fears had been confirmed, I was back in a game where I could die. Cupa picked up the note I had dropped and started to read.

"What is..." she started to say.

She stopped when she saw me panicking. My PDS was going through the roof now. My eyes widened, my breath became shallow, and I fell to my knees. I could die here. I could only keep my sanity in SAO for as long as I did because Asuna had helped me. Sure I was calm for the first few months, even helping Asuna find her peace. Eventually, though, the game started to get to me. My friends were dying or dead, we were nowhere close to beating the game, and I didn't know what was happening on the other side. The only difference here, I had no one to keep me calm. I started to worry if Asuna had died. My heart began to sink and tears filled my eyes. I was about to drop it all, just to let the monsters kill me when the sun finally sank. Before I could, however, someone picked me up and wrapped me in a hug.

"Kirito," she said, "I don't know what's wrong but I want you to tell me!"

I was still freaking out but her embrace felt so warm, so soft. I couldn't believe that an AI could feel this way. It seemed like she genuinely cared about me. My breathing slowed and I hugged her back. Not only could I feel her but I could smell her. She smelled of grass, with a faint trace of gunpowder. Granted it wasn't the most pleasant smell but it was still intoxicating. Some other familiar sent was mixed in there too but I didn't know what. Roses?

"I... I'm sorry about that. It's a long story."

"Well I want you to tell me about it but we should get inside first."

She was right, the sun was beginning to touch the horizon. Cupa let me go and we walked through a dark wood door with a metal ring for a handle. It didn't have any window holes either, strange. It seemed sturdier than the one I had crafted. The inside of the house was just as grand as the outside. As soon as you walked in you could see the enormous living room. There was a red couch to the right, followed by a sun-bleached wooden coffee table, which was littered with drinks and papers. A few chairs also sat around the room near the table. There were glass window panes behind the couch, letting in the now dim sunlight. Up ahead were those strange lights I had seen on the outside. There were brown boxes with black panes in a square pattern and emitted a soft yellow light, giving the room a calm feel. The carpet was soft and dark grey. There was even a television hooked up on the wall opposite to the couch. You could look straight forward into what appeared to be the kitchen. It was also to see to stairwells in between the kitchen and living room, one on the left wall and another on the right. Nothing was pixilated except for the walls and lights. It gave the place a cozy, safe feeling. Which was immediately canceled out by the sound of three women arguing. Like Cupa and I, they were humanoid. They were all on the couch or in a chair, hunched over the papers. The first one, around nineteen, was on a chair closest to me and looked completely enraged. She seemed tall, taller than the others but I couldn't tell until she stood. Her hair was chocolate brown and went down to the bottom of her back, with two thick strands that went to her shoulders on her front. She was dressed in a long black jacket that hade a large turtle-neck collar and a miniskirt to barely cover her waist. She also had leggings like Cupa, only black, slightly higher, and with straps that went under her skirt. Lastly, she wore a flat, black hat with two eyes. The square irises were lilac. She seemed to be in a heated argument with the woman on the couch. Everything besides her skin was grey for the woman on the couch even her hair, which was styled into long pigtails while the rest was chopped short at her front, not even reaching her shoulders. Her eyes were storm grey and filled with anger. She was more... scantily clad than the others. Her jacket sleeves were cut off at the elbows but still covered much more than the rest of it. The rest of her grey jacket, which was decorated with thin, horizontal, black stripes, was cut off at around half her rib cage and had and arch-shaped cutout in the middle, revealing over a third of her large chest. To show off even more of her curvy body, she wore insanely short grey shorts, even shorter than my briefs. Oddly enough, she wore gloves that almost reached her elbow, leaving a patch of exposed skin in between her gloves and jacket sleeves. She also wore a flat hat like the tall girl's, except this one was grey and decorated with three dark rectangles, two next to each other looking like eyes and the third at the bottom resembling a mouth. Lastly, a bow was leaned against her leg as well as a quiver of arrows. The final girl, around mine and Cupa's age, looked bored out of her skull as she slumped in her chair. She didn't seem to be as eager to show off skin as her companions but still seemed to want to appear fashionable. She wore a dark grey sweater, with shallow V-neck and eight horizontal black stripes, two along each shoulder and wrist. She also wore a black miniskirt like the tall girl's but was wearing black and grey stripped leggings that covered her entire legs. Her hair seemed to be a cross of the other two girls', having a short cut in the front like the grey girl's but a long ponytail tail reached below her back like the tall girl's. Her hair was a mystifying purple and decorated with a headband rather than a hat. The headband was thin and black, decorated with red orbs, large red orb and a smaller red orb on either side. Her eyes were deviously red but looked soft and distant. She was the first to notice us.

