I woke up in a huge bed with its everything-black features. The cushion has an addictive smell, making it harder for me to gather myself and stand up. So there, I ended up rolling over and hugging the comfy pillow beside me. I was even close to entering my nightmare wonderland again if it wasn't for the glimpse of a freaking crow right at the darkish bedside table! 

"What in the name of hot sauce!" I muttered and immediately crawled away from it. Ended up for me to sit down on the edge of the bed, while having a staring contest on the huge crow with red eyes. 

The creature didn't even flinch and just continuously darted me a death glare. Leaving me to raise my hand and tried shooing it away. However, my hand was stuck mid-air upon realizing the most important part— I'm not in my room. 

My eyes widened as the flashbacks of everything that happened before passing out came back to my senses. The wise skull-mask wearing guy, the bashful and petite driver who can or cannot read minds, the seemingly strict butler who spoke foreign language that may or may not have the ability to summon underworld freaks. And lastly, the spiteful reality that I'm currently inside one of the mansion's rooms!

"Oh, you're awake." 

It seems like I ran out of blood upon hearing the familiar voice from behind. Slowly, I titled my body towards his direction and that's when I saw the Serenade guy standing there with his signature outfit, just subtracting the black cloak. 

Wait, his black cloak? Why do I feel like I've seen where it was earlier? 

As soon as it dawned on me, I immediately checked the king size bed and that's where I saw the crow who's now on the top of the cloak. Wait wait wait! 

My mouth couldn't help but to let out a gasp upon witnessing how the huge bird carried the cloth using his claws. Its massive wings created sound as it flew the extra miles between him and Mister Serenade. Basically handing him the cloak like he was damn made to serve the guy!

"Thank you, Alastor," kaswal pa nitong sambit, dahilan upang agad akong mapa atras. 

Because on top of it all, a realization hitted my mind. Did the fabric I rolled myself into, hugged and even sniffed to my heart's contentment was his... cloak? 

Oh godfuckingdammit!

"You're probably a witch!" Dinuro ko ito ngunit bahagya lang siyang natawa dahil doon saka humakbang papalapit. 

"Cool, after accusing me for being an engkanto, now I'm promoted to being a sorcerer now?" 

"Then what the hell are you?" bulalas ko at imbis na magpatinag ay tumayo nalang din ko sa pagkaka upo sa kama at hinarap ito. Dude, my fishnet stockings and pretty black dress won't allow me to look that pathetic so nevermind. I gotta set my boundaries too!

In an instant, a smile I can not fathom the intent, was painted into his lips. But never did I flinch. Even when he utters the phrases that normal people might react differently. 

"You can call me a God. Lord Serenade, that's it." 

"Oh, so are you really that old to be called like that? But your servants call you Master," I said with crossed arms. 

Although, nakapatong sa kaliwang balikat niya 'yong uwak, mas pinili ko nalang na ituon ang atensyon sa lalakeng ito lalo na sa bahagya niyang pagkatawa sa sinabi ko. 

"But you are not a servant of this household. You are my official ghostwriter. Therefore, you, Miss Naenia Lovercraft, are my personal property. So call me your Lord." 

"Eww," I responded without hesitation. I did not even bother to hide how I rolled my eyes and stuck my tongue out. But instead of being mad, he just chucked and shook off his head. 

"As expected. Haha! But don't worry you can also just call me Zayde. It's my first name." He then smiled warmly, and extended his arms for a hand shake. 

"By the way, I'm not an old hag. I'm actually just years older than you so kindly don't imagine my face as something as horrible as that." 

I bursted into laughter as I absentmindedly accepted the handshake. Now that he mentioned his first name, it seems like some formalities kind of vanished and I can't deny the fact that it somehow made me more comfortable with him tham earlier. Besides I hate honorary shits so I'd basically call him Zayde forever.

And after that little chitchat, he then told me to join him outside because the butler already prepared our breakfast. And that's what I did. The crow was left in his room as we pace the way towards the huge and elegant hallway with nothing but black and red interiors. However, only the sound of our every move became a dull melody to our quest, so I couldn't help but to utter the question I've been meaning to ask since the moment I met him. 

"Uhm, Zayde, why are you wearing a mask?" 

Right at the moment, he stopped his tracks and so did I. We didn't even make it to the first floor yet and the fact that the only thing surrounding us were the many dark and morbid paintings in achromatic colors, added fuel to the sudden change of his expression. 

"Hey, if you don't want to answer it's—" 

"Why am I wearing a mask?" He chuckled and stared at me from head to foot. 

