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Note: First fanfic, eh? Going to be a good one? Probably not, but who cares? Just stick yourself in and enjoy the show!

Shadow of a Blade

The steady dripping of rainfall woke me.

Drip. Drip.

I got up to my feet, easing my stiff back. The job of a soldier may be an honorable one, but certainly not a comfortable one. No matter, no point in dilly-dallying when you have a job to do.

I sighed. Surely there was a better way? But my determination still pushed on. I had a job to do.

"Kara!" shouted a familiar voice along the hallway. They didn't really care about privacy; the whole barrack was just a hallway with the occasional pillow.

"Coming, Mark…" I grumbled. Maybe I'll grab some food on the way… I thought. I checked myself in a mirror, my piercing blue eyes staring back at me. The army had quite a strict dress code, and more than once a person had been "accidentally" stabbed for violating it. They were more violent than me, though Mark jokes it's not possible.

Mark has been my friend since I joined this terrible army; we met at the training area on the Initiation Test. It was disastrous. For the other recruits, at least. I had been teased because they thought a girl didn't belong on the battlefield. Needless to say, they had a pretty bad day.

I jogged past all the recruits, most sleeping, some not ("Ouch, my foot!") and met him at the entrance to the barracks.

"Geez, you took forever!" he complained.

"Well than forever takes quite a short time doesn't it?" I replied irritably.

"Whatever" he said hastily, "We're needed on the battlefield, they found a camp of several Pheraen troops and they need a shock force, and luckily," Mark rolled his eyes "We were chosen"

No matter how many times I told myself it was necessary, the idea of killing still made my stomach churn.

I let my hand fall to my side and rest on my blade, Kyofu, a thin, long katana. I unsheathed it and looked at it sadly. So many had fallen under its edge, but every time I felt like it was killing me instead. I sheathed it again and asked "When does the raid start?"

A large explosion and a feeling of burning heat seared into my skin as it knocked me into the ground.

"Well" he said sarcastically "When do you think?"

"Oh shut up with the sarcasm already!" I shouted over the explosions as I drew my sword. I checked the area, and counted about a dozen mages. Perfect, easy bait.

You'll regret it later…

I shoved that thought aside. Who invited you into my head anyways?

I leapt through the air, brandishing Kyofu in a wide arc. We usually fought to cripple, then take back to base for interrogation. At least those were our orders, sometimes I thought it would be kinder to slice their heads off.

Ew. Gory thoughts.

Checking behind me, I slashed Kyofu blindly at first, then applied a reverse side cut. I felt more than one body get impaled.

Mark was behind me, spearing people with his…spear. Bad pun. Must work on that later.

Adrenaline surged through me. This is what I was born to do.

"Fimbulvetr!" someone shouted behind me and I felt an icy wind tear through me, leaving me completely winded on the ground.

As the battle raged on behind me, I realized two things.

It smelled of sweat down here.

If I didn't get up soon, I'd be screwed.

I leaped to my feet and looked around. A few mages, 2 cavaliers, and one Armor Knight. Nothing we couldn't handle. Dashing forward, I slid under them, cutting the weak spot in the Armor Knights armor. Conveniently, it was also in a very painful place, and I heard a multitude of extremely…colorful language.

I got to my feet and took a deep breath. It did not smell good down there.

Then I felt a hard, blunt pain in my back and that's all I remembered.

Note: So first chapter done! WOOT! Well anyway please leave good long reviews; I don't care if it's good or bad! This one took like 5 minutes, I promise the next one will be longer!