An Empty Life: Hollow Desires

[Entry: Prescript]

A life, one where you have been born at the top. Can you imagine it? A life of elegant clothing, fine cuisine, extravagant luxuries. Even now, as I mention it, you are envious of a life that you may never have. A fanciful delusion you indulge now and then.

Everything comes easy, there are no limitations, no hesitations.

The world at your fingertips... the very thought of that sends you again into a fantasy. Yes, and such a wonderful fantasy that is. But that is all it is.

A fantasy. Something to strive for, an impossible goal and fascination. That is all it is. Reality is not quite so fanciful.

Yes, you would not understand.

To you, that life is a dream come true.

To me, it is an endless nightmare.

Stop for a moment and consider. Your family is accomplished. Your name itself carries weight and every action is scrutinized by the populace.

You have impossibly high expectations to uphold, to meet. With this considered, it is no wonder that they say power corrupts. It's weight is too much for any man, but I digress. This is not the reason why your dream is my nightmare.

Consider further, if you might, the ramifications that come with being a prodigy, with an intellect that transcends over ninety nine percent of the populace, with an ability to succeed at any menial task with the barest of efforts.

A blessing to most, a burden to only one. And there you are, scoffing. "What a waste," you may say. "What foolishness." Indeed, that it may be. And yet it is true.

To be blessed with such talent is a burden. A responsibility placed upon yourself to transcend all else and become great.

Now, recall the life of one in a privileged family. Already you are among the top… but when you are also a prodigy you instantly become the best of the best.

The crème de la crème.

Already isolated by my name, I am even further isolated by my nature. And even then, a nature that cannot be fulfilled. After all, when you are born accomplished, what need is there to become so?

Ha! Even my own mother and father scorn my nature, that to strive for excellence when there is none left to be gained. Is it any surprise then, when I left this world for another? To forsake my old life and begin anew?

No… I do not think it is.

I doubt there is even one who may understand me yet I still hope. If there is… then that would be why you are reading this entry. Hm… I suppose I should introduce myself then.

I am Sen Yuuki, the prodigious child and gem of the Yuuki enterprise. But in my home… in Aincrad, I am known as Kisen. The War Machine who sought his purpose in a fabricated world.

A/N: So if there are any readers from my other stories here at the moment, apologies but I just had to get this down. Needed to shift my focus for a bit before getting back to writing Scattered Memories. Now for any new readers, thanks for reading! SAO is, without a doubt, the best thing I've had the pleasure of reading and watching. In fact, it is because of it that I'm pursuing my current career. What that is, well you'll all have to wait and see. I'm sure I'll be up on the news soon enough. :p

Anyway, back to the story. This is an exercise in character development and voice. That's the technical reason why I'm writing it. The personal reason is that I'm just curious. Reading about Asuna in the light novels made me wonder. SAO became a cage for many of the gamers, but there were a few for which it set them free. Kirito and Asuna were just a few. This world allowed them to find their own "truths" and purpose. Now, I was also thinking about Kayaba Akihiko's motives for making SAO and Asuna's background when it hit me. "What would it be like for someone who was a prodigy but unable to express it because they were already at the top?" And thus, this story.

Now, this story will be OC based, obviously centered around Sen who is a relative of Asuna, though they don't know each other personally until SAO. It will also be AU. After all, having a prodigy in Aincrad does throw a spanner to Canon events. Expect moments of sheer awesomeness and seemingly gamebreaking moments. It tends to happen around these people. Also, this story is just practice and another diversion. Don't expect frequent updates until at least Scattered Memories is finished. Well, hope you enjoyed this "What if?" for now. Thanks for reading!

-Edited 10/10/12