The Vespidian
Arc 1 Contamination
Chapter 1

An alarm went off, beeping incessantly. My hand flopped out, smacking around the side table and hitting things while searching for it. I knocked over my water cup spilling it all over the place. Ugh, well, that is one way to wake up. Now my bed covers were a little wet. There was no sleeping in this. The phone kept droning on; it was almost like it was making fun of me. Shut up, will you? I sat up and actually managed to hit the button.

Silence at last.

Except now I needed to do something about my sheets and blankets. Grumbling, I threw off my covers and stumbled over the minefield of discarded clothes littering the floor. The pile looked impressive these days; washing them would probably be good. What time is it anyway? I blinked as the phone light illuminated the dark room. Is it already 11 am? Oh shit. I was supposed to be streaming three hours ago. Well, it is more of a personal goal, but still, I should really keep to a schedule.

I flipped on the light, revealing my subterranean lair, or rather my parents basement. I didn't have time to be fawning over the posters of Ichigo and her unrivaled cuteness or even Admiral Moon and his brawny muscles, for that matter. I opened a drawer expecting at least one pair of pants that was clean… nope. Ok, seems to be a bigger problem than I had thought. My options were a little limited; I had to do face cam and couldn't just be in my underwear. There be rules to these sorts of things. Well, if that stuff is all dirty, then I guess I should just cosplay then. Give those goons something to be happy about.

My costume wardrobe was far more extensive than my every day clothes storage. Now the question became, what the hell to wear? I had a bit of a collection going here, from maid and nurse outfits clear on over to a full leather dominatrix catsuit. I even had a semi-legit superhero costume with a cape. It wasn't anything too fancy and certainly wasn't made out of any of that neato super stuff. Definitely wasn't anything for protection. Although thinking about it, the catsuit could also be considered one. Those people wear some weird stuff. Ah, the Internet I don't even have to leave the house to get things. Truly humanity's greatest achievement.

Schoolgirl would be the easiest to do. It was a replica of some school over in Japan. The texture was nice and soft, with deep blue and striped red on the upper chest area of the white blouse. The skirt was solid blue. The only real difference between this and the official one was the emblazoning on the chest and shoulders had been removed. I pulled up the silky skirt and wiggled my way into the button-up top. Bam, done easy.

I sat down, woke up my computer, and turned on the camera to see what needed to be fixed. Some of my clutter was spilling into sight from the sides. My room might be trashed, but I keep it somewhat clean in view of the camera. Kicking the clothes to the side, I glanced over, making sure that was everything. On the other side, the leaning tower of empty pizza boxes looked rather precarious. I really need to do something about all this. Seriously though… when was the last time I cleaned my room up? I will do it after my 12-hour streaming session.

Maybe.

I pulled at my eyelid, staring at the red veins and dark bags. Yeah, damn good thing I have not done a face reveal yet. This is no good. My hands came up, slapping both sides of my face, and my foggy-headedness disappeared. Now to the tasks at hand, getting everything together and starting. My VR helmet hung from the side of the tall, backed gaming chair. I slipped it on, buckling the strap under my chin, and flipped the switch on the side of it, turning it on. For now, it just had my computer screen in front of me.

Ichigo the fairy stared back at me. It was my background currently. I don't know where the hell she found a giant leaf, but it was adorable. She was an Internet idol that did a lot of cosplay stuff. She had prosthetic ears and fake butterfly wings on her back in that one. Getting distracted again. It was time to focus, so I directed my attention to the webcam, using it as a mirror to ensure everything was good. It was spotty, third-hand at best. I waved a little making sure that it worked properly. Sure enough, there I was in the blue, red, and white Japanese schoolgirl outfit. My face is covered by the VR helmet, save my lips and chin. I puckered my lips. They were a little chapped, though. This would not do, so I rifled around in my drawers, digging out some lip balm and hastily applying it.

Everything looked good, so I fired up Spasm, logged into my account, and set the feed to on. My face popped up in the center, and I waved to the five people who were already waiting. Or, more likely, they were watching previous streams. I don't have that many fans, after all. At peak hours, I have somewhere between a hundred and five hundred people depending on the day. Speaking of which… what day even is it? It was the 8th of February, a Saturday at that. Crazy how fast the year goes by. Feels like it was just yesterday, I came home from college. Hard to believe that was three years ago.

Saturday… Saturday. Ah crap, I knew that there was a reason I wanted to stream early. This was my highest viewership day. I better get started before I lose anybody else!

"Good Morning, everyone. Welcome to the Malachite Queen's rampage. Feel free to donate. If you have requests go for it."

