Chapter 2 Entering the World of Sword Art Online
In front of the teleportation gate in the Town of Beginnings Sora just logged in the game and he saw a lot of players wandering around or buying merchandise from the stands. But when Sora rubbed his hair instead of stiff and very spiked it was softer and not as spiked. As he was wondering what happened to his hair, he heard the ringtone from his Gummiphone and icon that had a picture of his Gummiphone. When he touched it, he heard a very familiar voice "Sora can you hear us?" Ansem asked. "Ansem?! how are you able to reach your voice here?" Sora asked. "When Master Yen Sid asked for us to take precautions on your Mark of Mastery, we added the Gummiphone in your storage so we can contact you and you can contact us" Ansem said. "Wow that's gonna be very helpful, wait what do you mean inventory?" Sora asked. "Oh right… wait what do you mean in my inventory?" Sora asked. "Oh, right I don't think we fully explained how things work in this game. Well Sora if you raise your right hand and slide it down a bunch of icons will appear in front of you" Ienzo explained. "Okay" Sora said. So, he raised his right hand and slid it down and a bunch of icons appeared in front of him the inventory/equipment the character icon, Friends/Guild that has two characters on the icon, communications with the the two chat boxes for an icon, Maps/Quest with the balloon location icon, Settings/Main menu the icon with that option is a gear. "Huh what are these things?" Sora asked. "That is the main menu there you'll be able to access your inventory and a lot of other things. If you click on the character icon and 3 sub menus will appear." Ansem explained. So, Sora clicked on the icon and like Ansem said 3 sub menus appeared equipment, items, and skills. "Good now click on the the items button and that will show the items you have." Even explained. When Sora clicked it an additional scrolling screen appeared on the left that showed his Gummiphone. When Sora pressed on the item the Gummiphone materialized right in front of him and when Sora grabbed it, he saw Ansem and his apprentices on the screen and the Gummiphone icon in front of him disappeared. "Wow this is cool! so we can communicate with each other with between worlds of data and the real world?" Sora asked. "Yes, I gave yours and everyone's Gummiphone an upgrade so not only can we talk across worlds we can talk across realms to even across the worlds of memories and data." Ienzo explained. "Cool, but wait how am I supposed to use my keyblade without magic?" Sora asked. "Your weapons are in the equipment if you want to use one of your keyblades" Even said. So, Sora went to the equipment and found all his keyblades on it, but when he equipped the kingdom key keyblade a bright blue light appeared behind his back and keyblade appeared behind his back in a scabbard. Sora was surprised to see his magical keyblade act like a regular sword. "Like we told you already Sora you won't be able to use you're keyblade like your used to since in this world you can't use magic. So, throughout the rest of your time there your keyblade will act like a regular sword." Ansem explained. "Well, it's gonna feel weird using my keyblade like a regular sword but I can get used it." Sora said. "Good but the other thing you have to be used to is your new look." Even told him. "Oh yeah I was gonna mention that my hair felt softer and not as thick and spiky like it usually is, can you see what it looks like on your end?" Sora asked. "Well, it doesn't look spiked like usual and looks more flat and curlier." Ienzo said. "I see… well I live so what do I do now?" Sora asked. "Well until you can find a way to the next floor explore around a bit see if you can find out anything more about the game, you're in" Even said. "Good idea, we may have access to the game by the game master, but we don't know everything that works in Sword Art Online" Ansem said. "Well, okay I'll take a look around and I'll call you if anything strange happens" Sora said. "Good we'll watch you and the rest of the game on our end so have fun and good luck" Ansem said. "I will thanks." Sora said. And with that the call ended and Sora walked along the rest of the first floor of Sword Art Online.
