Sword Art Online/ソードアート・オンライン 1. Chapter 1

Zachary Nathan Taylor sat on the edge of his bed, looking out the window at the rather gloomy clouds that passed by over head in his small apartment in Downtown Tokyo. His right pointer finger gave a steady thud, thud, thud, as it tapped his leg, waiting for the alarm on his desk to go off. His girlfriend was scheduled to come by at 5:30, and he wanted to get as much play time in as possible before that happened. As the Junior Executive Manager of Production and Sales for Sword Art Online, he was given both a beta copy, and an auto update link once the game went online for the public. The update link would activate at 12:00, 10 minutes after the public servers came online.

He wasn't an unattractive man, although no one would look twice passing him in the street. He had short brown hair, an fairly average body type and build. His skin was kept at an almost tan, and his eyes were a constantly changing array of colors, the feature that had captured the attention of his girlfriend, Angel.

The red LED display on the cheap plastic clock counted down, and he found it impossible to sit still. The beta servers were down till the update took effect, so he had nothing to do while he waited. He began to pace. 11:35. He was ringing his hands, suddenly regretting not buying that new book. 11:40. He left the room, grabbing a glass of water and drinking it as slowly as he could. 11:43. He checked the clocks in all the other rooms, sure that the one in his bedroom was slow. 11:50. The public servers would be activating, the mechanics wurring inside the metal casings as billions upon billions of tons of data flowed through them.

He slipped on the Nerve Gear, activating the power and logging into the computer. The clock in the upper left corner ticked down slowly. He began to play his favorite songs, beginning to end, in his head. After three renditions of his personal favorite, the clock gave a single chime, and he smiled.

12:00

He blinked twice, activating the voice reader, and said "link start!"

A flash of colors filled his eyes, then the initial log in screen. Thanks to his auto log in, he quickly zoomed through the various selection screens. He was greeted by the Welcome screen, then blackness. He listened for a moment. He heard voices, sounds, laughter. And he smiled as he opened his eyes. He was back.

The city square was full of people, talking, laughing, comparing weapons or stats. Zach was meeting his childhood friend here, and the view was spectacular. He was at the raised platform in the middle of the square, and he could see over the heads of the masses to the walls. Strange four winged birds flew by over head, and the sounds of a Dark Ages city reached his ears. Somewhere, the whinny of a horse rang out.

Zach looked around, searching for his friend. There, in the back corner of the town center, a flash of green hair. He raced over, laughing at the shear exileration that flowed through him. He was strong here. He flying tackled his buddy, a guy named Bryan Scarlet. The two had grown up in america, but as kids, had always dreamed of making it in Japan. After succeeding, they vowed to one day start their own company together.

Bryan laughed as Zach tried to get him in a headlock, saying "whoa! Slow down a little, energizer bunny." He laughed again, slipping out of Zach's grip and holding him at arms length. He frowned slightly, saying "still going with that screen name? Why don't you come up with something a little, I don't know, cooler?"

"Well, at least I know mine is never taken."

"Yeah, but honestly? Zachlorthan? Kinda stupid sounding, don't you think?"

"Not really. And honestly, yours isn't much better, Byron."

"Not yet, but it will be. Believe me, it will. Come on, let's go. I wanna get some new gear before we log off. First to level 5 gets a free meal in the real world."

He turned and ran through the city, Zach chasing after him. They were both 23 years old, but this world made them feel like kids again, laughing as the played with this wonderful new toy. Zach twisted, nearly colliding with a player named Kirito , a name he vaguely remembered from the beta test boards. Before he could say anything, though, He disappeared, a determined look on his face as he ran through the crowd.

"Hurry up, slowpoke!" Byron was standing just inside one of the exit gates, an empty green field spreading out behind him. Zachlorthan stopped next to him, laughing. "What did you use for predetermined stats?"

"I chose Adventurer class. I've got a high skill with blades and blunts, and good speed, but I got a -5 for luck and gold drop. What about you?"

