I do not own Sword Art Online or any of the characters.
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Michael's eyes opened and his unused muscles began to ache painfully instantly. He groaned, sitting up and his nurse quickly rushed over to try to make him lay back down again.
"I'm fine," Michael stated. "I think it's long past time I stretch my muscles."
The nurse, knowing better than to argue with Michael, agreed and instead helped him up, helping him walk around. After a bit, he got dressed then left the room, his nurse helping him to the cafeteria then allowing him to call the man who had hired him with her phone. Within a few hours, the rehab he was going to need was payed for.
Over the next couple of weeks, doctors watched as he built his body back up before agreeing he was fit to stop rehab. When they finally did, he celebrated by going to the mall and buying a virtual reality game he had heard about from his doctors called ALfheim Online. It was based on Sword Art Online in the sense that it used the same engine, programming and graphics format as SAO. Aside from that, there was an entire world of differences.
"Alright," Michael grinned as he got home and put the game in, plugging in his Nerve Gear. "Time to play."
He lay down, putting on the device that had once threatened his life and smiling. He couldn't wait to test out the game. After a moment, he was pulled into the game and found himself in large round room with glowing orange circles below him and glowing white squares on the walls.
"Welcome, to ALfheim Online," a pleasant female voice greeted as a keyboard appeared in front of him. "Please enter your gender and the name you wish to be identified as."
He quickly typed in his own name as he had when he joined SAO and selected Male. A moment later, a ring of glowing fairies appeared, each with a different color scheme and differently shaped wings.
"There are nine races of fairies to choose from," the voice stated. "Please select which race you wish to play as."
He cycled through all of them, reading about them and then turned to the green one, a Sylph.
"So, this one's the fastest by default huh?" Michael mused. "But I hate the color green. The Spriggan would be more my style. But then again, Sylphs can use wind magic and are fast as apposed to illusion and treasure hunting. Shit. I'll get over it."
He selected the Sylph.
"You have selected Sylph," the voice so helpfully chimed. "Your character's appearance will be decided at random. Do you wish to continue?"
"What?" Michael blinked. "No character customization? That's a ripoff."
He selected continue none the less and the voice gave its final message.
"You will now be teleported to your hometown in Sylph territory," the voice informed him. "Good luck Player."
His vision went white and when it returned, he was falling. He looked down, the horrid sight of lime green clothes meeting him. He sighed and rolled over, seeing a city rushing up to greet him. He could hear voices from below and saw a pair of players below him spot him.
"Newbie," he heard one say.
"I got him," another stated flying up and catching Michael.
"Thanks," Michael smiled.
"Uh huh," the player sighed floating to the ground and setting him on his feet. "There. Now take a hike."
"Do you by chance have a mirror?" Michael asked.
The one that had stayed on the ground laughed and tossed Michael a mirror. Michael looked in the mirror and his jaw dropped. His avatar looked almost exactly like his SAO character but with blonde hair that was a bit shorter on top and shaved off on the sides, making a high fade. Aside from that minute difference, he was exactly the same as in SAO, and in real life. He handed the mirror back and thanked the player then left, finding a secluded space to check his inventory and stats, where he got a bigger shock. His stats were the same as in SAO. His items were unrecognized. He looked at the programming and within a few minutes had figured out that, due to the two games being so similar at base, in this case in saved data formatting, that his stats had been carried over when he had created his new avatar. The same was true for his appearance.
Michael deleted all of his items from SAO, leaving the ALfheim Online ones alone. The last thing he needed was for the game to think he was a glitch, which he technically was. Once he was done with that, he looked over what was left. Basic clothes, and a knife.
"Damn," Michael sighed. "Alright. I guess for the time being I'll have to be a knife fighter. Same idea, I think."
He began walking down the road and out of town then stopped. There was a group of Sylphs staring at him.
"Why are you walking?" one of them, a blonde with a pony tail down to her knees, what looked like a katana, and an open green coat over a white shirt asked.
"I don't know how to fly," Michael shrugged. "I just started and the guy I met when I got here just laughed at me for being new."
"Yeah that's pretty common," she sighed. "I'm Leafa. If you're going to fly, do it the right way. Just imagine you have bones and muscles growing out of your shoulder blades, basically."
"Um, that doesn't explain anything," Michael stated. "How do I do that and what does that do?"
Leafa sighed as her wings extended and she floated into the air, flying around effortlessly.
"Oh, that," Michael said trying to do what she had told him to. A moment later, wings appeared on his back and he promptly crashed backward into a wall, making the entire group erupt into laughter.
"Ow," Michael groaned standing and trying again, this time shooting into the air, instantly loosing control and flipping and shooting through the air as if some invisible giant was shaking him like a rag doll. "How do I stop this!?"
"You'll figure it out," the girl said between laughing fits.
Finally after a few minutes, he managed to get the hang of it, stopping himself and beginning to fly around as he wanted. It was incredible. He felt a sense of freedom that he had never known. And he felt like he was probably going to be called gay if anyone knew he enjoyed being a fairy.
"There, you're getting the hang of it," Leafa smirked. "So, where were you going?"
"Exploring," Michael stated. "Hoping to find someone to explain how the game works."
"Well, Id explain but we're going on a raid," Leafa stated.
"Raid?" Michael asked.
"Yeah," Leafa nodded. "We're going to attack some Salamanders."
"Can I come?" Michael asked.
"Well...I guess so," Leafa shrugged. "I could explain on the way."
"No," another member said flatly. "No noobs allowed."
"Ah, come on," Michael complained. "I just wanna learn how to play."
"Very well," the member that had refused growled. "You buy weapons and armor at a blacksmith shop. Food at a bakery, if you feel like it. You save by sleeping at an inn. You now know how to fly, and you fight by swinging that toothpick of yours. Let's go Leafa."
"You're an asshole," Michael stated. "I bet I could kill you with this toothpick before you scratch me."
"Is that a threat?" the player asked.
"No, it's a bet," Michael grinned. "What happens when you die?"
"You become what's called a remain light," the player stated drawing his sword, a somewhat standard-looking longsword with the cross guard sharpened as well. "And then either you are revived or you go to the last save, for you, you will simply respawn in a different town."
Michael nodded drawing his knife. It was roughly six inches long, straight, and had a tanto point. He hated it. At the very least it could be longer.
"What's your name?" Michael asked.
"Sigurd," the man stated, flying forward.
He slashed overhead at Michael who stepped aside and drove his knife into Sigurd's chest. Sigurd leapt back, growling in frustration and Michael flipped the knife to reverse grip, crouching.
"Stop it Sigurd," Leafa ordered.
"He wanted the fight," Sigurd stated.
Michael charged this time, sidestepping Sigurd's sword and spinning, slashing the inside of both Sigurd's legs, both sides of his neck, and then drove it down into each lung before leaping back, watching as glowing red "blood" sprayed out of Sigurd's wounds. Then, Sigurd turned into a ball of green flame. Leafa revived Sigurd who stared at Michael a second before turning away.
"You're still not coming," Sigurd stated.
"You have knife training in real life don't you?" Leafa asked.
"Yeah why?" Michael asked.
"Because you can fight," Leafa stated. "Most people prefer swords."
"So don't I," Michael stated. "This thing's just what I was given."
"Oh," Leafa chuckled. "Well, anyway, good luck. We have things to do."
Michael raised a hand as the group flew off then looked around.
"Blacksmith shops, eh?" Michael grinned. "Let's see about that."
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