December 1st, 1855
It was an average day, cold and brink with snow falling onto the ground of London. A woman was sitting in her old house, the outside of its walls withered with moss and vines covering upon it. Inside of the house, it was quite the opposite of the outside. It was decorated with a lavish style, the furniture made out of rosewood, adorned with expensive lamps and gold. The woman was sitting in the parlour, reading her book as she gazed upon the fire burning in the fireplace.
"My darling daughter!" A voice boomed as a man walked down the winding stairs, letting out a few creaks and loud steps. He enters the parlour, bowing and kissing his daughter's left hand.
"Hello father," the woman says in a calm and soft voice, "how was your day today?"
"Amazing!" The man chimed, putting his top hat on the hat pin near the door. "I just read a beautiful story about a raven by... what is his name...?" The man mumbled as he thought for a moment. "Edgar Allan Poe!"
The daughter smiled softly as she looked at the joy on her father's face, and to what joy it was for her to see him so happy.
The man kissed his daughter's cheek, "Adolpha! His poems reached deep into my heart my dear child! I must say, he is the greatest writer to have ever existed!"
Adolpha nods as she smiles and curtsies, "So father, may I go out to the markets to buy our dinner?"
Adolpha's father nods, letting out a soft smile, "Why yes, you are allowed to go, but only with your escort, Daniel."
Adolpha bows and smiles in excitement, "You won't regret this!"
Daniel gets up and stands next to Adolpha as he bows to her father.
"Keep her safe, will ya? I don't want to have to drag her out of another river again Daniel." Her father's eyes narrow.
"That was just one time father!" Adolpha came into her escort's defense, "And besides, it was just a simple accident."
Her father sighs, "Says the one who has fallen into a river at least four times."
Adolpha rolls her eyes as she grabbed cloak from the clothing rack placed next to the side of the door, wrapping it on her, and grabbed her Reticule as she exited the house. Daniel follows her behind as they enter into the cold brink weather of London, walking out on to the winding cobblestone path towards the market area of the London's town square.
She takes a left as she starts walking pass by several carriages, giving a sign to her that she is almost there. As she walked, a raven flew above over her letting out a loud squawking sound, ominously going into the opposite direction. She starts to feel the sensation of being watched but brushes it off as her foolish instincts and imagination. She continues her journey down the road, but the sensation seems to grow stronger as ringing in her ears began. She notices a cloaked man near her in the corner of her eye, as she was about to say something...
A loud scream and a shout is let out, "Get out of the way!" A carriage passes right in front of her, Daniel grabs her shoulder, pulling her back in the nick of time! Adolpha takes a few steps back, startled and shocked at what had just happened.
"Be careful, you little bootlicker!" The coachman of the carriage hollered at her.
Adolpha scoffs as she says under her breath, "Bootlicker?! What the hell are you talking about?! You're the one that should be watching yourself!" She yells back at the coachman, Daniel pulling her shoulder back.
"Calm down Miss Edwards, you are fine." Daniel says in a calming tone.
Adolpha thrashes out of his grasp, stomping off in a grumpy mood now because of the coachman. She looks around for the cloaked man but he is nowhere to found.
"What in heaven's name...?" She murmurs as she sighs, finally arriving at her destination.
The market was full of stalls, made out of different colors of rugs and different types of wood. Smells of lavender, violet, and rose wavering throughout the markets. One of the stalls that caught her eye was exotic jewels, including black stones, diamonds, opals, pearls, and ivory.
Adolpha walks over excitedly, as Daniel follows behind, walking over to the hawker and asking her some questions. Adolpha points to a black diamond resting on a small velvet pillow.
The hawker shakes her head, staring at Adolpha with her sunken eyes, "Bad." She simply says, a heavy accent of Spanish entering. It didn't seem the lady spoke much English but luckily, Adolpha would be able to speak in the old hawker's native tongue.
She speaks to the old hawker, the hawker smiles as she sees Adolpha speaking in her tongue, making it much easier to communicate with each other. The old hawker explains that the black diamond is bad luck, and she does not recommend buying it.
Adolpha nods, learning what was wrong, and decides to buy something else instead of the black diamond. She looks around, noticing a white quill. She points at it and the hawker nods.
"Good." The hawker gives Adolpha a toothless smile, the wrinkles on her face becoming quite noticeable.
Adolpha waves goodbye to the hawker, leaving her behind as she goes over to the other vendor stalls. She buys the food that is needed to suffiss the needs of her and her father.
She and Daniel go over to a nearby vendor that Daniel wanted to look at, wanting to buy some flowers for a lady he was planning on to court.
She starts to look around the area, curiousity becoming quite apparent in her mind, when she suddenly notices the same cloaked man in a nearby alleyway.
"How peculiar..." She thought to herself.
She bursts into a run, leaving a distracted Daniel behind as she follows the cloaked man, running after him down the alleyway. The cloaked man runs starts to run away, letting out a shriek of laughter.
"Hey!" Adolpha hollered at the cloaked man.
Out of nowhere, as sudden as the cloaked man appeared, a big rock fell right in front of Adolpha, only a couple more steps and she would have been smashed to pieces.
"What in the blazes?!" She curses a bit, in shock at what she saw. This was the second time she was almost snatched away by death but she continues to run after the cloak man, climbing upon the rock and continuing.
As she runs around to find the mysterious man, he is gone... disappeared out of nowhere.
Adolpha lets out a frustrated sigh as she looks around, trying to find any signs of abnormality, but nothing.
"You are such a cowfyne, little woman," a mysterious voice whispers in her ear.
Adolpha jumps in surprise, turning around swiftly as a zooming bee, "You!"
The cloaked man stands there, giving her a toothy sharp smile, "Yes?"
"Who are you?!" Adolpha screams as she takes out her pocket knife from her pocket, "And why do you keep following me?!" She stumbles as she takes a few steps back, but manages to stay on her feet.
The man puts a hand up, "Calm down... calm down, short woman."
"I am not short!" Adolpha snaps back, "Why do you keep following me?!"
The man laughs, "You are such a foolish human woman, 'who are you?!' and 'Why do you keep following me?!'. Such foolish words for a woman like yourself." He mocks in a high pitched tone, doing his best attempts to mimic her voice.
Adolpha growls, "Just answer the god for saken damn question!"
The man jumps back, surprised at her coarse language but recomposes himself quickly, laughing as he does so. "So you must be an Edwards?! I should have known.."
Adolpha takes a step aback, still holding her pocket knife, "Answer my questions..."
The man sighs as he lets out a chuckle, "Abraxas is the name..." he bows, "and I am here to make your life a living hell..."
"And how do you intend to do that..?" Adolpha raises an eyebrow, narrowing her eyes with a twinkle of challenge in her left eye.
"Simple, I just do so." Abraxas cackles as his body disintegrates into the wind, the particles and dust flying.
"Miss Adolpha!" A panicked voice calls out, "Where are you?!"
Adolpha turns around, seeing a running Daniel coming towards her.
"Where were you Miss Adolpha?!" Samuel takes his top hat off, "I've been looking everywhere for you!"
"I'm fine!" Adolpha smiles, "Uh, so should we head back?"
Samuel nods, a little suspicious of Adolpha's uneasy expression, "Are you sure you are alright?"
Adolpha nods, "Yes! Yes I am alright, I am feeling quite.. great!" She stammers uncontrollably.
Samuel nods slowly, "So you are completely sure?"
Adolpha nods, "More than sure!"
"Okay, if you say so Miss Adolpha;" Samuel bows, "let's get to your home, shall we?"
ns 15.158.61.23da2
