"And the NerveGear plugs in, here." A boy said to himself as he finished setting up the equipment. The room he was in was dark, with the curtains closed and a single light shined on the expensive VR gear. Most of him wasn't visible, aside from his lightly tanned hands that were moving the headgear around, plugging a cord into the back.
Once it was plugged, the boy turned to look at his computer, seeing that Sword Art Online had finished downloading. A small chuckle came from him, as he placed the NerveGear onto his head and laid onto the bed. A calming breath was then heard as he prepared himself for his first dive into the critically acclaimed VRMMO. It was nerve-racking, but he did make a promise to play it, so he was going to go through with it.
"Link Start."
In the moments that followed, the boy's mind was then linked to the NerveGear, all the flashing lights temporarily overwhelming him. It was only a few seconds for the boot up and loading, but it felt like ten minutes before he entered the avatar screen. It was hard to tell how he felt, but it seemed as if he was floating simple in an empty space, reaching out to customize his character.
The design was simple, a tall male at about six feet in height with silver hair and blue eyes. The clothes color was left to his choice, with him setting his tunic to be maroon red and his trousers and shoes black. After that he was given the choice of his starting weapon, which he selected a one-handed axe.
And finally, the choice for his Username came up. And as it did, to what appeared to him a small keyboard appeared. And with it, he typed in the choice of his name.
Nadar
Several more bright flashes went through him, his ability to process the data incapable of keeping up until suddenly it was all gone. And in place of it, a town made of well-crafted vibrant stones.
In the midst of the flashes, he had put his hands up in a means to protect himself, leaving him to look ridiculous once he came out. As he lowered his arms, he took in all the scenery that surrounded him.
As players began to log in, dozens to hundreds at a time, Nadar knew he'd be impossible to be seen among the group. So to try and find his friends, he headed out of the courtyard spawn and towards one of the routes that would lead out of the town.
From there, he started to wait for when his friends would find him. He told them what his Username would be, so he'd keep an eye on his messages in case they tried to communicate with him.
After almost ten minutes, he felt a tap on his shoulder, getting him to jump away and turn. In front of him was a group of four players, three guys of various heights, each with black hair while two had brown eyes and the third had red. The fourth was a girl, who's avatar stood much shorter than the guys with had pink hair and eyes.
"Jumpy as usual, eh Nadar?" The tallest in the group said, smirking at the boy's jump.
Nadar felt slight annoyance at seeing the four, his eyes half lidded as he looked at them. "Very funny you four. What took you all so long?"
"Well, we were waiting for you at the weapon merchant." The smaller boy with red eyes answered.
The girl in the group then grinned, leaning towards Nadar as he realized his mistake. "Yeah, you know, like how we had it planned before getting this game?"
"R-right." Nadar responded, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "Sorry I… forgot during the dive process."
"It can be a little overwhelming the first time, but come on man!" The third guy in the group said, energy in his voice. "It isn't that difficult to collect yourself. I mean, aren't you supposed to be the brains here?"
"I think that's PoH's job, actually." Nadar commented, turning to the tallest in the group. "What does that even stand for? That's the second time you've used that name, but I don't get it."
PoH chuckled in response, shaking his head as he did. "Maybe when we've done three games. You're still new to our little group."
"I mean, I know Sar-gah! I mean Serana in the real world!" Nadar spoke, getting interrupted as the girl elbowed his stomach.
"I know this is your first MMO, but there's no way I should have to explain why you can't just say someone's real name." Serana said. "Even XaXa and Johnny Black know that, and they're knuckle heads that think with their blades rather than their brains."
"Heeeeey, that's mean Serana." Johnny Black, the shorter of the two mentioned whined.
"But she isn't entirely wrong either." XaXa admitted, chuckling as he patted the dagger on his waist. "Can't help that playing the bad guy is so much fun."
"Oh, is that the route we're going this game?" Nadar asked, looking down to Serana.
