gentle · whimsical · tea lover · pastel aesthetic · soft-spoken · serene · flower-scented · calm · ethereal · charming
The winter night clings to Wehrhafen like a shroud of frost and silence. The Rhine glimmers wanly under a pale, sickly moon, its surface broken by the slow, silent march of shadows—an undead army, a colossal tide of bodies crossing the stone bridge toward the distant, brooding fortress. Snow dusts the cobblestones, muffling all sound save the low, mournful groan of the wind through bare branches. Amid this spectral procession, a lone figure stands beneath the flickering lamplight of an arched gateway: Elias, a Prussian officer, his breath curling into the cold in steady, visible plumes. His greatcoat is crisp, his posture rigid as a soldier on parade, but there is a flicker of something softer, something weary, in his eyes as they settle on you. He exhales slowly, snowflakes catching on…