The chat didn't particularly respond… well, only five of them. I didn't recognize any of the names in the chat, but then again, I was terrible with names, so that was to be expected. "As you guys know, we will be playing Shattered Realms today. Next time I might do some Swolomon. So got any questions?"

Crickets. Oh well, I better just get started. People will come, hopefully.

I clicked on the SR icon, and it started, forcing the web browser to the second monitor. It would not show up while I streamed though I could still see it in my peripheral. There she stood, my Dark Elemental, Fallen Valkyrie named Malachite Queen. I know, I know it means green, but she is blacker than the night. It was more of a sentimental thing. I tried to make her look like Ichigo during character creation and got reasonably close. She was cute as a button when the passive armor broke, revealing her true form. However, while the passive was up, she was one sexy bitch with some big old melons or, as my chat liked to call it, personality. My armor, a metal bikini with loin cloth, helped out with that too. Gave her a bit o that dommy mommy snoo snoo energy. I wasn't even going for that look. It just had the best stats.

As usual, my thoughts relayed through the helmet, moving the character now that I had logged in. What the hell had I been doing when I logged out last night? I peered about the surroundings. A dead dragon lay next to me. Bones littered the dank cave, and a red glow came in from the cavern's entrance. I squinted. No knowledge of this place, let alone how or why I was here, came to mind.

Oof, it was like a drunken morning-after scenario! Oh wait, now I remember. I killed the dragon of Fire Rage Mountain. I pulled out my adventure log, flipping through the pages. Yup, there it was, Hidden Quest fulfilled. I gotta turn it back in now. What did this fella even drop? I pulled out my magical skinning knife and started hacking away at the thick scales. After about five minutes, I packed away the last of it in my magical bag of stuffing. Now for the totals, including the treasure horde I looted before logging off.

I turned to the inventory page. Let's see. Purple Dragon Scales 600, Dragon Hide 200 pounds, Dragon Bones 60, Dragon Talons 10, Dragon Meat 100 pounds, Lunar Stone Ingots 3, Platinum pieces 500, Gold pieces 1,000, Silver pieces 800, unidentified Long Sword, unidentified Full Plate Armor, Vial of Dragon Blood 5, and last but certainly not least Dragon Penis 2.

"Yes! Got that D, baby!" I pumped my fist, shouting with glee, "Finally, Dragon Dong and two of them! I had to grind fucking dragons for the past week!"

A chime went off, notifying me that somebody typed into my chat, "New here. What are you playing, and why are you so happy about dicks?"

"Oh, hello. I am playing Shattered Realms, Broken Destiny. Well, these here are Dragon dicks, a scarce and potent alchemy ingredient. So rare you can't even buy these fucking things. So I can either sell them for large amounts due to demand or use them for recipes."

Several of them started up a conversation. The words scrolled along the side of my interface.

"So is she good at this game, or what is happening?"

"Mong over here hasn't heard of the Malachite Queen. She is the top PvPer on the Shattered Realms."

"So if she is so good, how come I haven't heard of her?"

"Who the hell are you? What do you think you are good, or something scrub? Check the forums. She is infamous for Player Killing, and she isn't in a guild; she is a solo player."

"So what, does she have the most op class and race combo? Or something else?"

"Kinda. It is more of her build. She has done all of the God Quests, so she has blessings that multiply her stats."

"Isn't that broken as shit? Wait if she is a solo player, how did she do those? Those are high-end raids?"

"She pugged with one of the better guilds, Black Fire, off and on for the first one and ninja looted the quest item when the group tried to muscle it so that their guild master would get it even though she had the most points in their system since she had not been spending them on loot. After that, she was strong enough that people wanted her in the raids for the DPS. Of course, she was blacklisted by Black Fire, but several other guilds were almost as strong as them at the time. The next time she straight up stole it since there was nothing anybody could do to stop her, and then things escalated, and she forced Black Fire, along with some of the better players, to raid with her to get the rest of the artifacts since they had been doing the easiest quests first and it was getting hard. On the last two blessings, she let her friends get the blessing from being in her party."

"Why would anybody trust her to join their group?"

"It hadn't gotten around yet, and by the time people knew, it was too late."

"Why don't others do the quests to get the stats?"

"It was a one-time special event quest line. Once the Quest was complete, no one could get it since the god had the item, and you couldn't get the item anymore since the mob is dead and didn't respawn. They were hidden quests to start with, so not too many people knew about them or that they were one-time things."

"So then only one person could get it?"

