Sword Art Online: Reconfiguration

Chapter One

Night descended over the Town of Beginnings like a blanket thrown over a child, the cerulean skies yielding to a faint gold then a fiery red before the sun disappeared over the horizon. Replaced with an inky blank, stars flickered into view on the faux sky projected onto the ceiling of the flying castle's first level. The transition was rendered perfectly, the unique landscape of Aincrad offering a view unrivaled anywhere on Earth. A young programmer spent months studying the precise details of sunsets across the globe, determined to make a spectacle unlike any other. Though many still cast their gaze skyward, no one paid the sunset much attention anymore. Instead, their thoughts drifted to the second floor on the the other side of that sky, both tantalizingly close and insurmountably far away.

Torches along the streets sparked to life of their own accord, bathing the city with a warm, gentle glow. The background music loop transitioned from a boisterous brass and percussion symphony to a gentle piano version of the same song. The roar of activity among the street side vendors had quieted to a mere hum, with only a handful of NPCs still manning their booths and hawking their wares to passersby. Other NPCs mingled with players in the streets themselves, but the two groups were easily distinguished. The computer controlled cast bounded along, full of vigor and pleasant small talk routines. They possessed a wide range of emotions, but many laughed. Almost all of them grinned.

On the other hand, not a single player smiled. The majority stared into the middle distance as they trudged forward, most retiring from the night after days in the field in a desperate attempt to raise their levels. Their expressions ranged from disbelief to horror, resignation to despair, a few faces contorted into snarls of anger. But not a single player showed any hint of enthusiasm. In contrast to the joyful bed of music behind them, they moved like a giant, meandering funeral procession.

Being trapped in a death game had that effect on people.

A lone figure wove her way through the throng, one of the few who didn't travel in a larger group. She tugged at the hem of her hooded cloak, her face hidden beneath it. The disguise wasn't to hide her identity, for no one would recognize her, even after Akihiko Kayaba stripped them of the anonymity of their avatars. Rather, she didn't want them to see her and assume she needed their protection. There had been at least a dozen such offers at the panic in the town square reached a crescendo after the announcement that players could only log out of Sword Art Online after defeating the final floor and that death in this world would mean death in real life as well. Well, some felt less like offers and more like demands. They ranged from meek to insistent, valiant to knavish, each with their own unique sales pitch. They all boiled down to the thing, however. A pretty girl needed protection, she surely couldn't take care of herself. So each time, Asuna Yuuki turned them down.

The day before he left on his fateful business trip, Koichirou warned her about the other players. Their parents deemed video games a waste of time, at least until her father's company got into the business. Studying them fell to her brother, and the thing he enjoyed the least were his fellow players. He told her they liked to wear masks that went beyond the avatars Kayaba stripped away. They lurked behind invented personas, playing characters that matched who they longed to be. In the digital world, he explained, the meek became powerful, the cowardly brave... but inevitably, their anonymity led to cruelty. Everything she experienced bore that out. Hadn't the first player she met warned her about player killers? Rumors persisted the PKers still plied their trade, despite it now being real murder. And how could she trust her fellow players, when the handsome swordsman Takaharu turned out to be a short haired young girl?

How could she get close to them, when she'd already seen one die?

Her shoulder slammed hard into a passing NPC. Though an Immortal Object message appeared over his head, he still staggered and muttered an unintelligible curse as he stormed away. The contact didn't damage Asuna either, thanks to the safety zone that protected the city. Regardless, she moved from the middle of the street to the less trafficked sides. Beyond the odd shop vendor waving hello, she came close enough to eavesdrop on a few of the conversations between the players.