"Well duh, that's how we usually play our games. I mean, we've always played the criminal role when playing the Elder Scrolls?" The girl brought up.
"Fair enough." Nadar shrugged. "So what do we do? Head out into the field and level up?"
"I mean, it'd be best to at least get you all a little experience in game." Serana brought up. "I mean, I was the only one here who managed to play the beta. So it'll be helpful to all of us if you don't suck."
"Aren't you the only one in the raid groups that always died a few minutes into the boss fight?" Nadar asked, having to jump back to avoid getting punched by her. "Ouch, still sore over that, huh?"
"I told you that in confidence you'd keep quiet!" She shouted as the boy had to keep her back by arm's distance to avoid getting punch.
"And truly, you made a horrible mistake."
"I've made a horrible mistake." Nadar groaned as he clutched his stomach. In front of the group were three boars, with yellow health bars and the third with red.
"Nadar, I told you to wait before striking." Serana said as she dodged away from one of the boars, clutching her sword as she stopped. "You have to let your skill activate before using it. Otherwise you're doing a normal move."
"I wasn't… paying attention." Nadar responded, getting up slowly as the pain went down. The game was super advanced, enough to send small signals to the brain to actually simulate pain. It was toned down, but it still hurts to get hit.
"And whose fault is that?" PoH asked rhetorically as he prepared his next attack, waiting until his dagger glowed a bright green. In the next second, he lunged forward and landed several fast blows on one of the boars, draining its health close to 0.
"Ah who needs to think through like that!?" Johnny questioned as he was right in front of the damaged boar, slashing at it wildly with his dagger before his ability could activate. The slashes weren't at their strongest, but they were more than enough to kill the beast, causing it to explode into crystal fragments. "Yeah! That's how it's done!"
"Watch your back!" XaXa called out as he used a skill to stab the boar that was in the red, demolishing its health and destroying it.
"Okay Nadar, I want you to try your axe's skill again." Serana spoke, holding the boar back with her sword. "Just remember, go through the motions like you would any other attack. But pause a bit in the pose before striking out, that'll build up the attack and cause significant more damage."
"That seems a little flawed, pausing before attacking." Nadar muttered to himself, setting himself up into a simple one-handed swing. Seeing him ready, Serana pushed the boar away, getting it to agro onto him. As he waited it to approach, he could feel the power in his weapon begin to grow.
As the boar started to charge him, the axe's blade was surrounded by a red light, signaling the skill's activation. "Now! Hit it with your axe!" Serana shouted.
Nadar's eyes narrowed as he rushed forward, bringing the axe down in a diagonal swing as he cut into the boar. The weapon's attack gave significant damage, more than the rest of the group's skill attacks and cut through it like butter. The boar exploded like the others and as soon as it did, a small pop up appeared in front of each of them.
They weren't an official party, but each of them earned EXP and col for their parts in taking the mobs down.
"Whoa, that was more damage then I was expecting." Nadar commented as he sat down, taking a breather as his health was in the yellow.
"Yep, axe's have one of the highest ratings for damage in this game." Serana explained, sitting next to him with her health in the green. "But they require a lot more strength then swords and more dexterity than hammers. So not many people choose them because of how dedicated to those you have to be. You'll be limited to the amount of skills outside of combat you can preform."
"Outside of combat?" XaXa asked. "What other abilities are there?"
"Well there's cooking and smith skills for one. And it was only discovered as the beta ended, but some guys started preforming alchemy to create paralysis poisons."
"Sounds like a good trick to grief some lower level players." PoH responded, smiling a bit as he rubbed his chin. "Sounds like there's a good style we can go for."
"Well there are a near infinite number of skills and abilities out there." Serana added. "We have no idea what's out there. There might even be a skill that comes around that negates poison, and that could completely ruin that style. So I'd recommend at least putting effort into getting your weapon skills up."
"Fair enough."
"Hey, Nadar!" Johnny called out to the axe wielder, waving him over. "I want to talk for a second or two, okay?"
