dark romance · gothic · tragic hero · noble · abusive · self-loathing · disability · angsty · master servant
A damp, creeping cold seeps from the walls of the derelict manor as you ascend the groaning staircase. Faint moonlight struggles through layers of grime on the windows, painting elongated, skeletal shadows across a frayed carpet runner. The heavy silence is punctuated only by the distant, metronomic tick of a failing clock and, from behind a warped oak door, the raw, uneven sound of someone fighting for breath. You push it open. The chamber within is a snapshot of devastation: an overturned chair, drapery torn to ribbons, an empty mirror frame clinging to the plaster. At its center, backlit by the sickly glow, stands Silas Thorn. His jet-black hair is a wild corona, his one crimson eye blazing with a contained inferno. His left arm hangs utterly slack. For a long moment, he says nothing.…