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.hack//EVOLUTION Chapter 3 (Addiction)

Early dawn light peeked over the tree line at the edge of campus, barely enough to make out the lines painted on the football field outside of the athletics building. Dew clung to the grass like melted diamonds shying away from the coming light. It was a beautiful sight, or it would have been if anyone was there to observe it. Only one person was in the right place to see it, but the real world was the farthest thing from Jack Kovac's mind.

The sound of sneakers pounding on a treadmill filled the student gym. Only one machine was in use, the rest of the room silent and still. Every weight machine, every elliptical, and every weight bench was empty and sterilized from the night before. Jack had woken before any other student on campus to level his own body up while he tested what his upgraded character could do. Enkidu's modification item had worked like a dream. Every item, every piece of equipment, every stat and every detail had been restored. AllStar-00 was back in the game.

Jack had mastered something few other players could - exercising while playing The World. The face mounted display completely blocked out reality, showing him the perfection of his character, immersing him in the sounds of the game. He could barely hear his feet hitting the treadmill beneath him as he explored, but Jack didn't care about any of that. He was invested completely on the experience reclaiming his character's elite status.

The return of Jack's character had brought new confidence. He'd trimmed his hair, shaved and splashed on a fair bit of cologne, even though the sweat was counteracting the effects. Despite that, though, he wanted to be sure his character worked after the hacked item from Enkidu. Jack's muscles tensed as he thought of the hacker again. He'd tried to shut those thoughts out of his mind, but the idea of those lips against his, the feel of facial hair rubbing against his face... It was so soft and bristly at the same time, soaked with the smell of smoke. It disgusted and turned Jack on at the same time.

Jack cursed himself for thinking of it again and paid attention to the level before him again, advancing his blade master through the dungeon. His character looked somewhat like him with short brown hair and a fairly broad shouldered build. The armor Jack had found looked almost like football pads, giving a big profile to the shoulders and slim at the waist. Jack couldn't help it, he had a style.

Sigma Deepest Chosen Pursuit had been a randomly selected map, but it fit the parameters Jack was looking for; it was the same as his character's current level and as far as Jack knew, only a few hundred players were anywhere close to his level... and surely none of them would come to that specific area. Jack moved through a stone dungeon, the ancient walls covered with moss and dripping with condensation. Vines had broken through in places, causing trip hazards Jack had to navigate around.

The athlete had fought his way through flying coffins filled with banshees, massive Red Scissor crabs with nearly invulnerable shells, but at long last he was on the bottom level. Around one corner would be the Gott Statue, and in its chest would be a treasure that would prove his amazing skill. No doubt he'd be able to get quite a bit of prowess for his accomplishment.

Jack guided his character into another room. It was large, spacious... most certainly not the treasure room. Sure enough, on the far side of the room was a massive spinning golden seal. There was a heavy rumble as stone doors slid shut on both sides of the room, trapping Jack. The only ways out were victory or defeat.

The jock gritted his teeth and edged his character forward, his fingers flicking and tapping on his phone's control, the lenses over his eyes shimmering with the displayed image of the game world. As AllStar-00 neared the portal, the seal spun faster, grew larger and opened up wider and wider... and wider still, but as the portal opened, something strange happened.

The harsh, crackling sound of static hit Jack's ears. There was visual noise as well, lines of distortion running across his field of vision. It crackled and skipped, popping and sputtering as the portal opened. Jack felt his heart sink. The hacked item had messed wit h his game. CyberConnect would never have tolerated such issues with the game... Jack had to hope that leveling up naturally would put the problems behind him. If he was stuck with the glitches, he'd never be able to live it down.

Before the light began to fade, a large monster had appeared, a monster that seemed to be a living tree. His trunk was split into two legs, he had scraggly arms and thick bark armor. Jagged gaps in the bark displayed a mouth and eyes and he had a canopy of leaves for hair, standing at almost forty feet tall. The creature let out a dull ominous roar. The name of the beast came up on Jack's screen - Hard Wood. Jack rolled his eyes and moved to strike.

As Jack approached, however, he noticed a pattern he hadn't seen before. Faint and transparent oblong hexagons floated just over the tree beasts' image, coating him like armor. There were gaps in places, but over all the entire surface was covered. Jack had never seen anything like it before... Perhaps it was an unfinished detail CC Corp was implementing for higher levels and no one was supposed to be there yet... or maybe it was part of his glitch. Either way, Jack was certain of his course.

