The Burning [Sword Art Online AU]

[Tailee]

This is something I've been kicking around for the past few weeks. It is my pet project in which I'll be focusing on the aspects of worldbuilding along with character development. The basic concept of the world is actually based on the idea of Aincrad, though not the way you'd expect it. The world in which this story is set is very much a full blown fantasy world inspired by canon Aincrad, but organized much, much differently. I'd rather expand on that through the story than by talking about it, though.

I know the rep Fantasy AUs get, but it was one of those ideas that wouldn't leave me alone so I've started building on it until this came out. Most of the inner mechanics of the world had already been worked out and there is a solid plot planned out.

Warnings to those who haven't read the light novels from volume 5 and onwards, this may contain spoilers.

Any kind of feedback is appreciated. I also need to improve my grammar so in case you notice something off, don't hesitate to point it out.

Link on ff.net: Prologue/Chapter 0

So without further ado...
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Prologue: The Blazing Inferno

Dim orange streetlights lit up the deserted street. The houses in the neighborhood were old and rundown, rooftops covered in a thin layer of snow, only a single old truck parked at the side of the road, casting an eerie shadow on the road covered in slosh and mud.

Two cloaked, hooded figures ran down the street, the muddy path barely slowing them down. They ran until they reached the very end of the road, a place with scarcely any house and large surfaces of cultivable land in between. They stopped abruptly once they reached the very limit of the road, the final streetlamp, the surface ahead of them lost under the shadow of the night. This was where the road ended and a kilometer wide area known as the Fields began.

Akemi, Lady Akemi Akari of Algade, wife of Royal Prince Daisuke Akari of Algade, let out a shuddering exhale as she peered ahead in her hopes of discerning the forest that existed beyond the vast darkness of the Fields, but other than darkness, she saw nothing.

"This is it."

Her breathing was labored and her lungs were burning as she gasped for air. Now that she was no longer moving, her entire body was trembling. Whether it was from the cold, the fear or something else entirely, she could not specify. There were too many different feelings strangling her under the surface, too many burdens placed on her shoulders, too many expectations and hopes weighing on her conscience, placed there by the people of Algade and by her own ambitious self.

She could not fail.

"Milady, are you certain about this?" her faithful companion asked, observing the Fields with the same unrest as hers, same uncertainty and same fears.

The Fields at the northern edges of the Algade jurisdiction were by no means naïve. Deceptively flat, even by daylight, people who threaded there went carefully, watchful of any unseen holes, lost under the thick green grass, a grass that remained that way throughout the entire year. Thin layer of half-melted snow was certainly not an improvement and in the cover of darkness, spotting any uneven parts was going to be even more of a demanding task. It would be a miracle, certainly, if they passed through the Fields unharmed.
Akemi crouched, putting a small body that she had been carrying on her back on the ground briefly, taking care that the only part of it that touched the muddy road were the shoes.

"Milady, if you need help—"

"It won't be necessary," Akemi said quietly, her breathing finally beginning to calm down. She picked up the tiny body with one arm, lifting it up in the air even as its hooded head immediately fell on her shoulder, two tiny hands wrapping around her neck.

She pushed the hood covering the tiny head, her free hand brushing over the forehead and through the hair and coming up wet. Akemi bit her lip.

"On the second thought, could you hold him for a moment, please?"

Her guard, her companion, looked to her with wide grey eyes, barely visible under his hood, then to the small boy, his expression that of surprise and shock. For a mere guard, taking a child of the royalty in his hands must be incredible honor, but thankfully, he appeared to understand that the last thing on her mind were improper social customs. He tensed when she softly broke out of the tiny hug, placing the boy in his hands. His head came to rest on the guard's shoulder, eyes firmly shut. The expression on the boy's face was that of hardship and pain, not at all things a child should be dreaming about.

Akemi brushed her fingers through his hair, coming to rest on his cheek, her expression pained.

"It's no good, Minetaka," she said softly as tears welled up in her eyes. "He needs a healer. I don't know how much of the poison got to him, if any, but he's feverish. He's barely eaten anything for the last two days because of that fever and now this happened."

