Sao: Project Alter

by Scribble Lord

Money? Popularity? What matters to you the most? Here comes a young man who stands behind the shadow of Kirito and others. He has been alone for a long time. Games are what he calls friends, always wanting them to be real. But now, he is trap in a death game. Is this what he always wanted? Or will he stand by his new friends?

Sao: Project Alter Chapter 1: Alone

November 6th 2022 6:00a.m

Games…..To some people, it's a source of entertainment. To other people, it's a distraction. To me, it's real. I'm now camping just outside of a store, waiting for the release of Sword Art Online. Getting this game is big deal to me because it will be my first ever VR game. I'm now sitting in the front row of a long queue looking back I can see a bunch of other people waiting in line just as I am. Several minutes has passed, the store has finally open, announcing the Sword Art Online sale. I quickly get up and head to the store's counter asking for the game, Sword Art Online. The cashier already seem like he knew what I wanted and turn around to get a copy of the game. He put it on the counter and an amount of money needed appear on the cash register. I give the amount of money needed and grab my game .After that, I was on my way.

I grab my bike which has been sitting there overnight and drove off. It wasn't too long before I was at the doorstep of my house. I enter my house without saying a word or a greeting like most people do, I lived alone. Upon entering, I throw my bag aside and head to my room. The NerveGear is a VR hardware that allows one's mind to enter into a game, was already placed on top of my bed. I on the power output that connects to the NerveGear and sit on top of my bed, waiting for the system to boot up. I open the case of the game revealing the disc of Sword Art Online. I grab the disc and put it in the pc, also connecting to the NerveGear. I proceed to reading the basic instructions like starting the game and also several warning signs. As I was reading the instructions, the Nervegear finally starts up. Putting the manual aside, I place the NerveGear above my head as a word flows into my head making me say

"Link start!"

As these words came out of my mouth, a bunch of particles consist of pink and yellow starts swirling around me. Once this process is finish, I find myself in a dark room. Suddenly, a large word appears several feet in front and above of me saying, "Welcome to Sword Art Online." With a female voice accompanied. "Please type in a name." The female voice continued. A white screen appears before me with a keyboard. From my previous experience of being a gamer, I'm not going to use my real name. I started thinking about for what seems like 40 seconds with my right hand's pointer finger tapping on the side of my head. Maybe I should try this, I quickly type in a name reading,

"Rinito"

This name is actually following one of my created characters. In real life, I actually make stories, some were already illustrated while some were only written but none was ever published. Judging by my name, most people will assume I'm Japanese but I actually belong to a country called" Malaysia". Unlike most people, I take video games seriously. I will aim for the highest, VR games are no exception. Sword Art Online will be my very first VR game to try out. Snapping out of my thoughts, I pressed the blue button with a circle in it meaning, it's an "okay" button. After clicking, a customization screen appears showing that I can customize hair, skin tone and so forth. I always like customization systems in video games. I always get to change a look similar to me. After several tryouts, I am almost finished. Which leave only the weapon choice and the starting gear's color. For weapon choice, I pick the one handed-sword because it's easier to use than a two handed-sword. For example, it allows me to switch between my two hands and it is also way lighter allowing me to move faster. For the starting gear's color, I would pick light blue but it doesn't feel right. So I switch the color to dark blue instead. After this, I click the same blue button and a screen came up to confirm my selections. I click the same button again.

But this time, the female voice appears again thanking me for the selection and wishing me have fun. Suddenly, a blue light surrounds me making me unable to see anything. The next second, I find myself in the middle of an arena-like place. I look around the place in amazement. There are countless people logging in just about the same time as I was. The first thing I try to do is unlocking the menu but I suddenly remember something. I didn't read finish the manual. Arghhhhhh! I messed up big time! I walk back and forth continuously. There's only one way to find out. I have to ask another player. I take a deep breath and approach another player who has brown hair and ask, "Um….it's weird to ask this but um…. How do you open the menu?" I hope this goes well. He stands there awhile before laughing loudly.

