Nerve gear, check. Nerve Gear Tutorial, done. Energy drink…well can't just casually drink that while playing, so with that thought Masa started downing it like a shot, cringing at the taste. Not her favorite flavor ever, but she was gonna need that extra energy to push through the next few hours.

Not that she didn't want to play the game or anything, hell she's been psyched to play it since she found out about it! Which… wasn't that long ago considering she was living under a rock for a while. Well not literally, but school work and balancing another MMORPG which may, or may not have took over her life for a month or two and then finding out about Sword Art Online and that it was going to go on sale the next day! Oh man if she had known about it sooner she would have applied for the beta test because Virtual Reality! That was just insane!

True virtual reality! She heard about a game being made for it a couple years back, but it was just a passing fancy and honestly, she thought they were aiming a bit high with what they were promising and that it would just end up like a visor and moving with controllers, which albeit was cool, was not what was being advertised, and then they just dropped off the face of the world while they developed the game, barely making any statements to the public.

Regardless she never was happier to be proven wrong and even more grateful that she managed to snag one of the online copies when it went for sale yesterday. Her old friend Momiji would probably have something to say about her infamous luck.

All in all she did everything she could to get down to business, reading all the beta reviews, all the released details she could get her hands on, making sure to get the Nerve Gear calibrations done and at least a little use to the feel of moving without actually moving her body, which that in itself is strange. Only downside is she could only play for a little bit today before finishing her school assignments.

A sigh blew from her lips as she thought of such a sad turn of fate, curses, school strikes again with way too long essays due tomorrow… Even though it was her fault for procrastinating till the last minute. Whoops.

"Well all I gotta do is make sure to grind these few hours today so I can mess around with a somewhat more leveled character tomorrow!" A gleeful grin spread over her face as she spun lazily in her chair, checking the time before an even greater grin split her lips. With a skip to her step she plucked the helmet and got ready, making sure all the wires were attached before settling in her bed.

It was with impatient eyes she watched the time slowly turn to One before saying the words that would start it all.

"Link Start."

Checks done, avatar made, name chosen, the game started.

The world loaded in as she felt her heart pound under the stress of energy drink and the weird vertigo of experiencing VR passed momentarily, vision clearing up as she took in the sights around her. The world, the floor, her body, the feeling that it was actually hers, it was breathtaking and astounding and she couldn't stop the ecstatic smile breaking out over her face as she spun around trying to get all she could of the sights. It was beautiful, it was glorious! It was so realistic that if she didn't know it was virtual she would have thought it real!

Her gloved hands fisted when she wanted and the only off feeling she had was that she was using a male avatar as she usually preferred when playing online. Less harassment honestly, but mainly… she didn't like skirts and all the girls starting gear had skirts and she does not do skirts that short. Nope. Don't have the legs for it. Sorry, not sorry.

But even that didn't dim her awe as she took off at an awkward run down the nearest street, pulling up her menu to fiddle with the map. Okay time to see what the merchants got for sale and how much things go for!

People all around her were talking and going on, laughter and people with the same somewhat maniac smile as her's showing on their faces. What a time to be alive, and there's a merchant! Sliding up to him with a bit more grace now that her mind was settling into the virtual body, she managed to get the inventory open and to browse through the wears, everything at a decent price that she would have to come back to when she had funds, but also a free book? From the beta testers! Awesomeness!

Book procured and a quick skim later found her in some of the surrounding fields, testing the moves of her current class she picked. Curved blades, a decent enough class to start with, and if what she knew of the game was right, a subclass would eventually be short curved blades which was more her style if she was to guess.

Honestly the first few times were a bust as she tried to fight the stupid boars, her health nearly going red as she tried to get the movements right from the guide, before she managed to get the basic ones down enough to be confident enough to beat this games equivalent of slimes.

Being able to move while you're fighting in the game, the immersion, the style, the realism, and the not gore of shards breaking into little triangles as you get a congrats and exp! It was amazing and geeze was she ever glad her luck landed her one of the copies.

And if she went a little crazy going after the boars laughing like a slightly unhinged serial killer, nooone was around to judge her as a new window popped up in front of her.

'Level Up to Level 2!'

"Oh wow, you already leveled up! You must have been busy!"

She totally did not get caught off guard or flail her sword over at the new person that she totally did notice before. Totally.

The teen was around her age, hair blue, tall and a sheepish grin on his face as he held his hands up in surrender," Whoa man! Sorry for the scare! Didn't think anyone else would be here considering most are still astounded with the town and all!"

