Making my way back to the main gate of the city was interesting. I passed the guards, and they nearly fell over in shock. Whoever had done the coding for the AI in this game had really gone above and beyond. Each person I passed had micro-expressions, subtle twitches, thousands of little things that all people did that made them feel real as they caught sight of me soaked in blood, scrambling out of the bushes onto the main thoroughfare.

  "Are you alright?" One of the guards asked, already rushing to assist me before I waved him off.

  "Oh, I'm fine, almost all of this blood isn't mine. Also, I believe I have solved your goblin problem!"

  The guard blinked. I had gotten a notification for clearing the camp, was I supposed to have done something else to get a reward? Did this work like quests in other games, or would I have to treat this like reality and carry a bounty of some kind?

  My question answered itself as the guard sighed in relief.

  "Thank you! While your appearance is... somewhat horrifying, the Kingdom thanks you. We appreciate not losing merchants to wandering bands of Goblins on the road." I smiled, csping my hands behind my back. It was an effort to look cute, but given that I might have been an inch taller than the guard, I think all it did was make me look less immediately threatening.

  "It was a pleasure! By an chance have you seen a rge knight in bck and silver armor, and an angel-kin with an iridescent halo anywhere around here?"

  "Not as of yet," the guard replied, "but if I do, I assume you'd like me to send them your way?"

  "Yes please, that would be appreciated."

  The guard bowed, and nodded, before signaling to the other three soldiers at the gate as a wagon approached, as if they were about to do an inspection.

  "well, good luck Ma'am, enjoy your time in the capitol!" He pulled a small leather bag from his pocket, and held it out to me. I took it in surprise, further surprised by how much the coins inside seemed to weigh.

  "Ten crowns isn't much, but who am I to argue with the mandates of the city?"

  He turned to leave, and I opened the bag to reveal ten gold coins, roughly the size of a quarter, within it's confines.

  "I grinned, and failed to whistle for the umpteenth time in my life, bouncing on my digitigrade limbs as I leaned against the outer wall of the capitol, staring up at the iron portcullis that seemed ready to drop at a moment's notice.

  "I bet that thing's functional." I muttered. I imagined getting impaled by those spikes.

  Gods of the digital universe that had to hurt.

  It didn't take long for a familiar face to appear in my view. A woman dressed in flowing blue robes flew through the air, ivory wings barely beating as she soared above the wagon, stopping about twenty feet in the air and surveying the gate. I recognized the ptinum blond hair, and the woman cried out with glee, flying down and nding delicately on the ground in front of me before crushing me in a hug that forced the wind out of me despite her diminutive size. Aurora was even smaller than Emilia had been in the real world, pushing five foot two at the most, and she buried her face between my breasts with an eagerness that left me blushing.

  Jerren -Jose's avatar in the worlds beyond - appeared only a moment ter, riding a grey charger with ornate metal armor decorating it's head and neck, and bck and silver barding clearly denoted the horse as belonging to him. He smiled, at the sight of Aurora trying to physically mash herself into me, and he spurred his horse to trot over, meeting the two of us at the gate to the city.

  He grinned, his familiar lopsided smile looking strange with the pristinely trimmed bck beard, the rger frame, and the absolutely chiseled body he had to carry underneath.

  "Well damn man, I still can't believe you did it. Takes balls to... ck balls."

  I gred at him, and opened my mouth, but Aurora beat me to it.

  "Oh shut up Jerren!" She turned to me conspiratorially. "I've been trying to get him to try the other side ever since we logged on, still cant manage it. Someday!"

  Jerren scoffed as he dismounted, tying the horse up at a hitching post just outside the gate before he folded his arms.

  "Good luck Aurora. I quite like the body I have now, thank you very much."

  Aurora pouted, exaggerating her disappointment, before she turned back to me, her halo fshing iridescently as her gaze wandered over my body as if she was trying to catalogue every detail. Or as if she wanted to undress me. I felt my face flushing again, and my ears flicked back in embarrassment. My tail started whipping back and forth as well, catching Aurora's attention as her face shifted from... something, i didn't want to think about too hard, to pure etion.

  "Oh my gods! How long did this take to get used to?" She touched the end of my tail, and i flicked it away reflexively, earning another pout before I replied. "Took a few minutes, but it honestly wasn't as weird I expected it to be. How did they code for this stuff anyway? I men, you have wings, right now, which it seems you can control without problems, I have a tail, I've seen other people with four arms, how? There's no way they could have gathered sensory and nerve data from people to figure out how to make this I flicked my tail back and forth before batting at Aurora pyfully, "feel natural and easy to use."

  Jerren shrugged. "I know they recorded a lot of sensations from animals. Apparently that very issue was the thing that made the development of 'The Worlds Beyond' take so long."

  Aurora linked her arm with mine, and I blushed again as her hand rushed briefly against the side of my breast through the tunic.

