"The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."

-John Stewart Mill.

Chapter 1

The Thin Line Between Entertainment and War

A world unlike any other lay in wait to be explored. Consisting of luscious greens and elevated platforms which were large enough to carry their own civilizations, there was but one town of medieval architecture were multiple shimmers of light where rising from the earth in hordes which left behind human beings wearing simple cloth and armor while having swords and spears girded about their persons.

Excitedly they individuals united and conversed and ran off to explore this dazzling world of digital perfection with curiosity and satisfaction. However there was one among them who chose to remain isolated and seemed more content to be daunting a similar function.

He only stood still and relished in the moment. He looked down at his feet and began walking with a smile of such overwhelming complacency on his face that had neve been dawned during any moment of his two and a half decades of existence. He was a stubby and overweight looking fellow with a modest caliber sword attached to his waist and clothing no different than the others who thronged about him.

He ignored the conversations swirling about and headed to where he could see an empty field with a dirt path cutting through it and ornamented with simple pine trees and delicate flowers. At first when he was approaching the spacious opening he simply walked. Then during the transit his commute began to accelerate from walking to a jog then finally to a full out sprint. Bolting through the greens he leapt over small boulders and logs with so little a care in the world.

Eventually he ceased his aimless commute and observed off in the distance two specters who had their weapons drawn and seemed to be engaging with a wild boar. Aroused by natural curiosity he began observing them, one had black hair and the other had red hair that went to his shoulders with a bandana tied around his crown.

There was much trial and error on the bandana's part as the boar thrashed him about. The black haired lad instructed him on the proper techniques then with a dazzling display of swordsmanship, raised up his saber allowing it to glow then unleashed his fury upon the animal which sent it bursting into a constellation of sparks and shimmers.

Our observer withdrew his blade and began swinging it around and attempted to produce the same effect but was in vain at the moment. He would have continued until a bright light spawned next to him birthing a boar that set it's attention on him.

With a grunt the animal lunged for him while the individual attempted to charge his weapon, however err his attempts were too late as the tusked beast slammed his snout into the human gut sending the player falling to the ground. He noticed the green bar in the top left corner of his vision deplete slightly while the animal made another charge.

This time he forfeited the attempts to use his weapon and met the bore's snout with his boot. The beast snorted as it recovered but quickly found the blade of it's enemy transfixed from the right side of his neck and out the left. The player withdrew the blade and walked away before being belted again. He stumbled and looked back to see the small life gauge on the animal still had a sliver of red remaining. Rolling his eyes and forgetting that what had worked as a killing blow on real creatures did not wholly apply in the virtual world.

He readied his blade to make his final strike. This time his hilt produced an amber that illuminated up the blade and delivered a powerful strike that had the same effect as the other boy's in the field leaving the beast to be no more. Shortly after a few numbers were shown and points were awarded.

The man's attention was called off by a voice calling out to him. He turned to see another player approaching, but the man only nodded and gave him a thumbs up before leaving and clearly wishing to be disengaged from any social interactions. The other player only watched him depart with a confused longing and chose to keep his distance yet observe from afar.

Hours passed and the sun was lowering in the west which turned the elemental colors a blaze of gold. The man whom we have seen toiling about the game of Sword Art Online began to grow weary of trivial beast hunting and decided that the hour to depart from the world of binary code and re-enter the realm of tangible flesh and blood. He waived his hand in front of him which let a holographic menu pull up in front of him.

His brow creased as he let out a sigh of frustration, for the script thereon was all oriental characters. He scrolled through and selected pages at random which yielded no results. Unsure how to exit the game he began to ponder, then made a realization. Within the world of video games when the character perishes the option to continue or exit is offered. The answer was simple as he looked off to the cliff which led to a drop off into oblivion, take a step over and allow his avatar to perish and select an option to leave the game.

Off in the distance the bellowing sound of a large bell could be hear back at the town which he originated from, but simply shrugged and made his way to the ledge. He looked down to the earth below and was overcome with a sense of excitement, "It's like base jumping and skydiving at the same time." he said to himself.

He leaned forward and began to plummet yet only for a moment. His body went celestial as he glowed in a bright light and before he knew it he was face to face with a ground of stonework and fell upon it. Cursing, he pulled himself up and looked around. He was in a large and grand plaza with multiple people being beamed to where he was as well. Seeing their faces he could only conclude that they were just as bewildered and confused as the next man. However all the man could hear was gibberish on his end until a spectacle caught the attention of all.

The sky began to give off red patterns of hexagonal like imprints before a blood like substance melted through the seems until it combined into one mass and formed a large figure in a hooded robe of red. HIs face was nothing but a black hole due to the hood as he began speaking to all.

The red hood then opened up the menu and pointed to a blank slate within it. Perhaps a technical difficulty is what was being expressed, however the man could not discern for himself. However as the large specter was speaking, more and more of the players were becoming agitated.

