People chat here and there on the road, the other groups around us all doing the same. A few people clop by on horses, faster than traveling on foot. Some are even hitched to carts. Everyone gives our group some space though, wary glances aimed my way whenever they move within range of my danger aura. I don't pay that much mind though, so long as no one tries attacking me. And I'm glad it looks like my own party is unaffected after staying near me for a while. I spend the time focused on our new surroundings instead of all that.

Nirvalla is so... different. So completely different from the reality I'm used to. The dirt road, fields of grass with passing trees and a few far off cliffs. The wind picks up as the path begins to angle upward. It isn't too steep, but it does make the trip a little harder. It opens us up to a gorgeous view as the plains to our right continue on, dipping below the rising road, to form an enormous, vermilion valley below us.

We continue on the uphill slope and I'm still fine after a while. I manage to tear my attention from the view now and then, and eventually spot the kids. They're walking all the way at the back of the group, and look like they're having trouble keeping up. I subtly drop my pace, slowly falling toward the back of the group with them. They glance up at me before looking away again.

“You two alright?” I ask quietly, not wanting to draw too much attention from the others.

“Y-yeah, we're fine,” Koru answers between heavy breaths.

“We can go further,” Azra insists too. Looking at them, I'm not so sure. But they look pretty determined...

It makes me wonder through. They're higher level then me, so shouldn't I be the weakest here? “It must be that...” I say under my breath. They said they're support and healing, so they probably have mostly magic stats. And even then, being Nirvallans, they're obviously civilians. So a bunch of their Skills are probably crafting related, rather than geared toward traveling, endurance, and battle.

Meanwhile, I've naturally developed some physical stats and a few Skills to help me with speed and mobility, even before the ones I selected myself. Seeing the difference, it looks like that gives me an edge in overall stamina for traveling. No wonder why everyone else is hardly breaking a sweat.

Still, this means that our group can only travel as fast as our slowest members, and I seriously doubt anyone expected me to outpace the pair of Nirvallans, even civilans as they are. I've only been playing for two days.

It makes me a little worried given the opposition they faced before joining us. With that in mind, I watch them for a while longer, and when it looks like they're really struggling to keep up, I raise a hand.

“Hey, sorry guys but I'm getting pretty tired. Can we take a break?”

They all pull to a stop and look back. It's not really a stretch, I am pretty beat, even if I'm not about to fall down like the kids are. Everyone agrees easily enough, sitting in the grass on the side of the road for a break. A few stretch and some lie down.

Zykael hops off Emma's shoulder and snuggles on her stomach as she lounges in the grass. Despite being the next weakest after us, she doesn't look winded at all. Because she's a speed build, I guess.

“Gonna log out,” Mark says with a wave of his hand. “Bathroom, get a snack or something.” There are more than a few glances to Koru and Azra, but most of the others agree anyway. They say they'll be back in like ten, fifteen minutes, then all log out and disappear.

Alright, I have to admit it. Watching the people you've been traveling with for a few solid hours vanish with no more than a light into the sky is really fucking weird, not to mention immersion breaking. Well, they are Guardians, who are in-world lore explicitly able to do that, but... Yeah, still weird. Which reminds me that technically, I'm not...

“We should go too, just for a bit,” Lara suggests. “We've been on for a while.”

“But what about them?” I ask uncertainly, gesturing toward the kids. “Isn't it supposed to be dangerous out here?”

“That's what we're here for,” Flare speaks up from where he's sitting. Besides us, him and Winter are the only ones still here. “We'll swap when the others get back. Have to talk about shifts later...” he thinks aloud, before waving for us to go. I nod, then turn back to the kids.

“Sorry, umm, we'll also be going for a bit, but... I guess I also won't be...?” I tilt my head a little, unintentionally setting my trigger off with a flash. “A-ahh, but, umm,” I stammer with my cheeks flushing hot. It's so embarrassing when that suddenly happens! “Yeah. I guess that's it actually. I'll just, uhh, go. Say hi to the other Mei for me?” Then I wave to my stream camera, making myself ignore the pair's attempts to hide their laughter, and log out.