Quickly ripping her blade away from him she held it loosely giving a sheepish chuckle of her own, "Yeah sorry about that, I was kind of… preoccupied. I would probably still be in town too, if I wasn't really interested in trying to figure out the fighting mechanics…"

"Oh? So you're not a beta tester? Could have had me fooled! Anyway nice to meet ya, I'm Diavel! Sorry for scaring you again… and are you a girl? Cause there's a filter in the menu for changing your voice and all, cause you might change your avatar but the voice is a dead give away!"

"Oh,Uh yeah, guess I didn't think about that., I just wanted pants if i'm going to be swinging a sword and dodging stuff… Anyway I'm Kozue I guess. Uh, are you from the beta?"

Ruffling his hair and coming closer a good natured smile spread over his face, friendly sky blue eyes crinkling as he looked out over the plain taking in the sight, "Yup! You got me!"

"Oh cool! So… you mind giving some advice about leveling before I screw it up or something? I spent the last hour trying to figure out how to fight, I mostly just flailed at the stupid pigs before finally getting the hang of it."

"Sure! Always happy to help a new player! You get three points every level and you only have two categories to put them in, Strength and Agility! So depending on your build, it's up to you how you want it, otherwise the other skills get leveled up by how much you use them, like you're using a curved blade, so using it enough times will level it up and unlock more options for the class you can pick! Pretty simple right?"

Clicking through the congratulations screen Kozue added two to speed and one to strength as she looked through her other skills and what she wanted to do.

"Neat! So what's some important skills you think I should work on?"

"Well… I was here to get some leveling, so how about this Kozue? It'll be more exp if we don't part up right now, but we can go and just 'flail at the pigs'. You get your very own attractive tutorial guide, and I get a new friend to geek about the game to! How's that sound?"

"Ha, attractive? Might be over selling yourself ther, but I'm game! I can only play for a few hours today, so my questionable attractive guide, lead the way!"

With a few good natured quips and a slightly rocky start to not getting in each other's ways while fighting the Frenzied Boars, the two managed to get into the swing of things, "So a few skills that are really good to have are the Hiding and Detection skills. Like say a monster or player is hiding and is trying to get the jump on you, or there's a trap in the dungeon. If the skills high enough you can detect things with lower levels that are hiding."

Dodging to the side with the simple evade skill, Kozue tilted her blade to the side, and let the motion carry through to the counter attack, slicing the boar as she shot back,"A skill that's going to be pretty big once players get over the newness of the game and start treating it like a regular old MMORPG and try to steal or kill players?"

Laughing a little breathless as he dodged his own opponent, Diavel admitted,"Well not to be a bit of a downer, but that's definitely going to be a thing sooner or later, sorry to say. But there's tons of skills in this game, I don't even know how many but another good one to have is the knife throwing skill, good for hunting and sometimes necessary for quests and such.

Honestly that's all you really need to know about the skills unless you want to do blacksmithing or leatherworking or cooking! Oh cooking in this game is pretty cool if you get it decent enough, the food can taste amazing! Even if it's not… real food… kind of weird to think of it like that. But eating in the game makes you feel not hungry, but please don't forget to eat, I forgot sometimes and well… low blood sugar can make you pretty dizzy."

A swish and a stab and another little pop up that flitted away as another boar agroed on her, Kozue thought for a moment, "Wouldn't it be cool to have different cuisines and stuff from around the world? Most wouldn't have the opportunity to sample them all but having the ability here is… astounding really. Truly this technology is amazing, like I could write a ten page essay just on how magnificent this all is and still have more praise to give for it!

So, throwing knives, detection, hiding. All good things to know, I'm more of a fast hitter type, and judging by your sword and shield you're more of a heavy tank right?"

"Right again! I think I'm going to be more of a knight build kind of, feels right with the immersion, almost like we're really back in time or a fantasy world!"

"I still can't believe it, and I mean think of the RPers! Once they get production rolling for more then the ten thousand it's going to be a major thing. The gaming world won't ever be the same again!"

And at that moment she didn't know just how right she was. The gaming world was about to have an awakening, but not like the one she was expecting. The two carried on their banter, going back and forth sharing praise and geeking out over the release of the new game, how they liked the fighting mechanics and appreciating something that in other games would be a bore, continuously fighting the equivalent of slimes to level up some.

