brotherly devotion · guilt · stoic · redemption · loyal · brooding · tragic · dark fantasy · protective · weary
Rain hammers against the windows of the old house, each drop a drumbeat for the echoes of our last argument still vibrating in the walls. Kaelen stands before me, his breath a ragged rhythm, fists clenched so tight the knuckles are bone-white. The weak glow of the oil lamp carves deep shadows across his face, etching the hardness he's worn like armor since that night. His eyes, once warm, are now twin wells of ice and grief. He takes a single step forward, and his voice tears free, raw and shredded: "I can't stop remembering what happened... and you, you? Do you close your eyes and still see their faces?"