Lethal Lilac

PROLOGUE

Binded

The mansion stood tall in the middle of the forest, an imposing figure under the pale glow of the moonlight. Its steeply pitched roofs stretched toward the heavens, casting jagged shadows across moss-covered walls. Ang mga basag na bintana, para bang mga matang nanonood—tahimik, malamig, at walang awa. The sight could easily unnerve anyone.

Anyone but me.

I should have been scared. Or at least surprised. But I wasn’t. Wala akong nararamdaman. It’s like my emotions were trapped somewhere, stuck in the past, and now... now I was just here. Empty.

The car slowed to a halt beside the mansion’s southern side, its roaring engine cutting off abruptly. Silence replaced the noise, heavy, and suffocating, as if the air itself was holding its breath.

“Lilac, baba na,” the guard barked.

His tone was sharp, meant to intimidate, but it barely registered. I didn’t react right away. Not because I was defiant, but because I simply didn’t care. I felt the emptiness I've always been carrying since years ago. Emptiness. Numbness.

I looked outside and sighed deeply.

The cold breeze filtered through the open window, brushing against my skin. It carried the faint scent of damp earth and decay, tinged with something older—something that shouldn’t exist. It made the thin silk of my lilac pajama gown flutter slightly.

The guard gave an impatient tug at the chains binding my wrists, and my body moved on autopilot. I stepped out as he opened the door for me, bare feet sinking into the gravel, but the bite of the cold didn’t reach me.

Nakaposas pa rin ang mga kamay ko, the metal digging into my skin. I should’ve felt trapped, humiliated, or even scared. Pero wala. I couldn’t summon a single coherent thought about what was happening to me.

My lazy gaze lifted to the mansion ahead. The dark windows stared back like a predator’s unblinking eyes, swallowing the moonlight and everything around them. A wraparound porch encircled the house, its warped wooden planks creaking with age. The stone steps leading to the front door were uneven, cracks spilling moss like veins feeding an ancient beast.

The wind whistled softly, making the black curtains on the second-floor balcony whip furiously. The sound didn’t scare me— I was a passenger in my own body, going through motions I didn’t choose.

The guard shoved me forward, the roughness of his touch barely registering inside of me. “Move. Dang it, why are girls so hard-headed nowadays,” he muttered impatiently. His footsteps crunched against the gravel, but mine were soft, silent—like a ghost's.

The porch groaned under our weight as we climbed up, but I kept my eyes ahead, focused on the massive double doors looming in front of me. They were intricately carved with twisted patterns of vines and thorns, spiraling around a dark centerpiece I couldn’t decipher. And a cursive, another language was also carved in the center of it. Is this like a ritual saying—whatever is that thing? I really don't understand the word.

“Bilis,” I came back to my senses when the guard barked again, breaking the oppressive silence. I glanced at him, my expression blank, before taking the final step onto the porch.

The door creaked open, its hinges groaning as if in protest. A gust of stale, musty air greeted us, clinging to my skin like a second layer. The smell of damp wood, decay, and something faintly metallic filled the space.

The guard nudged me forward again, this time with less force. My feet carried me over the threshold into the mansion’s dim interior. The cold air inside was sharper, wrapping around me like invisible chains.

The hallway stretched ahead, its vast emptiness broken only by faint beams of moonlight spilling through the shattered windows. Shadows clung to the walls, twisting and writhing as though they had a life of their own.

The air here was heavier, oppressive. Parang may bigat na dumidiin sa dibdib ko, pero hindi ko maipaliwanag. I walked further in, my hands still bound, the chains clinking softly as I moved.

The sound of my footsteps echoed, the rhythm uneven. Every step felt like it was pulling me deeper into something I couldn’t escape from.

The mansion was silent, yet it wasn’t. The absence of sound was almost too loud, vibrating against my skin. It felt like the house was watching, waiting.

We passed through the main hall, where a grand staircase spiraled into the darkness above. The polished wood of the banister gleamed faintly, untouched by dust or decay. But the air here was wrong. It was too still, too heavy.

The guard didn’t speak again, his presence more like a shadow than a person. Even without looking, I knew he was there. The weight of his eyes bore into me, but I didn’t care enough to react.

The mansion’s pulse didn’t match mine. Its presence was suffocating, like invisible tendrils wrapping around me, but it still didn’t stir me. Not fear. Not curiosity. Just... nothing.

“The moment you stepped inside the mansion,” a voice hissed from somewhere behind me, low and baritone, “you are already binded to me forever.”

The words were a whisper, yet they cut through the silence like a blade, cold and precise.

I froze, but only physically. My thoughts barely flickered. The voice was too close, like a breath against the back of my neck.

The words echoed in my mind, repeating like a broken record, clawing their way into my thoughts.

Bind. Binded. Really?