Beautiful Scar

Chapter 1

When she was four years old, her hometown was attacked and destroyed by the flames of war. She was very young, poor and orphaned. In her early years of life, the memory of her town being wiped out and consumed by the raging fire was the most vivid of them all. Even more so, when flames ruptured a wooden pillar above her and it came down upon her, leaving her the last thing to see was the vicious fires crackling and spreading across and unto her face.

After that, she vaguely recalled as though her being been lifted off the ground and hoisted into a mount. And she could weakly make out the barren horizon that was used to be her hometown fading away from her tired sights, before she collapsed into darkness.

13 years later, she is known as Captain Scarlet, the adoptive and only child of one of the famous warriors of the Silverstorm Kingdom, General Homes. Sir Homes, as some might address him as, had taken Scarlet under his wings from the moment he stumbled upon her unconscious body lying in the middle of the chaos of the previous war.

He raised her and took care of her just as much as he used to do for his late child. And to Scarlet, she found a father figure in him. He treated her with kindness and taught her how to read, write and learn. Always encouraging her to have a questioning mind. To have a passion to reap knowledge and put them into practice.

However, these days, well ever since Scarlet reached pubescent, Sir Homes was rather conflicted on some of the ways he may have influenced or exposed her of. And that was mainly on the way of the war – warfare.

That child has such a brilliant mind, it was almost dangerous and cruel to sometimes even ask of her on opinions and ideas on how to strategize for war or battles.

Because while a part of him was proud of his surrogate daughter for her achievements in intellect, and especially in the military subjects, he was concerned that she may be missing out on other matters, other young ladies her age would have gone through.

And 17 is such an age for young men and women to flirt, to mingle without attachment, to cause a bit of a ruckus and just be themselves before returning to responsibilities – the age of romanticism.

But the only ruckus he faced with Scarlet was of clashes of battle strategies and always trying to discourage her instead to involve any further in the army affair, which was soundly opposed by his daughter.

Then, at the same time, he wondered, maybe it was for the best she had something to put her mind on. If she did pursue the spirits of a common 17 year old girl who only wished to dance with a handsome gentleman in balls, he wondered whether it would favourably go well for his beloved daughter.

After all, there was the matter of her striking scar on her right side of her face which traveled down to the side of the neck, torso and across her right arm to the fingertips. The remnants and proof of the impact of the war.

Sure, Sir Homes had scars visible on his face as well but those were obtained from battles and fights. As a growing old man, these were celebrated as experiences and admired, and even in his younger days, they were somehow considered attractive as well. But for a young lady to have such scars, the reaction was the opposite. Some would raise gossips of being cursed and some would straight away pity the lady for who could ever learn to love a maiden with scars?

For Sir Homes, his daughter was the apple of his eyes. She was humble and polite to the elderly folks and people of the grassroot and those scars only served to emphasize the beauty of what she had endured and has become.

And 17 is such a trying time for not only Scarlet but also her close friend, Princess Fina, the one and only princess in line to the throne of Silverstorm's.