1 Chapter 1 - Link Start

AUTHOR'S NOTE

First of, yes, the cliché title of the chapter was necessary. I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist it. But jokes aside, I welcome you all, old and new readers, to Shattered! I just have the base plan for the fic in mind, and pretty much everything else is a blank space for now, so feel free to give suggestions, though I don't promise to follow them. If you see any mistakes, in grammar or otherwise, don't feel shy about pointing them out too (politely please). I'm just human, no matter what some of my old readers might say, so I also make mistakes, and quite a lot of them. I also have no problems in making corrections, so be my guest. Let's build this story together!

I'm publishing Shattered because it's a story I've really enjoyed writing lately, and I felt like if I didn't put it out there, I would end up losing my drive, not to mention that readers are half of any novel. I'm still a student, not to mention I also have a part-time job, so I can't promise regular chapters, but I will try my best to have regular releases on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Just one more thing before I let you go. I wouldn't say the novel has a slow start, but the first twelve to fifteen chapters are about what happened during the first month of SAO. It's important for the character and world building. Don't worry, though, there will be plenty of stuff happening to keep you entertained.

That being said, I hope you enjoy the first chapter of Shattered! Leave comments and reviews!

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Life wasn't easy. No, quite the opposite. Life likes to throw you curveballs, or just straight up hit you in the gut, and then kick you while you are down just for good measure.

He learned this very early in life. He didn't know exactly when. Maybe when his drunk father came home one day and hit his mother? Maybe when that same man just took off and left them? Maybe when his books were thrown to the ground and stomped on by the school bullies? Or maybe it was when he toiled hard during his university days, only for his professor, his mentor, to claim all his work as his, and leave him discredited, called a liar, a cheater, with only his lover taking his side?

No, it wasn't on any of those occasions that he learned life was hard. It was much, much earlier. It was when he first played a video game, when he first saw the two dreaded words 'GAME OVER' on his screen. It was nothing earth-shattering. He could just restart. But somehow... He couldn't.

His young mind learned something that day: heroes didn't always have good endings. No, people didn't always have good endings.

He grew up. Every loss he suffered, he got revenge. Everything that was taken from him, he took back and with interest. The school bullies? They now worked for him, even if they didn't even realize the man they kissed up to was once pushed around by them. The professor who stole his hard work? Now he was the one discredited, overshadowed by his former pupil's accomplishments. His father? He saw him one last time, from afar, and left it at that. Blood is thicker than water, after all.

He had been knocked down by life. He had been punched, kicked, beaten by it. But he had fought back, in his own way, and had risen up once more. He was now famous and respected. But there was one failure that still haunted him. The simplest, stupidest of them all, but also the only one he couldn't get past. GAME OVER.

How was it fair that just one click could reset everything back to its perfect positions? How was it fair that just one click could wipe everything away? How was it fair that real life wasn't fair?

He didn't want to be forgotten. He didn't want to be just another GAME OVER. He wanted to leave his mark on the world. He wanted to create heroes. Real heroes. He wanted to be remembered. And he would.

His name is Akihiko Kayaba. And he is about to steal ten thousand souls. He is about to turn them into heroes.

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Ogawa Itsuki had diverse opinions about life. It could be really shitty sometimes, like when your stable job turned out not to be as stable as you thought. It could also be pretty awesome, like when you got the last NerveGear in the shop, after having waited six and a half hours in line. Watching the people behind him, who had waited just as much, just to come out with empty hands, was even a bit satisfying. He knew he was being a dick for thinking that, but what could he do? It was his way of releasing the stress from almost being one of them.

Anyway, Itsuki bolted from the place before anyone had the brilliant idea of trying to snatch his FullDive equipment. He wouldn't put it past an angry gamer, and, even if he had the confidence of keeping what he bought, he had bigger things in mind. Such as playing Sword Art Online the moment it launched.

Should he be doing that? Probably not. What he should be doing was saving his money and looking for a new job. But after two weeks of unfruitful search, he was fed up. Just two days. Itsuki promised himself that after two days, he would start job hunting again.

Unfortunately, life had that already mentioned tendency of throwing curveballs at you from time to time. But that would happen only a few hours from now.

