It is quite unnerving, maybe even a wee bit frightening really, to be walking around in such an enchanted looking place, knowing that one is not lost and yet feel as if one has been transported into another world – a parallel universe – in which there is no going back.

Liyin knows that she is not lost; knows that it is impossible to lose her way in such a small area. Yet, here she is, wandering about in this garden maze, enraptured by its beauty; ensnared by a fairytale ending promised at the very center – at the very heart.

She is not lost. She cannot be lost. She has studied this labyrinth for months; calculated her way towards the prize. So she is not lost. Liyin is sure about her direction when she finally decides to venture into the maze. She does not know, however, that the labyrinth deems her special; her reaching the center alone is far from enough. Because things begin to happen the moment her foot crosses its threshold.

Unbeknownst to her, the hedges move; paths disappear and new ones come out.

The dweller wants her and is determined to possess her with any means possible.

Liyin's senses start to go into shambles. She begins hearing things; voices that seem to tell her contraries. Some of what she can make out tell her to go back, but she does not know where back is, so she takes another step forward. The voices cry louder for her to turn and save herself. She stops on her tracks, turning around and around.

The other voices hiss at Liyin. They demand her to go forward; to move faster and run for her life. She does, because she does not know what else to do; where else to go. She moves forward, her steps echo loudly in her ears like the beating of her heart against her ribs. And then the voices hum to her, and they tell her of her own dreams and desires. The voices know her well; they know the very things she vowed never to tell anyone; they know the things she chose to bury in the depths of her mind.

Suddenly, she hears it. She turns to look for the maker of the new voice, this one much clearer and so much more real than the others – as if the person is standing beside her, walking by her. But there is no one there, this fact makes chills run down her back; makes the fine hairs on her nape to stand on their ends. 

Liyin hears a loud guttural moan.

And it beckons her.

The sultry and sensual sound sings sweetly in her ears, the poetic lyrics telling her of what is awaiting her.

The voice seems to leave her side after a few moments. It singsongs away but maintains a safe distance to keep Liyin in a pseudo-trance from which she cannot escape from. 

Liyin follows the seemingly silent command; she takes another step forward and towards the direction the voice is leading her to.

This is when she begins seeing things – apparitions. She notices movements ahead, she advances unto it; the song fades. She realizes that her new guide is a form of light; it is a luminescent ball that appears to hover a few feet above the ground. It swirls and swerves every now and then, as if it was moving on a rhythm that Liyin cannot hear. She chases after it and it slows down, seemingly aware that Liyin has noticed its existence. It glides through the air in a steady pace, never lingering away from the very center of the paths. Liyin walks a few meters behind.

The light form changes, however. It elongates and grows what looked like limbs. It turns into that Liyin surmises is a woman. She hears her sing a wordless song; she watches her sway on her feet. She follows her and she trails her eyes on the lithe form. Liyin watches every step that is taken, and she realizes that the woman's iridescent bare feet are not touching the earth. If Liyin has not realized that there is something strange about this feminine light form she would have froze mid-step. But nothing proves to be of the ordinary in this garden maze; Liyin just does not know if it is for certain of just a figment of her imagination.

Before long, the woman with long flowing hair changes into a smaller form. She shrinks into a little girl who does not falter in her skipping. Liyin narrowly imitates her; the latter almost skips as she follows the light ahead.

The little girl lets out a loud, playful laugh that nearly has Liyin smiling to herself as well, that is if she did not realize where the form of light has taken her. She finds herself right beneath the apple tree at the center of the garden maze. It is the prize that she has longed to find for quite some time now. She is here now, and her heat swells in bliss. She becomes even happier when she recognizes the lone red fruit hanging from a branch.

She has heard that this apple tree had never bore any fruits. There have been many assumptions as to its origin, but none have been proven. Liyin finds it peculiar that it has a fruit now, but the inquisitive part of her just wants to take a bite into the sinfully red flesh.

Did they really forbid you to eat this fruit?  The voice asks her.

Liyin tilts her head in concentration. She tries to remember the information the caretakers has imparted with her. But she cannot remember when she was forbidden. She was never forbidden.

So Liyin shakes her head.

Then what is stopping you, love? The voice inquires again. Surely, that is only for the wants they have for their own selves. How could they forbid the consumption of such beauty and scrumptiousness?

Liyin does not feel entirely sure. It does not feel right. The bright red of the apple gleams in the sunlight, teasing her more than the voice is. It calls to her, almost as if the fruit itself is whispering her name and telling her to take a bite.

She reaches up, but hesitates after a moment. She shakes her head; she is not supposed to take it.

Think about it, love. This tree has never bore any fruits before. This is the very first, love. This is certainly magical and they want it for the power that it possesses. Whoever speaks to forbid you from having it is selfish, love.

Liyin reaches up, again. This time she takes the fruit into her hand. She twists her wrist; the apple comes off from the branch. She hears an aroused groan beside her ear and a tingling sensation runs down her body in response. She does not understand how something she cannot see makes her feel such things.

She wants to know; she has to find out. So she lifts the fruit to and without thinking twice – and with her eyes closed tight – she takes a bite.

Liyin senses the change instantly. She feels light, as if her bodily weight has been lifted from herself. This makes her open her eyes. What she witnesses makes her heart stop.

She watches as the tall rose hedges dissolves into what looks like the interior of an enchanting palace. The bright reds of the flowers and greens of the leaves change into that of the deep blood-red drapes over ceiling high windows and enchanting yellow of the walls. Liyin is bewildered and she cannot but look around this old yet new place. She is certain that she has never been to any place more beautiful. She catches sight of the four poster bed in the middle of the quarters, the tall bookshelves that line one wall, and the exquisite sitting area with Elizabethan furniture and fixings.

Now, Liyin really is at lost. How did I come to this place? she asks herself silently.

“Hello, love,” a familiar voice greet her from behind.

She turns abruptly to find the one who has sung to her before. And she is greeted by a pair of snake-like eyes. Her breath catches.

The creature leans closer to her, surveying her face – her eyes. Seeming to realize the fear in them, he smiles wide and menacing. “How nice of you to finally join me.”

Liyin tries to back away; she tries to flee from this creature that has magicked her to his dwelling place. He does not let her, however, for before she can comprehend what has happened, she is on the middle of the four poster bed. The satin sheets give in to her weight and of the one that hovers over her.

“Your kingdom has been waiting so many decades for you to come, my queen. My bed has been severely cold and wanting.”

“Who – what?”

“Xiah, my love. Remember my name because I want to hear you screaming it over and over, for all eternity.”


The remains of a young maiden, assumed to be not two and twenty, was found at the heart of the exquisite garden maze of the château Rouge, Friday evening last week. Miss Zhang Liyin, as supplied by the caretaker of said château, had been renting a room since a fortnight after Christmas. She had been a polite and jovial lass, and looked to be in perfect health.

Her untimely death, however, had left medical practitioners baffled as the only explanation they have for it is suffocation. Moreover, they found ashes in her thorax and stomach, as if she was burned from the inside. But they could not fathom the cause of such; they can only assume that she ingested the origin of the ashes. Small traces of said substance were discovered too in the palm of her hand and under her fingernails.

Now, the growth under which her lifeless form laid was rumored to originate from the very seeds of the poison apple that very narrowly took the life of Princess Snow White from decades past. Visitors of the château had been forbidden to sample its fruits. The tree, however, never proved to bare any. 

Do not lament little one, I beg of you, for Liyin’s once-upon-a-time has just begun.