Blood Stories
Intro: The Nightmare
What does it mean to be strong?
What is the purpose of this broken world?
I have always had nightmares. And I've managed to struggle through them. Yet this one time was different.
I stood alone in dark. It was taunting my primal instincts to flee, knowing well I would choose to fight. When I was around four years old, my father had managed a huge debt due to gambling with the wrong people. We had to go hiding.
And the cursed neurolinker had killed them. My horrible mistake happened before my fifth birthday. Taking photos and by not checking them private. How could I have known? The air now, had a similar feeling to it, as it was back then.
Difference was that the world felt like a full-dive environment. Ever since then I've hardly ever used any applications on my neurolinker. Keeping as much of the memory free as it was possible.
These were the memories that I had already forgotten. With countless sessions to therapists and neurological treatments. Reappearing of those memories felt like vomiting. There was no escape. Forced to watch the scene over again and again. Living it.
Yes, this was my nightmare, living over and over again the same scene. Always getting a little bit further before getting shot by the bad men, who took my family.
The men in white suits opened fire. Bullets after bullets pierced our bodies. And as always a bullet punctured my hand, ripping it in pieces. The pain was excruciatingly realistic for a dream.
"No not anymore." I screamed. Desperation took a choking hold over me.
"With this broken hand, I will tear away this broken world. What is strength, if not refusing to yield." The time pulsed frozen. The men holding their guns, their faces widen into grins.
"Is that your wish?" They asked in a chorus.
My hand had turned into a blade and I lunged forward. Disregarding the bullets frozen in the air, I did not care. Feeling the pain of each bullet entering through my skin as I slammed against the shooters. After a furious dance with the blade, I stood alone.
Just like before, I had conquered my nightmare. I gasped out of dread, before snapping out with a scream, awake. I was sweating, my skin was burning hot and a piercing pain struck my right hand around the palm.
Confusion shook through me. It wasn't a full-dive, it was a nightmare. I felt like something was amiss. I moved my hand against my neurolinker. And to my shock, it was burning hot. I heard the sound of rain coming from outside. Droplets of water whipped against the window. I was alone in my room.
"Link start!" I commanded. A static noise irritated my ears and my vision grayed out with rippling pixels. And just like that the world around me collapsed like a deck of cards. It felt like dying. An ominous text rippled to my vision.
"You are Dead!" White noise darkened my vision. There was no respawn timer. No nothing. Only blackness. I couldn't move a muscle. Cursing my hopelessness and inability to do anything. I swore to myself that I would choke the life out of this broken world.
"If that is your wish... Then that is what we will become."
End of chapter 0.
Editing the intro took way longer than expected. This is the first piece of fanfiction that I have dared to upload. In addition to the intro, I already have the first five chapters somewhat ready. By the look of things the story will be a little bit like SAO progressive. You could maybe describe it as AW progressive. I have tried to build the world in the universe as accurately as possible. But unfortunately, I can't give promises that it is fully accurate.
If you have interest in beta-reading stuff, feel free to poke me! Depending on the pace of my studies, I'll do my best on updating this as often as possible. So help is much appreciated. (Editing readable text is a slow and a difficult path to walk.)
*Bows* (I don't own or have permissions on anything related to the work of Reki Kawahara. This work is purely fictional and it is written under assumption of fair use.)