Chapter 1: The Death Game Begins - A

In 2100 A.D. the first VRMMORPG had been released to the public shortly after beta had gone off without a hitch, this VRMMORPG had been co-developed by Argus, and a genius programmer called Long Dian from another company. This VRMMORPG was called, "Second Life."

"Second Life" had a realism level of ninety-nine percent, in contrast to any other MMO that had came out before, of course this realism was only achieved with the use of Nerve Gears, a brilliant innovation that had not been used to its full potential until now.

While it had a realism level of ninety-nine percent, there was one complaint from some beta testers and that was the pain level. While hardcore gamers would enjoy the feeling of a completely virtual reality, others hadn't very much enjoyed the pain level, and so a new feature was added to the game in which the player could control the level of the pain that would be felt.

The game launched with ten thousand copies released, and on November 6 players were waiting eagerly for the clock to strike 1 PM when the game would officially start.

Kirito looked at the clock that read 12:40pm, there was only 20 minutes until he would be able to play again, so he laid down the manual on the desk. There wasn't supposed to be a need to read the manual again since he was a beta tester, but new information about the other continents was released and some other extra information.

During the beta, only two continents out of the five were available for the players to be on, the manual had some information on the two other continents that nobody had explored before. What still remained a mystery was the Central Continent; nothing about it was said even now.

Kirito felt excited; during the two months of beta his thoughts were always focused on the game no matter what he was doing, for a gaming addict like him this game was truly a second life. Each continent had a variety of dungeons, around twenty; the thousand players picked for beta hadn't even managed to clear either of the continents, merely getting halfway through the dungeons.

Now there would be even more to explore, and there was even new jobs added like Bards, Taoist, Barrier Masters, and others. Although there was so many races and jobs to be, to Kirito there was only one choice to him, a human warrior.

While in other games being a warrior was sometimes a narrow and boring path, in "Second Life", players had a multitude, and perhaps endless amount of skills available to them. While the most basic and fundamental skills were available to everybody, there were special skills that a player would get only by luck, and secret quests.

These skills were what made enabled you to create character truly powerful and unique to only you.

His thoughts were cut off, by the sound of his sister yelling out to him, "Onii-san, I'm leaving now." Kirito got up and opened the door. For some reason, today he felt as though he had to see her off.

Guessing from the slight widening of his sisters eyes she had just expected him to yell back rather than leaving his room. "Take care, Suguha."

Suguha beamed at his reply, "I'll see you later," she said, before walking off.

Even when he had distanced himself from her, Suguha had still tried her best to get closer to him and maintain the relationship they used to have. Even now, Kirito felt guilty over dropping kendo and leaving it all to her. He felt guilty over distancing himself from for what seemed to be no reason probably to her.

But the truth he had discovered hurt him, that they were not actual siblings but mere cousins. Kirito regretted that he let this affect him so much and by the time Kirito realized that he should mend their relationship, he had no idea where to start. So Kirito had given up before he even tried.

Kirito returned to his room with a sigh. His eyes trailed over to the clock that read now 12:55 pm. Somehow some time had already passed so quickly.

He held the Nerve Gear, looking at it with anticipation and excitement. It was almost time to begin.

Feng Lan looked over to her brother - Feng Yang Ming, with an irritated look. "So what if guys give me equipment and help me level up?"

Yang Ming snorted, "You have it too easy, what's the point of playing if you just stand in the back and hide?"

She had nothing to say this, because it was true. She always was power leveled up other guys and given good equipment.

"See, you have nothing to say," He said, "I bet if you were on your own you'd barely be able to get to level five before giving up."

Feng Lan stood up infuriated, "Now you're taking it too far, I could level up all on my own if I wanted to," she said.

"Heeeh, really?" Yang Ming said a smirk on his face. It seemed that he was waiting for her to say this. "Then let's play Second Life, it's going to launch today and I got a copy."

"Second Life?" She said, puzzled.

Yang Ming sighed immediately, "Not even knowing this.."

"Shut up, and just tell me!"

"Second Life, is a game with 99% percent realism, a completely virtual reality," Yang Ming said, "You can feel the wind, taste the food, everything is experienced."

That made Feng Lan think of pain that would be felt, she wanted to ask but Yang Ming would definitely say something obnoxious again.

