Robert Williams

My time in SAO

Chapter 1

November 6th, 2022, Town of Beginnings, Aincrad

"Thanks. Have a nice day." I said to the desk clerk as I was handed the Nerve Gear rig, and made my way past the rest of the line, and out the door. It was November 6th, 2022, the official launch of the first ever VRMMORPG (Virtual, Reality, Massively, Multiplayer, Online, Role, Playing, Game), Sword Art Online, and I was gonna be one of the 10.000 "hard-copy-players".

I went home to my mother, grandparents, two dogs, and parakeet. I said hello to everyone, relaxed for a bit, then set up my Nerve Gear rig in preparation to play the new game. It was a small purple helmet with cords attached that almost looked like something Biggs Darklighter would use.

I plugged it in, put it on, and it prompted me to pat myself all over with my hands. It was a little weird at first, but I complied. Anything for escapism, am I right? Then I realized what was on the visor display in the rig: a digital clock displaying the current time in my time zone, a battery symbol saying it was at full power, and a text box instructing me to shout loud enough for the sensors to hear: link start!

I finished the scan, lied on my back as if ready to sleep, closed my eyes, and followed the prompt. "Link start!"

Then, I didn't know it yet, but everything changed. The routine boot-up sequence occurred, asking me to log in, set my preferences, and get ready. Then a stream of colors flew past me, and I felt like I actually was asleep.

With a start, I woke up to find myself standing on a street corner. I looked around, and I couldn't believe I was in a game. Everything was so detailed. I was in The Town of Beginnings, the first town on the first of the games 100 play floors. All 100 floors are contained in the games floating world, called Aincrad. I, as well as many others, had read up on the games creator, Akihiko Kayaba. The man was an absolute genius, and it showed.

The town of beginnings was amazing. Civilized, medieval architecture with NPC run markets and busy streets. I could tell it was either mid-day, or sunset. I couldn't see the sun in the sky, but either way, it was golden bright out. A perfect time to log in to such a beautiful world. I knew a little about how these games usually worked, and had read up on the gameplay. You know? The menus, and character leveling and stuff?

So I reached my right arm out, and arranged my fingers into the knife-hand position, swiping down to open my player menu. Five icons appeared in front of me. Stats and inventory, social, messaging, quest log and maps, and settings. Apparently, the games item store gave info manuals out for free, and I thought there might be some useful information in them. I looked in my item storage under stats and inventory, and it was empty.

Huh, I thought. Maybe someone'll be handing them out. Like an NPC or something. I looked at my stats, and saw I hadn't done anything yet. I was still level 1. I realized there were probably still a couple of hours left before the last few players within the 10.000 limit logged in.

I headed for one of the market stalls to buy some base-level items with the 2.000 coal the game gives everyone to start out with. I've always thought it was a little odd that the games only currency was coal, instead of gold coins or something.

Anyway, I used a few hundred coal to buy: 5 health potions, 4 armor pieces, 3 golden rings, 2 brand new swords, and a familiar training skill. I was all set. Something else I didn't get about this game though, was that most fantasy MMORPGs of the type used magic, like spells and stuff, and this one didn't. Bold move.

I made my way into the fields outside of town to find something to fight. Maybe build up a couple of my sword skills. See, if you're not familiar MMO skill systems, the more you or your character ventures around and does things, the more skills you unlock and upgrade. You can upgrade a skill by practicing it increasingly.

I headed out of town, and instantly noticed that the bottom-level enemy is a normally passive tusked boar. Passive means it won't attack you, unless you bother it first. I saw a couple other players doing about the same thing I was a few yards away.

The status icon above its head shone green, meaning it was safe to be around. I pulled down my menu again, went into stats and inventory, and pulled out one of my new swords. "Basic Broadsword. Item lvl 3." I alsoput on some of my new armor in case the boars attacks were tough for level 1 players. I walked up to one, and found it calmly eating some grass without a care in the world.

"Ok porky, I'm hungry for some bacon." I said to the groveling beast. I readied my sword, and ran towards the boar. I was later to find out that if your sword isn't glowing a certain color, you haven't activated a sword skill, and the attack will be unsuccessful. Guess what.

Once my sword made contact with the boars skin, the boars status icon changed from green to red, and its HP hadn't dropped one bit. I had run, so I was now in front of it. It reared up, and bucked me from behind, in the behind. This game just kept surprising me, as, yes I was sent flying into the air and landed a few feet away. But I didn't feel any pain. I looked at my HP bar, and it hadn't dropped, so I guessed the armor I'd put on was working.

Suddenly, I saw a red prompt appear in front of me, like in the menu. External disturbance: "Get up, you need to wash the dishes." Would you like to log out? I was presented with a blue yes button, and a red no button. I had to press yes to avoid a confrontation when I eventually did log out.

