Nicholai was blissfully unaware of any consequences he may experience as a result of entering this old castle. He had refused to believe what the people of three of the four surrounding villages were saying about it, even though they expressed the information with the greatest fear within their voices. There was a doubt in his mind thinking it cannot be as bad as they say.

As he walked up the crumbling path he watched where he was stepping to make sure the floor did not dip under his feet. His heart was racing, he had never felt this way before, excited, scared and anxious at the same time. The thought of going into this building that everyone feared is why he felt the way he did. He got to the end of the garden path that stood next to the slate stairs that had started to get cracks on either side of the stairs, stood handrails, the paint had almost fully peeled off due to the lack of caretaking to the property. Planted in the roses that had wilted up due to not being watered.

He looked up the stairs planning the route he would take that looks the safest, that has the least amount of cracks, as he looked up, he noticed what was left of a door. It was a big wooden door that looked like it would have been so heavy if it never had so many holes. They appeared to be axe holes, this was due to them being vertical, also thin like the head of an axe. Whoever did it was clearly trying to break the door as the swings appeared to be randomly spread across the door.

He looked through one of the holes. It was darkness, he thought this weird considering the building was crumbling and had holes all over the walls. He tried to focus on something, anything that was in there but all he could see was black, no signs of light anywhere. How can this be? He pushed the door, it fell and was hanging on by just the bottom hinges. It hit something making it stop in its fall. Nicholai crouched down and carefully went through the gap caused by whatever it had fallen onto.

Peeking through his half-closed eyes, he stumbled down the hall, he came up to a room in the limited lighting he could make out frames hanging wonkily on the wall. The light moved across the wall and he noticed it was clowns in the frames. As he looked around the rest of the room he was startled by the creaking of a door from further down the hall. As he slowly creeped down the hall, he fumbled into an open doorway he noticed a window was slightly open, this could be the reason for the door opposite.

As he walked towards it his footing went and he fell to the rotting floor the thud caused the floorboard to shatter and he tumbled down into the room below him, this caused the interior integrity of the building to become destabilised. In this room the window was smashed. A cracked lamp on the wobbly bedside table was rocking back and forth in the wind coming through the jagged hole in the window. He backed out of the room into the hall.

He wandered down the hall looking around him in a state of anxiety, he was petrified of what was going to happen next within the castle. Could there be gas faults that could cause carbon monoxide poisoning? Maybe what was left of the roof could collapse and land on him pinning him down. Are the walls strong enough to remain standing or is there too much rotting in them, the woodlice eating them away putting holes in the beams. Would the remaining shards of glass be blown at him and pierce his skin causing lesions and cuts.

He fell to the floor, he went dizzy. It felt like the presence was scraping against his thoughts. As if it was peeling back memories he’d carefully buried, from his life as a child, all roads he abandoned, doors left unopened. Faces he’d failed to remember in time. Regret was its language. Memory its teeth. It brought up all your regrets and worries. Makes you think about what you could have done but never. He shook his head and looked around.

Every part of this building is dangerous, the structure, the floors, even the doorways. It is all unstable, no way could it handle two people at the same time. The floors were shaking as Nicholai walked along the hall on the creaky floorboards, there was a lot of regret that he even entered this property.

As he turned, he saw what he thought was a figure run into a room behind him, he slowly walked to the room but as he neared the frameless door the room appeared to be spinning around. He closed his eyes and shook his head hoping it was the fear he was feeling making him hallucinate, as he opened his eyes the room was still, he let out a deep breath of relief, but the room spun again this time faster than before.

The figure was a shadow. It stood in the middle but was not spinning, it was just staring at Nicholai. Upon a closer look Nicholai noticed that the figure was floating above the floor. Nicholai felt nervous, he turned and ran as fast as he could, his feet were flying everywhere due to the speed he was running. Trying to get as far from it as he could.

Behind him he heard a howling, it could not be a werewolf, could it? He froze on the spot unsure of what to do, he had never heard a howl so close before. Suddenly there was a bang, the door of the room he was next to slammed, he felt a hand on his shoulder but when he looked around there was nobody there, he turned white and stood frozen in time unable to move. His sense of security had been well and truly violated by this point, his fear took over and he was unsure of what he should do next. The next events could prove to stop him escaping this somewhat dismantled mansion or prohibiting him from surviving this horrid ordeal.

He wandered down the hall looking around him in a state of anxiety, he was petrified of what was going to happen next within the house. Could there be gas faults that could cause carbon monoxide poisoning? Maybe what was left of the roof could collapse and land on him pinning him down. Are the walls strong enough to remain standing or is there too much rotting in them, the woodlice eating them away putting holes in the beams. Would the remaining shards of glass be blown at him and pierce his skin causing lesions and cuts.

Every part of this building is dangerous, the structure, the floors, even the doorways. It is all unstable, no way could it handle two people at the same time. The floors were shaking as Nicholai walked along the hall on the creaky floorboards, there was a lot of regret that he even entered this property.

