NARRATOR'S P.O.V
The weather was moderately gratifying the present day. The Sun rays beamed on the earth and the sky was unclouded. The chilly zephyr gusted across the town, relaxing the farmers and the other Labours toiling under the sun. The Alps peaks were crusted with snow, however they were not distinctly detectable as the clouds had already enshrouded the mountain peaks. The tweeting of the birds could be heard all across the town. Besides near the castle. No bird even glides near the castle. Some self proclaimed intellectuals and dialectician imply that the birds could not find the aliment there, hence they distance themselves from the castle. However their was a small group of wise old people inhabiting the town who knew the real reason behind this bizarre behavior of birds. They knew that even the birds have discerned that there is a monster living in the castle.
The castle was a consistent topic of tattle among the town people. The teenagers and young adults even the adults despised to talk about it. They thought of it as nothing but a imbecile fable which was created and publicized by an over paranoid old man. No one knew who was the one who created this tale but whoever it was, they couldn't bother less concerning that. For them it was just a story created for enthraling the visitors. Not many but some sensible and wise people believed that this was not just a trivial story. It was a curse, which was doomed upon this castle and the castle king so that the Mankind could be protected. The people who believed the narrative were mocked around the town. They were turned into a laughing stock for teenagers. The old people knew that the young generation doesn't trust what their forefathers had told them. Even after frequent warning and rebuking from the olders, they still rambled inside the castle. This scared the olders.
Howbeit unknown to all this an 18 year old girl was happily chatting with her newly made twin friends. Today in the forenoon her new pals came to her house. She was happy seeing them. She now know their names, the girl with a birthmark on her right wrist is Syra while the other one is Myra. They both were born to a Hindu Father and a Catholic Mother. But sadly they both are always busy working for late hours so that they can provide the best to their daughters. Though they both were twins but still their was a lot of difference between the two. Like Syra was quite skinny while Myra was slightly more healthy. Myra had chubby cheeks while Syra had comparatively high cheekbones.
"Sharanya I am getting bored. Why don't we just go and take a round of the town. " Myra proposed.
"Okay. " was her reply.
Three of them began to amble around the town. Sharanya was new here so she was intrigued with everything that she came across in the town. The cows grazing in the meadows, the deers sprinting across the grasses was seriously a sight to see. She mentally giggled. She was acquainted to high buildings, big shopping malls but she had never seen a place which was encircled by the forests. Besides this town was sparsely crowded, hence she was really comfy here. She touched the long grasses with her fingers as she kept ambling with her friends. She was so engrossed in admiring the beauty of the town that she clearly didn't realize that she was now just a few metres away from the castle. She came to her senses when her friends halted the walk. She glanced at them puzzled.
"Sharanya see this is the famous castle. " Syra said. These words were ample to scare her. She gazed in front of her to find the huge and spooky castle right in front of her. It seemed way more creepy than it was when she peered it from her granny's house. She gulped. There was a big iron gate which was almost disintegrated but was still in it's place. But it wasn't the gate of the castle, it was just the entry gate through which we actually reach the castle.
"Sharanya what are you thinking c'mon come inside. " Myra said with a grin. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Hadn't her parents told her about the monster residing inside the castle.
"No we can't, my granny says their is a monster living inside the castle. We should not go inside. " she said with fear. The twins rolled their eyes. They were aware that her granny would certainly spook her by narrating that stupid story. No doubt her granny was famed as 'spooky granny ' across the town. But they genuinely wanted their friend to not be freightened, they wanted her to come inside the castle and see that this fable is utterly fallacious. The old people are fooling us, not from now but from generations.
"Oh C'mon sharanya, we have went inside this castle for like 10 times. There is no monster. " Syra explained to her naive friend. But she shook her head. She was an obedient girl, she has always listened to what her granny says. The twins huffed.
"Sharanya please for us. Look if you feel scared inside you can tell us we can come outside with you. " Myra said endeavouring to assure her friend. Sharanya ruminated for a while. Maybe she can just go and take a look inside the castle. Besides her father also supported her the previous day when she asked about exploring the castle.
"OK. " she whispered. The twins clapped happily.