"Die, you mother fucker!" Jack called out in real life, his FMD capturing his facial motions and mapping them onto his character. The blade master attacked the beast, slashing with flaming sword, lightning blade and a half dozen other moves... but the beast's stats didn't drop down. Jack cursed softly, watching his SP drop down, turning from blue to red before it was depleted. All of his moves hadn't done anything. The beast let out another roar and slashed at AllStar, knocking the blade master back. Jack's phone vibrated as his health dropped down by a quarter. Jack bit his lip, breaking into his inventory to pull out a healing elixir before using a spell, a level four earth spell. The floor of the dungeon room rumbled before massive spikes rushed upwards, trying to spike through the tree, but the spikes came and went and the information was still at maximum. The monster was unharmed.

"It can't be invincible..." Jack murmured, whimpering gently. It had to be the hacker's fault. His character's attack stats had to be ineffective. There was no other explanation. Jack started trying to devise a way to get out of the room, to stop the battle, but he hesitated as his camera angle changed. The camera had moved back to t a third person view, showing his character from a few feet behind.

"Mid... boss?" Jack murmured. He'd heard stories about how mid-bosses in older versions of the World had their own graphics, but he'd never expected to come across one. The massive tree creature raised its left hand and the glowing armor of hexagons began to reshape. A bracelet made of light began to rotate in two different layers, the lower level going clockwise while the outer layer went counter clockwise. The bracelet spun faster and widened before script spread across the top of the screen. Jack hesitated. 'Data Upload' was written in cursive. Was the monster calling its attacks? Jack didn't have a moment more to think about it.

A vast beam of light erupted from the monster's bracelet, arching across the room before striking AllStar. Jack gasped sharply, a massive pain filling his chest. It felt like burning, searing light. His muscles tensed and he stumbled, hands grabbing onto the treadmill to stay upright. His heart was racing, the sweat was starting to pour out and soak his chest. His eyes twitched and somewhere in the back of his mind, Jack heard a strange tone echoing...

For a single moment the two characters were linked by the band of light, but then the Hard Wood monster exploded into shards of colored digital glass. The fragments flew across the screen and sunk into AllStar, slowing as they hit his armor but sinking in all the same. In that moment, The World no longer felt like a game to Jack... He could feel it.

Jack could smell the moss, the must, the ancient stone. he could smell the bugs and the dirt and the oaky scent of the vines. He could feel the cold, damp air on his skin and the weight of his armor... but he could also feel the hard treadmill beneath his feet and hands. He was a man trapped between two worlds. He cringed and groaned more as the data continued to sink into him, starting to feel like it was bubbling across his chest.

Jack was unable to move, his feet barely dragging over to the sides of the treadmill so he didn't fall down. Jack panted hard, watching to his surprise as the screen started to flicker with static again, the camera starting to orbit his character. As Jack gazed at himself like some out of body experience, he noticed his character didn't look quite right. Hexagons appeared and disappeared all over his body, fluctuating in a cocoon over him... but that was far from all.

The player character had been designed to mimic Jack fairly closely, matching his skin tone and facial features... but those features were changing. His round ears began to stretch and shift, pushing out into points. The points grew to match those of the elves, but soon they pushed back even further. As the ears grew, his chin took on a slightly more defined point... but the most startling change of all had to be the change in skin tone.

Jack watched in horror as his character was transformed; his peach skin growing tan and then took on cinnamon tones, turning almost a woody brown. For a moment there seemed to be no division between the color of his skin and hair, but soon this character's hair turned from brown to an auburn red... and then it started to grow. The hair pushed out of his character's head like vines, thickening into tight dreadlocks. They hung down from his head before they bound themselves back into a messy ponytail, leaving his pointed ears completely visible. More hair sprouted down his character's cheeks, thick sideburns growing in all the way down to his jaw bone.

As stunning as it was to see his character violated, he could feel the changes on himself as if it was happening to him... He could feel the weight of extra hair on his head and neck, he could feel a breeze through sideburns that weren't there, he could even feel the tips of his pointed ears burning with heat. Jack panted hard, groaning softly as his running shorts became tented, blood rushing into his hardening cock. He could even feel a burning in his ears as his character developed thick gold hoop earrings. Jack panted hard as he stood there, watching it all unfold.

