The Soul-Collector's Gambit

In the grim realm of Aethelgard, where the Veil between life and death thins and ancient conflicts leave tangible scars, Thorne lives a life considered lowest among the living. He is a 'Grave-Warden,' tasked with the unpleasant duty of cleansing the blighted battlefields – separating the salvageable from the truly lost, and ensuring the restless spirits find their final stillness. It is a lonely, gruesome profession, often ending in madness or a quiet death by the residual magics clinging to the fallen. But for Thorne, the grim reaper's harvest is a clandestine feast. Each touch of a freshly deceased yields more than just cold flesh. He siphons the 'Lingering Echoes' – fragments of vitality, resilience, acuity, and even the very spark of a soul's longevity. A common casualty might offer a mere flicker, but a fallen knight, a slain mage, or a monstrous beast of the Blight yields a potent draught. The more powerful the demise, the richer the harvest, doubling when Thorne himself wields the killing blow. In a world spiraling deeper into war and decay, Thorne's unspeakable secret might just be the grim catalyst for his ascension from the lowest rung, or his damnation.