Sword art online: Hollow Heart

Chapter1: the world of swords swallowed by darkness.

I was sitting at a local internet café browsing the web on my computer. doing my daily routine of looking at the latest news in gaming and listening to the local news on the television. My name is Kazuto Kirigaya, my friends call me Kirito. I'm a 17 year old boy living in japan in the year 2026. I live with my aunt, uncle, and my cousin Suguha. My parents died when I was little and I don't remember them. For a while I thought they were my parents and I still think of them that way and of Sugu as my little sister. I've always been fascinated with computers and when I was 12 I built one out of parts from a junkyard. The first thing I did was hack into Japan's national registry and locate my birth record. I was surprised to say the least. After that I distanced myself in the virtual world. In the year 2022 the nerve gear along with it's first and only title sword art online was released. It was the first ever full dive system. In layman's terms it was like you were inside a video game and sword art online was the first ever virtual reality massive multiplayer online role playing game or VRMMORPG. I was one of the games beta testers and I couldn't have been more excited when the game was released to the public. Little did I know of the nightmare awaiting the 10,000 players in SAO. The system and game creator Kayaba Akihiko turned what was supposed to be a gamer's dream come true into a death game. When someone died in the game the nerve gear would scramble the player's brain with microwaves and if someone tried to forcibly remove the helmet the same thing would happen. For two years everyone fought for their lives trying to escape that world of swords. Eventually my friends and I made our way to the 100th floor and defeated the game's final boss. In the end 6,000 players survived the SAO incident and I met the best friends I could have imagined. But that's enough of a history lesson.

The reason I'm at a café is because I promised my girlfriend Asuna Yuuki that we would meet here for a date. She's another SAO survivor and former commander of a guild called the knights of the blood oath. Needless to say she's fearless when she wants to be. We were married in game and we wanted to continue our relationship in the real world as boyfriend and girlfriend. Just when I was about to wonder when she'd arrive there she was dressed in a yellow sweater, brown skirt and knee high boots. It reminded me of her casual clothes in SAO. "Hi Kirito, sorry I'm late I was looking for a hat to wear and I just couldn't find one." It's not like Asuna to be fashionably late, but I didn't think too much of it. "that's okay you look better without a hat anyway." It was true a small portion of her long amber colored hair was tied back in in her usual braid and the rest just flowed down her back. She smiled at the compliment "Hehe thanks. By the way have you heard what's on the news recently?"

"I'm not sure what you mean. Are you talking about that recent murder on Kat Street?"

"No, but that's horrible. He was just a kid like us after all. Anyway I'm talking about those reports of strange creatures lurking in alleyways. It sounds like some kind of scary story and it gives me the willies!" I forgot to mention Asuna is terrified of things like ghosts and horror stories. Our friends think it's fun to bring up a ghost story related to a quest we were doing. They're all made up though. At that moment a little girl with long black hair decided to make her presence known on my computer screen. "don't worry mama I'm sure daddy will keep you safe." This is Yui she used to be a mental health counseling program in sword art online. But when Kayaba trapped all the players in the game she and her fellow MHCP Straea were restricted from interacting with the players. Those two years of watching thousands of players die and not being able to do anything caused errors accrue in their programming and they both became a sentient artificial intelligence. When we first met Yui we thought she was a young player who had somehow wandered onto the 22nd floor. She had no memories at the time and when she called us mama and papa we just couldn't say no. I managed to store both Yui and Strea's data on my nerve gear's memory and then I transferred them over to the games me and our friends play. Asuna and I love them both very much and they're as much of a family to us as our real ones. "I don't know I'm not as strong here as I am in the virtual world. Hehe" I scratched the nape of my neck as I said it. Yui pouted and I started to worry I made her mad. "but I'll be sure to do my best!" then she smiled "now that's more like it!" I was played. Asuna began to laugh at our antics. "what's so funny?" I asked. "it's nothing." She then latched onto my right arm and we began to walk down the street having placed my laptop in my bag so we'd have no more interruptions. "I know your my knight in a black coat." I smiled and just enjoyed the moment.

Night had fallen and we were walking back to my house when strong winds started to blow. It was strange because the weather predictions didn't call for gale force winds or storms. Asuna and I made our way into the house and I turned on the t.v. and changed channels to the weather station and a breaking news bulletin was broadcasting. "A strange storm is striking japan as we speak. From the reports we've received it is breaking records and is likely to be the single largest storm anyone has ever seen. Scientists say it has to do with a large sphere of some sort in the earth's atmosphere. We have a live video feed of it right now." Asuna and I were sitting on the couch watching the news intently. She looked scared and so was I. The screen then changed to show a dark red sphere of swirling energy I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it. It was like something out of movie. I thought it was some kind of practical joke but this was a live feed with no special effects. "The sphere appears to be made of some type dark matter and is growing larger by the second! As it grows the storm intensifies and it draws everything into the vortex! It shows no signs of stopping and I fear not only for Japan but-"static, we had lost the signal and whatever hopes we had of this being some sick joke. "Kirito…" I looked at Asuna's frightened expression and with a face of grim determination I grabbed her hand. "We have to go down to the basement. It's the safest place in the house when dealing with storms."

"What about Suguha? We should bring her with us."

"She and my parents are out of town for a kendo tournament. It's just us along with Yui and Straea on my laptop." That seemed to calm her if only a little bit. She was still terrified though. "Okay." We were about to get off the couch when suddenly the house began groan and cracks appeared on the walls. The house was being torn from its foundation. We double timed it to the basement when the ceiling was torn away along with the roof. It was too late. The storm sucked us into the air and we were screaming, trying desperately to hold onto each other for dear life. As we swirled into the darkness I wondered is this it? After everything we went through the world just ends? It just wasn't right. There was so much more I wanted to do with Asuna, Yui, and all of our friends. I managed to grab hold of Asuna securing her in my arms. I didn't know what was going to happen to us, but I knew with absolute certainty that we didn't want to die yet! As we entered the darkness I struggled to remain conscious. just when I was beginning to lose hope we found a light within the darkness. It was warm, welcoming, and it drew us towards it. As I passed out I felt relieved, the light had saved us.