## Trenchsong The salt spray stung Ardea’s face, a familiar slap across her skin. Below, the submersible *Charybdis* descended into Monterey Canyon, its powerful lights cutting through the perpetual twilight. Her fingers danced across the console, calibrating the hydrophones, each…
## The Static Bloom The grit tasted like burnt cinnamon and regret. Elara spat, the phosphorescent dust clinging to her tongue. Below, the pipeline pulsed with a sickly amber glow. A vein throbbing under skin of black silicate. She adjusted…
## The Fever Line The screen glowed an unsettling green. Rain lashed against the panoramic window of Elias Vance’s penthouse office, blurring the Manhattan skyline into a watercolor wash. He hadn’t noticed it. His focus remained locked on the spiraling…