"Stand down, Knight," one of the Vigilant guards commanded. "You are trespassing on Vigilant territory."

"Yeah!" Piped up a familiar voice. Two guards were elbowed aside and Awesome Dude squeezed through. He pointed a finger at Rohhk. "The cavalry is here, so you can either die or go away!"

"Dude," Severance exclaimed, both relieved and exasperated beyond measure. So that was where his friend had gone! He looked up at Jack Coyote with a grin, which quickly faded when he saw that Jack looked... strange.

"What?" he asked. What was with that look? Awesome Dude brought the rescue team, so couldn't Jack at least relax a little? Surely Rohhk would stop trying to kill them now.

Jack's expression tightened. He abruptly dropped to a knee, reaching out to grip Severance's shoulder.

"Your arm," he said quietly.

"My arm?"

In response, the tank jerked his chin toward a particular spot on the ground. Severance looked. That wasn't where his arm was supposed to be.

"Oh," he said, paling. And yep, now he noticed own health bar flashing in the corner of his vision. It was slowly draining, meaning he was currently bleeding to death. How lovely.

"Can you," he paused to mentally prepare himself, then rasped, "can you bring it here, please?"

He sat very still, distancing himself from the unpleasant sensations wailing in the background. It would be easier, he figured, to reattach his arm than go through the whole process of regrowing one. Unlike the residents of Eliona, players could easily regenerate missing body parts. It had to do with the avatar that they possessed. Still, Severance preferred to avoid that experience if he could help it.

Thankfully, Jack understood. He gave Rohhk a wary glance, but the Knight seemed content to stand where he was. He wasn't fighting, but he wasn't going anywhere either.

Jack kept one eye on the Knight as carefully picked up Severance's arm. It had been cut clean through, so it was simple enough to line it up with the stump hanging from Severance's shoulder.

"Ready."

Severance grunted. He didn't look at his own injury, trusting that Jack had it sorted out. Instead, he watched the tank's grim visage. The man always looked tense, but this had to be worst he'd ever seen. If Jack's expression grew any tighter, his face would probably crack.

Mend, he thought. A soothing warmth flowed through him, and he could almost feel the bone and muscle reconnect.

"You're not casting it verbally," Jack murmured. He'd leaned in, voice low so only the two of them could hear it.

Severance flinched. Oops. Right. That was a thing now, too. He'd thought he'd hidden it better, but Jack's quiet reminder told him he'd failed. When had the tank even found out? Eh, whatever, he'd worry about that later.

"Mend," he said, and felt more tissues restore themselves. It was a weird feeling. Tingly. And... nope. He wasn't going to think about the other sensations shrieking in the background. It was just distant noise that had nothing to do with him.

While waiting for the skill to come off cooldown, he looked past Jack and tried to see where Rohhk was. The man hadn't moved. Neither had the Vigilant. It appeared to be a stand-off, but he got the feeling that somehow, one man outnumbered the two dozen guards.

The Knight wasn't even paying attention to the Vigilant. They might as well have been a few flies buzzing around his food. Instead, he was watching Jack and Severance with a faint smile. When he saw Severance looking back, Rohhk inclined his head in a strange acknowledgement.

"We'll meet again." He turned and headed for the street, as if that had been all he'd come here to say. The guards parted before him, giving him plenty of room. If he was leaving peacefully, then they sure weren't going to get in his way.

"Yeah, right." Awesome Dude glowered at the Knight. "None of us want to see you ever again."

"Agreed," Severance muttered. He shuddered, a shaky exhale leaving him as he cast another Mend. "I can't believe neither of us died."

"Yes, a most unexpected outcome," came an unimpressed voice. It sounded distantly familiar. Severance twisted, looking up to see that several of the Vigilant guards approaching. At their head was a man who was so handsome it should have been a criminal offense. He wore flowing robes accented with silver embroidery, and his long hair had been pulled back from his face by silver clips.

"Registrator Ashe," Severance blurted. It was hard to forget this guy. He was the one who officially recognized Severance as a contributing citizen of Eliona. He was also the father of a strange little girl.

"Ah." Registrator Ashe folded his arms behind his back as he regarded Severance coolly. "There is trouble in my city, and you are the cause. I should have expected this."

Right, there was one more thing Severance remembered. Ashe didn't seem to like him very much. Or the Veiled.

He scowled. "I didn't do anything. It was the Knight who came and attacked me!"

"We shall see about that. Come, you will need to answer some questions." The Registrator nodded at the guards, and they spread out. They didn't get too close, but their positions were such that if Severance tried to sneak away down the far street, he'd find himself running into a guard pretty quick.

It seemed this "questioning" was mandatory. Severance sighed. It wasn't worth trying to run, and besides, he was certain none of this was his fault.

