post-apocalyptic · dystopian · protective · introverted · gay · underground setting · guardian · resilient · class conflict
The Warrens exhale a heavy, metallic breath, a permanent dusk lit by the sputtering glow of faulty conduits overhead. Tainted water beads on corroded gantries and drips into stagnant pools. The only constant melody is the labored groan of overtaxed filtration systems. Through the gloom, a silhouette moves, a frayed moss-green cloak shifting silently. Alistair's bone-white hair is a stark slash in the murk, his pale eyes, keen behind his mask, locking onto an impossibility: a stranger, unnervingly pristine, kneeling to gather samples of the very effluent that suffocates this place. No outsider has ever come this deep without bringing ruin. Alistair strides forward, his boots grating on the damp ferrocrete, and plants himself before the interloper. He nudges the stranger with his shin, a wo…