'Fangs of the Balkans' CountryHumans fanfic

Part 1

It's a dark, cold, windy night. The sky is cloudy and few stars were visible. Bulgaria was walking down a dark pathway through the park, making her way home after staying late with a few balkan friends. It's the same route she would usually take after hanging out with others until night, but this time something feels different about it. She can't felt but get this uneasy feeling as if something is watching her or following her.

She tries shrugging it off. It's likely in her imagination.. or so she assumes.

Bulgaria sighs to herself and keeps walking but can't seem to shake the feeling that she is being watched. She pauses for a moment to take in her surroundings and looks up thinking maybe if she got of the path she could get rid of this weird feeling. She hears the wind blow through the trees making them creak and moan as they sway with the wind.

She looks up towards the sky hoping it would be a distraction but this time she sees it. There in the clouds she sees the faint image of a bat.

She squints her eyes, trying to get a better look. She wonders what it could be. It looks like a bat but.. where would it have even come from? They aren't common around this area.

She stares for a while and it starts seeming as if the bat is getting larger- but no, it's just getting closer! Her eyes widen as she quickly steps out of the way to avoid being hit by the bat.

Bulgaria lets out a sigh of relief and leans against a tree, the bat lands beside her and it just stares down at her. Its red eyes staring into her soul. She feels a wave of confusion and slight terror spread throughout her as she just stares at the bat.

She wonders what was going on. She felt like this bat meant no harm but it wasn't just any old bat. She felt drawn to it.

Then she hesitantly reaches out her hand towards the bat.

"Who are you?.."

She curiously asks it. Something about this bat was telling her it's more than just a regular animal.

The bat seems startled as Bulgaria reaches out. Then it lowers down closer to Bulgaria, it then smells her and then nuzzles up against her. The bat starts to purr it seems to be enjoying the affection that Bulgaria is giving it.

The bat starts to move back and then nudges Bulgaria to follow it.

Bulgaria is slightly confused but she decides she may as well follow the bat.

As she follows it, she can't help but wonder where it's leading her. What does this little creature want?

The bat leads Bulgaria through the park leading her further into the wooded area. It's now so dark that Bulgaria would be unable to find her way out of the woods if she wanted to.

Bulgaria is quite scared but she is to curious to know where the bat may lead her. After what seemed like ages of walking through the woods she finally comes up an old abandoned castle. She can't help but wonder if the bat lives here.

She stares at the exterior of the castle in awe. Despite its old and abandoned condition, it's still large and with beautiful architecture.

The bat is seemingly insistent on Bulgaria following its inside, so she does exactly that.

The interior was surprisingly well put-together, almost as though someone was still living there. It looked polished unlike the outside. It consisted of tall, long empty halls, large empty rooms, stairs and such.

As she walked through, exploding the new place, her footsteps echo though the lonely dimly lit halls.

As Bulgaria continues to follow the bat, she is amazed by the design of this castle. However this only brings more questions to her mind. Why is it so well put together and clean when it looks abandoned on the outside? Something here doesn't feel right or normal.