"I took the time to custom. I took a bit from the Rouge, with +6 to detection and daggers, +1 gold drop and luck, -1 one to speed while wearing armor, and +5 for one handed blades."

"Geeze, its a wonder you ever actually got to play, although that does explain your pig sticker." He gestured to the dagger at Zachlorthan's belt. Zach smiled at him, but in a flash the dagger was at his throat. He laughed and said "you put some extra points into your speed stat, huh? Not bad. But"

He twisted out of his grasp again, jumping out the gate and saying "save it for what's out here, alright? I'll tell you what, at level 10, I'll duel you, alright? Winner get a burger from the loser."

"Why is that always the prize, huh? Its a wonder we're not fatter with all of the bets you make. Let's get started, I wanna make at least 8 before I have to log off. There's a boar spawn over that way, or if you wanna try your luck, there are some red spawners down the road."

"Let's try the boars for now, I wanna get a feel for the game."

"You DA boss, boss man"

The headed off, laughing and joking like they hadn't in years.

After 3 hours, they sat panting. Despite not actually exerting themselves, the game simulated energy use nicely. Between the two, the had killed a few dozen boars, hitting level 6 in 2 hours easy. They had enough money and supplies to run for a few more hours, and they had gotten some cool drops from farming the weaker monster. Zach now had a full set of pigskin leather armor, while Byron was working on his leatherworking skill, stitching his own set of armor from the hides they had collected. After a few minutes, they began to head back to town. They had teleportation crystals, of course, but they preferred to save them for emergencies, and besides, the world was so beautiful, why not walk?

"You know, they really went all out. The graphics are so good, it could be the real word, and the work and skills so natural. I just know how to do something in this world, like, if I stitch this piece of hide to that piece of leather, with this type of string, I get" he waved his hands, and a set of boots appeared in his hand. "I never could have done that in the real word."

Zach kept quiet, letting the breeze from the field play across his face as he breathed in slowly, listening to the howl of wolves in the distance. He opened his menu, checking the time. It was about 4:50. "Hey, race you back to town. I owe you a meal, after all." Byron took off, Zachlorthan trailing behind as they laughed like the idiots they jokingly said they were.

They hit the Town of Beginnings, laughing and panting at the same time. However, their joy was interrupted by someone crying. Off to one side of the gateway was a girl, with two others, who looked incredibly worried. Zach approached, asking "is everything alright? Are you OK?"

They seemed wary, but one said "she's new to the game, and an orange player killed her pet. She'll get over it."

Byron stepped up, puffing his chest out and saying "we'll get him. Did you get his gamer tag?"

The others were silent, but the girl spoke up, saying "swordslayer311. You just missed him, he was heading south into the red fields."

The red fields were the first hostile enemy producing areas in the game, mostly full of wolfs, but with some interesting variations like giant bugs and some primates as well. Zachlorthan nodded, figuring there was no way to talk Byron out of it, who said "tell you what, when we bring him down a peg, I'll by you and your friends a drink with his money, how about that?"

The girl and her friends brightened a bit, and Byron grabbed Zach's shoulder, dragging him back out the gate. Zach's detection skill was high, and he pointed out the footprint path of the attacker. Together they raced off. In less than thirty minutes they had caught up enough to see the man, and Byron called out. The man stopped, waiting for them to catch up. Zach smelled a trap, and a mental itch from his detection skill was enough to tell him that something wasn't right, but not enough to tell him what.

The man's avatar was covered by a face wrap and cloak, but he held his hands up over his head, surrendering. Byron said dramatically "give us all you money and I won't kill you."

The man tore of his facial wrap and said "your already dead, fool" as half a dozen orange players stepped out from behind rocks and trees. They all seemed to be a lower level, but even ants can kill a spider. Zach and Byron went back to back, Zach's new boar tusk dagger glinting. It was the only green weapon of the group, and the attackers eyed it appreciatively, their mouths practically watering at such a good loot prospect.