Whistling, Itsuki climbed up the stairs to his apartment, and unlocked the door. Juggling his newly bought gaming equipment and his bag in one hand, he pushed open the door and flicked the light switch, illuminating the small room.

Carefully putting down his things, he went to the annexed kitchen, and started preparing a simple lunch. The game would only be released at 1 PM, so he had time to fill his stomach before jumping in.

While opening his fridge to grab the ingredients, Itsuki couldn't help but smile happily. Sure, he was unemployed now, but things weren't so bad. He had a fair bit of money on his account- he had been saving up to buy a car - and now he also had the headgear to play the most groundbreaking and anticipated game of the century.

Akihiko Kayaba was a genius. Nobody contested that. He had made many contributions to the field of programming and game design. Hell, just two or three years ago, he had announced he was developing what was sure to be a worldwide fever: the first ever vrmmorpg. Ten years in the making, Sword Art Online, or SAO, for short, was the first game where your entire consciousness entered the game, allowing 100% immersion, thanks to the FullDive technology. While the players' bodies would be sleeping peacefully in the real world, inside SAO they would be living untold adventures.

The closed beta, which had stellar reviews from the thousand testers, ended just a year ago. Now, November 6th of 2022, the open beta was about to start, enlisting 10.000 players from all around Japan. Presumably, the game would take the world by storm when it was fully released to the public.

His thoughts were interrupted by his cell phone ringing. Turning down the heat of the cooktop, he made his way to his bed, where he had carelessly thrown the device, and picked it up. It read 'Ogawa Overlord' on the display. He answered.

"Hi, dad. What's up?"

Holding his phone in-between his shoulder and head, Itsuki went back to the kitchen, and started multitasking with the expertise of a single young adult.

"Nah, I'm doing great. Yes, I'm eating well, tell her not to worry."

Turning off the cooktop, he plated his meal, and carried it to the table which also served as his workstation when he needed to work from home.

"Hahaha... That's very like mom indeed. I will try to go home for Christmas."

Taking his phone off his ear for a quick look at the time, Itsuki realized he had to end the call, or he might not be able to ready everything in time for the launch.

"Look, dad, I've got to go. I have something to do this afternoon. No, it's not a date. Haha... Okay, bye. Say bye to mom too for me. Love you."

Putting down his cell phone, Itsuki sighed. He hadn't told his parents he was laid off. He would rather tell them the good news: that he was hired again - whenever that happened.

Shaking the depressing thoughts away, Ituski washed his dishes, and unpacked the NerveGear. The equipment looked like a very bulky helmet, painted with a dark blue color. It wasn't the prettiest of things, but what it represented... Oh, it was fricking awesome.

As soon as Itsuki put on the headgear, a voice rang out in his ear, and asked him to do a bunch of calibrations. Running his hands over his body, jumping, speaking different sentences, and a lot more. By the end of the tests, Itsuki was starting to wonder if this wasn't some grand scheme by Kayaba to have everyone in Japan do more cardio.

Fortunately, he was now done, and just in time. His phone told him it was 12:56 PM already. Laying down, he closed his eyes. Almost immediately he let out a gasp. There, in the top left corner of his vision, were a timer and a battery symbol, even though he should be seeing nothing but darkness.

Itsuki anxiously watched the timer go down. When it reached zero, he spoke the activation words he and so many others had burned into their minds.

"LINK START!"

Instantly, blinding white substituted the darkness. Various colored lines streaked across his vision, and Itsuki couldn't help but think that SAO lacked an epilepsy warning.

When the loading animation ended, he found himself standing in a white room. In front of him were multiple floating customization panels. Through them, he could change his height, his hair, the color of his eyes, the shape of his nose, his entire appearance.

Knowing that he would only be able to play SAO sporadically after he got a new job, Itsuki didn't want to waste much time with character customization. After making himself a little taller - because who wouldn't - and his face a little more manly, he looked at himself in the mirror that appeared.

What greeted him was a twenty-year-old young man, with long black hair reaching his shoulders, a square-ish face, and dark brown eyes. A very average face, if he was being honest. Very similar to his real self.

[ Confirm character creation? ]

Below the message were a blue circle and a red cross. Selecting the affirmative option, Itsuki saw the panels around him vanish, and a new message popped up.

