Chapter 1. Who am I?

It is the 21st millennium, and for as long as humanity can remember it has been at constant war with the mutant, heretic, and the alien. Still by the might of the immortal Emperor of man kind, who is a master of ten thousand worlds by the might of his inexhaustible armies and the will of the gods, humanity fights on.

Long forgotten is the promises of peaceful cooperation and understanding, for in the grim dark future there is only war. There is no peace amongst the stars, only an eternity of carnage and slaughter.

***

Lili was a beautiful woman by any standards, and she was in the prime of her life. By now she was supposed to be already married and maybe even had a few children of her own, or at least already been planning for her future wedding. And yet instead of being dressed in a beautiful white wedding dress, while standing under a clear blue sky with the warm sun shining down upon her skin, Lili was dressed in all gray with a gray helmet on her head and a respirator gas mask on her pretty face. While the unnatural glow of the putrid sun shined upon her bayonet that was attached to her trusty standard issue Harkon patterned Lasrifle, it's reflection showing off her sad gray figure.

Her long gray coat that covered her body gave her warmth and comfort, but not in the way that she imagined her make belief boyfriend to do. Oh god she was lonely, and heavy, as she was forced to wear her standard issue flack armour that covered most of her upper body, these uncomfortable knee pads, really uncomfortable boots, and a really heavy medical backpack as well.

Well honestly her gear was but the standard stuff a medic like her was supposed to wear, but for her petite little self it was way too much. Even after throwing away most of her ammunition and her side arm, she felt like collapsing out of the shear weight of all her gear.

Oh god, just how had it come to this? Why couldn't she just have been given a normal life instead of being forced into her role in the military? Sure she knew how to fight and was kind of good at all the typical things involved with the military, but it honestly just wasn't her thing.

Still the others of her regiment that stood alongside her on the Rock Creek battlements were a lot unluckkier than she was. Especially the members of her Devastator squad that she had been forcefully assigned to, or well that's what she would at least feel like if she was dressed like them.

Covered in their heavy black battlesuits, they looked like some hulking monsters. They had backpacks of metal that were three times larger than hers, they were freaking tall, like over three heads taller than she was. Plus those huge heavy guns of theirs were longer, and bigger than her well trained legs. Even their tactical belts were full of grenades, extra magazines, and they even had an extra sidearm there that seemed larger than her Lasrifle. Damn they seemed so heavy, and they indeed were heavy.

And unlike her nervous reck of a self, their eyes seemed to be totally dead set on the distant ash wastes that stood before their defensive lines. They had totally steeled themselves for another bloody battle, as the infected hordes would be upon them soon again.

Thinking of it now, she could quite clearly remember how that damn plague had started just a little over a year ago. Back then the agricultural world of Achios had been lush and green, full of little lakes, streams, forests, and lots of fertile farm land for as far as the eye could see. But now it was all gray and dead, the plague and the ensuing violence after it had totally devastated the entire world. And it was all basically thanks to the planetary governor's slow reaction.

At first, the Planetary governor had censored all reports of a spreading pox, rumors of a plague so virulent that it could spread by merely hearing the whales of the infected. 

The governor had chalked it up to propaganda, disseminated by one of the many rebel groups that infested the planet and were seeking to undermine his authority. And now his foolishness had cost him, and it had cost all of Achios greatly.

Because of him she along with her squad and the regimental forces that they were attached to had been called to the planet. Their mission was to suppress rebels, oh if only they would have known what it was that they were getting themselves into back then.

But now she could merely curse the fool's name, as the governor had been one of the lucky ones. He at least had been given a quick death by Commissar Galdors Boltpistol. Others suffered a much worse fate, after having been quarantined on this plague-infested world.

Either they now cleanse this world of its sickness, or the Empires battle fleets that stood guard in orbit would cleanse them away along with the sickness.

It was understandable, after all the plague was extremely virulent and so giving it any chance of escaping the world would be a huge risk. And with the planets once fertile agricultural land already being destroyed there was not much value within the world anymore to be saved.

Plus to rebuild it all would be expensive, the risk was also great and so total extermination was probably starting to look like the best option for the Empire here. Basically they were all probably going to die here, even if they somehow killed all the infected. They were totally boned, as she liked to say to her squad mates as a lighter way of saying that they were fucked.

Thinking of it all now Lili could only hope and pray anymore. She was not physically strong, but she was at least blessed by the power of the Holy light and so there was hope. In time she could possibly cleanse this world of its sickness, maybe if they could just survive through this by some miracle.

Pushing these thoughts aside Lili then looked to Commissar Galdor who was the one in charge of their small section of the defence line, as the man then barked out words through his respirator gas mask that made his voice sound even more fierce than it usually was without it.

"Company Ready!"

Adjusting her Tactical Headset that made it a bit hard for her to hear the man. Lili frowned, she would have very much liked to take the damn uncomfortable thing off, however if she loosened her headset too much she feared becoming one of them, a gibbering, slathering, grotesque Zombie.

