Kiera Johnson is the novel’s creative, inclusive, and secretive protagonist and primary narrator. The 17-year-old high school senior sports a twist-out hairstyle and “boring black frames, with prescription lenses” (16). In her day-to-day life as an honors student at Jefferson Academy, she believes her mostly white classmates see her as “the quiet nerdy Black girl [...] with the big hair” (262). Unbeknownst to her fellow students, Kiera uses her impressive creativity to create a virtual-reality game that offers an online sanctuary to about half a million Black players globally. Kiera keeps her identity as Emerald a secret even from her loved ones because she doesn’t think they will understand or appreciate her creation. For example, some of the game’s cards feature African American Vernacular English, which Kiera’s mother doesn’t want spoken in her house. In her day-to-day life, Kiera confronts limiting ideas about how Black people should act and express themselves, and she strives to make SLAY a safe and welcoming community for all Black gamers:

I love SLAY so much because we’re a mutually empathetic collective. As we duel, as we chat, there’s an understanding that ‘your Black is not my Black’ and ‘your weird is not my weird’ and ‘your beautiful is not my beautiful,’ and that’s okay.