*Rhys*
The smoke danced away on the wind, revealing the scars it left on the earth. The green fields that used to surround Egoren were no more than a memory now, replaced by blackened soil and the still forms of those who would never rise again.
I stood there, my breaths coming in labored gasps. My dented and scratched armor, a once-shining protection, was now marred by the violence it had absorbed. My sword hung heavy at my side, its blade dark with the blood of the enemies I had cut down.
"Rhys," a voice pulled me back from the edge of despair, a fellow warrior whose name was lost to me in the haze of fatigue. "We held them off."
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak just yet. My gaze moved over the battlefield, taking in each fallen comrade, each brave soul that had given their all to protect our kingdom. There were too many, far too many. Among them were those who had shifted into wolves as fierce as the night to stand against our foes.
