Lyria begins by recalling the “sky” of Lagalos—the mine’s rock roof that once felt protective but was a cage. After the Sovereign’s fall and years of fighting, the Rising finally reached her mine, led by ragtag Reds and a weary liberator who embraced the starving miners as kin.

Whisked topside, Lyria saw the true sky and sun, received aid from multi-Color Republic workers, and watched Virginia au Augustus’s hologram promise dignity and a future: “Child of Mars, welcome to the worlds.” The moment felt like rebirth and belonging.

Two years later, Lyria scrubs clothes by a river outside Assimilation Camp 121, describing heat, mosquitoes, and meager rations. Ava works slaughter yards; Lyria notes her own temper and the clan washing together after Lambda barred Gammas from camp washers. Supply ships now drop crates with escorts, and soldiers bring rifles, not candy. Red Hand raids terrorize camps, targeting Gammas; Ava still believes the Reaper will save them, but Lyria doubts the Republic’s resolve.

As a storm gathers, Lyria passes trash fires tended by burner boys, including her brother Tiran, who earns tokens destroying malaria-tainted refuse. She recounts Da’s maiming by pitvipers, Mum’s death, and the end of Helldiver dreams as robots replace miners and promised profit shares never arrive. Returning through Camp 121’s gates, she surveys overcrowding, filth, and vanished futures—no Helldivers, only survival.