Feeling my consciousness return to my own body, I shudder. Oh god, this shit again... When I open my eyes though, Fara is already standing above me, a hand outstretched to help me up. I take it and the pain eases just a little.

Once she pulls me up to my feet, Fara says, “So -” She cuts herself short, making the weirdest face, then, “-brrrotherrrr... Actually, I know it's a bit sudden, but like we were talking about earlier, do you have something else you'd like me to call you?”

That... is a really good question. I think back on our discussion at the inn and consider things. I might not have to be 'Ray' here. But who do I want to be? Not Mei, she's... well she's totally different, not to mention she's apparently her own person while I'm not around too. Still having trouble wrapping my head around that one...

I'm a guy here, so... someone strong, cool, and competent. Someone who isn't like me - isn't like Ray. As different from Ray as possible. Sociable and caring and determined. Everything Ray isn't.

“Alex,” I respond with the first name that comes to me, before taking a moment to actually consider it. “Yeah,” I nod firmly, “Alex sounds good. I'll be Alex. Alex,” I repeat the name again, trying to get a feel for it in my mouth as I say it.

“Alright, Alex it is. How are you feeling, Alex?”

“I'm... I don't really know,” I admit. “Do I feel any different...?”

“Well, I'm sure we can improve on that with some food,” Fara suggests. Food? But- “And no buts,” she jabs a finger at me with her 'stern older sister' face. “Don't think I missed how little you ate earlier.”

Before I can come up with a rebuttal, she pulls me back into the common room, approaching the kitchen area.

“Oh, good morning Fara. Morning, Ray.” As soon as Allie greets me, I just want to crawl into a hole. I should have known this was no good. I'll never be anything but this awful slab of fucking meat.

I'm standing in the grass with... Lara? I blink a few times and glance around. We're back in Nirvalla?

...How much time did I just lose...?

“Mei, you're back,” Lara sighs, with a sad smile. We're practically standing on top of each other, chest to chest with her arms wrapped around my shoulders. Then she leans in and whispers in my ear in a quiet voice. “I'm really sorry, I should have planned that better. I let the girls know after you... you know. And they're all for it.”

“O-oh...” I mumble, ears lying flat as my heart sinks.

“So umm, long story, but if you could try to pull yourself together a bit quicker...?” Lara suggests with an almost pained expression. The way she says it makes me reevaluate my surroundings.

We're a grassy area, but we've clearly moved away from wherever the road is, into a little glade surrounded be some trees, the gurgle of a stream flowing past somewhere just out of sight.

Where are the others? It's just the two of us, and my still-running stream camera. When I see it, I try to straighten out my expression better too. “Where are we? What happened?”

“I'm not sure. After we logged in, you... kinda started freaking out. It looked like some kind of corruption debuff, like we saw that boss use. I carried you over here and managed to cleanse it without too much trouble, but I don't know exactly what caused it.”

So that's what happened... “It's probably related to your Curse,” she goes on. “Could just be your state of mind, or something that triggers randomly when you log in, or it could even be something the other Mei did just before you logged in, and it's not related to you at all. I really don't konw.”

“I see...” I murmur. “Well, thanks again, Lara.”

“No problem.” She takes a step back, still fixing me with a comforting smile as she does. “Now, let's get back to the others, they must be worried.” Lara leads me out of the trees and we find everyone standing where they were before, not too far from the road, other travelers still walking past without care.

“You alright?” Hask is the first to speak.

“Ahh, yeah, I'm sorry,” I start by apologizing. “Looks like some effect of my Curse, I'm not really sure what happened. I didn't mean to worry any of you.”

“As long as you're ok,” Emma speaks up, shuffling a step closer, though she does seem a little wary now.

Winter breaks into the conversation, saying, “Come on, let's get going, we should get to Pollton before sundown.” All still a bit hesitant, we move to join the other passing travelers, and continue on our way.

Like them, I'm still feeling off. Especially after suddenly dissociating and waking up in another world like that. I do sort of want to ask about what actually happened. Did I start attacking people like others when they were corrupted? No one looks hurt, but they're all higher level, so I doubt I'd be able to hurt them. Not to mention it wouldn't leave marks or anything in this world anyway...

