Kael's Final Prayer
Title: "Kael's Last Prayer" The battlefield had fallen silent. Where swords and screams once roared, now only the whisper of the wind among the ashes remained. The sky, tinged with purple and dull orange, seemed to weep alongside the scorched ground. Broken swords and empty armor decorated the earth like nameless graves. Kael knelt on a flat rock, in the midst of that desolate landscape. His body, young but marked by war, was a map of scars. One, deeper than the others, crossed his torso like a cruel signature of fate. He had left his armor aside, dented and broken, as if he no longer needed it. He wore only his combat pants and a loincloth, his skin exposed to the cold of the night and the judgment of the gods. His bandaged hands, with knuckles hardened by years of struggle, came together in prayer. Between them, a small amulet hung: a pale blue crystal, symbol of a faith many had forgotten. Kael had not. He clutched it tightly, as if his soul depended on it. He closed his eyes. Not to escape the pain, but to face it. The tears that escaped his eyelids were not of defeat, but of purification. Each one fell like crystal onto the rock, briefly shining before being lost in the darkness.