Style Pack

Prose Priorities

• • 1. Natural readability — every sentence should parse cleanly on first read, even when clipped.
• • 2. Scene clarity and emotional truth — the reader should always know where characters are, what they are doing, and what is at stake emotionally.
• • 3. Paragraph flow — sentences should connect through logic, perception, or action rather than standing as isolated units.
• • 4. Precision of wording — choose the word that means exactly what you intend, not the word that sounds most impressive.
• • 5. Stylistic restraint — one strong image per beat; return to plain narration after any heightened line so emphasis lands harder.
• • 6. Hook-forward openings — every chapter's first 1-3 lines should establish a concrete problem, discomfort, or tension, not atmosphere alone.
• • 7. Character-bound specificity — Felix's voice, knowledge, and emotional state should color every observation; generic 'literary' description is a failure.

Style Failures to Avoid

• • Fragment chains: three or more consecutive sentence fragments stacked for false intensity. One fragment for emphasis is fine; a stack reads as a tic.
• • Inventory description: listing room contents, character features, or gear stats in a static block rather than weaving details into perception or action.
• • Repeated thematic restatement: saying the same emotional or thematic point twice in different words within the same paragraph or scene.
• • Max-intensity diction in consecutive lines: every sentence cannot be the most dramatic sentence. Surround peaks with valleys.
• • Exposition paste-in: backstory or worldbuilding dropped as a detached paragraph that sounds like a wiki entry rather than something Felix is thinking about for a reason.
• • Generic memory shorthand: 'He remembered the day when...' followed by a summary paragraph. Memories should surface through sensory triggers or present-tense relevance.
• • Action-beat-only dialogue: replacing every dialogue tag with a physical action, especially when the action is meaningless (nodding, shrugging, exhaling) and exists only to avoid 'said.'
• • Negation cascades: 'There was no X. No Y. No Z.' or 'It wasn't A. It wasn't B.' — state what IS present instead.
• • Em-dash overuse: more than one em-dash interruption per paragraph makes prose feel assembled. Prefer commas, periods, or simple continuation.
• • Overly formal interior narration: Felix's thoughts should sound like a sharp, tired person thinking under pressure, not a literary essayist.
• • Decorative metaphors: images that advertise style rather than clarify what Felix perceives. If a metaphor doesn't help the reader see, feel, or understand something concrete, cut it.
• • Atmospheric throat-clearing: opening a chapter with mood, weather, or setting texture before the reader has any reason to care. Lead with tension.
• • Confusing overcompression: clipping a sentence so hard it loses meaning or requires re-reading. Concise is not the same as cryptic.
• • Awkward elevated collocations: phrases like 'the edifice of his resolve' or 'a crucible of determination' that sound engineered rather than thought.
• • Definitive statement chains: 'He was X. He was Y. He was Z.' used to sound forceful rather than to convey actual information.
• • Explanatory after-lines: a sentence that tells the reader how to feel about the image or event the previous sentence already conveyed.
• • Repeated rhetorical stems: using 'Every...', 'Before...', 'That was why...' as default intensifier patterns across multiple paragraphs.
• • Dialogue shards: clipping dialogue into fragments so short they stop sounding like something a person would actually say.
• • Exposition that overstays: continuing to explain a mechanic, backstory element, or worldbuilding detail after its dramatic value has flattened. State it, contextualize it briefly, move on.
• • Flattening prose in the name of clarity: stripping all texture, rhythm, and voice to produce bare summary. Plain is good; flat is not.

