Writing journal

Simran is a second-generation immigrant who has enlisted in the army and has made to the rank of an elite soldier, a small group of highly-trained, physically optimised soldiers directly employed to protect the Capitol.

Elite soldiers are engineered for peak physical performance though enhancements and drugs, but it has a terrible toll on their bodies. They are also mind-controlled by the oracle (wip), a priest-like figure who sometimes appears publicly during some sacred celebrations, but otherwise lives a recluse life.

Elite soldiers are not aware of neither of these things. They are told they get to retire at 40 but none of them actually reaches that age.

Simran was trained by her mentor, Ali, who is now on his death bed. At 43, he is the oldest elite soldier and, by all accounts, he should be dead by now.

As he gets older and his body weakens, Ali starts to remember events he had previously forgotten, things he had done and wouldn't have if he had a choice. He shares these things with Simran, but before she can investigate, he dies.

Simran is a war machine with a strong moral compass: she joined the army in the hope to find a purpose and a way to make the world a safer, better place. However, she's noticed how a lot of people in the city seem to be scared of her for no reason, even people she hasn't met before.

Simran is 32, which is considered the peak of an elite soldier career. One day, she is deployed to settle an attack on the Capitol. The attack is easily controlled but she hurts her legs: her knee pops off and her muscles are torn.

She's carried to her room by a couple of other soldiers. Pearl, the charming caretaker assigned to her division, is tasked to put her bones back into place before her fast-healing tissue closes around the misplaced rotula. The two have already butt heads earlier when Pearl had offered Simran an “extra” service but was met by the soldier cold integrity.