Chapter 1- Link Start
Ren Kurono steps out of the glass college doors with a tired sigh, his floppy black fringe brushed aside by the afternoon breeze. The summer sun gently warms his tan skin calming the 16 year old freshman after a long Monday morning lesson.
"Hey Ren are you even listening to me?", The slightly taller girl next to him whines, hand raised to shade her blue eyes from the sun that sparkled beautifully through her shoulder-length blonde hair.
"Ah, not really. Too distracted by the great weather to listen to your ramblings",Ren replies, his voice slow but content.
"How rude", The girl pouts playfully.
"Ah its not like I need to listen to you today, I know you're just going to be talking about that damn game you roped me into buying with you and how it goes live today anyway".
"You know as well as I do it's not just another game, it's the first to utilise full-dive technology!", Her voice becomes higher pitched and her words tumbling over each other in their haste to escape her, "Also it doesn't just go live later it already has! So can you please please walk just a little faster?"
Ren turns towards the girl, purposefully slowing his walk in the process. "Nana, you are such a nerd." He pulls off his green and black school tie as he says this and stuffs it carelessly in the pocket of his black trousers.
"Hardly, but hey if the games so nerdy why don't you take it back? I'm sure someone else would appreciate it." This time there is a slight venom to her words and Ren feels the hair on the back of his neck rise in response, warning him off of further teasing.
"Ah you know I'm only joking", his voice falsely light and carefree.
"Hmm", Nana purses her lips and offers no further response.
Within a minute they arrive at the intersection that separates their streets and bid each other a cheerful goodbye. "I bet I'll be logged on before you Ren!" Nana calls over her shoulder, already sprinting towards her house.
"Hey thats not fair!", Ren takes off down his own street with gritted teeth.
"Damn she's annoying", he gasps, hauling himself through the door to his family's home.
Half an hour later a brilliant blue flash appears in a cobbled alleyway. The light intensifies rapidly and then disappears within a second. Where the light was now stood the game avatar of Ren Kurono, It was of average height with a medium build. He had copied his own hair and features as closely as the game would allow, leaving the differences between the avatar and himself as almost unnoticeable. Above his head white letters spelt out his in-game handle, Kuren, which he had been using in all online games since he was 13 years old.
"Kuren again? Really?", a familiar voice asked from his left.
Turning shakily Ren faced the source of the voice. His eyes widened immediately, which only served to stun him further as he never expected he would truly feel the motions his avatar went through. The source of his tall blonde childhood friend now came from a slightly smaller than average black haired beauty.
"It's my handle, of course I used it. Enough about that, what's up with your avatar?"
"I just wondered what it would be like to be smaller that's all!" The sudden snap in her voice was no surprise to Ren. Nana had always been sensitive about her English half taking dominance in her appearance. She had always been taller than her Asian classmates and her blonde hair only served to make her more obvious whilst getting the older members of Japanese society to brand her a delinquent without a second thought.
"Okay, I believe you Nana. Now what can we actually do in this game for fun anyway?"
"Hey that's rude. I'm not Nana when I'm here, use my handle."
"Fine, fine", Ren sighs, "What can we do for fun Estelle?"
As he asks a familiar blue light fills his vision. Ren shuts his eyes as he is plucked from the cobbled street he arrived on and dumped him somewhere entirely new. Squinting he tries to get a grasp on his surroundings. The floor is similarly cobbled to the alleyway, perhaps to keep the art budget in check Ren thinks to himself, but the walls here are about 20 feet high and form a huge Colosseum-like structure around him. As Ren looks around more and more blue flashes go off depositing more and more players into the Colosseum.
"It looks like every player in SAO will be here soon", Nana's voice remarks from behind Ren. He jumps at the sound.
"Dammit Nana give me a warning if I don't know you're there!", Ren growls at her despite being somewhat reassured that his friend is nearby. "What did you do anyway?"
"Ehh? Me? I haven't done anything. Besides the scale of this is too big, no player has this kind of power. It must be the start of an event or something I guess."
"Oh right, what if you don't want to take part? I haven't even got my equipment yet."
"Oh god you're right! How am I supposed to compete if I havent even got my equipment yet? I bet they've all been grinding in anticipation for the event too! I'll never rank top at this rate..."
Ren tunes out the ranting girl and looks around once again at the Colosseum, now filled with every kind of avatar the customization engine could offer.
A lone red hexagon appears in the sky. "System announcement?" Ren reads aloud. The one hexagon suddenly becomes 6, then more until the entire sky above the arena is a collection of wide red hexagons. Viscous liquid flows from the borders between hexagons in a patch to the north and begins to take a giant humanoid form. After a few seconds the monolithic floating form detaches from the liquid flow which abruptly halts.
"Greetings players", a deep bass voice which shook the ground they stood on emanated from the form. "I am Akihiko Kayaba, creator of this world. As of right now I and I alone can influence and control this world. Some of you will have noticed by now that the Log Out button is missing from the menus. This is not a mistake but an intrinsic feature of Sword Art Online."
Uproar. That was the reaction from the players gathered. Ren could vaguely hear Nana yelling from beside him. Something about how are players supposed to survive in the real world if they cant move. Ren didn't particularly care.
"I want to go home now" Ren said in a quiet voice, unheard by all around him. He was experiencing, along with those around him a very powerful emotion few people ever get to experience in their lifetimes. He was under the influence of true fear.
"I have prepared a gift for you all, a one off item for this event only. I ask that you activate this item now." There was a number of pings and small blue flashes as the players all summoned the item gifted to them by Kayaba. "A mirror." Nana's voice is emotionless and flat as she examines the item in her hands.
"Wait, Nana in the mirror that's the real you isn't it?! Ren exclaimes.
"Oh my god." Nana's eyes widen in response to the revelation and Ren hears similar noises of shock and awe all around. Another brilliant blue flash flares up, this time emnating from within the mirrors held by each player. When the flash disappears a number of the avatars have been drastically changed.
"Hey Nana, what's the purpose of this?" Ren asks, his eyes falling not on the short black haired avatar he had been expecting but upon a girl who undeniably looked the absolute double of his friend. "Oh".
"Why?".Nana's voice is a meek and quiet whisper, "Why has this happened?"
"My mirrors have corrected any mistake you may have made when creating your avatars. In return you must proceed to treat this world as your reality. Should your HP hit 0 at any time you will be terminated in the real world within a minute. Any meddling with the NerveGear by those left behind will also trigger the termination sequence. For those of you having difficulty believing my claims I implore you to read these." With a wave of his giant hands Kayaba summons news pages from many of the worlds major news vendors detailing the tragedies that had befallen many of the players already. "The only way you may exit my world alive is to advance through the game to floor 100 and defeat the final boss awaiting you there. Good luck". With that last remark Kayaba's form disappears and takes the red hexagons with it. Everything is perfectly silent and still.