‘What the actual fuck.’ Ted said, staring at the woman in front of him.

‘...Excuse me?’ the woman said, now nervous.

‘He’s dead? Peter is dead?’

‘Well… yes! He was brought in by carriage from the Training Camp over a week ago. We held a service for him as befits one of God’s soldiers.’ she replied.

Ted turned to Jerah, who was staring blankly at the woman. ‘Did you know?’

‘Of course not. How would I have? How could this have happened?’ Jerah said, just as horrified as Ted.

‘We were told he had received massive internal injuries, but nothing else.’ the woman said, in an attempt to be helpful.

‘Obviously.’ Ted said. ‘But how did he die?’

‘Well… his heart couldn’t pump any more blood and his brain stopped getting… blood too? I’m not a doctor.’ the woman admitted.

By this point there were several more recruits in the room listening to the conversation.

‘But we’re already dead.’ Ted tried to point out.

‘Well… yes, but this is the Second World, the Second Life. You can still grow old, get sick, get injured, and die here.’ he was told.

Ted didn’t respond, just turning and walking out of the door, pushing through the other recruits. No one followed him as he stormed out into the light warmth and sunshine of the small town and started pacing back and forth across the Y shaped crossroads. There was no traffic to avoid, no people whatsoever.

His mind was reeling. But should it have been?

You could die in this world. The afterlife, where you went after you died, was not the final stage. And that made sense, of course it did; this whole world was at war, and he literally had a set of statistics that told him his health. There was always an option that it could go to zero, and the base assumption of that would be that he would die.

But it had never been discussed, never been taught. There had been talks and discussions about their purpose here, the benefits of the new world, and how grateful he should be. There had been discussion over the war, and strategies for attacking and the potential missions he might go on. He’d even been hurt, taking damage to his HP.

But it had never clicked that you could actually die here. It had never been discussed. What did it even mean? Was there a third chance? A life after life after death? Was that the real heaven, with angels and clouds?

He could have died earlier, fighting that monster. They all could have done. And they wouldn’t have even known.

It couldn’t just be him thinking this. This was an absolute mess.

He decided to walk, just to get some fresh air. He looked to see if Jerah or any of the others had followed him out, but they hadn’t; maybe they were asking more questions, or maybe they found this easier to swallow. Maybe everything was easier to believe if you just thought it was some test. But to Ted, it had suddenly hit him that this wasn’t a fun game of magic and soldiers, that might also be a coma dream. They were sending him off to fight, in a world where he could really die. Where he might get roasted alive by some idiot with some fancy fire magic spells. And then what?

He took some deep breaths, and without a second look back, walked out back through the stone arch of the town entrance, alone this time. The guard didn’t even say a word to him, just continued to lean against the wall, letting him go unmolested. When he reached the crossroads he had a decision; straight on, back to the training centre; to the right, which would be east, generally away from the Front, though with two seas and a thousand miles between them, it would hardly make a difference.

The final option was left, or west. Both left and right were identical in material and looks, and looking along them, Ted could see no difference between the two destinations; they both went off into the distance, lined by dark rolling hills the whole way.

He picked left, on the basis that if there did happen to be some sort of police force that chased after deserters, he could claim he was making his way to the front. Slowly, on his own, by foot. But still making his way there.

He started walking, looking round and trying to enjoy the surroundings, trying to clear his head. The sky was blue, the sun still high, though getting lower, and it was a lovely day in the countryside. He just had to get past his two week life crisis.

So, Peter was dead. Killed, on the first day, by one of the Sassar - Elssar, he believed. That Sassar hadn’t even been punished. There had been no mention of it to the recruits, and in fact they’d been actively lied to. Why? Because it would distress them, and worry them. Which, Ted thought, meant that dying here wasn’t necessarily a positive thing.

That sounded obvious to say, but in a world where God was not only proven to exist, but actively involved in his subjects’ lives, barring some graduation ceremonies of course, wouldn’t people be more assured of a favourable outcome upon death? Wouldn’t the world be full of suicidal commandos and martyrs, going all out?

Though, arguably, couldn’t you say that about the earth as well?

He shook his head to clear it. He’d never been one for theology, really, preferring what was right in front of him, but being here, in this place, had brought up more questions than he’d ever expected to ask. And he’d felt unable to ask them precisely because of what this place was. The second life to the true believers.

He decided to deal with this the way all mature adults did; he pushed it down and decided not to think about it. He’d learnt a new fact; he could die. He was going to be sent to war. It wasn’t all fun and games now. So he’d better learn what he needed to, and quickly.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

He ran through what he’d learnt so far, what Skills and Techniques he knew about, and what he needed to learn to become a GateKeeper. So far he’d learnt seven Skills, which seemed respectable. He had his Spear Mastery and Shield Mastery, both of which seemed likely to be key skills that he actually needed to master. He knew that at Level 10 they would become Intermediate Skills, and likely grant more advanced Techniques. As to the tangible difference, and what Techniques, he wasn’t entirely sure. ‘You’ll get better.’ and ‘Something useful and relevant to the Skill.’ were all the instructors had said.

He really hoped that these weren’t the best teachers the Authority was producing.

He had two ‘manoeuvre’ Skills, though he’d only really noticed the effect of the Agile one; it had helped him move faster and dexterously when fighting. It also had given him a whole four Techniques - Dodge, Dash, Drift, and Breakfall. Despite sounding like a set of instructions from a Ben Stiller film, they all seemed pretty useful, but he’d still not really practised enough with them; barring Dodge, which he’d got up to Level 5. It had felt more instantly useful, but in addition, he’d felt an intensely strong link to the Technique that made it feel more natural to use, which he suspected was due to his Timing Skill as well. Techniques needed you to channel magic to work, and therefore a Technique like Dodge either needed you to channel it all the time to ensure you could react when necessary, costing a fortune in MP, or you had to tactically channel at just the right moment, which was cheaper, but more difficult. He’d learnt Timing and Dodge at the same time, so he didn’t know for certain that Timing was helping, but he had seemed to progress faster than some others who also had access to Dodge, and be better at it.

