Chapter 1

November 6th, 2022

"Link Start!" shouted a boy enthusiastically. He was lying down on his bed with the NerveGear virtual reality rig interface on his head, and a small puppy resting underneath his hand. A high-pitched sound bounced through his ears, followed by a tunnel of bright lights and colors before everything went black.

It had taken weeks, but after convincing his parents that he'd use it responsibly and not let it distract him from the rest of his life, particularly his schoolwork, he had (finally) managed to save up enough money to buy and ship from Japan not only his very own NerveGear but also a copy of the game that made him want to buy one in the first place: the newly released Virtual reality MMO game, Sword Art Online.

"I can't wait to see Emily, Xander, and Grace in the game," He thought to himself as the game shifted out of the black void of its boot-up phase, and five circles referencing the five senses flew towards him, before blinking green with a checkmark. "I wonder what we should do first…" three of his friends from school had also bought the NerveGear and their own copies of Sword Art Online, and they had agreed to meet in the first town in the game that afternoon.

A few seconds later, and his avatar was standing on the solid ground made up of marble-white stone bricks in the middle of a large town. A massive, obsidian black palace was in front of him and there was a tall signpost on the corner of a grassy lawn to his left. The boy looked around the map for the first time and was startled by another player standing by the signpost. They had long, wavy black hair running down their back, and had a leather-brown vest on over a long-sleeved shirt, and there was a hatchet sheathed on their belt.

"Welcome to Aincrad!" said the player, waving him over. "I'm an ex-Beta tester, so one of my jobs is to welcome all of the new players that come through this teleport gate!" the boy heard the sound of three more teleportations behind him and turned around to see the avatars of his friends Emily, Xander, and Grace emerging from the teleport gate. "Ah, more newcomers! Please, let me be the first to welcome you to this floating castle we call home, Aincrad! If you need any help, don't hesitate to ask me or another ex-beta tester, we're all scattered around the town!"

The first boy brushed the dirty blonde hair out of his eyes as Emily, Grace, and Xander all walked up to him. "Nice to see you, Will! Your new avatar suits you!" Grace called out excitedly. She had chosen her starting weapon to be a long Katana, which was now strapped to her back. Xander had gone with an imposing Warhammer, the hilt almost as long as he was tall. But Emily sported a weapon that was easily the most unusual. Two of them, as a matter of fact: a pair of shields on her belt, each showing off an identical blade protruding from their front ends. As for Will, there was a metal spear secured to the back of his belt.

"Thanks, Grace. I see you've stuck with your dyed hair even in the virtual world?" Will replied, smiling. The younger girl nodded excitedly. "Of course!" All four of them knew each other from their high school, as all four of them had been in marching band together during the previous summer when their show was called "Once upon a time". Will and Grace had been clarinet players, and Emily, a former Clarinet marcher herself, was the Drum major, or marching conductor. Xander, being the one-man army that he was, was their only Baritone Saxophone player, and despite being the only person in his section, he had played loud enough to sound like at least four bari-saxes.

"So where should we go?" Emily wondered, looking around at the Town of Beginnings. Hundreds of new players were spawning in all around them, and most were running from one building to another, eagerly pointing at the extremely realistic creations.

"If I might suggest, the Cloud-top tavern was a popular place to visit during the beta phase," the beta-tester offered. Will, Emily, Grace, and Xander all looked around and shrugged, before turning back to the guide. "Which way to the tavern?" Xander asked.

"It's actually right there, on the west end of the plaza," the beta-tester said, gesturing to a building that had already drawn a rather large crowd. Will nodded in thanks and the tester bowed back in return. The group walked over to the tavern and ordered some drinks, before sitting down at a shaded table to relax. By the time they had finished, most of the other players had left, having gone out into the grasslands beyond the gates, and it was after midday, approximately four in the afternoon in Aincrad standard time, according to a small box in the bottom left corner of their vision.

Will stretched his arms out. "Ahhh…" he sighed. "Well, that was good, but I'm ready to go try out this game's combat system. According to the reviews, it had the most innovative melee mechanics in all of gaming history."

Xander nodded in agreement, his avatar setting the empty glass down on the wooden table. "Same here. Let's get going!"

They spent about an hour outside the gates getting used to how their new bodies moved around, fought, and interacted with the environment. Emily was very impressed with how much attention to detail the developers put into the game, noting that she could feel even the soft crushing of the grass under her feet.

