In my entire life, not once have I broken a bone; a few dislocated toes, and sprained fingers, but nothing worse than that. Perhaps it was cowardice, or a hyper-awareness of fragility, that caused me to be in a constant state of alert.

I recall walking home from grade school one afternoon, an oncoming car with its blinker on signalled their intent. Seeing as they were turning, it should have been safe to cross the street—had I not been paying attention, I wouldn’t have seen that asshole fly directly through the intersection.

They laughed as they sped by, tricking children with their indicator just to almost kill them, what a hilarious sickness. Life truly was short, that was the lesson I learnt at least, it could all be over in an instant because of someone else’s actions. My aversion to painful incidents could be taken as a mistake however, at the very least it would have prepared me for my current endeavour.

The closest experience I’d had to this would have been my late growth spurt; a few weeks prior to turning 16, my body had decided that it would be fine to just grow an entire foot. The problem was, that took a month, this felt as if that suffering was condensed into a single minute. Don’t even get me started on the horns, like a hammer pounding my skull but from the inside instead, the twin migraines did not cancel each other out.

You have obtained [Blood of the Kishin] (Uncommon)

Francis, undeterred by my fetal position, strolled over to pat my shoulder reassuringly—the emotional significance dampened by the fact that he used his staff’s hand to do so.

“Still alive in there?”

“...No,” I whimpered.

The band-aid had been successfully ripped off, albeit in slow motion. Sprawling out like a starfish, I stared up into the jester’s abyss.

“Does the humble [God of Fate] own a mirror?”

Tickled, Francis used ‘scissors’ as a forked pencil to draw a basic rectangle, the resulting image producing two rather than one.

“Not a mirror, no, though this should suffice—[Double Down].”

The pair of shapes merged, overlapping briefly before separating. As they split apart, a gentle sensation tugs at my frame. I felt like the cheese on a toasted sandwich, stretching out until snapping as the halves were divided.

No wonder I can barely breathe, this jumper might even be too small now.

The doppelganger floated a few feet in the air, mimicking my snow-angel form to a tee, even her bleached hair hung flat against her back like a frayed cape. Silver plates on inky canvases darted over each other's goliath figure. Though we were not elves, long pointed ears slanted downwards from the sides of our heads, the azure skin tone and horns portrayed a different race.

Oni and demons often got mixed up, their races used interchangeably in conversation, the reality being that oni were separate; somewhere along the line between demons and spirits. A surprisingly touchy topic in the community, almost meeting the insanity of the high elf, dark elf, half-elf conundrum.

At least it’s the blue team, I don’t think I could have pulled off red.

First adjusting our clothes, which looked more like bulging crop tops and knee-cuts, we unlaced the torn remnants that were our sneakers before tossing them off the cliffside. It was quite amusing to see my copy’s gear zip up into the sky, disobeying gravity.

“Look away for a sec’, please.”

Arching my back, taking care not to rake myself with newfound claws, I reached under and unclasped the last bastion that oppressed mountains. Taking my first real breath as an oni, I held in the desire to giggle watching the bra’s bird camouflage become increasingly believable on its journey to the stratosphere.

“Are you sure you’re not a gambling god?”

“Alas, despite my many efforts, that future did not come to pass,” the genuine disappointment in his voice standing in for the lack of facial expressions.

Francis tapped the ground twice with his staff, sounds of glass shattering echo across the wind, the fractured copy giving me a wink before dispersing into shards of light.

“Now then, with your avatar established, you should have access to your status screen, concentrate on that word for me.”

True to his instructions, the window popped into view without a fight.

[Lorraine Thompson]

Race :

Level :

Class :

Titles :

Fame :

HP :

MP :

STA :

STR :

END :

VIT :

AGL :

DEX :

INT :

WIS :

FTH :

CHA :

LCK :

Oni

1

[Wild Mage]

N/A

0

76 / 76

69 / 69

72 / 72

13

12

13

10

8

12

13

10

7

11

Unassigned Attributes: 0

Passive Skills:

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[???] (???)

[Divine Blessing of Nemesis] (Mythic)

[Blood of the Kishin] (Uncommon)

Active Skills:

[Aspect of Nemesis] (Mythic)

[Wild Magic] (Unique)

Minus the suspicious skill, there was a problem of greater magnitude calling for my immediate attention.

“Why is my real name listed?”

Whoever on the dev team thought this was a good idea deserves to have their name be broadcasted to the world, I doubt it would take long before they realised how many psychos exist.

“Worry not, it is what I was getting to, would you like me to generate an alias for you?”

Calm down blood pressure, he’s fixing the problem. Nodding to Francis, I try to relax as I anticipate potential names that would fit an oni.

Generating Alias.

Loading…

Applying Alias.

Complete.

I was wrong to expect anything. Glaring at the status screen, I couldn’t decide whether he had a good naming sense or if he was taking the piss.

“Really?”

The deity shrugged, pointing to the sky as his first witness.

“We could make it [Rain Cloud] if you want,” his voice dripping with glee.

I would rather die than die of embarrassment at every single introduction.

“Just [Rain] is fine.”

***

*Tssssssshhhh*

I squint as the mask removes itself, the light from outside the pod becoming a bane to my previously protected eyes. I attempt to cover my face but realise that I am stuck, the inflated barrier holding me in gradually loses its strength as it sinks to the base. With a mechanised hum, the door pops open to a dressed-down Autumn.

