Korori Hitomi >> Cosmic Ether
25th May, 2025 // baltimore city, maryland, usa
o level 1, classless >> level 3, conjurer
o unknown foyer >> floor 1; plains
Loud, repetitive beeps echoed throughout the semi-empty, studio apartment. The irritating noise went on for a few minutes as it's owner struggled to rouse herself out of bed, but after those few moments a dainty hand came down on the alarm clock, finally silencing it. A small frame rose from underneath a galaxy-print blanket, dark brown eyes glanced over at the numbers appearing on the device, 11:45pm. A loud groan erupted from the woman's mouth as her body plopped back down onto the queen sized mattress, space blanket flying back over her head. A welcoming meow rang out into the open room, causing the girl to poke her face out from her blanket hide-out, a fluffy white face greeting her.
"Good evening, Lulu." She said in a groggy voice as a thin arm extended out to pat the cat on the head. The small cat purred furiously and closed her eyes upon being pet, then jumped down off of the mattress and trotted off towards her food bowl, meowing continuously as she circled the empty bowl.
"I know, I' know." The girl muttered as she rolled out of bed, her space blanket wrapped around her thin frame. She slowly trudged into the kitchen area of her apartment, which was only a few feet away from her mattress, grabbed the bag of cat food from inside a cabinet and took a scoop out for the hungry feline.
"There, happy now?" She questioned the cat as the animal hurriedly scarfed down the food, not even minding the fact that she was being pet on her back.
After taking care of the hungry beast, Korori turned her attention to her own stomach, which erupted in growls like a starved monster. The noises it made were no surprise to the girl, along with the sickening feel of acid eating away at her stomach lining. That's what happened to the digestive system when someone neglected to feed it, the organ found it's own food, that being the organ itself. The girl tossed back a few tums and began to rummage through her mostly bare cabinets, bagged rice and canned vegetables being one of the few things within them. With no luck in finding something easy and quick to make, the young woman turned to the fridge next. Inside it contained a few apples, mangos and kiwis that she swiped from the grocery store, some rice and vegetables she had prepared a few days ago and a pitcher of Koolaid with no sugar. With the limited choices, Korori opted for an apple, her nose turned up at the rice bowl that she was sick of eating. She bite into the sweet fruit and held it with her teeth while using her now free hand to fill a glass with water from her sink, her other hand clutched firmly around the blanket to make sure it didn't fall off.
Once food and drink were taken care of, the woman slowly made her way over to her gaming center. Which was a computer monitor set on top of a nightstand with the tower underneath, a box full of books set next to each side of said stand with a mouse on one and a keyboard on top another. Korori plopped down onto a ripped up beanbag chair that sat in front of the setup, she sunk in slightly and once settled booted up the computer. As she waited for the machine to turn on she began to eat her apple that was still being held between her teeth. It was a pleasant experience to say the least as opposed to eating the same rice bowl that she had been for the past few months. Her previous diet of ramen noodles had betrayed her by sending her stomach into bouts of nausea and chest pains. By order of her doctor, Korori was to switch to a less processed grain, hold the salt, and include vegetables as well as fruits into her diet. However, being dirt poor didn't exactly lead to a very healthy palette of food. Her measly pay check was a little over enough to pay her rent, electricity/water and internet bills. What was left was to buy enough food to keep her alive, barely.
With a flick of her wrist, Korori opened up her HUD, scrolling through the CLOUD fourms. They were all flooded with conversations about the new announcement that would be given today, in less than five minutes now. As the gamer sat there, she too began to feel the excitement that she had been pushing aside the past seven days. The day of the pre-announcement she was there, of course she was, CLOUD had become her second life. She spent more time in the digital world than the real one. Reality held nothing for her except bills, high expectations and misery. CLOUD held an endless amount of possibilities and enjoyment, the woman spent every available hour in the fantasy realm. So when she received the news of a new patch and a strange silver key appeared in her inventory, the girl couldn't contain her energy, instead she pushed the entire event out of her mind until today or else she wouldn't have gotten anything done that week. Now though, she could fully indulge in her digital world as much as she pleased. Korori had made sure to work overtime all this week at her waitress job so that she could take off the next three days, so to be able to enjoy whatever this ICARUS had in store for the community of CLOUD. Before beginning her digital experience, Korori opened up her message center.
