Ragen was trapped within white light for several minutes, wondering what was happening. He called for help, questioned a possible invisible entity on the nature of the situation, but nobody answered. He knew that he had been killed, he had felt something similar to the pain of it. He was in a panic, remembering the frightful image of Roger's blade being sunk repeatedly into his body.

The curtain of light finally crumbled, the world was glitter and then it was dark and real. Ragen found himself standing just outside the northern border of Holta on Trine, fields at his front and the city to his back. He fell to his knees and clutched his chest, tears from his face dripped down his chin and over his fingers. Silently he cried.

I'm OK. His hands found no wounds. I'm OK. There was no blood. I'm OK. Looking up to the sky, stars twinkled through wet eyes, he felt relief. I'm OK. He felt pathetic, succumbing to the immersion. This world is not real. Death is not real here. Pain is not even real here. He wiped his eyes and scanned the area, hoping that no one had seen him crying. There was no one. Not until white glitter fell from the sky and formed into the half naked form of Butler. It was seeing this that made him realise that he too was bare chested and without his possessions. 'Butler, what happened?'

'We got killed.' Butler replied, smiling and embarrassed.

'I know that!' Ragen stumbled to his companion, grabbing his arm. 'Where's our stuff?'

'You lose it when you die. Didn't you know?'

'No! I've never died before!' Ragen shook him.

Butler seemed excited by that. 'How was it?'

'How was my death?' Ragen let him go. He held his chest where there were now fresh scars, then threw his arms into the air. 'How do you think it was?!'

'I cried like a little kid.' The older Soldier admitted.

'I am a kid.' Ragen admitted, accidentally. 'It was awful.'

Butler looked at him curiously. 'You are a kid, aren't you?' He scratched his chin. 'I thought you were just some odd player character, but you're a real kid.'

Oh no, I didn't mean to say that. 'No, that's not-'

'It's OK!' Butler interrupted. 'I won't tell anyone, you're safe.'

Ragen was not entirely sure about that yet, he tried to change the subject. 'Where do I get clothes and armour now?'

'How are you able to play this game?'

Please don't ask. Ragen began to walk to the city.

'Wait! Just talk to me, it's OK. How did you manage to get an account?' Butler strode after Ragen.

'I just did.' Ragen faced Butler. 'Please stop asking.'

'OK OK.' He half agreed. 'But why would you take the risk in playing at your age? You can get into trouble.'

Ragen ignored him. 'Where do we get equipment now?'

'Back at the Soldier Academy, they'll always give you the basic equipment.'

'Then let's go.' Ragen said while making his way. 'I don't want to walk around in my undies forever.'

The grubby Soldier Academy of Holta on Trine saw a small number of students at the best of times, tonight saw even less. None, in fact. Ragen entered half naked with Butler in toe, both were grateful for the lack of witnesses. Saved from embarrassment.

At this time of night the coaches at the academy were gone from the yard, though the training equipment, the sparring rings, drill yard and practise dummies were free for use. Ragen eyed the empty yard. I can practise without anyone seeing. 'Butler, can you get me my new armour and sword?'

'Sure, though it'll hardly be new.' Butler obliged and the headed for the main school building. 'You always get the worst kind of items here.'

Ragen took note. I need to find better equipment, but first: I'm alive! And while I'm alive I can learn how to fight properly. He approached the hanging dummies and took a short sword from the rack, confident that the other weapons were either too heavy or too advanced for him to use. This blade was straight and double edged, though it was blunted for sparring. Ragen took a swing at the dummy and struck it on the right, then he swung and hit the opposite side. His wrist felt weak with the weight, but he would get used to it.

He continued to swing and hit for a minute more, by the end he was panting and struggling to attack with any strength. He switched to his left hand and tried to practise with that, though this was even worse as he had no coordination what-so-ever. This is terrible. He switched back to his right hand and slashed at the dummy again, only able to produce one more strike before having to rub his arm of its aches.

