Lauda (2)

Atasha’s Point of View

Walking up the enormous staircase of the stone castle, our feet seemed to hover in mid-air above the ground.

"This is great..." An expression came out of my mouth with every step forward we made, astounded that we just had the ability to float with the help of Claudette’s spell.

I turned back and took a quick look at the staircase as we approached the front door of the building.

"If we didn’t have any protection and we accidentally stepped on the stairs, what would happen?" I inquired curiously, then pointed to the stairs.

"Only witches could cross the stairs. If you happen to step on the stairs, it will turn you to stone, and someone will smash you with a sledgehammer," Claudette responded, and her statement made me gasp.

"It’s horrible. It's a good thing that we did not attempt to walk on it. We did see a witch who floated when she entered the castle," I uttered.

Thinking that the staircase could turn us into stones made me feel a great fear. There was no doubt that the Highest Priestess was powerful enough to come up with such a punishment for creatures like us. Claudette then escorted us to the castle's entrance, where we were met by a keeper.

At the top of the door, there were numerous venomous snakes that were encircling the large handles of the door, which was around ten feet tall. With the wave of her hand, it swung open. My eyes widened at what Claudette did. She seemed too powerful as well!

"Follow me," she said, and I clutched Elijah's arm, scared of the darkness that surrounded us within the castle.

It brought back the memories of those nightmares I used to have as a child. It gave me the jitters, thinking about the horrible memory from when I was at church. Since that night, there has been something about gloomy locations that makes me feel frightened and threatened. Whenever I was alone and got a sense of isolation, it felt as if someone was watching me from a distance, which made me feel like I wasn't alone in a dark place the entire time. It felt like a thousand eyes were watching me from every angle, gazing at every motion I made. That feeling was so scary. The fact that something or someone was there watching you when you weren't meant to be out there gave me the chills.

When I was a child, I used to have that kind of feeling. There was something in the darkness that triggered me to have such thoughts and to have such bad dreams.

"Hey, is there something wrong? You hold onto my arm too tight," Elijah said that jolted me back to the present moment.

"I'm very sorry. I think I am just too anxious once again,” I said to him.

He then smiled and wrapped his arms around me while we were walking.

“I’ll stay here beside you. Don’t be afraid.”

The only source of illumination was provided by the floating candles, and the surroundings were so dark that I couldn't tell where we were at all. It was as if we were walking through an endless, pitch-black abyss. At the end of the hallway we walked down, we came across a witch who was sitting in a chair, and I noticed that she was sitting in front of a large collection of books and papers.

Claudette then walked over to the witch, who was looking in our direction. Compared to Claudette, who had gray-colored hair, this new witch had long and straight black hair, brown skin, and big brown eyes with a blank expression on her face.

"Jamira,” Claudette called her attention. “I brought someone with me. This is Devon…”

The witch, whom Claudette called as Jamira, got to her feet and was astounded as she looked at Devon.

“Devon?! You mean the Highest Priestess’s daughter?” She inquired.

“Exactly.”

"Hi, Jamira. It's a pleasure to meet you," Devon said and smiled at her.

Jamira took a deep breath and bent her head.

"No, the pleasure was entirely mine. I am so happy that the Highest Priestess’ daughter finally arrived here," she exclaimed enthusiastically.

"We can skip the pleasantries for now, Jamira. We went here because we require your help,” Claudette mentioned. “You are the only witch I know that can help us.”

"Sure, Claudette. Let me know if there's anything I can do to aid you," Jamira replied politely.

Claudette then informed her that we would have to fly from here to the top of the stairs, all the way up to the fourth floor, to accomplish our goal.

As per Claudette, it will take approximately eight hours to climb all the way to the fourth storey of this stone castle. She said that each storey had a witch who served as a guide for the witch servants who would be sent to the werewolf lands by the witches.

The first floor was dedicated to casting diseases, the second story was dedicated to healing, the third floor was dedicated to casting a jinx or bad luck, and the fourth floor, which was the highest, was dedicated to casting a horrific curse.

Each storey of this castle was also equipped with secret entrances that would lead to underground passageways.

"All of them lead to the churches that have been constructed in the werewolf territory," Claudette informed us, which took me completely by surprise.

"So it is possible that the church I went to with Astrid when we were young was connected to this underground world of witches?" I murmured to myself.

"Atasha, are you alright?" Perhaps because he saw my brows wrinkling as I let my thoughts consume me, Elijah asked me.

It was then that I revealed to everyone that we had an old abandoned church in the Silver Moon territory, which was so terrible that I concluded it must have been a church that was connected through the underground tunnel.

"In that church, I saw a woman, perhaps a witch, and I have the feeling that she was the reason why I was cursed."

"Are you sure about that?" Devon inquired, her voice full of curiosity.

"I can find out whether my intuition is correct or not when I get to face your mother, Devon," I said in response to her question.

After that, Jamira handed us broomsticks, which we would be using to fly up to the fourth storey of the castle.

"Thank you very much for your support," Devon told her immediately.

Jamira nodded with a smile, then she turned to me and gave me a broomstick.

"I'm not sure how to make use of it." I said.

Devon giggled. "Of course you won't be able to fly using it because you aren't a witch," she responded.

