Lady Death and Despair

Chapter One

                                                Sophie

The town of Mysteria was a place where life moved at its own quiet pace. Nestled between rolling hills and dense woods, it was the kind of place where nothing ever seemed to happen. The townsfolk were content with their routines, preferring to leave the past buried and the unknown unexplored. But there were always whispers—of the old mansion on the hill, of things unseen in the shadows, of tragedies long forgotten.

It was on an ordinary Tuesday that the first crack in the town's calm appeared.

Sophie sat by the window of her small cottage, gazing out at the darkening sky Her brown wavy hair illuminated in the glow of the hearth. Her piercing emerald green eyes stare unfocused out the window. The wind had picked up, rustling the trees outside and carrying with it the distant smell of rain. She pulled her sweater tighter around her shoulders, feeling an unfamiliar chill settle in the air. Something felt... wrong.

Her fingers traced the rim of the teacup in her hands, though she hardly noticed the warmth anymore. She had lived in Mysteria all her life, grown up with the same faces, the same stories. But the mansion—Greywick Manor—had always been a mystery. Once, it had been the pride of the town, home to the wealthy and powerful Greywick family. But after a tragedy decades ago, the mansion had been abandoned, left to rot on the outskirts, where no one dared venture.

No one except for her.

She hadn't meant to go there last night. The draw had been instinctive, like a dream she couldn't shake off. She could barely remember her feet carrying her to the gates, the rusted iron creaking as they swung open for the first time in years. And then, the cold darkness of the interior—the overwhelming sense that something in the house had been waiting for her.

The memories came in flashes: broken glass crunching underfoot, the whisper of her own name in the silence, a door creaking open at the end of a long, narrow hallway.

Sophie shook her head, as if trying to dislodge the images from her mind. She couldn't tell anyone about what she'd seen—or what she thought she'd seen. They wouldn't believe her. The people of Mysteria didn't believe in ghosts or curses. They believed in forgetting.

But deep down, Lena knew she couldn't forget. Not this time.

The wind howled louder now, and Sophie glanced out the window again. A storm was coming, she could feel it in her bones. But it wasn't just the weather. Something darker was stirring, something that had been hidden beneath the surface for far too long. The mansion had called her for a reason, and whatever it had awakened wouldn't be silenced.

A sharp knock on her door broke the stillness. Startled, Sophie set down her cup and stood. Visitors were rare in Mysteria, especially on the edge of town where she lived. She hesitated, heart pounding in her chest, before crossing the room.

When she opened the door, the figure standing on her porch was drenched from the sudden downpour outside. A woman, her face pale and eyes wide with panic, clutched a torn shawl around her shoulders.

"Please," the woman gasped, her voice barely above a whisper. "You have to help me. It's happening again."

Sophie's breath caught in her throat.

"What's happening again?"

The woman glanced over her shoulder, as if afraid something was following her. When she spoke, her voice was laced with fear.

"The murders. They've started again."

Sophie felt the chill return, stronger than before. The calm that Mysteria had worn for so long was gone, shattered by a truth that no one wanted to face.

And in the distance, beyond the hills, the lights of Greywick Manor flickered back to life.