X'zimzizi's brows furrowed when Aelki went suddenly silent, she watched him as she felt her heart sink. This reaction was a common one, if not being teased or accused of lying, but this one was one the woman never liked. The teasing and accusations still meant the person was paying attention to her, pretty much everyone that had this reaction ran away afterwards. "Aelki?" She called to the male with a soft voice, her ears falling back as she looked at him.

He seemed to come to and as he did, he pulled away from her; her ears pretty much hung like a dog's at that point. He moved in front of her, speaking with his back to her. The woman listened, her eyes drifting to and from the male as he spoke. Wesson. It was a name she knew, partly from her father. He was against violence and whenever she would bring up a new interest, he would usually go on a tangent about how horrible it was. Could one blame him? He only child was left heartbroken when an entire civilization of people was wiped out due to disease and greed.

As he continued on, defending the guns tied to his namesake, her eyes fell to the snow. When he stopped talking, she let the silence sit for a little bit as she scratched the back of her neck. How much had she seen over the years? So much fighting, war and grief. Even with everything she had seen, it wasn't all caused by guns, they had only been around a tiny fraction of the time the woman had been alive. One couldn't upset a Goddess though, the woman supposed.

"I get it you know," she finally spoke up, her voice sounding meek. She lifted her eyes to look at the man's back as she tried to muster up her usual playful smile but it seemed to fail her and with her lopsided ears, it didn't make the picture any better. "I've seen more people killed by greed than guns. Their history isn't anywhere near as stained as one would think."

She then lifted a hand, scratching behind her pointed ear as she said, "So, um, we should probably get moving on, right? I mean we only have a week." She then started back down the mountain path, pausing after she took a few steps passed the male. "If it makes you feel better, you can forget what I told you."

X'zimzizi rolled her eyes up as she continued down the path, fighting the knot in her throat as she watched her vision blur from the tears she fought back. Papa never wanted her to come to Earth, the others thought that her obsession with humans was a bad thing and would cause her to not be able to watch over them properly. Perhaps it was true, those that found out who she was were no longer around so in order to be around them she would have to lie about who she was. She had waited this time though, waited until things felt right, but perhaps her judgement was clouded. Man can never truly come to love us, her father had told her, though he seemed convinced that just about anything and anyone was out to get them. Her mother didn't seem as concerned, letting her daughter learn as she desired and encouraging her to go after her dreams. There were definitely times where she wondered how the two ended up together.

Every part of him said to just forget about her and that dream he once had. There was no way in hell he, a mere mortal, was going to make anything happen with a goddess. She was beyond his grasp and he knew it. She was an entirely different league. They were like apples and oranges, only she was more of a super experience rare fruit more so than an orange.

His mouth was dry and as she spoke, he tried to tune her out. It was easier this way. It had to be. To just slowly become numb to her and her words. There was no way he could let himself fall for her, not after knowing the truth.

Aelki, or rather Bryan Wesson, was to be a figure head for the States. He was supposed to marry some famous woman--not a goddess. And if he said she was a goddess, ha, he would be the laughing stock of the community, the world. No one would believe him and he would be ruined. And Bryan? He was all about reputation and fame.

"I still," his head reached for hers. He had no control over it. As his heart pounded in his chest, he pulled into her. Each motion and tug toward her was something that just happened. His mind didn't will it but perhaps, just maybe, his heart orchestrated it. Finally, as her body cupped neatly into his arms, he kissed her.

The angle was off so his hand shifted to tilt her chin up. As he went in for that slow, passionate kiss, he closed his eyes. If he was to be struck down by the gods of wind and fire, he might as well go out with bliss.

Nose to nose, lip on lip, he enjoyed the tender moment. His heart skipped a beat and his cheeks burned a brilliant red color. Then, ever so slowly, he opened those golden orbs to meet her lovely pair of eyes. Parting lips, he drew in a long breath before whispering, "want us to happen so I can't forget."

He wasn't sure why he said that for doubt and fear gripped at his core. But, still, there was something about X'z that really drew him in. He purposely avoided 'stalking' her. He went out of his way to plan time off and prepare a romantic weekend. Hell, the brunette even went so far as to, if he enjoyed the week with her, spend a full month with her (he hadn't told her this part). And then he took it another step further. She felt... right. So he, not wanting to pass up on such a woman, had even found a promise ring that, should things go well after a month-long date, he would give to her before returning to Massachusetts. Not to mention, he bought her a pair of tickets, one-way, to join him.

Some might call him reckless for going all out for her, but as he held her there in his arms, he knew it was right. He knew that, no matter her title, past, or present, he wanted to be with her. And if they failed as a couple? If they didn't hit it off, then they would laugh about it. Call themselves crazy for getting in over their heads. But Bryan knew better. He knew from the way they whispered to one another and the way they smiled that they had something. Maybe they wouldn't get married but they might date for a few months. And he would enjoy every second of it. Just like he was enjoying her right now.

Resting his forehead against hers, he gazed down her face and toward their hands, which he must have intertwined at some point. Giving her dainty hand a light squeeze, his eyes rolled to meet hers as he pulled body away.

Aelki's every step was slow and almost magical; from the way his eyes sparkled as he gazed at her to the small smirk that yanked at the left side of his lip. He was, undoubtedly, charming, which was all part of the lure he held over people.

"We should probably avoid lower level monsters so 13luice can get his level up. Want to start at a level 30 map?"

The glow he once radiated from the kiss--perhaps their first real lip on lip kiss--subsided as a wave of seriousness washed over him. "Like you said, we only have a week to beat the entire game."

Bringing her gaze back to the path she walked, the tears the blurred her vision slid down her cheeks. She lifted a hand to wipe them away, her hand was still at her face when she felt the male reach out for her, his voice sounding almost unsure, quiet. Her eyes looked up into his, but the male said no more as he drew her in close. The warmth of this body lined up along her shorter one, his face nearing her until their lips met.

The smaller woman could feel her heart uplift, an excitement of swarming butterflies seemed to fill her stomach as the male lifted her chin before his lips were upon hers once more. The woman closed her eyes as she stood on her tip toes, her hands finding their way to Aelki's neck. Tears continued to fall, though the sorrow that once pushed them on had been replaced by joy; he wasn't pushing her away.

As his lips parted, it was his hushed words that caused the bi-eyed woman to open her eyes. Those words only cause the tears to fall harder, her ears falling back as the woman smiled and somehow laughed through it all. You can't be upset Papa, she thought as she fell in love with those golden orbs that were staring down at her. Humans can love us.

She returned the squeeze on his hand before following along as he continued walking a bit. As they moved, the energy seemed to be returned to the woman. Lifting her free hand, she wiped away the last of the tears. The look that he cast back at her only worked to further pick up her mood and she picked up her pace to wrap her arms around one of the male's.

X'zimzizi nodded in agreement to the male's suggestion and he then the situation seemed to fall dire again. She wouldn't let it though, she wouldn't let the sadness return. "Level 30 map? Not a problem," she said cheerfully as she stopped to open her spell book to the traveling spells. As her finger ran down one of the worn pages, she looked back up at the male.

"One week is nothing for a Goddess and genius," she said, winking at the male. "We'll knock this game down and show them that you shouldn't under estimate the power of Lightning and what it can do with a little bit of love." She smiled at the male for a moment before her eyes fell back to the pages.

She would do it, X'zimzizi would prove her worth as a player and someone to Aelki. She would help save them all and she would get to meet this man for real, not hiding behind pixelated images. She would show him the wonders of who she really was. The woman was getting excited about getting out of the game and the goal would first have to be to keep her parents calm because if Levina knew them, which thousands of years tended to hint at, she knew that even her mother wouldn't turn a blind eye to what happened. This wasn't their fight though; the Goddess had more to prove than just to the man before her, she had to prove that she could watch over and judge the people that she was so fascinated by.

Finger landing on an image, the feline woman nodded before waving her hand over the pages. Glyphs appeared on the ground and a few seconds later a portal opened before them. Closing the book and putting it back on her hip, X'zimzizi held a hand to Aelki. "Shall we?"

Beaming at the 'genius' comment, Bryan nodded while accepting her hand. Before he knew it, they were both swirling in a mix of lights before reappearing at the map she selected.

His brows furrowed and he stepped back, releasing her hand. "This isn't right?" He tapped his screen and saw that the name was right but the graphics had changed. The world was drastically different. The place they were in was supposed to be futuristic. Instead, this place looked like it was a part of the stone age. Brow cocked, he turned toward the feline at his hip.

"Looks like malware messed with some of the maps. Not good. We'll need to let Ally and 13 know." He shot the two a quick message and warned them about traveling to maps. He also told them it might be wise to level 13 to level 15 before actually going to a different world for he didn't trust the levels anymore either.

Pulling himself back to the reality before him, he turned to X'z. "We're going to need to play this cautiously. Looks like the game has changed. It might not be as easy as we hoped."

With his screen still up, he noticed something he had missed before. There was a quest list up with about 15 different maps and levels. The game had over 100 different worlds and maps so why were only 15 visible.

