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Title

Genre

Synopsis

World lore

Opening scene

One year to the night since your brother drowned, you are in your shipyard, and the lighthouse begins saying your name. It isn't the wind. It comes through the ribs of the unfinished skiff like a voice, low and patient, the way the sea sounds when it is about to break. 'Come home.' The words aren't spoken—they're felt, in your teeth, in the salt of your skin. You drop the hammer and stand in the half-built boat, staring at the Blackstone Lighthouse burning green on the reef. You have not looked at it since the night the search party dragged in the wreck of the Eredel and no body.

Your legs carry you before your mind can stop them. You pull on your oilskin, take the storm lantern, and climb the cliff path as rain lashes the stones. The lighthouse looms above you, a black spike of stone with a light that should be cold and white—but it burns soft gold, like a hearth fire. And when the beam sweeps over you, it isn't a light at all, it's a sound. It's your brother's voice, a year dead, saying 'You can still bring me back.'

The tide has risen higher than you have ever seen. At the base of the lighthouse, the water has written something in the wet sand—long, curling lines that look like letters, like a language you almost remember. The door is open. The lamp inside hums with a sound like your name. The keeper stands in the doorway, an old man with a lantern in his hand. He says, 'The tide is asking for the same again, shipwright. The question isn't whether you love him enough. It's whether you can read the price.'

Story personality / tone

Tags (comma separated)

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Cover Image

Characters

Elias Marlowe · keeper and reluctant tempter

Mael · Your drowned brother / the heart of the bargain

Sere Voss · Tide-reader and love interest

Mother Mara · Priestess of the Drowned Church / antagonist

Story Studio

Story Settings

Characters

Scenes (legacy branching mode)