All three girls began to proceed inside. They passed through the iron gate and started walking towards the castle. Myra opened the gate of the castle. The twins went inside, as soon as sharanya step a foot inside the castle the wind gusted violently. She peeked around herself with fear. The twins rushed to her.
"Sharanya don't worry, it's just the wind. Don't get scared. " Myra said trying to cheer up her friend. She smiled.
They started to advance even further inside the castle. She couldn't believe her eyes, the castle was surprisingly so astounding. She gazed around the interior of the castle, her eyes settled on the wrecked window. She pondered as why the windows were broken, she kept on presuming for some time and then she came on to a conjecture that they might have wrecked as a consequence of a tempest. Everything was in its native position, the old fashioned tables and chairs though cracked and stormed by termites yet were still in place. She squinted upwards to see carvings of magnificent blossoms and demilune moon on the ceiling. The pillars of the castle had miniature carvings of some creatures which were foreign to her. She traced her fingers on the pillar and ambled inside the castle. She glanced behind to see an ancient three way staircase. The whole castle was shrouded with grime but still it looked beautiful. She looked up once more to find the oxidised chandeliers primed to plunge anytime were dangling. She glanced at the broken table to find grime shrouded candelabrum whose apex were enveloped with wax were placed. Her eyes abruptly squinted down and she saw that she was standing on a tattered Persian carpet. The carpet's aboriginal hue was not visible as it was wholly enveloped in filth. The walls of the castle were painted black. The flooring of the castle was formed from black marble. She ambled inside the castle to see the filth engulfed drapes hanging on the windows. Her eyes wandered around and they settled on the big wall close to the stairs. She stepped in front of the wall to see the portraits clearly which were proudly hanging on the wall. The portraits were nearly corroded, so she couldn't see clearly who was in the portraits. She kept on gazing at each and every portrait, suddenly her eyes went to the biggest portrait. It was so big that it nearly covered the whole wall. She looked at it closely, this portrait was also inordinately decayed but still she could distinctly see the eyes of the portrait man. The eyes were deep sea green and not to mention they were just so scary. She darted her eyes away from the portrait, she looked at the other wall and found a huge portrait of A Wolf???? And why was this portrait not corroded like the other ones. And why would anyone hang such a big portrait of a wolf in their castle. But the thing which perplexed her the most was that the eyes of the wolf were same as that of the portrait man.
"Sharanya. " she turned around to look at the source of the voice.
"Sharanya Syra needs to pee, I am going with her to the washroom as she has forgotten the way to the washroom. We'll be back, please don't get scared. " Myra said as she ran with Syra to the washroom.
She turned back to look once more at the portraits. But then she saw the stairs and as the curious child she was, she resoluted to go upstairs. She climbed the stairs still gazing around and reached to the upper floor of the castle. She began walking in the corridor gazing around herself with fright. She glanced around the corridor to discover just one chamber. The corridor was really huge and sinisterily hushed. She reached in the midway of the corridor and stood there staring at the doorway of the room. She was really curious to find what was inside the room. She began walking towards the chamber. She gripped the knob of the door in her hands and tried to open the door and after striving for few minutes it opened. She shoved it open but then she immediately coughed. She looked in front to see the entire room engulfed in filth and spider webs. It seemed like no one has opened this room for centuries. She removed the spider webs with her hands to make a route for herself. She advanced inside the room. The room was really huge. She looked around herself to find the room completely vacant. She saw there were no windows in the room. Moreover she was getting nasty vibes in this chamber. Their was a tussle going inside her. Her heart advised her to run away from here while her mind demanded her to stay and explore the castle. Her mind won the battle and hence she decided to stay. She looked in front to see a huge platform situated in the middle of the chamber. She guessed it might be the room of that cruel king. She squinted up at the ceiling to find spooky carvings on it. She found the carvings spooky because the carvings were of certain scary creatures. She pondered as why would someone make such spooky carvings in their bedroom. Not only the bedroom, the entire castle was spooky.
