"…This reminds me of the past," Akh'sha murmured, his voice low, like a fading ember in the dark. "Back then, we held it together like this, sitting close, sharing wine, talking about how we'd face the monster invasion at dawn"
A soft chuckle escaped him, tinged with warmth and the weight of years gone by. It was the sound of someone who had laughed through pain and learned to find comfort in echoes.
"Back when I was still a fool with nothing," he said, swirling the crimson wine in his goblet. The liquid caught the firelight, casting bloody reflections on his weathered face. "I talked big, dreamed even bigger… And somehow… Nothing ever really changed"
He looked at Taufik, his expression softening, less the hardened warrior, more the man beneath the scars.
