Secrets of the Fortress 'sorcery' (2 page)

She was suddenly stopped by the sight of a
huge substance covering the path where the light came from.

She exhaled and breathe some few words before
she slumped and started crying. “I am trapped.” She got the courage
as she stood up and took a different turn hoping to find a way out
of what she thought of as hell.

She began to move down the new she found
herself until she noticed that the place looked like a tunnel or
cave. “My room was deep down in the earth? What is this place
anyways?” she wondered aloud.

Emily began to jog, turning from left to
right until she was brought to a halt by a sight directly in front
of her as she screamed “Oh my God!, an active volcano?, I am in the
land of Oz.” She immediately heard a voice echo throughout the
whole place, sending chills down her spine.

“This is no Land of Oz, you are the chosen
and you have to fulfill your duty.”

“Who are you? And what is an active volcano
doing in a building?” she asked, legs shaking.

“I am the master of the Kurikana.” This is no
active volcano, but my fortress and dwelling place. You are the
first human to find this place and that is because I chose to show
it to you.”

Emily felt relieved but still uneasy as she
continued speaking to him. “If you are the master of the Kurikana,
then who is Kujoo?”

“That is something you have to find out by
yourself, I have to go now, and so do you.”

* * *

Evalle moved around the house she left some
years back searching for any clue to what her mother told her. As
she entered a library, she left her mouth agape as she stared at a
large shelf filled with varieties of voluminous books, she never
believed a library existed in the house as she began flipping
through the pages of each book, still searching for a clue even
though she felt like reading them all.

They all had to do with science, history and
magic. Emily wondered what her mum could have known about magic,
she opened the book and it looked very familiar even though she was
certain she had not seen the book before.

She was leaving with the magic book when she
found a dark passage in the library. She was so surprised but
decided to move on as it could contain what she was looking for.
She checked her wristwatch and the time was 11:59am, wondering what
she was still doing with a Mickey Mouse watch at the age of
eighteen.

She hurried down the path until she met a
large door without a lock. She still wondered how she was going to
get in when she sighted a machine that had something that looked
like a hand on it. She figured it was the key to get into the room
behind the door, placing her right hand on it, she in awe watched
as the door opened.

As she entered the dark room, light shone
everywhere and she noticed she was not in a room but in a town
where there were large trees and a few houses. She continued moving
down the path, she felt she had been in that place before as she
remembered her dreams where she played in this place with an older
lady, making funny faces and running around in the forest.

She decided to check one of the houses she
saw, nobody seemed to be present in this town. It then struck her
that the town was inside a library she had never been to which
meant only one thing, “This library was created when mother died”
she whispered aloud.

She continued walking down the road, counting
her footsteps until she got to a place where the sunlight did not
reach, she stopped immediately.

A red circle began to appear around her and a
light came out of the circle, the floor was raised as she was been
taken up to where she was certain she had never seen. She finally
opened her eyes to see a large room filled with thousands of books
she think she needed to read.

She was very shocked to a man sitting in a
corner of the room. She walked towards the man briskly and gave him
a tap on the shoulder. He looked up and she saw the scariest eyes
she’d ever seen, deep green and looked like the sun itself. “Is he
a god?” Evalle asked herself still staring at the man
wide-eyed.

* * *

Emily immediately met herself getting closer
to the light in front of her, she continued running until she got
out of the hole. She was shocked to be standing on a very high
building in the midst of the wilderness with Master Kujoo waiting
impatiently at the other end.

She had the notion that he would throw her
down but quickly brushed it aside since it seemed they needed her
for something they were yet to accomplish. Emily hurried towards
him as he also began coming closer to her making goose bumps appear
all over her skin.

He wanted to talk to her but she cut him
short. “Where is this place?” Emily asked looking very
concerned.

“This is the Castle of the Kurikanas.”

“I know that already, I mean, what country is
this?”

“Oh, I see, we are in Ireland.”

“What! Ireland? You transported me this far?
Why?”

“That is a lot of questions for a lady like
you to be asking.” An evil smile appearing on his face.

Emily answered him, a little irritated by the
calmness in his voice. ”It would also be very nice of a young man
like you to answer my questions.”

“I want to show you around this place where
you will be staying for a while.”

Emily said nothing else as she looked blankly
at him and began following him with a feeling of stabbing him to
death. She kept her cool as he was showing her the lobby. She
looked inside and some men stared at her but returned to their
duties.

After showing her few other places, Emily
concluded that she was the only female present in the castle. She
noticed they had gotten to a place where nobody present. He told
her the place was very sacred and only few people were allowed to
go to that part of the castle.

Emily then remembered a man came for her in
the morning and decided to ask Kujoo about it. “Did you send anyone
to me this morning?”

He turned his face sharply towards her
surprised. “No, I didn’t, did you see anyone?”

“Actually, I did. He told me you sent for me
and had the intention of bringing me to you but almost got me
killed in the process.”

“I think we have an intruder in this building
and we’ll get him soon, but I have to show you the whole
place.”

Emily was surprised at the quick reply but
she was quick to speak for him not to sense her doubts. They
continued their tour round the castle as she heard a scream coming
from somewhere below them, Master Kujoo seemed not to hear.

Emily knew something was wrong with the place
but she had no right to speak. She whispered to herself as they got
to the floor where she heard a voice “I just got here, I know
nothing.” As she passed a door, she saw something on the floor. She
looked bewildered, “Is that blood I’m seeing over there?” noticing
her voice was loud, she looked beside her to see if Kujoo heard, he
was gone.

