The Dragon's Wrath: Ashes of the Fallen

Chapter 64: The Day After

(Monday, September 20th Game Day / Monday, March 29th Real Day)

Logging back in and finding myself lying alone on the river bank, I looked down the river and noticed that the longship had already departed on its voyage. The trade master, two sailors, and nine warriors made up the crew that would travel to the eastern side, where they would partake in the trading of goods and receive payment for prior products already delivered.

A simple thing, left for them to handle.

It was already mid-day as the sun was directly overhead by the time I made it over to the cabin. Inside, Selene and Katherine were playing with the kittens while Barkley was sitting calmly by the fireplace.

"Have you girls seen Milly?" I asked with a little interest.

She was attached to my hip the entire trip… then once we arrived at the village she was always running around, talking to others. I hadn't actually talked to her since we came back. I thought that was a bit odd, and something about her had bothered me.

"She left this morning, headed south along the river," said Selene nonchalantly.

"Oh, passed right by us then?" I questioned, with a confused expression.

"Not quite, she entered the trees and snuck around us," Selene explained. "She was acting quite oddly, as if she didn't want to be seen."

"Ah, I see."

That was certainly odd behavior.

Something was bothering me.

Opening my friend's list, Milly was no longer on it, either.

Curious, I tried to add her and found that she had blocked me.

Something definitely, was wrong here.

"I'll be back, I want to check something."

Heading outside and north to the mountain wall that closed off the top portion of our village, I scaled the wall with a combination of [Flash Steps] and a few jumps. Standing at the top, a relative hundred feet or so above the village, I cast my [Keen Sight] and began to stare southwards.

Nothing appeared except for a few glimmers of small animals, as I sat down and began to think over the past events. To my knowledge, I hadn't done anything over the past few days to piss her off, unless she saw my relations with Katherine and Selene and found them disgusting. If that were the case, I guess it didn't matter much to me.

Somehow, I didn't think that was it though.

She wanted to come to the North for some reason, supposedly because she wanted to relocate here. If the area wasn't for her, would she need to block me?

That didn't add up.

Her information came from the Alpha and Beta Meeting, which was filled with a lot of overachievers, generally speaking. A lot of hostile players from hostile guilds attended those meetings. Quite a few players that I didn't really agree with and had already butted heads with on occasion.

That was what was bothering me.

When Emily advertised my territory, it put a target on my back.

I was expecting it.

Someone, at some point, would come to challenge me.

Even this far north, out of sight and out of mind, I was harmless to at least ninety-nine percent of the population.

That didn't matter though.

If you were a threat to some guild's expansion, you would become a target.

War had already broken out in the Central Kingdoms as resources were scarce and so too, was land. Guilds fought for supremacy, and word around the web was that a few were moving north, to the border. That was a few hundred miles away though.

Still, I couldn't shake the feeling.

Checking again with [Keen Sight] giving a scan over the horizon, nothing appeared.

About to give up, one blip appeared.

Waiting a minute, I scanned again.

Five blips appeared this time, as a sixth shined right at the end of the scan.

Reactivating the ability and leaving it on perpetual scan, the glimmers of light steadily grew one by one as they entered within my visual range. Numbers far too large for a party or small traveling group… twenty, then thirty humanoids headed this way.

"Selene, emergency, get all of the livestock and NPCs to gather at the rear of the village, by the mountain side," I messaged telepathically as I continued to count the numbers appearing in the distance. "After that, gather the warriors at the south gate, expect trouble."

"As you command," she replied solemnly and shortly.

They were thirty minutes out but the group had bloated to a sizeable number of around fifty players. There was no indication that they were hostile, but a large group didn't move together unannounced.

This wasn't a daily stroll.

No, this was no stroll… coupled with the fact that Milly had scouted the place out and mysteriously left while blocking me from contacting her and this had the makings of an enemy raid. I knew what was coming next, for I knew player behavior far too well.

The only part that bothered me was the lack of declaration.

In The Dragon's Wrath, when guilds declared war on each other, there was exactly that, a declaration of intent. Due to the nature of an MMO spanning multiple time-zones, surprise attacks were penalized with a reputation hit and as cowardly.

