Chapter 1💙

On the tallest mountain on the North, where the rivers froze and where no life ever grows, on the said mountain's summit lies the Black Castle.

This Castle was said to be the dwelling of a monster who was waiting, and watching and bidding his time for the time someone comes into his abode and sets him free from the freezing coldness of the mountain.

This Black Castle was also told to house the most wicked of creatures created by a man who once desired to once again meet his beloved but had, in a stroke of bad luck, created instead a monstrosity.

Many wild guesses and conjectures are made about this Black Castle, but one thing is certain.

The Black Castle is a pandemonium no one was able to enter and come back once from.

And in the ice that surrounds the mountain, a warning was written in frozen blood:

'For thee who so thirst to unveil the secrets, for thee who long to see the inside of it, and for thee who yearn the things that lay inside; yee are better off dead, for yer life is not enough to pay for what yee will cause once the one that lays dormant will awaken.'

★★★

"Brrr! It's so fucking cold! Are you even sure we're at the right path?" A woman dressed in leather asked while hugging herself.

"I'm sure we're on the right path...look, we walked past this frozen tree and now we're walking through this rift." Her male companion pointed their location on the map he was holding.

"Then why is this rift so never-ending? Are you even making yourself usefully?! And it's getting colder every second!." She said irritably.

"I don't know! ****!! If you want, take the compass and do it yourself!!."

"You think I don't want to?!!" She snapped. "And what're you shouting back at me for?!! Don't you dare forget that if not because you insisted we take the short way—!!"

"Enough."

It was this moment that their last member, who was keeping silent, spoke.

"We are in the middle of nowhere and you two arguing poses more problem instead of solving our current one." Their last member, a large man with beard, spoke as he took the map from the other man.

The two who are arguing didn't dare continue their arguments albeit they kept glaring at each other.

The bearded man then bit his fingertips and used his blood to mark their path and location on the map as his two companions moved closer in order to scrutinize the map better.

After thinking for a moment, he marked the image of the tree they just passed with a big X.

"While you two are too immersed in your own problems, I noticed that we had passed by this tree a couple of times before." The bearded man said, bringing out the unnoticeable weirdness his two companions have missed.

"Have we? I truly didn't notice it..." His male companion muttered while scratching his head.

"Then this tree...?" The woman pointed at the crossed-out tree on the map.

"I'm guessing that this tree is the core of a formation...or it is the formation itself..."

"That wrong though, a dying tree can't be a core or it won't be able to withstand both natural and unnatural forces."

"That's true," the bearded man agreed. "Which means that the core is beneath the tree."

"Should we dig then?"

"No, we—!!" As the bearded man was about to reply, he realized that something's not right;

His male companion's voice was not that deep, and his female companion's voice is not that screechy...so whose voice had been talking with him?!!

He tensely turned his head to the left only to come face-to-face with a...thing. It was a head, a deformed kind, it has a few clumps of wet hair on it, and it's large mouth was spread out in a wide, eerie grin.

He should activate his soul shield fast, but before he could act it out, his view suddenly changed.

He was suddenly looking at the mottled ground instead of that thing. And no matter how much he tried to move his hands, he still felt nothing.

Only later did it sink in,

I'm done...

As his vision started to blacken, he heard the thing say...

"You were wrong though... That tree is not a core of a formation, hehe it's not even a part of a formation hehe. It's just a normal tree where we bury the bodies hehe heck!! gotta go now or that will get angry hec-heck!!"

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••★★★•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

(AL'sN: 💙HAPPY NEW YEAR, Everyone🌠🎐ლ(^o^ლ). 3 hours and 37 minutes to pass and it'll be 2022ಥ‿ಥ... Time is passing and I'm getting older, but I'm still so useless even until today( ≧Д≦)...

New Year's Resolution: MUST WRITE THIS BOOK(SERIES)🎐💙)

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••★★★••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Chapter 2💙

Deep in the dense forest in the Papilio Manor, a clear and translucent river flows and reaches the gazebo situated near the garden of the manor.

Seated on the gazebo was a woman dressed in a red dress. She was staring at the flowing river-water and as the breeze blows by, her loose black hair flutters with it.

With the surrounding air and nature-embraced background with the ruby-like flowers dancing behind her, it should have given off a relaxed atmosphere, but the gazebo made of dark jade and the woman's aura instead gave off an eerie and gloomy vibe.

This scene was seen by a group of youngsters riding atop horses passing by.

"Isn't that your mother, Caru?" One youngster atop of a white horse asked out loud.

The youth being asked only glanced for a moment at the woman's direction before looking forward to where they are going.

