I stood in front of the door with my battle axe on my shoulder. I was facing Ricky and Karla who were at the opposite end of the courtyard. Ricky was holding Karla by the wrist and Karla was struggling to free herself. She didn't speak, she didn't need to, I could see both confusion and desperation in her eyes. Ricky on the other hand was both annoyed at my arrival and frustrated by Karla's lack of cooperation. "I'm thinking you might be deaf, sir, so I'll repeat myself: Let ... her ... go." I said pressing heavily on my last words.

"I thought I heard someone following us." Ricky said "So what are you going to do little man? Here to save your girlfriend? She doesn't even care about you. A few sugary words and I had her eating out of my hand. A little more time and she'd have forgotten all about you." Ricky laughed evilly as if he'd gone mad. He turned to Karla "It's your fault he's here, this would have gone a lot smoother if you hadn't led him here." with his free hand, he swung at her and hit her square in the face.

Karla fell back and Ricky let go of her arm. This was too much for me, I lunged at him with a downward swing of my axe. Ricky was surprisingly fast, and he managed to dodge my attack. A second later I saw a long sword materialize to his side as if it had always been there. He had managed to equip it as he dodged my attack. He unsheathed the sword and smirked. "So, wimp, you want to take me on?" he jeered. I could feel my blood boiling as I squeezed the handle of my battle axe. But I hesitated, I didn't know exactly how this would go down.

You couldn't kill someone in town. In fact no one could win a fight, unless they dueled. Each hit would only make a temporary mark and throw you back a bit. But each hit did come with an inescapable feeling of pain, albeit a temporary one, but pain none the less. Inflict enough pain on someone and they will do anything to make it stop. My weapon did a great deal of damage each time it hit, but it's hit rate was low. Ricky's sword on the other hand was much faster, if he managed to get enough hits in I could be incapacitated long enough to be unable to help Karla.

I made a careful swing with the battle axe, I had to maintain control of my weapon. Ricky dodged it and tried to slash me on the side. I blocked it with the handle of the battle axe. I pushed his sword away making him take a step back. He made feint to the right then spun around and attacked on the left. I tried to dodge it but he did manage to strike my armour. I swung my axe and it connected with his stomach leaving a large gash. As I had thought, Ricky managed to recover from the pain faster than I could land another hit.

He retaliated with a solid stab in the chest. The pain made me lose my concentration for a second. Then another hit came to my leg, then to my arms one in the face, another in the chest, the sensation was maddening. I swung my battle axe wildly, trying to hit Ricky but he was just too fast. Most of my swings missed, and even when I managed to block one of his attacks, the next would connect. Over and over he hammered hits on me.

In a last effort I rolled away and protected myself with my battle axe. I was down on my knees and was having a hard time getting up. "So, giving up are you?" Ricky laughed "I guess I get the prize after all. Karla is mine. And there's nothing you can do about it. You're no match for me alone." Ricky laughed again before letting out a yelp that cut his amusement short. "He's not alone." a voice behind him said, as the tip of a blade protruded from his chest. Karla had recovered her senses, equipped her katana and back stabbed Ricky. She managed a four hit attack before taking a step back.

Ricky groaned then spun around to face her "So that's how it's going to be, is it?" he said as he unleashed an attack on Karla. She managed to block his blows and took another step back to get a better stance. "I'm not finished with you!" I growled at Ricky. I had recovered and was ready to unleash a new set of blows. Annoyingly, I never got the chance, Ricky turned and ran towards the edge of the courtyard and, with the help of some crates, made it to the top of the fence.

"I know when my time is up. Sadly, I will not stay for the final act. I take my leave, and I will NOT see you later." He made an exaggerated bow and took off via the rooftops, laughing as he left. "Bastard!" I yelled, then dropped to my hands and knees "You bastard." I said to the ground. Even as he left he'd managed to frustrate me. I leaned back on my feet and sighed. I turned to see how Karla was doing. Her katana was on the ground and if I didn't know any better she looked like she was going to be sick.

I pounced in her direction and caught her just as her knees were giving way. She was shaking like a leaf. "He ... he ... tried ... tried to ... " she sobbed as tears freely flowed from her eyes. She grasped my shirt at the arms, her teeth clenched in anger. She managed a gasp of breath before letting out an ear piercing scream: a wail of emotions combining anger, pain, frustration and loss. There was no point in trying to stop her, I just let her scream. It was too much to take and all she could do was vent it.

If we were not inside a game, she would have screamed till her voice gave out, as such, she stopped simply out of futility. We stayed on the ground for a long time; she clung to me and I held her as she continued to sob softly. I couldn't begin to understand how she felt, it's not something I think I would ever be able to truly grasp. I only knew that she would need someone to root her in this reality; someone to make sense of it; someone to bring her comfort; someone to trust.

She gently pushed me away and sat on the ground, wiping her eyes. She stared away from me, taking the time to calm herself as best as she could. "I'm sorry." she said "I'm sorry about all this. I ... " she had difficulty maintaining her composure. "We'll talk later. Right now you need to get some rest." I cut in. I got up and took a quick look around then offered my hand to Karla. She nodded, took my hand, and slowly got up. She squeezed my hand gently before letting go to pick up her katana.

We retraced our steps back through the maze and the sounds of the streets could be heard again, of what little noise there was. Few people were on the streets, most had turned in for the night. We walked in silence. Karla was hugging her arms across her chest, and stared at the ground the entire time. I escorted her, I wasn't going to let her make her way to the inn on her own. I'm sure if the roles had been reversed, I would have appreciated the gesture.

I held the door for Karla as we got to the inn. She walked in without raising her eyes. We walked up the stairs and stopped in front of her room. She looked up at me as if she wanted to say something, hesitating. "Get some sleep." I said "There will be time for talking tomorrow. We can figure it out then." I gently squeezed her shoulder. "I'll be in the next room if you need anything. Don't hesitate to ask, OK?" I said as I looked into her tired eyes. She looked down and nodded. I made to leave, but Karla grabbed my arm so I stopped. She looked at me

"Stay with me?"