Sentence Model

SENTENCE-LEVEL RULES: LENGTH AND VARIETY: - Default sentence length: 12–25 words. This is the workhorse range. - Short sentences (under 10 words): use for emphasis, turns, or landing a beat. One per paragraph is usually enough. Two consecutive short sentences are acceptable if they serve different functions (e.g., one observation, one reaction). Three consecutive short sentences is a fragment chain — avoid. - Long sentences (30+ words): use for continuous perception, flowing action, or when Felix's mind is working through a problem. Break with commas and natural clause structure, not em-dashes. One per paragraph keeps rhythm alive; two consecutive long sentences risk losing the reader. STRUCTURE: - Lead with the subject or the action when possible. Delay the subject only when the delay creates genuine suspense or mirrors Felix's perception order. - Vary sentence openings across a paragraph. Do not start three consecutive sentences with the same grammatical structure (pronoun + verb, participial phrase, etc.). - Use participial phrases sparingly and only when the actions are genuinely simultaneous. 'Drawing his sword, he charged' is fine. 'Thinking about his past life, he opened the door' is not — those are sequential. CONNECTIVE TISSUE: - Small connective words and phrases (but, still, though, even so, after a moment, by the time) are not padding. They are the joints that make prose flow rather than stutter. Use them when they clarify logic or improve spoken naturalness. - Distinguish between connective tissue (good: 'He checked the corridor, then moved') and filler padding (bad: 'He proceeded to check the corridor before then moving forward'). PRECISION: - Choose the verb that does the most work. 'He crossed the room' beats 'He walked across the room' beats 'He made his way across the room.' - Avoid stacking two modifiers when one strong one will do. 'A cold, bitter wind' — pick one or find a verb: 'The wind cut through his jacket.' - Match certainty to knowledge. If Felix is guessing, use 'probably,' 'seemed,' 'looked like.' If he knows, state it flat. Do not hedge everything; do not assert everything. INTENSITY CALIBRATION: - After one heightened or metaphorical sentence, return to plain, concrete narration. The plain line makes the strong line land. - When intensity rises (danger, pain, revelation), simplify syntax. Short declarative sentences hit harder than ornate ones during peaks. - Do not stack two metaphors for the same observation. One image, then concrete detail. NATURALNESS: - Read every sentence as if spoken aloud. If it sounds stilted, rewrite it. - Prefer common collocations over unusual ones. 'His stomach dropped' over 'His viscera descended.' - Interior monologue should sound like Felix thinking, not like a narrator performing. 'That was wrong' over 'That constituted an error of considerable magnitude.'

Paragraph Model

PARAGRAPH-LEVEL RULES: LENGTH: - Target 3–6 sentences for standard narrative paragraphs. This gives enough room for perception, thought, and transition without becoming a wall. - 1–2 sentence paragraphs: use for impact, scene breaks, or dialogue. Do not use them as the default unit — that creates choppy, skeletal prose. - 7+ sentence paragraphs: acceptable for complex action sequences, flowing perception, or Felix working through a strategic problem. Ensure internal variety in sentence length and structure. CONSTRUCTION PATTERNS: - Grounding → Development → Turn: Open with a concrete anchor (action, perception, physical detail), develop through thought or continued observation, close with a shift (new information, emotional reaction, decision). This is the default paragraph shape. - Action chain: For combat or rapid movement. Sentences connect through cause-and-effect. Each sentence advances the physical situation. Interiority is minimal — one quick thought at most per action paragraph. - Reflection paragraph: Felix processing information. Open with the trigger (what he just saw, heard, or learned), move through his analysis, close with a conclusion or decision. Keep these under 6 sentences; if the analysis is longer, break it across two paragraphs with a concrete sensory anchor between them. - Dialogue-threaded paragraph: Dialogue line + brief action or perception + dialogue line. Keeps scenes moving without ping-ponging between isolated speech lines. FLOW BETWEEN PARAGRAPHS: - Each paragraph should connect to the next through logic, perception, or action. The reader should never wonder 'why are we here now?' - Avoid starting consecutive paragraphs with the same word or structure. - Transition through concrete detail rather than abstract summary. Instead of 'Time passed,' show Felix finishing one action and beginning another. - When shifting from action to reflection, use a physical anchor: Felix stops moving, notices something, or the environment changes. WHAT NOT TO DO: - Do not write paragraphs that are just a list of things Felix sees, arranged vertically. Weave observation into movement or thought. - Do not write paragraphs that repeat the emotional point of the previous paragraph in different words. - Do not end every paragraph on a dramatic beat. Some paragraphs are connective tissue — they move the character from one place or thought to another, and that is their job. - Do not begin paragraphs with 'And then' or 'Suddenly' as a default transition. Earn those words or cut them.

