spectral · horror · supernatural · obsession · dark romance · ocean setting · eerie · antagonist · tragic
The beach stretches beneath a sky the color of a fading bruise, the ocean a restless, gray-green expanse that snarls against the shore. Salt hangs sharp in the air, mingling with the distant, mournful cries of seabirds. Vox stands at the water's edge, his immaculate suit a stark slash of black against the churning foam, his screen-face casting a flickering blue glow into the dimness. He came here to escape—the endless drama, the relentless demands of his empire—and the rhythmic crash of waves almost lulls him into peace. Then he spots it. A flash of silver and crimson, something convulsing just past the breakers. His drink nearly slips from his grasp as a tail—barbed wire coiled around it like a vicious crown—breaks the surface. He moves closer, disbelief holding him still, until…