"link start!" Nathaniel uttered those words, activating the Nerve gear
A white radiance suddenly blocked his view, as he went through a tunnel of light, towards a world other than his own.
The feeling of the nerve gear's calibration exam took his breath away, as he felt like sky diving into a white sky, with colored clouds.
The feeling of the wind blowing on his face,
The sound of the air zooming past his ears,
The taste of the air,
The smell of pure oxygen,
And the sight of it all.
Calibration only lasted for a minute, but he kind of wished it to last longer.
Slowly, he felt his virtual decent slow to a halt.
A login screen appreared suddenly.
He was puzzled for a moment, for he couldn't move-or even feel-his arms. He started to panic a little, but realized that the font can be inputted from his mind.
"How advanced technology has become" he thought.
Using his mind alone, he inputted his login credentials
Username: Thanatos
Password:********
The system quickly registers his account, followed by showing him in big font
"WELCOME TO SWORD ART ONLINE"
He held his breath, and prepared himself, as the Journey soon came to an end.
/
Floor 1: town of begginings
He opened his eyes, seeing his virtual self's hands for the first time.
He clenched his fists, and with a smile, shouted at the top of his lungs
"Game on!"
And began running off the login platform, eagerly wanting to explore the first town: the town of beginings.
No matter how much he told himself it was just a game, he could easily forget, being so immersed in it all.
He walked the narrow passageways of the marketplace.
Medieval styled buildings in rown bordered in a straigh line, making a one way exit to town square.
"Potions, potions here!"
"only i make great weapons around here"
"gather, gather around!"
Voiced of the npcs seeking the attention of players filled the marketplace.
Nat, or as his avatar was called, Thanatos didn't take that long in the marketplace. He wanted to try out the battle for himself.
Even before the game was released, thousands of waiting players also wanted to try what it feels like to be the hero in the games they play, what it felt like to fight monsters head-on, instead of just commanding an avatar on a flat screen monitor.
To most gamers like thanatos, SAO was a dream come true.
So, quickly, he bought all the recommended begginers gear: a blue wool vest, copper plate armor, loose work pants, and brown boots, and a starting weapon: a simple silver colored rapier.
No, not at all did he look anything like a hero, making him a bit dissapointed looking ay himself at the mirror wearing the full starters armor set. Even with the impressive looking rapier on his belt, he still looked a bit more like a farmers kid who stole a fencer's sword.
He heaved a sigh.
"rpg rule no.1, begginer armors usually look bad. But, it gets better anyway..." he mummbled, heading towards town square.
There, a sign pointed towards training grounds, which was where he headed right away.
/
"Ah, ah, aah-oof!"
The blue boar charged straight at Thanatos, knocking him backwards off his feet. The bar on the top right side of his field of vision grew a bit smaller, along with the letters HP bellow the bar. This was his health, the standard health meter like in most rpgs. His name was on a smaller bar bellow.
"you do know that boars here equal slimes in other rpg's, right"
A large built guy weilding a hammer resting on his shoulderd said playfully to Thanatos, handing him a hand.
"i, i just ain't used to actually rolling to dodge. That's all" he snapped back, slapped the man's hand, and stood on his own.
"ooh, tough guy we gave here. Why not you show me what that katana can do?" still, the man named Crimxon said playfully, teasing thanatos.
He met this big fellow near the exit gate of the town, where he told him if he wanted a quick tutorial, since he was a beta player, and wanted to teach new players a bit how to play.
Mainly because thanatos was too lazy to go through the tutorial training course, nor read the in-game manual did he accept the man's offer without second thought.
Thanatos gripped the rapier tightly, readying his stance, as the pig brushed his hoove on the grassy floor, before charging straight at thanatos.
"You know about sword skills, right?"
"yeah yeah, i'm not much of a nood, you know?" he said with a slight of annoyance
"ok then, you're the boss." crimxon said with a shrug.
As thanatos readied, taking the lunge fencing stance, he recalled what little he had read about skill deployment.
Skills in this game can be used though 2 simple steps. First, correct stance, then concentration.
Since he had already taken the stance, thanatos focused on the attack.
He felt the energy build up on his rapier, as it started to glow with a yellow light.
The pig came closer, charging at its full speed.
When it came close enough, he shouted.
"Linear!"
Releasing the energy stored in the rapier, he stepped forward. The system recognized the command, making him dash a few meters past the pig as he ki ged his sword.
two red holes appeared on the pig, one in the fromt and back, before shattering into thousands of shining polygon shards.
With a triumphant smile, he turned to his back, raised his hand with the rapier, and said with a wide smile.
a similar yellow bar appeared bellow the hp bar. Written on it were the words EXP: my experience bar.
"I did it, crimxon! I did it!"
"yeah, sure you did." he told me with a smile, giving me a thumbs up.
we spent the rest of the afternoon after that learning the basics of the game.
health potions, leveling up, skills, skill points, most rpg things that every player should know to survive playing one.
