Hollow Shadows

Prologue

Kohr

Looking out the window at the sky always calmed Kohr down. But now, he had something else that could calm him down. A new game, called Sword Art Online. It was the first of its kind, a Virtual Reality game, powered by a state of the art technological marvel, the NerveGear. The NerveGear was created and developed in Japan by a genius named Kayaba Akihiko. The NerveGear had the ability to reroute the user's nerves from their brain to the VRMMORPG, or the Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. This ability was appropriately named, Full Dive, where the user went into a comatose-like state, where their physical body was incapacitated and their consciousness was transferred to a video game. This technology was beyond the world at the time, and the United States wanted to get in on the action of the Virtual Reality idea. That's why a certain company's director decided to send Noah. Adequate in material science, chemistry, a degree in Chemical Engineering and a hobby of programming video games, Noah was perfectly qualified to study the system that made the VRMMORPG, Sword Art Online, what it was. However, Noah was one of three people who were given special permission to use the game as testing grounds, in an attempt to keep a low profile. Noah had been given full access as a Beta Tester of the game, but kept a low profile about it. His research came first, not getting ahead of other players. After the beta test, he was given the green light to buy one of the first ten-thousand copies of the game. However, the other two testers were not allowed access to their copies until a couple weeks after the release. The pre-testing was to be done by Noah. And in an attempt to keep Argus in the way of their research, or from detecting their research, Noah and the other two researchers were not made aware of the other's identities. Starting off, Noah logged on as his character, which was named Kohr. He logged on and the moment he was inside, his research began. His research was progressing well after about four hours, and he was on his way to the next town, when he began to glow. A forced teleport put him back in the Town of Beginnings. Kohr looked around as the sky began red with warning signs. He watched as a character began to appear from the sky, introducing himself as Kayaba Akihiko. He went on to explain that he removed the log off button, to create one of the world's biggest testing grounds: Sword Art Online. And the biggest shock was that if one died in the game, the NerveGear would overload the electrons passing through the player's brain, frying it in a single pulse, instantly killing them. Kohr turned around as he had heard enough of the director of the famous VRMMORPG, and went on to the next town. As panic began to spread even further in the crowds, everyone suddenly began to glow, until when it subsided, nothing was left of their avatar, and all that remained was their real identities. Kohr pressed on to the exit to town until the sky returned to normal and chaos broke out in the town square. Kohr broke into a run as he sprinted to the path leading to the next town. And as he ran outside of the city limits, he thought to himself as he cut down an enemy in his way, that nothing was going to stand in the way of both his research and his conquest over the game he was now sealed to. And so the game began.

. . .

Chapter I

Kirito

His sword descended upon the Orc Warrior with a clang as it hit its armor. It pinged off and came back down again for a second attack with inhuman speed, clashing with the Orc's sword. The sword fell to the ground as the Orc glanced up just in time to see a streak of turquoise metal flying towards a chink in his armor. The next second, the Orc shimmered in the air, and as the blue colored sword was retrieved from the monster, he flashed and suddenly broke into a million pieces. The warrior clad in black looked over towards where his opponent used to stand, gathered up his winnings, and left the battle site, headed towards a bridge that he thought might just lead him out of the unknown forest.

Kirito had been walking on the bridge for what seemed like an entire year now, and he was getting really sick of the endless stretch of rock that seemed to go on forever. He was just about to turn around and go back the way he came, when he heard someone running behind him. Kirito turned around and saw a figure clad in black and red clothes, and not watching where she was going. Kirito had no time to react before she ran full force into him.

"Ow..."

"What the hell you idiot! Watch where you're going!"

"Sorry about that... Wait. What am I apologizing for?! You're the one who ran into me!"

"I'm trying to get away from someone, so if you don't mind, MOVE IT!"

Kirito was repulsed by how rude she was, but politely obliged. He moved out of her way and let her pass.

"Well that was unexpected."

Kirito was about to turn around and continue walking the length of the bridge, when suddenly, he saw another figure wearing red and silver armor come barreling towards him. Kirito immediately realized that the armored man wasn't going to stop, and he quickly sidestepped and dodged out of the way of the incoming train. He looked over at the person who had stopped a couple feet from him. The figure in armor I equipped his helm and looked at him through a mop of brown hair with a pair of brown eyes. The character appeared to be a bit older than Kirito, but he had a childish look and act to him.

"Did you see a girl in black and red come running through here?"

"Why, what did she do?

"Aha... so you DID see her. Would you mind telling me which way she went?"

"Ummm... we're on a bridge. I believe there is only one way she could've gone."

"Hey. Don't get smart with me, kid. Unless you want a face full of dirt."

"Ooohhhh. I'd love to see you try!"

"Ok, look kid. As much as I'd love to teach you some manners, I have places to be and things to do. So if you don't mind, MOVE!"

Kirito was astounded by how much power and force was in his voice. His first reaction was to pull out his sword. The armored man took that action as a challenge and opened up a window and issued a challenge to Kirito. Out of instinct, Kirito hit enter, and almost regretted it when his opponent unsheathed his weapon.

His opponent pulled out a two handed sword of considerable length. The sword was of a gold origin in the hilt; however the blade of the sword was of a material that Kirito had never seen in SAO. It looked like glass at first glance, but Kirito knew there was no such material in SAO. Kirito almost laughed at his opponent's choice of weapon, but thought better of it. This opponent obviously knew why he was doing to choose a weapon such as it in a place like this. Kirito was suddenly caught off-guard by the obscurity of the sword's material, and the fact that his sword was glowing! The warrior used that moment to rush Kirito with a speed that was insane for someone with armor such as his, but Kirito's reaction time was the fastest in the game. He brought his sword up in an uppercut motion to stop the intended path of the sword, but was met with a surprise. The two swords clashed together, but instead of his sword meeting with equal resistance, the Elucidator was practically knocked from his hand. Kirito just barely held onto his sword until it hit the ground. Kirito looked up to his opponent in confusion as the armored man kicked Kirito in the face, sending him flying.

(Author's Note)

SO! This is my first chapter in a story that I have been writing for a while now, and I am thinking that about every week I'll post a new chapter. This will give me time to edit them to as good as I can get, and give all of you people time to tell me what you thought. Please! I encourage, and in fact, I WANT you, yes YOU, to comment on this. Please tell me any mistakes I made, in terms of the game, descriptions, and even grammar. Tell me what you thought about it, and anything else you would like to say to me. I don't care if it's that my story could definitely be better (I'm pretty sure everyone know's that their own story could use work), or if it's that I'm doing great, and to keep up the good work. I don't care, I just want to hear what your thoughts are. Thanks!

-Kohr