Rayner and Axel had distanced themselves from the Inimi and the coalition forces. They had traveled for most of the day and nightfall was coming. Axel had not spoken since they left, not even telling him why they left or where they were going.

Rayner worried for his friend. Axel talked tough, but Rayner knew there was a deep well of kindness in him, no matter how much Axel teased him on his social justice values.

“We need to talk about what happened,” Rayner said.

“What we need is to find a place to stay for the night. Do you know how to start a fire?” Axel said.

“I didn’t know I was capable of such violence; I know we had to do it but—”

“I’m guessing this world does not have electricity. The forest will be pitch black. We will be as good as blind.”

“We are still covered in blood.”

“Shut up, keep it to yourself!”

“We are in a new world, our friend is not who we thought he was, and we fought a battle. It’s OK to feel upset.”

“I am way past upset, I’m—”

Axel had been facing away from him; he turned to see Rayner shaking and in tears, “I’m sorry, it was my idea to rush in there, and I didn’t know who those people were or what the fight was about.”

“Shit, stop crying man, I am not angry at you,” Axel said, but Rayner knew that was a lie.

“It felt like I was really getting something done. Like a hero from a fairy tale.”

“Will you stop crying if I talk?”

He stopped his tears and listened.

“What, were those crocodile tears? Whatever. I kind of blame you, but I knew what I was in for. I was going to look for something to fight anyway, cause that’s what you do in RPGs.”

Rayner and Axel sat with their backs against a large tree, taking time to decompress.

“That ended better than the last time we fought,” Rayner said.

“What was it about? Did I cut down a tree?”

“No, you were explaining why I was a blue pill beta boy.”

“Oh well, I take it back. After seeing you going beast mode on those Inimi, nobody will think you’re a wimp.”

They both laughed. It was time he got around to the important question. “…Are we lost?”

“We would have to know where we are to be lost,” Axel said.

Night was approaching. He had hoped the glowing trees would light the way, but the glow had dimmed as the sun set.

Axel didn’t have all the answers. He had acted like a general during the battle. Commanding fighters and ordering battle tactics. Where did he learn that?

That reminded him. “Hey, let’s check our stats, see if anything changed.”

“Ah crap, how could we forget? I wanted to avoid standing around analyzing our stats. There was not much to see the first time.”

They looked at their palms. Rayner felt his focus being sucked in by the tattoos until he could read his stats.

Name: Rayner, Race: White, Title: Faithless, Level: 1, Class: Barbarian, Mana: 10, Skills: N/A, EXP: 30.

“A barbarian!” Rayner said. That is not how he saw himself at all. Then he remembered what he was doing during that battle. It was an unwanted Class, but accurate.

“Better than what I got,” Axel said. “Look at my palm.”

Name: Axel, Race: Black, Title: Godless, Level: 2, Class: Thug, Mana: 10, Skills: N/A, EXP: 0.

“Why are you complaining you gained a level!”

“My class is Thug. That’s not a Class it’s a racial insult. I thought you would object to this.”

“That’s because you don’t know the history of the word. The word thug originated from a cult of ritual serial killers in India.”

His friend’s jaw hung open. The explanation provided no comfort for Axel. “How do you even know that? Wait, I remember, it was part of your corporate training.”

Nodding an affirmation, he went back to focusing on his stats, trying to figure out what they mean. Back at school with Yazid, they would try to come up with their own conclusions first before discussing it with others to avoid group-think leading to a wrong conclusion.

Rayner focused on Class for a minute until new text morphed into view. Barbarian: You are uncivilized and violent and from a foreign land. Again, accurate. However, it did not tell him what he could do with it. Unless the only purpose was to inform, like a dictionary. He focused on EXP, the only other stat that changed, by 20 points. EXP: your experiences. He tried focusing on other stats, but the more he focused the more his eyes stung. He got nothing from this. Hopefully, Axel had better luck.

“I will start. Focusing on a stat can give more detail, but sometimes it hurts. Other than that, I figured out nothing. I can’t think how this helps us at all,” he said.

