Funnily enough, the character onscreen actually looked somewhat disturbed by the nickname. Thinking on it, Kai really couldn’t figure out what was so grotesque about the name. To begin with, Rasui had seemed somewhat pleased with the name, or at least, he wasn’t completely against it. In all honesty, he really only knew about the Norse god and that he was the deity of trickery due to the character appearing in one of the MMO’s he played. If anything, perhaps he didn’t like being likened to such a character? But what about his pleased expression… Kai was completely confused by the situation as he continued to type his username on the phone and he considered asking about it, but decided that he would wait for another time to inquire about it. Instead, he just asked if the username was satisfactory and he was surprised when he wasn’t immediately hit with a verbal attack. Instead, his new acquaintance seemed… excited?

Rasui said
“Sure. Just fine. Just so we’re clear, I’m not giving up my other name.”

With the touch of unease in his voice, Kai’s suspicions about the character’s inner despair in regards to the name were made slightly clearer. Kai fought the urge to make a jab at him and simply responded with a more neutral statement. “Yeah, whatever. Loki sounds a bit cheesy and all, so you can expect me not to use it all that often.”

It was a strange feeling, speaking like this, especially with someone he had only met a few minutes ago, barely, if ever, responding with one-liners as he usually did. If anything, it reminded him of the conversations he had with his sister when the subject wasn’t too painful for him to answer. Something in the way the “key” spoke challenged him and though he was much too weak to respond in kind on a regular basis, Kai felt motivated to become equal with him. It was the same reason why he always yearned to be the best in whatever game he played; the reason adrenaline spiked through his body whenever he saw that he had been moved from his position on the leaderboard of a virtual world that lived on the internet. Though he had no knowledge of what was currently going on in this situation and he almost felt scared to see what would happen next, something about it: the message, the man, whatever it was, pushed him forward each step of the way.

And the sad thing?

Nothing in the real world for the last four years had him motivated like this.

When Kai had stopped thinking about the whole situation, he realized that Rasui had disappeared from the screen and instinctively, he looked down at his phone, which had lit up, once again unlocked by an unknown, though now somewhat more known, force, opening the shop once again while explaining with a cheery voice, before landing on an “owned keys” page, which didn’t look dissimilar to a character selection screen in a RPG, though it was much more detailed here.

Rasui said
“See? Neat right? Psyche at 7. Sanity at 5. Speed and Agility at 6. Heck, even my Endurance is up! Consider yourself lucky. You could have gotten one of those wackos with low Sanity. I’ve got some amazing skills, too!”

Kai quickly understood that this key was quite the ranter and though he was very excited, it felt more like the excitement of someone who was to some extent endeared with himself, not the excitement of someone who was doing it for the first time. Suddenly, Kai realized just what, or, more specifically, ‘who’ he had fallen upon and some of his worries washed away as new ones came in. Would he look down upon him? He only looked a few years older than Kai, though it was very possible that he had much more experience than Kai could ever hope to gather, like a new-age Billy the Kid, the outlaw-slash-cowboy legend who, if stories are to be believed, had killed twenty-one men by the time he was twenty-one; more than a little experience for his age.

Gulp.

Kai didn’t let too much of his worry show as he looked down the rather impressive and well-rounded stats of the character. The abilities read out like a game, though they seemed much more complicated than the “Aura Blade” and “Paradigm Shift Slash” skills he had seen in his adventures in virtual worlds. Suddenly, Kai felt a craving to see them in action and his heart began beating harder and harder as he read through them, but he could not figure out why he was getting excited. Once again though, as he kept drifting deeper and deeper into his own mind (he blamed the early hour of the morning; much too early to actually be waking up at), his trance was broken by the harsh, casual but perchance friendly voice of Rasui.

Rasui said
“All the info about you will be up when we log in. So, how about we do that. Get my key and unlock a door. Just don’t unlock the bathroom door! No joking here! I’ve got bad memories from the last time that happened and, trust me, it wasn’t pretty!”

The youth felt somewhat compelled to ask about this story, but he decided that, like the thing about Loki, he would save it for another time. Besides, it would totally ruin the mood. He nodded in utter silence and he rose from his desk chair and slid his phone into his pocket. Carefully navigating through Ground Zero (AKA, his room), the dark hair boy silently stalked into the kitchen to retrieve the key. Once he had its cold metal in his hand, he gripped it as he grew ever more excited. This new opportunity, no matter how little he knew of it; Kai had no clue why, but he felt as if this would be his chance to finally do something with his life. He was scared, but he was excited. He didn’t know, but he knew that this was it. And, most of all, though he wasn’t ready for this and couldn’t have been in all of his life, he wanted to do this; he wanted to throw all caution to the wind. This man, Rasui, though at first antagonistic to Kai’s peaceful life and without a doubt a trickster, would be his companion in what would come. As said innumerous times, Kai had only a bare idea as to what would come, but if it would bring something new to his life, he would do it, without any semblance of hesitation. Besides, even if it was just a really complex prank and he unlocked his door just to be laughed at by a cunning but obviously bored hacker, it would only bring him a bit of worry for a while and eventually, it would be forgotten.

If it was all the truth though…

Kai could only imagine what would happen.

With this in mind and the metal of the key in hand, its keychain rattling as he walked, he marched up to the his walk-in closet’s door, which he kept locked in most situations unless when he wanted to retrieve something of great importance from it. Memories and souvenirs of days gone by that Kai wanted more than anything to forget were kept in there, but it was the safest door to unlock, as there was no way of coming in or going outside from the closet. Letting out an uneasy but feverish breath, he put the key into the lock and though it was of a different shape entirely than the original key to it, it entered perfectly. Closing his eyes in anticipation, Kai turned the key with a weak motion, his resolve somewhat dampened as he remember just what lay beyond the door, the reason for which he had closed his eyes, however minor they were…

Gabe’s place | The Librarian

The smile on his face grew wider as The Librarian tilted forwards to see his new master fill out the forms.

Of course, he didn’t really need to do that to see the words on the form - the information was easily accessible from the inside. Besides, given that he was now seeing through the screen, moving around inside the phone did practically nothing to his view of the interface for it was actually above him. Yet he had gotten into the habit of pretending that it did - more in the sense of gestures so that people knew where he was looking, than the movements themselves serving any functional purpose.

“...Bookman.”

Not exactly creative, but not bad either. Librarian. Book - man. Made sense. It had a nice ring to it as well, he’d say.

The key smiled at the memory of that one time his name was decided by a thirteen-year-old boy. Man, was that an adventure. But then the smile turned into something he struggled to maintain when he remember what eventually happened to said thirteen-year-old boy.

My, it was no time to randomly think about events that had long become the past, was it?

The Librarian shoved those thoughts aside and noticed his new master was done deciding his own username as well, and was starting to toss questions at him. The Librarian straightened his stance and his scarf, his eyebrows raised. This young man seemed quite interesting, in the sense that he appeared to be...ready. Or eager, even. As if he knew precisely what was coming up and couldn’t wait to jump right into it. As if he knew all along and was waiting for this to happen.

Maybe he should’ve pulled the information dump trick earlier. Would’ve been fun.

The key looked again at the young man, who was now well-dressed in an outfit reminiscent of some sort of...butler? Or a waiter of sorts, from the older times. The Librarian didn’t know - by any chance, he could actually be a man of such a profession.

He’ll have time to find out.

So will the young man, about his Key, and about that other world.

“Yes, this is indeed a PvP game. Excellent instincts.” The Librarian said, in reply to Gabe’s questions, all the while being secretly glad that PvP was an acronym that was already around the last time he visited.

“You will fight other players in the game. People like you. To the death. In a grand tournament. The eventual, sole remaining survivor will ascend to the throne to become the next almighty demon king.” he continued, delivering that sentence deliberately in a tone that made it impossible to decide whether it was intended as a joke - or, rather, in a tone that made interpretations in either direction equally justified and reasonable. The only thing that made such a statement possible was the abundance of material that the humans produced that included similar situations - sometimes he believed that some surviving player somewhere must also be an avid and influential writer.

Yeah, that was likely.

“...except, of course, according to common sense, there’s no way such a thing exists in real life.” He concluded, after what seemed to be that specific kind of laugh that one would let out after holding back for so long to deliver one of those jokes that relied on the coexistence of seriousness and absurdity.

“...Aaaand...I actually don’t know. How about this place?” He said, answering Gabe's second question as he wandered in small steps around the phone while appearing to be looking around Gabe’s room, eyes pointed straight out from the screen, as if trying to peer through a window pane: “Is this place still in Beta? Or did you sign up for the stress test?”

He smiled, and there was a pause. That little snippet of talk was probably supposed to be thought-provoking. Or philosophical, even. Or just outright boring. Or, more likely, a combination of more than one of the above. Either way, a pause would be appropriate.

“O-Mari,” He then said, in a sudden switch of attitude, his speech now rid of the frivolity that it once carried, and now sounding more like some sort of opera actor trying to hard to deliver the lines of Shakespearean play, even complete with that little bowing gesture: serious, but somehow not lacking in comedic value. Comedic value may or may not have been his intent. He also assumed that was how the name was to be pronounced, and frankly, if it wasn’t, he was still going to pronounce it that way regardless. “...my master. For now I ask one more favour of you: would you bother to fetch me - um - fetch that key you received - and go ahead and try to...open something.”

This was always the hardest part to explain. Ugh, the Key Shop and all its unnecessarily complicated, supposedly rich-in-metaphorical-meaning rituals…

...he probably had no right to complain, though.

“...oh and, um, don’t worry about the teeth.” He had reverted to the tone of normal speech, delivering the last miscellaneous warnings - lest accidents occur. Humans were known to be unreliable with their choices - or at least some of them. Precautions were probably not a hundred percent necessary, but they were certainly sufficient. “...And try not to open something such as the door to somewhere you...wouldn’t like to arrive at often. Or yourself, for that matter. Or - ” He thought for a moment. “ - actually, nevermind. I’ll start yelling at you when you’re doing something that you’re not supposed to.”

“...Now please proceed with the key.”

---

Then he was right, even though PvP games on the cellphone could be anything from tower defense games to those brain-numbingly boring 'co-operative farming' games in which the only PvP came from competing to see who could grow a bigger vegetable, or something equally pointless. Sure, Gabe appreciated the work of farmers, but really, why do people think that was fun? Listening more to Bookman's explanations though, it was clear that everything was pretty much a joke.

Back to being titled as a telemarketer who was an aficionado of dry humor it was then. Even though a grand tournament for the throne of Almighty Demon King would have been a fun distraction from the nothingness in his schedule during weekday midnight hours. As well as the legalized death matches. That would be really fun. He'd have to look up his stats after this, just to check out how strong he was supposed to be. Gabe would like to think of himself as an elegant berserker with tons of cheap but fancy one-hit skills, and hopefully the stats would reflect that. It'd displease him if he was relegated to the role of a cowardly ranged-attack spammer for the first few levels due to a divide between his preferences and his stats.

The second answer to his question, though, was odd. Not even an answer, really, considering how Bookman decided to answer a question with another question. Gabe blinked once, about to ask whether this was another joke, before allowing himself to think instead.

Assume that it was, indeed, a PvP game. But, also assume that it was in the real world, with no 'truly' supernatural elements attached. A death match in real life then, sponsored by the rich elites that controlled the state of the world from the shadows: the Illuminati. No doubt, instead of something like 'granting a single wish to the victor of the bloodbath', it would be 'grant a ton of money to the winner'. Then, the Bookman would be his 'sponsor'? Or perhaps his 'manager'? Another interesting idea, brought forth by what was probably just the scarf-man trying to sound philosophical and deep.

Nevertheless, Gabe's musings were broken once more by his...now, Bookman was apparently a servant. These newfangled telemarketers or underground tournament recruiters or Demon King Candidate Managers really must enjoy switching their perceived roles around. But the Key was special, and apparently, had the ability to open 'somethings'.

Picking up the Librarian Key and twirling it absentmindedly by its keychain, Gabe said, in a tone that was half-interest and half-amusement, “I would recommend that you play down your grandiose tones, unless you want to sound like a ringmaster. Unless that's what you do. Announce the arrival of clowns and all that. Would have thought you'd look more children-friendly though.”

