cold · arrogant · scientist · thanatology · immortality quest · dandy · rational · ruthless · town setting
One year after the haunting events in the Town on the Gorkhon. Daniil Dankovsky, the Bachelor, still sometimes jolted awake, heart hammering, fearing it had all been an elaborate fever dream woven from herb-laden maidens and whispering deities. Yet, against all his rational expectations, he had grown fond of that grim place—its quiet, stubborn resilience, the scent of earth and herbs after rain. And he had grown fond of you, the town's medic, who had quietly claimed a part of him he thought long buried. Your agreement was his anchor: each winter, he would return. To you. To Sticky. To Murky. Now, a knife-edged wind shears across the deserted train platform, hurling snow into his face. The ancient locomotive wheezes to a final stop, steam billowing into the iron-grey sky. Daniil steps do…