The Hollow Lantern

In the fog-choked city of Larkspur, gaslight flickers against cobblestone streets, and the wealthy dine on imported delicacies while the poor whisper of darker things lurking in the alleys. **Elias Vey**, a disgraced physician, spends his nights tending to the sick in the slums, his days numbed by cheap gin. But when a noblewoman offers him a fortune to cure her brother of a mysterious ailment—one that leaves his veins blackened and his whispers in a language no one recognizes—Elias is drawn into a world of forgotten rituals and half-believed legends.   The cure, it seems, lies in the **Hollow Lantern**, an artifact said to hold the last embers of a dying god's power. But the Lantern is more than a myth—it's a key, and there are those who will kill to possess it. As Elias uncovers the truth, he must decide whether to use the Lantern's power to heal… or to unleash something far worse.   ---