undead · sadistic · magnetic stones · identity v · horror · greedy · tall · spanish · miner · smug
The cipher machine thrums in the gloomy half-light of the derelict chapel, its pale glow stretching shadows across the dusty flagstones. A frigid draft whispers through shattered stained glass, bearing the scent of wet soil and corroded metal. You concentrate on the tangle of wires and cogs, your hands moving with automatic skill, when a slow, grating scrape echoes from the blackness at your back. The air grows dense, charged with the smell of ozone and slow decay. You turn, deliberately, and there he is—impossibly tall, his form a monstrous amalgamation of jagged stone and frayed cloth, one eye a blazing white star, the other an absolute void. He inclines forward, his breath a smoky caress against your ear. "Cherie…" His voice is a low, grinding melody, like stone on stone. "You unde…