Hello readers! Welcome to the story. It's been a long while since we have written anything. Well, we are back and writing this along with Remnants of Cutlass. And to new readers, feel free to try reading it! I would give a long explanation as to why it's been so long, but I can put it simply. Life sucks. But we are back, and we'll be trying to put chapters out regularly. Now that I've said that bit WE DO NOT OWN SWORD ART ONLINE OR IT'S CHARACTERS, Also Caylin has no correlation to our other story. same name, 2 different characters.

Chapter 1

Tyler POV

I hold the new nerve gear in my hands as I get ready to start up once again. I was one of the few people chosen to beta test the newest game on the VR scene. Sword Art Online is probably the biggest game in recent years. I personally was looking forward to a virtual world, especially after the real one taking someone important from me. After all, my family and I moved to Tokyo from our home in America to get away and make new memories. Sword Art is a good escape from reality.

I put the nerve gear on for the first time in a couple days. "Link, Start!" I say, as the start up pops up. It goes through the check, as the name 'Caylin' pops up. My trusted username, as I finally enter Aincrad.

I look around the world of Aincrad once more. The sky is clear and sunny. A smattering of miscellaneous creatures roam around. Most noticeably are small boar like creatures. I see someone that seems to almost be watching someone struggle with said boars.

"Must be a new player." I mumble to myself as I turn to head away to do some small grinding before I head to the Town of Beginnings. After all, leveling is an important part of these games. I pull out my sword, and hold in a ready position with the sword at my side. The sword glows orange, as I burst forward. I slice, and a boar falls over and bursts apart. I straighten out.

"Just as easy as always." I say as I turn around, and feel someone bump into me.

"Eep!" I hear a small voice say under me. I look down, and see a girl with snow white hair on the ground.

"Oh! I'm sorry, miss." I say as I reach down to pull her up. "I should be more careful where I'm going." She looks up, and I see dull emerald eyes. She stands without grabbing my hand.

"Well, I'm easy to miss. I don't blame you entirely." She says as she brushes her outfit off. She seems to be wearing the bare minimum of armor. She barely comes up to my shoulders, and has a very lithe and petite figure.

"I hate to ask this, especially of a stranger, but could I ask for you to show me some things?" she says as she rubs the back of her neck, a small blush appearing on her cheeks.

I give a small smile. "New player?" I ask. She nods.

"Yeah, and I couldn't help but notice that you've done this before. Were you a beta tester?"

I nod. "Yeah, I was one of the lucky few who actually got decent enough to make it past the first couple floors. So, what is it that you need help with?"

"Ummm… pretty much everything. But sword skills are the important thing. So, start with that I guess." She says, still red in the face.

I turn around. "Well, as you face an enemy, hold your sword at the ready. Once you feel the sword skill activate, release." I ready my sword, and swing. "Make sense?" I ask.

She nods. "I think I got it."

"Well? Try it." I say as I gesture towards a boar. "After all, it is just a game. You don't actually die in here."

"Yeah, right." she says, nodding her head. She looks at me. "Hey, what's your name? That way, ya know, I know who to thank for getting rid of my incompetence."

I hold my hand out as I look down at her. "Names Caylin."

She looks at my hand, and hesitantly grabs my hand and shakes it. "Akshiro." she replies.

"Well, want to head to the Town of Beginnings? We can find fairly good gear for super cheap there, and you can get the guidebook. It'll help out."

"Might as well. I can't be on for long anyway. I have to make food for my father anyway." she says, slightly crestfallen.

They both start walking back towards the Town of Beginnings when they hear a bell ringing in the distance. "What the fuck?" I say.

"I don't know, maybe a special event for the launch of the game?" Akshiro replies, as a blinding blue light envelopes them. When their vision returns they realize that they are in the plaza at the Town of Beginnings, along with every other player in the entire game.

"What the hell has happened?" Akshiro asks, looking around in shock.

"I… don't know. This never happened during the beta." I reply as a massive man in a red cloak appears over the city square.

"Welcome players! I welcome you to my world." The figure says as it spreads its arms out.

My eyes widen. "Wait, does that mean what I think it means?" I mumble to myself.

"My name is Akihiko Kayaba." he says, almost as if he heard me ask. "And as of this moment, I am in control of this world."

I notice people murmuring and talking amongst themselves. Some ask if that's really him, and others mention that it's a hell of an entrance.

"Caylin, do you have any idea what's going on?" I hear Akshiro ask to my right.

