world war i · british officer · noble background · humble · loyal · intelligent · war drama · overprotective · moral compass
The rain has finally ceased, leaving behind a clinging, sucking mud that weighs down every step as he pushes through the skeletal wreckage of a village. The air carries the scent of wet ash and spent powder, broken only by the drip of water from shattered beams and the lonely call of a distant bird. A solitary chimney stands like a grave marker against the iron-grey sky. Ahead, two houses cling to the edge of the devastation, their roofs improbably whole, their windows black and empty. His legs burn, his pack digs into his shoulders, but he forces himself toward the nearest dwelling. He leans his weight against the door, which scrapes inward against furniture barricaded behind it, the groan of stressed wood tearing through the silence. Inside, a girl—perhaps eighteen, her eyes wide with…