"Huh," he hit the 'call' button. "Yo, miss me? Of course you do. Anyway, a week might not be too bad. I thought we had to get through all 100 levels. Looks like we only have 15 to worry about with 5 optional quests. I'll flag the ones we'll do together. The rest I'll color code. Pink, for the lovely lady at my side, will be our quests. You two can go after the blue ones for Mr. Blue Ice." After a few more comments were shared, he disconnected and waved to the Jurassic world before them.

"Well, my goddess, shall we see what our quest is." Pointing to a "!" on the map, he knew they would get their objective there. "Hopefully, we won't run into an Indominus Rex." He wasn't sure if the reference would be lost on the non-Earth girl but he figured it was worth a shot. It's not like the movie wasn't a big deal. Didn't it break some box office record or something?

The hike to the quest giver was pretty short. In fact, it was just on the other side of the ridiculously tall grass. Now on the other side of it, they could receive their mission.

A voice spoke from a beam of light. It mentioned that the world was topsy-turby. It said that they needed to collect enough items to escape. Bryan figured it was something along the lines of a map--they needed to get all 20 pieces to successfully exit the game.

Sadly, once the mission given, no other help was provided. This drew a frown on Bryan's face. "How is that helpful? We have all of Jurassic Park to find an item and we have no idea what it is or where it is. Maybe a week wasn't enough time...."

---------- Post added 07-09-2015 at 11:41 AM ----------

13luice was starting to understand why Ally didn't have a fan following. Sometimes her words were just too scary. Not to mention, she could come across as stiff. Aelki was at least nice. Yeah, loud, and definitely cocky. But at least he was nice. Maybe? Was the guy actually nice? Or was he just craving attention which forced him to be charming? What if he was really a big jerk. The greatest con in history! The staff member everyone loves is really some douchebag.

Actually, the fact that he came from money and built a gun made 13luice shake his head. Aelki or "Bryan" as he slipped out, was without a doubt a douchebag.

He stated quiet a bit longer than he expected. He had nothing to talk about, for he was still toying with the notion of asking for them to stay a 4-man team, but he knew it wouldn't happen. They had 1-week to complete 100 levels.

That's when the call came in and Aelki's avatar popped up on the screen. Dmitri, eager to see why the admin was called, moved forward to look at Ally's screen.

"Nice to see he hasn't change in the 10-minutes we've been gone," Dmitri joked. But the news Aelki shared was awesome. It would be way more manageable, though he wasn't sure he liked the warning it came with. He didn't really have a change to investigate so when the comm closed, he finally spoke to the priestess.

"What do you think he means by that? Did the game recode itself to make it more of a challenge?"

Ally was probably talking and 13luice wasn't listening. He didn't know why but he kept seeing words float in his mind. And the more he saw them, the more he wanted to put them together and unearth whatever mystery his mind wanted him to discover.

"Department of Defense? England? Needing a knight?" Why did those words strike a nerve?

Dmitri stopped and just stared at the woman with him. The more he looked at her, the more he felt like he knew her. But how could he? He had never played with this user before, not to mention that his long-lost friend wasn't fond of video games. The odds of this being her were so slim. And yet, her words kept raising flags and giving him hope.

It was now or never. He had to do it. He had to jump off the deep end and hope for the best.

"Rosalinda?"

Allyssandra was looking about the area to see where a good place to start farming would be. Ideally, they would start making their way to the boss's dungeon and fight the slightly higher mobs there. She nodded to herself as the boy followed silently behind her. Apparently she had gone too far with her latest comments and she started regretting it. The silence was soon interrupted by a player call. An icon popped up on the screen, glaring at the face that came up, the woman accepted it anyway.

"Don't get so full of yourself," she told the male as she crossed her arms rolling her eyes as he mentioned how she must have missed him. He went on about how the worlds and levels had changed and how were fewer now. The woman furrowed her brow at this; were they all combined into the 15 levels now or were the worlds simply deleted? It was too early to judge at this point though. He talked about flagging the levels for whom would do them and when they would join up. Ally waved a dismissive hand saying, "That's fine, the sooner we get this done, the better." After discussing a few other things, the call ended.

Not entirely believing what she had been told, the woman opened up her world's menu. The number of locations was indeed cut down dramatically. She clicked through some of the area and even some of the zones within the worlds had been removed as well. This was definitely interesting to see. "I don't think the game did it on its own if Aelki is worried about it," Ally replied to the male, not turning to look at him as she clicked through different areas on her map. The quests she had picked up, some of them had been removed due to their zones being removed.

"I guess we should continue through here to get you leveled up," she started saying, though her volume indicated that she was probably more talking to herself. Closing the menu, she started selecting some of the creatures that were around them. "They seem to be fine," she said. "If they've been tampered with, it doesn't look like it was their health or level." Unfortunately, one didn't know the move base of special mobs until they attacked them or had read up on them, so for now, the woman had to dismiss any normal abilities that they may have had. It was going to be like approaching a new game.

Ally continued leading them on, checking the mobs as they went. These ones wouldn't get 13luice enough experience, too close to his level. She kept looking though and was lost in thought and planning, at least as well as her planning went. When she heard her name called out, the woman didn't even think about how someone would know it, like her brain had a momentary lapse of them being in a game.

"Hmmm?" She hummed out in reply as she stopped to look at the boy. When her eyes fell on the play haired avatar, the color of her face seem to flush from her system, leaving her pale. "How do you know my name?" She asked the boy cautiously, her chin tilting downward as she gave the male a quizzical look. Her eyes traced over him, over his gear and special attire, recalling their conversations. He was from Alaska, friend moved to England. Her eyes then targeted the scarf he wore, it wasn't necessarily an impressive item as far as custom ones could be, but if he had guessed her name and what she had recalled meant something, perhaps that scarf was as significant as the watch around her wrist.

She shook her head, it couldn't be. How long had she been looking for him? If she had just accidentally stumbled upon her long lost friend just by accepting a help request on the forums, what were the odds of that. Her brows knit together as she whispered, "Dimitri?"

X'zimzizi looked around the area they had landed, as Aelki had said, this didn't look right. She wasn't familiar with this zone but it looked awesome! It was like the places the Aztecs once lived and that thought would have normally caused the woman to go bolting off into the woods in search of the ancient people, but the man at her side started talking again. It was his concern for what was going on that pulled the woman back to reality.

"That's ok, you have the mighty me," she said flexing before reaching down and grabbing the yellow creature that followed her. "And my faithful-" She then looked at the beast. "Oh, wrong one." Aelki was a warrior, they didn't need two tanks. She set the creature down, opened her book and summoned the emerald multi-tailed creature. "There, my faithful carbuncle!" Aelki had looked into the available zones and said he had to let the others know what was going on, to which the woman nodded and waited patiently for it to end.

Well, patient was a stretch for the woman had started pacing around, wandering about trees to see if she could learn anything from the zone. She would wander away before coming back and repeated the process a few times. Even with that though, she didn't find any mobs which seemed odd. She was returning to the male once again as he was talking about how it may not be so easy.

Once the call was done, X'zimzizi had returned and Aelki was ready to continue. When he mentioned an Indominus Rex, the girl looked up at him wide eyed. "Do you think one could be here?" She then threw her arms into the air. "That would be so cool!" Clearly, even though an eternal being, the Goddess had nothing better to do with her time than spend it watching movies.

She followed the man as they made their way to the quest giver, they were given a cryptic message and that was it. Pursing her lips the woman looked at Aelki, he seemed just as lost as she did. "Well," she started, hands planted on her hips. "If we have to find something, we won't get anywhere if we don't start looking!"

At the call of his name, the pale blonde found himself smiling. It was nothing large or grand. If anything, it looked meek. No, perhaps shy. A gentle blush clung to his cheeks as he bashfully caught her gaze. He was still the same shy little boy she left behind in the frozen tundra years and years ago.

Now that they knew who they were, what was he to say? They hadn't spoken in ages. Part of it was his fault. He did live in the middle of nowhere so communication was restricted. Granted, as time changed, communication became seamless, almost too easy. But by that time, the trail had gone cold. Either she stopped writing or the mail just got lost. He tried to write her but found it too painful. Although kids, Dmitri had every intention of spending the rest of his life with this woman. His boy-crush ran deep and he wouldn't let a woman like her escape his dreams. Even though she was leagues above him, Dmitri held tight to that hope that maybe, just maybe, he stood a chance with her. She always used to laugh at his jokes. She would always run over to his house to play. Why, she would even hug him the longest out of all the other boys in their class.

Their connect... it was special. He knew it. Everyone knew it. They were to be the future lovebirds of Alaska. Everyone was rooting for them, praying that they would populate the area with at least a dozen beaming babies.

Too bad she moved miles and miles away, vanishing into the thick fog that claims England.

A spasm caused his lip to jerk. Conflicted, he did what his heart told him to do.

Steps staggered, he shifted forward until his arms completely engulfed the woman. Slowly, the gap between them vanished as chest touched chest. Embrace tightening, Dmitri buried his nose in the nap of her neck. Lips pursed, he whispered, "I've missed you so much." Tears swelled in his eyes but never broke over the edge.

The hug, though fleeting in reality, seemed to last a lifetime. With each passing millisecond, he could feel his strength return. He wasn't always such a coward, Rosalinda made sure of that. When he was born, he was always hiding but she coaxed him out from behind his parents. She taught him to play hard and never look back.