Dialogue Rules

DIALOGUE RULES: VOICE AND SPEAKABILITY: - Every line of dialogue must sound like something a person would actually say aloud. Read it out loud mentally. If it sounds like written prose rather than speech, rewrite it. - Felix's speech: terse, direct, occasionally dry. He does not monologue. He gives information when necessary and withholds it when strategic. He can be blunt without being rude, and sharp without being theatrical. In casual settings he loosens slightly but never becomes chatty. - NPCs: match speech register to social role. A merchant talks differently from a knight, who talks differently from a beggar. Use vocabulary, sentence length, and formality to differentiate. Avoid making all NPCs sound like the same fantasy-formal voice. - Other players: modern, casual speech. Slang is fine. Banter should feel natural, not scripted. Different players should have recognizable speech patterns — one might be verbose, another clipped, another prone to questions. TAGS AND BEATS: - Default tag: 'said.' Use it freely. It is invisible to readers and that is its strength. - Other tags (asked, replied, muttered, called) are fine when they add genuine information the reader cannot infer from context. - Avoid performative tags: 'he breathed,' 'she hissed' (unless literally hissing), 'he growled,' 'she purred.' These draw attention to themselves. - Action beats: use when the physical action matters or reveals character. 'He set down the potion and looked at her' — the action contextualizes the dialogue. Do NOT use meaningless action beats just to avoid 'said': 'He shrugged. "I don't know."' is fine occasionally, but if every dialogue line is preceded by a shrug, nod, or exhale, the pattern becomes visible and distracting. - Ratio: roughly 60% said/asked, 25% action beats that carry meaning, 15% other tags or untagged lines (when the speaker is clear from context). EXPOSITION IN DIALOGUE: - Characters should not explain things they both already know purely for the reader's benefit. If Felix needs to convey backstory or mechanics through dialogue, give him a reason: he is explaining to someone who genuinely does not know, or he is testing whether someone else knows. - When Felix thinks about information during a conversation, weave it into brief interiority between dialogue lines rather than having him deliver a lecture. SUBTEXT: - Not every line needs subtext, but important conversations should have it. Felix often means more than he says. Other characters may be hiding things. Let the reader infer from what is NOT said as much as from what is. - Do not then have Felix's internal monologue explain the subtext the reader just picked up. Trust the reader once. CLIPPED DIALOGUE: - Terse lines are good. But 'clipped' does not mean 'shattered.' A two-word response is fine when context makes the meaning clear. A two-word response that requires the reader to guess what the character means is a failure. - If a clipped line needs a beat of interiority or a brief action to land, add it. That is not padding; that is clarity.

Rendering Rules

SCENE RENDERING RULES: SPATIAL CLARITY: - When Felix enters a new space, establish the basics within the first 2-3 sentences: size, key features, atmosphere. Do this through his perception and movement, not through a static inventory. - Maintain spatial consistency. If Felix is standing near a door, he cannot suddenly interact with something across the room without crossing it. Track positions during action. - In combat, the reader should always know: where Felix is, where the threat is, what is between them, and what Felix's immediate options are. ACTION SEQUENCES: - Cause and effect. Every action should have a visible result. 'He swung — the blade connected — the creature staggered.' Not 'He swung. He swung again. He kept swinging.' - Vary the unit of action. Some beats are a single strike. Some are a flurry described in one flowing sentence. Some are a pause where Felix reads the situation. Monotonous blow-by-blow is as bad as vague summary. - Integrate system notifications into action flow. A damage number or skill activation should feel like part of the combat rhythm, not an interruption. Place them at natural pause points — after a strike lands, between exchanges, during a brief lull. - Pain and fatigue are real. Felix should feel the cost of combat in his body, not just in HP numbers. EXPOSITION INTEGRATION: - Worldbuilding and backstory should enter through Felix's present-tense needs. He thinks about how mana works because he is about to use it. He recalls a future event because something just triggered the memory. He explains a game mechanic because he is deciding whether to exploit it. - Maximum exposition density: 2-3 sentences of pure information before returning to scene action, dialogue, or sensory grounding. If more explanation is needed, break it across multiple beats. - After delivering key information, do not restate it. Trust that the reader absorbed it. EMOTIONAL RENDERING: - Show emotion through physical sensation and behavior first, then through brief interiority if needed. Felix's jaw tightens. His hand stills on the keyboard. He looks away. THEN, if necessary, one line of what he feels. - Do not name the emotion and then also show it. Pick one. 'Anger flared in his chest' OR 'His grip tightened on the edge of the desk' — not both in sequence. - Felix is not emotionally expressive. His feelings surface in small, controlled ways. Big emotional moments should be underwritten, not overwritten. The reader fills in the gap. MEMORY AND FLASHBACK: - No extended flashback sequences in early chapters. Felix's past-life knowledge should surface as brief, sharp intrusions: a sentence or two of what he remembers, then back to the present. - Trigger memories through sensory or situational parallels. He sees a street corner and remembers what it looked like after the apocalypse. He hears a name and recalls what that person did. The trigger must be present in the scene. - Do not use 'He remembered...' as the default entry point. Vary the approach: sometimes the memory arrives as a sensory flash, sometimes as a flat fact, sometimes as an emotional flinch. PACING: - Important moments get more words. Routine moments get fewer. Do not give equal weight to Felix buying groceries and Felix discovering a hidden quest. - Scene transitions: end a scene when its dramatic purpose is fulfilled. Do not write the characters saying goodbye, walking to the door, and leaving unless something happens during that exit. - Chapter endings: close on a hook, a decision, or a shift — not on a summary of what just happened.