Byron leaned in, calling it.

"I get the pet killer. Other than that, even split, left and right, attack plan c."

"Got it. Move on three. 3!"

Zach and Byron sprung apart, the attackers caught by surprise at their boldness. Zach slashed through a spearman, his dagger creating the customary digital wound, the special paralyzing poison coated blade leaving his opponent helpless. As the man fell to the ground, Zach was already spinning, catching a sword on the dagger. As the blades clashed, he let go of the blade, which spun backward, were he caught it again, this time upsidedown, and slit his opponents throat.

The vital wound bonus added a bleeding damage effect to the paralyzing, effectively killing the woman. Jumping into the air, he slammed into the last man, slashing him down the front. Exhilarated, he turned, examining his handy work. As he watched, one of the orange players, the woman, exploded in a flash of red, dead. He laughed again as the loot screen appeared. She had been carrying a pretty penny, and he turned to see how Byron's fight was going.

Byron stood alone as two burst of light faded behind him. In one hand he held his sword, in the other, the pet killer. Yet he was smiling as if it was a summer day at the park. "Last chance. Drop your cash or eat my sword." The man struggled in his grasp, then went limp. But before he could do either, a gong sounded, once, twice, three times.

A brief shimmer of light occurred, and suddenly the three found themselves in the town center. The man, taking advantage of this bizarre twist, tried to escape, planting a foot firmly between Byron's legs. He didn't even flinch, putting the man in a headlock as he looked around. It looked like every player in the game was here, thousands upon thousands of players standing around looking confused. Up above, a red light flashed, Zach's eyes catching the words 'stand by' briefly. Suddenly the red panel spread, becoming more as it covered the entire floor one roof.

A red goo oozed from between the panels, gathering and solidifying into a giant figure, the Game Master. Byron muttered "must be some type of welcoming ceremony." Then the Master spoke.

Zach and Byron's practiced Japanese couldn't quite keep up, but they caught words like 'die, escape, removal'. Unable to comprehend what was being a said, he turned to say something to Byron, only to freeze when he caught sight of their prisoner. The man's face had gone deathly pale, his eyes wide as virtual drops of sweat trickled down his face. A commotion across the square caught his attention. A young man and woman were attempting to leave, but were stopped by some sort of wall.

The GM said something else, and this time Zach caught the words 'gift in your inventory'. He said this to Byron, and together, they opened their inventories. At the bottom of the list was an object labeled 'hand mirror'. Zach selected it, and a mirror appeared in his hands. No sooner had he looked at it than a flash of light surrounded him. After a moment it dissipated. He felt no different, but when he looked at his friend, he gasped.

The man standing next to him was just as big and muscled as the Byron from moments before, but his features had changed. His eyes were higher, his hair darker, his skin lighter. He looked like he did every day at work, when he and Zach would meet for coffee. Zach looked at the mirror again, already guessing what he would find. He looked back at himself. The him from the real world. Suddenly he had a very bad feeling about the speech given from the Game Master. He looked up as the GM said something else, and he heard the word 'welcome'. Then he disappeared, the giant body dissolving. The message disappeared. Somewhere, the sound of glass breaking seemed to set off a chain reaction.

People began to scream, to run, to fight. Byron grabbed Zach's arm, dragging him and their prisoner out of the town center, down the street, out the gate. When he breached the city limits, he threw the man to the ground, and slammed his foot down on his chest. In slow, careful Japanese, he said "your going to tell us what just happened. Your going to be very clear, your going to talk very slowly, and if you don't, I'm going to gut you. If my hunch is right, you aren't keen to let that happen. Start."

The man gave a careful test against the boot, and then said "that man was Kayaba, the creator of the game. He told us that we're trapped here. We can't log out, and if we die here, some sort of microwave will fry our brains. It'll happen if anyone trys to take the Nerve Gear off too. And revival items don't work. The only way out is to clear the hundredth floor."