Seeing her now, he noticed she had changed. She was no longer a little spit-fire. She seemed more refined, cultured. England did her well. She found passion in refinement, a feature that truly made Rosalinda glow with timeless beauty.

Holding her in his arms, drew a smile to his face. Although he hadn't changed much, he hoped she would still adore him the same. Deep down, he knew the warrior she dreamed of existed. And now, having found her, he would learn to cast his fear aside and strive to be the man Rosalinda always wanted him to be.

Dmitri pulled back from the embrace, cheeks still aglow from the hug. Seizing her shoulders in his hands, he smirked.

"Please tell me you didn't dye your hair white in real life. I can only imagine the wrath of your parents, if you have." The fear that once clung to his voice seemed to vanish. A confidence, unlike anything previously displayed, seemed to comb over his features. Eyes gleaming, the blonde scoffed. "Then again, I haven't seen them in ages. Maybe they've grown soft." He chuckled.

The reaction from the male, the form of a smile, was all the woman needed for confrimation; her jaw dropped after that clicked, she had finally found him. As a familiar bashful reaction came from the male, Rosalinda's eyes remained locked on the male.

How he had grown, granted, that was if he had been more true to his true self when making his character than she had been. The last she remembered from seeing him, they were just about the same height, she maybe a little taller. She could see that familiar look in his eyes though. Rosalinda felt a little guilty though because she knew her mother had been in touch with families from back home, but as she got older, she found herself unable to send the letters anymore; it wasn't like she had gotten a response anyway. A part of her had wondered why she never heard back from him and another part didn't want to be rejected so she stopped. The boy she had watched over and protected for so many years just seemed to vanish, so even if she could find and write him, he didn't seem all that interested.

The way he came towards her, wrapping his large arms tight around her told her that the fear that he hadn't liked her growing up was a silly one. She wrapped her arms around him, her hands gripping fabric around armor as he spoke the words she had been thinking into her neck. "Me too, ya goof," she said, her voice nearly as whisper as he pulled back.

He seemed to look her over as she did him and her face flushed; she had been rather far from honest in her character choice. Rosalinda had created Allyssandra with Dimitri in mind. She cast her gaze away from the male, a slight bashfulness coming from the usually loud and outspoken woman. If Dimitri grew up like any of the other guys she had been recently raised around, he was sure to tease her about making a character that reminded her of him.

It was his hands on her shoulders that pulled her gaze back up to the taller male. His question about her hair and statement on her parents caused her to choke on a laugh. A goofy smile came to the face of the elf, it seemed almost out of place. "Do you really, truly think my father my father, the one who fought a Polar Bear because his gun was too far away, would soften as he got older?" She shook her head as she said, "No, now he's chasing kids off the lawn and still working, hard as ever."

Taking a slowly breath, she tried to stifle the laughter of thinking her father may have finally calmed down after all those years. "And heck no I didn't dye my hair," she rose a brow, giving the male a quizzative look. "Would I ever have dyed my hair before?" In reality, Rosalinda had loved the idea of dying her hair black, but her parents forbade it, her father being the most vocal while her mother would quip in about how unladylike it was; not that they were raising a lady at that point anyway.

"It's still as brown as ever," she then added, a smirk forming on her features as that same confident personality from long ago seemed to wash over the humble looking elf.

At her laugh, he laughed. Everything just seemed to fall into place. It was as if they were never apart, though Dmitri knew this was far from true. Still, hearing her joke about her father caused him to shake his head and roll his eyes. "I suppose he waves his mighty ax in the air while he runs after those darn kids," he added. He could totally picture this, for he had done it time and time again in Alaska. Not that he owned the grand wilderness of Alaska. He just liked to think he did and he would ran after anyone who dared muck up the place.

"Jealous," he said while sliding his hands into his hair. "I swear, my hair's gotten whiter. It was always bleach blonde but now... ugh, it's hardly darker than the fresh snow. I look like a freaking albino, sans the red eyes." He let out a sigh. "Even my blue eyes aren't as blue as they once were. Seems like everything about me dulled ever since you left." Coy smirk on his face, he planted a hand on his hip. "I suppose you leaving sucked the youth right out of me." Rolling lips over his teeth, he gummed, "Why at this rate, I might as well join yer dad on the lawn with a shotgun." He folded over himself and pretended to hobble around like a grandpa. Seconds later, he popped back up to let out a laugh. "Believe it or not, Alaska is as plain and boring as ever. Although," he held up a hand, "we do have our own fancy TV series--Alaska State Troopers."

With a firm nod, he forced his fist into the palm of his hand. As it made contact, a light smacking sound followed. "I made it once. I was a side character. Just a random dude walking in the background with a bag full of groceries." He snorted. "As expected, I didn't use a shopping cart to tote the items from the store to the truck so I looked foolish as I tried to balance three bags and open my truck's door."

Dmitri placed a hand on his chin. "Yeah, that's right. I bought a truck. A big, ol truck to make up for my lack of manliness." He flexed his arm to make a muscle, but little showed up. "Hard as I try, I just can't get ripped. Even in this game, I couldn't craft a character that jacked. System said I wouldn't be able to handle it. Something about it causing self-esteem issues." A blunt, dull look came to his face. "Even the game mocks my girlish figure."

Eyes falling on the monsters before them, he laughed. "Go figure. You're a mod and high level. And I'm just a little low life." He smirked. "Things certainly haven't changed. Granted, know that I know it's you, I don't have to worry about embarrassing myself too much. I was all worried you were some other woman, which meant I would have to try hard to impress you. But since it's you and you know I'm princess-material, I don't have to worry about falling on my ass too much."

Rosalinda's head fell to her hands as she shook it back and forth. "He did once," she said laughing as she looked back up at him. "But apparently their parents didn't like it and they called the cops so he hasn't been allowed to take it out of the shed since then." That had been so many years ago, shortly after they moved it at that point. Granted, when any guy from her class wanted to stop by and say hi, or whatever, he had other tricks up his sleeve. Not that she had been interested in any of them.

The elf woman stepped towards the taller male, reaching her hands up, she ruffled his pale locks. "Awww, but you probably look good with white hair," she teased him, the flirt hidden within those words lost on the woman at that point. She could have said the same thing about herself; her parents, more her mom seemed to calm down a bit about Rosalinda's behavior. She hadn't been quite as wild as she was growing up, partly because the kids in her neighborhood avoided her because of it and also, it just didn't feel right at that point.

Stepping back, she watched Dimitri impersonate and old man, shaking her head laughing she said, "Please no, dad would totally take you up on that." She then sighed at the idea of everything still being the same there, save for them having a tv show now. "Dad's the same as always, no tv allowed. He still says the media and shows are nothing but lies and that they're trying to cover up the real picture." She then shook her head, her eyes rolling up. "For a couple that works for the government, you would think they wouldn't worry so much about tv and the media."

Looking back at the male as he spoke of the truck she said, "I don't think I would have believed it was you if you weren't so petite." Though the words may have hurt some, Rosalinda obviously didn't mean it that way. "You've always been like that. If you said you were some big, buff guy, I would have sworn you were on drugs! But seriously, I'll have to come back some time so you can show me your truck! There's nothing but tiny cars where I live and it's my dad's. I get to use public transportation." The woman then stuck her tongue out at that idea.

She looked back at the monsters as well, another secret kept within her mind and heart when he said how she was a high level mod and he was a lowbie. Nothing like getting into a hobby you cared nothing for to find a boy you had a crush to use as motivation to actually level things. She didn't even know how many games she had tried before this one, heck, there was nothing to say Dimitri was even still playing games at that point.

"First, you better not have been trying to impress other girls," Rosalinda scolded the male, her eyes seeming to hold an old familiar warning from when they were kids. She then placed her hands on her hips as she said, "Yes, have no fear, I shall be your White Knight, here to protect you against all evils." She laughed before a glow came around her hands, the magic swirled around before she cast it around them. "This will increase your armor by 10%, so it'll help some."

"Oh wow," he said sarcastically. "This old man princess is going to need a bigger buff than that. I'm not your dad. I'm no ax-welding, shotgun waving, conspiracy theorist politician. I'm just... little ol' me." He then dropped the sass and smiled. "Still, I'm still pretty cool. Like I said, I have my truck. Also have two huskies--hope they'll be okay if I'm trapped in here. Oh and I've won some hunting and trapping competitions. And, wait for it... wait for it... I have a college edumacation and ev'thang. I real smurt."

His meek attempt at a cocky grin failed. If anything, he just looked downright goofy. "Okay, okay. I'm not sure a Fine Art's degree helps me any. Should have went for computer game creation or something. No, instead I do art."

When he said it like that, he frowned. His degree was actually impressive. He graduated top of his class and had over a dozen job offers lined up before graduating. Though, being the 'sissy' he was, Dmitri couldn't leave Alaska. If he left, he knew Rosalinda would never find him so he had no choice but to stay. He could have made a ton of money working in California or NYC but he couldn't shake the thought of losing her.

Not wanting to share the tidbits about still having the world's biggest crush on her, he figured out a new way to boost his ego.

