Day One
Marcus looked at the computer monitor. . The message board was overflowing with both spam and serious messages. Nearly everyone signed up for the Belladonnas, had received a copy of the game. That meant before the servers were even up, they were two hundred strong.
On a separate chat bar. Blake was organising the meeting place. The original thirty were to be formed there and made officers in the guild. Then the rest would come. It was going to be awesome. As per orders of Blake they were going to take the groups and lead them to the farthest town. There they would have our own hunting grounds for a good portion of early game. Of course Blake knew that other beta testers would have the same idea. So that privilege wouldn't last long.
Marcus had already plugged his nerve gear in. He just waited for the server to come up. He had plans for the start of the server none of them included the Belladonnas. He wanted to try something. Something he only heard about in beta testing. After he had accomplished it, he would join the others.
He placed the NerveGear on his head. Closing his eyes he took a deep breath of fresh air. He counted down the seconds.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9…
"Link start!"
Everything changed, flashes: white, blue, red, purple every colour imaginable became visible. Blue verification screens popped up on all sides. Linking his taste, touch, smell, hearing, and sight. He was prompted to create an account and character. She without a second thought chose female. He needed a name. Something the others would recognise. He chose his old tag. Typing "Makasu" into the control. Suddenly his character was thrown in front of him. A whole array of options to choose from. After a few minutes his avatar had come into fruition. It looked just like him during the beta. As he confirmed all his choices. He was finally greeted into the game.
"Welcome, to Sword Art Online!"
Colour burst, exploding into Marcus' eyes. He awoke in the middle of a familiar magnificent city. Other people who he knew were other players, were busy chatting away. There was an excited tension in the air. People were eager to start, to play with friends and advance to the next level. It was a stupid feeling. Seeing so many new faces, already thousands more people than in the Beta were looking around taking it in. Yet he couldn't help but marvel at the sight of so many new faces. The graphics were so incredible he could have been fooled that this was all real. The sky was so blue and expansive it made him feel so small.
"Quite the sight isn't it." Someone spoke up from behind him. He laughed at the remark.
"As a Beta tester you have no idea. It only gets better." He responded the statement wasn't directed at him but the person none the less accepted the conversation.
"Better, really? I quite like that idea." It was a girls voice,
"You have no idea. You should see the upper floors. They have forests and lakes that are just a incredible to behold." He decided to strike up a conversation with the stranger.
"So you were a beta tester. How far did you get?" The girl, she had brown hair that was a little short. She wore a red long sleeve shirt with a leather chest piece strapped to the front, she also wore a pink skirt.
"The beta ended when we got to the 10th floor. The others were trying to clear it and make it to eleventh the day it ended. I have no idea if they succeeded or not." He responded truthfully. He looked at his own apparel, default starter gear a short sword and a single gift box in his inventory.
"My names Lisbeth its nice to meet you." She held out her hand, he shook it lightly.
"Makasu. Look, I'm actually going somewhere private to talk to my guild mates but if you want, you can friend me and I can meet up with you after?" He began to hop quickly. He really did need to go.
"Of course. I'll see you later." She started messing around with the menu, she eventually came to the add friend tab. She typed in his tag and clicked send. It popped up on his interface he hastily clicked accept before dashing off waving her a goodbye.
As he turned a corner he neared the meeting place. He saw some familiar faces moving their too. He was getting close. As he turned a corner into the flask merchant square. He saw them. All of them. The thirty founding members of the Belladonnas. He looked like the last one to arrive. Some of the guys and girls waved at him as he joined the group. He smiled and gave a few hugs. Then they were all crowded around their guild leader waiting for their orders.
"Its good to see all of you again. But I hate to say this. If we want to be back with the assault team, we are going to have to step it up and work over time. There are more players now, so that means more competition. You all know we can't form a guild until floor 3. Each one of you is going to take 10-20 new members in a party, after that we will all move on to Farside Village. Their we will level with the harder level mobs. Any questions." Nobody raised their hand everybody knew the plan, it was just nice to hear it in person.
"Hey Blake. I have something I need to do before moving to Farside. I'll join you guys, and meet my group sometime before the afternoon. I've already sent them the message."
"Don't be doing any of that solo crap we work as a team now." Blake winked before allowing his leave.
Now that Marcus had done everything he could with the guild he set off. He sent a quick message to that girl, Lisbeth. A little company was nice, good company was excellent. She responded almost immediately and soon he met up with her by the gates.
"Hi, Makasu."
"Hey, Lisbeth."
"So what are we doing?" Her question was valid she had no idea what he was setting out to do.
"Alright. It will sound crazy If I try to explain it. So I might as well show you." He took her by the hand leading her towards the hunting fields.
"I need to kill five boar and get something called Leg of Ham a C class item I need five of them. I then need to cook them at a basic level campfire."
"Sounds easy enough. Lead the way." She smiled, she graciously accepted being lead by the hand. When he wasn't looking she blushed slightly. She erased that thought out of her mind. He was probably some forty year old creep, and for all he knew, she was too.