"Milady, there are doctors back in the city. If we head there now, we may still make it in time."

Akemi glanced back in the direction from which they'd come from, a tower of smoke rising in the distance. "I don't have faith on doctors. Either way, there is no more time to go back," she said, hand once again brushing the boy's face. Against his black hair and flushed cheeks, the rest of the skin was ghastly, sickish. It would have been obvious to even the youngest child that something was wrong. "We've been followed. Our only means of escape is the forest and the Fields are our best weapons. They are not from around here, they do not expect the danger they pose."

"I must disagree, the Fields, especially now, are as dangerous for us as they are dangerous for them—"

"Is there any other way?" Akemi yelled.

He flinched back, whether from the sudden strength of her voice or the tears going down her face, she did not know. She did not care.

"I already lost my husband tonight, Minetaka. Don't make me lose my son."

He bowed his head, in compliance or in shame, she did not care. Breathing in the large amounts of cold air, Akemi felt her temper beginning to fall back under her control, her outrageous heartbeats beginning to calm down.

"Give him to me," she ordered and, by this point he knew not to object. Once again she hoisted the sleeping boy over her back, placing his tiny hands around her neck. "Let's move. The last scout we've dispatched had been a hundred meters behind. No doubt the other one is coming and will be on to us soon, if not an entire unit."

She moved into position, but noticed then, that Minetaka had not made a single step, his eyes focused on something behind her. Worried, Akemi shifted and saw what was wrong. Instead of a single tower of smoke rising in the distance, there were now dozens, some of them closer, much closer than they had any right to be.

"They've torched it," Minetaka whispered, but there was no surprise in his voice, only pain and acceptance. "They've torched everything."

"They have not," Akemi said, looking at the rising smoke with distaste. "They have hurt us. They have burned us. But they have not defeated us yet. They will never burn Algade to ground. What they're burning are strategic locations and homes of the most loyal Lords, but all that can be recovered with time. It can be rebuilt. Algade has survived worse."

"But it has never lost its monarchs," Minetaka whimpered. "Not this way."

"No," Akemi agreed somberly. "No, it has not."

"Milady…"

"I believe I have already asked you many, many times not to call me that way."

"Yes, you have."

Akemi leveled him with a look and he didn't, as she'd half expected him to, step away or relent. He understood as well as she did, that only one of them would get out of this alive. There was no need for such courtesy. She only wished she knew why he'd kept to it anyway.

"Let's go," Akemi said as her eyes focused on the newest rise of smoke, possibly less than a kilometer away. "They must have the cavalry on their way. Capturing or exterminating the last of the Royal Family is quite possibly their primary goal this night."

Minetaka nodded and, without any given sign, without forewarning, they broke into a run, passing the unspoken border between the rural part of Algade and into the Fields. Their steps were synchronized, fast and focused, their honed reflexes enabling them to escape the worst of the uneven and deceptive land. Multiple times, however, their foot would happen to fall through and sink into the ground. At times, it was into a hole that made no significant difference, but at others, it would make them falter, even collapse. Akemi lost count of how many times she'd ended up on her knees, how many times she'd gasped in pain when she ended up twisting her ankle again and again. It was the same for Minetaka, she could tell by labored breathing and sharp intakes of breath whenever he slowed down.

They were perhaps a quarter of the way through when, in the deathly silence, they heard a whistle. It was a sound in the distance, about a quarter of a kilometer back, the very limit of the rural Algade. Akemi turned. In the faint light coming from the city, she could see several horsemen in the distance and perhaps a dozen more soldiers carefully traipsing over the grassy surface. She could see even more rushing to join.

"They're really going all out," she noted with a small, morbid and deceptively cruel smile on her lips.

"Milady—"

"We must move faster."

Minetaka didn't respond, rushing to catch up as she accelerated, but it was obvious that, sooner or later, a battle would become their only means of escape. Akemi just hoped they would not have to engage them before they reached the forest.

