This is just a side project I have been thinking about. It's a story about Sword Art Online, an anime where players are trapped in a virtual reality video game. If you die in the game, you die in real life. I am going to change some stuff about SAO itself. Consider it…AU or something.

Changes I made: Ranged weapons do exist, but weapons like crossbows are extremely rare. Your cursor goes to orange if you hurt another player/steal/other petty crime, but it will go to red if you kill. However, this red cursor only lasts for a few days, but will become permanent when you kill more than two people in the same day.

Anyways, let's get the story started.

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[That concludes the tutorial for Sword Art Online]

Everyone started freaking out. I started freaking out. My brother started freaking out. The entire stadium was filled with the shouts of ten thousand people as they tried to find out if what just happened was real. We were trapped in a death game. If we died in the game, we died in the real world. I don't know what was going through my mind, but I ran with my brother. We ran right out of the square, leaving everyone else behind. We saw other people do it, so we thought it was a good idea.

My brother and I ran out into the countryside where there was nobody to disturb us. I collapsed down onto the virtual grass and I heaved even though I wasn't even tired. I was staring up at the sky that only a few minutes earlier filled me with awe, but now filled me with dread. I let out a frustrated scream as my brother sat in silence, observing his reflection in the item we had received at the announcement. Our character appearances had been replaced with our true appearances, and I guess my brother was interested in how it had happened.

But I didn't care. I was too busy being a coward. I was scared to die in a virtual world I had little to no knowledge of. I was shivering with fear when my brother handed me the mirror, my reflection gazing back at me. Sure enough, I looked like myself. Dark brown hair and brown alert eyes stared back at me. I looked over at my brother who was looking through his inventory. He also looked like himself. He had the same brown hair, but his eyes were tired. He was wearing the basic starter clothes we had chosen at the beginning: cargo shorts and a white t-shirt. He noticed me looking at him and he smiled at me.

"Come on, Daniel, use that reasoning you are so fond of!" laughed my brother as he turned back to his inventory.

I sighed as I nodded my head and looked around. I didn't see anybody besides a few idle boars. The grassy hills blocked my vision besides a dirt road that no doubt led to another town on the first floor. Overall, it was quiet. I turned to my brother, my thoughts settling and my fears dying.

"He was lying, wasn't he, Scott? He was lying about dying in the real world, right? It wouldn't make much sense to be honest. What proof did he have? A news story is pretty easy to fake, especially if you're a master of electronics like Kayaba." I told my brother determinedly as he nodded his head slowly.

"There's the brother I know. Check your inventory. Looks like they provided us with some goodies." said my brother as a weapon appeared in his hand.

The weapon my brother had been given was an axe, a two handed weapon. It was made of steel and had a single axe head. My brother observed its stats and swung it around a bit. He smashed it into the ground and it landed with a solid thump. I decided to check what weapon I had received, so I opened my inventory, going to where the weapons were. I opened it, and clicked on the only item there.

A sword landed my hand, solid, but horribly rusted. The entire blade was covered in brownish-black rust. I looked at the sword with a raised eyebrow. The weapon was called Bastard Sword. However, it was a rather long blade, and of good weight. My brother tried to hold in his laughter as he looked at my sword.

"Looks like you got the worst weapon in the game!" laughed my brother hysterically as I waved him off.

"Come on, let's go hunt some boars. I want to be at least level 10 by nightfall."

And that's how we started playing Sword Art Online. Little did we know the risks of playing a death game without any prior knowledge.

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