You declared intent, and then a time-frame was set up for large scale battles with guilds agreeing to terms. Old school thinking, but it fit for the timeframe the game was set in, and made it reasonable for players that couldn't sit online all day.

What were these people intending.

Fuck it, I'll kill them all.

Even if I was shorthanded, they weren't taking my land.

Leaping off the top of the cliff and flashing to the ground, I quickly broke into a sprint as I ran to the cabin and grabbed my halberd and full battle-armament. Shield, one-handed axe, bow and arrows in a quiver slanted at the small of my back, a dagger across my chest and along my thigh. Hardened leather, a mixture of boiled, tanned, and woven strips formed my ensemble, as I was covered from head to toe.

Stepping outside of the cabin, the scene in front of me was managed chaos as men, women, and children ran about in a hurried, but ordered panic. The warriors, all thirty-one that were left, along with the four priests had lined up at the palisade, standing behind on the ramparts that allowed us a firing angle on the approaching army.

An unannounced grouping of fifty some players or NPCs was an army, after all.

A small amount, sure, but lethal this early in the game.

"Sigurd, where do you want us?" asked the men that had lined up.

"Hold position here on the walls! Don't break off unless you're forced off or they've penetrated the walls," I yelled out to the men. "Stay safe! If you need a heal, rely on your priest! Don't do anything unnecessary to risk yourself!"

Selene came up behind me as she whispered in my ear, "Sigurd, what about us, where do you want Katherine and I?"

I wanted to put them at the back with the non-combat NPCs as a last line of defense but I realized that would be futile if it came down to it. We would either successfully defend here or the village was going to be lost.

Swallowing the lump that had appeared in my throat, I nodded at her and Katherine, who was standing a bit behind Selene. They would have to join the fight, if we wanted to win. We were up against a literal rock wall; there was nowhere else to go.

"Join me on the wall Selene, Katherine, join up with the priests and manage the healing, stay safe," I said softly to them, but confidently. I was worried for them, as they weren't replaceable, not like the other NPCs. I didn't want to lose any of them, but I couldn't stand to lose Selene or Katherine.

"Hey, you two, don't do anything rash, if the wall falls, I want you two to break out and retreat, gather the non-combatants in the back and move them to the Northern Triangle," I instructed sternly. "I'll rely on you two to direct them, if I fall. If I fall, you retreat, got it?"

They both nodded as they understood the stakes and took up position on the wall.

The army of players was slowly approaching, easily within a ten minute walk or a short sprint. They didn't wear any colors to distinguish themselves, but they were all armed. Too heavily armed for a walk in the park; their intentions were as clear as day.

Opening my menu and altering the territory designators, I changed it to declare the current army as trespassers. They would be alerted instantly, to stand down. Of course, they did no such thing, and continued with their forward march.

That was a declaration of war, as far as the system was concerned.

They were now officially hostile forces, launching a surprise attack.

"Fire in two waves, twice, then free fire after that," I yelled out to the men.

Setting my halberd and shield down against the wall, I drew my bow and eyed the markers on the field. There were a few rocks of importance and a short palisade that indicated distance. Two-hundred yards marked our effective firing range, as they started to enter within it.

It wouldn't be long now.

Shifting the weight of the draw from my shoulder and arm to my back through the contraction of my back muscles, I held the drawstring back as far as I could. Holding for a second, I lifted my left arm and tilted the bow upwards a rough forty-five degrees.

Steadily inhaling, my chest started to expand and then as the expansion brushed my hand aside, the bowstring slipped cleanly off my fingers.

Thirty-two other bows did the same.

Thwacks and twangs filled the air as strings reverberated rather noisily, and with practiced precision, we all drew our bows again as we watched the arrows sail through the air. One, two, three seconds passed as the arrows continued their flight, then finally, impact. A glorious impact, with the unsuspecting mob of players hit squarely by the first volley as two or three players fell to the floor from a critical hit.

Instantly, the group broke ranks and began to sprint forward without any cohesion.

