The following is a non-profit fan-based creative work. Sword Art Online is owned by ASCII Media Works, Yen Press, and Reki Kawahara. Please support the official releases.
Thanks to everyone who's followed this story so far! I'm hoping this chapter gives you a bit more to get into :)
To answer a question in a review from last chapter, I fully understand that Dual Wielding and Holy Sword was and is associated with Kirito and Heathcliff, respectively. I've already accounted for that, but thank you for bringing up your concerns. I urge all readers to question me on anything you think doesn't gel either with SAO itself or with the fanfiction's own continuity.
When I think back to all of the people I knew during my time trapped in Sword Art Online, the two who stand out the most in my mind are my older sister, Misaki Chigusa, known by her player name Hinoka, and my guildmaster, Seriyuha. Without these two women, I wouldn't have survived my time in Castle Aincrad.
I came into the game expecting to see Chigusa, but meeting with Seriyuha was a chance encounter. It was the first of many.
"Hi there, time for this week's MMO stream! You just saw a promo of today's featured game, and this is what last week's launch day looked like!"
The shot changed to a view of dozens of people waiting in a line that stretched for yards before disappearing out of sight. Everyone was jostling and fidgeting, their excitement palpable through the screen. Shirou broke into a smile as he watched them.
"Can you guess what everyone's waiting in line for? It's Sword Art Online!"
The cute-voiced host continued for several minutes onward, talking about the glowing praise the game's beta testers had given it, and how the game sold out online within seconds. Only ten-thousand copies were sold for the game's launch. A small number, to say the least.
Shirou swiveled his desk chair to look at the birthday present he'd received the day before - sent by his older sister. He hadn't known what to expect when he opened the box, but what lay inside was a bulky grey helmet, "NerveGear", with a game case lying under it and a note taped to its top:
"Happy Birthday, Little Brother! See you in Castle Aincrad! (Look for Hinoka!)
-Big Sis"
Razler smiled as he re-read the note. "Hinoka", the Hoshidan princess. He could picture his freckled and bespectacled older sister trying to hold a naginata and struggling under the weight.
The game was, of course, Sword Art Online, the first Vitual-Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Game in the world. Chigusa had mentioned it a few times in emails over the last few months. Well, "mentioned" was underselling the gushing she was doing. She described the game as an alternate real world, with countless possibilities laying out before you. What Shirou had seen of it left him wondering what all the hype was about; it looked like any other sword-and-sorcery fantasy world to him, and MMO's were a genre of the past.
Then again, it was a virtual world. That had to account for something. And Chigusa knew her video games.
Either way, she was waiting for him, and she had mentioned going through a lot of trouble to get him a copy of the game. The least he could do was try it out.
Besides... He was excited to see her again, even if it wouldn't be face-to-face.
Shirou shut off the news stream he'd been watching and lay down on his bed, the NerveGear on his head and strapped in place. The device felt uncomfortably heavy; hopefully they'd miniaturize it in later releases. The modem hummed and quickly went to work. His heart beat a little faster.
"Link start!" he said.
Blackness consumed his field of view, and all feeling left his body. He was nervous that he'd get stuck in that black void for a moment, until the screen turned white, different-colored cylinders rushing past his perspective. Multiple system checks began rapidly appearing in front of him before lining up on the right side of his view.
"Vision, okay."
"Hearing, okay."
The system was linking with his nervous system. Shirou had almost wanted to throw the device away when he learned it worked by hijacking the brain's nerves, but Chigusa swore to him that the NerveGear was perfectly safe. She would know. It wouldn't surprise him if she'd broken into the coding of hers the first day she had it.
And anyways, the device was sure to have ridiculous oversight from the government while it was in development.
The Sword Art Online login screen appeared before him, showing a backdrop of the game's environment. The game's title dominated the top half of Shirou's view, while a virtual keyboard took up the lower.
Shirou quickly punched in the login name and password he'd registered the night before, and came upon the character creation menu. The game had no races beyond humans, but he was given an offering of various class options that would alter his starting weapon, stats, and equipment. His gaze fell upon options such as "Lancer", "Monk", or "Axeman", but he eventually settled for "Swordsman". Without playing the game, he had no idea what might be more useful than the others, so a fairly generic option seemed safest.
Next came the avatar creation menu. To his surprise, he found himself looking at a base male avatar without even having selected his character's gender. He stared at the screen for a moment, puzzled. Surely SAO didn't only offer male avatars? He'd have to ask Chigusa about that when he got into the game - he must have skipped an option by accident somewhere. He hadn't bothered to crossplay anyways; Chigusa would tease him endlessly if he did.
He couldn't change his starting gear – rather plain leather clothing – though he could alter the color palette. After trying out a few options, he settled for dark red on black. Next he designed his character – slightly taller than his real self, with spikier hair and a stern, sharp facial structure. Something to make himself look more like a badass. He smiled, unable to help himself. Satisfied, Shirou hit the accept option, and blue shafts of light began to fly past him, obscuring his vision, before shattering and flying upward like scattering flower petals.
