"In the heat of battle, promises are made in crimson, explicit vows sealed with both blood and lust. Under a sky choked with smoke and ash, I realize that every pledge we utter here is destined to be tested by violence and twisted by our own raw, feral hunger."
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The night claws at the horizon, stained a bruised purple lit by sporadic flames licking through the ruins of a once-thriving district. Gunfire rattles in the distance, sharp, staccato bursts that echo against hollowed buildings. I’m crouched behind a half-toppled barricade of rubble and twisted metal, heart thundering in my chest. My body aches from the collision of brutal conflict and deeper, unspoken desires that swirl through me like a drug.
Dust mingles with cordite in the heated air, each breath a rasp of survival. Overhea