In the end, I'm not comfortable raising the topic, so I let it go and spend some time scrolling back through my stream chat to clear my head instead. It's mostly just random junk, but there are a few cool comments that make me giggle and lighten my mood.

There's so much though, my viewer count somehow soaring over two hundred people. What did I do to attract this much attention? Ok, a lot of stuff, but besides the ones I gave my stream link, how did anyone even find my channel?

For now, I just turn on slow-mode in the chat with a few seconds delay, so people can't spam emotes quite as much. Then I fiddle with some more settings. I change the now-useless chat notification to only respond to select viewers, adding them into groups. One for the devs, and one for the couple of viewers I know by name, like Jengin. Now, their comments will be a separate color and sticky at the bottom of the chat for a bit, before they can get swept away.

When I'm done with that, I'm feeling a good deal better. So I shuffle a little closer to the others again.

“So... it's getting pretty late,” I note with a look at the sun beginning to sink toward the horizon at our backs. “You mentioned getting somewhere by nightfall?”

“Pollton,” Winter answers when I direct my question his way. “It's Lenarlil's sister city.”

“So it's...”

“Yeah, basically St Paul,” he confirms with a shrug. So that's how it is. If the Lenarlil region covers Minnesota, it's not too surprising that they'd make a reference to the twin cities here. Even if in reality, Minneapolis swallowed up St Paul like a decade ago. Not that the politicians making a small fortune from their positions care.

We keep on for a while longer, and when the sun is beginning to touch the land behind us, the city appears on the opposite horizon. The outer wall takes on a golden orange glow as it catches the rays, and we all pick up our pace. It's easier now, the ground has leveled out in the last stretch to the city.

When we finally cover the last leg, it's almost completely dark, about 8pm. That makes it 10am in the real world. By the time we settle in for the night here, it'll be lunchtime there. Weird...

It also means that we just walked for like five real life hours, just to travel from one town to the next.

I mention that to the others, and they kind of chuckle at me.

“Traveling here takes a long time, that's why people mostly stay around their home town,” Hask explains. “And why it's such a rewarding endeavor.” He flashes another grin.

“Huh...” Then something else occurs to me that I'm sure should have been way more obvious. “Wait, but what about the monsters? Why wasn't there anything along the way?”

“That's what you're worried about?” Mark laughs.

Emma is more helpful. “The road between Lenarlil and Pollton is traveled constantly, so nothing can really settle in.”

“Oh don't you worry,” Hask comes back in at the end, slapping me lightly on the back. “There will be plenty of scary stuff once we get out past civilization. Come on.” He waves us forward, and we approach the gate, its huge doors standing open. A handful of others pass through before us, and I glance off to the sides.

“Huh...” I murmur when I notice that there aren't any gate guards. I guess when the town is a safe zone where you can't be hurt, you don't really need to worry about things like that. We pass through, and a couple new notifications appear.

You have discovered a new city: Pollton You have entered a safe zone.

Everyone starts to frown a little as we enter the city, but I don't see anything wrong. Glancing over the group, I end up meeting the eyes of Koru and Azra, who also look confused, and we shrug at each other. Looking around more... the city really isn't all that much different from Lenarlil. The buildings may be a bit smaller, but they're still the same squarish style, made of similarly gray stone and light, tan colored wood. There are lots of people in the streets as we proceed into town, everyone moving like they're in a rush to get home for the night.

Then I spot the problem. “Hey, isn't this place in really bad shape? What's with that?” I ask uncertainly. As soon as we've passed the outer edge, there are closed up shops and half-demolished buildings everywhere we look. It's like the damage from the recent invasion, but much worse. Did they also go through a bad invasion recently? And how did everyone else all notice so much faster? Because they've been through other invasions and know what to look for?

“They sustained a lot of damage in the last attack...” Taryn confirms, while everyone pauses momentarily to look over one particularly torn up store-front. The elf's tone is almost like he's thinking aloud more than he's answering my question. I'm not sure why though.

