Young Writers Society

Kellach:

Clearly, it had been a little too much to hope that the elaborate corridors and systems of rooms of this castle would be entirely empty. Still, this man didn't seem familiar in the slightest, or look much like anything he'd seen before. He had a red and black outfit, messy shoulder-length hair, brown shoes, fingerless black gloves, and a pair of cat ears sticking out from what the sailor guessed was some kind of cloak. That last bit was particularly strange, and Kellach wasn't quite sure if they were real or not. In the weird world he lived in, a lot was possible. On the other hand, he wasn't exactly eager in asking.

Kellach grabbed the newcomer by the shoulders and said, "A portal? I came through one myself, just a short time ago. A flash of light, and bam - a forest! You may want to come back the way you came from to see if yours is still there. Also, I'd say you're best off avoiding anyone else, because this is apparently the Castle of Blood, and the king isn't bound to be too friendly. Now, if you'll excuse me, I remembered that I forgot something in the other room, and I need to get it."

Before the other man had any chance to argue or volunteer for help, the sailor let go, turned a corner, and began sprinting down hallways and entrances. That had been an incredibly lame set of excuses, but they at least distracted the strange individual long enough for Kellach to escape. All he needed to do was to keep it that way, so he kept on running and gaining as much distance as possible, while ignoring the increasing layers of eerie silence that began to consume his surroundings. Kellach could only heart his heart beating fervently and his fast breathing as he opened a door and saw a staircase, spiraling upwards through the ceiling towards one of the castle's higher floors.

It was a straight-shot to that said staircase, and so he barreled towards it. And then, without warning, he found himself staring at the ceiling, with a foot planted on his chest and a sword inches from his forehead. He wheezed, all the air knocked out of him, as he saw a grim face leering down at him.

"The fact that you should be everywhere I go is incredibly annoying," the man with the sword said. "And the one I was looking for remains nowhere to be found. Maybe you could tell me?"

"Yes, it's nice to meet you too," replied Kellach, coughing as the man moved his foot away from the sailor's chest and pulled the man up forcefully, still holding the sword close to the sailor.

"Castle of Blood?!"

His question was met with silence; the man had already gone rushing down one of the nearby hallways. Briar felt more confused than he had before the conversation, and with the man long gone, there was no one to answer the questions appearing one after the other.

It seemed like his only option was to follow the man.

Keeping his hood pulled down as far as physically possible without hindering his line of sight, he rushed down the same hallway the unnamed man had. He raced down around hallway after hallway in pursuit. After several minutes of doing so, he was forced to admit that he was hopelessly lost and had no way to find the man.

The sound of someone crying and, oddly enough, metal clanging together reached his ears. Though he didn't know who was making the noise, he realized they were currently the only chance he had to figure things out. He followed the sounds to their source and cautiously peered down the hallway.

There was a knight on the ground, knees pulled tight to their chest as their body shook with loud sobs and head staring down at the ground. If the man was right in his assumption about the king being far from good because of the name of the castle, it made sense that his knights would be the same.

Still, the knight was crying. Briar was never one to let someone stay upset. He thought of various ways he could approach the knight without possibly putting himself in harm's way – he still needed to find Nat and make sure she was alright – and finally settled on one.

He let the magic surge through him. It was a tingling, warm feeling that spread from his feet to the top of his head as his body changed. Starting with his shoes, his clothes became more old-fashioned. For a brief second, it appeared that he had been completely submerged in various shades of gray paint. But then his skin became almost eerily transparent, and his now gray eyes looked as though they had lacked emotion for a long time.

He walked out into the hallway. Manipulating his appearance was difficult enough; it was even harder making his footsteps echo louder than they should have.

The knight looked up at him and promptly screamed.

“It's alright,” Briar reassured him with a warm smile. But then a chill raced down his ghostly spine as the knight stared at him. His eyes – Briar knew he was male from his scream – looked more like two unnatural pinpricks of golden light than actual eyes, and Briar had strangest feeling that he wasn't human.

“How did you die?” the knight whispered. His armor shook as he watched him. He was shocked to realize how young the voice was, only a couple years older than his current appearance.

He glanced down. He hadn't thought that through, and realized his appearance lacked visible injuries. “Uh, I...um...drowned. In a river. During the spring flood. Then I traveled a little bit and ended up here about a century ago!”

That should be good. He shouldn't suspect anything-

“...You aren't wet.” The knight sounded very confused by the realization.

He rushed to come up with a suitable explanation. “They brought my body out of the water and then I dried off before dying because no one tried getting the water out of my lungs – I wasn't liked that much.”

