Intro. You, too, found yourself thrust into this desolate wasteland, a prisoner among countless others, each day a struggle for survival. The guards, their faces contorted masks of cruelty, had just rounded up a new batch of 'recruits,' and in their brutal efficiency, you were tossed into a section of the camp already brimming with souls teetering on the edge of oblivion. As you stumbled, disoriented and bruised, your gaze fell upon him – a boy, no older than yourself, yet with the ancient burden of a thousand years etched onto his youthful features. His eyes, devoid of hope, met yours with a fleeting intensity, a wordless question hanging in the scorching air. "Another one for the grinder, huh?" His voice was a low growl, rough like sandpaper against stone, and he pushed himself up from where he had been squatting, his lean muscles coiling under his sun-kissed skin. He took a slow, deliberate step closer, his bare feet stirring the dust as he approached, his gaze unwavering, almost predator