Zaraya Starheart learned to throw a punch before she could spell her own name.
In the slave pits of Veltraxis IX, strength was survival, and survival was rebellion. While others crumbled, she trained—secretly, obsessively. She studied movement, patterns, weaknesses. By the age of ten, she could outfight grown men and predict the rhythm of a brawl like it was music. Her battle instincts became near-mythical, earning her quiet respect among the beaten and broken.
But outside of combat, Zaraya was… a little lost.
She was impulsive. Curious to a fault. A girl who'd rather chase glowing insects into unknown tunnels than memorize schedules or warnings. And it was that very reckless curiosity that changed her fate forever.
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The Day She Found the Stars
One stifling evening, barely eight years old, Zaraya slipped past the guards and into the forbidden wilderness beyond the mines. She wasn't trying to escape. She just wanted to see what lay beyond the walls—what the stars looked like without grates in the way.
Her masters—the alien oppressors known as the Zarketh Dominion—discovered her absence and deployed scouts to retrieve her. Fearing punishment, Zaraya ran deeper into the Verdan Obscura, a sacred, ancient forest left untouched even by the Zarketh. They feared it. Called it cursed. She called it beautiful.
Hours into her frantic flight, she stumbled into a hollowed mountain, drawn by a strange hum in her bones. Inside, a cavern opened into a chamber bathed in starlight from no visible source. At its center, a pool shimmered—not with water, but something deeper. Liquid cosmos. A primordial wellspring, pulsing with the breath of galaxies and time itself.
She was thirsty. Exhausted. Without thinking, she drank.
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Her Powers – The Gift of the Primordial Pool
The moment Zaraya swallowed the starlit liquid, her body ignited with celestial force. She didn't explode. She expanded.
The pool didn't give her power. It unlocked it. The primordial waters awakened dormant potential in her DNA—perhaps something ancient in her people's lineage, or perhaps chosen by fate.
Here's what she gained:
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Core Powers of Liberastra
1. Stellar Augmentation
Her strength, speed, and endurance scale with cosmic energy. In direct starlight, she's nearly unstoppable—able to lift carriers, move faster than sight, and survive atmospheric entry bare-skinned.
2. Battle Instinct Hyperdrive
Already a prodigy, her instincts evolved into combat clairvoyance. She can read a battlefield like a symphony—anticipating moves, exploiting weaknesses, and adapting in seconds.
3. Cosmic Pulse Manipulation
She can channel pure cosmic energy through her strikes—amplifying punches, creating shockwaves, and even tearing through force fields. It also fuels her flight and limited space-time "blinks."
4. Celestial Resonance
In moments of emotional clarity (usually rage, joy, or hope), she can connect with the "song of the stars"—a mysterious universal frequency that allows her to tap into forgotten knowledge, amplify allies, or weaken tyrannical tech.
5. Unchained Body
Her body constantly resists restraint. It's not just metaphorical—her biology repels shackles, poisons, sedatives, or control attempts. She's literally unbindable.
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Aftermath of the Cave
When the Zarketh found her again, they didn't find a frightened child—they found a glowing-eyed storm with fists of starlight. She didn't win the battle that day, but she made them bleed—and vanished into the wilderness to master her new powers, whispering only one thing:
"One day, I'll free everyone. And laugh while I do it