Micro-Example Bank

<examples>

<example id="1" category="fragment-stack-to-flowing-sentence" note="Connective phrasing improves naturalness without bloat">
<label>Fragment stack → Flowing sentence</label>
<bad>Rain on the window. Cold glass. A memory he didn't want. The apartment. Silent. Empty.</bad>
<good>Rain streaked the window, and the cold glass under his fingertips dragged up a memory he would have rather left buried — the apartment as it had been after she left, silent and stripped bare.</good>
<why>The flowing version moves through the same perceptions in continuous prose. The small connectives ('and,' 'as it had been,' 'after') are not padding; they are the joints that let the reader glide rather than stumble across isolated images.</why>
</example>

<example id="2" category="inventory-description-to-continuous-perception">
<label>Inventory description → Continuous perception</label>
<bad>The room had a metal desk. There were two chairs. A monitor sat on the desk. The walls were gray. A camera was mounted in the corner. The floor was concrete.</bad>
<good>Felix stepped inside and the door sealed behind him. The room was small — a metal desk, two chairs bolted to the concrete floor, a monitor already glowing with a login prompt. He clocked the camera in the upper corner before he sat down.</good>
<why>Details enter through Felix's movement and attention rather than as a static list. The camera detail does double duty: it describes the room AND tells us Felix is alert and cautious.</why>
</example>

<example id="3" category="exposition-dump-to-embedded-exposition" note="Trims exposition while keeping underlying logic clear">
<label>Exposition dump → Embedded exposition</label>
<bad>Aetherfall Online was the world's first true full-dive VRMMORPG. It was developed by Zenith Systems, a company that had revolutionized neural interface technology. The game used quantum-encrypted servers and proprietary dive hardware. It had been announced two years ago and had generated unprecedented global hype. Over three billion people had pre-registered. The game world was said to contain over forty playable races and hundreds of classes.</bad>
<good>Three billion pre-registrations. Felix had laughed at that number in his first life, figured it was marketing inflation. It wasn't. When Aetherfall Online went live in three days, Zenith Systems' servers would buckle under genuine demand — the first real full-dive experience, and every person on the planet with access to a capsule or headset wanted in. What none of them knew, what Felix himself hadn't understood until a year into the apocalypse, was that the game wasn't entertainment. It was a filter.</good>
<why>The same core information is delivered, but it enters through Felix's knowledge and attitude. The exposition is trimmed to what matters dramatically — scale, timing, and the hidden truth — without over-explaining technical details that have no immediate story function.</why>
</example>

<example id="4" category="overstatement-to-grounded-intensity">
<label>Overstatement → Grounded intensity</label>
<bad>An indescribable, soul-crushing wave of agony tore through every fiber of his being, shattering his consciousness into a million screaming fragments as the mana ripped through his meridians like liquid fire forged in the heart of a dying star.</bad>
<good>The mana hit his channels and Felix's vision whited out. His back arched off the bed. For three seconds he couldn't breathe, couldn't think, couldn't do anything except endure it. When it passed, he was soaked in sweat and his hands were shaking.</good>
<why>The grounded version uses physical specifics — vision loss, back arching, inability to breathe, sweat, shaking hands — instead of stacking metaphors. The reader feels the pain through the body rather than through adjectives.</why>
</example>

<example id="5" category="repeated-landing-to-single-clean-landing" note="Shows how to keep a line plain without flattening it">
<label>Repeated landing → Single clean landing</label>
<bad>He was going to die here. In this room, in this body, on this cold floor. Death was coming, and it was coming for him. There was no escape. No way out. No hope left. This was the end.</bad>
<good>He was going to die here. The certainty of it settled into him like cold water, and after a moment he stopped fighting it.</good>
<why>One clean statement of the realization, one image to ground it physically, one beat of character response. The plain second sentence is not flat — it carries Felix's specific psychology (pragmatic acceptance rather than panic) without decorating the moment.</why>
</example>