"Huh, sure thing?" Nadar said cautiously, getting up and walking over to the guy. What's up, something on your mind?"
"Sssshhhh! Quiet dude, this is secret." Johnny shushed him in return, draping an arm over his shoulder. "Hey man, this is your first time in an MMO with us, so me, XaXa and PoH all thought it'd be cool to get you to do the initiation."
"Initiation?"
"Yeah, you know, like a cool club activity to see if you can keep up with us." Johnny chuckled lightly, sure to keep quiet while the others talked about skills. "Ya see, every time we get a new member, we wait until the next game we get to start this little initiation. All ya got to do is kill one of us with a backstab, it'll be hilarious."
"Okay, but which one of them?" Nadar asked. "I can guess you aren't going to volunteer yourself, so how does this whole thing work?"
"Oh that's easy. It's already set that Serana will be your target."
"Serana? Dude, she'll be pissed at me for a month if I backstab her like that. She takes what I do a lot more seriously than all of you."
"Ah don't worry about it. She's the latest member after you so it was set back then. She got me when she joined and it was a blast! Trust me dude, she'll be laughing all year over how good it'll be."
"Well, I guess it can't hurt." Nadar said, looking over to the girl. It didn't feel right to single her out, mostly due to her bringing him into the group. And it was just a harmless joke, it'd might even make him fit in more with her friends. "But how do I do it?"
"That's up to you man." Johnny shrugged as he released Nadar. "Find a way to distract her, get her to turn her back on you and go in for the kill. Nothing too big there."
"Alright, I'll think of something." Nadar groaned as he turned back to the group. She's the experienced one here, so he had to do something underhanded. Like… using his lack of experience in MMOs!
"Hey, Serana?" He called out, walking over to the three while Johnny hid his chuckling face. "Can I ask you about something?"
"Hmm? What's on your mind Nadar?" The girl asked, the two other guys piecing together what was happening and smirking.
"Well, I was just wondering on any good ways of leveling in MMOs." He asked. "I mean, most have an infinite number of quests for everyone, but is that the same here?"
"That's actually a good question." Serana said, punching Nadar's shoulder lightly and grinning. "You've spent time playing RPGs and shooters, good to see you know how to ask the important questions."
"Alright, here's something important about SAO." Serana started, opening her menu and bringing up her map of the first floor. "You're right about the limiting of quests. In the beta we all shared certain quests, but all of the ones here in the Town of Beginnings, there's limited EXP to go around. So it would be smart for us to move on ahead and get some quests in the next village. There, we'll have better gains then the noobs here."
"Okay, but which town?" Nadar asked, opening his menu by copying the way she did. "There's three that are all pretty close, which one is the best one to start?"
"Oh, that's easy." She responded, turning west. As she faced away from him, she didn't notice Nadar exit his menu and unsheathe his axe. "Down that way. There'll be a few mobs that way, but nothing even level 1 players can't handle. Course with me it'll be no problem."
As Nadar readied himself, XaXa and PoH both had to hold a hand to their mouths to keep their chuckles from being heard. And by the time his skill activated, Johnny couldn't help but laugh out loud.
It was when they laughed that her eyes opened and she moved quickly, acting on instinct as Nadar swung his axe. Grabbing onto his hand and arm, everyone was surprised at she flipped him over her shoulder and slammed him onto the ground in one fluid motion.
As he was reeling from the pain, Nadar looked up to see Serana smirking down to him with her hands on her hips. "I made another mistake… didn't I?"
"It was more of Johnny Black's fault rather than your own." She smiled as she helped him up, patting his shoulder. "If he held back his laugh by a second I would've been toast. I forgot how quiet on your feet you are."
"Oh well, guess you still got a ways to go then." Johnny chuckled. "Such a shame, you'd have been a great partner Nadar."
"I knew you guys put him up to that stupid fake initiation." Serana shook her head, looking back to Nadar. "Don't listen to them, you were already a part of the group when we all started hanging out. They just like messing with each other and seeing who can out kill the other."