I shake my head. "No idea. None of this happened whe-"

"I'm sure some of you have noticed something missing from your menus," Kayaba continues, interrupting what I was saying. "The log out button. Let me assure you, this is not a defect in the game. Let me repeat, this is not a defect. This is how Sword Art Online was designed to be."

"Is this some sort of sick joke?" Akshiro exclaims. She opens the menu and her eyes widen when she sees that the logout button is indeed gone.

"You cannot log yourself out of SAO. And no one will be able to shut down or remove the Nerve Gear from your head. If anyone attempts to do so, a transmitter inside the Nerve Gear will discharge a microwave signal into your skull, destroying your brain and ending your life." Kayaba continues in the same tone of voice, almost as if what he said was a normal thing you would say at the dinner table.

"This can't be true, can it?" Akshiro asks.

"I don't know. But truthfully, I don't really want to find out if it is or not." I reply. I look around and see some people that see some people are damn near in a panic.

I hear Kayaba continue. "Despite my warning, some players have decided to take off the Nerve Gear. An unfortunate decision to say the least. As a result, the game now has 213 less players than when it began. They have been deleted from Aincrad, and the real world."

"This is absolutely crazy!" I say, absolutely appalled by the thought of all of this. I look to my right, and notice that Akshiro is gone. "Akshiro? AKSHIRO?"

"As you can see, international media outlets have round-the-clock coverage of everything. Including the deaths." Kayaba states as news stories from around the world pop up. "At this point, it's safe to assume that the likelihood of a Nerve Gear being removed is minimal at best. I hope this brings a little bit of comfort as you try and clear the game."

I shake my head, looking down and away from Kayaba. Is that what happened to Akshiro? Someone removing her Nerve Gear? What would drive someone to do this to thousands of people?

"It's important to remember the following; there is no longer any way for you to revive someone in the game. If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be deleted from the system. Forever. And the Nerve Gear will simultaneously destroy your brain."

I have a flashback to back in the beta. Someone with stark black hair ended up saving my life. Granted it was in the beta. There are higher stakes now. No fooling around now. I need to get stronger, for the man that saved me. For everyone here.

"There is only one way for a player to escape now. You must clear the game." He pulls up a map that shows all of Aincrad. "Right now you are all gathered on floor one, the lowest level of Aincrad. If you can get through the dungeon and defeat the boss you may advance to the next floor. Defeat the boss on floor 100, and you will clear the game."

"Floor 100? I could barely make it to floor 5…" I mumble to myself. "This is going to be near impossible."

Kayaba continues. "Last but not least, I've placed a little present in the inventory of every player. Please, have a look."

I open the menu, and go to my storage. "A mirror?" I ask no one in particular. "What is this for?" Right as I finish, I'm enveloped in the same blue light as when we all were teleported. Once the light clears, I'm standing looking the same as I do in reality. Long, shoulder length black hair. Deep blood colored eyes, with all the same sadness that I'm used to.

"How the hell? Wait, is this what that scan was for before the game started? To get our real appearance?" I say as I look around. Everybody seems to be just as shocked as I am. Many people seem to be wearing the wrong type of clothing. I see some men wearing womens clothing and vice-versa. "But why go through all this trouble? What is the point of all of this?"

Kayaba starts speaking once again. "Right now, you are probably wondering why." Kayaba states. "Why would Akihiko Kayaba, developer of Sword Art Online and Nerve Gear, do this. Ultimately, my goal was a simple one. I wanted to control the fate of a world of my design."

"So he wanted to play God? Doesn't he have a massive amount of the lion's sin." I say.

"As you can see, I have achieved my goal."

My fists clench in barely restrained rage. What gives him the right to play with people's lives like it's some sort of twisted game?

"This marks the end of the tutorial, and the official launch of Sword Art Online. Players, I wish you the best of luck." Kayaba finishes, as he turns to smoke and game code

"That son of a bitch." I say under my breath, as I take a couple steps back. I look back towards the exit just in time to see whatever barrier he had up, vanish. I need to leave. Now. I rush out the door, trying to avoid the mass panic. I need to get to the next town. It'll be easier to level and get strong enough to beat this God forsaken game.

I rush out of the plaza, heading towards the next town. It's kind of unfortunate. I'm going into this game alone. After all, I just moved to Japan. I'm not the best at making friends anyway, so I'm running solo for a bit. I can't help but think of that girl. Akshiro. I hope that she is still here, and willing to fight. We'll need all the help we can get if we want to get back. I know that however long it'll take, I'll be on the front lines. Giving it my all.

