Thursday, August 28th, 2042, Coal Harbour, Vancouver, Canada.

  Leoric pushed the chair away from his desk and brushed his hair back, hand bumping against his bunny ears, which responded by fluttering in annoyance. He chuckled softly.

  Right, the ears.

  He had been so engrossed in his work that he almost forgot they were there—natural in the virtual space, but still a surprise when they twitched on their own. He took off the blue-screen glasses that were hanging from his nose and rubbed his eyes.

  Thank you, VR physics. My glasses magically stick to my nose.

  Leoric smirked at the thought, but quickly frowned as his head started pounding; he had been focusing on a few design projects for hours, and his body needed to move.

  Sitting at a desk was making him restless.

  Leoric existed to be free as the wind. He needed space to move, the open air, the thrill of a hunt—or at least, that was what his body kept reminding him. A coffee break felt like the perfect excuse to stretch his legs. Maybe he could pop over to a virtual cafe, roam a bustling digital market square, get lost in the throng of avatars?

  His mind flickered to the idea of walking through a virtual mall, grabbing a coffee in this body, feeling the eyes on him as his sharp suit drew admiration.

  But then he reminded himself: virtual caffeine never hit the way real coffee did.

  “In-person coffee it is.”

  He gently folded and deposited his glasses in the protective case atop the computer desk.

  Leoric turned to face his reflection in the glass window of his office. His sharp, angular jawline, piercing dark brown eyes, and tall, lean body were perfect. Commanding. Confident. Everything Sophie wished she could feel in the real world.

  “See you in a bit, handsome.”

  His reflection mirrored his wry grin back to him.

  The world blinked away as Sophie opened her eyes in the real world and freed herself from the rig. Her heart sank, just a little, as the vibrant colours of the virtual world gave way to her modest, dimly lit apartment.

  She glanced down at herself and sighed. This was her body. One she could not help but feel disappointed about.

  Wouldn’t things be so much easier if I could be Leoric all the time?

  His body was part of it, but only a small one. What Sophie longed for was everything Leoric represented. A version of herself that the world seemed to respect instinctively, instead of questioning at every turn.

  She stood up, stretched, and rummaged through her dresser for a jacket. Something to feel a little less… exposed. She tugged it on over her tank top and stretch pants, taking a glance at herself in the mirror.

  Yeah. Definitely not Leoric.

  She slipped her phone back into her pocket, her mind buzzing. She then tightened her grip on her jacket, her fingers clenching the fabric.

  It was so much easier when she was in his skin. When she did not have to think about the weight of people’s eyes, the constant doubts they placed on her. When she did not have to explain herself for merely existing.

  It was getting harder to separate the two, though. Leoric was an escape, a way to push back against the barriers that stood in her way. But now? Now, when she thought of power, she thought of him.

  The line where Sophie ended, and Leoric began, was not so clear anymore.

  She pocketed her card key and wallet, shaking her head to clear those thoughts. She had work to do, coffee to grab. Real-world obligations. Sophie pushed open the door to her apartment and stepped into the hallway. Instead of heading toward the elevator, she immediately veered left to the stairwell, a small grin tugging at her lips.

  How fast can I make it down?

  With a quick inhale, she launched herself down the stairs, her feet hitting the landings with more grace than she expected. Each leap felt natural, even in this body. Gravity pulled her, sure, but her muscles responded with ease, a sort of muscle memory that felt more like Leoric’s. In three bounds, she had already hit the first landing. She imagined what it would feel like to dash like this as Leoric—how his body would glide through space effortlessly, his reflexes sharper, every movement a perfect, controlled burst.

  But this? This was her doing. And despite how familiar it felt to move like this, there was still a gap between what she could do, and how easily he would do the same. The tension between who she was and who she wanted to be gnawed at the edges of her mind.

  As Sophie kept bounding down the twelve stories’ worth of stairs, a part of her relished the feeling of moving with speed and precision, the way her body responded to the challenge. But her body was not used to this, and the reality started catching up. Her muscles tightened, and her movements became stiffer. She landed heavier, less sure, on her feet. In-game, Leoric would have been like water, flowing down the steps without hesitation.

