The sound of someone rapping their fingers against the door woke me up. When I saw the time on the clock hanging on the wall across from my bed, I knitted my eyebrows together in confusion. Who would be up — at my door, no less — at this hour?

  Yawning, I stretched out my arms and stood up groggily. I was still in the same clothes as last night, having been watching the rain for about two hours straight.

  I made my way to the door and opened it, blinking my eyes at the sunlight that poured in. There was a girl standing there; long black hair, deep blue-green eyes; shivering from the cold. My eyes widened.

  "E-Exc-cuse m-me," she stuttered through her chattering teeth, "M-May I c-come in for a m-moment?"

  "Oh! Uh, of course! Come in, I'll get you something to drink." I mentally slapped myself for being awkward, but the girl didn't seem to notice.

  "T-Thank you..."

  As she walked in I noticed her hair was wet to the tip of the last strand, making it appear to be darker than a black abyss. Her outfit, which consisted (strangely) of a pastel purple dress with tattered ends and a light grey cloak made of thick material, was also drenched. I made a note to get her some non-saggy clothes after I got her a drink.

  A drink, right.

  I quickly walked over to the kitchen part of the room and opened one of the many cabinets.

  "Hot chocolate or coffee?" I asked.

  "Mm, hot chocolate please," she responded. "I haven't had that in forever."

  Now that was weird. Everyone around for miles had a large supply of hot chocolate in their homes. It was the drink of the town. Everyone had, on average, three to nine cups of it a week.

  "Alright," I finally responded, grabbing the mixture. "I'm assuming you stayed up to watch the rainfall?" I turned back to see her shrug.

  "Something like that."

  "I'm guessing you're not from around here, seeing as you 'haven't had hot chocolate in forever'."

  "No, I'm from a few towns over."

  "You know, you look familiar. Have we met before or something?"

  "I don't think so. I don't recall ever meeting someone like you before."

  "Why are you talking so formal? Relax a little bit, this is the country part if the city." I walked over with two freshly-made cups of hot chocolate in my hands, passing one over to her.

  "I'm just tense."

  "Is someone following you?"

  She sighed. "Not just 'someone'."

  "Oh."

  She looked up. "So, I presume you're Sarah Trinity?"

  Oh, yeah. I forgot that the names of every person in a dwelling were posted on the door. "Yes, I am. You?"

  She hesitated. "Raine."

  "Just 'Raine'?"

  "Yes," she said, more confidentially. "Just Raine."

  As if on cue, a connection clicked in my head. "That's why you look so familiar! You look like the commander-in-training!"

  The commander-in-training was the man or woman who was trained to lead our Division and battle against Emperor Harus and his Division in the civil war we were currently having. The commander-in-training was like a prince or princess of sorts, except the job was much more than just lead the country. Our commander-in-training at the moment was a young woman named...Raine...

  I looked at the girl sitting in front of me. "Wait. Are you the commander in training?"

  Raine looked uncomfortable. "I, um..."

  "You are! You have the name, the looks, the dress, the formality, everything! But, what're you doing away from the Center? Did they kick you out? Did it get overrun? Is that why you said someone's following you? Someone overtook the Center?"

  She shook her head. "No, the Center is fine. I ran away."