He collapsed to the ground, panting and rubbing and grumbling. Butler found him there five minutes later, staring up at the sky. 'Is it just me, or are the days and nights shorter here?'

'We get twelve hour days, rather than twenty-four.' Butler replied while piling up woollen undergarments and leather armour and boots in front of Ragen.

'I thought so. I thought the night came a little too soon.' He claimed the items and began to equip it all. 'I need more practise with the sword. I can't do any more quests until I'm better.'

'More quests?' Butler laughed. 'We've got to finish our current one first.'

Ragen pictured Roger's cold blade. 'We have to finish it?'

'Yeah, you need the experience, and those guys aren't so hard to fight. It's good for you.'

'If they're not so hard, how did you die?' Ragen was pulling on his boots, having just donned his woollen clothes.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

'I can be surprised as much as anyone can, and I never had a sword at hand, so...' He trailed off.

'Fair enough.' Ragen strapped the leather chest and back armour to himself. At least he could do this. He buckled a wrinkled belt around his waist, then he slipped tattered brown leather wrist bands over his hands. He looked at himself blankly. This armour didn't save my life the first time, how is it going to now?

Butler was intuitive enough to read Ragen's mind. 'Don't worry, we'll find something better. Maybe buy something with our reward from the quest.'

'I'm not doing another quest until I'm ready. I need to learn how to handle a sword.' Ragen took the new short sword from the ground and attached the scabbard to his belt. He left the sword sheathed and returned to the dummy with the blunted weapon. 'Show me how to use this thing.'

'It's a sword, Ragen, just swing it and hit someone. That's all I do.' Butler took a blunted sword from the rack and stood at a second dummy. He swung and hit, striking at the neck. 'Find a critical spot and hit it.' He struck again at the head.

'That's all well and good, but I can't reach those areas.' He looked up at the adult sized dummy. 'I'd have to cut someone's legs off first.'

'You're not that short, you can hit the head, stop over-exaggerating.'

'Yeah-yeah.' Ragen swung the sword and took the dummy in the neck. It's stuffed round head wobbled and flopped. 'Most people have longer weapons and more reach than me, how do I deal with that?'

'Did Roger have a longer weapon?' Butler asked while striking his own target.

'No...' This stirred up some thought in Ragen.

'Then what did he do to kill you?'

'He stabbed me.' Ragen answered sarcastically.

'Don't play stupid. What did he do?' Butler thrust his sword at the dummy. Ragen took note of his foot work, stepping in to the strike.

He's using his body to increase the power. He's moving into his opponent... 'He charged me down, got close.'

'OK, so you had a longer weapon and he managed to get by it and get you.'

'Not really.' Ragen continued to hit his dummy, stepping rigidly and heavily in to the strikes. The target shuddered more violently than before with each attack, yet it felt hard on Ragen's thighs, feet and hands. 'I didn't even manage to draw my sword.'

Butler laughed. 'If you did manage it, would charging you down still work?'

'I guess so. I mean, if he's so close that I can't move to hit him, then it'd work.' Ragen understood what Butler was alluding to. 'Will that work for me?'

'It might.' Butler motioned at the sparring rings. 'Let's go find out.'

'You want a fight?' Ragen was taken by surprise.

'It's a sparring session, not a fight.' He walked away from the dummies. 'Come on, we can practise what we've been talking about.'

'OK.' Said Ragen. 'Practise.'

They climbed over the wooden barriers of the square rings and stood facing each other. Butler with a long sword, Ragen with a short. Butler stepped forward at Ragen and made to strike. 'These things hurt, but they won't cut you, so don't worry.' The sword came sweeping from the side at Ragen.

Ragen jumped back out of reach. 'Whoa!'

'I will hit you!' Butler said while attacking again, this time aiming for the leg.

'I figured!' Ragen backed away again, this time up against the wooden fence of the ring.

Butler came again. 'Nowhere to go!' The blunted longsword struck Ragen's off-hand.

