The face was pale and the eyes were staring up at the cloudless and darkening sky. Blood covered the light blue t-shirt and gaping wounds could be seen in the stomach area.

Crow had a difficult time telling if he was dead or not, despite all the evidence to the contrary. Sweat bathed his forehead and his heaving chest had nothing to do with his lacking constitution this time.

"Is he dead?" he asked and turned towards Thomas.

Thomas looked back at him, face unreadable. "yes, he's dead."

"There must be an explanation," Crow said, voice rising slightly. "They are trying to trick us. They can't do that. There are rules they have to follow."

"Who are you talking about?" Mel asked in a low voice.

"The Kalon company, of course, they are trying to trick us. Make us believe it's real." Crow was pacing now.

"It is real," Mel said. "We have been trying to tell you--" she sighed and drew up a hand to wipe away her white hair from her face. "You know that there is no way modern technology can achieve this. You should know better than most." Her voice was soft.

Crow turned to watch the sun instead. It was gliding closer toward the horizon but there was time yet. They could start a fire still and maybe... He shook his head. What was he thinking? The Kalon company had to warn in case deaths that looked like this. They couldn't stop anyone from leaving either. They couldn't achieve this level of detail, and wouldn't know his body well enough to duplicate it here. This was impossible.

"Think of it this way, Crow," Mel said. "Does it even matter if it's real or not if we can't leave? We will experience everything that happens here anyways, including death. Therefore it is real, whether we want it or not, or whether these are our real bodies or not. Perhaps it was an escape for him, perhaps he has just logged out, but we need to assume the worst."

Crow nodded slowly. His mind was still a rambling mess, but her little speech, delivered in an even tone, comforted him somehow.

"We need to bury him," someone said. There were plenty of onlookers, and they were either staring at the body or at Mel with some measure of respect.

The entire group had rushed here after the news of the death and now an awkward silence fell over them as they all thought the same thing. They had no tools to dig a grave, and it would likely be dark soon.

"You know him, Crow," a voice said at his shoulder. He turned to look down into pretty face framed by dark hair and with pale gray eyes staring back at him. "And you know me too, even if you don't recognize me."

Crow looked at her in confusion he was sure he hadn't seen her before.

"I saw your picture in an interview. That was sloppy, you should never have let them seen past your avatar," she said.

He understood now. She was someone he had played with before, but who had never revealed her identity. He had used the nickname Crow before. "What is your name?"

"Lana," she said and turned her gaze back toward the body. "And that was Bluebud."

Crow turned to stare at the body. He had always assumed Bluebud to be a woman because of her - his - effeminate manners, and Lana... She was a doer, someone who always cajoled the group into action, someone who was valuable. His head was spinning now. This was too much at once.

"Bad time, I know," she said softly.

"What happened," he asked when he had regained some measure of control.

"We went south and ran into some goblins," she said in a quiet voice. "They out-geared us with swords and some leathers, while we only have some short stabbing poles. We ran. Bluebud reacted slowly. Other players heard the screams, and the gobbos ran when they saw how many humans there were."

"But then..."

"Yes," Lana said. "They might go back and get friends. What about you? Found out anything?"

Crow felt ashamed for even talking about it when Bluebud was lying dead in front of them, but a potential horde of goblins won over his attention. He told her about how they had leveled and the skills they had found in a quiet voice so as not to grab attention.

"Is that all? It should have taken an hour, max." Her gray eyes turned a shade darker as she took in his sorry state. "Get in shape Crow, I will need you," she said and walked away.

Going to sharpen spears and gather an army, Crow thought to himself and sighed. She was probably hurting more than him, she and Bluebud had been close, but she was not one to react with tears and quiet mourning. This all felt too unreal for him to react in any way.

"Help me bury him," Thomas said as he came walking up to Crow. "We can't let him lie here.

Crow nodded, straining to find words at the sight of the body brought the reality of the situation back and numbed his mind.

Others stood in groups, staring at the body and discussing whether it was real or not.

"We need help with the burial," Crow said, but few volunteered. They just stood there watching him as if he was an alien. He sighed. He had seen this situation before. People transformed when things got bad. They didn't want to deal with any sort of threats, even if they claimed otherwise when they felt safe.

Together, he and Thomas started digging a hole underneath an elm. Crow's hands soon felt raw after having hacked and scraped away at the ground. Others soon showed up to help, but it still took a good hour for them to dig it deep enough for the body. It was not deep, but the sun was already setting. They left the body to wash their bruised hands in the river.

What had Lana said? They had gone to the south... She had most likely assumed that the sun was setting in the west. He hadn't seen her in a while, so he couldn't ask. They had followed the river in the same direction where the sun now hugged the horizon, and the river must, therefore, cross the city from the west to the east. They would have to move camp; they couldn't stay on the south side, not with goblins so close.