Prologue

At the age of five, during my first hurricane, I vividly remember having fun jumping about in mud puddles and trying to catch rain droplets in my mouth. As a naïve child, I was too young to recognise the dangers of a hurricane, especially since it was my first time seeing one. So unbeknown to me, there was something terribly wrong with this hurricane. The sky was dark, but the rainwater that fell wasn't the usual crystal clear as any other rain. Gathering the droplets in my hands, I saw that the water was obsidian black. A childish curiosity filled my mind.

"Do you want to know what it tastes like? Just drink it and you'll find out for sure."

Listening to my curiosity, I drank the tepid tasting water in one gulp.

The name of the hurricane was "Hurricane Rose". Needless to say, this bizarre occurrence was illustrated in the news for months and documented in history books to be remembered for eternity as "Black Rose".