The Bloody Anvil
As Kevin's headless corpse falls to the ground, Nathan hears a "ding!", a notification appears in his line of sight, <Level up>. Nathan's health is returned to full.
Ignoring the level-up notification, Nathan looks around the hallway to see if anyone else is going to appear. He then looks toward Kate and Kevin's corpses. As he kneels to inspect the corpses the <Collect loot> notification appears.
Mentally Nathan accepts looting Kate's corpse. He receives five gold coins and an engagement ring.
'Well, that's unfortunate, they were engaged.' Nathan shakes his head mentally and then reaches to touch Kevin's body to loot it.
He receives ten gold coins and decides not to pick up the guard armor and weapon as the quality is poor.
Standing back up, he looks over the corpses expectantly. After waiting a few moments, he starts to nudge the corpses with his foot.
"Scion, how come the corpses aren't disappearing. I thought after killing things in the game the bodies would disappear. The Razorspine body and Aarog body started to smoke and looked like they were disappearing. What's up with these two?" Nathan asks Scion while nudging the two bodies with his foot again.
Scion flies off Nathan's shoulder and lands on top of Kevin's body. She crouches down and starts to poke the neck wound that is still leaking blood. As she is poking it, she gives Nathan her reply.
"Let me ask you, do people's bodies disappear in your realm once they die?"
"Stop playing with the dead body Scion, it's gross. Wipe your fingers off before you sit on me again. To answer your question, of course, people's bodies don't disappear once they die. It's not a videogame."
Nathan answers in a matter-of-fact tone.
Scion wipes her hands on Kevin's jerkin and stands up dusting herself off. Turning to Nathan she cocks her head to the side and says, "why would you think human bodies in this Plane would be any different than yours?".
"Because this is a game, a rather realistic game, but no FIVR game ever had bodies stick around after they were killed. It would get messy and people watching would get grossed out seeing countless dead bodies everywhere players went.
While they farmed mobs for the experience or cleared dungeons, bodies would be littered everywhere. Normally, the bodies fade away or turn into particles and leave little loot bags where the body was. I thought Sanctuary was unique after killing the Razorspine and Aarog because the bodies smoked and seem to decompose at a rapid speed instead of the traditional way of seeing dead mobs disappear."
Nathan nudges Kate's arm moving it off to the side. "These bodies are just sitting here even after I looted them already. It's weird."
Scion shakes her head and flies up to Nathan's face. Putting her tiny hands on both of his cheeks, she looks into his eyes intently. She leaves a little blood smudge on his cheek from some of the remaining blood on her hand from Kevin's body. She then says to him in a commanding tone.
"Before I thought you were messing around with me cracking jokes. Now I realize you're not as smart as I thought you were. You must get this into your head. This is not a game Nathan Emblem. This is real. You killed those two people. They were engaged, loved each other, and had plans and dreams. You ended them. They are dead. If you do not gain strength and someone comes along and does to you what you did to them, you will be dead."
"Luckily, you have been gifted a [Phoenix Down] in case a situation you cannot handle happens and you end up dying. I hope you never have to use it though, it's a nasty experience and some would say the price is not worth the second chance at life."
Nathan shakes his head and grabs Scion as she flies backward. Holding her he says to her in a pleading voice, "It felt different when I killed Kate. It's like I subconsciously knew she was different from a regular NPC. This must be a game Scion, I'm not a murderer."
Nathan unequips his blade as he falls to his knees and puts his head in his hands. Scion flies up and looks down at Nathan with a disdainful look. She hears a noise at the steps and a grin appears on her face.
She turns to Nathan and says to him, "You are a murderer Mr. Emblem, you always had it in you to be a murderer. I saw true hatred in you, It is why I chose you. If you don't get ahold of yourself, you will be murdered by either the Legion or someone else."
Nathan lets out a moan and looks up at Scion. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees the matron of the Inn Mary at the top of the stairs. Scion looks between the two of them and smiles at the chaos about to ensue. She whispers to Nathan, "you need to make your choice now, or Mary over there will make it for you."
She then flutters up and behind Nathan and sits on one of the candle sconces on the wall kicking her feet back and forth as if spectating a show.
"Murder! A Legion spy is in the Inn! Murder! Help!" Mary screams at the top of her lungs. Her eyes are filled with tears as she stares at the mutilated corpses at Nathan's feet. She looks at him and gnashes her teeth as she pulls out a meat cleaver that was attached to her apron.
She yells hoarsely as she charges at Nathan. Nathan without getting off his knees stares lifelessly at Mary as she charges at him.
'I should let her kill me, I murdered her daughter, and I am a piece of shit. I thought this was a game. No, this needs to be a game.' Nathan caught up in his morose does nothing and Mary's Cleaver lands on his shoulder through the gap of his pauldron.
-4 flashes in red. 'Yes, whittle my health away, this is the way.' Nathan kneels unflinching at the pain.
"I'll kill you and have the Gods bring back my Kate!" Mary yells while swinging the blade into his shoulder once again.
'The Gods have the power to bring back the dead?'
-10 flashes in bold red across Nathan's vision. A critical hit. The pain makes him register her words and they kick start Nathan's brain into action. He looks up into Mary's tear-filled face filled with hatred and realizes that she will continue to hack away at him until he dies.
Mary's face becomes his Uncles for a split second and an intense rush of fury overwhelms him. An urge to live and fight fills him. Feeling his blood rush through his entire body he grabs Mary's wrist as she swings the meat cleaver down on him again and stops her attack in its track.
He stands while Mary screams and curses at him. She spits in his face while clawing with her free hand at the hand restraining her.
"I'll kill you and your entire family you piece of Legion shit," Mary yells into Nathan's face.
In a cold flat voice, Nathan responds, "I have no family."
He snaps Mary's wrist like a twig. The butcher's cleaver clatters as it falls to the ground. Nathan then follows up with a kick to her chest. Mary is launched to the ground grasping her broken wrist while gasping for air as she chokes from sobs of pain. She rolls a few feet and is sprawled on the ground coming to rest near the wall.
He equips his Banesblade with a quick thought and slams the blade down through Mary's stomach. As she lies there pinned to the ground and the life fading from her eyes Nathan stares down at her in cold fury.
"I'll reunite you with your family."
Nathan watches as Mary breathes her last breath. Removing his blade, he bends down and loots everything he can.
He turns to Scion with deadly intent and continues to speak in a flat voice.
"Scion, can the Gods or your Lord bring back the dead?"
Scion looks over at Mary's dead body and back to Nathan and begins to laugh.
"Answer me! No more games." Nathan yells while pointing his blade at Scion.
With a smirk on her face Scion says, "I've never played any games with you Mr. Emblem." She holds out her hands to calm Nathan down as he takes a step toward her and continues to speak.
"The power the so-called Gods have, and my Lord has is unimaginable. If you rise in strength and become a Champion, your power will also be unimaginable. Bringing back the dead…"
Scion flies off the sconce and lands on the tip of the blade while balancing on one foot.
"Would be as easy as flipping your hand."
Nathan lowers his blade and Scion flutters in place. He unequips his helm and stares intently into Scion's eyes.
"Tell me what I need to do to gain this power."