The world had changed.
Whole cities had been leveled, countries turned into barren wastelands, and families had been ripped apart.
All this was the work of one man; Kenny Dune.
He thought he was enlightening the world, but he destroyed it.
Mortals turned on sorcerers. The strong were captured and dissected, the weak killed on sight.
Neighbor turned on neighbor, best friend on best friend, brother on sister. No one was safe from the fear of magic. Everyone felt the strain and everyone the pain.
After 25 years of war everything became calm.
The few sorcerers that lives went into hiding. Patrols would go out hunting the mages, but the mortals were safe, almost.
Three women sat around a campfire. They were surrounded by trees and silence.
They didn't talk, they didn't need to.
One was throwing a dagger into the air and catching it again, while staring up at the dark night sky.
One stared into the fire.
And the other was spreading herbs on the chicken she was about to cook.
It was peaceful in a strange eerie way.
Suddenly it changed.
"Valkyrie." The one cooking warned and Valkyrie Cain sprung to her feet.
Valkyrie's hand rested on the hidden knife she had.
"Who goes there?" She demanded.
"Relax," a man walked from the darkness. He had blonde hair and a cheeky grin. He held his hands up to show he was unarmed. "It's just an old friend." Dexter Vex smiled.
A smiled played on Valkyrie's lips but Dexter could tell that she refused to let it show. She stared at him threateningly.
"I just want to share your meal."
Valkyrie nodded and he sat down.
It felt strange to look at someone he knew so well but not see anything familiar.
Valkyrie was still gorgeous. Her dark hair was tied in a ponytail and her eyes were still dark, but didn't have the same light and cheeriness as they used too. She was hardened. She seemed cold. War did that to people.
Dexter couldn't believe he'd found her. It had been 27 years since anyone had seen her. 27 years since she'd been heard from and he just happened upon her.
Dexter turned to her companions.
The woman cooking had dusty blonde hair and sky blue eyes. She wore short shorts and bare feet. Her jacket was amazing. It was long sleeved and black. It buckled around her stomach and flared the rest of the way to her ankles. Dexter couldn't see any weapons.
He turned to the girl with the dagger.
Her hair came to just above her shoulders and was black. Her eyes were dark brown like Valkyrie's. She wore a black singlet and black tight jeans. She wore bulky combat boots. The only weapon she had was the dagger.
"Where have you been all these years, Val?" Dexter asked.
"Around." She replied. "This is Trinity," Valkyrie nodded to the woman with the black hair, "and your wonderful cook here is Anamnesia."
"But most people call me Memory." The cook with blonde hair smiled at Dexter.
"Any word about Skulduggery or Fletcher?" Valkyrie asked hesitantly.
Dexter didn't want to tell her, he wouldn't have told her unless she had changed and she had. So he told her the truth.
"There had been no word, absolutely nothing but Ghastly and Ravel are still looking. How long has it been?"
"For Skulduggery? 50 years and 27 days. Fletcher, 50 years and 17 days." Valkyrie grimaced and hooked a strand of hair behind her ear.
"I'm sorry." Dexter muttered.
"Hmph. It wasn't your fault. It was those murdering mortals, and mine." Valkyrie's words sent the group into silence.
"Val, why did you disappear? The war went on for two more years after you left. We needed your help. Things might have been different." Dexter asked.
For years it had plagued everyone's minds. Where was Valkyrie Cain?
"I became sick of the death. I had become obsessed with finding Skulduggery and Fletcher. That was the thought that allowed me to kill day in and day out." Valkyrie stared into the fire, reliving things she hadn't thought of in more than 10 years. "Finally I met a man. He was kind, considerate, a real hero. I realized that killing is never the answer. I walked away from the battlefield and into the paths of these guys."
Trinity and Memory smiled.
"What happened Val?" Dexter asked.
"I grew up."
"Valkyrie mortals," Memory jumped to her feet, "with machine guns."
Just setting the scene :D What did you think? War has destroyed the world and Dexter has found the legendary Valkyrie Cain who had disappeared :) review and I'll quickly write the next chapter :P
Disclaimer: I only own Trinity and Memory