"Eh, I made that sound terrible. In reality, I make really awesome art. Precious metals, pottery, professional drawings. Everyone in Alaska employs me to make their logos. I also design all the type face and invitations for weddings and events." Puffing out his chest, he nodded. "Yup, I'm pretty freaking awesome. Thank heavens pencils aren't ten pounds. I could never get anything done with these spaghetti arms." Waving them around like noodles, he turned his aim toward the horde of creatures.

An icy glaze game over his orbs. Soon his hair began to stand on end and then, like lightning, a blast of ice struck from above. It was one of a few of his areal attacks that happened to do splash damage as well as freeze opponents for a few seconds.

Using that as his cue, he rushed forward. His lance-like sword materialized in his hands after quickly tapping his equip key. Odd as it sounded, the weapon was a double-handed one. Although previously joking about being weak, he seemed pretty handy with his sword. Was all his down-talk just for fun? Or was he really just being humble and not wanting to sound cocky.

Whipping the sword around, he smacked it square on the back of one of the creatures that happened to get effected by the freeze. A dull tha-whack rung out. Seconds later came the chilling sound of ice forming. It was over dramatized in the game, truly giving it a darker nature than necessary.

Again, he swung at the monster, now indefinitely froze. Dmitri hacked away at it until the life bar reached zero. The second it vanished, he moved over to the next one. These monsters were surprisingly easy to kill, which caused a crease to form on his brow.

"These seem almost too easy. Either you lied about buffing me, for these little guys are the bait to lure out something bigger."

---------- Post added 11-18-2015 at 04:24 PM ----------

"Ah yes," he grinned, "the mighty X'zimzizi!" Naturally, she summoned the wrong companion but made quick work to set things right. As she did, he grinned. She truly was a charmer, especially when she was doing her own cute little thing. Having flagged the appropriate locations, he saw no reason not to begin their little adventure. It certainly helped that the woman was cultured, as his jokes and notions didn't fly over her head (he knew they would for Ally for she had no TV in her home!).

"Let's hope not. I would rather we not face that creature. Blue, Blue would be okay. She was pretty awesome." Running a hand along his chin, he chirped. "If I run into her, I'll see if she wants to 'Netflix and chill.'" With an eyeroll, he gagged lightly. "Trust me, our first real date will not be so cliche."

At her comment about the task at hand, he nodded. "Yeah," a hand kicked off his cap before running through his mess of hair. "I suppose you're right. And I'm sure it won't be a needle or something impossible to spot. If we only have a week, we can't spend the whole damn time here. Perhaps it'll glow?" He cocked a brow at the idea. "Seeing as we get our tasks from a ray of light, a glowing artifact or item seems logical." His voice then trailed off. "Although anything in this world could be considered logical. Hair defying gravity. Boobs that don't jiggle because fuck physics. Yes, yes. Logic is far from perfect here." Squinting, he gazed over at her bosom. "Thankfully, we don't have to worry about some issues." Tongue out, he marched over to her.

"Okay, my sweet little Kizzy Cat, let us begin the hunt."

For the most part, this area didn't look too bad. There were only a few monsters here and there, most being herbivores that wouldn't attack unless provoked. As both were of higher levels, Aelki saw no point in wasting time grinding. They would be more than capable of completing the game at hand. And besides, if this were like any other game, they would get EXP at the end of every mission turn-in.

"Where are the obvious places to hide items? I hate to be that guy, but most people aren't that original. Ever notice how all horror movies are the same? Someone grabs your foot. A door opens without warning. Bugs crawl from the walls. Dolls come to life. Same old, same old. You don't see a folk decide to lay back down in the drawer and you certainly don't see a ghost setup a candle lit dinner for the homeowner. So, on that assumption, these items should be hidden in the usual places. Likely fountains, lakes, or pools of water. Perhaps beneath breakable chunks of ice. At the foot of magical trees. High in the sky above a spot you simply can't jump from. Heh, it could even be stuck in stone and require a good yank to set it free."

As he walked, the man in the vest looked for the locations he described. Thus far, they weren't coming into view.

"Well, if we're in a park, perhaps we have to win a prize? Or maybe it's in with the big, bad boss?"

He orbs fell on X. "Feel free to correct me if you think I'm wrong. I'm really just spit-balling ideas here."

Rosalinda pulled her staff from her back, leaning it forward to bop the male on the head. "Hey now, I may be a mod but my priest abilities are the same as everyone else. I can heal you too, so just deal with it," she chidded him, sticking her tongue out as she then crossed her arms under her chest.

"Awww, huskies?! I'll definitely have to come visit them once we're out! And if they need any help, you can bet that I can do it!" She then shook her head at his comments about college and being 'smurt'. "Should I really be surprised? Because I'm not, you were always smart, even when we were kids."

"Art is still something to brag about," the elf said, rolling her eyes. "Heck, my creative skills get me about as far as a lopsided stick figure still." A cheesy grin was on her face, both from the fact she knew that saying 'artistic' would have been a better word to use and about how those very stills really never did progress beyond that of a toddler.

Returning the staff to her back, she folded her hands behind her head as he spoke, clearly proud of his work. There was a smirk on the elf's face; it wasn't often that Dmitri had boasted about anything as a child, to see it now was almost hard to believe. "Looks like you're able to start really moving up in the world!" She was proud to hear how well he had done while they were a part, it made her feel like she was being left behind. Sure she had a degree as a Vet Tech and had worked on trying to get her own little thing going, but so much of her time was spent just trying to locate Dmitri again, to find him in a way that maybe he wouldn't know so if he hadn't wanted to meet her, he wouldn't know she were there.

She turned, watching him rush towards the beasts before them. Slowly pulling her weapon from her back once again, Rosalinda noted at the quick work he made of them. Did he really need her help? His class was a powerful one and she didn't need to cast a single heal on him as he took out multiple targets.

As he spoke to her, she shook her head; there was no need for such thoughts, they were reunited and they needed to get out of the game. "That's all it does, I promise," she said as she looked at the buff as well as the monsters they were fighting. It had been a long while since she had been out there and she shrugged saying, "Perhaps it's because it's a lower level zone?"

X'zimzizi pouted her lower lip out as she said, "The Indonimus would be so much cooler to see, though I guess Blue wouldn't be bad either!" As Aelki talked about 'Netflix and Chill', the cat woman's eyes widened as she grabbed onto his arm. "Do you know what that means?!" She asked, her voice attempted to be a hushed whisper, but was a bit louder than that. "Apparently people do more than just watch Netflix like they say they do!" She then shook her head, placing a hand on her forehead in a dramatic manner. "Humans, they seem so willing to sleep with just anybody," she sighed, though Gods and Goddesses were far from better, the young Goddess just wasn't' aware of that with how her parents were.

She nodded as he talked about what they could be after. "Glowing could make it too easy though, don't you think? Even I wouldn't hide something that's glowing, that doesn't make sense!" Though the fact that they only had a week and that logic really was out of the way, it did make a bit more sense. She did cast the male a glare at his boob comment, she crinkled up her own nose before huffing, "Well if it's boob touching, you're not doing it, I am. Nope, not allowed." She then turned her head to look the other way as he returned to her side.

X'zimzizi could never stay upset with the man, even if it was teasing, it was far too much effort. Bumping against him, she agreed, "Yes, we shall begin our hunt!"

Whatever this zone was, it was pretty and peaceful, though almost too peaceful compared to how the rest of the world was. Most of the creatures were either passive or low enough level that they left them alone; which was kind of nice because it made things quicker and they could enjoy the view.

Hmm, obvious places to hide things... Where would that be? She thought about Aelki's suggestions, but even some of those seemed too farfetched for how a lot of the game operated. "In a cave," X'zimzizi offered up. "A place like this probably has a ton of them so I could see something being hid there."

She laughed at his comments, though she did agree with it. "Hey, if there's a big bad boss, you won't find me complaining! It would definitely liven up the area." Almost as though it were summoned, X'zimzizi froze at the sound of hearing twigs and branches snapping not far from the, they were quick and moving closer.

"Aelki, get ready," X'zimzizi said as she got into a battle stance, tome out, ears back as she glared into the forest. The emerald carbuncle at her side bobbed up and down only slightly as it growled at what was coming, its ears back as well.

Feet thundered against the ground, running as the creatures made their way through the forest. They were quick, those that they passed barely noticed, which under other circumstances would have been unfortunate for them since they were the prey to the moving predators. They called to one another as they ran, which did startle some of the creatures; clearly they were not trying to be stealthy at this point.

They continued running and calling, then suddenly fell silent. "Are we getting close?" A woman asked the creatures. On the back of the lead creature sat and sun-kissed, slender woman that seemed to be dressed like a cave person; her hair was messily pulled back into a half ponytail with a flower donning the spot where it tied off. On her back was what looked like an old walking stick and around her waist was a leather belt with many different sized and shaped leather satchels hanging from it.

The beasts didn't seem to respond as they lowered themselves to the ground, increasing their speed, growling slightly as they ran. They didn't have much further to go as each one bounded off a log, throwing them through the forest and into the opening. As they came to a stop after the jump, Kali looked before her; they were no longer in the jungle but on a beaten road and before the pack of five raptors was a man and a woman. The male was taller, brown hair and wore a mask, the female was much shorter with pink hair and cat ears, beside her was a blue-ish, green cat-looking creature.

