So here it is. I know it has been a while since I posted the prologue, but I have been trying to make it as perfect as humanly possible. I also know that I changed some of the rules for the beginning of the game, also some of the plot points from the first episode, honestly I think that it flows better than before. Also I will put an item's description of attack power and other abilities after each new item, let me know if you like that.
So without further ado enjoy.
I own nothing and am not making any money from this.
Deciding to make my own character I clicked the button to the right and entered the character creator. Looking through the options I quickly selected the ones resembling myself. Black messy hair and grey/ silvery eyes. I made my height just over six feet and adjusted the weight to match. Accepting these options I saw a bright flash of white and then there was a line of text asking me my name. I type in Orion. Taking after the old Greek myth. I press enter and I am brought into the blinding light again.
After a few moments the world materializes around me. After my vision clears up I see that I am in a large open courtyard filled with multiple other people. I scan the area for anyone resembling my sister. But suddenly there was a yell behind me and I was tackled to the ground. "Whoa hey!", I cry out, falling hard to the ground.
"Oh my god! This is so cool!", I push her off of me and brush myself off as I stand, "I am so glad you talked me into this". "This is amazing", I say under my breath. I notice her name and see that she went with the her real name Hana. But that was the only thing that she had that was from real life. She was five foot eleven and had long red hair reaching her lower back.
"So what do you want to do first?", Hana cried out excitedly before immediately saying, "I think that we should friend each other!". Nodding I swipe my hand, opening the menu, and I got to the friends section. Seeing her name in the close players list I click it and send her the friend request. Hana accepted quickly as I close the friend list and see a small blinking light on the inventory button.
Curious, I click the prompt and after I scroll past the duly named Civilians Garb ( Armor: 3, Defence: 0, Abilities: None, Color: Dark Blue, Weight: 2) that were already equipped and see that an item simply called Present was the source of the flashing. I click it and after a second a small pouch materialized in my hands. Glancing up at Hana I see that she has the same object. Opening the bag revealed that it was a Small Money Pouch with 500 Col.
"Wow Orion, we should definitely find a store and get some new weapons", Hana said happily.
"Yeah, armor too", I replied after looking at the one-handed sword, Rusted Blade (Attack: 20-30 Defence: 20 Ability: None, Weight: 30) that I had selected.
Entering the shop I was surprised by the large amount of weapons and armor lining the walls. Immediately my sister went off to the wall with different weapons as I walked behind her. After looking at the wall and not seeing anything that stood out to me I ask Hana while still looking,
"So what are you going to get?". At first she doesn't respond but after a few moments I hear a loud thud behind me. I turn to see her lying on the ground with a giant axe next to her. I am about to go to help her but before I can another player with spiked red hair walks over and gives her a hand while saying, "I don't think that you will be able to lift that with how small you made your avatar". Pushing the stranger's hand away from her she angrily asks,
"What, are you calling me weak or something?!" The stranger stutters before saying,
"Well, I- I mean, technically, yeah". At this point I walk up, chuckling slightly,
"Excuse my sister please". I give Hana a look but she just turns up her nose and marches towards the armor side of the shop.
"She's really not bad once you get to know her", I say jokingly. He watched her walk away and mutters,
"I'm sure she is", before shaking his head and looking at me, holding his hand out and saying,
"My name is Klein". I shake his hand and reply,
"I'm Orion, and she", pointing over to my sister, "Is my sister Hana" He nods then says, "Nice to meet you, I'm going to go search the streets for a beta tester if you guys want to join me".
I glance over to my sister browsing the line of armor. "Maybe, we can meet up later", I say as I pat him on the shoulder and walk over to Hana.
"Ok, well I'll send you a friend invite", he said looking hopeful. Hana looks back at him as I lean towards her and whisper,
"It might be a good idea, you know the more the merrier and all that".She nods giving Klein a threatening look while saying, "Yeah, the more the merrier".
He sends the invite and we both accept, another name adds itself onto the list of friends. "Don't let this guy swindoll you, you'll never believe what I had to pay for this", he said with a wide smile across his face while slightly unsheathing his long katana. I nod returning the smile before turning to look at the weapons wall. After getting the sword (opting to go with a standard one-handed one) Polished Iron sword (Attack: 50-60 Defence: 35 Ability: None, Weight: 40). I moved over to the armor finding a lightweight yet strong enough dark green armor Hunters armor lvl-1 ( Armor: 25, Defence: 6, Abilities: None, Color: deep forest green, Weight: 10). Bringing them up to the front counter I set them on top and rang the bell to initiate conversation with the Shopkeeper.
"Good afternoon, adventurer, would you like to purchase these fine pieces?". A menu appeared in front of me with an amount of Col underneath the yes button. "150 Col, do you accept?". I click yes and feel the money pouch on my belt lighten as my new items are added to my inventory.
I walked out of the shop with Hana trailing behind me, both of us in our new armor and weapons at our sides. Hana had a short light green dress with armor covering most of it, she also had a slightly longer than average dagger with surprisingly high stats.
"So what do you think that we should do now?", Hana asked excitedly. After thinking for a moment I reply,
"We could go out and fight some monsters".
"Ok, but I don't have much time until I have to leave", Hana replied before taking off. I just shake my head before following as fast as I could.