A second volley followed, with only one man falling victim.

As I began to draw and fire in rapid succession, caring little for accuracy as I repeatedly attempted to slow the oncoming advance, I watched as my warriors and Selene did the same. Firing an arrow a second, thirty-three arrows flew out at random intervals that cut through the air as the enemy players continued to advance.

The shield-bearers at the front easily blocked and defended those directly behind as they held the frontline and continued to charge.

"Target the rear!" I shouted as I lifted my bow slightly, arcing the trajectory of my arrow in order to hit their casters.

Ten seconds had gone by as the first hundred yards were cleared, and only a hundred remained. The peak physical fitness offered by the game gave the players the ability to run at world record levels.

Sweat started to roll down my cheek as I anxiously continued to fire, quickly draining my quiver of forty arrows.

My fingers itched as the string stripped and burned the skin with such rapid firing but I couldn't pay it any heed.

Fifty yards remained, as another two men fell.

Dropping my bow to the ground with less than five seconds remaining before they would reach the walls, I brought my arms into my chest as I started to chant.

The twenty-five yard mark was hit, with a woman collapsing to the ground struggling to breathe as an arrow pierced her throat.

Fifteen yards left, as the shield-bearers funneled together in an attempt to break through the open gateless entryway.

Five yards away, I stared them down.

"CHAIN LIGHTNING!"

Yelling at the top of my lungs as a rallying cry and a threat all in one, my booming voice carried across the field. Heads and eyes turned up to the flash of lightning as it surged forward and caught the shield-bearers unaware.

Arcing, bouncing, jumping and flickering as it coursed through their bodies and into the dirt below, the first man hit died instantly as the other four fell to the floor. Arrows filled the void where their exposed backs had been a blink before.

Unable to scream or cry, they died quick, silent deaths.

Slinging my shield onto my back while dropping my quiver onto the floor for the man next to me, I leaped off the ramparts with my halberd in tow. Filling the gap of the entrance with my body and halberd at the ready, four other warriors dropped down with axes held high. Two seconds, as I pulled my weapon back and above my head.

Then the wave hit.

Axes were swung in quick succession as shields were raised to deflect. The heavy swings of the warriors broke through the weak wooden shields, with loud snaps and cracks filling the air. Splinters of wood flung in every which direction only to be ignored by the flash of swords swung in retaliation.

Screams filled the air as limbs were mangled and a hand fell to my feet.

My heavy swing had cleaved straight through a shield and on through the arm of the defender as he buckled from the blow, staggered and falling backwards as he grasped his missing hand. A quick thrust and the spear-point entered the soft flesh of the man as I twisted and pulled, watching him tumble to the ground in a state of shock.

Before I could ready my next attack, I was forced to duck as a spear narrowly missed my face, grazing past my hair as the warrior next to me fell to a sword thrust into his chest. Unable to maneuver, the four of us were caught fighting shoulder to shoulder in formation as the ten or so players in front of us continued to attack.

Relentless in their pursuit, we kept them at bay with wide arcing swings of our two-handed weapons, slicing air mostly in an attempt to buy time and space.

One player stepped forward in a moment of impatience only to catch the hook-end of my halberd as I pulled him down onto the ground beneath me. A quick switch of grip, and a short wind-up brought the axe down into the man's chest as he rolled face-up right in time to witness the end.

Blood splashing from the open cavity of the man recently executed, I pulled back as my halberd ripped a censored rib out into the open. In the melee, another warrior fell to a spear as he missed his counter swing, and two more dropped down to replace them.

Then, fire started to rain down on our position as we were forced to roll back and retreat. One player was too slow, and was caught in the friendly-fire. Burned to death in front of our very eyes in what couldn't have been more than a second or two, he fell to his knees and ceased his screams.

The other warriors fell back as I held the frontline, standing alone at the entrance to my village. Daring any man brave enough, to challenge me to a one-on-one. A few challengers stepped forward as they attempted to prove their prowess.

Two-on-one was still within reason.

With fire raining randomly down around us and frost bolts impacting the walls, my remaining warriors fell back and retreated to the safety of the village's interior.