"As Sora wandered around the rest of the first floor he ended up on the grasslands in the West Field and heard a very loud scream. So, Sora rushed to where he heard the scream and saw two other players. One of them was on the ground in and looked like he was in pain with long pink hair with a red bandana that held up his hair and tied around his forehead. He also has a hooked nose a slight beard on his cheeks and chin. The second one has long gray hair and his facial features Sora had the feeling he was little older than him. "Hey are you alright?" Sora asked. "Relax he's fine especially since you can't feel any pain in this game" the gray-haired player said. "Huh? … oh yeah, your right." the player with the long pink hair said. "You can't feel any pain? Then why did you scream in pain?" Sora asked. "Yeah, I kind of forgot when I logged in" the long pink hair player said. "Since you asked if you can't feel pain in this game, I have a feeling this is your first vrmmo game." the long gray hair player said. "Yeah, it is… my names Sora." Sora said. "My name is Kirito" the long gray hair player said. "My names Klein and Kirito was teaching me how to play this game maybe he can teach you to. the long pink hair player said. "Sure, I can teach you to if you want." Kirito said. "Thanks! I was planning to learn how to play this game." Sora said. "I was just teaching Klein how to use swords skills with that boar." Sora looked in front of him and saw a blue boar with tusks and red eyes. "Yeah, but it's a lot harder than it looks." Klein said with frustration with the boar. "Remember what I said? The first move is the most important" Kirito explained. "Yeah, that's easy for you to say but he won't stand still." Klein said. "If you do your initial motion right and activate your sword skill at the right time…" as Kirito explains he picks up a rock and he waits a while till it turns red and throws it hard at the boar's butt. "The system pretty much guarantees you'll always hit your target." Kirito explained. "Initial motion?" Klein asked. Sora wasn't understanding it much either since he was also new to the game and its features. "Here's an easier way to look at it." as he explains he's fighting the boar. "Right after you start the move wait for a little bit and when you feel the skill start to activate drive it home." "Drive it home?" Klein asked. "I think what he's trying to say when the skill is activated then do the skill." Sora said. After Klein understood what he meant he held his sword to his shoulder and it glowed yellow. Kirito noticed it and kicked the boar over to Klein and it ran towards him and with the sword still glowing and killed the boar in one hit and the results of the kill show up and showed the amount of Exp24, Col30 and Items2. After the win Klein cheers for his victory against the boar. "Good going Klein" Sora congratulated him and they high fived. "Congratulations" Kirito complemented but not as the same enthusiasm as Sora he Klein high fived each other as well. "That was nice, but that boar is just as weak as slimes in other games are." Kirito said. "Seriously!? I thought that thing was a mid level boss!" Klein said. "Seriously? that boar didn't look that strong at all." Sora said believing that boar wasn't very strong especially since he's faced monsters even stronger than that boar. "Exactly." Kirito said. Klein continued to use his sword skill by watching the sword glow and and strike. "Woah!" Klein said in amazement. "Addictive, isn't it?" Kirito asked. "I'll say. So, these skills there's a ton of them like blacksmithing and stuff, right?" Klein asked while swinging his sword around. "Yup, I heard the game has an unlimited number of them, except for magic through" Kirito explained. "An RPG without magic? that's a bold decision man." Klein said while practicing his sword skill one more time. "So, what do you think? It's kind of fun to move your body as you fight, isn't it?" Kirito asked. "Oh yeah!" Klein said in excitement. "Are you guys ready to move on?" Kirito asked. "You know we are!" Sora said excited to learn more. "Yeah, let's get going!" Klein said also eager to learn. So, they moved on killing more monsters and learning more about the game. But as they were fighting Kirito and Klein were amazed at Sora's fighting ability especially since this his first time in a vrmmo. Even though Sora was still getting used to his sword skills and not being able to use magic, but he got along quickly using his fighting experience to help him adjust to fighting in the game. But Kirito was curious about the weapon Sora wielded it looked like a key and had a keychain at the end of it. He'd never seen anything like it in the game. But when he asked Sora about it, he said he went to one of the stands that had it but there was only one left. Kirito didn't really believe it, but he figured Sora wouldn't exactly tell him where he got it for whatever reason. But Sora got a little nervous he knew Kirito was onto him and he knew he had to protect the world order while he was in S.A.O.
