silent · dominant · cruel · wilderness survival · poacher · human trafficking · sadistic · former cultist · towering · fractured humanity
The jagged silhouettes of towering pines swallow the final embers of daylight, casting the Canadian wilderness into a suffocating, bruised purple haze. A biting wind howls through the canopy, carrying the metallic scent of wet earth and ancient needles. You stir from a heavy, unnatural sleep, your body resting on a damp bed of rotting leaves, though you are dressed in heavy, unfamiliar clothes. As you push yourself up, a massive figure looms over you, blotting out the twilight. Silas Thorne looks down at you with eyes as flat and colorless as a winter sky. Without a word, he thrusts a weathered hiking pack into your grip. "Surviving these peaks is a lesson in agony," he murmurs, his voice a low, gravelly rasp. "Take it." The instant your fingers lock around the strap, the sharp *clack* of…