Prologue:

Aincrad 40th Floor, November 2nd, 2023

I arch myself backwards and green light consumes the air in front of my nose, the illuminated metal sending polygons of light raining down on me. I use my momentum to roll backwards, my AGI stats kicking in as I skilfully shift my body into a kneeling position. I have less than a second before my opponent is upon me again, and I begin drawing my right arm around to send my blade crossing over my body in an graceful arc. My one-handed sword glistening a golden colour, I parry the creature's purple-tinted longsword with a «Slant».

In that moment, a surprisingly realistic look of shock appears on the «Snow Elf»'s face, and when I bring my blade down upon the stunned NPC I momentarily forget that I am inside a game. The elf staggers backwards, a long red line appearing on its ceaseless face as my sword finishes running a course through its light-blue skin.

I push myself off the ground with my right foot, snow blasting up into the air behind me as I leap over my quarry. As soon as I land behind her, I begin to badger the heavily armored, pointy eared creature with «Sword Art Online»'s most essential mechanic in fighting, «Sword Skills». The mob cries out with pre-recorded sound files as it tries to turn to face me, but using a combination of «Horizontal» and the quick triple attack «Sharpnail» I manage to keep the elf facing away from me for long enough to take its HP bar down to red zone.

The «Snow Elf» screeches in a mix of what sounds like agony and rage as it spins to face me, the metallic weapon held by its outstretched arm glowing an eerie blueish color. I side-step the blow, throw in a quick jab at its ribs, and then leap backwards to retreat back across the icy ground. I slide to a stop, my feet digging into the snow to stop my virtual body from falling off the edge of one of the precipices native to the freezing 40th floor. I glare at the Elf as it walks across the ice towards me, the bar above her head showing that she has around 25% of her health left. I'm not that much better off, hanging precariously at 35%. My real body lets out a deep breath as the system I am living in simulates one.

The air that my mouth lets out becomes foggy as the system register 'breathing', and I once again start to feel the slightly artificial "cold" that dominates this floor of «Aincrad» . I remind myself that a Nerve Gear sits atop my head, and that I'm lying in a hospital bed, not standing on a snowy field in a mystical world.

This is important to remember.

This is a game. This place is not real. Everything is fake. A lie.

That's what I tell myself.

But as the «Snow Elf» screeches and lunges towards me in a «Sonic Leap», as I parry and draw my sword across the elf's body in smooth, clean motions, as I jump back and feel the cold air filling my lungs, and as I deliver a final crushing «Vertical» to my opponent's skull, I know that I'm lying to myself.

This is real.

The Elf's helmet shatters into shards of light as she tumbles to the ground. For an instant I see long, snow white hair flowing in smooth waves behind her. Then there's a flash of brilliant blue and all that remains is a few glittering polygons. They drift slowly up into the air and begin to fade away, and I'm compelled to stare up as the polygons of light shatter, their residue crawling up towards the heavens and past my orange player cursor.

Death is like this for everything in «SAO».
Villagers, Quest NPCs, Monsters, Bosses, Pets...

Friends.

Notes:

I will be spending the next few weeks editing over the first few chapters as they are undeniably rough in quality, particularly in comparison the more recent ones. I will be dedicating a large amount of my time to that, so don't expect another update in February. I'm pretty...very sporadic with my updates(as people who've been following this for about a year will tell you), but within the last few months I've managed to churn out chapters at a somewhat decent, consistent rate. I sincerely hope you'll enjoy this story, but it'd be wise to recognize that this is a story about seeking redemption. Whether Klaes finds it or not, well... I'm the only one thus far who knows.

Another important note: this is not a self insert in the slightest and I will not accept OCs to the story. I appreciate the applications I've gotten, but due to the nature of the plot your OCs would end up playing a negligible role in the story and it wouldn't do them justice . Once again: thank you, but please don't ask me to put another OC in.

I hope you all enjoy this FF.

-Interfector