Finally reaching the edge of town I panted as we came to a stop. Scanning the large green area I can't help but be amazed by just how real this new world looks. To our right there was a seemingly endless sea of grass and to my right there were some steep hills leading towards a less than inviting forest. Opting to go to the field, Hana followed closely and we drew our new weapons. After searching through the tall grass for a while I can hear Hana sigh heavily before asking,
"Are you sure that they implemented the monsters yet?". Answering her question with a short nod we enter a small clearing with a few boar looking animals milling around. I glance back at Hana and nod my head towards the opposite side of the clearing. I check the skills that I have selected while Hana got into position. She gave me a nod and I raised my weapon, positioned my foot, and then swung it in an arc activating the skill arc-dash. I speed through the group of boars and take out one of the four, damaging the others slightly. I see hana use a knife skill after running up to them, successfully slashing another into millions of tiny particles. Readying the other skill I pull my sword to the right and place my foot in the ready position before releasing and delivering a powerful slash to a boar, I follow through with the turn spinning around completely. I kick off into the air surrounded by pixels and slash down over the last frenzy boar killing it.
"Wow", Hana says with a wide smile.
"Yeah, wow is definitely the right word for it", I say returning the smile.
The smile fading from her face she sighs before saying,"Sorry to cut this short but I have to go now". I nod as we begin to walk back to town.
Once in town Hana and I both access the menu and scroll down to the end only to find that there was no log-off button.
"Maybe it's in the settings?", I ask no one. After searching every option that I could I found that the log-off button was nowhere to be found. Looking up to Hana I ask,
"Is it missing on your's too?". She just nods. I say, maybe we should contact a GM? I go to the help section and am about to press the call button but before I can a loud, ominous, bell sounds throughout the streets.
"Maybe some event has to happen", Hana says, not quite sounding sure of herself.
And with that being said we both are teleported to the the center courtyard.
After my eyes adjusted to the bright streetlights of the courtyard I could see thousands of young men and women appear around me.
"Klein is that you?", he doesn't seem to hear me however as he is intently looking at the sky. Glancing around I see that basically everyone is looking up also. I glance up expecting to see the beautiful sunset from before, but I become unable to look away as the sky became blood red as this ooz began to fall. It all comes together to form a giant red cloaked figure. Before anyone else can react it starts to speak,
"Attention, players. Welcome to my world". I hear someone next to Klein confusedly say, "My world?". The giant continues, "My name is Kayaba Akihiko. As of this moment, I am the sole person who can control this world. I'm sure you've already noticed, that the logout button is missing from the main menu. But this is not a defect in the game…I repeat..this is not a defect in the game. It is a feature of Sword Art Online". "A feature?" Klein says in shock. "You cannot log out of SAO yourselves. And no one on the outside can shut down or remove the Nerve Gear. Should this be attempted the transmitter inside the Nerve Gear will emit a powerful microwave, destroying your brain and thus ending your life. Unfortunately, several players' friends and families have ignored this warning and have attempted to remove the Nerve Gear. As a result, two hundred and thirteen players are gone forever, from both Aincrad and the real world". Screens appear all around him displaying the news. As you can see, news organizations across the world, are reporting all of this, including the deaths. Thus, you can assume that the danger, of a Nerve Gear being removed is minimal. I hope you will relax and attempt to clear the game. But I want you to remember this clearly. There is no longer any method to revive someone within the game. If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be forever lost. And simultaneously the Nerve Gear will destroy your brain. There is only one means of escape. To complete the game. You are presently on the lowest floor of Aincrad, Floor 1. If you make your way through the dungeon and defeat the Floor Boss, you may advance to the next level. Defeat the boss on Floor 100, and you will clear the game".
I look over to Hana, trying to process the information that we just were given. Gone were the happy looks and the fun times. Now Aincrad was as real as Earth. This is no longer just another game. This is life or death.
Finishing that thought I look back up to the giant figure in the sky. After waiting for the rest of the players to calm down he says, "Now if you will look into your inventory you will see that you have received a gift". I quickly check my inventory and select the new item. Immediately I am enveloped in a bright light. As the flash fades I look around trying to see if there was anything wrong, but once I saw the mirror in my hand I saw not the avatar that I had created just a few hours before, but my own face staring back at me. Thankfully the only real difference was my height. Hana however looked very different. Her whole build was simply put smaller. She also now has the same color eyes as me now (grey).
Seeing Klein get dragged away by another guy, I grab Hana's hand and we run after them. After catching up to them at the exit of town they exchange a few quick words before Klein notices us standing there.
"Oh hey guys, I'm actually going to meet up with some people, you want to join me?".
"Where are you going?", I call over to the player dressed in blue starting armor. He walks up, I can tell that he was anxious to get out into the field.
"I'm going to get some quests done before the rare ones are taken.
Hana spoke up, "Isn't that kind of dangerous".
"To put it lightly yes, he should be fine though he was a beta tester", Klein explained.
"Honestly, that sounds like a good idea, would you mind if we join you?". After a moment of consideration he says,
"Yeah, that shouldn't be a problem. Just you two, if we keep ourselves light and fast we can get through a lot of the quests". He continues
"I'm Kirito by the way".
"I'm Orion, and this is Ha…".
"What are you thinking? We should go with Klein, he has friends, there is strength in numbers", Hana interrupts,
"How about we go with Klein and then once we are ready we head out".
"But if Kirito is a beta tester then we have a definite better chance going with him. We have to get stronger if we are going to make it through this".
"If you want to go with him so badly then fine! But I am not going to go risk my neck for a couple quests!".
With a dramatic sigh Hana storms off into town.
"Hana!", I call out. I am about to run after them but Klein puts his hand up, stopping me, before saying,
"You should go, get stronger, we should be prepared to leave by tomorrow". Frustrated I nod my head and give him my best threatening look saying, "Protect her". He nods before turning and running back into town after my sister.
Any reviews are appreciated. I think that this is much better than my older version. The characters have more depth and I fixed a few inconsistencies that the old version had. Also let me know what you think of this length in chapter. Even if I've come a long way I can always use help.
Updated this slightly, I was going to have the added part as the start for the next chapter but I think that this works better.