Misperception

Chapter One: Awakening

Have you ever dreamed about waking up in a different world? Do you remember thinking how cool it would be to fight monsters and demons as a child, with nothing but a sword? Have you ever wished you could do these things?

Let me give you some advice. Don't. Wishes can and will come true, and none of those fantasies are fun when they actually happen. Ninety nine percent of you would be killed in an instant.

Me? I'm one of the one percent who survived.

I am Kirigaya Kazuto, and this is the story of my life.

I was running. Running from countless numbers of black reptilian beasts, with snake tails and bat-like wings.

Panting, I looked behind me.

Good… it looks like I put some distance between us… how the hell did it come to this?!

(The day before)

"Happy birthday, honey!" my girlfriend said, pulling a cake out from behind her back.

Where did the cake come from?

"Kimiko, thank you so much! You have no idea how much this means to me!"

"Well, why don't we sit at the table with everyone else so you can make your birthday wish?"

Everyone else is here? But just a few seconds ago, the table was empty…

When I looked to the once empty table, I saw my friends and family, all smiling warmly at me.

I pretended not to notice the strange occurrence, just as I did with all the other times, and I sat down with everyone.

We had a good time talking, and eventually it was time for me to make my birthday wish.

I closed my eyes, preparing to blow out the candles.

I decided to wish for the same thing I always did, but with a little alteration to the phrasing.

I wish… to see the truth.

When I opened my eyes after blowing out the candles, I noticed some… differences… in everyone in front of me, compared to how they appeared a few seconds ago.

The first: their fingernails were longer and slightly more pointed than before, somewhat resembling claws.

The second: they all had slightly darker skin, but not like they were tanning. No, it looked as if their skin had blackened slightly.

The third: I could see what looked like mini-fangs protruding from their mouths.

I put on the act I did every year, pretending like nothing had happened and having what would appear to anyone as a good time.

When everyone had left other than my girlfriend, I told her, "I'm exhausted… I'm going to go to bed, okay?"

"Aw," she whined, though it sounded more like a growl. "But you said we were going to have a movie marathon tonight!"

I don't remember saying that!

"I know, but I don't think I'd be able to stay up through even one movie. I feel really bad about this, but you can watch them on your own if you want. I promise I'll make it up to you tomorrow."

"Then I'll come with you," my girlfriend said, instantly cheering up.

"A-all right."

And with that, we went to bed, her claw-like nails digging into my arm as she held it.

I don't even remember her name…

The next morning when I woke up, I didn't feel the familiar annoyance of the sun shining in my eyes. Instead, when I opened my eyes, I found a black sky outside my window.

What's going on…?

"Hey honey… good morning…" a raspy female voice said from beside me in bed.

I looked over, and what I saw terrified me to the core.

In the spot where my girlfriend had fallen asleep lay an all-black reptilian beast, with bat-like wings folded to its back and a tail with an end that looked like that of a rattlesnake.

When it opened its eyes, I noticed that they were blood-red in color.

"Wow, what a beautiful, sunny day!"

"But the sky is black," I said, instantly realizing my slip-up.

"What?" the beast said darkly.

Well, I'm screwed now, so I might as well tell the truth.

"I don't know who you are, but the sky is black, and I don't want to be in a world like that."

"What do you mean?"

"I might as well reveal everything," I started. "Ever since my thirteenth birthday, when I wished to see the unseen, I've been seeing things… strange things. Last night, on my fifteenth birthday, I wished to see the truth. I guess this is my punishment."

"Damn it… you could've lived three more years if you had just stayed ignorant. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to cut my losses."

It was then that I noticed how big the monstrosity's claws were, and how sharp they looked.

It slammed its claws down on the bed, and I narrowly avoided getting slashed in the stomach.

Shit! That was close!

And with that, I jumped out the open window and into the streets, running for my life.

(Present time)

When I looked in front of me again, I found myself confronted by another one of the monsters.

It raised its right claw, beginning to swing down.

I closed my eyes, bracing myself for the impact that would end my life.

It never came.

I opened my eyes, finding that everything had stopped moving, the beast's claws just centimeters from my head.

"Would you like to have a chance to live?" a combination of voices queried.

What? "Y-yeah!"

"Would you be willing to play a game of death for your chance of survival?"

"Yes!"

"Good. What kind of weapon would you like to use to survive? Once you choose, there will be no going back."

I thought of my childhood fantasies, and the weapon choice I had always dreamed of.

"I choose to dual wield!"

