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Chapter II

Two days after the attack from the Drow archer, Lamalggar announced to 108 that they would be venturing to the forest again, to meet 'Regdar'.

"Of course, I would prefer not having to bring a companion along," he complained, "but we must always be in the company of at least one other person, when leaving the cave," he ground his teeth together in irritation before finishing, "ridiculous. I work better alone."
108, knowing Drow customs, thought it odd.

"You are... Strange, Lamalggar. Are Drow not... Accustomed to travelling in groups?"
Lamalggar looked at him indignantly, and suddenly struck him on the side of the head, sending him down to the ground.

"It is not your place to ask questions. Yours is but to serve."

"... Of course. My apologies."

Ten minutes later, they had reached the same spot that they had been before; 108 immediately saw that a human man with glasses was waiting for them.

"Ah, Lamalggar! Good to see you could make it!" He called out in a manner that 108 thought was a bit too friendly.

"Amusing to hear, seeing as you did not appear for our previously scheduled meeting, Regdar," Lamalggar replied sternly; ignoring him entirely, Regdar turned to 108.

"Oh... A Changeling. I take it you're the infamous 108th-"

"Regdar!" Lamalggar angrily interrupted, "time and time again, I've warned you about that mouth of yours. Not every worthless thought in your head must be shared with the world!"

Regdar's eyes widened at his sudden outburst, but he didn't push any further.

"Forgive me, Lamalggar; I shall be more careful in the future," he adjusted his glasses before changing the subject, "now then, you required more targets, did you not?"
At this, Lamalggar seemed to relax a little.

"Indeed. As our only source of information to the events in the town, we are usin-," Lamalggar stopped himself upon realising what he was saying, but it seemed Regdar was not paying full attention, so he continued, "we are... Relying, on you for intel."

"Hm? Ah, yes. Of course!" Adjusting his glasses again, Regdar's tone became slightly more serious, "should the Changeling not be present during this? If you'll recall, the last time one of your... Friends overheard our exchange, the end results were..." Regdar trailed off and glanced at 108, who maintained a blank expression, "... Unpleasant."

"... I do not believe it will be an issue with Number 108. But if it comforts you..." Lamalggar turned his head to 108 and inclined towards the forest, "... Leave us."
108 bowed his head slightly, "as you wish."

108 took the exact same path as he had two days ago, wishing to remain on familiar ground; recalling the attack from the Drow archer, he made sure to keep his blade steadily in front of him.
Soon, he reached the treeline and immediately noticed the lack of corpses, he then noticed two stones, set into the ground; it appeared that someone had buried the casualties from the incident.
What 108 found interesting was that both had been buried; he'd expected either one, or the other, if any.

Logically... A neutral third-party...?
This again, raised a question in 108's mind, why would an unrelated faction bury two strangers? It went against everything Do'zbaretho had taught him about the outside world, which, he again found himself thinking, was not all that much.
His curiousity reached dangerously high levels, and he couldn't help but examine the graves closer, but something far more interesting caught his eye before he could.

... Tracks...
Leaves on the ground, as well as the ground itself had clearly been disturbed around the gravesite, but 108's expertly trained senses also picked up faint impressions on the grass leading away from the graves. 108 realised that the tracks headed towards a nearby cliff, far below which, lay deadly rapids; realising that the mysterious gravedigger was heading for a dead end, 108's interest skyrocketed and exploded into a cluster of colourful chemical reactions in his head.

"... Investigating..."

Drops of rain started to fall as 108 swiftly ran alongside the tracks, itching to find his target; when the trees started thinning out, 108 took to leaping to and from the remaining treetops, just to lower his chances of being spotted; at the very moment 108 started to wonder if Lamalggar and Regdar were bothered by the rain... He saw it.

A lone figure looking out over the cliff, staring down at the torrent of water that swirled so far away; they wore a long brown cloak, with the hood up, so 108 couldn't see the person's face, or even glean any other features from them; their rain-soaked hood completely obscured any kind of identifying features.
108 stayed perched upon a tree branch, not wishing to engage the enigmatic hooded figure; as he watched on, the figure drew a longsword, causing 108 to tense up, had they noticed him? He was confident he had hid himself well...

... No...
108 relaxed as he realised that they were merely training; practicing sword strikes and the like.
Five minutes passed; 108's attention never wavering from the cloaked swordsman, who tirelessly swung at the air, engaged in a fight to the death against an imaginary opponent.

Ah... A bird...?
For the first time since 108 made his way onto the branch, 108's gaze drifted as he found himself staring at a small bird, flitting past his face.
Then, reminding himself to keep his eyes on the swordsman, 108 directed his eyes back to the swordsman... Only to find that the swordsman was looking right at him.

"Ah...!" 108 gasped and lost his balance, crashing onto the ground in a vulnerable position.
Fool...! An image of Lamalggar leapt to 108's mind as 108 hurried to right himself, preparing to draw his weapon after he had done so.
108 flipped himself upright, and his hand flew to his boot, but he froze mid-action; to his surprise, the swordsman had not moved to attack him, in fact...

"... Are you okay?" A startling soft, female voice called over to 108 from beneath the hood; 108 did not know how to react, he had never encountered an armed person who hadn't immediately tried to kill him, that was the way of the world.
But this one was different.

"Can you stand...?" The swordswoman offered 108 her hand, which he promptly declined to take, and stood up on his own, mentally noting what information he could lift from her; her face was still darkened by the shadow of her hood, but he could see what looked like leather armour, an ornate longsword hanging from her waist, and lastly, a small, sapphire pendant with intricate carvings in its surface, suspended from her neck by a chain of gold and silver.

"..." Seeing the manner in which 108 blew her off, she retracted her hand, "so... I'm Fi... What's your name?"

"... You will... Not attack me?" He ignored the question while maintaining his distance.

"Now, why would I do that?" She replied kindly.

"... I am... A monster..." He stared at his pale hand, reciting one of the many lines that Do'zbaretho had drilled into him.

"... Well..." Fi sighed as she dropped her hood, "I guess that makes two of us."
108 stared in awe at the Changeling swordswoman before him; it was as if he was looking at an older, female version of himself: The light cobalt skin, the slim figure...
And the blazing white eyes...

Hello again :D

Well, when I was assigned the character name 'Fie', I decided to incorporate it into the backstory instead, and changed his name to...

...

Well, you'll see next chapter :)

-X