The man looked around and saw other players attempted to leave the plaza but were blocked at the entrance. Something was wrong.

Then more windows opened and circulated around the hooded figure showing news anchors and media coverage, one ending with a girl sobbing behind a police line. The man began to squint trying to decipher what was being communicated. He could only assume the nerve gear was suffering from malfunctions and may be too dangerous to remove safely, but such were only speculations when seeing the paralyzing gazes of all the players who only watched and listened in silent horror.

The pre conceived notions of technical difficulties began to loose solid resolution when a map of a multi leveled building with red spots dotting about appeared. One of the panicking players next to our individual began talking to him with worry but he was heeded not.

Alas there was one last instruction given in which all the players began to open their menus. The man looked to the player next to him and attempted to copy what he was doing. The player took note of the observation and showed him what to press.

Soon, out of thin air, a small handheld mirror appeared in which the man caught it and peered into it. At first all he saw was the stubby round face, then a blaze of pure light encircled him and everyone else around him. When it had all subsided the player next to him took a step back and observed him with bewilderment. The man saw that the player beside him had a different face and body type then looked back into the mirror and saw a different face all entirely as well.

Instead of a stout and pudgy fellow, was a lean and well conditioned body with broad shoulders and finely developed muscles. Not by any means a body builder but one who engaged in plenty of physical activities and training. However there was a final trait that made him stand our further, his ethnicity differed greatly from everyone else's.

Blushing he began to pull himself away from the gawking eyes but remembered escaping was futile. The hooded figure gave some closing remarks before vanishing leaving the crimson sky back to it's original paradisiacal state.

Becoming short of breath, the man began to flee with everyone going in a state of pandemonium. Some screamed and yelled, others fell to their knees and cried while few gritted in anger.

At last the man found seclusion in an alley in attempts to clear his head. He pounded the wall before calming down and rethinking to cool his nerves. "I can adapt to any situation." he told himself.

Just then a foreign voice spoke to him, "So that's why you're not a conversationalist."

He turned to see the player who stood next to him and happened to be the same individual he encountered in the field earlier. A male with a dingy yellow shirt and leather bracers stood in the path of the alley.

The man sighed a great respire of relief and said, "Finally someone I can understand!"

The player smiled, "I was an exchange student in Toronto so I became fluent in english. You're American, yes?"

Nodding, the man replied, "Yeah and I can't understand a damn thing people are saying. Just answer me this, how do I get out of the game!?"

The player sighed, "Looks like there are a lot of things we need to talk about. But first my name is Ikari. What's yours?"

After a brief pause the man said, "Atari."

Ikari chuckled, "Nice name, which model?"

Atari rolled his eyes, "I don't know Japanese and I like video games so I thought it would be funny okay."

Ikari put his hands up assertively, "My name means warrior and that's pretty cliche'd too."

Atari pondered and said, "Well let's see, other Japanese words I know are sushi, ramen and kamikaze."

Ikari huffed, "Yeah who doesn't know those ones?"

The foreigner brought up his menu and said again, "Anyway where is the logout button?"

Ikari stepped forward and replied dismally, "That's the thing, we can't logout."

Glancing back at him he responded subtly, "What do you mean, is there a problem?"

"You can say that, we're prisoners from here on out."

"Look friend, you'd better start making sense." replied the American.

With a heavy heart and a still recovering disbelief, this accounting was given, "That was the game master you just saw. He said that we can't just logout, the only way is to beat Sword Art Online. If we die in the game the nerve gear will emit a micro waive pulse into our skulls which will destroy our brains."

Atari paused a moment then asked with deep aggression, "You shittin' me right now?"

There was a shake of the head on the other end in which the man inquired, "What if someone tries to remove the nerve gear?"

Ikari put his finger to his head and replied, "Same results."

Suddenly the foreigner put his hand over his mouth and began to pace with wide eyes, "Oh, no, no, no. What if….what if I loose the connection?"

"Probably the same thing. Why, you in Hawaii or California or something?"

Recomposing himself, Atari said, "No I'm in Japan, for now. But I may not be for much longer. And, oh god, they're going to try and take it off me!"

Ikari cringed his brows, "Okay now you're the one who needs to start making sense."

"It's complicated, let's just say for now that I may be getting shipped home or I have a very good chance of getting the nerve gear taken off."

Ikari held up his hands passively, "Hold on now, there has been a nation wide media coverage on this, only two hundred players had this happen to them. Whoever you're with has most likely been informed on what's going on and won't take it off."

"Oh trust me, they just might."

"Well there's nothing you can do about so why don't we take a walk or something, eh?"

Coming out of the alley Atari chuckled and said with a jest, "Yep you definitely learned english in Canada."