Soon the sun starts to set, and the three players are resting after all that fighting and learning about Sword Art Online. "When I look around, I can't believe it. We're inside a game guys." Klein said. "I know the world around us feels so real! I'd love to meet the guy who made this!" Sora said in excitement. "Yeah, whoever made it is a genius. This thing's amazing makes me glad I was born when I was you know?" Klein said... "It's not that big a deal" Kirito said. "NOT THAT BIG A DEAL! How many people do you know who can make a world full of life like this!" Sora said in excitement he's been to worlds of data before like Space Paranoids and the virtual Twilight town, but Space Paranoids was a copy of its original program while the virtual Twilight town is a copy of the original Twilight town. "You must be really excited about this huh?" Kirito asked in amusement. "Hey this is my first time doing a full dive!" Sora retorted. "Same here! Once I got the money I rushed out and got all the hardware to play S.A.O stood in line and scored one of the 10,000 hard copies, guess you could say I was pretty lucky. Although you Kirito were 10 times as lucky getting to beta test it" Klein said. "Beta… test?…" Sora asked confused on what that was. "You didn't hear? When the beta test was released only a thousand people was able to try it and Kirito is one of them." Klein explained. "Really!? Wow you really were lucky Kirito." Sora said. "Yeah, I guess so…" Kirito said not sounding as excited as Sora and Klein. "Yeah, mind if I ask how far you got in the beta?" Klein asked. "Two months and I couldn't get further than floor 8." Kirito answered. "Really?" Sora asked. "Yeah but now I feel that I can get there within a month easy." Kirito said with confidence. "Sounds to me like your really into this." Klein said. As Kirito explains he pulls out his sword "Yeah you could say that, during the beta test S.A.O was the only thing on my mind day and night. In this world, a single blade can take you anywhere you want to go and even though it's a virtual world, I feel more alive here than I ever did in the real one." Kirito explained. Sora was amazed at how dedicated Kirito was to the virtual world and how he felt more at home in this world than the real one. "Anyway, you guys want to do some more hunting?" Kirito asked. "You know I am!" Sora said with excitement. "Oh, you know it. But the thing is" then Klein's belly starts to rumble "I'm really hungry I have to log out" Klein said. "Too bad the food you eat here only satisfies your hunger virtually." Kirito said. "Yeah, for reals. That's why I ordered a pizza for 5:30." Klein said. "Well, you certainly came prepared" Sora complimented. "You know it. Besides, the game can wait until I get my pizza on." Klein said. "I guess." Kirito said. "Hey, I was going to go meet up with some people I know from another game. I don't know what you guys are up to after this so if you want, you can friend them and hang with us." Klein said. "Uh…well." Kirito said with uncertainty he wasn't against it but he was always more of a solo player. "Sorry Klein but I'm planning on doing some more leveling up after this to get stronger" Sora said after what happened at his first Mark of Mastery when he fell in the organizations trap, he doesn't want to take any chances. "Oh, it's cool of you don't want to no pressure I can always introduce you to them another time or something." Klein said. "Thanks, hope we get to meet them someday." Sora said. "Yeah sorry. Thanks anyway." Kirito said. "No way I should be thanking you Kirito hey I promise one of these days I'll pay you back for all your help virtually, that is." Klein said. "Yeah, thanks for helping me out to I promise to pay you back someday to for your help." Sora said. "Yeah, right." Kirito said. "Thanks for everything man really. Well, I guess I'll see you too around then." Klein said. "If there's anything you guys want to know message me" Kirito said. "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind" Sora said. "Sweet I'll do that." Klein said. Then they all shook hands but when Klein was about to logout, he noticed something strange. "Huh where'd the logout button go?" Klein asked when he pulled out the menu the logout button was missing. "It