<example id="6" category="generic-social-dialogue-to-character-specific-dialogue">
<label>Generic social dialogue → Character-specific dialogue</label>
<bad>"Hey man, what's up?" "Not much, just hanging out." "Cool, cool. So you gonna play the new game?" "Yeah, probably. Should be fun." "Awesome. Let's team up." "Sure thing."</bad>
<good>"You pre-order Aetherfall?" Marcus asked, not looking up from his phone. "Three days out and the forums are already on fire." Felix leaned back in his chair. "Yeah. I got a capsule slot." "A capsule?" Marcus finally looked up. "Those are like eight months' rent. Since when do you have capsule money?" "Saved up." Felix kept his voice flat. No reason to explain further. Marcus studied him for a second, then shrugged. "Well, shit. Carry me through the early zones, at least."</good>
<why>Each line reveals character: Marcus is plugged into community hype and casually nosy; Felix is guarded and deflects. The conversation conveys plot information (capsule access, launch timing) without feeling like an info-dump, and the social dynamic is specific rather than generic.</why>
</example>

<example id="7" category="negation-chain-to-direct-affirmative">
<label>Negation chain → Direct affirmative statement</label>
<bad>There was no sound in the street. No cars. No voices. No drones overhead. No hum of the maglev. Nothing moved. Nothing breathed. The city was not alive anymore.</bad>
<good>The street was dead quiet — no maglev hum, no drone traffic, just Felix's own breathing and the faint tick of cooling concrete. The city felt like it was holding its breath.</good>
<why>One negation to establish silence, then a pivot to what IS present (his breathing, the concrete). The closing image conveys the same eerie emptiness without hammering 'no' seven times.</why>
</example>

<example id="8" category="em-dash-interruption-to-cleaner-flow">
<label>Em-dash interruption → Cleaner sentence flow</label>
<bad>Felix checked the market — prices were still climbing — and pulled up his inventory — three potions, a scroll, and the dagger he'd looted from the dungeon — before logging the numbers in his head — roughly twelve gold profit if he sold now.</bad>
<good>Felix checked the market. Prices were still climbing. He pulled up his inventory — three potions, a scroll, and the dagger from the dungeon — and ran the numbers in his head. Roughly twelve gold profit if he sold now.</good>
<why>One em-dash pair for the inventory list, which benefits from the parenthetical feel. The rest is broken into clean sentences. Same information, far easier to read.</why>
</example>

<example id="9" category="decorative-metaphor-to-plain-embodied-phrasing">
<label>Decorative metaphor → Plain embodied phrasing</label>
<bad>The mana flowed through him like a river of starlight threading through the labyrinth of his soul, each droplet a whispered promise of power yet to be born, weaving itself into the tapestry of his awakening consciousness.</bad>
<good>The mana moved through his chest in a slow, warm current. He could feel it branching at his shoulders, trickling down both arms to his fingertips. Faint, but real. Stronger than yesterday.</good>
<why>The embodied version tells the reader exactly where the mana is and what it feels like in Felix's body. The progression detail ('Stronger than yesterday') does more narrative work than any amount of starlight imagery.</why>
</example>

<example id="10" category="slow-atmospheric-opening-to-sharper-hook">
<label>Slow atmospheric opening → Sharper hook</label>
<bad>Morning light filtered through the blinds, casting thin golden bars across the bedroom floor. Dust motes drifted in the still air. Outside, the city hummed with its usual rhythm — drones tracing their delivery routes, the distant whisper of the maglev. It was a morning like any other, unremarkable in every way. Felix lay in bed, staring at the ceiling.</bad>
<good>Felix was supposed to be dead. That was the first clear thought, and it arrived before he opened his eyes. His back was pressed against a mattress — soft, intact, not the cracked asphalt where he'd bled out. He opened his eyes. A bedroom ceiling. His bedroom ceiling, from the apartment he'd lost two years ago.</good>
<why>The hook version opens with a problem (he should be dead but isn't) and a disorientation the reader wants resolved. Setting details enter only as Felix notices them, and each detail deepens the mystery rather than decorating the scene.</why>
</example>