"I know you're such a scaredy-cat that you're probably thinking of the pain felt," Yang Ming said. "You can control the pain levels as you want so it doesn't matter."

Feng Lan wanted to punch his annoying face in. Why was her brother such a brat?

"I wasn't even thinking of that," She denied, even if he was right she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing that he was. "I'll definitely level up faster than you."

"There's no way that would happen," Yang Ming paused, "Unless somebody helped you," he continued, looking down on her abilities.

In a moment of impulse, Feng Lan blurted out something she hadn't really thought through, "I'll play as male character, and pretend to be one if that what it takes to show you."

Yang Ming burst into laughter, "You as a guy?" he said, "Let's see how long it takes for you to give up."

"There's no way that will happen," She said, even if she wasn't sure of this, Feng Lan would make her brother eat his words.

Feng Lan put on the Nerve Gear, that used to be mostly used for puzzles and other sports games, on her head. Her blood was still boiling; she would get a head start on her brother while he was still in the bathroom.

She laid down on the bed, and closed her eyes and spoke the words to begin the game, "Link Start!"

An explosion of colors was seen before her eyes, and she heard the sound of a mechanical voice. Touch..100%, Sight..100%, Hearing..100%, Smell..100%, Taste..100%. Connection checked. Calibration checked.

Confirmation complete.

The world around was suddenly quiet and pitch black, before a window popped up in front of her, Do you require help in character creation? And underneath it, new players are recommended to accept.

If it was character creation...Then it would be okay to accept some help since she wanted to start as soon as possible. She pressed yes.

A bright white light flooded the place, and in a floating seat sat a handsome man. Feng Lan felt mesmerized by the sight of the man; he could truly be called eye candy.

He had long red hair, blue-grayish eyes, and paired with a tattoo on his check. Wow..

It was really such a great sight; it was amazing how in a game such handsome people could be created.

Even though he was probably just an NPC, his design was really great.

"Welcome to Second Life."

Feng Lan was startled out of her thoughts by the monotone voice. "The scanning process has been already completed, to begin your creating character please pick one of the races."

The man waved his hand, and suddenly Feng Lan was surrounded by various versions of characters she could spot was seemed to a human, dwarf, a beast-like human, an angel, and others.

Her head spun in confusion. As if sensing her confusion, the NPC added, "Pick any one you like and I will explain its features."

"Then, uh, a human?" Feng Lan said, "And an angel."

"A human is very well-rounded race; they don't specialize in a certain ability. For example while an elf or angel has more agility than a human, a human has better defense than them, but an angel has a feature that no other race has, the ability to fly."

"Then could I see myself as a human and angel?" Feng Lan asked.

He waved his hand again, the other characters disappearing and instead two versions of her appeared before her eyes, one as human which seemed to look exactly like her except in armor. Another has an angel with white wings, and looking even more elegant and refined than she was before.

There was no way Yang Ming would believe that she had leveled up by herself if she chose to be angel.. even if the flying seemed to be a very interesting trait.

Feng Lan sighed in disappointment, and took another look at the human form. Even in the human form..

There was no way that her brother would believe that she did the hard work by herself.

"Can you make me look more masculine?" Feng Lan asked.

"You want to create a male character?" The man asked to confirm. This was the only that she had detected any sort of emotion in his voice so far.

Feng Lan nodded in response.

"Are you sure about that?" He asked.

Even though the words were said in an emotionless tone, it still managed to remind of her brothers provoking words earlier.

"I'm sure," Feng Lang said confidently.

Here it seemed that the male hesitated a bit, "While changing of genders is usually not permitted, special requests are being granted to a few lucky players, so an exception has been made."

He waved his hand, and a pretty-looking boy appeared. Honestly, she never thought that she would look better as a guy until now.

A brilliant idea crossed her mind, "Could I see myself as an elf?"

If Feng Lan as a male human had looked pretty, then as a male elf she looked stunning. Delicate features, paired with the ears of the elf. She looked gorgeous. Maybe these thoughts were a tad narcissist but it was true.

There was no way that she would give up being an elf with this kind of appearance, after changing some other features like my hair into white. She was finally done.

"It's advised that you don't tell others of the gender change," The male said, even now Feng Lan didn't know if he was an NPC or something like a GM. "What is the name you have chosen?"

