STREAMER’S DAWN

Anissa Shafiq aka Empress was a popular name in the free-to-play ARPG The Forsaken Masters. She was respected for her gaming knowledge and exploits. Empress would often surprise with original builds and cutting-edge tactics.

Playing video games and streaming them was a dream job for the majority of the youngsters who were into video games. Someone had said that if you do what you love, you wouldn't work a day in your life. Many liked the idea of not working - so the competition to stream video games was fierce.

Alas, our little Anissa had no spare time for dreams. She had to leave the orphanage at the age of 18. Without anyone relative to her, somewhere in Egypt, she had to battle life alone.

Anissa worked for almost a year as a waitress. She wasn’t particularly good at dealing with the people around her. Anissa worked 10 hours a day during which she would tolerate all kinds of morons and their inappropriate proposals.

Besides, her manager would every so often make a move on her. She hated that “shithead, cocksucking, bitch-ass motherfucker”, as she would often spit with hatred. Her opinion didn’t remain a secret to the manager for long. The conditions at work became unpleasant and she was forced to terminate the job contract.

Anissa couldn’t collect her latest paycheck and had to land a new job quickly. Her next assignment was to advertise “useless, garbage shit” on the main streets. She had to dress in one of those silly costumes, which only unpopular and tasteless brands could come up with.

It was a rather embarrassing job for her. Even more people would harm her inner peace on the streets. Not to mention it was not a full-time job. So the salary was barely enough to pay the bills. 

At some point, an actual miracle shook her miserable existence. 

She hit it big with that ARPG game she has got into. Originally Anissa started playing video games to release some steam. Her part-time cosplay job provided her with extra free time. Killing monsters and gaming nerds online was a sort of therapy.

She would love to strangle that trash manager or any walking voyeur on the streets of Cairo IRL, but you know, “fucking laws and shit”. 

Anissa was a quick learner. 

She wasn’t mechanically skilled, but that was still okay. This ARPG was designed to reward the character building and strategical thinking. The deep character customization and itemization of the game clicked well with her. With time passing, she could be seen consistently on the top charts. 

Empress would often be recognized by the entire community for her inclusion in Build of the month. Her own in-game builds were bringing her success. Eventually, she grew into a well-known name in The Forsaken Masters. So she began to build a fanbase. Players were interested in her game expertise, even in her personal life. 

Anissa took the opportunity to start a gaming stream and the rest is history as they say.

Early in her career, she would drop some vulgar words. We already went through several of them. The girl had a temper, but she wasn’t dumb either. She grew wise enough to avoid flaming even the most disgusting people.

Whether the others would straight sabotage her or they would harass her with perverted proposals, she kept her cool. Anissa would just report the offenders and add them to the ignore list after. 

At this job, she could get rid of the trash people with few simple clicks. What a fucking, pardon my word, Heaven that was.

Bills weren’t an issue anymore. Her heart was calm. She even began to enjoy gaming. Everything was awesome! 

Well, at least for a while.

EMPRESS IS NOW LIVE. 

A girl in her early 20s stood in front of the camera. She had a healthy bronze tan, an oval face, and a celestial nose. Warm brown eyes, minor makeup made them look cat-like - with the outer corners pointed like a cat’s. Short brown hair, styled in a casual boyish hairstyle.

She carefully put on a well-worn but high-quality headset SkyTech - Ghost Seeker Limited Edition.

Somewhere on it, there was an inscription, "Stream for us, your fans and friends!", which was beginning to fade in places. 

On one monitor Empress was playing - the vintage ARPG The Forsaken Masters. 

Empress selected the character she has been developing lately - Joyride.

Witch-mage with modest 110 intellect and astonishing 1200 strength. 85% of that strength was converted to dexterity by 3 separate items, 1 passive point, 1 mythical rune.

The progress on the Passive Skill Tree in the zones rich in strength attribute unlocked for her 7 warcries. Those were instant cast thanks to a Witch-mage specific active talent - Instinctive violence - allows instant cast while active, instantly cast spells deal 80% less damage. 

