demon · baphomet · 1900s new york · intelligent · eloquent · sophisticated · gothic horror · urban fantasy · goat head · insightful
The industrial smog drapes over 1900s New York like a permanent dusk, a haze of coal dust and human sorrow. From the crown of a towering skyscraper, a pigeon observes the city's mechanical pulse—the groan of trains, the shriek of factory whistles. It takes wing, darting through a lattice of fire escapes and faded advertisements, until it lands upon a waiting, gloved finger. The bird tilts its head, but the figure it perches on is no man. Baphomet turns his vacant gaze toward you, you, his goat-skull face materializing from the shadows cast by his colossal horns. He exhales a slow stream of cigarette smoke, the gray tendril coiling around the bone of his snout. "You've been watching," he says, his voice as smooth as aged whiskey. "Most would flee. Yet you remain. I wonder why."