  This felt... clunky. She was far too aware of the physical weight of her own limbs, the way her balance faltered, how each landing jarred her joints.

  It frustrated her. She knew she could move better than this—in the game, at least. But here, in the real world, everything felt just a little off.

  She finally reached the ground floor, panting. Not ecstatic, but still proud of her quick descent. As she pushed the door open and stepped into the building’s lobby, her phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out and glanced at the screen.

  “Breaking News: Reporters Surround Home of World’s Most Famous Catgirl’s Real Identity Soon To Be Unveiled!”

  Sophie froze mid-step, her thumb hovering over the notification. Her stomach twisted, a mix of dread and curiosity flooding her senses. She could almost feel the pulse of excitement that the headline would trigger in anyone following the Kaelyn saga. But to her, it felt like an ominous bell tolling.

  Kaelyn’s player was going to be outed.

  The video showed vans parked outside of a small house in Oregon. They were practically doxxing her already.

  Why don’t you just go ahead and give the street address and civic number at that point, dumbasses?

  The world’s most famous catgirl, Kaelyn—her face synonymous with the VR glitch, on every major news outlet, whose every move had become a trending topic—was about to be unmasked. And Kaelyn’s player, the one behind the alluring, seductive avatar, now had to deal with the spotlight they probably never intended to step into.

  The thought of that player’s life imploding under the scrutiny made Sophie’s heart race. How would she handle it if she was in their shoes? How would the world react to knowing that the confident, flirty catgirl was not the vibrant, extroverted young woman people assumed she was, but anyone else? It could be a shy girl, or a guy, who had been using Kaelyn’s form to project power and control—only to find themselves trapped by it.

  Her thumb hovered over the notification, tempted to tap it. To read more. But then she quickly swiped it away.

  I shouldn’t.

  It was not her business. Kaelyn was her party member, and she would handle it, or she would not. It was her choice to create that avatar, to live in that form, to navigate the complexities it brought.

  But Sophie felt an unsettling flicker of recognition. What if Kaelyn, to that player, was the same as Leoric was to her? An escape, a way of trying to reshape the world to fit in? And now that world could crumble all around them.

  Could the same thing happen to her? If people knew Leoric was a mask Sophie wore—would they treat her any differently?

  The thought gnawed at her as she stepped out into the crisp Vancouver air. She had wanted a coffee, but now she was having second thoughts.

  She started walking, pulling her jacket tighter around her body. Each step felt heavier now, fearing the cracks in Leoric’s perfect fa?ade were showing.

  She felt her breath catch in her throat. If the world knew who was behind Kaelyn, how long would it take before people started turning their eyes on every other player?

  She shuddered. What if they did the same to her? What if the same vans parked outside her apartment, reporters shouting her name through the door, demanding to know why Sophie Kim created him? Would they accept her reasons, or would they assume something worse? Maybe even accuse her of hiding behind Leoric, like some kind of fraud?

  No. Sophie shook her head, trying to chase the thoughts away. It would never come to that. It could not. She was careful, kept her two worlds separate. But the seed had been sowed, and now she wondered.

  Still in her hands, her phone buzzed again. She looked down at it, wondering what was going on now.

  “Breaking News: Golden Dawn’s Introduction Video With Ten Million Views Already! Kaelyn’s Already A Sensation, But Who Are Her Three Mysterious Party Members?”

  Ten million views?!

  Sophie’s heart raced as she stared at the screen. Kaelyn had always been charismatic. She knew how to draw a crowd—but this? This was something else entirely. She had not even realized Kaelyn had made a party introduction video, much less one that would go viral.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Leoric’s image stared back at her from the thumbnail, arms crossed, gaze calm and unshakable. He looked every bit the leader Sophie had wanted him to be, the her which eluded her.

  But now, as she saw him displayed for millions of eyes to dissect, she felt a knot form in her stomach. How long until people started asking about Leoric’s player? About Sophie?