The two men circled me as one quickly dashed forward with a lunge and the other attacked with a high-arcing swing of his two-handed sword. Sidestepping the lunge and parrying the bastard sword with my halberd sent a shiver through my arm as the heavy impact jarred me.

Hands numbed, I stepped back once more as they repeated the process.

A side swing this time, I stepped into it and tackled the man to the ground, rolling with halberd discarded and knife drawn to hand. A quick thrust into his neck silenced him as I kicked dirt up in the face of the spear user that had missed his thrust.

Blinded, he swung wildly as I rolled and picked up my halberd once more, turning with legs spread and a knee nearly touching soil, I lunged forth from my awkward position and pierced the man through the abdomen as he dropped his weapon to the ground. Pulling back, the gaping hole in the center of his stomach was gushing blood as he clasped it in an attempt to stop the hemorrhaging.

Raising an arm, I fired off a quick arc lightning as he struggled in place. An arrow soon found his face, and I cut the connection and retreated back to join my men.

A few warriors had fallen to the magic bombardment as I navigated through their corpses that littered my way. Selene and Katherine were in the rear and were providing support with the priests as golden beams of light poured out from the heavens.

Yet, the line was broken.

Flooding my field of vision were numerous players, too many to count but at least forty as ten or so had been killed. Mages, priests, rogues, archers, shield-bearers, axe-wielders, all types, had filled the gaps as they continued to run through the narrow entrance and into the village.

Dropping my halberd a second time, I raised my arms and let out a quickened chain lightning as I yelled to the men, "ENGAGE!"

Chaos broke out as the two sides prepared to clash.

Thunder split the noise of the players and men screaming their battle shouts, while lightning filled the space between. Five players dropped to their knees as heals quickly followed, and a counter barrage of spells soon dotted my vision.

Dropping to a knee, I screamed, "GET DOWN!"

Flashes of red, blue, and white filled the air as fireballs and frost bolts shot out in a line. Burying my face into the ground at a moment's notice, half of the warriors did the same and avoided the attacks as they flew overhead. The other half, too slow to avoid, had been hit and were staggered as they were engaged in melee.

Swords were swinging wildly as the unsuspecting warriors were caught off-guard and slowed by the frost magic that had hit, including a few freezing rains that hovered above us. Two men fell as one's head rolled to the floor, and then as our own healers returned to the fray with a wave of holy light, the warriors that were left stood tall.

Jumping up with the rest of the men, I commanded them forward, "CHARGE!"

Running full sprint into the mix, I broke my charge with a swing of my halberd into the face of an unsuspecting woman. Taking half her head in single sweep, I brought the halberd back with the circular momentum and pressed forward.

The man to my left exploded in fire as numerous fire blasts hit him. He continued to run ahead while clearly already dead, as his body started to wobble and lose steam, eventually tumbling forward into the dirt below.

Ignoring his sad end, I met the swing of an axe head-on as sparks flew from the impact of the metal. He buckled from the impact as he braced himself by digging a heel into the ground, but it was too little too late as I slipped the halberd down behind his shoulder and hooked his neck.

Yanking forward the man tripped himself up and fell to the floor, where a quick stomp on his head sealed his fate. At that very moment, a fireball hit me in the chest and sent me flying backwards in reaction. My leather scorched and my face singed, the minor burns on my arms were easily ignored.

My stamina on the other hand, had taken a huge hit.

I was down to sixty percent already.

Pushing forward, I ran back into the thick of things as I watched two players engage in melee combat with two warriors. The player used a low side-sweep from his sword to distract the warrior as the rogue rolled deftly to the left and stabbed the man in the side with his short sword and dagger. Before the warrior could pull back to defend himself, the swordsman lunged and thrust the sword into his chest, ending his life.

The second warrior managed to land a blow to the swordsman's shoulder as the player winced in pain and jumped back, only to be healed as the rogue got behind and ended another one of my soldiers with a flurry of stabs.

