A Journey Within the Realm

“You know, Randy,” Rin began, “Telling that shadow commander to relay that threat message to Kei might have not been such a good idea.”

“How come?” I asked.

“It was just asking for trouble from Kei,” Rin answered, “If you ask me, you just signed your own death warrant.”

“It may be a death warrant, but it’s not mine, it’s hers,” I corrected, laughing.

We were almost at the top of the mountain. We had been climbing for about two days straight and our arms and legs were about to give in. Only Rin tried her upgraded stamina potion, only to have it backfire on her, making her sleep like the dead for 24 hours. For the first time, Nori had to possess Rin’s body and climb the mountain until Rin woke up. It was kind of funny when Rin woke up and started wondering why her arms and legs felt like wet noodles.

“How much more climbing until we reach the top?” Rin asked.

“Not much longer,” Miki answered, “If you are tired, you could have another one of your stamina potions.”

“No! No more of that darn potion,” Nori exclaimed.

I laughed. We climbed for three more hours before we reached the town of Transbola. After stretching our limbs, we started to head towards the local inn. When we found one, we saw a woman nailing a sign on the wall. The sign read ‘Closed Until Futher Notice.’ We walked over to see what was going on.

“Excuse me, Ma’am,” I said, “What’s with the closed sign?”

“Everyone received a note on our doors,” the woman answered, “It was a warning to us to leave town so we don’t get hurt or even killed.”

“Do you have the note with you?” I asked.

“Yeh,” the woman replied, pulling out a red piece of paper, “Here. Read for yourself.”

The woman handed me the note. I quickly read it before telling my team.

“It’s from Kei,” I began, “It reads, ‘Dear Villagers of Transbola, If you want to stay alive and not get in the midst of the crossfires, then leave your town for about a week starting this Monday. A group of strangers will arrive in your lovely town very shortly. Whatever you do, do not join them. If you do, you will most likely die a most hideious death. We only want to kill them, not any of you. When you return in a week, your town will be the same as you left it. If you followed my warning and left, I humbling thank you. Your Ruler, Kei.’”

“At least it’s a nice letter,” Nori said.

“No doubt Kei is trying to make it sound like we are the bad guys,” Miki said, “And I bet that warning is a fraud. A coverup. No way does Kei care about these villagers or their town. The only thing that is true on that note is the fact that Kei wants us dead.”

“Wait a minute… you are the strangers mentioned in that note?” asked the woman.

“Yes,” I answered.

“Then, get away from me,” the woman exclaimed, “I don’t want any trouble with Kei!”

“Can you at least tell us where we could spend the night?” I asked.

“No way,” the woman yelled.

“What if we pay you?” Miki asked.

“Well… only if the price is right,” the woman replied.

“How about ten pieces of gold?” I asked.

“Make it 12 and you have yourself a deal,” the woman answered.

“Pay her, Miki,” I said.

Miki took out 12 gold coins and handed it to the woman. I waited for the woman to finish counting before asking her again.

“A place to stay for the night, eh?” the woman asked, “Sure! There’s one place still open. Over there, at the castle on the top of the hill. It’s always open.”

“How come?” Rin asked.

“It’s said that the castle is haunted,” the woman replied, “Well… I told you what you wanted to know. I must be off now. Bye, now.”

She laughed an eerie laugh as she transformed into a bat and flew off.

“What an eccentric performance,” I said, “Well, at least we now know we came to the right place. That, right there, was a vampire.”

“Hmmm… quite,” Miki replied.

“Anyways, we need to head for the highest castle in the town,” I said, “Let’s go.”

“Are we really going to a haunted castle?” Rin whined.

“Yes,” I answered, “Why are you afraid? Haunted places can’t be all that scary. Besides, the people who usually do the haunting are ghosts and we have one right here.”

Rin looked at Nori for a second.

“I know,” Rin replied, “To tell you the truth, Nori freaks me out.”

“Hey,” Nori exclaimed, “I may be a ghost, but I helped your sorry little butt up that mountain when you drank that dumb stamina potion you keep making!”

“What!?! How!?!” Rin yelled.

“I possessed your body and climbed up the mountain myself until you woke up,” Nori exclaimed.

“Is this true, Randy!?!” Rin yelled.

“We had to do it, Rin. You were sleeping like the dead and no one could carry you up,” I explained.

“Excuse me for a moment,” Rin said very calmly.

I watched as Rin walked into an alleyway. Shortly after she went in, we heard a scream loud enough to be heard anywhere on this mountain. It lasted for five minutes straight. After it faded, Rin came out of the alleyway and walked back to us.

“Feeling better?” I asked.

“Much,” Rin answered.

“That’s some lungs you got there,” Miki said.

“Let’s just go,” Rin said.

I chuckled a little as we headed towards the highest castle. The sun was setting when we arrived at the entrance of the castle. I was about to knock on the door, when the door opened by itself. I looked at my group and shrugged. As I entered the castle, I saw that the place was neat and clean. Their were lights lit everywhere. After everyone entered the castle, the door slammed shut. Rin tried to open the door, but it wouldn’t budge.

“We’re trapped,” Rin exclaimed, nervous.

“Calm down, Rin,” I said, “At least it’s a nice place. Let’s find our beds for the night.”

“Agreed,” everyone, except Rin, replied.

“Well, if something happens to you guys in the middle of the night, don’t blame me,” Rin said, following us upstairs.

We walked around the upstairs hallways, opening each and every door that was unlocked. We were lucky enough to find four bedrooms; one for me, one with two beds for Miki and Kuri, and two rooms with a single bed in each for Nori and Rin. We decided that we would skip dinner because everyone was too tired. We said our good-nights to each other and went into our rooms. I walked over to the bed, fluffed the pillows, slipped underneath the covers, turned off the lights, and drifted into sleep.