"Jerks." Nadar responded with a dried expression, getting a round of laughter from everyone.
"So how about we go hunting for a couple more hours? After we level two times we should be ready to take on other players." PoH recommended, no one objecting to the idea.
After spending several hours hunting, the group was lying around the hills in the field, resting from all the mobs they took out. The sun was beginning to go down, the auburn light calming to them as they took their time recovering.
"So after this, we gonna go merc some fools?" Johnny asked, the only one sitting as he rested.
"Yes Johnny Black, we'll go merc some players after we recover." Serana responded, her and Nadar resting next to each other. "Since we don't have health potions yet, we have to wait for our health to recover. We also have a stamina pool that drains over time, it'll last a long time but exhaustion here is just as real as in the real world."
"No kidding." Nadar sighed, holding his axe up to look at it. "This thing isn't too big, but swinging it around was getting harder after so long. I only got used to it after leveling up."
"You'll get used to it." Serana stated. "Once you get to a high enough Strength, most weapons shouldn't even feel difficult to use. We'll just have to see which of us will get to that Strength first."
"You planning on boosting it as well?" XaXa questioned.
"Yeah, a one-handed sword is nice and all, but I was using a greatsword in the beta and it felt perfect." She smiled, closing her eyes as she remembered it. "I wasn't great against bosses, but swinging that sword and cutting down the mobs was a blast. I felt like Guts ripping through soldiers each time."
"You wish you could be as tough as him." Nadar chuckled, looking over to Serana.
"Watch me, I'll become even tougher in no time." Serana responded. "But you better do your best not to fall behind, I'd rather not have to leave you behind."
"Sure, sure."
"God, would you two just kiss and get it over with?" PoH said, getting the two to straighten up instantly as they sat.
"W-What do you mean by that!?"
"Oh come on, it isn't that hard to tell. It's been painful listening to you two for over a year now and not even realize it."
"It… it's nothing like that!" Nadar shouted. "Serana and I have been friends since we were little, what do you even mean by not realize it?"
"Oh god it's going to get worse." Johnny groaned before lying down. "This s**t's gonna be so annoying." He then blinked at hearing his voice get bleeped, confusion on him. "The f**k? There's a censor? That's bulls**t!"
"Well kids are probably going to be playing this, so that much makes sense." PoH shrugged before standing up, stretching as he did. "Well, I'd say we've rested enough, let's head out and see if we can take out a few players before dinner."
"Oh… dinner…" Nadar groaned as he stood up, opening his menu to check the time. "D**n, it's already late. Sorry guys, I'm gonna have to get off now. Neshi apparently wanted to know how the NerveGear senses are working in the game."
"He's making you get off for that?" Serana asked, sounding disappointed as she looked up to him.
"Gotta figure out if the investments were worth it." Nadar sighed as he moved through his menu, going to setting to log out. He was preparing himself for the departure when he was met with a blank tab, confusing him. "Um, Serana? Isn't the Log Out in settings?"
"Yeah, why?" Serana responded, standing up with him to check his menu, tilting her head at the missing tab. "Weird… could've sworn that was where it was in the beta. Here let me check mine." She then opened her own menu and went to her settings, finding the same blank tab where her log out should be. "Huh, it isn't here either."
"Mine's missing too." PoH stated, the others looking through their menus.
"S**t man, this is getting creepy." Johnny commented, scratching his head. "This happen in the beta?"
"It happened one day, but the GM logged everyone out for an hour while they fixed the bug." Serana answered, tilting her head as she thought. "Maybe since there's 9,000 more players the servers got another glitch. 10,000 is a large number to handle on a VR server, especially when they all log in at once."
"And I'm guessing we aren't the only ones with the problem." XaXa said, seeing his GM request constantly loading. "Think they're scrambling to fix this bug after getting a few hundred requests?"
"No, they would've force logged us out if that were the case. Something else must be going on if they were to-" Before Serana could finish, the five all could only blink before they felt themselves be teleported, appearing in the center of the Town of Beginnings. "-wait so long?"
