"You might as well get some rest while you can." That was how this all started. I digress though, from the beginning.

My name is Rei, I am a both a Priestess as well as the Princess of my home, the planet Mars. Before I was born, my parents had betrothed me to another, and then raised me with the duty that shortly after my 18th birthday, by Lunar standards, I was to go meet her and marry. From there, nothing else had been set. There was no talk of where we would settle down at nor what we would do. It didn't really seem important; while it was I didn't seem to find it worth bringing up.

Not when there was more to it. Every so often, perhaps every thousand years or so, just long enough for written memories to fade to myth, each planet's first heir was female. These women would join with each other for a singular purpose, perhaps something as legendary as defeating a great evil. After who really knew how many times, the rulers figured if their first born was female, then they were destined for this prophetic purpose. Especially if every other planet had the same occurrence. Sometimes, the first born was female on one planet but not another, rendering it all null and void until next time.

These women were revered in a fashion but hardly mentioned save for great histories, the ones that seemed more fiction than fact. They were paired together; again, at some point the powers that be figured to assure that no one planet escaped its long standing duty, betrothals came to be.

Sometimes I found it a bit prophetic as well that they, my parents, knew that I would come to love women and not men. Granted I loved my father but the idea of liking a man just seemed … foreign. Perhaps it was that sense of duty to my betrothed that I did not date. I was educated sure; I mean anatomically, there was only so much two women could do but again, that sense of duty said I wanted to ensure she was pleased and for that matter, so was I.

My match, I found out, was to Venus. Our closest neighbor of Jupiter was to Mercury. A bit skewed in the matching but no one questioned it. Terra was exempt, and planets beyond were not really my concern. When I was younger, I spent hours reading what I could of Venus, trying to have an idea of what possibly I could expect. Just the same, I was destined for something more and that … well that had my attention more than what my future wife might be like.

Which is why I found myself here, sitting huddled on a scorched patch of ground on Terra. My eyes watched the mercenary travel slowly from one body to the next. Checking to see if they were even alive, a check that took but seconds before she had moved on to the next body or managled form.

The sun was setting, black smoke still rising to the growing twilight above in offering. A few fires still sputtered in vain attempts. A better one was before me, warding off some of the chill but not what had happened. It was rather, so fast that it would take a few days perhaps before I could completely comprehend. I remained, huddled in my clothes, my numb fingers drawing the mercenary's cloak tighter around her. She said nothing, methodical in her movements, her sword that was not made for her sheathed across her back.

My eyes watched, growing heavy. The cold was seeping in and with it, the more tired I became. This was not at all how this was meant to start out; this never should have happened yet, it had. Had the passing mercenary company not been there, I would have perished along with the rest of them. Instead, fate decreed and it was just the two of us, unless she found more among the shapes that in reality, I knew were not going to move again.

I closed my eyes, struggling again to stay awake and focused, to at least watch, before I gave in to my tiredness and confusion.

The sun was bright when I woke again, stiffly moving upright. Last night, where there were bodies and shapes, I found to be replaced by small mounds of dirt. Blinking; maybe I was imagining this all, I rubbed my eyes before looking again. No, I was right. Graves were before me now, no markers but I just knew that I was right.

The smoke had gone, and while animals did not speak, there was a soft breeze rustling through the treeline none too far away and the grass that had been here, before this happened. Wordlessly I took it all in, before my gaze suddenly snapped up.

The mercenary was sitting on a log perhaps twenty feet away. She looked … well she looked as she had when it all happened to be honest. Her attention was on the ground, perhaps her boots. I saw sign of no one else, just the remains of a dead fire, graves, and the brunt land. Beyond that opened plains as far as I could see. If I had to guess, she was around my age. Young but her life choices made her seem much older.

A flashback, like a snippet, flickered before my eyes. There, as a shadow rose, intent to take my life with its claws of white, dripping crimson. It hissed, barring jagged rows of equally white teeth. A contradiction of darkness and light. My guard Servanos, one that I had known since I was but a young girl, was a slump in front of it, having fallen to those claws. I braced myself for the end until she showed up, a heavy broadsword that glowed with a golden light sliced through the shadow.

Then the next. Then the one after that.

She moved with a rough grace; she was not formally trained like the Guard was at home. It was sloppy, improvised perhaps, but it was effective. It had to be as shadow after shadow fell before that blade.