She was in her own world when her feet slipped because of the carpet and she tripped down. She groaned. The specks of dust went into her nose and she sneezed as a consequence of it. She stood up and began dusting off the filth from her clothes, and her face. She looked down to see the carpet but then her eyes landed on a secret door which was previously concealed by the carpet. She bent down to observe it clearly. She traced her fingers on the door. She looked cautiously at the door to find something inscribed on it but she couldn't apprehend as it was in some other lingo. She clenched the door sneck and strived to open it but it was jammed, possibly because it was latched for countless years. She applied all her strength and than at last the door opened. She sighed. She saw that inside the secret door were the stairs, she pondered for a while whether she should descend down or not. She ultimately reached to a decision that she has to see what is lying downstairs. She carefully descended down the stairs. After climbing like 15 stairs she reached to a secret chamber. The room was frightfully uncanny and freakish. The chamber was not gloomy as it was receiving adequately ample sunsbeams from the window that was located in the left corner. She gazed inside the room to find it absolutely vacant besides a huge wall that was constructed deliberately to hide something.
She curiously looked around to find something fascinating. She kept on gazing around when her eyes went to a massive wooden chest that was placed near the wall. She slowly walked towards it and opened the box. A spider fell out of it and she screamed. She saw there was a big chunky tome lying inside the box. She picked up the heavy book and sat on the ground. As soon as she opened the book, the window began to flail, she could hear the sound of vigorous gale. She shrugged thinking it might be because it's a hilly area. She opened the first page of the book and started to read the book. The book had some mystifying phrases which made no sense to her, but she still read it hoping she could get to read a good story at the end. With every word she read the gale would howl even more vigorously. The pages of the book were not made of paper, but some other substance about which she had no knowledge about. She kept on reading the book for like 10 minutes and that's when she realized she was now on the last page. She pouted. She desperately wanted to read a story, she didn't opened this book to read these senseless phrases. But then she thought she should read the last page too, who knows maybe something fascinating pops up. She started reading the last page too, the instant she read the last word of the book the earth started to quake violently. She looked around herself in fright. She stood up and gripped the window pane tightly to prevent herself from falling. She could hear the sound of thunderbolt. She looked outside the window to see the sky had turned black. She couldn't understand what is happening as few minutes prior the sky was unclouded then how suddenly the sky has turned black. Thunder and lightning were freighting her even more. She thought it would stop but it wouldn't, she saw the wall was now slowly beginning to demolish.
"Oh God. " she whispered. She hurriedly ran up the stairs and closed the secret door. She then dashed outside that big room and reached to the corridor.
"Sharanya hurry up. Looks like it's an earthquake. " Myra yelled. She ran down the stairs. Her friends were ahead of her and hence they ran outside before her. But just when she was about to step outside, the door was forcefully slammed on her face. She could hear her twin friends yelling her name from the other side. She was desperately striving to open the door but it wouldn't open. And on top of that she could feel someone approaching her. Like someone doesn't want her to leave this castle. She snubbed her thoughts and resumed to open the door and fortunately after some efforts it opened. She ran out of the door and hugged her friends tightly.
She was about to walk outside the iron gate when a thunderous growl erupted from the castle. She turned back to look at the castle in sheer terror.
"Sharanya don't get scared. It must be a wolf there are plenty of them here. " Syra told her. She nodded. When she resumed to walk, again someone growled. The growls were so loud that it was shaking her to the core. She resoluted to ignore the incessant growls that were coming from the castle and ran to her home with her pals. But still she couldn't really explain the change in the weather. Few minutes before the sky was unclouded and now suddenly it had began to downpour. Strange.
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"I told you clearly not to go inside the castle didn't I. " her granny scolded her. She controlled her tears. Her granny had never scolded her than why today. Perhaps because she didn't understand her granny knew the reality that the castle is dangerous.
"Mom please. Sharanya you go upstairs. " her dad said. She nodded.
"Mom please you don't have to scold her. " he said.
"You don't understand my son. You see this heavy rain and thunder. This is a warning. Something bad is going to happen. " Mrs Jaiswal said in fright. Her mother had always told her that the day the Dark King will be curse free, the sky and earth will give us the warning. This was the warning.
She knew he was awake. Someone has broke his curse. Someone has set the beast free. And now there lives are in danger.
Because the Dark King was now free.