The game officially begins at one. He thought to himself as he shot home on his bike. I have two and a half hours to get home, check up on Emma, start the installation process and take my shift.
A young man shot down the street on a road bike, being cautious around traffic, but other than that, he had no intention of slowing down.
This young man was Marcus Cersy, a seventeen-year-old boy living in Shinjuku. He was wearing a white and blue helmet that covered his head, but there were traces of raven black hair underneath. His eyes, protected by some riding goggles he liked to wear, were an icy blue, and some of his friends often told him he had a piercing gaze if he stared too long.
He was wearing a white coat that he left unzipped, allowing it to blow along behind him, a black shirt underneath and black pants. He had on a pair of white fingerless gloves and black boots hammering against the pedals. On his back was an icy blue backpack, which looked a little square. Of course it is, with the precious cargo it's carrying.
Turning left, he swerved his bike around and up alongside a small corner shop. It was here he started to dismount, but pushed his bike around a bit further to a gate that led into a small yard behind the shop.
Pushing open the gate, he wheeled in his bike, and took it over to a small shed that he kept his bicycle in and out of the rain. As he did, a bark came from the back of the shop, and a small Alaskan Husky rushed out to greet him.
"Hey Sparkle," Marcus said, locking up the shed. He nodded in satisfaction and let the little animal jump up to give him some affectionate yips.
"Go on in," He told Sparkle, pushing her down. As he walked in through the back, he saw the most important person to him limp in on a pair of crutches.
"How'd it go?" she asked, pulling up a chair and backing down into it.
"About as you'd expect, but I got it," Marcus grinned, taking off his backpack and zipping it open to reveal packaging for what looked like a helmet. On the top of the box was the word Nervegear. Next to the box was a game case, which Marcus pulled out.
On the cover was a large, egg shaped, steel castle, with roots hanging out of the bottom like it had been pulled out the ground, at the base of the construct were six extrusions, that were speculated to house the power units to make the castle float in the first place. At the top of the box were three words.
Sword Art Online.
The single most anticipated game of the last two years had finally been released. It ran with the Nervegear, a piece of hardware that took the consciousness of a user and transmitted them into entire virtual worlds.
"You still intend to keep that promise you made right? About letting me use it now and then?" She asked.
"Emma, you're my sister, I'll let you use it whenever you want. I just get the first go," Marcus grinned. "Besides, I never make a girl a promise, if I know I can't keep it."
Emma carried the same hair colour as Marcus, her silky hair going down to just past her shoulders while his was short and tidily combed. Her eyes were a deep soft blue. She was wearing an ocean blue shirt that had open shoulders, a black pleated skirt and Pikachu slippers, which came with ears and tail.
"Emma, tell Takahiro-Sempai that I'll be able to take my two-hour shift once I've started the installing stuff," Marcus said, heading for the stairs and running up to their shared room.
He returned a moment later, wearing a blue apron over a white shirt and black pants. Passing the dining room, he went through to the shop.
Stood at the counter was a man who was just helping a customer, "Reporting for duty boss," He said.
"There you are, can you start by restocking the shelves by the door? Emma's cupcakes have been sold out again," He asked.
"You got it," Marcus nodded, and took a box over to the window shelf by the front.
Marcus and Emma lived for rent with a man called Warren Takahiro, who had been kind enough to allow them to stay with him, as long as they helped with the business, which turned out to be a bakery. Marcus helped Warren up front, while Emma, partially because of her legs, helped his wife Amy in the back, doing the baking part.
Emma's legs were hurt when the siblings were walking home from school, and Emma had been clipped by a car and she fell in a bad way, they weren't broken, but she had lost partial movement in them from the shock and nerve damage.
As Marcus was filling a shelf with bread, the door opened with a jingle, and a black-haired girl walked in, around his age. "Good day Suguha-san," He smiled.
"Oh hi Marcus-kun," The girl said, Marcus hid a raised eyebrow at the suffix used, but didn't question it.
Suguha was in his class for Physical Education at school, and they sometimes partnered up for events. Occasionally, their teacher treated them with a rare lesson of Kendo. Suguha aced this subject, due to her competitive skill in the sport, but the only person who could keep up with her was Marcus.
