/*AN: Hello everyone, Sean here with a story I feel more confident about. Planning to make this long term. PLEASE REVIEW. Also I would like to thank the proof-er, AznDumplings. I hope you enjoy this story, and it will be mainly OC's, seeing the world of SAO from another aspect. Also, I do not own Sword Art Online nor will I claim to.*/

"We live in a fantasy world, a world of illusion. The great task in life is to find reality." -Iris Murdoch

Gaming Palace, 7:21 AM, November 5th, 2022

I had always loved video games my entire life, and found them a way to escape from my dreaded reality and into a world of fantasy. When I heard they finally made a perfect lifelike video game and of course I started saving up the moment I heard about it. It took me a year of doing various chores for my neighbors, as I was 15. Me and most of the other people at my school wanted one of the 10,000 copies of this rare game, but we knew only a few might their hands on one. So me and my closest friend had set up at the front of the line of the nearby game shop, "The Gaming Palacex, nearly 3 weeks early.
"John? John! Come on, wake up," someone nagged.
"Huh", I woke up confused. I quickly realized it was Sarah, one of my closest friends.
"What's going on, Sarah? Is it time already?" I said, confused.
"No, I just got bored and wanted to talk," she giggled.
I stood up out of my chair and found myself still in line for Sword Art Online, with many other lifeless people behind us, just like us.

"It should only be a day left now, I can't wait to play the game, but I also can't wait to sleep in an actual bed. It's too bad we can only buy one copy each, I guess we'll just have to share with Eric and Jack. "They'll be pissed when I hog it," I chuckled. I stretched and tried to regain circulation to my legs.
"I'm fine waiting here with you. Especially if it means we get to play later," she stood up, "I don't know about you, but I haven't had a bite of food since breakfast. I am starved, I could eat just about anything. I'll be back in a few, I need a few slices of pizza,"she said as she began leaving.

"Hey! Don't forget to save some for me!" I yelled out.
"Yeah yeah.

I decided to get some more sleep. It wasn't that easy though, when you have a few thousand nerds behind you debating video game theory, but eventually sleep came to me. I had a dream, like many others I have had before about the game. It may be weird to have dreams about a game. However gaming was my life, and only a few friends were more important to me. Not even my family would be able to pry me from the nerve gear.
It was about the future adventures, dangers, and horrors I would face against while playing. It felt so lifelike and amazing. The best adventure I would have in my life. It was a sad life, but the games I played defined it. I had skipped school many occations to stay home and game, and would fail my classes just to continue. My parents didn't care.

Someone kicked my leg,
"Hey you fell a sleep again. You really aren't a morning person are you, even when it isn't morning," she giggled.
"You know that I'm not."
"Remember that time you fell asleep on that roller coaster?"
"That never happened! How the hell would I fall asleep on a roller coaster?" We began arguing until slowly night came yet again. SAO was about released, at 12:00 noon the next day the game would come out, and an hour later the servers would go up where we would begin playing. We both couldn't wait.
Sarah and I sat down on identical chairs preparing to sleep. Everything sort of calmed down and it seemed that everyone had settled their various pointless arguments.
"Hey John?" Sarah said softly.
"Ya?"
" Sometimes don't you feel that life is not actually reality? I mean we have spent so many hours gaming, that we are more in tune with the games we play rather than our actual lives?"
"Ya, occasionally there are times where I will just sit inside all day and do nothing but gaming, and that my life here isn't anything other than a way to play. Do you think that's bad?"
"Sort of. I hate to say this, but we need to start to ease of a bit. Spend some more time with family, friends, and together."
What she just said struck me as odd. I would never expect this from her, and I didn't understand what she meant by "together". I just discarded the thought. I said,
"Maybe I should slow down a bit, but only after we start playing Sword Art Online. We both have been wanting to play it for such a long time. After that I will relax."
For the rest of that night we stared up at the sky. It wasn't a starry night, however. It was a dark blue haze that was coated with the light from the city. Maybe sometime soon we can go somewhere in the countryside and see the stars.

Gaming Palace, 11:59AM, November 6th, 2022

After days after days of waiting, the time has come for us hardcore fans to get what we wanted. Sarah and I were as excited as could be when the store opened up and we stepped to the front.
"You know what we are here for, Derrick."
"I bet you are here for the new Galactic Adventures game," he snarked. I gave him a sour face and set the money I owed on the counter. He gladly took it and slid a copy of Sword Art Online across the desk to me. As I held the little box in my hand, I thought, All this wait, for a single disk? I walked out of the store with Sarah after she got a copy. I headed back to my house and Sarah to hers.
I stepped in the door of the house. I begin walking to my room until my mother steps in front of me. She says,
"Glad to see your home, John. Did you have fun?"
I just walked by and ignored her as if she wasn't there, and stepped into the dirty cesspool that was my room. I dug out my nerve gear and plugged it into my PC. I was excited. I was like a kid who was just opening a big box at Christmas. After barely reading the manual and doing the calibration, I placed the helmet on my head, pulled down the visor, and said, "Link Start!"