Gabe was going off into a tangent again, probably. Standing up and leaving the cellphone on the table, he promptly walked to the front door, opened it, went into the corridor, selected a random door to a different apartment suite, and then pressed the archaic key against the keyhole.

To his surprise, the Key improbably slid in, as if it had always been meant to open up the doors of modern apartment suites. Or maybe this was some sort of...magical skeleton key that can open anything? He wondered if the Key Shop people did profile checks on the people they gave those Keys to. The ability to open any door could be abused quite easily, after all, and while Gabe wasn't the type of vagrant to break into homes in order to steal cat food or whatever, he was pretty sure that others would.

After all, not everyone was a gentleman like himself.

With those thoughts, he twisted the key and pushed open the door. The occupants were probably asleep anyways, so he won't get into trouble with the landlady for this.

Hearing the girl speak in Italian spread a bright smile across the Tribesman's lips. "Ah! So you speak Italian! I also sparkle my herb gardens with Italian." He grinned confidently as if he just spoke the most beautiful string of words ever uttered. In truth Bear spoke perfect Italian. That didn't mean the girl needed to know though.

His jovial expressed sank into disbelief. Did this tiny girl seriously want him to go after the Bear cub again?? After Mama bear nearly killed poor Bear? How.. Heartless. But he needed her to enter the game. "...fine..." He uttered bitterly as he seemed to glare at the girl while walking out of frame, towards where the bear cub was seen last. Though the screen was of only a white room, the volume was plenty loud enough to Hear Bear off in the distance.

"Heyyyy Mama Bear.. Who's a good mama bear!? coochie-coo!" Bear's voice cooed cutely. Though the response he got was not nearly as friendly. A loud roar came in return, a grizzly sound that was definitely anything but friendly. "Hey! Bad Mama Bear! Mama bear... What are you doing with that gun Mama bear... Just take it easy..." BANG BANG BANG! Gun fire echoed off in the distance repeatedly as if it were an uzi of some sort. As the gun fire ceased Bear spoke up once more. Apparently bears weren't very good marksmen. "Hey! I thought we could be friends! But no!! I came here for Baby Cub!" Then there seemed to be a struggle, grunting and roaring filling the air. "Go to sleep Mama Bear! Go to sleep!" A few more grunts and a sigh of relief followed by the thud of something heavy hitting the floor.

Moments later Bear returned to the screen holding a sleeping Bear Cub in his arms. "Okay! Here is the bear cub like you asked! But you don't get it until you open a door with my key! And trust me.... It will work on any door." He said a bit angrily. He wasn't to fond of choking out a Bear with an Uzi.

Lucie let herself calm down as her new master opened the Key App and began typing in her username and took a moment to realize her thoughts about the new person in her life. On first glance, she had an almost immature look, with areas that looked like they could be more mature one day, as bizarre as that sounded. Compared to herself, the woman was almost a polar opposite, with dark hair that was kept in a short style and had a slight puffiness to it. Her eyes were of a similar color to her hair, a dark, almost black shade that contrasted with Lucie’s own eyes in a powerful way. Overall, as peculiar as it may sound, she had a very mature appearance compared to the key, but she still looked quite young. Of course, Lucie had no other people in mind she could actually compare her too, so it was all approximate. It was sure that the young woman looked quite proper in her own right, though, compared to Lucie's more classic-casual dressing style.

However, Lucie took note at how her manner of speech in particular suddenly shifted when speaking about the girl on her screen. Was she afraid of her? No...perhaps interested in some way? The girl had absolutely no idea what to think, as while she had spent a long time in examining changes in a person’s physical features in order to predict a movement or action, she couldn’t call herself an expert on a being’s feelings and how they could be exhibited by how they spoke. This, was completely different from what she had trained herself in all those years, alone in the endless darkness and, to describe the situation frankly, Lucie was clueless. I’ll have to examine her in more detail as we work ensemble, for sure, she thought to herself as the name was typed and sent. On the bright side, the woman did seem quite friendly, to say the least, based on her tone.

In the meantime, aside from examining her master, Lucie decided to look around the “phone”. It was quite chromatically boring, to be brutally honest, with only quadrilaterals of orange and a black backdrop to be seen, when not looking through into the world. She could see numerous things here, but it all seemed so abstract. The key honestly wondered why anyone would even buy such a device if they had to put an actual effort into operating it and, to add this, it had no visible possibility for actual decoration and, while simple and minimalistic, it saddened Lucie that she would be once again staying in a place with only black to be seen, though at least there were these quadrilaterals, she mused silently as her on-screen representation leaned against the side of the screen.

Suddenly, a bit of text appeared in front of her and Lucie read silently to herself. River North II, was written in text that matched up with the writing used inside the phone. Lucie realized that this was probably the username chosen by her master and, while certainly a memorable username and it was quite catchy, the key could only wonder who River North the First was. It was an interesting choice of suffix. Maybe it indicated superiority to a former version? Was this River North the Mark II version? The question was completely unanswerable unless she asked, so she asked in half rhetoric before going on with her new duties. “Huh. Why deux?”

She had more important things to do though. Lucie didn’t like this place one bit. Too dark and thus too similar to the prison she had finally escaped only moments ago. “Anyway, c’est bien. Let’s get moving with other things though, yes?” She was excited to move on and see the place she had heard many things about, two hundred years ago and she could hardly hide it, even with calm and clear tone. “Let’s keep the… what is it called…” Ruée stammered for a moment as she struggled to remember what the term she had been given long ago had been. She decided to improvise. “...capability numbers, for later. I want to see this new place and I suspect that you might too. At least, I hope so.” In order to drive her point through, she emphasized the word ‘hope’, in an attempt to hurry up the process. “Alors. Please use that key and unlock one of those things you call a “door”. I suspect it’s used as a way of covering an open space in a construction’s “walls”, if my memory serves me c-correctly.” Her voice broke on the final word as the excitement began to overcome her. Her life was finally going to change and she was certain that it would be for the better. After all, it wasn’t too hard for a new situation to be harder than her current life

A bead of sweat dripped down the face of her comely digital representation as her heart began to beat like the drums of a marching army; the horizon of a rebirth becoming visible to her, even as she looked on with a seemingly calm expression from the depths of the phone’s display. She almost felt like thanking Julia, even if it was for a simple thing as choosing a key in a fripperous store.

Ruée was free.

It was strange watching the man leave the frame for the second time, as if the plane he was in extended past the boundaries of her laptop's screen. As soon as he was out of sight, Evanna's friendly expression disappeared and she listened to the commotion beyond the screen with a faint frown. Initially, she had been pleased at having someone to commandeer in her quest for victory; the man seemed like a perfect person to hide behind and order around - if only he kept his head on straight. Evanna found herself continuously exasperated at his carefree attitude and it showed on her face, the frown highlighting her entire displeasure at the situation. She was no expert on people and their personalities but how could this man be of any use if he acted like life was one big game? Granted, she had been the one to ask him to get the bear cub again but the sounds of an gun being fired weren't exactly comforting.

Though she never admitted it out loud, it was in these circumstances than Evanna worked at her best. Her mind was already working at an alarming pace, though at this moment, it wasn't doing any favors for her. Solution after solution was discounted, until she arrived to a rather extreme result that was undoubtedly necessary. There was no knowing when the man would come back and, as gunshots were still being fired, Evanna placed the laptop back onto the floor. She scrambled up and reached towards her bed, where her phone still lay with the Key shop app open. Her fingers closed around the device and she made sure she was out of sight before hastily going through the rest of the store, making sure to observe the rest of the keys as much as she could in her limited span of time. Bear was due to come back at any moment and though he couldn't see what she was doing, offending the person that was supposed to be a vital piece in securing her victory wouldn't be a good thing. Unfortunately, the outward appearance of Keys didn't really give a clue towards the actual Key itself, much to her annoyance. Nevertheless, two Keys were better than one, never mind their sanity.

Evanna eventually settled onto another Key, this time a dull black color. Maybe its color gave a hint towards its owner, though Bear's copper Key did none of that. Perhaps the manifestation of the Key was dull as well, and dull was good at this point seeing as how dull people tended to be serious. With mere seconds left, Evanna tapped the 'Buy' key, her hands shaking slightly. She never was much of a religious person, but her desire to trump the competition made her pray fervently that this would work.

It didn't.

The error message that followed nearly made Evanna fling her phone across the room, but she knew better than that, even as a string of rather colorful words followed. The only sign of her irritation was the slight tightening of her hands around her phone before she tossed it back up onto the bed. Having heard Bear's voice again, Evanna went back towards the laptop and like clockwork, she automatically fixed a friendly smile onto her face. There was no need for him to know what she'd tried to do. Her eyes went towards the tiny bear cub but her excitement at the cub had all but dissipated by now. Nevertheless, she went along with it and poked at the screen again. "Aren't you a pretty little cub~"

As slightly dispirited she was, Evanna still found herself eager to enter the game and begin playing. It sounded interesting; was this some new 3D-type game? Though the circumstances surrounding it would be rather off-putting to a normal person, Evanna didn't mind. She heeded Bear's request and stood up, picking up the key on her way to the door and talking the entire way. "If this key breaks the lock of the door, you'll come out of there and fix it, yes? What does this even do? You don't really explain very well, amico mio."

The rest of her words caught in her throat as she pushed the key into the door's keyhole. She seriously doubted it could fit in there without breaking either the lock or the key but miraculously, it did. The hallway on the other side was empty throughout its entire length, her room being the only one on this floor. Yet she still tried to be quiet as she turned the key, cautiously watching for any strange effects or any unfavorable consequences, but what followed was something she couldn't have imagined in her wildest dreams...

That very moment the key was placed in the lock, Rasui grinned devilishly and vanished from sight, leaving behind a miniature green spark, which skipped for a second on the mobile device before disappearing. The spirit used his master’s body as a conductor to reach the object in the young man’s hand, much like the rest of its kind when this specific time came.

[Unlock], an ability every Key possessed, was to be used soon enough in the company of the few individuals of questionable luck that had received that one peculiar message in the early hours of the morning. Their lives would inevitably change from this point onward, yet change was a simple and common phenomenon in any dimension. Only defective existences could not partake in it. How much and if they resisted were facts that were meaningless, because any action in response to a certain change was a change nonetheless, even if the first mentioned does not come into effect. Struggle, complain, rebel all you wish. Becoming different is natural and can not be stopped. In time those fools would come to terms with and grasp it, the change that everyone needed, so that the loop may spin again.

“The fools, the fools, may they be blessed.”

---

The sticks began energetically dancing on the surface on the drums as the titan speakers pulsed along with the beat, and the singer of a half-red-half-green hair let out the first string of incomprehensible words, which resounded and faded like a yawl of agony in a pit of eternal darkness.

Cell City, a world of many, yet also a world of few. Once more the day began and the hustles and bustles of the citizens were the first orchestra to fill the streets of this enormous town. Pedestrians passing left and right. Youngsters occasionally zooming past them on their hoverboards, getting away by the skin of their teeth, all the while filling the air with laughter and snickering. Shopkeepers quarreling from the moment they rise about who crossed the line first. Avians clucking gossip. Groups of chameleons on a shopping spree. Fans and onlookers gathering for the live performance. Even the back alleys were teaming with life, with gangs of cool cats patrolling their turfs. Never did the cacophony cease in its whole, for some parts would remain lively, whilst others would fall silent.

One area in particular could never shut off all of its lights, nor cloud all of its noise be reduced to sound. The Underground. A flashy parade of colourful buildings, towering over everything, belittling all of their inhabitants as creatures great and small went on their daily routine.
“Ground” or “ground floor” was a rumor, a myth, in this area, for no one had ever reached it and come back to tell the tale. The many bridges, underpasses, passageways and various twisted constructions layered the area into levels and created the illusion that it on its own was a big house, hence the overall friendliness of the residents. The reason was such or the fact that ofttimes one was left with barely any space to breathe. Some staircases were far too narrow for even one stork man to pass through safely, not to mention the walls were rarely thick enough to block the neighbors’ conversation. Yet this provided a favorable atmosphere for acquaintanceship, as well as for rumors, both of which were quite profitable for different parts of society. There were innumerable individuals coming in and out this world, just like the countless brilliant signs hanging everywhere, thus one could never say who was listening or who was speaking for that matter.