Everything disappeared, and I felt groggy, as if waking up from a pleasant dream. I opened my eyes to see my mother sitting on the edge of my bed. "Hey." She said, and I groaned, like I really had been asleep.

"Yeah, I'll be out 'n a sec'." I told her. I took the Nerve Gear off, and sat up. Was it just a dream? It feels like it. I thought to myself. It couldn't've been. I concluded, and got up, to go to the kitchen. My dog, Chestnut, was waiting on the floor for me, wagging his cute little tail. I reached my hand down to pat his head, then walked out into the hallway, then into the kitchen. My mother and I chatted while we washed and put away the dishes to dry. We had a dish washer, but it was broken and we hadn't gotten around to buying a new one, so we used it as a drying rack.

Once we were done, I headed right back to my room and put the Nerve Gear back on. And there I was again, in Aincrad. But, I wasn't in the fields with the boars. I was in the Town of Beginnings' coliseum, among a crowd of people. Everyone was murmuring and talking to each other, and other players were teleporting from all over Floor 1. I was very confused, but just assumed the 10.000 limit had been hit, and that this was part of the opening ceremony.

Once it seemed like the teleports had stopped, a red prompt appeared in the sky above the coliseum. It said, WARNING!More popped up around it, saying either that, or SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT! They cascaded down to the top of the building until the beautiful golden sky was blotted out, and turned blood red. Then, some kind of deep red ooze seeped through between the prompts. It didn't fall on anyone though, it sort of pooled above us. And formed a giant, robed figure, hood shrouding face.

"Attention players." He said, raising his arms as if to say this much. "Welcome to my world." Now that shocked everyone. I heard someone close by ask himself,

"What's he mean by that?"

"My name is Akihiko Kayaba, and as of this moment, I am in control of this world." It was the GM. The big guy, the boss, the games creator. Another round of murmuring came from the crowd as we tried to process the information.

"I'm sure that most of you have already noticed an item missing from your main menus: the log out button." He said. Then he opened his menu to show us. I couldn't believe it. I opened my menu, and there it wasn't. Then I remembered that the log out button had been the only way to wake up from using the Nerve Gear. No emergency escape, nothing. "Let me assure you, this is not a defect in the game." Well, that puts the bug theory to rest. "I repeat: this is not a defect. This is how Sword Art Online was designed to be." What? You mean you meant to trap us all in here? I thought about shouting.

"You cannot log your selves out of SAO, and no one from the outside world will be able to shut down, or remove the Nerve Gear from your head. If anyone attempts to do so, a micro transmitter inside the machine will send a microwave signal into your skull, destroying your brain, and ending your life." This is when I really started to panic. I had school, a part-time job, and friends. I had to log back out at some point. But I realized he wasn't lying because I had checked out the Nerve Gears mechanics before-hand, and it did emit microwave signals. Turn off the safety, and it would fry your brain.

"Despite my warning, the families and friends of some the players of SAO have decided to remove their Nerve Gear rigs. An unfortunate decision, to say the least. As a result, the game now has 213 fewer players than when it began. They've been deleted from both Aincrad, and the real world." Right on cue, floating screens like the player menu displaying live news coverage and feeds appeared around him. "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 Nerve Gear being removed is minimal, at best. I hope this brings you a little comfort as you try to clear the game. It's important you remember the following: There is no longer any way to revive someone within the game. If your HP drops to 0, your avatar will be deleted from the system, forever." The news feeds disappeared from around him now. "And the Nerve Gear, will simultaneously destroy your brain." Now, a few of us faced the shocking image of dying at the tusks of a boar outside. "There's only one way for a player to escape now. You must clear the game. Right now, you are gathered on floor 1, the lowest level of Aincrad. If you can find the dungeon, and defeat the boss, you will advance to the next floor. Defeat the boss on floor 100, and you will clear the game. Last but not least, I've placed a little present in the item storage of every player. Feel free to take a look." I opened my item storage and saw an item labeled mirror there. I took it out, and noticed everyone else doing the same.

Suddenly, everyone was enveloped in a bright blue light, as if they were teleporting. And with a flash, we all looked different. More realistic. Then, I looked in the mirror, and saw my real face. So that's what that does. I thought.

"What's the point? Why would anyone do this to us?" I heard someone ask. I turned my head toward him, and his friend pointed up at Kayaba.

"I think he's about to tell us."

Right on cue, Kayaba spoke. "Right now, you're probably wondering: why? Why would Akihiko Kayaba, developer of Sword Art Online, and Nerve Gear, 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. 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." With that, the hooded figure dissolved, and the sky above returned to its former golden beauty.

To Be Continued…?