Zach frowned, sensing dread close around his gut like a fist. He shook his head saying "that's impossible, the log out is right... Right... Oh fuck..." Where the log out option had been during the beta test, there was nothing. "Byron-"

Byron nodded, taking his foot off the man. As he turned to run, Byron gave him a none-to-gentle kick in the rear, sending him sprawling. He said "I knew it. I heard more of that than you did, but I had to make sure. We're stuck in the game. We have to do something." He began to pace, anxiety etched into his every move. Zach stood stock still. If his clock was right, that meant his girlfriend had already found him. The fact that he was still alive meant she had listened to any real world report and had left the Nerve Gear in place.

Normally, he'd be less inclined to believe such a thing. But the evidence was solid. He suddenly realized. He had killed a woman. They had left the other players in the field till the poison wore off. But the one, and the other two, they had all died, and that made him a-

He turned and tried to throw up, but that was one simulation the game refused to copy. His dry heaves rang out, but he suddenly found himself lifted off the ground. Byron had him by the collar of his armor, and he shouted "I know! I know I know I know! Get it out of your head, now! If you let it consume you, you won't survive this! Justify it, forget about it, I don't care, but hold yourself together or we're both dead! Got it?"

Zach was frozen, unsure how to react. His best friend gently lowered him to the ground, saying "you can't think about it. Come on, were almost at level 10. Let's find that girl, then head for the next town. We can be there in a few hours."

Zach nodded, shaking the thoughts from his head. 'Dead man's thoughts' he said to himself, and together, the pair went back into the city.


	2. the Miner King

The girls name was Lotus, and she was waiting for them in a cheap inn at the edge of the city. As they sat down, they noticed she and her friends didn't look all that different from their avatars. Lotus was about 5'2" with yellow blond hair and big green eyes. She had a longsword strapped to her thigh, and a buckler shield was leaning against the wall behind her.

One of her friends, a man named Justin, who went by the screen name Devil Master, was leaning against the wall nearby. He was wearing a cheap Samurai armor set from an NPC blacksmith down the road, a Trainee Katana on the table in front of him. He had dark purple hair, pale white skin, and hadn't said a word since the two had shown up. His armor and equipment meant he had gone for a preset character class, the Samurai. One of only two shieldless non-2 handed play styles, the other being Fencer.

Her other friend was a young girl, probably still in high school, named Asia, but her screen name was Violet, which was interesting because she had amber colored hair. Her armor was standard style set up, meaning she had a custom character. Her eyes were wet, but she wasn't crying. They were an intriguing blue color. A pair of daggers were sheathed at her side, the only weapons that could be dual wielded as a Weapon Skill.

The trio gave no sign of acknowledgement at their arrival, not until Byron gave a shout. "I told you I would get you guys a drink with his money, didn't I?"

The girls gave a start, and Jason narrowed his eyes. "How did you get his money, exactly?"

"Don't worry, I didn't have to kill anyone. Scared it out of him. Of course, that announcement helped a bit."

Zach nodded, figuring that lying was probably in their best interests, and said "we cornered him, and he didn't want a fight. He dropped some serious cash and we let him go. Here." He opened a trade window with Lotus and gave her all the money he had gotten from killing the orange woman.

Lotus's eyes widened at the amount and she said "he had all this?"

Byron laughed, seeming to all the world as a careless player, as if their worlds hadn't just come crashing down around them. "Yeah, it looked like you weren't the first one he hit." He waved his hand, ordering a round of drinks, some type of fruity beer, and said "well, here's to our lives till we clear the game."

Devil slammed his fist down on the table, saying "how are you so calm about this, huh? We're stuck in this game, and we can die at any time! No one in their right mind would be anywhere near calm, and yet here you sit, perfectly content, and if I didn't know better, I'd say you down right happy to be here! Why?"

