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Unlike Marcus, this man was fully clothed; wearing a worn out grey, cotton shirt with green, wool pants that were so ragged, they were practically shorts at knee height. He had a pair of leather boots strapped up to the calf, made from some kind of creature that was like an alligator, but with a near bluish-black tint to the scales.

The man was also a foot and a half shorter than Marcus, with less wild hair and a full beard trimmed to his collar. He seemed a lot older than Marcus's new body, but the signs of greying on his sideburns meant he was closer to Marcus's actual age.

Marcus almost collapsed at the sight of another person, but the discovery was invigorating. He barely even registered the man's appearance of an 1800s colonial, and was simply welling up with tears of joy. If there wasn't a knife strapped to his, Marcus probably would've hugged the man right then and there.

Instead he immediately raised both hands up to indicate a sign of surrender and peace, knowing that a muddy, nude man carrying a bloody bone in the middle of the forest would be very off putting for anyone.

"Hey, there . . . If I could trouble you, I kinda need some help." He asked calmly, not wanting to stutter.

Marcus had gotten used to speaking with his new body, he talked to himself quite frequently in the mountain and forest. So it was no surprise that when tried speaking, he quickly got accustomed to his new voice and easily asked for help. It sounded a little bit higher than his old voice, but he wasn't gonna be picky at this point.

The rather short man looked at Marcus with a lot of curiosity in his eyes, he just stood there at his words. Marcus took it as a neutrally-good sign, seeing as he didn't want the man to run off instantly and then have to follow him back to wherever he came from. Desperation called for using any method of finding a place with real civilization, even if it meant stalking the stranger.

"Svjek?" The man asked.

Marcus had no clue what the man said, but it sounded like a question. It seems they weren't blessed with knowing the same language, putting him at a loss on what to do now. If he couldn't ask for help, all he could do was hope the man was kind hearted enough to help someone lost in the forest through gestures.

The stranger didn't know what he should do in the face of a rather tall and nude man before him. Not to mention the odd weapon clearly made from animals and crystals Marcus had shouldered. The stranger let his right hand drift a little closer to the smaller sheath on his belt.

Marcus saw the worry in the man's slight expression change and his single step of retreat, he figured the bone spear would be fairly intimidating and let it drop to the side. He had to let the man understand he only wanted help and peace, not a fight.

The man's beard shifted as he gave a relieved smile, seeing the act of becoming defenseless as a good sign for the two of them. He gave Marcus another once over before waving him to follow, to which Marcus happily obliged, hoping this man would be generous in some way to give food or lend clothes.

A few minutes passed as the sun began turning the sky from blue to red, meaning it wouldn't be too long before the forest would go pitch black. The upper canopies of the forest stopped a lot of the moonlight from shining through and would leave them directionless in the dark.

Just before the light would disappear, Marcus noted that they weren't walking opposite of the mountain, but it was on their left side as they deviated from his original course. If for some reason he needed to run, he knew that he just needed to make a right turn and go.

'I hope I didn't give up my Skulker stick for nothing, it helped for walking and would be pretty useful for seeing the ground right about now.'

Marcus had grown pretty accustomed to the dark, seeing as he had spent most of his new life surrounded in it, allowing his eyes to adapt and understand his surroundings pretty well. The problem was the stranger had not, he stumbled and tripped constantly over every little bump in the ground.

'I should've given him the light crystals to at least increase our walking pace. I get that he's keeping a bit of distance between us, but the fumbling around is getting us nowhere.' Marcus commented to himself all sorts of issues he was having.

He didn't realize that his excitement only wore down on his patience, making him overly critical about the most unnecessary things. By the time night had fully begun, he had soon turned his positivity into a tensed up irritation. He almost didn't stop when the stranger halted.

Marcus was so busy thinking, he didn't notice that the man was waiting for actually waiting for night to come. He then started peering between the trees and bushes, searching for something in particular. Marcus didn't get any closer to the man, not wanting to make his behavior anymore strange or concerning; so he just started looking around as well.

'It's dark and a forest, so whatever the man is looking for, it must be something pretty obvious.'

After looking in every direction twice, Marcus watched a light flare up about a quarter of a mile to their right side.

He gestured at it saying, "Is that what you're looking for?"

Marcus knew his words probably wouldn't mean anything to the man, but his pointing and noise got the idea across. The stranger looked over Marcus's shoulder and saw another tiny flash of light.

"Haha!" He chuckled out surprisingly loud. "Quated tvo edoles sjua set."

Marcus didn't know what his remark meant, but based on the laugh and the bearded-smile; it seems he found what the man was looking for. They both made their way towards the flickering light, ready to meet the rest of the gang.