The forest beyond the fields was perhaps an even more dangerous area than the Fields. It was a hunting area Akemi had visited multiple times, inhabited by boars, bears and even an occasional pack of White Wolves, but they all lived further north. If fortune was on their side this night, then they would not have to go in so deep. Another good side of the forest was the fact that, if there was any place where they could possibly lose the scouts, it was there. Her own capability of navigating through the Forest was scarcely better than abysmal, but Minetaka excelled at it.

She assumed that was the reason he kept leading her forward, through the forest and into the thick darkness once they finally breached the border.

While the Fields were the northern border of Algade in all but the land ownership, the true border, the very end of Algade's district and jurisdiction was the Forest of Cedar, the largest forest in the Northern Limits, spreading over the entire central area of the region. If one wanted to travel from Algade to City of Lindas, the furthest City up north, in the roundabout way, they still had to pass, at least partially, through the Forest of Cedar. Same went for all the other towns and cities up north. It was a sacred border which, by old legends, was not meant to be crossed by the Royal Family, no matter the circumstance. Such belief had, throughout history, ended the lives of many Algadian Royals, but not being a Royal by birth, Akemi felt no such restrictions placed upon her.

"Stop!" she ordered, when everything she could see around her was darkness, no longer capable of discerning even the shadows. The only way she knew that Minetaka had obeyed her command had been by her sense of hearing. "Minetaka?"

"Yes?"

"Come here, take Kazuto for a moment."

"We must hurry, Milady. The stream is nearby, it leads east. Nobody will suspect that we've headed there, there are only small villages, too far from the Forest."

"You can see better in the dark, can you not? Just take him."

Minetaka clamped his mouth shut and she felt it when the boy was lifted away from her shoulders. She closed her eyes momentarily, holding her right hand out.

A burst of orange light appeared millimeters above her palm, a soft flame that was lighting up the area. She could see Minetaka clearly now, his hood having fallen away, revealing his young, sweat covered face. The flame danced in her hand, casting eerie shadows around them, making her son's face look that much worse.

"We have a few minutes at most, assuming that they cross the Fields at about the same pace as we did and spread around to search for us once they reach the forest," she said as she brought the flame nearly to the ground, making it grow just a little as she searched for something, anything that could possibly work as a torch. "That should be more than enough."

"Milady, what are you intending to do?" Minetaka asked. If she hadn't known him any better, she would have thought him terrified.

"You'll see," she replied cryptically when she finally located a thick enough branch. It was wet, naturally, given the snowy weather these past few weeks, but it would be more than enough.

She used the strength she still had in her arms to rip away a part of her already ruined cloak, letting the flame die out and darkness envelop them again as she wrapped the cloth around its pike, tying it the best she could given the poor conditions. When assured that the cloth wasn't going to just fall off, she let the flame burn in her hand again, allowing her to see.

Her handmade, improvised torch was not going to last, that could be seen even before she brought the flame to it, waiting for the flame to catch the fibers. It was tedious, because using too much power would burn the entire branch and she did not have the time to look for another one, but the small flame was having difficulties making the drained cloth burn.

When it finally succeeded, she handed the branch over to Minetaka, taking off her cloak and throwing it down on the wet, snow covered grass. The cold air suddenly became several times colder, but Akemi suppressed her shudders as she took her son from Minetaka's arms and placed him on the still dry part of the cloak.

"Warn me if you see anybody," she ordered.

"What are you doing?"

"Do you remember my affinities?"

Minetaka hesitated. "Fire and… abilities related to the mind."

"I'm afraid it is nothing that flashy," Akemi said and a sad smile graced her features. "It is what happens when stories are blown out of proportions. It gives a wrong idea of what you can really do with your powers. No doubt a good thing, in this case."

"Milady—"

"My powers are specifically related to fire and memories. The latter is something I practiced scarcely, because, as you already know, my family's belief is that memories are sacred and thus any tampering with them is a grave sin."

"You were still outcast because of it," he noted in low voice.