As the two of them walked side by side more questions were being asked, "So how do we beat the game?"

"We have to clear all the boss floors."

"How many?"

"One hundred."

"I'm sure we can do it."

"It's not that, the beta testers didn't even make it that far. This could take months, years even."

"That's just great…." sighed Atari with a strenuous credulity in his tone.

"The only way to do this is by getting stronger."

Atari pulled back his sleeve and flexed his bicep, "Speak for yourself, I'm all set."

"No, I mean our avatars. You're still a level one, muscles don't mean anything in SAO, only high levels."

Throwing his head back Atari groaned, "This game straight up sucks!"

Ikari then could not help but point out, "Speaking of muscles, why did you show up as a short little fat man?"

Smirking he responded, "I thought it would be funny seeing some fat ass run around and beating people down. But I guess our avatar designs don't count for shit then I guess."

"The more important thing is to find out how to beat the game. We're basically at war now." said Ikari changing subjects.

Atari looked back at him and said, "The same way any other war is fought, with an army."

"So do you want to form a guild or something?"

"I wasn't saying that, what about friending?"

"Sure let me show you."

Ikari then opened up his menu and showed the foreigner where to go on the menu and helped him identify the characters to select. However instead of learning the script he simply counted the slots from the top and merged them to memory.

"It'll be a lot easier for you to learn the language, you can't function if you don't. Trust me I know, I had a tough time in Toronto at first."

"Wouldn't matter if I did." said Atari.

"What makes you say that?"

"I've been to Japan before, some of locals I encountered, I swear it was xenophobia or something. I don't think I'm fitting in anytime soon."

Scratching the back of his neck Ikari responded with a surge of defense, "Well don't let one bad experience make you jump to conclusions, after all I'm a local too and we seem to be getting along just fine, also I have some friends here who were with me in that exchange group who can also speak english and will be fine with you. Let's meet up with them back in the town of beginnings."

They proceeded back while still talking. Mainly about personal interests and other things to pass the time.

"So you say you've been to Japan before? What brought you here?" asked Ikari.

Thinking to find the words, the most Atari could say for was, "Uh, work…."

"So what do you do for a living?"

Becoming a little more perturbed the American said, "Oh, you know, stuff that requires business trips."

Ikari let out a flustered sigh, "You know you're not being very specific."

Shrugging, Atari said, "Yeah I know. What about you?

Ikari then blushed a little and said, "I'm an assistant manager for a video game store in Nagasake. I was playing this so I could help increase sales, but now I'm most likely going to get fired for not showing up to work."

Atari scrunched his lips, "Nagasake huh?"

His uneasiness was most likely due to the recollection of the manhattan project in which Ikari said with a modest grin, "Hey now, all is forgiven, we're all friends."

Changing topics, Atari asked, "You got a wife or family?"

Ikari bowed his head with shame, "I live in my Grandma's basement. That's where I am right now and she's probably screeching at me to run errands for her right about now."

"Well at least you can't hear her." reassured Atari.

Ikari then returned the inquiry on his fellow man, "What about you? You got family in America? Do they know everything that's happened to you?"

Choking a little on his own words, Atari could only muster to reply, "Let's leave home where it is. Hmmm?"

Ikari raised an eyebrow at his not wanting to divulge much information seeing how he had done likewise upon his request. His final question was then, "So if you're here on business then how did come across getting SAO, or was it this game why you came over here?"

With annoyance Atari rejoined, "Look I thought I'd give it a try and here I am, a stranger in a strange land."

Soon they were found back at the main plaza in which Ikari looked around for his supposed comrades. After a moment of searching he came back to Atari and said with despair, "They're not here." Then trembling slightly, "I still can't believe all that's happening. This game was the break through of the century."

"What's your point?" asked the American.

"I mean we there are people here who got it for their birthdays or saved up during the summer to afford it. I just wanted to have fun, not get stuck in the death match! My family is probably going nuts right now! Kayaba knew how many people would flock to buy this game while unknowingly what was in store. He's sick!"

Atari looked off into the sunset and said to himself aloud, "Chained to the dream they've got ya searching for the thin line between entertainment and war."

"What?"

"Oh sorry this just reminds me of a song I know. Basically the ultimate thrill with this Kayabe guy was to get a game as close to real life as possible, and well here we are. Welcome to the front lines I guess."

"Well anyway, let's keep searching, my friends aren't here."

While they moved Ikari could not help but notice the strange calm in his newfound comrade. While he was wrestling with his inner feelings of dying and homesickness, Atari simply went along and was still singing a portion of the ballad he had mentioned earlier, "They fix the need, develop the taste, buy their products or get laid to waste."

Ikari was still struggling and nearly yelled, "Hey Atari, do you mind?"

Atari quickly bolted back, "Sure, and hey….just call me Nate."