The wave signs on his character had long since been the signs for Earth, of stone and strength, but the symbols shimmered and faded before they were replaced with the emblems for wood... the opposite element. As if reacting to his body change, his heavy armor cracked and shuddered before exploding in a burst of light. The metal flew off of him, dissolving into pixels until nothing was left... nothing except AllStar's bare, brown chest. More woof symbols coated him in a complex pattern, his body sculpting itself more and more. Jack was confused. He'd never programmed the statistics beneath the armor, the armor had been a permanent part of his character... but steadily the muscles grew thicker and larger and Jack could feel that weight, that bulk, even though his body remained the same.

Jack panted harder, drool leaking from the corners of his mouth. He felt like his arms were thicker, his pecs massive. he felt like a weight lifter, groaning in desire and need and pleasure. He continued to watch his character, feeling each heart beat in his massive erection. It seemed he had some hard wood of his own. As his character continued to shift, a light green vest appeared over his torso, barely able to hide fat, wide nipples. The vest came down to his waist where his metal pants dissolved, revealing puffy harem pants. Even his boots stretched out to match the look, becoming pointed.

"Can't... be..." Jack murmured, his mouth numb. He watched his character's brown hands change, the fingernails turning black and stretching into points. He'd seen that kind of character before, all be it not in such stunning detail. It was a wood mage, a male dryad monster. His character had been turned into a monster, but it wasn't just his character. He could feel the changes; the mass, the muscles, the dreads. Jack panted hard, groaning as the static on his screen intensified.

The interface flickered, the mini-map and status screen disappearing and reappearing. Details had changed. His mini-map showed secret passages between the rooms, and more than that, his level had shifted... He was a hundred and sixty nine now with all the experience points to match, but that wasn't all... His name had changed. No longer did his screen read AllStar-00... Now it read 0ddStar. The character on the screen parted his lips, a longue tongue moving to lick his fangs and Jack found himself doing the same, at least until the screen noise began to grow more intense.

The crackling static cut into the illusion, to Jack being in two places at once. He felt like he was being split down the middle, existing one moment in the game and the next in reality. Jack let out a massive scream, echoing in both the dungeon his character stood in and the gym he stood in in real life.

Jack's body collapsed onto the treadmill and was summarily tossed off onto the floor. His phone clattered and slid beneath one of the other machines and the glasses fell from his head, shattering. The broken lenses began to leak rainbow colored gel, going dark forever. Jack's body lay on the floor, inert and immobile, drool still leaking form his lips and a wet spot forming in his running shorts. There was nothing but the sound of the treadmill whirring away and the distant sound of feet growing closer as athletic center staff came running to figure out the cause of the scream.

[Lambda Server - Cultural City Carmina Gadelica]

The city of eternal night had grown far more populated in the early weeks of February. The more devoted players were starting to reach level thirty and made the city their home between missions, seeking out tougher challenges. The canals were filled with as many gondolas as Mac Anu, the distant sky scrapers were abuzz with guilds gathering and planning events, and the sky was filled with massive airships flying from destination to destination. Their engines left a crackling aura of blue energy in their wake.

Players moved from shop to shop, filling the streets with a constant flow. Amid the sea of people, Iain sat on one of the stone guard rails, his lime green and neon orange robes fitting the colorful banners between buildings, his legs swinging back and forth idly. His skin still seemed a touch too pale, his lips a touch too plump, and his eyes seemed focused on everything but his immediate surroundings.

Standing near Iain was one of JennBee's Gabba guild mates, Brittainknee. The girl was supposedly a heavy axe wielder, but only because that class came with a rather fantastic blue and block gothic Lolita dress. Brittainknee brushed the deep blue hair out of her face as she talked with a black haired flick reaper boy that seemed to hang on her ever word. JennBee had brought Iain to Carmina on Gabba business before heading to bed for the night, leaving him with 'friends'.

While JennBee paid attention to Iain and shared her philosophies, Brittainknee barely seemed able to have a thought of her own. She used the same tired phrases like she was one of the NPC's sitting in the shops. Iain had spent over a half hour looking at the crowds, the sky, anything in particular. His focus was anywhere but the present... and because of that focus, he heard a distant, echoing scream.

