"" Speech

'Italics' Thought

I was without a care in the world until I opened the envelope that came with a large package with the letters on it "Argus" on it, I started grinning like a madman knowing the only thing it could be.
My copy of Sword Art Online with my NerveGear to play the very first VRMMORPG created, where it was like living a second life in a world of fantasy.

I grabbed the box and ran upstairs only to hear my Mother shouting to me "Be careful Josh-kun" with me not replying.
When I entered my room I grabbed the letter opener on the side and rammed it into the opening on the top of the box and dragging it along the top hearing the sound of tape and cardboard getting cut and when I look inside after diving into the Argus package to see the Virtual reality headset that would change my life forever.

As soon as I got the Headset ready for me, I jumped on my computer to wait the live stream counting down to the game's server start.

I slipped on the NerveGear and felt a prick at the back of my head telling me it had connected to my body's nervous system, I lay down on my bed which had the an old Batman cover on it, Looking at the clock on my wall it showed it was now 12:00 PM and I said the words that would send me into the realm of Aincrad.

"Link Start".

A swarm of colours flew pass my eyes and I saw different things like Taste, Sight and Hearing being ticked and then a log in screen popped up, I typed in my username and password and selected the language Japanese, the screen went black then to light as the character customization screen showed its self to me.

I saw myself staring at me in a T-pose, I was a fairly normal boy with black shaggy hair, blue eyes, pale skin and a medium build but I changed it to something more mature.
I changed it to a more adult like man with a stubble on his face and slightly shorter brown hair with a more muscle based build and clicked accept.

A small screen popped up in front of me saying 'Name Character?', I stared at it for a while thinking what I could have as my name, I typed in Kojiro but said in big red letters, Error Name Taken.

"Crap" I swore quietly, then a name popped into my head shout 'HERE I AM' and I typed in Ezio as my name and clicked accept.

My eye sight was hindered for a few second as a blinding light flashed and I was then staring at my hand that tried to shield my eyes, they slowly went back to my sides, as I look around to see I was in some sort of courtyard with a large bell tower in front of me as light blue flashes appeared around me to only fade away as new players appeared out of it.

I took off running as I darted through crowds of people trying to make my ways to the field outside the Beginning City, I started smiling again thinking 'Thank god I was part of the Beta Test, otherwise I would be lost in this maze of a city'.

I soon found my way to the large stone arch that showed a cobble stone path to bright green fields that was filled with people fight knee-high bores.

A while after the grinding session of killing small angry bores that leveled me up to a nice level 5, I sat down on the grass with the wind blowing my hair, I put my Starting Sword into its scabbard on my back.

"Its starting to get late, I need to get a quick bite and come back to this" I slashed my right hand downwards and a menu opened up and I went to the options menu and had another quick look as I saw no Sign Out button in the bar where it was meant to be, I quickly looked through all the other tabs of the menu only to find the same result... No sign out button.

"It's probably a bug Josh, no need to worry", but my gut was shouting at me in an Admiral Ackbar's voice 'ITS A TRAP'.

A bright blue flash surrounded me making me scream in surprise which soon faded to nothing as I disappeared from the Fields.

The Light dispersed and let me free of its grasp and I soon realized it was a Forced Teleport to the City of Beginning.

I was surrounded by a sea of players panicking about why they were teleported here, I was sharing this same thought untill someone shouted "Whats that?".

I snapped my head upwards to the sky to see a lone red Error sign that soon infected the once blue sky to a sickly blood-red that silenced everyone in the courtyard, only what happened next would make any weak hearted people faint.

Soon the sky was leaking a blood like liquid that was merging and created a gigantic man in a red robes but he had no face.

"Welcome players, to my world, Sword Art Online" A loud, deep and booming voice that came from the hooded man

'...No it can't be him...'

"I am Kayaba Akihiko, creator of the NerveGear technology. I am currently the only person who has full control of this world, which I have created myself." He paused, as the crowd broke into scattered mutters. he raised an enormous hand, bringing up the holographic main menu. "I trust most of you have noticed that the logout button is missing from the main menu. However, this is no bug, nor a game malfunction."

