Isekai translates to "another world." This genre typically has a narrative where a protagonist somehow gets transported to a different world. The new world is more often than not in a fantasy setting, occasionally with traits pulled from JRPG games.

Of course, this genre isn't new to western readers, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court is a good example and in a way Alice in Wonderland. Or a role-playing group in another world, Joel Rosenberg's Guardians of the Flame series

So after watching or reading some good and not so good Isekai stories, I decided to take another go at it. Beyond the Pale is the first.

Chapter 1: Please be a dream!

As the large dragon vanished in a shower of pixels, the cheers of our guild filled the cavern. My last spell had finally finished off the raid boss. Of course, other players from the forty-man raid started to tease me that I always seemed to get in the last hit, but it was all in good fun.

“Wow, that’s a lot of loot.” Minerva, one of our guild’s mages, shouted, drawing others to look at their inventory.

“Bloody well should be for an elder dragon.”

“Christ, my inventory is almost full, even with the Arcane bags you made Valindra.”

“Seems like a waste that we emptied our guild bank before the quest.”

“Nah didn’t have a choice since we couldn’t get back to the guildhall unless you like grinding.”

“I agree; it did make this whole quest line easier.”

“That’s true, oh sweet I got a pair of personalized daggers and a really nice cloak.”

“Not sure why the developers bothered, Gwendoline. Oh, you’re right, this is nice. Hey, Princess, did you look at the loot?” Contessa or in real-life, my cousin Kathy yelled to me from across the room.

“Looks like I need to fill out a bug report. This dagger’s name is spelled wrong unless frost is supposed to start with the letter ‘d’.”

Story of our lives, for the last year, we spent a lot of time as beta-testers pointing out issues for Prometheus’ brand new VR game ‘Magic-Life.”

“Sweet, new armor set, and the description has a little of my back story in it, unbelievable.” I overheard a member from another guild speak in wonder as he clicked through his inventory.

“Hey, blonde!”

My cousin continued to ignore that I was surrounded by half a dozen players trying to get my attention.

“Sorry, Harold, whenever we get done will you and Minerva start porting our guild back to the hall. Sir Smithers and Arcana, you might want to start with your guilds let me know if you need any help. Yes, Zanders, we’re pretty sure the developers will be shutting down things here in a few, so you don’t want to stick around.”

The group nodded before opening up their inventory. Apparently, everyone was now interested in the last loot we as players would receive before the game was reset and went live.

“Ok, Contessa, what’s up?”

“Look at your loot.” She ran over to me, grabbing my arm.

“All right, all right, you violent wench.”

“Might as well.” I thought.

Taking down the world boss Eldrark an Elder High Dragon had been one of the best world quests to date. Typical quest line for most computer games since my great-grandfather’s day, but this had been in VR-Life.

Oh, there had been plenty of other fantasy games before in VR-Life, mostly short dungeon scenarios. This new game Magic-Life, would encompass an entire living VR world called Magika. Prometheus, the game company, had even partnered with Gammatryk, the manufacture of well known extremely high-end VR gear.

Contessa wrapped her arms around me and whispered. “You Ok, Eleanor, you got suddenly quiet.”

I couldn’t answer as I stared at the crown that had appeared in my inventory.

“I know it's going to be hard to go back to Shawn full time. I mean, I’m sort of sorry for pushing you into playing a girl in-game. But, you seemed to love history, especially the different Kings and Queens.”

Right, I had always been enamored with royalty and their lives. Elizabeth I, Berengaria of Navarre, Lady Jane Grey, and Eleanor of Aquitaine were among my favorites.

“Your right, the money doesn’t hurt either.”

I smiled as she held my hand.

“Plus, being part of the first ‘Long term study on living in a VR world’ is going to look good on my resume. With the signing bonus I received for playing as a member of the opposite sex, I’m will be able to afford that marriage you have been talking about since we were six.”

“Idiot, you’re not paying for it.” Contessa rolled her eyes. “I did tell you Prometheus would have hired you even if you weren’t willing to play a female character eight hours a day for an entire year. Mark’s family is pretty big with Gammatryk, so it's not liked you would have been turned down.”

Several universities, along with the company, had signed on three people who were in the middle or had transitioned. For the study, they needed a primary base, someone who is not interested in becoming the opposite gender in real life. With that, they could compare it to the others in the study and see what changes, if any, take place.

“Nice to have a rich boyfriend whose grandfather owns the largest VR gear maker in the world. Maybe I can be your maid of honor?”

I couldn’t help but tease her.

“Silly, you know you’re going to be Mark’s best man.”

True that but still.

“Do you think the developers were surprised when five of their new players suddenly swore fealty to me on the first day of play?”

Contessa gave me a strange look at the sudden change of topic. “They were excited too, so Mark told me. It gave a breath of life to the world. Plus, we became the most kick-ass group on the server.”

“Plus, once our numbers hit twenty, they implemented the guild system.”

“Which they both praised us and cursed us, thankfully, Mark’s grandfather pushed for it. Stupid not to have something like that it in place before the game officially went live.”