"A diverse choice. Good thinking. Now, get ready for biggest challenge you'll ever face! Have fun!" the voice said, then disappearing.

Then, all of a sudden, everything went white.

When I awoke, I found myself in a bed I wasn't familiar with, in what appeared to be an old-style inn.

"Ugh… where am I?" I asked, immediately yawning afterward.

I then noticed two one-handed swords at my bedside, each with the same design, but in different colors.

The swords were shaped like lightning bolts, one black and one white. I could feel raw power radiating from them.

"So you're awake! That's good! Would you like something to eat?" a high-pitched voice inquired from the doorway.

I looked over to find a little girl with brown hair tied into pigtails, wearing a red maid outfit and blushing like wildfire.

Is she really a maid…?

"Y-yes please."

She looked at me with a smile, her blush toning down a bit. "Right this way, then!"

I got up and followed her through the hallways of the inn, noting that everything looked to be a few years old, yet the style seemed to be from the medieval period in Europe.

This is too weird.

"Um, if you don't mind my asking, and I know this is a stupid question, but… what year is this? I feel like I've been out for a while," I queried nervously.

"Oh, you haven't been out that long, silly. I found you in the Receiving Portal three days ago. By the way, my name is Silica," the girl, now known as Silica, said cheerily.

"Okay… what is the Receiving Portal?"

Silica looked at me with a bright smile. "I'm glad you asked! You see, every person in this world was brought here by some kind of being, telling us to play a death game for the person to have another chance to survive. When we wake up, we wake up in the Receiving Portal, which is in the center of town."

"I see…"

None of this adds up…

"Everyone that comes here comes from a different world, so no one has that much in common with everyone else. What was your world like?"

Everyone comes from different worlds? This is making less and less sense.

"Wait a second… are there different races in this world?" I asked, avoiding her question.

"Yup! I'm a human, but I personally know a vampire and a succubus. If you asked that question, I'm guessing you're a human too," Silica explained.

"Y-yeah…"

"Well, I should probably explain about this world. I'm basically an overseer of this game, so I can't help you—I can only explain the details of this world," Silica said.

"O-okay…"

This little girl is an overseer over this world?

"First off, the world we're in now is a giant castle called Aincrad, and it has one hundred floors… or that's what people think," Silica began.

"So that means that you, an overseer, know otherwise," I assumed.

"Yeah, you got me. Don't tell anyone I told you this, but there are a lot more than one hundred floors in this castle of death.

"Second, the goal for everyone here is to get to the top floor, defeat the creator of the death game, and become God.

"Third, there are monsters in this game that you have to beat in order to move forward. Some of them don't mean anything, and defeating them only increases your strength a little. It's still something, but they increase your strength by so little that it doesn't really matter. Those are called Token Monsters. They come in different forms, and each floor has a theme which all the Monsters are based on.

"With each floor, the monsters, token or not, become stronger. At the top of each floor, there are very powerful monsters, known as Demon Kings. You have to defeat the Demon King of the floor you're on in order to advance. Their power also increases with each passing floor.

"The lead group was once comprised of forty-eight people, but now they're down to twelve. They've gotten to floor six, but they stopped there due to excessive casualties in the battle against the fifth floor Demon King.

"Well, I'd say that's pretty much it. Oh, one more thing before I leave. You should watch your back. Murder is legal, so people will be out for your head if you get too strong. Bye!"

And with that, Silica disappeared in a flash of white light.

I walked back to my room to get my swords, her last sentence still fresh in my mind.

"Murder is legal, so people will be out for your head if you get too strong."

"Then I'll just have to become stronger than everyone else. I'll get to the top floor and beat this world's creator and become God! Then I'll get back to my own world and save it!"

(One week later)

Surrounded by a pack of seven chimeras, I began to find out just how dangerous this world could be.

The chimeras all had the head of a lion, the body of a dragon, the legs of a wolf, and the tail of a rattlesnake.

My life force is dwindling, I can tell. But… I won't give up!

I had discovered then figured out the mechanics of the most vital asset to my battle style: the Sword Skill.

And so, activating one of my skills, I spun around and delivered a shockwave in all directions, stunning the chimeras and giving me the opening I needed.

I dashed to the one directly in front of me, delivering a strike through its neck and making black fluid ooze out of its arteries as it fell limply to the ground.

I repeated the action with the second, third, and fourth, but then the stun effect wore off on the three surviving chimeras.

They roared at the loss of their fallen brethren, all charging at me at once. I jumped over their heads and allowed them to crash into each other, landing on their backs and stabbing two of their spines and permanently paralyzing them.

