Together they rushed out of the stone gates to the city. They could see a few groups of gamers running farther ahead, but they didn't stop as animal spawns appeared. Glancing at the map in his hand, Sean navigated Mark off the road to what he believed was a more secluded spawn point. The thick forest kept them out of sight, while the shallow river allowed them to think in a calmer atmosphere. Sitting on a large boulder on the riverbank, Sean examined the map as he told him aloud. "According to the map, there are a lot of cities in Midgard. It appears to be the largest realm of the Nine. Native language is... the common tongue. It's home of the Human race and the spawn grounds seem to be ranked one through one hundred." Mark stood over in the open grass, swinging his long greatsword lazily. Pausing, Mark looked over his shoulder and asked him curiously. "This area is level one?" Double checking, Sean nodded and added lightly. "Ya. According to the map, this area is the lowest power level in Midgard."

Raising his sword, Mark shrugged out. "Oh, good. Then I won't feel bad about this." Sean jerked his head in his direction to see Mark charging up his swing before bringing his greatsword down on a large turtle. The turtle's shell split down the middle and the turtle jerked as it died. Its body didn't disappear. It stayed crumpled on the ground before Mark's feet. Nudging it with the tip of his sword, Mark asked Sean nervously. "It didn't vanish?" Rolling his eyes, Sean put his map away before accusing him lightly. "You didn't play the tutorial, did you?" Draping his sword over his shoulder, Mark blurted out to him honestly. "No. I prefer to learn on the go. Did you?" Licking his lips guiltily, Sean averted his eyes and mumbled out. "Of course, I did. And you didn't need to charge your blade for that. You destroyed the materials you could have gotten from it." A little screen popped up over the turtle's body, drawing Mark's attention to it. Waving the screen away, Mark hefted a sigh as he grumbled out. "So, I did..."

The turtle's body then faded away as it despawned. Casually, Mark made his way over to Sean and asked with a smirk. "Alright. Tell me what I did wrong?" Sean discreetly bit his bottom lip, turning his head enough to hide his slight heated cheeks when he informed him. "You're an Aesir, Mark. Did you not even read your character traits?" Sean risked a peek at him to see him puff himself up and proudly state out. "Nope. I just looked in the mirror and liked what I saw. Figured the rest would come later." Rolling his eyes, Sean groaned out as he leaned back on his hands before exhaling out in a soft whiny tone. "Mark..." Mark tapped Sean's bare shoulder, asking more seriously. "Don't do that. Just tell me." Staring up at the sky, Sean regaled to him from memory. "You're an Aesir. The principal race of Norse Deities. Your skills lie in your inhuman strength and your in-depth knowledge of war. You're basically a tank compared to the other races. A barbarian of sorts." Sean didn't have to look at him to know that he was grinning.

Lazily looking at him, Sean narrowed his eyes on Mark's grinning face. Puffing himself to his full height, Mark smugly stated aloud. "So, what you're saying is that... I'm a god?" Rolling his eyes, Sean sat up, uttering under his breath. "I'll never call you that." Chuckling, Mark dropped a hand on his shoulder, whispering close to his ear smugly. "You will." Sean's heart slammed into his ribs and goosebumps sprang up along his arms, but he remained as still as a statue. Mark pulled away from him, asking him coolly. "Alright. So, my charge is too much for a level one. Good to know. I'll try something lighter." Sean exhaled the light breath that he'd been holding, then risked looking at Mark with vulnerable eyes. He hated that he felt so different whenever he played games with Mark. He felt so close to him and yet so far away. Another turtle spawned in, slowly making his way between a set of trees. Hefting his sword, Mark approached it and Sean called out in a tender voice. "Mark don't strike until you see your skill marker show up. It will look like a red slash or a red dot on the part of the body that you should hit for a critical and perfect hit."

Mark lifted his sword in a way that would trigger his slashing marker. He held his pose and while Sean couldn't see his marker show up, Mark did. Slashing at it, the turtle dropped dead instantly, and the little screen dinged up in front of Mark. Pressing the button to accept the meat and materials, Mark grumbled out a bit gruffly. "That marker takes so long to show up. If I was in a fight, I'd get slaughtered..." Sliding off the boulder, Sean removed his dagger and quickly threw it at a dot marker that appeared on the chest of a hawk in a tree. The bird fell to the ground, allowing the little screen to pop up over the body for him to collect his dagger and the materials from the body. As the body faded away, Sean shrugged out to him. "The marker appears faster, the more skilled your character gets. You'd have a faster marker if you had bothered to do the tutorial. Now, you'll have to increase your marker speed on your own to match mine. About six critical kills should do it."

