Chapter 1: Dojo

June wanted to hide her in Master Galen's academy while disappearing on the very dawn they arrived here. But she thought blending in with the students and learning some Dynastian fighting style would be better.

What a bad idea….

Her comrades used to throw her some words like nonsense bitch, headless who would lick sergeant's toe, weirdo that plays with bugs like a child…. She didn't even understand those words were meant to insult her. How could you expect a blank-headed person to do so? But now she had grown a little brain and finally got that… her buddies weren't that wrong at all.

She could clearly see the students gawking at her… or perhaps at her red hair, peeking through the red rag. She had a similar uniform given by the kind Master, who also risked giving shelter to a Legion deserter.

That was the one decision she didn't regret a bit: choosing June's side and fleeing with her to the Dynasty capital. Perhaps, it was the first decision she made by herself. But it didn't stop the question floating in her puny head—why do you always obey them? That voice didn't sound like hers.

Her wounds hurt a bit—a bit for her—but she still insisted on sparring with Master Galen, June's former master.

Accept no weakness—the Legion's motto.

He told her she was the quickest learner he had ever seen. When she fought with Dynastian soldiers in that bamboo forest near the Shadow Squad camp, she wondered at their dexterity. Now she was wondering how her wrists were too smooth with the staff.

She was good with almost everything, every weapon, every style. Who taught me?

Just she didn't remember learning them. She didn't remember anything….

She needed to know… badly. She needed to know to which land she belonged—the Legion or the Dynasty. But the choice was not hers to make anymore. There was no way back to the land where she found herself lost and void.