But between the chatter, the attempting new skills, and the detail of the world time flew like no one's business, with Kozue just about hitting level three and Diavel coming up close behind her as they traded little tidbits back and forth. Diavel happy to give some tips to a newbie and gladly receiving the company of someone who at first seemed to have an aura of friendliness and unsociability, her quiet voice growing at times with excitement and at others tapering off, but thawing out towards him. It seemed she just needed some time to warm up to a person to be a bit more open, although it was still a bit strange to hear a girls voice coming from a male avatar, but to each their own he supposes.

Just as the two were getting to move onto a more mob populated area in the fading sun, distant bells were heard as they shimmered before disappearing and reappearing in the town they started at, players teleporting in around them as they swerve around, disoriented and confused.

"What the? What just happened?"

"I- I don't know? I think we just got teleported?

Sliding back closer to each other as the courtyard got more crowded the two shared a confused look as they sheathed their weapons. Diavel scratched his head as his newfound friend went more silent and gazing out around them," Maybe this is the start of the opening event? Oh, yeah that's probably it. Well while we take a break why don't I…" Slipping through his menu, Diavel pulled up his empty friends list before pinging a request to Kozue, "Ah, there! Just in case we get lost or something. If they're gonna teleport in all the players, I'm gonna bet all ten thousand are playing so it's gonna get pretty crowded really quick!"

Flicking her eyes back to the little box that appeared in her vision, "Oh, right. Guess that means we're friends now, huh?" Clicking except she let a small smile peel over her face, "At least now I'll have a friend to play with… or burden with questions at random times."

Grinning, the blue haired male patted the smaller on the head before mischievously replying, "Only if you call me sensei!"

Only to be immediately shot down, "Hell no."

Pouting he tried to give her puppy eyes before an alarm sounded and the sky… started to bleed? The blood poured down and started to take the form of a cloaked figure, similar to that of the Game Master's avatar.

"Attention players."

"I welcome you to my world."

Thoughts flew through her mind as a little warning blared in the back of her head, the one that said her luck was going to turn sour any moment now, or what came next was going to be something bad or terrible. The fact that the guy just came from a bleeding sky and that said sky was still red with 'system announcement' messages just made this all the more disturbing.

"I am Akihiko Kayaba, and as of this moment, I am in control of this world."

Oh and the foreboding of the situation just kept on weighing heavier on her the more this man talked. Akihiko Kayaba? The one who made the Nerve Gear, the progenitor of this whole game, the concept, the application, this man was a genius, no doubt about that.

"I'm sure many of you have already noticed an item missing from your main menu. The log out button." Swiping his giant hand down, he opened his own menu scrolling to the main menu, "Let me assure you this is not a defect of the game. I repeat, this is not a defect."

Oh and there the pin drops, that overwhelming sense of panic started crawling up her throat as she quickly flashed through her own menu, checking and confirming that there was no log out button. It felt like someone splashed ice down her back as she tried to think of other ways to log out of the game. It's impossible to Alt f4 this, maybe if her cousin would get home from work she could remove the Nerve Gear? Until then she was… she was stuck here.

"This is how "Sword Art Online" was designed to be. You cannot log yourself out of SAO and no one outside will be able to shut down or remove the nerve gear from your head. If anyone attempts to do so, a transmitter inside the Nervegear will discharge a microwave signal into your skull, destroying your brain and ending your life."

… And here's to hoping her cousin doesn't remove the helmet from her head. There's only so many hits a person can take before it starts to go a bit numb, like how she was feeling right about now. What was she supposed to feel about this? Horror? Terror? Dread? The creeping fear of existential life crisis? Cause this man is a genius, a mad genius apparently and how much of what he was saying was true?

All around her people were spouting about denial and anger and outrage, but all it took was to look to her new friend Diavel, to confirm her fears, pale and shaking, not an ounce of denial in him, "H-he's right- It's possible- if someone was, was insane enough to do it- the Nervegear, how it's designed, it could- it could." Tapering off his already small voice went to just above a whisper as the words sunk in.

All the confirmation she needed was there, he knew more than her after all, he was a beta tester and probably had a much better grasp with how the gear worked and if he truly believed it was possible than- what Kayaba was saying was true.

"Despite my warnings some of the family and friends of the players have attempted to remove the Nervegear. An unfortunate decision to say the least. As a result the game now has two hundred and thirteen less players than when it began. They have been deleted from both Aincrad and the real world."

