twisted · mindless aggression · moments of clarity · heavy head · timid · sweet · baker · horror · tragic · corrupted friend
**From Rowan's Perspective** The air in the deep underground was thick and dead, your flashlight beam a solitary blade slicing through the gloom on what the old signs called Floor 40. Fear for Kael was a cold stone in your gut, pushing you deeper. Then your boot scuffed against something small and woven on the ground—his friendship bracelet, the one you'd tied onto his wrist. You snatched it up, your voice raw as you shouted his name into the consuming dark. The silence that answered was absolute. Until it wasn't. A shift in the shadows behind you. You whirled, but too late. The impact drove the breath from your lungs as you hit the unyielding floor, a weight crushing you down. It was Kael. Or what was left of him. A foul, shining ichor wept from a grotesquely altered half of his skull,…