Alchemy Of Darkness - Chapter 3

Joycelyn did not know exactly what to do... All her efforts to control the steering were fruitless. It felt as if the car was on autopilot. Suddenly, the car came to an abrupt stop... Both of them wondered what really happened. They looked around and then at each other, speculating if anyone had any idea about what ensued? Several minutes passed and they couldn't figure out. They thought it's best to alight and examine the situation. They got out. The road on which they stood, seemed deserted. 

They had never been to this place before. The only element to break the plainness of the surrounding was the graffiti on the sidewalls. With nowhere to go...they started walking, trusting the directions on the road to lead them. They came across an old subway which happened to be functional despite its worn-out condition. This subway was notorious for crimes and disappearances. One of the signboards positioned on the subway read 'B-16 Tunnel'. Soon they reached a crossroad where Jocelyn was stupified. 

"I see a castle nearby...", said Joycelyn. 

"What? A castle?" (Clarissa)

Something dawned upon Clarissa that very moment... Castle...DIABOLUS CASTLE!

Clarissa couldn't wait any further, she grabbed Jocelyn's arm tightly and said," That's it!! wow, we have come to the right place!!"

"What do you mean by 'Right place'?"

"When I entered Karlie's room, I noticed something written with black ink on the ceiling. It wasn't there when I first entered. It appeared right before Mrs.Wilson barged in...the note read 'Diabolus Castle', I think we should go and check out."

"Are you out of your mind Clarissa?! We've never been here, c'mon! I don't think this place is worth venturing out!"

"Jocelyn, I can't afford to miss this clue out...I JUST CAN'T. I have to go inside that castle and know what that entity wanted to tell me...I am sure it was the same entity that wrote those words on the ceiling...what else could it be?"

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

"I am, it is worth the risk..."

"Look, our partner Imogen, she...is...gone, I don't want to lose another one from my family!"

"I will take care, I will call you up when I need help, don't worry..."

"Fine, Good luck dear..."

"Thanks, Joycelyn!"

Saying this Clarissa walked towards the castle, Joycelyn hesitantly got inside the car and drove away...leaving Clarissa all alone.

As she walked towards the threshold, she could notice everything disappear behind her. The concrete road started looking like a dusty obsolete path. The faint noise of the vehicles passing by had completely hushed. 

Clarissa reached the gates of the castle. It was an old gothic structure. She took a deep breath and got inside. The sky instantaneously became dark and cloudy with little or no sunlight emerging from it. As Clarissa looked behind her, she could see nothing but a hue of grey fog and tall trees everywhere. The Road, the old subway, the sidewalls with graffiti, everything had vanished behind her.

She walked past the vast courtyard with dimly lit lamps. The weather around was cloudy, the sunlight seemed to have disappeared. The huge iron fence surrounded the plot. Clarissa felt that she was in another dimension, the gate being its portal. She was surrounded by mist, which annihilated everything except the castle from her line of sight.

Clarissa reached the doorstep. On the front porch of the castle stood gargoyles, having scary and notorious looks, on the left and right side of the porch. A small lantern hung on the mouth of one, Clarissa took that lantern so that she could make her way through the dark corridors of the castle. She opened the huge doors lined with iron frames divulging the darkest hallways that lay within the fortress.

The dark descent had begun...and there was no going back...

Clarissa went inside in the ever-widening darkness of the castle. Everything inside felt cold, freezing cold... Clarissa held up her lantern revealing a dark passageway with huge windows. The windows, however, did not allow much light to enter. The eerieness of the place was accompanied by low menacing growls. She could feel that she was going near the entity... the one that led her in this very location.

As she walked in the pitch-black atmosphere, she could see a wooden door, bonded with metal frames suggesting that there was a room. She decided to open that door... As she pushed the door open, the door let out a loud shriek.

The walls of the chamber were made of stone which was as cold as ice. A regular window with metallic frames and a curtain rolled neatly to the sides was in the front where Clarissa stood. A table was laid amidst the room. She hung the lantern on a hook which was right beside the door, it was able to illumine the room to some distance.

Clarissa began to investigate everything inside the room. She felt the cold walls with her bare hands, which instantly made her palms go numb. Despite the numbness, she was able to feel something wet. A thick, wet, semi-liquid substance that stuck on her fingers. She brought her hand close to the lantern to examine what exactly it was.

The light of the lantern revealed that the sticky liquid was nothing but blood. Fresh red blood, splattered across the stone-cold walls of the room. Clarissa was horror-struck. She immediately wiped it to one end of her shirt. But despite the fear she continued to investigate trying to let out more secrets the room entrapped within itself. She walked toward the window to peek out and get some fresh air.

She opened the window and a gentle and cool breeze come inside. As she took a step behind, her hip bumped into something. In the little light, she could see a table with two old and worn out books neatly piled. As the light was too dim to read, she decided to read the books when she got home.

All of a sudden, something in the corner of the room caught her eye. She could see a human figure, completely motionless. Clarissa gathered all her courage and inched forward in order to get a better look at that thing. As she got closer, she could notice that figure was reclined to the wall, its hands crossed and its head facing downward. She kept on going, with every inch she grew near it, she could comprehend the vivid details. Clarissa took the lantern from the hook to get a better look. She was horrified at what she saw...

The figure lying on the floor was the lifeless corpse of Karlie Wilson! The corpse was an utterly disturbing sight to look at... It was covered in blood with shredded clothes covering the body. The arms were completely covered in bruises and wounds. The face was bearing a petrified look. Each portion of the body showed the trauma, pain, and agony inflicted upon it. 

"How on earth did Karlie's corpse land up in this castle? And what kind of entity am I dealing with?", Clarissa thought to herself.

Clarissa had to find an exit, she could not stay here for long. She could no longer tolerate the grotesque scene that lay before her eyes. Even Joycelyn must be worried...

Before getting out she pulled a lock of Karlie's hair in her hand and placed it in her pocket. She then grabbed both the books that rested on the table and exited outside into the dark hallway, illuminated by the lantern. She followed the exact way she came to the room and eventually after a long, dark walk, reached the door. She then walked out in the courtyard, out of the gate.

"There is a lot more to discover here. I have to do this all by myself, I must come back here sooner", thought Clarissa as she stood at the gates. The world around her seemed to change drastically, the castle behind her disappeared in the mist and fresh sunlight poured in from the skies... She really was in a different dimension, her thought of the gates being a portal was true after all...

The road she had been on earlier with Joycelyn had vanished, instead, she could see her home right in front... It was strange, before arriving here, it had taken a few kilometres of driving to reach the strange castle, but now she was just a few steps away from her residence. Are portals real? Maybe, or maybe not...But wherever Clarissa saw, sure was a mysterious place which definitely did not belong to the human realm...