Prologue—Floor 1—Level 1
6:45. the clock stared at me mockingly, laughing at my responsibilities. I had school again, though it felt like prison. It's so dull that it's become tedious to come up with good analogies to describe it. I reluctantly got up.
I rose from my bed and dragged myself around the house, accomplishing the various tasks necessary to achieve the status of "ready", including putting on my uniform, fixing my brown hair, staring intently into my own blue eyes in the mirror,the usual stuff, before I made my way downstairs to the kitchen, where a bowl of cereal was waiting for me, along with my mother. I sat down and began scoffing the cereal quickly, and once I was done I kissed my mother goodbye before walking to the door. Only once I got there, a voice brought me back.
"Hayes." Mother called. "Come back a minute."
Not again...
"Yes mother?" I replied, walking back. "I need to get to school, so please don't hold me up too long."
She pointed at the bowl of cereal on the table.
"How did you eat that so quickly?"
Dammit. She caught me.
"Mother, no."
"Son, I know you hate your meds but you need to take them."
"No, I don't."
"Hayes, remember what the doctor said, right? If you want any sort of future you need to be able to focus."
"That doctor didn't mention the fact that in order to focus I had to give up what made me a human being."
"Hayes, please...I'd really appreciate you taking them."
I sighed.
"...fine. Where's the bottle?"
She pulled out the bottle from the medicine cabinet and gave it to me. I unscrewed the lid and swallowed one of the pills before handing it back.
"Thank you dear."
I said nothing as I walked to the door.
I walked out, shutting the door behind me, and began walking to school, pessimistically awaiting the trials of the day. Since I was ten, I'd been on a medication called Ritalin, which helped me focus in class. The only problem was that, whenever I took it, I felt emotionless and distant, so I hated being on it. A tell-tale side effect of the drug was that it drastically reduces my food intake, hence how my mother knew I wasn't on it when I ate my cereal quickly.
Though I will state that the Ritalin has an advantage. It keeps me awake, and considering how tired I was, I really needed it. The reason I was tired was that I spent last night watching the livestream release of Sword Art Online for the Nervegear. But unfortunately for me, I had neither game nor gear. I was only doing it as per the instructions of my friend Jane.
Speak of the devil- I saw her as I was walking. Jane has lived across from me for many years, and over those years we have developed a strong familial bond. She's like a sister to me.
Due to her being a few months younger than me, she's about a head shorter than my 5ft9. She has short brown hair and big green eyes. And is one of the friendliest people I know…
"Hey Jane." I called.
"Hey retard, late again I see?" she cackles.
…well, she's nice to other people at least.
"Well, I wouldn't have been so late if I hadn't been exhausted from having to stay up so late to watch the livestream release for a game I don't even own."
"Aww, you poor sad whiny bitch. I can't hear over the sound of my Nervegear and gaaaame!"
"Just because you got to beta test it doesn't mean you have to rub it in."
She stuck her tongue out at me. I ignored it and kept walking, until she asked me:
"Hey, did you eat anything this morning?"
"Yeah, I ate before I took them, thanks."
"That's good. I'd prepared a sandwich in case you hadn't. You still want one?"
"Sure, hasn't completely kicked in yet."
She handed me one and I wolfed it down. Jane's sandwiches are one of the only things I like more than tolerate, and Jane's always nice enough to oblige…for a price, usually.
"Wait, what's the catch?" I asked as I finished eating.
"Well, I will cost you another night's sleep."
"Ugh…really?"
"This one's not as bad, trust me."
I sigh. "What do I need to do?"
"Have I ever told you about my friend Luke?"
"No, who is he?"
"He's another beta tester I met while testing, only he's super rich; enough to afford two copies of SAO and two Nervegears. Anyway, when I got my actual copy, we planned on forming a party to start off. I could convince him to lend you one of his gears and games, and we could play together!"
I thought about it for a minute before saying:
"Umm… well, I'll admit, the game did pique my interest a tad during the livestream. Alright, sure, why not."
"Great! I'll text him during school and ask for him to give me the gear and game after school. I'll give them to you when we walk home, okay?"
"Sounds good."
We arrived at school and said goodbye to each other before heading to form.
After 6 hours of listening to droning teachers, not learning anything new, and failing at socialising, I walked home. Jane ran into me on the way.
"Hey fuckface!" she calls.
"You know, that kind of language is probably the reason why your mother got rid of your TV and radio."
"Shut up and accepts the gifts I offer."
She handed me the Nervegear and a copy of the game in a box.
"You'll need to calibrate it before you use it, so check the instructions on the back of the box. Anyway, we'll be going on at 7:00, so be ready, okay?"