Just as that she looked over at me, eyes that were a hue of blue rather blankly looking at me before she pushed up to her feet. The sound of armor; it wasn't as grand as the Guard, much less those that traveled with me, clinked. It looked serviceable but worn at the same time, almost mismatched. She walked confidently though, blotting out the sun to look down at me.

"Where are you headed?" Her voice was almost clipped, rather abrupt, like conversation and her did not often go hand in hand. She spoke Common, accented but nothing that I could place.

Rather than stay seated I rose, collecting her cloak before brushing myself off. My stomach rumbled in reminder; my last meal was seemingly forever ago. While she waited for my answer she produced a hard heel of bread, wrapped in cloth, from a bulging pouch at her belt.

"Freeport." I kept the answer as that; while she might have indirectly saved me, it wasn't grounds for trusting her. Freeport was my ultimate destination to collect a ship to travel then to Venus, but I had a brief stop to make along the way first.

A nod followed as I greedily attacked the bread, tearing it to better pieces in the name of consumption. Taking in a better look I swallowed, "Where are the others?"

"You're looking at them," her gloved hand gestured. "All twenty-two of them."

I nearly choked.

The words were nonchalant in their delivery, the mercenary taking her cloak back to wrap up, bundling it on top of her pack.

"How … but they. They are buried. Did … did not any survive? Graves do not appear overnight." My words came with pauses; I knew Common but rarely spoke it.

The mercenary shrugged. "I buried them. I'm going to Freeport if you wanna tag along. Otherwise, there's a horse you can have."

I knew of mercenaries. I also knew that the only real things I had of value was my ring for the Venusian Princess. My Guards had the rest of the funds and with that, my eyes narrowed. My ship passage was a letter of credit. This mercenary owed me money that was mine; I had apprehensions with traveling with a thief, more so one who robbed the dead.

"You took their belongings." It was a statement.

"The dead don't need them." She seemed unphased.

"It's not yours!"

She shrugged; on the other side of her pack she produced the familiar pouch that held my funds. She tossed it at me, leaving me with the choice to either catch it and drop my breakfast; which she provided, or let it fall and retain my food.

I chose the later.

"Freeport's that way." She jerked a thumb to her right before she collected her pack. That was when I noticed to the left were two horses, reins tied loosely to another log.

I watched as she slung her pack into place before mounting, content with her intentions to go back to whatever mercenary hole she crawled from.

That … maybe this was a mistake.

"Wait." I called out, watching as she reined up, turning to look back at me. "If … if you're the only one who survived, beyond myself, then who buried them?" That was not at all what I meant to ask, but the curiosity was getting to me.

"I did." It was so simply delivered, not a trace of boasting present. A simple fact.

"By yourself? When did you sleep?"

"I didn't."

Why wasn't she falling asleep in the saddle, or falling from it? She looked and moved like she was far too alert.

My silence seemed though to get to her, dead eyes void of emotions looked around before settling on me anew. "Well? You coming or you gonna go glare at everyone between here and Freeport? I ain't a thief; I lost people I worked with just like you lost your fancy guard."

"You're a mercenary." Like that was going to solve it all, stuffing the coin pouch into my bag. I wasn't sure yet.

"What of it?"

"You're selling yourself for coin. How do I know you won't sell me to them?"

"Them? The Shadows?" At my nod she shook her head, leaning back in her saddle. A hand found itself free of a glove, wiping her brow that was otherwise protected by the simplistic helmet she wore. "They don't care about money, if you haven't noticed. They exist to wipe out life wherever they can find it. Be it animals or people, if it breathes and bleeds, it's fair game. If you noticed, I coulda just left you to die. I didn't. So why then would I sell you off to them?"

That. She had a good point.

"I also ain't selling myself for coin. I'm fighting for it. There's a difference."

That was a sore point, if the sudden flicker of emotion in her gaze was any indication before they deaden themselves anew.

I gave up, or at least found the answer I sought. I had ridden horses before, securing my pack before I climbed up. From there, I could see them all. People that were going with me to Venus. Attendants to help me with the preparations. People that were going to escort me from here to there.

People that were dead.

I offered a silent prayer before nudging the horse to follow the mercenary guard. Presented with her back I saw a braid of golden hair hanging to mid shoulder. It meant nothing to me, dismissing it before I found a question to ask. "What is your name?"