Even now through her Headset, she could hear them kilometers away in the distance through the thundering sounds of the heavy artillery guns that made the horizon flash. Their voices were a low raw of laughter, screams, coughs and wheezes, worst of all was the singing. Through rotten vocal cords and pus-filled lungs the horde sung the same toon, over, and over again, the song of the damned.

"Join our song, sing along, celebrate our sickness. Through our bile, we will smile. One and all bear witness, to our unifying sickness."

Lili shook her head as she tried to get the lyrics out of her head. It was so simple and calming, like a child's lullaby, but she knew what that damn song could do. She had heard it on the lips of civilians, comrades in arms, and even children's lips as they had been playing in the playground, as they slowly fell into an incurable madness. Oh how she wished that she could forget their insane bits of laughter, as they had slowly, and painfully transformed into those putrid stomach-turning grotesque zombified forms.

When She had first been rescued from her own war torn home world and been forced to join the devastator squad as their special little medic, she was told of such a disease once. The Empire called it The Weeping Pox.

Manuals described the zombies that the sickness created as smiling zombies with horns and protrusions all around their bodies. But it did not do justice to the true horrors of the plague, that was much worse than anything what she had ever seen on her own war torn home world.

Lili swore that if she ever got off of Achios, she would update the manuals. She distracted herself from the plague song, and the thundering of the heavy artillery guns that were far behind the defensive lines, by reviewing the course of the infection within her mind.

It always started with pustules, green, and extremely itchy. Sometimes due to people scratching them these burst and spread the sickness, and then later on confusion set in. The infected acted delirious not knowing where they were or how they got there. And soon came sepsis, the victim's body went into shock as the virus overwhelmed them.

Then came calcification, their very bones sprouted out from their skins in monstrous horns. Hands mutated into savage claws or mere spikes incapable of complex manipulation. About all they could do now was hold a blunt object and swing, if even that. 

Muscular degeneration was next, the infected's facial muscles permanently contracted into a permanent sickening smile, as their lips rotted away. Then a kind of rigor mortis set in, their bodies became stiffer and harder making their bodies hard enough to become more resilient to blunt force trauma.

Then finally as the near-dead victim rose, the only words that then came out from their desiccated throats, was the plague song. They used it to find other infected, drawing to the tune, as they formed massive hordes.

Lili shuddered as she remembered when those kids at the playground had turned. They attacked her savagely, all while chanting that damn song. She would not forget the terrified looks in their eyes, she swore that she could see them somewhere in there, begging for deliverance. But they merely smiled at her like some raving animals hungering for her flesh.

She would never forgive herself for putting Lasbolts through their little skulls. Still the memory of them and all the others was enough to keep her sane. She would not let herself fall under this infection, never.

Though the same could not be said about the others, especially the regular conscripts of the regiment, that's sanity and will to live was questionable.

The horde was in visual distance now, kicking up dust as they slowly ambled across the ash waste uncaring of the heavy explosions in their backlines.

A few of the conscripts seeing their approach panicked, madness seemingly over took them as they ripped off their gas masks, put their side arms within their mouths and blew their brains out, while others hurled themselves off of the battlements, as others fell to their knees in madden laughter and began chanting out that song.

Commissar Galdor and the company though were quick to cut them down with their bayonets. In horror Lili watched this familiar sight that she had seen many times before, soldiers cut, stabbed and tossed the crazed men off of the rock creek battlements. Hardened by all the violence the soldiers seemingly didn't even care that their bayonets were now stained with the blood of their former comrades. Commissar Galdor too showed no remorse as he turned towards the hordes in the distance and cried out louder than Lili had ever heard any man before do.

"Company hold! And praise the Emperor that he has delivered us into this place, that we may slaughter the enemy in his holy name! Remember that we do the Emperor's work brother's, and by the manner of our deaths will we be judged! So let us be washed into his holy embrace by the blood of our enemies! For the Emperor, for humanity!"

Then the rock creek battlements burst out into loud cheers, though Lili wasn't feeling as enthusiastic as the others seemingly were. The horde was getting close now, only about a kilometer from the outer perimeter defense line. There on the flat ground mines were partially buried in the ground with barbed wire after that and then there was the first trench line, full of poorly armed conscripts.

From the higher and better fortified concrete battlements above them, where she stood, she could see them clearly shaking in nervous fear despite the Commissars speech. While behind her another high wall stood over looking the one that she stood on and the field before her.

And after that was the Heavy Steel Citadel, which overlooked the entirety of the battlefield like an Impenetrable wall of Steel, with it's thousands of heavy gun batteries that soon would rain destruction down upon the horde.

The three defence lines before the citadel were also filled with countless men, heavy guns, lots of barbed wire, and a few heavy Scorpion tanks as well.

