Disclaimer: I don't own any of the HIMEs…
Chapter 1: Great War, Great Escape
Finally, war between Cardair and Windbloom Kingdom begins. The Ashkar Warriors are roaring as they advance. The earth shakes and rumbling sounds of Ashkar Warriors marching forward could be heard in a faraway distance. Nothing can stop them now. The Gate of the Underworld is unleashed. Thousands of legionnaires and horses are brutally slaughtered and the power of evil grew immensely stronger. Explosions are everywhere. It is a sign of HiME fighters has utilised their power. Blood splatters everywhere, dead bodies flood the river, unattached limbs lying around, people's cry of pain and suffer, famine, spread of diseases…it was horrible.
Evil prevail. All of the 12 legions yield, as the HiME fighters cannot bear to lose any more legionnaires…, the pain… is just unbearable. Swiftly, the Assyrian Warriors arrest the fighters and keep them in captivity. All of them thought it is the end and Windbloom Kingdom shall perish under the hands of King Assym. However, King Solomon (who is under captivity as well) smirked.
Flashback
King Solomon is riding his unicorn Child, Mares along the Great Sabbath Rivers of Windbloom Kingdom. A long haul meeting with the ancient world rulers is held and he had a tough time talking some sense into King Assym about their trade issues. Well, at least they finally came to agree with the terms in a contract after RyuKyu budge in and Florence concluded the meeting. The weather is great, blue skies and bright sunny sun. Suddenly, a little boy on the river bank caught his attention. King Solomon is amazed by his weird fighting techniques and watched him practise. After a while, King Solomon approaches the boy.
He kneels before the boy and talks to him, "You have good fighting skills, little one."
Obviously, the boy did not know his identity, "Of course I do! My granpa thought me all the skills and he is the best fighter in my village. I am very proud of him and wanted to be just like him when I grow up!" the boy answers with sheer pride glowing in his glassy grey eyes.
King Solomon noticed that.
"Oi, Dimitrius! It's time for dinner! Your grams cooked your favourite lamb shank!" shouts the old man. He wondered who is talking to his grandson as he got near them. The boy smiled and run passes King Solomon to hug his granpa.
Dimitrius's granpa is shocked when he saw the person kneeling, "King So..So..Solomon?" he stutters.
The old man was about to bow but King Solomon made a gesture and says,"No, it is alright. I saw your grandson while I was relaxing. He is a true blue fighter indeed."
King Solomon smiles and scruffs the boys' hair.
The boy shouts, "Hey! I hate that! Don't treat me like a little boy!"
The old man and King Solomon laughed.
"Did you say lamb shank? Would you mind if I join you for dinner? I love lamb shank too!" says King Solomon while rubbing his belly.
"Sure! I would be honoured to have you join us!" the old man quickly replies.
They all walked back to the boys wooden shack just near by the river. They had some conversations going on and the king happened to know the boy have no parents and was found at the doorsteps of the very house. Since the old couple had no children, it was a blessing to them. They raised the boy just like their real grandson and shower him with love.
Since this is the case,"Would you be willing to let me train this boy personally?" asks King Solomon.
The old couple could not be happier about that request but King Solomon noticed a tear almost rolled off the edge of the granma's eye.
"Don't worry. He is allowed to come back to you at the end of the day. He does not have to stay at the quarters as other boys do. In an addition to that, we may train at the river bank near your house and I will solely sponsor his school fees. How does that sound?" adds the king.
Granpa and granma hold King Solomon's both hands with firm grip and looked straight at him with tears rolling off their cheeks.
King Solomon understand that it meant a lot for the old couple.
End of flashback
In an emergency like this, 13th special task legion lead by Dimitrius from the White Rhinehorn Valley was formed to save the twelve legions captured.
Dimitrius, a noble young man who is well known for his sword fighting skills and defence. His art of strategizing is the finest.
However, people who know the existence of the 13th tribe were limited. They are formed to carry certain task secretly. This is the main reason why King Solomon offered to train Dimitrius personally. He saw the 'potential' in that boy. Thus, the 13th legion was never recorded in any ancient world history.
On the night of 15th day of Moon 8th, Dimitrius broke into the dungeons through the water channels under the Windbloom Castle. No one is more familiar with the channels than the young man who used to lurk in there when his was a boy, for some reason. He managed to get to the dungeons by tapping into his memory of the locations of certain chambers.
He narrowly escaped from being discovered by the Great War machines. Legions by legions navigated through the underground channels silently without Ashkar Warriors noticing. No, they are too ignorant to notice there are channels beneath the castle. They must leave Windbloom Kingdom at once after the near death escape. All the legionnaires are evacuated, leaving the 12 officers behind. They hesitated when they asked to leave the place quickly.
All of them are exhausted and haggard but Mashiro-sama who is one of the 12 officers and owns the White Golden Steel sword insists," We must protect the castle and kingdom!"
Dimitrius went up to her and slapped right on her face. The other 11 HiME's eyes widened and disbelieve at what had happened just now.
"Mashiro-sama! We cannot act hastily after all these, not now! It does not matter if the castle collapse or the kingdom got torn into a thousand pieces. We need to protect as many of our people as we can and make sure we stay alive. Our people and we are the essence of Windbloom Kingdom, not the castle. Please put that in mind. ," says Dimitrius while holding Mashiro-sama's shoulders.
Mashiro's mind went blank at that point. "What was I thinking…" Mashiro murmurs to herself.
"Enough talking! Quick, get our acts together and leave this damn place!" Dimitrius commands impatiently.
Good or bad, I'll leave it to ya all to decide. I couldn't decide how Mashiro (in this story should look like). I personally prefer the purple headed girl but the one who started Mai-Otome is another, pink curly shoulder length hair (izzit?)