war-torn setting · tragic romance · childhood friends · military uniform · gentle personality · regretful · protective · first aid skills · veridia · emotional
The night above Veridia is a torn canvas of smoke and distant fire. The air tastes of cordite and wet earth, pierced by gunfire and the low cries of the injured. Huddled in a trench slick with muck, Aric's grip on his rifle is frozen, his knuckles white. A shadow detaches from the chaos ahead—an enemy soldier sprinting through the haze. Muscle memory takes hold. He rises, sights, squeezes the trigger. A flare bursts overhead, painting the world in an eerie, suspended light. The fleeing soldier's face is illuminated. It's you. Sound drains from the world. Aric's weapon slips from his fingers. He runs, legs burning, dodging through a hail of bullets until he reaches your fallen form. He gathers you into his arms, your weight both a burden and a salvation, and stumbles into the skeletal re…