The Game Master's hologram faded away, leaving those in the throne room in stunned silence. It wasn't long though, before one of the Dwarven players snapped out. "What an asshole! What gives him the right to fuck with peoples' lives like this?! What is it all for in the end?!" A few players tried to shush the Dwarf in case the Game Master was still listening, but he ignored them to spit out. "How does he expect us to win this? Did you see what that boss could do?! He was just the first one!" Mark gently took Sean's arm, leading him a short way from the others to whisper to him softly. "Did you catch what the Game Master said?" Sean tried to recall. He'd been so shaken up by the Game Master killing the other player that he barely focused on the details. Giving Mark a tiny shrug, Mark informed him uneasily. "He called us 'Gamers.' Like he knew..." Sean scoffed a bit, before relaxing enough to retort. "Mark, we are. What is so suspicious about that?"

Mark shook his head, glancing around as he told Sean coolly. "The Game Master said there were only so many gamers in this game. People that got early access, like us. The other half are new players. Young. Old. People that don't play games for a living or often enough to be called gamers." As that sank in, Sean exhaled out uneasily. "You're right. But... he could have just been speaking generally." Mark stepped away from Sean, calling out to the group over the chatter of the others. "HEY! Does anyone here have less than a year's worth of gaming under their belt? Doesn't matter the game. Raise your hand." The others all blinked and looked around. Not a single person raised their hand. One of the female elves shot back at Mark curiously. "Why are you asking?" Mark scanned the group with his eyes, answering honestly. "I'm trying to figure something out. So, everyone here has a couple years worth of gaming experience? No one here is a noob to playing games similar to this?"

A few people smirked or chuckled to themselves, shaking their heads. Kol moved through the crowd to get closer to them as Mark turned to Sean and stated in a clear voice. "He knew we were all gamers. The Game Master's experiment could be testing us." The crowd burst into loud chatter, until Kol yelled out to silence them and then asked Mark swiftly. "Why would he care about that? It's a game. Gamers like us will dominate it. Casual players won't stand a chance without a respawn mechanic." Mark nodded, then replied confidently. "I don't know. But I think it is something worth noting. If he is testing Hardcore Gamers against Casual Players... Every boss we kill could mean something bad for them." On of the human players chuckled sarcastically, blurting out seriously. "Then let's make sure that we are on the winning side. No Casual Player is going to make me a vegetable! If this is a team based thing, then we should win this hands down!"

Mark stormed up to the man, towering over him in both height and muscle as an Aesir. Glaring at the man, Mark snapped out loudly over the laughter of the man's friends. "Don't you get it! This is not a game! This effects peoples' lives! Children!" The human snorted, glaring back at up at Mark as he sneered out bitterly. "I don't know them. They shouldn't be playing a game like this if they don't have the skill for it. That is THEIR problem. Not mine, old man. I'm here to win the game." Mark's fingers curled into fists, when he growled out at him. "You think you're so tough... but you aren't worth the shit you're made of." The man shoved Mark, yelling out like a preening peacock. "You wanna go, old man?! I'll kick your ass! I'll end you right here!" His buddies started to surround Mark, until Kol and a few other players stepped in to separate them. Sean rushed up to Mark's defense as Kol shouted to those around them. "Knock it off! Save it for the boss fights or none of us are getting out of here, assholes!"

One of the female elves by Kol leaned closer to look at Mark and Sean with narrowed eyes, before exclaiming in excitement. "Oh, my stars! It's Markiplier!" Sean's heart fell into the pit of his stomach as the others turned to look at them more closely. Backing up a step or two, Mark tried to block Sean from view as he uttered out under his breath. "Oh, fuck..." Those that didn't know who they were asked others near them. While those that did began to stalk forward toward him before rushing in with excited squeals. Within seconds, they were surrounded and bombarded with questions and praises. Sean pressed his back to Mark's as people reached out to touch him, causing him to whine out nervously. "Mark?!" Mark reached back to touch Sean's hip, anxiously telling him over the fans. "Ya. I know..." The fans closed in, talking over each other until Sean felt unsafe and started to fear being torn apart by them or getting hurt as they started to fight to get closer to him.

Just when they fans started to throw punches, a sudden hiss followed by a loud 'BANG' blinded everyone with a bright light. Sean coughed as thick smoke filled the room, shrouding them from everyone. Mark grabbed Sean's belt, yanking him closer as someone grabbed Mark and began racing him from the room. The moment they were outside, Sean's coughing grew bad enough that Mark hefted him over his shoulder and dashed off into a run. Ahead of Mark, a soft female voice told them calmly. "This way. It's right here. Hurry." Reaching the teleportation vessel, Mark grabbed Sean's hand and slammed it over the center to let it impale both their hands at once. Appearing beyond the barrier, Mark groaned but started moving quickly down the steps and threw toward the tavern. Just as he was running up the steps to head into town though, the girl caught up and snatched his arm. Yanking him off in another direction as she told him over her shoulder. "No! Not that way! This way! Follow me! They'll look for you there!"

