'I wonder what we are going to do,' Alex said, while stretching.

Magnus did not answer. He had absolutely no idea what 'death to the death' meant or what they would be doing. T.J. shrugged. 'I mean, maybe it is a fancy name for a regular brawl? Or a funeral?'

'But we are all already dead. Who would we be holding a funeral for?'

'I don't know, someone's dog?'

'Could be.'

When they reached the room, it did, in fact, look like a funeral home. In the front stood a large casket, adorned with flowers. There were a bunch of chairs set throughout the rest of the room. In the corner was a small piano.

Magnus, Alex and T.J. sat down on the fifth row. There were already some other people seated. Some of them had huge grins on their faces, like they knew exactly what was going to happen. Some others looked either scared, expectant or expressionless.

'How late does... whatever it is going to be start?' Alex asked.

T.J. looked at his watch. 'They said four P.M.'

Alex pulled his arm towards him. 'It is five past four P.M. now!'

Magnus looked at T.J.'s watch himself. 'So regular Hotel Valhalla lateness. Let's just wait...'

They did not need to wait any longer than half of that sentence. First, the lights went out, except for a spotlight set onto the casket. A dude jumped up from behind it, with a microphone in his hand. 'Good morning, folks!' He jumped onto the casket and flipped his legs over each other.

'Today we are here for my dear friend Jordan.' A second guy jumped up and stepped in front of the casket. He put a hand on it. 'Hello, my name is Jordan and some of you probably know me, because I have been here for about three years. Three years ago, I left a few of my dear friends behind in Midgard to join the fighting forces. But a few days ago, I was delighted to find out that my best pal Andrew arrived in hotel Valhalla after saving people from a burning building.'

Around the room, a few gasps could be heard. Alex, Magnus and T.J. were all dead silent. Jordan coughed and continued: 'Because of this, we wanted to throw him a funeral. That is why you are all gathered here today. Mitchell?'

Another guy walked over to the piano in the corner. He began to play a sad tune.

'My friend Andrew was a wonderful person. Always ready to help people and absolutely full of life. I know he always wanted the most: study at an Ivy league college, find the perfect person to spend his days with, get the best job he could possibly get. And he deserved it all and more.'

The sad music continued. 'Once, Andrew bought me donuts in the pouring rain when I was sad. He brought a girl that had never been nice to us soup when she was ill. When his favorite football team won, he only smeared it in our faces for a day or so.' Jordan fell silently for some time, until the sad music suddenly became a lot more upbeat.

'And that is why it is so awesome that he can join us all today!' The first guy slid down the casket and flipped it open. The guy inside it sat up and waved at the crowd. 'May I introduce to you all: Our friend Andrew!'

Andrew slung his legs over the side of the casket. Everyone in the room burst into applause. Andrew made a few bows. 'Thank you, thank you!' He took the microphone out of Jordan's hand, while climbing out of the casket.

'You all must know that I am absolutely delighted to be here!' he waved his hands around. 'I have already been welcomed on my own floor and I hope you all will welcome me in the true hotel Valhalla fashion as well.'

Alex laid a hand around his garotte. 'I would not hesitate to show him,' He said with a wide grin. Magnus and T.J. snickered.

Andrew suddenly pulled out a sword half the size of his body. 'But first, let me introduce myself in the true Valhallan way!'

Oh, it was on. A few people from the first row who were probably in on the spectacle jumped up from their seats and pulled out their own weapons. Soon, others joined in.

Magnus pulled out Jack, who began to sing a surprisingly cheery tune. 'I am all for wishing the new guy a pleasant stay here in hotel Valhalla!' he singsonged, while Magnus targeted one of the guys in the front.

'I know you do, Jack,' was his answer.

Alex went straight for the big fish: Andrew himself. Yet, it was abundantly clear that he was no newby when it came to handling swords. With immense precision, he managed to slay someone in front of him. Alex took a step back. He should handle this as safely as possible.

He slowly began to sneak up on Andrew, who was preoccupied with slaying someone else. In the meantime, the guy behind the piano had begun to play a very dramatic tune, that got wilder and wilder as the battle began to gain more momentum.

With a dramatic swing of her garotte, Alex managed to end Andrew. He noticed too late that the music had stopped playing. Before he could run away, someone stabbed Alex in the back. The pianoman grinned and ducked behind the casket, to avoid a swing from Jack, who had flown up to him after noticing Alex' defeat. Magnus followed soon after With a tiny knife, Mitchell pinched up a few times, until he managed to hit Magnus in his arm. He did not like that and jumped over the casket as well, which did not go as planned - he tripped over it and fell flat on his face. The piano man may have been able to get at him that way, but Magnus did not go out alone - with his casket stunt, he managed to wipe out quite a few other people with him, including T.J.

Eventually, only the funeral set up remained. It was later discovered by a very confused crochet group, but they did not ask any questions and just sat down in the mess. They knew better.