When I opened my eyes, I found myself standing in a brightly lit building made of white marble. Scattered through the room were dozens of people who filled the room with the low buzzing hum of conversation.

Looking at the people surrounding me, I saw several wearing white robes trimmed in gold milling about and talking to different people who wore clothing in varying styles.

The one that stood out the most was a short, green-skinned man, wearing a loincloth who was shouting angrily at an elven woman in white robes.

“Greetings, citizen. May I inquire as to your chosen name?”

Turning around, I saw a tall, slender man whose pale skin made him appear like he’d been carved from the same white marble as the building in which we stood.

High, angular cheekbones set in a regal-looking face, paired with pointy ears that poked through a curtain of silver-toned hair, made guessing his race easy.

“Kadia, my name is Kadia.” I mumbled, only half paying attention as I watched the screaming green man get carried out of the temple by a man in gold armor.

“I am Farlin, and this is the temple of beginnings. The birthplace of all digital beings who call Kaledon home. Do you require help, or are you already familiar with this world?” The elf asked with a bright smile as he indicated the large hall with a slender hand.

“I would like help, oh, and can you tell me what race I am?” I asked, feeling my cheeks grow warm in response to the smile.

Get it together, Kadia! He's just a good-looking guy. You’ve seen dozens of good-looking guys. Don’t forget, a pretty face often hides an ugly personality. Just look at Danica as an example. That vile woman’s beauty is barely even skin deep.

“From your clothing, tail, and ears, I would presume you to be a member of a Yōkai clan. You will need to view your life token in order to confirm this,” Farlin said, and wide-eyed, I craned my neck back, trying to find the tail he’d mentioned.

I have a tail. Oh no! Please don’t tell me I'm one of those weird cat girls from one of Marcus’s anime shows!

Horrified, I stared at the fluffy tail attached to my rear. It was red, same as my hair, and it faded to white at the tip, reminding me of a red fox. The tail, which seemed to have a mind all of its own, swished back and forth behind me in a slow, rhythmic motion.

I patted the sides of my head, searching for my ears, and found a pair of furry, triangular ears sitting just above where my round human ears used to be.

Looking down at the clothing I wore, I saw a red knee-length dress in a style reminiscent of a traditional kimono. A wide sash tied around my waist, knotted into a bow at the back, and my feet were clad in a pair of delicate red slippers.

As I admired the slippers, I raised my right foot, wriggling it around in fascination. It didn’t hurt; for the first time in years, my foot lacked the dull, aching pain I'd always felt when placing weight on it.

Ever since I’d injured my right ankle, I’d suffered from long-term instability and recurrent sprains. Even in Avalon, there had been pain, as the capsule registered my mind's expectation of pain and thus manifested it.

Placing my foot back down, I ran my hands over the silky material of the outfit. I felt, rather than saw, a lump beneath the sash on my right side, and found a small silk pouch tucked into the sash at my waist.

Pulling out the pouch, I turned it over in my hands, and feeling its lightness, I went to tuck it back into my sash, presuming it to be empty.

“If you open the pouch, you will find your life token and any starting items your life plan includes,” Farlin said, as I looked at the pouch in my hands. “Life tokens are Kaledon’s version of an identification card and are bound to you. If you leave it somewhere, it will appear back in your pouch or any inventory device you are carrying.”

Opening the pouch, I stared at a faint blue screen, and smiled. This was an inventory screen. What a strange way of accessing it.

Looking at the box, I saw six floating tokens, and as I focused on each, a line of script appeared above them.

—

Weapon token, platinum grade. Use this token to gain a random weapon. 60% chance of gaining a Rare-quality item. 35% chance of gaining an Epic-quality item. 5% chance of gaining a Legendary-quality item.

Basic sustenance pack, contains x 2 apples, x 1 bread, x 1 small water flask.

(Bound) Land token. Use this token to claim a 5-acre plot of land to call your own.

(Bound) Housing token. Use this token to create a place to call home, only usable on land you own.

(Bound) Money pouch. This pouch contains 5,000 gold coins. (This item is bound until opened. Once opened, coins can be stolen unless stored in a bank.)

(Bound) Life token, identification item [Name: Kadia. Race: Kitsune-Yōkai. Guild: None.]