"Cupa!" She exclaimed, "You're back!"

The other two girls stopped yelling and turned towards us.

"Welcome back Cupa," the tall girl said softly, "Who is this you've brought with you?"

"He looks like an AI," the grey girl said, "But I haven't seen him before. He's kinda cute."

I could feel myself blushing. Before I could introduce myself Cupa jumped forward to do so herself.

"This is Kirito," she said gleefully, "He's a friendly player I found in the plains near here. He seems to be a newbie."

"A newbie huh?" The purple-haired girl said, "Are you sure he's a player, he looks exactly like an AI mob commander.

"He says he's a player. I can feel it in my code that he's telling the truth."

"Well you're code has been spotty like the rest of ours," the tall girl said standing up, "You're programed to be trusting and joyful. I however, need to personally investigate him. I'm Andr, princess of the Endermen." She stuck her hand out.

At first I was a little intimidated. Her face was soft and void of a smile, like she was brooding about something. Her lilac eyes seemed to gaze harshly at me as well. As if that weren't enough, she was taller than everyone else, almost by an entire foot. But I had faced monsters far scarier than her. She seemed friendly enough and was just wary. My PDS was just getting the better of my but I swallowed it down and shook her hand.

"Kirito, nice to meet you. I am a player, I can assure you of that."

Andr still seemed suspicious but sat down content.

"Hello Kirito," the grey woman said, "I'm Stella, princess of the skeletons."

It was much harder to talk to her. Not because she wielded a bow or because of my PDS, she actually looked pretty friendly. No, it was because her jacket was so revealing it took all my willpower to not look down. I could still feel myself blushing though. She chuckled at my blush.

"Yes I do have that effect on men. You can look by the way," she got even closer and flashed a seductive look at me, "I won't mind."

Cupa grabbed my arm with both hands.

"No Stella you're not taking this one too!" She exclaimed, "I found him first."

"Hey," Andr said standing back up, "Maybe I want him. I like tall boys with dark hair."

"Well I'm sick of men falling for you three," the last girl said walking towards us, "Just once I'd like a man. I'm Silk, by the way." She extended her hand.

All four girls were clinging to me in some fashion, each staring down each other. I was blushing so hard I'm so glad they weren't looking at me. I couldn't speak. All four of these women had just met me and were fighting over me. It was flattering and scary at the same time. I have to admit there were all cute.

"Umm. Hey, uh." I managed to stutter out, "Maybe we could settle this later? I just want some information." My stomach said otherwise, "And some food. Please."

The four of them looked at me. I could still feel myself blushing and was trying to not act like an idiot. I probably was though, with my almost eyes shut tight, my hand reaching behind my neck, and my mouth twisted in an awkward smile. They all chuckled and let me go.

"Sure thing," Andr said, "Cupa, please bring our guest some food while we talk to him."

"Alright but don't try anything while I'm gone!" She sped to the kitchen.

"Please, sit down." Silk said, "You look weary."

Silk and Stella both sat me down on the couch clinging on to me. Andr looked a little peeved but I guess she remembered she had to interrogate me because she pulled her chair closer and sat. I didn't know if it was awkward or amazing to have to very sexy women holding on to me.

"So Kirito," Andr started, "You say you're a player but you have the avatar of an AI."

I couldn't remember who I was, let alone figure out why I wasn't pixilated like I should be.

"Yeah," I said, "I'm not sure why. I just appeared here and assumed all characters look this way."

"Only AI mob princesses so far. And Herobrine but we're not entirely sure what he is."

"So you know of Herobrine? That's actually why I'm here. Can you give me any information about him?"

A high gasp came from my right.

"Are you going to kill him and free us?" Silk said with wonder in her red eyes, "Is that why you're here? Are you our savoir?"

"I... I don't know. I just came to this world two days ago. All I know is that people I know, back in the real world, have disappeared. They're all players of this game and it might have something to do with Herobrine."

"So you're here to save your friends and not us." Stella said a little disappointed.

"Well, I guess. I don't know anything about this game let alone the war that's apparently in this game. Cupa told me some stuff about it but not much." Finally I remembered why I was so wary of these girls. The memories of Asuna came back to wash over my lust, "I came here because someone, someone very close to me disappeared."

"This someone," Silk said, "Is it like your best friend or something."

"My girlfriend. Yuuki Asuna, you haven't seen her around have you."

"You have a girlfriend?" Cupa said, standing in the hallway with a tray of food.

