"Hmm, I see and what did you say your name was again? My memory has been short since the battle of Bourne" the soldier woman said wiping my tears away with her thumbs. It was a strange and unfamiliar sensation but it made me feel warm and happy inside, something that I felt I had lacked since my separation from my family.

I gripped my shirt tight before speaking, I felt a sharp sensation in my chest as I went to speak, it was as if I was going to reveal a national secret. "My name is Soli" I took a momentary pause to catch my breath before speaking once more. "No surname, I was found in a forest or so my parents said" I spoke with shaky words unable to hide my body's nervous trembling. I noticed the soldier lady just standing there staring at me, she didn't speak a word. "If...If it's not rude to ask...may I know your name please?" I asked holding my breath, the soldier lady appeared to be pondering before my words broke her out of her train of thought.

"Ah yes s'pose I should let you know who I am" The soldier lady spoke with an air of confidence surrounding her. The soldier lady Saluted me as she looked down at me, "My name is Lucilia, the last commander of the Great Empire Bourne, I own the most prestigious title in the land, The King's Final Stand, I am a soldier who has fought for our God given King since the start of our Empire" Lucilia said continuing to look down at me as she spoke with the utmost confidence and honour. "That's enough outta me, one mus' stay humble and collected" Lucilia said as she cleared her throat becoming more like her usual self that I had slowly become used to.

Moments later multiple soldiers walk into the room that I currently occupy, the soldiers are holding a strange device, one unlike any I had seen in the village that I had lived in once upon a time. I caught a glimpse of what was on the device, I saw green hair, I couldn't tell if the person in the camera was a boy or a girl, but there was only one person I knew with green hair as light as that, Flora. The soldiers began to whisper amongst themselves while I began to grow weary as the chatter continued. I decided to speak up "Uh what's happening, who is that, on that weird device thing?" my voice had stopped the chatter as they walked over to me, the soldiers had once again put me in restraints. "What did I do?! Why am I getting put into restraints again?!" I yelled at the soldiers, I was confused, I was annoyed, all I wanted was answers and right now, no one was willing to give them to me.

I looked over at Lucilia, my eyes welling up with tears like they had been earlier, "Where are they taking me?" I asked still confused with the matter at hand.

"You'll be fine kid, They takin' ya to li'l miss Green" Lucilia said with a smirk on her face, she seemed excited and happy but her body language was rather inexpensive as all she seemed to reveal was the first layer of her emotion. 

It wasn't long before I found myself back together with Flora, I felt warm, it was like being reunited with lost family after so long. "Flora, are you okay?" is all i could ask, I was nervous, stressed, I felt anxious too. Maybe they did something to her, drugs? Did they beat her? But I see no wounds or scratches... Maybe it's fine after all. Flora displayed a small smile. So she was fine after all. I felt relieved the warm feeling I had felt that left so soon had now returned, it was strange, I really had no reason to feel so happy.

 "See kid, told ya so, now let's eat yea? Ya all skinny lookin', it makes me weird seeing somethin' look so weak" Lucilia finished her sentence with disgust as if she had just seen a swamp beast emerge from the waters, I didn't know how to feel about it, I wanted to say something back but I knew I was weak, getting captured so easily showed that. My Purple Flame couldn't save me. Maybe it was really my fault that we got captured because I was too weak.

"Fine" I responded weakly grabbing onto Flora's arm as I dragged her along while I followed Lucilia to the military camp's dining hall. We walked past hundreds of tents and pop-up buildings. The ground under our feet was muddy from the heavy rainfall that had subdued the previous night or so the soldiers had said as we walked past troops in training, the troops were currently practicing enchanting their weapons with different spells of higher difficulty. It took another couple of minutes before we arrived at the dining hall where Lucilia had pushed both of us inside simultaneously causing us to fall to the ground with a thud.

"What was that for?" I blurted out quietly to myself while pushing myself up off the floor, I then grabbed Flora by the hand and pulled her up slowly. As I looked around I noticed very few soldiers and lots of uneaten food ready to be consumed by the one and only me. "So is this all for us?" I asked, my tummy felt like it was going to collapse in on itself if I didn't eat soon.