"Because I'm prettier than you and your whole life." He then started to walk past me just like that. I don't know if he intentionally flipped his head with that sassiness but as soon as he faced me again, the slit smile on his lips vanished.

"Aside from that, again, I am the Lord in this household. My face is too heavenly to be seen by a mere human species. I don't recommend it." 

Napakurap kurap ako at kahit pa inilahad niya ang kamay niya para alalayan ako sa paglalakad, at kahit tinanggap ko din naman, hindi pa rin ako makapaniwala sa kapal ng mukha niya. 

Did he just call me a mere human species?

"Hey, don't be pissed. It's basically for your own good so you won't feel inferior and offended. Besides, Gods don't easily show their faces to anyone, they must be worshipped right," maya maya ay giit niya pa habang magkaharap kami sa napaka haba at itim na mesa.

At ayaw niya pa akong ma-offend sa lagay niyang 'yan? 

Palihim akong napairap dahil doon at magpapatuloy nalang sana sa pagkain, ngunit muli itong nagsalita. 

"So if you're that curious to see the face behind this mask, then you should be ready to get on your knees and worship me." 

Bahala siya d'yan, hindi ko siya naririnig. Lalala. 

***

After finishing our seemingly normal meal, Leaflet immediately cleaned the table for us and even talked with me for a bit. While having a catch up session with him, Zayde instructed his butler, Damon, to first tour me around the mansion as he needed to answer the urgent phone call that the crow handed him with. And yes the crow probably knows how to open a goddamn door! 

The last thing I knew was that I was roaming the entire mansion awkwardly with the butler Damon, along with the crow that was resting on his shoulder. What was the bird's name again? Alastor? 

And for whoever's sake, was he the butler that Leaflet mentioned yesterday? The kind hearted one who save him from drowning on the kanal or something? The one who begged Zayde to adopt and keep Leaflet on the house and such? Then why does this Damon look like he's so damn ready to eat me whole? 

Dude was so stiff and intimidating the entire time. Although he was briefing me about the rules and the schedules that I need to follow, he was literally just doing it grumpily! As if he spent his entire adulthood only to wake up every single day doing the job he hated but still needed because of money! 

It doesn't help the fact that he's speaking with an unrecognized accent so even if it's Tagalog or English, there were just some words I couldn't absorb quickly!  There were even times that I couldn't grasp what language he's speaking anymore. So how would I know if he's already cursing me or uttering the spells in order to offer my soul to Satan? It even seems like he glared at me when I tried to address my concern. Like what the hell?

Honestly, right when we entered the kitchen I really imagined him and the crow teaming up to push me inside the huge oven and cook me alive. But that would be gross though because they didn't marinated me first, so the thought vanished, and luckily they never did anyway. 

And here I am right now again in front of Zayde, positioning myself between his highback red velvet gothic chair and seemingly antique study table. Doing my best at my first day on work despite of the fact that he's been sticking his nose to almost every syllable I'm trying to write using a fucking quill! 

Does he even know how hard it was to rewrite shits every time because he was such a damn perfectionist who hated technology and doesn't even have a ballpen?

"Hey, what in the name of nine circles? No, don't clutched their hearts using your bare hands! Where's your hygiene?"

There he goes again! Ano bang gusto niya gumamit ako ng gloves at hand sanitizer?

"And what's with that horrible penmanship?" 

That's it. I gasped and darted him a death glare. I was really close to starting a rampage, but as soon as it dawned on me how he didn't matter enough to pissed me off, I ended up sitting still and raising one of my eyebrows. Exhaling the negative craps as I flipped my long black hair. 

"Excuse me? What matters the most is the content," giit ko nalang at pasimple pa itong nginitian. 

Because to hell be with him. Even if he's bratty and nit-picker, well, far from the old geezer I thought he would be. And even if he's a self proclaimed God and other shits, he's still just him. And I am me. 

And who am I again? Well, I am just a kind of girl who doesn't worship any man or even anything, but only myself. So he's definitely not worthy of my frustration. 

"But how would people comprehend this when it's ugly and unreadable?"

Chill Neania. He's just a dork. Don't get provoked. 

"You're gonna waste a lot of human sacrifices and labor like this," dagdag niya pa at nakapamewang akong pinagmasdan. Sa pagkakataong 'yon ay gusto ko ko na nga sana talaga itong hambalusin ng upuan ngunit agad ring natigilan ng mapagtanto ang sinabi niya. 

"Human sacrifices? Don't tell me this red ink were real human bloods?" bulalas ko at itinuro at napatayo. 