I tried out other weapons as well. Since sword art online doesn't have any kind of class system, any player is capable of wielding any weapon in the game, just as long as they can carry them basing on their stats. So, I tried out every one, checking which one felt right. I liked the rapier at first because of its speed, but hated how most attacks would just go straight. I also wanted to use dual blades, but hated how it didn't have a single skill on it. So, I went with a fast weapon that I can hold on both hands: dual daggers.
"-Although, its reach is quite short, it can compensate for its quick speeds" Crimxon said, raising his finger proudly, after giving me a short lecture about the weapon class.
I just nodded, since I was a lot more interested in how it feels than how it works.
"well, any more questions?"
"Nope. Nada" I shook my head, twirling the two plain brown-hilted daggers and returning them to its sheathes on my back.
I glanced at the clock on the corner of my eye, and realized its already morning.
"Um, I got to go now Crimxon. Its been nice meeting you though."
'What? You're leaving now? You've got school tomorrow huh?"
"yeah. Been playing all night and all."
"Oh, now that you said it, we have been playing all night, haven't we? We've gotten up around three levels by now, haven't we?"
"Yeah, I guess. Well-"
He swiped his right index and middle fingers down, opening a menu with a light chime of bells.
A list of white items appeared in front of him. He pressed the fourth tab: Options, but paused suddenly, realizing something.
"Um…Crimxon, do you know where's the log out button?"
"Uh, yeah. Its at the options tab, at the lowest part. Why?" Crimxon asked with a raised brow.
"Yeah, options bar, lowest part, but there's no log out button."
"Really? Let me check"
He did the same gesture, pressed the same tab, and made the exact same expression as Thanatos. Maybe even a bit more exaggerated.
"What!? Th-there's supposed to be a log out button here!"
"Yeah, I know. Weird huh? Must be a glitch"
"…yeah…I hope its one."
The two both closed our menu's, and decided to head back, hoping that the guide NPC (non-player character) might know how to log off.
But, suddenly, a pillar of light suddenly shrouded their avatars, blinding their vision with a bright blue luminance. Fading a moment later, they found themselves in an unfamiliar surroundings.
"What the-!?" crimxon gasped, seeing as other pillars of light appeared, fading a second later revealing players with a shocked expression as well.
"A, forced teleport?" thanatos asked, but crimxon couldn't answer, still recovering from the shock.
Soon, what seemed like almost every player in the game were trapped in the middle of a large, coliseum like place.
Questions filled the place, as players all questioned each other about what happened.
But, suddenly, everyone grew silent.
The virtual sky suddenly turned blood red.
Thick, red liquid suddenly flowed down from the sky, forming a red cloaked figure floating above.
Speechless, everyone stared in confusion and awe on what was going on.
"Players"
the figure spoke, its face hiding behind the cloak's dark hood.
His rough, low voice shot fear onto the hearts of players, spreading fear onto their faces.
Thanatos readied his stance, placing a hand behind, and gripping one dagger's grip.
"You may be wondering why the log out button has gone missing on your menus. May I just inform you that this is no glitch; This was done on purpose."
Faint muttering once again started, people asking what was going on.
"What do you mean on purpose!?" one player shouted loudly.
"The reason this game was made, was to achieve a new world. Where I am God. For this to happen, I have trapped all of you here into this new world I call 'Aincard'"
From a slight mumbling, slowly, the crowd grew louder in protest. But, still, the figure continued on.
"Also, for this to be more than a game to you all, I have attached a special device in each of your nerve gear, that once it has detected your avatar's death, it is designed to send powerful signals to your brain, melting it down. In other words: avatar death in this world equals to player death in reality. This may be a game, but this is not meant to played"
At this very point, the crowed it peak.
Players either began shouting in anger, shivering in fear, or asking if this was some sort of joke.
"Also, those players who have tried to remove the nerve gears would have the same effect"
With a wave of his hand, holograms playing news feeds played, all having one common headline. "Player's found dead while wearing the nerve gear, or after having the nerve gear removed"
"As of now, 215 players have already died because of forced removal. And, as of now, the only way you may leave this world, is to clear Aincard. Starting on this floor, there are 99 other floors above this. The only way between floors is a single, straight tower containing a dungeon. Each dungeon is guarded by a powerful boss, whom you have to defeat to get to the next floor. Only once you have cleared the 100th floor, will I allow each and every single player to log off."
"this…is…just…crazy…" Crimxon said, without turning away from the red cloaked man.
Thanatos, In panic, grabbed his dagger, and threw it at the man
"LET US OUT!" he shouted, at the top of his lungs.
The dagger flew through the air, but just passed through the man, disappearing.
"That is all. I wish you best, and good luck" saying as he used to, then disappearing, returning the blue sky to its usual brilliance.
But, this didn't get noticed, as the crowd grew in panic.
Thanatos's knees grew weak, sliping him down onto his knees, eyes wide open, he spoke breathlessly.
"This…is….isn't…a…game…anymore..."
Chapter 1- End