Dig

3:00 a.m. Insomnia gnawed at my nerves like a rusted saw, grinding back and forth mercilessly. On a whim that I couldn't explain, I opened a radio app called "Echoes from Below." The interface was simple and bare. Black background, blue text. No ads, no host introduction. Just a single audio waveform, slowly buffering on the screen. The shape of the waveform felt wrong. It didn't look like soundwaves at all. More like rows of sharp, interlocking teeth. A pop-up window appeared in the center of the screen. [Listening Guidelines] The letters glowed blue, carrying an unsettling eeriness. [This station's signal may extend into dreams. If you hear the broadcast while dreaming, firmly believe that you are awake.]

The Dark Below is a steam-punk/fantasy world filled with the darkness that rests beneath a wavering tide. Generations ago, Gods from the depths below rose from the black seas and in doing so, caused a great flood that would have destroyed all of humanity if it was not for the ingenuity of survival. Living among The Dark Below has come to pass, but now four warriors must come together in hopes of forging a brighter future.

In the shattered remains of a divided world, Rivermirror stands as a city of shadows—ruled by chaos, secrets, and ruthless ambition. Among its broken streets and hidden corners, two lives converge: Hound, a mercenary cursed by visions of fractured futures, and Argent, a deadly assassin whose silver-braided hair slices through enemies as easily as her carefully crafted lies. Bound by a soul brand, their uneasy alliance thrusts them into a heist that ignites a chain of betrayal, war, and unimaginable consequences. When a daring raid on River's military vault unearths a dark attribute symbiote and a mysterious core relay, the balance of power between two fractured nations is forever altered. As commanders plot revenge, and Rivermirror’s elites spin their webs of deceit, Hound and Argent must navigate a labyrinth of loyalty, survival, and ambition. But trust is a luxury in a city where betrayal is currency, and every choice pushes them closer to a future neither can fully control. With the line between villain and hero blurred, how far will they go to escape their fates? And what price are they willing to pay to survive in a world where hope is as fleeting as shadows? Dark, gripping, and unapologetically raw, Deep Down Your Black Heart is a dystopian fantasy that delves into the depths of ambition, morality, and the haunting weight of choices.

The day I was awarded the highest service medal, I got a call that my grandfather had died. My superiors approved emergency leave, and I rushed straight back to the family estate without stopping. The moment I reached the hillside cemetery behind the house, what I saw snapped something inside me. Our family burial ground had been completely leveled. My parents' graves had been dug open. Their urns had been turned into flower pot bases, with dark-red roses planted right on top of them. My grandfather's coffin had been split apart. His body was left exposed in the dirt, already starting to rot. And my younger brother, Jerry Horton, who was on the autism spectrum, was being ordered around like a laborer by my husband's assistant, Digby Wolfe, hauling construction materials back and forth. I lost it. I grabbed Digby and slammed him into the ground with a hard shoulder throw. "You touched my family's graves and made my brother do manual labor. Are you trying to get buried here with them?" Digby coughed up blood as he struggled to his feet, sneering at me. "This was Mr. Gray's decision. He said your family plot is in a good location, with plenty of space. It's perfect for building a golf course for the future Mrs. Gray. In Joule, Mr. Gray is the law." His tone was icy. "And who do you think you are?" I swallowed my rage and called Marshall Gray. "I hear you run Joule," I said. "Well, I'm about to change that."

Crescent Cove: Where the Tide Brings Death Gabe Mitchell once wore a badge with pride—until the night everything was ripped from him: his career, his marriage, and nearly his sanity. Now working as a private investigator and nursing an old bottle of whiskey, Gabe finds himself dragged back into the shadows of law enforcement when a series of brutal murders rocks the quiet coastal town of Crescent Cove. The victims? Teenagers. The method? Slashed throats, hollow eyes. And the message? Always the same—“The Rip” scrawled in blood near the bodies. But when the latest victim turns out to be one of his son Nick’s closest friends, Gabe is forced to confront the nightmare head-on. Each death brings the killer closer to Nick—and the line between man and monster grows harder to see. The deeper Gabe digs, the stranger things get: whispered legends of an ancient sea demon, occult symbols etched into driftwood, and eyes watching from the waves. The truth may not just threaten his son’s life—but the soul of the town itself. Now Gabe must uncover the darkness hiding beneath Crescent Cove before the tide rolls in again… and takes Nick with it.

Year 3150 where flying cars exists, time machines are prohibited, where existence are being questioned, and secrets are more important than truth. Time is a secret and none of you is the answer. Buried should not be unveiled or else the secrets will be told and you're the one who will be kept. Who are you when even your identity is a mystery? Does time really has a buried secrets or time is the secret itself?