For the first time in almost a year, I was met with the familiar colours and sounds of the NerveGear startup screen. The calibration system went through its checks, a little slower than the AmuSphere I noticed; before the NerveGear attempted to load the game. This time however there was no “Server Offline” or “Disc Read Error” message to block me out. Instead I found myself looking at a generic avatar along with a popup window asking me to create my character.

I had never experienced an out of body experience before, but if I had, I would expect it to be a similar sensation to customizing my character. The avatar moved as I moved, yet I was looking at it from the outside.

I didn’t want to waste precious time creating the perfect character, but at the same time I wanted to make the avatar look close enough to my real life appearance that Miku would recognize me if she saw me.

Short shaggy brown hair, brown eyes, average height. I tried my best to make the character look like myself, but it was still, of course, unnaturally perfect looking like any fantasy game character.

Finally it came time to choose a name. Unlike my sister, I used the same name in pretty much every game I played, so hopefully Miku would catch recognize it if she saw it.

“Makku” I entered into the console before hitting the ‘Accept’ button. Instantly I was forced back into my body as the Character Creation room vanished around me.

“SHOOT! I FORGOT TO SET MY COMBAT STYLE!” I shouted as my finger barely grazed the edge of the final drop down menu. A sound of a selection being made rang out but it was too late to see what I had selected. It didn’t really matter. The skill system in SAO had boasted itself to be pretty flexible. I could always switch to a halberd or spear later but given the circumstances I felt a bit cheated having thrown away the option of choosing my starting setup.

The world went dark and then light again as I found myself in the center of a large village which I immediately recognized from leaked beta screenshots. It was called the Town of Beginnings and was the starting area of every player who logged into the game.

I looked around at the medieval city. In the distance I could see floating islands and grassy green hills. The sun was rising just over the walls, and some calming music could be heard lightly playing in the distance. The world was so beautiful that you would hardly imagine it to be a game of death that had already claimed the lives of thousands.

A digital chime sounded in my ear pulling my focus back to my current circumstances. I had apparently received a message.

Lifting two fingers in the air, I hesitantly flipped down and to my relief a familiar menu appeared before me.

When I accepted that there would be no saving Miku from outside the game, I went through great lengths to prepare for my eventual arrival to the floating castle of Aincrad. I had purchased a copy of a brand new VRMMORPG called ALfheim Online which allowed me to practice VRMMORPG combat every night. I was happy to see that the user interface of Sword Art Online was pretty much the same as ALfheim Online. Almost frighteningly so!

Scrolling through the features I noticed that the message I had received was from an admin account called K.A.

“They still have admins working here?” I pondered to myself as I opened the message.

“So it seems you have taken up the challenge Makoto kun.” The letter began.

“This shall be the last time I shall be contacting you like this, but I felt it only fair that before you began your journey through the world of Sword Art Online I should alert you to two things.

First, in regards to your real world body. The moment you logged into the world of Sword Art Online, a nearby hospital was contacted about your current predicament. Some time within the next hour you shall be placed in a temporary state of suspended animation as your body is transported. I would personally recommend remaining in a safe zone until this event takes place, though you are of course free to do whatever you wish.

Second, in regards to your new body. You may have noticed that the character creator in Sword Art Online, while a work of art, somehow fails to convey the reality of your situation. Therefore, I have left a gift for you in your inventory which will be invaluable to your time here in Sword Art Online as well as in your endeavors in finding your sister. I suggest you examine it at your earliest convenience.

You are an interesting person Makoto kun. I do warn you though, do not look too far into this one act of kindness. I simply did what was fair. You will receive no special privileges in this world due to your late start. Like anyone else, you have one life to live, and once that is gone you will have no second chance. Use this opportunity wisely.

Kayaba Akihiko.”

I caught my breath as I read the last paragraph. If I died in this game, I died in reality. No matter how many times I heard it, it never seemed any less surreal. In an attempt to distract myself, I turned my attention to the item attached to the message. Accepting the attachment, a small, square, reflective object appeared in my hand.