"Uh.." Feng Lan hadn't really thought of it, but her character looked regal and powerful like royalty..

So the best name could only be.. "Prince."

"Name available," He said, "Now then, you will put in the tutorial area, Starting City, alongside other players until you reach Level 10, after that you will be transported to one of the continents that'll be randomly chosen."

"If you meet any problems with your character, send a message to the hidden GM, Lolidragon. She has been informed of your situation."

"Good luck."

These were the last word Feng Lan heard before she saw the world fading into black.

Kirito raised his arm to block the sun shining directly into his eyes, just like in the real word the weather in the game was currently summer. He decided to go complete some quests and level up, he wanted to leave Starting City as soon as possible.

While he was walking to the training fields at a brisk pace, a voice called out to him, "Hey, hey wait up, could you teach me a few things?"

"You seem like you know what you're doing, so could you?" A man with spiky red hair and a bandana was the owner of this voice.

Kirito started in slight confusion at having a complete stranger shamelessly asking him for help, bewildered, he nodded. "Ah, well, sure.."

The redhead pumped in his fist in the air, "Yes!"

Kirito couldn't help but have a small smile cross his face at how excited the man seemed to actually start playing properly, "Well, let's head to the fields."

Kirito laughed at the sight of the redhead, who had introduced himself as Klein while they were walking to the fields, face plant directly into the floor after swinging his beginner sword too hard and not connecting with the monster.

"Don't laugh," Klein grumbled, sitting up on the floor, "They keep on moving before I can hit them."

"Well of course they're not training dummies even if this is a tutorial area," Kirito said. "All you have to do is create the first motion correctly, and then the system will do the rest."

Klein got up, and breathed deeply. He raised his sword into the correct position and his sword started glowing an orange-red, his sword drew through the air in an arc hitting the wolf right in its neck slicing it off immediately. Instead of bleeding as it would have if more than a couple moments have passed before it died, it shattered like glass into red particles.

Klein pumped his fist in the air again in victory, and grinned. "I did it!"

Before Kirito could tell him that the wolf was probably one of the weakest monsters in the whole game, their attention was drawn to another figure slicing through the wolves quickly, leaving only a trail of red shattered particles behind him.

Klein let out a short whistle, impressed. From here, Kirito had already recognized the figure ahead them, an imposing Dark elf with long blonde hair in a ponytail. Kirito was sure it was the same player, Wicked, that he had played with for weeks on during the beta.

Kirito raised his voice and yelled out, "Wicked!"

Klein stared on with slight confusion, but figured that Kirito knew the other player. The other played turned around taking a moment to realize who it was that called him.

Wicked walked over to them, "Kirito?" He called in response.

Kirito nodded, "It's been a while," he said.

"Since the end of beta," Wicked said, "Since we didn't exchange any contact information, there was no helping it."

Kirito and Wicked had trained together for most of the game starting from when they met in one of the dungeons. After spending so much time together they became friends even if they were both more of the quiet type, although they were so involved in the game that it was only after beta had ended did they realize that they didn't exchange any kind of contact information.

Wicked sent a questioning look over to Klein, "Ah, that's Klein," Kirito said jabbing his thumb at the redhead. "And Klein shouldn't you be practicing?"

"Yeah, I was just taking a tiny break," Klein said getting up, laughing a bit. "But before that I'm going to log off for a bit since I ordered pizza."

"You're well prepared aren't you?"

Klein grinned in response, put his right index finger and thumb together and pulled downwards to open the main menu window.

Kirito attacked a wolf that was near them to get some experience points, while Wicked sat down to recover some of the HP lost while he was attacking wolves.

"Eh?" Klein let out a sound of confusion.

"What's wrong?" Wicked asked.

"There's no log out button," Klein said, looking up from the menu and at Wicked. Kirito finished off the wolf, and had heard Klein.

"No log button..?" Kirito said, and Wicked completed his train of thoughts, "That's impossible."

"Even during beta the log out button was never glitched," Wicked said, "Maybe you just have to look a bit closer?"

"But it's really not there," Klein said, his voice anxious. "You guys take a look."

Wicked and Kirito shared a look of unease, dread settling in their stomach. Both of them opened the menu, and shockingly enough... Klein was right.

The log out button was gone.