"Umm. Yes."

All the girls looked pretty disappointed but Stella and Silk tightened their hold on me. Everyone's disappointment didn't last for long and they all shared a few looks. Cupa's smile returned and she sat down a tray with pork, potatoes, and bread on it as well as a glass bottle of water.

"Here," she said while kicking Stella off the couch to take her place, "Eat up. You look famished."

I started to eat and my strength returned. This game, like SAO, also had some sort of taste simulator. The pork was salty and perfectly cooked. The baked potato was buttery and melted in my mouth. The bread was warm and crispy on the outside while soft on the inside. I was sipping my water when Cupa really started to grab my arm and Andr and Stella stood up side by side.

"Just a few months ago," Andr said while Stella pushed a button that dimmed the lights, "Minecraftia had introduced a massive online realm, the one you're standing in now. It allowed players to interact with AI's such as us without a personal mod. It gave everyone a chance to play together without an overlord restricting access. It was grand and peaceful. Three great kingdoms were built in worship of us."

"StoneGuard," Stella continued, "the kingdom of the overworld, was carved in the grandest mountains. It was surrounded by farming villages and became the safe haven for all characters. Aquaris, the water palace, was built in the deepest part of the ocean. It became a place where characters could escape from battle and troubles to live in a peaceful and cultural society. Finally, MagamaCore, the kingdom of the Nether, was constructed as a military base. It served to allow mobs and players to train together without attack each other. A kingdom in the End Isle was considered but it was too small and we didn't have any end stone to expand. After all, end stone is the one substance that can float in the void."

"These kingdoms allowed players to experience a better world of Minecraftia. Until he came along. Herobrine suddenly appeared in a large villager village called RiverFall. He claimed to all the players there, even a few mob princesses who were visiting, that he was a god sent to give this land one king to follow under and would kill anyone who opposed him. All of us laughed, of course. Sure, he had the appearance of and AI but AI's weren't allowed to harm players. He also wore no armor, carried no weapons, and as everyone knew, he was a legend. We dismissed him as a newbie player or as a new AI sent to amuse us. We decided to best him in a challenge and gathered an army of one hundred master players and mobs. He... he shouldn't have been able to beat all of them. He was able to harm everyone and beat all of them without taking a scratch. We knew he had to be a player since he could harm us but why was he like the mob princesses? We still do not know this."

"After he beat us, he demanded that the players and mobs build him a grand castle. The land was now separated into two people: Those who refused to believe him and were strong enough to resist, and those who were captured or submitted to his power. A massive castle was created to amount to his power. It's more of a large city than a castle, with towers that reach the clouds and a courtyard large enough to house thousands of mobs. Herobrine was pleased with his new home and allowed the workers to stay as he created an army to control all of Minecraftia. We do not know what his true intentions are but we can guess that he wants to destroy the three fortresses and claim his title as king."

"He has already claimed most of the Nether but the remaining two fortresses still stand tall. However, our forces are failing. We only have one type of troops in the Nether. Many Mob princesses who did not join Herobrine have stayed neutral, helping only themselves. The house you are standing in is the meeting place for the rebellion force. Stella, Cupa, Silk, and I live here permanently and we offer rooms and supplies to all brave hearted players. Sadly, we have no more players as allies. All of them have disappeared or have joined Herobrine. We are on the verge of failing. Kirito, will you help us. I know you are new here but we can teach you. You will grow strong and we might have a chance against Herobrine."

"Of course we do!" Cupa exclaimed tightening her grip on my arm, "Kirito is strong-hearted. I have a good feeling about him. I'm sure that he will learn fast and we will win!"

This felt more real than it should have been. I mean, this was a game. Everything here was made of ones and zeroes. Why did it feel so important that I help? My mind couldn't figure it out and my gut started talking for me.

"I will help," I said, "If there is anything I can do I will do it. But I need training, lots of training."

Cupa's face brightened up.

"Great! We can all teach you different things about Minecraftia. Just make sure you don't cut anyone else."

I could feel my face turning red with embarrassment. Suddenly Silk loosened her grip and stared at Cupa in confusion.

"Cupa," she said, "Is that why there is blue cloth on your arm? Did Kirito hurt you?"

The Stella and Andr grew worried expressions.

"No, no," Cupa said, "Well, yes he did but it was an accident."

"How can we know he's telling the truth if he's hurt you?" Stella asked, "He could be a spy for Herobrine posing as a new player."

"No, he just thought I was going to blow him up. I startled him, it was my fault."

