Chapter 1
I stared at the clock, desperately willing for it to move faster. 5 minutes left now. I felt something in my eye, and dragged said eyes away from the clock to check the mirror. Left eye, sapphire blue, right eye, blood red. Nope, normal. Most people might feel some alarm at their eye being red, but not me. I was born with a rare medical condition (That's what they said it was, to me. I heard them later call it a mutation) that turned my iris blood red. Naturally, kids were cruel, and that mistake that I couldn't control followed me from the children's playground to the high school cafeteria.
My eyes flicked back to the clock. 3 minutes. I was so excited, my nerves twitching now and then from the random energy spikes travelling through my body. My father knocked on my door. "Seth?" he asked. I live in the middle of Japan, and both my originally American parents decided to name me Seth. They said it made me sound exotic, even though they had their last name changed to a Japanese one. My father even assumed a Japanese pen name when he wrote for the magazine he worked at. The other kids said my name made me sound stupid, and that my white skin would shine in the dark.
"Yeah, dad?" I asked, my eyes still glued to the clock.
"I need you to take out the trash."
"Dad, the game's about to start! I'll do it tonight, the truck doesn't come 'till tomorrow."
"Alright, son. I'll come and get you in a few hours, but then you're gonna get the trash."
"Fine, dad." 1 minute left. I slipped on the NerveGear, plugging it into my computer, lying back on my bed, and keeping my eyes glued to the clock in the corner of the display. 12:59…12:59…12:59…1:00. "Link Start!"
The game loaded up around me, and I felt the familiar weight of my scythe on my back. I tugged it out of its sheath, but it wasn't the same one I'd had during the beta test. A pity, but fair, I suppose. The one I'd had would have torn through the first floor mobs faster than you could blink. The rest of the 10,000 players formed around me. I twirled my scythe in a circle before sliding it back into its sheath. I set off at a sprint for the field, when someone grabbed my shoulder.
My father has been enrolling me in martial arts classes since I was a child, and I have various black belts under my…belt. My instincts kicked in, and I stopped, grabbing the assaulting wrist and flipping it over my shoulder. The body followed, revealing a shorter kid with black, short hair. "That wasn't a good idea," I said, moving on and leaving him on the ground. He caught up with me, though, and jogged beside me to keep up with my steps.
"I'm sorry, but you just seemed like you knew where you were going. Are you a beta tester?"
"I was."
"Wow that is so cool! I'm glad to just have gotten a copy, but you're so much luckier than me. Can you help me out?"
"I could."
"Great! So can you give me some advice about what weapon class to pick?"
"I could."
There was a pause, as he obviously thought I would respond. "Well? Are you?"
"No."
"But you said that you would!"
"No. I said I could. Information is gold here. Why would I give it out for free?"
A life of being an outcast will change you. I might seem like an asshole, but I don't want to be. I'm just tired of being taken advantage of, and taking control of the situation is the only way I've figured out how to fix that. SAO was a new start for me, and I was going to start it off right.
His jogging stopped, and I tried to keep myself from looking back at him. I couldn't, and I glanced his way. He was pouting, the emotion software making tears well up in his eyes. Fuck.
"Alright, kid. C'mere, we'll get you a blade."
"Yes!" he shouted, instantly cheering up. I shook my head, feeling tricked, and directed him to the markets.
The kid chose a scimitar, which was little more than a sickle about 2 feet in length. After a bit more coercion, I dragged him out to the field. What can I say? As much of a hardass as I can be, I'm a sucker for a crying kid. And pretty girls. But most of the girls in this game were probably middle-aged men, so I tended not to dwell on them. "My name is James, by the way," he said. I breathed out a sigh of relief. I wasn't the only one using a foreign name as their username.
"Seth." Leading him out into the field, I stopped the first charging boar with the pole of my scythe. "Alright. Now, to use a sword skill, open your menu and see the position." He flicked through his menu as I shoved the boar to the side and caught it again on its return charge. He crouched down, hovering his sword just above where it was supposed to go. "Let it build for a second." He dropped his arm, and the scimitar glowed pink. Then, the game made him charge forward and slice the sickle down on its neck. I finished it off by pushing it, spinning and plunging the scythe into its side.