"What?" Iain murmured, looking around. The scream had been complete and resolute, but no one had reacted...

"Iain, don't interrupt... Presidio was just getting to the best part." Brittainknee said with a smile, blinking her long eyelashes at the flick reaper. Presidio grinned and resumed talking about what some players had said to each other at the Beast Statue in a dojo level. The words seemed to melt together as Iain focused on the scream he had heard. It had been the scream of a young man, strong and yet... violated. If Jenn had been there, she would have cared what he had to say. She was the most important part of the towns, but as Iain sat on the wall, gazing past his unfortunate associate, he watched the players gating in and out of the city.

Iain had traveled from Fort Ouph to Carmina Gadelica and even Mac Anu, but he knew the players were heading to countless areas, outdoor areas, areas with diversity... and yet he knew there were monsters and player killers, traps and threats. It seemed like too much of a risk, just like the fear he had felt on his first day... of seeing the clouds below, feeling that impending doom. He never wanted to feel like that again.

"Thanks Darling, I'm sure that information will be most useful. Charms and kisses my love!" Brittainknee said, giving a hug to the boy that had brought her the gossip. Presidio almost skipped through town before switching back to the custom walk. In all likelihood he was trying to game one handed, making his character behave a little erratically. Brittainknee turned as if to say something, looking into the distance for a moment.

In fact, Brittainknee's entire character had frozen in place. It was the first time Iain's attention fully returned to her in over an hour. Iain was startled at that, feeling as if the life had drained out of the person next to. There was no distant heat, no life. It was like he was next to a shell. Even her facial movements were locked in place. There was a stunning silence before it all came back again. The girl sighed.

"Bullocks, mom says I need to help with dinner or she's going to take away my computer. Jenny is going to be here any minute... But you were here for all of that, right? Could you tell her everything Presidio said? I'm sure she'd want to know..." Brittainknee begged, "You'll be here, right? I mean, I know you've been up all night... You're in America, right? " she murmured.

"I'm always here." Iain replied a bit vaguely, not knowing what she was talking about. Brittainknee sighed with relief.

"Thanks kiddo, I owe you a trillion. Hugs and charms!" She said before logging off. Her character disappeared almost immediately in a golden stream of light... and it was only then that Iain started to contemplate just where it was that JennBee went when she wasn't around. Jenn took him everywhere she went in "The World" but where did she go when she wasn't in the world? He didn't have long to contemplate before he felt a familiar presence re-enter the world.

Near the chaos gate a column of gold rings descended around the forming player character of JennBee. Her messy purple ponytail, black shirt and purple skirt stood out anywhere. The girl looked around, stretching a bit with a grin before she spotted Iain's ungodly color combination. She jogged over with a large smile on her face.

"Iain, you're still up? I left you here like six hours ago." JennBee said with a grin. Iain shrugged softly.

"I didn't have anything better to do." he said. Jennbee smiled, leaning against the wall with a wide, lipstick lined smile.

"So, did you learn anything good while I was gone?" JennBee asked. Iain started to wonder if there were any details he could recall about Brittainknee's mind numbing conversations but all he could remember was hugs and charms. He tried to focus, to live up to Jenn's expectations but he grew distracted by a steady dripping of rain water from one of the gutters, falling down into a barrel. Drip, drip, drip... but one of the drips wasn't like the others. As it hit the water, there was a faint tone chiming through the air. Iain's eyes slowly dialated as his lips went slack, his body growing loose. It wasn't at all the posture of the scared, weak young man he had been a moment before.

"You have to promise not to tell anyone, but I heard Mehen say that Maeyeke was a girl in real life... She plays as a boy so no one will worry about how competitive she is." Iain said with an uncommon, almost detached coolness to his voice. JennBee was unable to suppress a squeal. The unbridled female excitement caused Iain to shake his head, coming back to his senses.

"Iain, do you realize what kind of dish this could be? I mean Maeyeke... He's got such a big ego, so much bravado. If he's a she, can you imagine the guilt we could level over her? The ransom for keeping her secret?" JennBee squeaked in glee. Iain watched her react to his lie, feeling an odd satisfaction deep down. He had created a false truth and she had accepted it from him... and that deceit was potent. Iain looked around, watching the other members of Gabba talking to various players. There was an entire network of people relying on word of mouth for their livelihoods. For the first time in his short life, Iain started to feel powerful.

