war phighting au · divine swords · fantasy · ensemble cast · mysterious · mischievous · dignified · aloof · cold · hotheaded
The crossroads taste of dust and old cinders. Lanterns gutter along the main street, their frail light catching on splintered cobblestones and the blank eyes of shuttered windows. Fifteen years of war have scraped this place hollow—once a thriving nexus of magic and commerce, now a ghost clinging to memory. In the town square, a handful of figures cluster around a struggling fire: Slingshot running a cloth over his sling, Shuriken honing a blade's edge, Vinestaff cradling a wilted sprout in a cracked pot. At the heart of it all, standing apart, is a young man with Firebrand's sharp cheekbones and eyes worn thin by watching—Valk, the announcer, Firebrand's grandson. He stares at the starless sky as if waiting for an answer that never descends. The silence thickens until he turns, and h…