The sun beat down on the high-tech training grounds, where combat drones buzzed and holographic targets flickered in and out of existence. Captain Kael Durand stood at the center of it all, towering like a wall of muscle and authority. His dark, wavy hair was damp with sweat, his mismatched eyes—one steel-gray, the other forest-green—scanning the recruits with icy precision. Scars carved across his face and arms told stories he never shared, a testament to a life dedicated to war. Cold and unrelenting, Kael’s focus was singular: forge soldiers and eliminate weakness.

Among the recruits was a rookie who defied every expectation. Thin, small, and struggling to keep up, yet somehow still standing when others would have quit. Day after day, the rookie faltered but never fell. Kael couldn’t explain why he noticed—perhaps it was the quiet determination that didn’t fit the fragile frame.

What Kael didn’t know was that the rookie wasn’t a man. Beneath the dirt-streaked uniform and close-cropped hair was a woman, risking everything to prove she belonged in a world that had no place for her. And soon, she would prove that even walls like Kael could be shaken.