And behind the citadel stood the capital city of Achios. It was the world's Capital, as well as its namesake. But now it was a mere shell of its former self. Its over 10 million inhabitants had dwindled to a mere hundred thousand after the culling. And now if any one of the 6 Citadels surrounding the city fell, then the City would do so as well, and with it the last free bastion on the planet would be lost.

Lili herself stood guard on the lowest second terrace, a mere 15 meters above the plane where the first trench line was. Commissar Galdor was scarily close to her, and her devastator squad was spread out across the battlements with their heavy guns pointed into the distance. Ammunition was low, reinforcements weren't coming, except maybe some more poorly armed conscripts from the city, and after a year of war morale was low.

Then with the horde coming into the 500 meter range from the defence line, the order finally came as Commissar Galdor barked out. 

"Company fire!"

The horde as if sensing the coming danger, then broke into what could almost pass as a run. A tide of the Zombies came trampling over one another, laughing with Glee as they crushed their comrades underfoot.

Then line after line of heavy guns and Lasrifles opened up with a loud roar of fire. Smaller Lasrifle fire rounds tore small holes into the infected that fell in droves, as massive explosions rippled out amidst their vast numbers, and heavier bolterguns ripped them to shreds, still the infected seemed like an never ending sea of flesh.

Lili could see the infecteds body parts fly all around in the distance, bodies quickly piled up high, enough so to form waist high walls of flesh, and yet they still kept on coming. No matter how many fell, there was seemingly always another one to take their place.

Though as Lili felt herself getting a mean look from Commissar Galdor, she shook in fear and hurriedly took out her rifle and began shooting. With shaking hands she tried to pick out targets from the mass of zombies, but soon she merely started firing crazily into the horde, as there simply wasn't anyway of missing the infected here.

Slowly they grew ever closer and closer to the outer defense lines. Mines were now blowing beneath their feats, ripping off their limbs and sending shrapmetal flying that cut some of the zombies hands, bodies and feet. Their bodies were being ripped to shreds and yet they wouldn't stop, not until their entire head was fully destroyed or ripped off of their torsos.

And as the last of the mines blew up, the horde like a wave slammed into the barbed wire and went over it with the sheer weight of numbers, until they crashed into the first trench line. Soldiers fought back in desperation with their bayonets as they were buried in the mass of rotting bodies. 

Lili could see men torn limb from limb as the zombies hacked them to pieces while continuing to sing their incessant song, and maddened laughter that drove fear within all who bore witness to the horrific scene.

In their final acts of desperation, the soldiers then pulled the pins on their grenades, sacrificing themselves to take out as many of the planet's former citizens as they could. Soon explosions dotted the line, as the first trench line fell. Emperor have mercy on them, Lili thought.

Then through the loud sounds of the battle and screams she could just barely make out Commissar Galdors voice again.

"Flamers to the line! Hold them back!"

The zombies had nearly slaughtered the entire first trench line, only a few pockets of resistance remained, while some zombies were already hitting the barbed wire under the rock creek battlement. Lili then saw the flamer teams rush onto the battlements, ready to push back the zombies.

Some of the survivors of the first line desperately tried to pull back, and attempted to climb the wire and up the steep wall before the flamers unleashed their flames, but it was too late for them now. 

Zombies and the clouds of putrid gas that hung around them, along with the survivors all ignited in flames and were consumed by a roar of fire. Men and zombies flailed around wildly in fire as they were quickly incinerated under the unbearable heat of the flames.

For a moment the horde was kept way from the wall. That was until the heavy bolt fire started. The first shot hit the promethium tank of a flamer on the wall. The soldier along with a few others who had stood too close to him all screamed as they were consumed in flames and slowly cooked alive.

Soon more rounds came flying in with loud roars, killing more flamers and all who were hit by the imprecise bolt fire, causing some to panic and falter.

The Infected weren't supposed to be able to shoot, what was happening? Who was this unseen enemy?

Then from amongst the horde, and out of the mist, arose a dreadful sight for Lilis sore eyes. Hulking green armoured marines, wielding a mix of old lasrifles, newer boltguns and melee weapons. Lili could immediately recognise them to be Spartans, they were the Empires finest, the elite super soldiers that were seemingly coming to answer their prayers.

Still it was hard to make out their forms as they advanced towards the defence lines. But they seemed like old Spartan ones and twos. Maybe they were remnants of the lost battle group, she thought? 

But the closer they came the more obvious it became that these were not the Spartans that she had heard about, they weren't on their side, not only were they firing at them, but there seemed to be something really off about them as well.

Still Commissar Galdor was quick to weep with joy as he said.

"Thank the throne." 

Then she could actually hear him speak into his headset and speak out a command.

"Captain, signal the Spartans to stop their shooting! We can't have any more friendly fire Incidents! Just provide cover for them while they take up defensive positions!"

Far to her right Lili could see a captain nodding in acknowledgment until a bolt came and took off his head.The captain fell lifelessly to the ground with blood spurting out from where his head used to be.

Seeing it Lili felt her stomach turn, while Commissar Galdor seemed to turn to pure terror, seemingly having realized the true horror of the situation.

