An0n and Her Readers

The Mansion

Heya, Foxy here!! Me, An0n, Wren, and Can were all messing around and wrote a story together! Well, they started it, I just kinda joined in like halfway through. Anyway, enjoy!! (Btw I did do minor editing, but only to spelling and grammar errors, and to fix pronouns)

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The abandoned corridors of the ruined castle loomed menacingly above the young adventurer. Bravely wielding a flickering torch in one hand and a folded map in the other, he stepped lightly through the halls, his heads swiveling left to right as the torch cast strange and threatening shadows on either side. Every step produced a magnified thud that echoed all around him, preventing him from hearing something that stalked him from behind...

The adventurer heard a low, raspy whisper and spun around, facing his torch in the direction where the mysterious voice came. He finds nothing there and continues on his path, his heart racing, but his determined nature pushed him on. He continued down the corridor, cautiously.

He stopped suddenly, acting on a hunch, and to his dismay, he hears a distinct second pair of stopping feet. There was no doubt about it. Something was following him, and now both he and his stalker knew of it. Trying desperately to act as if his sudden stop was not a check of sound but rather a normal pause in order to keep up his unawares appearance, he unfolded his map and made as if to scan it, while in truth he was anxiously scanning his surroundings.

He looks around, spotting a silver torch holder, hanging off of its place on the tattered wall. A broom, closer to the end of the hall. And a grand wooden door, a pattern etched into it with a shining doorknob, something that seemed to be the only thing not as dusty as the rest. He made a mental note of the door, hoping that perhaps he could search it...if he were still alive that is...

The boy looked around as he heard the strange footsteps once again, except this time it was getting closer. He quickly turned in any direction the sound seemed to come from, trying his best to sound brave. There's no way these footsteps could be a beast of sorts.. It sounded too light on its fight. "C- come out-!" He yelped, not sounding brave at all. The boy heard more, quicker footsteps and looked down to see. . . 

 A rat. Oh boy, that gave him quite a scare! But... The rat couldn't make that loud of a noise, the most he'd hear from it is some squeaks...

Suddenly, something grazed his neck, something cold and hard, almost metallic. A large scaly tail wrapped itself around the boy's waist and pulled him into the darkness abruptly, yanking so hard that the torch fell from the boy's hands and clattered to the ground, sputtering out. Now in the darkness, the adventurer found himself pressed up against a muscular body. Looking up tentatively, he saw two glowing red eyes gazing down at him, something unreadable in their light.

The boy pushes, trying the escape, fear clouding his mind as the eyes seem to stare directly through him and into his soul. The adventurer felt all of his mistakes and all of his fears surface. His sight is blurred by tears. The thing that held him close whispers an apology. The boy feel his mistakes and fears break away from him, and a gray swirl enters the things red eyes. The adventurer falls limp with a sigh, almost of relief. The thing scoops him up and brings him further into his lair.

The 'monster' smiled as the boy had relaxed in his grip, and he took him down to where he had some blankets set around torches for light, it seemed to be some kind of dungeon where the beast was banished. The adventurer wondered more about what happened there, and who was this beast? Was it even human? The 7'3 beast set him down on a pile of blankets and went over to a darker corner, coming back with some water in a bucket, as if trying to offer him a drink, flicking its tail happily. Finally, someone who didn't (literally) die of shock when they saw them!