Maximus

The silence after battle was the kind that never truly went quiet. It hummed under the skin, restless and waiting, like the world itself was still deciding whether it was finished bleeding.

Smoke hung low across the valley, heavy and sharp. The scent of iron mixed with ash, and the air shimmered faintly with heat that refused to die. The fires had burned out, but their ghosts still glowed beneath the soil.

I stood on the ridge, watching what was left of Xander’s ...