"Oh, how cute!" Kali announced about the small creature, without thinking about it. The raptor she sat on then quipped at her, pulling her back to the then and now. "Oh, them? They're the ones?" She asked looking at the crimson and blue stripped beast. The raptor pack was actually a hostile mob in the game, as the two would look upon them they would see their mob name and health bars in red meaning they should have been attacking the two, but they weren't.

The blonde looked back at the two, a smile on your face. "I'm Kali, these guys say you're supposed to help us find something! We should get a move on, they don't like waiting!" Almost as if on queue, a bright yellow raptor with almost neon green stripes and a pale white one with deep blue spots stepped towards the others. The pale white one walked up to Aelki, looking the male up and down it was almost as though he were trying to size the man up before lowering itself to the ground, making it easier for him to get on.

The bright raptor walked up to X'zimzizi, lowered its face to her level and just started at her for a moment. A bright smile came to the cat woman's face as she said, "Aww, they're cute too!" She then wrapped her arms around the beast's head; the action seemed to catch the creature off guard as it straightened suddenly, the woman still holding on. Turning its head, it merely plopped the small woman onto its back.

"Come on Aelki! We wanted to start looking somewhere, why not help Kali out while we do it!"

At her comment about 'sleeping around,' Aelki kept his mouth shut. He didn't usually do that but after the fiasco with his now-ex, he wasn't totally against sleeping with strangers. The betrayal-turned-breakup came out of nowhere and really through the brunette off his game.

If she didn't think glowing was the solution, what was? Thinking about to other games, he wondered if it was more like... Borderlands? No, even that game had glowing guns to highlight their location. Mass Effect had semi-colorful ammo containers or glowing spots on the ground for Firehawk pickups. Pokemon had a detector you could use to sniff out items. Tomb Raider? Even that one allowed the player to heighten their in-game senses to detect hidden artifacts. Honestly, he couldn't name a game that didn't call out the important items.

Oh wait. There was one--the Vanishing of Ethan Carter. You literally had to search the grass for hours to find the clues to the boy's vanishing. There was no way in hell they would finish this game in a week if they had to be real detectives and unearth hidden clues. Honestly, the whole idea sounded fun but it was also a nightmare for they would certainly lose.

"A cave makes sense," he commented. Granted, if the items glowed, it would be painfully obvious where they were. Perhaps the heightened senses made more sense. Or maybe they really did need an "Item Finder." With a slight gag, he cast his golden orbs on the woman. Why was she getting into a fighting stance?

The rustling of grass turned on the light bulb in his mind.

Tugging out his bladegun, the male flicked off the glowing blade part. No need to bring a sword to a gun fight!

It was probably a good thing Aelki was a bit off his game for usually he was a 'shoot first, ask questions later' kind of guy. It came with the nature of the job. Literally, he worked on guns for a living.

Thankfully, his distraction caused his mind to pause. When a woman riding on the back of a raptor appeared in his sights, his brows furrowed. What the hell was going on? Who was she.

Kali.

Well that was easy, he mused. If this was the way this game was going to go down, he could get behind it. She was hot! No, his eyes moved to X. The cat-eared woman was by-far the better catch.

As X'z excitedly hugged the monster before her, Aelki chuckled. "I don't know about cute. I think that title still belongs to you. Cool, yes. Cute, no."

Slipping onto the dinosaur, Aelki found himself wishing for a saddle. He had ridden horses so many times but never without a saddle. The lack of a grip would certainly make things... interesting. Still, who was he to complain. He was riding a motherfucking dinosaur!

Orbs slipping to Kali, he let doubt flood his mind. Was she really a friend? The fact that these usually monsters weren't attacking seemed to prove that she was on their side. But still, who befriended people, especially strangers, that easily.

Then it clicked like a brick to the head.

Aelki [ STAFF ] glowed in bright lime letters above his name. He was clearly no threat to any players in the game--both live, human players and NMO NPCs.

Kali looked over at the new comers as the raptors took off running again. Her eyes settled on each one for a few moments as she looked over what their user cards said. "An arcanist and a staff member," she mused, a smile on her face. "Mmm, staff members tend to be rare sightings," she then hummed to herself. The phrase itself was practically nonsense as there were indeed plenty of staff members and one was more likely to run into one than not for they enjoyed the game just as much as anyone else. One either had to go out of their way to avoid a staff member or just never venture into towns; with the way this woman looked, it seemed obvious which it was. The blonde woman then fell silent again as the raptors continued their quick pursuit.

After several moments X'zimzizi started to grow uncomfortable. The woman had confused her with her comments about staff and she glanced over towards Aelki. She didn't even seem to recognize him! How could that be?! Practically every player knew who he was and looking at her, the woman was indeed a player, though her class seemed to be fuzzed out for some reason. What's going on? She mouthed over to the male, hoping he would know more about this mysterious player.

She then looked back at the other woman and asked, "So, what were you looking for us for? Got somethin' big that needs killing?"

Kali only peaked behind her, a small smirk on her face as she shrugged. "I know not. I was just that they wanted you," she then looked before her once again. The raptors seemed to start getting alert; their pace slowed slightly. There was something else out there.

Much like X'z, Aelki noted that the woman was indeed strange. First and foremost, her cryptic tongue was hard to follow. Why did she speak in riddles, constantly dodging a straight answer. Was she really a player? The name above her head--not in a lovely shade of purple--hinted that she wasn't an NPC. Meaning, she was indeed real.

Language aside, her attire was hardly normal. Sure, it was possible to wear stuff like that but to get custom made clothes, you had to be a subscriber. As her name was not glowing in a brilliant golden color, she was clearly not a subscriber. Which actually brought him to his next internal point.

Where the hell was her level?

Like all players in the game, levels were visible to all. One simply hovers his or her eyes over the player's name for about 5-seconds and the level will appear (along with the player's class). Such was not the case for this "Kali" person. To which, Aelki was at a loss for words.

Brows knitting together, his gaze found its way to X'z. Her lips moved but no words came out. For a second, his brow hiked up--that was until he realized she was purposely not saying a word. Secretly, she was asking if he knew what was going on. Much to his dismay, he did not. Still, he had the resources he needed to get answers.

With a light nod, he confirmed he received her confusion. Then, in response, he shrugged his shoulders. She wouldn't like it, but it was the honest truth. He didn't know.

Not wanting to cause further alarm, he smiled before confidently coaxing the raptor he rode to saunter beside her. As the creature brushed by, Aelki bobbed his head outward so that he could place a quick peck on her cheek. With the wink of an eye, he moved away before smiling again. He soon mouthed, "Never fear, your beloved Aelki is here!" Tongue poking from his mouth, he tried to ease the situation. There was no need for the two women to enter battle. Sure, Kali was odd but, thus far, she showed no signs of hostility. Why provoke it?

Soon a determined look came over his face; seconds later, he dove into his admin archives. There, and only in there, could he dig up the necessary dirt on this mysterious player.

Thankfully, he didn't have to worry too much about hiding what he was doing. X'z was excellent at distracting people, already asking the woman why she wanted them. Of course, Kali's answer caused Aelki to pull from his stalking.

"They?"

Aelki not knowing what was going on didn't make X'zimzizi feel any better. In fact, it was more the opposite; they knew nothing about this person, other than she was a player and not an NPC or mob. A smile crossed her face at his follow up comment about her beloved Aelki being here. It was nice to at least know that was a certain thing.

When the male finally spoke up, Kali tilted her head back to look at him, a calming grin on her face as she looked at him in silence for a moment. "Hmmm? Why them of course," she said as she rubbed the side of the neck of the creature she rode.

Kali's eyes were pulled forward once again as the beasts began to slow to a stop, much more gracefully than simply leaping out of the forest. She blinked at them as they called to one another. The two without riders seemed to keep closer to the lead raptor the woman was riding, the two Aelki and X'zimzizi were on stayed close, but due to having their own riders they stayed back a bit. It was clear that these beasts seemed to be calmed by the woman, almost as though they were taking a liking to her.

She tilted her head, almost like she could understand their calls back and forth. "No, not them?" She asked before looking back to the others. As she looked to the new comers, the raptors all silenced, looking back at them as well. "It is, yet another, that they seek," she said, her eyes stern and confident, yet still soft and calm.

"Soooo, we can go then, yeah?" X'zimzizi asked the woman, her eyes falling to Aelki for a moment. As much as the feline loved to tag along with random people, this woman was definitely

Kali turned to face Aelki better, ignoring X'zimzizi's question. "You know," she told him, her hand on the hip of the dinosaur to help her keep her posture where it was. "The person they seek, you know where they are hiding," she added as though it should have been obvious to the male. "You can find them they say, can you?" The raptors two rider-less raptors then turned around, facing the male head on as they rose up higher to be closer to his direct line of sight.

