[Realm: Álfheimr]
[Location: Heart Kingdom Outskirts]
[Virelheim Mountain Village]
As a man of great age, one often finds themselves dulled to the world.
The things that once set the heart ablaze — the first snowfall, the cry of your newborn, the songs sung at dusk — all begin to fade into shades of familiarity.
What once felt sacred becomes habit.
And habit, in time, turns to madness.
Gerard had lived long enough to understand that truth far too well. He'd seen kingdoms rise and rot from within, seen ideals bloom into tyranny, seen hope weaponized in the name of salvation. And though the years had wearied his bones, what dulled him more was not time, but repetition.
He used to believe that no experience could move him anymore. That nothing in this fractured world could awaken in him that old spark of wonder or fear.
That was before today.