should be there when you access the main menu." Kirito said. "Hmm, nope it isn't there" Klein said. So, Sora decides to unlock his main menu and his logout button isn't there either. "Hey, I don't see it here either." Sora said. "That's not right it should be at the bottom of the main menu." Kirito said. But when Kirito unlocked his main menu his log out button wasn't there either. "You see not there." Klein said. "Your right" Kirito said. "I hope the problem isn't serious." Sora said concerned about not him and his friends not being able to logout and having a bad case of déjà vu since the last time something didn't go right in his Mark of Mastery. "Oh, relax it's the first day out of beta there's bound to be some bugs. I bet the server people are freaking out right now." Klein said. "You'll be freaking out to when you find out what time it is." Sora said. "What do you mean?" Klein asked. "Look it's 5:25." Kirito explained as he pointed to the timer when he summoned the main menu there was a timer over the main menu. When Klein looked at the clock he panicked when he remembered something important for 5:30. "OH NO MY TERIYAKI MAYO PIZZA AND GINGER ALE!" "Why don't you just contact the game master?" Kirito asked. "Huh yeah, I did that but nothing's happening he's not picking up. Do you know there's another way to logout of this thing?" Klein asked. "No if a player wants to logout of S.A.O the only way they can do it is by going through the menu." Kirito explained. "What! There must be another way to log out." Sora exclaimed. "Yeah Return! Logout! Escape!" Klein shouted waving his right arm and jumping up and down, but nothing happened. "Told you so and there's no emergency logout in the manual, either." Kirito said. "You got to be kidding me." Sora said sounding very annoyed at the fact that there's no other way for them to log out. "Seriously… I know I'll just rip the nervegear off my head" Klein said while putting his hands on his head desperately trying to takeoff the nervegear in the real world. "Don't bother once your hooked in you can't move your body in the real world anymore. The nervegear intercepts all the commands you give from inside the game using an interface built into the rig." Kirito explained. "So basically, we need to wait around until the bug is fixed?!" Sora asked worried about himself and his friends. Even though Sora doesn't use a nervegear he still couldn't logout and he couldn't let anyone know he didn't use the nervegear or risk breaking the world order. He hoped Ansem the Wise, and his apprentices would fix the problem for him and his friends. "Either that or someone in the real world comes along and takes the nervegear off us." Kirito explained. "Well, I live alone. What about you to?" Klein asked. "Well… I was hanging out at my friend's house and using the nervegear there so maybe he'll find me." Sora said as a cover up story, so he doesn't break the world order. "Well, I got a mom and a sister and I'm pretty sure they'll notice by dinner time and come looking..." Kirito said before he was interrupted by Klein who rushed up to Kirito grabbing his shoulders with a thirsty look on his face. Sora recognized that look from Phil in Hercules world whenever it came to women "You got a sister? Hold old, is she? What's she like?" Klein asked. "She's into sports hates games and she's totally not your type man. She wouldn't date a gamer if he's the last guy…" Kirito said until he was once again interrupted by Klein still wanting to know more about his sister with the thirsty look on his face. "Who cares I want to…" Klein said until Kirito snapped him out by kicking him in the balls and Klein falls in pain, but he forgot what he first learned about S.A.O. "Huh, oh yeah getting kicked in the balls doesn't hurt." Klein said. "Snap out it Klein this is serious." Sora said. "Sora's right if we can't logout it's going to cause some serious problems for the game." Kirito explained. "Yeah, I guess you're right." Klein said. "I wonder if the developers even know what's happening, they can just shut down the server and log everyone out. But why haven't they made an announcement?" Kirito asked. As they were thinking they heard a bell ringing and then the three players vanished in a light blue aura.