Byron drained his cup, then looked him in the eye and said "so you can't die in real life? You would go around, house, school, work, and you'd never be in danger? Of course you would. The way I see it, this is just another part of my life. Either I'll survive and move on, or I'll die. If my sword finds a person or two in front of it who are deserving of it's attention, so be it. The way I see things now, this world was made for people to thrive in. We can live fairly normal lives in cities and towns, or roam the levels, fighting and leveling up, till we clear it. There's nothing i can do right this minute that will change that. That's how I can drink. That's how I can be happy."

Everyone in the inn had listened to his speech, transfixed. Even Zach was surprised. He hadn't thought of that. After a moment, Devil stood, pacified, and said "I suppose I, overreacted. My apologies, friend." Byron stood up, looking him in the eye.

Then surprised everyone, slamming his palm onto Devils back and giving a hearty laugh. When he noticed everyone watching, he gave a shout "and that goes for all of you to, alright? Live for the moment. A drink for everyone, huh?"

Soon everyone was laughing, drinking and having a good time. Zach sat in a corner with Devil, sharing a drink as the rest of the bar took up a Japanese drinking song, a drunk Byron dancing with Lotus while Violet clapped, laughing and singing along to the song.

Devil leaned over, saying "your friends an intriguing man, Zachlorthan. He just cheered the hell out of a whole bar full of people. I wasn't originally planning on this, but do you guys want to join a guild? When it was just the three of us, we didn't think it would be worth it, but with him at our head, we could probably become a pretty badass guild. We could probably get some more people to join as well."

Zach was surprised, but smiled, saying "it would be nice, wouldn't it? I'll have to talk to Byron but I think he'd be on board. He's lucky that the game can't simulate hangovers." The laughed together and settled in. Over the period of the night, more and more people enters the inn, drawn by the sounds of reveling and merriment. Byron gave his speech again and again, and although it came out more slurred and garbled the later he spoke, people got the most, and the flow of food and drink continued as every one began to buy drinks.

'we can survive' was Zach's last thought before hitting the bed that night. Byron was passed out on the floor, his pockets having been too drained to get his own room.

The next morning, Zach and Byron were woken by heavy handed knocking on the door. When they opened it, they found Lotus standing on the other side, wearing gear and a determined look. She said " we're heading to the next town, and were wondering if you wanted to come with us."

Byron said "sure, why not? We actually meant to head there yesterday, didn't we Zach?"

Zach just shook his head, saying "come on, oaf, you owe me a meal, so you need to earn some money today."

Less than ten minutes later, they were on the road, Lotus and violet singing as the ran along. Zach couldn't help but smile, their enthusiasm infectious. As they walked, Byron and Devil started talking and laughing, making up for last night.

Zach stood alone, Keeping an eye out for trouble. They reached the exit to the valley where the Town of Beginnings was situated, a cave system dungeon, fairly straight forward, but with some serious monster volume, if not level. At the end of the dungeon was a minor boss fight against a troll monster. Zach had played the Beta test, but had only made it to the third floor between his work and personal life. He smiled grimly as he remembered how his girlfriend had disapproved of his use of the Nerve Gear. His mother had always told him his electronics would melt his brain.

They entered the tunnel system, and began to fight their way through the impressive array of monsters. Some lucky loot drops and two treasure chests later, Zach now had a pair of daggers. His Boar tusk, and a Drago fang, which had a +25% chance for bleeding effects and 5% fire damage. Devil had jokingly said they should call him Bones because of his weapons.

After a couple hours, they stopped for lunch. Each had some things they had bought from merchants, but none had any cooking skill except Byron because the Adventurer starts out with some. After a moment, he started a fire, and they heated up what food they could.

While they were eating, Byron announced he would be happy to head a guild for them, but they would need a little more money. He was still pretty low on cash after bingeing all night. They had a good laugh or two, then headed into the next chamber.