Eventually, however, they all had to get off, but not before they agreed to meet in the same spot the next day after school. But upon opening the main menu, Will narrowed his eyes. Something wasn't right.

"Hey guys, am I stupid, blind, crazy, or all of the above? I don't see a button to log out," he asked his friends.

"Huh? What are you…" Emily trailed off, seeing what he meant upon opening her own menu. "That's weird. There's a selection there where I assume the log out button would be, but it does nothing when you press it."

"Could it be a bug?" Grace suggested. Before Will could respond, another group of players walked over.

"Hey, are you four having the same problem with logging out as us?" one of them asked.

If you're referring to the absence of a log out button, then yes, that would be the same issue. Why, can none of you log out either?" Xander replied, putting away his hammer. Suddenly, a loud bell rang out from the town, and Will noticed a tingling sensation in his body.

"Is anyone else feeling thi- whoa!" he exclaimed, cutting himself off as he was forcefully teleported back to the Town of Beginnings plaza along with the rest of his friends and the other party that had just approached them.

"Uh, Emily? Grace? Xander? Where are you guys?" he called out into the confused crowd. "We're here!" Xander called back, the two girls behind him. "What the heck just happened? We were at the grasslands a moment ago, right?"

"Yeah, we were. And it sounds like so was everyone else here," Grace answered. Will looked up in time to see a flashing red icon in the sky that had the words "Warning: system announcement" on it. As quickly as it appeared, the icon expanded in a dome covering the entire plaza.

"Hey, what gives? We can't leave the plaza!" Will heard someone shout. A blood-red liquid seeped from the dome, and everyone gazed up at it as the liquid formed a massive, hooded figure.

"Attention players," the figure said, raising his arms as brass instruments boomed from somewhere else in the town. "I welcome you to my world."

"My name is Akihiko Kayaba. As of this moment, I am in control of this world," he said.

Will elbowed Xander in the side. "Someone's got a real flair for dramatics. I wonder if this has to do with the log out bug." Xander didn't seem to notice.

"I'm sure most of you have already noticed an item missing from your main menus: the log out button. But let me assure you, this is not a defect in the game. I repeat: this is not a defect. This is how Sword Art Online was designed to be."

Will narrowed his eyes in confusion. "Well, how are we supposed to leave then?" he muttered out loud. Meanwhile, Grace had started to pale slightly.

As if in response, Kayaba continued. "You cannot log yourselves out of SAO, and no one from the outside will be able to shut down or remove the NerveGear 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."

Grace panicked. "What is he talking about?! Why can't we leave? Is that even a real thing in the NerveGear?!" she asked quickly, her face a pale tan color. Will set a hand on her shoulder. "I think he's about to explain that."

"Despite my warning, the families and friends of some 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 fewer players than when it began. They have been deleted from both Aincrad," Kayaba warned, "And the real world." He let that sink in, before continuing. "As you can see, international media outlets have 'round the clock coverage of everything, including the deaths." A multitude of images began circling Kayaba's massive avatar. A woman crying behind a line of police tape, a row of body bags being loaded into trucks by grim-faced doctors, and multiple news headlines, including that of WRAL, the news channel all four of them watched before school in the morning.

"At this point, it's 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," Kayaba said. Will glared angrily at the invisible face underneath the hood. His eyes were like pointed daggers, and the blades were aimed right at Kayaba.

"It's important that you remember the following," Kayaba warned. "There is no longer any way to revive someone within the game. If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be deleted from the system, forever." After a moment, Kayaba delivered the most terrifying news of all. "And the NerveGear will simultaneously destroy your brain."

"I don't believe it!"

"This guy is crazy."

"What is this, some kind of sick joke?!"

Kayaba then spoke again. "There still remains a possibility of escape, however. Right now, you are on floor one of Aincrad, the lowest level of the overall dungeon. If you defeat the boss here, you can progress to floor two, and then floor three, and so on. If even a single player can reach the top of Aincrad and defeat the final boss there, on floor one hundred, the game will be cleared, and all surviving players will be freed from my grip."