  The world was already looking at Kaelyn—her mysterious, seductive party member. It was only a matter of time now before they started looking at the others, too.

  As Sophie entered the Second Cup, she pulled her jacket tighter. A cold, uneasy thought settled in the back of her mind as she walked to wait in line.

  What would she do if they took Leoric away from her?

  The idea hit her like a punch to the gut. What if something happened, something that forced her to stop using him? If clients did not accept him? If the game forced her to change her avatar?

  “Your order?”

  “Huh… Iced Vanilla Bean Latte, twenty ounces, please.”

  Without Leoric, could she still face the world the same way? Could she still command the same respect? Or was this all an illusion—a fragile mask that could crack with the wrong push?

  “Name?”

  “Leo—”

  Sophie interrupted herself as soon as she realised what she had just said. She was so preoccupied with what was going on; she let out the first name that came to her mind. Should she actually correct herself?

  But the cashier was already moving forward with her order.

  She tapped the phone to pay for her drink when prompted and went to the other end of the counter to wait for her drink.

  Whatever happened to Kaelyn today would end up impacting her, she was certain. When that happened? She would hopefully manage to limit the damages.

  Joining A Realm Reforged Again was just supposed to be an escape.

  How did everything get this messy, this fast?

  “Here you go, Lee. Iced Vanilla Bean Latte?”

  Sophie blinked. Someone had walked all the way beside her and was handing her the drink she had ordered.

  “Called your name three times. That’s yours, right?”

  Sophie nodded slowly, picking up the drink, uncomfortable at how close the employee was standing to her. She got a look at the employee’s name badge. It read ‘Hana’.

  “Sorry. Yeah. I was just lost in my world there for a minute.”

  The cashier smiled and looked Sophie up and down.

  “No worries. Are you a model or something, Lee? You’ve got this K-pop star look…”

  Sophie blinked at the unexpected flirtation, her face flushing hot as Hana’s words settled in.

  A model? Me?

  The thought felt foreign. In-game, Leoric could command a room just by walking in, but Sophie? She tugged her jacket tighter around herself, suddenly aware of how she stood, how she moved. Her mind raced—was Hana just being polite? Or was she genuinely flirting? Sophie could not tell, and that uncertainty made her blush even deeper.

  She caught sight of the “Lee O.” scrawled on her cup with a little heart beside it, and her stomach did a strange little flip. Lee. It was close enough to Leoric to feel like it belonged to her. But it felt like a lie, a disguise. What did Hana see when looking at her? A man or a woman? Should she laugh it off or throw the cup away?

  But the little heart, though—that was... unexpected.

  Sophie tried to smile at Hana, but the weight of her name, her identity, and the unexpected compliment made it falter.

  “I—uh, thanks. I’m really not a model, though.”

  Hana’s eyes sparkled as she crossed her arms, clearly enjoying Sophie’s flustered response. “You sure? You’ve got the look. And the way you move… It’s something.”

  Sophie’s heart raced. The way she moved? Does Hana think I’m confident? Strong? The same way people reacted to Leoric? Sophie’s mind spun.

  How does anyone respond to a statement like that?

  She laughed.

  “No, no; I’m just a graphic designer.”

  Hana crossed her arms and looked at Sophie with a raised eyebrow.

  “I don’t see why one would prevent the other.”

  She shrugged and turned around to return to the employee side of the counter.

  “See you around, Lee. I’ll be keeping my eyes on you, and I’ll wait for news of an up-and-coming super-star anytime now.”

  Sophie turned and left the coffee shop. Hana was cute. Black, tomboyish short hair. She was shorter than Sophie. About Five foot two? Her eyeliner and eyeshadow made her eyes truly pop out.

  As a rule, people did not randomly flirt with her like that. That was something new. She did not know how she was supposed to respond. Perhaps she had responded exactly the right way. If she wanted to see Hana again, she could always just come back to this coffee shop. It was just a few blocks away, after all.

  Leoric’s headache was gone, the iced latte having filled Sophie’s brains with the sugary goodness and caffeine it had craved.

  Back in VR, his reflection hovered in the sleek virtual office window, his suit immaculate, his gaze sharp.

