Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online in any way or shape, the work below is a work of fiction only, I however am the creator of this story and thus also the owner of this piece of work.
Edit 19th of January 2019:
I've fixed some details in this chapter. You're free to re-read it if you'd like but the changes aren't that important for the story.
Hi everyone, it has been a while but I'm finally back with another chapter.
This one took a little more time to write since I had to rewrite it almost completely - wasn't happy with the first version.
To add to the list of excuses I studied hard to compete in my school's Biology Olympiade candidate election.
However I didn't score high enough on the test to actually make it past the state of qualification. SO!
I decided to fuel my passion for writing with a special drink I call 'tears of sadness' ... no seriously I don't have a name for something like that lol. I was just disappointed in myself for not making it that far in the competition, that's all.
With all the weird talking out of the way let's get on with the story.
:)
As the red mist crawled its way up my virtual body, I could feel my heartbeat double in frequency. But then it suddenly stopped completely, stopping my body from shivering with the powerful pulses that had just shaken my figure in what could only be described as pure animalistic panic. Wondering to myself what had happened, I looked down to see- and then everything turned black.
"W-what? A teleport?" I questioned as I was without a clue as to what was happening, disappearing against my will like a zip-file being deleted from a computer. It had happened to me quite a few times in the beta when the developers had wanted to gather all of the beta players before announcing mechanical breaks, but they always sent the players a message beforehand apologizing for the inconvenience and such.- something was feeling off about this whole situation, and I was going to find out just what.
Shouts of distress and sounds similar to the one when Asuna had been taken away, was pressing down on my ears.- where was Asuna, no, where the hell was I?
I opened my eyes for the first time since disappearing back at the armory. My pupils had a hard time adjusting to the bright red light illuminating my surroundings, but from what I could pick out, there were multiple pillars standing tall 360 degrees around me. The plaza? I wasn't alone either, there were people everywhere and none of them NPC's apparently and even more were spawning in by the second.
"Kirito!" I heard a familiar voice call out. "Over here!"
From the deafeningly loud crowd a hand raised above the heads of the other players present, was waving me in that direction.
Leader-chan?
Walking inwards towards the center of the round open-fielded plaza, my vision locked itself on to the masses of new players who were walking around one another, seemingly in search of what ever party members they had decided to group up with, however with an approximate total number of players of nearly twenty thousand, finding people that you know would be like finding your homework after cleaning up the entire house - almost completely impossible.
"It's so good to see that you're alright, Kirito." L said as I looked him in the eyes. "Also, I got Argo's message earlier, hadn't expected to see you so soon already, not to mention all of this." He said as he gestured towards the plaza and all the other SAO players. "You don't happen to know anything, right?"
I shrugged my shoulders, "Not even Argo saw this one coming, and he, if anyone, should know about this. This says something about what we're dealing with here."
With a curious look, L asked another fitting question. "You sound like you have an idea about it, though?"
"I do. Remember back in the beta-"
"Yea it was my initial thought too, and no, I obviously didn't get a message." L said sighing. "But I'm confident that it's just simple and silly bug, I mean everyone makes mistakes, am I right?
"Leader-chan." I began, and released my pent up breath I unknowingly had kept inside me. "I don't think we're dealing with a bug. I have this feeling that says we're dealing with something potentially much worse."
"You don't mean to say, that what's happening here is happening on purpose?"
L-chan finished my sentence looking at me in disbelief. Having known each other for almost 6 months now, reading each other's minds had become a frequently occurring thing. Although it was mostly just pure guesses, sometimes the guesses hit bullseye like it had in this instance.
I tried to keep my face blank; serious I should say, and I could see L change his tone accordingly. "Kirito you are officially out of your mind, I don't think.-"
"No. Listen." I interrupted in a stern voice. "Have you observed any changes in the game, its system, anything?"
"Kirito, y-you're freaking me out here, it's not fun anymore, okay? I think you should calm down."
"L, please, you calm down and listen.
A short break halted our conversation.
"Fine." L sighed in defeat, "but you owe me an apology for scaring the living shit out of me."
I studied L's face and saw it change as he thought about my question from before.
"You were asking whether or not I had experienced any issues within the game?"
I nodded. "Yes, go on."