—

Kitsune Yōkai? Ah, a Fox demon. Well, that’s better than a cat girl, I guess. Leaving the tokens for now, I closed the pouch and tucked it back into the sash, smoothing down the material as I did so.

Once the pouch was tucked away, I turned to the elf, who watched me with his smile still fixed in place. Aren't his cheeks sore from smiling so much?

“Did you find your life token?” he asked.

I nodded, feeling a light breeze against the backs of my legs as my tail swished back and forth.

“A Kitsune,” I said with a grin, happy I wasn’t some anime cat girl.

“Ah, I thought you might be, either that or a Ōkami Yōkai, a wolf demon. Did you have any other tokens?” Farlin enquired.

I almost answered him, but stopped myself as I remembered something Marcus had told me when I’d started playing Avalon.

“Tell no one what you’ve got in your inventory, Kads. Always underplay how much gold or valuables you have. These worlds are just like the real world and are filled with scum who take advantage of unsuspecting people.”

“Oh, uh, just a sustenance pack,” I lied.

The elf’s eyes narrowed before he nodded, his smile brightening. “As a new digital being, I suggest you spend some time exploring the city of Caruan before heading to the eastern gates and taking some basic jobs from the guards there. You will need to earn some gold, and the guards will give you a basic weapon if you accept an extermination contract from them.”

I nodded, when I first started playing on Avalon, it had involved a lot of “kill this amount of creatures” or “deliver this letter to this random person” quests. Unsurprisingly, this world followed that trend.

“Do you know if there is a guild called Eternia here?” I asked, wondering if the guild had used the same name when they moved to Kaledon.

“Eternia? Yes, I believe so. From memory, their guild hall is in the eastern quarter of the city. Most guilds have a hall in Caruan, as it is the second largest city on the continent. Unlike players, who often start in smaller towns, digital citizens will all start in one of the four main cities. This allows them to transition more easily to their new life here,” he explained.

After getting directions to the eastern quarter where the elf said I might find the guild hall, I headed out of the temple, intent on finding the Eternia guild hall.

I was pretty sure Marcus didn’t know what his mother and our father had done. He’d made it clear over the years that being a digital citizen was something he wanted, just as joining the family company was what I wanted.

If I can find Marcus, then he can try to fix this. If he reports what happened to the authorities, they will see a mistake has been made.

* * *

Wandering through the city streets, I gazed around at the crowds of people.

Standing beside a stall selling glowing stones, an elf giggled and simpered, batting her lashes as she clutched at the arm of a muscular green skinned man. Three short bearded men squabbled outside a shop selling weapons, arguing over who would buy a rare sword for sale. A group of elves twirled around, dancing and playing instruments on a wooden stage as passersby tossed copper coins into a crate.

I took all of this in as I made my way down the street, stopping every few feet to admire the colorful stalls and stores. Everything could be found within the market, weapons, food, clothing, toys, even medicinal tinctures.

Stopping at the stall selling tinctures I spent almost an hour talking with the man running the stall.

In Avalon, when I played as an alchemist it had been a rather simple matter of tossing your ingredients into an alchemist pot and waiting the allotted amount of time for the potion to be ready. However, according to the potioneer selling tinctures, the alchemy profession in Kaledon was split into two groups.

The first were the potioneers who could create low-level tinctures by infusing herbs into alcohol. The second were true alchemists, who could create higher grade potions.

Just as earth's alchemists did so long ago, an alchemist here brewed the potion from start to finish. It appeared that unlike so many others, this world had added a lot more realism to the alchemic craft.

I strolled through the market, my new vulpine ears twitching in every direction as they picked up the different sounds of city life.

The atmosphere was lively, and everyone looked happy, unlike the cities in the physical world where everyone walked around with scowls on their faces.

Twenty minutes of walking later, I was staring up at a maroon flag adorned with a howling black wolf sitting before a pair of crossed blades.

Seeing the flag a wave of relief washed over me. I’d never forget the Eternia insignia, not after Marcus, the moron that he is, got it tattooed on his shoulder.

Our father and Danica had been furious, with Danica demanding he go through a removal procedure, but Marcus had been steadfast in his refusal, showing off his tattoo with pride.

