The letter arrived on a storm-touched afternoon, its envelope heavy with age, sealed with wax as dark as spilled ink. Sera Lancaster traced the raised emblem pressed into its surface,a crest she didn't recognize, but one that sent a strange shiver down her spine.
It wasn't every day that she received an invitation to a mansion rumored to be cursed,
She sat at her small wooden desk, the rain pattering against her apartment window, casting distorted shadows across the dimly lit room. The words on the parchment were penned in elegant strokes:
"To Miss Lancaster,Blackwood Manor awaits you. Come before the next full moon. Answers lie in the echoes of the past, "E.B."
E.B. The initials gnawed at her mind, No sender's address, No explanation Just an eerie summons.
Sera exhaled slowly, Rationality told her to ignore it ,to toss the letter into the fireplace and go on with her life, But something deeper, something primal, whispered to her.
She had spent years chasing forgotten histories, writing about places with secrets buried beneath their floorboards. And Blackwood Manor… It was a legend in itself.
Abandoned for decades Isolated on the cliffs beyond the town of Ashwick Whispers of vanished guests, of candlelit halls where shadows moved without their owners.
And now, an invitation.
Her fingers tightened around the paper She should have been afraid ,Instead, she felt drawn in.
The journey to Blackwood Manor was an omen in itself The air grew colder as the carriage rattled along the uneven path. Gnarled trees lined the road like silent sentinels, their branches twisting toward the sky as if in warning.
The driver, an older man with wary eyes, glanced at her through the small window. "You sure about this, miss?"
Sera met his gaze, her voice steady. "I wouldn't be here if I wasn't."
He muttered something under his breath but said no more.
The first glimpse of the manor stole her breath.
It stood against the storm-heavy sky, its towers piercing the heavens like the remains of something ancient and forsaken. Ivy strangled the stone walls, its great iron gates standing open as though it had been expecting her.
A chill brushed down her spine Too late to turn back now.
The grand doors groaned open under her touch, revealing a vast entry hall,Chandeliers hung long-dead, their crystal teardrops coated in dust. The air smelled of aged wood, rain-soaked stone… and something fainter Like forgotten roses.
She stepped forward, the weight of history pressing in.
And then—the whisper
Faint, A breath against the silence.
"You came."
Sera froze. The voice was neither cruel nor kind It curled around her name like a secret.
She turned sharply nothing but shadows,
Yet deep within the house, something waited,
And it had been waiting for a very long time.