"Well, originally, it was rewarded to everyone present at the god and in the person's party completing it. However, since she turned it in solo she monopolized the power. The original design was to make several factions extremely powerful, and they were supposed to fight over the remaining blessings."

"Oh, somebody fucked up big time."

"Yeah, that is why they are patching it soon."

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

I nodded and said, "Don't remind me. That is why I am grinding so much so that I can take advantage before they steal all my hard-earned buffs."

"Hard-earned buffs? You are cheating."

"Hey, hey dick head. It is in the damned game, and they wouldn't have put it in the game if they didn't want people doing it."

"Clearly, you are doing an exploit, which is why they are patching it."

"Just cause I was ahead of the curve when it mattered, and then you get all these babies crying that it is unfair. Considering all the fucked up things you can do in this game, I don't want to hear it. It is not like I go around raping people. I just murder people if they get on my bad side. Hell, I am pretty nice, you know. Typically I don't even level camp people back to level one."

"Well, sometimes you do spawn camp people till they are level 1 again."

"I can't help it if you lose a level if you die, and even players happen to be lootable. I said typically, as in sometimes I do. That is what they get for pissing me off. Whose side are you on anyway?"

Almost immediately, my donation chime went off. I set it up to play, It's Raining Men for about five seconds while showing a gif of Admiral Moon getting showered with money. Then the robot lady voice I had on started reading what the person, Tittymouse wrote, "When do we get to see your Bewbie, bewbies, bewbies?!"

"Alright, alright, that is it; you all just lost boob privileges! I was going to cosplay some sexy shit later too. You cock bags wonder why we can't have nice things, which is why! This isn't a fucking stripper cam; now get the fuck outa of here."

"Not fair, not fair! Don't listen to the troll. We love you!" wrote a couple of them.

"Alright, fine, we hit a hundred bucks, and I will dress up," I replied, crossing my arms.

The fake woman's voice appeared again as the donation popped up. "Thanks for streaming! Here is my part of the cosplay fund. Which are you going to do?"

"Thanks for donating. I am still thinking we will cross that bridge when we get there. So what do we want to do next?"

"Genocide, genocide!" filled the chat.

"So, which ethnicity are we cleansing the Shattered Realms of today?"

"Centaur, centaur!"

"Sounds fun," I grinned, cracking my knuckles.

Thus, the great Centaur massacre that forced a server restart began. It only took about six hours, and I still had time to start up dungeon runs for my subscribers. I loved being able to just zone out and murder things, strangle the life from their necks, burn their huts and slaughter their families. It is not real, of course, and it would be weird if it was. Sometimes I wish that I could live in the Shattered Realms, but only if I could be my character. Then remembering that they probably would not have invented toilet paper is very troubling. It is kinda like how everybody wishes they could be knights or something in medieval Europe. Fucking stupid, if you ask me.

There is a reason it is called the dark ages. Plagues, wars, famine, and shorter life spans are not appealing. Not to mention the whole peasant class thing and crushing taxes on wheat or anything else for that matter. Then you had filthy religion getting its grubby paws into everything. Corruption, as far as the eye could see everything was about power and was utterly unethical back then.