I quickly made an avatar, looking similar to myself yet taller and more muscular. It was what I used for everything.

Town Of Beginnings 1:10 pm,
November 6th 2022

I became disorientated as I woke up in Aincrad. A huge town sprawled about me and was full of life, people, and every player seemed to be enjoying themselves. I looked down at my hands and clenched them tightly.

"This feels so realistic."
I touched myself all over, and it felt lifelike. Everything was perfection. I could even smell the flowers in the air.
I looked over and found that Sarah was next to me, who like everyone one else was feeling how realistic the game was. Some people were punching themselves while others hopped up and hung down.
"Hey Sarah, this is really amazing isn't it," I said as we begin looking around at the many players, buildings, towers, and streets winding around us.
"Its beautiful..." she paused for a moment and then said "Well what are we waiting for lets get started!"
"Someone's excited."

We began walking through town and exploring the oddly bucolic stone town around us. There were many shops and players bustling about. Launch day seemed to be off to a good start for the game, and I bet not even half of them were there yet. I walked around with Sarah and shopped for decent starting equipment, and then we went to the fields directly out of town.
We began getting used to battles in SAO by fighting the boars that surrounded the beginning town. It was fairly easy to battle these low level monsters.

"I think this is how you do it?" I said as I held out my short sword. Shortly after I flung myself at it and it died abruptly as it shattered.
"That was so cool,Now if only everything were that easy. What makes this game so great is that you actually feel like your moving your body as you play," I laughed. Sarah giggled.
"Oh I almost forgot, I told my brother I would let him play after I played for a little"
"Sarah, why in the world would you agree to that"
"I don't know, but either way he will be pissed if I don't." She swiped her hand and reached for the logout button.

"Huh?" Sarah questioned.
"What?" I asked.
"There..? There's no logout button!"
"Your just joking, right?" I said uninsured.
"No! I'm not!"

Sarah got really scared, and her breathing started to pick up. I tried to calm her down, and after a few deep breaths, she was slightly less freaked out.
I opened my menu and tried to find it. I looked down with wide eyes.
"Your right! It's not here!" I tapped the empty box frantically. I tried to keep calm as I quelled Sarah "The administrators must be panicking right now. I'm sure It'll be fine, I bet that they are working on patching it right no-"
During mid sentence I began to glow, and quickly, before I knew it, I was in the courtyard of the town. We stood about trying to figure out what was going on. Other players were standing around us with confused expressions on their faces.
"Is this just a launch day event?" one girl pondered.
"It has to be. I guess we just have to wait a minute for a GM to show themself."

"What the hell is going on!" Sarah screamed.
"It will be okay. I'm sure the Game Master will fix this. It has to be a launch day even-"
Soon, warning messages appeared across the sky and something resembling blood began to slowly ooze from the sky. Everyone began getting fearful until we saw the game master form from the blood.
"Akihiko Kayaba"
Akihiko Kayaba is the creator of this amazing world of wonder. At first, we all were calmed by his arrival. However, we would soon learn it wasn't on good terms.
"As you all may have noticed, the logout button on your menus is not functioning. I assure you, this is not a bug in our system, it is a feature of Sword Art Online. I now have full control over this world, my world."
Everyone began to become afraid at this new revelation. Many people began bursting into tears and some nearly passed out from hyperventilating. People began talking to each other, barely able to beleive this. Most thought he was joking at first. He continued "I am the sole person who controls it. I repeat, this is not a malfunction in the System. You all may be wondering why I have done this, and with time, you will know. There is only one way to escape, you must clear all 100 floors of Sword Art Online."
At this point everyone was in an outroar and yelling at the game master.
"Go to hell! Your lying!" one yelled.
"I have a meeting later. Please let me go." a lady pleaded.
Many were even panicking. He ended his speech with the most devastating news.
"Finally, if your HP reaches 0, your brain will be destroyed by the nerve gear. Your avatar will not only be erased from the game, but your mind as well in real life. I also left a little present in your inventory."
This is no longer a game. Everyone around me was shocked by this, including me. I stared wide eyed at him, and Sarah was nearly in tears. I had never seen her even close to sobbing, let alone crying. Most people just couldn't beleive it. I believed every word of it. Most players then opened their inventories, and found only one item. A mirror. They looked into the mirror and found the masks that were their avatars had been dissolved.

"The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are. You trade in your reality for a role. You give up your ability to feel, and in exchange, put on a mask". -Jim Morrison

(Thank you everyone, please review)

(Edit: Fixed mistakes caused by an issue with a text editor and made general improvements)