"But what if he decided to spare you so you'd lead him here?" Andr added, "He could be trying to steal our information."

The three mob princesses started to tense but Cupa just became enraged.

"Look!" She yelled, "I'm fine, okay? It was an accident! I have a really good feeling about Kirito and I know he's here to help us. So what if he nicked my arm a little, it's not that big of a deal."

The others seemed to relax a little but still looked wary.

"Kirito," Andr said scowling, "I'm not sure if I trust you but I have no choice. I will warn you, however, that if you harm Cupa, or Silk, or any one of us intentionally it will not go unpunished."

I tried not to look frightened but it was hard with Andr's gleaming purple eyes piercing my soul.

"I promise you it was an accident. I don't know anything about this place and she just scared me. I promise."

"Well then." Stella said, "We trust you for now but Andr's warning is true. Until such time occurs when our faith in you is broken you will train with us every day. I will teach you combat, Andr will teach you history, Silk will take you mining, and Cupa will teach you crafting. Any additional skills we think you might need will be taught by the most knowledgeable. I wish we could teach you more but without the right tools we cannot."

"I understand. When does my training begin?"

Stella looked out the window. It was still nighttime.

"Tomorrow. If you wish to stay with us down here while we discuss battle plans you may."

"I will, it might do me good."

"Very well." She touched the TV on the wall and it began glowing with a blue light.

"There's television in Minecraft?" I whispered to Cupa.

"No," she whispered back, "That's an AI access only panel. It allows us to store any information or coding safely. Luckily only certain AI's can get in and only if they have an operator command."

I nodded but I still wasn't sure if I understood. I was a prodigy in engineering and technology but I have never heard of Operator Access for AI's. It's almost like they were game masters themselves.

"Stella," Andr said, "Shouldn't your field scouts be returning soon?"

"Yes, quite soon. Perhaps they ran into a zombie squadron on the way."

Stella went on about attack plans against minor zombie strongholds for a solid half hour before someone stumbled through the door. It was a regular skeleton mob, completely pixilated. Still, he seemed out of breath and scared. It took him a moment to stand.

"Ma'am," he said, "I have lots of news. Although none of it is particularly good news."

"That's fine Cadet," Stella said reassuringly, "News is news. What is it?"

"Well to start off with the best news by default, we have located another zombie stronghold in the desert just two hundred meters south of the village SandSpire. It's a desert temple, I'm afraid. So far we have only seen zombies but haven't got a good look inside."

Stella sighed out of exasperation.

"If that's the best news I'm dreading the rest."

"Well, I regret to inform the Snow Golems or Horses are no longer pure neutral, ma'am."

Stella looked both afraid and angry.

"WHAT?! Did they join Herobrine?"

"No ma'am. It seems as though the villagers who claim StoneGuard have expanded their forces. Now they have declared themselves as a neutral force, combing villagers with Iron Golems, Snow Golems, and horses. They will not attack either side but will attack any invaders."

"That means we have less means for cavalry." Stela looked like she was about to faint, "Little miss Vicky lived up to her word did she? Well I just hope she can hold StoneGuard. As long as she doesn't turn we're fine. What else?"

"Well, because the villagers have such a large force now we are losing strongholds in the plains, deserts, and snow plains. The zombies are too but have begun inhabiting desert temples. Well still hold the jungles and forests but the zombies still control the mountain passes."

"Is that it? Any word on the other princesses?"

"None whatsoever, ma'am. Except for the zombie pigmen in the Nether. Princess Piper has declared her people as aggressive neutral, or pirates as she put it."

"Just great... You're excused for the evening cadet."

"Yes ma'am." He was about to leave when he saw me, "Is he an AI prince, ma'am?"

"This is Kirito. He's a new character but his render file must be corrupted. He has agreed to train with us to defeat Herobrine."

"Oh. A player..." He tilted his head before snapping back to reality, "Good luck Kirito. See you on the battlefield."

He went through the door, running out in the darkness.

"Silk," Stella continued, "We should go help out at Mooncrest temple. Bend down."

"Oh come on," Silk protested, "I'm not going to be your personal horse any more. You said you'd find something else."

"That was before the horses joined the villagers."

"Just take one of my troops!"

"You're the fastest. We need to get to the southern jungle as quickly as possible. Cupa, you should come too."

Cupa's eyes became wide.

"What? No! Why can't Andr follow?"

"We might need some explosive power. Come on, why are you so... oh, right."

Cupa nodded and looked a little relived.

"What is it?" I asked Stella.

"Oh nothing," Andr answered teasingly, "Cupa's just afraid of..."

