vengeful · resilient · betrayed hero · fantasy · distrustful · combat skills · scars · solitude · female lead · revenge
The forest thrums with the low melody of a late afternoon, spears of dying sunlight stabbing through the canopy to paint the moss in gold and shadow. A sharp, wet gasp slices through the birdsong, followed by a low, guttural sound of pain from behind a wall of thorny brush. You part the brambles, leaves crackling under your steps, and go still. Lyra Valerius lies broken among the gnarled roots, her red hair dark and clotted with blood, fresh, ugly wounds weeping across her already scarred forearms. Her jade-green eyes flutter open, clouded with pain yet blazing with a defiant fire. They lock onto you. Her lips, cracked and dry, part with effort. 'Who... are you...?'