Born Again

Chapter I: Blood And Water

"Tonight won't be easy." The Lord Knight, our guild leader said. "We'll attack Serenade's castle; I expect you all to do well. I will lead the first party, along with Hatori."

My eyes darted across the room to the guild's High Priest.

"Risuka." The guildleader, Rae, said to me.

"Yes?" My attention shot back to the Lord Knight.

His eyes glanced at me. "I want you to be the leader of the second party. This is the Stealth party, so I won't have a knight or crusader accompany you."

"Okay." I nodded.

"As a matter of fact," He continued. "You're the only priestess in the party. You'll have two rogues, and an assassin. I'm sure you can handle them."

I nodded again.

We approached the castle and the first party gathered at the entrance.

"Well." Rae said. "I hope we all make it through tonight. Guildsmen, listen to your party leaders. Everyone fight your hardest, and may Crimson Rebirth have a successful siege."

Our guild, Crimson Rebirth ahd been a successful guild for nearly a year, our biggest rival was a guild by the name of Serenade. An older, more glorified guild may have respected Serenade, considering that it had been around for many years, but this guild had stolen our glory one too many times, and now that we were a stable guild, our hearts were longing for the revenge and recognition that we truly deserved.

Most of our members were young, or young at heart. We fought with youthful determination and strong wills. However, as headstrong and over-confident as we were, there was one man that kept us in line. Our High Priest, my mentor, the man who had raised me since the age or six, when my mother abandoned me. Hatori was in charge of not only all of the guild's priests, but also the guild's war tactics.

"Are you ready?" Hatori asked me.

I sighed. "Yes."

He smiled. "Just wait until after the first party goes in, and then listen to me to tell you to lead your party in."

I nodded. "It's just scary. I'm afraid that I'll mess something up, or what if they don't listen to me? I'm only sixteen."

The High Priest placed his hand on my shoulder. "You'll do fine. Hush now, child."

"Okay." Rae said. "Let's go."

I watched as the first party went into the guild castle. We stood there, waiting for Hatori's voice; It came ten minutes later.

"Okay Risuka, bring in your party." He said through the guild communicator.

I smiled. "Let's go."

"Nice." Rae said, after we took the castle from Serenade and were all sitting in the pub after guild wars. "We took and kept the guild castle. Risuka, awesome job with the Stealth party. Overall, I'm impressed with everyone tonight."

I smiled and pulled out a cigarette.

"We will also be getting a new recruit soon." Rae told us. "An acolyte."

A knight gazed at me from across the table. My cheeks burned as I quickly looked away from him, shifting in my chair so that I faced that Lord Knight. Exhaling the murky grey smoke into the air, hoping that the male wasn't offended by my bad habits.

"Sorry." I finally turned to him. "It's ... A bad habit."

"Oh." He looked surprised. "It wasn't that. I was just amazed... Your hair is the color of blood. And ... Your eyes are the color of water."

I gazed at him. "Oh."

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To be continued in Chapter 2. Please review! 3