“I thought so, and we did have fun this year.”

I learned a lot about myself, too, but I wasn’t quite ready to tell anyone that.

“We did.”

She smiled before turning serious. “So, tell me.”

Damn those eyes lethal weapons I tell you.

“Remember the first pen and paper campaign your boyfriend ran right after my parents died?”

“Of course.” Contessa leaned in, looking concerned. “I wrote up the storyline of a princess gaining her lost kingdom.”

“Which you then made me play the game as the princess, so really, it’s not like I haven’t played one before right.”

“I’m sorry.”

I shook my head, “No, you misunderstand me. It saved me. I played Eleanor again for you.”

And for myself.

Reaching into my menu, I placed Gwirionedd, the lost crown of Avalon on my head, and strapped the second item I discovered in my inventory on my side, the sword Cyfiawnder.

The two symbols of the true ruler of the lost kingdom of Avalon,
“All Hail the Queen,” I whispered.

Contessa grinned, tears running down her face. “All Hail the Queen.”

The rest of my guild picked up the chant as portals suddenly appeared to take us home.

“Well, that’s not right.”

Looking around, I had no idea what happened. For some reason, the portal took me to the center of a stone circle in the middle of nowhere as opposed to our Guild Hall.

Swiping the air with my left hand, my status menu appeared. I needed to see if I can get a GM to see what happened.

“Well, shit.”

Menu tabs were missing whole sections, including the Friends list, Guild Administration, and most worrying, the user Admin Center. The character stats remained unchanged. Skills appeared to be all in order just some sections, well important sections were missing.

“Odd, can’t even log out.”

Worse, the sweet fragrance of the white flowers that covered the area assaulted my nose.

“That doesn’t seem right.”

In VR-Live, as everyone knows, your senses are muted. Every company advertises ‘Our gear makes it so you cannot tell the difference’ but of course, everyone can.

“Shit, they pushed out another patch midgame.”

Updating the game while players were still logged on had become a bone of contentions between the beta-testers and Prometheus. We knew they were on time constraints, but for such a critical bug to be deployed, this close to launch did not bode well for the game’s success.

“Feels real, how is that possible.”

Taste, touch even smell at this point were a standard part of the VR experience, but it never feels right. You eventually get used to it. Our brains adapt quickly enough, and afterward, it’s not much of a problem, but this new update, just Wow.

Enough already, even if I could feel the heat of the sun, smell the flowers around me, and even weirder feel the weight of my armor, I had been logged on for over eight hours.

“Ok, great job guys, but come on someone give us a server-wide GM announcement. I have a party to go to tonight.”

I yelled at the sky, hoping but not expecting an answer. Still, I would not want to be in the developers’ shoes right. Heads were going to roll for this one. And of course, I can’t even fill out a bug report.

“At least push out a patch for a log out button. Oh, I have a better idea, force a mass logout. You have done it before. Fix this shit on your own dime.”

Taking a seat in the middle of the stone circle, I watched the clouds pass.

Boring.

“I’m not sitting here all day.”

The surrounding countryside looked interesting. The rolling hills, forests, and snow-topped mountains off in the distance were something right out of the pages of a fantasy novel. They might be all be idiots, but the Prometheus model developers were the brightest of the bunch.

“So new location, huh, much better than the Cold Swamp. It looks more realistic than before. Alright, if you want me to look, I will. But trust me if I find anything wrong, you’re going get an earful.”

Several hours earlier, I had been hip-deep in a swamp before we took on Eldrark. Thank goodness they pushed the environmental patch after we finished off the big lizard. The swamp had smelled pretty bad muted. Now it would have been intolerable.

“Oh, and a road too now that’s helpful.”

The location of the standing stones had given me a good view of the road below, which seemed pretty straight opting to go right up the hills; in the other direction, it continued under the branches of a rather large forest.

I couldn’t help but admire the way the developers decided to make the road. They must have researched Roman construction, although, with the help of magic, I imagine, for the people of Magika, it made the work a lot less time-intensive.

Thoughts of buying a portal back to my Guild Hall sent me walking down the hill.

As an Eldritch Knight, I had several powerful spells at my command, but only top tier mages could create Arcane Portals. Thankfully, many towns and villages provided it as a service to Adventurers for a bit of coin, especially convenient if your next Quest took you to the other side of the continent.

Thankfully, like my inventory, my Mounts tab remained unmolested. Sure, I could have walked, but as a Knight, I went nowhere without my trusty steed.

“Gwefrydd, gads, you smell like a horse now.”

Laughing at the look, he gave me. I ran my hand along his flank. As I laid my head down on his neck, I could even hear him breathe.

“Color me impressed, Gwefrydd. You ready for a bit of a run.”

Gwefrydd had become my mount after a long solo Quest, part of my class Quests. Oh, many people bought mounts to ride. It made traveling a lot easier. But as a Knight, you wanted a properly trained mount which would fight with you. Mounted on Gwefrydd, I could fight and still ride thirty or more miles in a day.

