A certain guard once was just like everyone else in the snakemen village.
He held absolute loyalty to the provider, just as every other member of the military police did.
He obeyed every order to the last detail, and never even considered offending the provider or saying anything controversial about him.
This was until he found a young girl on a certain day, years ago.
This guard had prepared himself to set out for work, fixing his own uniform and locking up his door before going on patrol.
After walking through a number of alleyways and confirming that there were no abnormalities, he decided to check down a certain alleyway which was nothing more than a garbage dumping area.
Walking down this alleyway he saw dumpsters filled with all sorts of trash on his sides, however there didn't seem to be any abnormalities, that is until he reached the very end of the alleyway and turned a corner.
There, in this mini garbage dump, was a small shack made from metal and plastic scraps.
It was the size of a doghouse.
Normally this guard would have merely passed by this, assuming that someone had just piled up a few pieces of scrap, however as he turned to head back out of the alleyway, he heard a light whimper.
"Mmm....."
It was the sound of a young girl.
'What the hell? Is someone in there?'
The man couldn't simply ignore someone living in the streets like this, so he walked over to the home and pulled back a piece of metal which was likely the 'door'.
When he did this, he saw that inside the shack was a child, no more than just a few years old, peacefully sleeping.
The young snake girl dressed in nothing more than a sheet had two pigtails and appeared to be either lost or abandoned, however this was an extremely unusual sight within the snakemen village.
In the snakemen village, for a child to be wandering around the streets was extremely strange. Anyone who did not perform work was to remain within their homes at all times, and so for a child to be hanging around the streets was not a common sight.
'What is this girl doing here? What is her identification number? Just who's child is this?', the guard thought.
It was an abnormality.
'Well, I suppose I should report this to the Commander. After all, even the slightest imperfection within this city will hinder the reputation of the provider, and we cannot have that.'
The man bent down to pick up the girl who was quietly sleeping, but as he did so she opened her eyes and looked at him while rubbing them.
"Hmm? Ah, hello soldier.... good morning....."
The soldier looked at the young girl strangely.
"Who are you, little girl? What is your identification? Why are you here in the streets?"
"Identification? What's that?", the young girl asked while fixing her own hair on her right side.
'This girl doesn't even know what identification is? How has she survived in this village?'
"Anyways you should.... come with me...."
The guard was about to take the young girl in, but as he thought this, a number of memories flooded into his own head.
Specifically, the treatment of dissenters, and those who broke the rules even slightly.
This guard had never questioned the slave camps nor the rule of the provider, for he had believed that it was a necessary evil in order to keep the order of the city.
Yet, looking into the innocent eyes of this girl, something stirred in his heart which had never existed before.
This soldier was single. He had no wife nor any children.
Essentially, he had nobody who he had ever wanted to protect.
Yet, as he looked at this little girl, some fatherly instincts stirred in his own heart.
'If I take this girl in, she will likely be thrown into the labor camps.'
Looking at the girl, she was clearly very young, but also extremely malnourished.
'She will die. Without a doubt she will die. If I take her in.... it will be the same as if I killed her myself.'
The guard looked behind him to make sure that he wasn't being watched.
'But if I do not take her in, that would be an action of dissent towards the provider. I absolutely must not perform even the slightest dissent.'
The guard found himself desperately thinking of a solution to this problem- one in which this girl would be saved of a potentially lethal fate.
'I will leave this place and pretend as if I didn't see it for now.'
"I'm going to leave for a bit. I'll be back in a while, so don't move. Ok? And make sure nobody sees you."
The young girl nodded while sitting up, and closed the door to her small shack.
"Bye.", she said through the crack in the door.
That day, the soldier found himself in line with a number of other soldiers, saluting to the Commander, performing his duties as regular.
"That is all for today. You are all dismissed."
The men scattered, each heading to their own homes for the night after the long day of work, however this one guard remained saluting.
"Soldier, is there something else you need from me?", the commander asked.
"Commander, I had a question out of curiosity."
The commander nodded.
"Go ahead."
"Sir, if there existed a child who was abandoned or unregistered, would it be acceptable for such a child to be adopted into another family?"
The Commander put his own hand to his chin in thought.
"If an unregistered child were to exist, then it must have been left by parents who fled the village or by those who have been taken into custody, either of which is clear treason to the provider. Due to the exposure to such clear dissent, such a child would have to be put under arrest and silenced. Have you found such a child, soldier?"
The Commander stared the soldier directly in the eyes, getting a read on him as he answered.
"Nothing like that sir. My mind simply was wandering today with a series of 'what if's', and as such I was curious as to what would be done given that situation."
The soldier replied without the slightest flinching, despite being stared down by the Commander with excessive suspicion.
"Very well then. If you have no more questions, you are free to go, soldier."
"Thank you very much Commander."
