I pressed my back against the cold, stone wall of the castle. I watched the beasts dash to a building that was near the palace. Some waited in line for weapons, and those that already had theirs went to the barracks for training. For such stupid-looking creatures, they seemed to learn pretty quickly. I was running out of time.
I walked around to the back of the castle to see if there was a secret back door, but there was not. With my sharp senses, I could smell food cooking. I followed my nose to a window that had been left open. I peered in to see a kitchen. Someone was inside.
I only thought about it for a mere second before I climbed through the window.
I found myself on a somewhat bare marble counter that was right next to a stove. The only other thing on top of it was a frying pan. I instinctively grabbed it, bounded off of the counter, and smacked the cook in the head with it. The fat, pasty skinned chef fell limply to the ground and was out cold.
Needless to say, I decided to hang on to the frying pan after that.
I quietly opened the kitchen's wooden door and headed towards another door that was at the end of the hallway. I felt a little bit of a light aura and decided to follow it. I was disappointed when I saw that it was a normal room. It had a couple of black leather chairs and some shelves brimming with ancient looking books much like the one I carried.
Something caught my attention at the left side of the room. There was a white book that stuck out like a sore thumb against the darker colored ones. I timidly grabbed it and pulled it out. I looked at the title page and saw that it was about Heaven. The green book next to it was about Earth. There was an empty space as well. I summoned my book about the Land of Below and put it in the vacant place.
The wall spun around like in Scooby Doo and I turned to see a long corridor ahead of me. I walked straight ahead (since there was no other direction I could go).
There was a large pedestal at the end of the hall. Light shone from the ceiling and formed a spotlight that highlighted a sheathed sword. I set my frying pan down, reached forward, and grabbed it. It radiated a soft glow through its sheath. It had a strap, so I fastened it to my back since weapons didn't effect the beasts in the Land of Below.
I picked up the frying pan again and headed back the way I came. There wasn't a button or lever to make the wall flip again. I searched along the wall for a way out for a long time, but found nothing.
I sat down on floor and wondered what to do. I looked at the shelf and noticed a lot of black books. They seemed to be lined up to form a pattern. I stood and backed up to get a better look.
The word "take" was spelled out. There was an arrow that pointed to the Heaven, Earth, and Land of Below books. I pulled the three of them off of the shelf, and the wall flipped again. I held the trio close and started to sneak away.
I was on top of the counter when I heard a growl. Well, actually I heard three growls. I turned my head just enough to catch a glance at the creature that was staring me down. It was a big, black, and ugly three-headed dog. It was just small enough to fit through the doorway, but just big enough to scare me.
I was so frightened that I accidentally dropped one of the books on the stovetop (which had apparently been left on one of its higher heat levels, and I was unaware of that). The dog let out three loud barks and sent spit flying onto the stove.
Since nothing seems to be nice in the Land of Below, the spit was extremely combustible made the book burst into flames. There wasn't anything I could do to save it, so I chucked the frying pan at the dog and bolted.
I found that I had just lost my map after I realized that I had no idea where I was going. So I just ran.
After a while of aimlessly dashing, I heard the pants of the three-headed dog. It had recovered quickly and now was right on my tail.
I saw the gate up ahead, but of course the river of souls was in my way. I kicked into an extra-high gear and cleared the river with an almighty leap. The dog made the jump as well.
Though I was running as fast as I could, the dog caught up to me just before I could reach the door. It bit my right leg and stopped me in my tracks. I hit its head with a book, and it bit harder. There was a dreadful SNAP, and I soon felt immense pain coursing through my leg. I bit my lip so I wouldn't cry.
I was absolutely terrified when the dog started dragging me backwards. There wasn't anything I could grab on to. I started blindly swinging a book around and hit the two heads that weren't biting me. The hold on my leg was lessened enough that I got it out.
With one arm occupied with books and one leg broken, I was left with two usable limbs. I dragged myself to the door and smacked the dog whenever it got too close. The pain in my leg grew as I went along. It soon grew so great that I started to black out.
I felt the strange sense of a hand reaching out to me, so I grabbed it. I didn't care whose hand it was. I figured wherever it took me would be better than the place I already was.