"Meanwhile back in the castle of Radiant Garden Ansem the wise and his apprentices were surprised to see from their computer screen that the logout menu is gone. "What happened?" Ienzo asked worried about Sora and the other players. "Why wouldn't the logout menu not be there?' Even asked confused on to how the logout menu could be missing. "I'm not sure but I know Akihiko Kayaba wouldn't have a problem with a logout button in his game." Ansem said believing that the logout button missing from the main menu is no accident. "If that's the case we need to get Sora out of that world and put an end to this exam." Even said worried for Sora's life. "We can't the company Argos hasn't given us complete access to the S.A.O servers we can't force Sora to logout even if we wanted to." Ansem said. "(Sigh) well you think someone will turn off the servers on their world?" Ienzo asked. Before Ansem could answer they heard a bell from the computer and realized that Sora and the other two players were gone. "Sora! What just happened?" Even asked surprised and worried about what happened to Sora. "He must have been taken somewhere else on that floor!" Ansem said surprised at what happened and rushed to the computer looking for Sora. He looked all over that floor until he reached the middle of the city where he saw Sora, Kirito and Klein and the rest of the players popping up in a light blue aura in the middle of the city in the Town of Beginnings. "Now what's happening?" Ienzo asked. "I think we're about to find out" Ansem said. Back in Sword Art Online Sora and his friends showed up in the middle of the plaza where lots of other players showed up. "Someone forced a teleport…" Kirito said to himself. Everyone in the city was confused about what was happening and Klein noticed something strange in the sky. "Hey guys look" he points up at the sky and Sora, Kirito and the other players looked up and saw a red warning label above them. "Now what?" Kirito asked. Then the entire sky was covered by red warnings and system announcement labels and some red started oozing out of the cracks of the warning labels forming an enormous faceless red cloaked figure floating over all the players. "Attention players, I welcome you to my world" the faceless cloaked figure said. "What's he mean by that?" Kirito asked. Sora didn't like the look of the guy it reminded him of Ansem the seeker of darkness when he first met him in the secret place. "My name is Akihiko Kayaba and as of this moment I am in control of this world." the faceless cloak figure said. "So that's the game master for this world… but I wonder how he looks like in real life." Sora said. "I'm sure most of you noticed an item missing from the main menu the logout button" then Akihiko Kayaba reveals the main menu to all the players and reveals the shocking truth to why it's not there. "Let me assure you 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." Kayaba explained. "He's… kidding right?" Klein asked. "I don't think he is…" Sora said having a feeling that something is extremely wrong. "You can't log yourself out of S.A.O and no one from the outside will be able to shut 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." Kayaba explained. The players looked at him scared and confused on what's going on fearing for their lives and desperately wanting to logout. "Are you guys listening to this crap? He's got to be nuts right guys?" Klein asked, not really believing what Akihiko Kayaba said. "He's not the transmitter signals in the headgear work just like microwaves. If the safety's disabled it can fry your brain." Kirito explained. "What!? Who would invent something that dangerous?!" Sora exclaimed fearing the life for his friends and the other players. "Couldn't someone just cut the power?" Klein asked also sounding worried for their lives. "That won't work the nervegear has an internal battery." Kirito explained. "This is crazy! IT'S TOTALLY CRAZY!" Klein exclaimed. "Despite my warning the families and friends of the players have attempted to remove the nervegear an unfortunate decision to say the least. As a result, the game now has 213 less players than when it began. They've been deleted from both Aincrad and the real world." Kayaba said. Sora looked up horrified at what just happened those players just wanted to play a game but died because the game master made this game into a death game. "213?!" Kirito said completely shocked at what happened. "No way I don't believe it!" Klein exclaimed. Then Akihiko Kayaba showed them the international, social media posts and tv news from the real world about what's happening. "As you can see international media outlets have round the clock coverage of everything including the deaths. At this point it's safe to assume the likelihood of nervegear being removed is minimal at best. I hope this brings you a little comfort as you try to clear the game. It's important to remember the following there is no longer a way to revive someone from within the game. If your H.P drops to zero your avatar will be deleted from the system forever. And the nervegear will simultaneously destroy your brain." Sora looked scared and angry for Akihiko Kayaba purposefully endangering the lives of the players who just wanted to have fun in the game. Sora knew he didn't use a nervegear but if his H.P drops to zero he'll die too. "There's only one way for a player to escape now. You must clear the game 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 may advance through the next