SAO-X: The Lost Tales
Disclaimer: I'm a huge fan of the SAO series. I really enjoyed it and I feel it was a great story. However, what was an amazing concept got caught up in the restrictions of its genre and lost out on the huge potential it had. This story is intended to build on the ideas and questions introduced in the original show from the perspective of an OC. Constructive criticism is more than appreciated as this is my first time putting my work on the web, and I figured here is as good a place as any.
Stage III: Strength of a Machine
TIMESTAMP: 06 November 2022, 14:59:33, Floor 001, Town of Beginnings
Auran's body came down softly, appearing in the middle of the central plaza. But he was far less concerned with that than with the condition of his seemingly insane friend. Booming laughs crisscrossed the stone area, adding further confusion to the looks on the faces of the teleporting players. He barely noticed as Balti and Worm materialized a few feet away from him. He slapped Riko on his leather-clad back.
"Riko! What's going on? Why are we here? Talk to me!"
But there was no response, only the maniacal laughing. Players began giving the group a wide berth, but they were not able to do so for long before their attention was directed elsewhere, namely towards the single blinking red hexagon in the sky.
WARNING.
Auran looked up long enough to follow the gazes of the female warrior and his identical twin. With a rush of electronic pings, the blood-red shape multiplied exponentially, rapidly filling the sky and silencing any players the first had failed to. Auran's hand froze in midair.
From the gaps in the shapes flowed a viscous liquid, somehow, decelerating and forming some sort of shape. His mind was barely processing what was happening. This was all a game. He smiled and shook his head. You know, he should be excited. Andrew's surprise was far more impressive than he had imagined. And with that, the liquid coalesced into a hooded figure. From what he knew about video games, this must be the main bad guy. He stood back, only subconsciously noting that Riko's hysterical laughs had ceased, replaced by a strange expression somewhere between rapt attention and insane infatuation.
"Players, I welcome you all to my world. My name is Kayaba Akihiko. Right now, I am the only person who can control this world."
Whoa. What an introduction. This must be the opening event. Another burly frame strode up behind them.
"I think that most of you have discovered the fact that the logout button has disappeared from the main menu. This is not a bug; it is all part of Sword Art Online's system."
Wait, what was he saying? This must mean you had to log out from specific checkpoints somewhere—
"Until you get to the top of this castle, you cannot log out of your own free will. Also, the disruption or dismantling of the Nerve Gear will emit a strong electromagnetic pulse, destroying your brain and stopping all your basic functions."
No—what was going on—
"To be a little more specific…" The hooded figure went on to list the conditions under which his hostages would be terminated. Auran could do little more than gape and run through his mind the ways he could possibly escape. Each one ended in the same thing—failure.
But their captor was not yet done. "On that note, there have been several cases where the relatives or friends have ignored the warnings and tried to forcefully remove the Nerve Gear. The result…regretfully 213 players have already exited this game, and the real world, forever."
The deep voice behind him spoke in a jarringly soft tone.
"Does he mean my brother?"
But Auran could not hear anything, at the moment—his thoughts were racing too fast. If he had time to think about it, he would have found it astounding that the game engine was able to replicate the suppression of senses that came with such a shock. Two hundred and thirteen? That's a massacre! Why hasn't the government come up with a way to forcefully disable the Nerve Gear? Wait—the four of them had their machines shipped out of Japan! The American government would be treating it as a foreign problem! But wouldn't his family take him to a hospital? Surely that would attract official attention. Gah—it killed him not knowing what was going on outside!
"Players, there is no need to worry about the bodies you left on the other side. As of this moment, all TV, radio, and Internet media are repeatedly reporting this situation; including the fact that there have been numerous deaths. The danger of having your Nerve Gear taken off has already all but disappeared. In a moment, using the two hours I have provided, all of you will be transported to hospitals or similar institutes and be given the best treatment. So you can relax…and concentrate on beating the game."
Crap—what was going to happen to him and his friends? The fact that he was still alive meant that Andrew's family must have taken the warnings seriously, if they even knew about this terrorist. They probably did—he knew there would be a lot of people in this game. It was sure to be international by now.
"What are you saying!? Beat the game!?" A voice screamed at the sky no more than twenty feet away from him, assaulting the Game Master from another point in the crowd. "You want us to play around in a situation like this!? This isn't a game anymore!"
