HIGHWAY TO DARKEST DESPAIR

Fiore, the daughter of the fourth-grade landowner Muller, was on a mission to fetch the Player. According to an ancient book, the Player would save the kingdom from evil and bring prosperity.

The Player was usually summoned through the Hero Portal in the center of the kingdom, but the book also said that if a falling object was seen from the sky, the closest region must investigate to see if it was the Player Spawning.

Fiore sighed. This task should have been done by her father, but he was away leading an army to fight monsters that had come from the forbidden forest. She disguised herself as one of the cavalry troops guarding the fake Fiore, who was in a horse-drawn carriage. The convoy only had six people, including the fake Fiore

The Player had not appeared in decades, so her father insisted that Fiore disguise herself and use her Player Check magic power to verify whether the foreign celestial body was the Player. This power was only given to descendants of royalty, and it could determine whether a human was a Player or not. If the person was not a Player, the troops were to execute them on the spot.

"This is an easy task," Fiore said to herself. But then she regretted her words.

A horde of Strong Wolf monsters attacked the convoy. The Fiore and her troops unmount their horses and immediately attacked with fire magic, but they were outnumbered and quickly overwhelmed.

[Protective Spell - Active]

[Area of Effect Protective Spell - Active]

A bell and woman announcer sound emerge in Fiore mind, she frantically cast a protective spell on herself and her troops including fake Fiore, who was none other than her maid and childhood friend, Rosa.

Fiore helped the troops fight the Strong Wolves, unaware that foreign troops were also attacking them from behind the bushes. One by one, her troops fell. Fiore knew she had to do something, or they would all be killed.

[Summon: Magic Sword]

She drew her magic sword out of thin air and charged into the fray, cutting down Strong Wolves left and right. The foreign troops were surprised by her ferocity, and they began to fall back. Fiore continued to fight, driving them further and further away.

But the enemy sage had been waiting for this moment. He cast an intermediate fire spell, and a thunderous sound accompanied a giant fireball that devoured the area.

[Protective Spell - Collapses]

[Area of Effect Protective Spell – Collapses]

Fiore's protection spell protected her from the fireball, but she was thrown into a tree without her Protective Spell and wounded her body.

[Warning – Low Mana]

She She tried to move her body, but it was useless. She couldn't feel anything.

[Q29uZGlyIC1vIEVzdGVs- Danger – Body Damage Exceed Safe Thresholds]

[Q29uZGlyIC1vIEVzdGVs- Emergency Healing Engaging - Anesthesia Applied]

Fiore was not aware of the odd sign of the message. Before she lost consciousness, she saw the foreign troops approaching Rosa and killing her.

One of the troops approached Fiore and cast a spell.

[Q29uZGlyIC1vIEVzdGVs- Emergency Countermeasure – Obfuscate Status]

"This one is dead". The troops announced Fiore death.

Fiore thought this was the end of her life. She thought, "Goodbye, Papa. Hopefully I will meet Mother in the afterlife." Her heart crumbled as she cried silently and lost consciousness.

***

Adrian Hasan was the Technical Specialist on board the Asa Space Station, a multinational crew of eight tasked with investigating habitable planets. The mission was straightforward: deploy a few artificial satellites, crashing probing satellite to the twin moon of Planet Jane 62-f, and then drop five crew members in a Pathfinder Capsule, Essential Modules, and Scientific Modules.

The Pathfinder crew would prepare the landing zone and guard it from any danger. They were all experienced ex-Special Forces and combat specialists from different countries. Pathfinder crew will be preparing the landing zone and guard it from any danger.

Adrian and two other crew members were preparing to disembark from the Asa Space Station after taking on a team of scientists from the Hyperion mother ship.

Hyperion mothership is a hub where the space station unloads goods and crew from various research and military missions. Hyperion is owned by the Macrocosm Research and Evaluation Agency or MREA, which is under the World Union, a consortium of various countries on Earth.