Reaching my men too late, I dropped a heavy swing on the swordsmen as he attempted to parry. His iron sword shattering upon impact with the axe-head as shards of metal scattered the air. In a blink, he looked at me as I kicked the rogue away from me and brought a circular swing around, lopping the head off of the man in front of me.

Turning to face the rogue, he tumbled and rolled while throwing daggers at me, only to harmlessly land in my thick leather armor. Tired of the shenanigans, I dropped the halberd and began a lightning bolt, and thrust my arms out before he could react.

A feint, he jumped thinking he had dodged.

But I was still casting, and as he fell to the ground and looked up with a smile on his face, I returned a smile of my own. Lightning shot forth from my palms in an instant as it smashed into his chest and rendered him immobile for a second. Grabbing my halberd once again, I raised it up and quickly lowered it down, executing the helpless rogue.

With his lifeless body before me, I risked a glance across the battlefield.

Only looking around for a second, I noticed our numbers had dwindled. Half of our force had been decimated as buildings had started to catch fire. The closest cabins were ablaze with smoke billowing into the sky as a cloud of dark gray ash banished the sun.

In the shadow of the ash, I stood alone.

A glimmer caught my eye as I turned my head slightly in time to see a wave of frost bolts and fireballs heading in my direction. Swinging my halberd wide with the broad-side of the head impacting two frost bolts, the ice shattered and frosty mist sprayed harmlessly over me while a sidestep and a duck allowed me to avoid the rest.

Their casters had wizened up.

Another wave of spells came as I continued to run, dodging by way of leaps and rolls. Closing the distance between the casters, a few of their remaining melees dropped what they were doing to cut me off. Engaging them immediately, I cut down a rogue with relative ease as I met blows with another bastard sword.

The claymore easily parried my halberd with its hefty weight and forced me back. He followed with a wide-arcing swing to my left that I braced for with both arms, meeting the edge with the iron shaft sent shockwaves through both of us as we recoiled from the impact. Recovering slightly quicker, I lunged forward and thrust the spear-tip out but was easily deflected as he brought his sword around.

Pulling back and readying myself once more, the rogues and swordsmen that had surrounded me pulled off and ran in another direction, undoubtedly to push other flanks. I tried to raise an arm, to stop one of them with an arc lightning, but I was immediately sent backwards as a heavy swing rocked me.

The man knew how to counter and our weapons were evenly matched.

I wasn't going anywhere.

A few casters had rotated slightly, to get an angle on me as a fire blast shot through the air and impacted into my shoulder. The sudden explosion blinding my left eye as pain registered in the blistering heat. Grimacing from the pain and wincing as my eyes were left watering from the flickering flames, the bastard sword made its appearance in a quick flash.

Only catching the glimmer of the sword in the sun, I rolled backwards as it clipped my arm and took a chunk of my triceps with it. Right arm impaired, while lying on my back, the man quickly ran forward in an attempt to execute me.

Left palm open, arm extended, I shot a thin pulsating tether of electricity out and connected the two of us. Stopped in his tracts as he started to convulse, I continued the channel while grabbing my one-handed axe with my right hand.

Watching his health get stripped before my very eyes, a holy light engulfed him and topped him off as my mana quickly depleted. Completely ruining my attempt to fell the man, I was soon hit with the warming light as well, and my injuries closed up and began to slightly heal instantaneously.

My arm was still gimp, as the chunk of flesh wasn't immediately returned, but it was enough. Switching hands, I let the man with the claymore charge at me as I stayed on my back, building electricity around my body with the intent to discharge.

Half a second through the cast, he was nearly upon me.

Then with sword raised, attempting to execute me once again, he dropped the sword only to meet a wall of static as electricity exploded outwards all around me, half into the dirt below me, and half into the charging man. Running straight into the wall of energy, the impact threw him back as he was stunned from the recoil.

Grasping his head in confusion as he tried to get back up, I slipped behind him and ran the axe-head along his throat, slicing it clean.

Now clutching his throat as he began to choke, a quick hack into the back of his neck severed his spine and sent the man directly to the floor, dead as can be.

Another fire blast hit me as they were too fast to dodge, and as I recoiled from the pain, I turned to my side and saw a scene that sent chills through my spine.

