Chapter 1
"Wait, general! Don't leave! Are you just going to leave your faithful army like this?!"
There is nothing more that we can do. It was a trap from the beginning" The general turned to leave though the flaps of the tent, but as some as he left, the tent was engulfed by flames form a Hordgen familiar. The general draw his sword and approached his awaiting horse, one of the only ones alive. A girl ran after him with many wounds from battle.
"Wait, you coward!"
The general smirked and angled his sword in front of him and slash as the girl came into range.
"Ahhhhhh!!!!" she howled in pain as she could no longer feel her left arm, but she did feel her warm blood run down her eye onto her face, and sank to the ground faint with loss of blood.
"You weak little girl, you will die here today!" the general reared his horse and ripped the fake stone off the girl's chest.
"The king doesn't want a peasant like you to be worthy of this power!" Then he crushed the fake stone and threw the remains of it at the girl. Then everything went black. All of a sudden there was an evil laugh as the king's face appeared and he drew a sword and sliced.
Rikku suddenly sat up in her bunk. She realized she was sweating and the blankets on her bunk were tangled around her. She got up and went to the sink in her cabin. Turning on the water, she splashed face face with it, but not much water was splashed.
‘Stupid left arm. Even after two years, I'm still not use to it' Rikku thought. She looked down at her left arm. It was no longer flesh and blood up to her elbow. Sometimes when she wasn't thinking, the strange arm startled her. What use to be her fingers were now long talons that were flexible, sharp and made of the strongest metal combined with magic.
Rikku looked up and back at her reflection in the mirror above the sink. One eye was the color she was born with, an aqua blue-green and the other was red with gold near the snake-like pupil, and along with that a scar that didn't heal right ran across her eye. On the other side of her face were demonic markings along with other smaller scars. All the leaders of the Horge swarms had markings showing their rank. Rikku's marks showed she wasn't the highest, but definitely was not he lowest. Her markings went from her cheek to her pointed ear. Many of the other leaders were full daemons and made fun of her because of her past.
Her hair was the thing that changed the least. Her red tipped brown hair stayed the same, but her short hair was more boyish and untamed. On the top of her head, two horns, which were obviously new too, peaked out of the hair.
Many times, this reflection was foreign to Rikku, now she accepted it more knowing that there was no hope for her now. Rikku looked around her dark bunker and went to put her armor on. While snapping her shoulder guards on, there was a loud blast, then the room rumbled. Out of instinct, Rikku hurried out of her room to ground level. On the way, a private familiar reported what happened.
"Prince Royin of the Southwest Trinity squad have made a sneak attack", it said in a raspy voice, "the W section bunker has been destroyed, but the scouts have been called to..." it was cut off by another loud bang and another rumble.
"Shut up and get out of my way!" Rikku pushed the familiar out of the way and ran to the surface.
Another corporal familiar stopped her.
"Commander, the stealth scouts are on their way. The Prince is out numbered. We..."
"No!" Rikku shouted, "Keep the stealth scouts at their post until I give the order. Stop the flow of familiars, I will deal with this myself," Rikku said sternly, as she headed towards the burning bunker.
"But the Prince has some..." the corporal was cut off by a fireball hitting the ground at his feet.
"NOW! That's an order. Unless you refuse," hissed Rikku fiercely while charging another fireball in her hand. The corporal ran, in pure fear, to do what it was told. Now Rikku turned back to face the burning bunker.