"Among other things, yes. Regardless, I do have some control of what I can do. While creating fake images in somebody's mind is beyond me, obscuring it, hiding it in a shroud of mist is something I am very much capable of doing. You have witnessed as much."

Akemi was not looking at him any longer, her eyes on the sleeping form of her son, a smile on her lips, a smile of happiness to see that he is still alive, but also that of sadness, because of what she knew was going to wait for him in the future. She wiped away a stray tear as she began speaking again, her voice growing hoarse with every word spoken.

"My Kazuto… my boy is strong. The sleeping powder I gave him before we moved to run should have knocked him out into a dreamless sleep for what should last several hours, but you saw it, too, didn't you? The way he kept clinging to us… he's still living through it. Seeing one person die is enough to break somebody, but he's seen dozens and… and… he has only broken once… once Daisuke…"

She found that she couldn't go on, the pain she'd been holding back rising to the surface, the grief she had not had the time to feel before that finally beginning to take over her senses.

"A child… shouldn't live through something like that… he's but a boy, barely five… nobody had any right to do this to him…"

"Milady…"

Akemi did not turn, she feared the judgment in his eyes. What she was intending to do was, by Royal standards, an acceptable action under the circumstances, but Kirigaya Minetaka had been adopted into the Yagami family when he'd married Yagami Midori. He understood their principles and beliefs, if nothing else, thus he was viable to judgment, the same judgment the rest of them would give. And it was a judgment she could not face at present.

"I have to…" Akemi sobbed, touching Kazuto's forehead with her index finger as soft white light began to glow under it. "I have to, because… because I cannot allow anyone to see that look in his eyes. A child broken beyond repair, it is something that must never happen, not to him, not to my boy, my only boy…"

"Akemi—"

The glow intensified, taking away what little tension there had been visible on Kazuto's face, leaving behind a peaceful expression, but she did not stop yet.

"Akemi," Minetaka tried again, his voice stronger this time. "Don't tell me that what you're doing—"

"I'm doing the only thing I can. I'm taking his pain away."

"Akemi," this time sharper, with anger seeping through, "You can't—"

"I don't have a choice," she cut him off and the glow behind her finger finally stopped. "But, he's strong, perhaps too strong. He'll remember, eventually. Whether he'll be strong enough, I… I can't…" she shook her head. "You must promise me, Minetaka—"

"No—"

"You must promise me that, when the memories come flooding back—"

"No, you can't ask that of me—"

"—you'll be there to help him—"

"Akemi, damn it—"

"Promise me!" she screamed, glaring at him while her eyes filled with tears that started running down her face and chin. "We both knew that once we got into this forest, only one of us was going to walk out alive! You don't have the power to hold them off long enough for me to find my way. I am too much of a public face, either way. Wherever I go, I'll be recognized instantly and… and they'll know we're alive. They'll never stop hunting us. But… you have a family you have to go back to. Midori and Suguha… what will they do without you? I know that what I am asking is too much, but please… you're the only chance he has."

They were both looking at the boy now, his peaceful face still covered in sweat. Akemi turned back to Minetaka and she saw his fists clenched until his knuckles were white, his teeth gritted and eyes filled with emotion. A parent himself, he understood well what it was taking her to make such demands.

"Your father will never accept it," he said softly.

"I know."

The words were followed by a shuffle in the distance and Minetaka knelt to her and Kazuto, putting the torch close enough so she could immediately suffocate the flame. For several brief moments, the only thing she could hear was her own breathing, until finally, there was the shuffling again. It was not close, not enough to for them to be spotted yet, but just from the sound of it, the number of enemies they were dealing with had well surpassed the estimated proportions.

She could only barely make out Minetaka's silhouette when she wrapped Kazuto in the remains of her cloak and passed him into his arms.

"Take him, go! Head east, I'll go reach the stream and try to lure them west."

"You're not stupid, Akemi, I know you can get out of this alive."

"It is nice to know that somebody has so much faith in me."

"You're already a living legend, if there is anyone…"

"Go, before they find us."