Surrounded by four rogues, Selene and Barkley were fighting them off in melee as Katherine was directly behind. Selene was obviously trying to stall them from attacking Kate… she was trying to pull her own weight.

Starting to run towards them, the distance of seventy feet was a lot to cover, and my enemies were aware. I was suddenly hit by a freezing rain that attempted to cut me off, covering the land between Selene and I.

Ignoring the rain and running through it, a frost bolt hit me in the side causing me to stumble forward. Regaining my stride, I kept running, nearly closing the distance for a flash step as a fire blast hit me once again.

Falling to the ground, shoulder partially lit on fire, I rolled once and got back up.

The rogues attacked one after the other, as Selene fended them off as best as she could, parrying and deflecting with her two daggers as the eight weapons converged relentlessly. Barkley jumped and landed his jaws on one of the rogues as he attempted to rip the player to shreds, but a second rogue side-stepped and plunged his sword into the back of the poor wolf.

Barkley slumped and fell to the floor with a whine as his body went limp.

Panicking, I rushed as another frost bolt clipped the ground in front of me and nearly tripped me. Ignoring the distractions, I immediately flash stepped thirty feet forward as I rematerialized ten feet away from them.

Out of mana, I threw my axe into the back of one of the rogues as he reactively flinched and retreated. Another rogue attacked Selene with a thrust as she countered and plunged her sword through his chest, only, it left her exposed.

And in a flash, horror struck.

Two swords pierced through Selene's back and out her chest, causing her to lock up and fall to the ground. They went for the finishing blow as I barreled through them, tackling two of them into the dirt, temporarily knocking one out with a blow to the temple, then stabbing the other once, up and under the chin.

Yanking the knife out of the dead rogue and planting it into the dazed one, I finished him quickly as I turned to Selene. Rushing over to her, she had fallen to four-percent remaining health and was bleeding out.

She only had eight seconds left.

Calling out for a healer, yelling for a priest, none responded.

I glanced at Katherine but saw she had spent all of her mana.

She was kneeling on the ground next to Selene, holding her hand as she silently wept. I gently wrapped my arms around Selene in the midst of the battle, elevating her head slightly so she could breathe easier.

She was down to three-percent now.

Six seconds.

I frantically looked around as the NPCs were too far away and too mired in conflict to react. Staring at Kate, her mana was recovering far too slowly, she would be late.

Selene turned her eyes to Kate and struggled to bring a smile to bear as she weakly spoke, "be strong Kate."

Then to me, she said, "take care of my sister."

Gulping down the lump in my throat, I hugged her tightly while Katherine squeezed her hands, with her tears rolling down onto the ground below.

As Selene lay dying in my arms, she asked me with a hoarse whisper that could barely be heard, "you're going to kiss me, right?"

I could only smile and nod, "yeah."

Moving in, she placed her hand on my face, and after the long kiss she lightly slapped me, as she had the first time we kissed, in front of the earl's men. Looking me in the eyes, she brought a light smile to bear as tears filled her eyes, then she closed her eyes for the last time.

She was gone.

The system notification popped up a second later.

Confirming what my eyes had already told me.

What my hands had already conveyed.

She had gone limp, and on this strangely cold day in the North, the warmth of her body was slowly dissipating, away and back into the earth from which it came.

[Your Companion, Selene, has died.]

A few seconds later, Katherine had recovered the requisite mana to use a [Holy Light] and she immediately tried casting it on Selene, but it was to no avail.

You couldn't heal the dead.

Even I knew that.

Sorrow and sadness overwhelmed me for a split-second only to be replaced by rage as a fire blast hit me in the face and melted skin and fat dripped down onto my lap. Turning my head slowly with half my face melting off, I stared at the casters that were slowly being pushed back.

The warriors had mounted a comeback, and with every player that fell, the stamina of my soldiers overwhelmed what few were left.

Then, my eyes caught something familiar.

Milly.

In the back, behind the casters that were now too busy fending off the warriors that had charged into them, she was watching the scene unfold.

She met my eyes, and in that instant I knew what would come next.

