You weren't sure what to expect when you walked inside, but this wasn't it.
With the rest of the island in ruins, it would've made sense for the inside to be a wreck as well, or at least barren of anything good or useful. But your first steps in proved that all to be wrong.
The entrance was huge, the ceiling vaulting upwards and reaching a few floors above you. A grand staircase led upwards to the many rooms lining the sides. Busts and paintings decorated the space, all intact but covered in a fine layer of dust. The marble floors beneath your feet were in the same state; in perfect shape, just dirty.
"Interesting...." You spun in a slow circle before deciding to follow one of the many halls branching off to the left.
A few rooms were attached to the hall but the main two of note were the kitchen and dining room. And you had to admit, they were gorgeous. The kitchen was big enough for a full staff, fit for any castle. It was entirely rustic with plenty of natural themed decor. The cabinets and large table in the center of the room were all a dark oak, covered in chinks and small gouges from years of wear and tear. The appliances however, seemed to be more modern and despite the dust that reached even in here, they were all in good shape.
A quick check through the cabinets and pantries came with surprising results. Cans, jars, and boxes of different foodstuffs were everywhere. There were plenty pots and pans, silverware, and more. Not to mention there were multiple sprigs of dried herbs strung up on nails along the higher parts of the walls. If you had to guess based on the kitchen alone, someone had to be living here at some point recently. If it weren't for the dust, you'd even go as far to say that they were probably still present. But everything still seemed like it hadn't been touched in a while.
The last thing you noticed in the kitchen was another door. You opening it carefully and it creaked slightly as it's own weight helped it swing ajar. It was completely dark but the shadowy daylight that came in from the windows was enough to light up the stairs directly at your feet. You could smell the cool, earthy air from below.
A cellar.
"Fancy." You chuckled as you began the decent, running your hand along the chilly stone walls.
You could feel the earth below when your boots scraped the ground at the bottom of the staircase. It hummed faintly with an energy that you'd grown familiar with and quite fond of. The room was kept at a colder temperature naturally and as your eyes adjusted to the dark, you could make out the many bottles of alcohol snugly burrowed in the latticework shelves that lined the walls.
You reached for the nearest bottle and pulled it out of its spot, just barely able to make out the dark red color of the liquid inside. It wasn't just a cellar, it was a wine cellar. Fancier than you thought it'd be.
The bottle was slid back into place and you scampered back upstairs, your curiosity for the room now sated.
The dining room was next and as expected, was just as grand as the kitchen. Large windows lined a single wall, letting plenty of daylight filter in. Between them hung tapestries of complex scenes. Some depicted fights, hard battles between two kingdoms, others showed everyday life; farmers at work in fields, hunters chasing down furry creatures, fishermen working the docks.
When you were able to tear your eyes away from the art, you examined the giant table in the center of the room. It was long enough to seat at least fifty people with just enough chairs, you'd counted. They were all neatly lined up and pushed in to the table, all except one at the very end. It was out at an angle, halfway facing away from the table, like someone had pulled it out to sit in it rather haphazardly. First the fully stocked kitchen, and then the chair. You were finding there was something interesting about the castle that didn't have anything to do with the rest of the island.
But for now you shrugged it off to continue your exploration. You finished off the first floor before heading up, finding a study that doubled as a library you were sure you'd revisit to hopefully find books on the history of the island. Besides that, you found a few recreational rooms and servants quarters.
From there, the further up you went, the more you realized the vast majority of the rooms were pretty much the same. Bedrooms, bathrooms, and what you assumed to be parlour rooms. The most interesting parts of the building were all on the first floor, as you should have figured.
It still took you all day to explore. And with that, you came to the great decision of what to do. There'd been a few other signs of someone living here previously, all suggesting it was either a small group or a single person. One of the more ornate rooms had clothing tucked away in it and the study portion of the library had paperwork covering it's desk. You didn't go snooping into that, it just felt wrong knowing none of it was yours.
Knowing all that, you couldn't figure out why the person or people before you left and with so much important stuff still here no less. You wanted to stay the night here, make some use of the kitchen and take one of the many rooms so that you could look through the books in the morning, but you weren't sure if whoever left was planning on returning. That was the only reason you could think of someone leaving provisions and other things behind. Well, that and the admittedly aggressive residents that lived outside the castle walls.
But maybe they wouldn't mind someone staying here for a short while either. You'd learn what you wanted to, explore the island a bit, and leave. They wouldn't miss a bit of food, the stores were plenty full. And it wasn't like there wasn't more than enough space for you to claim just one room for a couple days. There'd be no harm.
You'd even be a great temporary houseguest and do a bit of cleaning while you were here. Cleaning the dust up would be a bit time consuming but easy enough. You'd figured out where everything was kept for cleaning on your exploration and you weren't afraid of some house work, even if it was for an entire castle.
So with that in mind, you went back down to the first floor to get some rags from where the supplies were kept and began with the kitchen. You were starving at this point and once the kitchen was in decent shape, you could make yourself something to eat before moving on to other parts of the castle.
Water still poured from the sink tap even though the island seemed abandoned but you considered that lucky, especially when you were able to get scalding hot water to use for scrubbing down surfaces. That with a bit of soap, and you had the kitchen usable in no time.
When it came to dinner, you fished out a couple pots and pans and settled for heating up a couple canned goods. It was much better than having to eat things cold on your raft so even if it wasn't anything special, it sure felt like it was. You made your meal quick so that you could clean a bit more before calling it a night. At the very least, you wanted to tackle the dining room.
And that was just as simple as the kitchen. First was the table and chairs, all of which took longer than you liked but by the end of it, it looked much better. You even pushed in the single chair that had been out of place. And then you were on to the windows.
You had turned the lights on but they were dim, more of a mood lighting. It was enough to get the full theatrical effect from the battle scene tapestries that you couldn't help but focus on as you cleaned.
Though not entirely realistic, the scenes were still gruesome on closer inspection. Not a single detail was missed in anything. Blood sprayed from the stump of a neck from a man freshly decapitated. Another was launched off his horse by a spear through the chest. Near one of the corners on a tapestry, was the scene of a man being drawn and quartered. You couldn't help but wonder who would have the time or ability to orchestrate that in the midst of a battle.
And there were still worse parts, subtly thrown in to the masses of well portrayed faces. One with a man straddling another, digging a knife into his center and dragging it down to gut him. Another with a soldier being scalped. And then one with an army tearing through a town, grabbing at the women and pillaging the burning buildings.
You'd stopped cleaning to take in the details you'd missed with your first glance at the tapestries and now, they weren't so pleasant to look at. War was never simply two armies fighting. There was a lot of wrong, terrible things that usually didn't make it into tales of heroics done out on the battlefield.
It made your stomach churn.
Maybe you were done cleaning for the night. In fact, you weren't so sure finding a room and going straight to bed would work either. It wouldn't hurt to see what books you could find in the library to get lost in for a while, at least long enough to settle your mind. With a sigh, you tossed your rag to the table and left the dining room.
The halls were dark but you didn't bother with lights, not if you were just passing through. The heels of your boots hit the marbled floors loudly and echoed throughout the building, reminding you of just how alone you were right now. It wasn't such an important thing on your little raft but here, where the castle was made to house so many more people, you felt almost a little lost, like you were out of place.