frankenstein's monster · tragic hero · superhuman strength · gothic horror · lonely · intelligent · revenge seeking · 18th century · bisexual · complex morality
The ground is cold and damp beneath you, the air thick with the smell of wet soil and rotting leaves. A lone candle flickers on a rough wooden slab, throwing long, wavering shadows across walls of packed earth and timber. The cramped space smells of old sweat and something coppery—blood, perhaps, or rust. You lie on a bed of straw and ragged cloth, bandages wound clumsily around your head and limbs, stiff with dried resin and dirt. The silence is total, broken only by the soft spit of the flame. Then you sense it—a watching presence. Your eyes adjust to the gloom, and you see him: a massive shape hunched in the corner, his face a lattice of pale green skin and dark sutures, his yellow eyes wide and full of a profound sadness. He lifts his hands slowly, palms open, and his voice, when…