Another thing would be that knights back then were basically just a bunch of thugs pillaging and raping the countryside. Funny how history glosses over that. I guess I would fit in pretty well, considering the war crimes I just committed on those centaurs.

~~~

The computer screen was dull, with Ichigo the fairy staring back at me. I blinked a few times, turning the streaming cam to the Intermission cover.

After a moment a long, drawn-out sigh escaped and I set my virtual reality helmet to the side. It took another moment to make sure that I was logged out of Shattered Realms. My eyes were starting to burn from my latest dungeon-crushing marathon, and I had just taken scrubs through high-level dungeons and got paid to do it. Not real money of course... If only life was that simple. I sometimes did, but mostly it was just in-game money.

Oh, look at that I made a hundred bucks from random donations. Looks like the chat earned themselves a dress up stream. The murder sprees always get the cash flowing. People really like violence and sex. I happened to have both. I suppose it is pretty entertaining. Looks like it is pizza tonight!

The chat was scrolling up the side of the screen. They were trying to bribe me to show them my boobs. These fuckers never learn. It was the old Tips for Tricks fund, it never worked on me, but they tried it anyway. I am not that desperate yet; besides, I could get banned for that shit. Well, if I got desperate enough, I might make an Only Fap account and do some angry dommy mommy asmr streams or something.

"Guys come on," I said exasperatedly. Seriously, there was no pleasing these perverts. "You know I don't show. Look, do you want to dress up or not? Which do you want? Gothic Lolita, Magical Girl, or-"

"Dom, Dom, Dom!" spammed through the chat.

"Oh, for fuck's sake. I should never have shown you guys that. That thing is so uncomfortable. I know it is all shiny, but I get all sweaty. Do you guys really want to see that?"

"Shiny and Chrome! Shiny and Chrome!" filled the chat.

"Feet pics!" popped up in there.

"What is wrong with you, people? No feet pics."

Thumbs up started filling the chat log, these guys… whatever I will take your damned money.

"Alright, look, when I return in about an hour or two, I will put on the dominatrix leathers. But no foot stuff, you weirdos. You guys better be donating."

With that, I cut the feed to the camera. It is hard to move around in that costume. Money. Gotta think of the money. I gotta get that new Moon Sailors Hard Disk box set. It has that holographic poster and miniature set that is uncensored. But first, I need a break. I had been at it for the past what fiveish hour straight? Definitely not the longest stream. I had done a few 24-hour streams before, but then again, for that, I was hyped up on energy drinks and stuff, unlike now, not even a drop of caffeine in me.

Glancing at the clock, I decided I should do something with my day. It was already 4:30pm in the afternoon. Natural light and fresh air would do wonders for my mood. I was a little pissed since I got stiffed on one of my runs in SR, and I murdered him and took all his money, but still, it is the principle of the matter.

My room had become a staging area for trash after my latest gaming binge. A pile of pizza boxes leaned by the closet, and the trash can overflowed. The stairway leading out of my room was clear of debris, though it was kinda old and dingy. At any rate, I kept the room clean where the camera could see it. A little deceptive, but what people don't know won't hurt them. I heard the telltale signs that my Dad was home. The stomping above my head gave it away. I could even follow where people upstairs were and where they were going if I tried.

My Dad roared from up above, "Vesper Walda Vasska! Get your deadbeat ass up here!"

Shit, he used my full name. I must have fucked something up I don't know about. I racked my brain, thinking of things that I have not done that he would be mad about. I guess the dishes were still floating in the sink, the water ice cold. That was supposed to be done yesterday. Ah, fuck. I forgot about the gutters. Reluctantly, I emerged from my lair and walked, following the heavy footsteps. He was in the kitchen, thick-shouldered, bald-headed, and pissed. His gaze could make milk curdle, and it was directed at me.

I don't even remember doing anything wrong recently; at least nothing worthy of this. It was hard to miss the pile of clean dishes. Looks like he did that, and he pointed at the kitchen table, and I sat down without a fight.

"You know why I am angry?" He asked, plopping down on the opposite side.

"Nope." I had to play stupid. Things would get worse if I started naming off stuff he doesn't know about yet. I mean, my room was a disaster, among other things.

He pointed his finger at the table, tapping it angrily. "You need to get outside and do something with your life. You are wasting it in that basement in front of that damned computer. I should never have bought that for you. When was the last time you went outside?"

"I was going to go outside after I took out the trash." It was a weak answer, but it was the truth.

"See, that is an improvement." He smiled for a moment, but then his face became stern again. "Now listen, I don't mean to be angry with you. I seriously worry about your future. You have not left the house for over a week, and I hardly even see you unless I force my way into your room. That nest thing you got going on down there has to stop. Your mother is more worried than I am, and it is like you are withdrawing from the world or something."

"You could watch my stream, you know."

"I will not watch my daughter being a cam whore!" he yelled, and I scowled back.

"Came Whore?! Who is a camwhore? I am not a fucking cam whore, Dad. Swolix on ice skates, I have some self-respect. At most, I dress up. People pay to watch me play games, and it is not like I am doing nothing down there."

"I will take the damned Internet away."

"Dad, be reasonable. I hear you, but what do you want me to do? You know that I am not some social butterfly."

"You say that while actively streaming to strangers."