The soldier then left, heading back to the home of the young girl.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
'I cannot adopt her.... if she were to be found in my own home then we would both be arrested for dissent.... what do I do?'
That night, the guard found his legs moving on their own, leading them towards that alleyway.
'What am I doing here? Did I come here to check on her?'
The soldier walked over to the building to see that the pile of scrap had gotten larger, just by a slight bit.
Placing a metal sheet on top of the small shack was the young girl who looked over to see the soldier.
"Ah, soldier. You're back."
"Yes, I am. What are you doing?"
"I was improving my home."
"I see...."
"Soldier, why do you come here? Is it for patrol?"
"Something like that."
The soldier put his own back to the wall, resting as he looked over at the young girl.
"Aren't you hungry?"
The girl looked over to him.
"I usually find food in the dumpsters. If I pick out the shards of scrap and blow off the dust and grime it's usually fine."
"Do you have parents?"
The young girl looked down to the ground as he asked this.
"I don't remember having any parents."
"I see."
The girl finished using a rock and some thin pieces of metal to nail a piece of scrap onto the roof, improving her home before she jumped down with a light smile and walked over to the soldier.
"Do you want some food, soldier?"
The soldier looked to her with surprise, but wiped his own forehead and laughed.
"No thank you. I'm good."
'I want to bring her food.'
'I don't want to leave her here alone.'
'I don't want her to go into the slave camps.'
The soldier continuously held thoughts which went against everything he believed- everything which had been drilled into him from the very moment he was born.
Never say anything bad about the provider.
Never disobey the laws of the provider.
Never do anything which could disrespect the provider.
Never do anything which could be considered treason to the provider.
Assisting this girl, who was unregistered and considered a threat to the provider went against all that. Her very existence was a crime, against the law of the land. As a matter of fact, his mere failure to report her meant that he had already broken these sacred tenants.
Yet he felt no guilt. He felt instead that this was what he should be doing.
"You have no identification.... what would anyone even call you?"
The young girl looked over to the man as he posed this question, yet merely shrugged.
"Nobody has ever called me anything. Soldier, you're the first person I've ever spoken to."
Intelligent monsters did not learn language through study. The human language was instilled into them as if it was an instinctual function. As such, it was possible for this girl to have never spoken to anyone before, despite her knowledge and speaking capabilities.
"We can't have that. We should call you something."
"What are you called, soldier?"
"D102"
The young girl looked at the man strangely.
"That's no good. I'm going to call you Thomar."
The soldier was confused at this response.
"Thomar? What is that?"
"It's a name. I don't want to call you by that number, so I'll call you by Thomar."
The soldier laughed at hearing this.
"A name, eh? If I accept that, then I suppose I will have gone all the way into the realm of dissent."
In the snakemen village, people did not hold names.
The provider was the only one who held a name, for everyone else was considered to be not worthy of naming. Everyone was registered and referred to by their number.
Furthermore, the name of the provider was not publicly known due to it's status as a sacred name. The only ones who knew the name of the provider were the members of the military police, and they were forbidden to speak it.
The soldier looked over to the child with kindness.
"Fine then. Since you gave me a name, I'll give you a name as well, especially since you have no number. Pliara. How is that?"
The young girl smiled at him at hearing this name.
"I like it! Thank you, soldier!"
----
[Earlier in the morning before the four mercenaries were arrested and taken away]
Thomar stood in line at 5 am, next to a plethera of soldiers who were saluting and ready to receive their orders.
"As discussed last night, there is a high possibility of outsiders existing within the city. We are to search every nook and cranny of this town, flushing them out from every potential hiding spot. We start with the homes of our people in order to determine whether there have been any traitors who would house these outsiders. If they are not found in the homes, we will search the streets."
The Commander walked down the aisle of soldiers, each saluting before him with the utmost sincerity.
"And as for the garbage alley, D87 and D45, you two are to search there."
"Understood, Sir!", the two men who had been called out replied.
Thomar looked up to the Commander with shock and surprise.
"Commander, permission to speak?"
"Granted, soldier."
"With all the respect, is that not my own sector to investigate? Why are you sending other guards? Is my own word not enough?"
The Commander walked up to Thomar with a stern face.
"D102, it is true that we have allowed you complete rein over that sector, however right now the situation has changed. Your privileges can only get you so far. We've overlooked that area up until this point because of your loyal service to the provider, however right now there exist outsiders within the city, and as such we must be completely thorough. So long as you are not hiding anything there, it should not be a problem, no?"
"You are absolutely correct, Sir. Please forgive my interruption."
The Commander then turned to the rest of the guards.
"With that being said, we will move out in exactly 1 hour. Everyone get in position, and on the dot at 6 am I want a simultaneous invasion of every home in this city. We have to catch these outsiders by surprise, and if they hear of people invading homes ahead of time they might have a chance to escape. Move out!!"