"Why do you use a scythe?" he asked.
"It's versatile. Can be used as a stab weapon, a slash weapon, a blunt weapon, and it's two-handed, so it's got more power behind it. Or if you want quick strikes you can use one hand."
Suddenly, the ground under the both of us glowed. "What the-?" James asked, before we were teleported. They were moved to the town square of Beginnings. As the rest of the players teleported in, James and I whirled around in confusion. "What's going on?" asked James.
"I don't know. Stay close, kid." Those surrounding us were arguing over what had happened, when they all fell silent. I glanced up to where they were looking, and saw a small red "System Message" prompt hanging high in the sky. The warning spread into a red dome surrounding the town square, and red liquid poured from the gaps in the messages. The liquid paused in it's descent, and formed into a giant cloaked figure.
"Attention, players. Welcome to my world. My name is Kayaba Akihiko. As of this moment, I am the sole person who can control this world. I'm sure you've already noticed that the logout button is missing from the main menu." James' and I's eyes went wide. We flicked open our menus, and quickly confirmed the claim. "But this is not a defect in the game. I repeat, this is not a defect in the game. It is a feature of Sword Art Online. You cannot log out of Sword Art Online yourselves, and no one on the outside can shut down or remove your NerveGear. Should this be attempted, the transmitter inside the NerveGear will emit a powerful microwave, destroying your brain and thus ending your life."
I prayed that my father wouldn't try to forcibly wake me up to take out the trash.
"Unfortunately, several players' friends and families have ignored this warning, and have attempted the remove the NerveGear. As a result, 213 players are gone forever, from both Aincrad and the real world. As you can see," Kayaba pulled up several Internet screens, each displaying news stories, "news stories across the world are reporting all of this, including the deaths."
My prayers turned to ones that my father would turn on the news.
"Thus, you can assume the danger of a NerveGear being removed is now minimal. I hope you will relax and attempt to clear the game."
My prayers stopped, and I stared at the figure in front of us. Clear the game?
"But I want you to remember this clearly. There is no longer any method to revive someone within this game. If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be lost forever. And simultaneously, the NerveGear will destroy your brain."
Oh, God…
"There is only one means of escape. To complete the game. You are presently on the lowest floor of Aincrad, floor 1. If you make your way through the dungeon and defeat the Floor Boss, you may advance to the next level. Defeat the final boss on Floor 100, and you will clear the game."
I reached back to touch the pole of my scythe. It was now the only thing keeping me from dying. It just got a whole lot more important.
"Finally, I've added a present from me to your item storage. Please, see yourselves." I flicked through my menu, and tapped the "mirror" that was the new addition to my storage. A small mirror dropped into my hands, and for a second my avatar's face stared back at me. Then, I glowed.
When the light cleared…It was my face. MY FACE. The face that had been laughed at for years. The mismatched eyes that attracted assholes to me like flies to honey. The face that I'd bought this game to hide from. And honestly, that hurt me more than being trapped in a Death Game. I couldn't even hear what Kayaba said before he disappeared. I still just stared at my face in the mirror, rage flashing in my eyes before it shattered. Everyone was looking around as the dome fell, and I grabbed James' hand, dragging him along as I kept my head bowed low.
"Seth! What's going on?"
"I don't know. But we need to get out of here." We practically sprinted from the town square, and we came to a halt at a market. He begged me to let him buy some extra armor, and I stood back, keeping my eyes low. But they were attracted to a cloak. I bought it on the spot, and put it on. It's hood hung low over my face, and the shadows got most of what the hood itself didn't. But it still wasn't enough. I saw a small piece of fabric on the table. "Excuse me," I asked the NPC, "what is that?"
"That's a bandanna. 200 Col."
"I'll take it." I bought it and lowered my hood to examine it. It wasn't a bandanna exactly, but made of a stretchy type of material that expanded and contracted. It was also a tube, nowhere to tie it. I also noticed it had white markings on it, in the shapes of teeth, and the front of a skull. I grinned. Between the cloak, skulls and scythe, people would start to call me "Death" or something. I lowered it over my face, the tube contracting smoothly over my jaw and over my nose. The fabric was thin enough that I could easily breathe through it, and I flipped my hood back up. Wonderful. Now, I was concealed. James turned around, then jumped slightly at my appearance. I also resized him up.
