Orange light from a digital evening sun glinted off the silvery blade of a rapier that was clutched in the tight-fisted grip of a teenage girl. The blade wasn't still. It was shaking with the motions of the girl's right arm. All of the girl was shaking. Trembling. Shuddering in a primal sort of fear that most video games could never hope to create.
Sword Art Online wasn't most video games.
In front of the girl, standing in a field of green grass, was a boar. A meter in height, the creature came up past the girls waist. It's fur was black. It's tusk long, sharp, and deadly.
I'm not this sort of person, the girl, Yuuiki Asuna, thought to herself. I'm not the sort of person who plays virtual reality games. I'm not the sort of person that kills wild boars.
A comfortable life in Setangaya hadn't prepared her for where she had found herself. So she shook. Fear. The primal sort that a person could only face while doing something that could kill them - like jumping from a cliff or staring down the barrel of a gun - was the sort of fear the teen was having to deal with.
Yuuki Asuna wasn't just playing a virtual reality game. She was playing a virtual reality game that a mad man had built. She was trapped in the game. Cut off from the real world. Death in the game would mean death in the real world too. So in a way it wasn't a game all.
A white mist burst forth from the boars nostrils as it snorted. Asuna watched the mist fade.
Attack, she told herself. She didn't do it though. She stayed rooted to the same spot and her body still shook and her hand was still tight around the handle of her rapier.
A minute passed. It wasn't the first minute to have passed either. Yuuki had been standing in the field for over half an hour. Arguing with herself. Telling herself to attack. Telling herself to fight. Telling herself to be brave.
She hadn't managed it though. She hadn't managed to push herself to attack. The digital creature, not at all digital but instead a deadly thing in the eyes of Yuuki Asuna, did not care about her inner-turmoil. It pawed at the grass, huffed. Walked about, never moving very far. It was a mob, in gaming terms. It wasn't a strong one either, just the sort of creature that low level adventurers were expected to take on. It would wait for Yuuki even if hours passed.
Yuuki swallowed. Death. Would it really be so bad? The Nerve Gear headset would fry her brain if she died. It wouldn't be painful.
Attack, She told herself again.
She didn't move.
The worst thing that could happen is that I die. The thought, morbid as it was, broke through her fear. Subdued it. Yuuki charged. Reckless - not caring whether she died or lived.
Her rapier came up, positioned so as to activate the game's ability system. Her weapon glowed pink. Then her arm darted straight out, guided by the gaming system, in a jab.
The attack was too much for the low level boar. It shattered into polygons.
Yuuki panted. Adrenaline was in her system. Her eyes darted around. She felt like she should be sweating. She smiled. Not one of the full and happy smiles that she might have smiled were she seeing her family. This was a different sort of smile. The sort of smile that was half-relieved and a second away from a hysterical laughter. Alive. She was alive.
Time passed and a stillness settled on the digital clearing that Yuuki Asuna found herself in. The game hadn't beaten her. She hadn't given in to fear. She looked around the clearing and found another boar.
This time she walked up to it with more confidence and less trepidation. It was still a dangerous creature, something to be respected, but it was now something she could face. Yet when she was close enough to attack, she didn't. She stared at the creature.
Attack, she told herself. Her voice in her head seemed nearly vicious in its cry. It didn't matter. She didn't move.
But she wouldn't let the game beat her. She refused to run back to the starting city - to hide like she had been for the last few days waiting for a rescue that might never come. So she stayed rooted to the digital grass that was crushed beneath her avatar's feet. Tears pooled in her eyes, but she blinked and shook her head as if the act would make them go away. As if denying them like that had a sort of power.
Telling herself that she should attack the boar didn't work. It wasn't enough. But Yuuki found something that gave her the courage to press forward.
I'm not afraid to die, the teenage girl told herself.
Yuuki Asuna lunged. Another boar fell to her streaking rapier.
Then she moved to the next boar. I don't care if I die. She charged and soon another boar exploded into polygons.
Hours later shadows began to pool on the ground as the light of the day ended. Without the light, Yuuki Asuna stopped. Her breathing was labored. Her eyes puffy. Hundreds of boar mobs had been killed. The rapier wielding girl began to trudge back to the Town of Beginnings.
I don't care if I die, she told herself, meaning every word. I won't let this game beat me.
...
Yuuki Asuna had a room to herself in one of the Town of Beginnings many inns. It was a small thing, having only room for one box-spring bed and a meter or so separated the bed from the wall.
It was late. Late enough that the lights were out around town, including the in-game candle objects that had been illuminating the room. Despite that, a pale blue light dimly lit Asuna's face.
Asuna stared at the holographic projection in front of her, her in game menu. Her teeth worried at her lip as her eyes read and re-read the words in front of her. Items. Skills. Equipment. The three options under the character menu confused her. Items and equipment, they seemed like the same thing.
Reaching up a finger, Asuna jabbed the holographic items listing. The game responded by opening a new window, one with a scroll bar. It was filled with the items that she had gotten from killing boars: tusks, boar fur, and boar teeth.
Her finger reached out again. This time it quested for the Equipment menu option. When she pressed it the old scroll menu dropped away replaced with a new one with many less items in it. Rapier. Sheathe. Two-Slot Belt. Brown Leather Shirt. Brown Leather Pants.
"It's what I'm wearing," Asuna mumbled, frowning at the display in front of her.
She backed out of the menu until the pale light that had illuminated the room went away, leaving her in darkness. Then she yawned and laid down.
So much to learn. She had never played a video game before, let alone a virtual reality game.