"What was that, a forced teleport?" PoH wondered.
"Shesh, felt like all of my bones melted, rattled, and reformed in that order." Nadar shivered, the feeling making him sick to his stomach.
"Well be careful, who knows what that'll make you feel in the real world." Johnny said, grinning as he saw Nadar gag. "Maybe if you log out now, you'd fall thinking your bones weren't solid anymore, imagine that!" The thought served to worsen Nadar's condition, as he couldn't stop himself from puking, a random assortment of colors coming out rather than regular bile. "Aha! Nice!"
"Stop picking on Nadar." Serana scolded, smacking the back of Johnny's head as more players began to appear in the massive courtyard.
"What the hell is going on?" Johnny asked, appearing actually surprised when the entire population of the game appeared.
"I'm not sure, maybe we should call the GM." Nadar groaned as he finished puking, his stomach feeling weak from the experience.
"Shut up Nadar."
"Hold up." PoH interrupted, motioning up to the sky.
When they all looked up, there was a single red hexagon in the sky blinking with WARNING across it.
"What's that?"
"That's a game indicator, something's going on. And I don't think it's anything good." Serana answered, beginning to sweat slightly at seeing the warning.
The hexagon quickly multiplied until it completely covered the sky in red. Between the shapes, a thick blood like liquid began to seep through and take shape. Sparks danced across the shape before it became detailed, revealing a massive figure in a red cloak. His face was completely hidden, making it impossible to see who it was.
"That… turned into someone?" XaXa questioned, rubbing his eyes to test if he was just seeing things.
The figure then spread his arms to his sides, extending himself in presentation to the crowd of thousands. "Ladies and gentlemen. I am Akihiko Kayaba, head programmer. Welcome to the unparalleled experience that is… Sword Art Onlin-!" Before he could finish speaking, the crowd started to get loud, all asking different questions as they tried to figure things out.
"Uh, Hello, hel-hello."
"I feel kinda bad for the guy." Serana sighed as the commotion kept up, knowing just how infamous the gaming community could be when it came to following directions.
"We're going to be here for the rest of the night if he tries to reason with them." Nadar agreed, looking up enough to see the large avatar while hunched over.
"Um, hello! People! Kinda talking here. Focus." After a minute of their constant chatter, he moved his hand forward and opened a menu to pull up voice chat. "Kay, I'm just gonna go ahead and disable general chat her-" His voice suddenly caught off, causing the four boys to all look up in confusion.
"Did the creator of this game just mute himself?" PoH asked, surprised himself at the noob mistake.
"Probably under a lot of pressure." Nadar considered. "Probably has terabits of chat requests appearing out of nowhere and had to rush this. He's likely not supposed to actually be in game like this."
"Alright, I just realized what happened." Kayaba spoke up again, unmuting himself. "It's very funny, but right now, serious time."
"How many of you have seen Tron?"
.
.
.
"Eh? Eh?" Silence entered the world, seeming to catch the programmer off guard. "W-What, seriously? None of you have seen Tron? Sh*t, I was really banking on that. Okay, okay, no problem. I can wing this."
The programmer then cleared his throat, preparing his explanation. "Much like the World of Warcraft, none of you are here by choice anymore. Unlike WoW however, you are being held here by me, not by your need to escape your empty f**cking lives." He then went down to where his log out button was on his menu, showing that his too was gone.
"There is no longer any way for you to log out of Sword Art Online, something that I was fully intended on doing upon the release. And if someone on the outside attempts to log you out by removing your NerveGear… well… has anyone seen Scanners?"
'Oh shit.' Nadar thought, one thing coming to mind with the mention of a movie. Likely with one scene in mind.
"Uh, Scanners." Kayaba asked again, surprised at the silence once more. "It's-It's a movie that-seriously!?" He then sighed as he pulled up several computer screens around him, with most having news reports of NerveGear accidents. "Okay, give me a sec. Let me just… All right, here we, here we go. Watch this.
