(SAO x Reader) Sword Art Online: Incendiary Chaos

Prologue

It was a massive castle floating high in the sky. A tower of rolling hills and years of code, all worked into one world. Despite being all virtual, every sensation is completely realistic. The wind, the weight of weapons, even pain can be truly felt at times...

Most of this information could be found in any newspaper at the moment. The reasoning is simple. This new game, the game of true sensations and years of code, is finally being released. It's called Sword Art Online, and the game itself will come with the hardware needed to use it, the Nervegear.

And that's what I'm here for. To be one of those to experience this game for the first time with everyone else. I was a lucky one who happened to get my hands on one of the 10,000 copies of the game. And I was already plugging it in and getting ready to use it. I slipped it onto my head and lay on my empty bed. The soft foam inside of the helmet provided a surprising amount of cushion, so I was able to lay down comfortably.

"Let's see... I think the instruction manual said..." I mumbled, recalling the words I had to say to start up the device. "... Right! Link, Start!"

I felt my senses suddenly drift out of me. It was slow but steady. I felt myself entering the NerveGear. It felt like I was falling asleep, while also being completely conscious. All I could clearly remember were rods of color bursting past me and a loading screen. Then, a bright light blinded me and left me waiting.

Then, my waiting ended. It felt like I was coming to after being knocked out by something. But as I opened my eyes and looked around, it seemed as though the world around me changed to one of fantasy. There was a large building behind me that I recognized as Blackiron Palace, a location where 'The names of Heroes will be etched in stone'. At least, according to the game manual. It was a massive dome-shaped building, with spires of a similar crimson black protruding from all four corners.

Even closer to that was the small plaza fountain. It took the form of a thin clock tower, surrounded by a small running fountain. And it just so happened to be the perfect place to peer into the water at your reflection. It was likely purposely put there so that players could see their appearances. And that's exactly what I used it for as I gazed into my reflection. I could see my character's blue hair, with the locks covering one of my red eyes.

I was simply gazing into my reflection, an ecstatically fluffy feeling in my chest. Then, I heard footsteps behind me.

"Hey! Are you a new player as well?" She asked. I turned to look at her, with the first thing catching my eye being her pink and short hair.

"O-oh. I am. Why do you ask?" I said while tilting my head to her.

"Oh awesome!" She said, her face beaming. "Did you wanna hang out? I don't know my way around here too well, so I figure two heads would be better than one, right?"

I hesitated a bit at her question. I definitely was a bit busy... but at this rate, I could kill two birds with one stone. "Actually, I was gonna go to a friend of mine who knows this game really well. Did you wanna come with me so we could both learn this game together?"

The girl smiled and nodded. "Sure thing! You can call me Lisbeth." She said, referring to her username. "Can I call you... Chevalier?" She was doing the same to me, calling me by my display name.

I remembered what I set my username to and happily nodded. "Sure thing! I'll lead the way, Lisbeth." I say with a smile as I start to walk away from the plaza.

The plaza itself was surrounded by high walls made of light brown bricks, with large pillars supporting them. Each wall had to be at least 50 meters tall, and there were four of them to create a circle with four open pathways. It's a wonder what games can do.