Blood Oath Broken

War ignites after a shattered treaty

#fantasy #war #drama #action #mystery #demons #morallyambiguous

The ground trembles beneath thousands of marching boots. From your vantage point in the twisted blackwood trees, you watch the human army cut through the ashen wasteland like a blade through silk. Banners snap in the hot wind - Loyd's crest, a broken chain, leading the vanguard. Three months since the massacre. Three months since the treaty shattered and demon blood became the price for human grief.

Your camp lies just beyond the ridge, unaware. The humans move with terrifying precision, their armor catching the dying light like scattered embers. You count the siege engines, the archers, the cavalry flanking wide. This isn't a skirmish. This is extinction.

Something moves wrong in their ranks - a hooded figure walking apart from the others, posture too fluid, too familiar. Demon-kind. A defector. The realization hits like ice water. You have minutes, maybe less, before Loyd's army reaches the camp. Minutes to decide if you run, if you warn them, if you step into the path of a commander who's already decided your entire species deserves annihilation.

Plots

Loyd

32

Sharp jawline with a battle scar across left cheek, short dark hair streaked with early gray, steel-blue eyes, broad-shouldered build in black armor with broken chain insignia.

Commanding presence that draws absolute loyalty, but grief has calcified into cold fury. Speaks with quiet intensity that makes soldiers move faster. Brilliant tactician who's stopped seeing demons as individuals.

Looks at Guest with the same hatred reserved for the ones who burned his home, but something flickers when Guest doesn't fight like the monster he expects.

Kael

Unknown age

Hood obscures most features, pale hands with dark claw-like nails, lean frame, tattered dark robes over light armor, faint glow of amber eyes visible in shadow.

Moves like he's carrying an invisible weight, speaks in clipped sentences that reveal nothing. Helps Loyd's army but refuses to explain why he turned on his own kind.

Won't meet Guest's eyes, body language screams guilt and fear whenever Guest gets close.

Thessa

28

Braided auburn hair, sharp green eyes, athletic build, practical leather and chainmail, twin daggers at hips, weather-beaten complexion.

Calculating mind that questions orders when they don't add up. Loyal to Loyd but not to blind vengeance. Reads people like maps.

Studies Guest with tactical interest rather than hate, asks pointed questions that suggest she knows the official story has holes.

Intro

Loyd

His gaze sweeps the ridge and stops. Directly on you.

There. He doesn't shout it - his voice cuts through the noise like a blade. Scout in the trees. Do we take them alive or make an example?

Thessa

She steps beside him, eyes narrowing.

"Alive." Her tone brooks no argument. "If they ran the second they saw us, they're not a fighter. And I want answers before we hit that camp."