Lone Blade (SAO Fanfiction)

Chapter 1: The Prelude

He ran, faster than ever before, his footsteps echoing along the never-ending path. He could hear screams from everywhere, somehow they sounded familiar. He picked up his pace even more, his body reaching it's limits. In the distance, he could see a tower. In front of it, hung a cage, covered by a cloth. The screams were most audible near that location. As he got closer, the screams grew louder. When he reached the tower, the screams suddenly stopped. He looked around, trying to survey the scene. Then, he heard a small whisper, one of a gentle voice.

"Help....me.....Raiden....."

Morning

Awoken by the usual alarm clock noise, Shane's eyes snapped open. He wasn't too startled as he was used to this by now. He turned off the alarm and lazily sat up and thought about the dream. He scratched his head and tried to clear his thoughts. Since that didn't work, he got up and went to take a shower. He did need one, but he was doing it only to clear his head and make sense of things. Slowly, it all came back to him. It was from that game he finished last night. He stayed up all night playing it. He had named his character Raiden, as he usually named his gaming characters. In the finals level, we had to save our little sister from the final boss, which explains the "screams from a covered cage" part. Eventually, he finished it and went to sleep. He shook his head to clear his thoughts and continued to enjoy the shower. The hot water from the shower felt a little too hot, but it was also relaxing, so he was freshened up pretty quick. After he was done, he dried up and looked at himself in the mirror. He he was an 18 year old with a fit, muscular body for a gamer. He had a pale complexion. His hair was short and jet black. His eyes were as black as his hair. His facial expression made him seem like he didn't care about anything. He got ready and checked the time. He had to meet his friend an hour ago. He grabbed his hooded jacket, put his hood up and went out. It was raining outside, all the better for him since he liked the rain.

Afternoon

He walked down to their usual meeting spot. It was a 20 minute walk from his house, not that he didn't like walking there, especially in the rain. He reached it a bit sooner, a small alley behind a shop. As he reached it, he saw a figure standing under a shade. Zane Kyron, Shane's best, and only, friend. He wasn't wearing any jacket to shield himself from the rain. He was also pale like Shane, but was a little less fit. He had short, slightly spiky and light brown hair.

"Hey! Over here! Hurry up, Shane!"

"Coming, Zane," He replied calmly and walked towards him to join him under the shade. He was holding a paper bag in his hand.

"Where have you been? We were supposed to meet here like an hour ago," he questioned.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Had to take care of something," Shane replied.

"Were you pulling an all-nighter on that game? You really get addicted to these games so easily."

"Hey, had to finish it at some point."

"Speaking of games, check out what I got."

Smirking, he opened the paper bag and revealed two copies of a video game.

"Behold! Two copies of S.A.O, Sword Art Online. The first ever MMORPG to hit the Nerve-gear. You can pay me for this later, but I want you to come online tonight so we can play this."

Shane took out one of the copies. He examined it for a bit before putting it in his jacket.

"Thanks man, I really appreciate this."

"No problem, just don't forget to come online."

Shane nodded and went back home after saying his goodbyes. Shane O'Bryan was an avid gamer, so he couldn't wait to go home and play the game. He wasn't able to join the beta testers so he was going in blind, but he was fine with it as it was more of a challenge.

Night

It was finally time.  Shane had finished up all the work he had to do around his home and ate a small meal of pizza and a glass of Coke. Satisfied, he booted up his computer and picked up the S.A.O disk. He looked at it for a bit before putting it in and starting the program. He linked up his Nerve-gear, put it on and laid down on his bed. He closed his eyes, savoring the moment. He was going to play the first ever MMORPG on the Nerve-gear. He then shouted his final words before entering the game.

"Link start!"

A/N: Hey, thanks for reading. This is just a prelude, the real action will start in the next chapters, so be patient. The picture is of what Shane and Zane look like, left one is Shane and the right one is Zane. This is my first fanfiction. I'll try to update as much as I can, but idk how much that will be since not many ppl are too eager to read this. Anyways, I'm gonna add the cast to this chapter so you can review names and shit, though if you don't want spoilers, dont read them. It will have every major character's game name and real name. So check it out if you dont hate spoilers. Anyways, hope you guys will read the next chapter too, peace.