A/N: Hello and thank you for deciding to give this story a try. I'm just planning to let the chapter speak for itself, but there is just one thing I want to say.

Since this is a prolog (go figure ^^) I will probably upload the first chapter some time next week… or will at least try to.

Prolog

A little girl with blonde hair was wiggling her way through the crowd at the market square of a medium sized town in the kingdom of Wei. The town in which the family of the minister Wang Su resided at the moment wasn't very large but they didn't plan on staying for too long anyway.

Her goal was a small shed at the edge of the town. The man living out there had grey hair and blue eyes and was considered a stranger by the townspeople. Aside from the facial features that clearly labeled him as a foreigner he had a strange way of speaking and a very odd behavior.

He had apparently appeared out of nowhere at the rice fields with completely ravaged clothing and a huge sword wound across his chest. A stab wound that, in fact, should have killed him instantly since the sword must have pierced his heart. Yet, he lived through it and woke up about three weeks after they had found him. Adding the fact that he was completely malnourished when he appeared, his recovery was nothing short of a miracle.

Having recovered enough body mass and having learned to speak Chinese, although he still used some of the words in odd ways, he started to slowly help out with the work on the fields.

Of course the townspeople did not just let him live there just like that. Once he had been able to speak their language somewhat understandably, they asked him where he had come from and how he came to getting stabbed by a two-handed sword, right through the chest at that.

His answers were... confusing, to say the least.

He told them about a floating castle called Aincrad, hovering in the skies of a different world. A world where one man had trapped then thousand people and forced them to play his game of death.

Naturally most of the townspeople, except for a few kids who had overheard his answers, considered him nuts. But since he seemed sane enough, besides these absurd stories, they allowed him to stay as long as he could make himself useful in some way.

It didn't take long for the kids who had overheard the whole thing to spread the word amongst their peers and they started asking him for more of his stories.

The adults obviously kept a close eye on him once they noticed their children going to the shed or gathering around the stranger at a Tea-House more frequently.

After having asked him numerous times where he really came from he finally told them a story about his hometown in Japan. What he told them sounded almost even more unbelievable than his other stories.

A city full of buildings that almost reached the clouds and even at night was as bright as the day, carriages that moved on their own and people from all over the world visiting. Hadn't she seen the truth in his eyes the whole the time, the blonde would have never believed a single word he told.

At the time he told the story about how the remaining people were freed from their prison only half the children were still listening to his stories. A story about how they faced a demon that could take on about forty of the fiercest fighters they had and still had a good chance of winning if they weren't cautious with only four people and still managed to beat it. And how one of their bravest warriors was the very man who had imprisoned them all.

Although he couldn't tell them how the boy known as The black Swordsman had managed to defeat the man with the strongest shield known to them, he knew that he had done it.

Why couldn't he tell them about that?

It was because he was pulled away from the fight before it could even start because the god of this world saw him as something that must not exist.

He couldn't tell them much but he remembered a woman that told him to be ready when the time comes before he woke up in this town.

Half a year later the minister came to bring his family to the capital. Since the stranger was busy working on the fields the blonde girl couldn't say goodbye, as she was not allowed to wander around anymore before they moved.

Departing the town the girl looked back until the village disappeared behind a small hill.

Not long after that they were attacked by a large horde of bandits. Their guards were fighting bravely but couldn't keep their enemies at bay. Sending a messenger back to the town they came from, they could do little more but hope that they would somehow get out of this alive.

One after another their guards fell to the blades of the bandits until only five of them were left standing.

Five guards against a horde of sixty bandits.

Since the attackers had crippled one wheel of the carriage the guards couldn't even get their lord to safety.

Just as the circle around them had closed and the guards were about to be overwhelmed someone broke through the lines of the bandits.

It was not a squad of soldiers or even farmers with tools but it was one man. The last one they expected to come to their rescue.

Coming to a halt in front of the carriage their grey haired savior got into a fighting stance as if he intended to take all of the bandits on himself.

Being momentarily confused the bandits quickly regained their composure and decided to take out the newcomer first. What happened next was a stunning display of martial arts.

Dodging the first spear he punched his attacker's stomach so hard that he spew out every last bite of his breakfast. Dropping to the ground to avoid the sword that was aimed for his head he swept away the feet of the next bandit and finished him off with a foot to the head before he had to roll away to evade another spear thrust.

Using his momentum to jump at his next opponent he knocked him out could with a knee to the jaw.

Having taken out three of his opponents unarmed without so much as a scratch the bandits charged at him recklessly.

The fight continued in very much the same way only that the guards joined in after their rescuer had taken out three more in just a few seconds. The fight only lasted for another five minutes.

As the last bandit fled there were only three people left. Their reinforcement, if you could call him that, and two guards.

Stepping out of the carriage, Wang Su approached the survivors.

"That was a magnificent display of skill."

"We just did our duty my lord!" the guards answered.

"I was actually commenting our savior." Wang Su said as he eyed the person in question closely.

"Where did you learn to fight like that?"

"A good friend of mine taught me the basics." The grey haired man answered.

Wang Su had to laugh heartily at that answer.

"Those were hardly just basics."

"I want to know the name of our savior, so that I can carry the tale of his bravery to the ears of our lord!" Wang Su said as he made an overly dramatic gesture towards the direction they were travelling in.

"In Aincrad I was called by the name of Silber."

"Then you must be this storyteller my daughter told me about." Wang Su said with a smile.

"It seems like there is some truth to your stories after all."

"I'm glad you think so." Silber said a little bit embarrassed.

"Would you like to join my service then? I could use a man like you."

Silber had no time to answer as the little blond girl hugged him forcefully.

"Wang Yuanji?!" Wang Su exclaimed surprised.

As Silber had pried the girl away from him he knelt down in front of her.

"It's alright." Silber said soothingly as he patted her head.

"But all those men…" she sobbed.

"If you are strong enough, you can protect them." Silber reassured her.

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

Silber gulped as he saw what happened with his hand as he patted her head again. Wang Su and the remaining guards just gasped in shock.

"Remember the end of my last story?" He asked the blonde.

"Yes." Yuanji answered as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

"I think the time has come…" Silber said as got to his feet again.

If his body becoming transparent was the indicator, then yes, the time had definitely come.

"But…" Yuanji began as she finally saw what was happening to Silber.

"I might have to leave now, but I assure you that I'll try to come and save you again if you call me." Silber said as he looked up at the sky.

As Yuanji tried to grab hold of him again he was blown away like dust in the wind.

"He sure seemed unique…" Wang Su said as he looked up at the sky, the same direction Silber had before he disappeared.

~ 18th October 2024

As he came to again, he found himself lying in a hospital room with something heavy on his head. Taking off what turned out to be the machine called Nerve Gear, he wondered why he had survived. The machine should have fried his brain as he disappeared from Aincrad.

Then the memories hit him.

He just didn't know if it was real or if it just was a really strange dream. A pretty realistic one at that.

Turning his head he found a nurse who had dozed off in a chair at his bedside.

"W… Wha…t year is… it?" His voice didn't really sound like his at all, not to mention that his throat hurt from just that bit of talking.

The nurse shot up from her chair as she heard that and looked at him with a mixture of surprise and relief.

"It's 2024, October the 18th." She answered with a smile.

"Welcome back."