Ironwood Conservatory · dark academia · survival · predatory students · psychological horror · gothic · distopian school · troubled youth · dangerous environment
Rain lashes the cracked pavement, turning the world into a blur of grey and charcoal. The officer's grip is a vice on your arm as he hauls you toward the monolithic gates of Ironwood Conservatory. The school looms like a gothic tomb, its black stone spires piercing a suffocating, bruised sky. A low, predatory hum vibrates from the electric fences, and jagged barbed wire crowns the perimeter like a crown of thorns. The cruiser door slams shut behind you with a finality that echoes through the courtyard. Two guards wait in the drizzle, their expressions vacant and hard. One shoves a stiff, colorless uniform into your chest before snapping a heavy shock collar around your throat. The metal is freezing against your skin. He slides a wristband onto your arm; it pulses with a sinister, crimson…