Hierarchy

"Granny, what kind of being are you? Are you a fairy?" Kate asked.

"I belong to the Nephilim race, we are the winged creature," Esmeralda answered.

Kate's eyes widened. "Winged? You mean you had a wing? Where is it? I can't see any wing on your back. You must be joking, granny!"

Esmeralda smiled. "Silly child, I can command my wing to appear on my back anytime. You'll see it soon but not right now. Besides, there is no reason to show you my wings," she explained.

"I'm sorry for being a nosey body, granny," Kate apologized, she should not ask too many questions or else the old woman will throw her to the wolves if she got irritated by her nagging. For sure, she would be dead meat in the land of the demons.

Suddenly, Kate's stomach was grumbling. Damn! she's getting hungry, her face contorted in a grimace.

Esmeralda watched the younger woman's distorted face. "Are you okay, child?" she asked worriedly.

She was hesitating to tell the old woman that she's hungry, but she would die of hunger if she can't feed her stomach anytime soon.

"I'm feeling hungry, granny. I need food or else... if I can't eat something I'm going to die!" she blurted out in a panicky voice.

Esmeralda opened her right hand immediately and a golden pearl-like stone appeared on her palm. "Swallow this pearl, once you ingested it, you will never go hungry again inside the castle. There's no human food here around this area, everything has poisoned. Only a few creatures living in the castle have the privilege to eat human foods."

Kate's brows furrowed. So, if there's no human food around, how her sister Ivy can survive inside the castle?

Esmeralda offered the golden pearl to Kate. "What's wrong? You don't want to eat my magical pearl? You'd rather die?" she asked after the girl didn't make any move to get the pearl.

"Oh no, don't get me wrong, granny. I'll take that pearl. It's better than nothing," Kate said and grabbed the golden pearl before the old woman can change her mind.

Kate put the golden pearl in her mouth, surprisingly it's soft to her touch. She can feel the golden pearl settling in her stomach, she felt uncomfortable all of a sudden as if all the insides of her stomach was being squeezed...

"Argh! Granny your pearl is doing something to the insides of my stomach! Help me!" she screamed.

Esmeralda smiled in amusement, she opened her hand again and a brown bottle made of clay appeared on her palm. "Drink this, the content of the bottle will make you feel better," she said.

Kate grabbed the bottle and sipped its content, the liquid feels sweet, she likes it! She drank the liquid to the last drop. Indeed, her stomach returned to normal, the uncomfortable feeling was gone in just a matter of seconds after drinking the liquid.

"Thank you for the liquid, granny. What is it by the way?" Kate asked.

"It's my urine," Esmeralda grinned.

"Whaaatttt!?Ewwwwww!" Kate's mouth went sour. She was about to vomit...

"I'm just joking, child," Esmeralda tapped her shoulder and erupted into peals of laughter.

"Thank God!" Kate massaged her chest, trying to calm her nerves. "Granny, you're naughty!" she pouted feeling upset that a thousand years old woman would dare to make fun of her.

Esmeralda was laughing hard, she has not laughed this hard since she entered this hellish place. She decided that from now on, she will keep the young woman by her side to be her companion for eternity.

After a while, she stopped laughing and observed the girl's face. "Are you feeling better now? How's your stomach?"

"Thanks to the pearl and the liquid, granny. I'm no longer feeling hungry," she answered gratefully, thankful for the old woman's help.

"Good!"

"Granny..."

"Yes?"

"Ahm...can you help me get out of this castle alive? And can you please help me find my sister? You are the only one who can help me. Please?" she begged.

Esmeralda released a deep sigh. "This castle has a strict rule, once you enter its walls, you can never get out alive. What happens inside the castle will remain inside the castle. That's a thousand years old rule, my child. No one can break the rule among the castle's inhabitant and no one is powerful enough to break that rule," she elaborated.

Kate took a deep breath and sighed in desperation. "B-but granny...I don't want to live here for eternity. I want to save my sister Ivy and go back to our village to see my sister Ella and my Aunt Margie!" she insisted.

Esmeralda throws Kate a stern look. "Child, don't be stubborn! You have to understand that I can't even get out of here alive with all my power and all. No one can get out alive from this castle," she repeated with a gloomy face.

Kate was now on the verge of crying.

"Please granny, have mercy on me. Please help me. There's got to be another way to get out of this castle alive! I don't want to die here!" she continues begging to the old woman hoping that she will take pity on her.

Esmeralda was shaking her head. "I'm sorry child, there's nothing I can do for you, you can't leave this place," she declared in a sad tone.

Kate stopped begging the old woman to help her get out of the castle. Instead, she will ask for another important thing related to her sister.

"B-but can you please help me find my sister Ivy? If I can't leave this place, I will accept my fate. Let me just see my sister once before I die," she pleaded.

"Y-your sister?"

"Yes..."

"If your sister was taken by the vampires, one of the inhabitants of this castle... then there's nothing I can do for her."

Kate's eyes widened. "What do the vampires have to do with all this?" she asked in puzzlement.

"Listen, child...I will tell you something. This castle has a hierarchy. The higher class is located upstairs in the castle, they rule the world over there such as elf, merfolk, centaur, giants, moonfolk, sphinx, and others. The vampires belong to the upper class. The lower class is composed of several races... those where the orcs, goblins, ogre, cephalids, demons, and many others are being held in the ground below the net," Esmeralda explained.

The hierarchy inside the castle amazes Kate.

"How about you, granny? Where did you belong, higher or lower class?" she asked curiously.

Esmeralda stared at Kate for a long time without answering her question. "Secret. There are things in this castle... that...you don't have to know," she replied.

Kate pouted and kept to herself. By now, she knows that Esmeralda has power and magic. Maybe, in the long run, she can persuade the old woman to help her find her sister Ivy.