Kirito froze in shock, while Wicked looked through the menu just to make sure the button hadn't changed its position. Klein looked up from his menu, done with his second perusal for the log out button.

"It's not there," Wicked confirmed.

There was no need for Kirito to say anything but nod in agreement.

A strange feeling of anxiety filled them but Klein broke it by saying, "Well it's only the first day so it's probably just a bug or something."

"Although isn't there something like an emergency log out button?" He asked.

"None," Wicked said.

"Since there was nothing like this kind of bug in the beta, nobody ever thought of that," Kirito said.

"But that's pretty bad, if there's no log out button we can't even return into reality until it's fixed," Klein said.

Before they could continue discussing this, there was suddenly a chiming noise echoing through out of the field. Each one of them were immersed in a pillar of blue light, and then suddenly with the feeling of dizziness, the blue light faded.

They were suddenly standing in the central area of the Starting City. Other pillars of blue lights around were also fading; in fact Kirito guessed that every player of the game had been teleported here.

Suddenly the air was surrounded by a dome of red and crisscrossing patterns; the words SYSTEM ANNOUCEMENT were plastered all over the dome surrounding us.

A figure of a man formed from the blood that began oozing from the middle-top of the pattern. While it seemed to vaguely hold a figure of a man it was a hooded robe with no man inside it.

"Players, welcome to my world," It had said, "My name is Kayaba Akihiko, and currently I am the only person who controls this world."

"Most of you know by now that the log out button has disappeared," It- no he, continued "This is not a bug but just a part of Second Life."

"Until you conquer each continent by clearing all of its dungeons, and then unlock the Central Continent and defeat the ultimate boss, you will not be able to log out."

"If your HP hits zero then you will disappear from this world, and the real world forever."

"For now, this world will truly become your Second Life."

Silence reigned. Not even a whisper could be heard.

"If the Nerve Gear is any way tampered with then the signal sensors in the Nerve Gear will emit a strong electromagnetic pulse and destroy your brain, killing you instantly."

"Although there is no need to worry about danger of that right now, of, all forms of media are repeating information about this situation to people. Your bodies will be transported to hospitals soon."

"But regretfully before that, already over two hundred players have died."

Then suddenly the protests started, with a single scream. Kirito felt himself shaking, next to him Wicked froze in shock, and Klein fell on his knees.

"This is a joke...right?" Klein said horrified. Kirito couldn't say a word.

Kayaba still continued, "For those who have still not grasped this situation, let me show you evidence that this is now truly your life. In your inventories there is an item I have placed, please bring it out."

Moments after, every player had a hand mirror in their hands, staring at their reflections. Then, a white light engulfed everybody, and then when the surroundings cleared again, a different reflection appeared on the mirror.

Kirito stared at the mirror in hand, and what stared back at him was his actual appearance in real life. Instead of the form that he had gotten used to and been recognized as in this virtual, now it was truly him. A perfect copy of him was reflected in the mirror. He dropped the mirror in shock, watching it shatter and disappear from this world. Just like we would if our HP hit zero, Kirito thought.

To the right of Kirito, Wicked stood, no longer did he have that long hair of his, and some of his face features had changed. Although the dark skin, and pointy ears, the signs of a Dark elf had still remained. His platinum blonde hair had darkened into an ordinary blonde.

And on the left of Kirito, Klein had still remained with the spiky red hair and bandana but everything else was so completely different, looking more scruffy than he was before and a slight beard had now appeared on his chin.

"As you can notice, any special racial features have remained but other than now all of your appearances is that of the real world."

"To begin clearing this game, you must reach Level 10 in this area, it's up to you to undergo job change but then after that you have a choice. Open up your menu and be transported to the continent you should be in..or remain here forever with no hope of clearing this game."

"Now players, I wish you all.." Kayaba started as the red dome began to slowly break apart, "Good luck." Then he disappeared as though he had never even appeared.

Good luck, the words were a mockery of the words that the NPC had told her before Prince had started the game. A game that was supposed to be just for some fun and rivalry, she thought staring at her face in the mirror. No longer did Prince stare back at her but not truly Feng Lan either.

She hadn't turned back into a boy. Even as people around her had suddenly changed completely, she still remained as a boy. A glitch..?