More exclamations and worried remarks came from the gathered players before Kayaba went on. "Last but not least, I've placed a present in the item storage of every player. I'd like you all to take a look at it." Will opened his inventory with an angry swipe of his hand, and saw an item called simply "Hand mirror". Pulling it out of his inventory, Will's hand was instantly filled by a small, unremarkable-looking mirror. Upon gazing into it, however, he was enveloped by a bright light. "Woah!" he exclaimed. Then, just as fast as it had appeared, the light vanished.

A quick glance around him saw that everyone looked a lot different than they did a moment ago. "Will? What happened to your avatar?" Emily asked him. Will looked up and saw that her shorter hair had been replaced by her twin braids from the real world. The longer hair on Will's avatar had been reduced to the usual shaggy bowl cut he normally had, and his arrow tip-like chin had been made considerably less sharp.

"What happened to yours? You look just like you do in school!" Will replied, looking at Xander, Grace, and then back at himself through the mirror. "Wait, all of us do! Those mirrors changed our avatars to look like our real bodies!"

Grace was now looking even more panicked; her face was a deathly pale color, a stark contrast to her vivid pink hair, which now flowed down to just her shoulders, as opposed to down her back like it was before. And Xander's hair was now the same semi-buzzcut he had in real life.

"Right now, you're probably wondering 'Why'?" Kayaba announced. "Why would Akihiko Kayaba, developer of Sword Art Online, and the NerveGear, do this?" He paused, before continuing. "Ultimately, my goal was a simple one. The reason I created Sword Art Online, was to control a world entirely of my design. As you can see, I have achieved my goal."

Will balled his fists in rage. "How could you… Damn you Kayaba…" he muttered under his breath.

"This marks the end of the tutorial and the official launch of Sword Art Online. Players, I wish you the best of luck. You will need it." Kayaba informed them. His body then glitched out and melted into the roof, before the red dome vanished. The air was still full of tension, and the crowd went from a shocked silence to a chaotic uproar. Hundreds of people were crying out in rage, and perhaps Kayaba could still hear them. Hell, maybe he could have always heard them, but he neither did nor said anything.

"The hell is this game? Some kind of fantastical Tron, or ready player one, or Matrix parody?!" Xander said as soon as the four of them managed to escape the crowd. His knuckles were bone white, almost as pale as Grace's face, and Will was still gnashing his teeth. Only Emily managed to keep her cool, and she soon realized she needed to extend that calm to her friends.

"Listen, we can't panic now. This is just like the second competition, remember? We could have panicked when we tore as a band right at the beginning of our show, but we all focused and got back on track together. Any normal person would've just given up. We did not give up then; no, we didn't give up there, but we instead came back and won everything. I say we focus on that and do it again, ok?" she said, wrapping her arms around Will and Xander, pulling the two of them and Grace into a circle.

After a moment, Will nodded. "You're right. And you heard what Kayaba said. If we die in the game, we die in real life. As of this moment, I declare dying to be illegal," he added, in a vain attempt to lighten the mood. To his surprise, the other three nodded along with it, and even Grace managed to form a faint smile.

They paused to digest what they had just heard, but then a player came over to talk to them. "Hey, none of you are beta-testers, right?" he asked, with a Sword and a shield on his back. Long, blue bangs ran down over either side of his head, and he wore a matching undershirt with a bronze chest plate over it.

"No, we aren't," Will replied, and the player nodded. "Well then, my name is Diavel," he told them. "I'm an ex-beta tester, and the beta testers that were still in the plaza decided just now that until everyone got on more stable footing, each of us would go and help another group of players that didn't have another experienced tester in their party."

Emily nodded. "Ok then teach, where should we go first?" She asked, but Diavel shook his head.

"Sorry, but my old man taught me that a unit works better if everyone knows and trusts each other. I assume you four know each other already, but before we set off, I'd like to get to know each of you as well," he explained.

Will took the hint and nodded. "My name's Will. To my left is Emily. The girl in the pink hair is Grace, and next to her is Xander," he said, introducing Diavel to the group.

"A shield, a polearm, a katana, and a Warhammer huh? Well, the good news is that you four have already gotten together a fairly balanced team," Diavel said, examining each of them and their equipment. "Now then, how many of you have experience with VRMMO's?"

Will, Xander, and Emily all shook their heads. "Grace here is the only one who already had a VR system before today. The rest of us all bought ours today along with this game," Xander replied.

