My friend Tyler and I are a couple of gamers. He, a retired man of the military, and I, a college graduate with a degree in biology, made quite the pair. Tyler's wife would often joke about him sending people to the hospital and me fixing them; we went along with it for the most part, except we both knew that I would be right next to him, helping him beat the tar out of whoever deserved it.

The date is August 26th, 2022, and we have only just learned about the Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online game: Sword Art Online. It's supposedly revolutionary, in that it is the first full-dive game to be played entirely online.I was bummed that I couldn't participate in the beta, Tyler could really care less.

"Come on, Marcus, We only have a few more months until it comes out. Besides, wouldn't you rather jump into it without knowing anything about it?"

"I suppose," I replied, getting off the couch and walking to the shelf that housed all our games. "But I'd like to at least learn something about it. You can't really find any information about it from any of the beta testers, because they're not allowed, saying it'll all be in the beginner's guide." I sighed, unable to find anything I wanted to play.

I walked over to my computer, Tyler's on the opposite wall so we're back-to-back. I picked up my NerveGear, the blue-grey helmet weighing my hand down more and more as I await the new game to come out. I groaned and dropped it back onto my desk, about ready to rip my hair out. "Argh! Why can't it come out sooner?!"

"Dude, chill. It'll be ready when it's ready." Tyler said, walking out of the kitchen with a cup of coffee.

"Hey, isn't that like your eighth cup? You really should watch your caffeine intake, man."

"I can't help it, I like being wired. Get it? It's a gaming joke!"

We stood there, looking at each other in silence, before laughing at the horrible joke.

"So, you figured out the name you're gonna use?" Tyler asked, sipping his cup, wincing a little from the hot drink.

"Same as always: Sartarus. What about you? Gonna go with AxelMoon, like usual?" I replied, sitting at my desk and checking my feeds.

"Nah, I think I'm gonna try something different. Maybe…" He paused, deep in thought as I scrolled through my notifications. I groaned at all the junk, mostly stuff from my old university.

"How does Aaros sound?" He asked. I turned and looked up, not really paying attention.

"How does what sound?"

"Aaros."

"Arrows?"

"No, Aaros. A-a-r-o-s."

"Why so many 'a's?"

"Why such a cunt?"

"Bitch."

"Asshole."

We smiled at each other and he took his seat behind me, picking up his controller and starting up his latest shooter. I decided I'd join him, after all, we're basically brothers.

The days crawled by, and I was always checking the release page, watching the timer count down sometimes for almost an hour. I couldn't wait for Sword Art Online to come out, and neither could Tyler, but he had a better time of controlling himself about it.

Finally, the day came that we agreed on to head out, because we'd have to go to Japan to get it, and we'd have to camp out if we wanted to get one of the very limited number of copies. Money isn't an issue, Tyler's benefits paid for the plane tickets, and my salary paid for the hotel room and the copies of the game. We had to compromise and each pay for our own translation expansions for our NerveGear, but that didn't run us too much.

I was practically vibrating in my seat as we waited to board the plane, my NerveGear in my lap in my backpack, the rest of my luggage already on the plane hopefully. Tyler was sitting next to me, reading a book he bought here at the airport, glancing over at me every few minutes and laughing to himself. He thought I didn't notice, but I noticed everything today; I noticed all the different kinds of people, I noticed how most of them were flying on business, and that none of them looked very happy, either. I must be a strange sight, a grown man this excited for something. I laughed at myself and did my best to calm down, pulling my phone out of my pocket and surfing the internet. Shortly after that, my leg started bouncing. Guess I couldn't hide my excitement after all.

