- Sword Art Online: Tangent: Prologue-

"The term "Link Start" raises several emotions within people… for some, it's a giddiness, at finally booting up the beloved new technology, the NerveGear. For others, it's a nervous apprehension at trying a game for the first time, others? Well, I'll spare you what I felt, when I slipped my head into the technology, felt the whirring of the small machine, the gentleness of my own body heat reflecting back at me, amplified by the machines tight spacing. My name is Akihiko Kayaba. The world of Sword Art Online is my own. Of course, I'll spare the details. Why? I'd say it's because this isn't my story. I'm not actually sure why you're here… oh, for exposition? Alright… well. On the launch day of Sword Art Online, in the year twenty twenty two, one particular player slipped the NerveGear on his head… I'll just get on with it…"

Smiling brightly, the young swordsman, well... me, made his way down the mostly empty street, waving at the various NPC's that occupied the merchants stalls, and the few players who had set up their own stalls, who waved back cheerfully, watching the new player joyfully experience the game for the first time. Most of them were beta testers, figures they'd be the only one with enough knowledge to set up their own shops right on the get go without using merchant carpets… some sort of rotation method? I just internally shrugged, and continued on my way, slipping into my favorite bar, and wading through the small crowd into the back room.

The bar was always busy this time of evening, the various players gathering to celebrate their victories, or leveling up, I just ignored it all, save for the occasional wave to a friend or relative who make this bar their home occasionally. It was a fairly popular place, one of the cheapest inns in town too, surprisingly enough. Shaking my head, I set my hands down on the table in the room I like to call my own, slipping my gear off, and stretching, slumping back into the pile of hay I like to call my bed. It's never a rich life for me, but I make due with what I have, speaking off… checking my coin purse, I pout a bit at the meager amount that falls out into my palm, and sigh. "...Looks like I'll be scrounging tomorrow, can't afford to go out of town yet…" Shame, really, the outside is so pretty… My dream has always been to go up into the massive dungeons, finding fearsome beasts and challenge the boss… See what the rest of the salvation of humanity's castle, Aincrad, has to offer… A small question mark appeared above my head, just as it always had whenever I got lost in these thoughts. Even though I know, I'll never make it to the dungeon… even though I know, it's not my place. It's the player's job…

Two months ago, an apparition appeared in the town square, with ten thousand people who called themselves 'players' appearing alongside of it… earlier in the day that had filtered in, and I had watched them all wide eyed, the blue fires that summoned them… it was mesmerizing. But that apparition… the red sky that formed above it… I couldn't hear anything it had said, just saw the horror on the faces of these players... they had been filled with so much joy before. It really was a shame… to see them like that. Ever since then, I had made up my mind, to fight alongside them, to help them… even though. It was never my place. I heard numbers thrown around, two thousand players dead? In two months? It was insane… to even consider… joining them. Closing my eyes, I slowly drifted off, unaware of the click, and the small ring of a quest alert nearby… the hay sinking next to me as a player sighed.

"As you probably well know, we had to do extensive testing to get the NerveGear technology to the level of sophistication that it's at now. And, it comes to reason that we've made many amazing discoveries about the brain, and the nervous system… and, in the process of digitalizing it. We created something amazing… we created the tangent."

Slowly, I woke up to find the player sleeping next to me, comfortable in the pile of hay… and soon enough, I noticed the little bar underneath my own health bar… i… ke… tsu…? Iketsu was their name? That was… different… Smiling, I just poked the other's cheek, to try and wake them up, and when they started to come round, I just blinked. "H-hello… erm, what are you doing here?"

As they woke up, they blinked back at me, and smiled, tilting their head back a bit as they sat up and stretched. "I took your quest, silly" As they lowered their arms, they brought their hands out in front of them, and cracked their knuckles, to which I winced a little, and tried speaking up again.

"Q-quest? I wasn't aware I asked anybody… about… that" Falling silent, I just slumped back, remembering my place. Quests. Logs of missions that NPC's ask you to go on for a specified set of rewards upon completion, usually a mixture of money, items, and information. "...oh... right" Sinking back into the hay, I sighed, and the other laughed.