Warcry was a short-term buff, typical for melee characters. Naturally, that melee-type of characters would focus on 1 or 2 warcries at most. They didn't have a lot of mana, and they were vulnerable while casting. 

Empress had the mage passive talent Proficient Wizard - 15% bonus effectiveness and 15% extended duration to all duration-type of abilities. The talent was common to curse-masters, but It also fitted well to her 7 buffs and there were no drawbacks.

Main weapon - Legendary Elven’s Thunder Reach Bow - 100% lightning damage. Extra range. Requires 1000 dexterity to equip.

Class-specific talent - Toxin Shock, gain 50% of your lightning damage as extra poison damage. 

Helmet - Unique Crown of Corruption… Your attack poison damage now benefits from spell multipliers. You have 30% less armor.

The Attack damage was difficult to scale for mages, but 50% of the base bow power, multiplied by Witch-mage's natural spell bonuses and few warcries was enough to melt anything in the game. 

Quiver… applies Rapid Infection. Еach poison stack increases your attack speed by 3% up 30%. At maximum stacks, you gain an additional 10% movement speed. All stacks are lost when you get hit. 

Warcry - Blood Rush. Gain a 2% movement speed per 100 dexterity for up to 20% movement speed. At 40% bonus movement speed from all sources allows the usage of Swift Devil...

So, Empress was using poison attacks, scaled with Witch-mage spell multipliers, to avoid any damage reduction by the permanently active Instinctive violence talent. The talent was important to unleash the 7 warcries effortlessly. The buffs benefited from a few alterations similar to Proficient Wizard. Movement and attack speed bonuses were provided from several places.

Joyride's predominant clothing was leather. A beautiful silver Efl bow was armed. Poison arrows protruded from the quiver. A mysterious crown with an absurdly low drop-rate could be seen on the head.

The character had an exceptional evasion chance thanks to the tons of dexterity and movement speed. Also, a high-level traveling spell was at her disposal. 

A second monitor was dedicated to the viewers’ chat.

Josh: Marhaban, Ani! This one deserves the Build of the month award!

Pavel: If only that was still a thing, LOL.

Pavel: Btw, how did you come up with that character name?

“Hey, boys." She waved a gentle palm. "The build depends on evasion too much. It could be tricky to play it at certain areas.” She said with a soft expression. "Any one-shot preventing mechanism would automatically promote it to S+ tier.” 

She thought for a bit. “Oh, and the character’s name came after a song of an ancient rock band I discovered recently. You are listening to another song of theirs right now.'' She turned up the volume.

...Sleeping in my car - I will possess you…

Josh: Little Ani, didn't you plan a transition to another game? The Forsaken servers will be cut at the end of 2067.

Pavel: Sweet banger, my beloved Empress! Undress me in your car, do dirty things to meeee.

Josh: Can this comrade keep it in his pants? ffs... 

The future of The Forsaken Masters was a painful subject for Anissa. The game was 'dead' for the past few months already. Of course, her best friends would keep hanging around and support her. Nonetheless, she had to face reality and honestly answered. 

“I… I tested a few of the currently popular ARPG/MMORPG titles. Most require great mechanical skill and offer less depth in character customization and build creativity.”

Josh: Alas, the most hyped games are simple-minded button mashers and don't suit you, Ani.

Brian: Good evening, Anissa. Hello, lads. 

“Hey, Brian, are you skipping work hours again?” Anissa made a cheeky remark.

Josh: Sup, Brian!

Brian: No way! You know I am involved with the family business, there's no point of slacking. 

Josh: Ani, are you okay with the bills there in Egypt? I hope you don't plan to quit streaming… 

Brian: Josh, WTF are you saying??… 

Pavel: Anissa, I will present to you 2 excellent options for when The Forsaken Masters is finished.

