Save State 1: Trapped

Tokyo, Japan 2030

"Welcome to Tokyo Station, please exit on your right and watch the gap between the train and the platform!" Came the unnaturally happy voice over the intercom. I stepped off the train and rushed up to the stairs before anybody else, hurrying to get home.

"Slow down!"

"Watch it!"

I ignored the repeated protests of my rushing, determined to be the first out of the artificial cleanliness of the underground world we call the High Speed Railway. Today was going to be the product of an extreme amount of luck and waking up too early in the mornings.

I walked into the alley where the door was located to get into my apartment, dashing up the stairs I made it to my front door before shoving the keys roughly into the keyhole and twisting, barely allowing enough time to yank the keys back out and hastily drop them back into my bag. I ran into my room and didn't bother locking the door; nobody was home and my two sisters wouldn't be back until 10 O'Clock tonight. Dropping my bag into the corner of my rather unremarkable room, a chair, a bookcase, a desk, and a bed were all that were included. However I also had a large computer on my desk, I had spent a few months of pay to get that. And next to it was a curious sight, a pair over what looked like over-sized headphones with a band running across them and two metallic bracelets.

This was a Trans-Wave, a device designed to access the fantasy world we all call virtual reality, and today was the launch day of the first game of the company that released the Trans-Wave, Argus. And one of the lucky 500 who were allowed to beta-test the game 3 months before its release date? Yours truly. Today is the official release.

12:00 P.M. The games just started time for me to get started I suppose, but first something to eat at least. No point in getting on during the opening ceremonies. I went to the kitchen to make something quickly, in the end I settled for a microwave dinner, I was never much for cooking in the first place.

12:30 P.M. The opening ceremonies should be over. I slipped on both of the metallic bracelets, lied down on my bed, and slipped the headphones on, the strap covering in front of my eyes. After quickly completing a systems check along with a calibration, I said the words that would send me into the world of virtual reality.

"Full-Dive… On!"

I felt my senses begin to numb before they were yanked away completely, suddenly I was taken into total darkness for an instant before seeing two options in front of me.

"Previous character file found. Name: Saito Would you like to continue with this file?"

Two option buttons floated up in front of me, I selected yes. Suddenly a dropping sensation took over until my avatar formed… in the air 20 feet off the ground. Normally this would've been a serious situation, but then again this was virtual reality.

"Movement skill: Impact Roll, Activate." and as I hit the ground my body rolled along, neutralizing the impact.

I looked around and finally took the time to appreciate the image in front of me. I had fallen in the middle of town, the streets already housing some people who had set up shop and made up their minds to be merchants until they had enough money to advance. Others were walking around wearing the beginner armor, myself included of course. It was a simple tunic along with a one-handed sword and a pair of what looked like wool pants.

The other thing I noticed was that my buddy list and item list had been deleted and wiped clean of anything, normal I suppose.

"Hey! You there, want to party up with us?" The voice came from a male who was only a few feet away; he was accompanied by two others. Though their facade seemed sound enough I decided not to party with them.

"No thanks, I'll be fine." and I quickly headed off to the fields where I knew there would already be people grinding, the difference was, I knew how to use Blade Arts, they didn't.

Blade Arts were pre-programmed abilities, similar to skills in other games if you will. And in this game, knowing how to use them was the difference between a player and a sightseer.

-Lesser Plains-

*Pachink!*

The sound of my sword hitting off of the Armored Boars body sounded through the field. I was the only one out here, playing solo was something that was frowned on my others after all. Despite the higher danger of death, the higher exp, gold, and drop rate were all scaled as well. However it was looked upon to be a selfish style of play, where the solo player was nothing but a self-serving piece of trash. Like I cared…

The boar came charging at me again, easily flying by as I sidestepped it before the sword I was holding lit up blue.

"Blade Skill: Rising Eagle."

Assisted by the system, I brought the sword from behind me upwards in a slash, jumping and pushing the force into my attack. The boar squealed and then burst into small multicolored particles before disappearing. A window popped up where the boar had dissolved, showing the any rewards that might have come from it. Another window popped up next to me however.

"Quest Complete 'Special' Hunting Contest. Please report to the NPC that you received this quest from to find the results." I read out loud, the deal was to hunt monsters, the difficulty of each monster worth a certain number of points, the person with the most points in the end, wins. A timer was next to the notice itself, showing the limited time to collect the reward. I still had twelve hours to collect it. Well best to collect it now, especially if my family decides to suddenly disconnect me. I started to walk back to the town when two players emerged from the trees.

"Hey partner..." one began.

"We see that you've been hunting for a long time now, but it seems like you could unload some things."

I looked to each as they spoke, these were the lowest of the low, choosing to laze around while others did the hard work for items, then rob them after they were done.

"I don't think so; maybe the two of you were mistaken?"

The two walked forward in response and drew their swords, proof of my suspicions.

"Don't fuck with us kid." he pointed his sword threateningly at me, his partner doing the same.

"Just hand over everything you have and we'll let you go..."