This seemed to startle the mercenary, if the look that would have been considered had her gaze held even a hint of emotion shot to me before looking back to the plains before us. "Cylxis." She finally answered.

"Your sword isn't made for you."

"Yeah, it ain't."

I paused, the accusation was perched on the tip of my tongue. She sensed it, another look, this one would have been a glare. "No I didn't steal it. Everything you see me with I earned. Get off your fucking high horse of morality and shove your accusations up your ass. I could have left you here, I could have charged you more than you could have ever hope to possess in your life to see you to Freeport. I didn't, I ain't, and I'm getting tired of your attitude. I'm a fucking mercenary who happened to be in the right place when you needed it, so show me some fucking gratitude and this'll be a pleasant trip. Otherwise, you can go fuck off and I'll continue on my way."

I hadn't realized yet until then that both of our horses had stopped. I tried to impassively meet that endless abyss of a gaze she had but I couldn't. Her words were true; I had judged her. Mercenaries had been worth my disdain, yet one had saved me and one was the only one still standing.

Our horses pawed at the ground, her gaze was unrelenting before I finally nodded, apologizing. "I'm sorry, you're right. I'll be more mindful in the future."

She said nothing though I could have sworn she rolled her eyes at me before clicking her tongue, settling her horse to move again.

Freeport was a ways away. I still had a slight detour. I still had my betrothed Princess. I could handle a rough mercenary until then.

That would be easy.

It was a few hours later into our travels, my thoughts to my arrival. While we had spaceships to travel to and from planets, the clearance necessary to arrive on Terra was beyond the window to manage a ship to Venus. Instead, the Warlocks of my home conjured a portal, leaving us perhaps five days from Veksar. From there, I could meet with Ami, the Mercurian Princess, for a brief time, before she would join us on the journey to Freeport.

From there my letter of credit would secure us passage. From there, I would be headed to my betrothed.

We arrived on Terra, ten strong including myself. It was a small party but I knew each person and could trust them. Maybe an hour after the portal dissipated was when we were attacked.

Great shadows sprung from the ground, the very land all around us. They were silent, letting us do the screams for them. Our horses were lost as an attempt at a defense was rallied, but we were overwhelmed in seconds. If it hadn't been for the fourteen mercenaries that came upon us…

I already knew I would have died. They all did, all but Cylxis and myself.

I was pulled from my thoughts by my horse stopping abruptly. I glared, looking at the mercenary who was not looking at me. Following her gaze I could see why, as half a dozen mounted riders were on the horizon, growing larger as they came closer.

"Lemme talk." Was all she said, sitting easily in her saddle as they approached.

I said nothing to that, no acknowledgment, but I was attentive. They … they were mismatched and unwashed, a mix of weeks old beards and stale ale. Their clothing was stained, armor pitted and rusted in places.

I did not think this would bode well.

"Hail there, travelers. We saw the smoke." Their leader perhaps, or the most charming they could muster, spoke to us as he reined up. The other five did as well, forming a slight semi-circle around us. "Shadows?"

"Yeah." Cylxis was short on answering, showing no concern about the others. I tried to mimic the pose.

"Too bad that. You a merc?"

"Veksar Free Companies." She replied, drawing some alarm from me. Veksar. That was where I was headed.

"Oh." Either it caused him to pause or he was expecting a difference answer. "Road up ahead is good."

"Thanks. They came from the East."

"Much obliged." With that the man nodded, the other five that had been staring at us turned to follow after him, heading where we had come from.

She waited five minutes, our pace slow before she stopped, looking at me. "They're gonna be back, by nightfall. First they're gonna check what's left for anything good, then circle back. They'll tail us until its dusk, then come after us. Prolly to rape and steal anything of value."

She … she was still so nonchalant about this all. Nothing seemed to phase her, her eyes so incredibly dead and lifeless.

Was she a corpse? A zombie, reanimated.

"Nah, totes alive."

I felt my features heat; I hadn't said a word but she somehow knew what I was thinking. I did not like it in the least.

"We're in the open so, not much we can do defensively. Unless."

"Unless what?"

"Welp," she looked at me with consideration. "We go after them. Catch 'em before they catch us type-a-deal."

"But … but there's six of them. And only one of you."