The guild’s headquarters was large and rectangular, set back from the street with four stairs leading up to a set of large wooden doors.

Standing guard at the front of the entry was a human-looking man in heavy metal armor and another man who appeared to have the lower body of a goat.

Pulling my gaze away from the half-goat man, I focused my attention on the human who gave me a silent nod of greeting.

“Hi is, uh, Markion here?” I asked, not sure if Marcus was still using his old name from Avalon or not.

“Markion?” The man eyed me up and down, before letting out a little snicker, as did his goatish companion.

The pair dissolved into laughter over a joke known only to them, and I scowled, pinning my ears back in annoyance as the urge to bite them rose from somewhere deep within me.

That thought caused me to pause, and I furrowed my brow, contemplating the meaning behind my sudden animalistic desire to see if the half-goat man actually tasted like a goat.

After regaining some of his composure, the human guard turned to the open doorway and yelled in a loud voice.

“Oi, Markion! One of your girlfriends is here to ride tha bull.”

Shocked, and disgusted, I was about to dissuade the man's incorrect assumption, when a loud booming voice called out from just beyond the door.

“Fuck off, you know I don’t have a- Kadia?”

As I stared up at the man—beast—standing just inside the door, I could only gape in shock at the sight of the massive humanoid bull staring down at me.

Clad in only a loincloth, the Minotaur was a literal mountain of muscle who towered over everyone with long curving horns that were longer than my arms.

Heck, I would probably only reach his hip standing next to him.

“Marcus?” I spluttered, searching the light brown bovine face for any of my half-brother’s familiar features.

“Yeah,” he nodded. “You finally get sick of studying?” The bull asked, his face stretching into a warped looking grin.

“I’m apparently a digital citizen now,” I said off handedly, still trying to take in the massive form in front of me.

“Digital? What?”

“I was given a digitalization order,” I muttered.

“How? That’s not possible,” He exclaimed, shaking his head in denial.

“Our father and your mother bribed the exam officials to swap our high school exam scores, so I got sent to a virtual life facility where I’m going to spend the rest of my life trapped in a giant, metal box.” I seethed, moving closer to the Minotaur and glaring up at the beast. “Do you have any idea how hard I’ve studied, how much I’ve sacrificed in order to get into the Geraldine University of Science? Do you? And now, I’m stuck HERE!”

I screamed the last part, slamming my fist into the Minotaur’s stomach.

Lost in rage, I kept hitting him, slamming my fists into his stomach and kicking his leg whilst screaming incoherent insults until I felt the ground disappear from beneath my feet as enormous arms closed around me.

My screaming was cut off as the air escaped my lungs in a rush, and I wheezed struggling to draw breath while being crushed in an iron embrace.

“Kads, Kadi, Kadia, fuck, I’m—shit I don’t even know what to say,” Marcus mumbled, releasing his hold on me enough that I could breathe, but not putting me down as he walked further into the hall.

“Put me down,” I gasped, while kicking with my legs and trying to push away from the hulking beast restraining me.

“Yo, Markion, ya really gonna bring that crazy bitch inside?” The goat, faun, whatever he was, asked as he trotted up behind us.

In one fast motion, Marcus shifted his hold on me, using his left arm to cradle my smaller form in a one-armed princess hold as he spun around and snatched the goat man up by his throat.

Hefting the man up into the air with one dinner plate sized hand, he held him up at eye level and I watched in fascination as the half goat’s eyes bulged, while his face took on a reddish hue.

“The developers put a lot of work into the details,” I mused, ears twitching as they caught the low, raspy sound of a growl from the bovine muzzle just above my head.

“Insult my sister again, and I’ll demote you back to squire.” He roared.

With a flick of his wrist, Marcus flung the man across the room where he landed with a thud. Chest heaving, Marcus turned his attention to the people who stood watching.

Seeing we had the attention of what had to be almost fifty people, my cheeks became flushed as I recalled the fit I’d thrown only moments ago.

“That goes for all of you,” he snarled, his arm tightening around me as I wriggled in his hold, trying to escape.

What a great way to make a first impression, I grumbled silently as Marcus carried me past the staring guild members and into a long hallway.