Stealth had yet to provide any benefits, but he’d not given it a go, and Throwing Weapons - Spear the same; it sounds good in principle, but if you missed, you were suddenly left without a weapon and an angry enemy.

Basic Magic had been both the most disappointing and the most exciting; he’d spent a long time as awed by the Skill, and the Light spell Technique as all of the others; however most of them had gone on to learn further Techniques with flashier spells, and that included the non-combatants. Ted, along with several others, had not. Having Light at Level 8 and Basic Magic at Level 4 felt good, but he had nothing to measure it against, and the Light was still just a ball of glow. Obviously he’d been given Identify too, but that barely counted. It was useless.

Finally, there was the Timing Skill that he thought helped his Dodge. He’d been excited to receive it, but since then he’d struggled to know what to do with it. He’d hoped that it might combine with Basic Magic to let him get the Time Magic Skill, but that just hadn’t happened; he’d felt no link between the Skills. He knew it was supposed to be linked to reactions, and the Dodge skill supported that, but he’d seen no other evidence of it. He hadn’t even gotten faster at witty remarks.

He’d have to ask people when he got to the Front; there’d be other GateKeepers there, and they must know. Presumably they’d be able to teach him the other magics, too.

His mind feeling a little clearer, he thought about turning round and heading back to the town. The idea did not warm him; it felt like heading back into chaos and lies and half truths. But did he have anywhere else to go? He’d seen a map of the area, but it was lacking in detail. It had shown other towns, some way off, but with no scale showing distance; it could be tens of miles away. And even then, what would he do when he got there? Settle down, ask if they needed lollipop men?

…Did they even have children here?

Another question. They were unending. He decided that he would turn around, but he wouldn’t hurry back. He was a solid couple of miles away from the town now. His MP was at full, he had a bag full of potions, and he’d admitted to himself that he needed to train.

So that was what he’d do.

Funnelling his mana, Ted Dashed down the road, slowing only to Drift across it, before allowing himself to trip forward and fall. Channelling Break-fall, it turned into a smooth roll, taking him back onto his feet. He breathed heavily.

That had actually been quite fun.

It took Ted over two hours to get back, but he had improved all three of the Techniques he’d been practising by a significant margin; his Dash was now Level 5, and his Drift and Break-fall were now Level 4; Agile Manouevres as a Skill had also risen to Level 4. Having repeated the moves over and over, he’d been able to notice the benefits and improvements that occurred at each level increase; he could now Dash further or faster than he could at Level 4, and he had better control over the drifts and fall-recovery. He could feel that Break-fall was heading towards some very impressive move like flipping from his hands back onto his feet, though he was a little way away from that. Halfway down the road he’d decided to progress his Identify Technique too, and had improved it to Level 3 by identifying everything in his sight. It still gave no information, but the achievement of the level had been nice.

By the time he walked through the town gates again, the sun had started to set, though dusk hadn’t quite set in. There was a different guard on the gate, though he hadn’t questioned him at all, just letting him pass.

There was someone outside the Outpost lighting a torch that would be affixed to the wall, using a spell, Ted presumed, as there was no sign of matches. He walked back into the building, looking to see the rest of his cohort of recruits. The woman behind the desk was the same as before, and she looked surprised to see Ted.

‘Hello? Sir?’ she called out as he entered. ‘What are you doing here?’

Ted was confused. ‘I took a little walk to cool off. I was a bit upset by the news. But I’m back now. Where is everyone?’

‘Well, they’ve gone.’ the woman said, clearly troubled.

‘Where to? Maybe I can catch them up? I didn’t see anyone on the roads.’ Ted replied.

‘Well… no, they were all transported by Portal. The cities and the front are too far away to travel by land, unless you have a specific set of Skills. I’m afraid the Portals to the Front, Calnass, Perinor and Elgen were all closed hours ago!’

‘They took Portals?!’ Ted asked, aghast.

‘Well, yes! That’s how we transport all the new recruits. Didn’t they tell you at the camp?’

‘They told us nothing!’ Ted practically yelled. This poor woman did not deserve it, but every conversation he’d had with her had managed to completely ruin his calm.

‘Well. I’m sorry, sir. But that’s how it is.’ the woman said. She had stood firm, her cheerful demeanour now one of a stolid customer service manager dealing with an unjustified angry client. ‘You’ll need to either wait until the next Portals open in two weeks, or find another way to your destination. I see you are Ted Brown; one moment.’ She looked down at some paperwork on her desk.

‘Yes, you were supposed to be going to the Front.’ she said. She looked up. ‘So you can go back to the Training Camp for two weeks, or we look at getting you another form of transport to another city.’

‘You can’t open up another Portal?’ Ted asked.

‘I’m afraid we don’t have those Skills here, sir. We’re a small provincial town.’ she replied.

Internally, Ted rolled his eyes. What kind of powers did people living in small rural townships get? Thatching based powers?

‘Okay, well I’m not going back to that Training Camp, I can tell you that right now.’ Ted said, adamantly.

‘That’s fine sir. There’ll be traders passing by either today or tomorrow. We can put you in a cot tonight and get you on the road when one comes through.’

Ted felt a pang of loss at suddenly having lost all of his friends, and missing their first few days together on the Front. He was not ready to tell this person that, however.

‘Fine.’