Death?

"We should stock up on supplies again, before heading out again." Caleldes mentions.

"Alright. But where will we be going, anyways?" Nicholas asks her.

"I don't entirely have a direction in mind, other then trying to find any remaining Elves who may be scattered around various towns and countries. We need to build up as much of an army as possible."

"Alright. Though maybe there could be some Elven refugees here, in Elesstead, too?" Nicholas suggests.

"I suppose that is a possibility. Alright then, while I go to the marketplace, why don't you kids search around. But I don't want anyone going off on their own, got it?" Caleldes cautions.

"Of course."

They then head out of the base, Caleldes just watching as they take off, eager to be of help. She heads out as well, though goes in a different direction from them.

-------

After a while of running about, searching, and asking others nearby, they don't seem to have gotten anywhere.

"This isn't working. We have to change our approach." Nicholas mentions.

"But how? We're not even sure where to begin looking." Annabelle responds.

"I know..."

"You never heard anything about any Elves when you were still living on the streets, Nicholas?" Duvainion asks him.

"Not any refugee Elves. I hadn't even known about the attack until you told me about it. Wish I could be of more help, there..." Nicholas answers.

"You're a big help, we just need to look elsewhere, that's all." Annabelle tries to reassure him.

Though as they're talking, Duvainion seems to have noticed something off in the surroundings. But the others don't seem to have noticed anything amiss. He tries to get their attention again, but they just seem too absorbed into trying to figure the issues out. So, he eventually decides to just go and check out whatever it is that feels odd to him, taking off.

Duvainion soon spots a strange dark cloaked figure in the distance, sporting some sort of long weapon with a curved blade, though Duvainion isn't entirely sure what this weapon is, not having seen one, before. Though despite what he's feeling, he decides to go against it, and continues on, now following the strange figure; his odd feeling seeming to come from the figure.

-------

After a few more minutes, Nicholas finally seems to have noticed that Duvainion is gone.

"Sh*t, that's not good. Any idea where he went?" Nicholas asks.

"No, I'm sorry... I should've been paying attention..." Annabelle responds.

"No, it's my fault. I should be the one watching after him, if my mom isn't around. Let's go, we need to find him, now. He can't have gone too far." Nicholas then takes off, now looking for Duvainion instead, Annabelle trailing after him.

-------

As Duvainion follows the mysterious cloaked figure, he ends up going down a deserted back alleyway, and he still continues on following the figure, just watching them for now, curious.

The figure soon stops, a couple of seemingly lifeless bodies nearby. Though Duvainion can't seem to see what the figure is doing with them, so he decides to get even closer.

Although as he does, he ends up accidentally knocking into a small discarded crate, having been a bit too focused on the figure, and now alerting the figure of his presence there.

The figure looks over to Duvainion, though doesn't make any other moves at the moment.

Duvainion just backs away a few steps, keeping a close eye on what the figure may do.

Noticing this, the figure then speaks up. "Are you staring at me, boy?" The cloaked figure asks, in a hoarse and dry, raspy and nearly ancient, sounding voice.

After a moment, Duvainion just nods.

"I see..." The figure then starts to go closer to Duvainion, now.

Though Duvainion seems to have frozen in place, unsure what to do.

After a moment, though, the figure just chuckles a bit. "There is no need to fear me. I was just surprised that you can see me, is all."

"...Am I... not supposed to...?" Duvainion asks, nervously.

"Normal people cannot see me, when I do not want them to." The figure then pulls their hood on their cloak back some, now revealing them to be a weathered and ancient looking skeleton, with tiny bluish flames in the sockets for eyes. His long and somewhat tattered and dirty hooded cloak flowing slightly behind him as he slowly walks, though more like slowly hobbles, as he uses his old and battle worn scythe mostly as a sort of walking cane, now.

Duvainion just stares at this as the skeleton soon stops in front of him.

"You are very perceptive, indeed. I am not as young and spry as I used to be. I used to be human, you know, eons ago. But now I am this. I can barely walk on my own, never mind actually getting into a physical battle. But my magic is stronger then ever."

"...Who are you?"

"I will be honest, I have forgotten my real name a long time ago. Though the mortals have taken to calling me The Grim Reaper. So, my other Reapers have just taken to calling me Grimm. And you may, as well, young elf. And you are... Duvainion, correct?"

"How did you know...?" Duvainion seems impressed.

"It is an ability that a few of the higher ranking Reapers have. They can read another's soul. One's soul contains a lot of information. Each one is unique."

"Wow... So, how can I see you, then, if no one else can?" Duvainion questions Grimm.

"I can not say for certain. But that just means that you are special." Grimm comments as he starts to head back over to the bodies.

"So... Are they dead...?"

"Yes."

"Did you... kill them...?"

"Of course not. This scythe is mostly for the reaping of souls, and the eradication of evil ghosts and spirits. People die on their own. The Reapers are here to guide their souls to the Underworld, and then Death judges them, and sends them to the appropriate destination." Grimm explains to Duvainion.

"Oh. I'm sorry..."

"It is fine. That is actually quite the common misconception."

"But wait... You said that Death judges them. You're not Death?"

"No. I only work for him, the God of Death. But I am his second in command, and the one who used to do the majority of the work, back before we started to recruit others. Which is why that mistake is also quite often made amongst the mortals."

"Oh, okay. I'm sorry to have bothered you, but I could tell that something felt odd, so I had wanted to take a look."

"Just make sure that you are capable of defending yourself, if you were to ever get unlucky."

"Right."

And soon, Nicholas finally finds Duvainion. "There you are!" He heads over to him.

Duvainion looks over to Nicholas. "Oh, hey."

"Just 'hey'? You took off on us."

"Well, you wouldn't listen to me, so I went to take a look, myself."

"At what? A couple of dead bums, who most likely overdosed? Come on." Nicholas remarks.

"You can't see him?"

"See who?"

"Mister Grimm." Duvainion replies.

"What?"

"Nevermind. Let's just go." Duvainion tells Nicholas, as he then starts to head off again, knowing that Nicholas wouldn't leave him alone again; even though he'd like to stay a bit longer, in order to ask Grimm some more questions.

"..." Nicholas sighs after a moment, and then just follows after Duvainion.