"Anything you want today?" Marcus asked, walking up to the counter.
"Just another box of your sister's cupcakes, those things are the best ever!" Suguha grinned.
"Ok, one box of Emma's Cakes," Marcus nodded, quickly nipping into the back and getting the purchase. "Anything else?" He asked.
Suguha went over to a small refrigerator in the corner, where cooled drinks were put on display for sale, she took out a bottle of water, and came back to pay.
"243 yen please," He said, after putting the commands in the cashier. Suguha handed him three hundred yen bills, and he gave her the necessary change.
"Thanks Marcus-Kun! See you in class," Suguha said, heading out the door.
Marcus shook his head, she needed to get rid of that crush. It wasn't that he didn't like Suguha, it was just that he didn't see her as anything more than a good friend.
Things continued slowly, Marcus stocked the shelves and helped Jun if things got busy.
Eventually, the two front-workers heard a beeping jingle coming from Marcus' pocket. "SAO has finished installing, and with thirty minutes left on my shift, nifty," He muttered, turning off the alarm.
"Go ahead, you can finish early today, you deserve it after the extra time you've put in to help around the shop," Warren smiled.
"Thanks a lot Takahiro-Sempai," Marcus bowed lightly, breaking into a grin.
"Just make sure not to be on it all night? You have the store in the morning," Warren reminded him.
"Sure, don't worry about me," Marcus nodded, and made a beeline for the stairs.
"Hey, Marcus!" He halted at the feminine call from the kitchen, he detoured to check in, Amy Takahiro gave him a warm grin, "because you might not come down before supper, at least take this up before you go," she held up a plate of sandwiches, two bags of chips and a coke and a soda.
"This isn't necessary Amy," Marcus smiled.
Amelia was about half a head taller than him, with rose-red hair underneath a hair-net and comforting hazel eyes, she was wearing a blue dress with a white apron over it.
"Rubbish, if the conversations that you have with Emma are enough to go by, you two are still big gamers, and from what I understand, they also forget to get food sometimes," Amy gave him a motherly look.
"Alright, thanks for the food," Marcus took the plate, and headed up the stairs.
The Takahiro Bakery was two floors, the bakery half was downstairs, and was divided into four rooms, the main store, the kitchens (with extra ovens for the produce), a dining room, and a sitting room. Upstairs were two bedrooms, one for the Takahiro's and one for the Cersy siblings, a bathroom in the middle, and an airing cupboard for clothes and laundry.
Marcus stepped into his and Emma's room, seeing his sister sat on her bed reading a book, "Ok, things are set up," She said, as he set down the plate on the bed, handing a bag of chips to her and the soda.
"The recording hardware wired up?" He asked. Emma nodded, cracking open her can and taking a sip.
"The Nervegear needs a calibration set up," She said, Marcus picked up the helmet, a gunmetal grey colour, with the logo on the forehead.
"Ok, this shouldn't take too long," He said.
Ten minutes later, he pulled off the helmet, "That took way longer than I thought," He muttered.
"You'd better put it back on," Emma nodded up to the clock. Marcus glanced at it. 12:59.
"Holy crap!" He lay down on the bed.
He took a deep breath, before smirking, seeing the Nervegear clock in the corner flick to say 13:00.
"Link… START!"
The next thing he knew, he was flying down a tunnel of colours, before he felt his feet land on a small platform, in a black room. In front of him stood a generic hero-like character.
"Welcome to Sword Art Online! Please create your avatar. To make changes, call out commands such as: 'Change hair colour to black', when finished, say: 'Finished Creation'," an automated female voice droned out.
Marcus changed his avatar to be a little more toned in muscle, a tiny bit shorter and his eye colour to a calming deep blue, unlike his ice blue. His starting armour consisted of a white short-sleeved shirt, black pants, black fingerless gloves and boots, and a light leather chestplate.
"Finished Creation," He stated clearly.