"Ha!Ha!Ha! You seriously don't know?! Ha!Ha!" He laughs loudly while pointing at me. I immediately feel angry and turn around walking away, stomping my feet. I decide to head off elsewhere and find someone else to help me. I run off to a grassy plain. I stop for a while to catch my breath. I look down at myself to see me wearing the starting gear and my sword at my side. I grab my sword and click on it hoping that how players identify the weapon's name. Once I click the sword, a word appears saying," Bronze sword" I assume this is the weapon's name. I see a boar off in a distance, I hold my sword in my right hand, my eyes narrowing onto the boar. I get into a stance with my sword at my shoulder length. My sword suddenly starts glowing blue and I start charging at the boar. The boar seems startled and starts charging at me. I move a little to the left, dodging the boar. I quickly slash the boar at the sides as we pass each other. The boar starts wailing and it pause for a second giving me time to slash at him. I get into a different stance this time with me leaning lower to the ground. I put my sword a little further back and I start charging forward. My sword start glowing blue once again, I slash it right in its back with all I got. The boar starts glowing and suddenly burst into particles. I get back up into a stand straight position again. A screen appears in front of me showing the experience I earn and showing me no items found.

"Hey, you're pretty good." A young man suddenly speaks up behind me which made me jump. I turn around to see a guy wearing a blue starting gear which I would have picked and behind him stands a man wearing red instead of blue.

"Thanks." I reply nicely with a small nod. I decide to turn around and leave until something struck me." Um….do you know how to open the menu?" I say hesitantly and quickly while scratching the back of my head. To my surprise, he didn't laugh at me instead he says

"Oh, just swipe your hand like this." He says while swiping his hand downwards. I copy his motion and a menu-like screen appears out of nowhere. Man, it's going to take a lot time to get used to this." Is this your first time playing a VR game?" He suddenly asks me making me turn my view to him. I just nod. "Well, how does it feel?" He asks me again.

"Amazing actually. " I answer him with a light tone.

"So…. Kirito. Can you teach me how to fight in this game?" The man in the red speaks up. Now I know his name is Kirito.

"First, show me what you can do." Kirito says pointing to the nearby boar. Before they could leave, I speak up.

"So your name is Kirito. Well, my name is Rinito, I'm not Japanese by the way." I say extending my arm to Kirito, waiting for him to shake my hand.

"Nice to meet you. This here is Klein." Kirito reply as he start to shake my hand while his other hand pointing to Klein. Kirito then proceeds to walk toward the boar with Klein following. I decide to tag along as well seeing how he is the first person to try to talk to me. Reaching the boar, Klein proceeds to take out his…katana, huh. Klein suddenly gets into a position but before he is ready, the boar was already charging towards him. The boar then rams into Klein's vital area. Ouch, that looks painful.

"Argh! Oooh…..hurts in the nuts…kill me now." Klein says while holding his vital area on the ground tossing and turning. If this is VR, does it really hurt?

"Oh, come on, seriously? You can't feel any pain." Kirito says with an annoyed tone. Well, that answers my question.

"Huh? Oh yeah, you're right." Klein suddenly stops his toss and turns. He then gets up while one of his hands scratching his heads and says, "Sorry, habit."

"Remember what I said? The first move is the most important." Kirito replies once more. I don't remember Kirito saying that, maybe he say this before he got here.

"Yeah, that's easy for you to say. But he won't just stand still." Klein continues to complain. Of course he won't stand still. What do you expect, Klein.

"If you do your initial motion right, and activate a sword skill at the right time-" Kirito says as picks up a stone on the ground. He then pulls the stone back like he's about to throw it. The stone starts to glow blue like my sword did a moment ago. He then launches it at the boar, injuring it. "-The system pretty much guarantees you'll always hit your target."Kirito finishes saying. So that's why my sword glowed earlier, it's a sword skill.

"Initial motion? " Klein repeats Kirito's words.

"Here's an easier way to look at it. Right after you start your move, wait for a little bit. When you feel the skill start to activate, drive it home!" Kirito tell Klein. That made less sense to me. Kirito hits the boar to Klein's direction, charging at him.

"Drive it home?" Klein repeated again. He starts to get into a position with his sword starting to glow an orange red color. Klein then begins to charge at the boar. As he passed the charging boar, the boar turns into small particles. "Hoho! Yeah! " Klein starts to shout in excitement.

"Congratulations. That was nice. But that boar's about as weak as slime are in other games." Kirito says while scratching the back of his head. Of course it is.

"Holy crap! You got to be kidding." He says with a shock tone. It is technically true that VR games monsters are tougher but they're not that tough. "I thought that thing was a mid-level boss." Wow! This guy totally doesn't play MMORPG.