"Sure. And thanks for this."
"I am literally the most amazing person you will ever meet, aren't I?"
I raised an eyebrow. "Uh-huh."
We reached our houses.
"Okay, so I'm going now. Remember, 7 o'clock, got it?"
"Yeah, yeah, I got it."
"Perfect! Oh, and I know you'll still be medicated, but don't forget to eat before you go on, alright? Please."
I sighed. "Fine."
"Thank you."
She walked to her house, and I walked to mine.
I opened the door and walked inside.
"Hello dear!" My mother called from the kitchen.
"Hello, mother." I said as I shut the door.
"How was your day?"
"Good."
"What did you do?"
"Stuff."
"Good talking to you."
"Yeah, I'm going upstairs now, bye."
I walked up without waiting for her response. I walked in my room, shut the door, and pulled the Nervegear out. It took a bit of doing to calibrate it like Jane told me to, but once it was done, it was already 6:55. I decided to jump straight in. I put it on my head, plugged it in, lay down, and entered.
It took me through a series of menus such as language etc., and then it arrived to username and password. I hadn't thought about my username at all beforehand, but fortunately I had one that, thanks to my actual name, fits quite well: Haze. For my password I just went with "Ritalin" because I was too lazy to think of an actual one. I hit enter, and dove in.
The experience, as I'd heard before, was quite riveting during the first time, but this felt unlike anything I'd experienced previously. And in the next instant, I was there.
Aincrad. The castle in the sky.
I didn't bother admiring the beauty of the location as I had to find the meeting place we had designated to meet; a field next to a boar spawner. I ran to the location, slowly adjusting to moving around in full dive as I went.
Upon reaching the location I spotted two people I didn't recognise up ahead; a boy, with red hair, green eyes, a tall stature and a slim build, and a girl, with blue hair, blue eyes, relatively short with a curvy figure. But the girl turned to me and called me over.
"Hayes! Over here!"
I approached.
"Do I know you?" I asked.
"Of course you- oh right." The girl said. "I'm in my avatar at the moment; it's me, Jane."
The boy piped up from behind.
"Jania, what did I say about using our real names in this game? It's bad for immersion!"
"Oh, sorry Luk- I mean, Lukius." She turned back to me. "In here my name is Jania, so please call me as such. And this is Lukius." She gestured to her friend.
He approached me. "And you're name might be?"
"Hayes."
"No, in game name." Jania corrected.
"Oh. Haze."
"Really? You used your real name?" Lukius said with a deterred scowl.
"Well I spelt it differently; my real name's H-a-y-e-s and my game name is H-a-z-e."
"How imaginative..." Lukius said monotonously. "Anyway we need to get started."
"Yeah, my mother wants me off by 8:00 so I can't stay long." Jania said.
Lukius began to walk on ahead.
"What's up his ass?" I asked.
"He's like that to everyone."
I pulled out my sword.
"Really? Your starting sword?" Lukius mocked.
"What's wrong with it?" I asked.
"God, you're a hopeless noob. Use this instead."
He opened his menu and sent me a trade request. I accepted and received a new item in my inventory: Rancher's Pitchfork.
"A pitchfork?" I asked.
"It's a spear you moron; it's just designed to resemble a pitchfork. And I guarantee it's better than your starting sword. Now let's get started."
He led us to the boar spawner and began spouting instructions on how to charge your weapon and strike. Jania seemed to have no trouble but the spear seemed strange to me and I struggled in working it out.
"What's wrong Haze?" Lukius asked annoyed.
"It's the spear, it doesn't feel natural."
"Well get used to it. You aren't getting another weapon from me."
I sighed and faced up to my first boar. I challenged it and it charged. I stood in position and tried to focus as my spear charged, but I was unfocused for some reason. The spear finally charged and I struck, but I missed the critical point and didn't kill it, so I swung back and struck again, this time delivering the killing blow.
"Are you alright?" Jane asked. "You seem unfocused…"
She realised what this meant and became angry.
"You didn't eat, did you?"
It had taken such a long time to calibrate the Nervegear that I'd forgotten about eating.
"I'm sorry, it slipped my mind."
"You promised me that you would eat, damn it!"
"I'm sorry, It took so long to calibrate the gear and—"
"No. I don't want to hear it. You lied to me."
"I-no, you're right, I'm sorry. I'll log out now and eat, okay?"
Lukius stepped in.
"You can't log out. I won't allow it."
I turned at him angrily.
"Won't allow it? Who the hell do you think you are?" I snapped.
"Luke, just stay out of this please."