"Yes Sir!"
Every single member of the military police moved out, heading to the respective apartment complexes of each sector to surround them.
Thomar too headed out, however as soon as he came out of the sight of the other soldiers, he changed his direction.
He slithered as fast as he could along the streets, headed straight for the home of Pliara.
'She will be found..... she will be arrested.... I have to protect her.....'
----
Pliara found herself in her bed, wide awake.
'Those people.....'
She felt the flag in her own pocket, and took it out to take a look at it.
'Dictators.... tch.... as if anything good could ever come from a tyrant who stands on his high horse and lords himself above everyone else....'
Despite her thoughts, she could not bring herself to tear up this flag, and instead carefully wrapped it up, sticking it inside her own pocket.
'But perhaps.....'
The girl closed her eyes, and a light smile came across her face.
'I can't wait for soldier to return tomorrow.... I will cook something even better for him then....'
----
"This is the military police!!! Open up!!!! We're investigating this strange household!!!"
Pliara woke to the shouts of men outside her doors.
'Ah, it looks like they've finally come for me. Soldier, where are you? I thought that you were able to stop them from coming to this place...'
Pliara woke up, looked around, and considered her options.
There were no windows in this metal shack she had made.
She could not try to escape.
They would likely break down the door and come in after her, arresting her for not having an identity.
Pliara got up, walking over to the door.
'But that's fine.... because the soldier gave me something which even the people of this village don't have.....'
Opening the door, she was met with the angry faces of two guards.
"Who are you!?!? Why is this home here??? What is your identification?!"
The two men immediately grabbed Pliara, cuffing her and shouting out questions.
"I am Pliara. That name is my identity."
"She seems to be an outsider, even if she has the appearance of one of us! Only an outsider would have something like a name. We have to take her in."
"D102.... so he was hiding this person here all along..... I never trusted that guy.... to think he was a dissenter to this extent.... he never showed it, but I could always feel something was off about him...."
"He needs to be taken in as well for hiding someone here. We have to contact the Commander and send out the warrant for his arrest immediately."
"Understood."
Pliara did not struggle nor did she cry, for she had accepted this fate.
Every day which she lived in this run down shack made from garbage was one of bliss.
Every time which she was able to see the soldier, welcoming him back and cooking him a meal, she could truly say that she had experienced true happiness.
And now, that happiness was coming to an end.
'It looks like they weren't able to do anything after all..... outsiders... even if they try to go against that piece of shit ruler, they all end up dying, having taken on an organization that was too large for them to overcome with their own power.... and now, finally, I'll die just like them."
Pliara resigned and was taken away through the halls, where the two guards met up with a number of other guards.
"We found this girl living in the garbage dump!! D102 was hiding this from us the entire time!!!"
"Is that so? Then we have to take him in as well."
The other guards set out in order to find him, yet they didn't even have to.
Thomar had headed straight for the alleyway, and appeared in front of this unit at that moment, witnessing that Pliara had been taken into custody.
Pliara sent Thomar a smile, but she knew that if she pretended that she didn't know him that she would be able to save him from a similar fate.
"D102. Explain this girl who we found living in the garbage dump which you were assigned to!!!"
"Hm? What are you soldiers talking about? I arrived there just yesterday, and I've never seen this man in my life.", Pliara said.
"Why you.... that's obviously a lie!!!"
"D102, what do you say!?"
However, at that moment, the Commander stepped out of the shadows, having watched the entire scene.
He looked back and forth from the disturbed face of Thomar to the angry faces of the other soldiers to the resigned face of Pliara.
"Indeed. Do tell, D102? Is this girl telling the truth and you have never seen her in your life, or is she lying in order to save you?"
----
Thomar looked to the Commander, his face flushed as he caught his own breath.
He had been caught red handed. Pliara too had been caught. There was nothing more he could do to salvage the situation.
'I took my own privileges as a guard for granted.'
Even now, the young girl who he had protected all his life was now willing to protect him, and as a result of that he was given an opportunity.
All he had to do was say one phrase.
"I don't know her."
Four simple words to save his own life and position.
That was all it took.
He would throw the girl aside, allow her to go off to meet the fate which had been destined for her from the moment of her birth, which he had delayed for all this time.
And then, he would continue living as a servant to the provider, as if nothing had ever happened.
But he could not bring himself to say those words.
Tears welled up in the eyes of Thomar, and he wiped them with the sleeve of his own uniform as he looked into the eyes of Pliara.
They were kind and loving.
Her smile was one of someone going off to sacrifice themselves for another.
But Thomar could not accept this kindness.
He could not say those words.
He could not deny his association with this girl.
For that would be denying everything he was.
Thomar stood up, puffing out his chest and prepared to speak.
"I do know her, Commander. She is lying to save me."