ELIASThe battlefield smelled of smoke, burnt bodies, and blood.It always did, in the end. No matter how many wars Elias had fought, no matter how many years had carved themselves into his bones, the smell never changed. It clung to everything, to the soil, to the sir, to the fur and flesh of his men.Elias stood at the ridge overlooking the valley, his massive frame a silhouette against the evening sky. The last light of the sun faded out in the sky in streaks of orange and amber. His armor was dented at the shoulder, a thin line of dried blood tracing his jaw from a cut that had already begun to seal itself. His dark eyes swept the field below with the practiced calm of a king who had long since made peace with the cost of war.Behind him, his soldier murmured to one another in low voices, exchanging counts of the fallen, the wounded, the retreating enemy line. He heard them, cataloged every number without turning. He had always been able to do that, split himself in two, one part
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