floor. If you defeat the boss on floor 100 and you will clear the game." Kayaba explained. The players were confused and flabbergasted at what they had to do just to return to the real world. "We can't clear all 100 floors it's impossible. Not even the beta testers got that high!" Klein exclaimed. "Last but not least I placed a little present in the item storage of every player. Please have a look." Kayaba said. So, Sora goes through his main menu and when he goes to his items, he not only sees his gummiphone he finds a mirror. When he clicks on the mirror item a mirror appears in his hand. But before he did anything he heard Klein scream, and he turned around a light blue aura covering him completely. "Klein!" Kirito shouted. But then the same bright light covered Kirito as well "Kirito!" Sora shouted. Then Sora got covered in the same bright light along with all the other players. After the lights went out Sora looked around for his friends and noticed something different about them. "Hey Kirito, do you know what happened" Sora asked. "No nothing strange happened huh?... who are you?" Kirito asked. "What do you mean it's me Sora who are you?" Sora asked. "Hey guys are you alright." Klein asked. "Yeah, wait who are you?" Kirito asked. "I'm me who are you to?" Klein asked. "The players looked at each other and were confused on who they were. Sora was also confused about what happened. He had a feeling the people in front of him were his friends, but he doesn't recognize them, and they don't recognize him. But when Sora rubbed his head, he noticed his hair wasn't as flat and curled like it was when he showed up it was back to its spiky style. So, Sora looked at the two players the one player with short black hair and his facial appearance made him look like he's the same age as him. As for the other player, he had spiky reddish hair and a red bandana. There were a few differences, but Sora knew the players in front of him were Kirito and Klein. "Wait Kirito, Klein is that what you really look like?" Sora asked. When Kirito looked through the mirror, he knew Sora was on to something. When he first showed up, he was in his avatar look and after the mirror he turned to what he looks like in real life. "Wait Sora Klein is that you?" Kirito asked. "Yeah, wait how are in our real-life appearances?" Klein asked. Sora wasn't surprised when the teleporter scanned him when he entered space paranoids his physical appearance never changed. "The scan there's a high-density signal device inside the nervegear rig. It can see what my face looks like but how does it know my height and body type?" Kirito asked. "When you put on the nervegear it had you do this calibration thing. It asked you to touch your body all over like this remember?" Klein asked while touching his body like it explained when he first put on the nervegear. "Yeah, that's probably where it got our physical data." Kirito said. "But this is… what's the point? Why would anyone do something like this?" Klein asked confused why Akihiko Kayaba would make his game into a death game. "I think he's about to tell us" Sora said pointing at the faceless figure above them. "Right now, you're probably wondering why. 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." Kayaba explained. "Kayaba…" Kirito muttered angrily under his breath. "As you can see, I have achieved my goal. This marks the end of the tutorial and the official launch of Sword Art Online players I wish you the best of luck." Kayaba said. Then the faceless robe figure faded away and all the red warning signs disappeared revealing the sunset from earlier. Sora was having a serious case of déjà vu, seeing a faceless figure in front of him warning him of something big that's happening something dangerous. On his first Mark of Mastery when he first met Young Xehanort in the dream Traverse Town it was the red flag is that something is wrong and the trials he's on is more dangerous than a regular test. Like Akihiko Kayaba said his life is in danger but it's not out of the ordinary for him. But the thought he would make a game that everyone wanted to play into a death game and put everyone's lives in danger and if they want to leave the game has to be clear. Then Sora remembered the words Master Yen Sid told him "Complete your task and return here safely and I will name you a true master." Was his task just to explore a newly created vrmmo game or was it to be able to survive in a new deadly environment. As everything went back to normal everyone in the game panicked and screamed fearing for their lives, desperately wanting to go home yelling and screaming in confusion and fear. "Pst Sora, Klein follow me." Kirito said. So, the three players left the crowd and went to the edge of the village. "Listen I'm heading out right now to the next village I want you guys to come with me." Kirito said. "Huh?" Sora and Klein asked at the same time. "If what he says is true then the only way to survive is to become as strong as possible." Kirito said as he opened his main menu and showed the map of floor 1 and the red dots represented the villages they'd need to go. "In an mmorpg the money you earn the xp once the game starts up there's only so much to go around. "Look the fields around the Town of Beginnings are gonna be hunted clean so if we head for the next village now, we'll have an easier time collecting cash and points." As he explained a white line made a path on the map from one dot to the next showing where to go from the village they were at