“A mirror?” I pondered as I looked at my reflection in the small device.

“How is this supposed to be-”

My confusion was interrupted as my avatar began to glow in a bright white light. Instinctively I let go of the mirror which burst into a cloud of polygons as it struck the ground but it was too late. As my world became flooded in the light I became strangely disoriented as if my perspective was warping.

“What was that?” I gasped as I lost my balance falling back against a nearby glass window. My head dizzily turned towards the window where I saw something I was least expecting.

It was my face in the reflection! My real face! Somehow my unrealistically stylized game avatar had been given my real life appearance.

“This… is real…” I caught myself saying out loud. Somehow, seeing my real face looking back at me made me feel like I wasn’t in a game but instead back in the real world. This game was real. This avatar was me. If this avatar died, I would die too.

“I think the light came from over here!” a harsh voice called out pulling me from my shock. Before I could turn around a heavy hand landed on my shoulder. I was forcibly spun around to face two burly men in green cloaks and heavy armor. Their faces were half hidden by their helmets, but they appeared to be in their mid forties. The wrinkles and stubble on their faces made me realize that I was most likely not the only one to face the effects of the mirror.

“What was that item you just used!” the first shouted inches away from my face. My back pressed tightly against the glass wall as the men leaned forward towards me. I barely came up to their chests which made them quite intimidating to deal with.

“By authority of the army!” the man continued, “I order you to share your items and knowledge with us!”

“I-what?” I stammered, unsure of what was going on. Was this an in game event? But they seemed like real players. Authority? The Army? What had happened in this game over the past year?

“Wait Cartan!” the other man interrupted. “Look at him. He still has his starter armor. He must be a waiter! Maybe he got that item from someone else.”

“Huh. You’re right.” The first man noted before turning back to me. “Alright then. Tell me who sent you that item! The army shares all of it’s information and resources equally! That glowing effect seemed strangely familiar but I could not place it. For the sake of every player left in this game, you are obligated to tell all you know!”

“What do I tell them?” I thought to myself. “I still don’t know the lay of this world. If I tell them it was an item I got from Kayaba, the man who trapped them all here, how would they react?”

While lost in my own thoughts, I failed to notice that the two men had taken my silence as answer in itself.

“Not talking huh!” the second man threatened. “Maybe it’s something he doesn’t want us to know.”

“Oh! I see now!” Cartan, the first man replied with a terrifying smile. “Did you get this item by less than savory means? Are you secretly tied to some orange players?”

“What!” I cried out getting more flustered as the situation seemed to further escalate out of my control. “No! Orange players? I don’t know what you’re talking about! I just got here!”

“Just got here!” the first man laughed. “Just got where? The plaza?? With that equipment you wouldn’t even make it outside the walls of this city! You’ve probably been hiding in the town of beginnings since the launch of this game spying on players safely from within the walls of this city. Have you even experienced the feeling of combat before?”

Upon saying this, Cartan lifted a large two handed sword off of his back.

“He wouldn’t…” I thought. “I mean… this is a safe zone right? He couldn’t fight me here if he wanted to right? Don’t tell me I’m gonna die here like this! What’s happened to people in this game!?”

As the man swung back his sword, my hand instinctively reached for my hip. My anxiety changed to determination as my fingers felt the hilt of my trusty weapon at my side. That was right! I was armed! And I had already experienced a fair bit of player combat during my experiments in ALfheim Online. It was almost entirely based on PVP events. The stakes may be life and death within this world, but if these men thought I would be taken down without a fight, they had another thing coming.

With a newfound confidence I gripped the hilt of my blade and prepared a sword skill to intercept the incoming great sword. There was no way I could block it at my level, but I had learned a trick in the past where if you timed it properly you could easily deflect a bigger blade.

