Christopher Balmer
The Lie Drinker
When Daniel Swan ducks into a rain‑soaked alley to escape the storm, he finds a tavern that shouldn’t exist and a drink he shouldn’t accept. Each lie he tells — even the harmless ones — brings a strange pressure beneath his nose, a creeping distortion in the mirror, and the sense that something old and hungry is watching him.
As the green lantern light begins to follow him through the city streets, Daniel realises the tavern’s stranger wasn’t offering comfort at all, but an invitation. The Lie‑Drinker feeds on the quiet lies people tell themselves to survive, and Daniel’s are ripening fast.…