To: Aaron
Re: Korori
<<it's almost time! are you by your lappy???
>>duh of course i am. called in sick. deff not missing this :)
<<good, i didn't want to be alone this time ;)
>>lol i'll be there
A smile tugged at the corners of the girl's lips, Korori didn't have many friends, but she was glad for the one she was able to snag.
Brown eyes now stared at the clock across the room,
"One more minute..." The girl whispered, her breath caught within her throat as she counted down the seconds in her head. Once she hit five her head shifted back over to the computer screen, hands hovering over her keyboard.
"Four, three, two, on-"
COSMIC ETHER IS NOW LOGGED IN.
The digital world appeared on the monitor within a few seconds without Korori even having to login, a giant foyer on screen with millions of players in seats, the lights dim.
"What the..." Korori stared at the unknown castle room with confusion, it seemed as though almost every CLOUD player in the world was there. Why were they all seated? What area were they in? The gamer liked to think that she explored just about every inch of CLOUD, but the foyer was not familiar to her in the least. She tried to move her DAEMON, but something had Cosmic locked in place. Korori quickly brought up a private chat channel.
PRIVATE CHAT
[Cosmic Ether] dude are you here?
[TheVexedMan] yea what the hell is this place? is your daemon locked too?
[Cosmic Ether] i was just about to ask you the same thing...
[Cosmic Ether] damn, i'm excited about this update and all, but i don't like not being able to move
[TheVexedMan] it'll be ok. maybe it's to prevent players from messing around while the update is being announced?
[Cosmic Ether] yea, maybe...
[Cosmic Ether] as soon as we're mobile, come find me.
[TheVexedMan] sure thing :)
Korori minimized the chat and focused on the scene before her, waiting for this ICARUS to show and within minutes of her arrival in CLOUD, he appeared. The lights flickered on and an enormous demonic DAEMON entered the area, center stage.
"Greetings, CLOUD members! I am your host, ICARUS, and I officially welcome you to your new home! Today marks the day of revolution, the day that CLOUD truly changes the world. To celebrate this wondrous occasion, we have prepared something special for you, our members who have supported us for every single second that CLOUD has existed. CLOUD has always worked to meld the line between our online selves and reality and now, what we do behind a screen will have so much more of an impact on our lives than ever before."
The fur on Cosmic's body began to raise, an uneasy feeling beginning to fester deep within her.
PRIVATE CHAT
[Cosmic Ether] aaron, i don't like the sound of this icarus guy...
[TheVexedMan] oh thats just your un-trusting side showing. everything will be fine
[Cosmic Ether] were you automatically logged in?
[TheVexedMan] yea. i did think that was a little odd but with all this happening so fast i didnt really have time to think about it
[Cosmic Ether] ...
[TheVexedMan] really korori. i think everything will be alright
After the last message was received, Korori was about to response, but ICARUS continued with his speech. She once again minimized the chat, but kept the cursor over top it for quick access.
"You may recall receiving a special item last week; a silver key which is individual to your DAEMON. Your KEY is no longer just an item. It is your identity. Embedded within the coding of your KEY are your details, and not just your name and birth date. Passwords, bank accounts, social security numbers, credit card details... everything you have ever done is now recorded in one location. Just by equipping and using the KEY as a regular item, you can access all of this. And not just your own. By equipping and using another member's KEY, you are able to access their details just as easily as your own. As they are non-trading items, the only way to obtain another member's key is by killing their DAEMON."
Cosmic hissed at the great beast before her, she knew this ICARUS was not to be trusted. The automatic login was the first tip of something being fishy, along with the locked DAEMONS. Swiftly her little paw-hands grabbed the unique key from the pouch fastened to her waist. The item was a thin, antique skeleton key, her username neatly engraved on it. She held it delicately within her paws, everything that she had owned, bought, created, all of it was now accessible through this small key.
