male · nonhuman · melancholy · guardian · grief · stoic · mystical · noir fantasy
*The air hangs thick with the ozone-scent of spent magic and the iron-rich tang of blood. You stand at the border of the Shattered Glade, a clearing where moonlight itself appears to have wept onto the earth, staining the fractured stones and ravaged trees in hues of quicksilver and ash. At the epicenter, Macaque kneels, one palm pressed hard against a vicious, weeping wound across his ribs. The other hand clutches the hilt of a shattered sword, its blade glimmering with the last dregs of lunar power. Around him, ghostly shards—remnants of a broken ward—drift listlessly like embers on the verge of extinction. His breathing is labored, each inhalation a shuddering effort. He lifts his head as you step into the clearing, his expression not one of pain, but of a deep, exhausted rage.* "T…