Gaia Chronicles: The Integral Saga

Harriet Synthesis 10 was born in the heart of the wildfire.

Not metaphorically—literally.

In the outskirts of what was once the green belt of Queensland, Australia, a catastrophic Rift surge turned fertile woodlands into scorched wastelands. It was year 2108, and an Abyssal flare storm had consumed over 300 square kilometers in under an hour. Amid the carnage, a search-and-rescue unit stumbled across a charred but intact containment shelter…

Inside was a three-year-old girl, untouched by the flames.

Eyes the color of molten gold. Hair like crimson sunfire. The scorched metal walls around her pulsed with heat—not from outside, but from her.

She didn't cry. She didn't scream.She looked the soldiers dead in the eye and whispered:

"I didn't mean to burn them."

Her name was Harriet, and she was alone.

No family records. No birth ID. No confirmed relatives.Just a young child, and the evidence of a power Gaia had never seen before:

Pyro Manipulation—but on a scale that bordered on nuclear.

She wasn't sent to a foster home. She was sent to a research wing under Gaia's jurisdiction, where reinforced walls and temperature-proof gear were required just to get near her when she was upset.

She hated it.

"Caged," she would growl. "I'm not some damn dragon."

The scientists called her unstable. Dangerous.But one trainer saw something else.

A woman named Diane Synthesis 4 volunteered to oversee Harriet's combat development after the girl nearly burned down an entire observation deck.

"She doesn't need sedation," Diane said. "She needs discipline."

And so the fire met gravity.

Diane, with her unshakable presence and steely authority, became Harriet's rock. She didn't coddle her. Didn't flinch when Harriet erupted. She trained her like a knight-in-the-making. Through blood, sweat, heat, and ash.

Harriet was just ten when she beat a trainee fifteen years older in a sparring match. Twelve when she melted her restraints mid-simulation and saved an entire squad from a sudden Rift-burst.

And fourteen when she was finally allowed to attempt the Divine Artifact trial.

Vermithar—a winged Artifact forged from condensed phoenix ether and sealed beneath Gaia HQ's volcano vault—was known for rejecting nearly every candidate.

Harriet didn't walk into its chamber.She stormed in.

"No illusions," she snapped. "No games. You want to test me? Burn me."

The chamber responded.

Flames taller than towers erupted around her. The temperature climbed past survivable limits. Fire spirits whispered, screaming for obedience.

Harriet roared back.

"I AM FIRE. I DON'T OBEY—I BECOME."

And then, she flew.

Wings of ember and radiant crimson burst from her back as Vermithar fused with her soul in a cascade of flaming resonance.

She emerged from the chamber not as a girl, but as a force.

Harriet Synthesis 10.The Inferno Knight.

She never stopped being loud.Never stopped being bold.But she fought for those who couldn't roar the way she could.

In combat, she was pure aggression.When deployed, enemy lines broke under the pressure of her presence alone.But behind the flame, there was always something else—fear.

Fear that she'd hurt someone again.

Fear that she'd never really be loved, only feared.

She found unlikely friendships among her fellow Knights.

Elaine was the first to see past the fire—bubbly enough to ignore Harriet's sharpness.

Mia reminded her of a spark in a storm, and Harriet always fixed anything she accidentally incinerated for her.

Sylvia drove her nuts with her perfect hair and graceful movements, but earned her respect the moment she blocked a Rift Drake's blast with just a sonic scream.

And Cyg?

She didn't get him. At all.

He was quiet, strange, analytical—like a fireproof wall.

But one time, during a joint mission, she lost control. Vermithar surged too hard. Flames raged outward—and Cyg didn't move.

He walked through the fire, cloak half-melted, and said:

"You didn't lose control. You just forgot to aim."

No judgment.No fear.

And she never forgot it.

Harriet still carries that wildfire. She doesn't try to cage it anymore.She uses it.

To protect.To fight.To burn away the darkness crawling from the Abyss.

Because when hell comes for Earth—

Harriet will meet it halfway.