Milly, was going to die.

Glancing at Selene once more, I gave her to Kate as I gauged my health, mana, and stamina bars. My health level was critical, at nineteen percent. So too was my mana, at under ten percent. Stamina, well, that was fairly low as well.

It didn't matter, it was enough.

I had a second to live for every half-percent of life, ticking down even now.

I didn't need more than ten.

Eyes clouded, my mind was consumed with anger, with rage… I was burning literally and figuratively with flames still flickering in the wind off my shoulder. I began to walk towards Milly, with no weapons in hand and only enough mana for a single flash step. I was going to end her, here and now.

End her before she could retreat.

Before she could utter a word, of excuse, of apology, or insult, I didn't care what it was, I wanted to hear silence.

Breaking into a run with my eyes locked on her, she stood still like a deer in the headlights. Frozen in shock or fear, I didn't know.

I didn't care.

Realizing her predicament she started to turn, began to run in the opposite direction as her light frame and agility build aided her retreat… but she was too slow. I was faster, far more developed, with all of my time spent grinding, all of the development put into my weak legs that didn't allow me to run in real life.

I was fast in this world.

I was far faster than any of them.

Catching up to her, she was within thirty feet as she glanced back at me once more. At that very moment, I flash stepped and traversed the distance between us almost instantaneously as the bolt of lightning carried my body from my past location to my new destination in the blink of an eye.

Rematerializing out of the lightning like some spectral being, I thrust my good left arm out and grabbed Milly by the throat. She struggled as I lifted her off the ground and began to squeeze. Fumbling for her weapons and trying to speak, I crushed her throat and continued to constrict her breathing.

She was suffocating, right before my eyes.

She deserved it.

She deserved all of it.

It wasn't painful, no… not nearly painful enough.

The game had restrictions for these things… sure, it looked real, but it wasn't.

Milly didn't feel anything except, maybe some restriction on her movements. Her eyes were probably fuzzing up, becoming cloudy and dim as her strength left her. But, the game didn't let you feel any such suffocation.

I learned that, when I wondered if you could drown.

You didn't feel any of that.

Too traumatic, some people said.

Yet my face was burning, my arm hurt, my sides… my chest, my abdomen, all burned and stung when I was stabbed and sliced. That was fine, for those of us in the Ultra-Realism program. And everyone felt some pain from the cuts and stabs, from the impact of magic. Giving her a painless death like this was far too kind.

Maybe, I should have burned her to death.

Dropping the lifeless corpse to the floor, I stared at it in disgust.

My health was low now, around fourteen percent left.

It took me exactly ten seconds.

And then an errant frost bolt impacted me, but I didn't budge.

Turning my head slightly in the direction of the mage that cast it at me, he couldn't see my health and didn't realize that another cast would be the end of me. He was scared, having witnessed everything that had happened, while he shot wave after wave after wave of spells towards me, and towards my brethren throughout the fight.

My family, my NPCs, my… people, he had put them in harm's way.

My entire village was burning down to the ground as I stood and watched the mage turn tail. He wanted to run, to escape, to retreat from my vengeance.

He was going to get away.

And then a golden light engulfed me and brought me back to a comfortable thirty-two percent health, halting the bleed-out and restoring me to partial functionality.

Katherine, most likely.

Yeah, he wasn't going to get away.

Starting to run after the escaping mage, a quick glance to my side had shown that the battle was won. A pious victory by all accounts, it wasn't a victory worth celebrating. The corpses that littered the field were numerous and the wanton destruction was vast, my village was destroyed and at least twenty of the thirty-one warriors had fallen.

Eight warriors had joined the chase with me, as we ran after the handful of mages attempting to escape. All of the melee players were accounted for, in body bags. Now, it was the backline's turn to meet the same fate.

We cut them down, one by one.

Their nonathletic bodies betrayed them as they tried in vain to outrun us.

It only took a few minutes, to finish the slaughter.

Stopping in the middle of the forest, with my village a few hundred yards away, I stared at the rising smoke as I contemplated my surroundings.

My situation had changed.

I failed.