He caught a movement out of his peripheral vision, it was blurry because it moved so fast. He looked towards the room it ran into, stood in the doorway was this figure. It just stood there, Nicholai stood looking at it examining it very carefully taking in all the details. He was in awe at how it looked, there were similarities to the mansion. To his surprise it just stood there looking back at him.

Nicholai was surprised to see the entity was portrayed as a female. She had hooves instead of feet, her legs looked human, but there were breaks in her skin. Two in the lower left leg one smaller than the other. The smaller one was half way down the shin. The bigger one just above it at the back of the leg. The third one was right above the knee, it seemed like it went all the way round the leg but Nicholai noticed the tiniest bit of skin keeping the two parts connected.

On the right leg they were both above the knee. The lower one was about half way down the thigh. It again looked like it went all the way round with a little skin keeping it together. But this one was wider than the one on the left leg. The other was smaller half way between the lower split and the hip. Around the hips was a very small set of black underwear.

There was a tail, a very long tail. It went behind her right leg curved on an angle so it could be seen between her legs then back to the outside. The end of the tail was shaped like a flame. The tail was red like the rest of her body part from the tip that was jet black. She was slim, wearing nothing but what appeared to be plasters crossed over covering the nipples.

There was a triangular shaped hole on the right hand side, the point was near the middle of the body getting wider towards the side. The top part of it sloped up to just underneath the breast. On her shoulders were black markings. The biggest one was on the right shoulder, literally the edge of it making its way down her arm. It stopped half way down the top of her arm, it covered the front half of her arm. Underneath it were smaller black patches, then just above the elbow it looked like her skin there was a sleeve with jagged edges, but she never had a top.

Was this her skin? The bottom half of her arm was like normal skin but red. Her fingers were long and pointed, the tips were black. At first Nicholai thought it was nails but when he looked closer it wasn't, it was actually her fingers. Her right arm had the black patches again but they were spread out more. There were holes in her arm this time, the bottom half one nearer to the elbow on the inside that was bigger and the other on a diagonal towards the wrist. From this down was a normal arm part from the fingers being the same pointed black ones.

The neck also had the black dots leading up onto the chin. The head looked like a normal human one until Nicholai noticed the eyes, where humans are white hers were black and the pupils were bright yellow. Her ears were shaped like elf ears but stuck out horizontally from her head. Her hair was stuck back neatly as if it had been styled. From the hair were six horns, the edge ones bigger getting smaller as they went in. The tongue was stuck out, it was split, like a snake's tongue. It wasn’t as long but so weird.

Nicholai couldn’t stop looking at the entity, he had never seen anything like this before. She spoke, he recognised the voice, it was the one that led him here. He was right! It was the entity. Why didn’t she just tell him? She looked at him. Her eyes softened, even if just for a moment, the tension in the air replaced by a fragile vulnerability.

Her voice started again. “Nicholai, I did not bring you here to torment you” her voice said. It was steady but had a tinge of sorrow within it. “I am bound to this place, just like you. But our purposes and journeys are different.” His breath caught, just stood mid breath frozen. “Deep within you there are regrets and memories. This castle feeds on that. You will be more likely to unlock the hold it has on you when you face what you have tried hard to forget.”

The entity continued, “there is a curse on this castle, it is binding. An ancient contract etched into the fabrics of this castle and also your blood. The way it gets stronger is by you refusing to acknowledge your regrets, fears and sorrow. It gains strength with each broken promise.”

Nicholai turned around, “how can I trust you? The way you taunted me and put so much fear into me to try and get me here.” A whisper came from the bricks of the building. “I understand why you would question me, I cannot speak of any of this outside of the castle walls. That is why I sent Elara, hoping she could. Unfortunately she could not either.”

Nicholai felt something in his hand. He tightened his grip. It felt like a key. Down his face broke a cold sweat, “what must I do?” He asked. “There is a ritual that your ancestors began but struggled to complete, you must make a sacrifice. Not of blood but of self. To do this you confront the deepest, darkest parts of your guilt, free your soul and be willing to surrender what binds you to this world.”

The walls started to make a low humming noise, shadows stretching up the walls and across the floor. Nicholai felt the weight of unseen eyes watching him from all over the room.

A deep voice echoed around the whole building. “Nicholai, you must complete three trials. Each one has different ways to test your resolve, your truth and your willingness to let go. If you fail your soul becomes mine and you will be trapped here. The castles hunger satisfied by your whole essence.

Nicholai just stood staring forward, he took a deep breath and quietly asked, “what are the trials?” The entities form shimmered, the hall transformed. In the dim light three doors appeared, each one had a symbol on it. The first a shattered mirror, second a bleeding heart and the last one had a withered tree.

The deep voice came back. “You will first do the reflection trial, where you will face your truest self. The parts you even hide from yourself. Only if you return shall you know the next.

He stepped forward, the air growing thicker with every step he took. He grabbed the handle he felt a chill he had never experienced before. It was like the castle was holding its breath.