"As if." Kirito continue to say laughing a little. Suddenly I see him lost in his thought. His face is mix with seriousness and concern. Soon, He snaps out of his thoughts when he sees Klein trying out different styles of using his blade.

Klein suddenly squeals with excitement as he pumps his arm downwards. "Addictive, isn't it?" Kirito asks Klein redirecting my eyes back to him.

"I'll say." Klein replies while still finding a style suitable to him. "So, these skills…there's a ton of them like blacksmithing and stuff, right?" Klein continues to say as flip his sword oppositely, like an assassin.

Kirito nods. "Uh huh. I heard the game has a unlimited amount of them. All except for magic, though." Kirito says this as Klein is flips back to his original position slashing it down.

As Klein has switched back to his original handling of his sword, he starts to charge up a sword skill. "An RPG without magic? That's a bold decision, man!" Klein says as he unleashes a sword skill downwards.

Once Klein has unleashed his sword skill, he shouts in celebration laughing cheerfully. As Kirito sees this, he decides to ask with a smile, "So, what do you think? It's kind of fun to move your body as you fight, isn't it?" He's right. It isn't the same with using the controller though I'm better with the controllers. It feels easier to move, as though it's like real life.

"Oh, hells yeah!" Klein shouts loudly with excitement. Kirito smile at the sight of this. Kirito turn to me waiting for a reply.

"You got that right." I say with a small smile to leave a better impression to them.

"You ready to move on?" Kirito asks both of us. I just simply nod. Leaving Klein to answer Kirito.

"Yeah, man. Let's keep going." Klein finally answers.

We fight monsters as we walk. I take this time to study both of them. Klein seems to be a really fun guy, always full of energy, making jokes and laughing. He seems to very a friendly type of person. Kirito on the other hand…..is harder to read. He smiles from time to time but it lacks emotion. That smile is something I'm familiar with. I use that smile all the time even until now. It's like a mask or some people call it "A Fake Smile".

Before long, the sun's already starting to set. The game is going to be the type which has day/night cycle. We stop for a while on a small hill, resting. I lay down beside Klein which is also laid down on the grass while Kirito is standing. "When I look around, I can't believe it. We're inside a game, bro!" Klein says while breaking the silence. Klein's right. It is beautiful. Whoever made this, is a genius. The way the sun sets, the way the wind blows, it's amazing. When I was fighting today, I feel like its real life. I love this feeling. After all, games are real to me. There is a waterfall splashing on my left while there is some winged creature on my upper right view flying a few feet away from where I'm sitting. I close my eyes and enjoy this moment. Klein suddenly breaks the silence by standing up. "Hey, I was going to go meet up with some people I know from another game. I don't know what you guys are up to after this, so, if, uh, you know, if you want, you can friend them and hang with us." Klein asks both of us. I feel like joining him because I never really had friends before. My life is just full of bullying and isolation. Half of me wants to join him and make friends but the other half of me thinks that they'll leave me anyway, leaving me back by myself. My attention turns to Kirito, his face suddenly darkens. As if he lost his fighting spirit from before. "No, it's cool if you don't want to, no pressure. I can always introduce you two to them another time or something." Klein says responding to Kirito's reaction.

Kirito seems relieve that Klein didn't take the rejection personally. "Yeah, sorry." Kirito pulls out his fake-smile once again. "Thanks, anyway."

"No way! I should be doing the thanking all the thanking." Klein says suddenly. "Hey, one of these days, I promise I'm gonna pay you back for all your help. Virtually, that is." Klein says with a smile.

"I should thank you too." I turn to Kirito with a smile. "For accompanying me, that is." He didn't really teach me anything besides the menu thing but I enjoy his accompany.

"Yeah, right." Kirito says with saddened tone. His face is still dark. Guess he thinks that he didn't do much.

"Thanks for everything, man, really." Klein says, making Kirito seem surprise. Kirito's face starts to soften. "Guess I'll see you around then." Klein held out his hand.

"If there's anything else you want to know, message me." Kirito says and shook his hand. Kirito seems to be friendlier now. I can tell he enjoys helping people.

"Oh sweet! I'll do that." Klein says as he turns around to open his menu. On my left, Kirito is starting to head somewhere else, I can see him smile slightly. I feel like playing for a bit longer. After all, this game's awesome.

"Huh? Where'd the log out button go?" Klein says suddenly, making me turn back to him. He's still facing his menu. I quickly check the menu and try finding the log out button but it just wasn't there.

"It should be there." Kirito says turning back.