Josh: Wha-, I am just being an open-minded here, c’mon, Brian…

Brian: He’s trying to bribe her again…

Pavel: 1st option: Remove the limit of the donations so we can splash some real cash. 

Josh: Here it comes…

Carlos: I fully support the donation limit change.

Pavel: 2nd option: Pack your bags ASAP and drop to Russia. I am literally living alone in a big-ass mansion, unless we count the servants of course, hah.

Pavel: You will have EVERYTHING here.

Josh: MOTHERFUCKER!

Brian: Can you please for once not behave like a rich cuck!? 

Empress burst into laughter. ''Thanks for the concern, but I do have some savings still. Not quitting yet, worry not."

Anissa faked slight anger. "The donation limit is generous enough! Aaaaand, you can only dream about option 2, Pavel.” Empress’ attention turned on the gaming monitor.

Pavel: Believe me, I will <3

Josh: Huahuehuahue, D E N I E D! 

Carlos: Pavel, you seem to enjoy the pain, aren’t you…

The scenes on the screen were part of the end game content. Less than 1% of the entire player base reached these areas, and that wouldn’t guarantee they would do well.

Empress' character felt unfairly OP against the endless sea of monsters. She was quick, elusive, she would teleport far away sometimes. 

She was consistently firing a rain of arrows. Poison clouds were spread full-screen and they were melting even boss monsters. 

The chat had its usual funny discussions.

Empress kept interacting with her friends and viewers in general. She was direct about her life, passive skill tree, one item preference over another and so on. 

Sometimes she would explain builds and strategies for hours and the people would just leave with the information. 

Well, you can't make everyone subscribe or donate. 

'It's a matter of time before my income from The Forsaken Masters is gone anyway.' She thought.

'I am not planning to be a dead weight for my closest followers and friends. Nor do I plan to become an oligarch's bride like some gold-digger whore.' She grinned slightly. 

'Something different has to be done unless I want to face the same terrible jobs and lecherous bastards.' 

Anissa continued to annihilate terrifying creatures on autopilot while keeping an eye for chat’s gems. Somewhere behind her gaze, though, she worried about the future.

TOTAL PARTY KILL TAVERN

Bell ringed loudly (once again) as the door was opened.

“GOOD EVENING, TRAVELER!” Behind the bar, a sturdy man in his late 50s could be heard to shout. This man was a Canadian gamer and the owner of TPK Tavern – Robert Walker.

“It’s good to see you healthy again, uncle Rob.” the visitor replied.

“You mean that medical intervention? It was just a routine one.” Robert feigned irritation. 

The visitor’s name was James Rodriguez. Son of a Canadian mother and a Mexican father. James lived in Canada and was a professional gamer for the local team of Kingston, Ontario.

“However, thanks for your concern.” Robert’s energetic smile returned before he said, “In last night’s series, you and your buds seemed in worse condition compared to me. Cyber Eagles flatted your asses, eh?”

A sigh could be heard from James. He was a specialist in FPS games, who started his professional gaming career at the age of 13. James was well-known for many legendary clutch plays. 

His aiming skills were still solid, but not as abnormal as several years ago. In fact, his team, part of the AZN Gaming organization, got relegated the previous season. Their current goal was to return to the elites. The problem was that it was already mid-season and the team just lost another crucial series.

The chances for promotion were fading away. The fan support was diminishing and some of the main sponsors were unsettled. Recently he was feeling the pressure of many talented players stepping up. 

Overall, his bohemian life was going downhill in every aspect.

“Uncle Rob…”

“I know, I know. I was just teasing you.” With a bang-sound, Robert put a glass of whiskey in front of him. “On the house.”

A thin smile could be seen on James’ face, yet his eyes were not smiling with his lips. He was sitting on a high chair near the bar tasting the treat. 

People inside the tavern showed a slight interest in James, but not for long. Some were drinking and chatting. Others were discussing recent gaming tournaments. More casual ones would reveal excitement for an upcoming big game.

