So, this is my first time ever writing any fanfiction ever. I mean I've written stuff before, but it was never much more than 500 words or so. I hope whoever reads this gives me feedback and such so I can actually improve. I hope you enjoy!
By the way, I don't own SAO or any of the characters. Just Elise.
SAO: Crimson Dragon
My name is Elise Warren. I live with my mother and my older brother Spencer. My family was originally from the United States, but my parents decided to move here when I was just a year old. Spencer was 2 and a half at the time. When I was 4, our father died in an attack by an escaped murderer. My mother grieved, but Spencer and I weren't old enough to understand what happened. With father gone, Spencer turned to gaming and I focused on school as much as I could as I grew up. I'm 15 now, and Spencer is 16. We still live with our mother in a moderate sized house, and life was going great for all of us… Until now.
3 months ago, Spencer was diagnosed with Stage 4 bone cancer. It was too late to treat it, so the doctors moved him to hospice care immediately. I barely got to see him. He died 3 days before he was to receive the beta test for the game Sword Art Online. SAO is a VRMMORPG game developed by a company called Argus. The gear for the game arrived at our house the day after the funeral, so I decided I would play it. I wanted to understand his world of games, and how he saw reality..
So I entered that world. The world of Sword Art Online.
Chapter 1: The Death Game
10 minutes. 10 minutes until the servers came online for Sword Art Online. Elise nearly shook as she ate lunch in the kitchen of her home, eyes jumping to the clock every minute. She wanted to return to that world where she could escape from the toils of reality, and the sadness of her home. She slowly ran her fingers through her long red hair and sighed.
"Settle down, Elise, it'll be online before you know it," She said to herself, continuing to eat her salad afterwards. As she finished, she walked over to the sink and washed the dirty dishes before drying her hands and looking at the clock once more. 5 minutes. She let out another sigh and walked to her room. The girl sat on her large bed and hugged a large stuffed wolf her brother had bought her 5 years prior.
I miss you so much Spencer. I wish I could have played this game with you, and experienced the beauty with you.
With a small smile, Elise set the stuffed wolf down at the edge of her bed and plugged in her Nervegear. With a small glance at the clock, her grin grew even further. 13:00. She quickly placed the equipment on her head and laid down on her bed with a wide grin.
"Link start!"
As her vision faded into white, the system began to check all of her senses. She got a feeling of satisfaction as they all checked out.
[Would you like to use the character Erica from the beta test?]
Elise chose the yes option, and opened her eyes as the she appeared in the starting area of Sword Art Online. The Town of Beginnings. She raised her right hand in front of her face and flexed her hand, hearing the leather of her gloves creak under the force. The girl brushed her now silver curls out of her face and began to run for the edge of the town, eager to begin fighting once more.
Footsteps quickly pattered against the stone sidewalk as Elise ran through the Town, narrowly avoiding colliding with other players as she weaved through the crowds. People amazed by weapon merchants and the realistic NPCs cluttered the streets. After a quick thought, Erica opted to stop by the Arms Merchant. She swiftly paid for a wooden buckler with her starting Col and continued making her way to the outskirts of the starting town.
The girl equipped the buckler on her left arm as she finally made it to the fields outside of the Town, her boots sinking slightly into the soft grass. She pulled out the broadsword she had chosen to start with and grinned as her fingers tightening around the hilt of the blade.
Erica turned as she heard a small boar spawn a few yards away, readying herself for combat. As the boar ran towards her Elise took an offensive approach, slamming the buckler into the horns of the creature. The small boar was set off balance by the strike, allowing Erica an opening to activate a sword skill. She let loose the sword skill with a yell, flying forward quickly as her blade pierced deep into the side of the boar. Erica turned once more and plunged the broadsword into the back of the stunned creature, smirking with satisfaction as it exploded into thousands of small polygons.
The girl sheathed her blade and swiped the notification of drops out of her view, continuing to walk through the fields. A light breeze pushed Erica's hair back into her vision though, she didn't care as the soft winds felt wonderful.
"It's so wonderful to be back."
With a small smirk, she spotted another creature approaching her and drew her blade once more.
A heavy sigh drifted past weary lips as Erica sheathed her blade in the scabbard at her hip, the last of many mobs she had killed for the day bursting into polygons. She smiled briefly as she noticed she had just reached level 3 and stretched her body to ward off the weariness. A gasp escaped her as she noticed the time, her palm landing on her forehead.
"Shit it's almost 5:30 already? Mom's gonna kill me for playing for so long.."
The girl shook her head and began to jog back to the Town of Beginnings when she noticed a pair of players ahead of her, seemingly having troubles. She approached and raised a brow when she saw a look of fear on the black-haired boy's face.
"Are you two alright? You look like you've seen a ghost."
The one with red hair spun around and looked at her like she was crazy.
"You haven't noticed yet? Check your menu! The log-out button is just…gone!" He replied urgently, causing Erica to step back a little. She swiped down with her fingers and lost her breath when she noticed the truth of what he spoke of.
W..What the hell? It should be right here.. What's going on?
"Do you think it could be a glitch? I mean, this is a pretty large error but..there's still a chance that it got messed up right?" Erica queried, a worried look laced in her delicate features.
The one with the dark hair shook his head with a dark sigh.
"We've already ruled out that idea. If there was an error that big on the day of the release, the game would take a lot of damage. Even if that was the case, the GMs could have force logged us out of the game." As he finished speaking, a bell rang in the distance. The three of them were caught off guard as they were enveloped in a bright blue light.
"A force teleport?!"
As Erica opened her eyes she found herself amongst crowds of players in the center of the Town of Beginnings.
The rest of that hour was a blur mixed with fear and confusion, Erica finding out that what had been her escape, was now her reality. Her nightmare.
Sorry for skipping Kayaba's speech. I just figured we've all watched the show and read stories with it repeated so many times it's engraved into our memories. :\ I know I suck at writing so please don't flame me for anything. If anything, constructive criticism helps a lot. R&R.