  "Look, we have the entire rest of our lives, to talk about technical shit and digital wizardry. We have a dungeon to clear, and we only have two days to do it!"

  "Why do we only have two days?" I asked, as Aurora led me back through the gates and past the fountain at the entrance, slowly taking us uphill up the cobblestone streets, back towards the many shops I had seen on my mad dash to the city gates.

  "Limited event." Aurora responded, leaning in. "It's some themed event tied to stuff happening in the oceans of the real world right now, I think. Jerren and I have been waiting for you to log in to tackle it, otherwise we would have had to recruit a stranger, which was never our strong suit."

  Jerren joined in afterwards, adjusting a truly gigantic sword strapped to his back. The thing had to be seven feet long, easily, and I stared in awe thinking about how much it had to weigh.

  "We need three people, like we told you before, but... it's more fun to do this kind of thing with people you know. We've made a few acquaintances in our time here, but we've mainly done a lot of solo-py, a few partner activities, you know how it is."

  I nodded slowly.

  "What kind of gear am I going to need? You said I'm under-leveled for this."

  Aurora giggled. "Oh, WAY under-leveled. We'll kit you out with the best we can, we've both been saving up towards this for a while, and we want to make sure the gear we get you today will still be useful once you catch up - which isn't going to be cheap."

  "So what, will I owe you guys for a while?"

  Jerren ughed.

  "Oh please, if we were the kind of people to hold debts over your head like that, we'd basically own you after helping you get into the game."

  Aurora smiled, csping her hands behind her back as she folded her wings behind her, the tips of her feathers trailing against the ground. "If we give you something, Fang, just assume it's a gift, especially when it's for something we're making you do in the first pce. We're not cruel, just a little bit violent!"

  I shook my head with a chuckle, as we continued to make our way up the street. Getting a slower view of the city like this, I was able to take it in much better than before. To my surprise, the capitol of the kingdom really didn't have a unifying aesthetic. Most of the buildings near the edge of town were stereotypical th and pster half-timbered homes, multi-leveled, with shops on the ground floor, and at the very center of town, on top of a stone ridge that towered above every other building, stood the castle that served as the central point for the entire city, and kingdom. Rumor had it that the castle was where the Mods, Developers, and employees running the show logged into, given that no pyer had been allowed entry, unless there was a world-spanning quest that needed to be opened up, which so far had only happened once in the history of the game.

  The rest of the buildings practically screamed for attention. Great cathedrals, stone keeps in dozens of different styles, ivory wizards towers with flowing waterfalls cascading from their rooves, and countless other structures all vied for attention over the edge of the rooves that we passed by, as garish and jarring as the most extravagantly dressed pyers that we passed. The adult nature of this game made itself present almost immediately as well. For every knight decked out in armor, like Jerren, there was a man, woman, or any of the other intermediary sexes and genders the game presented cd in... almost nothing. A scrap of metal, or an ornately wrapped single strip of leather, or cloth. My eyes nearly shot open when I realized that one of the scantily cd girls being ushered down the street towards the main gate by two other women was in fact not a girl at all - a fact that became gringly obvious even by accident, as the wind caught the white and blue mini-skirt.

  I shook my head, refocusing my gaze on Aurora as she walked, trying to ignore the gentle sway of her hips and focus on her words instead.

  "As you can see," She said, pointing out some of the ornate spires visible between buildings, "The most interesting buildings in the capitol are actually all pyer created. Once you accumute a rge enough guild, saving up for big projects like keeps, temples, or guild halls is almost trivial. Three of the fighting arenas here in the capitol are created and run by pyers, given that people can lean into any kind of css or game experience that they want."

  I took a couple steps to make sure I was walking at her side as she talked, gncing down at her as she continued.

  "The most interesting, to me, are the temples, given that many of the gods represented originally were not present in game. However, if enough pyers start to venerate something, real or not, ridiculous or not, the developers often find some way to make it work, usually because their adaptive css generation usually gets the jump on them."

  "How so?" I asked, gncing between the spires at a temple that seemed almost organic, sculpted from bck obsidian, and pulsing with a crimson light.

  Aurora smiled. "As you know, csses are generated at level two - however..." She blushed. "The developers hid a lot of easter eggs in the gss generation system. People py VR games for all kinds of reasons, and they wanted to make sure there was something for everyone."

  I nodded slowly, nearly running into a rge orcish man who was ughing at a companion's joke.

  "I understand that, yeah. But... why are you blushing."

  Aurora coughed, face turning a bright crimson as she fanned herself with one hand, gncing back at me.

  "Ah... well... Let's just say, Jerren and I are somewhat unusual in that we choose to resolve almost all of our counters through... standard means."

  "Wait... Is this about the 'violent, not evil' comment?"