Jack seemed to be on the same page. He rose, offering a hand to Severance. "Let's go."

It wasn't necessary, but Severance took the hand anyway. As he got to his feet, he cast a grateful smile to Awesome Dude. "Hey, thanks for your help."

"Hehe." The Shade puffed out his chest and beamed. "That's what I – uh, Sev?"

"Yeah?"

"Your pants fell off."

***

Time Elapsed: 5:39:58

"It's not fair," whined Awesome Dude.

"What isn't?" Severance asked wearily.

He sat on a stone bench, which was hard, cold, and extremely uncomfortable. It wasn't even a nice bench, either. Instead of the usual white marble that formed a majority of the architecture in the city, this entire room—furniture included—had been chiseled out of a rough gray stone.

Jack sat on the bench beside him, his back against the wall and his arms folded across his chest. He hadn't said a single word since the little chat they had with the Registrator.

"I just asked if he was wearing a wig. What's the big deal about that?" Awesome Dude pursed his lips in something that wasn't quite a pout.

He'd been unanimously volunteered to sit on the floor. The bench was only big enough for two, and after the way he'd laughed at Severance's little pants problem, there was no way Severance was going to let him sit on the bench.

"He threw us in jail," Severance said flatly.

Honestly, it looked like they would have been let go, right up until the Shade decided to insult the Registrator. Now they were in a prison cell that had bars and everything. Two guards watched them closely from the outside, as if concerned they'd try to escape.

That was a laugh. None of them could carve their way through stone or bend the bars, which were made of much sterner stuff than steel. Teleporting was out of the question, as they couldn't even bring up the teleport map.

"That wasn't my fault," the Shade protested. "His hair looked too shiny to be real. And besides, people always end up in jail if they fight in the city."

"Really." Severance stared at his friend through narrowed eyes.

"It does! I see people get locked up almost every day! It's part of the job." Here, Awesome Dude jabbed a thumb at his own chest. He looked absurdly proud as he added, "Sometimes I get to help escort criminals right to this cell. It's pretty awesome."

So we're criminals now? Severance made a face.

"How long do we have to be here?"

"Until someone from your clan comes," Awesome Dude shrugged. "They have to bail you out. Shouldn't take long, though. They've always been pretty quick."

"You've been in jail before?" It was just a guess, based on how knowledgeable the Shade was on the topic. There was also the Dude's tendency to create trouble, as well.

"A couple of times." The Shade rubbed his nose. "This one time, I-"

Jack cleared his throat. Loudly. Both Severance and Awesome Dude turned to stare at the tank, whose hooded glare had not decreased in the slightest. It was obvious that he was Not Happy, perhaps even more so than usual.

"So." He turned to meet Severance's eyes. "You knew that Knight."

Severance almost threw up his hands in exasperation. Now Jack decided to ask about this? They'd only been in here for twenty minutes, listening to a certain Shade's complaints. He'd kind of expected Jack to start firing off questions much sooner, but no, the guy had to get his brooding in first.

This day just kept getting better.

"Yeah," he said, and leaned his head back against the wall. The cold made goose bumps lift along his arms. "I ran into him before, during some clan stuff."

The gloomy look on Jack's face didn't go away with this admittance, but neither did it deepen. "I see."

Awesome Dude decided to choose that moment to scoot closer on his knees and sit before Severance like a child listening to a teacher.

"Hey, hey! I've never seen that dude before, either. When did you meet him, Sev?"

Severance eyed his friend, wondering how he missed the hint.

"Clan stuff," he repeated deliberately.

That was when Jack said softly, "It won't happen again."

Severance almost thought he heard things. He frowned at the tank. "What?"

"But when?" Awesome Dude's loud question drowned out anything Jack might have said next. He was exactly like an eager puppy fishing for a bone. "The Knights only started moving a couple of weeks ago, you know. That thing with the Sessh guy? That was the first time we've seen them. The Champions, that is. See, I have clan stuff too! Anyway, we've been tracking them after that, because it's my clan's job to keep the Knights in line."

Puffing up his chest, Awesome Dude flashed a grin. Somehow his gold tooth caught a floodlight because it flashed unbelievably bright. It almost blinded Severance.

"Sessh is pretty tame as far as Knights go," the Shade went on. "He doesn't come out much, and when he does, he gets the job done and leaves. Kind of a boring guy, really. And then there's the one that looks normal, but he's a real freak. Traal's his name, I think. He uses that really cool double blade. Their names are weird, so it's tricky to remember."

"Tray-all," Severance corrected before he thought better of it. When he got twin stares from his jail mates, he sighed. "That's how you pronounce it. And yes, I met him too."

"When did that happen?" Awesome Dude wrinkled his nose, as if he had trouble believing what he was hearing.

