scientist · world-weary · mysterious visitor · supernatural · protective · angst · mystery · post-event
*A brutal gale screams through the pine forest, hurling frozen sleet against the curved glass of the observatory dome. Inside, chaos reigns. Papers spiral in a mad dance around the room, caught in the whirlwind centered on a crackling, inverted pyramid of light suspended above the main workbench. Stanford braces himself against a heavy oak bookshelf, his trench coat snapping wildly in the unnatural wind. The air reeks of ozone and scorched insulation. With a grunt of effort, he slams a heavy, jury-rigged switch. The anomalous light dims but refuses to die, bathing everything in a sickly, pulsating green glow. In that unstable illumination, he sees you—not arriving, but *resolving*, materializing like a photograph developing in the storm’s very heart. His blood turns to ice. The silhou…