“Come on.” Flare waves us forward, and we all pick up our pace somewhat. The fire mage takes the lead, marching us off through the city. I'm assuming he's been here before and knows where he's going. We should be stopping at an inn for the night, right? I'm pretty tired from walking all day, and even the stronger Guardians with us look like they're starting to drag. Or they did, right until we made it to the city... The Nirvallan kids are leaning on each other to stay upright though.

I don't realize we aren't heading to an inn until we arrive at our actual destination. The Pollton main plaza.

You have left the safe zone.

I stare at the message that shouldn't appear until we leave town, before looking around to my party once more, suddenly realizing they didn't unequip their weapons when we entered town. The Guardians are all looking in the same direction, straight toward the town's core crystal. It's smaller than the one in Lenarlil, but still easy to see over the crowd in front of it.

The blue glow of the crystal is... off. I can't tell what is wrong at this distance, but there's definitely something wrong with it. We immediately approach closer, and my fur starts to stand on end with the quickly worsening aura of dread. Is that coming off of the core crystal?

Everyone in the plaza is dressed in full combat gear, with their weapons drawn. They stand in a loose ring all the way around the plaza and they're... watching the crystal? There are more beyond them, a few mages in an inner ring from what I can see, casting some sort of magic. There is also whole line of animals, mostly a variety of cat and dog looking creatures, standing like a buffer between the two rings.

As soon as we get in range of the people, they round on us, weapons brandished. One battlemage even snaps a hand and storm of ice flies out. Lara's the first to respond, a wordless shield spell flashing into existence to block the attack before it hits our group. The way the glowing blue shield shrugs off the spell speaks to how much stronger Lara is than the attacking mage.

It's all so fast, I barely flinch before it's over.

“Wait!” a half dozen people shout at once. “We're Guardians!” Hands start going up in the air on both sides, even the ones holding their weapons, once the instant of hostility passes and everyone realizes we're on the same side. Damn danger aura... I growl silently at my Curse.

After everyone takes a moment to calm down and Lara drops her shield spell, a guy asks, “Who are you and what are you doing here?”

“We're from Lenarlil. Just travelers passing through.” Lara steps forward to act as the speaker for our party. “We came here because of the notice when we entered the town.” What notice...? “I think we can help. Is your commander around?”

“I'm not sure,” the man responds, glancing to the others, until one of them speaks.

“I think he had to log- uhh, return to the other world,” he responds, eyes tracing over the rest of our group uncertainly for a moment. “Someone else should be in charge for now.”

A couple people begin to escort us around the ring of Guardians, moving at a distance from the outer ring to keep from startling anyone else with my aura, as they search for whoever is in charge here.

“Umm, what notice are you talking about?” I ask the others as we go.

“Oh, sorry, Mei,” Lara responds. “I guess it was just for Guardians. It told us the core crystal in this town is partially corrupted.”

“C-corrupted?!” I stammer. Isn't that a serious problem? Well, duh, why else would all these people be here, presumably trying to fix it...?

“Yeah, if it's anything like the corruption we saw before, we should be able to help, right?” She tosses a look to Hask, the other healer in our group. I'm not sure if she was in position to see him cleanse the corruption from the other Guardians during the last battle, or if she's just assuming he has cleansing magic too, but he nods anyway.

“So...” I finally think to ask, “is corruption new? You act like you're not sure how to deal with it.”

“Yeah, the last invasion was the first time we saw it,” Lara confirms, “it must be a new mechanic from the last big update. Nasty one too,” she sighs. “Turning allies into enemies is always really rough, you know? Especially since there weren't too many uses for cleansing magic before this, so not many people have it leveled very well.”

When she finishes her explanation, one of our guides points out their current leader. It's a somewhat older woman in her upper thirties, dressed in a mix of short robes and leather armor, with a large gray wolf at her side, as tall as her waist. I focus for a few seconds to check her tag.

Milli – High Summoner

She must be the one who summoned all those animals past the line of people... Her wolf is the first to react, tensing and alerting the woman to our approach. She looks over, wary for just a moment before she sees us and relaxes. Everyone's so on edge because of their core crystal...