"You must live, Akemi. If there's anyone who can do it—"

"Just go!" she hissed and, by the sounds she heard, he obeyed. It was only the trick of her mind, the silent prayer she'd heard before the sound of him completely vanished.

"I heard something!"

The shout came from maybe two, three trees away from her, much too close for comfort. There was no light, but they probably had some way of navigating through the darkness, a way she had not succeeded in discovering yet, not that she needed it for what she had in mind.

She materialized yet another flame in her hand, lighting up the space around, enabling her to see.

The enemy who had spotted them must have been turning to another side, because nobody seemed to have spotted her yet. That was her cue.

Breaking out of the cover of the tree, she took off running as fast as she could without letting any of the logs or roots get in her way. Without the cloak, running was becoming a much simpler action, her plain white shirt and black mini-skirt allowing for much more movement than the cloak had. She jumped over every obstacle in her path, sliding down the muddy slope rather than attempting to keep her balance as she ran.

"This way!" she heard a yell, followed by sounds of running footsteps and horse gallop coming from several different directions.

They had her surrounded.

Akemi wondered why the thought no longer scared her as much. The fact that her son was now in safe hands was a part of it, perhaps, but it was not just that. Battle was where she felt comfortable, a place where she felt she belonged. It was something she was familiar with and something she could keep under control, so it did not scare her that she had already signed her death contract.

Finally she reached the stream, a tiny opening in the forest path, a surface of clear water no more than a meter wide, even less than that deep. She could see there, because there was the opening in the sky and the dark clouds were finally beginning to disperse. Behind one of the smaller, but still dark enough clouds, there was the soft silver light of the moon, the tiny bead of light reflected in the crystal clear water.
The enemies, the soldiers chasing after her had finally reached the clearing as well, breaking out from both sides of it and rushing after her to the best of their abilities.

She didn't have a weapon. Her sword, a beautiful silver weapon crafted specifically for her, her Dark Repulser, was all the way back in the Algade Castle, stabbed through the heart of the man who'd fired the deathly arrow at her husband. All she had were the branches she might be able to pick off the ground and her own affinities, her control over the fire element, her last and final resort in this battle.

She was going to make it count.

When, by her best estimation, she crossed enough distance to allow Minetaka to retreat with Kazuto safely, she stopped running. Perhaps she could attempt to disarm one of the soldiers, gain herself a weapon before launching her attack. That would give her some sort of a feeble means of attack, in case she survived the power outlet. She honestly didn't think she would, but willpower could and had done wonders for her in the past. The last thing she wanted was to be taken alive.

So, when the first soldier got close to her, cautiously, because she was just standing there, unmoving, she waited.

"Do you surrender, Lady Akemi?" he asked, voice filled with insecurity, weapon held at the ready. He was hesitating, uncertain whether he should be happy that she'd stopped running or terrified by the fact. "Do you surrender?"

Akemi resisted the urge to scoff. Naturally, they'd want to take her in alive. The treasuries, no doubt. Besides Daisuke and King Raiden of Algade, she was the only one who knew how to open the treasuries and, if what she'd heard was right, King Raiden had been assassinated as well. That left her as the only source of the information, otherwise they would lose the fortunes they had come to conquer.

"I repeat," he said, more cautiously this time. A rookie. "Do you surrender?"

It's time.

"What do you think?" she cried out, making him jump out of his skin. He was young, perhaps an academy graduate only. He was not prepared for battle, not with Akemi as his enemy. "You took my husband! You made me bury my son! Do you think that I am just going to surrender, bow down to your will?"

He flinched. The grief, the pain and the hatred in her voice rendering him unable to act for an instant. That instant, however, was all the time she needed.

"Retreat!"

The warning came too late, Akemi's tiny fireball burning through the soldier's forearm and, when that didn't prove to be enough, she aimed another one at his wrist. The other soldiers by now were just meters away from her, but her target dropped their weapon, screaming in pain from the fire that was still burning inside them.

Akemi left him, it wouldn't do if that one died without passing her words to somebody else. They needed to think Kazuto was dead. They couldn't, even for a moment, think that he could have possibly survived this night.

