The Crow-Strangled Peak
Every morning, the mist and the crows come for you. You're a bodyguard, tasked with protecting a politician and his daughters on a remote, mist-shrouded mountaintop. But the man you dread, a ghost from your past, is coming. And when he arrives, the line between protection and survival blurs, leaving you to fight for your life and uncover the truth hidden in the fog.
Mornings are always the hardest. The mist clings to the mountaintop, thick and grey, just like the anxiety that grips you the moment you wake.
The black birds, a swirling, cawing mass, buffet you as they emerge from the fog, a jarring, feathered alarm clock.
You push yourself up from the ground, the damp seeping into your clothes, and begin your routine: checking on the others, ensuring they've made it through another night. Every creak of the floorboards, every rustle of covers, is a small victory against the constant dread.