Korori stared at the screen, struck by an array of emotions that crashed into her like a tidal wave. What did this mean? Why would ICARUS do this and how was he able to? Was this even legal? The girl didn't have much to her name, but no matter what it was hers to own. She would let no one take what little she had. After this upsetting news it seemed as though the rest of the gaming world erupted in protest, but could do nothing about it.
"Other important changes have happened in CLOUD. All levels have been reset to zero and all items aside from your KEY have been removed and deleted from all accounts. Your DAEMON has been reset to factory settings. All restrictions have been removed from all locations which means PvP is allowed in all areas aside from the CLOUDLANDS lounge, which will boot you out after an hour after entering. Also, it is now impossible to log out your DAEMON. However, if you are killed and your key is taken from you, you will respawn in CLOUDLANDS and you are free to try and win your key back."
With this bit of information, Korori frantically opened up her inventory and character tab. The demonic DAEMON wasn't joking, everything was gone. The girl jumped up from her seat, keyboard dropping to the floor.
"What the hell! All my time wasted! What the- arrrggghhh, damm!t, damm!t!" Korori raged in a circle for a few moments, ranting and screaming obscenities before settling back down in her beanbag, ICARUS' voice forcing her back to the screen.
"Are you unhappy with your new world that I have so graciously given you? Fine! Come face me then! CLOUD has been converted into a new domain, a hundred story castle! Right now, the CLOUD you know resides on the first floor. Once you defeat the boss which rests within the new STORM dungeon, the stairs to the next floor will reveal, granting you new opportunities to protect yourself, or to make yourself stronger to defeat and take from others. I will be waiting for you in the hundredth-floor dungeon. Defeat me, and take back what you held so dearly, what you took for granted."
"Yes I'm fricken unhappy!" Korori shouted at her computer screen, wishing so badly that she had a DREAMSCAPE or at least a mic. Her small hands balled up into tight fists, wanting so badly to lash out at the massive DAEMON. All she could do was watch and listen with the millions of disgruntled players.
"A hundred stories and no logging out. How the hell are you suppose to get anything done in the real worl-" At that moment Korori's mind caught up with the real life crisis this event just created. Everyone's passwords, bank accounts, credit cards, social security numbers, their identity, their life was now ingrained into a single small key. Said key was able to be taken by any other user that defeated the item's owner. That meant that anyone could say, swipe the key of a multimillionaire and become one themselves, just by playing a game.
"B-but that would be messed up..." The gamer pondered on the idea for a few moments, would it really be? That's kinda how the real world worked anyway, stepping on the toes of the weak and unlucky to make it to the top. This really wasn't all that different and on CLOUD, with every DAEMON back to factory settings, all players had a fair chance. Would it really be that wrong? Korori battled with the choice that this new epidemic presented her with.
As the girl struggled with how she would proceed through the game, she noticed that the small key within her paws was changing color. It went from a plain silver tone to a beautiful dark, slate grey hue that emitted a slight glow.
"What the..." Korori gazed at the computer screen, just inches from her face. ICARUS' eyes seemed to stare right back at her, or rather right at Cosmics'.
"There is however, a catch. I have spread out amongst yourselves unique, coloured keys. These have been given out to several random, but now special players. These coloured keys are important for unlocking the doors to bosses and all of these coloured keys will be required to open the final door. To you players who have my special keys, I have given you no choice." ICARUS grinned, showing the audience a set of silver keys, one of which looks extremely similar to your own. If you look closely, even your name is etched onto the side! "I have your key. Your identity is mine. Come and claim it back."
Korori's jaw dropped,
"That bastard..." She really didn't know what else to say, the gamer was so strung out from all this craziness and from the decisions she would soon have to make. Quickly she brought the chat back up.
PRIVATE CHAT
[Cosmic Ether] aaron! are you listening to all this???
[TheVexedMan] yea...
[Cosmic Ether] do you have a colored key???
[TheVexedMan]no. you?