"You're not like the rest, are you?" Their green eyes blinked down at me, the other having put their arms to either side of me, and I looked back up at them with my own blue ones. "...You act so much more alive!" And my eyes widened slightly more, as a blush crosses my cheeks, light and pink against the paleness of my skin. In response, the Player simply just giggles a bit, lowering themselves down a bit more, their face just above mine. "...yet, you're an NPC"

"The tangent, as you all are probably aware, is an extremely complex code, designed to perfectly emulate the human brain and nervous tracks. When paired with top notch modelling and an already complex AI… we can create believable life in our virtual worlds, that acts, speaks, and feels just as a human would, honestly believing they are real, unless proven otherwise. We used the tangent as the base of the NerveGear computing, removing the AI in place of letting the player fill that void in the player character's avatar. They create the life themselves, but it feels no different as long as we have the right parameters for feeling, taste, smell, etc."

Letting out a breath into the other's face, I just give a small nod, lifting my hands up and pushing them off of me, dusting my shoulders off when I sit up. "...right. Just an NPC. What do you want?" My voice colder than before, melancholy crossing my face, apprehension in my gaze as I look back at them… now more obviously a he. Dressed in basic adventuring gear, with a sword strapped to their back. A yellow cotton shirt beneath a leather breastpiece, and leather pants adorned his legs, his bare feet sticking out, with his boots lined up just inside the door. As I had spoken, his face turned apologetic, and he rubbed the back of his head.

"Er, sorry… but, you're tangent, right? That's so cool… Maybe that's why there wasn't any text in the quest log?" He took a moment as I just blinked at him, as his finger trailed across the air in several ways, before a screen appeared before him, and he spun it around, showing a blank panel, with the words 'The Ten Thousand and First Player' in a neat font at the top of it. There was no objective listed, or any rewards. "...it's strange, what do you think your quest is?"

"Now, knowing this… we tried designing NPC's using this tangent code, as we said earlier, it should have been possible… but they knew too much in the beta process. It was a fiasco. We had to start over from scratch, deleting the server data to keep them from bringing the company down… Though, the origin program had been saved, and enough of us knew how to manufacture it, that it wasn't a problem to rebuild it. With safety protocols in place this time. We called the finished code 'Cardinal'"

"I… uh, wasn't aware I had given out a quest? Is that what that question mark thing that shows up here is?" I pointed around the area above my head, giving a shy smile. "It showed up whenever I started thinking about… the players" Shrugging, I stood up, and stretched again. "At any rate… from what I understand about the player's rules, we're a party until you complete the requirements of the quest?" He nodded, and smiled.

"Well, looks like we're a team…" He raised up a hand, and I stared at it for a few moments, before he pouted. "Common, don't leave me hanging! Oh, wait… do you know what a 'high five' is?" I shook my head, "Well… it's like a handshake, but you clap your hand against someone else's, instead of grasping it. You do it in cases where there's a celebration" He prompted me to give him one again, and I raised my own, tapping it against his. "See, you're learning… just harder next time" He smiled, and stretched, looking around the room. "You live here?"

"Yes… you sure do talk a lot." I stated, still staring at him. "We haven't even introduced ourselves." Pointing that out gave him pause, before he smiled.

"We already know each other's names, what's the point?"

"The point is politeness. Knowing someone's name and being introduced to them are two different things" I sighed, picking up my bag, and slipping on my worn boots, wishing I could afford clothes as nice as his…

"Well, I'll start then. My name is Iketau, i-ke-tau" He smiled, "Now you go"

"...I'm Verum Lersai, a pleasure to have met you" I sighed, slinging my bag over my shoulder, and pointing to the door. "Are we going to go or are you just going to gawk at my room for the rest of the day?" He just blinked at me, before looking up to the ceiling.

"Yeah, let's go, Les"

"Les?"

"It's easier."

"Call me by my name!"

"Cardinal was a masterpiece, but it was far from perfect… Alas, we ran out of time, and we had to give it control so we could launch the game. Many imperfections exist. Heh… still works just as I intended, and wanted. I have no real complaints with the game as it is, even though it was criticized afterward for being 'the worst MMO' it was never intended to be a full release MMO. I hope that you all understand that, in the aftermath of things."

A/N - Whew... so, this is a bit of a doozy. So, before those of you who made it here run off, the purpose of this story is to make a good story out of the setting. It has nothing to do with the characters of Sword Art Online, by Reki Kawahara. I'm actually pretty proud about how this first chapter turned out, and don't worry, those of you who are here for The Determination Route, I just got muse for this and wrote a bit. I'll probably write a few more chapters this week, so don't worry!

I hope you guys will stick with me through this one, I have big plans for it! ANy feedback at all is appreciated, as long as it's not a flame war about SAO, I know it's a controversial series on the internet, and I'll say. I enjoy the Progressive series, and that's about it. Thank you for taking the time to read this far, I appreciate it.

~ Hollow1134