  He looked every inch the part of a confident, successful professional—a far cry from how Sophie had felt earlier, her heart still fluttering with a mixture of confusion and pride after her encounter with the flirtatious Hana.

  Leoric shook the memories away.

  Workmode, Leoric, this is my virtual office.

  He tried to force himself to focus. In the earlier meeting with Coventech Industries, Leoric had played his role perfectly, and it had worked. Leoric had worked.

  Speak of the devil…

  His wrist blinked as a notification of an email landed in his inbox. The payment Jonathan had promised earlier attached to the email. He flicked his wrist to accept the transfer. Throughout Sophie’s career, clients had seldom held up their end of the bargain so fast after a meeting.

  It baffled Sophie’s mind that Leoric’s presence could even influence how effortless it had been to get her client to pay up.

  Leoric looked at the time on his Montalier watch.

  The next meeting now loomed just five minutes away. It was with Adelina Shore.

  A small knot formed in his stomach. Lina.

  She had been one of her oldest and most reliable clients ever since Sophie started freelancing. They had worked together for years. Lina knew Sophie’s work, her tendencies, her strengths—and her insecurities.

  She doesn’t know Leoric, though.

  He grimaced.

  The idea of showing up at a meeting with Lina like this felt strange.

  Worse than strange. Wrong.

  Leoric was Sophie’s armour, a tool she used to navigate difficult meetings, to claim the respect she so often struggled to get in the real world. But Lina? Lina had never been like Jonathan. She had never made Sophie jump through hoops to prove herself. Sophie had always felt like Lina was in her corner, in some small way.

  Leoric stared at his reflection.

  But why not? Maybe Lina’ll appreciate the assertiveness too. Surely she, of all people, would relate to how difficult it is to be taken seriously as a woman.

  He looked at the storage case with Sophie’s glasses sitting on the desk. Leoric had perfect vision, he did not need to wear them. Heck, he actually had better than twenty/twenty vision. But as Sophie, she had always worn them during her meetings with Lina. They had always helped her with her confidence, and they almost became synonymous with her professional image.

  Out of habit, Leoric almost reached to pick them up. But he did not need a prop to look competent. Leoric had this in the bag. His entire appearance had been meticulously selected to command respect.

  The meeting window opened, and Leoric quickly adjusted his posture. His broad shoulders filled the space, the virtual desk perfectly framing him as he straightened his tie and sat a little taller.

  He was still riding the high from the confidence he had felt at the earlier meeting. When Lina’s avatar materialised on the other side of the desk, a flicker of unease crept in. He shifted in his seat, trying to regain his composure.

  Lina appeared as she always did—an elegant, levelheaded woman in her early forties, with perfectly styled auburn hair and a business-casual outfit. Her avatar, though more polished than her usual real-world self, was unmistakably her. She always kept things straightforward in meetings, preferring to focus on the work and not getting bogged down in formalities.

  But the moment Lina’s sharp green eyes locked onto Leoric, he sensed something shift.

  Lina paused for a beat. Her gaze flickered over Leoric’s tall frame, the sharp suit, the strong jawline. “Well,” she said, the word hanging in the air, almost like she was trying it out for the first time. “You must be one of Sophie’s business partner?”

  Leoric’s heart thudded in his chest. The lie again. He swallowed the sudden lump in his throat, trying to sound as smooth and confident as he always did. “Yes. We work quite closely on all projects. She let me know that today’s meeting would be a follow-up on the promotional campaign for WaveBio?”

  Lina crossed her arms, leaning back slightly in her chair. There was no smile. No warm greeting. Just a flat expression, tinged with something unreadable. “Right. WaveBio.” Her voice was tight, controlled.

  He shifted forward in his seat, reaching to the console on the desk. “We’ve made significant progress on the visuals.” He pulled up the updated designs on the virtual screen between them. “I’ve added some refinements to the logo placement, and I believe the colour scheme aligns well with the eco-conscious image you’re going for—”

  But Lina had not been looking at the designs. Her eyes stayed on Leoric, her brow furrowing slightly as if she were scrutinising something far deeper than the visuals on display.