Robert’s Tavern was designed to accept all gaming nerds. Average gamers could be seen sitting next to powerhouses in the business. The pictures on the wall proved that several big professional contracts were signed here. Including James’ contract with ANZ from several years ago, while he was still on the top of his game.

In that night, there was a certain person in TPK Tavern, sitting lonely in the corner with a laptop and a burger on the table. That man’s name was Hye-Jin aka Hiji. He was a gamer enthusiast. 

Hiji was a happily married man. His online marketing job was rewarding. Also, he was able to enjoy his hobbies. Hiji was waiting for his childhood friend Michael Flynn.

The bell, the door, the energetic welcoming of Robert Walker – everything repeated once more. Few faces turned instinctively to check on the visitor. This time the tavern’s guests didn’t remain indifferent though.

 “Isn’t that Faceroll?” A whisper could be heard.

“Dad, please take me an autograph from Faceroll!” A little girl was begging her father.

“Celebrities aren’t rare for your Tavern, are they?” James said indifferently. 

“You know me, I accept all gaming community members, even the assholes.” A grin could be seen on Robert’s face.

The person marching towards the corner of the tavern was the gaming/IRL streamer who would often close to 2 million viewers on his live streams. Needless to say, he was making an enormous amount of money, in multiple ways. 

Advertising, commercials, subscriptions, affiliated products, merchandise, participation in TV shows. You name it. He even published a few books, not because he gives a damn about writing. He barely knew the content of the books. He was just annoyed by his agent nagging at him over and over about the damn books.

The tavern was quite lively now, several kids and ladies got their autographs and pictures with the celeb streamer. Some would brag at school tomorrow morning. Others couldn’t resist getting closer to the filthy rich young man. 

Faceroll was natural the entire time. He would smile, come up with light jokes. It took him no time to grant everyone’s wishes with a graceful approach. He probably denied a few marriage proposals, but that wasn’t unfamiliar to him. His elegant figure was already at the very corner of the tavern, where an average-looking guy was sitting.

“Those girls were drolling over you,” Hiji said with half-closed eyes.

“Yeah, money is the greatest motivation for many.” The celebrity sighed.

“It has been a while, Michael, I am glad to see you.” Strong handshake followed by him and the man called Michael Flynn, better known as the internet celebrity Faceroll.

They were best friends since they were kids. Some people knew about Hiji, mainly because he could be seen in Michael’s company.

“We haven’t met in the past 3 months, but I can see Sarah is taking good care of you.” Charming smile, unlike the forced one from earlier, could be seen on Michael’s face. “How are the kids?”

“I have nothing to complain about. I was lucky to find Sarah and she was naïve enough to fall for me.” Hiji said with a chuckle. “Both Alicia and Edward are doing fine. Their grades are quite high, so in return, I have to buy them a bunch of useless stuff.”

“You are living the dream. I envy you Hiji, ” Michael said sincerely.

“You, envy me? Bastard…” Hiji couldn’t finish his sentence, he laughed heartily.

“I really do, I see an accomplished, happy man in front of me,” Michael said.

“Mikey, let’s cut to the chase. You shared something very interesting two weeks ago. It kept me excited day and night. Here you are now, finally with more information on the subject I hope.”

“Three of the top game developing companies worldwide are about to release the most ambitious VR project ever. I can hardly call it “a game” even if it should work like one. It’s supposed to be a massive virtual world, with groundbreaking AI and super realistic feeling to it.” Faceroll was speaking casually. 

“My sources are solid, you know that. Not many people are aware of that information, I believe you understand what I mean.” Michael was blunt, he had nothing to hide from his best friend Hiji, yet he didn’t forget to appreciate his sources and out of respect, he warned for some discretion. Not like he would ever get mad at Hiji, but it was only fair in his mind to stress that out.

“Don’t worry about it.” Trembling voice was coming out of Hiji. “This would actually be another world. Competing for another world… we are so fortunate to be able to participate in that.”