He took her to a small hill. On that hill he saw two boars. He drew his sword and waited for her to do the same. Once she did the same he charged down the hill. As he rapidly gained on the first one. He jumped. Pointing the sword downwards the sword skill began to charge. He let it loose and was sent flying downwards. In one strike the sword plunged deep into the first ones skull. Lisbeth stared in disbelief he made it look so easy. She hesitantly stepped closer to the boar. Sword held in a defensive stance. Marcus saw that and instantly tried to get her attention. It was too late, the boar charged and attacked. When she tried to attack nothing happened. The boar slammed into her knocking her back violently.
"Switch!" Marcus yelled slashing his sword through the boar. It did minimal damage. It resumed attacking Lisbeth. He tried holding it back as she scrambled to her feet. Marcus rapidly stabbed the sword into the boar until it collapsed dying from the brutal strikes it suffered.
"What was that?!" Lisbeth screamed.
"You can't swap between defensive and offensive stances so quickly. Thats why if you're going to attack you have to be in an offensive stance before a fight."
"Oh. Thats great. Thanks for telling me before hand."
"I'm sorry I forgot this if your first day."
"Its fine at least you saved me."
"Yea no problem."
"Three more hungh." She smiled gingerly.
"Yea three more." He sighed panting slightly.
As the day progressed they had racked up their fifth boar kill. Having obtained all the meat necessary. Marcus set out to begin making a fire. After it was made Lisbeth and him sat down watching the orange glow. He began cooking the meat. At a low level cooking skill all he had to do was burn it. His skill progress for cooking would increase thankfully.
"So why are you doing this exactly?" She asked him holding her hands out onto the fire, it was so warm it felt good.
"Like I said its hard to explain, its just something I want to try." He wasn't a good multi tasker so the answer wasn't exactly what she was looking for.
"How old are you?"
"Twenty one, you?"
"Fifteen. I thought you would have been much younger?"
"Yea people say that all the time." He looked a little uneasy, she picked up on that immediately.
"How old are you really?" He was shocked. Did she guess that he was lying just be seeing his reaction. He sighed.
"Sixteen. I tell people I'm older than I am cause people don't respect or listen to us teenagers. Squeakers, they call us." He sat down, letting the meat cook.
"I understand. You're just trying to be heard. So I guess you look a lot younger IRL? Or is that a fake appearance?" She continued to probe him with questions. he felt a little nervous in answering all these questions. Hell he lied to Blake about who he really was.
"This is what I imagine I'd look like if I was older. What about you is that what you really look like. Or are you a guy?" She frowned. Then without warning she slapped him.
"Of course I'm a girl! Yes, this is what I look like. No point in lying about it. I'm confident in who I am." Marcus watched as his health bar went down by the tiniest fraction. If he could feel pain he would be feeling it now.
"Sorry, Its just thats what usually happens in these things. Creepy guys pretending to be cute girls and hitting on other guys just for fun. It happened to me once in the beta. Never again." He grimaced at the thought, it was quite the experience for him the first time. Lisbeth however blushed at the words 'cute girls'. He found her cute.
As the meat finished he quickly got up. He began walking off leaving Lisbeth at the camp fire. His mind focused on the one objective he had in the Beta. He could never do it in Beta because he failed the first parameter. Now with a blank slate he should be able to accomplish it.
"Hey where are you going?!" Lisbeth raced after him tackling him to the ground accidentally.
"Oh sorry, I forgot to tell you I was going! Sorry." He apologised rubbing his hair nervously. When his mind was set on something he often forgot about everything else.
"Can I still tag along?" She was still on top of him. He smiled nervously. She took that as a yes. A small amount of time passed before she burned pink jumping off him.
They walked further and further away from the main city. It was starting to get darker and gloomier. Marcus was alert and searching. Lisbeth was a little scared so she clung to his arm. She heard growling come from the forest. Soon a single wolf coloured completely black with red glowing eyes came out the bushes. She squealed and he carefully moved her out the way. He opened his inventory. He selected a piece of cooked leg of boar. The wolf sniffed the meat. It approached slowly. Marcus was ready to draw his sword if things went wrong. Marcus was careful not to make sudden moves. He didn't want to scare it away. Lisbeth wanted to scream as the monster continued to grow near. As it inched its way forward its pace became much slower and much more cautious. Marcus was completely still. His arm began to grow numb as its mouth was merely centimetres away from his hand. It took one long drawn out lick of the meat, before slowly putting the whole piece in its mouth. Its eye colour dimmed changing from crimson to azure. A screen popped up in front of Marcus it read.
You have started the taming process for a Level 1 Monster Wolf (F). Do you want to proceed?
He accepted.
Please name the tamed beast…
It was female so he started thinking. He looked to Lisbeth. She was confused and didn't understand. He thought she looked adorable like that. So he typed in Beth.
Are you sure you want to name the Level 1 Wolf, Beth?
