“Now listen here” Azrael said.

Alena watched him from where she was currently perched, precariously on the edge of the chair. The floor was appreciatively clean, but didn’t stop him from asking the real question.

“What do you want!?!?”

She just looked at him. That unwavering stare was really starting to get under his skin. It was as if she believed that as soon as she took her eyes off him he would be gone.

“You waltz up to my doorstep. You sleep in front of my house. And now you’re in my home! What do you want?!?!?!”

The girl brought her thumb up to her lip and chewed it. Now she was really getting on his nerves!

She brought the hand down from her mouth and pointed a single finger to her bicep, before pointing to his spear in the corner.

He frowned “Uh… Muscle, spear, arm… uh… fight?” It seemed charades was a life skill he was lacking. He felt his mind flounder around for clues, before latching onto something one of the village women had said before the oath.

“Strength, revenge. You want to get strong for revenge”.

Alena nodded.

Mentally Azrael built a picture. Alena had probably never left the village, meaning that who, or whatever she wanted to get revenge on was near their old village. That meant either a beast, or one of the invading players. He was more likely to be on the latter. The villagers had been terrified of him when he’d first seen them. That meant something extreme had probably happened for them to feel that way. It was highly likely that the occupying players had killed someone.

“Was it a beast?” She shook her head. “One of the men that attacked the village?”

She nodded confirming his suspicions. The only question now was, how to tell her that players were technically immortal. Or… actually…

“Sera, what happens if a player is killed and they have no more life token?”

He could feel her smiling in the back of his head. He wasn’t sure whether it was because she was glad he asked, or if she was imagining what would happen to the poor player. Considering that she was basically a made from his own consciousness, it could be either.

“Then they would no longer be able to revive and would be forced to make a new character and start over.”

Azrael turned to Alena with a smile similar to Sera’s.

“How about this. I help you get revenge, and then you get out of my hair? Go back to the village, go on an adventure, I don’t care.” He held out his hand. “Deal?”

She grabbed his hand without hesitation, and they shook on it.

***

Nords looked up as one of his men sneezed. “Valek, pay attention.”

The man looked apologetic. “Sorry Boss. Someone’s bad mouthing me.”

Nords just sighed. The whole group that had been here the night the village had burnt down had suddenly become a whole lot more suspicious. He’d managed to convince them that it wasn’t a spirit that attacked them, but a pyromancer. The appearance of a dragon recently hadn’t helped either.

The thing had practically swooped down from the mountains, grabbed two Bullas and vanished. It hadn’t touched them. But it had reinforced his men’s fear of the fantastical and supernatural.

Noticing his men watching him he returned to addressing the group around the table. “Regarding the fortifications, I want them to be made of stone. We saw what that pyromancer managed to do to the old village. My guess is that that massive dragon also has a flame attack of sorts.” One of his men raised a hand. “Rico?”

“What if the spir… pyromancer and the dragon are working together?”

Nords shook his head. “I doubt it. Whatever is being protected in the forest likely has no relation to the dragon, however with the forest barred to us we risk running out of basic resources we need, such as wood. I’ve already sent Milo as a messenger to the capital. We’re going to need a geomancer and supplies. Hopefully the information of a dragon is worth something. In the meantime, I want everyone to group up. No-one leaves the village without at least three people. Dismissed.”

Watching them trickle out he felt someone tap on his shoulder. It was Jaret, his second in command and the leader of the returned expedition. Nords nodded and called out to Leiev, the knife thrower in his guild. Together the three of them sat back down at the table.

“They still fear him, don’t they” Jaret asked.

Nords nodded “You would too if you’d been here. Came from nowhere, vanished into nowhere and killed the entire village while he was at it. Myself included. The way he moved was uncanny, although sometimes it was almost as if he was two people. One was like smoke, silent, dangerous and a hell of a pyromaniac. Give him a blade and it was like a switch had been flicked. It was like staring down a field boss.”

“Well, you know what they say. Rankers tend to be pretty crazy.”

Nords looked at Jaret in surprise “You think he’s a ranker?”

Jaret shrugged “Might be. I wouldn’t be surprised. I know that the Lightning Witch and Blood Baron took over a city further South.”

“Yeah, but out here? Rankers tend to run around clearing crazy quests or fighting each other. Our village doesn’t have anything much of value and he didn’t take anything either. I don’t think so. This guy acted like he had something to protect.”

“Might be a field boss or even a hidden boss, like you said, then. Any other game and I might have doubted that, but here? The NPC AI is on another level. Those villagers acted just like real humans!”

Nords grimaced “Too bad they vanished after the village burnt down.”

Jaret shrugged before turning to the silent knife thrower. “What about you Leiev? Think you could take that guy down in one-on-one?”

“No”

“No? You’re probably the best in PvP in our guild and you can’t take down a single guy?”

Leiev shook his head “That guy was strong, not strong strong, just skilled. Every move he made was planned. Either he’s got a hidden boss with an amazing AI running things for him, or he’s a godly player.” Leiev paused, considering. “The skills were not the best, simple, not flashy, but the amount of precision, ruthlessnes and combat awareness he showed aren’t something you see in normal players. The amount of hours you would need to get that…” he shook his head.

“…”

Lieve turned to Jaret “I never told you how I died, did I”

“No”

“I died to my own throwing knives. The guy caught them mid-air, while attacking Nords and returned them in the same heartbeat, before catching Nords' Sword in his bare hands.”

“…”

“…”

“…”

Nords looked at the two men silently sitting at the table. All the men in the village had died that evening, but Leiev’s pride had taken a big hit. Looking out the window of one of the villagers’ old homes he prayed that Milo would deliver his message to Holy Empire quickly.