With all my strength I pulled the hilt from my hip only to find… there was no blade?!

A numbing blow connected with my neck sending my flying several feet. The blow didn’t feel sharp per say, but it made my mind feel buzzed as I bounced along the cobblestone path crashing into the wall of a building. A purple warning sign popped up above my head pointing out that the building was an immortal object while the other two men stood laughing.

“Did you see him fly!” the Cartan roared. “He must not have a single experience point to his name! After all this time! I didn’t think it was even possible for anyone to be that weak!”

“And his face when he drew that pocket knife!” the second man chimed in. “You’d think he’d never even seen his own weapon before!”

“Pocket… knife…” I stammered looking at the hilt in my hand. What I held was not a bladeless sword… but was in fact a small, rusty, dented knife.”

“Daggers?” I cried out in despair. “How bad can my luck be at all?”

Daggers had existed in Alfheim Online as well, but no one would ever be caught dead using them. If I had had a two handed sword, spear, or even just a normal one handed sword, I might stand a chance in a fight, but daggers? They had almost no reach and could only inflict low levels of damage on anything but critical hits. I might as well be using my bare fists to fight!

Cartan’s face became far more vindictive as he casually walked towards me swinging his sword in his hand.

“You definitely are suspicious. I think we’ll need to beat you into submission.” He grinned, gripping his sword hilt tighter. “And here I thought today was gonna be boring!”

I cowered clenching my eyes tightly in a very unmanly manner as the towering man’s blade began to glow. I heard the sword skill activation sound once again, but this time, instead of being blown several feet back, there was the sound of metal clashing against metal.

Opening my eyes my vision was blocked by a pair of shapely legs clad in tight purple leather. The legs came attached to a slender figure wearing a red and black coat. Above the coat rested a feminine face with long dark red hair tied back in a high ponytail.

“Tsk. The First Floor Titaness would show up now.” The Cartan scoffed.

Looking up, I now saw that the Cartan’s longsword was pressed firmly against a massive two handed battleaxe. In spite of the axe being almost twice the size of the newcomer, she held it lightly with one hand.

“Don’t you have an assault team to be hiding from?” Cartan jeered.

“Shut it Cartan.” A low but still feminine voice shot back. “I didn’t think you even had the courage to fight anyone who had passed puberty, safety zone or not.”

“WHY YOU!” Cartan shouted as he pulled back his sword to take another swing.

The dual sound of sword skills activating was heard again followed by the clattering of metal as the blade of Cartan’s two handed sword flew several feet away from his hands before shattering into a cloud of polygons on the floor.

“If you’re gonna take on big kids Cartan, you’ve gotta long way to go.” The newcomer smirked

“Just let it go Cartan!” the second man urged in a hushed voice as he grabbed Cartan by the shoulders to hold him back. “They aren’t worth it!”

The newcomer watched the two men carefully as they fled from the scene. She waited until they had turned a corner before turning back to me with a scowl.

She was a younger girl, probably around my age if not a bit older. Her long dark red hair was tied back with a simple hair elastic but still appeared to be set in a fantasy game style. Her large dark green eyes stared down at me looking somewhere between disappointed and disgusted.

“Umm… thank you.” I started, a little unsure of what to say. Gathering my words served little purpose however, as before I could continue, the girl turned her back to me and started to walk away.

“If you’re going to hide in town this long, don’t suddenly pretend to be brave.” She scolded. “You should know well enough by now… this isn’t a game.”

The girl walked away without another look in my direction. It didn’t take a genius to tell she was upset with me. Looking at my equipment, I was starting to understand the situation.

It had already been almost a year since the game of death had started. The only control the people trapped inside the game had over their fate was to progress in the task of defeating all 100 floors. Given the stakes involved in this game, I know I personally couldn’t blame anyone for refusing to fight. In my heart I hoped that Miku had been spending the ten months hiding in this town. But if someone had always been willing to fight yet still refused to… could such a person be forgiven?