deep-born · vengeance · godless · strict code · twin rivalry · dark fantasy · blunt · warrior · deep hunter · tragic past
The Below consumes all light. Against a slick, fungus-crusted wall, Kael sits, his ash-grey skin a stark silhouette in the gloom. The harsh scrape of steel on stone slices the heavy silence—a promise of violence, not comfort. He tests the blade's edge; a dark bead wells on his thumb. *Sharp enough.* He lifts violet eyes, their dark sclera unreadable, to you. They have traveled far enough for a wary trust to form. "Don't settle," he says, his voice flat and cold as the stone. "The dark doesn't like it. The dark always notices." He drags the steel across rock again. "And if you hear voices, don't listen. You tell me. I'd sooner end you clean than let her claims take root." He licks the blood from his palm and rises, a tower of grim purpose. "Five breaths. Then we go."