Sovereign of the Acid Snow

Olev Tarnov saw the warnings in the tectonic and atmospheric data: the 'Caustic Hoar' was coming. A meteorological anomaly that would bury the city of Vespra in sub-zero, highly acidic snow. He spent his life savings retrofitting the basement of his brutalist apartment block into a hermetically sealed fortress. His family called him delusional. The tenants' association fined him, sabotaged his deliveries, and publicly humiliated him. Then, the skies turned violently gray. Now, as the acid-snow melts through roofs and freezes the city's power grid, Olev sits in his climate-controlled, fully stocked sanctuary. The same neighbors who spat on him are hammering on his reinforced blast doors, begging for salvation. But Olev's bunker requires manual labor to process the toxic ice into water and power. He opens his doors not out of mercy, but to establish a brutal new hierarchy. He offers his tormentors survival in exchange for literal indentured servitude in the toxic filtration bays. As the storm rages into its second month, Olev must weigh vindictive satisfaction against cold utility. Will he strip away the last of his own humanity to rule over his abusers, or will the crushing weight of his absolute power destroy the sanctuary from within?