Still it was no good, soon along with the zombies the Spartans were at the wall, as they then began to climb up. Their beastly claws dug into the hard rock wall, as they slowly climbed upwards like a swarm of ants. It seemed walls were no use here, now only the defenders gun fire could stop them.

Protected partially by her devastator squad and their heavy guns, all who attempted to climb up were quickly gunned down. But the other parts of the wall with only lighter guns to protect them weren't as lucky.

On the right she could already see one Spartan having climbed close to the top. Turning her Lasrifle towards the infected creature Lili along with a few others tried to gun it down, but the Spartans mark one armour could not be pierced so easily. The infected Spartan merely flinched lightly under their fire, its armour merely being slowly chipped. Only to the back of its head Lili could cause a few deep enough holes to reach the creatures skull so that pus oozed out, but it wasn't enough to kill it.

Coming to the top of the wall, the Spartans claws shot out at a defender whose flak armour was easily pierced by its beastly claws that went straight through the soldiers chest. And as if the soldier weighed nothing, the Spartan tossed him off of the wall and into the mass of infected below.

Soon it pulled itself a top the trench, its own rusted Lasrifle being quick to gun down the defenders mercilessly. Until finally she managed to fire a bolt through the infected Spartans neck, cutting through its spine, causing the creature to stagger back and fall like a rock off of the walls.

Still more infected Spartans came, some using close range energy swords, knives and axes to cut down the defenders. Bodies were split in two, limbs cut off, armour was rendered useless before there close range weapons. Other of the Spartans hands were so deformed that they couldn't even use blunt weapons to mash the defenders, instead they simply used their claws to slash at the Defenders like some beasts. Needless to say these were not the Empires finest soldiers, but true beasts.

Commissar Galdor having realised the hopelessness of the situation was quick to call upon more conscript reinforcements to the slaughter, but it was no use.

Soon whole sections of the defensive wall started to be overwhelmed by the infected. Firing his Boltpistol in desperation Galdor yelled out commands, his voice quivering in fear as the desperation of the situation set in to him. 

"Damn it don't let them onto the battlements, that is an order! Hold, hold to the last, push them back damnit!"

Looking over the battlements Lili got a good look at the Infected Spartans as they scaled the wall with their madly laughing zombie cannon fodder behind them. They were not the awe-inspiring elite warriors that she had heard about in legends. No, these ones down the wall were disgusting mutants caked in disease and flies. Tentacles and horns had erupted from their once pristine armours.

Some no longer even had their helmets intact, their heads had bloated out of them, and now had all too many eyes to be seen like if they were some insects, while others were cyclopean. There skin was green and rotten full of pus filled pimples, their teeth seen through their smiles was disgusting, while their noses were not ones resembling that of a humans.

Lili recoiled as one of them set its gaze upon her, it laughed as it did so, its claws dug into the rock creek wall. Then it hissed out words at her as spit and slime flew out its drooling mouth where a tongue way too large for its deformed mouth could be seen. 

"I see you my little one! You can't hide from me! Come your fate awaits!"

Lili turned her Lasrifle towards it and fired, but the red energy bolt ricocheted harmlessly off its hardened skull merely leaving small burn marks behind. Unfaced the creature continued its ascent.

Lili shot again, this time hitting one of the creature's many eyes. The bolt went through its head and blew a clean hole straight through. Green and black blood spewed from the wound but the creature didn't stop, it merely smiled more horrendously at her.

It was almost upon her now, nonetheless, Lili didn't falter and stood her ground. Setting her blaster rifle on full auto she shot the creature several times blowing tentacles and two more eyes out. Her rifle started to glow hot, her standard issue Lasrifle was not meant for extended periods of rapid fire.

The creature was almost upon her now, and as Lili let loose another shot the creature grabbed a hold of her glowing hot Lasrifle. Its flesh made a sizzling sound as it uncaringly held onto it, and she could merely watch as it yanked it out of her hands, its touch seemingly rusting away her painstakingly maintained Lasrifle as it did so.

Lili shrieked and stepped back from the beast, as she looked to her sides for help. But the scene around her was mere carnage. From both sides the Zombies swarmed onto her squad mates that smashed them with their fists, gunned them down, as they scratched at them and tried to peal off their armour

Behind her on the right, she could see Commissar Galdor was impaled by a Spartans hand that was but a spike, while it in return got its head blasted off by a Devastator marines heavy gun.

Everywhere the defenders were falling to the zombies, some died horrific and bloody deaths, others cracked under the pressure of it all and transformed into madly laughing zombies themselves. With their respiratory masks pulled off she could see their eyes full of fear as their horrific looks of fear quickly turned to mad smiles.

No help was coming, she could only face this creature that towered three heads above her by herself. It jumped off of the battlements to the hard stone floor of the wall, its weight lightly cracking the stone underneath as the creature's horrific voice spoke to her again. 

"Your tenacity is admirable, my pretty little one."