The guy was right. This wasn't a game anymore—this was a slaughter. A bloodbath. But why? Perhaps Kayaba was even now delivering messages to the UN, negotiating some conditions for the release of thousands of video game players. But no—if that was the case, he would probably have just shut down all signals coming to their brain, and Auran would either instantaneously wake up freed or dead. So why was he doing this?
"But I ask of you all to understand that Sword Art Online is no longer a simple game. It is a second reality…from now on, any form of revival in the game will now longer work. The moment your HP reaches 0, your avatar will be gone forever. At the same time, your brain will be destroyed by the Nerve Gear.
No—this was impossible—it was just a game…right?
A slumping sound came from his left. It was himself—no, the Worm, wearing his own real-life skin. His hands were clasped around his head, a look of utter despair on his face. The game engine faithfully recreated every shake up Thomas' own brown hair on the head of his friend as he shook his head in disbelief. He was muttering something, but Auran was too shocked to hear.
But there was more—it was like a damn commercial. Kayaba was mocking them. "Players," –how dare he call them that— "there is only one way to be freed from this game. As I have said before, you must get to the top of Aincrad, the one hundredth floor, and defeat the final boss that resides there. All players still alive at that time will be immediately logged out of the game. I give you all my word."
Another voice vented its anger, shouting murderously at a three-dimensional digital representation of a terrorist. "Clear…all 100 floors!? And how do you want us to do that? I heard that getting up was crazy hard even during the beta testing!"
Auran had no idea what had gone on in the beta testing, but from the man's incredulous tone, he could rather guess. They had been presented with an impossible challenge, an insurmountable feat, a meaningless death.
"Then I will show you evidence that this is the only reality," continued Kayaba. "In your inventories, there will be a gift from me. Please confirm this."
His—his inventory? Sliding his fingers downward together just like Riko had taught him, he brought up his menu. Empty—except for a single item. Single-use, consumable. Name: Hand Mirror. A mirror? What—
He tapped the item, and a small mirror materialized and fell into his hand. Suddenly, another blue light surrounded him. He cried out in surprise as more and more lights shot up all around the plaza, swallowing more and more players at an exponentially increasing speed. He wasn't able to react for long before everything turned to white—but only for a moment. The stone plaza reentered his vision, along with thousands of players in just as much shock. But—there was something off—
He looked at the mirror. No change. What was that for then-?
"Hey…Auran?"
Something poked him in the back. It was a bony finger, connected to a long, languid arm, connected to a tall, skinny body with a ponytail on the back of his head—
"B-balti?" he asked dubiously.
The sharp face nodded. "He—he just—"
But the two were interrupted once again by the last announcement to echo across the cobbled arena.
"You will all most probably be wondering, 'Why?' Why am I—the creator of both the Nerve Gear and SAO, Kayaba Akihiko—doing something like this? Is this a sort of terrorist attack? Is he doing this to ransom us?"
He paused, then spoke up again with renewed vigor.
"None of these is the reason I am doing this. Not only that, but now for me, there no longer a reason or purpose in doing this. The reason is because…this situation itself was my purpose in doing this. To create and watch this world is the only reason I have created the Nerve Gear and SAO. And now, everything has been realized."
Bullshit. There's a reason, Auran knew—but the inventor didn't want to reveal it just yet.
"Now I have finished the official tutorial for Sword Art Online. Players—I wish you luck."
The virtual representation of Kayaba Akihiko melted as quickly as it had appeared, and the system message disappeared without so much as a blink.
As cliché as it felt, Auran could accurately describe the silence as deafening. A virtual bird tweeted a virtual call. And then—there was a laugh.
A pudgy boy, sitting cross-legged on the ground, clad in basic leather armor with a short stone sword strapped to his back, laughing no differently than he would in real life, his appearance modified to reflect his true face and body type. And yet he was still laughing.
The explosion would have had to come sooner or later, and the maddening hysterics probably sparked it. Ten thousand gamers collectively yelled in anger, venting their frustration at no one in particular, scrambling to escape what had once been a form of entertainment. Bodies rushed and whirled around him in a mass panic. He heard Balti yell something, but his mind was a blank, struggling to comprehend the information he had just heard. Someone grabbed his arm and dragged him a couple feet, snapping him out of his daze. He whirled around to see his friend yelling at the top of his lungs, trying to get the attention of Riku and Worm. The former was still laughing, oblivious to the chaos surrounding him, while that latter remained in the same position as several thousand others, staring blankly up at the spot where Kayaba Akihiko had just stood. Gathering his nerves, Auran shouldered through three or four panicking gamers, reaching out and grabbing Riku's arm. He was afraid his friend might snap him off or try to pull him in, but he simply stood up, the same wild look in his eyes. Auran put his arm around his back and lumbered the few feet back to the clearing Balti was in, throwing his friend forward and turning around to retrieve the last member of the party.