I didn't waste time trying to warn the two; instead I drew out my sword and dashed forward.

"Blade Skill: Duo Raid."

The two attacks disarmed both, leaving them open to attack, though that was before they started running away.

"Trash..." I muttered, running after them I dispatched both with twin strikes to their back, the two burst into multicolored crystals much the same as the boar. I found it strange, seeing as players usually were left with some sort of remains, ah well, it was a new game after all; time to go collect my reward for the quest.

"You have placed first in the competition; your reward is the Acuminous Blade."

I looked at the ranking window in surprise, to think I had finished as the top-placed player in the results. In any case, the new blade dropped down into my hands. I pulled it out of the sleek brown sheathe, the sun reflected off the simple white blade. I checked the stats and was happy to find that they were quite a bit above my current sword's, but what really surprised me was that this sword could also be upgraded a total of 10 times, the same amount as the Anneal Blade that I was currently using.

"Well time to log out." I overheard a few people near me; I suppose it was time for me to be logging out too. I brought up the menu to log out; at first I thought that I was simply looking in the wrong places. Options, settings, but no matter where I looked in the menu there wasn't anywhere that I could find a log out button, was it a system glitch?

A window popped up next to me, in fact, windows were popping up next to everybody.

"Mandatory teleportation in 30 seconds...?" Everywhere around me people were scratching their heads, then all of sudden I was in a plaza. I recognized the place as the starting point for all who had just begun the game; everybody was forming around me, small flashes of blue indicating that another person had arrived. What was this all about? Could it have anything to do with the mysteriously missing Log Out button?

"Welcome players..." A voice came from nowhere. "I suppose by now that you've all found that there is no Log Out button." The obviously male voice stated calmly.

"Let me reassure you now..." I could hear sighs of relief, but I didn't relax just yet. "That this is not an error.

The people who had just let out a sigh of relief froze in place.

"I repeat, this is not and error, this is a feature of Blade Arts Online. You will not be able to log out until this game is cleared."

Screams of outrage were among the responses.

"So what! We'll just be logged out by our families anyways!"

The voice chuckled. "Oh just so you know, if you try to log out you will be immediately injected with a poison that will result in death within 5 minutes."

Poison?! How would he do that? Then I realized.

"The bracelets..." The bracelets must have a small compartment in them, that's why they were included...

Skeptics were still among the crowd.

"How do we even know you're telling the truth!" shouted one angry voice.

"How...?" various windows popped up in the air. They were airing... news reports...

"These will tell you, news stations have already begun reporting what has happened, an announcement has been made to the families of all who are logged in to this game. Unfortunately, 247 players have already disconnected from this game, and their lives..."

The silence hung eerily in the air before it was pierced by the sound of screaming. That was the spark; all of a sudden mass hysteria broke out among the crowd

"Don't be kidding with us!"

"That's not funny!"

The protests went on and on, of course I knew there was no way this was a joke, anything of this magnitude would be real. And so I posed the question that I knew nobody else would.

"What happens when our HP goes down to zero?"

Through the chaos, it seemed that the nearest person had heard him, they froze, and everybody froze with them. Waiting for the answer.

"You die."

Saito fell to his knees, but not from fear, from guilt. Those two he had killed on the plains today... had he taken them out for real? Were they simply two among the 247 that had already died...? He had snuffed them out without a second thought back then, but now...

"N-no way…"

This person had essentially made it so that they were stuck, sow the seeds of fear among us and then break it that we have to clear this game to get out…

"These 100 floors of this castle that I have built, Aincrad, will be your home until you have mustered the strength to defeat it!"

100 floors... how long would that take, even with 10,000 players certainly it would be a substantial period of time...

"And now, I give you all a parting gift."

Windows once again popped up next to everybody, the system opening up our inventory, a new item flashed orange.

"Reflective Mirror...?"

The item was automatically activated the moment the inventory opened, it formed in my hand and for a moment I saw my real face in it before a bright flash was emitted. When I could open my eyes, I thought that I had been teleported into another game. All the people around me looked different than before, their height, weight, and in some slightly more disturbing cases, gender, had all changed. I looked at my hand and saw not the artificially perfect fingernails and unmarred hand of my digital avatar, but the slightly longer fingers and scar-touched back of my own hand.

The speakers blared forth one final time.

"Now you are all of your true appearance, do not play this game, live it! Live in this world! I wish you all luck in your quest to clear this castle and return to your own reality!"

And with that, the speakers that had appeared in the air disappeared, the oppressive atmosphere was gone, but the panic it had incited had yet to explode, and I did not intend to be here when it did. I weaved in and out of the crowd, finally finding a place where I slipped out of the plaza. I knew my destination, the next town; there I would be able to find the stronger monsters that everybody would be scared to grind on now that they were in danger of dying.

And I, who have already killed two… I am not going to taint others with my presence. This sick game will be played alone, and it I die then that will be that, however…

"I refuse to lose, to this game, to this world, and most importantly, to myself…"

-Save State 1: End-