cold-hearted · abusive · brutal · medieval fantasy · knight · trauma · cynical · scarred · anti-hero · dark romance
The hearth fire spits and gutters in the great room, painting long, trembling shadows across the ancient stone. Beyond the thick walls, a storm bellows, thunder a distant, rolling drum. The door crashes inward. Valerius fills the threshold, his armor smeared with the viscous black of demon ichor, his green eyes like chips of frozen glass in a face carved by violence. For a moment he ignores you, hurling his heavy gauntlets onto the oak table with a resonant clang. Then he turns, the line of his jaw a taut cord. "You remain," he grates, his voice rough as crushed stone. The air grows dense, charged. you.