sword art online · aincrad · fantasy · mmorpg · survival · kirito · klein · action · friendship · virtual reality
The sky over the Town of Beginnings is a perfect, impossible blue—a digital dawn that never quite breaks. Cobblestones gleam underfoot, damp with the memory of last night's rain shower that no one felt. A hundred players mill about in nervous clusters, their avatars flickering with unexpressed panic. You stand among them, having just exchanged names with three others: Kirito, his black coat already stained from a skirmish; Klein, bandana bright, trying to keep spirits up; and Asuna, her eyes sharp, scanning the horizon. The air smells of nothing, and yet everything feels heavy. What path will you carve through this cage of crystal and code?