“You must be Alec Braun,” said Lars.

“Yep.”

“Your money’s down there on the floor for you to pick up. There was a little mishap with your servant. Griffin Roane doesn’t--“

Alec’s sword took off his head.

In the corner, on the floor, Alec found Handice’s severed hand. In the hand was a coin purse filled with 500 gold coins. Griffin had kept his word.

“Dumb fucking noob.”

Alec whirled, sword in hand, Lars’s blood still running down the blade.

“Who the fuck are you?”

The man entered the room, in no hurry. He wore shining armor of pure silver and moved with a smooth easy grace. He had a hard, warrior’s face, short dark hair, dark eyes, strong nose, stubble beard.

“I’m Mister Falcon.”

“Mister Falcon – here? Why?”

Falcon shrugged. “Griffin Roane hired me to kill you. I guess you pissed him off.”

“That asshole? Fuck him. I’ll pay you double. Triple. Who gives a shit.”

Falcon shook his head. “You can’t afford it. Besides, I’ve got a reputation to uphold.”

“Fine,” Alec raised his sword. “Let’s get it over with then.”

Falcon laughed. “What’s the hurry?”

“It’s fucking 5:00 a.m.! I’ve gotta be at work in three hours.”

“That sucks.”

“Hell, I should be thanking you. You’ll kill me, sure, but you’re what, level 50? I’ll get enough experience points to level up twice if I just get one or two hits in.”

Falcon shook his head. “Won’t work like that this time. This is the payment Roane gave me.”

He unsheathed his sword. The blade looked sharp enough to cut through a cement block.

“It’s one of a kind, specially crafted, with a spell cast on it by some wizard. Moroso. Heard of him?"

"No."

"Didn't think so. You don't know dick about this place. Moroso is a legend. I haven’t met him but he’s a powerful motherfucker. I got to name the spell. I call it ‘permadeath.’”

"Original."

"Yeah, right. I wasn't going for originality. I call it Permadeath because it will kill your character permanently. No resurrection.”

“What? Bullshit.”

“No bullshit.”

“They wouldn’t do that. People would get too pissed off.”

“I think that’s the idea. Some of the NPCs don’t want us here.”

“What? Come on.”

“No resurrection. And no new characters either. When you try to log in, the game simply will not work for you. Never again. Maybe they’ll give you your money back.”

“The fuck? No way, dude.”

“I couldn't believe it myself, but it’s true. I’ve already tested it.”

“Fuck this.”

Alec went limp and collapsed to the floor, his sword landing with a clang.

“Yeah, nice try,” said Falcon. “I can still kill you when you’re logged out, moron.”

He brought the sword down.

It hit the floor.

Alec had vanished.

“Holy shit,” said Falcon. “You deleted your character. How’d you do that so fast? You son of a bitch. Shit.”

He looked around the room, which he now had to himself, save for a headless Lars and a lifeless Handice. He sheathed his sword.

“Fuck. Now what?” he asked himself.

He walked over to Handice’s body and nudged it with his boot. He held a gloved hand over the young villager. A stream of blue light flowed out from the hand, into Handice. First the light went into the bleeding stump on Handice’s right arm, then into his chest.

“Rise and shine,” Falcon said.

Handice’s eyes fluttered open.

“Good morning! Welcome back to the world!”

Handice croaked, “Who-“

“Here, drink some water.”

Handice drank from the goblet, slowly sipping at first, then deeply, taking it in.

“Feel better?”

“Yes.”

“Good. You lost a lot of blood. Couple more minutes and it would have been too late for you. Now, who are you?”

“I am Handice. Of Shirin Mills. Son of Randol-“

“Ok, ok. I don’t need your whole autobiography. What do you have to do with that dickhead, Alec?”

“He is my ... I am his companion.”

“Not anymore. Alec’s gone. He may be back, if he’s as dumb as I think he is, but your bond is broken. You’re free to go. Go home, go find your friends, go wherever you want. But you’d better get going before Griffin Roane gets back.”

In the villager’s brown eyes there was fear. They went to the stump where his hand had been.

“Your hand is over there. And your payment. The job was done, after all. For that matter, you and your friends can escort that girl to Meridea and get the rest of the dough. You don’t need Alec for that.”

Falcon yawned. “Anyway, I guess it is getting late. I’m out of here. If you’re smart, you’ll follow my ass out of this house. Nobody’s gonna fuck with me, don’t worry. You coming?”

Handice got to his feet.

“Let’s go. Hey. Don’t forget your gold.”