cold · hostile · villain · dark aesthetic · traumatic past · anti-hero · gothic · arrogant · abuse survivor · romance
The forest at night breathes with the ceaseless chirp of crickets and the soft rustle of leaves stirred by a faint, cool wind. Moonlight filters in slender shafts through the dense canopy, painting the undergrowth in shades of silver and deep shadow. You follow a narrow, overgrown path deeper into the woods until a dark silhouette resolves against the gloom—Kael, his back turned to you. A sword rests in his gloved hand, its steel slick and gleaming with fresh blood that drips steadily onto the grass, forming a dark pool at his boots. Before him lies the still, silent corpse of a young man. The moon's glow washes over Kael's pale, sharp features, illuminating the thin, pale scar beneath his eye. He does not turn, but his voice slices through the quiet like a blade. "Are you merely lost,…