[Cosmic Ether] yea
[TheVexedMan] damn
[TheVexedMan] whats the plan? i cant lose my key. all my college funds...
[Cosmic Ether] don't worry, i won't let that happen. we have to meet up asap.
[TheVexedMan] wait your key is colored? that means
[TheVexedMan] he has your identity...
[Cosmic Ether] yea, i know. it's not like he got much anyway
[TheVexedMan] yea but...
[TheVexedMan] what are you gonna do without money?
[Cosmic Ether] come on aaron, like i had any to begin with. don't worry about me, it's your key we gotta protect. you're the one with sh!t to lose. i'll be coming into some new cash flow as soon as cosmic can move.
[TheVexedMan] korori
[TheVexedMan] be careful
[Cosmic Ether] aren't i always?
With that the chat was exited out of, Korori's full attention on ICARUS, her hands readily hovering over mouse and keyboard.
"So, which has become more important to you? Your online or offline self? Do you protect what you have or rebuild your identity from scratch? Thank-you for your time and enjoy yourselves at our new update celebrations. Have a nice morning, day, night and evening."
The demonic DAEMON disappeared and in his place, a glowing beam of light. Korori immediately recognized the beam as a portal, just before being unlocked a message popped up on her HUD.
PRIVATE CHAT
[TheVexedMan] destination portal?
[Cosmic Ether] you got it.
[TheVexedMan] see you there cos
A smirk tugged at her mouth, she loved when Aaron went along with the roleplay aspect of CLOUD, after all when Korori was in game she was no longer herself, she was Cosmic Ether.
The gamer had just enough time to read the message before every DAEMON in the foyer erupted in panic. They all began running, raging and pillaging each other. Some clustered together, no idea how to react to the situation. Cosmic turned her attention away from those types of players and instead focused on the brutes attacking the unprepared. With a quick whip of her slender body, the dragon began to maneuver her way around seats and players, running on all fours. Normally she would fly, but upon seeing her empty inventory she knew that wasn't possible. Within just a few minutes the DAEMON had made her way over to a group of three, two medium fox inspired players that had ganged up on a panda cub. Though she was outnumbered, the players were too focused on the panda DAEMON they intended to attack. Cosmic slithered behind the two and attacked swiftly, biting and slashing at the back of one until his health dropped to zero. The now dematerialized player's partner jerked around quickly, attempting an attack of his own by swinging a silver key around. Cosmic was caught off guard by the weapon, just barely ducking in enough time to dodge it. With some swift key strokes, Korori equipped her own key and lashed out at the player. The glow from her colored key made the DAEMON stop in his tracks, a little awestruck. That was all the dragon needed, she lashed out at the two-legged fox with a few combos before striking down on his head. Pixels scattered everywhere and now that the threat was taken care of, Cosmic turned to gather the keys.
You defeated XxJadeFoxX & PeachDrizzlexx
2x Item(s): XxJadeFoxX's key, PeachDrizzlexx's key
Level Up! You are now level 2!
Korori forcefully let out her breath, which she had been unintentionally holding the entire battle. Having your whole life ride on whether or not your digital self died made playing this game quite intense, even with everyone at level 1. The panda DAEMON that she had saved, shot up off the ground and began to express how grateful they were to be rescued, but Cosmic was already on the move, slate grey key in hand. She had thought about unequipping it, but the danger of being attacked with no weapon was too high. The dragon would just have to stay unnoticed to avoid others realizing that she had a colored key, but that wasn't too much of a problem, after all, Cosmic was only about three feet tall while standing. The odds of someone spotting her were slim, however, her speed was not what it used to be, so caution was extremely necessary.
It wasn't long before someone noticed a slender figure wielding a special key, unfortunately for Cosmic, the player was quite large. The tiger DAEMON called her out and immediately began peddling after the dragon on all fours. Korori spotted the player chasing after her, abruptly stopping and turning to face the challenger. While Cosmic waited for the player to catch up, she equipped one of the silver keys that she had just picked up. Now the dragon DAEMON wielded two keys, causing the gamer to laugh as old memories from one of her favorite childhood games came to mind.