Taking a comfortable pace through the forest, I noticed that there was a bit of space between the road and the trees. Some magic must be keeping them from encroaching upon the road, seemed appropriate in a magical world. On the plus side, adventurers would get plenty of warning before being attacked by some random monster.

“Let’s start looking for a place to stop.”

It had been mid afternoon when I stepped off the hill. Riding in the dark never a smart move, thankfully I came across an open area.

“Looks like a campsite, nice. Oh, and stacks of firewood, convenient that.”

My cooking skill would summon the rocks to make a campfire. The wood would still need to be collected.

Dismounting, I thought about unsummoning Gwefrydd, but I liked his company. OK, I didn’t want to be sitting alone in the dark.

With tack and saddle removed, I pulled out several horse brushes and a large bucket from my inventory. The Horse Health Kit would keep your mount happy and apply a bonus the next time you rode.

“Not too bad for a Daily Quest reward, and you like to be brushed, don’t you Gwefrydd.”

Dodging a playful nip, I could only stare at my horse.

“Holy crap did they update mounts too. A little too real, and now you smell even more like a horse.”

Putting the brushes away, I conjured some water into the bucket while searching my inventory for oats.

“Geeze, and I smell like one too. Gwefrydd, don’t misunderstand me. I’m all for realism, the whole immersive thing, but I’m not sure if having to take a shower in-game is going to be the next best thing in VR gaming.”

The developers of Magic-Life tried to make the game as authentic as possible in terms of how it might look in a fantasy world in the middle ages. As beta-testers, we pointed out tons of inaccuracies. If you’re going to be authentic, at least hire some actual researchers.

“Not that they would have showers, baths maybe, a bucket of water and some ash?”

I couldn’t help but chuckle; soap had been part of human hygiene since the Babylonians. Sure, you can use ash from a cooking fire, but it would strip the oil from your skin pretty quickly.

“And now I’m hungry.”

Pizza Fridays had been many hours ago, and another more pressing thing started to rear up its ugly head.

“I hope the managers at Prometheus have a change of clothes for all of us.”

How does one interpret reality? By what you can see, touch, smell, and feel correct? In a virtual environment, these senses are muted, falling leaves become a single mass of color on the ground, strong odors do not attack your nose, and dirt on your skin doesn’t make you itchy.

Although you might eat, it does not state your hunger. Virtual water does not quench your thirst, and the most basic of bodily functions do not happen.

Everything went sideways the moment I vanished the lower portion of my armor to squat the same way as females of my species had done for millions of years.

This new reality felt like a punch to the gut, and I had to keep myself from throwing up while I messily watered the campsite.

“This can’t be real.”

Indeed this new paradigm kept dripping down my leg. Wiping myself off with some linen cloth from inside my inventory, I stumble towards an overturned tree sitting down before I fell.

“This can’t be real.”

Part of me wanted to believe that this was just another update, but I knew in my heart it was real.

“What happened to me?”

I told no one, least of all myself, that I wasn’t the best candidate for the study. Did anyone notice when I embraced the whole immersive thing from the start? On off days, I took lectures on mannerism. At night, I studied such things as how to walk and how to greet people in different social situations finding myself especially good at it.

I convinced myself that if I were going to be some sort of fantasy princess, at least I would learn to act as one taking to heart the writing of Robert de Blois.

Ladies should walk erect, with dignity, neither trotting nor running, nor dallying either, with their eyes fixed on the ground ahead of them.

When I wasn’t stabbing monsters in the face or lighting them on fire, and even then, I did it with a touch of grace.

Because of the way I presented myself, it came as no surprise that the developers asked for me to be placed into the position of Lead Beta-Tester. It only reinforced what I had been doing was correct.

One of my guildmates mentioned that my gestures as Eleanor had become quite beautiful. I didn’t slug him. Instead, I was quite proud that my posture in the real world improved, and muscles started to hurt that I didn’t even know I had.

I know the Study’s Psychologists expressed some grave concerns throughout the year about the amount of time we spent in-game and how it impacted our psyche. Not just me but all of us.

When they asked if I wanted to start playing a male character six months into the game, I refused. I told them that I wanted to be true to the study.

Right before the start of the last week of testing, a sympathetic therapist agreed with me that the game had been a positive experience in my life. However, did I want to wear dresses in the real world? Did I want to become Eleanor? I didn’t have an answer, but here, it seems I might not have much choice.

Sitting in only a chemise, I spent the long night taking items out and putting them back into my inventory.

“So, it appears to be mostly unaffected, but this whole thing is so surreal. “

Why did I spend the entire night playing around with my inventory? I didn’t want to think of anything else.

Morning came too soon.

“I know I’m trying to fool myself, Gwefrydd. I know this is too real for me to be in the game. But what else am I supposed to believe that something or someone summoned me to another world from inside a VR game?”

Unfortunately, he had no answers forthcoming.

“Or am I in some hospital, so wrapped up in being Eleanor that the thought of no longer being able to play her pushed me to towards some psychotic break.”

Curling up into a ball, I cried. “Oh God, what have I done to myself.”