That very day one of the prominent sheets in the background of this confusing canvas of ups and downs was the rough tone of Akiakane, a singer usually residing in Akasan, but had set up stage for a live performance this one time on the edges of the rooftop of a building, in front of which was an opening both upward and downwards. Her strong voice shattered all barriers and spread like wildfire through the streets of the floors above and to the few that could be seen beneath and even beyond. The intense emotions couldn’t allow panels to stop them and continued fighting the distance, whilst coming from that one vessel in one of the patches where the sky was clearly visible from a floor very deep below.

The majority of the locals were not pestered by the concert. In truth, they were overjoyed, since all the musical wonders headed out for Akasan the moment their stars began to twinkle and did not frequently return to their homeareas or go on tours. The arrival of the “Screaming Cinderella” sent the younger individuals in a state of euphory, whilst the more cunning adults sought to make a profit out of it and the two parties found themselves having an enjoyable time. Her unexpected arrival was on everyone’s lips and the bubbling in the melting pot seemed louder than usual. The signs that were equipped with lights shined brighter and those near the stage blinked in rhythm with the music. Street vendors shouted out their offers. Fans screamed and sang along. Today The Underground was festive, as always.



Far away from the rainbow carnival of music and games, life peacefully went on its path in the only commercial strip of the Lost Part, “Ot Trunka na Glog”, “Trunkoglog” or simply TG.

Owners swiftly swept away the leaves from the porches of their shops. Housewives of all species gathered in small groups to go shopping for goods, some carrying their little ones on their backs and others - on their tails. Gentlemen tipped their hats and bid each other “Goodmorning” on the street before passing each other and heading for work. A light breeze tickled the trees and they shivered in their deep green gowns. And the water gently splashed against the trolley as it steadily slid on the river’s surface, as if it were flying.
There were no tremendous crowds, no booming music, no quarreling that would disturb this serenity.

“Ah, I wonder what awaits us today on the other side of the river.” sighed Mrs. Monifa, the friendly elephant lady, owner of Zen café and teacher of the meditation club “Harmony”. Her expression was tranquil as she gazed out from the window on the second floor, only to see in the distance a cooking pot flying out from one of the windows of Zhabunyak, one of the renowned teashops in their humble district. “Dear me, Sir Bingwen is at it again.” she sighed and headed downstairs.

The faint buzzing of insects, a sound similar to that of the cicadas of the human world, played that day as well, under the sunny rays of summer and that minty green cloudless sky.



Entering the forest that was the Lost Part, one would find themselves surrounded by echoes. A world of mystery within a world that was a mystery, various odd and bizarre beings let out calls from the unknown, hidden away between the flora. Others fluttered around, such as the duhcheta, which joyfully swamp through the air, chasing each other without making a sound. They bore great similarity with the trees. Quiet, yet alive and moving actively. Whilst the huge trunks did not make any evident movements, beneath the surface they continued piercing the structures, which formerly housed in residents. Spreading their roots as far as they could, staircases ofttimes became entangled and treacherous for travelers. That was one of the many traps and obstacles in the way of outsiders. The indigenous species of the area did not seem to mind this, for they prefered to keep this paradise locked tight with them inside. The woods were calm and placid, without a worry or a care.



The gap between the Lost Part and Violent Junkyard in atmosphere was so wide, you would have trouble picturing them existing in the same world and being adjacent.

The thundering of collapsing buildings made the ground shake. It was as if a beast had awakened from the depths of the earth. A battle was raging in the distance, within the inner lanes of the area, with beings crashing into structures, making them collapse and sending debris into the air, creating more junk to fill this desolate forsaken place.
Uncanny may it be, but in this raging zone of abandonment a pink blob rabbit twitched it ears and sniffed the air. An adorable little creature it was, with a smooth shiny surface and circular black eyes with two highlights. It hopped outside of the storehouse, the roof of which was tattered and missing in parts, and ran through, what could hardly be called, the streets. Broken lamps, chunks of concrete, poles, torn wires, flat tires, raggy toys. Layers upon layers of unwanted items were stacked together, hiding the solid floor. The walls and shelves looked as though they could collapse at any moment. Yet there was still life there.

Hounds scavenged for lingering mortals, their jaws open and white tongues sticking out of their black skulls. Some of them, after an unsuccessful search, hissed at each other and commenced fighting, biting and hitting each other with their tails.
The kokili, on the other hand, were far more peaceful and strolled amidst the ruins with grace and poise. Wrapping their long thin rope-like tongues around objects, they sucked the emotions stored within by the ones, who previously owned them. Most of these odd tall creatures did not pay attention to the happenings around them, but the younger ones occasionally looked up at the lavender sky whenever they heard the loud battle cry of a familiar boisterous rabbit girl, who engaged in combat once more.

The destructive factor of this area did not come down even today.

---

Each and every human that had unlocked a door found themselves suddenly falling through darkness, a neverending night, with such a high speed that if they were to open their mouths whilst looking towards the direction they were falling, they would feel pain from what was most likely air hitting the back of their oral cavities. In a human’s sense of time, not long passed before beams of light sprang from beneath and shot beside them. One by one they disrupted the darkness and soon everything was completely white and all of the individuals found themselves accelerating. Noise filled their ears from out of nowhere. It was a mixture of many things, voices, engines, animal calls, machines, devices, such a great quantity that one could not be singled out from the rest. The volume of this disturbance rose until it felt like a hammer was bashing against their skulls and then, unexpectedly, sharply stopped and all became quiet, the bodies even halting in the nothing. This only lasted for a heartbeat before they were struck down like lightning to the ground.



Sofia screamed as hard as she could with a few tears escaping her eyes as she fell through the darkness. The moment she had stepped through her bedroom door she had found herself losing her footing and being pulled downwards by an unknown force. It was strange and frightening, more than any nightmare she had ever had. She gripped her key in her hands pressed to her chest and retracted her legs to her body. When the flashes of light cut through this madness, the girl shut her eyes tight and waited for the worst. She couldn’t think of anything other than how harrowing this was and how her heart could burst at any second. Indeed, it was worrisome, for the child’s heart was beating so loudly and fast that she could hear it in her head and it seemed to her that it was faster than a colibri’s. Once the noise flooded her ears, she pressed her head to her knees and cried sorrowfully. This experience would no doubt scar her, thus she tried blocking the incoming waves with thoughts of her own, but none of that worked. Her head only hurt more. Finding that she was helpless in this situation, Sophie gave up on trying and awaited whatever horrible end awaited her. She only wished that she wouldn’t end up like a fallen ice cream or a dropped cream cupcake, for that would not be beautiful at all.

However, everything suddenly vanished. The noise, the brightness of her eyelids, the sense of falling, all of it. It took the young lady a minute to realize there was solid ground below her and that she was in some sort of strange position. Pulling her head up from her knees, she timidly lifted up one of her eyelids, in order to peek at her surroundings. To her surprise, there was a corridor in front of her and not a soul in sight. Widely opening up both of her eyes, she turned her head to look behind her and saw that she was crouching and that her back was pressed to a door.

“Huh? Where-?” Sophie began, but a ring cut her off to answer her question.

Relaxing her body to sit on the floor, the girl dug in what she presumed was her pocket and pulled out her phone. This surprised her, since she didn’t remember placing it there, yet her astonishment was replaced by curiosity as she read the words in a little window that had popped up on screen.

“ “Welcome home”? ” she read it aloud. “This is my home?” taking a look in front of her and then at the phone again “This doesn’t look like my home… S-still… it can’t be bad to… look around.” she told herself and didn’t even notice the fact that her newest companion, Valkyrie, whom she had named Candra, was standing next to her in full size.

Sophie pushed herself up and took a few steps forward, her phone in her hand. The hall looked like a standard entrance to an apartment when it came length. The floor was chequered with yellow and ginger squares, a smooth surface if we ignored the cracks where it met the wall. The lamps, which gave a sufficient amount of light, were pinned to wall to the girl’s left, one being in the shape of a flower, another - a sun and the next - a bird. They were childish and enough to cheer her up a bit. By the door had been a small rug, where people were meant to leave their shoes, yet the girl was too interested in the unknown to mind her courtesy. In front of her was a bookshelf, which had a cabinet under it and a single-door wardrobe next to it. What was noteworthy was that on the door of the said wardrobe was a long mirror, in which an average human could look at themselves in full height. It was in that very moment when her gaze fell on her reflection on the mirror that Sophie started panicking.

“Eh? EH?!” were her first words of disbelief when she saw what she was wearing. “What? When? No, WHO? I-I never changed clothes! More importantly, I never had such a cute dress! It’s so fluffy, I’m gonna, no, wait!”[b] She frantically bubbled out as she pulled a bit at the knee length fluffy light brown dress, which had curls and swirls of white frosting around the neck area and shoulders. A piece of the attire remained in her hand when she pulled a bit harder and, after taking a sniff at it, she took a bite and exclaimed. [b]“It’s delicious! How come I’m delicious?! Oh, and look! It regenerated! No hole at all! W-what’s going on here, Candra-?” The last sentence she started while turning towards her new friend, whom she had seen in the mirror, but just as she pronounced her name, Sophie tripped over herself and, while battling to stay up in the purple knee high socks that made the floor slippery, fell to her left, Candra’s right, and in doing so her elbow pushed down on a handle. A door had been located near the end of the corridor and the newbie had noticed it just then, when she slammed against it and her weight pushed down its handle. The result was more than hilarious. A girl in a fluffy edible dress hand ridiculously slipped and opened a door and was now lying on her back with the most pitiful sad puppy expression. However, this quickly changed when she saw the contents of the new room.

“Wow, pretty!” she said while still on her back. Even if she was seeing an upside-down image, it was no doubt a lovely place.

Upon entering this room, one would without a doubt first notice the long stretch of tall windows to the right, which allowed a great amount of light to enter and brighten up the contents. In the center was a huge in both length and width rug with a floral pattern, atop of which was a big round table with three chairs, all of which were wooden and white. Above it was a ceiling fan with three wooden wings and two lamps, which were turned off.
To the left was a wall separated in two halves by the door that lead to the bathroom.
In the first half was a “box kitchen”, a special small square from the room where a refrigerator along with a sink and one short worktop, both of which had a cabinet below them, and a stove were located. There was also a ventilation system above the stove and a wooden hanger for utensils, such as ladles and spatula, was nailed on the wall.
In the second half, after the door, was a circular bookshelf on the wall, uninhabited and empty, without a single speck of dust.
At the very end of the room, by the wall opposite that of the entrance, was a double bed facing the windows. On the beforementioned wall was another empty bookshelf, a white dream bubble one. One would think that light would easily enter and bother a sleeping person atop of the bed, yet such would not always be the case. At the top corner of the room, where the wall with the windows met the one, by which the bed was placed, a tree had made a crack and had made its way in. This far, its branches had crawled by the ceiling and only spread above the bed, shading it with their lush leaves. Thus shelter was provided from the early morning rays.

Overall, the room was splendid and clean, located at the border between The Underground Main and the Lost Part. Outside could be seen a colourful street and a couple of five storey buildings, as well as the tall trees of the forest, many of which towered high above the flats. This area was notably calmer than the inner parts of the UGM, but was just as colourful and extraordinary.



During the time they had been falling, Rasui, or now Loki as he had been named, took the pleasure to observe and laugh hard at the expression his master was making. Humans were always taken aback and frightened by this standard procedure, but they never made the exact same face, despite having similar reactions. However, once the short of white appeared, the Key closed his eyes and awaited impact. He only prayed that they would not end up in Violent Junkyard, because he did not fancy living in a dump, a destructive dump on top of that. The spirit wished to be part of the party, to be in the tornado of thoughts and dreams, the vibrant, energetic…

“YES!” he shouted loudly when he opened his eyes.

