Sedona, Arizona (August 5th 2272)

It was one of the hottest days that anyone can remember in Sedona, but the peaceful tribe known as The Awoken still continued with their daily routine. To The Awoken days like today were challenges put upon them by their divine master The All-Seer, and The Awoken would not dare challenge their god, so they forged on for there was much work yet to be done.

Although one tribal stands out from the rest her name is Aeila, she is not well liked by the rest of the tribe do to her belief and her actions. Aeila believes that the tribe should form some sort of military to help defend themselves in the event of an attack. But the other villagers see her as stupid child, and if they were ever to be attacked their Lord would protect them. Because of her beliefs Aeila is usually given assignments nobody else wants to take or is forced to sit through “communions” with The All-Seer in an attempt to cleanse her of her “sin.”

She doesn't have many friends in the village and all of her family disowned her so she tends to sit alone and read books about ancient history of times long before the bombs dropped. Sometimes when she is out by herself she acts like she is one of those ancient warriors she reads about attacking trees with a stick and slashing at the air.

When she turned 16 her parents forced her to receive tribal tattoos placed all over her body something only banished Awoken receive to mark them as heretics. This is when she was disowned and Aeila has been on a steep emotional descent ever since. But today is different than most days in more ways than anyone could imagine.

Aeila woke up to the warm rays of the sun lapping against her face as she laid in what she classified as a home. The other members of the tribe ran her out of the town forcing her to live underneath one of the old bridges leading out of town. She got up out of her bedroll and brushed the sand and dust off her face before she headed into town to check the job board.

When she arrived in town she was immediately harassed by the others as usual. But she ignored them and continued to walk through the ruined downtown where most of the buildings had collapsed onto the street or fallen into a state of disrepair. It was not long though until she came across the pristine courtyard of the town square filled with “religious propaganda” with signs reading “Love your fellow man like our Lord loves us.” and “The All-Seer is always watching.”

“What a load of bull.” Aeila stood staring at one of the posters. Then she headed to the wooden framed bulletin board in the center of the town square where everyone picked their jobs for the day. Of course by time Aeila arrived their were barely any good ones left. But there were still a few left that no one else wanted to do. After some delegation she figured she would go out to the old city and gather some supplies for herself. The old city is the part of Sedona that was bombed during the war. Most of the radiation has subsided but there are still hotspots that deter the rest of the tribe from entering it. But Aeila knows some secret ways to get in and out without running into to much trouble.

So Aeila headed towards the wall separating the old city from the new, and headed into one of the old buildings by the wall climbing out the second story and landing on the other side of the wall. She would have to be careful for there are some ghouls that lurk around the ruins and some raiders have been spotted coming in and out of the area in search of supplies. But she wasn't to worried but either way she was going to get some of her supplies from her stash. She walked down the sidewalk and through the broken window to the old police station. Once she was inside she crawled through a hole in the wall that led to an empty space underneath a stairwell. Inside this chamber Aeila had set up a small camp, she had a bedroll, a lantern, some food and water, and most importantly a .357 magnum police pistol that she found in an old police car crashed outside of town. She grabbed the pistol and headed back outside.

She spent nearly 3 hours searching buildings but didn't find anything that she wanted. So she decided she would search one last building before she headed back. The building in question was the Sedona Hospital she had never gone inside it before and as far as she knows no one else has either.

“Well there is no time like the present, plus its not like anyone would care if something happened to me.” Aeila went in through the door leading to the main reception area. The hospital was dark and cluttered with 200 years worth of neglect and the only light was what little amount of sunlight that managed to break through the cracks in the boards covering the windows.

None the less she continued down the hallway out of reception and into the ER. The ER was nearly pitch black, and some of the rooms had skeletons in them from the war. She still pressed on deeper into the hospital finding lots of helpful items, she managed to find more bullets for her revolver in the security office and some assorted medical supplies.

Although what she is about to find is something very shocking, Aeila left the ER and started to head towards the stairwell leading to the 2^nd floor when she heard a man crying in pain from upstairs. Shocked she readied her weapon and headed up to investigate. What she found was gruesome there were men wearing crimson red armor scattered across the floor, there was blood all over the ground and running down the stairs.

The man that was calling out was pinned to the wall due to a spear that was lodged in his torso attaching him to the wall. There were others to at least 3 that were still moving around crawling through the blood searching for their comrades. Aeila approached one of them to try and roll him over so he could talk but when she did so he attacked her knocking her to the ground the both struggled to gain their footing on the blood soaked floor. She eventually turned around and shot her attacker before she ran back down stairs and outside again.

Panicking she ran back to her stash and hid her gun, and the supplies she gathered. Unfortunately her clothes were soaked with blood so she took them off and replaced them with an old pair of clothes she had stashed away. On her way out of the police station and back to the wall she seen at least half a dozen more men in crimson armor like she had seen in the hospital. These ones were headed into the hospital and Aeila wasn't going to wait for another chance, she ran across the street to the building she came in through climbing on top of a dumpster and than through the window putting her back in the new city. She wasted no time she ran through the streets like a mad woman, she had to warn the Oracle that there were armed people this close to the village.

When she arrived at the chapel the guards immediately told her to go away.

“There are no heretics allowed in the chapel.” The guard armed with only a long staff pointed it at Aeila as if threatening to beat her with it if she didn't leave.

