Author's Note:

Disclaimer in previous chapters.

Violence to come.

This chapter was totally written by Onyx and S. It is there work here, not mine.

High in the mountain cave, Onyx sighed deeply as she rested the point of her sword against the stone floor. Sitting cross-legged on a small outcropping of stone that served as a bench, she rested her forehead on the hilt of her sword, letting the coolness of the metal cool her feverish brow. Ever since she had seen the vision of the soldiers, she had neither rested nor eaten, and Damus had finally joined her in the caves out of concern for her health. Now, when the Yami finally showed a sign of weariness, he approached her, carrying a water skin.

"Please, Rianna. You should at least drink something." To his great relief, the woman silently extended her hand, accepting the skin from him, and uncorked it. She did not drink, however, simply stared at the skin in her hand for a long moment. Damus, uncomfortable with standing still, shifted his weight, and the woman jumped as though she had only just noticed his presence.

"Rianna, I fear for your health.... Are you sure you are all right?"

The woman sighed heavily and shook her head. "Damus, when you agreed to serve under me, as my monster and my second in command, you agreed that I need tell you nothing of my past." The mage nodded slightly, and she continued. "I am now altering that agreement. Then, I had hoped that my past might die a silent death, and that I could start a different life, in this village. Obviously, this cannot happen, since my past has come back to.... I can hardly say haunt me, but it's bitten me in the ass regardless." When Damus nodded slightly, she sighed, and began.

"Many years ago," she began, and Damus had to smile, "the armies of the King were lead by the families of the ten great noble houses. The houses, divided into pairs, were selected because they had prized qualities of soldiers. The houses of Bear and Ox produced warriors of immense strength, perfect fighters for hand-to-hand combat, foot soldiers. Fox and Snake were the cleverest, the most cunning. They were the master planners and strategists. Hawk and Cheetah were the swiftest, able to move fast and quiet over any ground. They made ideal scouts and ambush soldiers. The houses of Lion and Jackal, for their ferocity and deadliness in battle." She stopped and took a deep drink from the water skin.

"That's eight."

"Yes, I know. The last two were the most honored and powerful of all the houses, and renowned above all others. They not only possessed all four qualities that the other houses were prized for; strength, speed, cunning and ferocity – but also, they had dominion of the mightiest force of all. They had majic. These two houses were the houses of the Wolf... and the Horse."

Damus' heart froze. How many times, how many years had he seen those symbols, glittering under the sun of the training fields? How many times had he wondered over the shield that hung on Onyx's wall over her bed, jet-black, with her horse symbol gleaming blood red?

"One generation," the Yami continued, "these two houses were stricken with a rare malady. Each house had only one child born to it, and both were female. It was unusual, because these great houses were the King's little... 'experiment.'"

Her tone was bitter, and Damus blinked at her. "The King treated the Houses much like the horses in his stables, always mixing the best bloodlines, breeding many mares to his ten finest stallions. The mother in Horse was a princess in her own right, the King's daughter, and she had been forced to marry the High Mage of the King's court, the patriarch of the House. Neither she nor her daughter was displeased when he was called away for war with the rest of the patriarchs."

She took another mouthful of water and continued. "Although the King was displeased to find that the two children were female, he had another surprise. These two children were the most powerful mages that had been seen in many generations. They, like their fathers and forefathers, were trained in the arts of war and destruction and death. The other houses had not been so stricken, with a single child each, and had many warriors to boast of. They, like the two girls, were all incredibly powerful, and the King was very pleased. The entire kingdom was involved in a generations-long war with their neighbors, the dark land to the North, and the King hoped, that with these many powerful warriors, that he could end and win the war with one swift and decisive battle, using these children. So, the girls were trained in the use of majicks as dark as the foes that they faced from the North."

Onyx sighed softly and set her sword aside, before rising from her seat and walking twice around the cave, looking highly agitated. Damus took a careful step toward her, meaning to offer comfort, but the woman veered abruptly and went back to her seat.

"I have to tell this story now, Damus. Otherwise, I'll never be able to." When the mage nodded and sat down on the floor by her feet, she took a deep breath and continued. "On the eve of the battle that the King hoped would win the war, the Houses of Horse and Wolf both received tragic news. Their masters, the fathers of the houses, were killed in an ambush by enemy soldiers on their way to the battlefield. The two girls, although still young – they were sixteen and nineteen years old, little more than children – had been raised for their entire lives to uphold the duties and honor of their Houses. So, they volunteered to lead the troops of their fathers into battle."

Damus nodded in silent encouragement and she continued. "The two girls had never met before, as all the mages were trained separately. However, as they rode out with the new soldiers to meet the rest of the army, they became friends. And, when they reached the battlefield, they took command of the troops and lead them into the battle. During their approach, they used their majic as a shield, to prevent the enemy arrows from reaching their troops. Once they reached the front lines, the majic became a weapon to destroy the enemy soldiers. The King's forces did win that day, easily. But the soldiers had seen the great and terrible power that the two girls wielded. And they were afraid."

Again, she rose to pace the cave twice, then sat again and continued. "The soldiers were many, and the people of the kingdom listened to them. The people, too, began to fear, and slowly hate, the two girls for the power they wielded, because the enemy had wielded the same majicks. After a few months, the people rose up, and the Houses of the Horse and the Wolf fell in ruin. The families were killed and the homes destroyed, but the two girls managed to escape. Barely. So they decided, together, that they would create a place, secret and safe, where they, and the Duel monsters they chose, could live together in peace." Gently, she reached out, caressing Damus' face with one callused hand. "I should tell you the names of these children... The younger, from the house of the Wolf, was Veronique. The older and the more powerful... was Victoriana." Hanging her head, the woman made the hardest confession of her life.

"We are immortal warriors of the army of the King."