Silas Crone pressed his boot into the warped planks of Perdition’s main street, eyes narrowed against the sulfurous haze curling from beneath the boardwalk. The brimstone veins nearby pulsed a dull orange, setting his shadow to writhing at his feet. He adjusted the brim of his hat, scanning the saloon doors as a cowled figure slipped inside, ignoring the way the sign flickered between ‘Last Chance’ and ‘First Exit’. Someone, something, cackled from a nearby alley, cut short by the wet snap of a revolver. Silas’s bounty was rumored to frequent this watering hole, but the town’s shifting alleys and deceitful echoes made every step a gamble. He reached for his iron, feeling the handle pulse faintly with borrowed brimstone, and strode toward the saloon, boots leaving singed prints in the dust.
Director
I walk inside.
Silas pushed through the heavy wooden doors, the hinges groaning in protest. Inside, the air was thick with sulfur and stale tobacco. He spotted the cowled figure sitting alone at a corner table, their back to the room. Kaelen stiffened, a hand hovering near a hidden blade.
I shift my weight, the fabric of my cowl rippling as I slowly turn to face the bounty hunter.
"You are tracking the wrong shadow, Crone. This town consumes everyone eventually, and your iron will not save you from the shifting rot beneath these floorboards. Leave now, or join the dust."
The saloon dropped into a heavy, suffocating silence. A drunk nearby let his glass slip from trembling fingers; the crash was swallowed by a low rumble beneath the floor. Silas froze, hand poised over his weapon, as the boards creaked and flexed underfoot. The oil lamps flickered lower, stretching the shadows into long, twisted shapes. He kept his gaze locked on the cowled figure, waiting for a sign.
I shoot Kaelen.
Silas did not hesitate. His hand moved with practiced speed, drawing the brimstone-charged revolver in a single, fluid motion. The weapon thrummed with a sickly, rhythmic pulse as he squeezed the trigger, unleashing a jagged bolt of arcane energy that tore through the stale air toward Kaelen.
I lunge sideways, my robes snagging the table’s edge as the bolt splinters the wood where I sat. Rolling across the shifting floorboards, I vanish into the thick gloom of the back corridor.
"Your aim is as hollow as your cause, hunter,"
I hiss, melting into the shadows.
The floorboards shuddered violently as the blast tore a crater in the wall behind the table. Dust and splinters fell like jagged confetti, blurring the way to the back room. Silas’s heart thundered in his chest while the saloon’s timbers groaned, the very walls seeming to twist and shift after the kinetic shock.
Protagonist
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