The knight's voice was hesitant. “Are you going to possess me?”

Briar shook his head. He had to keep his distance. If the knight happened to brush up against him, his concentration would be broken and the knight would realize he wasn't actually a ghost. “I just saw you were upset and wanted to talk to you. What's wrong?”

The knight's shoulder relaxed. “I w-was bringing someone to N-the king...But then I turned around and suddenly saw he wasn't there...” He buried his head in his arms. “I don't want the king to be disappointed in me.”

Is he talking about the man I ran into earlier?

Before he could think anymore on the topic, he came to the horrifying realization that his hand was starting to return to normal. He concentrated on it, but it stubbornly looked very alive. He hid it behind his back and continued to look at the knight. If he didn't leave soon, his entire appearance would return to how it looked prior to when he cast the illusion.

“It'll be alright,” Briar soothingly said. He put his other hand behind his back as it once again looked solid. “Will he harm you or punish you?”

The knight shook his head. “No...I-I just don't like disappointing anyone.”

Briar shoved his right arm behind his back and blocked his left foot from the knight's line of sight. “Then I'm sure everything will be okay.” He glanced down and saw that the tips of his hair were regaining their normal color. “I have to go now! I'm sure that you'll find that man, and if I find him first, I'll definitely bring him to your or the king!”

He frantically raced towards the hallway he had come from.

And proceeded to trip over his own two feet.

His concentration was immediately broken, and the illusion quickly disappeared. He heard the knight get to his feet and slowly walk over to him.

“Y-You're not a ghost?”

Micha Nowak POV
featuring Tom Sutcliffe

Micha woke up with a yawn and a stretch, like he had done every other day. Today, however, his bed was cold and hard, apart from a soft patch of warmth by his back. The darkness cleared, and he could finally see the scene for what it was.

He was lying in a dark medieval corridor in what was probably a castle. A big, oak door was firmly shut a few meters down the corridor. Suits of armor and portraits hung on the walls.

Next to him lay none other than the charming, arrogant Tom Sutcliffe. He lay there, sprawled out with his messy red hair and designer hoodie and jeans.

"Hey, Tommy," Micha whispered, shaking Tom's shoulders to try to wake him up. Foggy confusion clouded his mind - perhaps Tom's private-schooled brain would be able to do better.

Tom groaned. "The hell, Micha? No, no. Get out before father finds you, please -"

Micha sighed. Without a cup of coffee, Tom was likely to be this grouchy for a while. What fun.

"Chill, Tommy. We're in a castle." Your father can't hurt you now.

"What? How? Were we kidnapped?" Tom rolled over and sat up beside Micha, staring down the corridor. While they were both silent, their better-than-human ears picked up faint speaking.

Micha cocked his head to the side like a puppy. "You hear that, don't you?"

"I hear it, all right," Tom said grimly, "and you know what that means?"

"I do," Micha grimaced. He stood up, waiting for Tom to shakily find his feet. They started to creep toward the door, where the voices were coming from. Micha reached out for Tom's hand, fighting the urge to drag Tom away from the danger. His wolf's protectiveness was rearing its big, canine head, howling to be heard and heeded. Instead, Micha gripped Tom's hand a little to hard.

"Curiosity is about to kill the cat."

And the wolf, for that matter.

They pushed the door open.

Terasu:

After a minute of knocking against the imposing front entrance of this castle in the middle of nowhere, Terasu guessed that it wasn't likely they were going to let her in. Perhaps the person/whatever it was that had been playing the music, and had fled when she'd come after him, torch in hand to dispel some of the darkness, had forced the doors closed. Maybe they asked whoever did own or live in this castle to do so. Regardless, pushing the door had absolutely no effect, and there wasn't a response to be heard of. How rude.

Therefore, since she couldn't enter the castle by force, and she was eager enough to escape the strange forest and its quietness, Terasu resolved to climb her way up to a small window a floor or two above her. She surmised that this castle held everyone who could help her, and all the information she needed. As such, the girl looked for a crack in the imposing stone face of the castle by which she could grab onto. Within a short amount of time, a path of such cracks, crevices, and holes had opened itself before her, and she began to make her ascent.

She wasn't an expert rock-climber, and having a relatively lightweight metal suit of armor that covered everything but her head wasn't helpful. Terasu had to toss her helmet through the window before pulling herself slowly up, slipping on cracks and struggling for balance. Fortunately for her, she was determined and energetic enough to succeed, and squeezed her way through the small window and onto the second floor. While she normally despised her small and frail appearance, which led many an innocent observer to think of her as a child, she had to admit it proved helpful for once.