* * *

Evalle looked at the man again expecting him
to talk to her. She was glad and scared as he began to talk to her.
”I am the librarian here, what do you want?” Emily screamed
“Librarian? Is this place a library? How did it come to be?” He
stared at her more intensely “What can I do for you, Master?” “I am
his Master?” Emily asked herself in surprise.

“Could you please tell me how this place got
into my house? And why are you calling me master.”

“Ma’am, you built this place with an ancient
spell, and you asked me to watch over it for you. I waited for you
for several years, but you never came back.”

Evalle was so shocked but impressed that this
man has been loyal even though she does not recognize him. “Why
can’t I recognize you?”

“You have to find your memory since you died
and came back as a new being. Your mother had to give her life for
you to find this place, although, she didn’t know of it.”

Emily slumped on a chair beside her as she
heard what caused her mother’s death. She then stood up with
determination, “let me go through these books.” He nodded his head
in approval as she set to read. Each book was locked with magic in
which she alone could open.

As she opened the first book, something
struck her and she whispered aloud. ”This is the diary of the
previous me, if I can read it, I think I will have an idea on what
to do next”.

As she began reading, she felt different
emotions arise within her as tears flowed from her eyes. She was
beginning to remember, how she defeated a great beast she found
when her school went on excursion into the Jungle.

She remembered how she left her mates without
them noticing her as she squeezed herself into a hole she found on
the ground. She didn’t know why but she felt something pulling her
to the place.

She got in to find a dark tunnel, moving
forward, she found another path that led to the light. She began to
move faster until she got to a large hole where she found a
creature staring at her.

She tried to run back but met the creature in
front of her breathing fire as it spoke “You can’t run from me now,
I’ve been hungry for so many years, I’ll be so glad to feast on you
now.” Emily gave him an arrogant stare, and he moved to pounce on
her but stopped abruptly. She was removing all her clothes. He
began moving closer to her, getting famished for the tasty flesh in
front of him. He stopped again.

CHAPTER 3

Right in front of the creature, Evalle was
turning into a demon, a beast that it hadn’t seen in its lifetime.
By the time she was fully transformed, the creature was hiding
behind a huge rock. The lady beast moved swiftly towards the
rock.

Her arms swerved into the air as she struck
the rock with her fist, slicing it in two. The beast looked
terrified as he saw her staring at him with angry blue eyes. She
reached for its neck with one arm and raised it very high until it
was screaming and begging for mercy.

Evalle retracted her arm and delivered a
punch to its face instead. Falling to the floor, it yelled in pain.
She raised it up again as if trying to get some information but
threw him to the far end of the cave.

The creature was filled with rage as it
looked at her. It sprang towards her but she was prepared for it
and hit it square on the face making it fall to the floor,
lifeless.

She was brought back to the present as she
heard a deafening sound. Some books fell off the shelf when she
used leg to hit it. Right in front of her lay a book with a bright
cover. She got interested in it and she picked it up.

She began examining the book’s cover as it
looked different from the other ones she had seen or read but the
more she tried, the harder it was for the book to open.

* * *

Emily looked at the floor to confirm if she
was seeing things. As she stooped, the door opened a bit as she saw
a group of men cutting something on a very large table. She
couldn’t see it but it was clearly something that once lived.

She wanted to know what it really was when a
tall man shut the door. What is a wild animal doing around here?
She wondered aloud.

She continued walking down the passage when
she saw Kujoo walking ahead. She walked faster so she could get to
him. She left the path and moved to another passage and sat on the
floor, breathing heavily.

Why did Kujoo leave me here? He was walking
with me but disappeared just in time for me to see those people. My
instincts tell me that something is really wrong with this place. I
need to move out of here as fast as possible.

Emily screamed as she got up and ran towards
Kujoo “My father.”

As she got to him, she forgot why she ran but
started shouting at him “Why did you leave me alone?”

“I didn’t leave you, you seemed so taken
aback and I decided to leave you to yourself.”

“But that’s a lie, I was talking to you, then
you vanished” She screamed at him. The air seemed to be getting
thinner around Kujoo.

* * *

“Emily tried to open the book, but it didn’t
get to open. She stood up from the chair and moved towards the
shelf, searching for other books that had the type of cover
possessed by that book. She tried to open the first one but the
same thing happened until she got to the last one.

She slammed the book on the table and headed
for the librarian’s table screaming at him.

“Why can’t I open some of the books?”

“I don’t know why you are asking me that” he
asked, looking confused.

“You said I created this place, I can’t get
to open a silly book.” That’s pretty annoying, you know?”

“I don’t know why ma’am, but I think you
should be able to open all the books here.”

She left the side of his table and moved few
inches before asking for the way out of the library. He snapped his
fingers and a door appeared right at the spot she came in through.
She said a goodbye by waving her hands and left after he returned
the gesture.

Evalle was immediately headed for her
guardian’s house. As she got home, her mother was sitting on the
couch, not saying anything. She ran immediately to her and shook
her arm, no movement. She carried her in her arms and wept after
seeing her broken neck.

Who would have done this to such a peaceful
lady? Life is so cruel. She thought.

* * *

Kujoo felt so tensed and he started walking
slowly away from Emily and she was moving towards him. She then
remembered why she ran after him as she screamed at him “Where is
my father?”

“Your father? What happened to him?”

“You are asking me that? You were one that
said he was sleeping when I saw him yesterday, weren’t you?” Tears
were beginning to drop from her eyes.

“Yes, he was sleeping, but now, he’s no
longer with us.”