What an adventure

Chapter seven: Finally in the castle

Morning came and it was time for the reign of evil to leave.

Althea burst into Nick's room with a bell. "Nick! It's time to go!" she rang the bell. Nick shot up from his pillow and threw the other pillow that was on the bed, Althea dodged the pillow and smiled before walking out of the room.

Nick groaned and got out of bed. He spotted some clothes on a desk that was in the corner of the room and changed into them. He walked out of the room and walked to the kitchen, Beatrice and Ophelia were nowhere to be seen, Althea was making some bread. Nick sat at the table and put his head on the surface.

There was suddenly a huge bang that came from outside.

Althea and Nick quickly ran out of the cottage and ran to the left side of the house to see Ophelia coughing up some smoke. Althea ran over to her and wiped Ophelia's face with a rag.

Nick looked behind Ophelia and saw a massive pedestal with a round portal sitting on the flat surface. "Is that the portal that's gonna take me to the castle?"

Ophelia looked over and sighed.

"Yes, but it hasn't been on for years so repairing it is going to be difficult," Ophelia said as she walked over to the portal.

Nick examined the portal, he put his hand over the turquoise crystal that was on both sides of the portal. He then realized that Ophelia had used her crystals to fix this. He also realized that only using those crystals wouldn't work. He noticed a circle that was carved at the top of the portal. He slowly reached into his pocket and fished out the necklace that he usually wore. He took the gold ring off of the necklace and put it into the carved circle, perfect fit.

After a few seconds, the portal lit up.

Ophelia's honey-colored eyes widened in shock, she couldn't believe that a mere human had figured out how to power up the portal.

"How did you know to do that?"

Nick looked over and shrugged, "Just a hunch."

Ophelia stared at him dumbfounded, but before she could get another word out, Beatrice walked over to them.

"You all got the portal working, marvelous. Nick, it's time."

Nick nodded his head and followed Beatrice into the cottage. She led him to a closet that was hidden behind a bookcase before.

She pulled out a leather backpack and handed it to Nick. "The god of nature had blessed it, his animals had gratefully given themselves to make it. He looks to see that this is put to good use."

Nick took the bag and looked at it closely. "Well, at least there's something that the gods will lp with."

Beatrice smiled a bit and continued to pull things out of the closet.

"All of this will deem useful on your journey. Do not worry about the weight on your back, that is a special backpack. All you have to do to pull any of it out is imagine what you wanna pull out and it will appear at the bottom of the bag."

"Okay."

After getting everything packed, Beatrice led Nick outside to the portal where Althea was decorating it with flowers. Ophelia was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh, time to go already?" Althea asked. Beatrice nodded her head,

"Do not worry, I have a feeling that we shall meet again."

Nick looked at her confused, he put the bag on, the armor he was wearing clashed together. "Where's Ophelia?"

Althea shrugged, "She went inside while you guys were packing, guess she didn't want to see you off again."

Nick nodded his head, "that makes sense."

Beatrice cleared her throat, "It's time, we should say our goodbyes now."

"Wait, is there anything I need to know before I enter the portal and put my life at risk?" Nick asked, shifting his armor a bit.

Althea nodded her head, "Actually, yes. If you see a girl with curled horns and white eyes, do not listen to her. Run. And if you see Finn, tell him that he's always welcomed back," Althea said. Nick nodded his head and turned to Beatrice who smiled softly at him. "It makes me a bit sad to see you go again but instead of crying, I will smile, knowing that you shall return wiser than when you left."

Nick smiled up at her and hugged her quickly. Beatrice hugged him back. Nick enjoyed the warmth, reminded him of his mother before she completely lost it. Nick pulled away and laughed nervously. "I guess I should get going then...it was nice meeting you two again, tell Ophelia that I said bye please."

"Will do, bye Nick!" Althea yelled, her arms flailing in the air.

"Farewell, Nick." Beatrice waved.

Nick waved back and stepped into the portal.

Ophelia watched from inside the cottage, she closed the blinds and kicked a box under her bed.

Nick stepped to the other side of the portal, he ended up in front of a castle, he figured that it was the castle that they spoke of. He stretched his limbs and stepped forward. He could feel the magic border pass through him, definitely dark magic.

He looked around and spotted a window, He walked over to the window and looked through it, it seemed to lead into an empty hall.

Nick reached into the bag on his back and pulled out one of the vials that Beatrice had packed, he splashed it on the window and it disintegrated. He walked through the big space that it had made and looked around.

A guard was walking down the hall, before Nick could realize it, the guard had spotted him from afar. The guard started charging at Nick, spear ready.

Nick quickly dodged, which was odd because he could feel all of his senses heighten.

He grabbed the spear and pulled, taking the guard off the ground and throwing him to the wall.

Nick didn't wait for the guard to get up before he started running down the hall. He pulled a map from his bag and examined it, just a few more turns till he can make it to the big hall where they could be keeping the main source of the dark magic that's killing the land. As he continued to turn corners, he began hearing footsteps coming up behind him. He stopped when he spotted guards ahead of him, he turned around to see guards behind him.

****.