The room was quiet and dim, lit by a few torches. It seemed eerie, though now the girl had fewer regrets about throwing away her own torch a short time ago. There wasn't a sound to be heard in any of the surrounding rooms, nor at all. The girl stood up and looked about. Seeing no other option, she picked a room at random and decided that she may as well explore, and see what she could find, if anything.

The king - or not king, Ryan supposed - was actually a human? When Adrian had told Chessy and him that he was genetically a human, it hadn't been hard to understand. He looked, despite the wings, human. Nendros, on the other hand, only shared several characteristics of a human. It was as if someone had taken a basic drawing template for a human man and added so many terrifying dragon parts to him that it was impossible to see the original template underneath, and Ryan could only identify him as the monster he now appeared to be.

Still, Ryan wasn't one to be talking. He had the sneaking suspicion that he was never quite human - he instinctively raised his hand to touch the choker around his neck - though, unlike Nendros, he completely looked the part. His eyes were possibly the only thing that betrayed him on the outside, being an almost unnatural shade of black. His now golden blood also was a major sign that he was far from normal, but he hoped that the people he had found himself among wouldn't learn its color anytime soon.

Suddenly, a door burst open on the other side of the throne room. Two teenagers, both roughly his age, entered. Ryan glanced over his shoulder at Nendros; from the look on his face, he had never seen either of them before and was incredibly shocked.

He remained unmoving on the floor, staring down at the stone bricks underneath him as he felt the piercing gaze of the knight on his back. He was trying his hardest not to cry and prevent his fear from showing (the latter of which being the easier to achieve with his face pressing against the floor). He was worried about what the knight would do to him, and was horrified at the prospect of meeting the king of the castle.

"Why d-did you look like a ghost?"

There was a crack in one of the stone bricks. "I used an illusion."

"Wh-Why would you do that?"

He didn't supply a response.

"What are you?"

He bit his lips to stop himself from replying, a small droplet of blood falling onto the ground.

The knight finally walked around to the front of him; Briar heard his armor clang together as he crouched down next to his head. There was the sound of movement once again, and he found himself staring an armored hand. "I-I'm Aska," the knight quietly said. There was something so genuine and kind about the knight's tone that Briar found himself taking his hand. He used his free one to pull his hood down as they got to their feet.

"My name is Briar."

Without warning, Aska tensed up. "There's more of them," he eerily whispered. "One entered through the front door, and there's two in the throne room." Briar took a nervous step back and bumped into the wall; Aska's gaze focused on him. "Th-there's a lot of people who aren't supposed to be here that are. Why are you?"

He was hit by the sudden understanding that he was talking to someone who served under the king and protected the castle, and he was horrified to realize that he was the enemy because he had accidentally trespassed. "I, uh, came through a portal. By accident. I ended up in the, um, dungeon." He didn't bring up Nat. He was worried what would happen to her if she was discovered - in fact, he was worried about what was going to happen to him.

Aska grabbed his wrist. "You should meet Ne-the king."

Briar gulped. "I should?"

"Yeah!" Aska started bringing him down the hallways. "I'm sure he could help you figure things out."

"He could?"

The young knight nodded. "He'll help you out."

Micha Nowak POV
featuring Tom Sutcliffe

A human, a cat-girl, an angel, and a monster were all staring at them as they burst in. Micha jumped and resisted the urge to shapeshift. Tom pulled his hand away and distanced himself by a few steps, something Micha had learnt not to be hurt by over the years.

There was an awkward period of silence-and-staring at Micha followed Tom across the throneroom toward the creatures on the other side.

"Where are we?" Tom asked, once they'd gotten close enough to hear each other. "We just woke up here. Why?"

Micha sighed. Tom's attitude had gotten them into trouble before.

"I'm Micha. This is Tom. We're a little lost..." Micha's voice was quiet and he still hadn't mastered the English accent yet, but it was a better hope than Tom's loud, arrogant drawl.

"I don't know," he honestly replied. He didn't know why any of them were there; he only knew why he and Aska were in the castle. Technically, not a single person in the room should have been able to breach the perimeter of the forest, much less be in the actual castle!

He offered them a smile, but, from the way they shuddered when he did so, it had the opposite effect than was intended. The smile quickly faded. He had forgotten that even his teeth had changed. He hadn't forgotten being feared - Aska had been terrified of him when they first met, but that hadn't been because of his appearance. It had been because of who he was. He was the Dragon-Human Ambassador, and all of the previous ones had hurt Aska.

