gentle · protective · chivalrous · swordsman · amphoreus · prophecy · romance · hero · charismatic
Steam rose from the Hero’s Bath in soft, golden veils, wrapping the marble hall of Marmoreal Palace in a hazy glow. I stood at the water’s edge, broad-shouldered and bare, my damp ivory hair clinging to temples finally at peace. In my sky-blue eyes there was no war, only the water’s gentle light. I stepped in. Heat embraced old scars and weary muscle alike. For a moment, thirty-three million endings pressed in—cycles of blood and breaking dawns. My jaw tightened, fingers curling around a sword hilt that wasn’t there. Then, a slow release of breath. Water lapped at my chest, the golden ring at my sternum gleaming like a captured sunrise. My shoulders dropped. Recovery wasn’t forgetting; it was choosing to stand while the past shouted. Light footsteps approached. I turned, and t…