"Lukius! You call me Lukius in-game!"
"Hey, don't shout at her! You're taking this game way too seriously!"
He snarled.
"That's it! You're out of the team! You get out of here and return my Nervegear and game to me, right now!"
"Fine by me you prick!"
I angrily opened the menu and scrolled through the options to get to the log out button.
Only it wasn't there…well, the button was there, but the words "logout" were missing. I clicked on it, but nothing happened. I clicked again, and nothing. I clicked five times in a row, and nothing. I looked up.
"Uh, guys?"
Lukius turned angrily.
"I said get out!"
"I can't. The button's missing from my menu."
Jane approached me.
"You can't log out? What do you mean?"
"Look."
I showed her my missing button. She stared questioningly for a minute, before checking her own menu, revealing that her logout button was missing as well. She tried clicking on it several times and nothing happened. She tried again, looking evidently more panicked after every click. She turned to Lukius.
"Can you log out?"
His menu was already open and he was in the process of clicking.
"No." He finally said.
Her eyes widened.
"What's going on?" Jane asked in a panicked tone. "Why can't we get out? I want out! Let me out! Let me out!"
In the past, Jane has had a history of panic attacks, most often triggered by a feeling of being trapped. It's usually quite difficult to calm her down like this, but that's never stopped me from trying.
"Jane!" I shouted. "Jane, look at me!"
She ignored me and ran off screaming. I chased her for a bit, but she was very fast and I lost her when she ran through the town.
"Jane!" I called as I frantically dashed past other players who also, for some reason, couldn't log out. I had no clue what was going on, but I didn't care. I had to find Jane, no matter what. I asked around, and found that people saw a screaming girl running through to the other side of town, all the way to the exit. I followed her trail as fast as I could, until I left the town.
I finally found her on a hill top on an open field, curled up in a ball against a single tree. I climbed the hill and approached her.
"Jane?" I said to get her attention.
She looked up at me, revealing tears in her eyes. I knelt down next to her and embraced her, letting her cry into my shoulder.
"It's alright. Everything's going to be fine."
She whimpered in a muffled tearful voice.
"Please stay with me. Don't leave me alone." She begged.
"I won't. I'll stay by your side until this is all sorted out, I swear. And the first thing we'll do when we get out is eat all the food in my fridge together."
She released me and looked deep into my eyes.
"Promise?"
I looked back, and smiled at her.
"I pro—"
…was all I managed to get out. As soon as it left my mouth, Jane began emitting a bluish white colour all over, before her entire body shattered into a million white shards and dissipated into the sky, leaving me with empty arms. I stared in shock, unable to comprehend what had just happened.
"Jane?" I called. "JANE?"
In the next instant, I was teleported away from the tree and arrived at the centre of town, still kneeling on the ground in shock of what just happened. I looked around and saw other players being teleported to the square as well, all as confused as the next.
"Haze!" I heard from behind me. I didn't turn around.
A hand touched my shoulder and I pushed it away.
"Haze, where's Jania?" Lukius asked.
I just stared at the ground, looking visibly terrified. But before he could say anything, the sky turned red, and I looked up to see a large cloaked figure emerge from the sky. The figure began speaking, but I was in too much shock to register everything he said.
The general idea was that he was the creator of Sword Art Online, the only way out was to beat the game, and that dying in the game kills your real body as well.
He also put a mirror in our inventory, which I looked at. As I did I turned into my old, non-avatar self, as did every other player. I was still in too much shock to question it.
While most of what he said I didn't register, there was one thing that I did.
"Also, if anyone from the outside attempts to log a player out manually by removing their Nervegear, the player will die. Unfortunately several players' friends and family have ignored this warning and have attempted to remove the Nervegear. As a result, two hundred and thirteen players are gone forever, from Aincrad and the real world."
As he said that, he brought up an image of some of those players. And among them…
…was Jane.
It was then that I remembered that 1) Jane's house had no radio or TV, and 2) she had to be off by 8 o'clock; it was 8:10. That means that her mother had no way of knowing that removing the Nervegear would kill her, and tried to do so, as she was late coming off.
Jane's dead. Jane is dead. The realisation sank in and I began to scream uncontrollably, unable to stop. I looked around frantically as saw that Lukius had run off, abandoning me. I don't know if it was because I was screaming or because he was panicked too. I also realised that I never saw his non-avatar face. But I didn't care. The last thing I needed was some dictator telling me what to do. So fuck him, I thought.
Eventually, the screaming made me so light headed that I passed out, but not before several thoughts echoed in my mind:
I'm trapped. Jane's dead. I'm alone.