"Welcome to Castle Aincrad."
And that was it.
He found himself standing in a sunny town square, surrounded by people. He could move around, just as in real life. Everything felt normal enough. He looked down at his hands – they weren't his, they were those of the avatar he'd chosen, but he could move them just the same.
"Woah," he whispered to himself. Seeing hands that weren't his own open and close as he flexed his muscles was surreal.
He moved around uncertainly, not fully trusting these virtual legs just yet, but found his steps just as fluid and natural as in the real world. Surely muscle memory would see him falter around on legs that were longer than his own, but nothing of the sort happened.
Whoever designed the system was a genius.
A little more confident in his movements, he began looking around. He was standing within a medieval town square, surrounded by other people – players, obviously – all dressed similarly to him. Behind him lay a fountain, the water sparkling in the bright sunlight, and beyond that was a vast black castle. He spun about slowly, taking as much in as he could - or rather, searching for faults, for things to spark his conservation of disbelief.
He couldn't find anything. No obviously re-used assets, no mis-rendered textures.
There he was, delivered right into every fantasy setting he'd ever seen. He wouldn't have known better if he hadn't put the NerveGear on himself. His heartbeat sped up as he realized why Chigusa had hyped the game up so much.
Chigusa!
He looked around hopelessly at the crowd of players. How was he supposed to recognize Chigusa from all of them? Everyone was a stranger to him, and she'd look like any other in-game avatar. Around half the players were girls - surely she'd pick a girl? Still, he couldn't just approach every girl he saw until he chanced upon the right person. What if Chigusa wasn't even here waiting for him? What if she'd gone into another part of town or out into the field? He began fiddling around with the menu options, searching for private messaging, when his eyes fell upon a female player standing right across the square, arms crossed and foot tapping.
Red on white, a spear in hand, short red hair.
He broke into a smile. It had to be her.
Shirou approached the girl, one hand raised.
"Hey," he said slowly, earning a glare from the girl, "Chiusa is that-"
"Shirou!"
Shirou quickly found his head buried in "Hinoka's" voluminous chest – a feature she didn't possess in real life – and felt his cheeks burn.
"How have you been Shirou? Were you looking for me long? Did you have any problems installing the game or signing up?"
Shirou gently pushed Chigusa away, smiling uncontrollably. "I've been great! I didn't have any problems, your instructions were easy to follow," he said quickly.
He looked at Chigusa, taking in her avatar a little more. Her face was smoother than the real Chigusa's, and she was definitely taller and longer-limbed. She was actually taller than Shirou despite him being taller than his real self - and about the same height as her the last time he checked. Hinoka didn't look anything like the real Chigusa, save for her smile. He could see a little of his sister in Hinoka's smirk. And he couldn't help but smile back. He hadn't seen her in so long...
"You look pretty cute Shirou," Chigusa said, bringing his attention back to her. "It's so nice to see you again, it's been too long."
Shirou thought he saw her eyes getting wet, but she stepped back and rubbed them before he could be sure. So you could even cry in this game?
With that she shrugged and spun on her heel, and then began walking with purpose away from the square.
"Okay! It's time to start the adventure!" she called back to him.
"Nice," he said, grinning, "where're we going?"
She smiled at him over her shoulder. "Combat training!"
That had to be good!
Chigusing leading the way, Shirou's gaze was drawn this way and that by the fantasy world surrounding him. He could see the cracks in the roads, the slight warping of the metal lampposts. He could feel the warmth of the virtual sun on his skin, and he was fairly sure that the stone walls would seem perfectly natural to his touch.
How had the designers managed this?
"So what's combat like in SAO?" he asked.
"It's different from other MMO's. Super cool, but a bit tricky," said Chigusa. She turned and smirked at him. "You're lucky you've got me to give you a leg up!"
He could only wonder what the combat system would be like. Chigusa obviously wanted it to be a surprise.
She walked swiftly through town, never stopping to glance in any direction but the way she was going. She moved too quickly for him to properly stop and look around, but he did take in as much of the city as he could as he followed her. While he was still in awe at the graphical quality he couldn't help but think about how, after a first glance, the game didn't really look that different from rpgs of the past.
Aside from the main road leading up to the town square, most of the buildings in the town were matching generic stone houses. Shirou suspected most of them probably didn't have doors that could be opened. At most they'd just be permanently locked.
It was still amazing to be in the world though. They could get to more creative environments later.
They soon came upon one of the gates leading out of the city, and Shirou stopped to gape at the high stone arch, banners flying in the breeze.
A little cliché or not, that's pretty cool.
Beyond the gate lay a sprawling grassland, dotted with trees and rocks. Off in the distance were strange semi-floating landmasses that appeared to be connected to the lands below them by much narrower bits of earth. Would they be explorable? How could they even get up there? Chigusa suddenly clapped him on the shoulder, giving him a start.
"Welcome to the field! Outside the starting city is the real Aincrad," she said a broad smile on her face. "Now then, let's party up and Big Sis will teach you a thing or two about fighting in this world." She swished at the sky in front of her with her right hand, opening the menu, and spent a second or two navigating her screens. A window popped up just in front of Shirou, notifying him that he had received a friend request from Hinoka. He accepted without hesitation.
