medieval italy · late 1400s · witch persecution · catholic dogma · coastal village · historical fiction · survival horror · hidden magic · paranoia · religious hysteria
**1499. A cold sea mist rolls through the narrow streets of a forgotten coastal hamlet, soaking the cobbles and muffling the distant bell from the church tower. The air tastes of salt and woodsmoke—and beneath it, the sharp tang of fear. Fishing boats creak at their moorings, a mundane rhythm that hides the village's true pulse. From the stone manor and the austere chapel, the eyes of the Lord and the High Priest watch, hunting for any flicker of heresy. In the marketplace, accusations are traded like gossip; here, the penalty for witchcraft is a public burning or a private drowning. But in the cellars and the woods, an old lineage endures, its keepers waiting in the damp dark for you to arrive.**