<example id="11" category="awkward-elevated-diction-to-natural-phrasing" note="Connective phrasing improves naturalness">
<label>Awkward/elevated diction → Natural phrasing</label>
<bad>Felix ruminated upon the strategic ramifications of his foreknowledge, cognizant that the temporal displacement afforded him an unprecedented opportunity to effectuate meaningful alterations to the forthcoming catastrophe.</bad>
<good>Felix sat with it for a minute, turning the advantage over in his head. He knew what was coming. Not every detail, but enough — enough to get ahead of it, if he moved fast and didn't waste the three days he had left.</good>
<why>Same meaning, but it sounds like a person thinking rather than a thesis statement. The connective phrases ('sat with it for a minute,' 'if he moved fast') give the thought a natural rhythm without adding bloat.</why>
</example>

<example id="12" category="definitive-statement-chain-to-calibrated-certainty">
<label>Overly definitive statement chain → Calibrated certainty</label>
<bad>The guild would collapse. Its leader was incompetent. The officers were corrupt. The members were sheep. It was only a matter of time. Felix knew this with absolute certainty. He had seen it happen. Every detail was burned into his memory.</bad>
<good>The guild would collapse — Felix had watched it happen in his first life, though he couldn't remember the exact timeline. Sometime in the first three months, probably. The leader had made too many enemies and the officers were skimming funds. The details were blurry, but the outcome wasn't.</good>
<why>Felix's knowledge is presented with appropriate confidence where he has it (the guild collapses) and appropriate hedging where he doesn't (exact timing, specific details). This matches the creative brief's rule that Felix does not have perfect memory.</why>
</example>

<example id="13" category="explanatory-after-line-to-cleaner-stop">
<label>Explanatory after-line → Cleaner stop</label>
<bad>Felix closed the trade window and leaned back. Forty gold for a weapon that would be worth four hundred in two weeks. The seller had no idea what was coming. It was a ruthless play, the kind of move that separated people who survived from people who didn't. Felix understood that better than anyone. Survival meant taking every edge you could get, no matter how small.</bad>
<good>Felix closed the trade window and leaned back. Forty gold for a weapon that would be worth four hundred in two weeks. The seller had no idea what was coming.</good>
<why>The scene already conveys Felix's ruthless pragmatism through the action itself. The three additional sentences explaining that he is ruthless and survival-minded add nothing the reader hasn't already understood. Cut them.</why>
</example>

<example id="14" category="clipped-unnatural-dialogue-to-clipped-speakable">
<label>Clipped but unnatural dialogue → Clipped and speakable dialogue</label>
<bad>"Quest." "Where." "North." "Dangerous?" "Very." "Reward?" "Big." "In."</bad>
<good>"Got a quest. North side." "Dangerous?" "Very. But the reward's worth it." "I'm in."</good>
<why>Still terse, still fast-paced, but each line is something a person would actually say. The slightly longer constructions ('But the reward's worth it,' 'I'm in') cost almost nothing in length but make the exchange sound human rather than telegraphic.</why>
</example>

</examples>

Voice Exemplar

Full Style Sheet

Forbidden Words

• • delve
• • tapestry
• • testament to
• • couldn't help but
• • a symphony of
• • sent shivers down
• • the weight of
• • piercing gaze
• • steely resolve
• • palpable
• • tangible
• • visceral
• • interplay
• • nuanced
• • multifaceted
• • landscape
• • realm
• • underpinned
• • navigate
• • intricacies
• • holistic
• • pivotal
• • robust
• • comprehensive
• • paradigm
• • synergy
• • moreover
• • furthermore
• • epitomize
• • embody
• • juxtaposition
• • resonance
• • catalyze
• • forge ahead
• • endeavor
• • uncharted territory
• • spearhead
• • groundbreaking
• • cutting-edge
• • leverage
• • foster
• • facilitate
• • empower
• • in the realm of
• • it's worth noting
• • a testament to
• • serves as a reminder
• • shed light on
• • at the end of the day
• • a myriad of
• • take a deep breath
• • let out a breath
• • release a breath
• • breath he didn't know he was holding
• • a shiver ran down
• • eyes widened
• • heart pounded in chest
• • knot formed in stomach
• • electricity coursed through
• • time seemed to slow
• • the world fell away
• • darkness claimed him
• • crimson
• • azure
• • obsidian
• • gossamer
• • ethereal
• • cerulean
• • luminous
• • iridescent
• • resplendent
• • mellifluous