Closure ⇒ m. yg + k. nj

~ 1 ~

It was 12:30, I'd been awake for at least 7 hours and despite my lack of rest I couldn't feel a drop of sleepiness in my system.

The only thing running through my veins, invading my thoughts, was the impatience that I'd been feeling since last week, when it was announced the release of the best MMORPG game ever created— Sword Art Online, or SAO for short.

Ever since the beta test, all I could think about was the weight of the sword as I swung it against my opponent— be it another player, a simple monster or even a boss fight. The feeling of freedom as I stared at the seemingly endless lands that covered Aincrad's floors.

I still remember how I was able to reach the highest floor from among the beta testers, how I had been promised a free copy for doing so, and how my fingers had shaken when I first held the package.

12:45. The servers go online at 1:00.

I walked towards my bed and sat on it, slipping on the VR helmet, NerveGear, and securing it, then turning it on and waiting as I stared at the little clock on the edge of the glass that made as glasses.

The helmet looked like one of a motorcycle— covering my hole head and part of my face so it could scan my brain completely, allowing me to play however I wanted without having to plug it into my brain directly.

Yeah, that was a thing a few years ago, but because of the cost and the deaths, it stopped not even 3 months after its release.

Well, sighing without any more preoccupations, at 12:58, I turned on the machine and laid down, closing my eyes and waiting for those last two excruciating minutes before the servers went online.

When I opened my eyes again, it barely took a few seconds for the numbers to change, and I grinned as I stared at the blinking '1:00' that appeared on my screen.

"Link, start!" I ordered the device as I closed my eyes once more, and suddenly my vision was engulfed by a blinding white that surrounded me fully. I glanced around, but before I could try and move around a blue screen popped up in front of me.

I went through the registration process rather quickly, then grinned as the walls and statues of Aincrad appeared in front of me. I felt my feet touch the graveled ground, and my smile widened as I looked down at my hands, blinking, the hum of the NerveGear following my ears.

"I'm back." I whispered. "Back to this world..."