"Great, now that we're friends in-game we can private message each other or send party requests much more easily," said Chigusa. As she spoke, she began opening menus again, until this time a party request appeared in front of Shirou. Again, he accepted, and Chigusa's name, character icon, and health bar appeared in a small semi-transparent window in the upper-left corner of his view.
"When we're in a party together, we can see each other's condition – without hitting each other first," she added, shooting Shirou a smirk. "It's the same thing if a bunch of players get together for a dungeon raid. Also, members in a party share exp and cor, though the player who deals the killing blow to a monster gets the majority of the reward."
"Sounds like you could grind faster by going solo," said Shirou.
"Nah, you get more done working in teams. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts, right? That's classic MMO strategy."
She began moving on again without waiting for him to say anything.
They began walking across the open grasslands and rounded a clump of mossy rocks. A blue boar came into view. Chigusa spun her spear around in hand and shifted her grip to hold it in both hands.
"The beast over there is called a 'Frenzy Boar', it's the most basic of all monsters in this field – and anywhere, really."
Shirou peered a little closer. "Most basic" didn't seem like the right word to call it. The animal looked every part the style of a wild boar in real life, right down to its fierce tusks. He couldn't help but shiver at the thought of how it might feel to be gored by the creature.
"You don't feel pain in Sword Art Online," Chigusa said, as if reading his mind. "This was one of the things that frightened me at first, but I promise you won't feel a thing even if that boar runs you through with its tusks. Trust me, I know."
"Wouldn't that kill me?"
"Duh, but this is a video game," said Chigusa. "Do you remember that big black castle back at the square? If you die in this world you'll respawn back there."
Back at town? Right where they first began the game? Shirou glanced upward, where he knew lay ninety-nine other floors. "What if I'm on a higher floor?"
Chigusa shot him a rueful grin. "Back to floor one. You can warp between unlocked floors, but imagine how annoying it would be to backtrack to floor five because you got killed by giant wasps."
Shirou smirked at his sister. "Pretty specific example you had there."
She stuck her tongue back at him.
"How do you revive party members in this game?" he asked.
"There wasn't a way during the beta, but I'll be shocked if it stays that way. Raiding parties will complain like hell if it does."
"Anyways!" Chigusa added sharply, "we were supposed to be teaching you how to fight. Now, that Frenzy Boar won't bother us until we attack it, so we're fine to just chat – but not all monsters will be so courteous. You'll notice that there's no menus popping up for either of us even though there's a monster nearby."
Shirou looked around without meaning to, realizing only then that Chigusa was right. It had been nagging him at the back of his mind without him noticing it. How was he supposed to hit it? Did he have to aggro the monster first?
"That means," Chigusa continued, "that you just swing your weapon on your own!"
She took a step forward, thrusting her spear out. The blade turned red until the spear came to a stop.
"You saw that, right?" asked Chigusa. "The system will recognize anything that can be considered an attacking motion, and the dangerous part of your weapon – the hitbox – will glow."
Shirou nodded and drew his sword, realizing only then how heavy it was. Most of the weight was at the handle, making it easier to balance but harder to hold. It was probably a pretty light weapon given that it was newbie gear, but it felt awkward in-hand. He raised it high and swung it toward the ground, but his swing carried him further than he meant to. While he fought to keep his footing, he saw that the blade of his sword had turned blue while it was swinging. Once he was steady again, her tried a few – shorter – horizontal chops. His cheeks burned as he realized what a putz he must have looked like.
"I've never used a sword in my life," he said defensively, even though Chigusa had remained silent during his experimentation.
"Oh yeah, I was terrible with my first spearn," Chigusa said, a wide smile on her face. "I was holding it near the end, waving the head around wildly and hoping I would make contact. I accidentally dropped it and then I just ran away for about five minutes before the boar let me go."
He laughed briefly at the image.
"But I'll show you how it's done," she said as she took a few steps toward the boar.
The animal was simply rooting around on the ground with its snout, but she walked up and dealt it a quick jab in the side. It raised its head and gave a howl, startling Shirou. Its anger sounded so lifelike...
It turned and charged at Chigusa, head bowed and tusks pointed toward her, but she stood her ground and shifted her grip on her spear to bring it closer to her body. As the boar came close, she stepped forward and caught its charge with the shaft of her spear. She was forced back a step, but she held the creature there. Squealing loudly, the beast tried to drive itself onward, but Chigusa held it back.
"Do you see how its tusks are glowing?" Chigusa said, her voice free of strain or concern.
Shirou had been so preoccupied by Chigusa's fighting that he hadn't, but now that he looked closer, he saw that the boar's tusks were indeed glowing, this time a dark red color.
"Whenever monsters attack, the dangerous parts of their attack also light up, the same as ours. You can either dodge, or block their attacks with your own weapon."
"Wouldn't that damage the weapon?" asked Shirou.