But instead of answering, he just laughed uncontrollably loud! And even if it sounds so soft and melodic to my ears, my squinted eyes never left his stance. But that's just when he sat inappropriately at the top of the study table, leaning towards my direction. 

"It was a joke. Of course it was from animals." 

My jaw dropped and gave him the most distasteful stare I could. "You wicked creature—" 

"I mean, from the animal's meat and flesh that Damon bought at the fresh market earlier." 

"Oh , you could have said it that way!" 

"How ironic of you to be so concern about animal's wellbeing when you're literally writing about human suffering and tortures." 

This time, it was my turn to give him a slit smile. "Because duh, humans are ugly fools, desperate, and hypocrite creatures. They deserve to die in the most brutal way possible," I said with gritting teeth and deadpanded stare into the void. But instead of reacting differently, it just seems like I saw a glimpse of amusement from his lips.

"But humans are animals too, they are the highest form of animals so basically—" 

"Yeah, whatever, but lower animals were cuties and huggable so they deserve the world. And anyway, stop talking to me because I am working!" I insisted and positioned myself again on the chair.

"I'm gonna torture and kill many fictional characters right now so don't bother me— Hey!" As soon as I was about to write again, Zayde stole the quill from my hands and raised it enough so I couldn't reach it! 

"What the hell is your problem?" 

"Do not kill anyone in the stories!" giit niya habang naka taas parin ang kamay. At kahit pa umakyat na ako sa upuan ay ganoon lang din ang ginawa niya sa mesa at mas itinaas pa ang pluma! 

Adik ba siya?

"Why won't you let me kill a fictional character? You told me to write a compilation of gore proses so of course I'm going to wack their insides and throw their corpses after!" 

"No! Don't you dare! You can just torture people without killing them!" bulalas niya at sa isang iglap ay tumalon na pababa ng mesa at talagang itinakbo na ang panulat ko! Talaga naman!

"And why would I do that? All the fictional characters in the anthology deserve to die! It's basically their punishment!" 

Agad akong tumawid sa mesa at nakipaghabulan sakanya para mabawi 'yong pluma, kaso nagpapaikot ikot lang kami sa buong kwarto ngunit hindi ko naman siya maabutan! Kaya sa huli ay kapwa din kami hininga at napaupo sa kanya kanyang pwesto. 

"There are a lot of way to punish a person without killing them. Like betrayals and eternal life after taking away their sanity," seryoso niyang sambit maya maya at sumandal lang sa headboard ng kama. 

Habang ako ay bumalik na sa upuan na katapat lang din naman ng kinaroroonan niya. 

"You can also indulge into tortures. Like harshly removing their teeth or nails using a pliers. Hell, you can even scoop their eyeballs out of their eye socket and such. As long as you're going to take them to the hospital after and pay their hospital bills." 

Sa pagkakataong 'yon ay napahagalpak nalang talaga ako sa katatawa at pinagsasapak pa ang mesa. 

"Dude, what the fuck? Hahaha! Why won't you just kill them? It's easier, besides, it's just a story anyway."

"But killing is cheap. Only the weaklings and cowards resort to that kind of method." 

In an instant, my mouth was shot as I was stuck staring at him, who's currently pacing his way again towards my direction. 

"People tend to kill someone because they want to hide something, they want to run away from the consequences of their actions or they're simply just afraid of the persons they buried underneath their beds. Because they are not strong enough to face them in this lifetime so they resort to murdering them. People tend to kill someone or something because they couldn't handle them." A slit smile formed into his lips as he's now just an inch closer to my face. 

"And I am a God, well, of this household. But either way, I am not that cheap. Let the fictional characters live after traumatizing and serving them what they deserve. I fear no one, and I'm powerful enough to handle their worthless vengeance." 

His enormous aura made me feel like the entire mansion was shaking and I couldn't help but to tremble. Although I couldn't see his eyes because of the mask, but right now, it really feels like his stares were piercing right into my core. Leaving me breathless. 

"W-were s-still talking about the sinners that were needed to be punished in the story, r-right?" Damn I can't believe I just stuttered! 

Good thing he just chuckled and patted my head like a pet. Gone was the strong aura he was emitting a few seconds ago. "Of course, we're still talking about the story. So let them live. Let them live after taking away everything from them. Let them live forever in nothingness." 

He leaned closer. Close enough to the point that our noses were literally touching each other. "Because, sorry to spoil you, but the 10th circle of hell was actually the Earth, and being alive is the real tormention."