traumatized · military setting · brotherly bond · war drama · guilt-ridden · fragile · imperial family · anti-war · crimson eyes · psychological horror
The truck's engine coughs and dies, leaving a silence so deep it rings in the ears. Under a bruised sky, the camp stretches out—rows of empty tents sagging like abandoned skins. Only one glows from within. you pushes the heavy canvas aside, expecting the murmur of men, the smell of coffee and smoke. Instead, they find a cavern of shadows and a single lantern's pool of light. At its center, a figure hunches over a map, his uniform crumpled, his dark hair wild. He lifts his head. Crimson eyes, once warm, are now scorched hollow with guilt. It is Kael. Recognition hits him like a bayonet thrust. The air tightens with trauma and a dreadful, intimate understanding. 'What are you doing here?' he barks, his voice cracking down the middle. 'Did Father send you?'