"Yeah it takes a tole on the weapon's durability, so don't abuse it," said Chigusa. "Shields are much better for blocking, you should pick one up since your sword leaves one hand free."
Shirou glanced at his empty left hand. He'd look for a shield later on.
Chigusa took a step forward and gave a thrust, pushing the boar back. The beast was thrown off with remarkable ease, and it was sent tumbling onto its side. After a little kicking at the air, it righted itself, its blood-shot eyes fixed on Chigusa and its rear hoof grinding away at the grass. Chigusa took a step back and returned to her initial stance, holding her spear forward with the tip angled toward the ground.
The boar squealed and charged, but Chigusa brought her spear up high, striking the beast in mid-air and carving a red hexagonal gash across its face. The beast paused for a fraction of a second, as if time had stopped for it, and then exploding into dozens of polygon shards, which drifted upwards and scattered into the air. A pop-up appeared before Shirou, informing him he'd earned a few EXP and cor from the battle.
So that was how fighting was done in SAO. Shirou just stared at his little sister, eyes wide. Chigusa, always on a computer and always resenting physical education at school, and now she looked every bit the part of an experienced and confident spearwoman. Did SAO do that to the people who played it?
Would that happen to him?
"That's fighting the hard way, though," Chigusa said as she planted the blunt end of the spear shaft in the ground.
"So there's an easier way to do it?" Shirou asked. So there was a trick to it after all. Maybe he wouldn't end up quite as awesome as he had been thinking - but it would be easier, probably.
"Of course," Chigusa said, laughing, "we're gamers, not mercenaries. The game has a skill system that can do the heavy lifting for you if you use it right. I only picked up that free attack after a few hours practicing in the beta."
Skills, of course. What modern RPG was without those? But he didn't have anything that looked like a resource pool, so how would they be balanced? In a game like this, some kind of complex motion-controls seemed natural, but...
Chigusa was walking away into the field. He'd find out soon enough it seemed. Shirou followed after her, and quickly saw that she was heading toward another Frenzy Boar.
"I'll show you the basics of it on this guy," said Chigusa.
She gave the boar a light jab with her spear to provoke it, and then turned her spear around so that it was behind her, and held on with just one hand. Shirou stared at her strange pose, wondering what she could possibly be doing holding her weapon so unnaturally. Was she planning to swing it back as the boar approached for more power?
"You first adopt the necessary pose for a skill," said Chigusa.
The blade of her spear began to glow a deep red, and she stepped forward to thrust.
And off she went.
Instead of simply jabbing at the air, she flew like a missile across the field, becoming a red blur. Shirou gaped at Chigusa as she shot through the boar, coming to a rest a few feet past it as it died. This was beyond simply handling a spear properly; maybe SAO really did turn its players into super-humans?
"It's like that," Chigusa called out as she walked back toward him. "Skills activate when you position your weapon in a certain way for a short charge-up period, and then you just swing it and the system will take care of the rest. It's easily the best way to kill most enemies. You can check your own skills on your skill menu and look up the position you need to take to activate them."
Oh, that was a skill.
Feeling a little dumb, Shirou checked his skill menu. The only two he saw were "Vertical" and "Horizontal", along with descriptions and stats for both. The only major difference between the two skills appeared to be their aim, both being self-explanatory.
"I'm guessing some skills are better than others at certain situations?" he asked.
"You got it," Chigusa said, smiling. "You gotta make sure to read up on your skills whenever you unlock a new one so that you can adjust to new enemies. And also, every skill has a small cooldown after use. Your cooling-down skills will appear at the bottom of your interface, so don't forget about that."
Shirou nodded and read the descriptions closely, trying to visualize situations where they might come in handy. "Is there a downside to the skill system?"
"They can limit your combat options, especially early on when you only have a few skills," said Chigusa. "But you unlock new ones pretty often as you raise your weapon masteries, so that works itself away. The later skills go off faster and even have more natural activation positions, which makes it easier to start chaining skills together."
"Sounds pretty cool. I bet the best players will be the ones who can keep using skills continuously," said Shirou.
"Nah, I bet the strongest player would be somebody who doesn't need to use the system." She looked at him, a serious look on her face. "Think about it, if they weren't limited by the skill system, they could surprise anybody, especially since they'd know what their enemy was planning to do. To match something like that you'd need insane versatility of your own."
"Good point," said Shirou. "Anyways, it's my turn at these boars," he added, smirking at her.
Chigusa clapped him on the back, laughing. "Sounds great, let's find some more."
They continued exploring the grasslands, until they came upon a much more open field, where Shirou could see the Frenzy Boars stretching out every which way for a few yards. Every which way. There were tons of them. What if they ganged up on him? He was fairly confident he could take one no problem, but what if they all got upset at watching him kill one of their fellows?
"They won't all aggro me at once, will they?" asked Shirou.
"Not these basic monsters, no. They'll only attack you if you bother them specifically," said Chigusa. "Other enemies won't be as nice, and that's when you'll want to either be a lot stronger than them or have some friends with you."