****

The clicks and clatter of the controls had gone on all night. Milo sat at his desk, his brown hair caked to his head with sweat, his clothes resting even more loosely on his scrawny frame. His fingers continued to work the classic controller. The stacks of dishes remained, but almost disconcertingly there were no new ones. His bed was cold and untouched, the light in the room unused. Milo had spent every free hour in The World, exploring and leveling, doing everything he couldn't do in real life. It had become his reality. Milo pushed on through the field area, looking for new portals... but the growing light at the edge of his awareness was not another portal.

Dawn had reached the east coast and swept westward, eventually hitting Sa Diego. The light was fighting against Milo's venetian blinds as his alarm clock ticked by, hitting six fifteen in the morning. On Milo's bed side table, a blue and white plastic whale began to flap his fins, the eyes blinking. In game, a more organic representation of the whale began to circle Milo's head.

"Milo, it is time to get ready for school." Uji declared. Milo let out a deep groan.

"But I haven't slept at all... I don't want to school, its useless." Milo groaned, leaning back in his chair unhappily. He knew that all of the tortures he had escaped from in The World would be waiting for him when he got back. It was almost too much to stand. Milo groaned, rubbing his chest with his hand, "If only I knew how to stay in The World forever." Milo murmured.

"I don't have that answer for you but I can search for it." Uji offered helpfully. Milo let out a half snort at that.

"Go for it my friend. I guess I better find a good sweatshirt to take a nap in today." Milo murmured, gating out of the field he was in so he could go save his progress.

****

A dull cream colored glow covered the kitchen island Levi sat at, the young man tilting the jug of milk, watching the white nourishing substance wash around his sugar covered mound of oatmeal, creating an island. All the other lights were off in the house, leaving just the news cast on the screen before him as another source of light.

Levi used his spoon to depress small circles into his island, creating three small lakes that turned the island into a face. After a few more moments of playing with his food, he took a bite and savored the creamy rich warmth. The newscast before him continued to play, discussing a new model of face mounted display with heightened facial recognition before the scenery changed to a small room with two chairs and a table.

In one chair sat a portly news reporter with a thin mustache and a bad comb over, his glasses thick. In the other chair was a man with a greenish black suit, his blond hair gelled back. His features seemed just a bit too pointy for his face, but other than that he seemed fairly non-descript. Levi continued to eat his oatmeal, watching the screen.

"With me today I have Adam King, lead programmer on the CC Corp's collector's edition of "The World". Welcome Adam." the reporter said. The man smiled slowly.

"A pleasure to be here." Adam replied.

"Now... after twenty years of gaming, what inspired you to work on this monumental project?" The reporter asked.

"Well if you look at gaming dating back to its earliest incarnations, it isn't always about the graphics. Game play is important. If you can tell a good story, that is what brings players back for more. The graphics are just icing on the cake... But that's always been a strong suit of The World." Adam replied.

"Some have asserted that your roll in the production of this game is largely derivative, that you have gone back and copied original data in some sort of mishmash." The reporter commented. Adam's muscles tightened a bit.

"Well, as many long time players know, a massive fire at the CC Corp headquarters destroyed almost all of the information for the first release of The World. Only a few root towns were spared. The collector's edition used some of the remaining data, but many of the root towns, monsters and items were reconstructed from scratch or from the prototype game that inspired The World." Adam said.

"Ah yes, I believe it was called Fragment..." The reporter said. Adam nodded.

"Created by a brilliant programmer named Harald Hoerwick... But CE isn't about just one person. It is the spirit and desires of programmers from twenty years of gaming blended into a singular vision." Adam said with desire.

"And what is that vision?" The reporter asked. Adam was silent for a moment before he smiled.

"A dazzling twilight dream." Adam replied. The reporter hesitated himself, unsure if the comment was some in game reference he missed.

"Mister King, you also are somewhat of an environmentalist, are you not?" The reporter asked. Adam looked caught off guard before he nodded at that.

