Author's note: I own nothing in this story. If I decide to create an original character for the group to interact with, I own them but otherwise I'm just a broke writer.

Terrain of Sword Art Online: Chapter 1

In the year 2022, the most popular video game is a Virtual Reality experience known as TOME: Terrain of Magical Expertise. Within this game, our story focuses on 5 specific players. They are known as Alpha, Kirbopher, Flamegirl, Gamecrazed, and Nylocke. However, their entire world is about to be turned upside down with the release of a game called Sword Art Online.

Our story begins on a normal day in ;Lavendera. Alpha logged in, almost ready to burst with excitement. He had to find his friends. After about 10 minutes, he found them facing off in battle. "Hey guys! I have some great news!" Kirb turned and saw his friend approaching.

"Well well, I was wondering when you would show up. What's this great news?"

Alpha replied, "I heard about a game that's coming out this week. It's supposed to be a Virtual Reality game like TOME, but much more detailed. I figured I'd see if you wanted to try it out with me. It's called Sword Art Online, or SAO for short."

The group looked excited at the news. "A game where everyone has a sword? Count me in." said Kirb.

Nylocke spoke up next. "I agree with the squire. This 'Sword Art Online' seems like the perfect place to hone my skills for I am Nylocke! Dragon of Piqued Curiosity!"

Gamecrazed simply said "It seems interesting."

Flamegirl said "I tend to prefer games that have magic in them, but if everyone else is going, I guess I'll go too."

"Great! I'm glad you all are gonna do it. However you might want to get it as soon as it's out. I heard there were only going to be 10,000 copies sold worldwide at first. I suggest pre-ordering it now." Alpha advised.

Later that week

The day had arrived. SAO was out and our heroes had all bought a copy. They went home and logged in for the first time, trying to make their characters as similar to their TOME characters as possible. After managing to find each other, they went into the fields outside the Town of Beginnings to start grinding EXP. They were enjoying the game, killing boars and talking until that evening, they suddenly were all teleported into the courtyard in the center of town.

"What's going on? I was about to kill that boar." Kirb said.

"No clue," replied Alpha. Then the sky turned red and seemed to start bleeding. The blood coming from the sky converged on itself and formed a monstrously huge cloaked figure.

"Attention players. Welcome to my world. My name is Kayaba Akihiko. As of this moment, I am the sole person who can control this world."

"Is this guy like a webmaster or something?" Flamy asked.

"I think this is the guy who made the game. It said his name in the instruction book." replied Kirb. Everyone stared at him. "What, is everyone surprised I read the book? I'm not stupid."

"I'm sure you've noticed that the logout button is missing from the main menu. But this is not a defect in the game. It is a feature of Sword Art Online. You cannot log out of SAO by yourselves. And no one on the outside can remove or shut down the NerveGear. Should this be attempted, the transmitter inside the NerveGear will emit a powerful microwave, destroying your brain and thus ending your life."

"No…no way. There has to be a way out." said Kirb, getting more and more stressed at the thought of being stuck in a game forever.

"Unfortunately, several players' friends and families have ignored this warning and attempted to remove the NerveGear. As a result, two hundred and thirteen players are gone forever, from both Aincrad and the real world. As you can see, news organizations across the world are reporting all of this, including the deaths. Thus, you can assume that the danger of a NerveGear being removed is now minimal. I hope you will relax and attempt to clear the game. But I want you to remember this clearly. There is no longer any method to revive someone from within the game. If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will forever be lost. And simultaneously, the NerveGear will destroy your brain. There is only one means of escape. To complete the game."

Silence fell across the courtyard at this revelation. Dying in the game now resulted in death in the real world. There was no way out except for clearing the game.

"You are presently on the lowest floor of Aincrad, Floor 1. If you make your way through the dungeon and defeat the Floor boss, you may advance to the next level. Defeat the final boss on Floor 100 and you will clear the game."

"Guys, I'm so sorry I got you into this. This is all my fault." Alpha said solemnly.

"Alpha, there's no way you could have known this would happen. I don't blame you." said Flamy with a smile.

"Finally, I've added a present from me to your item storage. Please see for yourselves."

Everyone pulled up their item storage and noticed they had a mirror. They opened it, a mirror appearing in the hands of every person in the courtyard. A blue light flashed up from everyone. When it faded, everyone's appearance had changed. Their avatars now looked like themselves from the real world! The group looked around and saw everyone changing, deciding not to use the mirror, deleting it instead. They were proud of their avatars and didn't want to change them simply to humor the game master.

"Right now you're probably wondering 'Why? Why would the developer of NerveGear and Sword Art Online do all this?' My goal has already been achieved. I created Sword Art Online for one reason…to create this world and intervene in it. And now, it is complete. This ends the tutorial for the official Sword Art Online launch. Good luck, players." With that, the figure disappeared.

Slowly, the crowd descended into madness. They yelled at the air to let them go for this reason or that. No matter how much they yelled or screamed, they were trapped in the game. The group walked out of the arena to contemplate what they had heard and make further plans.

It was Nylocke who spoke up first. "Sir Alpha, Lady Flamegirl, Sir Gamecrazed, Squire Kir-bo-pher, we have been trapped in this expansive world for what seems to be an indefinite period of time. Right now, what we need to do is simply play-eth along with the world our game master has set up. Otherwise, there is no way out and we will die."

"Nye is right." said Kirb. "We just need to keep our cool and stay alive. It's just like in TOME. First step is to grind some EXP and get some gear. We should head to the next village on the map. Everything around this down will be dead within half an hour."

Everyone agreed with this, so they set off to the next town, starting their adventure in what seemed to be a new home.

Author's note: Did you like it? I really enjoyed writing this and I will be making more. Please read and review!