Hello all! It's Daedric Puppet here bringing a formal apology for being so late on updates, my laptop broke and I've been waiting to get a new one so yeah. Thank you for all the reviews so far and thank you 'Shadow in Chains' for being so generous. Now on with the story!

I woke up feeling sore and sour. My shoulder ached along with my ribs, but I still had to get out of bed. I grabbed a quick shower, threw on some clean clothes, grabbed a bite to eat and I was out the door with my katana on my back. The sun had risen, but still kept the morning chill as I walked over to the weapon shop for my shift. I made a quick stop at Migelo's, bought a few Hi-Potions and some Echo herbs, Eye Drops and Antidotes for safety. I showed up at the weapons shop, hopped the counter, put on a cashier apron and sat at the register. My mood had slightly improved since I got up, but I still felt achy and a little crabby. The first set of customers entered the store and browsed products while I offered to do what I could to help people find a weapon suitable for them.

The day passed by at a slow and boring rate like every other work day, but it was nice to get a decent sum of coin afterward. It was evening and almost closing time when a woman entered the shop with a bow and a broke bow string. I recognized the woman, the one who called me a prick the day before.

"I need this fixed." She said, placing the bow and dropping the broken string into the garbage next to the counter.

"Okay. Just a sec..." I dug under the counter for the box of bowstrings we used for repairs and withdrew one from the box and immediately got to work on the bow, tying the string and knotting it around the ends of the bow. I gave the bow string a pull of approval. "100 gil." I stated the repairs price. The woman withdrew her gil and paid the amount before I handed her bow back. "Take it easy, ah?" I offered a bland comment. The woman looked me dead in the eyes. Her eyes, they scared me. They were dark red, like blood, and stared into my own. I only felt fear. She turned and walked away without a word...

"You look like you've seen a ghost." My employer commented, hammering away at the last sword of the day to my left.

"I might've..." I muttered.

"Here." I looked at Amal and caught the oncoming bag of gil heading straight for my face. "You can leave, I'll lock up."

"Cool." I said thoughtlessly. I removed my apron and put it on the rack with the others before leaving. The day had left me exhausted and even more achy than before. The sun was down and the night chill began to set in. Everyone was inside, save for a few guards patrolling around. "Brrr..." I shivered as I walked back to my apartment. I started to get an odd feeling, like I was being watched. I slowly looked to my left slowly scanned to the right, watching for any out of place characters. "Maybe I'm just tired..." I concluded, rubbing my face tiredly. As I continued on my way, the feeling got stronger, only making me feel worse. "Chill... You're just being crazy..." I told myself. Those thoughts were immediately extinguished when I heard the shivering sound of a blade being drawn behind me. My hand went for my katana handle, but was thwarted when someone put a dagger to my throat from behind.

"Draw that blade and you die." My unknown hostage taker said. It was painfully obvious who it was.

"Drew, you can't scare me."

"FUCK YOU!" The blade was removed from my skin and I burst out laughing at my friend's failed attempt to scare me. "Fuck, fuck, fuck! How the HELL did I not scare you?!" Drew complained, sheathing his weapon and continuing the walk.

"I'm just that much of a badass." I said with a confident smirk.

"Fuck off..." He replied, waving his hand in dismissal of my claim.

"So how've you been?" I asked. I hadn't seen Drew in weeks, so it was good to talk with an old friend.

"Not bad actually. You remember when I told you about 'Chaining' right?"

"Yeah." I replied.

"Well, since there's such a huge demand for metals nowadays, I could go out and chain, say Mirror Knights from the Feywood. I would collect the pinions and armor they drop, melt it down into separate ingots depending on the material and sell them off at a huge profit." Drew explained.

"I'm guessing that's what you do now?" I asked, actually curious of my friend's business ventures.

"Yep. The guy in charge of importing and exporting at the Palace offered me a sum of gil if I get him so much of certain materials. So I guess you could say I'm moving up in the world." I was blown away by the fact someone at the PALACE of ALL places offered my friend a job and it sounded like a damn good job too...

"I hope it works out well for you, man. This is me." I said, realizing I was about to pass my apartment.

"And one more thing," Drew stopped and turned to me. "if you ever need some quick cash, drop by my place and we'll set something up."

"Thanks man. I'll see ya."

"Later." Drew said as he took off.

I entered the apartment complex, walked to my door, withdrew my key, unlocked the door, opened the door, closed it and locked it behind me, putting the key in my pocket. I placed my katana by the door and my Gladius sat on the table, unmoved from last night.

"Not a bad day..." I stretched, standing on my tipsy-toes and cracking my back before sitting at the table. I sat there, transfixed by the dagger and still unsure of how bring it into my fighting style. I thought of when I fought the Crow and Burnt Scale and how I was disarmed both times and almost fatally wounded.

"I could use it as a backup...draw this as soon as I lose my...slash em' in the face..." I thought up several scenario's where I'd lose my weapon and be forced to use the Gladius. "Have to be careful...has wind elemental...not to use on flying enemies... couldn't hit them if I tried really..." I continued talking to myself like a crazy person for the next half hour before taking a shower and heading to bed, eagerly waiting the next day.

Sorry for the short chapter! Fighting and epicness will take place next chapter!