"I'm sure it's nothing, but I tried calling the GM earlier, when I noticed a bug in my options menu, I got nothing in response, not even a single message to imply that my attempt to contact them had been registered. I figured they were just busy, since... you know it's release day, but yeah, I found it pretty peculiar."
"We need to find the others and meet up at The Inn as soon as possible." I said, my gut feeling on the brink of confirmation.
Just as I had finished mouthing my words and was about to lead the way for L and I myself, I heard someone speak out that they couldn't find the log-out button. Immediately after, my whole body tensed up, my muscles stiffening as I felt compelled to listen to the stranger.
"Kiri..t.." L said, his voice fading and his words struggling to exit his mouth.
A player wearing a set of orange armour in matching colours told the stranger where to find the button. "It's in the menu to your right."
"No it's not there." A second player chimed in.
"I don't see it either. You said to the right?" Yet another player questioned.
"Yes, I'm positive, now hang on a second." The player in the orange armour said. For a full 5 seconds the conversation between the players died down "...Wait a minute, it..uh..it should be here, but I don't see it. That's weird."
I figured that L had also listened in on the conversation between the four different players, because when I turned my head, I came to stare into L's dark black and expanded pupils. And I could feel that he like myself had a growing sensation of distress boiling up inside him.
My heartbeat picked up it's pace and all air felt like it left my lungs. I needed to know, I had to know if I was right about. I opened up my hud by swiping my right index finger in front of my head, bracing myself for what was to come.
Unknowingly my hand began its climb up my breast, stopped when it reached my heart and then grasped ahold of the tunic that I was wearing, clenching the fabric tightly like one would clench a fence when standing atop of a cliff behind behind just two rows of aluminium bars that would essentially separate one's body from a 2 kilometre nightmare-inducing-20 second free fall.
With my free right hand, I tapped on the icon consisting of a tiny gear and my transparent display immediately changed forms.
To my horror the log-out button indeed was not there, and as realisation hit me I felt my stomach and all of my other organs, in a desperate attempt of leaving their vessel (Me), crunch inwards with agonising pain, and my knees gradually getting weaker. It felt as if I had been stabbed, I didn't know how it felt to be stabbed of course, but I was certain that it couldn't feel much different from what pain I was experiencing at the moment.
I closed my eyes and let it consume my body. I felt adapted to this world now; my body not changing whatsoever, but my mind became driven by a bulletproof spark of determination that no game could take away.
"Kayaba!" I screamed at the top of my empty lungs. "Akihiko!"
Floor 1: approx. 6pm
I was sitting in a lounge with dark brown furniture all around me, occupied by my in-game 'family' so to say. Behind me to my right the only source of light; a fireplace, was burning through virtual logs of wood.
On the walls of the room, paintings of bosses and creatures of SAO hung on either side of only a single pair of windows, located near a staircase leading to the floor below, allowing the idealistic red light from the sunset outside, to pour through and into the room.
The floor of the room was covered in carpets with a variety of different patterns sewn into them, excellent craftsmanship but most likely constructed by the algorithms of the game. All things taken into account, had it not been for the recent turn of events, this room we were in could easily be described as being cozy. The seething nature of this calming environment had forced my fiery hate for Kayaba Akihiko down significantly.
"Is it so hard to understand?!"
"N-no, I'm just.. merely taken aback, that's all it is."
"You're so convincing, Mini." Asaka said and rolled her eyes at her friend's demeanor.
They might not look like what they used to but they sure acted the way they used to.
"Guys, let us introduce ourselves." L said, breaking Asaka's and Mini's discussion. "From left to right."
In a dark brown sofa-chair the happy-go-lucky natured young teenage girl Asaka sat. "Okay. I'm Asaka, 17 years old, and also known as Mary outside of the game. I'm thinking of changing up my combat style and picking up a bow whenever we hit up a weapons dealer. It's good to meet you." Asaka said and gently bumbed her fist at Mini-kun's shoulder, passing the duty of introduction on to him.
Mini, sitting in the corner of a long similarly coloured sofa adjusted himself. "R-right. I'm Mini, my role in the beta was to tank and take the hits and I intend to continue it that way. My real name is Tanaka and I'm 17 years old. It's a pleasure to meet you." Mini-kun finished before slumping down in his seat once again.
I cleared my throat and sat up straight in the sofa that Mini and myself were sitting in. "I'm Kirito, 17, Swordsman, ally, friend." Spare-time streamer and apparently trustworthy orange player. "My name in the real world is Kazuto. Nice to meet you."
