The Castle

It was strange he thought, it had become instinct to listen for the dull drone of the orphanages parental figures calling for supper or the loud footfalls of his bullies trying to get the upper hand on him. Now though, it was gone. The singing birds or even the ever present wind seemed to have been tamed. It was as if a blanket had fallen on the forest outside the orphanage, the only sound he heard was that of his breathing. As he was assessing the situation, he heard a weird sound. It was as if it was there, but wasn't and the speed, it was almost unnatural the way it brushed leaves but never touched the ground. As soon as he tried to follow the sound, he came upon a discovery, he wasn't where he just was. He had somehow come into a clearing that he knew wasn't in his forest. in the center of it was a single egg about the size of his hand. Slowly, he made his way to the egg, it was odd he thought, why would an animal want to put their egg in the very center of attention. As he picked up the egg to give it a closer inspection though, he heard it again. The same odd noise from before. it didn't go far as it hesitated. Having a better sight of the noise, he saw what made it, a big wolf that seemed to be made up of the starry sky itself. He realized it then, he was surrounded by hundred of similar starry sky creatures, so gruesome, they seemed out of a horror story. Drawn back to the bigger wolf again. He realized it was the leader and then he saw something he didn't expect even yet. The wolf's eyes visibly widened as it saw something. Galen felt something touch touch his shoulder. Before he had a chance to see it, he felt a weird vibration from his head to his feet as his vision contorted. as his vision stabilized, he had enough time to realize he was once again in a different place before his vision went black and he passed out...

Waking up he figured out why he passed out, he had the worst headache he had ever experienced. On the ground, he saw the egg he previously had in his hand. He didn't know where he was, he didn't even know if he was still on earth but he did know one thing, the egg was very special. Getting off the ground, he stumbled around as he took in his surroundings. He was right in front of a castle. It obviously hadn't been lived in for quite some time. He could tell that at one point it had burned down but that must have been a few decades ago as there were now creepers encasing almost everything.

Walking through the gate arches, he was amazed at the fact that such architecture seemed to be completely stable, as if it was built not built of rock but of steel. It was beautiful, the way the sun hit the vines and stone roof tiles.

He slowly made his way to the set of double doors at the front, or what was left of them. both were just two charred crisps loosely hanging to just one of their rusted joints. Walking in, the floor seemed to just be a mix of ash and dust with some ferns here and there. All the old furniture were now just lumps of charred wood.

On either side of the hall were four sets of doorframes with a grand staircase at the back leading up to a second floor and a big door frame. The second floor wrapped around the hall and had eight similar door frames similar to the ones on the first floor. Walking up the stairs, Galen wondered why someone would burn down such a magnificent castle or in this case, try to...

Unfortunately, the room at the top of the stairs was like the rest, all burnt. In fact, all of them were. Realizing how late it was and how hungry he was starting to get, he quickly put the egg from his pocket on the ground and made his way outside . He still had his pocket knife with him, but that's where it ended. with such little tools, the best he could do was pick berries which was sketchy.

As he was wandering, he realized it was serene, it was too calm as if there were no predators. he was thinking about it when he heard something in the distance. Crawling through the bushes, saw a great big wolf. It was alone, sniffing the ground. Suddenly, it looked up making direct eye contact with him. It had this weird look on its face like it was discovering something interesting. Galen quickly new he needed to get out. Slowly crawling from where he was, he was careful not to make to much noise. He new that the only reason he wasn't being currently hunted was that the wolf was thinking. the only reason he didn't try to quickly escape was that he didn't want to break its train of thought, so when he thought it couldn't see him, he started booking it. It wasn't long till he realized the wolf was on him.

He racked his brain, how could he possible take down a fully grown Alpha with but a knife. If another person were to look at the scene, they would be amazed at the fact that he was at the same speed as the wolf as both weaved through the forest and overgrowth. The situation wasn't good though, as soon the wolf would out run him. he needed to think of something fast.

The castle? what could that do? He remembered the towers. The only thing he could think of was to somehow get it to fall that height.

It was close, he thought, the wolf was getting freakish close. He started to once again pick up his speed.

He could see the castle now which was good, as he was running on fumes. He quickly made his way there and started scrabbling up one of the towers.

The wolf must have known that he was trapped, as if slowed to a canter. This gave Galen enough time to rest when he got to the top. When he did get to the top, noticed there was once again no door, the deign of the room led to a blind spot for intruders beside the door frame. There was a large whole in the wall from what must have been the remnants of a big window. Taking out his pocket knife, he waited and listened.

He could hear the dull thud of foot falls echoing up the tower. He could hear the wolf getting closer as a knot in his throat slowly began to form. This was it, a challenge to the death...

Soon, he could hear the sniffs the wolf took as it took in its surroundings. He knew what it meant, it was there, coming through the door.

When he first saw the beast, he didn't immediately go for it, he waited till he could see its back.

Jumping at it, it wasn't ready when he started riding its back. Within seconds, he had taken his knife and stabbed the wolf in one of its eyes. It let off the loudest and worst howl he had ever heard.

Blood gushed from the eye onto his hand as the wolf quickly shook him from his back, letting off another horrible howl as the knife came out with the eye and leaving a gaping hole. Feeling the pain its rage quickly took over as it lounged and gave two ferocious swipes at Galen.

The swipes connected to the helpless Galen's arms as he desperately tried to block the attacks on the ground. The claws were like a hot knife cutting through butter and the pain was immeasurable. it felt like it was scalding his arms. As a matter of fact, he hadn't noticed it, his arms actually had burn marks.

Feeling somewhat satisfied as it towered over the miserable Galen, it howled triumphantly. Realizing that the wolf now had much shorter vision, he slowly rolled into its blind spot, in front of the hole. Seeing his desperate attempt, it quickly snapped its head at him as it lounged again.

What it didn't realize was that his legs were angled and were ready to give one more feat of strength.

Seeing the wolf in the air, determination filled his eyes. The wolf's claws connected with his chest as his feet connected with its as well. With the momentum from the lunge and the last strength left in his body, he pushed the wolf off the ledge.