But Worm was gone.
Auran scanned the thinning crowd, breathing in short gasps as he looked for his friend. Faces rushed by, but none sported the black hair he was accustomed to seeing day after day. He heard a yell from behind him.
"Where is he?" Balti screamed. His heart beat a little faster as fewer and fewer players left the plaza, only a couple left stranded in the sea of stone. There—lying prostrate on his back, the skinny real-world body of the Worm was spread-eagled on the ground. Auran's nerves jolted and he sprinted over to the prone body of his friend, desperately hoping he wasn't dead. The leather of his armor skidding on the cobbles, his gloved hands shook Worm as he tried to get him up. After a couple seconds, the boy made a groan and raised his hand to his face. Auran let out a sigh of relief, relaxing the muscles he didn't even realize were tensed almost to their limits. Worm sat up.
"Ow…oh God, what happened…" He drew a quick breath as he remembered, then scrambled to get up, kicking up a cloud of dust in the process. "Oh shit…are you telling me that was real?"
Auran was still trying to wrap his head around it too, but he knew he had to keep calm and make sure the group was able to get out of here alive. He nodded slowly.
"Yeah. But don't worry, we won't be in here long. I'm sure everybody on the outside is working hard to figure out a way of releasing us without setting off the helmets. Look Worm, it's going to be fine."
The sophomore was panting again, despite not having exercised. "Ah geez…that was the scariest thing in my life. I was being trampled, but it wasn't hurting, and…"
Auran stood up, clapping his arm around his friend's armored back. "Look, I know," he offered. "It's okay though, your HP can't decrease in a safe zone. Speaking of which, we need to get together and plan out how we'll survive while we wait to be rescued. Come on, let's go regroup."
Worm mumbled something under his breath and stumbled over to the small group. Auran followed slightly behind, looking around and taking in his surroundings. Roughly a hundred people were left in the plaza, some scrolling through menus and frantically clicking the empty logout slot over and over. He shook his head and joined his friends. Finally the adrenaline subsided and he became aware of Riku—and he was still laughing. Balti had his hands on his shoulders, shaking him pleadingly. The fat gamer didn't seem to hear any of his appeals. His frustration rapidly building, Auran strode over to his pudgy friend, stopped, and slapped him across the face.
The laughing abruptly ceased. Ruku looked up at Auran, the painless mark fading away. The insanity had not dissipated.
"Don't you see?" he beamed. "He's done it. He's done it."
"Done what?" asked Worm, his head poking up from the ball he had curled into.
"He's made it. The ultimate game. Tell me, Auran," he sneered, the username dripping with sarcasm, "what is the goal of every video game ever made."
"I don't know," Auran responded. His patience was wearing thin. "Do tell."
The smile got even broader. "Why, consequences, of course!" he shouted. "Don't you see? Since the very first game the biggest problem was, 'So what if I die? I'll just respawn.' But this game, if you die here, you die in real life. Real money trading is a thing of the past. There is no need for any other video games. This is the culmination. This is a game, but it's life at the same time. This is what every developer has always wanted to make. This is the end of the era of video games."
Silence dominated the group for at least a few seconds before someone spoke. It was Balti.
"So?"
"What?" Riku turned. "Don't you get it? The man's a genius. He's the last video game designer."
"I said, so?" repeated Balti. "He could be Albert Einstein for all I care. That doesn't excuse what he's done. He killed two hundred people, and I plan on making him pay. Now stand the fuck up. We have a game to beat."
Auran was somewhat taken aback. His friend Marcus, the guy he'd known since elementary school, was always so laid back. Even when he did get in trouble, which was rare since he was sure to never get caught, he never cared. Life was a game to him. But now that a game was life, there was something different Auran couldn't quite pick up on…
"I said stand up!" Balti screamed.
Riku was motionless for what seemed like ages. His eyes snapped open.
"I…" he breathed.
Balti's fists unclenched. "There we go," he hummed. "Glad to have you back. Let's set up a base of operations somewhere."
"Right," stammered Riku. "A…a base of operations…"
Auran offered his hand to Worm, and the four of them trudged off the plaza and into the Town of Beginnings.