The one chimera left standing did just what I hoped it would do. It spread its black wings and flew away, fleeing to the nest of the Demon Prince of the first floor, known as the Shadow Chimera.

I ran as fast as I could in that direction, hoping to find its nest, which was rumored to be at the base of the tower where the Demon King of the first floor resided.

I saw a giant tree come into view, stretching up into the ceiling of the first floor.

That must be the tower!

When I got closer, I noticed that a little bit farther up the tree was a giant nest, with a giant black lion head peeking out. When it spotted me, it raised up, revealing its body that looked like a giant all-black version of the chimeras I fought earlier.

It flew down, landing before me with a force that shook the earth around me.

I immediately sprang into action, using a skill that temporarily increased my speed at the cost of slightly reduced damage.

I ran below it, slashing its belly repeatedly until I reached the other side, where I cut its tail off.

Black fluid gushed out of the wound, some getting onto my clothes and burning small holes in them.

So the Demon Princes have acidic blood.

The giant chimera roared in pain, turning around to face me. It swung down its claws at me and I dodged, letting them get lodged in the ground. Using this to my advantage, I jumped onto its leg and ran up until I was on its back, then proceeded to cut its spinal cord near the neck, making it fall to the ground.

I landed next to it gracefully.

"If I leave it like this, it'll never heal, but it won't die for a long time either, making it take even longer for it to come back, if it ever does. Keeping it alive would be doing everyone a favor."

I began to walk away, but stopped when I heard the sound of an explosion. I turned around, finding that a cloaked figure had just destroyed the Shadow Chimera with his or her rapier.

"You're too nice. In this game, all that matters is reaching your goal. You shouldn't be helping others," the cloaked person said in a high-pitched voice.

So it's a girl.

"So I'm supposed to let everyone on this floor rot away?" I whispered darkly.

"They haven't moved beyond this floor because they chose not to. It's not because they were too weak. They just chose not to, for their own reasons," the girl replied.

This girl really pisses me off.

"Well, whatever. I'm going ahead to face the Demon King of this floor."

"Are you an idiot?"

"What?"

"I asked if you're an idiot. You can't fight a Demon King alone. It's crazy."

"Well, I guess I'm going insane, then," I retorted, beginning to walk away.

"Wait!"

"Yeah?"

"I'll go with you. I'm planning to go to the next floor too, and I don't have anyone with me. We should team up for the fight," she said, trying to hide her desperation.

I chuckled. "Well, all right. Don't slow me down."

"I should be saying the same to you."

(Two hours later)

I watched as the girl completely destroyed a skeleton knight in four simple strikes with her rapier.

Damn, this girl is good.

A strike sent in my direction redirected my attention to my own skeleton knight. I ducked to avoid it, striking the legs of the knight and sending him toppling over. I finished with a Sword Skill called Rage Explosion, which completely obliterated the skeleton knight in just one hit.

Too easy.

"Let's move on. I think we're almost there," I told her.

"You got it."

When we found the door to the Demon King's room, I suddenly had second thoughts.

Am I really strong enough? Even with this girl with me… no! I have to do this! To save my world!

"All right, you ready?" I asked her, receiving a nod of affirmation in return.

And with that, we pushed open the giant door, looking inside to see what we had to face.

"It's dark. I can't see a thing… can you?" Asuna queried, her voice quivering slightly.

Is she afraid of the dark?

"Not a thing."

Suddenly, torches lit the room with a blue fire, and I found myself face to face with a black Cerberus.

"I am Hell's Roar, and I will be your first challenge!"

"You ready?" I asked Asuna again.

"Y-yeah."

"All right, let's go!"

A/N:

This is a story for which I had the idea a long time ago, but I never got the inspiration to write it up, let alone post it. It originally had nothing to do with SAO (I came up with it before SAO was created), and was an idea entirely my own, but I modified it a little to fit SAO.

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Leave them in a review or PM, and I'll be happy to respond.

Also, I'm well underway with the next chapter of The Kendo Club, so you should see it within the next day or two. At the same time, I regret to inform you that the Harem Branch of ERROR: SYSTEM REBOOT will not be written, because I'm just not getting anywhere with it.

Constructive criticism will be taken into consideration, user flames will be ignored, and guest flames will be deleted on the spot. Anyway, it's time for everyone's least favorite line: the dreaded disclaimer!

I don't own Sword Art Online or any of its characters!

See ya!