A New Start

Departing from the old ragged but sturdy train station, the train passes countless deserted towns, cities ravaged by fierce battles, abandoned and broken homes, rotting mangled corpses, and numerous vicious arms dealer and combat specialist vehicles. The sound of battlefields is always present no matter how far the train goes. From the distant, ominous dark dust clouds taint the landscape. The farther the train travels more and more arms dealers and combat units are seen. Moreover, the train passes through few barely stable towns to stopping over well-maintained and secured towns. This show the great disparity between towns that are accommodating combat units and arms dealer and those who can barely shelter them.

The train finally reaches its last stop, Blood Cloaked City. The city in which the wealthiest combat elites and arms dealer resides. Most of them are located in the inner part of the city. Blood Cloaked City is not only known for the arms dealer and elites that reside within it but also known to hold the most nefarious dealings. The black market is well known that even other countries secretly participate in it.

As the train opens its doors and announces that it has reached the last station, Lyra who was mostly asleep throughout the journey awakes and scrambles to get her luggage. The conductor notices her struggle with getting her luggage out of the compartment so he helps her.

"Thank you, Sir."

"No problem, Young Miss." The conductor with a smile replies. "Stay safe out there, Young Miss."

"I'll try." Lyra answers back with a weak smile.

At the boarding platform, a woman with fiery wavy hair and shades wearing a tight suit and high heels stands out. The woman's clothes outline her voluptuous figure. As soon as Lyra sees the lady, she could not help but grip the handle of her luggage a bit tighter. Lyra immediately recognizes this woman as her uncle's combat partner since it matches her uncle's description perfectly. She slowly walks toward the woman.

"So your Lyra, Fum's niece." the woman states with a tinge of sarcasm as she sees Lyra slowly walking towards her. "Stop dwindling and follow me immediately. I don't have that much free time."

"Yes, Ma'am." Lyra answers quickly with a hint of sadness.

"Don't call me 'ma'am'. Call me Madam Cherry or Madam." Madam Cherry declares as she stops with her hand lightly resting on her hips and faces Lyra with a stern expression, "Do you understand?"

"Yes, Madam."

"Good."

Madam Cherry leads Lyra to a sturdy military-looking car and says "Get it. You could just put your luggage on the seat beside you." She opens the passenger's door of the car and signals Lyra to get in. Lyra with reluctance in her heart but determination in her face gets in the car. Madam Cherry too, gets in the driving seat and starts the engine, and begins to drive.

They drove past huge junkyards, busy markets, intimidating weapon shops, and even some combat arenas. The car slows down as it enters a gate to a two-story building. The building looks more like a gym facility than a house it even has a dojo connected to it. Madam Cherry parks the car behind the building near the dojo.

"Follow me and don't wander off." Madam Cherry immediately got out of the car and not even looking back instructs Lyra to "Hurry up." Lyra, pressing her lips do what she's told silently and follows Madam Cherry. As they enter the building, two identical girls with golden hair and green eyes greet their sight.

"Welcome home, Master!" they greet in unison.

"I'm home, Clair and Theresa. Meet Lyra, she'll be staying with us from now on. Although, she won't be training with us. She'll be here mainly as a household helper." Madam Cherry explains to her disciples. "Lyra, meet Clair and Theresa. They are my direct disciples. I hope all of you get along since your basically the same age." Madam Cherry declares sternly.

"Of course, Master!" the twins with beaming smiles answers

Lyra on the other hand, answers wearily "Yes, Madam."

"Good. Now let me get Lyra to settle in her room, and then I'll personally train you and the twins later." Madam Cherry leads Lyra to her room which is the farthest room from the front door but the closest room to the back door. "Here's your room. I'll send Nina our housekeeper to instruct you what to do later on. For now, better fix your luggage and get familiar with this room since you are staying here for a while." After saying that, Madam Cherry walks out of Lyra's room without even looking back.

"My new room huh..." Lyra whispers. She gently opens her luggage and the first thing that caught her eye was her Karambit knife. She gently lays it on her lap. This knife was the first present her uncle bought for her. She didn't know it at that time but her uncle was so smug when he presented it to her like it was the best gift she could ask for that even though she was slightly disappointed that it wasn't a cute bear instead, she still happily accepted it. It turns out that her Karambit knife seems to be forged from a meteorite so it was understandable to know why her uncle was so smug. She couldn't help but let out a small chuckle remembering her uncle's funny smug face. *sigh*

"A young lady shouldn't sigh you know, there's a saying that sighing lets you age sooner." a tough battle-worn looking old woman says as she enters Lyra's room. " Hello, there young miss. I'm Nina, Madam Cherry's housekeeper. Nice to meet'cha!" Nina grins revealing her missing teeth.

"Hello, I'm Lyra." greets Nina with a sincere smile.

"Oh ho, aren't you a beauty in the making! Well, then Lyra, I'll give you about thirty more minutes to settle your luggage. Is that okay with you, dearie?" Nina asks with a grin.

"Okay. Although, I think that's a lot of time. I'll finish soon since I only have few clothes and things to fix."

"Oh. Well, I'm sure Madam will give ya some good clothes and other stuff I'm sure! No need to be troubled by that dearie." Nina cheerily announces.

"Okay."

"Ah, Lem'me warn ya now dearie be careful around the evil twins! those twins might look angelic, smile prettily but I tell ya, those are two-faced evil brats! They find insidious ways to hurt people! I should know since they tried to hurt me in more ways than I can remember, too bad they're no match with my skills, He!he!he!"

"Thanks for the advice, Ma'am." Lyra sincerely appreciates Nina's warning.

"No need to call me 'Ma'am' dearie, just calling me Nina is fine. I'm no master of the house so it's fine to call me by my name. Besides hearing you calling me ma'am only reminds me that I'm old!" Nina chuckles. Lyra couldn't help but chuckle too.

"Oh my! You sure are quick. You already settled all your stuff while I was blabbering away!" Nina is impressed by Lyra's quick movements. "Alright, from now on I'll teach what ya need to do as Madam Cherry instructed me to do. Well, I'm sure to give ya some time to play too so don't you worry dearie."

Lyra shakes her head "It's fine Nina, I rarely play anyway. I'd rather practice some basic combat moves instead in my spare time if I'll have any. Well, more like I'll make time for it." Lyra confidently announces to Nina.

"Eh, a fighter huh. Hmm..." Nina looks at Lyra and found the child staring at her with strong determination in her eyes. "I'm sure you'll find time for it. I'll even help you to have time for it!" charmed my Lyra's sincere and determine attitude, Nina decides to help the young girl. "For, now let me teach you what's expected of you by Madam. okay?"

"Okay."

And so, Lyra's new life begins.