"Oh oh don't get ahead of yourself kid, the other soldiers finish their routines shortly and when they do, you're gonna wish there was more, so dig in before they get here otherwise you two are going hungry for the night," Lucilia said with a smug on her face. I let go of Flora and quickly rushed over to the food stand and began to fill my plate up with food as if it were going to be the last time I ever ate. Minutes later once I had finished filling my plate up like a pig Flora had tugged at my shirt, she appeared nervous before speaking.

"Food?" She asked then pointed to her slightly open mouth her teeth barely showing. I thought to myself as to what she could mean, did she want me to feed her? Maybe she wanted to watch me eat?

I then asked, "Uh Flora? Do you want me to feed you?". The young girl shook her head and pointed to a fork and knife sitting on top of a plate. "Do you want food?" I asked trying to connect the dots. Flora nodded her head. "Point to whatever smells good I guess and I'll put it on your plate". Minutes later the girl's plate was filled with more food than mine was, I had to say I was shocked, I had a shocking amount on my plate but the amount on hers was astonishing. It was more than double what I had, how could so much food fit into such a small body?

After we finished stacking our plates with lots of meat and almost no vegetables we sat down in the corner of the dining room where we were soon joined by Lucilia who struggled to sit down properly because of her injured leg. "Oh my, you two have quite an appetite, if you eat that much every day you're going to look like the training dummies" Lucilia had said while pinching my ear to annoy me.

"Could you stop that while I'm eating... It's annoying" I said irritated, I was trying to eat peacefully, something to be enjoyed during war times like this where death could lurk in the very room you reside in.

"That's th' point li'l one, peace is boring, there's no excitement," She said as is I was being told some god given wisdom. I continued to ignore her rambling and resumed eating from my stockpiled plate of juicy meat. Before I had finished half my plate I looked over at Flora who had gravy dripping down the side of her mouth. I grabbed a napkin and went to wipe the gravy off her face before i noticed that he had already finished all her food and had an accomplished look on her face as she looked at me. "Uh Flora, are you sure you needed to eat that much?" I said shocked.

"Me won," She said, the accomplished look had become frozen on her face as she looked at me. I continued with my previous action and wiped the gravy off her face, placed the napkin in a nearby bin and then sat back down in my chair once more.

"So what now Lucilia? Why have you decided to keep us?" I asked breaking the silence then taking another mouthful of food.

"Hmmm? I believe you two are special" She said resting her head on her propped up arm. "And li'l Soli, you haven't told me what your original goal was either, you just told me what happened along your journey," She said as her eyes made me feel as if a hole was being dug through my eyes.

"I... I wanted to reach the border, there's no war over there, and there isn't a big storm that's been going on since the war started years ago" I said reluctantly trying to hold back any other information that could be used against me.

"Hmmm is that so? Hate to break it to ya kiddo but th' border hasn't been crossed SINCE the war started, the main reason being no one can actually make it there, the second reason being that the two countries have been separated by what appears to be a man made ocean that seemingly happened overnight" Lucilia explained in no way sugar coating the current situation, But it really was a mystery, a man made ocean appearing overnight and the separation of land between the two countries was extraordinary, the feat must have been performed but hundreds if not thousands of talented mages and soldiers of the highest degree, it really was an inhumane feat, it was like it was created by a god, not no man.

"But I was told that the border was a way to get away from the war" I exclaimed as if everything I had been told had been merely a lie. The Purple Flame was even guiding me there, away from the war, the border was meant to be for people to find solace but now it's been separated by a huge ocean, ridiculous.

"Unfortunately not everything goes as planned right, so, that's why I'm taking you and Flora under my wing, I'll train you two to be survivors, warriors, and master fighters, it's the least I could do for ridding you of your freedom," Lucilia said speaking seriously and clear, it was very clear that she meant everything she said. She scratched her head looking away. "I suppose I better get my own dinner before the troops arrive and this place gets rowdy" Lucilia chuckled walking over to the food stands and placing only a couple of items onto her plate before sitting down beside me as she was earlier.