OOC: Borrowed a bit of text from the starting post done by the GM of another SAO RPG I previously participated in.<br/><br/>IC:<br/><br/>Artemis hesitated for a moment, then allowed herself to be dragged along behind Selene.  She thought they really ought to be logging out now, but what was another hour?<br/><br/>At that moment, the sound of a bell ringing reached Artemis' ears, making her look up.  It seemed to be coming from ahead of her and Selene -in fact it seemed to be coming from their destination itself.<br/><br/>Suddenly there was a flash of light, and the field Artemis and Selene had been jogging through disappeared, to be replaced by the huge circular stone "square" at the center of the Town of Beginnings.  Stumbling to a halt, Artemis looked around and saw that hundreds -perhaps thousands- of other players were already gathered there, with more flashing into view every second.<br/><br/>"What just happened?" she wondered aloud.  Many other players seemed to have similar questions, as the air around her and Selene was alive with excited voices.<br/><br/>Then things started to get<em>really</em>strange.  A section of the sky above the player's heads started to flash red.  It contained a single word in English.  Since that was Sara's native language, she had no trouble reading it.<br/><br/>The word was<em>warning</em>.<br/><br/>Additional sections of the sky around the now solid red section also began to turn red, the shift spreading like wildfire until the entire sky was red and separated into grid sections containing either the words "Warning" or "System Announcement."  Confused and somewhat frightened, Sara cast her gaze around the sky until she saw something flowing out from between some of the grid sections.  It was thick an viscuous, and began to form into a large shape -a massive yet somehow formless hooded figure.<br/><br/>"Players," the figure announced.  "I welcome you all to my world.  My name is Kayaba Akihiko. Right now I am the only person who can control this world."  There was a pause. "I think that most of you have discovered the fact that the Log Out button has disappeared from the main menu. This is not a bug; it is all part of Sword Art Online's system."<br/><br/>Artemis blinked and quickly made the gesture to bring up her menu.  As the figure said, there did not appear to be a log out feature.  She hadn't noticed it before, but then she hadn't been looking for it.<br/><br/>Then the hooded figure dropped a bombshell.<br/><br/>"...also, the disruption or dismantling of the Nerve Gear from the outside is strictly forbidden. If these things are attempted, the signal sensors in your NerveGear will emit a strong electromagnetic pulse, destroying your brain and stopping all of your basic functions."<br/><br/><em>What?</em><br/><br/>Artemis blinked.  Who was this guy?  Some hacker playing a prank?  Surely he wouldn't be able to make the NerveGear's hardware do something like that...<br/><br/>Artemis angrily began to search through her menu as the figure continued to speak, saying something about what would make the Nervegear fry her brain but she didn't need to worry because the media had been alerted.  Surely there had to be<em>some</em>way to log out...<br/><br/>She shut the menu in frustration as the hooded figure explained that Sword Art Online was no longer a game, that they would really die if their health reached zero, that they could only free themselves by clearing the game... this was going too far.  She had homework to do.  She didn't have time to waste on some hacker's prank...<br/><br/>Then the hooded figure dropped another bombshell.<br/><br/>"I will show you evidence that this is the only reality. In your inventories, there will be a gift from me. Please confirm this."<br/><br/>Artemis had no intention of playing along with the figure's game, but found herself holding an item anyway.  It seemed to be some kind of mirror...<br/><br/>A flash next to Artemis drew her attention, and she looked over to where Selene was standing only to see a sight that truly shocked her.  Where the tall warrior woman Selene had been standing was a smaller and more slightly built girl with twintails -her friend and fellow student Mizuki Watanabe.<br/><br/>"Mizuki?" she enquired.  At that moment, a flash engulfed Artemis herself, and she suddenly found herself looking down at her companion, just like in real life where her height of six foot one -one hundred eighty five centimeters- made her a virtual giant in Japan.<br/><br/>(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/9/91/SaraM.png)