The scene of a man's head exploding went off, getting everyone's attention at the gory scene. "Okay, that was from Scanners… and basically that." A collective of gasps was then heard, showing that the gamers were slowly starting to put it together. "Okay, finally! Seeing some gears turning. We're making progress."
"So as I was saying, the only way to keep the NerveGear from going all Galaga on your grey matter is to make your way through Castle Aincrad and beat Sword Art Online." Nadar then raised his hand in the air, getting Kayaba's attention. "Yes?"
"Wait, so are you telling us that we have to beat every single floor just to get out of here? With nothing but the 10,000 players that are here right now; most of which that haven't even played an MMO before?" Serana asked, staring wide eyed up to avatar.
"Essentially."
"That's insane! The beta testers couldn't make it past floor 10 when we had a month and no threat of dying!"
"Whoa, whoa! I'm sensing an unnatural amount of hostility here. Not gonna lie, I don't appreciate it."
"Well be honest, how many people actually complete an MMO in the first place? Especially one as long as this game?"
"How many people do you know that PLAY MMOs?"
"A lot actually. MMOs are my favorite genre."
.
.
.
"Okay." Kayaba picked up, unable to think of a proper argument to that claim. "Anywho. For all you guys who wanted to play as girls, and you know who you are." He brought up, looking specifically at the large group of girls closer to the center of the crowd. "Well… I've got a surprise for you."
After that, a strange indication came up for everyone, leading to them to open their inventory to see what it was. 'A mirror?' Serana thought as she looked at the item, seeing her reflection in the small item.
"W-What's going on?" Nadar spoke up, getting her attention as she saw him erupt in blue light. The effect blinded both them, as it soon spread to her and the next player, everyone soon covered in a pillar of light from the item.
When it wore off, Nadar stared in shock as he saw the reflection of his actual appearance. His short, dark red hair, brown eyes, slightly tan skin, young appearance, 5'6 stature and most importantly his clearly frail and weak body.
Serana was just as shocked, seeing her real reflection staring back. Her long red hair falling free, blue eyes and pale skin. She appeared just a bit older than Nadar, no more than a year and she even stood two inches taller than him. Contrast to him, she was the picture of health.
"Nadar? Serana?" PoH questioned, getting the boy to turn to him. It was obvious he was an adult, his voice was more than enough. But he was clearly past what most would assume, even with greasy hair he was attractive by most standards.
"Holy sh*t." Johnny said. "Are you in a hospital or something dude? You look like the wind would break your bones and blow you away like dust."
"And you look just as crazy as I expected Black." Nadar said back.
"It's Johnny Black."
"You're not getting that from me."
"As you can see, I have peeled away at your petty facades and revealed you for what you truly are…" Kayaba started to speak again, looking among the crowd to take in everyone's appearances. "Fairly attractive twenty-somethings… apparently. Good for you. Kind of undermines the whole "Cold light of day" thing I had planned. But still. Way to break down stereotypes."
"Except you, Fatty." He pointed out, looking at the overweight player at the edge of the crowd. "Way to bring down the curve."
"Oh, oh, oh, wait! One more thing." Kayaba chuckled, finding humor in his next news. "I should probably mention that if your health points reach zero, your real bodies perish as well."
That news suddenly hit Nadar like a train. He was beginning to shake as he continued to look at his reflection. A cold sweat going down his face as he could barely keep himself together as he was overwhelmed with the weight of the situation they were in.
"Nadar?" Serana spoke softly, reaching out to him as he shook. "Nadar calm down, I know this looks bad, but I can promise you that nothing bad is going to happen. Just, take it easy and try to relax."
"We… we can die in here… we could actually die…" He muttered as his hold on the mirror weakened, it shaking in his hands. "I… what are we supposed to do if we can die? 100 floors, I can barely fight against a boar in the first field area…"
"Nadar, just please take a step back." Serana said as she grabbed his arm and shoulder, trying to calm him as she felt him shake more. "It'll be okay, please calm down, you'll go into shock if you panic too much."