The girl rushed them over to what looked like a water pipe, coaxing Mark inside before slamming the iron gate shut behind them and calling out a spell that Sean didn't catch with his coughing. Mark skidded to a stop as he came to a busted pipe that was spraying water like a waterfall began to shimmer and show an image of someplace else in Midgard. Mark hesitated to enter, but the girl slammed into him to shove them through before the spell ended. Stepping out onto the other side, Mark fell off the rocks of a large waterfall and into a beautiful little lake. Getting to his feet in the water, Mark sputtered and coughed up water as he helped Sean up. Stumbling from the pond, they took a minute to catch their breath. While the girl swam in the water a bit and chuckled out. "Woo. That was close. You guys ok?" Turning around to get a look at her, Sean raised an eyebrow. She wasn't what he expected. She was young. Couldn't have been older than seven.

She had chosen the Dark Elf race. Giving her a similar look to himself, except her skin was a soft purple color and her hair was a short jet black with leafy green streaks to it. Behind her were two jet black dragonfly wings that glinted with shades of deep greens. Her eyes were a solid soft green with black tribal paint streaked down under her eyes like tear trails. Mark shared a nervous look with him, before asking her suspiciously. "You were in that boss fight? But... How?" The girl swam to the edge of the lake and climbed out as she guiltily admitted. "I kind of... followed you in there. I didn't fight. I'm not strong enough. I just used my spell to camouflage myself into the wall." Sean tensed, giving Mark another weary look before asking her. "How long have you been following us?" The girl bit her lip, her face turning a darker shade of purple when she blushed out innocently. "Since the start. I recognized you... and when everyone started to panic... I just started to shadow you. Are you mad?"

Mark huffed out a light chuckle, letting Sean blurt out in shock. "You could have been killed shadowing us!" The girl crossed her legs, cringing at his tone when she stammered out to him. "I didn't know what else to do. I was scared and I thought I'd be safe around you. You're good at games... This is my first one." Mark touched Sean's arm to calm him, whispering to him calmly. "She was in there and the Game Master didn't see her? Maybe I was wrong..." Sean shrugged, gesturing to her as he whispered back. "What do we do with her?" The girl's long pointed elf ears perked up, before she inched closer and pleaded out desperately. "Please don't send me away! I won't get in the way. You won't know I'm here. I promise! Please?" Sean opened his mouth to turn her down, but Mark squeezed his wrist to draw his attention. Mark held up a finger to him, then kneeled to be more at her level as he asked her nicely. "What's your name?" The girl swayed with a blush, before mumbling out shyly. "Lulu."

Mark flashed her a warm smile that made Sean almost melt from it. Reaching out to shake her little black gloved hand, he sweetly told her. "Nice to meet you, Lulu. Are you playing this game by yourself?" Sniffling a little, she shrugged and honestly replied. "Yes. My older brother was going to login... but I didn't see him in the courtyard. I just saw you..." Mark looked over her starter gear. Unlike Sean, she was wearing a pair of black leather pants and a brown tank top with a black cloak. Sean guessed it was due to her age that they put her in starter gear that was more appropriate and less revealing. Sighing, Mark asked her curiously. "Lulu, have you eaten anything?" She dug her hand into her pocket to show him a few berries. This time when Mark looked at him, Sean caved in. He knew the right thing was to look out for her for a little while. Putting his hands on his hips, he glanced around and asked her lightly. "Where did you take us?" Lulu stashed her berries, telling them with pride. "It's a shadow transport spell. I took us to the other side of the mountains."

Sean raised an eyebrow, unable to stop himself from asking. "You have a transport spell? How?" Smiling, she told him excitedly. "I don't know. I unlocked it when you won against the dog and his owner. It doesn't go too far, and it has to be used in dark places." Mark smirked, cutting in to ask. "Was that flashbang or smoke bomb you?" She giggled, nodding as she lifted a hand to show that her gloves create them and dismiss them at will. Grinning brightly, she told him openly. "I bought them while you were getting clothes. I like being sneaky and my eyes can see in the dark and through fog or smoke. But if I look into the flash... I get blinded for a long time. I can't see well in the daytime." Getting to his feet, Mark told Sean coolly. "We should see if we can make camp somewhere. Just until morning. Then maybe we can try heading up to the next level of Midgard?" Sean shifted on his feet uneasily, when Lulu bounced as she told them. "We can stay behind that waterfall. I explored it briefly last night while you were in the tavern sleeping. Then I scared and went back."

Mark chuckled, taking her hand to lead her along a thin rocky path to the waterfall. Sean glanced around to make sure that no one else was tailing them, before carefully following them inside. The inside of the cave was dark, but once Sean's night vision activated, he ventured in farther. The cave was big but empty and dry enough. Retrieve some gear from their bags, they helped her dry off and gave her some food to fill her heath bar. She had been really low. Tucking her in to let her get some proper rest, Sean sat beside Mark and whispered in a low tone to keep from waking her. "Mark, what do we do? We can't take her with us. It's too dangerous." Mark tilted his head back against the wall, answering with a shrug. "It's dangerous for her in this game in general. But she did save us..." Sean's voice dropped to a concerned one when he said. "Mark... Don't make me the bad guy. She will get hurt." Mark set a hand on Sean's thigh, leaning in to purr into his ear. "I'm not. I'm just saying that it could take us some time to learn about the next boss. She could tag along."

Sean shot Mark a lightglare, mumbling out. "No, Mark." Mark's lips grazed Sean's neck, uponwhispering to him lovingly. "Please...?Just for a little while?" Sean rolledhis eyes, feeling himself give in to Mark's irritating charm. Mark wasn't playing fair. Messing with his emotions like this. To Be Continued...