Shirou walked toward the closest boar, reading the description of "Horizontal" once again. Once he was within the described range of the skill, he positioned his sword, and waited for something to indicate that the skill was ready.
Nothing happened. He tried to swing. While the air was abused by his sword, the boar came off without a scratch.
Obviously he wasn't doing something right. He finally craned to meet Chigusa's eye.
"What am I doing wrong?" he asked, face hot.
"You have to aggro the enemy you want to use the skill on," Chigusa said pleasantly.
Shirou rolled his eyes, remembering the way Chigusa had stabbed the second boar before showcasing her own skill. He strode forward and gave the boar a sharp slap to the side with the flat of his sword, eliciting a squeal that was equal parts surprise, and equal parts rage. It turned to him and did that exaggerated show of grinding its hoof against the grass, during which time Shirou positioned his sword. After a second or two, blue waves of light began to pulse at the edge of his vision on his display. That had to be his skill readying! Grinning, he swung, and suddenly found himself jerked a few feet forward by his sword, until it cleaves the boar while carrying him along for the ride. The boar exploded like the others before it, and a loot window appeared for him.
Shirou grinned stupidly and uncontrollably as he looked at his big sister. "Got my first enemy!" he said.
Chigusa gave him a thumbs-up.
They spent a few hours out on the field, hunting for boars and slightly more dangerous plant-like enemies. His second attempt at a skill went wide, earning him a tusk to his side. Chigusa immediately darted in and struck down the boar, a furious look on her face. After that incident he practiced the timing and aim of his skills, until he began to feel more confident with them. Ultimately, Shirou did most of the fighting, but if Chigusa were impatient for action of her own, she didn't show. Just she watched him have his fun, a pleasant look on her face. After a while, the virtual sun began to set, and they took a silently agreed-upon break to sit upon a hillside.
Shirou smiled as he looked out upon the land, taking in how the field looked while cast in the ruby light of the setting sun. Even the water reflected the sunlight the same way real lakes and rivers did. He wouldn't have been able to tell he was inside of a world of one's and zero's if he didn't know better. Once again, he wondered how it had been done.
"So, having fun?" asked Chigusa.
His sister was pressed against him so close that he could feel her warmth. Maybe it wasn't her actual body, but it was still her sitting so close to him. It was just like when they'd used to play in the park when they were younger. She hadn't changed...
"Yeah," said Shirou. "This world really is amazing. Swinging my sword around on my own feels so awesome. And that view! Everything's so real."
"I know, that's exactly how I felt on my first day back in the beta test," Chigusa said, a peaceful smile on her face. "I spent hours and hours just exploring the field, looking for things to see and do, until the sun began to set. I sat at the top of a hill like this one and looked out across the first floor, and I knew right then that it was something I wanted to show you someday. That's why I got myself a second beta-test account under a different name, so that I could pre-order two copies of the full game when it was released, one for both of us."
Shirou laughed. So that was how she did it.
"I've really missed you ever since I moved away from home.. Are you and Dad doing okay ever since Mom..."
She frowned and looked down at her hands.
"Yeah, we're getting by," he said quietly.
"Let Dad know that I can always come back home if you two need me around the house again, okay?"
"I don't think he wants to be responsible for you losing your freedom any more than I do," said Shirou. Their parents had been so proud when Chigusa landed a job with a respectable – if relatively small – software company directly after graduating from university. That had been two and a half years ago.
Besides, they could be together now, even if it was over a game.
"I'm really glad you're having fun," Chigusa said, beaming at him. He leaned closer against him, wrapping her arm around his shoulder.
It was so nice to see her again.
But...
GONG
GONG
GONG
Shirou was on his feet in an instant. Off in the distance, from the center of the starting city, a loud bell was ringing, its dull tones even spreading out as far into the field as they'd gone. Shirou looked toward Chigusa for answers, but she was simply brushing herself off.
"Don't worry, it's just a GM announcement. There's probably some surprise event starting up," she said.
And then, Shirou found his vision engulfed by blue light, and he was suddenly back in the town square, the same place where he had begun his time in the game. Only now it was more packed than it had been that morning.
Shirou looked around wildly, his heart racing, but he quickly found Chigusa standing right at his side. Surrounding them were hundreds of other players, all chatting confusedly among themselves. Huh, it looked like she was right. He turned to Chigusa to ask what sort of event might be starting, but he saw her looking straight up into the sky. There hung an elongated hexagon bearing the word "Warning". Shirou narrowed his eyes at the box. Was the server going down? Emergency maintenance wouldn't be a huge surprise, but what a lame way to end SAO's first day. Then, the message changed to "System Announcement" and more of the red hexagons appeared, stacking among each other and spreading faster and faster until the sky was a deep red.
And then, blood began to drip through the cracks in the hexagons.
Shirou took a step back. What the hell was that?
"What," whispered Chigusa.
Whatever it was it actually wasn't blood, but something that looked eerily close. The blood-like fluid dropped a few yards toward the ground and coalesced, forming a red blob that grew and unfolded itself into a great red robe. A giant robed figure, smoke billowing out of its hood, floated above them. Shirou stared, shaking. There was no face in that hood.
