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2027, September 25th, 12:34 PM,

Caelus, Caelesian Empire’s Northern Highlands.

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Russel’s POV

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There was not too much he could say about himself. Russel had lived a relatively plain life like most people around him.

He lived in London like Tyrell, however from a far less safe neighbourhood. From their conversations, he learned that Tyrell lived in one of those white neighbourhoods, his parents were on decent wages so could afford that much at least.

He, however, was not so lucky. His parents were second-generation immigrants, with his grandparents hailing from China.

Unfortunately, his family was not so well off, living in one of the rougher neighbourhoods in South London. He went to a local school, spent his free time in the local area, and rarely left the city.

He had expected to spend most of his life living in his lane, growing up with his mates who lived close to him, maybe finding a good woman to settle down with after some time, and enjoying life in the way he always had.

But all that changed after his final exams in secondary school. As one might expect from an Asian family, his parents were strict. They always wanted him to study, to do well at school and get a good job.

It had caused many arguments in his home as he always felt that his freedom was very restricted, especially compared to those in his friends circle at the time. When he was younger, while his friends would be playing basketball or hanging out around the area, he would be stuck, forced to complete that bullshit Kumon nonsense.

It got to a boiling point and he ended up walking out, neglecting his studies and finally hanging around with his friends.

His parents eventually relented somewhat, dropping the extra schoolwork they wanted him to do on the basis he did well in his exams. It was an acceptable compromise and something he didn’t mind too much. He knew his parents wanted the best for him, but they ignored how he felt about it.

Anyway, the compromise worked fairly well, although his grades did drop a bit. Eventually, he did end up spending too much time with his friends and neglecting his studies. That issue ended up being resolved after his friends all left school at 16 while he was forced to continue studying in an attempt to get into university.

He did end up getting serious and managed to score high enough to get into LSE, surprising everyone. That was the point where his life changed.

The first few years of his university life were crazy, plenty of partying, turning up to lectures hung over, and meeting new people. It was in his last year that he met Chester who ended up being the cause of the next turning point of his life.

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They first met when they were both put into the same Seminar, and after a few weeks, the same group for a small project.

At first, he thought that Chester was one of those stuck up rich assholes. The way he spoke with that perfect English and that notable rich twat accent just raised red flags. But after visiting his place for their first meetup to get their project started, his opinion quickly changed.

Since he liked to listen to music while studying, he had put his grime playlist on while they worked, and to his surprise, Chester was relatively familiar with some of the artists, even the lesser known ones.

The topic allowed them to get into an enjoyable conversation where he found out that Chester was close friends with a few people like himself. He was surprised when Chester dropped the posh guy talk and used slang from the streets. Granted, he still sounded posh as fuck, but he spoke the same lingo which was completely mad.

They had ended up becoming good friends after that, and Russel had been introduced to some of Chester's closest friends since.

Anyway, he had remained as an acquaintance of the group, leaving university and finding employment as a trainee analyst in a company in central London. That was until a couple of weeks ago when Chester approached him to offer a frankly absurd contract under his new Esports branch.

Russel never expected his life to take such a change. Working under Chester, he would be paid more than enough to help move his family out of the rough neighbourhood to somewhere safer, while also getting to play games. Granted, Caelus Online was not exactly his thing, fantasy games never really took his interest. But if he was getting paid that much to play games? There was no way he would turn that down.

And then he finally met the whole Chester's close friend group in person. He honestly liked everyone a lot, but he did feel a little out of place. They had already known each other for years and were all far closer to each other than him. He was initially worried, but that changed after they all spent some time together properly.

He was closest to Tyrell, second only to Chester, and that was thanks to meeting before while sharing a similar background and likes. There was also Marie who had also spent a fair amount of time that night getting to know him which he appreciated.

Either way, he had managed to somewhat integrate himself into the group that night, even if he ended up drinking too much and spending the last bit of the night passed out in a bed.

And then the insanity started. Caelus was another world, Chester time travelled and got gender swapped, gods were probably real, and best of all? He was going to become a half Lizard. Fucking half Lizard!

He was thankful the changes were only some scales on his forearms, shins and back, slit-shaped pupils, and slightly sharper teeth, but even though his race did not say ‘Lizard’, that is exactly what he was. Well, partially.

He had laughed at Chesters guide when it had mentioned how other people would see him as his in game character, but now he could only feel regret and a sense of irony at how he ended up being laughed at after dismissing the advice.

He was the only one to blame, and at first, he had been a little grumpy when he finally realised. He had regrets unlike some of the others, Roxanne loved her new tail after all. And he had to admit, she did make for a sexy fox.

But the guide did say that if he progressed far enough with the right opportunities, his apparent changes could be hidden. He was relieved at the fact and that his current appearance could easily be covered with clothing, apart from his eyes and teeth which he didn’t actually mind too much about.

Then there was Chester-now-Aurora. She still had that posh accent which she had ever since he met her. While it did annoy him when he first met Chester, it was now just amusing to him, even more so now she was a woman. Other than that, she was still her usual self around them while taking on her stoic front to others who were ‘outsiders’ or in the case of the Iron Fist Guild, cold exterior.

Despite the changes from decent looking guy to a stunning beauty, it was still Chester. And after some of their group’s discussions after the truth came out, she was seriously looking after them all after having her life completely fucked with.

She didn’t tell them much about all of their previous futures, but she had at least expressed that him that he had become close with the group. It was clear that she understood his concerns about being an outsider and was trying to reassure him.

Even still, he was unsure why she didn't tell them much. At first, he suspected that she didn’t want to say much about their individual futures to avoid changing what would happen, but he quickly realised that was not the case.

Her actions had already changed everything for them, they were at the forefront of all the players. And now they all had a decent income that was, especially in his case, life-changing.

Upon further thought, he narrowed his speculations down to either something happening to the group to cause a rift or disagreement between them, or god forbid, one of them having died.

The second reason made a shudder go down his spine. He initially had the idea it was him given how he was an outsider to the group, but Aurora had said that he was close with them in the future, and she never gave false information in the past.

Either way, that future was not going to come to pass anymore, especially after hearing about all the projects Aurora had put into the works since she ‘returned’.