Slipping into a deep sleep , Katalina started dreaming about her mystery man.... But this time she found herself standing in a mountainous area abounding with small colorful stones. The temperature was very warm and the sky was partially cloudy.
She stood there on the mountain fortress waiting, waiting. She wasnt sure what she was waiting for, but she knew she had to be there. It was like it was meant to be.
Her hair stood on end, a shiver raced down her spine and a lump came to her thoart. It was him.....
He waved for her to follow him and he leads her to a tall dark cave in a eerie boulder field marks the entrance to this dungeon.
Beyond the dark cave lies a scanty, filthy room. It's covered in remains, moss and cobwebs.
Her torch allows her to see broken mining equipment battered and ravished by time itself.
Further ahead are three paths, she takes the left. It's twisted trail leads passed broken and pillaged tombs and soon she entered a weary area. There's a seemingly endless hole in the center.
Around it are what seems like runess, what happened to this place?
She cautiously proceed onward, deeper into the dungeons secrets. She passed countless passages, some are dead ends, other's lead to who knows where, or what.
She eventually makes it to what is likely the final room. An immense granite door blocks her path. Countless runes are all over it, somehow untouched by time and the elements.
She stepped closer to inspect it and.......wait.... she hears a loud bang in the distance from which she came.
Jolting upright in her bed, she shook her head trying to make sense out of what her dream all meant..... And what was behind that door?
None of it made any sense to her.
Still in a daze, Katalina crawled out of bed and headed to the kitchen to make herself a very strong coffee.
Just as she finished making herself a coffee, she was greeted by the great big hound.
"Come join me out on the patio and we'll watch the sun come up together. How's that sound boy?" she said as she opened the door to step out onto the front patio, with the hound quickly following behind her. Arf, arft Maximous barked. " Shhhhh boy, you'll wake everyone up."
Taking a seat, Maximous curled up at the bottom of her feet as Katalina sat back and watched the sun slowly raised to mark the start of a new day.
The whole landscape was bathed in the warm glow of the rising sun and she just sat there merrily enjoying the company of her faithful companion.
"Beautiful isn't it? " her bother said coming up behind her.
" Gosh Kova, you frightened the crap out of me. How long have you been standing there?" she asked almost jumping ten foot in the air.
" Long enough to see you were in deep thought. I can see good old faithful Maximous must have decided you needed some company..... which I find odd, considering Charlie isn't out here too. He must still be curled up on father's bed. Rattle his food bowl and that crazy cat will come running , or should I say stumbling out here in no-time," Kova
Shifting things around in her wardrobe, Katalina came across a gray and gold meium-length dress with a pair of lacey denim shorts and a matching pair of light gray boots to go with it.
Satasifed with the choice she made, Katalina quickly got dressed and soon beelined it into town.
"Hey stranger, long time no see. If your looking for Dayana, she's over at the candy store with her brother Torin," both Romilly and Zerenity called out.
Thanking them both, she made her way over to the candy store.
"Good morning Dayana. Hello Torin, I see you've been to the Candy store," Katalina smiled at the young boy.
"Yes Miss Katalina, I got some pocket money for doing my chores and Dayana told me she would take me to Kimmie s to buy some candy. Would you like some?" Torin asks as he holds the bag out and offers Katalina some.
"Your such a cutie. Some day your going to be a real heartbreaker around the girls," Katalina chides.
"Girls...... yuk! I'm going to be a craftsmen, live alone.... just me and my dog. Girls are hard work and they cry too much!" Torin claims as he screwed up his little face.
"There you have it - the words of a six year old," Dayana laughed.
Taking a wonder over to the duck pond so Torin could fed the ducks, both Dayana and Katalina had a bit of a chat.
The pond was bathed in a golden hue by the gentle sunlight and the water was as clear as crystal. There were people all around the pond feeding the ducks.
Dayana asked if Katalina if she had anymore unusual dreams.
"Funny you should ask... but yes actually I did last night. I was standing on a mountain with small colorful stones, it was cloudy and cold. But there he stood - my mystery man egging me on to follow him. Like in some kind of trance, I found myself following him through a tall dark cave which lead to a dungeon with endless pathways. I continued to follow him down the path, until suddenly I'm standing in front of a huge wooden door that is blocking the pathway. I hear a loud bang behind me and suddenly I find myself back home in the comfort of my own bed," Katalina answered.
"Wow that's interesting. What do you suppose it all means?" Dayana inquires.
"Wish I knew," Katalina said.
"Maybe there's a strong possibility that you could be connected to this mysterious man ," Dayana told ber.
In deep thought Katalina sat thinking about what Dayana had said. None of it made any sense and she wondered if it was possible. ..
Could she somehow be connected to this mysterious man.
As she happened to look up, she spotted him - her mystery man standing on the opposite side of the duck pond.
Dayana looked at her puzzling and asked if she were okay. Katalina nodded her head and told her she thought she had seen something, but it must have only been her imagination.
As the day progressed, they spoke a little longer before parting ways.
Back at home, Katalina poured herself a nice cold refreshing drink, grabbed a book and retreated outside to read.
Maximous made himself comfortable at the bottom of her feet.
A few hours had pasted when she decided to close the book and head inside for a quick shower before dinner.
It was a beautiful night. The sky was full of stars, but no moon.
Katalina had decided to turn in early for the night.
