The year was 2026.
For decades, humanity had stared into the void of space, dreaming of neighbors, of answers, of proof that Earth was not alone. When NASA's telescopes caught sight of an Earth-like world orbiting just beyond the solar system, the dream became reality.
A planet breathing with forests, oceans, and skies almost identical to Earth's. A planet alive.
And populated.
In July, an elite crew of astronauts was launched into the dark. They carried the weight of humanity's curiosity on their shoulders—and the hope of peace in their hearts.
But when they landed, they were met not with open arms, but with fire and blood. The inhabitants of the unknown planet saw not explorers, but invaders. Fear turned to fury. The massacre that followed wiped out 99% of Earth's mission crew.
To Earth, it was a declaration of war.
To the planet's people, it was self-defense.
To the universe, it was the beginning of something far worse.
The war for survival had begun.
Ethan Cross opened his eyes to smoke.
The wreckage of the shuttle lay in twisted pieces around him, half-buried in alien soil the color of ash. The air was thick, strange—like breathing through water—but it filled his lungs all the same. His father's voice still rang in his head, the last thing he had heard before everything went to hell:
"Stay hidden, Ethan. Whatever happens, don't let them find you."
Now, the screams of his crewmates were gone. Only silence remained.
Ethan staggered to his feet, blood matting his hair. His father was gone. The crew was gone. He should have been dead with them. But somehow, fate—or something darker—had left him breathing.
That was when he saw them.
Figures moving through the smoke, tall, cloaked in strange armor that glimmered like living bone. Their eyes burned faintly, some golden, some crimson, and with each step the ground seemed to respond—grass curling, stones shifting, air humming. These were no ordinary humans.
They were the planet's warriors.
At their head stood General Kael Veyra, a giant of a man with obsidian skin etched in glowing scars. His voice rolled like thunder.
"Burn the remains. Leave none alive. Earth will not rise again."
But among the soldiers, one figure hesitated. A girl, no older than Ethan himself, her cloak shifting in the alien wind. Her eyes caught his—pale silver, unearthly yet human.
She did not shout. She did not raise her weapon.
She only looked at him, and for a moment, he felt she saw him not as an enemy, but as something else.
Her name, though he did not yet know it, was Lyra Veyra—the general's daughter.
And that moment of hesitation would change everything.