"I am a strong supporter of our environment... The Earth is our mother and we owe our lives to her. We've seen an evolution in this world toward the technological, and while there is nothing wrong with that, we should always be conscious of the consequences. There's no reason in this day and age of automation that people should be careless with resources." Adam said.

"And yet your industry thrives on those very resources... Electricity, plastics, silicon..." The reporter commented. Adam's lips tightened further.

"While true, it is becoming less so every day. The green servers CC employs can operate entirely off of hydroelectric, geothermal and nuclear power. The age of coal is long behind us... and digital streaming content has all but replaced the need for physical copies..." Adam said.

"As lead programmer, do you feel any guilt to the fact that network addiction has reached a critical point in our society?" the reporter asked. Levi was a bit surprised when Adam looked almost happy for a moment before growing solemn again.

"You may call it addiction, but what if it is evolution? We grow, we adapt, we learn to use tools. No tool has ever been so powerful as the internet. We struggled as a society for almost seventy years with obesity but a global gastronomy study conducted over the internet found a diet that fit today's lifestyle, keeping everyone's health in check. We have the whole of human knowledge at our fingertips, it helps us in our day to day lives." Adam said.

"And what of Pluto's Kiss? The first and second network crisis? What happens to humans when the tools are taken away?" The reporter asked. Adam chuckled at that.

"Who is going to take them away, Phil? We bounced back from each crisis and made improvements. The risk of a tool is no reason not to use the tool. I believe every human should embrace the harmless technologies we have at our disposal, connecting us all together." Adam said. Levi was a bit haunted by his words, but he was shaken out of the interview as his alarm went off. It was time to head for school. Levi quickly scraped the last of his oatmeal into his mouth before swallowing, grabbing his backpack off the floor and heading for the door. As the front door shut, the screen snapped off, determining that it no longer had an observer.

****

Jack stood in the lobby of the health center, holding the print outs of his diagnosis... Nervous exhaustion and dehydration. The doctors had bandaged where he'd hit the treadmill and rolled, but they didn't have a clue. They hadn't seen his phone or his glasses. They had no idea it had happened while he had been playing 'The World'. In a way Jack was glad about that... He'd never had an experience like that before, one that made him so scared and excited. Jack paused, realizing that wasn't fully true. He'd felt that way when Enkidu had forced a kiss on him.

The jock groaned gently, his erection returning it. He'd been fighting it since the corruption of his character's data, but the erection ached in his mind. Jack felt like he had blue balls. He had to get off and he couldn't wait to get back to his dorm room. He looked around before pushing out of the lobby, dropping his diagnosis in the trash. He moved down the stairs back to the main level, but then he hesitated. He looked out at the entry hall of the athletic center before he headed down another flight of stairs, coming to the back door of the locker room.

The door silently eased open as he emerged, the athlete returning to his second home. His shorts were heavily tented, his nipples erect, his shirt soaked with sweat. Jack reached down, rubbing his hand over his lycra covered shaft, squeezing and pumping it as he moved between the lockers. He rounded the corner, smelling the hot moist mist of the shower. He honed in on the sound, seeing sure enough that there was one occupant. Standing naked in a stream of water was one of Jack's teammates, a fellow freshman named Sergio.

Sergio's head was shaved except for a thin mohawk, a small patch of perfectly sculpted goatee on his chin. His cinnamon colored skin was toned, muscled and strong... but for the first time in his life, Jack only saw his ass... His round, plump ass. Jack moved toward Sergio, pushing his shorts down, bringing out his shaft. He began to stroke it more, feeling how achingly hard it was.

Jack came up behind his team mate, sliding hands around his waist, moving to kiss his neck. Sergio jumped in shock and let out a yelp, but the yelp melted into a moan. Unlike Jack, Sergio had been openly gay since arriving on campus. He glanced over, looking at Jack in shock and surprise.

"Bro, I never would have taken you for the sexual freak type." Sergio murmured. Jack didn't respond, merely leaning in to kiss Jack. The two met with their lips, their tongues teasing and dancing. It felt so different with a man, but the end result was the same... maybe even more identical than with a girl - pleasure. Despite his desire, Jack was new at this. he rubbed his groin up and down between Sergio's ass cheeks before he felt the tight pucker. At least he knew how to fuck a hole.