An hour later, they made it to the last room. On a golden thrown in the middle was a grimey monster miner, the name over his head reading Jason Goldfist, King Of Miners. As they entered, he stood up, revealing scarred gray flesh and muscle over thick bones, gold and silver flashing on his fingers and arms, a broken crown on his head.

In one hand he had a massive pickaxe, in the other, a broken, twisted wooden shield. He had two health bars, but no other noticeable features. Bryon broke it down.

"Alright, I want Lotus preped for disruption, Devil, you and me are on frontal, and I want Zach and Violet on rear. Add whatever disruption and poison effects you can. Paralysis is no good against bosses, so focus on poison and Zach, use what fire damage you can, but remember, miners used fire in mines in the olden days. Stay alert, and I'll see you guys on the other side. Go!"

The group charged, violet catching its pickaxe on her shield as Devil jumped in and carved up its left side. Zach and violet trailed around its back and did their best to slash its hide, adding effects every time one wore off. As they fight dragged on, Zach began to get that mental itch again, and he began to grow more and more uneasy. Suddenly, something flew out of a side tunnel, heading straight for Byron. Zach cried out, but then Devil jumped in the way, his sword flashing as he blocked the incoming blow.

It was some sort of minion creature. They hadn't been in the beta test, but now, a dozen of them entered the room from secret tunnels on the walls. The were short, fat with ragged clothes and haggard skin. Their names read Misery Miner, and they carried pickaxes and small shields. Byron did some quick calculations, they were spread out but closing fast. "Zach, Violet, Devil, target the minions. Take them out one by one while we keep the king busy. Go"

Zach and violet nodded, rushing into the nearest one. Its pickaxe sliced downward, but violet caught it on her blades as Zach jumped up and over, landing behind it and slicing off it's outstretched arm. They creature screeched, and withdrew behind it's shield, but the poisons had already taken effect, freezing it as the bleeding took effect. They turned and ran to the next one, and in minutes half the minions were dead.

Byron yelled "switch!" and Lotus jumped forward, her shield taking the impact as she slashed, opening up his front. Byron jumped back in, his two handed broadsword slashing up its front. He found Devil by his side, who said simply "I'm not needed over there." As Byron pulled back, he saw that Zach and Violet had cleared more than half of the minions.

The King's last health bar hit red, and it let loose a roar, grabbing the pickaxe In both hands. Byron thought 'not much of a difference going to two handed.' But then it surprised them, jumping over the three and coming down behind Zach and Violet. It's pickaxe swung down, and Violet was pinned to the ground, the pickaxe holding her there. Zach jumped forward, slashing with his daggers at the creature's arms, but it's health bar was slow to fall.

The other joined in, and with so many blades, the creature finally died. Its minions disappeared, and the door on the far side opened. The loot screen came up, and Zach received something called the Miner King's Downfall. They ran to Violet, but thankfully, despite the size and power of the wound, she was alright. A couple of healing potions later and she was good as new.

They exited the cavern, silent as they lamented on what had gone wrong. Zach accessed his equipment, pulling out the Miner King's Downfall. It was a helm, with an intricate crown design carved into it. Zach smiled slightly and said "here Byron. For our own king, huh?" He tossed the helm over, and Byron put it on. To be honest, it looked like it belonged there. Byron said "come on. After that fight we have enough money to pay for guild registry. What should we call ourselves?"

A chorus of names attacked him, but it was Violet who said "we are the enemies of the game, viscous, angry, ready to fight. But we defer to a master, and look out for our own. We are War Hounds."

Byron smiled slightly, clapping her on the back and saying "and the War Hounds we will be. Come on, we can by a registry at the inn up ahead. Let's go!" Together, they ran off, the horror from moments before seeming like just a bad dream as Byron laughed and joked, raising their spirits.

'What would we do without you, Byron' Zach thought to him self as he chased after him.


End file.

Sword Art Online/ソードアート・オンライン, Adventure, Sci-Fi