章節 1: That Room

The leaves fell forming a rustic decoration on the sides of the roads of Loarre; the rodents were preparing for winter and, although it seemed that there were only fields and small forests around, there was a great representation of past times that stood with great pride in the midst of them.

An ancient and deteriorated castle whose atmosphere was reminiscent of those times where aristocrats and nobles gathered for their celebrations and feasts.

The building presented an extensive exterior garden; elegant designs in its doors; high towers and wide passages; and numerous rooms and halls; however, all these were sadly impoverished by all the dust and dirt that covered them.

The whole place appeared uncared for as if it had been abandoned. One could even say that it had remained for several centuries uninhabited by any human life, or maybe not?

The small animals that lived near that place were witnesses, as they heard footsteps and sounds coming from at least one person inside the castle walls.

In one of the passages, the silhouette of a woman appeared that, upon closer inspection, was only a young girl of about 14 years of age who was walking around that place as if it were her home.

Alone, the girl was taking care of the chores on her own, from food to clothing. However, no one else seemed to accompany her. There was only her and no one else; however, the young girl seemed not to mind as if she had been used to it for a long time.

Days went by and the young woman showed proficiency in the art of survival, but something strange began to be noticed in her: a sudden tiredness and fatigue could be seen in her after a certain number of days.

It was approximately six days since her youthful and vigorous condition turned into a considerable aspect full of stress and suffering.

It was morning and the young woman with her remaining strength began to climb one of the towers where there were rooms large enough to be considered small halls. When she reached one of the highest floors, she stood in front of one of the rooms whose doors were half-open.

The young woman did not hesitate and entered that place.

Closing the doors, she stayed inside without leaving that place. Thus, the night came and, with it, the end of that day.

Early the next morning, an echo resounded inside the castle; the creak of a door moving. The doors of the room where the weary girl had entered began to open and the silhouette of the young girl could be seen leaving the place.

Incredibly, something changed in her; her appearance had returned to show vigor and youth again. But what had happened inside that place? And what had happened to her before?

Without further ado, the young woman returned to her routine activities as if nothing had happened and, thus, the days, weeks and months went by where every six days she had to return to that room, entering in a disastrous state and leaving the next day with strength.

As the year passed, the young girl had already turned 15 years old and, as usual, she went about her activities early in the morning.

It being already noon, the girl, who found herself in a kitchen with certain traces of dirt, but still functional, began to prepare lunch plus she realized that she did not have much food left for the week.

- Well, it's about time ... I guess I'll get ready. - commented with a sigh, the little girl who was watching the stores of the place.

After finishing lunch, the little she had left, strangely the young girl enlisted a couple of not very big suitcases filled with clothes, money, tools and leftover food.

It didn't seem to be a simple outing for some food, but something bigger.

The next day, very early in the morning, the girl stood near the main gate of the castle; with all her bags ready and a set of light clothes on, she left the place for an unknown destination.

As she began to leave the place, the young girl took out a chest from one of her backpacks which, upon observing it for a moment, made her turn her gaze to that tower where the mysterious room she usually went to was located.

A bow or a respectful farewell was her next action towards that place that had welcomed her for a while.

- I don't think it will take me more than a year. - mentioned with some sadness that young woman.

Finally, she sighed briefly as if gathering strength and set off to her destination without looking back.

The small animals watched as the presence of the woman who cohabited with them slowly disappeared into the forest.

About nine months had passed, the appearance of that castle had hardly changed at all because for a long time now the weeds and wild plants had taken over that desolate place.

The abandoned fortress had begun to house a few more animals than a year ago.

It was morning, the day was passing normally; the animals were feeding on whatever they could find, plants were growing everywhere. However, in a moment, that happened in full view of everyone.

A sudden tremor rumbled in and around the castle.

Animals began to stir and run out of the building area into the open.

The epicenter clearly came from inside the fortress and, although the magnitude was not very high, the animals and every living thing moved away from the place in anguish.

After a few seconds, the tremor calmed down.

Every animal returned to calm, observing the castle from afar. Little by little, everyone returned to what they were doing. Meanwhile, a squirrel, which was on top of a tree trying to crack a nut between its paws, moved one of its ears as if it had heard something.

The rodent turned its head toward the castle and a strange image reflected in its pupils.

A crimson flash at the top of that fortress; specifically a reddish light like blood was coming from the top of one of the towers. This light was coming from the windows that were located on one of the upper floors.

Although the appearance was disconcerting, the sensation emanating from that flash was not one of fear but of fascination for the animals that saw it and slowly approached the place.

However, the admiration turned to terror, a sudden rush of air manifested in a shockwave around the castle was unleashed as if trying to drive out any nearby individuals.

The animals ran desperately, probably this event was more dangerous than that tremor.

Some animals were saved from being hit by the wind, while others were not so lucky, but none were seriously injured.

The place fell silent after that.

But what was it that had happened in that castle? And what was the meaning of the light that came from the top of the tower?

Entering the deteriorated construction, going up the dusty stairs until reaching one of the towers and going to one of the last upper floors, there was a series of doors according to the number of rooms.

That floor was precisely the place where the crimson flash of a few moments ago was perceived to have come out.

Of that set of rooms, there was one with open doors, unlike the others, inside it was completely dark and did not seem to have windows inside.

Suddenly there were flashes of light; a certain number of slightly melted candles fanned their flames inexplicably allowing to observe the interior with a little more clarity, but the strangest thing was not that, but what the room contained.

As if it were a mausoleum, there were a few coffins in the place.

Of elegant designs, they were situated three to the side of each wall and one in the middle of them facing the door. It was as if the six coffins were escorting the one in the middle of them.

This seventh coffin stood out from the others, for, the design was majestic, it had a stone base supporting the coffin and next to it a candelabra, besides it was on its sides dark reddish rooted leaves.

Deteriorated and dusty curtains covered the walls and hid the windows of the room.

On each coffin, there were engravings on stone plaques which read of strange tongues:

For those who sacrificed their lives nobly

May the one receives and reward them

The world will witness

On the other hand, the seventh casket mentioned one more writing.

Arias House

The meaning of why these sarcophagi were in that high place was not known and even how the candles had been lit in such a way. But even more inexplicable was what was about to happen.

On that middle coffin, at the bottom of the stone plaque, two names began to be written.

Corvino - Argent

After that, the candles were extinguished and the doors were closed.

That day, nothing more happened after this event. The animals and every living being forgot that event as if nothing had happened; in this way, days, weeks and months passed.

A year and a half having passed since the castle was abandoned, on a radiant morning, the call was answered.