Castle (The Badlands Series) Book 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Welcome To A New World

Emlyn awakened after what seemed like eternity. Her eyes did not open at first as she pulled herself to her knees and held her head. She could feel dirt below her, and she took a deep breath as her eyes slowly opened.

She pulled herself to her feet and stood for a minute to stable herself before looking around. She was on a dirt path with grassy plains that seemed to be glowing with sunlight, that touched and shone on every blade. Her eyes strayed out behind her and she turned her body to face a sign.

Badlands: Dangerous Lands and Creatures Lurk Beyond This Sign Enter At Your Own Risk.

Emlyn turned back around and looked out into the distance. There was an old looking castle in the distance, and it had an eerie look to it. Fog seemed to hover around it and there was a low rumble coming from it. Emlyn soon learned after listening closely and walking nearer to the structure that the rumble was voices.

"Emlyn! Emlyn! Emlyn!" Voices chanted in an eerie way as they called her name. She couldn't quite figure out why, though. Emlyn needed a guide someone to help her, so she thought and thought about this particular person for a long moment.

Around this time a girl started coming towards her all of a sudden as if she appeared from thin air. Her hair was pitch black and silky, and the sun seemed to give it that same glow it gave the grass. Her eyes were black too, like shiny coals were placed in her sockets instead of eyes.

"Hello, I'm Stella...Welcome To A New World! We are happy to have you, and if you can't tell... there are some people anxious to make you Queen. With that said we must head to the Castle." Stella seemed strange like one of those video game characters who were programmed to say the same things. Nevertheless, Emlyn followed her.

"I'm Emlyn and I'm actually wondering why am I here? Why do people want to make me Queen?" Emlyn asked the black-haired girl, and Stella stared straight ahead, no personality to her. Emlyn wished she had one and then all of a sudden Stella smiled at her as if something struck her, a personality.

"Horrace will tell you. He's the old king and he may seem crazy, but he's wise and powerful. He will tell you the Prophecy," Stella said cheerfully and now walked with a smile on her face, and curious eyes that wandered around to see new things.

Emlyn wasn't sure how to take that. Horrace had been a character she created. Did that make Stella a character she created? Emlyn began to worry not only about her unanswered questions, but the new ones brewing in her mind. The ones about Camilla, her antagonist with anger issues that gave her power.

The two eventually reached the town just below the castle and people bowed to Emlyn who began feeling self-conscious. She rubbed her arm and bit her lip. She didn't understand a thing that had happened in the last twenty-four hours. Now she had just entered the grand castle, and there he was. Horrace sat upon his throne with his old features, pale wrinkled skin, dull deep-set blue eyes, white thinning hair, but there was something about him.

The vibe he could give to anyone. The power that radiated off him, you could feel it in the air. He was a powerful and wise man, and not one to be messed with. Emlyn thought quietly to herself that she had made a fucking God. She liked this too, he could help her, because she created someone who knew everything.