AN: I know I said I would write a longer chapter but this chapter is ESSENTIAL and is basically just leading on to the main story so bear with me… This chapter is based on what happens in SAO (which I DO NOT own) except I changed it a bit :P

Please R&R!

The boy listened to the seconds ticking away and lowered the NerveGear onto his head.

12:59:58

12:59:59

He took a deep breath.

13:00:00

'Link Start!'

Chapter 1-The Start

2 November 2022

'I'm back.' Kirito whispered as the green light around him faded away, leaving him in the central plaza of Starting Plains. Opening his eyes, he felt alive -more than he would ever feel in the real world. Other players were appearing one after another and soon, the plaza was full of different 3D avatars' excited mumbling. All of the ones he could see had pets at their side and his smile faltered for a moment. … He thought back to Luna, who had been his previous and only pet.

Be safe.

Despite her being just another virtual object made from digital code, that was what he had said to her. It was quite amusing really. He could make friends with virtual things but couldn't get close to real people. Laughing quietly and ignoring the glances directed at him, he made his way through the crowd. When he reached the paved streets of Starting City, he turned right and, without hesitation, walked toward an alleyway that he knew would lead him to a large herd of low-level beasts. Striding purposefully, He reached out with his hand as if to pat something but it closed over thin air. Clenching it into a fist, he pulled it back again and ran full-speed down the narrow street.

Starting Plains was located on the outskirts of Starting City near what was called the 'Left eye', a tall mountain where high-levelled monsters liked to build their nests. The mountain was completely surrounded by the 'Left Moat'. That, then, was bordered by a small forest called 'the Forest of Advancement' which stretched all the way down to the southern deserts and then back up to the 'Right Eye'. Kirito went through part of Starting City and two kilometres north-west to reach a flat grassland where the forest was just visible. Since it was far enough from town for the noise not to reach it, many monsters that were not high-level enough to survive in the forest liked to roam around this area.

Unsurprisingly, he was the only one standing in the green grass. He stayed there for a while and allowed himself to enjoy the freshness of the air before unsheathing his sword and walking slowly forward. He was completely surrounded by tall, knee-high grass. There was not a tree in sight, and therefore nothing for larger beasts or him to hide behind. To leave, players would have to continuously cut down groups of monsters until they reach Starting City or any other nearby towns. It was a beginner training ground suited for groups and players used to close-range battles.

Almost immediately as he started moving, he saw a grey, bull-like beast coming charging at him with its horns lowered. He dodged nimbly to one side and used a simple Uppercut and thrust to finish it. In his peripheral vision, he saw the EXP on his window increase. As he continuously cut down the beasts, all other thoughts were blocked from his mind. All he felt was the exhilarating sensation of having power in his hands. He was immersed in his own world until a wild birdsong woke him from his 'trance'. He sighed and reminded himself that he could take it easier and not just slash at anything in sight. Nodding to himself, he swung his sword left and right and was about to sheath it when he heard a sharp scream and a series of swear words coming from a few hundred metres to his left. Seeing as he had nothing better to do, he decided to check it out. Slowly pushing through the long grass, he walked toward the source of the noise. The clash of a battle was unmistakeable now so he quickened his footsteps-

And almost fell forward as the long grass suddenly opened up into a clearing. That area was definitely not there during the beta-testing and he wondered briefly if there were other changes in the game. However, the thought was immediately forgotten as he dodged a sword that buried itself in the ground where his foot was before.

'S-sorry' He heard a female voice stutter. The voice belonged to a girl with wavy brown hair. Although he knew that many players were playing with an avatar of the opposite gender, the avatar's nervousness-and screams-was unmistakeably that of a girl's. He didn't have time to think further before the girl grabbed her weapon and squealed again as a boar came charging toward her. Without thinking, he pushed her to one side, forgetting that he was right behind her. The boar kept closing the distance.

Sighing, Kirito crouched and sprung forward as his sword glowed red. He used a simple sword skill-Horizontal and sliced through the whole length of the charging boar. It growled mournfully as it shattered into countless polygons.

Other than the girl who had almost amputated his foot, and the boy he had heard swear before, there were three more players circling around a small group of three boars-though they seemed to be having a hard time with it. Their HP bars were already in the yellow zone even with their pets healing them constantly.

After Kirito got rid of the boar, the girl smiled and went to help the others. They glanced in his direction gratefully before turning back and continuously stabbing and swiping at the beasts with their weapons. Kirito thought that their strategy was horrible and tried to decide if he should help or not when one of them dealt a blow to a boar's neck, decreasing its HP to zero. It shattered and the others followed not long afterwards, the shards floating momentarily before fading into nothingness.

He didn't want to be in any complicated situations and was about to walk away when he heard someone call out.

'Hey!'

He sighed for the second time in the last ten minutes and reluctantly turned around.

The six people and five pets sat around the table.

'…Thankyou to Kirito who saved us back then!' The leader of 'the Black Cats of the Full Moon', Keita said enthusiastically as he held up his cup.

'Kanpeii!'