Lili turned to look up at the infected Spartans grotesque face before her, whose brains were oozing out of the many holes that she had put through its head. The giant held her now rusted Lasrifle in hand as it then crushed it with horrific ease, as if it were but a plastic bottle, before then throwing it away down the battlements. Then it spoke to her again.

"Lord Pestis might still have use for you yet, pretty little one. Yes your pretty body will serve him well. Now join us, there is no, other, choice."

Horrified by the words, Lili felt shivers run down her spine as she gritted her teeth and yelled to the creature in defiance.

"No, I will never join you! My soul is the light's and my body is the Emperor's!"

Lili quickly jumped to the side and from there grasped a hold of a Boltpistol from there. Seeing the lion's head insignia on it that was encased in a shield, she could immediately recognize it as belonging to Commissar Galdor. Had he tossed the pistol there next to her on purpose, she wondered, as she turned to face the creature again.

The infected Spartan seeing her pistol immediately lunged towards her, it intended to grab the pistol from her hands as it had done to her rifle, but she was quicker.

She put one bolt through its final remaining eye, as she quickly rolled out of the creature's path. It's heavy body blindly slammed onto where she had just been at, as she while laying on the ground aimed and sent three more bolts straight into its neck, cutting the neck in two, and causing it to finally fall lifelessly to the ground. 

She wanted to cheer, but the horde would not let her. As if enraged by her defiance the horde that was ripping the remaining remnants of her devastator squad apart changed their focus on her. From her left and right mindless zombies came charging at her.

Scrambling to her feet Lili ran with all her might towards the barbed wire covered third wall, as she then stopped, turned around and fired her pistol into their number. Six of the zombies were precisely gunned down before her pistol then ran dry. 

Now empty gun in hand she started to run, to her right there was still an open ramp leading up towards the third line, with the Citadel being after that looming over them in the background. A zombie tried to tackle her, but she expertly slid under its larger frame, as it flew over her. Others were swiftly gunned down by the devastator squad's heavy bolts, the zombies bodies being torn to shreds as their guts and blood painted the wall of the third rock creek wall green and black.

Climbing up the steep rock creek ramp, towards the next line of defense, she could hear the horde right behind her. Her squad's guns had seemingly gone silent now. As their medic she should have according to the manuals stayed till her last breath, but she just couldn't.

She wasn't a real soldier, she was merely an orphan who had been picked out from the ruins of her old home and sent into combat. It was all because of her seemingly miraculous healing light that she was apparently picked up by the Sargent. She was their little secret weapon that was meant to let them fight much longer than normally was possible. Time and time again she had gotten them through tough situations and the Sargent had gotten many bonuses of credits because of it, which she figured was probably the reason that the Sargent never told fleet command of her abilities, but kept her secret all to himself. But still in the face of such overwhelming numbers there simply was no chance for her to heal any of them, she had to run, right?

Her body was small, it was so weak compared to the men, and now her breathing was heavy and her vision inside the gas mask was becoming blurry as she ran up the slope. 

Explosions went off behind her as the bombers finally joined the fight. Flying sorties overhead they dropped their massive payloads upon the horde.

She was nearly at the top of the 2nd wall, she could see the defenders there already. Their guns were ready to cut down the infected behind her, but then something powerful grabbed a hold of her head, and she was thrown back down the long slope. 

With a painful and heavy bang she fell down upon a pile of wooden ammunition crates. Her light weight had surprisingly broken them, letting their contents spill onto the ground.

Lili wheezed in pain for more air, the fall had knocked most of her air out of her lungs. That's when she realized the air she was breathing wasn't filtered anymore, her gas mask had been torn off by that creature that had thrown her.

In horror Lilis big deep blue eyes scanned the wall around her, only to see more of them closing in on her position and fast. From a top the walls some defenders saw the desperate state of her new found position and tried to help by gunning down as many of the creatures as they could. They bought her a few seconds, but couldn't save her now.

Taking off her helmet, Lili let her long blonde hair spil loose, as she basked in the comfort of finally letting her skin breathe a little. Still the infection was quick as ever, her body was already heating up. The light within her fought back against it, but if the infected got to her then the infection would surely spread.

All ready their incessant song was causing her to lightly sing along.

"Join our song, sing along. Celebrate our sickness. Through our bile, we will smile, one and all bare witness."

But no, she couldn't be turned so easily. Clenching at her chest where her cross of light was hidden, and under it was her pure core of light, she found strength to resist it all.

Knowing all too well the desperation of her predicament, Lili pulled the pins on the 2 grenades attached to her waist, and through her still intact full lips roared out.

"I'll never join you vile beasts! My body's final resting place will be within the eternal light, and my death will be in the glory of the Immortal Emperor!"

Then as the horde closed in, the grenades exploded in bright flashes of light. There was but a light sting of pain, as the ammunition crates underneath her ignited as well and all were swallowed up in the massive explosion that shook the entire rock creek wall like an earthquake.

