Isabel sat on her bed, hugging her knees. She stared at her NerveGear, waiting for the SAO servers to go up.

Her father had not been happy when he found out that she went to buy the game alone at midnight. He had started throwing and breaking things, yelling at her. Life had been just bearable when her sister still lived in the house, but now she was living with her boyfriend. She visited nearly everyday, but it wasn't the same.

Noticing that it was time, she wiped her eyes and put on the NerveGear.

"Link start," she said softly, afraid of being heard.

As the game started up, she afforded herself a small smile. She'd be able to live a different life in SAO, if only for a few hours at a time.

In no time she was in-game, now known as Izzy. She stood still, in the Town of Beginnings, in awe at how everything felt so real. So real that at first her mind refused to believe that it was a game. But all around her, others were spawning into the world, appearing out of thin air. She swiped at the air, trying to call up the game menu. She let out a small gasp when it worked. As she scrolled through the floating menu, equipping herself with basic items she found in her inventory, she finally accepted the fact that she was in a game. Which meant she could do things she could never do in the real world. Like...

She summoned her two-handed hammer, which was colored black and very plain looking. It hovered over her outstretched hands momentarily. Her instinctual reaction was to not catch it, because it looked insanely heavy. She fought that urge, and the hammer fell softly into her hands. 

She stared at it, once again in slight disbelief. It felt so light in her grip. She swung it at the air a few times, testing it out. 

Izzy smiled, excitement replacing shock. Thanks to the skills she had chosen, she could wield a massive hammer with ease. Outside of the game, she wouldn't even be able to lift this weapon, let alone swing it around.

Done with the hammer for now, she quickly used the menu to put it away so she wouldn't need to carry it around.

Deciding that she wanted to try fighting something, she began to walk, making her way outside of the town.