Krystal Tears

Chapter One - Jade

Breathing heavily, I loaded my gun and wiped my krystal knife on my pants. Swinging around, my opponent only had a second to see my face before falling to the ground face first. I nodded to the warrior who had taken him down, then fired my gun at another attacker, sending them to the ground. A nearby opponent took a look at the bodies at my feet before firing a gun at me. I ducked into a roll to dodge the spray of acid that landed where I had stood before. Crouching, I fired my gun at the attacker and hit home. Another one down. Come on, Jade, you got this. I leapt to my feet and searched for another person to attack. None caught my eye. Argg. The Nature Realm is so annoying! Always hiding behind trees and- A gun fired and my comrade fell, acid biting at their now limp body. Shoot. Trees surrounded me, casting shadows that could easily hide attackers and guns. Improvise. Do a cartwheel. Climb a tree. Anything. Just don't die. Years of training bit at me, nagging me to fight, to survive.

A shout turned my attention away from my training, "Watch out, Jade!" I leaped, tucked, and rolled, just as a puff of dark purple smoke erupted from a flower perched at the top of a vine curled around a muddy stick. The girl who was holding it cursed under her breath and sprinted off. The grass that had been within radius of the explosion immediately started to wither. "Crystals and bullets," I muttered. Wiping my brow, I stood up and finally, finally found someone to attack-A face peeking out from a shadow. They met my gaze with startled eyes, then started to run in the opposite direction. I followed, then stopped to steady my aim. Steady, steady. Aim, and- I fired, and the figure collapsed onto another body, pools of blood glittering against the grass. I whirled around, searching for warriors, attackers, or even more dangerous flowers. Someone fired at me, and in a split second decision, I raised my arm guard to deflect the normal bullet. It pinged off without a dent, as I fired my own back in the direction the bullet had come from. A scream rattled down my spine from somewhere in the forest, but I turned away, moving on. A trio of warriors from my own realm flanked me as we made our way through the forest, cutting down everyone we could. A scream from next to me meant one of my comrades had been hit again. I didn't flinch, merely shot back at the person who had killed her.

Eventually, after more and more screams punctured the forest, a shout joined them. "WE'LL BE BACK, WARRIORS! DON'T YOU FORGET IT!" A horn blew, and every Nature Realm being turned away and disappeared into the depths of the trees. We fired after them, but our bullets only hit tree trunks, as the enemy had disappeared.

I wiped my bloody blade on my pants yet again, and put my gun back in its holster. The forest was covered in blood and bodies, the clear battleground of part of the war. The world was covered in scenes like this, blood smeared on everything, bodies scattered, scratches gouged into wood and stone.

About a decade ago, a sickness hit the Warrior Realm, killing us and no one else, as we didn't come into close contact with the other realms. After that, there were few of us left. A mere five hundred or so, and our numbers dwindle every day. Now, each realm wants our land because we "don't need it anymore." So of course, we stood our ground. Us warriors split into two groups after the Technology Realm disappeared. Since the Crystal Realm is anti-war, and happy with its land, we didn't need to worry about them, so the only two realms left to defend against were the Nature Realm, and the Knowledge Realm. The group I'm in is guarding the border with the Nature Realm, the other guarding the border with the Knowledge Realm. The war has been going on for years now, and we're still at a stalemate, all equally matched. The other realms have more numbers, but we are trained warriors with skillful strategy and valuable weapons. We hold our ground more than any other realm in history.

"Oy, Jade," The general called to me. Her name was Onyx, and she supervised this section of the army.

I went up to her and saluted before saying, "What is it, general?"