Sword Art Online FanFiction

Chapter Four

(Picture Above) Meet Kila! Kila is Anika's avatar.

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A burst of white light flashed before my eyes. Suddenly, everything went black. I waited a bit until an idea struck me, and I tried to open my eyes. Slowly, my world opened. A whole new place, splayed out before me. I spawned in the center of the Town of Beginnings, in front of the Black Iron Palace. It looked eerily real, with such detail I might've mistaken it for real life, if not for the odd setting.

The brick paved ground felt hard and solid under my feet. The artificial sun shining felt warm. A breeze ruffled my hair. I knelt down and pressed my fingers on the ground. It was rough. I rubbed my fingers over the pavement. It was so hard to believe that none of this is real. All around me, other players spawned in bursts of bright blue lights. I wondered where Dawn was.

Oh, right. We agreed to meet in the marketplace. I looked around and suddenly I realized how big just the town was. How was I ever going to find Dawn in the marketplace, let alone get out of this plaza?

Everywhere around people spawned. Some people looked super experienced. They must have been beta testers. Some people moved with ease but looked puzzled at the user interface. Those people had probably played a virtual reality game with the NerveGear before, like Dawn. Then there were a few people like me, who could barely walk with whooping in amazement.

I was walking around the plaza, trying to figure out the controls when someone bumped into my back, hard, knocking me over.

"Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry! I'm new! Are you ok?"

I looked up at who was speaking. A old woman was leaning over with concern etched on her face. She was a happy-looking woman with both laugh lines and stress wrinkles.

"Uh, yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Thanks." I mumbled, a bit dazed.

I pulled myself up and looked up at her and smiled.

"I am sooooo sorry. Oh dear, I really don't know what to do with myself. I must seem so foolish," she continued.

"It's fine! I'm new too. I've just been bouncing around trying to figure everything out. I just started ten minutes ago. Isn't this amazing?" I said.

She nodded. "The detail is amazing. I remember when I first got a video game, it was super pixelated. Now look at me!"

I asked carefully, "I know this might sound a bit rude, but how does someone your age come across this game? I'm sorry, that came out wrong. It's just you don't see many elderly people in games like these."

She laughed. "That's alright, dear. My grandkids got the game, and they convinced their parents and me to play. They spawned an hour ago together, and I've just been trying to find them."

"Oh wow. I'm going to meet a friend in the Marketplace, but I don't know how I'm going to. The place is huge!" I gushed, looking around.

"My, my. I haven't even introduced myself. I'm Jijika. Nice to meet you," Jijika exclaimed, holding out her hand for me to shake.

"I'm Kila. Well, my real name is Anika. Nice to meet you." I said, shaking her hand firmly in mine.

"Have you figured out the controls yet?" Jijika asked me.

I shook my head. "I don't have a clue," I laughed.

"Hey, you're looking for your friend. I'm looking for my son and his family. How about we work together?" Jijika suggested.

I smiled, happy to find a friend so soon. "Of course! That's a great idea. I would friend you, except I have no idea how."

"Hey there!" A voice called from behind us. We both turned around to look. A man in his mid-twenties, or, at least his avatar, came bounding over, smiling ear to ear.