Slipping into a deep sleep, she found herself suddenly standing at the edge of a turquoise -blue stream wound it's merry way through the forest. Babbling and burbling, it sprung over limestone rocks in it's way. Pebbles whisked about in the under wash like pieces of glitter. Streams are the liquid soul of the forest, and this one was glowing. Chords of soft light speared down above, bathing it's surface in gold. It was a glinting with little sparkles, like a thousand diamonds blessed with an inner fire. A galaxy of dragonflies fizzed through the beams of light, wings a - glitter in the sun. The hedgerows were pregnant with berries.
Cold and wet, tired and exhausted she made her way along the path through the forest, until she came upon a castle.
Six narrow square towers reach twice the height of the next tallest building in this elegant castle and are connected by huge thick walls made of silver stone.
Stylish windows are scattered here and there across the walls in a seemingly rando pattern, along with huge crenelations for arches and artillery.
Avaste gate with colossal wooden doors, a regular bridge and strong defences protects those in need of and in this rough mountain pass, but it's not the only way in, but it'll be your best shot if you wish to conquer this castle.
In the corner of her eye, Katalina spotted her mystery man making a dash towards the castle.
Following close behind him, she entered the castle to find herself standing in a well lite ballroom.
She took a quick glance around the room, but the mystery man was no- where to be seen.
Venturing further on through the corridor of the castle, Katalina heard a loud clanging noise.
Following the sound, it lead her to the Alchemy room.
As she stepped into the room, she felt a cold chill up her spine.... she wasn't alone.
"Run Katalina, RUN!" she heard.
Hightailing out of the room, she ran through the corridor and out of the castle.
She had no idea what she was running from and she didn't wish to know, she just legged it and never looked back.
She felt something tugging on her dress.
Bolting upright in her bed, Katalina let out one hell of a scream.
Kova came running to see what all the promotion was about..... But when he saw the pale look on his sister's face, he went to comfort her and reassured her it was nothing but a bad dream.
"A bad dream, but why did it feel so real and what on earth was chasing me," she thought as she laid back down, closed her eyes and drifted back to sleep.
In the morning the sun seemed to be basking in it's own rays. It havered over the horizon and bright fuschia and apricot collided with the deep blue sky.
Crawling out of bed, Katalina went had a shower and quickly got changed into a simple suit, a pair of short- laced up boots with heels in white, red, dark purple and silver. She tied her back in a french twist, applied a touch of lip gloss, then moseyed on down town to catch up with Dayana.
She spotted Dayana sitting under the Maple tree, deep in thought. As Katalina approached her, she called out to her that she could hear the cods turning.
Dayana just laughed and told her she was thinking about the old house up on Shadebell street.
"According to Romilly and Zerenity, mysterious things have been happening up there... like lights turning on when no-one lives there.
So my question is - Are you up for an adventure. "
Katalina stared at her, gave it a thought and said," That is a terrible, horrible, incredibly foolish idea. Let's do it and see what happens. "
Off they totttered to check the old house out.
The house must have been little more than glorified shed even in it's hey day. But now it looked for all the world like a giant has sat on the roof, for it sagged terribly. The window's were gaping holes for the wind to rush in and out through and the door hung on it's hinges at a jaunty angle, although now it was really just a frame. It was a rotting heap, bowing down, subservient to the elephants.
Both Katalina and Dayana shuffled into the room.
The room was damp,cold and wet. The soft patter of water on metal increased. Almost like the sound of bullet rain. They started at the ceiling, they could hear it moaning under the weight of the rain. Small droplets begin to slide through the metal sheets...leaking.
As they wondered further through the house, they came to a room at the very back of the house. Dayana tried to peek through the window, but the rotting boards blocked her view. She pushed open the door and it swung open with the loud creak of rusty hinges. As she stepped into the room, she ran her fingers over wallpaper peeling away from the drywall.
But what really caught herveye, was what appeared to be some sort of set up for someone to camp out.
In the corner of the room stood a lantern, something that resumble a pillow, a blanket and a dagger.
Handing it over to Katalina, she examined it closely and was gobsmacked by her discovery.
"You won't believe this, but I've actually seen this dagger before in the dream i had last night. But how's that even possible and how the bloody hell did it end up here in this old house?"
Dayana stopped dead in her tracks, spun to face Katalina and gave her that look as if to say," Why didn't you mention anything before about it."
Katalina looked at her, shrugged her shoulders and said there wasn't much to tell, accept for the mystery man calling out her name and the dagger which she still held in her hand.
"Wait up... he knew your name! Hows that even possible when you've never ever met?" Dayana asked.
Katalina gave ber that look as if to say Dunno.
She was just as shocked as Dayana.
No matter how many times she'd tried peicing things together, she always came up empty handed.
Nothing made any sense... her dream, the mystery man, the castle and the bloody dagger; which she still held in her hand.
The sound of a creaking floor board made Dayana jump. "Did you hear that?"
Taking no chances, Katalina dropped the dagger she was holding and bolted out of that big old house, with Dayana hightailing it right behind her.
Once they were far enough away from the house, they bothvtook a minute to catch there breath.
Dayana looked at her friend and asked , "Where's your shoe?"
" The GIANT MUD puddle down the road demanded a sacrifice," she answered.
Dayana looked at her puzzling, than all of a sudden she bursted out laughing.
"I guess that kinda explains everything Romilly and Zerenity told me about this big old house," Dayana told her.