Kirigaya Suguha stared at the helmet-like device in her hands. Arcane Arts Online would be open to the first 10,000 players in a little less than 5 minutes. It was a huge step in the industry of video games, and many people had gotten the game just to be a part of that. The waiting lines had been covered by numerous media outlets, proclaiming that people had camped out days and in some cases, weeks before release.
Suguha wasn't one of those people. She was going to play as a way to get closer to her brother. He had gone missing a little over a month ago, without warning or explanation. For a girl that had loved her older brother dearly, it had upended her life. But it didn't make sense. Sure, Kazuto had always been a little distant, Suguha mused, but he couldn't have hated them that much, right?
Playing this game would be her way of getting closer to her brother, even if he wasn't here. Before he had gone missing, he had been playing the game's Beta Release almost non-stop. It was all he talked about, at least when she had been able to coax something out of him. 'AAO this' and 'AAO that.' She had thought it was kind of adorable how he geeked out over the game. It was through Kazuto that Suguha had gotten her copy of the game. All of the game's beta testers had received a copy of the game a few days before launch.
Suguha checked the clock again. It read '12:59 pm.' She moved over to her bed and laid down. After putting on the NerveGear, she said the activation phrase, "Link Start."
The connection phase was eerie, and disorienting. The only thing she could feel was the bed, and even that seemed distant. There was no light, no noise, no smell. Thankfully, it didn't last more than a second or two. The NerveGear logo appeared in her vision, framed by a kaleidoscope of lights. A moment later, the words "Visual Connection: OK" appeared beneath the logo. Her hearing returned next, accompanied by "Auditory Connection: OK" and a light melody of violins. The connections for taste, smell, and finally touch followed.
After confirming that all of her senses were functioning, Suguha appeared in a white room, where a text box popped up. "Would you like to import Beta Test data?" it asked. It must have been referring to Kazuto's data. Since she was using his NerveGear, she could access it.
"Yes," she vocalized, making the avatar customization screen come to life.
A male avatar appeared on a dais in front of her. Suguha gave a sad smile as she looked upon it. It was certainly something her brother would use. There were quite a few similarities to him, other than the more manly appearance and dark blue hair. She clicked the button that read Reset to Default.
The default settings were a remarkable reconstruction of her own body, even recreating her short black hair. She didn't edit it much, only giving herself a long ponytail, and dyeing the hair blonde. As the customization screen faded, a new screen appeared, with a keyboard in Romaji. It had already been filled in with the name Kirito. She giggled at it; definitely something her brother would use. After deleting it, she thought for a moment, before typing Leafa into the console.
As the world around faded to black, a topographical map appeared next; a stunning recreation of what could only be Aincrad. Numerous cities were spread out over the world, each with their own unique aesthetic. From sandstone houses in the desert, to icy palaces atop a mountain, to treehouses amongst a forest. In the distance, atop a dark mountain, stood an ominous black castle.
A beautiful voice started Suguha from her admiration. "This is Aincrad. A beautiful, prosperous land where people of all races live in relative peace." A deep sigh overtook the narrator as she continued in a more somber tone. "Or at least, they used to. Almost two centuries ago, Aincrad and its people were betrayed by the god of darkness, Vecta, and his followers. They waged a brutal war against its people, intent on destroying Collonia, the gods' seat of power."
As the voice continued, the cities' light started to fade as a man wreathed in shadow walked through the land. "As the goddess of War, Aries, and the Sun goddess, Solus, fought back against the god of monsters, the world shattered in their wake." Three giant figures appeared next. The first was a muscled woman with light purple hair. She carried a crimson pike in one hand with a large kite shield strapped to the other. The other was a blue-haired, lithe archer with a bow that glowed like the sun. What followed was an ugly thing, quite possibly the worst thing Suguha had ever witnessed. It had seven heads, ten horns, and the body was some kind of abominable fusion between several different animals. As the monster rampaged, the other gods fought back, reducing countless more cities to rubble until there was only one left; this city glowed brighter than the others. "However, not all mortals perished. Thanks to the goddess of life, Stacia, several races were moved to safety in Collonia." A new giant appeared outside of the city, wreathed in light. Under her, little outlines of people moved from the encroaching darkness to the city that had become a beacon of light.
"In his mountaintop fortress, Vecta had captured the sun goddess, Solus. He attempted to rip out her soul and take her power. However, thanks to a warning from the god of knowledge, Heathcliff, Aries and Lunaria, the night goddess, were able to interrupt the ritual." Once again, the scene shifted. This time, it was in a dark and dreary throne room, colored in dark purples and black. The first two giants were now fighting against a giant man wreathed in shadows. A powerful kick from the man snapped the sun goddess into a granite column, while he used a sword made of shadows to parry a downward slash from Aries' pike. A four figure appeared then, in a flash of silver light. A tall, slender brunette, carrying a silver dao. She deflected a bolt of shadow as she moved to engage the dark god.
