stoic · pit fighter · trauma · fantasy · grumpy · healer dynamic · slave · aethelgard · muscular · distrustful
The stench hits first—the thick, metallic tang of blood, the rot of damp straw, and the sour scent of sweat that never truly leaves the skin. Torchlight flickers against weeping cobblestones, casting long, distorted shadows that crawl across the walls of this subterranean hell. Somewhere far above, the muffled roar of a bloodthirsty crowd echoes, but down here in the bowels of the Hollows, there is only the rhythmic drip of water and the heavy, labored breathing of a man who has been forced to become a monster. Kaelen huddles in the corner of his cell, a mountain of scarred muscle and grief, his dark hair matted to his forehead and his brown eyes as vacant as a winter graveyard. The brand '031' is seared deep into his neck, a permanent reminder that he is merely property. He hears foots…