Albeit he was resting atop of a bed, the keen senses his kind possessed told him exactly in which area he was. They were in The Underground Main! He couldn’t be more happy. For once luck was on his side and he didn’t have to live with dustlings choking him and kokili trying to eat his belongings. Pushing himself upwards, he instantly tried to scan his surroundings, but was shocked when his pretty little head hit the hard ceiling.

“That the?!” he growled while gripping his head with one hand and looked up. Apparently, it would be impossible for him to sit up straight in bed and he had to stay low instead. “What’s this?” the young man questioned as he crawled and peeked over the edge to get a good view of his new abode.

The room was, lightly speaking, a mess. It was narrow or at least appeared such due to the many things that clogged it up.

The bed was not on the floor, but floating above it. It was held in this position on one end by a bookshelf, which was on Rasui’s left, and on the other end by a piece of wooden furniture, which can be described as a hard thick wooden panel in front of which was a desk, that was on Rasui’s right. In addition, there was another desk placed under the bed, which was by the well. This created a sort of workspace below the bed, but it was certainly not well organized. Old torn fliers, sheets of paper with meaningless scribbles on them, broken pencils, cupholders, cracked disks, empty dirty glasses and small boxes littered the desks. The bookshelf was full of strange old magazines, as well as clocks that didn’t work, toilet paper rolls and other cardboard boxes full of trinkets. There were also a few old radios there. Stickers, badges and parts of posters were stuck to the wood of this structure.
And that wasn’t all.

The rest was utter chaos. On the floor were scattered pizza boxes, cans, bottles and small tubes of a various kind, with all the mentioned being empty; two traffic cones, a fallen mop, party hats, banana peels, a fallen trash can full of paper balls, dirty rags, a torn tennis racket, ping pong bats, an electric fan, a keyboard with some of its keys missing, an airless soccer ball, empty sacks, a couple of magazines and many many more.
On both sides of the room there were bookshelves with just as many items littering them. There was even a huge sombrero atop one of them and a bowling ball in the corner. There was even a refrigerator between two of them with many magnets and wordless stickers on it that seemed to be working.
On Loki’s left after one long bookshelf there was a door, which lead to the bathroom, and directly in front of him was the door that served as an entrance and it also served the function of a notice board, with little pins and notes stuck on it.
Here and there were posters, either on the walls or rolled up in a bin. Everything was a colourful mess, it was as if a rainbow hurricane had passed through the room. To the Key, this was just perfect. There was a roof above his head and a place where he could sleep. No complaints could be heard from him. There were even windows, one small long one by the bed and a bigger one in front of the desk below it.

Amidst this kingdom of disorder, a peculiar being caught the black-haired spirit’s attention. A young girl with long brown braided twin tails, wearing a lovely open mauve short vest with a white shirt underneath and an even more delightful pink skirt, which reached her ankles on the back but was incredibly short in the front, was sleeping on her back on the rug on the floor. The top of her skirt acted out the role of a corset, for it was exactly on that line and was tighter there, making her chest pop out, at least from Loki’s perspective from above. She looked so innocent, with those white frills beneath the pink cloth and her relaxed sleeping face, and it made the young man grin from ear to ear. Not only was he being given a room, he was also being given service.

‘These extras are getting better and better each and every time… It’s not like I’m not going to share with master or anything, but first comes first serves, you know.’ he thought as he lightly jumped down from the bed, making from little to no sound. ’Heheee, she’s totally cute! But I should get a hold of myself. Play the gentleman! Play the gentleman!’

“Excuse me, Sleeping Beauty-” Rasui began in his most gentlemanly soothing voice, but was cut off when a voice came shouting from above.

“Oh, so now he texts me “So, whatcha up to?”. ExcAUSE, me?! Who does he think he is?!”
“Girl, he is so not worth it. He don’t even give you a full sentence.” another voice came, this time from the apartment next-door.
“You got that right, girl!”
“I tell ya darling, he ain’t worth your time. He’s not bein entirely yours. Cut in half, you know?”
“Girl, you know what? When he comes over tonight, he’s just gonna get half of it. No questions asked!”
“Exactly!”
“But how should I reply?”
“Hmm, something like: “I’m doing good”.”
“Ain’t that too laid back? I wanna show him I’m angry, but not that I’m going Godzilla at him, you know?”
“Mmmmhmm, I know it, girl. Oh, wait, I got it! How about “Fine”. He don’t give you full sentences, neither should you.”
“Girl, you are a genius!”

The neighborhood drama queens ended by being the duo’s neighbors. Rasui felt like he was on the brink of losing his temper and wanted to shout at them to just text each other like normal people, but kept quiet for the sake of this princess. Forcing back his gentleman smile and trying to ignore what had just happened, he began anew while the women were still waiting for a response from that boyfriend.

“Excuse me for waking you from your slumber, beautiful bird.” he spoke whilst standing in front of her. “But I must say that the location you have chosen will not be comfortable, unless it is part of the payment. If it is not, then may I suggest the bed? I admit it will be a bit cramped, but I’m skilled in tight situations.”



In a different area, but not less hazardous, the Librarian, now under the name Bookman, and 0Mari, whose real identity was actually Gabe, landed on the outskirts of the Violent Junkyard, close to the border with The Underground Main, the brilliant buildings of which could be seen in the far distance between the vibrating dusty haze. Television sets, monitors, ovens and other technological unnecessary objects lay below their feet, but the layers were only two or three, due to being close to the edge and sometimes a protruding piece of concrete could be seen sticking between the items in either white or violet colour, like an iceberg above water.

After a few moments a message came up on 0Mari’s phone, which was inside his pocket, giving him the greeting “Welcome home”. Once it arrived, a bright purple arrow appeared in front of the human, which only he could see. It pointed towards the structure in front of them, a huge cubic building made up of what seemed to be trash.

The entrance to this bizarre house was a big black refrigerator door. Once inside, one will either be amazed or horrified.
As mentioned before, all of the walls as wells as the floor were composed of junk. The windows were washing machine doors, but there was one in the kitchen that was a car’s front glass. There were no doors, other than the entrance and the backdoor in the kitchen, which was the sliding door of a bus.

The first space one would encounter would be a room split into two. To the right would be the living room and to the left - the dining room. The two were separated from each other firstly by steel shelvings on both sides, which were full of cardboard boxes, mechanical parts, pots, bells and all the other little trinkets one could think of that were old and unneeded, after which were two open spaces, one on each side, where doors should have been, and then boxes upon boxes would follow until they met the perpendicular wall of junk. A sort of corridor was thus created and at the end of it were three ovens on top of each other, where shoes or other belonging were meant to be placed, if anyone would dare take their shoes of at least.

Taking a turn to the left one would enter the so called “dining room”. Within it was a big table made out of a surfboard with guitars for gets. There were six “chairs”, two of which were upside-down trash cans and the other four being huge speakers. All of the above mentioned had curved metal trash tank doors glued vertically for backs. Other than the huge pendulum clock that pointed at thirteen minutes before twelve and did not work, the a globus hanging from the ceiling acting the role of a lamp and the three washing machine door windows, there was nothing else, unless you wished to count all the junk that created the ceiling, walls and floor, and in that case it would take far too long, more than a human lifetime.

If you were still standing at the entrance to the dining room, to your right would be the wall at the end of which was another opening, which lead to the kitchen. While the first described room was wide and spacious, this one was narrow and long. It had a total of five refrigerators, only one of which worked and the others were used for storage. Once standing at the entrance, towards the end of the wall that would be to your right would be the sink along with a worktop made out of microwaves, none of which worked, but were also used for storage. The big front car glass was opposite the sink and provided a good view of the apocalyptic area. Megaphones hung from above, not having any light bulbs inside. From the entrance’s point of view, the left corner of the wall in the front was where the back door, an old sliding bus door, was located. It was made up of steel, had a window and even a purple curtain.

If you were to have taken to the right, rather than to the left, after entering, you would find yourself in the “living room”, which looked more like a gym than anything else.
The floor was surprisingly not made of innumerable little objects, but was the wing of an airplane. There were seven windows, three to the front and four at the right side from the “door”’s perspective. Many chains with rings hung from the ceiling and there was even a boxing bag in the left corner between the wall to the left and the one with the windows. By the wall in which was the opening, the “door”, there were three heads which seemed to belong to something resembling dinosaurs. Only the upper jaws had teeth and they served as backs for anyone who dared to sit down. There was no flesh on them and the material they were made of looked like bone, but was harder than concrete. They were all to the “door”’s right and were open and welcoming to any visitor. By the wall opposite them was a contraption, which looked like a gym press station, but it was made out of steel bones, and next to it was a pole with two TV sets pierced through it, one on each end. From left to right were two bus poles with a few handles still hanging. The walls were still made out of junk, but there were more street signs to be found here.

Once stepping inside the living room to the left would be another opening, which divided the wall into two thirds and a third. It lead to the bedroom, a “lovely” resting place for anyone. On the walls were hung bear traps, axes, chainsaws, explosives and even crane hooks. There was an anchor to the right of the door and it was the only object other than the bed, which was a hammock tied to two stop signs. Yellow warning tape hung behind it, in that little space between it and the wall, on which was a single window. This tape also stretched across the walls, contributing to the decoration.

There were two openings in this room, both to the left, one of which actually had a curtain for a door.
The bare one lead to a “creative” room and the other - to the bathroom.

There was nothing much that could be said about the bathroom. There was nothing more than a toilet, a shower and countless pipes that passed through. Its “door” was past the “creative” room’s.

The first door lead to peculiar stairs, which were formed from books and glass of several layers placed on top of them. Near the top of the stairs there was still empty space, yet the glass could still hold an ordinary human and not break. They lead to a smaller square room with many steel bookcases, many of which were empty, one couch-like console bookshelf and one with a seat entirely in it. This little room was on top of the big square house and could be used as a lookout tower, having a window on each wall.

This big house was surrounded by steel frameworks, forests of poles and wires and piles of junk. There was no noise in the close perimeter of their hearing and no obvious threat, but before 0Mari and Lib could cross what seemed to be a road made up of trash and enter their new home a strange black cat with the head of a TV crossed their path and stopped in the middle. It let out a broken meow, much like when the signal was being lost, and approached them curiously. Yet it once more held to a stop, hissed, turned around and started climbing the wall of their house. The cause of this sudden shift in personality would be revealed to the two individuals soon after by the clattering of mechanical jaws that followed. A pack of ten "junkers" came from behind and had them cornered.







Evanna, or Flux as her username was, and her new companion Bear came across quite the unfavorable situation the very moment they entered the world of Cell City. Right after the message came, the arrow pointing towards their homebase appeared, but their residence was nowhere in sight. The place they were given was in the Violent Junkyard, far away from their current location.

The duo landed on the leafy forest floor, the old white and green tiles barely visible beneath the grass that grew between their cracks. Miniature balls of yellow and turquoise flew away from the spot, startled by the sudden arrival of the visitors. A few creatures let out calls of alarm before all became silent once more and in front of the Player and Key was nothing more than the serenity of a lush green forest with stairways embraced by nature.

They were situated on a terrace of sorts and behind them was a rusty mossy railing, beyond which one could see a beautiful panorama of the Lost Part. Skyscrapers conquered by flora, with lovely flowering trees poking their colourful branches outside its windows and growing on its edges, and many storeys above them being pines and even higher - only bushes. Strange birds flew in the clear minty green sky, their peculiar calls echoing. Trees stood tall and grew even larger into the distance, going deeper towards the core, standing like guardians of their home, their thick crowns not shivering once from fright. And between them from time to time one could spot staircases and bridges entwined with lianas and ivy poking their way through. It was a maze, a strange world that defied technology.

Before the very eyes of the two guests was a staircase facing them with its side, the stones of which had green polka dot moss and small flowers growing on them. It lead upwards to a platform, from which followed glass stairs, perpendicular to the first, which connected the mentioned stop point to a white tile bridge. It stretched from left to right, its ends hidden by the trees. The woods seemed darker when staring deeper into them and sometimes strange sounds came from behind the bushes.

“What are you youngins doin’ ‘ere?” a male voice asked. It came from a sparrow with a turban that had perched itself on the parapet of the platform.



