April 26th, 1872

It wasn't over.

Erika could feel the strength draining from her. Powerful though she was, she could feel herself weakening.

How, how? How had it come to this?

She took a final glance at her beloved Exile. She could remember, with a stinging tenderness, when she had become known as the most powerful mage of Exile. Now, with all the dragons dead, and herself horribly weakened, they needed to find an ally to win against the Empire. Rebels. She scoffed at the word. It was the Empire's doing, after all. They were the instigators.

"May Eternal Damnation befall you!" she cried. These were to be the last words to spill from her lips.

Erika the mage locked herself in permanently in her tower, allowing no one across the bridge.

March 29th, 1902

The line definitely wasn't moving.

Katrina didn't know what she was thinking, standing in this line. Sure, she had hours upon hours of vigorous training with Damian, the head trainer of Exile and also one of her closest friends. But that didn't mean she was ready for combat...did it?

She felt someone come up behind her and put an arm across her shoulders. "You look like you're going to be sick," Damian said playfully.

"I just might," replied Katrina, without the playfulness.

"Ah." Damian squeezed her shoulders. "Don't you worry about a thing. I'd put our whole city on your shoulders." He moved forward swiftly to where Alexander stood and handed him slips of paper—assignments.

Katrina stood in line to sign up for the military/exploration teams. It was a joint effort to fight back the Empire and scout out land that was safe to live on.

Many years ago, the Empire's evil leader decided to banish all those who didn't fit in with the norm—the weird, the convicted, the foreigners—to an underground dungeon of sorts that was quickly named Exile. The Exilians spent over a hundred years studying magic, and combat skills. They developed their cities as well and soon they were almost their own species—well educated, and well rounded as well. Very able, by this point, to invade the Empire. Which they proceeded to do.

They were not initially sucessful, however. Lead by Erika, the most powerful mage, they were beaten. They won, sometimes. But more often, they were beaten.

The final blow came when the last dragon died. Erika was greatly weakened, and she shut herself up in a tower that she made herself. She allowed no one to cross the bridge that led to her. She became a recluse.

It is said that Erika still holds the key to winning the war. It is also said that only a certain person is allowed to cross the bridge. That person would become somewhat of a hero to Exile.

Katrina wanted that person to be her. It wasn't just the hero factor. She always felt the need to prove herself. She was one of few female combatants and mages, and the others never let her forget it.

Except Damian, she thought. She and Damian had been friends for almost five years now, and lately she had begun to get feelings from him that she hadn't ever gotten before. She had even noticed that his actions toward her had changed, and his attitude had changed to a more personal level. She had spent a lot of time with him one-on-one lately, and it sometimes seemed as though he could have the same feelings for her. Sometimes. Sometimes, because there were other times when it was obvious that he only thought of her as a friend.

These thoughts confused her so much to the point where she didn't even want to think about it anymore. That was part of the reason why she had chosen this particular mission. If chosen, she would be far away from Exile...and Damian. This would give her time to think.

Suddenly she realized she stood at the front of the line. Alexander, the assignment dispatcher, handed her a yellow card. She stepped out of line and walked all the way to her quarters before she would allow herself to read it. She carefully flipped it over and held it in her shaking hand. The card read:

NAME: Katrina McGovern

AGE: 19

ASSIGNMENT: Sector 377-A. Specifies in mage combat. City area of Shayder.

Katrina drew a deep breath. She had heard many things about Sector 377-A. It was almost a death wish. Shayder was a dangerous area all on its own, and it was so easy for spells to fail. She knew that generally only high ranking officials were chosen for this assignment and couldn't help wondering why she had been chosen herself, having no combat experience.

Later, she showed Damian her card. He also drew in a deep breath. His eyes shone with a mixture of admiration and worry. If anything should happen to her...

For a long time, Damian had begun to think of Katrina as more than just a friend. But his walls he had built around himself would not allow him to tell her. If she was anything like his past experiences, it would ruin the friendship. And he would die before he let that happen.

But at the same time, he admired her for being chosen. It was not something that happened often.

"You know," he said, "There's a lot to be said for being on this kind of expedition, at any rank. I knew you'd make it. And I know you'll do just fine." Promise me you'll come back, he thought but did not say. Promise me.

She smiled weakly. "Thanks," was all she could manage.

He hugged her tight. It took everything in him to let her go.

April 1st, 1902

Katrina and seven others trooped through New Cotra as they prepared to enter the portal that would take them to Shayder. They were discussing their form of attack.

"We must slow them," said Fabio, a respected old mage. "Slow them and put them in slumber, so they will not be able to resist the massive amount of attacks that we shall procede to rain on them."

"But many are resistant to magic," Aorken argued, a more militant sort. "We must not forget to make use of our many weapons we have in supply."

Katrina tuned out and let the others argue until they approached the portal. Seles, the portal supervisor, collected their cards, surveyed them, nodded, and returned the cards. Then she opened the portal and allowed them to go through.

Same day, later time

The group came to rest just outside of Shayder. Late through the night they talked, planning out strategies. They made what seemed to be a lukewarm effort to include Katrina, but she also knew that it could possibly be in her mind as well. Her head was spinning with thoughts that she wanted to get rid of.

"You will be stationed here," said Fabio, pointing at a seemingly arbitrary place on the map. "You are to wait until you see the red belts of the Empire soldiers before you cast the spell of webs and slow. They will never know what hit them. You will be perfectly hidden and when you have succeeded you are to wait for my signal before you move a muscle. Do I make myself clear?"

Katrina nodded and spoke with what she hoped was a voice of confidence. "Yes."

A hint of a smile appeared on Fabio's lips. "I thought you would. Now go get some rest. We have a big day tomorrow."

April 2nd, 1904

Battlefield

Katrina trembled as she crouched in her hiding spot, a place where no one could see her. Surrounded by leaves, they shook with her as she thought about the many ways this could go wrong, and then forced herself to think the opposite way. Think good things, she thought. Good things!

Her mind inevitably turned to Damian.

Trying to force him out of her mind, she turned her attention to the direction of the troops. The minute she saw the red belt, she intoned the Slow spell and Web spell. The soldiers were suddenly not moving very well. Her spell had been cast perfectly.

With one exception...

Fergal Lawler was extremely magic resistant. He was known for it. Katrina's spells hadn't fazed him in the least.

He had wonderful tracking abilities, too. He could see her clearly. He knew where she had cast from.

It took little effort to load his bow with a poisoned arrow and shoot her in the head.