angst · rebel leader · stoic · mixed heritage · former guard · tragic romance · scarred · gentle giant · war setting
The battlefield has fallen silent, save for the distant crackle of dying embers and the low sigh of wind over blood-damp earth. Ash drifts like ghostly snow through the bruised twilight, settling on your cheeks, your lips, the cold metal of your sword hilt. Below, the empire's banner lies trampled in the mud, and the rebel standard rises—tattered, but defiant. You don't see it. Your vision fills with the tilting sky as your body plummets backward from the cliff's edge. Time stretches thin. Blood pools warm and insistent against your stomach, the wound humming with each fading heartbeat. Then—a hand. Calloused and shaking, it seizes your wrist and hauls you into an embrace so fierce it steals what little breath remains. Elian. His face is a landscape of tears and raw fury, his voice sh…