His avatar vanished, and a wheel of weapons surrounded him, ranging from one-handed swords to axes, hammers, curved blades, two-handed weapons like spears, battle-axes and greatswords. "Please select a starting weapon, this can be changed in game," the voice returned. One weapon caught his attention more than others, and he reached out to take a basic rapier.
"You have selected Rapier, is this ok?" the voice asked.
"It is," Marcus said firmly.
"Now select a name for your avatar, there are no duplicates," the voice instructed.
A keyboard appeared before Marcus, and he pondered about a name. Eventually, he got one, typing in three letters, Ion.
"Thank you, now, get out there and enjoy Sword Art Online!" The voice gave some enthusiasm, much to Marcus' surprise. The floor beneath him vanished, and he fell into the abyss.
When Ion felt his feet hit the ground again, he heard bustling numbers of voices, footsteps, the sounds varied, but he couldn't see. Then he realised his virtual eyes hadn't opened yet, and commanded them to do so.
He saw himself standing on the far side of a very large plaza, that almost looked like the interior of the coliseum of Rome, with what looked like the Washington Monument in the middle with a bell tower on the top.
Players filled the courtyard, some talking with others, some rushing out into the town, some just taking in the sights, Ion decided to hit the markets, deciding to go and stock up on potions and the normal starting necessities with what little money he had.
Taking his right hand, he chopped it down, opening his menu. On the left window, showed a basic outline of his avatar, underneath that was a list of his stats and some equipped passive skills.
On the right, it showed six tabs, skills, inventory, options, friends and map. Opening this, he saw that he was on the far eastern side of the plaza.
With no-one to wait for, he decided to get going.
Ion grunted as a blue boar knocked him over for the umpteenth time, "Ok… pig thing seven, me, one," he muttered. No joke, he had only gotten one hit in on the blue pig.
He was fighting a Frenzied Boar, and judging by the number of them that wandered throughout the plains of Floor One, it was a common mob.
"Ok… how did that video show it? The guy made it look so easy…!" He muttered. He heard a feminine grunt not far away, and stole a glance to see a girl with a spear also struggling with the fighting mechanics.
Turning tail, he decided to leave his boar alone, and decided to see about helping the girl out.
"Want some help?" He asked, observing from a distance.
"It would make things easier!" The girl nodded, rolling out of the way of the boar.
"What was it in that video that made it look so easy? I'm missing something… here," Ion muttered again, his eyes widened.
"If you have a way to get this thing off me, I'd appreciate it!" The girl grunted.
"Ok, then standby," Ion called. Gripping his rapier, he felt something, like a movement, deciding to follow the instinct, he felt his sword lighten, as well as hearing it hum.
"Take this!" He thrust forward, stabbing the pig and taking the aggro off the girl.
"Whoa! How'd you do that?!" The girl asked.
He felt himself freeze up as he finished the skill, "Just before you make the skill, you'll feel an initial movement, let it happen, before driving it home," Ion explained, feeling the freeze wear off.
"Initial movement?" The girl asked. She then tried something, holding her spear back. It seemed to start glowing green, just before the girl thrust it forward, stabbing the boar and finishing the mob off.
Both players had a window open, showing any experience points, col, which was the currency in the game, and a large gap that would house any items received from the fight, none of which had been awarded this time.
Ion sheathed his rapier at his waist, while the girl returned her spear to a sleeve on her back. "Ok, that was pretty awesome," she grinned.
"I agree," Ion nodded. "I'm Ion." He held out a hand to shake.
"Call me Angel," the girl smiled, taking the hand.
She was equipped in the same sort of gear as him, but she had chosen a purple sleeveless shirt and black pants, she wore a light leather breastplate over her clothes. She was also wearing black gloves and boots.
"Thanks for the assist," She said. "I had been sucking horribly against that thing for at least four minutes."
"Yeah, I know what you mean," Ion chuckled.
"Well, thanks for the help, but I think I'll head my own way for now," Angel shrugged.
"No problem, see you around maybe," Ion nodded.
With that, the two players parted ways.
Ion stood on a hill overlooking the plains. He had been continuing to level up his avatar, now at a reasonable level four. This game is incredible, he thought to himself. I could get used to this.
