Cursed Castle 1

"Kpruuuh...!"

Heavy lightnings and thunderstorms could be heard in the middle of the night as a car pulled over by a forest entrance. It was raining heavily as Michelle stepped out of the car with a lantern in her left hand. She would have used her water resistant phone as a torchlight but it would attract wild creatures since the forest was not ordinary and so was the lantern.

Making her way into the forest, she tried her best to minimize the sound of her walking steps since there were grasses here and there as she weaves her way through the woods.

The black cloak she was putting on, blended with the darkness of the night as she walked deeper and deeper into the woods.

She walked for about forty minutes before sighting a castle that stood in the middle of the forest. It was Harlem, the cursed ancient castle in Dark North clan. It had two statues of beasts in front of it. They were Cyclops and Cerberus, they were on the left and right hand side respectively.

Michelle walked towards the castle with steady steps. Getting to the castle she glanced at the two statues which were filled with cobwebs and birds dumps before opening the gate and stepping inside the garden.

Unbeknownst to her, the eyes of both statues moved...

At the same time, Michelle walked through the garden. The trees and flowers of the garden were all dried and no single leaf could be seen on them. She walked for a few minutes before getting to the door of the castle itself. She pushed the huge door open and entered the building.

She nearly cursed removing the cobwebs that plastered on her face immediately she stepped into the place.

The castle was built and owed by Selene, a powerful witch born with a dark magic. She had built this castle thousands of years ago with black magic and equipped it with numerous mystical but dark objects. Both people from afar and near used to seek her presence from time to time. But later on, her practice of black magic caused many atrocities that made wars break out multiple of times in the supernatural world. It was after the last war that no one ever heard of her till today.

What happened to her?.... No one knew..

Michelle looked around the house but what greeted her was what she least expected.

The house was contrast to the house she and Helena saw years ago when they came for an elixir to perform black magic and save her brother.

The castle looked unkempt with an unwanted grasses everywhere inside it.

Some of the flowers had overgrown and some had dried as no one was taking care of them. The leaves of the dried flowers could be seen scattered everywhere. Some of the windows of the castle were broken and filled with an unwanted grasses.

She looked at the walkway but everywhere was so dark and she could not see clearly. She would have lit the place with her ability but the castle was cursed and she wouldn't want to attract the forest beasts by lighting the castle.

She walked farther through the walkway but all of a sudden, she paused when she felt there was a movement ahead of her and she lifted the lantern so she could see a bit more clearly.

She saw something that looked like a shadow of someone on the wall as if the person was running. Before she could take a step, it disappeared.

"Who's there..?!" Michelle's voice echoed in the castle as she quickened her steps towards the direction the shadow took. She nearly paused when she saw the shadow again but subconsciously, she kept following the direction of the shadow till it led her to a corner of the castle.

Michelle took slow strides as she looked around the place. She could see some strange symbols and words brocaded on the walls that she had never seen in her entire life. She was still staring from one symbol to another when her step dipped. She nearly fell but was lucky enough to rest her body on the wall in a swift motion. She brought her lantern down and looked closely. She found it was a step and tried to see the end of it but she couldn't.

However....

Michelle curiously walked through the steps and it led her down to a wooden door. She looked around but the door was the only thing there as it was the last stop. She walked to the door and tried to open it but to her astonishment she didn't see the door knob.

Strange...

The only thing she saw on the door were words carved with a language unfamiliar to her. She tried to read them but she couldn't. She tried over and over again but she couldn't get anything.

Heaving a frustration sigh, Michelle wanted to give up but at the last minute she persisted.

She took her face closer to the door where the words were. She wanted to lift the lantern a little upper but unfortunately the lantern slipped from her hand and crashed with the floor and the light went off instantly.

"Arrgghhh.."

Michelle groaned frustratedly. She immediately regretted leaving her phone in the car and couldn't help giving up.

She stretched her hands, she couldn't see anything as the place was pitch black. Her hands touched the wall and slowly she turned and began walking back through the step with the help of the wall. But all of a sudden...

She abruptly halted her steps as she felt she saw something move just in front of her. She waited a little before moving again and immediately her eyes widened like saucers as she felt it again.

With her heart in her stomach, she looked closer and it was a shadow...

"Wait..." She thought inwardly.

Still staring intently at the shadow, she removed one of her hands that was on the wall and the shadow did the same. With her body movements, she realized it was her shadow and immediately her brows furrowed in confusion.

There was no light but how come.... she thought looking around, only for her eyes to widen immediately it landed on the door.

The door was still locked but the craved writing was glowing in an immense green light...!

Strange...!

But what was more strange to Michelle was that the words she couldn't read just few minutes ago, were now familiar to her.

She slowly moved back to the door and place her hand on the glowing word on the door.

"Etus meteh riguete moh hum dest Lumos..."

It meant... "There will always be darkness before light..."

Immediately she muttered those words, cracky sounds could be heard as the doorknob suddenly pushed itself out from the wooden door. Lights from no where lit the candles that were filled with cobwebs placed side by side from the door to the walls of the steps.

She slowly placed her right palm on the doorknob and it cracked open instantly.

But however...

Michelle frowned immediately the door opened revealing what was behind the door.

Behind the door was just a wall with a small sculpted part of it that look a granitic drawer and a strange looking palm sized button beside it.

With anxiety she placed her right hand on the button and dipped it inside.

Instantaneously, the castle shook vigorously causing Michelle to stagger from the impact. She had to grab the wooden door tightly so as not to fall.

At that same moment, the granitic drawer cracked itself open, emitting a glowing blue light inside it.

Michelle had to blink multiple times to adjust her eyes to the light and find out what was behind the glowing blue light.

Adjusting to the light, Michelle's eyes widened and she gasped in awe immediately her eyes landed on what was inside the drawer....!

And it was none other than Grimoire...!

*******

Grimoire is the almighty mystical book used for performing all magic both good and bad. It has glowing blue crystals both in front and at the back of it.

Everyone in the supernatural world knows that it has been in existence for centuries but no one had seen it. It was created by Bridget, the first witch ever and handed it from generation to generation till it got to Selene's mother, Hera. But immediately Selene came of age, no one heard of it again.