New Original Sword Art Online Story “Dragon’s Egg” Announced

Need another little Sword Art Online side story in your life? Then you might be excited to know that a brand new, original Sword Art Online story is debuting on April 3, 2026 as part of the Egg Firm 10th Anniversary Collection. Called Dragon’s Egg, this will be an original SAO story written by Sword Art Online’s author, Reki Kawahara.

In addition to being available for sale online, it looks like the book will also be available at the Egg Firm booth at AnimeJapan 2026!

EGG FIRM 10th Anniversary Book

What will “Dragon’s Egg” be about?

Teaser for “Dragon’s Egg” shared via the official Egg Firm X account

Right now, there’s very scant information about what this new short story will be about. All we know are the brief glimpses we get of what is almost certainly artwork directly from the novel itself, illustrated by abec. Looking closely at the image we see above, it appears like this short story will feature Yuuki and take place in ALO.

In addition to Silica and Yuuki who are both prominently displayed in the artwork, you can clearly see Yui’s hand resting on Silica’s head, and Leafa chilling in the background. You can also see someone’s arm in view, and it looks like Kirito’s arm to me.

Most likely, this story takes place as one of the many adventures the Sleeping Knights and Kirito and gang went on during that three-month interval after Asuna originally meets Yuuki and then the events at the conclusion of the arc.

Most likely it will have a similar feel to other short stories that took place in ALO – think Calibur arc but only with Sleeping Knights (or at least Yuuki).

All in all, the premise is off to a great start!

Artwork featuring Kirito in Aincrad clothes also included in the Egg Firm 10 year collection

Image from the Egg Firm 10th Anniversary Collection book

In addition to the glimpse from “Dragon’s Egg” we got above, this artwork featuring Kirito (with Asuna’s hair also in frame) wearing his Aincrad gear is included in the book. While it’s a little funny to have Kirito in his original Black Swordsman getup while the “Dragon’s Egg” story clearly appears to take place in ALfheim Online (ALO), most likely they’re unrelated.

Egg Firm is likely just highlighting one of its most iconic characters in his most iconic outfit – not spoiling anything from the new original story itself.

Sword Art Online has a frustratingly wide array of short stories out there

One thing that’s both fascinating and frustrating about the Sword Art Online book franchise is how many disparate short stories exist out there. It’s frustrating for fans of the light novel series especially as many short stories never make their way over here. Often released as bonus content alongside Blu Ray releases or even given away at movie theaters in Japan as a gift, there are several stories that feel very relevant to the main SAO plot that never get official English translations.

While sometimes these stories get packaged up into a light novel volume (like in the case of Kiss and Fly), more often than not they never get released in English, leaving fans in the English speaking world to rely on fan translations to catch up on important subplots.

While it’s very exciting to see new Sword Art Online content like “Dragon’s Egg” getting exposure, this is likely another of those stories that won’t ever get an official English translation. However, it could spell something interesting for SAO fans in an indirect way.

Will more SAO news come out of AnimeJapan 2026?

Admittedly, there’s been plenty to be excited about for SAO fans in 2026. In only a few short months we’ve had news of the next installment in the main light novel series slated for release in Japan in April, 2026 – Vol. 29.

As if that weren’t enough, a huge new RPG called Echoes of Aincrad was also announced for a release day of July 10, 2026. Along with that game we are also getting a new anime film released with the game. Called Unanswered//butterfly, this is a new original feature-length anime that includes familiar faces including Kirito and Asuna as well as brand new characters we’ve never met before.

All of this along with news of the new original short story is pretty cool. But the big elephant in the room still remains: when will we get news about the promised original motion picture? It’s been over three years now since the next anime film was announced, and still no news about it.

Could Sword Art Online’s inclusion in Egg Firm’s book and that books release at AnimeJapan 2026 be a sign that news about the next anime installment will be coming soon?

There’s no way to know for sure, but fans will certainly continue to speculate until we know for sure!

Until then, stay tuned for more SAO updates and check the blog often for all things SAO!