She's ready for player two.

Based on the post of MsCherylTerra, in 3 parts. Listen to the ► Podcast at My First Time.

Player one is me, Ramona Roth. I’m nineteen, blue hair, pierce eyebrow, former president of the student council, virgin.

War is hell, they say, but I say they're wrong.

Hell is insanity, and insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Hell is false hopes and flagrant disappointment.

Hell is knowing that the squabbling of Ilyra, the princess from the far-off planet of Nianus, and Jostok, the snarky-but-pleasantly-ripped humanoid alien soldier from Quighnan, would attract the attention of Izzon's monstrous space beast.

It's knowing that the beast would destroy the vent your plucky band of misfits was crawling through.

It's knowing that you'd all tumble into the cavernous belly of the spaceship with only the last-second triggering of a force-field from your omni-cuff to prevent you from turning into gizzard soup on the space-grey floor.

I watched Jostok realize that the force field hadn't prevented the princess from being crushed beneath the weight of the metal that tumbled from above. I watched him separate her from the tangled pile of bodies and bionic limbs, cradling her barely conscious form against one beefy, armor-clad bicep.

I watched her brilliant violet eyes flutter open, and saw the little half-smile on her face as he called her by her name, and heard the weakness in her voice as she reminded him that it was Princess Ilyra to him. I heard Jostok chuckle wetly and assure her she was going to make it.

After all, she was the princess. This was not how princesses died.

Which was true, because she didn't die like that.

Izzon's beast hurled itself to the ground in front of us, its weight making the spaceship itself shudder violently. A beam of light shot forth from its gaping maw, wrenching Ilyra from Jostok's arms. He reached for her, but before his bionic arm was even fully extended, the beast had pulled her into the air, clutched her between its massive claws, and snapped her in half like she was a fucking Kit Kat bar.

So, she died like that instead.

There was a beat; a pause as horror dawned across the party. A splash of blood splattered on the floor followed by the delicate circlet Ilyra always wore.

"No," breathed Jostok.

A metallic cackle from above filled the room.

"So much for your princess," Izzon said as he descended on a floating platform.

He landed just in front of the beast. Two long strides brought him to the circlet, and he plucked it from the pool of blood before making a mockery of Ilyra's memory and placing the fragile band of metal on his horned forehead.

"You killed her," Jostok said, his voice wavering.

"Well, duh," Izzon said, chuckling. "What, you think this is your fairytale or something, Quighnan? You kill the horrible, evil, sad little man who was just trying to get back what was rightfully his? You think you save the world, you get the girl, you get the glory?"

His smile faded, and he straightened the circlet before reaching for his omni-cuff.

"Well, Quighnan, I have news for you. You failed. The world is mine, the girl is dead, and you; "

"Shut up, you piece of Cul excrement!" Jostok roared.

"Or what?" Izzon taunted.

"Or this," I muttered.

Surprise flashed across Izzon's face as Jostok smashed his omni-cuff, using the last of its power to create his trademark rocket launcher. Hefting it over his shoulder, he screamed as he fired it. Izzon's beast stepped forward, snatching its master from the ground seconds before the ball of certain death hit him, and it was time for me to take over.

The battle was hell. It was a place I'd been a million times before, and I let the world around me fade as I focused on Izzon and Izzon alone. His beast didn't like that, of course, but the beast wasn't my concern. There were others to fight the beast; only I could fight Izzon.

Sweat beaded on my forehead and dryness scratched at my eyes. I refused to look away, refused to be distracted for even a millisecond from my task. Izzon darted around the battlefield, firing laser after laser in my direction, but I knew how to dodge them. I knew how to use them against him; I knew how to lure the beast to just the right spot for Izzon to maim it himself.

And I knew what would happen next.