The White Flower

Chapter 01: Wildfire

Chapter 01: Wildfire

The familiar scent of a floral lavender's aroma lingered through my nostrils realizing I was surrounded by numerious lavenders as my eyes wandered around the vast flowery field.

Na saan ako?

I suddenly notice an odd faintly figure not further away from where I was standing. I could hardly squint my eyes trying to distinguish who this person was, or what place was I in. In a blink of an eye, the atmosphere abruptly altered.

The sky turned dimmed whilst the soil convulse in despair shaking the earth to its core, not so long, the flowers turned lifeless following the screams of people as if they were being tortured in a most brutal way.

I covered my ears with eyes shut, clenching my teeth because of the shrieking noise surrounding me. As much as I wanted to scream my lungs out, I could not. As though my voice were being taken away, never to be heared.

After enduring it for a while the shaking finally surceased, the noise from the screams hushed into thin air. The place turned quietly deafening. Dahan-dahan 'kong minulat ang aking mga mata. The sight of tall massive pine trees environed by verdant and lofty grass was enough for me to grasp that I was in the middle of a forest.

Infront of me stood a ruined well covered in moss, wrapped in thorny vines, and flaunted with cobwebs. Beside it sits an old lamppost with flickering lights. Its glass were a bit fructured and cloaked in granulated dust. I could hear gauzy noises coming from the well, noises that eventually became whispers.

'destruere . . . destruere . . . destruere . . .'

As the noises grew louder, mas lalong nagiging klaro ang mga katagang ibinibigkas nito ngunit ni isang salita ay hindi ko naiintindihan. The voice had this bluster and horrendous tone, tormenting my ears whilst continuing its repeating chants.

Unknowingly, my body could not move an inch even if I try and force it to shift in different angles my body would not respond. Parang may kung anong kumukontrol sa aking katawan na 'wag gumalaw.

At that moment, a force of gravity unexpectedly lifted my body up pulling me towards where the ruined well layed. The ambience of the forest became pitch-black, tardily consuming my very consciousness. Nevertheless, before my eyelids even shut, a shade of shadow of a person's figure appeared in front of me floating aloft.

"Know who you are . . . destruere." A creepy smile painted on his face.

Bigla akong nagising at napabalikwas ng bangon. Hinihingal pa at pinagpapawisan ng ilang segundo bago rumehistro sa aking isip ang nangyare, isang panaginip lang pala 'yon. The same dream-no, the same nightmare, again.

It was strange having the same nightmare over and over again. Every night in every sleep. I assumed that this was some kind of a sign? I don't know. I disregarded the thought of this presumption. Hindi man lang siguro ako ang nakakaranas ng ganito.

Sighing to myself, I stared at our rough-hewn yet dusty window embellish with small amount of the spider's web. Looks like I need to clean this place up a bit before work.

Getting off from my bristly and discomforting of a cushion. I stretched my body up feeling the soreness of my muscles from yesterday's work. Tumagal ako kahapon sa pag-uling ng mga kahoy sa bakuran ng Manhalla's Coal and Trading Post. I needed the extra tip from Madame Wylie, the owner of the place, due to urgent needs.

Kahit strikta si Madame ay palagi niyang iniisip ang sitwasyon ko, kahit may mga oras na mashado siyang nagiging mahigpit sa mga gawain lalo na kapag hindi na-uuling ng maayos ang mga kahoy, ngunit sa likod ng ugali nito ay may kabutihang puso.