Skye took slow careful steps up to the castle, her eyes wide as she noted how nice the architecture looked even after all of these years.

She carefully connected her hand to the outside wall and felt her heart skip a beat. It almost felt…warm? She stepped through the large wooden front door as her hand continued to drag along the stone walls.

Her shock only increased when she saw the magnificent interior. The impressive structure and tapestries that lined the front room led to a grand staircase that stole her breath. She stepped across a very old red carpet, and the smell of dust and overgrowth found its way to Skye’s nose as she continued through the castle.

She couldn’t help but feel slightly guilty when she saw some places overrun with nature. As pretty as it was, it was a sign that whoever lived here had been gone for a while, and what made it worse was it felt like they had to leave everything behind.

She peeked into one of the rooms and her heart sank slightly when she realized it was a child’s room. Old toys are still scattered on the floor. Carefully, she picked up a stuffed bear and she smiled slightly, putting it to her chest before sticking it in her bag as a personal token.

She then left the child’s room and made her way down another hallway where she found a throne room. Skye gasped as the sun shone perfectly through an intricately crafted stain glass window. The colorful light danced across the floor and illuminated the chairs from behind.

She walked along the stone floor up to the king’s throne, allowing her fingers to make contact with the old wood and velvet. Then, she smiled a bit and turned before sitting down on the throne. Once again, she felt her heart skip a beat as she relaxed back onto the throne. For some odd reason, it felt like this was where she was meant to be.

Her heart once again sank when she took a closer look at the floor. She gasped upon seeing that the stone was stained red. Being a historian, she knew what dried blood looked like, and she quickly looked away to relax into the warm familiar feeling again.

Her hand moved, and before she could think, she gripped the side of the armrest of the chair. At first, nothing happened, but then the wood depressed like a button. Tumblers and cogs began to work in the wall beside her and finally, a door slid open. Her jaw dropped.

How had she known that? She didn’t know, and she didn’t entirely care as she quickly got off of the throne and made her way to where the wall became a door.

Peeking inside, she shivered slightly, feeling a draft, but that didn’t stop her as she pulled her phone out and turned on her flashlight. A strange sense of bravery pulled her down the spiral staircase. She felt like by the end of it, she was definitely underground, and slowly, she sensed the bravery beginning to leave.

But before she could turn back, the wall shut on the staircase and she laughed nervously.

“Great…”

She jumped slightly upon hearing herself echo and she sighed. “Geez. I did not just scare myself…”

She walked forwards, her phone's flashlight leading her way as she kept her eyes out.

“Is this like…the dungeon?” she asked in her head.

Skye then turned a corner and her soul almost left her body when she saw a skeleton chained to the wall. She quickly turned her head away. “Poor b*st*rd…”

Quickly moving past the skeleton, she made her way to another set of stairs that went down further. For a second, she wondered if she should really keep going down or if she should find a way back up. The last thing she wanted was to end up like that skeleton.

She turned to try and find a staircase, when she heard a whisper in her ear: “Anderson…”

Skye nearly screamed again, but a light from the staircase down began to glow a blue color and she slowly turned back towards it.

“The hell…?” she asked as she stepped closer to it.

She didn’t know why she was going towards an ominous light, but she was doing it anyway. Her fight or flight ironically fought with itself as she began to descend the stairs.

When she hit the bottom of the stairs, her eyes widened at what she saw. It looked like a portal, with blue light emanating from it as she stepped closer. She swallowed a bit. She was cautious, yet reckless, as she pushed her hand against the warm portal. A slight tingle rushed through her body and she pulled her hand back.

“Go through, Skye Anderson…Your adventure awaits…” The whispers said in her ear.

And before she knew it, she stepped through the portal.

She felt several sensations at once. She felt warm and cold, she felt electrified yet still. She could hear her heart beating in her head, but she couldn’t see herself. At least, she felt like she couldn’t move.

Then she opened her eyes and she was still in the basement. Blinking slightly, she patted herself down and relaxed feeling everything was intact.

Maybe exploring an old castle alone without checking if there was any mold wasn’t a good idea.

It was most likely just a figment of bad air.

Skye turned and began to make her way back up the stairs when she stopped and looked around confused. The stone looked… younger? How could that be? Maybe this was a different part of the castle.

Looking around, she finally found a staircase going up and quickly made her way to the ground level again. However, her heart stopped when she saw it all.

The overgrowth on the stone was gone. Similarly, the faded carpets and tapestries were now a more vibrant red, and the lining she thought was yellow turned out to be golden fabric.

But fabric was the last thing she was worried about. Right now, she was only worried about getting out and getting her brain examined. She was definitely seeing things.

Skye turned to leave the castle and stepped down the front steps when she gasped slightly once again. The dirt road was gone and there were no tire tracks in sight. Not only that, the woods were now a lot closer to the castle then they were before. She let out a sound of confusion.

“Okay, what the actual f*ck is going on?!” she asked loudly. She then put her face in her hands and laughed desperately. “It’s fine, this is fine.”

Removing her hands, she took a deep breath and looked up at the sky. “I can figure this out, I just need to get back to town… That’s all…”

Looking forwards to a large path, Skye took another deep breath and began to walk while pulling out her phone to check it.

Turning it on though caused it to spark and short out and she yelped, tossing it to the ground.

“F*ck! Ugh… great.”

Skye grabbed her spare shirt and picked her phone up before placing it in a lone pocket of her bag.

As she walked, she continued to feel a strange sense of dread fall over her, like a heavy wet blanket. Instinctively, she looked around herself. Her ears twitched and then she swore she felt them move.

“Wha–”

She raised a shaky hand up to her ear and dragged a finger along it. But when she expected it to curve, it only kept going straight and her eyes widened.

“N-No way- it can’t…”

She quickly pulled out her tablet, not turning it on, but using the black screen to check her reflection. And what she saw made her jaw drop.

“They’re pointed!!!” She shouted out incredibly loud. “My ears are pointed!”

She panicked before she felt the trees shift and birds screech and fly off. Her stomach dropped as she slid her tablet back in her bag.

Freezing in her spot, she allowed her eyes to shift along the treeline, her ears twitching at every sound. But when she heard nothing, she let out a sigh of relief.

The moment she looked away from the trees, however, a creature lunged out from behind them and tackled her down, screeching like a bird in her face with it’s claws raising up to strike at her.

Skye looked up and screamed as it loomed over her. It was the size of a bear but had the face of an owl. She watched in horror as its paw raised with its talons extending to slash her to ribbons.

Skye felt her body move before she could think and she kicked up with both her legs. Her feet made contact with the creature’s chest and it lurched up with another horrible scream.

She rolled out from under it and began to scoot away. “C-Come on—we can talk about this right?”

She screamed again when it lunged.

Then, it suddenly stopped, its jump cut off by an arrow sticking through the front of its head. The creature collapsed onto the path in front of her with its talons twitching slightly as Skye stared at the glinting tip of an arrow.

She then looked up and gasped seeing a masked archer on horseback behind where the creature had been.

Soon enough, she swallowed her fear and mustered up her courage, asking a simple, yet daunting question: “Wh- Who are you…?”