  Aurora's halo was sparking, shimmering shards of light flickering off before dissipating, as she turned a brighter shade of red.

  "I believe i said that we 'weren't cruel, just violent', but... yeah. Most csses have... additional interpretations, to most of their abilities."

  "Like what?"

  Jerren leaned in with a grin.

  "I think my css is a good example, Fang. I'm a cavalier, broadly, which means I'm a knight. However," He waggled his eyebrows suggestively, "I get general bonuses to 'Mounted Combat.' I'm sure you can use your imagination."

  My eyes flicked involuntarily to his crotch, and I felt a blush of my own coming on as my ears perked up, my tail flicking wildly.

  "oh-oh! Wait, are you saying there are sex csses?"

  Aurora spped his armor pyfully. "Jerren! but yes...ish. More like, the bonuses that apply to combat can also be applied to... well, other things."

  She was bright red herself, and she waved her hands wildly. "That's enough embarrassing our dear Fang for one hour, let's focus on gearing her up, shall we?"

  Aurora led us into what looked like a boutique. Manneqins in the windows, which I realized now seemed remarkably out of pce in such a medieval setting, were clothed in ornate robes, eborate armors, and carried weapons with runs carved all over them, and the door opened with a chime as the short angel-kin pushed her way into the room beyond.

  "Simon, we've brought a friend!" She sang out cheerily, and I took stock of the room.

  Tapestries - usually simple geometric patterns of violet and gold - were draped elegantly from the ceiling and walls, and there were stands of armor, an entire wall covered from floor to ceiling in weapons I couldn't even begin to name properly, given the wide range of cultures they represented, and the number of extremely fantastical weapons mixed into the collection, and I could feel my jaw drop. I felt extremely out of pce. Not a speck of dust y on any counter, each dispy was perfectly draped and framed, each pte of armor polished. I meanwhile, had walked in barefoot, covered in dust and goblin blood, my starter clothing already fairly tattered from my series of small fights and mad race through the trees of the wood outside the city.

  My ears flicked back in shame, and I had to resist the urge to snarl or retreat as I followed my friend deeper into the room, to approach the counter that dominated the wall just across from the door, to the left of the weapons rack. A fairly rge man, ornately dressed in blues and golds, was busy pinning scraps of cloth to a mannequin, and his arms opened wide as he ughed.

  "Aurora! Jerren! If it isn't two of my best paying customers! A guest you say?"

  He turned his gold-rimmed spectacles on me, and I fidgeted nervously, involuntarily crossing my hands in front of my waist, tail drooping as I looked anywhere except his eyes.

  He folded the counter up, revealing a door he could walk through, and he approached, circling us once, before he turned to Aurora.

  "Well, little angel, this will certainly be a bit of a unique request. You understand that I rarely get many Beast-kin, they tend to prefer the furs, and more... rustic, armors from the lower city. Especially new-souls, like she appears to be."

  I cleared my throat.

  "I- ah - our souls are familiar to each other. I trust their judgment."

  He beamed.

  "Ah! I was worried that your timidity would prevent you from speaking! I am Simon, Simon Purecrest!" He extended a hand, and I shook it awkwardly.

  "So," he turned to Aurora, "What are we looking for today then. I have recently obtained a number of Traveler-grade sets of armor, produced by the smiths of the Forge-Temple just this morning, although I do wonder if they may be perhaps a bit too restrictive for your friend."

  Aurora nodded. "Fang likes being free to move, it's important to how she fights. Something less restrictive, preferably runic steel?"

  Simon whistled appreciatively.

  "A lighter set of armor may be necessary for the Runics - that's an expensive metal to come across, I believe you understand."

  Jerren grinned. "We've been preparing for a little while, it should keep her safe enough where we're going."

  Simon nodded, before turning to me. "Very well - lets see shall we..." He almost danced a circle around me, one hand on his chin, the other folded across his chest as he evaluated me. It felt very different from the occasional gnces and stares I had already received in the city. He was staring at me with about the least sexual gaze I had ever experienced in my life - he stared at me the way a sculptor evaluated a chunk of cy, or a painter examined the paints he was about to use.

  "Oh yes... I can work with this." He nodded to himself. "I'll be right back. Aurora, Jerren, Friend of my friends, feel free to browse my standard wares while I retrieve and adjust a few armor sets for your selection." He passed through the counter, opened a door leading to a back room, and the door swung shut behind him.

  I appreciated the time alone in the space, padding up to one of the mannequins in an elegant cream dress that hugged its figure before spilling onto the floor. Aurora smiled, almost knowingly, and Jerren looked at me with concern.

  "Already eager to try the dresses, are we Fang?"

  I blushed, backpedaling away from the mannequin.

  "Oh, no - heavens no. I just, wanted to see how they were made."

  Aurora shrugged.