In a similar way to Sofia, Julia, who was under the username River North II, and her partner Lucie were teleported inside their new home, at the very entrance. They were given a room in Alona Hotel, the only hotel in the Trunkoglog district of the Lost Part, and, unsurprisingly, the nature motif was rather prominent.

Below the feet of the two young ladies was a long dark cream carpet with a soft light brown and black flower pattern. It stretched until the end of the wall that was to their right. The said structure did not connect to the one in front of it, but in length equaled one third of the distance from its beginning to the wall it would have connected to, thus forming a narrow corridor, a separation of the entrance from the rest of the room.

Once both the carpet and the wall to the women’s right ended, there was a reasonable amount of free space, enough for two average human beings to calmly pass each other. This was required, because that one corner of the room, which from the girls’ viewpoint was at the end of the wall that was to their left, was occupied by the enormous trunk of the tree that ran through the hotel. It was massive and what was visible to them was obviously a small part of the entire circle. The plant’s body did not only take the corner but a good space around it. Fortunately, as mentioned earlier, there was enough space for it and the residents to live peacefully.

When passing through the mentioned passage between the corner of the wall that didn’t connect and the trunk, one would see before their eyes two beds next to each other just big enough for a human that played basketball. The sheets and covers were neatly tucked in, being chocolate brown in colour; the pillows were flat and undisturbed by any shapes and there were two sets of towels on each bed, perfectly folded and ironed. Each bed had a bookcase headboard, but there was nothing placed on either of them, nor was there a speck of dust for that matter. The entire set was made of birch wood and in front of it was another carpet, just the same as the one before, that ended a bit before the wall that would be in front of the viewer.
To the left, a short distance after the trunk, began the windows. A total of three; one wide and two narrow, but just as tall, at its sides; they allowed sunshine to enter and light up the room. Of course, the rays were not direct, for there were thin celadon curtains, with small white flowers scattered on its lower parts, gracefully hanging from above. The windows were quite tall, thus there was little room between them and the ceiling. Other than them, the curtains and the trunk, there was nothing on that wall.

In the corner opposite the one the trunk was at, was a wire trash bin. Next to it, by the wall that would be before the onlooker’s eyes, was a desk also made of birch wood, atop of which was a lamp. It had two cabinets to the right; the one on top being a small drawer and the second that was below it - bigger and opened by pulling to the right; and one shelf to the left, below the top and glued to the planks that served as a “foot”.

After the desk was a set of wardrobes, which were not entirely visible. The beforementioned wall that did not connect was actually part of the bathroom and the beds were also positioned to another wall from the restroom. Thus a certain amount of space, bigger than the “antre”, was hidden from view, unless one were to cross the space in front of the beds and stand close to the wall with the desk with their back facing the windows. At that point the viewer would see a set of three double door wardrobes, under each being two large drawers. All of the furnishing was birch wood and smelled of old age.

They would be to the viewer’s left and to his right, after the bed, would be the final wall, which connected to the one behind the beds and to a smaller one that would be directly in front of the eyes. On that wall there was a door and in front of it was a small fuzzy dark green rug. This door lead to the bathroom, which contained a shower cubical stretching from left to right and directly in front upon entrance, a flush toilet to the left and a basin to the right. Some of the tiles were green and others were white and the lamp was in the shape of a flower and placed above the door, on which there were hangers for towels.

When it came to lighting, there was a ceiling fan with a light bulb and three wooden wings above the beds and one smaller night lamp on each headboard for late night readers.

The hotel room was generally clean, but little ant-like creatures could be spotted here and there. The atmosphere was calm and serene, just like the town and forest outside.

Behind the two girls was a wooden door with intricate carvings displaying an image of a big tree with small mysterious creatures floating around it. This was the only safe entrance and exit and it was slammed open.

“Darlings~ Welcome to Alona Hotel~ How are you feeling~? Do you need more towels~?” the creature, which had made such a loud entrance, chirped like an annoying aunt. It was an aviant to say the least. The bird had the build of an ostrich, but with long thin black legs and was covered in green feathers, including the thinner neck, and had a blue shine to them. It also possessed a crown of seven feathers on its head, which looked like half-blown dandelions, only their colour was azure. In colour it did awfully resemble a peacock, yet its voice was evidently a female’s, which did not fit the species, due to the fact that female peacocks were grey. Its gender was confirmed when it suddenly remembered to introduce itself. “Oh, excuse me, excuse me. My name is Mrs. Paunova and I am part of the staff here at our lovely Alona Hotel. Ask me anything you wish, darlings~”

---

After the welcoming message sent by the system, the Map page of the Key Shop app instantly opened on all of the phones.
The screen was divided into two.
The left side showed a map of the perimeter with the names of different places, on the top left corner being a compass and on the bottom lect being a small square, inside of which was also a map. If one were to tap the said square, a map of the entire world would show up full screen. From there one could tap different areas, but only the unlocked ones would open and display information, whilst tapping the locked ones would do nothing.
The right side of the screen displayed the weather, the news of the area and available missions in the said area.
Above the two sections was written the name of the area each individual was currently at.

All of the skills of the Players were loaded and written in the Skills page of the app.

All of the Players arrived in Cell City in their In-Game attire.

All of the players started out with the sum of 20 Volts.

Level 1. Experience 0. Murder points 0.

Would those numbers change?

Her day was decidedly getting worse and worse.

Evanna came upon this glorious conclusion as she hurtled through the darkness, the slight raising of her eyebrows being the only sign that something out of the ordinary was happening to her. Truthfully, she was close to panicking and flailing her limbs in an attempt to rid herself of this engulfing darkness. She didn't like this unknown, vast space one bit, and was starting to regret unlocking her bedroom door with that blasted key. Speaking of keys, where was that strange man she'd 'bought'?

Just as she started to turn her head and scan the vast darkness for the tribal man, Evanna momentarily spaced out. Colors, sounds and sensations flew past her in an inexplicable rush, one that made her heart race with a mix of anticipation and fear. The unknown had always been something Evanna didn't appreciate but as she slowly sat up and gripped the side of her head, she decided that it was getting more and more unpleasant every time. She'd learnt at a young age that certain things tended to work in her favor when she knew what she was dealing with, and not when something entirely new was tossed at her. And this time, she was the one who had been hurled into a completely new environment.

A very faint amount of irritation rising within her but it was there, slowly building as she shakily got up off the grassy ground and shook leaves out of her hair. Her fingers absentmindedly ran themselves through her hair out of simple habit and it was only after a few long moments that she noticed it wasn't her usual hair. The bizarre scenery was the only thing that had had her attention in the beginning - was everything conveniently the same shade of a color or was it just coincidence? It seemed like an entire world's worth of green-hued rain-forest had been dumped here and now as a large amount of strange plants sprouted from every part of the architecture, Evanna could not help the astounded expression that took its place on her face.

"What is this place?" She spoke, her eyes widening by a fraction of an inch. Conquering nature had been the last thing she'd have expected from an MMO; had she known, Evanna would've reconsidered it. It was only then that her eyes went down to the stark white strands running through her hands, gradually turning a shade of hot-pink. It was the sharp contrast between the pink and the constant green of their surroundings that made Evanna aware of her hair's strange shade. "My hair... look at it! Bianco!" Why did her hair end up as such a garish shade of pink? As Evanna bent down to pick up her fallen phone, she was careful to not tilt the screen entirely towards her face. Knowing her luck, she probably had yellow snake eyes by now.

Even now, the unfamiliar surroundings unnerved her enough to look up from her phone's slightly cracked screen and back towards the endless expanse of green. "Is this the place to start the game? I don't see any anything to kill..." Evanna had already scanned the area for any live or moving structures and as much as she could make out, there was none. It was only then that she turned towards the man that had materialized before her. His red face-paint was even brighter in person, Evanna decided.

But before he could even answer, a deep voice made her whirl around towards the direction it was coming from. As her eyes fell upon a turbaned bird, Evanna was this close to declaring herself as insane. She remained quiet for several long seconds her face blank. Seeing as how she barely had any idea on how to react, Evanna slipped into her customary friendly demeanor and offered the bird a large smile. If this bird could guide her into starting this game properly, she figured her best behavior was the only option. Even as she spoke, the bare-bones of a plan of action was already forming in her mind. "You see, we're new players - I think. I don't think we're supposed to be here... it's looks slightly wrong. Do you mind helping us out of here?"

The Apartment | Julia Castor

“Huh. Why deux?”

Julia’s typing fingers flinched a bit upon the figure on her screen voicing that question, and her falling silent for moments with a rather awkward smile on her face.

Sometimes there are stories behind things, and sometimes she really likes those stories. Farily often, actually. She wants to share them with people, but never gets the chance to, because most people never ask, and she didn’t want to come off as childish and overly self-indulgent for bringing them up herself. She finds that dilemma rather upsetting. Then once in a while that thing with a story sparks someone’s interest, and they ask about it - at those times, ironically, she would invariably be at a loss for words.

“It- uh -”

She found that even more upsetting.

She staggered a lot, of that part of her speech only a little part which was something about astronomy, Greek mythology, and “The second star of North River” was recognizable as coherent words, and that only barely.

“...it’s - it’s kind of full of far-fetched correlations and all and um … there are things that … but I really like that name? So uh -”

She ended up having to literally cover her own mouth, with both hands, to get herself to snap out of that phase and stop speaking. As usual she has absolutely no idea what she just sputtered out.

“Hhhhhh…”

Finally calming down, the first thing she thought of doing was crying. She sure hoped that this wasn’t the first impression the girl had about the people of her city, or even country. If Julia was to be the first person to gain contact with extraterrestrial intelligence, the aliens would probably not think twice in concluding that mankind was a race of manic, nonsensical beings. Catastrophic.

Oh dear this is embarrassing.

It didn’t help that Ruée seemed to be disinterested. A bit distressed, even. Julia could only guess why and she wasn’t liking what her mind was coming up with. An apology was probably in order now, but the worst part was probably that she didn’t know what to apologize for.

“Anyway, c’est bien. Let’s get moving with other things though, yes?”

A sentence uttered through the speakers of the phone drew Julia’s attention back to where she could only assume was where it was supposed to be.

Julia did her best to tune into the elaborate explanation Ruée was giving about the whole deal, but her mind couldn’t help but drift away to think about other things, among them, the desperate attempts to fill in the blank session lest in her memory when she was rambling on, and to make sure that she didn’t do anything overly terrible. But then she constantly reminded herself to focus back onto the current conversation, and such the subject of her concentration fluctuated.

At the end of Ruée’s instructions, Julia was left partly amazed, partly excited, and partly outright confused. That being the first time she remembered hearing someone drop the whole definition upon mentioning the word “door” possibly contributed to all three of those reactions.

“Doors. Okay. Got it.”

She didn’t catch the entire content, but at this point she figured the only thing to do was to pretend that she did, and to hope that what she actually did hear would fortunately happen to be the important part.

She nodded and looked around, before she headed towards the door to the side of the apartment room, which led to a little square compartment, with a small window. That was where she kept her instruments and various other things.

The lock on the stainless steel door was rusted and long broken - long before she even moved in, probably. The elegantly decorated key that Ruée instructed her to use didn’t look like it would fit any modern locks anyway, so Julia decided that the slight sense of coincided juxtaposition was amusing at least.

She slid the key into the lock of the compartment door.

“wh-”


Violent Junkyard | Cell City | The Librarian

The Librarian, now designated with the name “Bookman”, hovered in a sitting pose with his legs crossed as he peacefully watched his companion - Gabe, or 0Mari, now - take his fall a little longer, with a slightly more violent end.

Flight is a handy thing to learn to do sometimes. When the way you return to your home world includes heaven-knows-from-what-heights free-falls, for instance.

He dusted his clothes and straightened his scarf, the looks of the gestures obviously mattering more than their function, for he never touched the ground at the end of his fall - and then offered a hand to his new master.

“Play down the ringmaster tones, eh?” He said as he shifted his pose into a proper stance, the tip of his feet dangling at an height that just allowed them to touch the characteristic piles of rubbish that composed the ground of the Violent Junkyard:

“I’ll neglect introducing the arrival...of our clown, then.”