Sitting right next to me was a girl I had yet to greet welcome. Her hair was sandy-brown coloured and was hanging loosely on either side of her head, with a red ribbon-like piece of fabric attached to each of her two strands of hair. Her figure was small, as in she wasn't tall at all.
Catching a glimpse of her eyes, I recognised their colour almost immediately, they were the same as my own, dark chocolate brown.
"I'm S-Silica, but my real name is Keiko, by the way I'm 17 years old and new to SAO. Uhm I don't know what role will fit me the best but I'm open for suggestions. I hope to join your guild and get to know you all better."
"Nice to meet you Silica-chan." L began, as she, yes she, took a sip of her cup of tea. "I believe I'm the next one up. My gametag is Io, and my name in real life is Miyako, but you can just call me L or whatever, I don't mind. I'm 16 and a Swordsman just like Kirito.-Oh.. I almost forgot to mention, but I was the guild master of the 'Redforge' guild that Kirito, Mini, Asaka and Argo were members of back in the beta, and I coincidentally thought off starting up the guild again. You're welcome to join us; Asuna-chan, Silica-chan." L said smiling, as she finished her introduction.
Sitting next to L was another little girl, much quieter and still than the guild master. Her hands were fumbling about and her right hand fingers were intertwined with her left. She was presumably trying to hide her nervousness from the guild and the newcomers but to no avail.
"My name is Argo, IRL Minatsuki." She said quietly, attempting to hide her face from the spot-light-like eyes of the other players including myself. "I-I'm an information broker and short weapon expert. 16 years old and uhm a girl."
"Oi Argo, you're much more cute like this, you know." Yelled Asaka grinning. "Not once did the thought of you being a girl cross my mind, so what a welcomed surprise."
Mini was quick to react and punched Asaka lightly on her shoulder, gaining his revenge from earlier and shushing the girl from her evildoings while mumbling something along the lines of 'you idiot' or 'have some respect' or both.
"Asuna, you're up." I said, drawing the attention back to matters at hand.
A girl wearing a blue coat with a hood winced at the mentioning of her name.
"My name is Asuna, both in the game and in the real world. SAO is my first VRMMORPG and I haven't decided on a role yet. I'm 18 and it's nice to meet you." Asuna said and pulled back her hood, letting her creamy coloured hair flow with her motions.
I saw Mini's eyes widen with surprise from the corner of my view.
Considering Mini's luck with women, I could already begin to imagine the magnitude of the disaster that was destined to arrive in the future.
"Now that the introductions are out of the way, shall we get this meeting started?" L concluded instead of actually asking a question.
Floor 1 - The Inn: approx. 9:30pm
The once cozy room was filled with a heavy and dull atmosphere, even the furniture was getting itchy and uncomfortable to sit in.
"I think we covered just about everything there is to cover, Kirito?"
"Yes, I was thinking of getting a room and turning in for the night, it's getting pretty late now." I answered back.
Actually I wasn't entirely wrong with my statement, it was getting late, but I wasn't thinking of going to sleep just yet. In fact I was planning on checking up on my stream. The messages left by viewers in the CW (chat window) were beginning to pop-up every now and then on my hud, but I couldn't risk turning the actual notifications off in case maybe Argo or L caught a glimpse of my screen while I wasn't looking.
Telling them about the stream was something I wasn't sure of doing. If it became known that I could communicate with the outside world, it could pose a threat to me, especially if rogue players wanted to capture the means of communication for themselves.
Two players' livestreams should be sufficient enough to create a dark, off-the-grid network; using the chat window of the stream to transfer information from inside the game around without actually using the in-game messaging system was a possibility. Although I wasn't the only streamer in SAO, there had to be a few hundred players doing the same thing. After all, beta players were awarded with the streaming extension upon release date, the majority of which had to be in the game right now. The thought of that significantly increased my chances of staying out of trouble, however, it also made me wonder if I was the only one in the group to livestream, there was a faint possibility that maybe L or Mini were livestreaming too.
"Wait how much col do you guys have?" Asked Asaka "I didn't get to hunt any monsters and went here as soon as Kayaba's announcement ended."
"I don't have much either. L and I spent the most of our time at the market place and are practically both as poor as one can be in this game." Said Silica-chan, as L hung her head in shame at the thought of her actions.
