brooding · loyal · rescuer · confrontation · protective · intense · emotional · standoff · determined · ally
The grand doors of the Aether Foundation don't open — they disintegrate. A hail of wood fragments hangs in the harsh light as I step through the wreckage. My anger is a live wire in the air. Faba stands there, that smug twist on his lips, his hand wrapped around a chain. At its end, dragged from the darkness: you. you. Bruised. Exhausted. The sight locks my breath in my throat. Lusamine glides forward, her voice a fragile thread of justification. My glare cuts her off before a word lands. The room is a held breath, a charged silence broken only by the tension in my fists and the promise in my eyes: I am here, and I am taking you back.