"Hmm….No, it's not there." Klein replies to Kirito while double-checking the menu again. I too check the menu again but there's still nothing.

"Yeah, Klein's right. There seem to be no log out button." I tell Kirito to confirm Klein's suspicion. I feel slightly worried. After I tell Kirito, he starts to open the menu to find the button. From his expression, I can tell he cannot find the button too.

"Yeah, you're right." Kirito looks confuse.

Klein decides to think positive and say, "Oh well. Today's, what, the first day outta beta? Bound to be some bugs! I bet the server people are freaking out right now!" But that doesn't make any sense. I've never played a game that doesn't have the log out button, even if it's just outta the beta.

After hearing, Kirito proceeds to point to the clock on the status screen. "You will too. Look, its 5:25."

Klein suddenly got this very funny expression on his face. His eyes widen and his jaws drop. "Oh my god! My teriyaki mayo pizza and ginger ale!" Klein shouts in a very dramatic manner. Hmm….he did?

Kirito tries to snap Klein out of his panic situation by saying, "Why don't you just contact the game master?" Klein immediately stops. The game master as in the game developer?

"Yeah, I did that, but nothing's happening! He's not picking up!" Klein says as he looks back at the menu. "Do you know if there's another way to log out of this thing?"

Kirito looks serious as he looks back at Klein. "No. Whenever someone wants to log out of SAO, the only way they can do it is by going through the menu."

Klein looks a little bit shock. "That can't be right. There's has to be another way out." He starts to try out different weird poses and methods to log out. "Return! Log out! Escape!" He ends with one of his fist pumping into the air. There's no way, there's has to be a way. I start to feel my legs shaking a little.

"Is there no other way?" I say softly to no one in particular, still feeling a little shock.

"Told you so." Kirito says to Klein sadly. "And there was no emergency exit in the manual, either." Usually if there's a bug like this, I would restart my computer. Unfortunately, there's no such thing here.

"No way, you're kidding…" Klein seems even more shock than earlier. "I know, I'll just rip the NerveGear off my head!" Klein says as he makes a motion like he is removing the NerveGear off his head but fails to do it.

This time, I choose to enter the conversation. "You can't. If you really can remove the NerveGear just by doing what you're doing right now, your real life body will most probably be hitting a wall or a door repeatedly by now." My mind is swirling with thoughts.

Klein suddenly looks shock or you could say even more shock. "Seriously? So now we gotta wait until someone gets to fixing the bug." This is an outrage! This is too big of a bug….something's going on.

"That, or until someone in the real world comes along to take the NerveGear off us. That's it." Kirito says with the same expression he has for a while now. I live alone, there's no one to take off my NerveGear. Damn it, I skipped two meals already, waiting for the Sword Art Online release.

"I live alone. You guys?" Klein replies blankly.

"Me too….." I say, dragging 'too' slightly. I think heavily on the bug matter. Maybe I could head back to town and ask around to see if anyone knows something.

"I got a mom and a sister. And I'm pretty sure they'll notice by dinner time and come-"Kirito suddenly got cut off when Klein come closer to Kirito and grab his shoulder. Klein manages to snap me out of my deep thoughts.

"Y-You got a sister? How old is she? What's she like?" Klein keeps on getting closer. For the very first time, Kirito's expression finally changes to a surprise look with slight blush on his cheeks. His right foot lifts up and both his hands in front of him blocking Klein.

"Huh? She's into sports and hates games and is totally not your type, man!" Kirito says quickly. This still didn't stop Klein. Klein still keeps on coming closer to him, pressuring him. Even though this is meant to be a serious matter, I still can't help but laugh a little.

Klein continues. "Who cares! I wanna-" Klein gets cut off by getting kneed in the groin. He falls to the ground, rolling around back and forth. I think he forgot that he-oh, he realizes. "Oh right. Getting kick in the balls doesn't hurt." Klein says as he stops rolling around.

Kirito suddenly decides to bring back the 'serious' matter. "Get serious. Don't you think it's weird?" I fell back into my world of thoughts. Instead of thinking what's the problem, I decide of thinking how to solve it.

"Yeah, totally. But it's just a bug." Klein says while nodding.

Kirito has different thoughts of this matter instead. "This isn't just a bug. If we can't log out, it's going to cause some serious problems for the game." I nodded to this.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Klein replies.