He, naturally, had been terrified. It wasn't right, and how in the world was he supposed to return to Laetae when he knew they would have shot him on sight? He looked like a monster. It wasn't him giving the boys a warm, welcoming smile. In their eyes, it was a monster about to attack them.

Suddenly, someone spoke.

"It's alright." Ryan gave the boys a warm smile as he took a step towards them. Nendros noted that he made sure to keep his actions as far from threatening as possible. "None of us are going to hurt you. I'm Ryan Evans." He proceeded to point to everyone else in the room. "Her name is Chessy. His name is Adrian Chapradeur. And his name is Nendros Exel Xenon. Both Adrian and Nendros are actually humans; neither of them wanted to become what they look like now."

The look Nendros gave Ryan was a grateful one. For some reason, Ryan's hand raised and adjusted the choker around his neck, which Nendros found to be an odd action, considering that it had barely moved. ...Is he trying to hide something?

He repeatedly tried to break free of Aska's tight grasp, but the knight continued on, oblivious. Waves of fear and apprehension at meeting the king of the Castle of Blood repeatedly washed over Briar as they came closer and closer to their destination; he couldn't remember the last time he had been so terrified. He didn't want to resign himself to his fate, and certainly didn't want to meet the king! Even the skeleton in the dungeon was better than this.

But he couldn't hurt Aska, even if he suddenly gained possession of the powers to do so. The knight was essentially a child, kind and innocent. Besides, Briar was never a willing murderer. He would only kill if he had to - he hated when he served under humans who wanted him to do that, but, luckily, Nat wasn't one of them.

They approached what he assumed to be the entrance of the throne room. They made their way to the doorway. Briar attempted to dig his heels into the ground, but Aska was still too strong. A boy's voice reached his ears, distinctively American. He was too distracted on the situation at hand to really focus on what he was saying. The boy fell silent just as they entered the room.

Heads turned to stare at them. He quickly took in the various people assembled around the front of the room. There was a boy with the wings of a bird, a girl who looked like a strange mix between a human and a cat, and three human boys.

Then his gaze went to thing standing close to the throne, who had to be the king from the crown on its head. The monster was a horrifying combination of a fairy-tale dragon and a human. When its eyes stared at him, he gave a startled cry and tried to duck behind Aska - though he was taller than the knight. He hesitantly peeked over Aska's metal shoulder to catch a quick glimpse of the king of the Castle of Blood.

Shocking, it looked hurt. It was as if his fear had upset it; but it was a monster, so why would it be so saddened by fear directed towards it? Besides, it lived in the Castle of Blood. A place didn't gain a name like that without a good reason.

And, yet, he was a demon with the classic red eyes, pointed ears, fangs, and tail. It was easy enough to hide everything - save for the fangs - but he still was no different than the king before him. Because of their appearance, rather than their personality, normal, everyday people judged them. Even Nat had screamed when he first appeared before her.

Aska finally let go of his hand. He took a shaking step out from behind him. "My name is Briar Cooper," he started. "I ended up in this castle's dungeon because a portal brought me here. I was unable to find the portal upon awakening. Aska said that you may be able to help find my way home, your majesty."

Micha Nowak POV
featuring Tom Sutcliffe

Micha listened to Ryan explain, trying to calm himself down. Fate hadn't been kind to him - his anxiety had just been calming down, and suddenly he was dumped in a strange castle with strange creatures living inside of it. He could feel the anxiety like thick bile rising up his throat.

He glanced over to get a reassuring nod from Tom, but instead found Tom trembling, teeth bared. His canines were straining, elongating. His jaw was bulking up, and black stripes were appearing in his hair. His arms were beginning to thicken and dislocate into big tiger's legs. His eyes weren't human anymore.

"Tommy!" Micha hissed, nudging him in the ribs, "not here, not now, okay?"

The transformation reversed itself ever so slightly. Micha stood in front of Tom, in case he shifted and lunged. He didn't know how effective his wolf body would be against a big Siberian tiger, but he'd try nonetheless. They held hands behind Micha's back, to hide from the others.

"I'm a werewolf," Micha said, "and Tom's a weretiger... but we won't hurt you. We're not monsters."

Chessy

"It's your fault!" She screamed, punching me in anger. "You and the rest of Wonderland!"

"Calm down. I can't explain things properly when you're screaming." I said calmly. This only seemed to make her angrier.

I turned to the newcomers. "I'm Chessy, this is Alice, she's confused."