"SHHH!" Cupa yelled, "Don't tell him. It's...embarrassing."

"Fine. Stella, I'll go. I can teleport there immediately. Grab my hand."

Stella looked uneasy.

"I'd rather take Silk."

"Yes but she doesn't want to go. I know warping makes you dizzy but it never lasts long."

Stella begrudgingly took Andr's hand and they disappeared

"Thank god." Cupa and Silk said in unison.

"So," I said to break the silence, "Stella uses you as a horse?"

"Yeah..." Silk sighed, "Skeletons can ride spiders. Players refer to them as spider jockeys. It's a bit degrading."

"Oh." I was about to ask Cupa about her fear but something stopped me, "It's getting pretty late. Where do I sleep?"

"Well luckily we have spare bedrooms for players, mobs, or princesses." Cupa said.

"Or you could always sleep with one of us." Silk said with a wink.

I could feel myself blushing.

"Umm. That's okay. I can just sleep on my own."

Both girls chuckled at my blush. Cupa led me upstairs past a few doors. The hallway was decorated with paintings and items such as swords kept in holders and frames. We finally arrived at a door on the end. Inside was a spacious room that looked like it hadn't been used in a while. There was a bed on the back wall in front of a window. There was a one-cube book shelf to the right of the bed with a flowerpot, holding a beautiful blue orchid, on top. On the left wall was a crafting table nearest to the end wall, a large treasure chest taking up two cubes pushed against the wall, left of the table. Finally, there was an odd stone cube next to the chest. It seemed to be an oven of sorts. To the right wall was... not much. A strange wooden pole on a stone slab stood against it. To the right and left were holsters of some sort. Cupa led me in a pressed a stone button on the wall next to the door and lights came on from above. The entire room was made from bricks save for the floors, which were carpeted with a thin white wool. Everything was pixelated.

"Sorry there's not much space or decoration, we normally let our guests decorate."

"No need to be sorry, this is perfect. Thank you again for helping me. I would have dies if you hadn't found me."

"No trouble at all, I'm just glad to have found some company."

Cupa wrapped me in one last hug before exiting. It was only until after she left I realized how tired I was. I almost flopped right on the bed before remembering I was still carrying a few items. I opened the chest and it was empty. Another one of those inventory menus popped up with a 9x6 grid. I placed the gunpowder and note from Herobrine in the chest. After looking around the room a while more I found that the hooks in the right wall were meant for holding weapons and I put both my swords in a notch. I wondered what the pole was for but not for too long. The bed was soft and warm. I laid on the red sheets for a while, drifting to sleep despite the light being on. I don't know how long I dozed off but I woke up to someone shaking me. It was still night outside and the lights had been turned off.

"Kirito?" a soft voice said.

My eyes still hadn't adjusted but I recognized the voice. Cupa was back.

"Cupa? What is it?"

"Cupa stopped shaking me and sat up on the bed with a nervous look on her face. I couldn't tell but she might have been blushing.

"Umm, Kirito? Is it.... Is it alright if I sleep with you tonight?"

"What?" I was too tired to be stunned.

"It's just," Cupa started fidgeting with her hair, "Ever since the war started I've had nightmares Andr usually comforts me but she's still off with Stella. I know it's strange to ask but I just want to sleep with you. Please?"

"Umm. Sure, I guess."

Cupa gasped with excitement. I could feel her slipping under the covers. She pressed her body into my chest, wrapping her arms around me. In my sleep deprived state I found it natural to put my arms around her. She noticed this and snuggled in closer, even putting her leg on top on my. It would have been weird to me if it didn't feel so, natural. She was so soft and warm. She must have taken off her gloves because I could feel her bare hand slip under my shirt and grasped my shoulder. That's how we lay there the entire night. After she woke me up I couldn't seem to get to sleep. My eyes were closed but when I opened them I could see her staring back at me lovingly.

"Can't sleep either?" I asked.

"No. But I'm not sure if I want to. If you're that cute when you're really asleep I don't want to miss it."

My cheeks became warm again.

"So Andr usually sleeps with you?"

"Most nights, when my nightmares are really bad."

"You two seem like close friends."

"Yeah. Ever since we met. I think what really brought us together was how much players hate us. Gamers really hate creepers and Endermen because they're harder to beat. They don't really give much thought to zombies, skeletons, and spiders."

"Well I like you."

Cupa chuckled and became silent. She slowly drifted off to sleep, eventually snoring cutely.

"Goodnight Cupa." I said as I closed my eyes and enjoyed the best sleep I'd had since arriving in Minecraft.