Denials sounded around, people not being able to comprehend it before little windows popped up floating around the giant form, news outlets, media pages, videos all flew by as he continued," As you can see International news and media outlets have around the clock coverage of everything, including the deaths. At this point it is safe to assume the likelihood of a Nervegear being removed is minimal at best. I hope this brings you a little comfort as you try to clear the game.

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

The silence around her was deafening as she tried to come to terms with it, it was a big bit of info to chew, it was hard to completely comprehend, sure she could understand that dying in the game is death in real life, but it still felt not real. She felt a bit numb all over with only the angry swarm of bees taking residence in her chest and she glared at the spector.

What gave him the right to play God? And beating an MMORPG? Who the hell was he kidding? When was the last time you ever heard of someone beating one? Honestly, that's not how those types of games were meant to be played! It was more of a get together and dick around with friends! And this- this sadist wants his fucking hundred floor hell completed? She was truely at a loss for words and her own denial was slowly bulldozing everything else until apathy slapped the last bit of panic and terror from her veins, leaving her feeling tired.

"There's only one way for a player to escape now. You must clear the game. Right now you are gathered on floor one, the lowest level of Aincrad. If you can get through the dungeon and beat the boss you can advance to the next floor. Defeat the boss on floor one hundred and you will clear the game. Last but not least, I placed a little present in the item storage of every player. Please, have a look."

Numbly she opened her inventory and saw right after the boar tusks was an item labeled 'Mirror'. Spawning it she grabbed it as it came into existence, looking at her male avatar she modeled after herself, nothing truly notable about it. All around her lights started up, before it took her too, her avatar lighting up like a star as the whole arena became blinding.

As the light died down there was much confusion from those around her, all looking different then before as quite a number of females were now males and sporting the skirts of the armor. Spinning around she spotted Diavel, or atleast who she thought he was, he was shorter but not much different, a similar shade of blue to his eyes and his hair was a brown now instead of the blue of before, his eyes boring into hers as shock and confusion warred.

"Diavel?"

"Kozue?"

Looking back in the mirror revealed her real face, almond brown eyes and short wavish hair of a medium brown. Nothing really eye popping or catching about her, just how she liked it in all honesty, but she was definitely a girl, or at least now her avatar was a girl and her height was just about how it would be in real life as well, what the hell? How the hell? How would the system know this?

"How?" It was all she could get to leave her mouth as her mind raced to catch up with all these strange stressful events. Diavel looked at just as much of a loss as her. How? Okay maybe something in the helmet, yeah during calibration she vaguely remembered something about camera tracking eye movement for a check test and then… it also had a body calibration to pat her limbs and such so that it wouldn't be all clunky moving around. Or maybe she was just pulling at straws.

But still it begged the question of why? Why would someone do this? What was the point? Was this Kayaba just fucking insane or was he having some big okan or scheme or goal to get to? She couldn't- she just couldn't understand any type of reasoning to hold a bunch of gamers captive and force them to play a game, was he trying to be a jigsaw or something? But all these people are random and so there's no way any of them would be connected on such a large scale for some type of redemption, so maybe not Jigsaw motivated but.

"Right now you are probably wondering, why? Why would Akihiko Kayaba, developer of "Sword Art Online" and Nervegear, Do this? Ultimately my goal was a simple one. The reason I created "Sword Art Online" was to control the fate of a world of my design. As you can see, I have achieved my goal. This marks the end of the tutorial and marks the official launch of " Sword Art Online". Players, I wish you the best of luck."

His avatar started melting and pixelating as it deteriorated into nothingness. There was not a word to describe the outrage she felt, the outrage and bees in her chest of something close to hate and disgust. Mad Genius and a god complex, what the hell, what kind of mad man, no terrible question, the mad man is right there and he did what he wanted, he had people to be god over, a world of his making, and now now… he wants his game to be played.

Too many things flitted through her mind as she tried to sort her thoughts. Oh fuck her luck this was probably one of her bad days were her normally astounding luck just tanks and it all goes down hill and apparently she was in a death game now. Oh Momiji would be laughing at her if she knew, oh give it a couple days and a breakdown and she'll be laughing at herself to cause this just took the cake for the worst case of shit luck ever, of all times.

She couldn't even settle on one thought or feeling as it was all in turmoil, to be dealt with at a later time as she made notice of her pale and shaking friend beside her, his face pale and and sweat dripping down it, hands trembling a bit and he looked faint. Around them screaming and yelling started, people coming out from their shock and going into a rage.