He accepted with zero regrets. Soon the name Beth was added below his own, it had its own health bar and status.
"What, was that?" Lisbeth finally asked.
"That was me taming a beast." He answered simply.
"Why couldn't you tell me that before?"
"Because I didn't know if It would work, if it didn't we could have been killed. And it meant something to me. I've always loved dogs but wolves are so much cooler. I couldn't tame one in the beta. Because one of the prerequisites for taming a beast is not killing any of its species. In the Beta I had already killed quite a few wolves making it impossible for me to do it. But now with a blank slate character I managed." He touched the fur on its body. It was rough on his fingertips and unruly all over its body. He would have to groom it later.
"That must have been important if we spent half our day doing it. Should we be heading back to the Town of New beginnings?"
"I'm not, you go ahead. I have somewhere to be. Until next time Lis. This is goodbye." He started walking away, but she tugged on his arm.
"Message me sometime. I liked spending time with you." She pinched his cheek before running off. Soon he was left alone with his newly tamed wolf.
He wanted to run to the the Village of Farside. But his body was already experiencing fatigue. Soon he collapsed. To tired to continue. He forgot that his stamina skill was much lower than the last time he played this. He sat at the base of a solemn tree. Beth lay beside him, its face resting gently on his lap. He stroked its fur trying to soften and smooth it out. His stomach began to growl and he realised that IRL he must have been super hungry. He opened the menu attempting to log out. However the option wasn't there. He opened and closed the bar but still there was no log out. He groaned. The game must have been overloaded due to the amount of players signing in. No worries.
He scrolled over his skills. He knew which ones he wanted to go for. Tracking was at the top of his priority. It received an experience boost because of a tamed companion. Thank god for Beth she was already making life easier. He heard a loud clang of metal. The tutorial bells were ringing. That meant it was over. If like the Beta a character was too far away, they would receive a message detailing the briefing. However he felt a tingling sensation. Beth and him were wrapped in a veil of blue. He began to fade. Then in a flash he found himself back in the starting location. All his hard work lost.
"Makasu!" He heard Blake yell.
"Whats going on why were we TP'ed?" Marcus asked, he didn't understand. He was too far away.
Soon the sky turned red it was covered with signs saying system warning. A substance that looked like blood began to seep through the sky. It began to form a shape, that shape eventually became a large cloaked body.
"Attention Players, and welcome to my world. My name is Kayaba Akihiko, as of this moment I am the sole person who controls this world. I'm sure you've already noticed the log-out button is missing from the main menu. But this is not a defect from the game. I repeat, this is not a defect from the game. It is how Sword Art Online was meant to be played. It is a feature of Sword Art Online. You cannot log-out of SAO yourself, and no one from the outside can shut-down or remove the NerveGear. Should this be attempted, the transmitter inside the NerveGear will emit a powerful Microwave destroying your brain thus ending your life."
Marcus was stunned. What was he hearing?! Why was he hearing this?! Was this some sick joke?! A hacker with a disgusting sense of humour?! Marcus drew his sword he wanted to strike down the bastard who was spouting this nonsense. He wanted to stab a sword through its chest and destroy it for good. His rage seemed to burn through him and the game master saw it. Its hollow face seemed to stare down at him. Marcus instantly backed up, he could feel its eyes weighing down on him.
"But I want you to remember this clearly, there is no longer any method to revive someone within the game. If your health bar drops below zero, your avatar will be forever lost. And simultaneously, the NerveGear will destroy your brain. There is only one means of escape. To complete the game. You are presently on the lowest floor of Aincrad, Floor 1. If you make your way through the dungeon and defeat the final boss, you may advance to the next level. Defeat the Final boss on floor 100, and you will clear the game."
Marcus felt something dwindling in his chest. It felt horrible. If any of this was true. They were all doomed. Clearing the ninth floor was hell. And those were the beta testers. The most skilled players there were. Many of them died during that battle and had to be revived soon after. If they couldn't be revived…
"Finally, I've added a present from me to your item storage. Please, see for yourself…"
Everyone flicked open their item storage. But Marcus stopped, he saw two things in his storage. One was the gift from the game master the other… Death's Hands. The gloves he found in the beta. They were still in his inventory… Why. The description had changed a little. It still read 'Embrace the Death Game' however a new line of text had been added this one said 'Survive the Death Game'. It only now occurred to him. The gloves… they foretold what was going to happen. Now that he was in the game, all it could tell him was to survive. He equipped them. He felt a strange tingling sensation in his palms. That soon subsided. He opened the present and he was force equipped a mirror. As he looked into it a few seconds later they were all engulfed in blue light, it covered them. When it subsided. He felt different. He felt smaller. Looking around nobody was as they seemed. Everyone looked different.
"Makasu?" A feminine voice called out. It was one he did not recognise.
"Hello?" He called out. A girl. Dressed in default male blue. With incredibly long black hair and pale features stood before him. She had bright yellow eyes. There was something odd about her. He recognised her from somewhere.
"Blake!"