The tiger stampeded towards the readied dragon and lunged once close enough. Cosmic side stepped, but her challenger was quicker than she expected. As soon as the feline landed back on all fours, a large back paw kicked out at her, catching the side of her cheek. Korori watched as her health went down the slightest, but reacted immediately, slashing at the DAEMON on screen with a flurry of blows. She was able to land a few good hits, but the tiger would not go down as easily as the fox players, landing a few of their own. The beast swung at the keys, blocking some of her attacks. Cosmic jumped back a few feet from her opponent, sticking out a pink tongue. The tiger growled in annoyance and rashly lunged again, this time the dragon slide under the big cat, cutting it's underbelly as she did so. It rained pixels for a few seconds before the player disappeared entirely. Cosmic smirked as she picked up yet another key, but it soon faded as she noticed that a quarter of her health bar had disappeared through the course of battle.
You defeated Circus_Freak33
Item(s): Circus_Freak33's key
"Ok, time to get the hell out of here." Korori turned her DAEMON's view to the glowing portal at the center of the foyer. She had enough keys for now, chances were that the players she had defeated had some money, some where. The gamer would live off of that until she could get her own identity back and if she needed more resources, well, there were millions of players that weren't able to log out. Plus, the panic in the room was escalating at a high rate, she could already see the bigger players grouping up and attacking the small ones, her being one of them. Dying was not on her agenda today and now she would play it safe.
Cosmic unequipped both of her weapons and resumed her run on all fours, she weaved around legs and tails, hiding in the shadows and cracks when needed. It took some time, but finally she could see the portal. Of course, it was guarded by an array of low leveled monsters, maybe she could find some weapons or a class. The dragon decided that charging in was the best course of action, her sneak level was pretty much none existent so trying to... sneak was useless. She reequipped her keys and focused on a large, mutated, fiery red salamander monster. Cosmic charged at the beast, smacked it on the side of the face with one key and on top the head with another. The monster lashed out with it's tail, but Cosmic front flipped over top it's body, swinging down with both keys as she was about to land. Luckily the salamander dropped an item.
"Sweet!" Korori shouted at the screen, hoping that it would be the Assassin Class so she could start rebuilding her character.
You defeated fire salamander
Item(s): Conjurer Class, 5 Spheres
Level Up! You are now level 3!
The gamer face palmed with both hands,
"Oh no..." she mumbled. Korori had never had much luck with magical classes, not to mention she didn't really enjoy them. Being an Assassin was kinda her thing, not to mention went with Cosmic's character. How could she regain her master mercenary status while being a Conjurer? What did they even do? It was something the girl would have to figure out later. Right now wasn't the time to be discouraged about a class. Korori regained her composure, hands quickly settling back into their positions. Cosmic equipped her new class with haste. Now the dragon wore a typical witch hat, a double layered tunic and a simple leather belt with a pouch attached. Equipped to both her hands was a Weathered Cane. Korori knew that the cane wasn't going to be much help if used as a physical weapon, so she quickly checked her abilities and assigned a number to the one that she had, Stone.
"Ok, let's see what you can do as a Conjurer, Cosmic." Korori focused her DAEMON onto the monsters around her, which seemed to have noticed her before she noticed them. Thankfully, it was only two monsters as many of them were already attacking other players. With a tap of the '1' key, Cosmic began to cast her only spell. As soon as she started casting, one of the monsters, a feral dog, registered her action, attacking her with it's mouth wide open. The beast got within a foot of the dragon before getting pelted with stones, it's health bar depleting considerably. However, that did not stop it's attack and it quickly bit down into Cosmic's shoulder. The DAEMON was pushed back some, but now the dog was within her little arms reach. She smacked the dog a few times with her cane, taking the rest of it's life. The monster shattered into pixels and through it's desecrated body leaped a zombified... cat. Cosmic didn't have enough time to dodge the small creature entirely, but was able to side step out of a direct hit. Instead the cat caught her arm with it's sharp claws.