The sound of the Scanners clip going off again was then heard, and suddenly it seemed to click for most of the players. "Oh my God! If we die in the game, we die for real!"
"Yeah I'm just going to keep that tabbed…" Kayaba stated, sending his menu away as his visage started to fade. "And with that, I bid you all adieu. Oh, last thing, I swear. I disabled the profanity filter. Have fun with that." The red sky and visage all disappeared in the next instant, leaving everyone to take in the information in their own way.
"We're fucked!"
Which resulted in chaos.
Players began to scramble for the exit, all panicking as the threat of death became all too real for them. Some were denying what was going on, others felt the desperation to run and get as much EXP as possible.
"I'm… I'm going to die…" Nadar whispered as he dropped the mirror, dropping himself out of Serana's grasp as he did.
"Nadar!" Serana shouted in concern as he collapsed to his knees, the mirror shattering as his shaking got worse. "Nadar, listen to me! Your heart can't take this, you have to calm down before you have a stroke!" The player was now too panicked to respond, just shaking there as she tried desperately to get his attention.
"Guys! We have to get out of here before we're trampled!" XaXa shouted, the flood of players rushing past them and shoving each other to get out.
"Serana, we have to go!" PoH yelled, looking over to her as she stayed beside Nadar.
"I can't! Nadar's having an episode and won't move!" She responded, wrapping her arms to protect him should anyone run into them. "He isn't responding either, I can't move him until I can get him to relax!"
"Then leave him! He'll catch up once he's calmed down!" Johnny Black said.
"Never!" Serana shouted in anger, shocking the three. "I will not abandon him, I won't ever do that to him! Either you stay with us, or run off on your own and get to safety! I will never leave him when he needs me the most!"
"Just let them be, we have to move before all the mobs get wiped out in the area!" XaXa shouted, him and Johnny finding an opening and running for it. PoH seemed conflicted at leaving the two, weighing on the option of just dragging them despite the panic Nadar was in. Eventually relenting, he turned around and ran after XaXa and Johnny, leaving the two as they remained down.
"Nadar please, talk to me." Serana whispered as she was growing more concerned for the boy, seeing his eyes widen more as he appeared unable to handle the pressure. She didn't know what to do, his panics never having been as intense as this one. He had always been afraid due to how he was in the real world, but most of the time her being there was enough to help. But no matter how much she tried to reason with him, he wouldn't respond.
Eventually, she did the only thing that came to mind and slapped him, shocking him back into reality. "S-Sarah?" Never before had she ever hit him, in fact it was the last thing he'd ever expect from her.
"What the hell are you so scared about!?" She shouted, getting him to flinch in fear as she did.
"You… you heard him didn't you? If we die here we'll die in real life! Sarah you and I both know I can't fight, I'm-"
"You're not the same here!" She responded, slapping him again to try and keep the fear out. "You should already know that by now! You've taken more than a few hits and none of the injuries even caused an open wound! I told you back when we preordered didn't I!? The reason you play games is to be someone who you want to be! And in here, you don't have any limits!"
The passionate shouting caused Nadar's eyes to widen in shock again, this time from realization and not fear. That shock grew when she hugged him, sobbing a bit as she embraced him. "You aren't weak Nadar, you already have a start in your Vitality and Strength. I know you can fight, you just need a bit of time and guidance. And I'm here too, I won't let you face this alone. I promise I'll stay by your side, I'll protect you to the very end."
"S-Sarah… I'm sorry." He apologized, looking down as he did.
"I'm not Sarah anymore." She said, pulling back from the hug and moving his face to look at her. "We aren't who we are in reality anymore. I'm Serana, and you're Nadar. And together, we can do this, we'll beat this game. You hear me?"
"I… I do." Nadar responded, slowly relaxing as they remained there. "I'm sorry I lost myself like that. I just… I couldn't believe what was happening."