As the castle faded, in the far distance, the city of light appeared again. "Meanwhile, the goddess Stacia would sacrifice most of her own life force. In doing so, she would build up defenses around the last city, and the people in it, giving the people a chance to live." As the voice spoke, walls rose up around the city; invisible hands placing transparent white blocks around the city; and making the people in it glow. When it was finished, the city looked more like a massive European castle than a city.
"At the cost of their own lives, Aries, Solus, and Lunaria were able to defeat Vecta." The scene changed back to the darkened castle, where the war goddess lay against a wall, holding a bloody hand over a gaping hole in the middle of her stomach, with black veins stretching out of it. Solus had been injured as well, numerous scratches over all of her body, though she still stood over Aries, holding the war goddess' pike defensively. Lunaria stood next to her, a long cut running down her right forearm. Vecta also had been injured, one of Solus' sunlight arrows sticking out from the lower right side of his torso, and a deep cut ran through his left thigh.
The image blurred, shifting once more. This time, Aries and Solus lay lifeless, cradled in each other's arms. The black veins stretching out from the hole in the war goddess' stomach had finally reached her heart,while Vecta's sword of darkness lay buried in Solus' heart. A little over a meter away from them was Lunaria, nailed to the wall on Aries' pike. Vecta lay closer to the middle of the room, with a falchion buried in his stomach, and several arrows of sunlight sticking out of his heart.
"However, Aincrad would not be saved. Vecta's darkness had already claimed most of Aincrad for itself and he had already summoned a champion from your world, to carry out his will in this one; a wretched man who will stop at nothing to claim Stacia's soul."
The scene changed again, to an overhead pan of Aincrad, once again showing the beautiful city of light standing alone in a sea of darkness. "Over two hundred years later, my children have been forced to take drastic action to save Aincrad. This is why Heathcliff summoned you; to take Aincrad back and defeat Vecta's champion."
"As an apology for the actions of my child, I have given you several boons. The first blessing allows you to view Aincrad as you would if it were a game. The second will enhance your body; curing all current physical ailments, causing enhanced regeneration and removing the physical limits of the human body, and allows you to come back from death. The third allows you to understand the local languages as though they are your own. My final gift will allow you to return home once the champion of Vecta is slain, and Aincrad reclaimed. I wish you the best of luck, adventurers." The voice faded, and so did the floating view.
When Suguha could see again, she had appeared in a massive room amongst a crowd of thousands of other people. The room was opulent, absurdly so. The shining pearlescent framing did an admirable job in trying to blind everyone that stepped through the halls. In the far distance, atop a giant throne, sat an equally giant woman. A strange half-halo floated around her light silver hair. She was adorned in a fancy, frilly white dress. Her strangest feature was her eyes. They were prismatic in color but eerily empty.
"Good evening, everyone. My name is Heathcliff, though most-if not all-of you know me as Kayaba Akihiko." Suguha turned to the speaker with the rest of the crowd. He stood on a pedestal a few meters away from the crowd of gathered players. He was a middle aged man with steel colored hair and eyes. "I'm sure you all may be wondering about the ending of what you just witnessed. As implied, you are henceforth unable to return back to Earth. And I do not mean via logging out of the game. The NerveGear and it's pioneer game, Arcane Arts Online was a front, which I used to summon you all to Aincrad. This will be your life until you clear Aincrad."
Gasps, shrieks, and demands for answers drowned out the ambient as many players checked their menus to see for themselves. Suguha was one of them, confirming that the menu didn't possess a log out option. It felt like her whole world had shattered, even as shouts of "You can't be serious!" and "I have work tomorrow!" rang out. However, none of that mattered to Suguha. The only thoughts that ran through her head were about her family. Her parents had lost her brother and now they were probably going to lose her too.
Heathcliff waited for a while before he resumed his speech. Suguha didn't hear anything of it until the very end. "...You are not alone in this endeavor. After the trial period, I kept the top three players here. Only two of them are at the moment but I can assure you, in the fifteen years they've been here, they will lead you to reclaiming Aincrad."
Tears welled up in her green eyes as she clenched her fists so hard she nearly drew blood. She wouldn't give up. She would conquer this place and go back home, no matter what. Her parents wouldn't have to mourn another child for long, she swore it.
A/N: A little late Christmas gift for Naintarlow, part of an exchange in the SAO Fanfiction server. For anyone reading, make sure to check for recent stories from flamelordytheking, naintarlow, schoolsenpai, Panzer_Hippos, Lenerk01, and ilikewaffles037 make sure to check out the server at / gAnvtebRWW
This little snip is very lore-intensive, I realize. When I started, I had actually focused on writing about everyone's favorite dense protagonist but then I realized I actually had to write Sugu's section, to introduce the new Aincrad and y'know, tell people what the f**k was going on. Things kind of spiraled from there. Hopefully this ended up being as self-contained as I wanted it to. This is meant to be a one-shot that I could expand upon if I can get motivation to write the rest of it.
A/N 2: Edited a mistake caught by Nain.