  "clothes are weird. Mostly simuted, but usually, they're generated on the spot. Pyers with tailor csses can choose to just... automatically process raw materials into the fashion piece they've designed. Some still prefer to do things manually, but that can cause g sometimes - too many simutions at once is still hard for any game system, no matter how advanced."

  I nodded absentmindedly, as Simon emerged from the back, carrying three distinct bundles in his arms. The color of the leather and the cloth was different for each piece, but all three sets of armor had a faint greenish tinge to the metal, and I could see dark inscriptions spiraling along the surface of some of the piece, looking almost like Damascus Steel until I looked closer.

  "Three stets of runic steel for the beastly dy." He said with a grin. "You can use our mirror to try them on, or you could purchase them and take a gamble."

  He grinned, gesturing to a rge circur mirror that hung from the wall next to the counter. I picked up the first armor set, and was pleasantly surprised to see that it was actually the armor, rather than a full outfit to go with it. This meant I was able to slip on each set and look at myself in the mirror without having to remove the bloodstained clothing I wore now.

  Each set had a remarkably elegant nature to it - simple, sweeping lines, and intricate floral engraving that reminded me of stereotypic elvish styles, although I had no way of knowing if that would be true for the elves within the Worlds Beyond as well. I ended up settling with one that reminded me vaguely of some Chinese and ottoman armor's I'd seen in the past, with overpping ptes to protect the arms from the shoulders to the wrists, a simple breast-pte and gorget combination, armor pting for my legs, and a simple armored skirt to ensure all key vulnerabilities were protected.

  I looked at the clothing.

  "Oh. Shit."

  I was used to the men's section: Button up shirts, pants that fit, maybe some leather shoes. Suitcoats, at best.

  I was staring now at a literal plethora of options. Choice paralysis set in hard, as I looked at the dozens of outfits which could fit my beast-kin frame, and allow for full movement of my digitigrade legs.

  I turned back to Simon.

  "You said that you didn't have many beast-kin options."

  "Oh I don't, my baseline humanoid fashion line has easily over five hundred pieces." He smiled proudly. "I seem to be a favorite among travelers tely - I've had quite a few priests and priestesses come through, and you know they prefer quality."

  I nodded dumbly, selected a simple brown leather outfit to compliment the green of the armor and to provide a transition from my vaguely russet dusting of fur, and stared at the mirror. I blushed.

  I turned to Aurora.

  "Um... are there... changing rooms, where I could try them on?"

  To my surprise, Aurora had clearly been staring at my behind, and was biting her lip. It took her a while to come into focus, iridescent sparks flitting around her halo once again.

  "Hm? Why would you want to do that?" She asked, before she blinked, and blushed. "Ah! Oh, I'm so sorry, um.... I guess if privacy is a problem..." she fanned herself, her halo fring with pink light, as if it had caught a sunrise and spun it around a few times. "You can just equip the set from your inventory, and it will automatically repce the clothing you're wearing now."

  I nodded. ears pressed ft to my head in embarrassment, although I managed to keep the blush out of my face.

  "Thanks, Aurora."

  In the end, the trip was blissfully short. A small part of my mind wanted to try on more outfits, to see how they fit on this new body, see how I looked in those dresses and gowns, perhaps, but I determined to do that another day, when Jerren wasn't judging me and bored out of his mind, and when Aurora couldn't be there to... leer?

  I blushed at the thought, gncing back at the pale-skinned version of my friend. My heart began racing a hundred miles an hour as she lifted off a few inches from the ground, hovering next to Jerren and I as we began our trek back to the gates. I'd chosen two sets of underclothes, to keep everything under control while fighting, as I'd noticed that breasts were remarkably inconvenient to do acrobatics with. I was gd I'd sized them down during character creation, or I'd really have made a problem for myself. I'd ended up purchasing two runic short swords in the end as well. I wasn't sure really how to describe their shape - they were surprisingly stocky, with the faintest echo of a hook at the end as they tapered to their tips, and the leather of their sheathes thankfully matched the leather of my armor padding.

  Jerren gnced back at Aurora and I, pnting his hands on his hips as we stood once again at the main gate to the city.

  "Alright Fang, time to introduce you to the Worlds Beyond, and time for you to understand the meaning of the 'Way of Doors!" He drew his sword from his back as if it weighed nothing, and I couldn't help but stare sck-jawed as he effortlessly pointed the way forward. "To the Dungeon!"

  I gnced down several times, as we passed the central fountain just withing the gate, and couldn't help but smile when I caught my reflection. Armor with a green shimmer. Swords on my hips. Padded, protected, but clearly agile as fuck. I was lithe, I was deadly, and I was, without a doubt, beautiful.

  Even if I did still have some blood in my braid.

  I grinned, breaking away from my reflection, and chased after my friends.

  There was a Dungeon to clear, after all.