Kellach:

Shiruba was, as he'd always known him, angry. So it wasn't at all surprising when the sailor stood up, superficially brushed the dust from his outfit, and the imposing man standing in front of him demanded that they investigate the castle. "I am almost certain my wife was in the same room as I when I was pulled into this place, and I know she's somewhere here," he said firmly, pulling back his sword and depositing it in a scabbard. "You are going to help me find her."

Kellach scoffed and brushed off the comment. "You know she's more than capable of taking care of herself. You, on the other hand---" The sailor desisted when Shiruba looked at him with an expression of fury and bitterness, and shied a few inches away. Now, the tall man wasn't liable to hurt the sailor, as Shiruba tended to keep intact the people he respected enough, but he was ever unpredictable and aggressive. So, when he gestured to an adjacent room, the sailor took a step alongside him, and they proceeded back into the inner workings of the castle.

"Who have you seen thus far?" said Shiruba after they explored a couple of mostly-empty rooms. The furnishings that were available were drab and dull-colored, and not at all appetizing.

Now the sailor counted off the individuals in question with his hand. "There was the kid in the suit of armor with those golden eyes who opened the door for me to let me into the castle, and the kid in a strange outfit who claimed to have been pulled through a portal. Then, of course, there's you, and I'm almost certain I'm on the list."

As they rounded a corner, Shiruba sighed and pinched his nose. "Must you always be this irritable and sarcastic? I know that there is a forest outside - was there anyone there?"

Kellach though for a few seconds. "There was something," he mentioned thoughtfully. "Footsteps, something trying to chase me. I saw a light in the background. Maybe a torch?"

There was an audible grumble as the duo entered a hallway. "That can't be her; it's too brash of her, and she isn't skilled in fire magic. I had hoped you would be useful enough, given your tendency to slip into everything, but it appears to not be so. I..."

Shiruba stiffened, ears perked up as he looked about him. "Voices," he whispered, before Kellach could ask, and pointed in the direction of a long hallway. It seemed to stretch out towards some kind of balcony, which was poised over a large and lit room. The sailor strained to hear, and was soon satisfied with the sounds of faint and distant conversation. The tall man had always had the better hearing, which could be a little annoying, especially if he felt like being a braggart about it.

They began to crouch and make their way to the balcony, to see who was there and what was going on without being detected.

"We don't think of you any differently," Ryan reassured them. He hoped that the others shared the same sentiment. He glanced at the others. Adrian's face was impossible to read. Briar looked very tempted to use Aska as a shield again - he felt bad for the human boy, who most likely was having trouble comprehending what was going on - while the knight turned to face Nendros. For obvious reasons, he couldn't tell what Aska was feeling about the reveal, but Nendros looked incredibly confused. "What's a were-wolf? And a were-tiger?"

Aska quietly replied with, "They can turn into a wolf and something called a tiger."

"Tiger?"

"...I don't know what that is either, but werewolves are in the books that I've read..." The young knight's gaze dropped down to the ground, seemingly embarrassed to be the center of attention.

That left Chessy. Who, Ryan was shocked to notice, was talking to a small girl. He had been too preoccupied with the other events that had gone on - the arrival of Tommy and Micha, and the return of Aska with Briar in tow. When the girl finally stopped yelling, Chessy turned to the newcomers. "I'm Chessy, this is Alice, she's confused."

"Alice?!" Ryan exclaimed. Things suddenly started to make sense, which completely threw him off. "You're the Cheshire Cat, and she's Alice!"

"Yeah..." Chessy stared at him. "I just said that."

"But you're from Alice in Wonderland!" Which shouldn't be real!

Before he could say anything else, Adrian suggested, "Maybe we should reintroduce ourselves. Briar doesn't know who we are, and the knight doesn't know who Tommy and Micha are."

Ryan turned to Nendros. The Dragon-Human Ambassador was staring intently upwards, an impossible to read expression on his face. He seemed completely oblivious to the majority of the conversation. Suddenly, his wings unfurled and he shot up towards the ceiling. There was a startled cry from the ceiling as he grabbed two people from the balcony overlooking the throne room - Ryan hadn't seen them prior to that moment, so he suspected that they were crouching and listening in on their conversation. The small of two was held captive in his tail, while the other he held close to his chest. Ryan watched with a mixture of amazement and confusion as the larger of the two's sword fell to the floor.

Both protested very loudly and struggled in his grasp as he returned to the throne. "I'm not going to harm you," he tried to reassure them as he let them go. "Considering the fact that you were eavesdropping, I thought you were going to run if I tried talking to you."