A thunderous crack of lightning split the sky in half forcing the girl's eyes shoot open in a panic.  She could scarcely breath. The crushing weight of the several dead knights had her pinned into a recess in the earth. She struggled to push the immense weight away choking on blood and rain water.

            Bathed in blood and entrails she clawed her way out of the slimy earth, birthed anew into a demented world of horrors. Her country men lay scattered about in twisted wrecks everywhere she could see. Her eyes darted back and forth looking for any other signs of life. She choked back a terrible urge to scream when a thought suddenly occurred to her. Panicking, she began scratching into the earth looking for something precious.

            Unconsciously sobbing frantically she used all her strength to rip up a splintered wooden poll out of the earth.  She grit her teeth pulling as hard as she could when yards and yards of a blood red fabric suddenly came spilling out of the earth. She clutched the precious banner to her tiny breastplate, tears flowing from her eyes.           

            "Thi... this wasn't supposed to happen!"

            Her golden sun banner was a tattered mess, stained just as red as the viscera that now coated her once auburn armor. The rain began to pick up. It's soft metallic pinging could bring no comfort, it served only to splatter more blood about.

            The girl sat there quivering in the cold for what felt like an eternity. The storm did nothing to subside the scent of and gunpowder stinging the back of her nose. The girl gathered the broken banner into her arms. Painstakingly she slogged through the bloody fields, tripping over friends and family as she went.

            After what seems like ages she slumps to her knees defeated. The entirety of her village from the tiny farm houses to its mighty keep were ablaze in azure flames. Shredded and charred corpses lay strewn about in the streets. The flames would not subside the rain water just seemed to make them burn hotter.

            Her Motherland had was completely consumed by the torrent, her heart along with them.

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The first of my Crimson Dames Illustrations / Character concepts.

One of the more conceptual of my 4 Red Riding Hood variants her tale is much more metaphorical compared to some of the other 3. As she is beaten down and transformed in her pursuit for vengeance she will eventually convert her once proud banner into the more classical red hood of the old lore.

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*Edit* Added the logo to help improve brand recognition.
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Mature Content