Adrian knew that conditions in outer space could change at any time, and that small space objects with high speed could damage the space station or cause other problems. However, the station's radar showed that there were no such threats to the mission.

The Asa Space Station was approaching Planet Jane 62-f, a habitable planet that had been named after its founder, Jane Sanchez. Adrian had a crush on Jane, and he planned to propose to her after the mission was over. He had already prepared an engagement ring in his personal luggage.

Adrian had already prepared an engagement ring in his personal luggage and planned to propose to Jane when Asa's research modules had landed on Planet Jane 62-f.

"Don't be surprised Jane, Adrian...Huk" Adrian nudged Igor Mikhailov an expert in piloting Space Station, He can make piloting Space Station in outer space like driving family car in highway. Igor already knew Adrian's plan. He chuckled after Adrian nudged him.

Jane pretended not to hear Igor's words and looked away, blushing. She knew that Adrian liked her and was going to propose to her. She was the lead astronaut on the Asa Space Station, and she was known as the "Ice Queen" by the crew of the Hyperion mother ship. However, she was also a brilliant thinker and leader, and she was the one who had discovered Planet Jane 62-f. When she was around Adrian, she somehow lowered her defenses, and this made Adrian attracted to her even more.

Adrian was in the middle of monitoring the Jane 62-f twin moon probe when alarms blared throughout the space station. His computer screen showed a celestial body on a collision course with the spaceship. The space object destroyed the probing satellite and continued on its path towards the space station.

Adrian didn't expect this at all. The celestial body had come from the twin moon of the planet Jane 62-f, and it was moving so fast that radar estimated the space station crew had less than five minutes to deal with the collision.

Following standard procedures and training, everyone donned protective suits and moved into the landing capsule for an emergency landing. However, Jane, Adrian, and Igor remained behind to mitigate the collision on the space station as best they could. After all, the space station's computers calculated that damage could be avoided if the space station maneuvered.

"Begin to maneuver," Igor said, beginning to control the space station so that it was outside the trajectory of the celestial body.

The Mini Thruster change the space station course to avoid impact, but something strange happened. The celestial body also changed the direction of its trajectory. Adrian, Igor, and Jane looked at each other. They understood each other: a space object shouldn't be able to change the direction of its trajectory, unless it was an artificial object, or in this case, some kind of guided missile.

But this was nonsense. No satellites or spaceships had ever approached the planet before. Besides, it was illogical for a military satellite to guard a planet that wasn't a vital object, Adrian thought.

"Brace, brace, brace!" Jane shouted over the communication line, warning the crew of the impending impact.

With a loud bang, everything in the space station went flying. Even though there was zero gravity in space, Adrian could feel his body bouncing from one object to another. If he hadn't been wearing a protective suit and helmet, he would have been gone for sure.

When the dust cleared, Adrian looked around. His surroundings were chaotic. The stars that should have been covered by the spaceship's body were clearly visible. The spaceship's hull was damaged and a vast expanse of space lay behind the broken cables and pipes.

Adrian looked for Igor and Jane after the crash. Igor was not far from Adrian, but something was strange. The visor of his armor was shattered and bubbles of blood were floating in front of his face.

"Jane, where are you?" Adrian called out to Jane using the communication system on his protective suit. His chest was pounding, hoping that Jane was still there and alive.

"...I'm...alright...at the moment..." Jane replied, but her voice was interrupted by static, like an FM radio looking for a signal.

"Where are you?" Adrian looked around but could not see Jane's figure. His heart pounded and goosebumps ran down his spine. Only one possibility: Jane had been thrown into outer space. Without an Extravehicular Mobility Unit, he could only sit helplessly as she drifted away.

"Adrian...you have to live...for me..." Jane's voice was coming through the static, but it was getting harder to understand. "Adrian...I...love...you..."

And then, her voice was gone.

"Jane...come in, Jane!" Adrian tried to call out to her, but there was no answer. Adrian's heart shattered and he felt himself sinking into the dark side of humanity: despair.