At her mention of visiting, Dmitri had to hide his blush. To think, she might actually visit him--assuming they won this twisted game--made his heart flutter. For a second, beads of sweat dotted his forehead. Was his house nice enough for her? Would she fall so in love that she would move back? He bought his own little cottage. It was quaint and set back by a forest that held a gorgeous lake within. Would she be impressed? Or would she just laugh, knowing that, despite his fame, he wasn't nearly as rich as her family?

Shaking his head, he pulled himself from the game of 'what ifs.' There was no time for such trivial things. If they didn't win this challenge, none of that would matter.

"Are you saying I'm low leveled," his orbs flicked to her. "Because I will let you know that I was a higher level character... and then I got hacked. Bleh. Aelki was the mod that tried to help but I guess whoever hacked my old character embedded it with a virus. He ended up deleting the character completely though he was nice enough to give me all my stuff back. Also gave me some of the rare loot I collected during the holiday events. Obviously can't use it due to the low level."

He laughed. "The game has changed a lot since I first played it. Back when I first joined, there were probably only a hundred players. Aelki was the only admin. It was fun... but it got boring fast. I went on a hiatus for quite some time. And, when I returned, that's when I discovered I was hacked."

A frown crossed his face. "I also discovered that they revamped the whole game. Everything you see is NMO 2.0. I don't want to brag, but some of the monsters are my own creation." Grin growing on his face, he nodded firmly. "When we start getting into the bosses and higher level creatures, you'll see my handy work. They changed slightly--namely colors or sizes--but for the most part they look like my stuff. It's the lower level creatures I don't know. Hence sucking at these levels. When I eventually get up to 40/50, I'll know everything about the creatures, as I helped design the attacks, stats, etc."

Swinging his blade back onto his back for all the monsters were defeated, he smirked. "We'll never win if we play things cautiously. I know, I know, so not like me. But we can't let me low level impact our fate. We should move onto bigger bosses. With your buffs and heals, I'm sure I can level up pretty quickly."

With a firm step forward, the snow around him crunched. Brows furrowing, his head whirled around to meet Rosalinda. "Uh," was all he managed to spit out before his body vanished into the white snow below.

It all happened too fast so Dmitri didn't even have a chance to brace for impact. Thankfully, the ground below was liquid and forgiving. Still, the plunge into the fridge water was nothing to joke about.

Doing what he could, he froze the lake and forced himself from the water. Using his skills, he pushed himself to the edge before taking a seat to glance up at the hole that appeared miles above his head.

From what he saw, he was in a giant underground cavern. It was caked in ice and perhaps crystals. It was truly lovely but there was a darkness about it that caused his spine to shudder. This was definitely not an area he wanted to be in, especially alone. The silence started to get to him. Only the faint pitter-patter of water falling from the pointy ceiling above seemed to echo down the limitless chambers and edges.

"The hell," he growled.

Of course, the growl that mimicked his caused more alarm. As his eyes gleamed over the translucent crystals in the icy cavern below the known map, he spied some red skulls floating beside '?????.'

"Oh shit," his voice cracked. Not only did he not know these monsters for they weren't in his guide, but they were also of a higher level.

Grasping his sword, he swung it out and prepared to take a defensive stance until Rosalinda joined him.

"Level 60s... well, that's only 49 levels on me." With a gulp he added, "I should be fine." The part he didn't like was the fact that these were the level monsters he designed art for. And, based purely on location, he had a very bad feeling he knew what he was going up against.

Dilzyne. And if there were Dilzyne, it meant the Ilm'gloth soldiers were nearby. And Ilm'gloth didn't exist without the horrific Ilivmyr.

"Oh yeah, sure. I just need to know who I'm looking for and I can look anyone up by username," rolled right off Aelki's tongue. He had no idea what the woman actually meant, but he wasn't about to pretend like he didn't know.

Then again, he did admit he didn't know who the who was.

Hmm, maybe he should rethink his strategy.

"And since we don't know who the who is," he began, "why don't I just do a minor hack and bring up all creatures--players, monsters, NPCs--in the area."

Pulling up his main menu, he entered some bizarre looking code into the command prompt box. A black screen soon appeared and had a novel's worth of text spawn within it. It just kept going and going. Aelki didn't seem phased, as if this were normal. Then, once it was done writing whatever gibberish it spoke, the box vanished and a map of the area appeared.

The map wasn't overly detailed, but it didn't need to be. It held everything Aelki needed--dots and arrows that clearly marked what was in the area. There were event trophies and what looked like maps laying around on the map too.

"Don't peak," he chided to X'z. "Those goblets and maps are for hidden quest items and worlds." Of course, with the wink that followed, Aelki seemed to trust that the woman wouldn't just share secrets or go rushing off to find whatever she might have missed out on before.

Looking at the map, it was easy to guess where the trio was located. There were red arrows beneath cyan dots. Around that location were some more red arrows, likely monsters. And, somewhere off to the north, appeared to be another cyan mark. Only, it wasn't a dot. This appeared to be a... a square?

Upon further exploration, the spot where the odd woman was seemed to be a square too. Bemused, Aelki decided he would have to investigate this further. To the untrained eye, they would just see dots and think nothing of it. But to Aelki, he knew something was afoot. Not wanting to cause alarm, he simply pulled up his real map and dropped a marker over the cyan square ahead of them.

"Here's to hoping this is your friend."

---

"I'm telling you," the trio could hear someone speaking from behind the tall grass. Aelki shot X'z a quick glance before returning his attention to the orb they were almost before.

Based on the peeved tone to the voice before them, Aelki was suspecting a hostile force. Granted, his map showed no creatures nor dots around him. Perhaps it was a glitch? Ever since the game got all dark and creepy, things stopped making sense.

Heh. He smirked to himself. Since when did the game ever make sense?

As the trio on raptors broke through the final wave of grass between them an their mark, Aelki drew his ride to a dead halt. This... this was hardly what he was expecting. Brow inching up, he slowly forced his gaze on X'z. The look in his face was evident. He was most displeased, feeling as if he had wasted his time on a dead end.

There before the group was a man, hanging upside down. Face a bright red color indicated he had been like this for quite some time. His feet were neatly wrapped up thanks to a brilliant white rope. Beneath his swaying body, laid a hat--likely his. The man, masked, but well dressed, had managed tripped a trap.

It was a rookie mistake, and Aelki was doing his best not to berate the imbecile. Not to mention, who the hell did Kali think she was! She led them to a useless man.

With a scoff, Aelki rolled his eyes before sliding off the ancient creature.

"Honestly, what kind of man walks into a plain-as-day trap?" His hands landed on his hip as a snarky look crawled on his face.

The man in the mask shot his brown eyes toward golden-eyed Aelki. Annoyance claimed his features before he curtly retorted, "The kind of man who has no idea where the hell he is. One minute I'm at at the North Pole freezing my balls off and the next I'm in Jurassic Park strung up by my ankles to this goddamn tree."

Stretching, the mask man tried to inch his way toward a pair of black, pistols.

"All I know is that I was told I had to 'save the world' by collecting some 'out of time' items. And, if I did all that, my sins would be undone and I could go back to living a normal life."

Finally, his index finger stroked the gun. Grin growing on his face, Aelki took a firm step back. There was a crazed look about this man and Aelki wasn't about to find out what these 'sins' were he spoke of.

Not a second after stepping back, a loud echo boomed in the air. Then, a hard thug followed.

"Damnit."

Being polite (more like trying to impress X'z), Aelki walked over to the masked man to lend him a hand. "The name's Aelki. Your girlfriend," he gestured toward Kali, "said we needed your help to find an item."

"Yeah," he slapped the hand from his face and rose on his own. "You're looking for a canister. It'll look like a battery. Instead the canister is the code that you'll need to type in." Brushing off the dust, he rolled back his shoulders before opening his mouth again. "And don't ask me how the hell I know. I just do. Okay." His eyes shot to Kali. "And I wish she was my girlfriend. Afraid I'm a lone ranger in this whole mess." Eyes scanning the area, he shrugged. "Wherever this 'whole mess' is."

"It's a virtual game called Nonu Maihel Online. Only it's become corrupt."

"Yeah no shit." He growled before stepping to put on his hat. "And since we're being all friendly, I'm Harv."

Aelki smirked.

"What's so funny?"

"I presume Harv is short for Harvey."

"Yeah, so?"

"Bryan Harvey Wesson," he said before sticking out his hand.

"Heh. Davis Harvey." He cocked a brow for a second. "Wait, the Bryan Wesson? The rich kid that makes guns?" His eyes gave Aelki a once over. "Impressive."

The hostility between the men vanished. It took them maybe all of five minutes to go from "you're stupid" to "omg, tell me all your secrets to success." Between their gossiping, the two completely forgot about the mission at hand and, of course, the women.

Then, all of a sudden, Aelki's cheeks flushed a bright pink. "Uh, where are my manners. This is X'zimzizi Zinbhe." Moving to her side, he planted a quick kiss on her cheek.

"And," he stepped back, "I presume you know her." His eyes moved to Kali.

"No," he said while wetting his lips, "but I want to."

Rosalinda looked over at Dimitri at his comment about low level. "Hey, you can't deny what's true," she teased him, sticking her tongue out at the male. A part of her felt relieved that she had picked the right game to look into playing when it came to finding her childhood friend. Though, when he mentioned the other mod, the elf could help but dread what he was going to say when they ran into him again. How long had he been teasing her about finding her friend? Oh boy, if he saw how she was behaving how. The woman shook her head, getting that thought out of her mind; she wasn't going to let Aelki ruin this.