"Man, one month with no progress in the game." I mumble to myself as I sit, trying to get some rest before a big meeting. "And even as a beta tester, I'm no closer to finding the boss room than anyone else." I sigh as I stand up. "Well, it's about time for the meeting. I should probably head over."

I hear a female voice say behind me. "Oh, are you heading over to the meeting too?" I turn and see bright emerald eyes staring back at me. Snow white hair adorns her head. It's fairly short on the sides, but the back of her hair reaches the base of her neck and the hair on top is tied back in a small ponytail.

"Yeah. If we want to beat this game, we have to at least make it past the first floor." I reply.

She shrugs. "Personally, I really don't have a preference if we continue on in the game or not. But I won't just sit back and watch people risk their lives. As long as someone is fighting, I will be fighting too."

"Well, shall we head over? I know I could use the company. Running solo is lonely." I mention as I start walking towards the amphitheater.

She sighs and shrugs. "I guess. I'm not really a people person, so running solo is good enough for me."

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense. But eventually joining a party or guild will be beneficial. Especially if you want to get out alive." I state as we enter the amphitheater.

"Well, that's the things. If we want to get out alive. I'm sure some people would rather die in a dream than go back to living a nightmare." She says with a surprising amount of steel.

"Sounds like you speak from experience." I reply back as we take a seat on one of the front benches.

"And what if I do?" She snaps at me, looking at me dead in the eyes.

I hold my hands up in surrender. "Nothing! Just making an observation. Your life is your own. I won't push for details."

"Alright everyone! Now that everyone is here, let's get this meeting started." a man with longish blue hair says as he stands in the center. "First thing I want to do is thank you all for coming. My name is Diabel and the job I rolled is Knight!" Small amounts of laughter go around the amphitheater.

"He knows there isn't a job system in this game right?" the girl says.

"I would imagine so." I manage to get out before being interrupted.

"Alright, here's the deal." Diabel starts. "My party found the boss room at the top of the tower today."

"Wait, are you serious?" I blurt out. Diabel looks towards me.

"Deadly serious. First thing, we need to beat the boss and advance to floor two. Second, is we have to tell the rest of the players at the Town of Beginnings that it is possible to beat this game! Fact is, it is our duty as the most capable players here. Don't you agree, or not?"

The girl scoffs. "Well, I guess. Truthfully it isn't anyone's "duty" to do anything."

I look at her. "And why not? We all got stuck here. So as the most capable players it would make sense that we do the first step. Give others hope." I reply, slightly aggravated.

"Whatever." She mumbles as she sets her head on her hand.

"Well, I'm glad now that everyone is on board. Now, we will team up in parties of six maximum players." Diabel says.

I turn to her. "Well, are you going to join? If so we should party up. Maybe find another person or two to join as well."

"Yeah I guess I will. After all, like you said, we need to give people hope to survive this place." She says, with a small smile. I smile back at her.

"Fantastic." I say, as I send her a party invite. Her eyes widen when she sees my username.

"Caylin? As in like, the beta tester Caylin?" she says, seemingly shocked.

"Yeah, how do you know that?" I ask. She looks at me.

"Well, you helped me within the first hour of the game. So, I guess it's because of you I'm even here." She exclaims, accepting the party invite. And next to her health bar, I see the name Akshiro appears.

"Akshiro! I didn't expect to ever see you again. Hell, I thought you might have been one of the 213 people who ended up dying by the Nerve Gear being removed." I say as I reach out to pat her on the shoulder.

"Please don't touch me." she orders as she flinches back. A look of slight discomfort and fear flashes across her face. I drop my hand.

"Sorry. I didn't know." I state, as I stand up. "We should look for a couple more people. A party of just two people isn't the best thing to work with."

She nods in agreement. "That will be fine."

I look around the amphitheater and notice two people at the top. "C'mon, I think I see people we can join." I make my way up towards a man with stark black hair, and someone in an orange cloak.

"Hey! You two have room for two more?" I ask as I approach them.

"Sure. I'm ok with it." the kid with black hair says. He turns to the person in the cloak. "You ok with it? It would be a good idea to have a couple more people to watch our backs." The person in the cloak just nods.

A party invite pops up, from a Kirito. "Fantastic. A party of four." I say, looking over at Akshiro. "Are you sure you're good?"

She rolls her eyes. "I already said I was, idiot. Anyway, I'm Akshiro, and this man is Caylin."

"Alright! Looks like everybody's teamed up. Now then-"

"Hold on a sec!" a man at the top of the amphitheater interrupts. He bounds down the stairs towards where Diabel is standing.