I could tell he was grinning by his voice, even with no head.

The cloaked dementor continued, "Let me clarify, this is not a malfunction, simply a feature of Sword Art Online."

"You cannot log out of this game. No one outside will be able to remove or shut down your NerveGear. Should this be attempted, NerveGear will emit powerful microwave radiation, frying your brain, and therefore ending your life."

'No, that's not possible! Something this dangerous would have been checked by authorities, surely!' I looked around desperately, people silently agreeing. But then, in front of me, a conversation between two men, one with red hair, the other black, made my blood run cold.

"He's right. The transceiver's microwave signals are similar to a microwave oven. If the limiter was disabled, it could fry our brains." The black-haired man replied tersely.

'…wait... no...'

I almost yelled, right there and then. The cloaked figure continued, disregarding our reactions. "Many people have ignored this warning. As a result, 213 people have... retired, in the world of Aincrad and in real life."

A cloud of white, holographic news reports appeared, circling the game master. "As you can see, many news sites have reported these deaths. Thus, please calm down, and work hard." I stared in horror, looking for a way out. "But there is only one way to escape Sword Art Online. You must clear the 100 floors of Aincrad. Search the dungeons. Find the boss of each level, ascend, and finally, clear the 100th floor's boss. Only then, can you escape."

"But do take note. There will be no more respawns. When your character dies, your avatar will be erased. And then, as you might expect, the NerveGear will fry your brains." I couldn't move. What sick game was this bastard giving us? This was no game, this was life and death! How could he...

The deep voice interrupted my harsh reprimands. "Oh, and if you search your inventory, you will find a little gift from me." Everyone immediately opened their inventory, me included, only to find...

"A mirror?" I looked into the mirror, and immediately, a white light engulfed me, different from the teleportation light.

'...Wait what'.

As abruptly as it began, the white light faded. I looked around me, seeing people looking... oddly different. A man at the edge of the borders was dressed in women's clothes, yelling with shock at a large, adult man who was yelling back at him for lying about being a girl.

But that means...

I looked down in the mirror only to find I know looked like my real life self, but only with the stubble I still had.

Everyone looked back towards Kayaba, "Your all probably asking why, why would me, Kayaba do this, only one reason, to create a world I can intervene in, I have done this and that has concluded Sword Art Online's Official Tutorial, good luck players".

He then sweaped his arm and everyone in the room disappeared except from me and Him...

He was now more my size and floated up to me

"You are probably wondering why your here with me, aren't you" his once loud voice was now normal but still deep

"Along those lines" I snapped back at him

"Well I decided to be kind and give one player another gift" He waved his hand towards me and a chime sounded telling me there was something new in my inventory, causing me to look at my items, where I could see multiple things highlighted in orange telling me they were new.

There were four that stood out the most.

White Assassins Robes... Two Hidden Blades... Sword of Altair

I look back at Kayaba, my face turning into a scowl.

"Why" I hissed at him.

He turned his back on me and started to float away from me, only for him to stop and look over his shoulder and at me

"Because I find you Interesting..."

His words sent shivers down my spine, then he dissolved in front of me and sends me to the Stone arch that over looked the Green Fields.

I opened up my inventory and looked at the items Kayaba gave me, my finger hovered over the Robes that would become my trademark.

I pressed equip item and my body was now covered by a white and red robe that had a hood with a pointed tip that covered my head and covered my head with a shadow only showing my mouth which had a wide grin on it.

I press on both Hidden blades and two bracers appeared on my left and right forearms, I flicked my hands that made two one feet blades pop out that rested in the middle of my hand.

The Sword of Altair was a one-handed long sword that had the wings of an eagle as the hand guard and had the head of the eagle as the hilt

I put on the armor that hid under my robes and turn back to the fields and started to run to the next village.

I can do this, I can make it out of this death game and save all 10,000 players...

A large wolf stepped out off the tall grass and look towards me and started growling at me.

I pulled out my long sword and held it back until it started glowing a deep purple while running at the wolf head on.

I CAN DO THIS

I let out a battle cry and struck the wolf in the head killing it instantly.

This is my life now...

THE END