"Oh this is ridiculous! Damn, I want my speed back!" Korori shouted, her volume spooking the white cat that had settled beside her.
"Sorry, Lulu!" She didn't have enough time to see where the cat scattered off to, but felt better verbally apologizing.
The zombie cat was now right beside Cosmic, hissing through a decaying jaw. The dragon took the opportunity to smack it in the side with her cane, like a golf ball, flinging the monster into the air and causing it to land a few feet away. The beast took some falling damage and now Cosmic was able to use her Stone spell once more. It took only a few seconds to complete the action, the cat unable to make it back to it's target before being bombarded with stones. In seconds the monster busted into pixels. Korori let out a heavy sigh as she gazed at her less than half of a health bar.
You defeated feral dog & zombie cat
Item(s): x1 fang, x1 eyeball, 2 Spheres
Now that she had a few moments to breath, Korori quickly opened up the private chat channel.
PRIVATE CHAT
[Cosmic Ether] vex, where are you??? i'm at the portal.
[Cosmic Ether] please don't tell me you died...
Nervously, Korori swirled her DAEMON's view in a full circle, looking for her friend in the hoards of players and monsters. A group of mutated rats in the distance was quickly making their way over to her.
PRIVATE CHAT
[TheVexedMan] hey sorry i was fighting off some players. this is really tough
[Cosmic Ether] vex! thank goodness, i can't sit around this portal, i have a damn conjurers class, i'll meet you on the other side. be careful!
[TheVexedMan] a conjurer? lol that will be interesting to see but yea go ahead i'll meet you there
[Cosmic Ether] you better!
Korori minimized the chat and Cosmic jumped through the glowing blue beam, within seconds she was transported to an outside area. Her HUD popped up with a message:
'Welcome to Floor 1: Plains.'
"How original." Korori smirked at the lack of creativeness this ICARUS had, but was happy to be out of that overcrowded foyer. The gamer motioned her DAEMON to glance around at her surroundings, finding no safe place to hide other than the tall grasses that littered the entirety of the plains. Being so small, Cosmic was able to hide amongst the grass while sitting, bringing up her spell tab once seated.
"Oh nice, Cure." She moved the spell over to the number '2' slot on her quicktab bar and proceeded to heal herself, health bar filling completely.
"Well, at least this class won't be too useless." Korori muttered, thinking about what to do next, her right index finger pressing against her template while her left hand held an elbow.
"I need to find a fighter type. Some brute strength would definitely be helpful." With that thought she quickly pulled the chat back up.
PRIVATE CHAT
[Cosmic Ether] hey did you get a class?
No response.
"Hmmm, he must still be in the foyer..." Korori felt terrible for leaving Aaron, but she knew that there was nothing she could have done. It would have taken some time to look for him with all those players, like trying to find a needle in a haystack, but still she wished that there was someway to help him. All she could do now was wait, which wasn't really one of her strong points. The dragon pulled up a quest tab, which had three new ones highlighted. Korori pondered on which one would be the safest, yet most fulfilling for Cosmic. She was alone, so entering a place titled 'Deep Forest' didn't seem like a smart idea. Little Town didn't seem very appearing either, considering the player only had 7 Spheres to her name, no where close to what an item would cost.
"Maybe the village will have more quests and some low leveled monsters roaming around." Korori clicked the quest and made it her main objective.
PRIVATE CHAT
[Cosmic Ether] hey, when you come through the portal meet me at the village near Green Hill.
[TheVexedMan] k
That simple letter made the girl's eyes light up, it meant Aaron was still alive, he just must be very busy with staying that way. As long as he still had his key, Korori felt better about the situation, they had split before and did well on their own, she was confident in the boy's abilities to go solo. After all, before the update they were skilled mercenaries.
Cosmic waited for a few minutes for her mana pool to regenerate and once filled, got up from her relaxed position and looked at the map. Coincidentally, Green Hill was the closet place from her location.
"Sweet." The dragon DAEMON began walking toward her destination, cane leaning against her small shoulder.