She snorted, a bare flicker of life returning to her gaze. "You want them to desecrate your dead? Promise you they'll dig every one of them up and search 'em far more than I did."

The thought did not settle well with me, frowning as I shook my head to indicate I did not want that to happen.

"And there's only six. That's nothing compared to the Shadows."

I found myself nodding. "What do we do?"

"'We' do nothin'. You're gonna follow after me, but stay outta things. We'll have the element of surprise, so that'll take care of at least two. The other four will be alert because their buddies are gonna be dead. At least one is gonna freeze, another is gonna rethink life and try to run, and the other two are only as brave as each other."

She sounded so … confident. "How do you know this? What about … what about those things?"

"Shadows never attack the same place twice. C'mon, before one of them shows a glimmer of intelligence"

I was a bit in awe as we were back on our horses, resuming our travels. Her words were correct, for the most part. Instead of two though she had managed three before the rest were alerted. They were not expecting it in the least, surprised and she used it to her advantage. Attacking without mercy, this time her sword did not have that golden hue as it did when she fought the shadows.

This time it was just a well cared for gleam of steel.

One remained frozen in place, the other two, just as she said, only as brave as the other. They begged for mercy, mercy she didn't give. If I had to guess, perhaps it was over in the span of minutes. It felt like seconds if that.

She didn't bury them, but she shifted through their things before she finally stopped in disgust, shaking her head to go back to her horse, pulling out a skin of water.

"What is ist?"

"Fleas. Fleas and other shit. Ain't desperate enough to go through that. Blah!" Uncorking it she poured it over her hands, uncaring about her gloves, before she held the water skin up to me. It was left with me as she mounted back up again, drawing another skin to drink from, securing it before producing another wrapped package. Ripping off pieces of jerky she offered me half of it before indicating it was time to go.

It was perhaps an hour from dusk now, still out in the open plains. The treeline I had seen had long since faded away. If I didn't know better, I would think we were going in circles save that we really weren't.

It had nagged at me since the fight, finally vocalizing it enough without an accusation. "You said you were … part of the Veksar Free Companies?" I was curious what she knew of the city, hardly a grand affair compared to Freeport, at least what I heard.

"Ain't no such thing as that. They didn't know that though." She paused, debating before pulling up to dismount. "We'll camp here. Be dusk in an hour anyway."

"Why … did you tell them that then?" She was a bit of an enigma, not sleeping, working, fighting, riding, and not a sign of being tired." I slipped from my horse, glad to have solid ground beneath me. I was used to riding, but honestly not this long.

She didn't say anything for quite some time, taking her gear from her horse, followed by its saddle, before she brushed it down and hobbled it. Her gaze looked at me then my horse, almost asking if she had to do that too, before I moved to mimic her actions. "By sounding local, they had no idea who else could be around. Veksar ain't that far away. They'd have to risk making an attack and gettin' retribution for it. They obviously chose to do somethin', despite the possible danger. Six on one is good odds, if you use them right. Otherwise," she shrugged, setting up a tent of all things. "It works against you. There ain't game out here, gonna be bread and jerky. I got stuff for tea though, if you like that."

I blinked, it wouldn't be much but it was food. I was though a bit more concerned about if there was somewhere I could get clean again. While it wasn't hot out, we had ridden all day and I was starting to feel a bit gross.

I must have vocalized some part of that, as she pointed a few hundred yards away. "There's a stream. Prolly cold but." She didn't finish, creating a ring of stones for a fire.

"What … what about-"

She cut me off. "Ain't gonna be Shadows. You'll be fine. Here." She paused again, digging in her pack to toss me another pouch, followed by a wooden whistle. "Anything comes up, you just blow on that."

I weighed both, looking at the pouch then her again.

She sighed, rolling those listless eyes. "Soap and soft cloth."

"Oh… thank you."

I hadn't expected such, not from her really. I went to my pack, collecting out a change of clothing before I headed in the direction that she had gestured to. My mind was awhirl, the water was cold but it felt wonderful to be clean again. What was tonight going to bring, what would happen tomorrow. Things like that.

As I made my way back I paused, looking to the sky. There just off the horizon shown Venus.

At the least, I'd have a tale to tell her.

A/N: What's this? I'm starting something else while I have Hindsight and Recollection going? Sure am. Why not. Been thinking of it too long that if I didn't start putting it to words, I would forget.