“Let me in I need to see the Oracle, I have reason to believe that we could be attacked!”

The guard who apparently did not believe her knocked her to the ground with his staff so hard that she could barely breathe. When she tried to get up he spit on her then knocked her back down with the staff, this time holding the end of it between her briasts so she could not get up.

“Go get the Oracle! I want to hear what he has to say about this.”

The other guard went into the chapel and came out shortly thereafter with the Oracle.

“Oracle there are armed people in the old city I think they might be a threat to the tribe.” Aeila was still gasping for breath and she could now start to taste blood.

“Foolish girl there is no danger coming to us, because unlike you I believe in the power of the All-Seer so we won't be harmed.”

“You idiot! This whole tribe will die do to your blind belief, its not to late we can form a militia!”

“That is where you are wrong, we need not an army for the army of the Lord is on our side. Now why don't we take you to the town square and teach you what happens when you insult the Lord.” The Oracle motioned for his two guards to grab Aeila and drag her down the hill the the town square.

Once they were there the Oracle rallied all the local people to the town square to witness Aeila's punishment. He had her stripped completely naked, and hoisted her up a flag pole by her ankles. She hung there as the people below laughed at her body, and threw stones at her. This went on until nightfall than it got quiet. She was all alone hanging at the top of the flag pole in 30 degree weather with no clothes what so ever, come day time the Oracle returned and had her brought down and chained to the pole where every priest and priestess in the village took turns flogging her. Once they were done they drug her to the outskirts of town and dumped her.

Sedona, Arizona (August 7th 2272)

Aeila wasn't sure how long she was passed out for but she crawled nearly ? a mile to her home. Where she began to weep, before long she passed out again due to lack of food and water. When she woke up it was still night time, she was out for nearly a full 24 hours. Aeila started a fire and ate some food. Then she got her last pair of clothes put on and was just about to back her stuff and leave when she heard gunshots and screaming coming from the village.

She came out of the river bed and looked towards the village, she could see her people being slaughtered in the streets by the same people that she seen in the old city. She knew she had to get out but all her supplies were hidden in town. So she started moving into town watching people die all around her. Her people did not stand a chance, no one in her village even knows how to use a weapon let alone own one.

But she had made it to the trash can that she kept all her goods in. Her assault carbine was in there along with some ammo, food, water, and clothes. Before she could even finish packing up one of the crimson soldiers came around the back of the building chasing another tribal, but he seen her first.

“Oh your to pretty to kill why don't you come with me?” The soldier approached her with his weapon aimed right at her. There was no way she could escape, so she just stood there waiting for him to kill her. But he didn't he tied her up with rope and drug her by the hair in the town square and lined her up with the other captives. Then whom she assumed was the guy in charge walked down the line of captives executing every other one. Aeila was tense with fear and was beginning to tremble, but he killed the two next to her and continued down the line. The survivors were lined up again and their bindings were cut.

The person in charge then said “If any of you try to run or fight us, we will kill you and two other slaves, you are property of Caesar’s Legion now and you will obey.”

Part of Aeila was destroyed from all the torture she had gone through. But the other part was glad to see those who had mistreated her being enslaved as well. The group kept a steady pace for at least 5 miles then people started to drag behind. Leading to the subsequent beatings of the other slaves without mercy. Finally after a full days marching the group stopped to set up camp, Aeila seen this as an opportunity to escape when the guard were distracted she made a run for it.

But she ran into the man in charge and his two bodyguards. Without even thinking Aeila jumped on the leader knocking him to the ground and slitting his throat with his own sword before she killed his bodyguards. After that she began to run as fast as she could into the desert but her captors were right on her heals. She ran for a solid 5 minutes until one of the men caught up to her and tackled her tying her up with rope and dragging her back to camp where they beat her nearly to death and broke both of her legs. She was then forced to watch two other prisoners be executed do to her escape attempt. It was nearly two more days until they arrived at a city called Flagstaff. Aeila was confined to a wheelchair and was currently suffering from an infection when they arrived. All of the women were taken to an auction house where they were sold to the highest bidder. Aeila was bought by a Centurion who wanted her to be his “personal” slave.

“So my dear, what is it that you desire?” The Centurion caressed her hair while he asked.

Aeila didn't say anything to him she just sat there unable to move.

“Don't worry I'll take care of you.” For some reason he said it with genuine emotion. Something that surprised Aeila she did not expect any emotion from people like this.

“You will?” She asked almost afraid to hear the answer.

“Of course I would not of spent 2 years pay on you if I just wanted you for six, there are cheaper slaves for that.” He pushed her out of the auction room and onto the street, where he received curious stares from everyone. “Alright here we are this is my home.” They were sitting in front of a beautiful apartment building with the sign “Officer Housing” placed in big bold red letters by the door. He carried her up the stairs and into his room where he placed her on the couch. “Now about you legs I might be able to get a doctor to look at them if you would want?”

“Yes I would like that a lot.” Aeila was a little leery of her new “master” but she would take his courtesy for as long as possible. For she did not know how long she would be here.

(1 week later)

Aeila's legs are now in casts but the doctor said that due to the fact that they were not treated right away and that she had to walk on them. That there may be extreme neurological problems that result from this. So she was still in a wheelchair for now, as far as her owner goes he is start to become more creepy than nice, and he may be trying to take advantage of her. She doesn't know how long she can keep him tolerable but she has to or he very well might kill her.