“Same for me, I don’t feel any different being at level 2. I can guess that my leadership during the battle played a role. It also says I’m a thug because I conducted my murders professionally.”

“Wow.”

“Yep.”

They had discovered nothing that could help them in a future fight.

“I can understand why you gained a level, but why did my EXP only go up by 20?”

“I actually have an answer for that. EXP must be based on the quality of the experience. My leadership led to the defeat of an army so I got enough to gain a level. You only killed a lot of Inimi,” Axel’s chest puffed up at his achievement, his previous trauma overruled by his ego.

“Still…only 20,” Rayner said, pouting.

“We will find out more when we fight again.”

With the analysis finished they went back to looking for civilization.

Instead of randomly walking through the forest they decided to listen for the sound of water, for where there was water there would be life. They had found a stream, but it was too late. Night had come and they could not see anything. They stopped their travels to make camp.

Or that is what they would have done if they knew how to set up a camp. They had brought many tools with them from their world but had no idea how to use them, and of course, none of the electronics worked.

Rayner saw Axel take out a coffin-like sleeping bag. “What kind of sleeping bag is that?”

“A better one than yours,” Axel said, chuckling.

“OK funny guy, so do you want to take first watch?”

“Watch for what, I can hardly see you.”

“Then listen.”

Axel hissed his teeth. “Sure, but we have not had a single random encounter. This world must not work like that, no weak monsters popping up for us to kill.”

He found that strange. They should have at least run into people from the mountain city battle. It was not the only thing he found strange about this forest. Rayner had noticed not a single animal was seen. Birds, deer, squirrels, nothing. The bird he saw outside Yazid’s cabin prison must have been at the edge of this seemingly dead forest.

Rayner snuggled up in his sleeping bag. “Wake me in four hours and don’t fall off asleep.”

“Alright.”

He fell asleep. Rayner knew because they woke to a group of people dragging them through the forest.

The sleeping bags were comfortable but not suited for reacting to an ambush. They soon stopped struggling. Their kidnappers roughed them when they tried to escape, but avoided dealing them serious injury.

Rayner thought about asking them to stop carrying them, as they would not try to escape, but he was feeling lazy. Let them carry them around and Axel has already gone back to sleep. That guy was something else.

After some time, they arrived at their destination. They were in a large clearing, a village, surrounded by large trees. Light was emitted from round glass bottles connected to the branches, and the tops of the trees bent to form a roof. A village inside a tree-house.

In the light, they could see who had taken them. Pale skinned men and women, with pointed ears. Elves. They came from their homes and behind trees to stare at them. Some looked shocked, even fearful, but most of them were stoic.

Axel woke up. “Wow, are these elves?”

A man, or woman, it was hard to tell, came and stood before them. “Yes, we are.” She or he gave them time to get out of their sleeping bags before she continued. “Why are you here?”

“Some of you, I don’t know who, you all kind of look alike, dragged us here,” Axel said.

Why did Axel have to be so offensive?

The Elf did not take offense. “I will clarify. How did you get past the forest’s protections?”

Rayner was about to answer but Axel stopped him. “How did the Inimi get past it?”

The Elf hesitated before answering. “We let them pass.”

“Why would you do something like that? Goblins were with them!” Rayner said. This world may be different from what he imagined, but there is no way Elves and goblins are on friendly terms.

When the Elf leader did not answer, Axel spoke. “They did it because that was what their god wanted. It’s why the Dwarfs had to use tunnels to get Coalition forces to help them, they couldn’t get through the forest.”

“Axel, if you knew this why didn’t you tell me, and how did you know?” he asked.

“I knew there was something wrong with this forest because I marked the trees with my knife. We were going in circles. I didn’t say anything because they were watching us.”

That bastard, that means he does know how to set up a camp and navigate a forest. His parents were farmers. Failed farmers, but still farmers.

“Yes, we followed you when it became clear our God did not allow you past the forest,” the elf said.