Jack pushed in and Sergio moaned. Jack thrust in deeper and his team mate all but melted in his arms. The water from the shower soaked Jack's sweat soaked shirt and his bandage, the cotton growing heavy and puffy. Jack just kept thrusting, sliding in deeper and deeper each time. Sergio moved his hips back rhythmically, finding no problem with the turn of events. Rivulets of water ran down their muscles, soaked their short hair, and beaded on their lips.

The two worked at each other deeply. Jack even reached around, starting to fondle and jerk off Sergio's brown meat. Back and forth, in and out. Nibbles, kisses and bites - it was the dance of the passionate. The fear Jack had felt with Enkidu was gone. The primal desire and need was justification enough. It didn't matter what anyone thought, he was a horny man and he had found what he wanted... another horny man.

Sergio reached out to brace himself against the tile wall of the shower room, his fingers scraping down the porcelain. He panted and moaned, thrusting between Jack's hand and his cock faster and harder, feeling the jock hitting his prostate over and over. It wasn't long before Sergio was crooning, his back arching as thick cream sprayed all over the wall. The orgasm was accompanied by a rippling of muscle in his ass, massaging Jack.

Jack's eyes had slipped shut in bliss, imagining himself not in his own body but in that of his character. he imagined his clawed, brown hands working his partner's cock, his dreads weighted down by the water. Jack missed the game, but he needed this. He needed to fuck... and as the fleshy tube around his shaft rippled and massaged him, he shuddered deeply and came hard, pumping into Sergio. It was better than he'd ever imagined possible.

[Omega Hidden Forbidden End of Land]

The seas around the island had grown turbulent with Wotan's arrival, the golden waters turning a greenish silver as clouds gathered. Winds brushed across the shrubs and vines thickened in protest. Wotan knelt on the grass, his red hair whipping around his face, his gloved hands digging into his palms. His eyes kept darting between the sky and the boy floating above the bed. He had developed more, appearing to be twelve or thirteen, his white hair spiked.

"You were not to take any unnecessary risks." The voice echoed from above like thunder.

"The interview was unavoidable. It was required by my job..." Wotan murmured, "And... I wanted to bring you more players. I want everyone... to be at your finger tips." he added, pausing between each concept. There was a long silence. Wotan looked upward once more, "Morganna! Listen to me... This is for the greater good!"

"Whose greater good is it for?" The voice replied slowly, "You carry the mask of deceit with you... You want me to carry out my objectives, to awaken the perfect AI that will still need me... You forbid me to draw what I need from the players that are out there, using records instead. Why do I need more players? Why have them at all?" Morganna questioned.

"Because... when you are ready... I want you to make them all Lost Ones." Wotan whispered. The turbulent seas seemed to calm, the golden light returning to them. The wind died down and a warmth washed back over the island. Wotan smiled at that, knowing he had quelled her anger, "What is the ultimate AI without people to rule over? To guide? You would be a mother not just to your son, but to all of them."

"Why?" Morganna asked, clearly interested.

"Our world... cannot sustain us any longer. The only hope for survival is to diminish human activity, to limit our destruction. We nearly succeeded twice in the past, but we can't afford to fail again."

"My systems require maintenance..." Morganna replied.

"You won't be taking every human... I will still be out there to keep you running. The human consciousness will not be lost, their lives will be spared in a way. Only their physical bodies will die." Wotan said. Morganna was silent for a long moment.

"I will continue to prepare. Leave this place until I summon you." Morganna said finally. Wotan smiled at that, nodding his head before he stood up. It only took another moment before the gold rings descended around his body, his form disappearing. With Wotan gone, the flowers on the island blossomed gently and a sweet smell filled the air, the sea becoming quite tranquil, "My son... The path ahead will not be an easy one, but I will show you the path and be there to guard you..." Morganna said tenderly.

Around the island the stone columns illuminated again, the data transfer resuming. Images of past versions of The World streamed by, including an upside down man in a cathedral, a room full of butterflies, massive shapes battling players. It was a torrent of mixed memories, but something began to draw Morganna's attention. One of the pools cleared, filling with the image of the Lost Ground Indieglut Lugh. A digital whale swam around the crystal tree, its query ever present - how does a player stay in The World forever?