[ Please insert your name. ]

Now, that was a question, wasn't it? Itsuki had played video games before, but his username had always changed, depending on both the type of game and his age. After hesitating for about a minute, he finally decided on what seemed like a fairly good option.

[ Welcome to Sword Art Online, player Drifter. ]

Without warning, everything went white again.

...

When Drifter opened his eyes, he was in a circular plaza. Various old-styled buildings surrounded it, and in the middle an obelisk stood tall.

Drifter lowered his sight to himself. He appeared to be wearing a dark green shirt and black pants. His hands were covered by a pair of fingerless gloves. Stretching his fingers, he watched as the material tightened and bent, and felt the touch of his clothes over his skin. Drifter touched his hair, his eyes, his mouth. He felt a smile appearing. Everything was so... Real.

"Kayaba you mad genius."

He heard someone snicker to his side, apparently agreeing with his remark, and gave a sheepish smile. Swiping two fingers down in a straight vertical line, as the guides he read told him to do, his menu opened.

It was a rectangle with a white layout. On the left was a human-shaped figure, with many smaller circles showing the equipment spots. For now, only his torso, legs, and feet were filled. There was also what appeared to be a basic short sword that he could equip. Probably the beginner weapon.

The menu was complex. There were many subdivisions, such as his stats, equipment, inventory, friends list, skills, and much more. Drifter's head was starting to hurt just by looking at it.

Deciding he would leave all that for later, Drifter looked left and right. There were already several hundred people in the plaza, with more spawning in every second, and even though it looked like it would be no problem housing several thousand more, he didn't plan on staying here for that. Already, he could see the quicker players leaving through the alleyways. He chose a random direction, and mimicked them.

While walking, Drifter equipped the short sword. Suddenly, the weapon appeared in his hands, causing him to stop as he almost let it fall. He wasn't sure what he had expected - maybe for it to feel like a foam sword. It was the very opposite of that. To start with, it was heavy. He could lift it with one hand relatively easily, but just the thought of swinging it already left him tired. It also looked very sharp. His inner psychopath urged him to stab something with it.

After admiring his new stab and slice toy, Drifter resumed walking. Soon, he had crossed the gates of the starting city - Town of Beginnings, that was its name - and left the safe area. In front of him was a grassy field and hills. Further north, he could see forests and rivers, as well as a huge, huge pillar. It was said pillar that led to him looking up for the first time since he spawned in.

Above his head was a ceiling. Or, rather, the bottom of the floor above. He wasn't about to question how the entirety of the 1st floor wasn't covered in shadows. That was video game logic for you. It reminded him of the backstory of SAO, though.

It was very simple, actually. The players were in Aincrad, a floating castle in the sky, with one hundred floors. On the topmost floor, the Ruby Palace, was the big boss of the game. They had to climb through all 100 floors, overcoming countless challenges, to win. Drifter was sure there was a lot more complex lore than that, but that had been as far as he bothered to read.

Drifter was brought out of his musings when he heard a high-pitched sound he would later associate with a mob spawning. Just a few meters to his left, a gray-furred hog had appeared. When he looked at it, a red cursor, a health bar, and the words << Frenzy Boar >> manifested into existence.

The mob seemed to notice him at the same time Drifter did. With a roar, it charged towards him, eyes glowing red. It was very, very real, and very, very terrifying. Drifter froze momentarily, and that allowed the monster to get almost within striking distance of him. It was only then that he remembered to dodge, but failed to do so completely. The tusks of the mob scratched his left side, leaving a red gash and floating polygons, and sent Drifter stumbling.

"Ahh!"

On the top left corner of his vision, Drifter saw his health bar empty by about 5%, but he was more worried about the girlish scream he had just let out. It had been just a reflex, an instinct, really. You couldn't even feel pain in SAO. Luckily no one was around to hear that, or he would die of shame.

Steadying himself, Drifter held his sword with both hands. When the << Frenzy Boar >> charged again, he nimbly stepped to the side, and struck down. The mob cried in pain, and its health bar was depleted by about 20%.

Letting his lips stretch out in a wide grin, Drifter assumed the same position as the mob stupidly turned for another charge, it's only attack pattern. Oh, this was fun.