(Liv)ely Meeting

En had bid farewell to the garrison, his old-fashioned words of parting leaving the soldiers with smiles on their faces. As he walked away, the chill air of Fharamun once again wrapped around him along with a brief but very intense rain, but he hardly noticed.

His journey continued, and the undead that roamed the land still left him in peace, sensing something in him that they instinctively knew not to disturb.

Suddenly, a loud mechanical whirring broke the calm, echoing across the rocky landscape. Before En could fully register the sound, a massive shadow loomed overhead. A large humanoid body—a Goliath undead—tumbled down from a tall, rocky ledge above and crashed right on top of him, burying him beneath its considerable weight.

Standing over the Goliath, a young woman, barely out of her teens by the look of her, gripped the handle of a chainsword nearly as large as she was. She wouldn't be able to use such a massive weapon if not for the heavy thrusters it had. The sword, still embedded in the undead, buzzed menacingly, its teeth still whirring from its recent work. The woman, Liv, was talking to herself, seemingly unaware of the figure crushed beneath the fallen undead.

“Ha! The prototype was a success!” she exclaimed, her voice bright with triumph. “Chainsaws and zombies, a match made in heaven, and perfected in Fharamun!” She laughed, clearly pleased with herself, but her moment of victory was short-lived. She began to struggle with the chainsword, which was firmly lodged in the Goliath’s body. Grunting with effort, she put all her weight into pulling it free, and when it finally came loose, she lost her balance and fell backward, landing hard on her rear.

“Ouch!” Liv muttered, rubbing her backside. As she tried to regain her composure, a muffled voice from beneath the Goliath’s corpse reached her ears.

“Pardon me, milady, but art thou unscathed?” En’s voice, calm and polite despite his predicament, drifted up from under the dead weight of the Goliath.

Liv’s eyes went wide in shock, and she stared at the Goliath in disbelief. “What in the—? How are you still talking? I just cut you to pieces!” She quickly scrambled to her feet, brandishing the chainsword again, ready to deal with what she thought was a very persistent undead.

A moment of silence passed before En, with some effort, managed to wriggle an arm free from beneath the Goliath. “If I may clarify,” he said, his tone still remarkably composed, “’tis not the creature thou felled that speaks, but rather, the one unfortunate enough to be caught beneath it.”

Liv blinked, finally realizing that the voice wasn’t coming from the undead she’d just slain. She peered down, and sure enough, she saw a hand, dirty but very much alive, or at least animated, sticking out from under the massive corpse.
“Oh!” Liv gasped, lowering the chainsword as she rushed over to help. “I didn’t realize… Hold on, I’ll get you out of there!”

“Thy assistance would be most welcome, fair maiden. This is, admittedly, a rather undignified position to find oneself in.”

After Liv had helped En out from under the Goliath’s heavy corpse, she took a moment to catch their breath. Still, ever curious and unbothered by the fact that she’d nearly flattened him, Liv was the first to speak.

“So, uh, sorry about that,” she said, scratching the back of her head. “Didn’t expect anyone to be under that big guy. Name’s Livya, but everyone just calls me Liv. You?”

En brushed off the dirt and debris from his clothes, giving her a polite nod. “I am known as En, a humble wanderer of these lands. ‘Twas quite the surprise to find myself at the mercy of thy rather impressive weapon.”

Liv grinned, pleased by the compliment. “Thanks! It’s a prototype, still working out the kinks, but it’s got potential, right? Anyway, nice to meet you, En. What brings you out here? Not exactly the safest place to take a stroll.”

En smiled faintly. “Merely continuing my journey through these lands. I find much to ponder in the solitude of the wilderness, though it appears fate had other plans for me today.”

Before their conversation could go any further, the sound of clattering armor and groaning voices echoed from above the ledge. Both En and Liv looked up just in time to see more undead knights tumbling down the rocks, their rusted weapons clattering as they hit the ground.

“Ah, great,” Liv muttered, gripping her chainsword. She flipped a switch on the handle, but the whirring of the chainsaw mechanism sputtered out. “Damn, I only prepped enough power for a test run. Chainsaw’s out of juice, but the thrusters still have plenty left.” She sighed, looking a bit disappointed. “Guess it’ll be more of a rocket sword now, but that’s not nearly as cool. I don't feel like using it...”

En, unfazed by the approaching threat, nodded understandingly. “Fret not, Lady Liv. I shall handle these restless souls.”

“Okay, thanks,” Liv replied casually, already engrossed in fiddling with her weapon to see if she could repurpose it on the fly.

While Liv focused on her tinkering, En moved took care of the enemies. With each strike, he sent them to their final rest, murmuring apologies as he punched their heads off with precise, effortless motions.

“Forgive me, brave knight,” he said softly to one as its head flew from its shoulders. “May thy spirit find peace at last.” Another fell, and another, each dispatched the same way.

By the time Liv had finished reworking her weapon, En had already dealt with the last of the undead knights. She looked up, surprised to see the battlefield clear. “Wow, you’re fast,” she remarked, clearly impressed.

En gave a small, humble bow. “The task was not overly demanding, but I appreciate thy praise.”

Liv, ever practical, eyed the fallen knights’ gear. “Might as well see if any of their stuff is worth taking. Armor and weapons like this can be repurposed.” She glanced at En. “Wanna give me a hand?”

“Of course,” En replied without hesitation. While Liv sorted through the armor and weapons, deciding what was worth salvaging, En took care of the bodies in the classic Ghoul way, eating them.