Mark groaned but trudged toward another turtle, stating out flatly. "Is that why you wanted to linger here and not follow the other gamers to the next town?" Sean shook his head, admitting as he leaned back against a tree trunk. "No. The game automatically starts us at level three. We're given those levels based on our racial trait skills alone. How we fight and what we do increases either our proficient racial skills or new skills that we acquire along the way. I don't think jumping straight to a level three town is wise in a game like this. Not with what is at risk..." Mark killed another turtle, then turned to lock soft eyes with him. Sean crossed his arms over his chest, trying to hide that he was really hugging himself to keep from shaking apart. He didn't want to think about being trapped in the game. He just wanted to pretend that this was all just part of the game. A publicity stunt to keep people logged in longer to play the game and get the word out about it in the real world.

Mark looked him over, then nodded as he said comfortingly. "Ya. You've got a point. If our characters don't gain experience in our skills, then going to higher levels won't help us. We should farm what we can and then go to the next town." Mark glanced around nervously now, asking him softly. "Then again... It's getting really dark. I can barely see... Maybe we should head out now. Stay in the moonlight." Sean blinked with confusion and looked up. The woods were bathed in bright soft blue moonlight that allowed him to see fine. It wasn't as bright as the sun, but it was peaceful and bright enough. Shrugging, he told Mark simply. "What are you talking about? This is fine." Mark tripped over a tree root and stumbled into the grass with a grunt, before growling out. "Sean. I could barely see when the moon was out and now that it's gone behind the clouds, I can't see anything." Sean eased away from the tree and looked up at the starry sky above the treetops. The stars sparkled like diamonds, but a few dark clouds had moved to cover the bright silvery moon.

Yet, as he looked around. He could still see everything just fine. Covering his mouth, Sean gasped out in awe. "Holy shite, Mark!" Mark jerked up to his feet, bumping into a tree but holding his sword up as he blindly asked with worry. "What?! What happened?!" Walking closer to Mark, Sean told him excitedly. "Mark, I can see in the dark!" Mark lowered his sword, leaning more against the tree as he blurted out in gruff relief. "Don't scare me like that. What are you trying to do? Give me a heart attack?" Chuckling, Sean reached out to touch his arm and Mark's hand moved blindly to touch his hip. In that moment, Sean was glad that Mark couldn't see his reaction. His long loincloth only had a thin leather tie that rested over his hips. The loose ends of the tie wrapped along the cord to keep it from being snagged on things. Mark's fingers pressed against his warm flesh, before he asked with a light nervous chuckle. "Guess you're going to have to lead me out of here. Wanna take my hand before I touch something that we'll both regret?"

Sean started to trail his fingers along Mark's arm slowly to his wrist, until Mark jerked his hand off him and excitedly said. "Oh, wait! Maybe the menu can light things up?" Mark brought up his menu screen, prompting Sean to step back a step and relay to him. "Mark, you can only access the menu while standing still. It won't help you out of here. It will just tell others where you are." Mark didn't listen, scrolling through his menu as he mumbled to himself. "Don't I have a torch or a lantern... Maybe a spell?" Bowing his head, Sean told him bluntly. "Mark. Aesir don't have spells. Besides, you don't have to use them. I can easily just-" Sean looked up and stopped talking. Staring at Mark's menu, he froze. Why couldn't he understand the words on Mark's menu screen? Putting a hand on his shoulder, Sean quickly asked him. "Mark? What did you do?" Mark glanced at him with confused eyes, before going back to scrolling through his screen, upon saying. "What are you talking about? I haven't done anything."

Bringing up his own menu, he quickly asked Mark curiously. "Mark, look at my menu. What do you see?" Mark stopped scrolling and peered over to answer with a sarcastic shrug. "I see your main menu and a nonexistent logout button. Why?" Sean pressed a button to read his racial stats, then asked him. "And now?" Mark paused again to look, but this time looked just as concerned. Locking eyes with him, Mark said uneasily. "I see... weird writing. It looks like cursive but with swirls that are vine like and... Sean, what did you do?" Sean gestured to his menu and told Mark a little excited. "Our menus are shown to other players in our racial language. Except for the main menu. I can't read yours because it is written in runes of the Aesir. You can't read mine because it is in Elvish. Yet, we can read them just fine." Mark's eyes looked to his menu, before whispering out anxiously. "That is going to make this game so much harder." Sean nodded, absently taking a moment to scroll through his small collection of basic spells that he had.