"What is that?" he whispered to Chigusa.
"It's a Game Master," said Chigusa, "but something's wrong. The ones from the beta had faces, and they didn't appear like this..."
"Attention, player," the figure began in a more clear voice than Shirou would have guessed. "I welcome each and every one of you to my world."
"His world?" muttered Chigusa.
"My name is Akihiko Kayaba, and as of this moment, I am in control of this world."
Kayaba? Kayaba... The name sounded familiar to Shirou, but he couldn't place it. "Who?"
"He made this game," whispered Chigusa.
Shirou nodded. Kayaba being "in control of this world" seemed too obvious. What was he talking bout?
"I'm sure most of you have noticed an item missing from your main menus," Kayaba continued, his left hand gesturing to summon a row of menu buttons before him.
"The log out button."
Chigusa gave a strangled gasp and immediately opened her own menu. Her eyes simply widened. Shirou stared at her.
"It's gone," she whispered.
"Let me assure you that this is not a defect in the game. I repeat: this is not a defect. This is how Sword Art Online was designed to be."
"We're trapped in the game," Chigusa said, her voice dead of emotion.
Trapped!?
"What!?" gasped Shirou. "That's impossible, can't we just remove our NerveGears?"
"Once you're logged in you can't move your body, the NerveGear interrupts the signals in your brain," said Chigusa. "Without the logout command, there's no way out..."
They were stuck in a video game!? How could that even happen!?
"W-we can't be trapped!" Shirou immediately began clawing at his head, desperate to remove the NerveGear. But he couldn't. He could only touch his virtual body. He looked down at his hands, his fake, virtual hands, his real body feeling like a million miles away.
"Shirou, calm down!" Chigusa cried, emotion finally returning to her voice as she pulled him into a tight hug.
Shirou grabbed her arms and held them. He... he had her. At least he wasn't alone...
"You cannot log yourselves out of SAO," said Kayaba, "and no-one from the outside will be able to shut down or remove the NerveGear from your head. If anyone attempts to do so, a transmitter inside the NerveGear will discharge a microwave signal into your skull, destroying your brain and ending your life."
Shirou stared up. Chigusa's grip on him tightened.
This was...
Panicked words began to buzz between the collected players.
"Despite my warning, the families and friends of some of the players have attempted removing the NerveGears; an unfortunate decision to say the least. As a result, the game now has Two-hundred and thirteen less players than when it began. They've been deleted from both Aincrad and the real world."
Two-hundred and thirteen people. Two-hundred and thirteen people killed... Shirou shook involuntarily.
"Two-hundred and thirteen," whispered Chigusa.
"As you can see," Kayaba continued as windows began to pop up around him, "international media outlets have around-the-clock coverage of everything, including the deaths. At this point, it's safe to assume the likelihood of a NerveGear being removed is minimal, at best. I hope this brings you a little comfort as you try to clear the game."
"Clear the game!?" screamed Chigusa. "You can stuff your game!"
Some of the other players added their own verbal abuse. Shirou agreed silently. Kayaba expected them to keep playing SAO after everything he'd said? What the hell was wrong with him!?
"It's important you remember the following," said Kayaba, "there is no longer any way to revive anyone who dies within the game. If your hp drops to zero, your avatar will be deleted from the system, forever, and the NerveGear will simultaneously destroy your brain."
Chigusa's arms shook as they held Shirou. Shirou's legs were quivering violently. It took a supreme effort just to remain standing. This... this couldn't be real... How many times in an average mmo would a player die? Dozens? Hundreds?
How could this be real!?
"Shirou," whispered Chigusa.
"There is only one way for a player to escape now: you must clear the game," Kayaba continued in that damn calm tone. Shirou could only stare into his faceless hooded head, his mind buzzing with so many questions. How could Kayaba say all these terrible things while remaining so at ease with everything!? "Right now, you're gathered on floor one, the lowest level of Aincrad. If you can get through the dungeon and defeat the boss, you can advance to the next floor. Defeat the boss on floor one-hundred, and you will clear the game."
"Clear the whole game without dying once!?" cried Chigusa. "That's insane!"
"Last but not least," Kayaba went on, "I've placed a little present in the item storage of every player. Please, have a look."
Curiosity seizing him, Shirou swiped his hand at the air to open his menu and looked toward the item sub-menu. Under it, mixed in with the various drops he'd picked up earlier that day, was a "Hand Mirror". It lacked any sort of description. When he went to touch it, a small hand mirror appeared in the air in front of him, and he caught it by reflex.
And then, players all around him were engulfed by intense light, as was he. He clamped his eyes shut, expecting the worst, but the light soon faded. He didn't feel anything happen to him during the lightshow. What was the point of it?
"Shirou, are you okay!?"
"Yeah," Shirou said as he turned toward Chigusa. "I'm ok-"
There she was standing before him. Not the short-haired, large-busted spear woman, but his actual, living older sister, with her long black hair and freckled face. And she was gaping at him.
"Shirou it-it's you! The real you!"
What?
