New Game? *YES*

Chapter 1 - Before Starting

*Note*

Sword Art Online is not owned by me in anyway, all rights go to respected company

Photos used are not owned by me, all rights go to respected artists

All information used throughout story has been accessed through the SAO wiki

Kirito POV:

Today was the official release of the game I had been beta testing a month ago. Finally it was coming out and all those dreams about me planning on what to do once I entered the world will finally be able to happen.

I looked through the various forums to see how excited people were about the release and what their plans where to do once they entered. Some decided to run as quickly as they can to try out their weapons, others wanted to interact with new people and few wanted to explore the world as much as possible.

I already had plans to go out and level up as much as I can to try and beat the boss room. In the beta test it took us a weeks to beat it. However now I believed I can beat the boss in three days.

As I was looking through the forums, i heard a thud on the side of my desk. I went down to pick up the object that my hand had knocked over only to see that it was a picture frame of me and two other kids, one boy and one girl.

The two kids were my childhood friends Eugeo Narusaka (Last name is a coincidence, not related) and Alice Zuberg. To be more exact they were my only friends and were extremely close to me that I considered more of my family than my actual mother and father, who I found out were actually my aunt and uncle.

Eugeo was similar to me as we were both quiet around other and tried our best to stay calm and collected whenever others would pick on us. Well I say calm and collected as I would usually end up turning around in the end to say a couple of words back. Eugeo would always be there for me even if it meant the both of us getting broken bones or black eyes, yet he never complained.

The girl was Alice and was the logical one in almost every situation. She was also an orphan like me, but was adopted by a couple. Alice's past was unknown and she didn't remember much of it as she was three years old when she was adopted, But what was known was that her biological mother and father were rich. However the couple who adopted her didn't do it for the money and put the money into a bank which only Alice was allowed to open once she reached a certain age to help with paying for her education. This also didn't change our view of her and we considered her as a sister, but in reality she was more of a protective mother. Whenever Eugeo and I would get into fights, she was always there to scold us and then help us out with the bandages. While she might be a little harsh she was always there for us, even going as far as lying to our parents so that we wouldn't get any harsh words from them about us getting into a fight.

Both of these people were extremely close to me, however every time I would see this picture my heart would always ache in sadness. Both of them were currently studying abroad in Europe through Alice's education money. Eugeo went along with her due to him having a slight crush on her and because he didn't feel comfortable with Alice going alone.I was also given the opportunity by Alice, however I respectfully declined as I had just found out the truth about my parents and wasn't in the right mindset at the time. They left about two and a half years ago and we're not gonna come back for awhile longer. The picture was of the three of us at the airport just before Eugeo and Alice left.

Every time I would see the picture it would hurt me. I would constantly think 'Should I have gone? Should I have agreed?'. I placed the picture back in its spot slightly behind the monitor due to it being out of my line of sight whenever I would sit at my desk.

I went back to looking through the forums with only an hour left until the launch of the "Sword Art Online" . A live stream had also gone online a couple of hours ago interviewing people who had just bought the hard copies of the game along with their nerve gear. I decided to get my mail from downstairs and look at today's issue of "Gaming Today" magazine.

At the front cover of the magazine I saw an article about an interview of Akihiko Kayaba, the creator of the nerve gear and "Sword Art Online" (SAO). I continued to read about how he was an orphan like me and how he continued to rise through the ranks from starting out as a simple intern and eventually making it to become the head coordinator of the creation of SAO because of his magnificent invention of the nerve gear.

I continued to read on about his life and when arriving to the rumor page, I saw that he had gone to a hospital on the same day I had been born. People speculated that he had a kid, however I didn't find this true because of him still not marrying anyone. I also found the day to be a coincidence because my real parents were inventors and researcher with the last name "Narusaka".

After an hour had passed, I put the magazine away hoping to read it later. I set up my nerve gear as they had set it up in the facility where all the beta testers went to test the game. I layed down in my bed and closed my eyes.

"Link Start"

The events that occur between this chapter and the next chapter are the same as the events of the Aincrad Arc in the Anime/Novels