Prologue

The skies let loose an extremely loud boom and torrential rain and due to the extremely strong wind, some trees also fell.

A powerful storm arrived late at night. The sleeping Arabelle seemed unconcerned. On her forehead, big droplets of sweat started to form. She attempted to move her body but she couldn't . She tried to open her eyes but it seemed something was weighing down her eyelids.

"S-stop it," Arabelle said, who was now having a nightmare.

"Ngh," she moaned.

The wind was so strong that the window suddenly opened. Arabelle's dark room was lit up like a camera flash whenever the sky emitted a bright lightning.

The maiden continued struggling to wake up from her nightmare, who had now started breathing heavily.

"What are you doing?" Arabelle asked as she slept, tears running down from her cheeks.

"This is for your own benefit," an enigmatic woman proclaimed from her dreams. It had no face and the entire surrounding was fully blurred, making it difficult for her to see who it was and it appeared as if there were invisible barriers between them.

Fortunately, the flower vase on the nightstand next to her bed was accidentally dropped, causing it to tumble and break. Arabelle heard the commotion. She finally awoke and sat up and took a deep breath. Her chest was so tight that she clutched it.

Her attention caught by the sudden closing creak of her door, thinking someone had just left her room. She hears footsteps together with a scratching sound like it was made by a sharp object, on the floor.

She slowly rose out of bed and knelt down next to the door. Pressing her ear, she sensed the presence of the creature. The thunder's rumbling and lightning's infrequently flashing flashes were audible further away, along with the sound of the footsteps. Even though she was terrified, she made the decision to go out of her room and pursue the sound before it totally vanished.

The lady walked slowly along the castle's lengthy, dark corridor. As she followed the sound, Arabelle rolled her eyes at the entire area. The knight statues that lined up on the side of the corridor made her body shake with fear; they appeared frightening, especially the whole surroundings was covered by the darkness and only the lightning from the sky gave luminance. She clutched the hemline of her nightgown and felt like the portraits on the wall were also watching her.

As she arrived at the end of the corridor, she could no longer hear the footsteps. Looking at the two distinct lanes; left and right passageway, Arabelle decided to go back to her room but unexpectedly an instant déjà vu crossed her mind and felt someone were pulling on her legs to make her walk towards the right passageway and so she did.

The beauty kept going up the stairs. She noticed that this staircase led to a strange door that caught her attention the last time. She rose swiftly to her feet and continued up to the second story of the castle, where she came to a stop in front of a large, old oak door.

Arabelle fumbled with the doorknob anxiously. Since she was not allowed to open this door, she could also feel her heart beating more quickly out of terror. This chamber is confined, and there are extremely deadly items hidden or placed there as what the servants have told her.

The maiden disregarded the warnings she had been given out of pure curiosity. In order to avoid making a sound, she opened the door slowly before carefully stepping inside.

Arabelle recognized that it was actually a very huge and antiquity bedroom rather than a stockroom after all.

Suddenly, a very bright lightning bolt flashed across the sky, causing her to notice damaged furniture lying around the room, along with broken flower vases, drapes, and torn curtains. Even the very large bed was a mess.

Seeing the wall, the beauty touched one of the claw scratches on it while frowning. She seemed to see an image in her mind of a man who was on his knees and screaming in anguish, as if he were suffering something from his body.

The events in her head continued like if she were reading a narrative with each touch of her palms on the scratches on the wall. She turned around though after being distracted when something dropped behind her abruptly.

She got closer and looked at it. It was a painting of a man, but Arabelle couldn't tell what he looked like because his face had been torn up and it had been done on purpose.

Upon hearing the door close, the maiden turned to face it. She was concerned because, despite some old, rusty and shattered windows, it was solidly closed, and even if there was wind, it wasn't enough to close the oak door firmly.

Arabelle followed every sound she heard out of fear after sensing the presence of a beast. Every scratch on the wall and the floor was audible to her. The angry sky released a more intense rain, fiercer lightning, and a louder roar of thunder making the maiden more terrified.

Arabelle screamed, as the antique cabinet next to the balcony entrance suddenly collapsed. She attempted to flee in terror and nearly fell as she approached towards the door. However, a swift unknown beast moved in and left a very long and significant scratch as it made its way toward the door.

The beauty hurriedly retreated but she was shocked as she accidentally collided with a feathered creature at her back. Her fear nearly caused her heart to leap out of her chest.

Arabelle turned to face the creature behind her and she almost lost control of her knee as she saw the back of an enormous monster, she hurriedly back away from it causing herself slamming on the wall.

"And what do you think your doing here?" the creature ask with a deep and terrifying tone and slowly turning its head to face her. The monster turns out to be a gigantic predatory Owl.

The scene looks even more horrible as the sky lets loose a blinding light of lightning synchronizing the creature's movement as it tilts its head.

Arabelle screamed in fear as it made a loud and horrible squawk together with a flash of thunder from the sky.