4 Prologue - The Devil's Lure

The red haired girl's journal was found in the Devil's lure. A place that was dreaded by the Manggan people.

They said it was a cursed place, chosen by their deity to imprison the cursed child, a monster that was born to them. Every red moon, the deity loosens the seal of the island, causing the monster to roam around the Manggan Archipelago and destroy their livestock. So, every red moon was dreaded on the island and no one amongst them dared to leave home or even go outside during this time.

Long ago, Huzey's dear friend figured that the Devil's lure wasn't something the Manggan people believed it to be. It was just a simple island on the coast but mysteriously, it had a house full of advanced things. Things that people in Manggan Island don't have but people from the mainland—civilized people have. Like a satellite, some old computers, modern tools and a training ground. His friend then believed whoever lived there was someone not from Manggan Archipelago despite the fact that it was located inside it.

That morning then, Huzey braved himself to see it. Hoping he can find some other clues about the woman he was looking for.

Soon, Huzey reached an old ducking area. However it was damaged and worn out already so it wasn't safe for his boat to be tied off there. So he alighted from his boat when the water was already shallow and dragged his boat until the bank. He found somewhere to tie his rope and knot the end of it tightly.

Looking further, he could see the house that his friend told him and he dragged his feet inside to explore and search. For some reason however, he found himself climbing off a creaking stairs until he was welcomed by a neat bedroom. At the end there was a big wooden table full of ink, blank sheets and a lamp at the end. There was a window right in front of a table, where little dream catchers were hung. Blown by the wind, they danced gracefully as if welcoming Huzey to their humble home.

Huzey stood in front of the table to look at the dream catchers. He had never seen anything like it before, its craftsmanship and threading was somehow intricately done. Aside from that, its design was unique specially that it resembles a Miangcok, a legendary bird like a phoenix but whose tail was like a rainbow. A Miangcok only has significance in the tribe as their history and folktales depict some legends and stories of it. Immediately, he fell in love with the art.

The Diamond prince searched further, but aside from books containing advanced mathematics, science and geography, he found nothing intriguing about the place. He noticed however that, unlike the Manngan Tribe's traditional homes, the house he was in right cannot be compared to it. The lack of traditional signages of an ordinary Manggan home, the way it was designed and how it was partitioned, Huzey could tell that whoever made it wasn't from the Manggan Island but a person who had gone through the mainland where the civilizations nested.

So his friend was somehow right, the one who lived there could be someone from the mainland. He wasn't part of the Manggan tribe.

Soon, Huzey found himself outside the kitchen where a lushful garden was found. Lushful not because of green plants but of green tall grasses. It was obvious it had not been tended for a while but in the midst of it, there was white flower that was growing healthily. He knew what it was, it was an Acamilla Apparaus, the flower that was used to cure him. His dear friend once crossed the Manggan Island to find such a flower for him and this place was where she found it. In the whole Manggan Archipelago, this was the only place where it can be found.

Huzey dragged his feet toward the flower and so he hurdled through the big grasses and dry leaves. Unfortunately though, something caused him to fall out of balance and realized there was a pit hiding amongst the tall grassess. He stumbled immediately on the ground and found himself lying in bed full of dry rose petals.

"What is this?" He found an empty little vial amongst the dried rose petals and frowned at the sight of it. It was so small Huzey somewhat could not figure out its significance. However, knowing that the place might be flooded with snakes and other creeping animals, he stood up and climbed back to where he was before he fell. For some reason he felt uncomfortable standing on a bed of dried rose petals as if it wasn't meant for him and he should not be there. Curious to what the place was, as soon as he steadied back on the ground, he cleared off the area so he could see what was lying down beneath those grasses aside from the Acamilla Apparaus.

What welcomed him surprisingly was three graves with crosses. The two other graves were closed and were named but the last one, the one full with rose petals, was empty and the cross had no label for it.

"A bed of rose petals " He whispered, not able to feel anything on it. He was warned that there were graves in the garden but he was never told about a bed of rose petals. His friend clearly said the third grave was empty without anything in it. "And an empty vial,"

"Someone was here," he whispered to himself. "Whoever he was, he clearly meant to fill the grave. There was a funeral,"

"But where is the body?" his eyes hardened at the thought as his insides twisted. It felt like he had missed something in there. That if only he came a bit earlier, he could have found what he was looking for and now, he was totally left with nothing.