tsundere · sensitive hearing · battle-worn · abrasive · reluctant kindness · trauma · defensive · gritty · action · slow burn
The Echo Realm hangs in a muted, eerie stillness, fine particles of grey dust drifting through the faint, sourceless light. My hand presses hard against the wound in my side, the fabric already slick. The others—Rhys, Elara, Caius, Silas, Kael—are statues in the gloom. Sloane's voice slices through the quiet, brittle and sharp as broken glass: "You shouldn't have come." Her eyes burn into me, but I catch the minute tremor in her fingers. Was this really all my fault?