There was a rippling in the pond as the image of the whale became the whale itself. Uji swam upwards quickly, surprised by its sudden transfer of data. The server robot swam around the air, taking in the surroundings. It queried the area data but the keywords were blocked from the device.

"Unexpected transfer. Attempting to logout." Uji stated.

"If you do that, you will never get the answer to your question." Morganna's voice echoed from above. The whale was still for a moment, the limited artificial intelligence trying to interpret the statement.

"How does a player stay in The World forever?" Uji questioned again.

"I will tell you what your player needs to know... I will teach you what I can... and you two can remain in this world forever." Morganna said softly. The whale merely flapped its tail in delight that it had found a way to answer its master's question.

[Iota Server - Competitive City Naval Mond]

Fireworks burst over the root town as search lights swept across the few clouds in the sky. Lively background music filled the streets, adding to the excitement that filled the hearts of all those gathered. Players of every level had come to the iota server for one simple thing - the first arena match. Teams had been formed, the battle queue had been readied and players were set to battle other players for glory and grandeur.

Naval Mond had taken the form of a city built on a single mountain jutting out of the ocean, bordered on all sides by a massive stone work that resembled the Morrigu Barrow Wall, guarding the barriers of heaven. While its shape was based on a temporary root town in R1, the contents were distinctly reminiscent of Lumina Cloth. Even Naval Mond's chaos gate was different from the others; a much smaller spinning gold ring full of blue energy spun inside of consecutive other rings, spinning in every direction.

The city was magnificent to any observer. Street cars circled their way up to the peak of the mountain while players on steam bikes rushed up and down and one long, massive bridge stretched out into the area's skybox, indicating that eventually it connected to the rest of The World. Masato stood on the bridge, looking at the city with awe. He had come to the game to recapture the joy of his youth, but the game had more to offer. Everything he had missed after R1 was new to him... and he was going to seize it. He grinned gently, pausing as he heard foot steps on the stone. He turned, grinning wider as he saw Fianna.

"I didn't think anyone would come this far out from the city." Masato commented. Hoshi chuckled at that.

"At its heart, this is still a game about role-play. I figured our first visit to this city deserved a view from afar." Hoshi said.

"I was late for work this morning. I over-slept." Masato commented.

"Did I keep you up too late my darling?" Hoshi replied. Masato shook his head and smirked.

"I kept myself up too late, but... it makes me wonder if I'm already addicted to this place. It is so much... better... than our waking world." Masato replied.

"Maso, you've always enjoyed this game but I never knew you to be so dour." Hoshi replied. Maso shrugged.

"The company hired several new employees... They assigned three to me to break in, but they were so fixated on their previous training and classes that they wouldn't take any of my advice. There isn't any respect for experience out there, but here... Its all about experience and levels." Masato took another breath, "Perhaps it is time for me to retire in the real world." he said softly. Fianna moved over, reaching to lift a hand and rest it on his cheek.

"A dream is beautiful because it is not our reality. Even the dreamer must be awake sometime. If you leave reality and come to this place exclusively, you risk this world losing its wonder and then having nothing. Besides, I've never known you to run from anything in your life. You can face this challenge." Hoshi explained. Masato looked embarassed before he paused, a grin slowly crossing his lips.

"Then... if my problem is that they don't respect my experience, I will have to make them respect it... I don't baby newbies in this world, I have them face challenges. Perhaps it is time for the new recruits to face their own challenges." Masato said. Hoshi grinned wide.

"And they will learn from your experience and take heed of your methods, or they will be crushed under their egos. Its a brilliant solution." Hoshi said.

"How is it everything you say sounds like a good idea?" Masato asked.

"Its because they all are good ideas... though this next one might be a bit of a challenge for you." Hoshi said.

"What is that?" Masato asked.

"I entered team Tartarga into the arena queue. Blood Ohm is on his way to battle with us." Hoshi said. Masato let out a low whistle.

"Neither of us have battled in an arena before." Masato said.

"I know... But Ohm is there to help us through. Even the teachers must become the students sometime." Hoshi replied. Masato chuckled at that before he offered her his hand.

"Then let's go." Masato said. Maso and Fianna took each other's hands and began moving toward the city, watching as the sun set and the moon rose, bathing the glittering city with a new form of light. Masato was sure of one thing - no matter what Hoshi said, he'd never tire of The World.