18 All were Bewildered

Ashley hopped out of the boat. She glanced at the small castle in front of her. Somehow, it gave her a mysterious feeling like that of an ancient tomb or anyplace ancient

She slowly stepped forward and looked at the ground which was made out of glass. She was constantly perplexed at the oddity of the situations she encountered. Like she was expecting grass or soil, not glass. This place must've taken a lot of time and money to build. She wondered how they did it. The architects must've been geniuses. 

She stopped in front of the door and inhaled sharply. She was nervous for no reason. She slowly reached out and pushed the big doors before entering the hall.

She was surprised to see that the inside of the castle wasn't what she expected it to look like.Instead, a spiral staircase that extended up to the castle's roof could be seen. Ashley audibly gulped.

'You've got to be kidding me.'

It was so high and majestic. In contrast, she knew how tiring climbing up those stairs would be.

She looked around hoping that there were other places she could go, however there were none. It was just the long staircase. The walls were empty, no paintings, doors or windows. There wasn't even any furniture found in the hall.

She wondered if there was a room up there and someone was there. She thought that maybe the person who inhabited this place just had a very creative sense of architecture. Yeah maybe.

She was slowly comforting herself and denied the fact that maybe she was going crazy. She decided that it was time to climb the spiral staircase.

Looking at it closely the staircase was actually made out of silver. At first she thought it was glass. She started to ascend while carefully holding the silver handles. She was afraid that she might fall. If she did it would be the end of her. Her back and buttocks started to hurt.

'Ah seriously.'

Every single bit of it was torture. She wasn't even halfway yet she was already panting and sweating from climbing the stairs.

She wanted to sit down for a minute however that was another problem. Her injured buttocks prevented her from doing so. Gritting her teeth, she continued her business.

For what seemed like forever, finally she was at the top of the staircase. She felt that she would collapse any moment now. She looked up only to see a small door. The small door reminded her of their attic.

She forced her numb muscles and reached up towards the door at the ceiling. 

She bit back her nervousness. She wished she wouldn't fall. She opened it and surprisingly a blinding light attacked her eyes.

She recognized what the light was. It was sunlight. 

'Wait... Sunlight?How—?"

She suddenly heard a noise. She looked at the opened door with a complex expression. Was that the sound of trumpets she heard just now? And the audible applause and cheers of a crowd sounded like there was a concert.

She looked up and there was the azure sky.

'This..'

Her heart boomed. Sky... Does that mean? 

Maybe, this was it?

Afraid that the chance might slip away, she hastily climbed up the door. She steadied herself up as she grabbed at the edge of something. She pulled her weight up and held her breath to push her strength. 

When she was successfully out of the door. She looked at her balanced footing and was surprised to see that the door from which she entered was gone. Instead, she was standing inside a small box. She wondered how that happened and how could she fit inside?

She glanced up to survey her surroundings.At first she had trouble opening her eyes because of the extreme heat and light coming from the sun. She heard that the cheering noises from the crowd came to an abrupt stop.

She slowly opened her eyes which now adjusted to the sun's intensity.

Her body stiffened and her mouth agape. She couldn't believe the scene that played before her eyes.

'What the—'

Mid-air was a giant wolf with brown fur whose hovering body was approaching a human's. That human was also high up. 

They looked like they were pulling a stunt in an action movie. The man clutched the giant wolf's ears and flipped its body, throwing the wolf to the ground.

*Crash!

The wolf's huge body crashed to the ground. The ground shook and there was a large crack on its surface. In response, the wolf wailed and writhed in pain. The man who threw him then gave a satisfied expression. He then turned his gaze.

The man who attacked the wolf like he wasn't human, looked at the stage with a victorious smile which was immediately replaced by a shocked expression.

Ashley who was also shocked couldn't process the whole situation. She looked around and was even more bewildered. Thousands of eyes observed her with shocked expressions. She found herself standing on an elevated platform. She seemed to be standing at the center of a stadium with thousands of people watching her.

'Wait... What? '

She began to sweat and felt her legs were growing weak.

The wolf who was knocked out by the man earlier, now transformed back into his human form. His tanned skin was revealed along with his bare back and buttocks.

He was completely naked as he laid on the ground unconscious. His body then turned. Sensing that she was about to see something forbidden, she instantly covered her eyes with her hands and shrieked.

'Sh*t!'

She instantly turned to her back. However it was a bad decision. Her body froze like stone. Before her were two men that exuded oppressive auras looking at her with surprised expressions. She couldn't fully decipher their faces and only saw their cold eyes. She sensed danger.

One of them had red eyes while the other had golden eyes. Their stares were intense. She felt like she was melting. Especially those red eyes she saw... She knew she was in trouble. Why—How... Where is this place? 

She panicked inwardly. Her heart pounded profusely in her chest. Her surroundings were blurring and she suddenly felt extremely dizzy. Her head was spinning. Due to the overwhelming events she faced today her fragile body couldn't keep up anymore.

Was she having a heat stroke? She wanted to laugh at it's perfect timing. She felt her body collapse and strength draining out of her body. She fell into deep slumber.