Kirito looks off into a distance, at the direction of our hill. "I wonder if the developers even know what's happening, because they could have just shut down the server and log everyone out." Kirito is making a lot of valid points but that is something we can do nothing about. Kirito continues. "But why haven't they made an announcement?" This sentence went into my brain and echoes. Yeah, why haven't they made an announcement? That's too off….unless-!

My thoughts suddenly shatter into a thousand pieces by a loud ringing sound. All of us turn towards to the source of the sound, looking at the bell ringing throughout the entire area, making the situation tense. Suddenly, a bright light covers my vision. Within seconds, my vision starts to clear out. I find myself back in the area-like place alongside with Kirito and Klein. There are still other players teleporting around the area and the bell is still ringing, which isn't helping the situation. Is this the announcement?

After a while, the bell stops ringing along with the teleporting. "Someone forced a teleport." Kirito whispers softly but loud enough for me to hear. Forced a teleport? It has to be the announcement.

Out of the blue, someone shouts. "Look up there!" I quickly turn my view upwards to see a red flashing hexagon. I take a closer look to see it says 'System Announcement'. It is an announcement after all. I hope they fix this bug and quick. Suddenly, the red hexagon starts to spread out like fire. It took me a while to focus but the hexagon was written 'warning' and 'System Announcement'. Warning? Does it mean anything? Before I could finish my thoughts, a pool of blood leak out between the hexagons, dropping a few feet below it. The pool of blood starts to form up into a shape. Before long, the shape forms into a floating red cloak. The 'being' has white floating gloves for hands and there's nothing under the hood of 'it'. Is this an event boss? It can't be, not at a serious time like this.

The 'being' spreads his arms wide. "Attention players." 'It' has a deep voice. It can't be an event boss. 'It' continues to speak. "I welcome you to my world." My world…..it's the developer!

Everyone starts to get confuse to the meaning of his words. "What does he mean by that?" Kirito whispers in confusion. I just waited for the developer to speak, hoping he could solve everyone's questions.

"My name is Akihiko Kayaba, and as of this moment, I'm in control of this world." Akihiko speaks loud and clearly. Everyone around me gasp in shock and at the corner of my eye, I see Kirito's face turn pale. I didn't have any reaction of sorts because I never really care for the name of a game developer since young. I only waited for him to address the bug problem. "I'm sure most of you have already noticed an item missing from your main menus, the log out button." I relax slightly after this. Now I just need to wait for him to fix it.

"Let me assure you that this is not a defect in the game. I repeat, this is not a defect. This is how Sword Art Online was designed to be." His words shock me by a little. So, I'm right. This is not a defect. But he also said that this is how Sword Art Online is meant to be. Oh no…. unless this is his plan all along!

To my right, Klein's jaw drop. "He's kidding, right?" Unfortunately, this is all too real. I feel my leg shaking slightly, feeling a little terrified. A feeling I have not felt in a long time.

My view turns back to Akihiko, waiting for him to say something. "You cannot log yourselves out of SAO, and no one from the outside will be able to shut down or remove the 'NerveGear' from your head. If anyone attempts to do so, a transmitter inside the NerveGear will discharge a microwave signal into your skull, destroying your brain and ending your life." His calm words freak me out. How could he be so cool about this? It's murder! He is a lunatic. That's for sure.

Everyone in the area starts to panic upon hearing his words. Some people try to get out but only to be block by a barrier. "Are you guys listening to this crap? He's got to be nuts, right? Right, Kirito?" Klein says to Kirito.

Kirito's expression remains serious. "He's not. The transmitter's signals work just like a microwaves. If the safety's disabled, it could fry your brain." What an experience for my first VR game!

"Couldn't someone cut the power or…"Klein says with a little panic tone. I choose to enter the discussion when I remember something.

"You can't do that. It won't work. If you noticed the top right corner of your NerveGear screen before entering the game, there's actually a battery icon there." I say facing Klein and pointing at my top right of my view.

Klein's face turns pale after realizing reality. "This is crazy! It's totally crazy!" Damn it, Kayaba! What are you thinking! My fist clench tightly.

My view once again turns back to Akihiko with a mix of anger and fear. Akihiko starts to speak up again. "Despite my warning, the families and friends of some of the players have attempted removing the NerveGear, an unfortunate decision, to say the least. As a result, the game now has two hundred thirteen less players than when it began. They've been deleted from both Aincrad and the real world." 213? How could this be? My anger grows even more than before. I clench my fist tighter. I love games but killing people isn't right.