"Use it to sweep around here," Claudette chimed in, and the two of them burst out laughing.

My eyes narrowed as I looked at both of them. These witches were truly wicked creatures! I sighed, acknowledging my defeat.

"We will cast a spell to make it easier for you to float and fly up there." Devon then assured me that everything would be fine.

As a result, we began heading up the stairwell that would lead us to each of the castle's floors. Claudette then took off with her broomsticks, soaring upwards.

"I'll see you from the top!" she shouted out. We were both awestruck at how high she was able to fly, and so was Elijah.

Afterward, Devon directed me and Elijah to ride on our broomsticks, after which she said a magical spell, which caused the broomstick to fly upwards and float us above the ground.

On each floor, we soared to great heights.

The fact that I was terrified of falling caused me to scream my heart out. In front of me, Elijah turned his head to look at me, as if he was worried about me.

"Atasha, keep your hands closed and hang on tight!" he exclaimed.

It took hours for us to fly up to the fourth storey. Elijah managed to maneuver on his broomstick. He rode it without any sweat and was able to land at the fourth storey just fine. However, it wasn’t the case for me. Just when I tried to land properly, the broomstick seemed to have a life of its own and fled all the way to the fourth storey’s ceiling. My head was slammed against it and then the next thing I knew, I fell. The fact that Elijah caught me before I touched the ground was a miraculous turnaround.

"Is everything okay with you? he said.

"Thank you, my mettle," I said in response. "It's possible that my enhanced abilities were ineffective in this environment. I'm just a bundle of nerves."

Elijah shook his head. "Don't worry, you've had trauma in places like this, so it's only natural. But once you've been entirely cured by the Highest Priestess, you won't have to be terrified anymore!" he stated. My chest started pounding rapidly, thinking that Elijah understood every emotion I had. He then assisted me in getting to my feet again.

***

The fourth storey of the stone castle was well illuminated by the blue-emitting worms that were suspended from the ceilings, and there were also a large number of floating candles in the room. There were a few bats, a few large scorpions, spiders, and a few strange-looking creepy crawlies slithering on the ground, among other things.

Moving slowly while hiding on Elijah’s back and keeping up with Claudette and Devon was a good idea for now. They walked onto the red carpet, which would lead us to the chancel. In the area around an altar, there were numerous human skulls being displayed.

At the altar, a huge statue of a human body with a goat-like head became the center of attention.

"That one is scary..." I got goose bumps down my spine whenever I glanced at that statue. I also came across some skulls of lifeless animals, including dogs, pigs, birds, and werewolves, which I noticed afterward.

My eyes wandered, and I observed some seats in front of the altar. They were facing towards the chancel. I was still hiding from Elijah’s back when I heard a group of witches, indicating that we were not the only ones in this place.

They began singing. I gasped. Because of my enhanced hearing ability, their voices echoed in my head, and it was a terrifying scene to witness.

I was picking up on little voices echoing in my ears.

"Lauda…" I heard the voice of a woman, but it sounded nothing like the melody we were accustomed to hearing from them while they were singing.

My body was trembling as I clenched my teeth together. The hairs on the back of my neck began to stick up. Claudette and Devon were just standing there, as if they were waiting for the witches across from them to complete their ritual.

"We are witnessing how they worship the demons in flesh," Elijah said. As I held his arms tightly and closed my eyes, a mental image of the goat's face grinning at me stayed in my mind. It caused me to have a hallucination of a witch I saw at the old abandoned church.

Upon gazing bravely toward the altar, I noticed that the witches who were performing rituals had stood up, clutching each other's hands, and had begun chanting again.

Someone unexpectedly appeared in front of them, and I was assuming that she was the Highest Priestess in question. Leaving the back of that statue, which was half-human, half-goat, she went away.

I was frightened. My eyes widened as a flashback to when I was a child flashed before my very own eyes as she pulled the hood from her cloak. Then my voice lingered in my mind.

"Astrid, it seems that this place is an abandoned church. Let's head back home." I told my twin-sister.

I remember it all now. Somehow, it brought relief within me when I realized that the Highest Priestess and the old lady I had met were the same person. I was able to confirm it.

I was holding out my tears, seeing the Highest Priestess, who happened to be Devon’s mother.

Devon then began walking towards her mother.

"Devon…" Diva called her daughter.

The witches who were performing a ritual stopped and turned around at us.

"Yes, Highest Priestess, Diva. She’s your daughter, Devon," Claudette remarked.

Diva then went down from the altar and ran to hug her daughter. It was such an emotional scene to see with my own eyes. A mother and daughter were reunited after many years… Somehow, the fear within me and the anger towards Devon’s mother were slowly being washed away.

I took a deep breath and wanted to be happy for Devon that she was able to meet her mother. I know it was hard to be away from your family. It was also sad to be alone in one place, no matter how beautiful her secret place was.

"Atasha, prepare yourself as we will be facing her mother. We need to accomplish our goal here," Elijah whispered in my ear.

I simply nodded in response. This was the time I’d been waiting for…

"Claudette, please let her know that she needs to heal me from my curse," I said.

Then I prayed to the Moon Goddess to finally give me the cure I needed. This would fix me. After this, I would marry Elijah and become his official Luna.