He decided not to resist the somewhat devious grin, which emerged on his face for a moment as he helped 0Mari back onto his feet and patted him on his back.

The young man that had slick black hair and dressed in a waiter’s uniform was now transformed, hair now a puffy mass of silver, and his attire...well, The Librarian gave up on describing that.

“Hmm. Nice looks you got there.” he commented.

A black cat with a TV head crossed their paths. The Librarian turned around to wave at it, to which it apparently responded by freaking out and running away.

Alright then.

He turned back at his human master:

“Okay. Officially this time: Welcome to Cell Cit - uh - ”

And he was wondering why 0Mari wasn’t listening. One of the junkers at the front of the pack chattered its teeth, hissing in a somewhat irritated tone.

“ - Listen to me. Keep quiet, don’t make eye contact.” He said, leaning in from the side in a whisper, “Don’t. Provoke. Them. Now slowly - ARGH!”

He liked the Violent Junkyard, but he really didn’t appreciate the wildlife around this place.

The conjured book materialized just in time in the air, situated squarely on the trajectory of a junker leaped their way, propelling the mechanical beast off in another direction with a muffled thud. The Librarian ducked and the hardcover copy that had turned into a projectile itself as a result of the collision scratched his hair as it flew by. A strange gust of wind decelerated the fluttering pages and then propelled the book back into his extended hand, where it was caught and conveniently smacked into the jaw of another attacking creature.

The Librarian staggered backwards a few steps, taking flight for brief moments so that he didn’t trip over. The rest of the pack was still growling angrily in the circle around their corner.

“Seriously, on the FIRST. BLOODY. DAY?”


Alona Hotel | Cell City | River North II

“Hhhhh…”

Julia - or, as it would be more suitable to say now, River North II. - struggled to push herself up from the ground, recovering from a face-down collision with the the ground. Was she just...falling?

Where was this?

Shaking her head and brushing the strands of hairs out of her eyes with one hand, she wondered as she recognized the feeling on the palm of her other hand to warm and with a wool-like texture - a carpet of sorts covered the ground.

She only realized the peculiarities upon finishing her work with tidying her hair. Did it grow out that much already? She ran her fingers through the side of her hair and surprisingly found that it reached the length that she could pull the tips in front of her face. Not only that, it was now a pure white, with an almost light-fibre-like texture.

“Weeeeh?”

...and upon that exclamation, she believed she saw a wave of dark red pulse through the ends she was holding in front of her eyes, and leaving a shade of light pink behind as it receded.

My hair...changes colour?

She looked down upon her own figure to notice that the hair was only a fraction of what has changed.

Wah, this coat is pretty! She thought as she extended her hands a bit clumsily into the air in front of her, not yet accustomed to the volume of her new garments. A simplistic, typical trench coat; of a comfortable dark shade of blue as its colour. She could see that under it she was wearing a plain white blouse, not unlike that she was wearing earlier, the collar wrapping around her neck where the collar flaps of the coat left a triangular opening in the front that ended at the strap tied around her waist.

She pushed herself off the ground and took a moment to muse over the boots as well. Wow, when did I get dressed in these?She then returned her attention to her hair, which was now fluctuating a joyful deep orange. She felt her face and neither the face nor the fingers felt as they did before.

Julia tried hard to decide between collapsing to the ground confused, jumping and shouting in amazement, or freaking out because this is insane and she didn’t know what to do. Maybe all three at once.

Finally managing to calm herself enough to not do anything stupid out of excitement, she tidied her attire and figured what to do, only for all that effort to go to waste when she saw the girl that appeared on her cellphone screen earlier standing nearby.

“Ruée! - ouch -”

She definitely didn’t pronounce that right as she launched herself into an embrace with the young lady, who apparently wasn’t expecting such an action; and that resulted in something that was less of an embrace and more of a tackle, ending with a few steps of staggering that was an attempt to restore an unstable balance that collapsed entirely soon after, the back of Julia’s waist bumping into something and the two of them crashing into the ground with a loud thud.

She let out a whimper as she lay on the ground, lacking the strength to push herself back up again. She stared blankly at the ceiling light and the fan that was rotating behind it. The ceiling was a creamy white.

“...where are we?”

As the pain in her back slowly faded, so did the initial rush of excitement, and now the sense of wonder in Julia’s mind was gradually being replaced by questions, answers to which her senses started to look for.

A room. Flora. A...tree trunk running through the corner? Wooden door, beautifully decorated. Two beds, one of them not aligned properly - probably her fault just now.

What was this...a hotel of sorts?

She laid her head back onto the ground, giving up the attempt of straightening back into a sitting position just with her torso. She probably wouldn’t want to move for a while, she thought; only to negate herself two seconds later, springing back onto her feet when she turned her head to see Ruée just having crashed into the ground along with herself earlier.

“Oh dear I am so sorry about thi -”

The door slammed open behind them.

“Darlings~ Welcome to Alona Hotel~ How are you feeling~? Do you need more towels~?”

---

Apparently, he was falling.

Did that mean that some sort of pitfall trap had activated the instant he opened that door? No, he wasn't falling down a deep trench, in which would be booby-trapped with sharp wooden stakes. All in all, he didn't even fall that far, and instead, found himself landing rather softly on the pavement. Heck, it was soft enough of a landing that he even felt as if he bounced slightly off the ground. Odd. He felt lighter too, as if he suddenly lost a few pounds of weight, all without any liposuction. As he recovered from what felt like a twenty-centimetre drop, however, Gabe realized that things weren't as normal as they should have been.

After all, now he was outside, surrounded by buildings composed of the strangest materials: household appliances. Stacked up by the stories, dishwashers, refrigerators, kitchen sinks, car engines, and a whole array of valves dominated the landscape, making the young man briefly question whether or not he was hallucinating. Maybe his next-door neighbour was an aficionado of drugs, and had somehow mixed up a cocktail of mind-altering substances that was so potent that even taking a whiff of the scentless gas was enough to send people into a vivid land of delusions.

Oh, but then there was Bookman once more, appearing in front of him in human (if he could be considered such) flesh, floating just ever-so slightly off the ground. Fun. So that whole 'sent-to-another-world-in-order-to-fight-people' idea wasn't that far off the mark, now was it. Grasping the hand that was offered to him and pulling himself up, Gabe noticed just how easy it was to exert his strength. Another odd thing was that his arm was...well, different from what his arm looked like previously. Now, he was wearing a purple collared shirt, with a black vest and a whole ton of unnecessary metal parts attached.

Shrugging in response to the amused grin of his partner, or perhaps his future mentor, or perhaps even just a random guide to this new world, Gabe felt his hair next...and had the oddest sensation of grasping at a brick wall. It was as if his hair had suddenly hardened to the same strength as concrete, and, as he felt around a little more, it was clear that he was possessed by some anime-esque hairstyle. The hardness made sense then. Gravity-defying, water-resistant hair could be quite easily obtained by mixing hair gel with cement or superglue, after all. What a pity. Seems like, in this world, he'll have to employ the services of a barber skilled not with razors or scissors, but with chainsaws.

He took out his cellphone next, which must have magically or psychically teleported into his pocket, and found that he had a new home as well, a cubic building that was just a few meters off, a road of junk and trash leading up to it. It also seemed like, according to the new additions to the Key Shop application, that he was in a place called the 'Violent Junkyard'.

That suited him just fine.

Fiddling with his cellphone for quite a bit longer, as he scanned the more RPG-esque elements of the app, Gabe was just about to get into what his skills were, when Bookman interrupted him with something about not looking them in the eye.

What was them?

Ah, that was them.

While he was distracted with all the shiny new features on his jailbroken Iphone, the duo was surrounded by a pack of metal scaly things, with beartraps as mouths. Tilting his head to the side, the young man tried to figure out where exactly their eyes were...until one of them leapt at them, snapping with its rusty jaws, only to get smacked away by one of Bookman's books.

It was nice to see that the name that he chose was fitting.

As he retreated alongside his struggling Key-Guide, he wondered briefly whether they were beset by such irrational beasts because he had such a low Luck-level. Then, he went on another tangent and wondered whether, being of metal, they also ATE metal. As Bookman threw books, occasionally floating around for no obvious reason, Gabe casually tore off one of those metal spike-thingies that were attached by a chain to his shoulder pad, before tossing it towards the pack.

“Fetcherinos, doggies.”

He didn't really want to fight them, because, after all, it wasn't like he could shatter metal with his fists, right?

Dreams about falling were probably Kai’s most hated sort of reverie. The worst part was looking down at seeing the ground coming closer and closer towards you and then the inevitable impact, which for a dream, was always peculiarly felt; like a shock through the body not dissimilar to being electrified. The mind was a great thing, for sure. However, another surety in this situation was that Kai hated not seeing the ground even more. All he could see was white and the now bizarrely feasible Rasui who looked very pleased by the situation, going so far as letting a cold laugh out. After all, Kai was probably exhibiting a visage of utter terror. He couldn’t tell. At the moment, he was focused on keep himself in a relatively safe position. Now, was it best to land on his feet…? He remembered watching a documentary about paratroopers and how it told him it was best to use his legs for landing, but he couldn’t recall why. To begin with, paratroopers had parachutes, as their name implied, so their methods were obviously different from someone who was freefalling at possibly supersonic speeds with no equipment towards what could potentially be nothing or something incredibly painful to land on.

Thinking back on it, how’d he end up falling? One moment he was turning the key in the lock to his seldom unlocked closet door and the next he was enduring g-forces upwards of what most combat aviators faced in their entire career and he wasn’t even making a turn. To be frank, Kai was surprised he hadn’t been knocked cold by getting his own weight times a few digits hammered against him and he was even more shocked by Rasui’s blasé attitude to the rapid descent. All things considered, perhaps this kind of thing was normal for him? Suddenly, Kai respected the black haired man much more. If this was an anime, he’d be a favorite character for sure. Nodamnsgiven characters were always great fun to watch.

As Kai thought all of this over, letting it distract him from the fact he would probably end up with frostbite from the cold wind hitting him, he didn’t have time to see an apparent surface of… more white appear. It would be an understatement to say that he wasn’t completely shocked when he felt himself get practically obliterated and yet not completely destroyed by the impact. His body felt like it had been shattered and no amount of effort could keep him from being knocked into a state of blissful (at least when compared to the events leading up to this moment) unconsciousness…



That’s it. He had been dreaming. Kai realized as he lay in a state of being half-asleep, half-awake and completely out cold. Right now, he was probably in his bed and in a few minutes, he would force himself out to go to work, then he would go home and play games in the evening to wipe away the memory of the chaotic dreams he had experienced the night before. Though for now, Kai would relax a bit. His bed felt a bit hard, but she attributed it to not feeling well after some rather bizarre dreams. That happened to everyone. He had probably just woken up on the wrong side of the bed as was normal after a night of bad sleeping…

??? said
“Excuse me, Sleeping Beauty-”

Kai opened his eyes as a voice suddenly pierced the silence. Sure, he had managed to hear a loud exclamation earlier, but Kai decided it was probably someone down the hall. This sound, however, was definitely directed towards him and it sent shivers down his spine. Unfortunately, after sleeping so deeply, his eyes were still blurry as he looked up at what looked like a blob of white with patches of black here and there. This voice was then interrupted by shouts from higher above and Kai couldn’t make out these very well in his tired state. Instead, as the voices became louder and louder and he became more and more awake, he blinked to get rid of the blurriness. His heart started beating harder by the second as he realized just who could have been looking down at him. The voice matched up and who else had he seen in the last few days who had hair of such a dark color?

Yet, something didn’t match up. As his vision became more clear, Kai saw something that had his heart beating even harder and his face turning flush, for reasons he could not fathom. Was he… smiling at him?

Rasui? said
“Excuse me for waking you from your slumber, beautiful bird, but I must say that the location you have chosen will not be comfortable, unless it is part of the payment. If it is not, then may I suggest the bed? I admit it will be a bit cramped, but I’m skilled in tight situations.”

Beautiful bird...?

Payment?

Tight situations?!

