For several hours Princess Andrea Woodfield fought her sister Princess Gemma Woodfield. Gemma the earth princess was a difficult opponent for Andrea; it was why Andrea decided to challenge her first. She knew that if she waited and Gemma had managed to defeat another sister she could become impossible for Andrea to beat. She also couldn't afford to let any of her sisters obtain the earth power. That power in anyone's hands would be dangerous for her. Her blades can cut a lot but calling cutting rock difficult would be a laughable understatement. Since Andrea issued the challenge, Gemma got to pick the setting, and she chose a forest in the afternoon. Perfect territory for an earth magic user like Gemma, surrounded by earth that she can mold and control as she sees fit. They began their confrontation as soon as the sun had set, meeting in a small clearing. The two had focused on each other through out the entirety of their altercation despite the battle in the background between Andrea's brother Nicholas and some unknown beasts. She was thankful she hadn't managed to talk him out of joining her. She was thankful that is, right up until the very end. Andrea had managed to finally crack Gemma's rock armor after hours of beating on it, she had exhausted three blades that she knew no whetstone imaginable would be able to sharpen again. Finally close to ending their fight in her favor she was dismayed when she heard a noise behind her and looked to find a large earth wolf coming out of the brush with a small dog in it's mouth.

"What will you do Andy?" Gemma spat out impishly. "End me or save your pet?"

Andrea tightened her grip on the hilt of her sword with the blade resting against the side of Gemma's jaw.

"Even if you plunge your blade into me now the wolf will still destroy him." Gemma hissed with malice in her voice. You take my life and it comes with me she laughed mercilessly.

Andrea stood there for a second, staring deep into Gemma's eyes; observing the hatred in her adoptive sister's eyes. The heavy weight of her choice bore down on her as she grit her teeth, she might not get a second chance at Gemma. She released an exhale and in three steps she closed t he distance between her and the wolf stabbing into it's head and catching Nicholas with her foot. She twist the hilt of her blade and it disappears into thin air, then she pulls Nicholas close to her . The reunion is short lived as the earth wolf bloats before exploding with a force great enough to send Andrea flying with Nicholas hugged tight to her body.

Later

When she awoke hours later, Andrea was surprised to find that her movement was extremely limited. She was in a daze unable to focus on anything in particular and just opening her eyes felt like a struggle. Everything ached but fortunately her wounds had closed' at least her healing magic was still working which meant she still had her magic power. Her mouth was dry and her throat itched. When she opened and closed her mouth attempting to moisten it she was thankfully treated to a straw sliding between her lips. She didn't even take the time to be cautious of what the liquid in the cup might be; the water was a gift from the gods slowly rejuvenating her. Her eyes finally fluttered open but her gaze was met with a bright shining light that make her quickly squint.

"They're awake" she heard a soft voice say.

Andrea moved her hands around feeling that her wrists were tightly bound by zip ties to a chair. She shook her head from side to side as her dark brown locks covered her face enough to let her open her eyes a little more. She looked down and could see her ankles were free but the feeling hadn't returned to her legs yet. Fear struck her that she was paralyzed but then her toes began moving despite still not regaining the feeling in them yet. A sigh of relief escape her. She looked from side to side trying to take in what little of her surroundings she could but the light was so bright that the rest of the room was encased in darkness. She closed her eyes again, tried to focus and center herself.

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"Nicky are you there?" she thought trying to communicate to her brother through their telepathic link, but she got no response. That wasn't good. Was he still alive? Had she failed to save him? Her breathing became ragged. almost to the point of hyper ventilating over the possibility that her brother was now dead until the sound of footsteps brought her back to reality. The footsteps were quiet and deliberate, the person was clearly trying to hide their presence but wasn't good enough to hide from her. She decided to placate them and play along.

"What are you?" she heard a husky but still feminine voice ask from behind her.

"What are you talking about?" she said making her voice shake as much as she could in artificial fear.

"You heard me, what the hell are you?" The voice shouted, moving to her side.

"Female?" She answered unevenly.

The voice laughed humorlessly and threateningly; that sent a genuine chill through Andrea's spine. Although she didn't feel like she was in danger, she had to admit that this woman was certainly intimidating.

"I don't understand" she said her voice cracking. She cleared her voice before adding "What do you want from me?"

She felt a blade slice across the skin of her bare arm. Andrea managed to choke back a yelp as blood began to trickle down her arm. A deep, low, irritated growl escaped from her throat.

"Is she growling?" She heard a quiet shake voice whisper from another part of the room. She looked down at her arm and watched as the wound slowly began to close itself.

"We found you in a river not too far from here." The female voice spoke up. "We attempted to assist you with medical support but your wounds were recovering on their own." She spat disgustedly. "I want to know why."

"Shit" Andrea thought extremely annoyed. The only choice she had left was to try to fight her way out of this. Focusing her magic in her hand she produced a small blade roughly the size of a letter opener.

"Thank you for saving me but I don't know what you want me tell you." she said to cover the sound of her popping the first zip tie. She bent the blade into thin air and made it reappear in her other hand but then heard a boom outside.

"That was pretty close Cj, this place might not be secure for long." Another voice said, she remembered it was the soft male's voice she heard when she first woke up. A groan followed as the female voice returned.

"Knock her out. We'll have to take her with us until we can figure out what the hell she is."

"That'll just slow us down, we need to leave her and be on our way." Another, softer, female voice spoke up.

"If she is some kind of enemy weapon then we need to know about what she can do and if there are more of her." The interrogating female shot back. Another boom, this time closer.

"We don't have time to argue about this guys." Another male voice said. Andrea had counted at least five people now.

"You're going to get us killed Cj and for what?" The second female spoke back up.

"We're only going to die if we keep standing here debating. I'm commanding officer and you'll follow my commands. Now pack her up and let's get ready to move." The interrogator directed

'Her name must be Cj then', Andrea thought to herself. Another boom outside, this one close enough to shake the building. The bright light stuttered for a moment and Andrea used the commotion to pop the last zip tie and move. She disappeared into the darkness and fear ripped through the group when they noticed she wasn't in the seat anymore.

"Where the hell did she go?" Cj shouted angrily

"We've gotta get out of here!" the other female shouted. They packed up their stuff hustling around in the dim lights. Luckily most of their things were still loading in the humvees.

"Do we grab the dog?" Andrea heard one of the men ask. She perked up at that. Nicholas may still be alive.

"Take him" CJ answered concisely.