Shirou automatically looked down at the mirror in his hands, and saw his own face staring back at him. The mirror slipped from his hands and shattered on the ground.
"How?" he gasped.
"The NerveGear probably scanned our faces," said Chigusa, "And our body types... probably from when we did the calibrations... when we patted ourselves down."
"But what's the point," Shirou asked of no one in particular. Hands balled into tight fists, he looked up at Kayaba.
"Right now, you're probably wonder 'why'," said Kayaba, as if reading Shirou's mind. "Why would Akihiko Kayaba, developer of Sword Art Online and NerveGear, do this? Ultimately my goal was a simple one: the reason I created Sword Art Online was to control the fate of a world of my design. As you can see, I have achieved my goal."
"For something so insane," Chigusa said hoarsely.
"He'd trap us in this game... toying with our lives," whispered Shirou.
"This marks the end of the tutorial, and the official launch of Sword Art Online. Players, I wish you the best of luck."
And then the robed figure of Akihiko Kayaba collapsed and vanished, and the sky returned to its proper color in a flash. And all was quiet.
Shirou could only stand there, staring at the sky.
How could this happen!?
He was supposed to be spending time with his sister and enjoying an online game, not fighting for his life!
This had to be some sort of nightmare!
"Shirou, we've got to get out of here," whispered Chigusa. She firmly took him by the shoulders and began walking him through the crowd, and he didn't resist.
"But he said there's no way out of the game," he said hoarsely.
"No, I mean away from here, the square," Chigusa said into his ear.
The players around them allowed her to nudge them aside easily, and she steered him back toward the field, her hands like vice grips on his shoulders. She moved past the others gingerly, as if afraid of knocking them over. "Once the other players figure things out they'll start a panic," she said quietly. "We do NOT want to be here when that happens."
Then, just as they were nearing the edge of the crowd, it happened. Screams. People were shouting and crying out. Some were demanding to be let out, others were pleading for mercy. Chigusa just picked up the pace, leading Shirou on until they were well away from the town square. Once they were far enough that the din of the panic was a little quieter, she stopped, her whole body shaking.
"Shirou, I'm so sorry," she whispered, her voice shaking. "I should... I could've..."
"Chigusa, it's not your fault," Shirou said. He pulled himself free of his sisters grip – which was now much looser – and turned to face her. "Nobody could have possibly seen this coming! You know that!"
"No – I probably could have figured this would happen!" she said, tears welling up in her eyes. "I've been datamining Sword Art Online since the beta came out, but this morning – just before the servers went live – they pushed out a last-minute patch, claiming it was just for server maintenance. Kayaba was the one who actually wrote the patch, but he introduced a lot of code that wouldn't have had anything to do with server stability. If I weren't in a rush to login and meet up with you I would have gone into full hobby mode and dissected what he patched into the game – I'd probably have seen him making the changes, disabling the logout option, the permanent deaths, everything! They other system devs were probably too busy on the servers to notice - and who would expect Kayaba of all people to do this!? I should've-"
"That doesn't matter now," Shirou snapped. "All that matters is where we go from here. What should we do?"
"Uhm... I," Chigusa stammered, her gaze darting this way and that.
"Could I offer a suggestion?"
A woman was walking toward them from the square. A remarkably tall woman, her long black hair tied into a ponytail, a long axe and large shield attached to her back. Chigusa pushed Shirou away and stepped between him and the woman, her spear held ready.
"Calm down, I don't mean you any harm," the woman said calmly. "If we're going to survive this we need to work together. I want to help the two of you."
"We don't need any of your help," Chigusa said instantly.
"Are you sure? Three's better than two, isn't it?"
"Why us?" asked Shirou.
The woman gave him a puzzled look. "I saw the two of you leaving the crowd and thought that one of you had a plan, so I followed you. I play MMO's only as a hobby... so I won't be able to escape from this world on my own."
She shook her head. "There's too much I don't know, and you," she nodded to Chigusa, "seem to know a lot. I promise to do whatever I can to help keep you both safe, if you'll only help me in return. I don't want to stay trapped here forever."
Chigusa gnashed her teeth and shot Shirou a glance. While he had no idea who this woman was, she certainly seemed earnest, and he couldn't think of any reason she might have to be lying.
Not if she wanted out of the game, anyways. If Kayaba was right, then her only motivation for betraying them would be... to kill them in real life.
He shut his eyes. He didn't want to imagine the possibility that a total stranger would want to kill them.
He met Chigusa's glance and nodded, and she lowered her spear.
"We're willing to hear you out," said Chigusa. "You can call me Hinoka, and this is my brother, Razler."
"I'm Seriyuha," said the woman.
Not one of the three bothered to draw attention to the elephant in the room that they'd only exchanged their in-game names. Trust only went so far, and Shirou liked it better that way.
"At this point," said Seriyuha, "We're better off believing that everything Kayaba said was the truth. I don't know how serious he was when he said that he'd allow us to leave the game if we beat it, but we don't have much choice."