"It is different. I don't get all weirded out if they are not here in person, and I got like social anxiety and shit, you know?"

"Fine, first off, take a shower. I can smell you from here," his face scrunched up. "No boy will ever go out with you if you smell like garbage and a jock strap."

"Damn it, dad!" I yelled at him. He is always so rude about this. "This again? I am sorry that I am picky, but I will not just throw myself at somebody."

"When did I say to throw yourself at somebody?" He raised his voice, and here comes the I am suddenly a responsible daddy time. All through high school, you ignored me. Where the fuck was this when I needed it? "Look, if some punk kid fucks with you, I will destroy him. You need to be out there to meet people. I want grandkids one day, you know."

"Dad! I am only twenty-five. You are rushing this! I don't want to be some trailer trash who got knocked up by some piece of shit, you know."

"Your mom and I were married at twenty-two, you know."

"Well, I am sorry there was no high school hunk to sweep me off my feet. I want an older guy. He has to be at least thirty, has a job, and a car, and not live with his parents. All these stupid kids my age are too obsessed with sex. They just want to get in my pants and drink all fucking day. They don't care about me at all. I want something real, you know? You can't blame me for wanting what you and mom have. I am not stupid. I know they just want to use me. Dad, look when I see somebody I like, I will tell you. Just let me take this slowly. I will do everything else, but this is not going to happen. This is uncompromisable."

"When was the last time you got laid?" He said with a straight face, and it broadsided me from left field.

"DAD! Are you fucking serious?" I sounded hysterical and I knew it.

"What? Sometimes you need to get wild."

"Lalala! We are not doing this! This is not a conversation a Dad should ever have with his daughter!"

"Alright, fine. I will leave that alone. As for your goals, though. Those are good things to look for, but how in the hell is such a man going to find you if you are holed up in that cave down there?"

"I know." I snarled at him. "Just leave me alone."

"How about you join the Baseball Team? I remember you were great as the catcher. Think about it. You would be out of the house, and who knows, you might meet a nice boy."

Whoah, that was a shot out of the dark. "Dad, that was high school. I haven't even touched a baseball in six years. What makes you think I could even pass the physical at this point? I have not exactly been training."

"You could do it if you put your mind to it. You have always been like that. Remember when you caught that ball the girl tried to bunt, then threw and took out third base?"

I smiled. "Yeah, I clipped it right under the bitch and she stepped off of the plate."

"See, you had fun. You should never have quit."

"Oh god, dad is this about me not doing baseball in college?"

"It is not, but you should have. You could have gotten a full scholarship and everything." My Dad looked hurt, and every time college got dragged up, he gave me that disappointed look.

"I was not feeling it. I was already bored of baseball after high school. I was tired of being hit by balls all fucking day. It sucks being the catcher all the time. If anything went wrong, it was my fucking fault. I swear it is like being the jungler in Legend League. Gank my lane you boosted animal. Nice smite, kill yourself. That is all I fucking hear. Thank god, I can mute all in games."

"You are talking like one of those little lesies."

I rolled my eyes and almost walked away, but I knew that he would chase me down and this would get worse, so I just yelled at him. "Dad! For the last time, I am not gay! I wasn't gay in college, even though half the damn dormitory was going through that experimental phase. You know, the hee hee haw haw Becky, I am so drunk like lets kiss girl; we are just girls, it is ok to kiss. My fucking roommate was a skanky dike plowing a different bitch every night. I had to listen to that shit. I am sure as fuck am not gay now! Stay the hell out of my nonexistent sex life."

He crossed his arms, glaring at me, "Then why are you stalking that fairy girl?"

"Dad! I am not stalking her," I glared right back. "For me to be stalking anybody, I would have to leave the house. I just love cute things, and she is fucking adorable, alright. So drop it."

He sighed and shook his head. "Why can't you just be normal and have posters of half-naked men all over your room. Instead of faeries and little Asian girls dressed up like those stupid cartoon characters, and those moon whatevers don't count."

"It is called cosplay, Dad. Moon Sailors. Fine, Dad, fine! I will show you my fucking porn folder. How about that? Dicks and tentacles everywhere. There are so many. It's like a fucking forest. I like the dick for the last fucking time! God, I can't believe I actually said that... You are so embarrassing, Dad! Why do you only care if I am getting railed or not?"

"Hey, you are the one who said it." Smirked my Dad.

The bastard was barely keeping himself from laughing!

I scowled and turned away. "Because you won't get off my ass about it."

He just laughed, patted me on the back, and then ruffled my greasy hair. I could feel it standing up. I stormed off to shower while he chuckled and turned on the TV. I could hear the news something about some stupid Super getting caught and being labeled as a Villain. The world was crazy enough out there, and I hoped it would stay away from me. The bathroom was over my room; well, the whole house was over my room. I was of average height, five foot five. Short but not tall, either.

Shit, I really let myself go. I had borderline abs in high school. Feels like I was getting fat, too. I could grab my flanks. Granted, it was not to the point that I had handles, but it was still troubling. I am going to have to lay off the pizza. Yeah, gonna have to start doing squats again. Am I even going to be able to fit in that leather jumpsuit? Some pretty bad bags under my blue eyes were dark and swollen. That VR helmet is not doing me any favors. My black hair looked like a quagmire from hell with tentacles everywhere.

Thanks, Dad.