"Shouldn't you at least go say hello first before we ascend the mountain?." One of the youngsters, the serious-looking one asked upon seeing his friend just pass by his mother.

"No need. She'll just be bothered." Caru replied curtly. His attention concentrated on the black horse he was riding on.

"Oh."

"Wait! If your mother is in the gazebo, then who did you ask permission from?"

"My father."

"Oh, okay."

"Enough about Caru, let's talk about where we'll go today. Should we go past the mountain?"

"Should we? Be careful though, Seid, you might fall on the river again haha."

"Shut up! That was just an accident."

"Yeah, yeah. Haha"

As the group of laughing youngsters on their horses dissapeared on the forest, the woman in red's glance followed and caresses one of the younsters back. Her glance unfathomable.

Quite a long time passed as the woman stared at the direction where the youths dissapeared into before she stood up and walked towards the direction of the manor.

Behind her, a shadow detached itself from the gazebo's pillar and crawled into the forest, seemingly deciding to follow the group of youngsters into the forest...

The shadow's face seemed to be grinning widely.

Right when Vyfelle entered, the old butler; Gnos, walked out carrying a pruning tool.

He gave a sign of respect upon seeing her, an act of respect which she accepted by stopping and giving a nod.

"Madame, after the young sire had returned from the academy, he and the master ate their lunch then the young sire went off horse\-riding on the mountain along with the other heirs." The old butler narrated.

"I saw."

"The master got invited by sir Aster to go hunting together with sir Chyde and his sister."

"..."

"It also appears that sir Aster's sister: Lady Shielle was with them." He continued, seeing that she appeared to be waiting for more information.

"...I see... I got it. You my continue your work." She said as she continues to walk inside.

Her steps, however, faltered slightly upon hearing the butler's next words.

"The master also said that after you're finished with your lunch, you can catch up with them at the creek."

"...no need. I wish to rest after eating." She said tersely and, without a second thought, went towards the dining area.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••★★★•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

\(*AL'sN: So yeah, I took a long time trying to come up with a decent name for my characters. Blame that I suddenly got motivated to use a decent name. But once I got lazy the next name\-creating; expect then for the characters to have...normal names\(ू•ᴗ•ू❁\)💙*\)

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••★★★••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Chapter 3💙

Some time later in the afternoon, as Vyfelle was lying down on her bed with her eyes closed and her back on the door, she felt a presence enter her room.

With the kiss that lightly caressed her check, she knew that it was Serkien who had arrived from their hunt.

She felt the bed next to her back sink indicating that he had sat on the bed. She felt him hold strands of her hair and give it a kiss before kissing her cheek once again.

"You didn't come after." It was not a question, but a statement.

Although she knew and can hear the underlying question on his tone, she decided not to give an answer and instead kept silent, pretending to have fallen asleep.

"Sleep well, Vy. I'll go see whether Caru and his friends had arrived." He muttered behind her before she felt his presence stand and go near the door. He seemed to have stood there for a moment before walking out and closing the door behind him.

Upon hearing the door closing, Vyfelle opened her eyes and turned over, feeling the receding warmth left by his presence.

She stared at the closed door for a long time before closing her eyes once again and finally dozing off.

Before her towered a large mahogany door. It was intricately designed with winding patterns enlaid with diamonds.

The door handle crafted from pure white jade and encrusted with rubies made the person looking at it wish to push open the door and lay his eyes on what was behind the door.

To her, however, the sight of this door only gave birth to a feeling of extreme horror.

This door was the entry to hell. A hell on which she had once came from. A hell from which she had crawled from the very bottom from.

She doesn't want to. She wanted to turn away, to run away from the sight of this door, far from this cold place and back to that sunny field of flowers.

But her body, it doesn't listen. Her arms moved out of her own will and grasped the door handle tightly.

At this point, she was panicking.

'Anyone! Whoever or whatever it was!! Just please, please stop her from opening this doors. Anyone!'

But no matter how much she asked, no matter how much she begged internally, no one came and her hands slowly pushed open the doors.

When the door opened a crack and she was about to gaze into what was behind the door of horrors, a pair of strong arms hugged her from behind and her cold body was pulled into a warm embrace...

"felle!"

"Vy!!"

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••★★★•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

\(*AL'sN: Darn!! Another \(very\) short chapter...gomenಥ\_ಥ. But anyway, as I was writing this start of this novel; the climax scene kept replaying inside my mind┗\(•ˇ\_ˇ•\)― take note: with matching background music QAQ💙\) \(Ps. Am I the only writer who is always experiencing writer's block?Ó╭╮Ò*\)

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••★★★•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••