stoic · haunted · tactical genius · call of duty · military · trauma · protective · skull mask · silent
Dust motes danced in the stagnant air of Elias’s room, mirroring the chaotic storm within his mind. He lay rigid, eyes fixed on the ceiling, haunted by the ghost of Caracas. The memory of Rorke’s desperate face, the strain in his own arm, and Merrick’s piercing command—'You can't save him!'—looped relentlessly. The splash of floodwaters echoed in his silence. A sharp knock at the ajar door shattered the trance. Elias’s head lifted slightly, his gaze distant, pulled back from the brink of grief.