"NOOOO, you didn't!"

"Yes I did, little man." I loved it. These rare moment of victory, soothed the memories of him wining over me. It rarely ended like this, usually it was him, winning and grinning, me in second place. A rotating golden medal, with my nick printed on both sides, gloated in my place. The silver one, with his nick, didn't comfort him at all. I felt satisfied and calm.

"Race you to the garage" he said

"No we don't. I'm to drive nice and easy" I said, not taking his bait. He lost and he needs to grow up and understand that's life too. OK, this wasn't "Life" as in Real Life. We were online inside Sphere, where we just have completed a car race thru Motortown. One of the many Game Zones around this virtuel world. We shared a house and a garage there, payed by the money we have won and earned. Other people chose to spend real life money and buy Sphere Currrency to cut corners. It was even possible to buy full accounts, stacked and ready to go. St1nt and I had agreed not to spend any money on this and earn our way thru.

"I havent' heard you say it, St1nt" I said to him thru the voice app. It was custom that the runner up greeted the winner as "Honourable winner" to show you acknowledge your defeat. The game had an integrated voicechannel too, how ever we (and many others) chose to use other apps instead. We were on Omilia, one of the voice apps used by gamers.

"Congratulations to Pio, the Honourable winner" Molten gold fled thru my ears and mind and a smile eased its way on my pristine face. The thought of prize money going to the bank was delightful as well.

We met at the garage and got out of the cars. I got a bit stunned by his looks, as always, Tall, regular and just the right size of fit, black hair, warm brown eyes thru his black framed nerdy glasses, I loved so much. We met halfway between the cars, still radiating heat from the engines. We hugged. We are not a couple. We do touch and hug, sharing intimacy this way. Noah told me he had created his avatar to resemble him RL. I've done the same with my avatar. It's most honest and truthfull. I treasure he feels the same. I've never seen him RL and I trust him with m life as he trust his with me. My heartrate always bump up a bit, when we hug and I think of this. We share a good life here, and that's all I need for the time being. Battle buddies. Besties. Confidential.

"See you" I said

"Texting soon" he said

Familiar routines were the frame of my life. Made me comfy and made me calm. I went offline and removed my headgear and thoughts of getting up in the morning, immediately filled my head. A game, or online platform, as Sphere, was created for me. There I could be, what I struggle with here. Turning around, I focus on my tablet, ready...

Noah held his tablet with his left hand, looked at the typed message "Breathe" and swiped Send. Seconds later he recieved his reply "Still alive". A smile grew to life on his face as he put down the tablet and went for the kitchen to get a drink. Having filled a glass with juice, he went back to his desk and chair. While taking sips of the glas, he connected to the internet, thru the connection via his VPN-server. Images cam to life and using a combination of mouse, keyboard and shortcuts, the femiliar internetsite Seek showed itself. Lifting his head a bit, his face met the wall and the printet image of Pio he had put there. She was pretty, with her brownish hair and her sweet, round face smiling back and her gorgeous eyes, a little bit enlarged, pointing towards mangastyle. She did mention she had created her avatar to look like her. If this was so, she was a princess. Princess Pio Piper the princess.

Going thru the news, he searched for bits and info about the Spheres. Some one had found a portal, a gate way to unknown areas of the world, with other rules than the ones regulating the First Sphere, as it is called now. Rumors said that the new sphere was one big "harm zone" and not like the known "Push Zones". Lurking about on the message boards and what the ordinary players knew as "forums", screenshots appeared. A new category showed up, where everybody else was used to be "citizen", now a few players had their character changed to "Traveller". Those were the few, who had found the gateways to the other Sphere. The Harm Zone. He read posts about the new Sphere turned out to be a DnD-like world. Warriors, mages and monsters. His heartrate jumped a bit, Noah started breathing a little heavy. Turning his head, the nightview of city gleemed of light and white red dots below on the streets and he didn't see it. He had other images on his mind and he just had to go seek the truth.