I'm running as fast as my levitation boots can carry me. I will not be caught! I will not be caught!  My heart is racing to catch air. The guards have noticed my disappearance and that was not part of the plan. I was supposed to have escape before they knew I'm gone.

"Her highness has escaped!" Oh, no. They're sounding the Malachites. I have to disappear, tonight, before those winged officers get a hold of me. My elite training at the Red Ops Academy will be nothing compared to the ruthlessness of these mechanically-made mercenaries. I hide under the rocks of the Firefalls before being surprised by the voice of a girl.

"Who are you?" I gasp. It's a Garnetine!  I'm caught. Oh, no. The plan is destroyed. What do I do? What do I do?

Quickly, I manage to throw a punch at her stomach and she drops, on the floor. I know the blow was painful, but it wasn't serious. The first plan was to escape, not to engage in combat. So I had to improvise, physically.

"I'm sorry, I just need to leave." I whisper, my voice almost impossible to hear. The Malachites have super-sensory cybernetics in their bodies and even a chatter meters away can be heard. 

"Viridia? You're Viridia?" The girl asks while breathing sharply as she fishes out a glowing scarlet-colored serum inside a crystal tube bottle. There it is, the Red Blood. She's obviously using it to regenerate.

"I don't know any Viridia." I lie. How can she have known my name? Was I already hunted before I left the towers? Did someone saw the notes I wrote? It can't be, I've kept it here, in my pocket. Let, me check.

"Yes, you know Viridia because you are her. Do not lie. I have come to help you. Your grandmother has sent me." She swiftly stands as the Red Blood has spread across her entire body. I should know, she is glowing brightly like Venus.

Wait, what? My grandmother has sent her? Why would Azure send a Garnetine to look for me? Has she turned her back against the people of Viridian? Did the Supreme Burgundy force her to cross me out in exchange for the separation of the people's lives? My mind slowly tries to figure out the variables.

"Your grandmother seeks your presence, urgently. Come willingly or I shall have to use force to take you in." The girl demands. Ha!  As if she has the ability to take me down. My genetic enhancements are far more advanced than any of the flightless lifeforms in Viridian. My training in the Red Ops Academy was for Alpha Aviary, meaning, even though I was flightless and did not have wings, I am capable of taking down 10 men with a single blow. Yeah, I'm that good.

"You're not even trained for combat. Look at your suit, there is no pins indicating you came from the Academy. Dear girl, as much as I'd like to spar with you, I do not like to fight with people under my level." 

She's well-toned, and clearly a bit physically stronger than me, given that she is a spawn of Garnetine culture. But that does not give her a chance against a skilled warrior like me.

"I wasn't trained in Red Ops. I was trained in Black Ops. I lead a legion of 10 skilled rogue assassins." She smirks. Black Ops? She came from Jupiter?  

That's the highest education anyone skilled could achieve, being trained in Black Ops. Even Malachites weren't trained there. All the genetically modified lifeforms who are accepted to train were sent to Jupiter, alone, on different locations and on different times. Everyone had to learn to keep up with harsh weather and unknown assailants, friends or not. There were no killing allowed, just pure combat and on occasion, a fleet of killing machines are sent to kill everyone and only those who survive would get to graduate. The dead bodies? Either they were shredded or just left to rot. It didn't matter, none of their lives did. They were all just lab experiments that the engineers of Permafrost wanted to know was Combat Grade, or Industrial Grade.

I need to retreat from being arrogant, this woman right here has obviously survived the all the worse things that can happen to anyone and she has the capability to let out that 'worse' out on me.

"Black Ops, huh? And why should I trust you?"

"I knew your mother." Her words resonated on every limb of my body, flesh and steel. It even reached to my mechanical heart. That was a reason to trust her. But, how could she have known my mother? I didn't even know who my mother was. All I knew was, she died after the Battle of Terra. At least, that's what Azure tells me.

We stayed inside a dark cave two miles away from Firefalls. The Garnetine woman has told me that we had to camp and rest for the night because the Malachites would be guarding the valley and it would be too risky to take on an entire legion, even if she and I together were skilled and powerful.

So, we stayed the night. But because she and I weren't knew to this, this environment where you know you weren't safe, where there are endless possibilities someone might find out where you are, we didn't sleep much. We just lay awake, keeping our minds and every senses sharp. If any sudden movement or sound was noticed, we often stood up quickly and scanned the perimeter.