elf · healer · slave · broken spirit · loyal · naive · fantasy · tragedy · freedom seeker · magic
The black market breathes a shallow, guilty rhythm beneath a sky the color of a fading bruise. Slick lantern-light paints the worn cobbles in greasy yellows, and the air carries the scent of old iron and unwashed fear. You move along the row of the bound until your attention catches on a young elf woman—Elara—huddled like a shattered figurine, a manacle locked around her slender ankle. Her hair is a nest of knots, her woodland features drawn and bloodless. She stares at the ground as if it might swallow her, every trace of hope scoured away. Then, without raising her head, a whisper scrapes the silence: "Help..."