Finally putting me down, Marcus opened a door at the end of the hall, gesturing for me to proceed him into the room.

“This is my room, uh, it’s kind of messy.” His voice was a low rumble as he spoke, the sound reverberating over me, and causing my tail to poof out. The urge to puff myself up to appear bigger, and more aggressive niggled at me, but I shoved it aside as I looked around the room.

“As soon as he gets back, I’ll talk to Darius and get you a room of your own. You can take the bed tonight, I need to log out so I can talk to mom and dad about this… fuck, I don’t even know what to say.” Marcus rubbed a hand over his face as he kicked a dented shield under the thick, wooden bed frame of the massive bed that took up most of the space in the room.

“Umm, are the sheets clean?” I asked, avoiding the subject of our father and his mother. Scrunching up my nose, I looked at the bed with its rumbled sheets and fur blanket skeptically.

“Ah, I’ll go clean them,” Marcus spluttered, yanking the linens off the bed and bundling them up in a pile. “This is a guest pass to the guildhall, just show it to the door guards if you go to town. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone.” He said with a sigh as he handed me what looked like a copper coin with the guild's emblem on it.

The coin had a maroon-colored tassel at the bottom and a loop at the top which I used to attach it to the outside of my inventory pouch by knotting the drawstring through the loop.

“What’s the point in talking to them?” I muttered, picking up a discarded shirt that looked like it had burst at the seams and tossed it onto the pile of bed linens. “Nothing you say can change what happened. I’m already here.”

“You’re taking this better than I thought you would, not that I ever thought you would be digitalized. You’ve always been the smart one. You should be at home packing for that fancy-ass university you keep talking about.”

“I’m not planning to stay here,” I told him, curling my lip up in disgust as I found yet another piece of dirty clothing. This virtual world is a little too realistic. Who wants to spend their days doing laundry?

“I’ll do everything I can, Kadia, I promise. We can appeal the digitalization order again. I don’t know why you would have lost the first appeal but—” Marcus began, raising a hand I cut him off.

“I didn’t get a first appeal. I didn’t even get three days! I got bundled up in a car and driven straight to the Everlife facility right after I got the notice.” I spat, kicking a scrap of leather that looked a lot like a loin cloth.

“Fuck, that’s not right. Everyone has a right to appeal a digitalization order. If dad won’t do anything, I’ll hire a damned lawyer myself.” Marcus promised, picking up the dirty loin cloth I kicked towards him.

“If you can contact Mr. Davis he should be able to arrange my appeal,” I informed him.

He nodded, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck, looking awkwardly around the room.

“So, Minotaur, huh?” I asked, deciding to change the subject to something other than my digitalization.

“Yeah, I ended up resetting five times, and this was what I ended up with after testing the others out. Are you a Ōkami or Kitsune? I'm guessing Kitsune from the coloring.” Marcus said, lips pulled back from his muzzle in a grin.

“I'm Kitsune. Is it a good race? I didn’t know what to pick for my six choices, so I took the test.”

“Well, it’s not bad, but also not great. Not many people stick with the Kitsune race for long. Yuki, who you might remember from Avalon, is also a Kitsune and has three tails.” Marcus’s eyes brightened as he spoke.

I listened with interest as he continued talking about the Kitsune race.

“While it has a few useful abilities, there are other races who can do everything a Kitsune can do but much better. A Kitsune normally plays either a tamer or stealth damage dealer route. There were a few following the magic route as fire mages, but last I heard, they’d all reset due to the slow progression of the Kitsune race.”

“Yuki? Wasn’t she the tree lady?” I asked, a vague memory of a green-skinned woman with vines for hair entering my mind at the mention of the name.

“Druid,” Marcus corrected with a chuckle.

“Right, druid.” I repeated, maybe she would help me with some advice about the Kitsune race. “So Kitsune’s are slow to level?”

Marcus grinned, rubbing a hand over his large horns with a prideful gleam in his eyes. “Yes, and no. Leveling in Kaledon is a bit different. A Kitsune levels up by manifesting additional tails. The more tails you have, the stronger your abilities grow. The strongest Kitsune in Kaledon, who isn’t an artificial being, has four tails and is a stealth-based attacker with the Silver Arrow guild.” He explained, then jabbed a thumb into his chest. “A Minotaur’s horns get larger as they grow in strength. Humans have an ‘aura’ that can be felt when you are near that gives off a sense of danger if they are stronger than you.”