Diavel nodded. "That's all right. I'll get you all up to speed. Oh, and before we go anywhere, You all should take one of these," he said, handing each of them a small, leather-backed book. "It's the beginners' guidebook, and I can just about guarantee you that at some point, it will save your life," he promised as they walked down a path that led to a metal gate.

one thing we beta-testers discovered works well in this game when we were looking for bugs was that when you're in a party, you should always have a system," he said, leading them to one of the gates that led out of the town.

"System?" Will inquired. "That's right, a system. To put it simply, upfront you have your tanks. People who aren't afraid to get hit and keep the enemies' attention on them. Then right behind them, you have one or two attackers who will swing out from the left and right. You'll want to alternate attacks between the left attacker and the right one, a tactic referred to as 'switching'. In summary, switching is just what it sounds like. One person attacks while the other retreats to rest for a few moments, and if necessary, heal themselves with potions," Diavel explained, as they entered the grasslands again.

"Makes sense. Since you know a lot more about this game than we do, given our equipment, which of us would you say would be best as tanks or attackers?" Emily asked, sliding her hands into her bladed shields.

Diavel considered it for a bit. "If it were me, I'd put Xander upfront as a tank. Most tanks equip a shield, but with your two-handed war hammer, that'll just get in the way, and also your wrist gauntlets are big enough that you can probably use them as smaller shields. Emily, I'd like you to stand behind Xander. Although they're not as large as a traditional shield, your shield weapons can be used to great effect as both a tank and an attacker, so you're likely to be the most dynamic fighter in this group, so you should get used to fighting both offensively and defensively. Grace, you'd be best suited to being an attacker, and so would Will. For the time being, I'll be in the front with Xander as a second tank," he suggested, before looking around and seeing two boar-like creatures off to their left.

"Let's practice on those boars," Diavel said, walking in front of the group. About ten feet away from it, they stopped, and Diavel picked up a small stone. "Everyone ready?" he asked. After seeing the four of them nod their heads, he threw the stone at one of the boars, and it squealed before charging in his direction.

"You're up Will. On my signal, swing around my left and hit it on the side," he ordered as the boar ran towards them. Will nodded and gripped his spear. "Now!" Diavel called out. Will sprinted around the side of the knight, and right before its tusks hit either of the tanks, Will thrust his spear into its ribs and pulled it back out. A red mark with a grid of thin white lines formed on the pig's flank where the spear had just been.

"Grace, your turn! Will, fall back. Emily, you're up next," Diavel said, shoving the creature away with his shield. Will circled back and waited behind the two tanks, holding his spear in between them, while Grace charged around Xander's right flank and cut the boar open from behind. Once again, it squealed with pain, but it didn't die, and instead spun around quickly to stare down the swordswoman, who shuffled back slightly to put some more distance between the beast and herself.

Xander then took the pig's attention away from Grace by swinging his hammer down and crushing one of its feet, and Emily quickly followed the attack with two clean jabs to its skull, causing the boar to shatter into a cloud of floating polygons. A window opened in front of each player, showing them the amount of experience and currency they had earned from the battle.

"Nicely done, all of you. Already I can tell that you'll be a serious force to reckon with," he said, walking around to each member of the team. "Xander, that was some good initiative, using your weapon to draw the boar's attention. You're thinking like a proper tank already. Will, good thinking on holding your spear between your tanks, but I'd advise you to not rely on that too much. For these boars, that'll work well since they can't attack unless they're really close, but for harder enemies, and especially bosses, waiting for them to get that close is not a good idea unless your group is charging forward," he said.

"Grace, you showed excellent form with that sword slash. In the future, remember that that moment is a perfect opportunity for a sword skill, which will greatly increase your damage output. And Emily, great work attacking it like you did. If you're planning on fighting like that a lot, I'd recommend that you focus on increasing your stealth and sudden strike skills," he added, before turning to face the entire group.

"As for the team as a whole, what I said to Grace applies to all of you. Always remember that Sword skills can be used in just about any situation, and you're much better off using them more frequently than not. Also, in battles against harder enemies and bosses, the attackers are likely going to have to get used to staying in front longer. It goes without saying, but switching after every single attack won't give you much time to heal or even catch your breath, and the longer you're attacking, the more time the tanks have to regenerate their health," he told them before they moved on, and continued practicing.