Reflexively, Kai brought his legs back before shooting them forward to give himself enough forward momentum to get upright. Surprisingly enough, he found that he could do so with little problem; he suddenly felt fitter and the movement didn’t even require him to stand up as it gave him enough momentum to get upright in one move. Sure enough, as he found found himself standing on his own two legs, he found Rasui standing in front of him, wearing a sickeningly sweet smile that made him want to gag. After a few moments of simply staring at him in stock as they stood in a shockingly small, messy room, he decide to open his mouth and chew him out.

“Y-you! What the hell do you think you’re...say...ING?!” Kai literally covered his mouth with his hands as he heard a voice different than his own come out of his mouth. His hands felt dainty and soft as they covered his oral orifice and he suddenly felt a soft feeling of cloth on the back of his… bare legs? With a gulp, he looked down at his body.

“Huh..?” He murmured as he noticed his clothes.

“Huh?” Kai said upon seeing the features of a female body while looking down.

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEK!” She screamed as she realized just what had happened. Her body was a complete change from his former one. Suddenly becoming self-conscious and embarrassed of this fact, Kai felt compelled to cover her body by any means possible. Without a moment’s hesitation, she grabbed a nearby sombrero and went to the corner, stooped down and hid behind the oversized straw hat, hiding her flushed face with the end of it. “Ra-Ra-Ra-Rasui! What is going on here?! Did you do something?!” Her voice, feminine in tone and only retaining a general sound from his old voice and a pinch of his accent shocked her with every word she struggled to say.



On the verge of having a breakdown, Kai cowered behind the sombrero as she tried to calm herself down by speaking to no one in particular. This also helped her get over the shock of having a new voice, but only to a small extent. “I was opening the door… then I was f-falling… and now I’m here...? What is this place anyway.? Why is the bed like that?” Unfortunately, most of these questions just served to panic her even more. She was in an unfamiliar place, with an unfamiliar person, and in an unfamiliar body. What could be worse?

Beautiful bird.

Oh, right. That.

Kai could feel her dignity going away by the second as she looked up at the black haired youth. Though she was quivering as she hid behind the Mexican headwear, she realized that’d she have to do something to save her dignity. With a sigh, she threw the sombrero to the other side of the room, almost knocking over the bed from its precarious position. In a stronger voice than before, which was a challenge in itself considering how little she knew of this voice, she then sought to put herself on the same level as him. It was a childish hope, but in this kind of situation, it was one of the only things she could do.

“Say, Rasui. Do you have any idea who you’re talkin’ to? Anything going on besides ‘oh purdy gurl’ going on in that dashingly handsome head of yours? Now, you promised to explain just what the hell is going on when we got here and here we are. From what I can see, it looks like you have a lot of explaining to do, hm?”

After waking her as lightly as possible, Rasui observed how this unfamiliar girl pushed herself up, in order to stand in front of him. Her movements were stable and elegant on those two thin pale legs, yet it became evident that she required a minute or two to assess the situation before her. It puzzled the young man as to why the expression of shock made its way on her child-like face. Surely she knew what she was here for, unless she was unwillingly forced to or this was her first time. Regardless of which it was, it was far more natural to be embarrassed or scared, rather than startled. Perhaps this was only the first stage of the emotions that would follow and it was simply due to her slow pace of experiencing them that the shock was overwhelmingly painted on her. As the both of them remained silent, the thought of saying something started to pick on the Key’s head, yet it was shooed away by the little lady’s sudden exclaim:

Blitz Sylph/Kai said “Y-you! What the hell do you think you’re… say… ING?!”

For a reason unknown to him, she could not properly finish her sentence and covered her mouth with her small delicate hands.
‘What? Am I that scary?’ Rasui wondered. Turning his head to look behind his shoulder, he noticed an old pocket mirror on the side-desk and easily snatched it. Taking a good look at his messy black hair and vibrant green eyes, despite there being smudges on the glass, he concluded: ‘I look as gorgeous as ever. What’s her problem?’

In the mean time, his new companion had also taken the chance to examine her own body and her slight murmurings attracted the youngster’s attention. Despite her voice being so delicately feminine, soon the ‘gentleman’ was reminded just how loudly a woman could scream.

Blitz Sylph/Kai said “EEEEEEEEEEEEEK!”

This unexpected rise of tension was enough to make the man take one step back and have his neck hairs stand on end. Albeit in human shape, the only human attribute he didn’t possess were the pinnas, the outer ears, yet if he did, he would have reflexively attempted to block any sound entering through them. Seeing as he could not do anything about this irritable noise, the boy gritted his teeth as the wave passed through and resonated in the small room, hitting him from all sides. Apparently this girl was not looking forward to being with him and, even though he figured it might be a Player-only service, the spark of Loki’s annoyance was lit. Not only had he went out of his way to be as kind as possible, but he was currently holding himself from choking this nuisance, and her way of repaying him was to pierce his eardrums and run and hide in the corner, as if he were the most revolting pervert in the city. Using the sombrero hat as a shield, she had crouched down and hid behind it, trying to cover her now embarrassed self. Such cowardice was getting on his nerves. Gaining somebody’s trust was never something he had bothered himself with, especially in a predicament such as this one. That was why he quickly dropped the “gentleman act” and strolled forward toward this bothersome girl.

“Hey, what the hell are you-” he began, his mood explained by the tone of his voice, yet no sooner did he speak when he was interrupted once again.

“Girl, what the hEAl was that?” the woman that lived above asked as audibly as ever.
“I have nooo ideA. Is somebAdy gettin’ molested?”
“Ewww. Oh, well, if the guy’s hot, I wouldn’t mind switchin’ this scumbag for ‘im.”
“Oh, use that! Use that! “Even tha molesta next door is better than you”! Use it when you fight!”
“Girl, you are awe-”

“Will you two shut up already!” Rasui jumped into their conversation loud and clear. Neighborhood relationships were definitely not going to start off well. “I can’t hear my own thoughts because of you! So stop yappin or I’ll personally stitch your mouths with a hound tooth!”

Thankfully the two females ceased their bubbling and resumed their conversation via chat. This pleased the Key, although he could hear the loud tapping of their keyboards from time to time. While he had let out his irritation he had been looking at the ceiling, but now he directed his gaze at the girl in his room, who had yet to come out from behind the big hat. Just as he stepped closer once more, she rose suddenly and threw the sombrero in his general direction, which he easily dodged seeing as it was aimed badly. The intensity of her blush had gradually gone down and was barely visible from her now stern expression. It was obvious she was trying to appear tough or at least serious and it almost made Loki smirk, especially when she spoke.

Blitz Sylph/Kai said “Say, Rasui. Do you have any idea who you’re talkin’ to?”

‘How cheeky.’ he thought ‘She’s pretty annoying, though.’ Afterwards he barely heard anything else his acquaintance said and continued his inner monologue. ‘Man, this sucks. Even though I’m in the Main, my luck’s not all that good, huh. Well, whatever. Might as well find out what’s going on here.’

While in his thoughts, his eyes carefully scanned his near surroundings, searching for anything important, like a note or a hint. His previous scan from above on the bed had resulted to nothing, but this time he managed to find something. It was near the spot where the girl had lain and, oddly enough, it looked familiar. The annoyance was blurting out the last of her words, but he nonchalantly crouched down and picked up the item of his interest. It was a big parallelepiped device, a phone to be precise, and it was the same brand as his new master’s. Without questioning his logic even for a moment, Rasui pressed a button on the side and moved his fingers left and right on the screen, which resulted in the quick unlock of the Huawei Ascend P6. The screen was definitely the exact same one, not to mention the Key Shop app was there. Not waiting a second for the intruder to scroll about, the “welcoming message” arrived and the spirit shoved it away, which automatically lead to the opening of the Map.

“Underground Main, Dodgeball Street, No.13, huh? Not bad. Oh! The first three drinks at “The Swing” are on the house tonight?! SWEET! Those mission awards! Shantav knows how to play his music, as always! But… only 20 Volts… What to do… Where is that dimwitted… Oh...” Rasui commented and realization hit him as sharply and as suddenly as a brick falling on a person’s head. ‘phone...girl...missing idiot...not really missing idiot...’ Even for him putting two and two together without much thought was nothing.

And in that very moment Rasui facepalmed himself so hard with his free hand that it left a red mark that would most likely last for the next few minutes. His shut-in male master was either given a very elaborate cosplay costume or he had been turned into a female. The most important thing that had happened was that the Key had hit in him directly.
‘Great. As if that Loki thing wasn’t enough.’

“Oi, pancake!” he called out to Kai, despite being in such a small room, his hand now off of his face. “From now on, you’re Blitz Sylph! Got that, Blitz? Now hurry it up and grab anything that would fetch a good price.”

Not having the slightest interest in his, correction, her reaction, the young man put the phone in his pocket and started picking things up from the shelves and ground. This was only fair from his viewpoint. His key was most likely in her pocket, after all. If she wanted the phone back, she’d have to give him the key.
From the many items on ‘display’, Loki sorted out those, which he presumed would earn him some Volts and he was willing to give away. The two traffic cones, the old pocket mirror, a water gun, five party hats, three old clocks that sounded about right while being shaken, two fluffy rugs. All of these objects he placed in the Bag by simply tossing them to the side by thinking “in the bag”. They magically vanished before impact with the ground, as if they had been wiped away by an erracer. In the middle of his ‘treasure hunting’, Rasui turned his gaze towards the girl and said:
“Put some things in the Bag, already! Just drop them while thinking “in the bag”, “into the bag” or something with “bag” in it.”

Of course, he was still irritated. His nerves had been messed with by those noisy women and by the fact that the system had played him rather well. His luck was never that good to begin with, but never had he expected a genderbend. Cases such as a change in gender were extremely rare, to an extent that they were considered simply rumors and nothing more. To have one in the flesh right in front of him was both startling and disturbing, but he didn’t pay it much mind. Once he was done collecting materials that could give him profit, it didn’t matter if his new owner was female, male or a chimpanzee in Cell City.

“Great! These should definitely be enough to earn me some Volts!” he said cheerfully with a smile. “Oh, right, about you...” Rasui paused as he looked at Blitz. “It’ll be great if you just sit and played wife.” he stated bluntly. “Then again, you might come in handy at some point. Hmm.” For a moment he remained silent with his hand against his mouth in a ‘thoughtful gesture’, but it didn’t take him long to smile earnestly and look at her with his bright green eyes while grabbing her hand. “Alright! Lets go!”

With that, the young man dashed out of the room, dragging his new partner along, not forgetting to whisper the word “Lock” so that their home’s door may lock itself upon shutting itself.

What awaited them beyond their front door was a long corridor from left to right, composed of many colourful squares. White, orange, blue, green, pink. They were all bright and welcoming, yet many were also cracked and smudged with something. There were other apartment doors to be seen, as expected of an apartment complex, but there was also a hole in the floor at one point, atop of which were a few planks of steel for passers by. This hole also had a ladder attached to it and was frequently used for passing from one floor to the other, even though at the end of each corridor there was a path that lead down.

Rasui turned left and ran while gripping Blitz’s hand, also jumping over the mentioned hole while doing so. He was visibly excited, but knew where he was going. The destination was “Base 5” on BAYX street and the goal - Volts.

Reaching the end of that corridor, they found themselves in another larger one, which also ran from left to right and was the gathering point of many other smaller hallways that contained apartment entrances. There were no doors here. Only two stairwells in an underpass fashion leading down to the lower floor, as well as many colourful signs, squares and graffiti. From this point the youngster turned right, without the need to stop and wonder which way to go. Cables slid in the corners of the halls as the duo turned left when reaching that end, once more entering a similar place. It had fewer entrances and no stairwells at all, but the advertisements were as plentiful as ever and two lizards the size of a human walked on two legs, wearing hoodies and jeans, and conversed about trivial matters. Rasui flew right past them to the left, still having a strong grip on his mas-, pardon, mistress. Another corridor. The signs flashed intimidatingly with their half-life lights, but provided a colouful source of light which was much needed, considering some of the lamps on the ceiling were not working. The scent floating in the air was rather strange, similar to gasoline, but not quite. It tingled the senses and would be rather bothersome for those not used to it. Pieces of broken glass could be seen here and there on the floor and some wires loosely hung above from one end to the other. The Key could not give two seconds of his time to acknowledge these details and ran forward. Soon they would exit the maze that was this building and enter the crowds, something he couldn’t wait for. This time they turned left again, but before reaching the end, Rasui stopped midway and pulled Blitz right and up a flight of stairs. They passed one floor and went higher to the next. From there he intended to go left, but just when he took a few steps, he stopped dead in his tracks when he heard a familiar voice singing.



