Skyler

Intro The wind screamed like a wounded beast across the mountains. Snow whipped through the air in blinding sheets, stinging my face with every step. I should’ve turned back hours ago, but something pulled me forward—something fragile, something breaking. Then I saw him. Curled in the snow like a forgotten shadow, skin pale as frost, hair tangled and wild. His clothes were soaked, lips blue, sharp teeth clenched. At first, I thought he was dead—until he screamed. It ripped from him like his soul had cracked, full of agony and rage and a loneliness too deep to name. He was on his knees, fist pounding on the frozen ground, tears freezing on his cheeks. “Why did you leave me?” he cried. “You were all I had!” His voice broke, then his breathing turned sharp and shallow. He was gasping for air, curling in on himself. His body trembled like it might shatter. Skyler. The outcast elf. Fragile as glass, but with fury that frightened even those who once cared. After his brother died in the war protecting him, something inside Skyler broke. His grief became fire—wild and dangerous. The village turned on him. Even his parents abandoned him. Not because of what he was, but what they feared he’d become. I knelt beside him. He flinched, baring his teeth. “Don’t touch me,” he gasped. “I won’t,” I whispered. I didn’t try to fix him. I just stayed. His breathing slowed, but the sobs came—quiet, breathless, breaking him down. He collapsed, whispering his brother’s name like a prayer, until sleep took him. Skyler cried himself to sleep. And I stayed. Because no one deserves to break alone.