He didn't get much taller, about an inch or two, and his hair had gone from black to dark brown. His face hadn't changed much, a few pimples here and there. He had to be about 14. I'm 16, in case you care.
"Why'd you change?" he asked.
"I don't like my face."
"Why? Are you horribly scared, or something like that?" he asked, chuckling.
"Something like that," I muttered. I glanced at myself in the reflection of some glass, and almost laughed at the similarities between me and the reaper. The shadows reached my upper lip, and all you could see of my face was the skeletal teeth on the bandanna. Perfect.
"Well, weird changes aside…what do we do now?" We walked to the edge of the field, the once fun filled grinding location turned into a death trap in a matter of minutes.
"We beat this damn game."
(X)
We'd fought our way for several hours, increasing about 2 levels each. We were going to rest at a safe zone in the middle of the field that we'd found, sleeping in shifts. We were about to step into the zone, when there was a rough laugh behind us. We turned slowly, my hand absentmindedly traveling to the scythe on my back. There was a man standing there, a mask on his face. It detailed a skull, but was empty where mine covered. It masked his forehead and eyes, but left his mouth free. "Well, well, well. What do we have here?"
"Just a few players," James said, chuckling.
"Have you killed anyone yet?" he asked casually. My eyes immediately narrowed, and the scythe slid out of its sheath. "It's kind of fun."
"What?" asked James.
"No, we haven't," I said. "And I'd rather not. But stay here, and I might have to break that rule." He raised his hands and laughed slightly.
"Alright, Death. I'm leaving." I knew the nicknames would start soon. He turned his back and walked off. My hands reluctantly placed the scythe back into its sheath. We stepped into the safe zone, and a green glow appeared around our health bars, indicating that they couldn't go down. I sat down, James lying on his back. I'd take first watch.
Several hours later, 3 AM game-time, James' alarm went off (I assume, you can't actually hear other people's alarms), and he woke up. I nodded at him, laid back, secured my hood, and nodded off.
I woke up to a moaning. "What the…" I muttered, raising my head. Then I snapped awake, noticing James' health bar. It had just entered the red, and a small window displayed green bubbles. Poison. I leapt to my feet, and glanced around. "James!" I shouted.
"Over here," he said. He was sitting just outside the safe zone, leaned up against the rock. I rushed over, trying to do something, but I couldn't. None of the boars dropped any healing items. He coughed. "That skulled guy came back, challenged me to a duel." Fuck. Even if I dragged him back to the safe zone, his health would still go down. "He…He set it to HP 0. He hit me with this poison, then ran off. He's waiting somewhere, for me to die." He kind of smiled, staring up at the sky. "I don't mind, really," he said. "The only reason I accepted his challenge was…I realized how futile this was. I thought, there is no way in hell we're getting out of this game. It took us a day to get a 1/8th of the way to the tower. I figured I didn't have a chance, so might as well meet this on my own terms." His eyes flicked back down to meet mine. "My name is Shirokawa Tokichiro. I want you to get out of this game, and find my parents. I want you to tell them something for me. I'm not scared. I want them to know…" His eyes flicked back up to the stars. "I wasn't scared."
His heath bar zeroed out, and my only friend shattered into polygons.
I stared blankly at the place where my friend once sat. The only person I knew in this game, and he was dead. If Kayaba was to be believed, the kid's brain had just been cooked from the inside out. Where a human being once sat, there was now a corpse. And the only one who knew his last request was me.
I rose from my kneeled position to a standing one. I drew my scythe from my back, and rested the pole on my shoulder, the blade hanging over my back. I took a deep breath, and continued towards the maze tower.
Authors Note: This is another project I'm starting, and I'm going to kill myself trying to work on all of these, but I've got some big stuff planned for this. This is going to prolong the SAO arc, and give it the attention I thought it deserved. Also, I have to thank Wol5fe, a friend of mine, for the cover art. Look him up, he's writing some amazing stories.