In a small trailer on a dusty lot, found off a dirt road outside Arizona City, a holographic display was showing a lifelike image of a huge golden warrior wielding a huge cartoonish silver axe glittered unnaturally in the light, squaring off against a smaller western swordsman, in iron plate mail both standing on a stone stage. A teen girl with dirty blond hair and emerald green eyes wearing cheap jeans and tee-shirt sat on her bed/couch in the narrow trailer. She was wearing no makeup; she didn’t need any as she was at the age where her tender skin and soft features were more than pretty enough to turn a head or two. Her homework was long forgotten and half done, and she was watching the battle between the two holographic men with a rapt expression on her face. The scoreboard showed 2W next to the Golden Warrior’s health-bar, and a 2L next to the health bar of the swordsman. The commentator’s breathless voices could be heard “Unless Maximus can win the next three battles against the Lion the championship would be decided, with LM-STARS 'Team A' taking the championship!”

As the two men started to circle each other for their third match, the lights in the room were flipped on, effectively ruining the view of the fight, and an older man wearing flannel and blue jeans entered the trailer, his face was dark from the sun, hair mostly silver, his exposed skin covered in dirt. The resemblance to the girl was faint, though they did share the same face shape and eye color. His steps were heavy, and he walked with a pronounced limp, his green eyes barely glanced at the faint fight on the 3d projector, he just reached out and snagged a half a sandwich and flipped off the light, then limped past the girl through the 3d image of the battle to the back of the trailer and bed.

Neither said a word to each other, in fact the girl didn’t hide her impatience with him as he walked past. When the door to his room at the back of the trailer closed, she turned her eyes back to the match, just in time to see the Lion finish off Maximus with his axe. Her prior irritation was forgotten as she jumped for joy.

Leo "The Lion" of the world’s best e-sport gaming workshop was basking in a champagne shower, the cold liquid raining over his head and stinging his eyes, a full-mouthed smile on his face. His eyes still stung no matter how much he wiped them as the liquid kept running down his face as more bottles were emptied over his head, clouding them, causing him to take a more than a moment wipe his face, as he answered the question from the pretty reporter 'Lizzie' in front of him.

“There never is anything boring about winning yet another world championship! I don’t care if it’s the 3rd or in this case 9th one in a row. These guys worked hard to make it here…” he gestured to his legendary teammates behind him, a world-famous group from the lovely Holly to the burly Rodrigo, to the young teen heartthrob James. The group of 7 was world famous in the 9-year-old FBEVR-Fighting E-sport Legions of Legends, Leo was also a 2-time champions in another FBEVR game called Global Warrior. Global Warrior was the first true global FBEVR E-Sport sensation after the “Last War ended and the world was united almost 12 years ago. However, 9 years ago the “Lion” of Global Warrior took his gaming workgroup called LM-STARS from the transcendent Global Warrior into a new game called Legions of Legends, and promptly won every championship in that game’s history. Legions of Legends popularity soared past Global Warrior and LM-STARS went from a small workshop with 20 employees, to a global brand worth Trillions of GC and over 1,000 E-Sport Athletes all of whom were the very best in whichever game they played.

With the interview over, Leo logged out of the game, forgoing the remaining celebration, he woke up in a small dimly lit capsule, little larger then a coffin, he felt a small sting in the back of his neck which turned into a low grade headache as the capsule disconnected from his IO port, and feeling returned to him limbs. Ever so slowly, he flexed his fingers as he tolerated the slow return of sensation in his fingers and a painful sensation akin to regaining his circulation in all 4 of his limbs. The prickling sensation went away, and he pressed a button on the side of the capsule to open the door. He could hear laughing and chattering outside the capsule as he stepped out into the much more modest afterparty outside the game. Leo felt every minute of his 44 years, he was very old for an E-sports star, everyone in LM-STARS was at least a decade younger then him. None of them were old enough to remember life before the Last War.

Half a dozen of employees, were sitting around in luxurious lounge, the skunky smell of Marijuana almost made Leo gag, though instead of discouraging the drug use, he simply opened a window and sat down next to it. Marijuana was one of the few forms of intoxication allowed by the government.