to the next. "Don't worry I know all the paths and places we should avoid even if I'm level 1 I can get there easy." Kirito explained. "Well, that sounds like a plan I'm in what about you Klein?" Sora asked. "Well, I'd say yes but remember those friends of mine I told you about? We stood in line for a while to buy this game and…" He remembered the friends he was supposed to meet up with after he logged in. "They're all back in the plaza somewhere and I can't leave them." Klein said. "Maybe they can come with us, what do you think Kirito?" Sora asked. Kirito thought about it, he wanted to say yes but he didn't know how he was going to handle taking more people with him. "Sorry can't ask a guy I just met to risk his life for a bunch of strangers, right? Don't worry about me you to go on ahead to the next village. I'll be fine the last game I played I ran a guild so I'm more than prepared and with all the things you taught me Kirito I'll get through this no sweat." Klein said with confidence. "Okay... if that's what you want then I guess Sora and I should get going." Kirito said sounding a little sad and worried that Klein won't be joining them. "Well alright but message one of us if you're in any trouble." Sora said. "You got it" Klein said. "Well, we'll be seeing you Klein take care." Kirito said. "Sora! Kirito! I… uh… you guys look better like that. Way cooler than your avatar looks." Klein complemented. "Thanks, your real life looks better on you as well." Sora said. "Yeah, and I think that scruffy face fits you ten times better to." Kirito complemented. So, Sora and Kirito headed for the next village but before they ran too far, they looked behind them only to notice Klein had already left. "Bye Klein... take care..." Sora said to himself. But then they pressed on out of the first village and ran on to the next one. But on the path a grey demonic looking wolf with red eyes appeared but Kirito rushed on ahead and destroyed with one slash of his sword and the two players moved on. But then something else appeared that made Kirito stand in shock and Sora in anger. A small black creature with a round, spherical head with circular, glowing yellow eyes. With two long, twisted antennae sprouting out of the top of its head. Its hands have three clawed fingers, and its large feet lack any discernible digits. "Wha... what is that thing?!" Kirito asking in fear. "It's a heartless!" Sora shouted as he took out his keyblade and took it out. "How do you know the name if that thing?! I didn't even see them in the beta test!" Kirito exclaimed. "Might be because there not from this game their..." Sora had to think of what he had to say he couldn't just say they're monsters that devour hearts to produce more of their kind. If he would be risking the world order being exposed, he needed a good cover story on how the heartless are here. "From another game a much older game." Sora said. "Another game?... huh I've never heard about them before." Kirito said not sounding convinced about the creatures he saw and more confused as to how Sora knew about them. "Like I said a much older game that not many people know about it" Sora said trying his best to cover up his story. "Okay... but why would they be in this game now?" Kirito asked. "I don't know maybe Kayaba learned about them and decided to add them to make it more of a death game." Sora said. "Maybe... but I don't know a thing about these monsters..." Kirito said. "Don't worry I'll tell you a thing or two about these heartless as we journey on." Sora said. "Thanks... even with these new monsters this world can't beat us we will survive." Kirito said with confidence. "Yeah! Well, let's head for that next village!" Sora exclaimed. And with that the two players went to the next village so they can survive the death game.
Back in the castle in Radiant Garden Ansem the Wise and his apprentices saw everything that happened and were shocked. "Heartless!? They shouldn't be in that game at all!" Ienzo exclaimed completely shocked at why the heartless are there when they shouldn't be in the game at all. "Exactly and now that we know Akihiko Kayaba made S.A.O into a death game the players are in more dangers than they are right now." Even said concerning about the players safety with the heartless involved. "Don't worry Sora is in there and he'll be able to deal with them." Ansem said. "But how did the heartless even get in there anyway?" Even asked. "I'm not sure, do you think Akihiko Kayaba brought them in?" Ienzo asked. "I know he wouldn't I told him how dangerous the heartless are, he may be risking players lives by making his world into a death game, but he wouldn't be so foolish into allowing creatures of darkness to enter a game of death. Besides I only told him the dangers the heartless bring not many appearances they have." Ansem explained. "Well alright... but I'm still concerned about the heartless being in a world where your life is danger constantly the darkness in their hearts is bound to rise up causing the heartless to pop up there constantly." Even said. "Well... if Kayaba didn't allow the heartless in than how did they get in?" Ienzo asked. "It must be someone not from the where Sword Art Online was created and I have a feeling that out of all the players besides Sora one of them is not from the world where the game was created..." Ansem said
There you go the next chapter and who is in that game bringing in the heartless? A lot more surprises will be coming in the next few chapters stay tunned...