“Welcome back lass,” he said, extending his hand to me.

Accepting the gesture, while sneaking glances at the collarbones peeking from his unbuttoned top, the firm grip guided me to my couch. Looking around for the other anomaly, I noticed her on the balcony taking a hushed call. Fidgeting in the uncomfortable silence, I realised that it had been quite a few years since I had even had guests over, let alone at this hour.

Pushing aside the stray thoughts, I participated in a handful of medical routines for Autumn, though they battered against my psyche any time our skin met.

No, we do not need to check my heart rate again, yes, it is your fault.

Saved by the sliding door, Winter strutted in and flicked an empty cigarette packet at her partner.

“We’re out of smokes, go get more, and do reimburse the girl.”

I assumed she included my smokes in her statement, my disappointment not lasting as she produced a single survivor for me, perhaps there was warmth beneath all that ice. Autumn could have at least pretended to appear sorry for his crimes, but he wore the same smug smile all the way out of the apartment, completely shameless.

With the room to ourselves, Winter sat in the free armchair nearby, tapping away at her phone without even looking at it. Unfortunately, I was the target of the steel blue gaze, a different kind of speechlessness than what was inflicted by Autumn. While one took your breath away, the other made you question breathing in their presence.

“We noticed abnormal readings when you entered, though you managed to stabilise. Firstly, I’d like to apologise, your records did not indicate any risk for the solo dive.”

“Ah… yeah, I kinda figured that something was off. It’s alright, Francis gave me the rundown before he left.”

“For your next entry, now that you know what your waiting room looks like, try to visualise a specific landing point. Regardless of what you encounter, just remember that it is your domain, you are the god in your own mind.”

Scratching my head sheepishly, I assured her I would be fine, although it was easier said than done to just be able to banish bad thoughts at will. I was more interested in trying to fly around in my island world sometime, that would work too if I convinced myself that it would, right?

“Did your meeting with the sponsor go well?”

“I think so? She gave me her blessing and a skill… very intimidating woman though.”

Winter laughed like a bell, her palm covering her lips.

“She can be quite obtuse, yes, but you should consider yourself lucky, Nemesis is a powerful backer to have—I can’t imagine other gods messing with you without good reason.”

But surely there is a catch, too many good things happening at once doesn’t just happen, I’m still waiting for her to tell me that this entire shtick was a joke—where are the cameras?

Swallowing a sigh I stood, fumbling with the sole survivor of the Autumn raid.

“Can we continue this on the balcony?”

“Good idea,” she claimed, pulling a cigarette from within her suit.

“I thought we were out?”

“We were,” her coy smile invited a scoff.

***

Autumn returned as the clock struck three, paper bags in hand containing the finest labourers' breakfasts, smokes and iced coffees. I was still debating whether to stay awake for the launch at midday, I’d only been up enough hours to still count on both hands, and it would be hard to sleep under normal circumstances. The feeling was akin to Christmas Eve, or a birthday, long-lost excitement fueling restlessness.

It seemed like they were going to stay the night, though they didn’t have any plans to sleep. Between his smoke breaks, from his own supply now, Autumn ran tests on the pod to ensure the calibrations were correct. I wasn’t sure if Winter had stopped working during our talks, at one point she even pulled out a second phone and fired off texts akimbo.

As lovely as the eye candy was, the shared space was rather suffocating, they were essentially strangers after all. It was natural to feel uneasiness, the sanctuary of my single occupancy home did not often encounter outsiders.

They did however give me an expensive egg, I can let this one slide I suppose, it’s only a few hours until morning anyway.

Sipping away at the gifted drink, I browsed through the forums on my PC. The beta, being as hyped as it was, overtook the majority of the threads. Recruitment had already started, many of the major guilds having at least a few players lucky enough to be selected, some even joined forces with mergers to build a stronger foothold for the launch.

The sour grapes were also abundant, claiming that 10000 slots were too small, and demanding an increase or a second wave of testers. There were always people like that, unable to fathom a reality that denies their perceived self-importance. Easy to say as a person chosen, but I wouldn’t have been bothered even if they hadn’t picked me. If you never expect anything you can’t be let down, and when something nice does happen it always feels refreshing.

[Mushroom] was also among the guilds I saw, of course that girl got in, she was a protagonist in this world of supporting actors. Other usual suspects like [Zodiac] and [Pinnacle] topped the reply counts, the latter being composed entirely of leaderboard rankers.

Francis was especially popular, I would have to let him know if we met again, the fanart of the clown along with detailed paragraphs carved themselves into relevancy. The thing that shocked me was how many people took the mystery skills instead of choosing one that they used to have, I felt sick on their behalf for leaving such cruciality to chance.

A more interesting thread I delved into was involving time, specifically the difference between the virtual world and our own. I wasn’t crazy it turned out, recalling my puzzledness on returning and seeing that only half an hour had passed, I was sure I had been on the island for hours. Streamers were upset, and understandably so, realising that they wouldn’t be able to have a live feed running.

At the top of each page was an active countdown, with only 8 hours left until the release. I would have logged in as Rival to speed up that process, but the slew of recent posts denied me, all servers had gone into maintenance.

Aimless, I headed to the shower, almost forgetting to bring a change of clothes—can’t be walking around naked with these two here. The showdown with the showerhead went smoothly this time, I’m pleased to report not a single drop of red. Hair wrapped in a towel, the three of us burned through Pales until the sun rose.