As she looked over at En, she noticed he had already disposed of the undead corpses in his own way. “Wow, talk about recycling,” she said, showing no signs of judgment or surprise. The fact that he had consumed the undead didn’t bother her in the slightest—either because she was too used to the oddities of the world to be phased by something like that, or because she herself was a weirdo.

"This one’s junk… oh, but this sword’s in good shape!” she muttered to herself as she sorted through the loot.

By the time they were done, they had gathered a decent haul of gear, and the field was clear once more. Liv, her arms full of salvaged equipment, looked at En with a grin. “Not a bad day’s work, huh?”

“Indeed, Lady Liv. Fortune doth favor us today, though I suspect it is thy ingenuity that has truly guided your success.”

As En and Liv wrapped up their business with the fallen undead, a sudden clattering from above caught En off guard. A dislodged rock tumbled down the rocky ledge and landed squarely on his head with a dull thud. He barely flinched, though a small frown crossed his face. At the same time, muddy water began trickling down the rocks, a sure sign of something far more troublesome on its way.

Liv, having read her fair share about the wilds of Fharamun, recognized the signs immediately. “Uh-oh, looks like we’ve got a flood incoming,” she remarked, her tone more curious than concerned. She didn’t seem particularly worried about the impending danger, her main concern being the potential mess. “I really don’t want to get so dirty that Alicia hoses me down again before letting me into the guild… that water’s cold!” she muttered to herself.

Liv quickly strapped on the loot they had gathered as well as the reworked chainsword, which she had repurposed by rearranging the thrusters. “Alright, I think this should do the trick,” she said, fiddling with the straps. But as she prepared to take off, she realized something she hadn’t considered: “Wait a sec… I didn’t think of how to bring you along.”

En, ever calm, waved a hand dismissively. “Worry not, Lady Liv. Thou art more than capable of saving thyself. I shall manage—”

“Nuh-uh,” Liv interrupted, shaking her head firmly.

En blinked in mild confusion. “Pardon? What dost thou mean, ‘nuh-uh’?”

Before En could argue further, Liv grabbed him as best she could, her arms barely reaching around his chest, and activated the makeshift jetpack just as the flood of mud came crashing down. The jetpack roared to life, thrusting them both into the air just in time to avoid being swallowed by the rushing waters and mud.

However, Liv’s impromptu design had left much to be desired in terms of control. The jetpack, still more of a weapon than a proper flight device rocketed them forward with wild, unpredictable movements. They careened through the air in jerky, sudden bursts, with Liv gripping En by his face to hold on, stretching his features as they swerved and darted around.

“Hold on!” Liv shouted, though it was unclear if she was talking to En or herself. The jetpack swung them around in erratic patterns, occasionally losing altitude and dragging En through the mud below, leaving him coated in a thick layer of muck.

En, despite the chaotic ride and the less-than-dignified treatment, remained remarkably composed. “Thy contraption is… most effective,” he managed to say, his voice slightly muffled by the hand gripping his face.

“Yeah, but the steering’s a bit off,” Liv admitted, squinting as she tried to wrestle the jetpack into some semblance of control. “And sorry about the mud! I’ll get it right next time, I promise!”

As En and Liv had finally gained a fair amount of altitude, the inevitable happened—the thrusters ran out of juice.

There was a sputter, then silence, followed by a sudden drop as the jetpack died completely. Gravity took over, and they plummeted downward.

En quickly twisted mid-air and reached for the chainsword jetpack strapped to Liv’s back, planning to use it as a makeshift board to slide down the muddy slope.

However, his plan was thwarted by a small but crucial detail— his messed up luck. His hands were slick with mud from their earlier escapades. His fingers slipped, failing to grab hold of the chainsword, and with no time to recover, the maneuver went horribly wrong.
Instead En himself became the board. Liv, in a burst of instinctive balance, ended up standing on his back as they both hurtled down the muddy slope at breakneck speed.

A series of low-hanging branches slapped him across the face one after the other, each hit punctuating his sentence with a solid whap!.

"Art... whap! thou… whap! unharmed? whap! ” En tried to ask

They slid and twisted through the muddy terrain, dodging rocks and bouncing over uneven ground, with En taking the brunt of the rough ride. Liv, meanwhile, was too busy holding onto him for dear life to notice much of what was going on below her.

Finally, they reached a clearing where the mud began to thin out. The sudden lack of mud caused En to slow down dramatically, the force of which launched Liv from her position on his back, sending her flying through the air.

Ahead of them, a group stood in the clearing. At the front was a striking woman with tanned skin, a mane of blonde hair, and a form-fitting suit, with a military coat draped over her shoulders. She held a spear. As Liv flew toward her, the woman turned just in time to see her incoming projectile.

“Alicia!” Liv called out, recognizing the woman mid-flight.

Alicia didn’t even flinch. She deftly caught Liv in her arms, her spear still in hand, and barely had to adjust her stance to keep her balance. Liv landed with a soft oof, then looked up at Alicia with a wide grin. “Nice save!”

Alicia arched an eyebrow but said nothing, setting Liv down on her feet.

Liv, brushing off some mud from her clothes, turned back to where En had finally ground to a halt. “You good, En?”

From his mud-covered spot a few meters away, En managed to raise a thumb from within the muck.

“Thou… needn't worry,” En mumbled, his voice muffled by the layer of mud caked over him. “I am… in fine spirits.”

Liv returned En's gesture with her own thumbs up. “Looks like you’ll be the one getting hosed down after all, huh?”

En groaned softly, still lying in the mud. “Alas… it would seem so.”