The urge to laugh was strong, but she forced it down. She didn't even what she was laughing for, at the shock and how unrealistic this situation was or that a glitch could possibly exist in here.

Even now the situation hadn't sunk in, even as shouts, cursing, begging, and countless of voices had resounded in the place. She continued to stare at the mirror, unable to comprehend anything. Even her eyes hadn't watered. Because.. there's just no way right..?

A hand touched her shoulder, "Prince..?" Lolidragon, the hidden GM that the male NPC had told Prince to speak to in case of any problems had actually come up to me right after Prince had entered game because she wanted to see how Prince actually looked like. After finding out that Prince looked like such a hottie she decided to stick with me.

"Lolidragon..this is a joke right?" Prince asked, taking Lolidragon by the shoulders. Lolidragon shook her head, horrified. "I told you I'm just like a normal player; I don't know anything about this."

"Sorry," Prince said, dropping her hands.

"Prince, let's leave," Lolidragon said. "Let's go into the fields, and get into the other villages."

"Leave?" Prince repeated. "Lolidragon, we could die, it's not a game anymore!"

"Then what do you suggest," She hissed, "That we stay here forever like cowards waiting for our savior?"

"I don't want to leave you but we need to get to Level 10 and leave this place quickly or we'll be stuck here for a long while, the monsters and quests will be done before long and it will take much longer to get out of here when everybody is active," Lolidragon said. "So?"

"You're right," Prince said, if he just stayed here waiting for protection that would be no good. Death game or not, this was truly their reality right now. People in reality didn't just stay in one place in fear of every danger. She would go insane if she stayed here with all of these people in despair.

Besides her brother was a reckless idiot, he'd probably be out in fields rather than in here. If he wasn't well she would at least be strong enough to help him. The fact that she was now a guy still was on her mind but there were even more important matters to think of right now.

Kirito nudged Wicked, and gestured for him to come along with Kirito. Klein seemed as though he wouldn't heed Kirito, so Kirito grabbed the man's arm and led them out the crowd entering an empty street.

"I'm going to leave this place and go into the next village. You two should come with me."

"I can't leave right now," Klein protested, "I stood with my friends in line for ages to buy this game, they would have logged on by now, there's no way I could abandon them."

Kirito stayed silent. A group of three right now was only acceptable because both him and Wicked were experienced players and could protect Klein. He clenched his fists. If he took Klein's friends as well, there was no way that one of them wouldn't die.

Kirito couldn't hold that kind of responsibility.

Somehow, Klein managed to understand his worries. Klein shook his head, "It would be unfair if I relied on you any longer, and you've already done more than enough for me. I was a guild master in the games I used to play so it's not like I have no experience with games."

Even as Klein said this, Kirito still felt indecision. What should he do?

He would definitely regret leaving behind the friendly Klein that had been so easy to get along with.

Then, Wicked who had remained silent so far spoke up, "Leaving this place would be the right idea, but the training fields would be safer here and also nobody has had the chance to hunt them yet."

"We can hunt them and finish some quests here, by that time Klein will have found his friends and we help them level up a bit before we head into the next village," Wicked explained some more.

The more Kirito thought on that idea, the more it seemed like the more viable one. Besides there was only two other villages around them in this place, every quest and experience points they could get would be useful.

"Hey you don't have to feel like you owe it to me to stay here, alright?" Klein said, but to Kirito it was obvious that he seemed to like that idea more.

"I think your idea is the best one, Wicked," Kirito said.

"Then we've all agreed."

"Let's add each other," Klein said, "So we can meet up later."

"If you need anything, just send me a message," Kirito said. "And don't take any needless risks, okay?"

"If it's needless risks then you're more likely to do it, Kirito," Wicked said.

"Don't tease me," Kirito grumbled, and Klein laughed. For some reason now that they had figured out what to do, it seemed that the burden of this death game seemed a bit lighter.

"Let's get started."

"See you later, Klein."

"Stay alive, both of you," Klein said.

Author Note:-

Let's just ignore the obvious barrier between Half Prince and SAO, but I hoped you all enjoyed it! Right now the story is kind of similar and while it will remain like that in some aspect, I will try to create a more unique story as it goes on. Please review if you liked it or have some criticism for me. Even a few words would really inspire me to write. Sorry for the mistakes since I haven't edited it thoroughly.