The weapon in her hand, she noted with dismay, was typical Grandum equipment, which, if nothing else, at least made it clear who her enemy was. The City of Grandum would naturally be the only one daring enough to stage a direct assault on the castle itself. Compared to her Dark Repulser, the weapon was of poor quality, something she could have sliced through with a single swing, but it would have to do.

A savage cry tore from her throat, swinging her sword at the next closest enemy, making a deep dent in his chest armor. He fell back, gasping for air as she took off running again, only barely missing a sword coming from his ally. Sharp pain on her left upper arm told her that she had failed to evade it completely, but she bit back the cry of pain and ran faster, creating the distance she needed to stage the big attack she'd had in plan all along. The more soldiers following her, the better.

The stream, unfortunately, was not going to be of much help on this occasion. If they had anyone daring enough to jump into it in the dead of winter, albeit rather warm weather for the time of the year, she'd be vulnerable to a melee attack, perhaps even to attack of their own affinity, if it was of any use in battle. Unfortunately, most of them were.

Nobody wanted to risk using fire against her, mainly because fire was one element, one of the few affinities that, once they started, did not stop or weaken, regardless of their initial caster's condition. It also meant that, if anyone of them tried to hit her and missed, hitting something else instead, something flammable, it meant that Akemi could very much gain control of that flame and use it against them. Whether they could do the same depended on their level of development, but Akemi didn't think there were many people capable of pulling it off, a fact she had been happy to abuse in the past.

Finally, the first affinity attack came at her in form of a rock hurled at her head. It was moving at higher speed than it had any right to, meaning that it was under direct control of either somebody with earth affinity or a Telekinetic. It was not something she was fast enough to evade.

It left a deep gash on her right cheek, bringing tears to her eyes. She whipped out the sword for protection against the next one coming, then cast it aside as the rock had been strong enough to dent the blade. It had to be a Telekinetic, then, somebody who could make objects faster than they have any right to be, somebody capable of moving objects merely with a thought. It was a dangerous opponent.

But Akemi was done running.

She stopped and so did the soldiers, making a hesitant circle around her, giving her space, yet at the same time leaving her with no any real escape routes. The only path of escape would now be through the stream, or maybe by jumping over it and facing the fewer soldiers on that side, but that would be pointless. Why would she run, when she had them exactly where she'd wanted them?

It started as a thin ring of fire floating in mid-air, about two meter in diameter. Akemi's long hair, dark as the darkest black color itself, whipped everywhere from the compressed power surrounding her within the circle. Her eyes, normally grayish blue, were now dancing in oranges and reds, the same shade of the flames hovering around her. The sleeves of her shirt, already weakened were torn off entirely, revealing the tattoo of the Royal Family insignia over her right shoulder, two crossed swords over a cone shaped shield and two chains cutting at each other while two proud dragons faced each other, wings spread and tails intertwined. Getting it had hurt immensely, but as its black surface now glowed with the light of her flames, giving her the strength she needed, she felt grateful to have it.

The heat was finally beginning to get to her, a sign that she'd overstepped her bounds, crossing the limits which should never be crossed. Tiny fragments of stones, branches and dirt were now beginning to lift in the air as well, hurled towards the soldiers who were beginning to retreat.

Slow. Much too slow.

Finally, severely affected by the heat and her nose bleeding, she knew she had succeeded in her attempt. The pressure released, the ring of fire blowing outwards thinly, going through anything and everything in its path as Akemi collapsed down on her knees. In the two meter circle around her where there used to be grass, now was only ash. The trees were beginning to collapse around her, but the ring was still spreading, she didn't know how far. She could barely sense it through the pain.

She was reaching the limit of the pain she could take, a certain sign that the final stage of her attack should begin. If anyone had survived the initial burst, then this would be the one that ended their existence permanently.

Daisuke, Kazuto, I love you. I only wish we could have stayed together a bit longer.

I'm sorry.

Everything inside of the ring exploded.