The sensation upon Adrian's skin was vivid. The pain, which felt like the flames of a blow torch etching into specific parts of his skin, ran over his body like the bristles of a paintbrush. Adrian didn't need a mirror to see what design was burned into his body. A series of patterns depicting the ferocity of a hellfire climbed up the space surrounding his spine. The patterns, which began as burns, quickly healed. As the blisters and burnt skin disappeared, they revealed tattoos of the same pattern underneath.
These tattoos, which sank into his skin undisturbed and unobstructed, became cold and painless. The pain stopped as the final tattoo- located near Adrian's neck- settled, though the shock from the experience remained. His body remained on the stone ground for another few minutes before he found the will to raise his gaze.
Amber lay upon the stone road like him, though she had rolled over so her side was against the stone rather than her stomach. After another few minutes, Adrian finally pushed himself to his feet. The memory of the pain was beginning to grow faint, like a distant dream. The same appeared to happen to Amber, as she had already begun to slowly rise to her feet.
"Let me see," Adrian said. He had already begun to take off his hoodie. Amber nodded, then removed her jacket. She lifted her shirt that rested underneath, then turned around and showed Adrian the bare skin of her back. As Adrian turned his gaze to his sister's spine, his only thought was of the series of black tattoos that surrounded her spine.
The tattoo designs were that of a flaming tower, the same as Adrian's. This tower, although separated into the wisps of dozens of individual smaller flames, surrounded the spine like a shackle until finally dispersing around the neck and hips.
Adrian quickly turned around and showed Amber his own set of newfound tattoos.
"Jesus," Amber muttered. Adrian nodded as he let out a chuckle, then slipped his hoodie back on. As he turned around, Amber asked, "Do you think all of the players have them, or just us?"
"Everybody? I doubt it," Adrian replied as he shook his head, "not with this design, at least. Unless we see the same design on other people, I'll just assume we have them because of our Rune."
"Ah! We chose the same one," Amber realized.
"Precisely. I'm betting we'll find the same design on everybody else who chose the mage rune. Now, that wasted twenty minutes. We should get a move on. We'll ask more about our situation once we find a town or city," Adrian said as he turned back to the road. Amber nodded, then quickly began to follow him.
Their trek through the forest lasted for twenty minutes before the sky above them began to turn orange. Sunset was finally arriving. With this revelation, Adrian now understood that they were moving west, toward the setting sun. So long as the cardinal directions followed the same rules as Earth, he wouldn't lose his way anytime soon.
However, as the sun continued to dip into the horizon- growing more and more dark with every passing minute- Amber suggested they try to find a place to sleep for the night. Adrian agreed so the two of them walked a few feet away from the road- to a place that would be hard for any travelers to see.
Having found themselves in a new and unfamiliar world, neither of them chose to rest immediately. Amber took the first watch while Adrian rested for a few hours, but he never truly fell asleep. He was far too nervous about their circumstances to even think about truly falling asleep. The uncomfortable forest floor- the revealed tree roots and rocks- acted as a constant reminder that neither he nor Amber were anywhere close to their dorm rooms.
This was his first night upon the soil of this new world, yet it was not peaceful. The most his rest could be called was something of a conscious trance. He was unaware of his surroundings- some of his senses had been dulled- but he was aware that he wasn't fully asleep.
When it was finally time for his turn, Adrian took it with glee. He needed something to keep his mind occupied, so he began to patrol around the small clearing they chose to rest. His feet constantly moved as his eyes scanned the dark forest around him.
The night was quiet, though Adrian's mind was not. His thoughts were jumbled and messy, like the inside of a brand-new Lego box. As Adrian gazed at the forest around him- hoping to find any threat before it found them- he heard a sharp voice ring out.
"All of my Artists have taken the first step. The game will begin exactly one year from now," The voice spoke. Adrian yelped in surprise as Amber rose from the ground with surprise. This time, though, Adrian didn't collapse. He leaned against a tree as the voice continued, "I will leave with you all my second gift. With it, mold your forms to fit your needs as you see fit. May the best of you find victory."
As the final remnants of the voice of the Game Master disappeared, a bright light appeared in front of both Amber and Adrian. It hovered in the air, much like the stones from earlier, for a moment before it suddenly disappeared in a small explosion. As the light disappeared, a leather-bound book appeared in its place. The book, which was the size of a school textbook, began to fall to the ground.
Adrian caught it as fast as he could, then turned to Amber. Her copy of the leather-bound book rested in her hands. The two of them stared pensively at each other before each of them took their fingers to the book's edge. Then, each of them opened the book to its first page.
Over the next few hours, Adrian read the first few pages of the book with Amber sitting across from him. There was a lot of content in the book itself, much like an actual school textbook, though much of the book's pages were blank and empty. The first few pages contained a detailed explanation of their surroundings- starting with the world itself.
The world, named Aoera, held seven continents. The continent Adrian and Amber stood on now, named lazily as 'The Continent', held several nations. Each of them was about as large as the USA or Russia on Earth, yet there were dozens. Because of this, Aoera and the Continent were both much larger than Earth. The Continent's width was almost twice the width of Earth and its length was double that size. Frankly, Aoera was massive- large enough to seem like a giant compared to tiny-old Earth.
The nation that Adrian and Amber stood in was called the Kingdom of Stonehold. It wasn't the largest country, but they were well known for their legions of defensive warriors and their landscape of massive mountains that stretched into the sky like walls built by divine beings.
Half of Stoneholds population was Dwarven. Dwarves, a race of shorter and stouter people, lived underneath the surface. They took pride in mining and creating massive projects of stone. The other half of Stonehold was Human- mostly migrants from other countries who lived as second-class citizens to the Dwarves.
Next to Stonehold, on the western side, was the Empire of Solarum. Primarily human, the Empire of Solarum shared a hostile relationship with Stonehold. Much of their culture was the same- Solarum was full of talented craftsmen like Stonehold- yet the Dwarves didn't like them because they didn't treat Humans like trash.
Luckily for Adrian and Amber, they were located right between the border between the two nations. Solarum, which they would reach if they continued west, was only three days of travel away.