Zone: Central Dewalt

Location: Lemond’s Crossing - Eternal Crystal

Lore: (General) Once a simple trading post built in a small valley along Maduin Pass, Lemond’s Crossing has grown into a bustling city of both trade and adventure. Situated along a key route between three of Teravitum’s major zones, travel across the island is nearly impossible without eventually passing through Lemond’s Crossing at some point in the journey. It is home to the Pristine, a haunted inn as famous for its dangerous inhabitants as it is for the tales of treasure hidden somewhere within: the lost wealth of its troubled proprietor, Victor Lemond.

Starting Town

Restrictions: None

Rising up from the heart of an excavation pit in the western sector of Lemond’s Crossing, a jagged crystal spire pierced the earth like the crooked finger of some buried monstrosity. The smokey orange crystal stood nearly twenty feet tall, its tapered design hinting at a greater mass being hidden just below the surface. Stone steps surrounded the pit in concentric circles leading up and out of the depression. Enough time had passed since the crystal’s excavation that a thick carpet of vibrant clover had grown in to fill the base of the pit.

A single bulky Minos lounged on the fourth step from the bottom. Atrea, the name she’d chosen for her online persona, reclined on her elbows and pondered her shiny black hooves. She wondered – something she had been doing often of late – whether she should finally bite the bullet and invest in a decent pair of horseshoes.

Not for fashion purposes, of course. Atrea didn’t care about anything so common as other people’s opinions of her physical appearance. No one played a Minos because they’re ‘pretty’. Not much taller on average than any of the other Races of Fortune, Minos were definitely rounder, hairier, and smellier than all the rest combined. Their deep voices bore the throaty scratch of a lifelong smoker. Matted clumps of coarse hair coated them from head to hoof. A tarry black, in her case. Even the females had curved horns, although in Atrea’s case, they curved forward instead of up.

In all her time in the game, she’d yet to meet another female Minos played by a real-life girl.

Situated well off the beaten path, Lemond’s Crossing’s Eternal Crystal generally made for a nice, quiet place to get away from the bustle and enjoy the aging day. Unlike the masses of keyboard jockeys and thumb-asses – computer and console players, respectively – Atrea could actually get something from the finer points of Teravitum’s weather system, namely the effect that seasons and elevation had on a day’s ambient temperature. With her thick fur coat, she found her favorite times of year in Lemond’s Crossing were around late spring and early fall.

First day of the Blooming, and the last month of Spring. She eyed a line of puffy clouds drifting in from the west, wondering at the likelihood of an evening shower. Still cooler here than back in the real world. And it’s Winter there.

A thin line of orange light split the air at the base of the steps, and Atrea peered down between her parted hooves. The line widened into a tall rectangle, before widening once again to fill out the third dimension. The cube of orange light rapidly faded, leaving behind a fashionably dressed red-eared Felgin. A faceted aquamarine the size of apple materialized at the same time, floating up and away until the full height of the Felgin was reflected in its larger central face. Based on its size, there had to be at least a few hundred thousand people watching on the other side of the game’s physical representation of a streamer cam.

Another ridiculous cat-girl. Atrea groaned, blowing a deliberately audible raspberry. “Say hi to your audience for me,” she called out, cupping a hand to her mouth.

The Felgin’s head turned in her direction, but her body remained stationary, and her expression remained constant. Wearing a black baby doll dress with white lace trim and a plunging neckline, and a matching pair of clunky leather boots, the young-looking girl would appear ridiculous to anyone but the legions of poor, thirsty men crowded around their televisions at home. Considering the current state of humanity, there was no shortage of those to help fill out her audience.

“Hello, my feline friends!” she exclaimed, looking up at the floating gemstone. She flashed an exaggerated smile and waved, jumping up and down excitedly for a few seconds before rapidly returning to her initial pose. “Welcome to another exciting adventure with your favorite girl, Mewra! I hope you all had – awww, thank you HugeDonk392 for the 50 crystals! – hope you all had the most wonderfully purrrrfect weekend, and I’m so happy you’ve decided to spend your evening keeping this lonely kitten company! It’s gonna be a spicy evening, that's for sure!”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

She waved her arms overhead and squealed with excitement. “Pn.Is.Gawd69 is already rolling out the first Hype Train of the stream! All ABOARD!”

