"Strap in! We're going down!"

Hearing the pilot's command, Aya dashed to her seat as the shuttle spiraled out of control. Once in place, the young woman lowered the metallic safety harness and looked around.

Carver, Jael, and Alina were already secured in their seats. Aside from the stone-faced Carver, everyone looked fearful in the dim blue light of the shuttle. Jael, the newbie, was looking around frantically.

"What happened?" Carver's deep, commanding voice demanded.

"A bunch of monsters rammed into the shuttle like damned torpedoes," Davos, the pilot, explained while tightly clutching the shuttle controls. "The propulsion systems in the aft section are toast. We're making an emergency landing, and it's not gonna be pretty."

Aya wasn't as religious as most in the order, but as the shuttle continued to shake, she closed her eyes and prayed.

'God, please protect my Brothers and Sisters.'

As the only Blessed One in the crew, Aya was fairly certain she would be able to survive, but she worried for her comrades.

Those who followed the Blazing Path had to discard vanity. Although Aya never truly approved of the order's spartan theatrics, she believed in its cause. And so, upon joining, she shaved her beautiful red hair, just like all her Brothers and Sisters in arms and maintained a simple buzz cut.

Aya's pale, freckled cheek was marred by a burn mark she had suffered in battle. Her combat fatigues and armor hid additional scars. Despite enjoying feeling pretty and having access to simple procedures that fix such blemishes back in The Arc, Aya had abstained from doing so.

According to the order's dogma, scars earned in battle were akin to badges of honor. If a wound had no debilitating effect, the resources used on pointless cosmetic adjustments would be better served in purchasing gear for the next battle.

Despite it all, Aya had a kind and compassionate look to her, as she turned her head and fixed her green eyes on Jael.

Not even twenty years old, the boy had a smooth baby face. Jael pressed his fingers into the armrest so tightly that his knuckles turned white. As an Ash Disciple, the initiate rank of the Order of the Blazing Path, this was Jael's first mission outside of The Arc.

Aya reached out and gently placed her hand over Jael's, comforting him.

"Be brave, Brother Jael."

The boy bit his lip and nodded, doing his best to avoid showing how utterly terrified he was.

Jael reminded Aya of one of her younger brothers. As the eldest of five siblings, Aya had grown up in one of Arcturus City's inner quarters, where life was safe and comfortable. Because the closer one lived to the Arc's walls, the greater was the risk of falling victim to the horrors that lurked outside.

When her powers manifested as a little girl, and it became clear that she was Blessed, Aya's parents hired a private tutor to train her. Aside from that, Aya had a normal childhood, growing up detached from the harsh and grim realities of this cursed world, sheltered within a protective bubble.

That all changed when the Grinning Plague struck Doblest City, far to the east. Horrific videos flooded the net, and Aya suffered from repeated nightmares. Seeking to understand the terrifying phenomenon in order to alleviate her fears, only deepened her dread. Shockingly, Aya discovered that the first case of the Plague occurred in The Arc, before she was born and continued to appear in other cities every few years.

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Aya's entire perception of the world began to unravel. She followed the news, staying updated on monster attacks in the wall-adjacent districts of The Arc. The injustice of people living at greater risk simply because they couldn't afford to reside closer to the city center, deeply troubled her. And what about her own family? Were they truly safe? For How long?

As far as Aya was concerned, God had blessed her with powers, and she intended to use them. Despite her parents' protests, she enlisted in the armed forces of Arcturus City instead of enrolling in a university.

The army did its best to defend all of The Arc's citizens, but the era of ambitious military campaigns aimed at subjugating large swaths of land was long gone. The armed forces acted only as a shield, whereas Aya wished to become humanity's sword, believing that the best defense was a decisive offense.

For that reason, when her contract in the army ended, Aya declined all promotion offers and chose not to renew it. Instead, she joined the ranks of the Order of the Blazing Path. Her parents were, of course, mortified by her decision, but she was doing it to protect her family.

Her new comrades were a bit... overzealous and the order lacked the resources of The Arc's military. Nonetheless, they did their best with what they had, launching reconnaissance and extermination expeditions beyond the walls of Arcturus City, eliminating threats before they could reach the city.

Aya's new life was demanding and gruesome. She had lost many comrades and rarely had time to visit her family. Despite it all, Aya found her purpose, rising to the order's rank of Flamebearer – which was a tad ironic, given her Blessed ability.

"Brace for impact!" Davos' voice rang through the shuttle's intercom. "In five, four, three, two..."

That final second felt as though it lasted forever, and then the entire world came crashing down. Aya's head flailed back and forth as the shuttle slammed into the ground, and every unsecured item was flung about inside the shuttle.

A metal box hit Aya squarely in the face and bounced away, dented. The cacophony of twisting metal resounded inside the shuttle as it spun, before finally settling into an eerie silence.

"Ahhh... I can't get it off." Jael struggled with his safety harness.

Aya released her own harness and got up, attempting to free the Ash Disciple. His harness was stuck, so she simply pried it from its hinges and tossed it to the ground.

"Jael, are you okay?"

"I don't know... I think so?" The young man still appeared shaken and disoriented.

"Is anyone injured?" Alina, the medic, asked, despite having a nasty cut on her scalp with blood trickling down her face.

"Sister, you're hurt!"

Aya rushed towards her comrade, but Alina raised her arm, signaling her to stop and instead checked on Carver.

"I'm fine." The battle-hardened veteran stated, despite clutching his arm.

Carver was a Firebrand, the title given to the order's field commanders. Between his service in The Arc's military and the order, Carver had spent decades in battle, and it showed. His head was completely shaved, and every exposed part of his dark-brown skin was etched with scars. Both his nose and his jaw had been broken at some point and never healed quite right.

"Davos, status?"

As the pilot did not respond, Carver marched through the shattered shuttle and attempted to enter Davos' cabin. However, the thick metal door was mangled and stuck.

"Sister Aya."

Carver moved aside, making room for her. In addition to her powers, as a Blessed One, Aya also possessed superhuman strength.

Aya nodded and proceeded to tear the door off its hinges, clearing a path forward.

The pilot's cabin took the brunt of the crash. Daylight seeped through the missing parts of the shuttle, along with cold winds. Davos lay motionlessly atop the pilot's controls.

Alina stepped inside and activated her omni device's medic extension, examining Davos. Bright orange beams of light scanned the pilot for a few seconds before Alina lowered her head.

"Gone. His neck snapped."

Carver sighed heavily and placed his arm atop Davos' shoulder.

"Go with God, Brother."

The surviving members of the expedition stepped out of the wreckage of the shuttle. They had crashed atop desolate and barren, rocky slopes. Their mission had been to search for traces of a long-range reconnaissance team that had gone missing, and now they themselves required rescue.

Carver was attempting to make contact through the comms, without much success. Alina was applying BioGelix, a first aid gel, to her wound, and Aya was comforting Jael, who appeared to be absolutely terrified.

A sudden series of rabid growls and hisses snapped everyone's attention. Carver leaped to his feet, his eyes scanning their surroundings.

"Prepare for battle."