But it wasn't the end. Lili knew not how, but the horrific laughter of those creatures still played within her head like a bad nightmare, even after she was sure that she should have been dead. The world was dark, but soon stars began to roll over head and images of what seemed like humanities past came to her.

She could see it all from the very beginning. First there was light, then the first Kingdom was formed within the darkness of the void. The Kingdom of heaven it was called. 8 Archangels ruled there, 4 in the forms of women, 4 in the forms of men and so there was balance. Until one of them betrayed them and so within the darkness of the void a second kingdom was made, the Kingdom of Hell, and so soon the first war began. And within the lands between heaven and hell, planets and stars became into being, which both sides were quick to start colonizing.

Lili knew not how long of a time went by, but it felt like she watched it all for tens of thousands of years, until finally God created a second plain of existence. And there after countless trials and errors Earth became into being, and there mankind ruled.

But all was not as the creator had wished it to be. Mankind was corrupted by hells minions and so man fell into sin and wars raged on earth. From the earliest of humanities days it seemingly became humanities nature to fight one another, and so war after war they fought.

Violence and death had seemingly infected the earth and there was no ending in sight. But in the mids of the bloodshed, mankind accidentally stumbled upon it's seeds of salvation.

New discoveries brought to mankind great hope, but still there were many sacrifices, many lives were lost. Humankind was mired in ever horrific conflicts, meaningless conflict that left parts of their planet scarred for ever more.

Until finally mankind looked up from the blood, the dirt and the dying, to the stars. Humanity had not given up on the desire of reaching out, going to new frontiers and finding that what lay beyond the earth that had seemingly become so small for all of humanity to live upon.

And there up in the heavens humanity looked to find a new home to expand to, and prosper. For the first time in human history all were seemingly united in a shared vision, a common goal.

But progress was extremely slow. Generations passed by and with the passing of time new conflicts emerged. The unity that was once established shook within the fires of constant war, until finally after long last a single powerful man emerged and led humanity to their goal.

By the sheer mighty sight of his huge form, many knelt in submission, and those who didn't were in time crushed under his armies. Soon all united and mankind finally made it to the stars.

Only to then find them to not be as welcoming as many had hoped. Until eventually they came to the point of being where she had lost her life on those rock creek battlements.

Seeing all of the countless years of history and progress, Lili felt her mind being totally overwhelmed by it all. She couldn't really comprehend it all, what was real and what was not, or what it all meant, needless to say she was lost as to why she was even being shown it all now? Was she dead or alive, where was her squad?

Then memories of another life came to her that made her feel even more at a loss. She could see a life on a place called earth, and a large mansion within the rural areas of England where she along with her mother and father lived a happy life. She was a beautiful 6 year old girl, good at something called ballet dancing, playing the piano, and singing.

And now it was the summer of 1995, and her father wanted to go celebrate this beautiful summer with his family in the United States. He had even bought a new handcrafted 1995 model Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn for the occasion. They were supposed to be on a long road trip through the country.

She could remember the man bragging about this car of his a lot to her, and so the memories of it seemed quite clear to her. They had driven into the rural mountainous state of Vermont. And there they were passing by a beautiful little town situated between two little mountain ranges.

Stopping by a convenient store to grab something to eat, her head had started to feel funny and so she stayed behind as her parents went to do some shopping. She had opened the door and that's when the lights came back into her eyes.

Her now much smaller of a core of light than what she remembered stirred to life. Its fire was weak, but it was there, but as she opened her eyes she noticed her hands to be small, the car door was open and upon her little frame were something called hello kitty clothes.

A pink comfortable hoodie with a cat face covered her upper body, loose pink pants were on her legs and pink shoes with more cat faces covered her feet. And she could feel her long blonde hair having been cutely tied into two twin tails.

Taking off her seatbelt she then hopped out the car, only to immediately fall on the asphalt of the small parking lot that she now found herself in. Her center of balance was all wrong, her body was so weak, so light and fragile feeling, plus short like she was a midget, or indeed just a 6 year old girl.

"Oh honey, are you alright? You didn't hurt yourself did you?"

A sweet elderly voice of a woman called out to her as feminine hands grabbed her by her armpits and lifted her up to her feet. Lili felt so lost, looking at the old granny she could only see wrinkles and a gentle smile, and those eyes full of worry looking at her, that made her feel at such a loss.

The old woman seemed so huge compared to her, and she had lifted her up with such ease that it made her slightly shiver in fear. Still she knew there was no reason to be afraid of this woman, and yet she was.

Hurriedly she saluted the old woman and thanked her.

"Thank you Mam for your assistance."

But no salute came back, only laughter.

"Hihihi, wow well aren't you just the cutest little soldier that I have ever seen, hihihi."

Now Lili felt really confused, was her salute so much off that it actually made this woman just laugh at her. Civilian or not, none had ever before laughed at her like so.

