Amongst a horde of chaos, screams of terror, and whispers of desires. People praying to whatever deity they believed in for this to be a dream, but all would be proven false. It is funny, because this man was no different. The instant that the declaration would be proven, a man, surprisingly well equipped for being a lowly level 4 player, would fall on his knees. Facial features covered by a simple white mask given to him by a weird quest he took just in order to hide his face. But now, the man who'd believed that this was another chance at life, would fall flat on his knees in desperation. 

He was unable to utter a single cry of fear, for his speech did not come out. His scream was not audible, his mouth simply gaped open, and his dominant, fearful red eyes were as open as they could possibly be. People around him were pathetic, cowering to whatever little bit of dust they could, trying to proven themselves wrong, to prove that this was indeed false, but they could find nothing. No button, no forced escape configuration, or combination. 

This person, the one who'd dare to call himself the Guardian cowered in fear, but soon, he attempted to regain a suitable composure. The mask hid his face very well, no facial feature would be seen, only the very border between his hairline and face. But soon, the mention of gift aroused his suspicion, and as foolish as ever, the averagely tall man took out a mirror, and in the flash of seconds he observed as his hair was no longer his own, and this simply observation was enough, he'd realized that the moment he looked away from the mirror, that everyone were their own selves. He could see the most humourous of things, fat men clad in armours which shouldn't even be of protection to anyone, and small people covered in the heaviest set of armour you'd be able to acquire within the time the game has been out. 

The cacophony of screams, the gazes of disgust, fear, and uncertainty, something within that chorus of emotions triggered this young mans transformation, the final of his tears would be spilled and with a defiant gaze he looked upon his former legend, no, still legend, Kayaba Akihiko. With a thick glare towards the sun, the sun which slowly returned into vision because of the evaporation of Kayaba's avatar and the messanges, the man turned around. The tall build of this average man becoming increasingly more present as he turned around to face the exit of the Town of Beginnings. 

And as he took his first step he was greeted by another man, followed by a small group of friends, two females and three other males. ''Oy there mate, how you doing?'' His weird way of addressing strangers caught the man off guard, the white mask faced the man, was surprisingly alike himself, the first words which came out of the white masks mouth would be the catious ''Who are you?''. The man smiled, waved his hand towards an alleyway whilst having his friends look as friendly as possible. 

With a cautious mindset the white mask was quite reluctant to follow their suggestion, however he had nothing to lose, after all, he was inside the Town of Beginnings, and even if he wasn't, it's not as if he had anything to return to. He took a silent step towards the alley, following behind the cloak of the similar man. As they walked the cloaked stranger started to speak. ''Quite the thing that happened just now, right? Well, not like I think it matters, you know what, when I looked at you and saw that mask I knew that you were one of us-! I'm Malik, by the way.'' He spoke in a very energetic fashion, before the white mask could utter any sound one of the females cut in. ''Don't worry about him, he's just enjoying every moment of SAO to it's fullest, he was fired today and spent the last piece of money buying a pirated copy, so, you know...''

The man, Malik, looked back into the beastly eyes of the white mask, initially with the face of a deadly serious attitude, but then, slowly, changing over into that of a happier, more enjoying face with many features. ''Y'know, I was pretty close to becoming assistant manager, a man needs something to cease his depression in peace, haha!'' The first though wandered into white masks' mind *he's much alike myself*, he though.

''Anyway, concerning the impression you give off we assumed that you're one much alike ourselves, I mean, otherwise we wouldn't have spotted you wearing that mask.'' Another man added. ''I'm Josefine, these nuts are Alice, Kaiser, and Ragnar. At the front is our leader, the one who's sounding like an absolute idiot, Malik.'' The introduction was extraordinary by white masks' standards, he'd never quite experienced something like this before. ''Ohoho, that'd be me! Much like my genius friend Kaiser said, we knew you were another Secret Keeper, you're almost born for the guild!'' 

If white masks' memory served him right, the secret keeper could only translate to a member of the famed guild Keepers of Secrets during the BETA test, a group of powerful players who seek out and display exploits and secrets of the game to the rest of the world. White mask smiled, a small chuckle making itself audible from the confines of the white mask he bore. ''It seems that someone else realized that this is the Mask of Beginnings, only acquirable trough certain actions.'' Malik made an ingenius laugh. ''Ohoho, of course, it was I that spread it's existence across the internet, hohoho!'' The fearless red eyes of White Mask blew open, *could this man be ZealotOfZecrets?*

''Anyhow, kiddo, well, you seem sorta my age, but still, I feel powerful, anyhow, KIDDO! Come with us, we're planning to advance to the good stuff, if you do well, then you might even become a member of Keepers of Secrets.''

The alley was surprisingly calm, of course, it must've been a more unknown part of the town. With a thrilled smile white mask spoke. ''Of course.'' And with that he slowly took off his mask, revealing to his newfound friends whom he was.