"Why are you doing this?" I manage to mutter out to myself.

"Two hundred and thirteen?" Kirito says out of shock.

"No way, I don't believe it!" Klein says out of disbelief. I don't want to either but it's all real.

Turning back to Akihiko, there are screens around him, floating. Each of the screens shows the news that the players has died. I can see the terror on the other players. Akihiko speaks up, "As you can see, international media outlets have round-the-clock coverage of everything, including the deaths. At this point, it's safe to assume the likelihood of a NerveGear being removed is minimal at best. I hope this brings you a little comfort as you try to clear the game." I'm glad I live alone but what about the other players? Are they just gonna die off like that? I can tell Kirito is angry as well without looking. I wait for Akihiko to continue. "It's important to remember the following: There is no longer any way to revive someone within the game. If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be deleted from the system... forever." I gulp. I feel a chill down my spine. I can feel my blood boiling and freezing at the same time. "And the NerveGear will simultaneously destroy your brain."

I can feel Kirito's anger rising up as well, his anger rising above mine as if he has consumed every feeling in him beside pure anger and the determination to win. "There is only one way for a player to escape now - you must clear the game." Akihiko proceeds to press a button, a holographic image of a floor with a red dot appear in front of him. "Right now, you're gathered on Floor One, the lowest level of Aincrad." There are suddenly more floors appearing above each other with a column connecting each of them and a red dot on each of the floors. "If you can get through the dungeon and defeat the boss, you may advance to the next floor. Defeat the boss on Floor 100, and you will clear the game." Wait….he wants us to beat a MMORPG game! That will take us years, even if there is all of us to do it.

Klein whispers, "We can't clear all 100 floors...That's freaking impossible... even the beta testers never made it that high!" Really….then it is going to be impossible to complete. I feel like it's getting harder to complete the game.

Akihiko silence everyone then proceeds to raise his hand. "Last but not least, I've placed a little present in the item storage of every player. Please have a look." I raise my eyebrow, I decided to check anyway. I open my menu and check my item section. There is an item called 'mirror' in my inventory. Why do I need this? I click on it and it appears on my hand. Suddenly, a white light surrounds Klein. I quickly run towards to Klein but a white light appears around me as well, blinding me. My vision starts to clear out after several minutes. Everything pretty much remains the same as before. I suddenly remember that Klein is trap in the white light. I quickly turn around to find him but he looks more different. He looks hairier and he looks older. I look to Klein's right to find Kirito which looks way younger….He's now around his high school times or something. I stare back at the mirror in hand to find I look like my real life self. The black eyes, the black hair, my average height and my average look without my glasses. So this mirror turns people into their real life self but how?

I look back at Kirito and Klein looking at each other confusingly. Kirito points at Klein and says "Is that you, Klein?"

Klein points back at Kirito confusingly and say, "Is that you, Kirito?" They didn't even react to me. I will give them some time. "But how?" Klein asks.

Kirito thought to himself before answering. "The scan. There's a high-density signal device inside the NerveGear rig. It can see what my face looks like, but how's it know my height and body type?" I remember I have to do the calibration thing when I bought the NerveGear. Maybe that's how.

Klein confirms my suspicions. "When you first put the NerveGear on, it had to do this... calibration thing. It asked you to touch your body all over like this, remember?" Klein says while using his two hands to touch his shoulders. How did Kayaba figure out everything out? How long did he actually plan this?

Kirito replies to Klein. "Oh, yeah, you're right. That's where it got our physical data!"

Klein puts his hands on his head and says, "But, this is...What's the point?! Why would anyone do this to us?!" That's a question that has been going through my head for a while now.

Kirito then points to Akihiko Kayaba. "I think he's about to tell us." Really? I quickly turn to Akihiko and wait for his answer.

"Right now, you are probably wondering why. Why would Akihiko Kayaba, developer of Sword Art Online and NerveGear, do this? Ultimately, my goal was a simple one. The reason I created Sword Art Online was to control the fate of a world of my design." This man has a god complex! What on Earth is he thinking?!

I see Kirito's glaring at Akihiko furiously. "Kayaba…." He's like a volcano waiting to erupt. I bet almost everyone here hates him now. I can feel Kirito's determination and anger.