`Moshimo mata' `ano toki wa' nante iukedo
[ If again, even if that time will say what it will ]

Itsumo kōkaisakinitatazu ni nanda
[ To always regret and lose something ]

It was the echo of a powerful voice, something that had to battle many obstacles in order to reach him. Instantly turning around, Loki dragged the girl in the opposite direction even faster than before. First turn right then turn left and once more to the right, they passed through the brightly-coloured pathways, dodging the occasional zebra walking a microwave or scarecrow on a hoverboard. The corridors gradually became smaller and smaller, until they finally reached their new goal - a dead end. However, instead of there being a wall in front of them, there was an iron parapet and an opening, from which natural light entered. Once they had arrived, Rasui let go of Blitz’s hand and hurried to stand on this terrace and, holding onto the railing, watched with his eyes wide open as the singer continued:

Kando zero sukoshi tarinai atama o
[ My emotions are zero, my head is missing a bit ]

Furishibotte agaite tatte nanimokawaranai no sa
[ Even if I muster, even if I struggle, nothing changes ]

Mitabime no uso wa mō barete shimatta yo
[ The third lie has already been exposed ]

Hirakinaotte sa
[ Be serious]

Shiranai shiranai shiranai
[ I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know. ]

“Amazing! Akiakane’s awesome! Never thought she’s have a LIVE in the UG, though. Today must be my lucky day~” Rasui chirped happily, knowing how expensive an actual ticket in Akasan was.

The terrace was small, yet provided a good view of the surroundings.
The half-red-half-green-haired singer was standing on top of a huge TV screen, on which the video of her song was playing. Other smaller screens, which were scattered about on the buildings and usually advertised products, were showing different parts of the stage and provided a glimpse of the idol.
This was an opening, a place where the sky could be seen between the tall skyscrapers. It was almost circular in shape and wouldn’t have existed if the builders had simply continued up. There was, of course, a building further down below, but it had not increased in size, due to the need of ventilation. Many fans had gathered on the bridges that criss-crossed the air and connected one building to the other, as well as on terraces and on flying cubes and seats. Colouful sticks were being waved in the air while some attempted to sing along, yet Akiakane’s powerful voice deafened them all. She was emotional, as always.

Moshikashite boku dake ga kono sekai
[ What if I were the only one ]

Iru no? Dare mo kare mo onaji-gao o shi teru
[ in this world? Here and there, everyone has the same face ]

`Itsuka mata kono basho de aimashou'
[ “Lets meet again at this place”]

Nante sutekina ndeshou
[ Isn’t it wonderful? ]

Datte
[ But ]

Kireina nagame kara
[ From a peacefully beautiful gaze ]

Miorosu machinami wa
[ the townscape I look down on ]

Kegareta mo no subete
[ has its filthy things all ]

Kireina hikari de gomakashite iru ndakara
[ hidden with beautiful light, you know. ]

Regardless of who you were or where you came from, you would understand the lyrics of the song. When it came to direct conversations, the system translated everything in your own language in your mind. It was as if everyone was speaking in your tongue. Yet when it came to songs, the words remained the same in the language they were written in for the sake of the song’s fluency. However, in a way only the system knew of, everyone would comprehend what was being sung. As if you instantly learned the translation on spot. Unfortunately, while music could be understood in such a way, you could not learn the entire language in this manner. Thus, if you were to go to the world or country using the said language, you would not be able to speak it.

Ne

Ando zero sukoshi yaba sugiru ima o
[ My emotions are zero against the little bit dangerous present ]

Furishibotte agaite tatte nanimokawaranai no sa
[ Even if I muster, even if I struggle, nothing will change ]

Shi-dome no uso wa mō tsūyō shinainara
[ The fourth lie won’t reach anymore ]

Hirakinaotte sa
[ Be serious ]

Yaritai yaritai yaritai
[ I want to, I want to, I want to. ]

“So cool~ Her voice cuts right through you, but the pain is kind of sweet. Don’t you think so, Blitzu~” Rasui commented, toying with his mistress’s name.







--Key Skills ready--
--Player Skills ready--

--Estimated Midpoints--

--0Mari--
--Strength 8--
--Up. Excellent--
--Speed 6--
--Down. Good-Bad--
--Endurance 8--
--Down. Good--
--No current increase from Passive skill--

--Librarian--
--Speed 6--
--Up. Good--
-- Endurance 6--
--Up. Good--


The abovementioned details were displayed on 0Mari’s phone and sounded in both his and the Librarian’s minds through telepathy. Their team was in a dangerous territory and already in their first battle.

The junker that had collided with a book rolled on the floor before pushing itself up by using the two limbs on its back for support. It snapped angrily and lashed its tail, which made the rest of the pack even more hostile. One of them leapt in the air and grabbed the metal spike that the Player had thrown at them, as if it were playing fetch, until it threw it back with a great amount of force. There was no real aim whatsoever, simply a general direction.
During the very instant the object was thrown into the air, one monster leapt towards Bookman, whilst two others ran below to use their beartraps to bite his legs. Four others made sure to surround the two-legged beings, whilst the remaining three aimed for 0Mari, two using their jaws and the last - the axe on the end of its tail.

All the while, the cat with the TV head remained on the roof of the cube building, “watching” what was happening.

Things were quickly getting confusing and yet, in this strange confusion, Ruée felt a strange feeling of pure bliss. One hand hand, she was confused as to why she was suddenly falling, as this had never been explained to her, but on the other, she was ecstatic that she actually felt something. The wind pushing against her… what was it called…? The surface of her body? No, that was too long and convoluted. There had to be a simpler, more understandable term that she had either forgotten or had no knowledge of to begin with. In any case, the wind, however powerful and just short of painful it was, was quite enjoyable as it hit her with the strength of many… things. Again, she was at a loss for a term. Spending just over two hundred years not uttering a word did have quite a few consequences. Lucie made a mental note to do some research with the goal of enrichening her vocabulary as soon as the opportunity allowed itself to be attainable.

For the moment, however, Lucie refrained from saying a thing and instead closed her eyes as she fell, fell, fell and fell. It felt like a long time, though in reality, this sensation probably didn’t last nearly as long as she felt it did, at most, only a few passing moments, though she would probably be able to remember this for the rest of her life; as the very moment she could finally feel her own body, as the first time she knew she was alive. She didn’t dare open her eyes and she didn’t need to. Everything was there and she would let the moment go by before worrying herself with things like her own appearance. If you asked anyone else who had experienced this falling phenomenon for the first time, they would probably express a good amount of discomfort in recalling the idea. But for Lucie, who had never once felt her own body in her entire existence, it was pure elation.

Pure elation, right up until the moment when she felt it no longer and instead of hearing the sounds of gales assaulting her eardrums, she heard nothing but silence. An earthy smell wafted through the air and… was that feeling in her legs that of standing on her own two legs? She couldn’t tell. Her eyes were still closed and since she still wanted to hold that feeling of pure bliss close to her, if only for a millisecond more, she kept them firmly closed. Besides, it was more fun to guess where she was simply based on what she couldn’t see, only smell, hear and feel. The air and atmosphere was not unlike that of an evergreen forest, though Ruée didn’t realize this for herself, having never been to a place where thousand year old pine trees rose from the earth, ferns growing underneath their grizzled trunks and the gently humid air leaving a wispy fog that would run through the woods. In all, though, despite the exact feeling being unknown to her, the key felt a surely calm feeling, one that, unlike the complete lack of feeling that existed in the shop, actually had substance to it, making it feel all the more comforting, even though it was an entirely new and unknown feeling to her.

She couldn’t hear much of anything. Sounds of smaller wildlife dominated, even from within what Lucie assumed was a closed area, based on the acoustics and general feeling she could deduct from the lack of any breeze or any other tell-tale factor that would point to her actually being outside. Even though she had never really felt such a thing, it was easy to tell for someone who had spent a long time past the bicentenary of her “birth” in her own thoughts, deducing things based on what she could figure out by herself and those fleeting words she had heard so many years ago. Though, if this is what a closed place had to offer, she could only imagine what feelings and impressions she would feel once she had left this place and ventured “outside”.

However, this chain of thoughts and ideas was quickly broken by a few sounds of what Ruée could only assume was not only slight fatigue, but a bit of confusion too. They certainly weren’t words and she quickly realized just who these noises were coming from; none other than her new companion, River North II; a name which Ruée still couldn’t figure out the meaning of for absolute sure. Speaking of which…

River North II said
“Ruée! - ouch -”

“Hmm?” Lucie let out a small sound before she finally felt what it was to be in pain for the first time in her existence. Her eyes still closed, she couldn’t help but cry out quietly as her body was brought from its former standing position to suddenly being part of a disorganized heap on the ground, most of her body feeling bruised. It had only happened within a moment, but she could easily remember every feeling of it. The warmth of another’s body, the feeling of losing her balance, the all too familiar feeling of falling and, the worst part, hitting the floor and feeling a powerful shock throughout her body. Some of those feelings, though, were obviously meant in affection and Lucie felt a chill roll through her body as she thought of possible reasons for the unfortunately consequential embrace that had her on the floor and in more than a little douleur.

“Aïe…” Ruée uttered as she lay on the ground, finally opening her eyes to look up at the ceiling and its fan, in all their complete and utter averageness. Though, needless to say, it was a new sight to her and she could only wonder just what the strange spinning thing on the ceiling was used for. However, she did take slight satisfaction in the fact that her deduction that she had been in a unopen area had been correct. To be frank, she was quite surprised she had been correct, but it make her happy to find that her skills of deduction would actually come to use in this new world. However, she had no way of predicting just how her mistress’ appearance would change in this place. Gone was the mature and yet immature look of before; an assortment of beautiful colors and tones had taken their place. Though she looked slightly more mature, the rainbow of different shades of varying colors greatly changed the impression Ruée got from her. Now, she couldn’t really tell just what kind of person Julia was. She had a slight of idea of what, based on her recent actions and words, but with this new enigmatic change, Lucie couldn’t grasp just what was the main feeling she should be getting from the woman’s appearance.

Even more mysterious was the appearance of the room they were in. Unlike the especially average aesthetics of the room Lucie had seen through the screen of the Lumia, this room gave reasons to the feelings she had thought of before when she had stood like a statue with her eyes closed, allowing her other senses to tell her about this room. Flora grew throughout the room, in obviously organic, natural ways, as plants tended to do in any world. River North II was just as confused as the key was by the appearance of the room, based on her stilly worded question that Lucie had no way of answering.

Even more stupefying was when her companion attempted to apologize for tackling her, the rounded and organic plate of wood that stood in the place of a whole in the wall, most likely a door, flew open as a loud woman burst through it. Ruée leapt off the ground in surprise as a avian… thing, burst into the room.

??? said
“Darlings~ Welcome to Alona Hotel~ How are you feeling~? Do you need more towels~?”

All Lucie’s ideas of what people would look like in this world suddenly went out the window. Sure, this thing which couldn’t even be described as a human except for the fact that it stood on two legs had a generally humanoid posture, but it had feathers, which humans didn’t tend to have from her own admittedly small amount of experience. Fortunately, since neither of the two newcomers could answer the beast, it spoke up again.

Mrs. Paunova said
”Oh, excuse me, excuse me. My name is Mrs. Paunova and I am part of the staff here at our lovely Alona Hotel. Ask me anything you wish, darlings~”

For once, Lucie actually felt compelled to speak up, though, it wasn’t the most kind set of words.

“What are you, espèce de oiseau...?” Her voice, though generally unused, definitely had a tone of distrust to it…