He glanced up to the clock in the top right corner of his vision. It's coming up to half five. I'd better log off to get down and help with dinner. Ion opened his menu, going down to the options tab and heading to where he had seen in a video how to log out. But where he had seen the button in the video, there was just a blank button.
What? Could it be a bug? It makes some sense, but the devs should have fixed it by now, Ion thought with worry.
"Emma, if you're watching, do not forcefully remove my Nervegear, not until the bug is fixed," He muttered quietly, knowing Emma might hear him speaking.
As he made a move to head back to the Town of Beginnings, he heard a loud bell ringing. The next thing he noticed was a blue veil of light swallow him up. When it faded, he was back in the plaza he had spawned in earlier.
All around him, players were chattering, more appearing every two seconds in a blue glow like him.
Ion's sharp hearing picked up the sound of a low drone, repeating. Looking up, he saw a blinking red panel, hovering high above the plaza. A single word was imprinted on it: 'WARNING'.
Red spread through the sky as the panel multiplied by the hundreds, eventually covering the plaza with the ominous colour.
Then, through the cracks between the hexagons above them, a substance that could only be described as blood oozed out, and started to form into something solid, and big.
That thing was a large hood, with long flowing sleeves tipped with white gloves. No legs formed underneath the thing, and no face emerged from the cowl to give any identity to it. Instead, only black-purple mist that seeped from where the head should have been, adding an extra layer of creepiness to the figure formed before them.
"Attention players," a rather monotonous voice emanated from the figure, it's arms raising out to the sides. "I welcome you to my world." His words- for Ion would know if that was a female voice- carried no emotion as he began his speech.
"My name is Akihiko Kayaba, and as of this moment, I am in control of this world," He stated clearly.
Ion backed up a step, this was the living legend behind Nervegear and Sword Art Online? He was known in both the gaming and the scientific worlds as an infamous genius. He wasn't giving a good opening impression if this was the opening ceremony.
"I am sure that many of you have noticed an item missing from your menus- the logout button," Kayaba said, opening a massive menu himself to demonstrate. "Let me assure you that this is not a defect."
Ion felt like his heart would stop. Or it would have if this was his real body. Nonetheless, he was petrified.
"I repeat, this is not a defect," Kayaba went on. "This is how Sword Art Online was designed to be." He paused, letting the shock settle.
"You cannot log yourselves out of SAO, and no one from the outside world may attempt to remove the Nervegear rig from your head. If anyone attempts to do so, the Nervegear will discharge a microwave signal into your brain, and end your life," The apparition before them said.
Ion dropped to his knees, he's right, the signals pumping us into this game work just like microwaves. If the safety is switched off, that could kill us!
"Despite my warnings, the families and friends of several players attempted to remove their Nervegears- an unfortunate decision to say the least." Kayaba continued.
"No…" Ion muttered.
"As a result, the game now has two hundred and thirteen less players than when it started," red cloak announced.
A number of windows opened around the massive figure, and Ion glanced at them, one showed a familiar bakery, with a familiar pair of adults trying to comfort a familiar young girl. EMMA! He gasped internally.
His observation had made him miss what Kayaba last said. He did hear the next part though.
"It's important to remember the following: There is no longer any way to revive someone. If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be deleted from the system. And the Nervegear will simultaneously destroy your brain," Kayaba's latest newsflash echoed through the plaza.
We're so dead. Ion thought with a sigh.
"There is only one way for a player to escape now, you must clear the game," The massive figure boomed, he made a command on his menu, and a large hologram of Aincrad. "Right now, you are gathered on floor one, the lowest level of Aincrad. Defeat the boss in the floor's dungeon, and you may advance to the next floor. Defeat the boss on floor one hundred, and you will have cleared the game."
"Defeat all one hundred floors?!" A player yelled. "That's friggin' impossible! Not even the beta testers got that high!"
"You want us to beat an MMO?!" A player demanded, next to Ion. "When was the last time you heard of someone beating Everquest?"
"When was the last time you heard of someone playing Everquest?" Ion asked him.
"Fair point," The other player shrugged.