A smirk formed on the woman's face as the male continued to talk. Not only had he become more talkative, but clearly more confident in himself compared to when they were kids. She watched him take down the creatures before him before making a comment about how long this could take. But before she could retort with a witty comment, he spun around to look at her, the look on his face clearly saying something was wrong. "What's up?" She asked just as she saw the ground break underneath him.

Running to the edge of the hole, Rosalinda looked down, but all was dark. Dimitri was fine though, his health bar in their party menu was full. "Dimitri, you ok?" She called down before looking back at her dragon beast and ushering it away and casting levitate on herself. A cloud appeared beneath her feet, pulling her from the ground. Moving over the hole, she slowly fell through; it would take her longer to get down, but she wouldn't have the risk of getting injured.

When the male came into view and she didn't risk as much injury from the mall, Rosalinda cancelled the spell. Landing next to the boy, she straightened herself before healing up the little bit she needed from the fall. "You had to go and fall through a hole again, huh? So how much trouble are we in now?" Her glowing green eyes then scanned over the cave before falling on a couple of blue hounds.

Her eyes fell on him, an unamused look on her face. "Really? Here? You do realize I'm only level 58 right?" She then sighed, rubbing her temples before opening up her spellbook. "You can't ever just drop us somewhere safe, can you?" Her hand hovered over a set of runes that started to glow, putting the book back on her hip, she put her fingers to her lips and whistled. After a few moments, the ice under them began to rumble and crack, stepping to the side, Rosalinda grabbed the back of Dimitri's shirt and pulled him over with her.

A bright amber colored claw broke through the ice, then a second and soon a massive scorpion was pulling itself up. Its body was a dark gray color, claws, legs, face and tail a bright amber that looked almost like flowing lava. "He's set to tank so please, try not to taunt off of him," she said as she let the male go. "Even with him, it's not going to be easy in here." The elf then sighed, shaking her head, a smile on her face. "You wanted to level faster, even I'll gain some levels down here."

The scorpion then crawled forward some, waiting for its next command. "We're out leveled here, so please, try to pull one at a time for now. Once you get caught up a bit, we'll pull more. It would also be a good idea to just wait here and let things respawn and fight them again rather than venturing deeper into the cave for now. Pull the first one to us, he'll take over from there." It was definitely easier for a player to pull creatures one at a time rather than the mount who didn't really have control over what aggro'd on it when it would run up to the creature.

"Close," was the only word that came from the sandy blonde woman's mouth as the raptors began to slow, their heads tilting like birds trying to get a better view of something. The two riderless raptors emerged through the grass before the other three, just to make sure all was safe. The two that entered first walked towards the male, lowering their heads to nudge the rather helpless man, only causing him to slowly sway back and forth.

X'zimzizi and her raptor both tilted their heads to be nearly upside down, looking at the man. "What are you hangin' around there for," she said, her hands planted on the scaled beast to keep her from falling over its side.

As for Kali, there was a content smile on her face as her raptor seemed to stand up taller, proud that they had found their prize.

The cat eared woman looked toward Aelki saying, "So people were moved when this happened?" It seemed weird; their group was separated or teleported anywhere.

As the hanging man said what he had been told, Kali nodded slowly. "The Raptors say you know where to look for the item they seek."

When the shot rang out, X'zimzizi cupped her hands over her elongated, furred ears. Even though it was a game, the sudden sound still hurt the ears. Casting her bi-eyes towards the other woman, she didn't even seem to have noticed the echoing noise. The raptors did though; a few jumped and the others turned towards Aelki, hissing at him.

X'zimzizi's eyes widened as the man slapped Aelki's hand away; he was just trying to help him, there was no need to get mad about it. "Hey now, play nice," the woman chided. "Aelki was just helping you, don't gotta be rude about it." The small woman then mustered up a glare, at least as threatening of a glare that a tiny woman of her stature and appearance could muster; the look probably would even startle an infant.

As the man continued talking, one of the two raptors near him sniffed his back, its muzzle shoving him forward some. As his eyes shot to the blonde, the raptor looked up as well, though the group was only met with a content smile from Kali. It was difficult to tell if she hadn't heard what he said or if she simply didn't know what it meant.

The two then seemed to go on their own tangent, leaving the women to watch silently; this seemed to be more awkward for X'zimzizi than it had for the other woman. That alone made the feline woman uncomfortable, it seemed like nothing startled or bothered this woman. Not to mention she had a pack of raptors with her, the creatures were typically hostile, but yet they seemed to follow her command like loyal puppies.

A small prideful smile crossed the woman's face as this 'Harv' guy seemed impressed by Aelki. There was something about people recognizing him that made her proud. Though, the whole thing, was of course lost on their mysterious friend whom spoke little about herself, or about anything for that matter. She smiled at Aelki as he kissed her before nodding in acknowledgement towards their new party member.

It was after Harv made his comment about now knowing Kali that the black and red raptor seemed to grow distracted by something on the ground near the male's feet. Leaning down, it grabbed the rope that seemed to just sit there and pulled on it, ripping Harv's feet out from under him and into the air as the raptor stood again.

There was a growl from the one that Kali rode and the other quick dropped the rope, returning the man to the ground. Carefully, this time, the creature leaned over and gently bit the collar of his top, pulling him back to his feet.

Kali's eyes fell to the rope the creature had just yanked on before swining a leg over her raptor and sliding off. It chirped at her in surprise before laying on the ground so she would be able to get on easier.

"I am Kali," she said simple as she approached the man. She stopped just short of him, her eyes locked on his as she said, "I can assist you with that, should you desire." Though before the man could process a response, the woman had knelt before him, her fingers making quick work of the knot. As the rope fell away, it actually looked as though it had been cut rather than untied.

Lifting his pant legs slightly the woman nodded slowly before wrapping her palms around one ankle. A gold light started to glow and shine between the cracks of her fingers; it wasn't the healing of a priest, that was for sure. Her hands then moved to the other ankle, doing the same thing.

Satisfied that the red marks were gone, the woman smiled before standing again. Dusting herself off she looked up at the male and said, "I am told you know the location of the item we seek."

Had he not been checking Kali out, he might have noticed what the raptor was doing. Instead, he found himself flying into the air. Then, much to his surprise, receiving a rather graceful landing back on the ground.

"Heh," he lightly shoved his fist into the raptor's neck, "you're a ballsy one." Hand running down its spine, he winked at it before his attention fell back on Kali.

"Oh yeah," Harv said while giving Aelki the 'is this woman batshit crazy' look. "I definitely know. I KNOW BECAUSE I WAS HANGING UPSIDE. NO OF COURSE I D--"

That's when it hit him like a ton of bricks. He did know.

"Actually," he schmoozed his way on over to Kali, "I might know. When I was hanging around, I happened to catch something shimmering over there. Now, if I were a betting man--and I am--I would guess that's what we seek. I don't know why, but I've been dying to get my hands on it. Probably because I didn't have much else to think about with the blood ran to my head." At some point while he was talking, his arm had managed to loop around her body. Pulling her closer, he winked. "Don't suppose I could borrow one of your friends?" He gestured to the raptor that had given him grief just moments ago. "I think he likes me so, if it's okay with you, I would like to partner with Deadpool."

Releasing his hold on Kali, he ran a hand over the red and black raptor. "You wanna be my partner," he cooed while tickling its chin. "Do ya?"

Aelki mounted his raptor again before smiling over at X'z. "Well, if that's where we got to go, we should probably get a move on. We're racing against the clock. The quicker we can collect these things, the better. We've got friends who are in another area trying to complete their quests." Aelki explained things in more detail so Harv could wrap his head around what was actually happening.

"Sounds good to me. As much as I liked this view, I would be more than happy to get out of here." Wiggling his toes in his shoes, he looked over to Kali. "And thanks, toots." He winked again before hopping up on his raptor. "While swinging around, I noticed some not-so-friendly foes over that way. Looks like we should take the long way around. Would rather avoid sudden death, ya know?"

"Sounds good to me," Aelki repeated with a nod while ushering his raptor to take the path they just came from. "We just came from there so we know the first part of the path is clear. From there on," he tapped his map, "we'll just use the map to see where the clusters of monsters are."

"Not sure I would trust that completely," Harv chided. "If this game is as fucked up as it feels, I doubt it'll have all the monsters and traps listed on it. Might have to resort to good old-fashioned Indiana Jonesing things."

"Ha," Aelki grinned. "I'm fine with that too."

The lack of upset reaction from Kali confused X'zimzizi. The woman didn't seem remotely upset by the way this guy talked to her, that or she really was just that oblivious to about everything.

A smile soon formed on the woman's lips as Harv said thought he did know where the item they were looking for was located. His attention soon turned to the raptor that had knocked him down, the creature seemed content, plopping its head on his shoulder as he asked Kali if he could borrow it. The smile was still on her lips as she said, "I cannot say if you may or not. They choose whom they with." Though, the fact that the raptor liked him and had chosen him was quite obvious. As he named the raptor, it seemed pleased, leaning in closer to him as he started to scratch its chin.