Champagne was missing from the real-life celebration (just one of the reasons why half the team was still celebrating in game), as alcohol was something reserved for the political elite, alcohol being judged to be too “corruptive” for the masses, it couldn’t be had for any amount of GC. Adventurous people could of course find some form of moonshine in the black markets, but the punishment for possession was so strict no one with any actual wealth like Leo would ever risk it. It was after curfew, so of course everyone celebrated with hushed voices (noise ordinances were strict after hours). The world had been under a perpetual martial law since the ending of the Last War, supposedly due to the threat of “insurgency”.

Leo frowned as he recalled an email he had received recently from a source within EAB, which had given him a tip about the next big thing. He looked at Holly and smiled, she was the smartest person in his inner circle these days, and he waved her away from the others. Holly was just 26, short at just 150cm she was one of the only people in the workshop Leo (who was also quite short) could look in the eyes, like most E-Sport gamers she had a slightly unhealthy “thin” look to her. Dark skin, black hair and brown eyes, Leo found her to be very attractive. The best part about her was her brain though.

“What’s up boss?” Holly asked in a hushed tone, the smile on her face from winning another championship still there.

“I am planning to start a team for a new game. This one is a remake of a classic VRMMO called Underworld.” He spoke quietly, and saw a change in her eyes, as her excitement peaked.

“Underworld? I’ve heard about it, it was a big game back around when I was born…”

“Big is an understatement, it was 50 years old when you were born. It basically turned E-sports stars into superstars, half the game channels out there were born thanks to it. Had it not been for the war, it probably would still be the dominant title out there.”

“Why was it so big boss?”

“Variation. It was basically a world as big as the real world, the continents and land forms were based on the real world, but it was a fantasy world, with myths and legends and some straight-out fantasy elements. Of course, it was back when VR was just some headsets and body suits, so there was a degree of physical fitness required to dominate in it. It’s the game that started LM-STARS. Anyway, the reason why it was so popular is it was “fun” to pretty much anyone. So almost everyone played it. Which meant that they enjoyed watching those who were good at it compete and play the game as well. This was how it started. In video streaming sites as experts sold their tactics and strategies; since there was nearly infinite variation in playing, everyone had an opinion. Eventually that turned into Raid video walkthroughs, then live streaming playing sessions, then some of the top players merged together to create the first tv game channels, and from there by the time I was a kid even my parents had played the game as a kid.” Leo stood up and started pacing as he spoke, his body finally feeling “right” to him after exiting the capsule. He knew many people preferred to spend almost every waking hour inside the capsules just to avoid the awkwardness of you’d feel when leaving one as long as possible.

“Boss, do you have any inside information about this release? I’m sure it would be huge news if the game was coming out soon, if it was as big as you say.”

“Yeah, a friend at the company with publishing rights EAB said it was coming out in 3 months. Better still he warned me to save as much old information as I could find online, because they were currently purging old information from the net about it. Which means the game is going to be nearly completely recreated into a FEVER-MMO.”

“So why did you want to talk to me about this boss? Seems like a safe move to start a team in it” Holly sat down to listen to him, feeling awkward to be the only one standing, he sat down across from her.

“I wanted to talk to you because when I looked online all the information was already gone. All I got is my memory about it. I was going to talk to Mark…”

Holly made a face “You mean the other founding member of LM-STARS?” Her tone was a bit hostile, mostly because this “Mark” had left a bad impression with her, as he seemed determined to veto most of her best decisions to grow the company, never bothering to show his face, just voting no via email to Leo. Mark owned 40% of the shares making him the majority shareholder in LM-STARS. Even Leo, the chairman of the company only had 17% of the shares.

“I know you don’t have a good impression of him, but I think we’ll need him in Underworld this time. I was good at that game. He was on another level. In fact, it was his skills that made this company possible. I wanted to run this past you because I want to know what type of hit, we’ll take if it becomes public knowledge that the “M” in LM-STARS is a living person and he’s one of the “Sinners” of the past war.”

“A Sinner?” She looked taken back for a moment. “We’ll be ok, LM-STARS is big enough to absorb that one, though I’d rather we not face that one till he’s a star himself in Underworld. Else we might take some pressure from the government.”

Leo nodded then sighed. “I’ll go see him tomorrow. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have a capsule where he’s at right now. So, its best if I try to see him in person. Clear my schedule I’ve got a bit of a trip tomorrow.