The sky was gray, and fog hung like a heavy veil over the road.
A black car pulled up in front of the iron gates of the palace, and Liana was inside... shivering.
She had no idea that the moment she got out would be the beginning of her old end, and the beginning of a life unlike any other.
She got out of the car hesitantly, the wind whipping her long black hair, and the cold stinging her skin, as if the air itself rejected her presence here.
She raised her eyes toward the palace.
It was huge, like a sleeping beast. Its windows were blind, its doors high, and the silence around it... the silence of a graveyard.
"Welcome, Miss Liana."
A masculine voice said behind her.
She turned quickly, her heart pounding in her chest.
He was standing on the threshold... tall, towering, as if the shadows were bowing to him.
He was dressed all in black, with a long coat and a gray scarf.
His face was sharp, but his eyes... his eyes were unlike any human's.
Rain's eyes.
Cold, gray, emotionless... they froze the soul at first sight.
She felt an involuntary tremor in her hand, as if her body knew before her mind... that this man was not ordinary.
"I am... Liana."
She whispered in a broken voice.
He approached her with slow steps, but they carried a strange weight, as if the ground were shrinking beneath his feet.
When he stood in front of her, the distance between them was not enough for her to escape.
He looked at her face for a long time, until she felt her breath being taken away.
Then, suddenly...
He raised his hand and touched her cheek.
His touch was cold, as if it were made of ice, but he wasn't affectionate; it was as if he was measuring her face with his eyes, testing her texture as if it were his own.
"Finally, you've come."
He whispered it in a low voice, but it pierced her like a bullet.
She took a step back, but he took a step forward.
"Are you afraid of me?"
He smiled, but his smile didn't reach his eyes... It was deadly, distorted.
"I... I don't..."
She began to say, but a sudden sound interrupted her.
A rumbling sound came from inside the palace.
As if something had fallen or shattered.
She quickly turned to the door behind him, but he didn't.
He kept looking at her steadily, as if the sound didn't concern him...or as if he knew what it was.
He said calmly,
"Don't look back... There's nothing wrong with me looking at you."
She gasped, her heart trembling.
"What?"
He replied confidently,
"From now on, when you hear something... you look only at me.
I am the only truth your eyes should see."
In a darker voice, he muttered, "Anything else... will kill you."