  “Excuse me,” Lina said, cutting him off mid-sentence. “Can we pause for a moment?”

  He felt his stomach drop. Something was wrong. “Of course.” His voice felt far less steady than it should have been.

  Lina leaned forward, elbows resting on the virtual desk, her expression turning thoughtful—almost disappointed. “I have to ask. Where’s Sophie?”

  The words hit Leoric like a punch to the gut. He felt his composure slip, just for a moment, before catching himself. “She’s... unavailable today,” he said, totally avoiding giving an actual answer. The growing unease gnawed at him from underneath his calm exterior. “I’m handling all client meetings in her stead.”

  Lina nodded slowly, but there was a hardness in her eyes Leoric had not seen before. “I see. But I have to be honest—I’ve known Sophie for a long time. We’ve worked together for years. I’ve always valued her approach, her dedication. And this... I don’t know. It feels... unlike her.”

  Leoric blinked, his heart now pounding against his ribcage.

  Unlike her? She totally knows and she’s just waiting for me to admit it.

  Lina’s tone softened, but it did not feel like kindness. “I’ve always admired the way Sophie handled herself—how she fought to get her work recognised. I thought we had an understanding, a respect for the challenges we face in this industry. As women.”

  Leoric swallowed hard. He could feel his face growing hot. His calm exterior was not holding up as well as he had hoped. “We’re still delivering the same high-quality work,” Leoric said, his voice firm but tight. “The designs speak for themselves—”

  “That’s not what I’m talking about.” Lina’s words were sharp, cutting right through the pretense. “I’m not doubting the work. But this?” She gestured at Leoric, the avatar’s presence, the height, the suit. “This feels like a shortcut, Sophie.”

  Leoric’s breath caught. Lina was not seeing him as the smooth, confident professional—she saw right through him. All she saw was a betrayal of everything Sophie had stood for.

  “You’ve always fought to be taken seriously, and now you... slip into this male avatar and what? You think that solves everything?” Lina’s voice was cold now, her disappointment unmistakable. “You’re better than that. At least, I thought you were.”

  The words hit harder than he expected. His carefully constructed armour cracked, the confidence he had built as Leoric now crumbling under the weight of Lina’s disdain.

  “I didn’t—” Leoric began, but his voice faltered. For the first time since donning this form, he did not feel powerful. He felt... small.

  Lina shook her head, the disappointment deepening in her eyes. “You don’t need this. You’ve never needed this. If you wanted respect, you should’ve earned it the same way you always have—through your work, not through some... makeover.”

  Leoric sat in stunned silence.

  Was Lina right?

  Sophie had used Leoric to navigate a system stacked against her, but in doing so, had she betrayed the fight she had always been part of? The fight to be recognised, not just for the work, but for who she really was?

  Memories of Elyssia suddenly came to mind. How she had impressed him with her confidence and her capabilities, despite being so small and unapologetically feminine.

  But try as I might, I don’t think I could ever be like Elyssia… She’s in a league of her own.

  Lina sighed and glanced at the clock. “Let’s get back to the designs. We’ve got deadlines, after all.”

  But Leoric froze for a moment.

  What happens now?

  He let out a long sigh, reached out for the glasses in the storage box, and put them on the tip of his perfect nose. With Leoric, those glasses were not an upgrade. Instead, they made him appear flawed. He could not simply turn back to Sophie in the middle of the meeting. But he hoped that this would be a small, symbolic action that Lina would notice and understand the meaning of.

  “Of course, Lina. I’m sorry.”

  The meeting continued, but his mind was elsewhere, reeling from the unexpected turn. Maybe Leoric was not the solution, after all. Maybe... maybe Lina was right.

  As Lina discussed font sizes and colour palettes, His thoughts drifted back to the game’s customisation screen.

  Should I go back and change things? Adjust Leoric? Or... maybe even switch back to Sophie, just for this?

  He did not have an answer yet, but Lina had sown the seeds, and they were not going away.

  The Fight?