After a few seconds, he found a spell that he thought might help. Memorizing the words, he closed the menu and toward Mark hopefully. "Close your menu. I think I can give you something better than a torch." Mark obeyed, telling him with disappointment. "I hope so. Because I have nothing. I'll need to buy something in town." Sean raised a hand to cover Mark's eyes, then leaned in closer as he closed his own. He's used only one spell in the tutorial, and it had worked fine. He just had to concentrate on charging his energy before saying the words. He saw the blue bar behind his closed eyes charge up to full slowly. Filling the bar to max allowed the quality of the spell to be perfect. If he waited for the frame around the bar to glow white, then the spell would last longer. The skilled he became, the longer and stronger in quality the spell would become. While he waited, Mark asked him in a low whisper. "What are you doing?" Sean shushed him, trying to keep his breathing even. Which was hard when he could smell Mark.

Mark's smell was different in the game, but still had a similar deep musk with a hidden lighter scent underneath. Like a mountain sprinkled in fresh rainwater. His mind drifted a bit as he wondered why Mark smelled like that, until Mark cleared his throat. Jerking, Sean uttered the words for the gift of night vision, before the white bar had filled halfway. The spell wouldn't last long but it should last long enough to get him out of the woods. Dropping his hand, Sean turned slightly away and told him a little embarrassed. "Sorry. Magic takes time to prepare when used on others. Can you see?" Beside him, Mark gawked out. "Whoa. That's so cool. Everything is tinted in a soft blue. That's so cool!" Sean smiled to himself, then told him across his shoulder. "Come on. Let's head to the next town before it wears off. We can sell some of our stuff to hopefully snag a room at an Inn." Sean didn't even get a chance to move, when he felt Mark's fingers slide up one of his long wings.

A sharp sound that was a mix between and giggle and a moan tore from his throat. Clapping a hand over his mouth, he leapt away from Mark, his eyes burning into him with startled embarrassment. Keeping his hand over his mouth, he glared at Mark with slightly heated eyes. Mark chuckled to himself, shrugging out. "I couldn't help it. They are shimmering with color like a clear bubble. I wanted to know how they would feel." Sean's long dragonfly like wings were raised high behind him now. Even in his own night vision, he could see how they glowed a soft blue and shimmered just as Mark had described. They looked soft and fragile. So thin but elegantly intricate. He already knew how fragile and light weight they were, but he'd never touched them. The tutorial only taught him how to move them with the muscles of his back and shoulders. He hadn't really taken the time to accept his new body. He had been a bit disappointed with fairy look he had. Now, he was terrified of them. He'd felt Mark's touch like tingles down his spine. It sent heat to every nerve in his body that was far too intimate for the relationship they had.

Mark had no idea what he'd just done to him. Mark chuckled, strolling past him without a care as he told him teasingly. "Still so ticklish, huh?" Sean's followed him as he walked away, before he lowered his hand from his mouth. Relaxing his back muscles, his wings folded back down as his heart sank. He couldn't read Mark anymore. He was too good at closing himself off to him since his old girlfriend had sparked a fight between them. They were slowly hanging out again since he was with someone new now... but it didn't repair the damage that he'd done to their friendship. He hadn't trusted Mark about her. He had pushed him away. Teased him and hurt him. Only to end up being hurt just as deeply by her and forced from his own home. Proving Mark had been right all along. Mark refused to rub it in. Instead, he went out of his way to rekindle what little friendship they had left. However, at times it felt... strained. Fragile. Sometimes he wished that Mark would yell at him. Just so that he would know what he was thinking.

Sean longed to go back in time. He longed to be the innocent young lad that he'd been back when he met Mark. To go back to the weekend that changed him. To be back in that elevator the night Mark kissed him goodbye. Swallowing past the lump in his throat, Sean followed Mark out of the forest to the main road. He opened his mouth in an attempt to ask him a question that died in his throat. He was still so scared to test whatever vulnerable bridge that kept Mark at his side. What if he'd killed the Mark that he'd loved all those years ago and all that remained was this crumbling shell of a friendship. Closing his mouth, he walked up beside Mark and told him casually. "I hope those turtle shells will be enough to buy a room. I can't imagine the prices being high at level one." Mark nodded and started to say something, but Sean slowed to a stop. Why could he hear soft distant beeping? Lifting a hand, he felt a strange sensation run up along his arm to the inside of his elbow.

Ahead, Mark slowed and turned to face him with worry. Sean flexed his hands that felt kind of numb and he wavered on his feet as a rush of the earth moving beneath him made him feel sick. Mark walked back to him, asking with louder concern. "Sean? Are you ok?" Reaching up to touch his head, Sean groggily murmured out. "I don't know... I feel..." Sean drifted off as the distant beeping and the soft hum of a machine grew louder in his ears. Reaching out to grab Mark's arms, Sean felt the sensation of falling as his eyes closed. He was trapped in a dark abyss. With nothing to do and nowhere to go, Sean sat in the darkness hugging his legs. While in the muffled distance he heard voices talking but could barely make out things they were saying. The only word he heard clearly enough was 'hospital.' To Be Continued...