Akihiko continued. "As you can see, I have achieved my goal. This marks the end of the tutorial and the official launch of Sword Art Online. Players, I wish you the best of luck." He then starts to glitch and disappear into smoke. The remaining blood got absorb into the gap between the hexagons. Lastly, all the red hexagons disappear into thin air.

The entire area falls into silence, everyone still shock about the incident. I can't believe Akihiko trap us in this game- no…this reality. You can't call this a game anymore. I always love games and sometimes I want to be in one but never like this. I always just want it to be me so that I can die happily but there are others here as well. 213 people died playing this death game. 213! How could he do this? I clench my fist tighter than ever.

Suddenly, a girl scream breaks the silence, causing everyone into panic. Everyone starts pushing each other and scream in fear, some still too terrified to move. Some people ran off into the exits, meaning that the barrier is lifted. I try to finding Kirito and Klein before losing them. I see them running off to somewhere. They left me behind! I quickly run to catch up to them. I follow them all the way to a back alley where Kirito stops in his tracks. He then turns to Klein to tell him something but I interrupted. "Hey! You guys left me behind!" I shouted. I reach them and stop to pant.

"Sorry about that. I forgot to bring you along." Kirito says without changing his expression. I just wave it off. He has better stuff to talk about anyways. He nod and turn towards to the both of us. "Okay, listen. I'm heading out right now for the next village. I want you guys to come with me." Klein could only respond with a questioning sound. I knew Kirito is a good man but he's being a little too generous. Kirito take this silence to continue. "If what he said is true, and I think it is, the only way we're gonna survive in here is by making ourselves as strong as possible. In an MMORPG, the money you can earn... the EXP... once the game starts up, there's only so much of that stuff to go around. Look, the fields around the Town of Beginnings are gonna be hunted clean soon. If we head to the next village now, we'll have an easier time collecting cash and points. Don't worry, I know all the paths and places we should avoid. Even if I'm level one, I can get us there easy." He's right. He seems to know what he's doing. I'll follow him, I guess.

Unfortunately, Klein did not think the same way I did. "Thanks, but... you know those friends of mine I was telling you about... we stood in line for a whole night to buy this, and...They're back at the Plaza, somewhere... and I can't leave 'em." I understand him. That's what I would do too…if I have friends. "Sorry." Klein says to Kirito, snapping Kirito out of his thoughts. "Can't ask a guy I just met to risk his life for a bunch of strangers, can I? So, don't worry about me. Get your ass to the next village. I'll be fine! Last game I played, I ran a guild, so I'm more than prepared. And with all the stuff you taught me, I'll get by, no sweat!" Klein says with a smile. I can tell Klein is trying to cheer up Kirito, making him feel less guilty.

"Okay. If that's what you want, what about you?" Kirito says sadly then turns to me. No one likes being turning down and I bet his guilt is eating away at him.

"I'll going with you. I don't really have friends." I say slightly sad. I step by Kirito and knowing that he'll try to comfort me, I push the topic away.

Kirito then continue to tell Klein before turning away. "But if you're in a jam, message me, okay? I'll be seeing you, Klein. Take care." Kirito turns away with a darken look. He slowly walks away, I soon follow him.

"Kirito! Rinito!" Klein shouts making me turn back. "Um, you two look better like this. Way cooler than your avatar." Klein continues to say. Kirito stops in his track, turning back.

"Yeah, and I think that scruffy face fits you ten times better, too." Kirito says with a small smile. He proceeds to run down the alleyway.

"Well, Klein. Be seeing you next time. Good luck." I say also with a small smile. I really hope he survives. He's a man who is willing to help his friends and that's respectable.

"You too, Rinito." Klein says with a wide smile. He then goes off to find his friends. I should catch up with Kirito. I turn around to find him. I see Kirito standing still, looking back. Does he want to apologize for abandoning Klein? Well, Klein's long gone. Kirito suddenly turns back to the front, his eyes blazing hotter than ever. He runs through the alleyway and a market into a field on a pathway. I follow him slowly.

A wolf appears in front of Kirito. Kirito lunges forward, activating a sword skill in the process. He slices the wolf in half, turning the wolf into blue polygons. I still continue to follow him. He screams a challenge with a fire burning inside him.

This world is unfair and cruel. My soul starts to burn bigger and hotter. No matter what we do, we'll never get what we wanted. But DAMN Akihiko Kayaba! DAMN this world! I'll keep fighting! I won't fall back!

I'll never give up!

I'll never lose!

Because…..

I finally have friends by my side….