"I agree," said Shirou. If there was any other way for them to escape from the game, Chigusa would have known of it. If Kayaba were lying to them, they'd just have to hope that people on the outside could help them escape.
"What about our real bodies?" asked Chigusa.
"They'll probably have us moved to hospitals soon," Seriyuha said quietly. "Kayaba informed the authorities about the dangers of our NerveGears, so he's probably made arrangements to allow for us to get medical care while we're in this game..."
"His little plan won't get anywhere if we all drop dead before the first month ends," muttered Shirou.
Chigusa started gnawing lightly on her right thumbnail. "I live alone... I hope they find my body in time..."
"There's no point worrying about that," Seriyuha said, her gaze on Chigusa again. "If Kayaba was half as thorough in his planning for our health as he was in trapping us all here in the first place, then we should be fine."
Shirou felt rather bitter to admit it, but Seriyuha had a point. Kayaba had so far presented himself as detailed, if nothing else... "In that case, what's your plan, Seriyuha?" he asked.
"First, did you really play in the beta?" Seriyuha asked Chigusa.
"Yes," Chigusa said instantly. "We managed to reach the tenth floor, so I know a lot about the first few floors, especially this one."
"Where would you suggest we go right now?"
Chigusa frowned. "That depends on what you're looking for."
"If you, as a beta-tester, wanted to improve your chances of increasing your power and escaping this game, where would you go to do that the fastest?" asked Seriyuha.
Chigusa gave a gasp of recognition. "Away from here. The newbies are going to start grinding the fields in no time. The monsters respawn, of course, but not fast enough to make up for thousands of players killing them around the clock. We'll be choked for exp, cor, and items by sundown tomorrow."
"And the players who know better?"
Shirou stared at Seriyuha. Every question was fired off instantly, as if she were expecting the answers Chigusa was giving her. She was trying to lead Chigusa into saying something specific, he just wasn't sure what.
"They'll head for the next village and grind there," she eventually said. "Most likely, the players who know the game – or just games in general – will stay a step ahead of the rest. It takes a while in this game for quests to become available after completing, and back in the beta some quests and field bosses were one-time-only."
That was it. It was a race. Seriyuha wanted to find out how to get ahead of the other players the fastest.
Shirou wasn't sure what to make of this. He could understand Seriyuha's motivation – in a game world where death meant actual death, being selfish was more understandable than normal – but it still wasn't the most laudable of plans.
But he'd be lying if he said he wasn't very glad to have Chigusa and her knowledge of the game on his side.
"Could you guide us to the next village?" asked Seriyuha.
"Yes," Chigusa said slowly, a troubled look on her face, "but wolves lurk on the paths between here and there, so getting there could be dangerous with all of us at level one, especially with it almost being night. It'll be harder to sneak past them with a large party."
"Are the monsters tougher at night?" Shirou asked, already guessing the answer.
"Yes," said Chigusa. "Nocturnal creatures are usually at least two levels above their day-time counterparts, and they have trickier behavior. Here in this field, skeleton fighters come out at night. They're weak at first, but if you keep killing them more show up and they get bigger, until eventually a giant one will come and look for you."
"Eeesh," muttered Shirou. And he had thought the boars sounded bad at first...
"How dangerous would it be for the three to us to spend a few hours grinding here at night?" asked Seriyuha.
"If we're careful, not very. Fighting in a party is always easier than fighting alone," said Chigusa.
Seriyuha, her arms crossed, looked toward Shirou. "Are you comfortable with doing that?"
Shirou could only agree. With Seriyuha looking to him, specifically, for his own say in the matter, he couldn't refuse her, not when a workable plan was laid out before his feet. And besides, he didn't want to stop to think about anything right then. Maybe a few hours busting skeletons in the field would do him some good...
"Then let's go," Seriyuha said as she led the way back to the fields.
Shirou followed her, Chigusa at his side. Though Chigusa was the experienced one, she didn't question Seriyuha leading them, nor did Shirou. It was a matter of bearing; Seriyuha felt to him like somebody to listen to.
That night went as productively as Chigusa had said. Seriyuha had opted for a knight class, which left her slower than the siblings, but with much more staying power in combat. She fought the skeletons head on, often holding off two or three of the them at once while Shirou and Chigusa worked to fight at her sides and behind her. The three of them made a solid team, and they had all reached level four by the time they concluded their night grinding. Some of the numbness that Kayaba had left Shirou with had worn away by then, and he even started to believe that they had a chance if they could continue to work together.
Even so, he didn't particularly mind when Chigusa insisted on sharing a room at the inn they decided on. He didn't want to be alone that night...
One of the strangest things in the actual SAO is how much rides on the shoulders of young teenagers. Adult gamers like Chigusa and Seriyuha would certainly exist in 202X, so why were the only ones we ever saw secondary characters or villains? How was it that a fourteen year-old managed to figure things out so perfectly? In reality, you'd more likely see the older gamers stepping up to look after the younger ones - the ones more likely to lose their heads.
And, what, SAO doesn't have classes?
Well... fuck that, that's stupid.
Anyways, please take time out to review! Constructive criticism is especially welcome!