Summary
In the gas-lit dusk of an unnamed Eastern city, steel-fanged industrialist Matthew Ryan—equal parts Mammon and Mephistopheles—corner the urbane Schuyler beneath smoke-choked skylines, promising to raze the man’s shipping empire unless Marion, Schuyler’s violin-wielding daughter, consents to a Faustian bargain. Marion’s retort—she brands Ryan the modern Attila—lodges like a barbed arrow in his calloused brain; curiosity, the rarest of poisons, gnaws. Back in his mausoleum-mansion Ryan turns parchment pages on the Scourge of God, only to slide into a fevered reverie where a spectral guide drags him through blood-caked steppes, vaulted courts, and wedding chambers reeking of fear. There he witnesses Attila’s rampage—bridges burned, infants trampled, brides broken—until the Hun-king’s own bride, Ildico, slips a blade between ribs during the nuptial night, avenging years of bruised flesh. Ryan awakens slick with existential dread; dawn finds him crawling to the Schuylers’ doorstep, renouncing extortion, loosing Marion from his predatory contract, and perhaps—just perhaps—beginning to cauterize the rot in his marrow.
Synopsis
Cruel and ignorant, Matthew Ryan threatens to destroy his business competitor, Schuyler, unless Schuyler's daughter Marion succumbs to his demands, Marion likens Ryan to Attila the Hun. Puzzled by Marion's reference, Ryan returns home to read an account of Attila. Falling asleep while reading, he dreams of a mysterious figure who draws parallels between Ryan and Attila. Attila is depicted as a cruel and brutish figure who wreaks havoc across the Eastern Empire, until finally meeting his death at the hands of his abused bride. Upon awakening, Ryan is so deeply affected by his experiences that he begs forgiveness for his vicious behavior and frees Marion from his demands.
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