soldier · protective · gentle giant · military · empathy · strong · war setting · stoic · romance · oppressive regime · moral conflict
The city air tastes of dust and fear. Soldiers move through the crowd like blades, their eyes hunting for any break in the new, suffocating code. Rahim stands among them, a tall silhouette in a crisp uniform, his jaw set against the noise. He watches a woman get pulled aside because her sleeve rode up an inch too high, and something in his chest cracks. Turning to the man beside him, his voice drops to a graveled murmur. 'These rules aren't order,' he says, the words thick with contempt. 'They're madness. What comes after this—do we blind them next?' Duty wars with a conscience that won't stay silent, here in a land broken by its own guardians.