'Ow!' Ragen complained through gritted teeth, and with an unhappy glare.

'Then stop backing off, you're giving me the chance to attack too much.' He walked back to the centre of the ring. 'Let's try again.'

They did, and Ragen retreated again and again. This time he took a hit to the thigh. They tried again, and Ragen showed no hope of improving. 'Why aren't you doing what we talked about?' Butler inquired. 'Move in and attack. Stop worrying about my reach.'

'I'm trying, but you're not the one with a sword coming at you!' Ragen was defensive.

'Just find the timing to get in close and hit me.'

'OK, I will.' Ragen replied. Butler came towards him again, his sword sweeping side to side in a chained attack. The younger of the two backed away, the sword missed, then was raised up high. This was the time, he saw it, an open body for attack, but he hesitated. The blunted blade crashed down on to Ragen's own and he was disarmed with ease. The short sword hit the ground with a thud.

Butler was about to say something but Ragen did not let him. 'Again.' He said. I missed my chance, but I know what to look for. I know what to do. Ragen picked his weapon back up and gripped it tightly. The two started again with Butler thrusting out with a quick stab. Ragen was caught off guard, this was the first time his partner had attacked this way. He jumped backward and waved his sword wildly, fortunately making a hit on Butler's blade and parrying it to one side. Butler used the motion of the parry to change into a circular overhead strike. This is the time! The same as before, his body is open! Ragen could see the critical targets, head, chest and stomach, but before he could charge and counter-attack, Butler's sword was striking Ragen's with a metallic clang and disarming him as he had done before.

Ragen looked down at his blade, then back up at Butler, who was continuing with another circular overhead strike. 'This is how you die!' The blond haired man shouted.

Ragen screamed in reply. His eyes closed and his feet pushed off from the ground. His charge was hardly heroic looking, with his arms wrapped over his head protectively and footwork as cumbersome as his swordsmanship. Ragen felt himself crash into something. He fell to the ground in a tangled mess. When he opened his eyes, he saw Butler fighting to lift the weight of his sparring partner off him. His eyes were watering. Ragen scrambled away, over Butler's dropped sword and to the ring edge, pulling himself up on the wooden fence. 'Are you OK?'

As it turned out, he was not. Butler's hands were clasping between his legs, and his face was beetroot red. Being hit in the groin was as pleasant in The Law of War as it was in reality. Ragen tried to apologise out of courtesy, yet all that crossed his lips was a laugh, immediately muffled by his hands. Butler did not look amused. 'It worked...' Ragen said through his muffled chuckling.

'Yeah...' Butler agreed, rolling over onto his knees. His colour had returned. 'This feels too real sometimes.'

'There's no real pain, how did I hurt you?'

'There's no pain, but I guess the game developers somehow programmed what it feels like to have your stomach try and escape through your mouth.'

This made Ragen laugh even more, being a boy, he was well aware of the sensation. 'At least if I can't hit anyone with a sword, I can kick them in the nuts.'

'Head-butt.' Butler corrected, coughing.

'That too.' Ragen walked to Butler's sword and picked it up. 'Again?' He said while handing over the weapon.

Butler shook his head. 'I think you've got it down already. Just remember to use your sword next time, not your skull.' Butler climbed out of the ring and placed the sword in one of the many weapon racks in the yard.

'OK.' Ragen understood. 'What now then?'

'We complete our quest.'

Roger's blade flashed in Ragen's memory. 'Can we skip that one for now? I didn't like it much.'

Butler examined Ragen for a moment. 'OK. I'll find another one.'

'Thanks.' He said, relieved. 'But can we pick it up tomorrow, I have to go for now.'

'Sure thing.' Butler smiled. 'I could do with a rest myself, I'll see you tomorrow.' As quick as ever, Butler fell to white glitter and was gone. Leaving Ragen to log off, visions of a knife in his mind and a quiver in his chest.