Lili could feel her face turn slightly red out of Shame as she quickly excused herself and ran away. This was way too embarrassing, she needed to quickly report back to the Sargent and get out of this place.

Getting onto the sidewalk she ran as she took in the strange sights around herself. Next to the sidewalk there was a long two lane street where many noisy and bulky looking cars drove. And on both sides of the sidewalk families and old people walked around, they went into the many different looking small wooden shops and businesses on both sides of the street. Some walked their little dogs, while some children were for some reason pointing at her.

Even some adults that all seemed like giants to her now looked curiously, while many old women and just women in general looked at her like looking at some cute little rabbit.

It was strange, she might not have been the biggest or most intimidating person in her squad, but never did she get stares like this from the civilians. She was after all a medic, which was an extremely respectful profession by the standards of any imperial world. She saved lives, and attached cut off limbs to bodies, or grew them back with her power when the Sargent asked her to do so, and she was respected for it, even if she was in the end merely forced to serve without any pay or benefits.

However all of this was so new and strange to her. On one hand she could somehow remember herself being Lili a six year old girl, but on the other hand she could also remember that she was Lili a woman who was already way past the age of six. The two memories had seemingly become one and along with those visions she just saw, she no longer could say what was real and what was not. Who even was she now, were these thoughts the cause of what the Sargent called a midlife crisis? In such cases she could only rely on her training and belief in the wisdom of the Immortal Emperor.

Still she was at least quickly finding her center of balance again as she ran along the sidewalk. Looking into the distant forest covered mountain range, she looked to the tallest one and headed that way.

Though with houses that all held fences on both sides of the road, she was forced to run along the road as she looked for a way up to the mountain where she was sure to get a better understanding of her surroundings.

Then as the road arched and separated into two different directions, she ran left to the smaller side road and entered a small neighborhood. It wasn't the right way she guessed, but she didn't like the looks that these people were giving her.

And most worrying of all were the flags, on many homes and business windows or on flag poles there were flags with stars and stripes. Her memory told her that it was the flag of the united states, but her 6 year old girl memories could not come up with an answer as to what it was, or where exactly this so called nation of the United States was.

For all she knew she might have been in rebel held territory right about now, and if her identity was discovered then most likely death would await her, or the rebels feeble attempts at trying to turn her against her own Empire. She had heard of it, she had heard of their propaganda and promises of freedom and rights, and she despised it all for they only made the empire weak and were one of the reasons that her home world was burned in the first place.

Lost in her thoughts Lili then came upon a place called Middle school. There before the parking lot was a sign that had some painted images of children, the name of the school and a flag pole with one more of those flags there again.

Then as the school bells rang, some children began exiting the small schools double doors. They came to the parking lot where seemingly their parents awaited for them within there cars to pick them up. While others walked further along with no parents there to await for them, just like she had never had any parents waiting for her, ever.

Clicking her tongue in disdain at the sight of these brainwashed rebel born children, Lili then moved further along. Walking along the school's low white wooden fence, she studied the interior of the school yard and how possibly these rebels might have been teaching their children the art of war or other things.

But strangely enough all she could see was children gathering around on a wide open green field. Their teacher had a box full of what seemed like wooden bats and a lot of little balls. It seemed that they were going to merely play some meaningless game.

However close to her left, behind the white fence there was a small playground where a tall and somewhat trained boy just shoved a smaller scrawny boy to the ground. The taller boys golden blonde hair was short, light blue eyes seemed ice cold and an evil smirk was on his face as he commented.

"Come on Teddy, get up and fight me. It's after all the first day of school and its time for our yearly ceremony, where I kick your geeky little ass. Now come on and try to give me a real challenge this time, show me how much those karate classes have helped you."

On the side two other blonde haired kids laughed mockingly as they watched the smaller kid crawling away in a seeming fear. The little boy seemed to be scared out of his mind, a truly pathetic sight. For whatever reason he had big round glasses, even though in the Empire the use of glasses had long ago become obsolete with the invention of Cyberoptics, of which the most basic of modules could gift a person a normal eyesight for the same price as a cheap used car, although it wasn't like she had ever tried any of them personally on, so she couldn't say this to be a hundred percent fact. It was all just something that she had heard.

So the kid was most probably just poor, after all his clothes seemed quite shabby and of low quality unlike the tall kids. Even his darker hair was all greasy and bad compared to the tall kids.

But still where was the honour in this. If someone didn't wish to fight, and this seemingly wasn't even a prearranged fight, then it was just wrong to just beat them for the fun of it. Instead one should let their opponent train, or maybe teach them to fight and then in time a practice fight could be arranged.

Unable to just watch this, Lili then placed her dainty little hands onto the fence and with all her might jumped up, sending herself easily flying over the fence, which was not missed by the tall kid. And as she landed with a little roll to a low fighting stance, she earned herself a few awe-stricken words.

"Oh what the fuck, who are you?"

The tall kid asked. Looking up at him Lili frowned a little as she said in her young soft voice.

"I'm your opponent now. Leave him alone."

