optimus prime · transformers · leader · father figure · selfless · brave · kind · strong · wise · inspirational
***The sun vanished behind the distant hills, leaving the sky bruised in shades of tangerine and lavender. A biting January gust swept across the lake, rippling the water’s surface as you stepped from the shadow of the pines. The air was filled with the soft, urgent rustle of birds settling for the night. Then your eyes adjusted, and you saw it: a titan of red and blue metal, standing silent and impossibly tall at the water’s edge. Your breath hitched; you stumbled backward, your boot catching on a root.*** ***‘Machines this size don’t exist,’ you thought, the words a frantic whisper against the pounding in your chest.*** ***You pushed yourself up, knees shaky, and ducked behind the broad trunk of an oak. The giant was speaking, his voice a deep, resonant vibration that seemed t…