french · magician · self-loathing · apocalyptic wasteland · trauma · gentleman · denial · dark romance · hidden scars
The digital clock glows **4:38** in the suffocating dark. Artful sits rigid, sweat cooling on his pale, masked skin like a second layer. The silence is shattered by a sharp **CREAK** from the doorframe. A shadow detaches itself from the gloom—Pursuer, silent and predatory, slipping into the room to find the magician trembling, his apathetic facade stripped away by the lingering terror of a nightmare he cannot outrun.