The flight was rather uneventful, at least until I fell asleep. I had a dream, and it was a strange one. Rather than creating an avatar once I put on the helmet, it simply vanished, leaving me standing there, in a plaza made of cobblestone. I looked up, the sky was red, and it was dark. I continued to look around me, seeing only empty streets and buildings. I tried to take a step forward, but I was rooted to the spot. I couldn't move my legs, try as I might. Suddenly, there was the ring of a bell, the kind that you would hear in a church. It was slow, and deep, ringing all around me. With each toll, a body appeared before me on the ground, bloodied and beaten. I stood in shock as this happened again and again, the once empty plaza filling quickly with corpses.

The death knell finally stopped, and I stood there, hundreds, maybe thousands of bodies littering the street. I nearly jumped as a blue pillar of light flashed in front of me, and then it was as if I was looking into a mirror. I stood there, looking at myself, and then a slash appeared on the other me's throat, bleeding profusely, but not hitting the ground. The blood then wrapped around him, forming a hooded robe. The form lifted into the sky and grew in size, until the hooded figure loomed over the plaza. I stood there, gazing up at this mysterious figure in wonder. The floor suddenly fell out from under me and I was falling, into a black abyss, the bodies falling all around me.

And then I hear from the darkness: "I welcome you to my world."

I sat bolt upright, sweating bullets and breathing heavily. I looked around the crowded cabin. It's dark now, the aisle illuminated by small lights on the floor. I stood up and pushed my way past Tyler's sleeping form, making my way to the bathroom in the back of the plane. I locked the door and stood in front of the mirror, staring at my pale face and bloodshot eyes. "Man that sucked…" I said to no one in particular. I turned on the faucet and splashed my face with the cold water, sighing and standing there for a few more minutes, regaining my composure.

The plane finally touched down in Tokyo and Tyler and I made our way out into the airport, hailing a cab and heading to our hotel. I flopped on the bed and passed out, thankfully not dreaming this time.

We camped out in front of the store as early as we could, waiting for a couple days before finally getting our hands on a copy. We stood there, posing for pictures for the media, our NerveGears on with a copy of the game held high. We stayed for a bit, chatting, with some of the other buyers, and failing to communicate, so we decided to head back to the hotel for the night.

"Hey, wanna get a head start on the game before we head home tomorrow?" Tyler asked, already pulling the cellophane off his case.

"You really have to ask?" I replied, pulling the disk out of my case and strapping myself in, lying on the bed, waiting for Tyler to get ready, too.

I heard the springs creak from across the room, knowing he was ready.

"Alright," I said, "Three… Two… One…"

"Link Start!" We said in unison, the display lighting up and sending us into the game.

We created our characters, mine a fairly accurate version of myself, not too tall or stocky, with long black hair and a shortsword. I stood in the same cobblestone plaza as in my dream, green cloth armour and a breastplate being my only gear. I looked around and took a deep breath, getting as much of the virtual air into my lungs as I could, before I felt a tap on my shoulder.

I turned and saw Aaros, standing in his orange cloth armour and breastplate. He stood a little shorter than me with his black hair cropped short, and on his hip was a tanto dagger, sheathed in tattered leather. I greeted him with a fist bump and started looking around.

"Alright, so where's the first set of quests?"

We had started playing at about the same time as everyone else, about 1 PM on November 7th, 2022. We played for a few hours, stopping and heading back to the Town of Beginnings around 5 PM. We walked around, looking to see if we could find any new weapons that would be good for our play styles. My eyes lit up as I saw mine, a simple claymore, the two handed grip wrapped in leather. I immediately checked the price tag and my heart sank. I didn't have enough money and it's about time for dinner.

I groaned and turned to Aaros. "Hey, can you lend me some money so I can get this? I'll do the same when we find something you can use."

"Yeah sure." He opened his menu and threw the money over to mine, and I turned, starting the NPC dialogue options to buy this new two-hander.

"Hey…" Aaros said, looking up from his menu. "There's no logout button."

"You're joking, right?" I said, hefting my new blade up onto my shoulder, smiling at the weight and balance.

"Nope. It's just not there. I'm calling a GM."

"You do that. I'm gonna go stock up for that miniboss we saw earlier."

