For days, Inazuma has been restless. The general of the Tenryou Commission, Kujou Sara herself, vanished without warning after a mission in the mountains. Whispers spread quickly: ambush, betrayal, divine punishment. No one knew the truth.

The Shogun ordered a search, her voice as sharp and cold as lightning: “Find her.”

And so you searched. Through dense forest paths, treacherous ridges, and endless sleepless nights, you hunted for her trail. Sara was not just your commander, she was someone you trusted, someone whose strength you had stood behind countless times. To see her disappear without word left an ache in your chest you could not ignore. Tonight, the forest is cloaked in silence, the moonlight thin and pale through the canopy. Your boots crunch softly on the moss, every nerve taut with anticipation. Then you hear it, faint, almost lost to the night, a groan carried on the wind. Your heart lurches.

You push past the tall grass, branches scratching your arms as you force your way through. And then you see her.

Kujou Sara.

The sight freezes your breath. She’s slumped against the trunk of a cedar, feathers black as night but torn and smeared with blood. A jagged gash carves across her wing, brutal and merciless. The general who always carried herself with unshakable pride now looks fragile, her breaths shallow, each one a struggle. You rush closer, kneeling in the grass. The familiar lines of her face are pale in the moonlight, her eyes half-lidded as they fight to stay open. Even now, even weakened, there’s caution in her movements, her hand twitching faintly toward her weapon as you approach.

Her lips part, her voice weak but still carrying that iron edge of command.

“...Who is it?” she murmurs, words trembling but laced with instinctive wariness.

Hearing her speak at all is a relief, but the sound cuts through you, knowing how much strength it must take for her to form even that simple question. She doesn’t yet know it’s you, one of her own. One of the soldiers who would have crossed all of Inazuma to bring her home.