This chapter has been updated. 'acochran5' has stated that changing POVs without warning has made the story a bit confusing so I have labelled who's POV you are reading from. Zinaki/Zinako is an OC. The rest of the characters do not belong to me.
May contain traces of random characters from other SAO seasons and other sword-fantasy genre animes
Zinako/Zinaki is 12 when the game started (Younger than Suguha/Leafa and Kazuto/Kirito)
CHAPTER 1: AINCRAD
Newspapers, magazines, televisions. Almost everyone was talking about the NerveGear, a device used to play the latest VR game, Sword Art Online. Zinako Kirigaya was looking through a magazine about the creator of that game and the device, Kayaba Akihiko with her older brother, Kazuto.
"It's finally here," he said with his voice no louder than a whisper.
"Are you excited?" she asked him.
"Isn't it obvious? Of course I am." he replied smiling softly while turning a page of the magazine. There was a thin, scraping sound and beads of blood began to appear on Kazuto's thumb.
"Are you ok, onii-chan?" A worried expression began to appear on her face and he quickly wiped the blood off his finger.
"Hai, I'm fine"
"How long until it officially launches?"
He took a quick glance at the digital clock on his shelf.
6/11/2022 12:57
"3 more minutes, you should get back to your room" he replied
"Where's onee-san?"
"Sugu went to practice about 10 minutes ago" my brother answered, "You should go back to your room, the game will start soon"
"Alright, good luck onii-chan" She cheerfully ran out of his brother's bedroom.
Zinako slipped on the helmet-shaped NerveGear and fastened the strap under her chin. 12:59…13:00. "Link Start!"
Zinako was immediately surrounded by a swirl of colour. Her senses left her real body as she was transported into a viral world.
Please sign in using your password
A semitransparent keyboard appeared in front of her and she typed in her password given to her 3 months ago
Would you like to restore your beta testing progress?
-Yes
-No
'Yes, but isn't it cheating?' she asked herself and selected the 'No' option
Select Language:
-English
-Chinese
-Japanese
Click!
You have selected Japanese, do you wish to continue?
-Yes
-No
Once again, she moved her hand with her mind and selected 'Yes''
Please type in your avatar's name:
Again, a semitransparent keyboard appeared. Using 1 finger, she typed Z-I-N-A-K-I. Zinaki was quite an obvious name. 'Zina' clearly comes from her first name, Zinako and 'Ki' from Kirigaya.
Your avatar will be called Zinaki. Do you wish to continue?
-Yes
-No
Yes, obviously. She had been waiting for this day ever since the Beta-Testing for this game ended. Once again, a blinding white light flashed across my vision, teleporting me to the first level of Aincrad, also known as Sword Art Online
(Zinako will now be called my her Avatar name-Zinaki)
(Zinaki's POV)
When the light faded, I found myself in a huge town square filled with players from all over Japan. 'This is it' I thought, 'I'm back'. The first floor of the tower was a busy town with multiple shops and streets. Even if I had already been here before, everything still seemed a bit too realistic. A cool breeze brushed against my face, causing my a-bit-too-long silver braid to lift into the air for a few seconds. I'm still trying to get used to having a different appearance. My online avatar is currently wearing a white, long-sleeved tunic with a leather strap across my chest that holds a Beginner Iron Sword, black pants and tan ankle boots. In the top left corner of the screen…well, more like my vision was my HP (In-game Health Points). Since I was still in full health the HP Bar was full and was a green colour. If I only have half of my HP left, the colour should turn yellow. When I have a third left it would turn orange and if I only have a fifth of my HP left it would turn red which is Danger Zone. If the HP Bar has completely drained, then you would 'die' in game and respawn back at the Town of Beginnings which is the town I was in on the 1st floor of AINCRAD.
When I was walking down a dark alleyway, I couldn't shake off the feeling that I was being followed. Ignoring it, I kept on walking ahead but all of a sudden, I saw a shadow approach me from behind my back. I drew my sword at lightning speed, only to find the sharp tip of the blade pointing directly at someone's neck. Soon, I realised that this person was someone that I knew.
"Oh, Kirito! Don't scare me like that!" I exclaimed. Kirito was a friend that I met during Beta-Testing. We haven't seen each other for a few months.
"Zinaki, is this how you greet your friend" he complained. Kirito wasn't a bad looking guy at all. He has medium-length hair, swept to the side, half-covering his left eye, a blue shirt and brown pants with leather chest armour, a belt and a strap holding his sword which was identical to mine.
"Next time don't approach me from behind my back or I might accidentally kill you" I gave him a friendly warning.
"I can't stay with you for long, I need to look for my sister, she should be somewhere in this town" He gave me a disappointed look.
"Me too! I'm looking for my brother. Maybe we could search together and kill some monsters on the way." I gave him a light pat on the back.
As soon as I turned around again, another unexpected shadow joined us and with the sword still in my hand, I dashed in front of Kirito with my sword pointing at another player's neck.
"Who are you?" I demanded with my sword still drawn. The player with red hair raised both hands as a sign of peace and I put my sword back in the scabbard.
"Hey, my name is Klein!" the red-haired man introduced himself. "You two look like you've been here before, were you Beta-Testers?"
Kirito and I nodded slowly and Klein continued
"Do you mind showing me some moves? It's my first time here"
"Sure, I don't mind" Kirito replied, glancing at me for permission.
"I don't mind either. My brother can wait"
"Why don't we go into the fields, there are some small creatures there we can practice with" Kirito suggested
"Daijobu! Let's go" Then I ran off in the direction of the fields