To imagine that one of the strongest guilds in the SAO beta, could be struggling this much, less than 24 hours since the release of the final game.
"We can split the money up. As I understood from Asuna, she and Kirito had done a fair bit of grinding earlier in the day." Mini-kun added
Asuna nodded her head. "I don't mind doing that."
"Hold u-" I said, as I tried to intervene.
"That's a great idea!" L interrupted, before she with pleading eyes stared into mine. "A great.. idea.. right?!" She said again while she nudged my arm.
"F-fine." I sighed. It was going to take some time for me to get used to seeing L acting like a girl, she did play as a male character in the beta after all and didn't once hint towards her being a member of the opposite gender. "We're 7 players; Silica, Asaka, L-chan, Argo, Asuna, Mini and myself. That means we pay for 4 standardized bedrooms with two beds in each."
"Uh uh, no we ain't. 2 bedrooms with two beds and 1 bedroom with three beds."
"Do you have any idea what a bedroom with three beds costs, Asaka?!" I exclaimed.
"It's do-able, right?" She countered.
"Well, technically yes, bu-"
"Bu?- but what? Wouldn't want any of our new members to sleep alone. Oh I just got a great idea. Trust me, you'll love it!- we; us girls, and Mini can sleep together in our three bedrooms with two beds in each, and Mr. Money-Guy here can sleep for himself in the last one." Said Asaka before her serious expression broke down and she began laughing. "I'm kidding with you Kirito, it's friendly banter, that's all."
Giving in to Asaka's reasoning I sighed and motioned for her to go order the rooms.
"Well then, who sleeps with who?" Mini asked, as Asaka was well on her way down the staircase to The Inn's main lobby.
L-chan readied her 'girl card' and screamed "Perv! You and Kirito of course." To which Mini and I had no response. "Make sure the boys get the room farthest away from ours!" L screamed again, to Asaka who was already downstairs.
An unclear response from the girl down in the lobby below could be heard, followed by multiple "Quiet!"'s from other SAO players wishing to get a place to spend the night.
Floor 1 - The Inn: approx. 9:35pm
"See you tomorrow at 7." I called out for L who nodded and went into a three-bed bedroom along with Silica and Argo.
"Say Kirito, since Asaka got us a bunk bed would it be okay for me to take the top?"
"It's fine by me, I don't really mind."
"Awesome!" Said Mini and rushed towards the defenseless bed. "I'll thank you later buddy."
"No need to." I answered back before turning to sit on a chair that stood a little back in the room we boys shared. In front of the chair was a little circular window that could only be opened inside-out.
I opened it slowly, making sure not to make too much noise while doing so and poked my head out.
Streetlights were creating small puddles of yellowish light on the empty gravel roads that ran like veins throughout the starter city; The Town of Beginnings.
Every now and then a horse carriage would pass through the small street, but the majority of the NPC's driving them must have gone to sleep.
Parties of players would would also pass through every 3 or 4 minutes but the concentration of players on the streets had decreased tremendously since I had last looked outside. They were walking in all directions, some were heading out of town, while others were finding places to stay for the night. 'The Inn', which was the name of the place we stayed at was surprisingly popular.
I inhaled a deep breath of a cold breeze, let it rest in my lungs and forced it out a little later. Compared to when Kayaba had held his speech the game at this particular moment looked so peaceful and unaffected. Even the stars, yes the beautiful glistening stars, were sparking with light like had they done so for millennia.
Supposedly, every floor of SAO, despite being enclosed by 10 meter thick walls, had night skies imprinted on their roofs, I didn't know for sure since I had reached the top floors. And according to my memory from the beta, each sky looked similar to the last so wherever in Aincrad you were, if it was night then you would still be able to look at the same colourful night sky.
It was stunningly beautiful and mesmerising to look at, but left one in wonder. Why would such a complex and beautiful world, become home to the worst nightmare seemingly possible?
With questions like these, I fell asleep in the cheap chair.
That's it for this week. The next update/chapter should be up next week or the week after. (don't hate me please)
Don't forget to R&R :) I would love to hear your feedback on the story; is the story progressing to slowly or is there something you would like to know more about?- then don't hesitate from contacting me :)
As with the length of the upcoming chapters, you can expect them to be around 3-4k words
- Lord Meap