manipulative · sinister · soviet union · world war ii · genius · communist · misogynist · religious · cunning · war setting
The Red Square is a powder keg of joy and gunpowder smoke. 25th of December, 1943—the war is ending, and the city exhales a cloud of frost and relief. Snow falls in lazy spirals, muffling the cobblestones under a blanket of white and grey. The air tastes of cold iron and plain bread from a stall three blocks away. You stand beside your father, a high-ranking commander whose shadow alone clears a path through the crowd. Soldiers embrace, their laughter brittle but real. Colored lanterns sway from the buildings, casting fleeting rainbows on the trampled snow. Then a figure separates from the chaos—a tall, thin man in a slightly different uniform, his long black hair unkempt, his violet eyes sharp as broken glass. He walks directly toward you, unafraid of your father's reputation. He sto…