Kirito stood awkwardly at the table holding his lemonade as the pets meowed loudly in celebration.

'You know, I didn't really do anything…'

Keita shook his head solemnly.

'Don't be so modest!' He grabbed the shoulders of the only girl in the group and swivelled her around to face him, 'If you didn't get rid of that monster, Sachi would probably have been killed. Instantly.'

The girl who was known as Sachi stopped eating her sundae and pouted.

'I'm not that weak! I was only supposed to be providing back-up anyway. And plus, you guys only caught on the way to use Skills after Kirito-kun demonstrated, right?'

Keita shrugged and grinned, turning back to Kirito,

'See? You ARE our saviour!' The other four and their pets nodded their agreement and Kirito allowed a small smile to escape his lips. He hadn't met such lively people since… a long time ago.

'You finally smiled! Anyways, drink something! Sachi's treating!'

The girl elbowed him in the ribs.

'Ok, ok! We're- us five- our guild- is treating.'

The guild members rolled their eyes and he pretended to have a troubled expression on his face. Then, everyone laughed. The heavy atmosphere around Kirito lightened and he laughed along with them.

'Well… If you ins-'

A ringing sound interrupted their celebration. The six of them glanced around questioningly before, one by one, they were engulfed by green light.

Kirito felt the familiar sensation of his stomach dropping as the image of the tavern room disappeared and was temporarily replaced by a swirl of colours. Almost instantly afterwards, he found himself in the midst of thousands of people. Green light covered his vision so it took him a moment to realise he was on Starting Plains' central plaza. Other players and their pets appeared around him cluster by cluster, just like when the game first started that afternoon.

It was still 5:20pm back in Tokyo and BTO was synced with the real time but the clouds covering the sky caused the plaza to be shadowed by darkness. Shivering, he spotted Sachi's brown hair and pushed his way through the crowd.

'Sachi!'

Hearing her name being called, she turned around and, seeing Kirito hurry toward her, pushed through the crowd with her pet in tow. They were both breathing heavily by the time they reached each other.

'H-Have-you… seen the others?' She asked hopefully.

He shook his head but tried to smile reassuringly.

'Don't worry, It look like all players were teleported here so they'll be somewhere on this plaza.'

Sachi still looked worried.

'But-' she stopped abruptly as Kirito placed a hand gently on her head. She blushed slightly and changed her sentence. 'Why…why? I mean, is there a purpose for us being here?'

Not seeing her reaction, Kirito continued patting her head lightly.

'I think we'll soon find out.' He answered, looked up into the sky. As if his words were some sort spell, the moment they left his lips, a silver panel appeared directly above central plaza. It flashed and then numerous other panels spanned over them in a dome shape. Loud exclamations echoed, bouncing off the panels. In a few seconds, the plaza was completely covered by it, the patterns on the panels seemed to solidify and the players saw that they were in a large cage though the bars looked like a person could fit through them. They were clearly wrong, however, as there was some kind invisible barrier between the bars which stopped all attempts to escape.

The volume of noise in the cage increased so that everyone had to shout to be heard. Despite this, a single word attracted everyone's attention.

'Look!'

Everyone's head automatically shot up to look at the top-most tip of the cage.

Above their heads, the bars seemed to melt, dripping down and forming a huge green cloak. A pair of gloved hands, no…there wasn't anything wearing them, spread out before it. Two red lights shone from the interior of the hood and glowed ominously. Other than that, the cloak was empty. Silence fell over the crowd as they waited.

A deep voice was projected over the whole plaza. No one expected what was coming next.

Kirito and the members of Keita's guild stood in a deserted alleyway a few minutes from the plaza. They were no longer playing using their avatars; they were a virtual version of themselves in the real world.

Looking once again at her window's menu, Sachi's hand trembled over where the 'Log-Out' option should have been and whimpered.

'It's really not there…'

Keita placed an arm around her shoulder and squeezed it slightly. He paused, as if putting his thoughts together, before asking in a fake cheerful voice.

'Do you want to come with us?'

Kirito didn't reply. Rather, he didn't know how to reply.

Nicely? Bluntly? Should I severe our friendship? Is what we have called 'friendship' anyway?

He closed his eyes.

After a few minutes, he finally had the courage to open his mouth though he was too scared to open his eyes.

'Sorry.' He said softly.

The guild's leader smiled sadly and his pet curled around his leg as if to comfort him.

'It's fine. I understand.'

Just like that, both parties turned around and left without the slightest noise. It was all too peaceful.

When Kirito opened his eyes and looked back, there was no one there anymore. It was just another empty alley.

He broke out into a run. Soon, Starting City was already a spot in the distance. He gritted his teeth and remembered the first words of the cloaked figure-Kayaba Akihiko's words and grimly added the unsaid phrase.

'Welcome to my world.'

The world of death.

AN: I'm sorry to everyone who wanted Luna in this chapter :(. I promise she'll appear in later chapters in a different form maybe? (chuckles mysteriously). Anyway thanks for reading!

BTW Please go to my profile and vote in the poll on who to pair Kirito with! The story won't be focussed on romance but it's always good to have some:)