Atrea rolled her eyes. “Go away,” she yelled. “You are ruining this beautiful afternoon.”

The Felgin didn’t respond. Instead, she spun in place and did a sultry little dance, slapping her hips to punctuate the movement. “Tickets for the Hype Train might be cheap but they’re going fast, fast, fast! We’re about to take this down to sexy town – population ME!”

“Oh my GOD.” Atrea tossed a handful of gravel at the cat-girl, earning an emotionless stare for her trouble. “Cliche just called. It's begging you to get your own look.”

The cat-girl put her hands on her hips and laughed, once again quickly returning to her original pose. “Look out, family! Another jealous hater! So many players want to be famous, but most don’t have the style or personality required. They’ll never have what it takes, and they can’t stand to see someone else succeed where they only ever fail.”

It was Atrea’s turn to laugh, but where the cat-girl’s reaction bore the stiff, rehearsed motion of a preprogrammed emote, the throaty bellow spilling out from her avatar’s mouth shook her character organically. She pushed to her feet, still chuckling. “Anyone can dress like an idiot and install some schoolgirl voice filter in order to gain the attention of horny men. Doesn’t mean you’re famous, keyboard jockey!”

The cat-girl turned back to the floating gemstone to address her viewership directly. “I can’t be mad, everyone. This poor VR girl probably picked a filthy cow as her avatar because it’s the only body she’d really feel at home in. Some people just can’t bear to deviate too far from what they know back in the real world. Smart people at least try to fake it. But you – welcome to the clowder, XxDiscoKaleLoverxX! – you know what they say?”

Her arms lifted in an exaggerated shrug. “You just can’t fix stupid.”

A plume of dirt and torn grass kicked up behind a streak of black fur, and before the cat-girl could enunciate the last syllable in ‘stupid’, a pissed-off Minos had skidded to a stop between her and the floating gemstone. At half again as tall and nearly three times as wide, Atrea loomed over the Felgin like a roiling thundercloud. The cat-girl released a tiny squeal and backed away, but Atrea immediately stomped after her.

“Listen here, you little shit,” she growled, shoving a bulbous finger at the streamer’s nose. Bound by the need to use specific emotes to display emotion, the cat-girl’s expression remained unsatisfyingly neutral. Atrea hated it. She wanted to be able to see every flicker of emotion as it crossed her silly little face. “This game may not allow me to spawn camp your body until you uninstall the game in frustration, but I have a truly ridiculous amount of free time in my life and I will make it my mission to stand my hairy ass between you and your camera until your entire online community abandons you for some other no talent cat-slut that isn’t being followed around by a vindictive Minos.”

The Felgin just stared at her without moving. “You can’t do that!” she screeched. “I’ll report you to the mods for harassment if you even try!”

Feigning surprise, Atrea straightened, placing a hand to her heart. “Oh no! Not the mods! Their turn around times on help tickets concerning the harassment of professional streamers aren’t entirely atrocious. Somewhere around a week, last I heard. Come to think of it, it’s almost like they want people paying them to play their game, instead of letting someone who’s not them get paid to share their content for free.

“How long do you think it would take your viewers to get tired of seeing the back of my head? Three days? Two? Less?” A mischievous twinkle gleamed in her big, black eyes. “Everybody still riding that hype train to sexy town, or is it starting to feel a bit lonely in your empty caboose?”

The Felgin continued staring at her in silence. With an evil grin, Atrea stretched, coming up to full height and pulling her shoulders back to make sure she was taking up as much space as possible.

A translucent orange box appeared around the cat-girl’s avatar, and with a faint ‘pop’, it swallowed her up and vanished. The streamer had logged out.

“Hrmph,” Atrea grunted, eyeing the now empty spot of ground. “Coward.”

Keeping her eyes locked on that spot, Atrea shuffled around the excavation pit, occasionally bending down to retrieve a [Small Stone]. There weren’t many scattered about, but there would be plenty for her purposes.

With any luck, I can enjoy my day and harass a silly streamer… all at the same time.