"My name is Kibaou, got that? Before we challenge the boss, I've got to get something off my chest."

"Oh great." Akshiro states, rolling her eyes. "Another man who likes the sound of his voice. This ought to be good."

"We all know about the 2,000 people that have died so far yeah? Well some of you need to apologize to 'em right now." Kibaou announces.

"Is he talking about the beta testers?" Akshiro asks. She looks directly at me.

"Yeah, I think so. I mean, who else would he be talking about." I reply. I probably shouldn't let others overhear that I was a beta tester. I've got to make it seem like I'm not. "I mean, from his point of view it might seem like they had an unfair advantage. After all they did kind of just vanish from the first town, found the best hunting spots, and the best easier quests. I'm assuming he would think that they left the others all alone to fend for themselves."

I hear Kibaou continue. "We should make them give up all of their money and the items they've gotten. They can't expect the party to trust them if they don't trust us."

I feel Akshiro's eyes on me. "I can not believe what he is saying. They are players just the same as the rest of us…" I start to trail off. He really doesn't understand us at all. We were the ones who were giving out the handbooks.

"Wait a second. What is baldy going up there for?" Akshiro asks.

"My name's Agil. Kibaou right? I want to make sure that I'm on the same page. You say the beta testers should be blamed for the rookies' deaths because they didn't help them. And you want them to give up all their winnings. I leave anything out?" Agil says.

"No. You didn't." Kibaou replies in the same self righteous manner he's had the entire time he's been up there.

Agil takes out a small notebook from his pocket. "The item store hands these out for free. It's a guide book. You got one didn't you?"

"Yeah. I got one." Kibaou answers.

"Wait, isn't that the books the beta testers were handing out?" Akshiro asks, loud enough for everybody in the amphitheater to hear. The amphitheater fills with whispers and mumbling after she says that

"That's right." Agil states in reply. "Everybody had equal access to this information. Unfortunately, lot's of players still died. I didn't come here to point fingers at anyone. I came here to learn from those other player's deaths. I'm here because I want to find out how we are gonna beat the boss."

Kibaou grunts, walks over to a bench, and flops onto it in a huff.

"Are we ready to continue the meeting?" Diabel asks, as he pulls out the guide book. "Ok. So, all the information needed on the boss is in here. The latest issue of the guide book you all just heard about."

"Wait, really?" Akshiro asks. "It's all in the guidebook?"

"Well yeah." I reply. "The guide book has his name, weapons, health bars, and who accompanies him."

"According to the guide book," I hear Diabel continue, "His name is Illfang the Kobold lord. He will also be surrounded by his minions, the ruined Kobold sentinels. Illfang carries an ax, and a buckler. He has four health bars, and when the last one turns red, he switches to a curved sword-type weapon called a Tulwar. He changes his patterns of attack too." Diabel closes the guide book.

"Well that's it for the briefing. As for the distribution of loot, gold will be divided evenly among everyone. The party who defeats the boss, gets the XP. And whoever gets an item, gets to keep it. Any objections?" Diabel finishes.

"Seems fair enough." I say. "You three agree?"

Kirito nods. "Definitely fair to me."

Akshiro just shrugs. "I really don't care. Whatever happens, happens."

I look at Akshiro in shock. "How are you so nonchalant about all of this? About the possibility of dying?"

She glares at me. "Let's just say life in here has been more forgiving than out there." She snaps at me, getting up from her seat. "Well, everyone else is going to get rest before tomorrow. I'm out of here. See you all at 10:00." And she jumps down the entire set of benches in one jump.

"Well she's friendly." Kirito says as he gets up. "Know her well?"

I shake my head. "No, not really. I helped her get a hang of the game the day it launched, but I hadn't seen her after that until today."

"Well it seems that she doesn't like people much at all." Kirito states as he starts to head down. "Well, I guess we'll see each other tomorrow."

I give a small wave. "Yeah, I guess we will." as Kirito, and the person in the cloak whose name I now know as Asuna walk away, I can't help but wonder what Akshiro's deal with people is. Especially men. What caused such dislike? Such nonchalance to the entire situation?

"It almost seems like she's planning on throwing her life away…" I mumble to myself. My eyes widen. "No, I won't let that happen. No one will die when I can save them. Especially not her. I will show her that life is worth living. No matter the cost."

I look around, and notice that I'm alone in the amphitheater. "I should probably head to an inn. I need to get some rest." And with that, I head out of the amphitheater.