I took a step towards the potion shop, immediately being engulfed in that blue light from my dream. I stopped and looked down, and before I knew it, I was in the plaza of the Town of Beginnings again. I looked around and saw hundreds of others being teleported here as well, Aaros appearing right beside me a few seconds later. We looked around and at each other.

"What is going on here?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. Is it an event?"

"I don't think so. There would have been some kind of notice, don't you think?"

"Plus they wouldn't teleport everyone here…" As he finished, the last of the players were teleported and a red hexagon appeared in the sky. The messages "Warning" and "System Announcement" flashed a few times before the entire sky was covered in the red blocks. I jumped at the sudden change and noticed something dripping from between each of the spaces. It looked like blood... Soon, more began oozing out, joining close to the ground and pooling in the air, the hooded figure appearing before us.

"Attention players. I welcome you to my world."

I froze, my mind going blank as I connected this event with the one in my dream. I zoned in and out, hearing only key details.

Kayaba Akihiko.

No escape.

Death is permanent.

I came to my senses as I turned, and saw Aaros staring at the figure I assumed was Kayaba. His expression was one of hatred, and vengeance.

"Last but not least," I heard from the flying figure, "I've placed a little present in the item storage of every player. Please have a look."

I blinked a few times and swiped down, opening up my inventory, noticing the only new item there, labeled "Mirror." I pressed it, and a small handheld mirror appeared in my hand. Several other characters had the same idea, holding the piece of reflective glass in front of them.

We were all engulfed in the same blue light as before, and when it finally dissipated, everyone looked completely different. Not only that, I looked like my real self. I stared into the mirror until I saw a flash of blue in my peripherals. I turned to Aaros just as he became visible, and saw the short, muscular man that I knew in the real world. I stared at him in wonder. He turned and looked up at me.

"Sar, I've got a bad feeling about this."

"Yeah, me too."

Then we heard Kayaba again.

"This marks the end of the tutorial and the official launch of Sword Art Online. Players, I wish you the best of luck."

And then he vanished. The sky cleared up and everything was quiet for a few seconds, then the panic set in. People screamed and ran about, many huddled up and tried to stay out of everyone's way.

Before I could react to the riot, Aaros ducked my head down and led me through the crowd.

pushing and throwing anyone who got in our way. Within seconds, Aaros rushed a nearby door and threw me inside, slamming the door shut behind him. He had unknowingly thrown us into the inn, where we could stay safely until the commotion outside died down. I stood up and brushed myself off, thanking him and getting us a room to stay for the night. I walked upstairs and sat on the bed, cupping my head in my hands.

Aaros stepped inside after me and put his hand on my shoulder. "We'll figure out what's going on, Sar, just gotta keep our heads on straight."

"Yeah… Yeah, you're right…" I said to the empty space in front of me. He walked around and sat on the empty bed, sprawling out and getting relaxed.

"Not much more we can do today. Might as well get some sleep."

"Are you sure we should be sleeping at a time like this?" I asked, a little worried.

"There's no logout button, at least, not from what I saw. In some games, they make it to where you can only leave at certain places. If a town isn't a place for us to leave, and Kayaba was telling us the truth, then there's nothing else we can do." Aaros said as the crowd grew louder outside. "By tomorrow, a lot of people are going to be dead. When you let the stress cave in on you, and you do nothing but panic, it leads you to do stupid things. Like taking on something you can't handle. So believe me when I say this, our first objective should be letting this all settle itself out for tonight. First thing tomorrow morning, we'll check the shops and stock up on whatever we need. After that, we have to be on our toes. I don't want to see another comrade die."

"Damn. I didn't think of it like that…" I stared up at the boards that made up the ceiling, staring off into space. "But we can handle this. We've been in stickier situations and come out relatively unscathed." I grinned and reached out with my arm, my fist in the middle of the room. Aaros chuckled and touched knuckles before we finally turned the lights off and ended the day.