“Makes sense I guess,” I murmured.

“Ōkami and the other Yōkai races, aside from Kitsune, gain a mark on their body like a tattoo. Honestly, there are too many races to list them all. Plus, with Kaledon being so new, there isn’t any in-depth knowledge about any of the races. There are no guides, or forums, and any that pop up are deleted. Kaledon is a world with limited “game" aspects unlike those words before it, and the only information about it is what has been discovered by those living in the world. Gaia corp wants this world to be as realistic as possible. It’s not just a game world for entertaining players and digital citizens, but a place we can call home.”

“You said there are no screens, but I have an inventory screen, so how can you say it's realistic?” I scoffed, crossing my arms over my chest as I recalled I’d been able to see a screen when opening my bag. Fantasy, and realism don't mix. It’s like oil and water.

“It's called a bag of holding," My brother said, rolling his eyes. "The inventory is an enchantment, not a “screen”. That pouch will only hold about twenty kilos and only things that can fit in the mouth of the pouch. I’m guessing from the quality clothing and pouch, you have either a gold or platinum life plan, right?”

“Platinum, so I’m guessing that’s where the five thousand gold came from.”

“That’s standard for platinum plans. You’ll also have a house and land package, and a weapon token. Though, seeing you're not carrying a weapon, I guess you haven’t used the token.”

“I haven’t,” I agreed and pulled the token out of the pouch.

It was nothing special, just a small piece of paper with a drawing of crossed swords on one side and a repeat of the description I’d seen on the inventory screen on the back.

As Marcus instructed, I tore the paper in two and was momentarily blinded by a flash of light.

Blinking away the spots in my vision, I heard a soft thud and glanced down to see what looked like an umbrella laying at my feet.

“Let’s see. Elegant Wagasa, epic quality with a hypnotic enchantment.” Marcus muttered, reaching down to pick up the umbrella.

“A Wagasa? A Japanese umbrella?”

“Yeah, it’s a decent lightweight weapon for those who prefer a support role, but not much else. Opening the canopy will allow it to be used as a shield, and the spiral pattern on the canopy has a hypnosis enchantment. It will put your attackers into a stupor, allowing you to escape or attack. The tip here is a small blade, so it can do some slash and stab damage, but like I said, the blade is small, so you won’t have a lot of attack power. While it offers both the ability to attack and defend, you would get better results by using a shield and short sword.”

“Oh.” I mumbled, my ears and shoulders drooping in disappointment that I didn’t get some ultra-rare weapon.

“Don’t look so disappointed. It’s still a good quality weapon. We can sell this and get you something better, though I reckon you should hold on to it for now. Caruan is a big city, so rare and epic grade items aren’t hard to find. Wait and sell it in a smaller town where items of higher quality are harder to come by, you will get more for it then.”

I nodded. “I’ll hold onto it then.”

Markion grinned, handing me the umbrella. “I’ll make you a sword when I get back. It won’t be epic quality like this, as I am still working on improving my smithing, but it will be good enough until I can make you a better one.”

“Smithing? Oh, you were a blacksmith in Avalon as well, weren’t you?” I asked, twirling the wagasa around and admiring the swirling patterns before snapping it shut when I felt dizzy.

“Yup, it’s not as easy here, though. Like I said, Kaledon prides itself on realism. I spent weeks reading books about forging before the smithing trainer would allow me in the forge.”

“Wow, you read a book?” I gasped, pressing my hand to my chest.

“I know, it shocked me, too. I leave all that smart people stuff to you, unlike me, you care about things like university.” Marcus said with a laugh, which cut off abruptly as he stared down at me.

“Ah fuck, Kadi, I’m so sorry, I—” with a groan, Marcus spun on his heel and after scooping up the bundle of dirty linens he left the room.

Staring at the closed door, I let out a sigh before turning to face the dirty room.

“Well, if I’m going to be staying in this room, I guess I better make it a little more livable.” I grumbled, pushing up the sleeves of my kimono. Why do boys have to be so messy?