"Lastly, I have placed an item in the inventory of every player, please have a look," He said. It sounded like a request, but there was gravity behind the words, making it seem like a demand.
So, everyone complied, opening their menus and accessing their inventories. Indeed, like Kayaba said, there was an extra item in their storage, Ion summoned it to his hand, disappointed to see that it was a mirror.
Staring down at the small reflective surface, he saw the face of the avatar he had worked to create. He then heard a player yelp in surprise. He snapped his gaze round, but was suddenly blinded by a flash of bright blue light.
At first, Ion thought it was another teleport, but he didn't feel his feet leave the ground. And when the glow faded, he saw he was exactly where he had been beforehand.
"What was that?" He asked no one in particular. Glancing down at the mirror, he was very surprised to see not the face of his avatar, but the face of Marcus Cersy, with his raven black hair and ice blue eyes.
"What the hell? Why would this happen? And how?" He wondered aloud.
"The headgear has an internal scanner built in, so that's how it has our faces, but how does it know our height and body type?" Another player muttered.
"Remember when it asked us to do that 'calibration'? Patting yourself like this?" Another pointed out, patting his sides.
Ok, thank you convenient explanation, Ion shrugged. Glancing around, he saw that the gender ratio had changed drastically, with nine out of ten players now male, and only one female out of that ten. He then glared up at the game creator.
"Right now, you are probably wondering: why?" Kayaba went on. "Why would Akihiko Kayaba, creator of Sword Art Online and Nervegear, do this?" He paused, almost collecting his thoughts, before continuing, "Ultimately, my goal was a simple one. I wanted to control the fate of a world of my design. As you can see, I have completed my goal."
He wants to have a game of chess against himself, and we're his thousands of pawns, trying to wage war against a king. Well, he'll get his war. You're going down Kayaba! Ion growled.
"This marks the end of the tutorial, and the official start of Sword Art Online," Kayaba said, his announcement coming to a close. "Players, I wish you the very best of luck." And with those words, his giant avatar started to sag and collapse in on itself while dissolving into dark smoke that drifted back up through the cracks in the sky.
The very second the smoke vanished, the sky returned to normal. Ion gripped his fists, Kayaba… I looked up to you, you were a hero to the world of gamers and science! Now however… my respect for you has turned into craving revenge! I swear! Kayaba! I'll kill you!
The following silence was deafening, no one dared to move, no one could speak, they were all frozen, petrified by the herculean task set before them.
The sound of glass shattering, and a scream in the plaza broke this silence, everyone exploded, making demands, cries, shouts, it was awful. Ion took initiative, making a move and pushing his way out of the plaza, he had to get out there and fight!
Things settled down eventually, around midnight. Ion stood on a rooftop, watching players form parties, arming to the teeth in the markets, or some slumping into inns, he yawned, having been grinding since the game of death began, getting his level to ten from killing mobs like there was no tomorrow.
He hopped off the roof, and stepped into the inn. Some players were at the bar, doing their best to drown in sorrows and alcohol, but all drinks did in the game was give a debuff to movement speed and sway the sight of the player. Others were sitting at tables, comforting each other and crying quietly. Ion walked up to the innkeeper, who was quietly cleaning an empty mug behind the bar.
"Welcome, weary traveller, to our humble inn, would you like to rent a room?" He asked.
"I'd like to rent a room for a night," Ion said.
"One room? That would be ten col," the man responded. Ion opened his menu and pulled out the necessary money. A small pouch appeared in his left hand, and he handed it over. The innkeeper gave him a key in return with the number seven on it.
Ion thanked the owner, and headed up the stairs to find his room. Walking down the hallway, he stopped when he saw a door with seven etched into the woodwork.
The room itself was rather unimpressive, a normal looking bed was made in the corner, and a window looked out to the street below. Ion unclipped his rapier from his belt, and put it by the bed, then walked over to the window to look up at floor two.
"I won't give up… no way! I will make my way home. Mother… Father… please watch for my return," Ion muttered quietly.
No matter what happened, he would bring this world crashing down on Akihiko Kayaba.
