Skilled and cunningly the I jumped from roof to roof, my auburn hair flying out in small wisps. There they were, the invading troops that Indigo had sent to raid our village. I aimed my bow, beads of sweat dripping down from my forehead. It was a hot climate in Red, and all this black clothing was tough to wear in the scorching heat. My meifwa ears perked up suddenly, one of the guards had seen my shadow on the roof and we're yelling furiously. "A Red soldier!" he yelled to his men. "We must-" I didn't even let him finish his sentence, my blade cutting the back of his leg.

I jumped off the roof and faced them. "If you want to end up like this." I pointed to the wounded soldier." "I suggest you leave." I snarled. The patrol grinned maliciously. "Oh I believe we won't." One of them growled, and the soldiers started to creep closer. "I think we can handle one little meifwa, even if she has good aim." I backed away slowly, gripping my bow tighter than ever. After what seemed like an eternity, they pounced. Quickly, I grabbed onto a pole where a storefront sign would've been mounted, and kicked the two men sending them flying. I grabbed another bow and cut another's face, nearly missing his eye. The last one looked quite muscular, and came after me bare handed. I'm better with a bow then hand-to-hand combat, but I know how to handle myself. Quickly I blocked the soldiers punch with my right arm and swept him off his feet with my legs. He landed of the ground with a thud. The Indigo soldiers knew they had lost by then. They couldn't do much with their general wounded. So they scattered as quickly as they could back onto their boats. I wiped the sweat off my forehead once more, and took off my heavy black pants and shirt, revealing a more comfortable olive green shirt and tan pants. I grabbed my arrow case and game bag and returned to the center of town.

I live in the village of 'Red' there seven territories in all. We're the closest one to the 'Red Sea' and the warmest. Most of our citizens are artisans, soldiers or merchants, since really nothing grows here. The seven villages are Red, Amber, Gold, Emerald, Blue, Indigo, and Violet. They all have their own way of life and they all live in peace, most of the time. Every once in awhile the villages fight and try to raid each other. Only once has a territory come close to taking over another one, just after I was born my mother was part of the war. There is an unspoken territory long gone but it was the one village that almost took over the entire nation of Iris. It was called, Black, and it lived on the most darkest part of the Red Sea. They were a roughed group, fighting amongst themselves, and with the other territories. But eventually the other territories, formed an alliance, defeating the Black territory. But not before my mother was part of the victims. Hot tears began to form in my face. That is why I fight, for her and the rest of the families victims, who suffered because of another territory.

I looked around and everything seemed very peaceful and lively, as if the invasion a short hour ago had never happened. I turned my head to see a group of children playing with swords, and another few practicing small acts of magic. I watched amused as a little girl tried her hardest to make a flower bloom. Finally when she managed the fea, her eyes lit up in surprise, and the small boy next to her congratulated her. I smiled slightly. That is one of the things I love about Red, they teach you that there are no lines dividing gender, or race, or wealth. Are population is still mainly people born in Red, yes. But when a newcomer arrives, peacefully of course, we are taught to treat them kindly and with respect.

I stopped in front of the general's cabin, it was a beautiful log cabin (it must've had some sort of fire protection spell because danger of fires) there was a window in the front, open meaning the general was home. All the soldiers came here to get new missions and tasks from the general. Normally, there would've have been a long line, but it was the late afternoon and most soldiers were probably returning from, or still on their missions. I respected the general, I actually thought of him as my second father figure. His name was Brandon, but we always had to call him as Sir General Brandon, or Sir, for short. I stopped in front of the window, and peered inside, Brandon was at his desk, mapping a chart at his desk and muttering to himself.

"Um, Sir." I muttered quietly, trying hard not to disturb his work. "Sir." I said a little more loudly. I flicked my hair in annoyance and ever so slight I began to take an arrow out of it's sheath. Even a little sound like that alarmed Brandon. He turned around with wild eyes, and took out his sword, he suddenly relaxed when he realized it was me. Brandon sighed. "Ember you scared me half to death."

Ember. My real name, only a few close friends and Sir call me by it. My cover up name is Megera, a common name for a common soldier. But my real name is much more dear to me than what the other soldiers call me by. It translates to, a small piece of burning or glowing coal in an old or dying fire, in the ancient texts. But we rarely use the Ancient Texts anymore, they were from a society long before us, that has crumbled now. All the territories of Iris do speak the same language, Lingua, but you can usually distinct which territory a person is from, from the accent. For example, at a peace meeting in the heart of the Pine Hollows, you can all tell that they're speaking the same language. But the Indago have a thick, sharp accent, whereas the Amber have a more soft, quiet, accent. It all depends on where you come from, same thing with names, Ember is a name that is traditionally to Red or Amber territories, so whenever I have to go on a mission to another territory, I always go by Megera.

Brandon quickly folds up his map and I cock an eyebrow. "What's in there ?" I ask with a slight smirk on my face. "Nothing that you can see." he says quickly, even though I'm one of his trusted soldiers. "Classified information from Katherine." Katherine was the so-called governer of Red, she had become more of a dictator but that was all right with me, she was kind to her people. But fierce with the others. I smiled slightly, tempted to ask more but not saying anything. "Alright, what do you want me to do." I said, giving up. Brandon looked at his schedule. "Mentoring and Training sessions today." I groaned. "Those newbies couldn't even cut off a chicken's head, but they still have the energy to run around playing tag." I muttered sourly. Brandon must've seen the look on my face, "With Hazel." He said with a slight smile. My face lit up. Hazel was one of my closest childhood friends, we practically raised each other while our fathers were working. "Thank you Sir!" I said and with a bounce in my step, went to go see Hazel.