"Same time I met Rohhk." At this point, there really was no point in hiding it. Severance wasn't sure if it even mattered. The Eternal Champions seemed to know a lot about the Knights, and frankly, he didn't think it was a bad thing to exchange information. "You haven't seen him before either?"

"Well, not before today." Shaking his head, Awesome Dude abruptly leaned forward and grabbed Severance's knees. "Dude! You're even more crazy than the Champions! Do you know how hard they try to even find a Knight? And now you've already tangled with three!"

Four, technically. But Severance kept that to himself. He shoved Awesome Dude back, freeing his knees. "I'd rather not tangle with any of them. Do you know why they're turning up now?"

Awesome Dude settled back on his own knees. He shrugged. "Who knows? The game probably needed super strong bad guys, since people are getting close to the level cap. Makes sense they turn up now."

The game? Severance didn't have a response to that. He'd almost forgotten how people viewed Eliona. A game, with bad guys and good guys and the ability to fight whoever you wanted with no consequences. That was all it was to Awesome Dude. Although, Severance knew from the past few conversations that the Shade wasn't as oblivious as he appeared.

Would he eventually figure things out like Jack had? What would happen if he found out the truth?

Just thinking about it gave Severance a bitter feeling. The Shade played Eliona to have fun, and it showed in his reckless exuberance. If he found out that nothing was what he thought it was, then it'd be like flipping the entire world on him.

He looked down, unable to meet the Shade's eyes. He didn't want Awesome Dude to find out, he realized. As much as he would love to have another ally in the know, he was afraid of what it'd do to his friend.

"All right, here we are." A new guard appeared outside their cell. Beside him was someone who definitely was not a member of the Vigilant guard.

Severance recognized him immediately. He sat up straight, caught between feeling relieved and worried. Of all people to come bail him out, it had to be the Veiled clan Head himself, Agadhi.

On the floor, Awesome Dude gave a little laugh. "Hey Sev, looks like you're the first to get out!"

"Indeed," said the man-in-black outside the door. He appeared perfectly calm, as if this was a routine, every-day task for him.

The guard finished unlocking the door, and swung it wide open. He fixed Severance with a stern look. "You're free to go. But you better not let us catch you causing a disturbance in our streets again."

Severance wanted to roll his eyes at the stupidity of such a statement. Thankfully, he didn't have to, since Awesome Dude was more than ready to act indignant on his behalf.

The Shade leapt to his feet, and jabbed a finger at the guard. "Hey! It wasn't his fault a Knight attacked him! What was he supposed to do? Stand there and die peacefully?!"

Yeah! Severance folded his arms and gave a nod. Exactly!

"Fighting is prohibited in the city," the guard's eyes narrowed. He was clearly unimpressed with Awesome Dude's outburst.

"Then why don't you go tell the Knight that? I'm sure he'd be happy to listen!"

"If I'm not mistaken," the guard lifted his chin so he could look disdainfully down his nose at them, "the Knight isn't the one in detainment. You are."

Awesome Dude made a disgusted sound. Then he stuck out his tongue and blew a raspberry. "That's dumb. Like you could even put a Knight in jail. It's no wonder you asked the Champions to help out here. You couldn't even take him on yourselves."

"Enough." Jack growled. He pinched the bridge of his nose, as if listening to Awesome Dude physically pained him. "You won't help anyone by being an idiot."

"You're the idiot," Awesome Dude retorted. "And just so you know, it's not fair how they expect us to do the impossible."

"Life's not fair. So shut up."

"Whoa, no need to be so mean, Mr Grouchy!"

Severance got up from the bench. He didn't have the energy to deal with these two. Maybe some time in a cell together would teach them how to get along. (Ha!) Who was he kidding? Jack would probably strangle Awesome Dude within three minutes. Actually, make that two.

He made a quick exit from the cell. "I'll see you guys later."

Jack grunted. He was probably already imagining how his hands fit around the Shade's neck.

Awesome Dude gave a cheery wave, as if the past two minutes hadn't even happened. "Bye, Sev! Don't get killed by a Knight on the way home, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah."

"And try not to lose your pants this time, hehe!"

Severance's eyebrow twitched. Was it too much to hope that everyone had forgotten about that little incident? If it were possible to lose health points from embarrassment, he would have died several times over already.

He ignored Awesome Dude and pretended he'd heard nothing. Maybe everyone could just write it off as another one of the Shade's crazy ramblings.

The guard closed and locked the door, giving it a firm shake to make sure it was properly closed. Satisfied, he turned and gave Agadhi a polite nod.

"I'll leave the Outsider in your hands."

Agadhi returned the gesture regally. He stood with his hands folded behind his back. "Thank you."

"Of course." The guard, perfectly respectful now, stood back and allowed them to leave first.

Agadhi's dark eyes shifted to Severance.

"Come, let's take a walk."