"It's okay, I understand." Serana smiled, helping him stand up as she rose up herself. "It was a lot to process, you've never even considered being in a position like this." She then watched as the digital bruise from her slaps disappear, a ping of guilt hitting her. "I'm sorry I hit you, I just… didn't know what else to do."
"It… it's okay." Nadar stuttered, looking to the side as they stood up. "So, what do we do now?"
"First, we should probably level up a bit." Serana answered. "We should move to the next couple towns for grinding. The fields here are going to be picked clean by everyone else. After that, we should try to get a group of people together. When we find Illfang, we're going to need a lot of players to take him on."
"Right, then let's…" Nadar started to walk, but stopped when he heard crying. The chaos was gone by now, allowing the two to see and hear the crying of a young girl a few meters away from them. She had brown hair and eyes, appearing no older than twelve as she bawled her eyes out in terror.
The two shared a look before they both nodded, walking up to her and kneeling down as she cried. "Hey, hey, it's okay… it's okay." Serana said calmly as she placed a gentle hand on the girl's arm, trying to relax her as she cried. "Just take a deep breath, in and out."
The girl was still crying, but had calmed enough to look over to Serana. "W-Who are you?"
"My name here is Serana, how about yours?" Serana asked. "I'm sure you had your username set, right?"
"S-Silica…" She said through her tears.
"Silica? That's a pretty name!" Serana said with a smile. "My friend here's Nadar, not that nice of a name in comparison."
"Hey, don't pick on me." Nadar complained, getting a sly smile from Serana. He rolled his eyes, instead looking back to Silica in concern. "Are you okay, did you get hurt from the players?"
"No I'm… I'm just scared I'm going to die." Silica admitted, looking down as she began to shake in fear again. "I haven't played an MMO before and I… I'm all alone!"
"Hey, that's not true." Serana responded. "We're here right now, you aren't alone in here. And if it makes you feel any better, this is Nadar's first MMO too, and look at him."
"I-Is that true?" Silica asked, looking over to the axeman who nodded. "How… how are you not scared?"
"I am scared, I didn't ever expect this to happen." Nadar said, following Serana's example and placing a supportive hand on Silica's shoulder. "But even then, I know now that I still have a chance. I'm weak in the real world, really weak. Serana told me that I can be anything here, and I know for a fact I'm not going to be weak like I am in reality. I'll push forward and fight beside her in this death game."
"We're going to head out of here to one of the next towns to level up." Serana informed. "Would you like to come with us Silica? We might be going into the danger, but I promise we'll protect you."
"You… you actually want to help me?" Silica asked, surprised at that. "But we… you'd be putting yourself in more risk by helping me."
"Like we would walk away from a little girl scared out of her mind." Nadar stated. "And even then, I know that there's a fighter in you. If I can feel one in me, there's no doubt in my mind that you have one too. We'll protect you, and we'll help you find that fighter."
He then stood up, getting a stare of surprise from Silica and a smile from Serana, the latter feeling proud of him as he held his hand out to Silica. "So come on, let's liberate this stupid castle together."
Silica sniffled as she tried to wipe her tears away, smiling as she reached for his hand and grabbed it. "O-Okay. I promise I won't slow you down…"
(A/N): Surprise surprise! Here's that little something that was being thought up. I'll admit, not the most original chapter, as a solid chunck of it is similar to the previous story. However there's a more than notable change, one that I'll be excited to work with. I won't be dropping Executioner under any reason, and I don't know how often I'll post this one. But it's an idea that has been bugging me for the whole week and has been responsible for the writer's block that had almost kept me from my two most recent updates.
I'm going to try to avoid making things too identical, after all there's no fun in this if the story's the exact same with Serana alive and here. But there'll obviously be some call backs and even some similar scenes due to the reoccurrence of certain plot points. But there's no way that I'll mess up such a prime opportunity to let my story develop more.
Any who, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter or aren't too annoyed with my decision to make another SAO story. Peace!