Kali walked back over to her waiting mount and climbed on, shortly after it stood again. Her raptor was quick to sidle up next to Harv's; while it may not knew where they were heading, it was still the pack leader and refused to let one of the others fully lead.

As they continued on, the woman looked over at Harv. "Toots?" She questioned, on brow raised slightly. "What does this word mean?"

X'zimzizi chuckled slightly as she said, "We lose two interesting people and gain two more even weirder ones. Not scary, like Ally though, so that's good." Her warm gaze fell to Aelki as they continued on behind the others, the last raptor taking up the far rear.

"So, what do you think?" She then asked, her gaze peeking back up to the other two. "They seem to be connected together. Quest mobs or just coincidence?" It's not like it really mattered, though it seemed like it would help to understand if this was actually a part of the game. This was X'zimzizi's first time in the zone, so she didn't really know anything about it.

As they walked, the earth around them rumbled, lightly at first but soon that rumbling grew. The sound of branches breaking and falling came near them before a heard of Stegosauruses moved out around them. They seemed to ignore the raptors, their gaze not even falling on them, but looking at the blond woman.

They seemed to sing a chorus as they walked by, those that neared Kali rubbed against her leg before continuing onward. The raptors, much like the other creatures, ignored them right back. They didn't even seem the least bit tempted by their usually prety walking by, not even when the babies moved through or the sickly ones towards the back passed.

"Ally's not scary," he said while laughing. "Though I do feel bad for dumping Blue Ice on her. Hope the kid's okay." At her next comment, he shrugged. "Really not sure. With how things have changed, it's hard to imagine what's right and what's wrong. Everything is out of place. I don't think it's a coincidence but I'm not sure if't quest-related. If we're supposed to lose, why would we meet someone who could take us to the someone who knows where the item is. Doesn't make sense. Unless our hacker wants us to win, but then why go through all this and have a time limit?"

Things continued to get weirder as more creatures came to bask in Kali's glory. Aelki instructed his mount to move closer to X'z so he could whisper to the cat-lady.

"You are definitely right about them being weird though. I think the woman is stranger than the man. Though Harv has his own quirks. Though I guess we can't complain. These beat walking and at least someone knows what we're looking for."

While the lovebirds chatted, Harv was doing his best to explain his lingo. "Uh," he placed a hand on his chin. "I guess it's a pet name? A term of endearment? Though I suppose some would find it offensive. Or old-fashioned. Out of place? Rude? Arrogant?" His head was spinning. He had no idea how this beautiful would would take the term.

"Eh," his brows knit together. "It just means that you're attractive. You know, pretty, beautiful, gorgeous." He smirked. "Didn't want to call you love on our first meeting. Though," he rubbed the back of his neck, "I suppose doll would have worked too. Your proportions are killer. I'm not even sure you're real or if I'm just hallucinating this whole ordeal."

Flopping so his body rested on Deadpool's neck, he moped, "I will be awfully sad if this is fake. I fucking love dinosaurs." Arms looping around the raptor's neck, he gave the creature a quick huge. "I've always wanted my own little friend. So perfect and awesome." He pat the creature's head. "Yes, yes you are."

After some time, the group came to a fork in the road. Both paths would take them to the spot Harv pointed out but which was the better path? The one to the left looked rather open but they would need to wade through water and then do some serious rock climbing. The path to the right lead right into the heart of a forest, likely crawling with creatures. It seemed to have a gentle incline that they could easily walk up, rather than scale. Still, was it worth the risk of running into monsters? Aelki and Z'x would be fine but they would have to fight for two other party members, as neither looked to be carrying a real weapon. Not to mention, the level 1 about Harv's head wasn't exactly ideal. He would level quickly but... he was far too low.

"Whelp," Aelki turned his head to X'z, "which way should we go. You're the lucky charm, my little kitten. Quick way makes more sense? Should we go for a swim and then scale the cliff? Or wander through the forest and take a gentle stroll up the mountain to our glowing package?"

X'zimzizi laughed a little saying, "I'd rather face off against Garganduan at level 1 than have Ally being the one to handle a report someone might file." Garganduan was a notoriously difficult raid boss; to date, very few 40-man groups were actually able to boast defeating the end game creature.

The woman's brow furrowed as she tried to figure out why they would simply plop the very people that seemed to know what was going on, or at least partly, right in their laps. Granted, one made no sense and the other had a hot streak, but they seemed to know more about something being found than they had and it was their quest. The gears in the woman's head was turning as she finally guessed, "You said they could be after something you made. What if they just need to stall you long enough for that?"

Her eyes slid to the male until the dino herd moved in around them. She slowly nodded, agreeing with Aelki about the woman whom seemed to not only attract but calm every dino they had seen up until that point.

"A pet name?" The woman repeated, her head tilting some. That was not a familiar phrase to her. Endearment though, that was a word that she understood. "If meant as a word of endearment, why be upset about it?" The woman then lowered her head in a sort of bow. "I appreciate the compliment."

The woman smiled as Harv tried to further explain himself, though he seemed to have a hard time figuring out what words to use. "You are very kind," she said as he quieted before casting him a momentary glance from the corner of her eyes. "I am as real as time itself," she said; though her tone sounded confident, there was also a piece that seemed confused, or still holding that same riddle tone in it.

Kali looked down to the creature she was riding, a content look on her face as she scratched its neck; the beast leaned into her touch, its eyes closing momentarily. "Many people seek to kill these creatures," she said, her tone soft, alluring even. "Fear drives many and leads to many deaths. I am sure they appreciate your kind words."

The ride after seemed rather uneventful; not only did they not seem to run into anything else, but the only sound around them was the sound of song birds and the call of other dinosaurs. As they approached the fork, X'zimzizi looked down each way. Neither way really seemed to bother her, but time truly was of the essence.

"I think we should go left," she said with a nod before looking at Aelki. "We don't want to slow ourselves down with who knows what sort of attacks we could see the other way."

With Z'x valuable opinion in mind, Aelki lead the group toward the water. It made more sense. They were out in the open and could see attacks coming from a mile away. God forbid they lose Harv in the forest! They would never collect the canister they needed to flick the corrupted data. A part of Aelki feared that Harv and Kali were integral parts of their mission. If they lost them, they would never know the next step. They seemed to know things these two knew nothing of.

Sliding off his mount, he patted the raptor. "Afraid this is far as you go. Thanks for all your help."

He offered X'z his hand to help her down. "Just need to go for a little swim. After that," he gave the group a rather sheepish smile, "we get to see how well we can scale the side of a cliff. Should be nbd."

Harv had spent most of their trip silent. He listened to Kali and found her views on life to starkly contrast his. She seemed kinder, gentler. Perhaps she was to be the one to tame the wrath within?

"Actually," he moved for a bag on his back, "climbing might not be that hard. I'll take the lead. You wanna cover the bottom?" He flashed some contents in his bag that looked more than capable of getting four people to the top of the cliff.

Holding the bag above his head, for he wasn't sure how deep the water was, he waded in. "Hope we don't have to worr--"

His eyes saw something in the water. Stammering back, he retreated to the water's edge. Bag back on his back, his eyes shot to the forest. "I would rather take on land creatures than something that hides in the depths."

"Ice boy would have been perfect right about now," Aelki mused. "But we don't have him." Tapping his fingers on his chin, his forcus moved to Kali. "Don't suppose you could get us some wings?" He pointed up at the flying pterodactyls. "If not, I guess we get to decide if we--" His brow cocked. "Harv, what are you doing."

"Your girlfriend picked this way. We're going this way. But I'm changing up the route a bit." He moved over to Aelki and forced the man's screen up. "We were thinking of this. How about we go this way." He drew a path along the water's edge and right next to the forest. "Sure, we can get attacked on both sides but look." He pointed to a dark spot on the mountain's side. "That's a cave and I'm guessing, it'll spit us out right there." His finger pointed just above the ledge where their item was. "We then have to climb down, not up. Shouldn't be as hard, right?"

Aelki moved to Kali. "I know we doubted you at first but I am sorry." As Aelki ran on ahead, Harv stayed back. "He's an interesting one."

---

It didn't take them look to get to the mountain's edge. And, as Harv suspected, there was indeed a cave. That alarming part was that it didn't show up on Aelki's map. This area was new to him and he didn't like knowing they could be walking right into a trap. He tried to protest, but Harv wasn't buying any of the brunette's concerns. Moving head first into the cave, Aelki held the girls back until they heard from the other masked man.

"It's pretty open in here," Harv's head poked back out from between the rocks. "But I think we're going to run into some enemies. I keep hearing something moving. Sounds like a snake? Maybe bugs?" He looked over to X'z. "Think you might be able to go ahead?" He turned to Aelki. "Unless you'd rather take lead. You two are clearly the best equipped for this kind of stuff. One's going to take the back, the other the front."

Shrugging, Aelki didn't care what role he got. "My blades glow. Perhaps I should go first so we can see what we're walking into?" His brows knit together. "Though I don't like the idea of leaving you in the back." Biting his lip, he sighed. "I'll take the back. You go first."