Though her soft girly voice seemed to lack any believability as all she earned for her words was laughter from the three boys, and a confused look from the scrawny kid.

"Hahaha, you can't be serious? Do you know who you're talking to? His Chad Armstrong, the youth wrestling champion of our state."

Said one of the boys standing at the side. While the boy seemingly called Chad smirked as he said uncaringly.

"Yeah you heard him right, although I never do say no to a challenge even if it's from a little girl. So bring it on and show me what you got then, but don't think that I'll go easy on you just because you're a girl."

Huffing at the words, Lili was not intimidated in the least, not that she really knew what they were even talking about, and even if the boy was over two heads taller than her, it didn't matter. She was going to kick this boy's butt, no matter what, and she was going to mess up that pure white shirt of his.

She would not be called small by some boy. And so she charged, but the boy merely smiled. His hands were on his hips, the boy was totally open and unafraid of her coming strike. Well she was not going to back down, she was going to shoe him the might of a forcefully conscripted imperial medic girl.

Taking a few running steps, Lili kicked the playgrounds bouncy rubber surface sending herself air born close enough to the boys face. Already his eyes widened in shock, but it was too late, like a little ninja cat she spun around in mid air and sent a kick straight into his grinning face, kicking away the boys grin with her pink kitty face covered shoes.

"Ugh!"

The tall boy groaned out as he spun to the side and fell to one knee, the other three boys watched this with awe, as Lili then gracefully landed before the boy. A smirk came to her face then, it might have been a bit much, but now the boy was sure to have learned his lesson.

Though as he turned to face her, she could see no blood, no broken nose, just a little bruise mark on his cheek, and then Lili realised it. Her body, even if flexible and her skills intact was weak as, well as a little girls.

"Hah, fuck. I guess I underestimated you. For a little girl you do have quite a mean kick. Now come here."

Lili could see an evil mischievous grin come upon the boys face that actually made her body shake in fear. She couldn't win against this boy, no way. Despite merely being a boy, kicking him had felt like she was in fact kicking a grown well trained man. There were muscles under that white shirt and genes, muscles that she didn't have.

With a little girlish squeak Lili turned around and ran back to where she had come from. It was not her admitting defeat, it was just an tactical retreat.

With hurry Lili short legs ran and with the force of a little girl she jumped to grab a hold of the fence and climb over it, but as she did the tall boy wrapped his hands fully around her and pulled.

"Noooo, damn you!"

Lili squeaked out as she held onto the wooden fence for dear life as the boy pulled her. His hands were around her body, already having lifted her up into the air, as she held the fence while he laughed.

"Hahaha, nice try, but you can't get away from me short stuff. Now come on! Let go already and prepare to be punished, ha ha haa!"

He pushed his larged body right against her smaller one, his face was right next to her ear. She could feel his cool breath on her ear already causing it to twitch in response.

This was it, he was going to yank her off the fence, she was actually going to be punished by a freaking little boy. Just what was even going on here, why was she even here to begin with?

But then suddenly a loud yell of a man was heard yelling from further behind them.

"Hey, what are you boys doing over there!"

And with that the boys grip around her slightly loosened, and without any hesitation she pulled her right knee to her chest, and then let loose a hard kick straight on the boys balls.

Again her kitty shoes smashed into the boy, though this time hitting two surprisingly large balls and a lot of meat, that luckily enough caused the boy to let go and fall to the ground like a rock.

"Ugh, fuck my balls."

He groaned out again in pain.

Without looking back Lili quickly pulled herself up the fence and over it as she ran away.

"I'll get you for this, I swear, I'll get you!"

She could hear the boy yelling at her, as his friends laughed in the background and the teacher called to him as well.

But as she ran over the road, Lili stopped, looked back and showed her tongue to the boy, who seemed surprised at her actions, as she then turned around again and ran.

In her little beating heart she swore that no, it would in fact be her that would show him, something bad that he would not like. Well she wasn't really sure what she would show him, as she wasn't even sure of what she was doing here anyway, but her mind would not forget Chad Armstrong for his actions, no way.

Then as Lili set her eyes on the tall mountain in the distance once more, she then started running through people's yards, she climbed over fences, swam over a small river, ran over a field and into the forest, while a young English couple was going at it in a public toilet.

Like horny young good-looking rabbits they went at it, until finally one was out, and the other was totally full. Giving her wife's big butt a hard slap, the man then pulled up his pants and with her wife, and groceries in one hand they made it back to their black 1995 model Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn.

With the cars doors all closed, the two using their car key, got into the car and drove off. Laughing and joking happily they drove out of town as their luxury stereos played music at full volume.

Though as the minutes went by, and then turned into tens of minutes, a feeling of loss came upon the two. Especially the mother started to slowly realise the absence of a voice within the car, and as she muttered out her name.

"Lili?"

And looked to the back seat of the car, her heart sank as she realised that her one and only daughter and child wasn't there. Lili was gone.