I laid down on my bed and put on my Nervegear. I thanked God for giving me life in the gaming era of VR then I began to shut my eyes.

"LINK START!" I yelled. A flur of different colors, almost like a moving rainbow, came rushing to my eyes then everything went black.

"Input username please" an automated voice requested. The voice took me by surprise. But, I quickly regained my composure and began contemplating a username. Lord knows why I didn't think of one before hand. Now, …what would I like to be called? After
thinking for about a solid two minutes, I thought of a name.

"SHAKINTO!" I shouted into the black void.

"I'm sorry, could you please repeat that?" the automated voice said. I repeated my username more than five times to only be met with the same response. I began to get frustrated. This is the year 2022. Why can't a stupid Siri rip-off understand me? "Please
input your username using the holographic keyboard." I cursed under my breath and typed in my username on the blue keyboard floating in front of me at chest height.

"'Shakinto', is this the username you desire?" the automated voice asked. I touched the YES button. "Welcome to Sword Art Online Shakinto! May you prevail through the dark times ahead." I sensed some foreshadowing in that statement. Suddenly, my surroundings
began to grow bright and I couldn't feel anything as if my body went numb. I was floating in nothingness. I couldn't feel, see, or hear anything. I was in this non-existent state for about a minute, but really there was no telling how long it was.

My feet landed on something. I heard chatter in the background, and felt wind blowing against my face. Why can't I see though? Oh wait, I forgot my eyes were closed. I slowly opened them. At first, there was only a bright blur, then the little circles
started focusing into a skylight, floor, shops, fountains, and eventually faces passing by.

Where was I? I mean I know where I am, but where in the game was I. I looked around for any signs, until i realised there was huge one hanging right above my head. It read 'Town of Beginnings'. Well, this didn't look like a town. Maybe it was a shopping
center.

Woah, I was so wrapped in being lost I forgot this was VR.I looked down at my feet and the rest of my body. Everything felt so real.

"THIS IS AWESOME!"I shouted out. Everyone walking past stopped for a second and looked at me then proceeded with their day. Although this was in fact cool, I still didn't know what to do first, test the waters and fight some monsters? Buy some equipment
with the starter money? Or maybe I should look around at the style and feel a bit more? I had no idea. Wait, wasn't I supposed to meet someone?

"OH SHIT!" I exclaimed.