People pushing around her as she tried to keep sight of her friend before she shoved through, and hauled him by his shirt, dragging him behind her as she went for the nearest exit, feet slamming heavily down on the virtual pavement as her heart rate climbed, taking the corners she tried to remember in the earlier bit of the day and managing to get to one of the empty alleys near the merchants stands.

He was still staring at her blankly as she shoved him to lean against the wall, she herself taking up pacing as thoughts mounted in her head, anxiety dragging at her heels as she thought over all that was heard. She didn't know whether to laugh or scream as she turned on a wall and slammed her fist into it, ignoring the purple hexagon of 'Immortal Object'.

"This is- by far, the worst release of a game I have ever played."

It was all she could think to say as she looked back to the only person she knew here, the words leaving before she could think them through as he blinked at her, a slight hysterical laugh coming weakly as he seemed to take in more of their surroundings, light coming out from a fog.

"I- what? Kozue?"

"...Yup"

"You look… well fits your voice better, I guess. Did- did that just happen?"

"...Yes"

"We're- we're really stuck here huh?"

"...yeah"

Shakingly he opened his own menu scrolling to where the logout button should be and tried to press it multiple times before giving up and running a hand through his hair.

"I- how did we get here?"

"People started… getting crazy, so I dragged you here…"

He seemed to be seeing more as he looked her over, concern pinching his brow as the shaking started to subside some,"How- how are you not- not…"

"Denial, maybe. Shock, or maybe I am freaking out just freaking out too much and now everything inside is just shutting down to 'what the fuck is happening anymore' and I think I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna, yeah, yep this is all just one big make believe story and I'm gonna go fight some more pigs and- and then I'm gonna log off and do my homework and then my cousin is gonna get home and scold me for not doing chores and it will all be good. It's all fine."

A hand gripped her shoulder as sky blue eyes gazed at her in sympathy, " I don't think that's an option anymore."

It was silent for several moments before she could force herself to reply, "Yeah, I don't think so either."

Swivling around she went back to her pacing, thumb being bit between her teeth as she thought everything over,' We need a plan… games like this, exp and money is limited especially when it first starts up and all the players are in the same area, and if- if this is really a death game then we'd need to be strong enough to survive. A plan, okay okay I'd bet that most of the players are gonna wait around a bit, maybe the government will do something? Get us out, but even if they do we can't just wait around doing nothing. Worse case scenario the game goes like how that mad man intends it to so leveling up as much and working on important skills is a must and-'

"I'm going to stay," Her thoughts were interrupted as the man beside her looked off towards the end of the alley, "I- I know how the game works and stuff and they're gonna need it. I'm gonna stay, try to bring a little order and get the people to start leveling up and stuff, help out you know. You- you should work on leveling up, you only know what I told you, and that book from the beta testers will help with things."

"What are you-?"

"No no, listen. I'm gonna get groups up and going, I like training and inspiring people and getting people willing to go out, eventually we'd leave but they need my help, I have to help them Kozue and you, you need to level up and work on your skills, safely, which you won't be able to do if you're trying to help me."

"You want me to-"

"You were already thinking of it, it's a good plan but we're friends and I, well I just feel like I need to help them. Helps groups get set up to fight and if you're around the next town, could you keep an eye out for the players that are sure to go that way?"

"I could stay and help you then, I already know a bit more than the others."

"But not for long, you know the basic fight mechanics and just the little tidbits I gave you over the hours, that's a good start but not for training, so you- you need to do what's best for you, and I know I'm probably the only person you know here but Kozue, you need to worry about you for now, and it's not like we won't see each other again, but I know some other beta testers are probably going to do everything they can to get as strong as they can so you're already at a disadvantage. So just keep in touch, any questions, ask me please, I don't want stupidity to kill you over an easy to answer question."

She was stunned silent for a moment, she didn't want to be alone, but she also didn't want to be around so many people or be responsible for them either, she didn't want to leave him, but he wanted to stay and try to help give these people some guidance, and he was right, she only had the basics, nothing someone listening to him for three hours couldn't accomplish and- and she was scared. Scared to be alone in such an alien place with no familiar face, even Diavel gave her some comfort after getting along with him for a few hours and it was better than nothing, but- if she wanted to survive, she would need to get stronger and the fields around the Town of Beginnings would soon be filled with players trying to learn the game soon enough.

"If you need help or anything Diavel…"

"I'll send a message, simple!"

"I guess… I'll be seeing you then…"