After fighting another packof death hounds and a giant Frostbite Spider, they had finally reached a door that hopefullyled to the courtyard.
Enden felt slightlyapprehensive, he had no idea what was at waiting for thembehind that door. The idea of uncovering secrets and cryptic clues caused his stomach to churn.
"You ready?" He asked anxiously.
"Yes. I'mready to see if mymother left us any clues." She responded curtly.
Without any hesitation, Serana opened the gothic wooden door, and he heard her gasped bywhat she saw. Serana lingered forward and right out of his sight, as the door blocked his view.
"What is it?" He felt his heartbeat pick up its pace; he could almost hear it pummeling again his rib cage. Could we be walking straight into a trap?
He instinctively reached for his crossbow, and gripped the buttstock tightly; feeling his hands becoming sweaty fromthe tension and the lacking breath ability of his gauntlets.
Enden crept around the open door and was greeted with the sight of dull rays of light, that made himsquint. He tried toadjust tothe soft morning beams - but it proved to be difficult.
Finally, after the shock from the bright light had wore off, he was able to look around for himself.
The courtyardwasn't quite as spacious as he had assumed. High gray, lifeless colored stone walls towered over them, closing themoff from the world. It made Endenfeel a little claustrophobic as if he was trapped.
Still he inched forward, toward the cobblestone path laid out before him. Somehow patches of dull green grass still had held onto dear life after all this time. It sprouted out of the old bricks beneath his feet and even larger bands were assembled around the edges of the walls.
Enden noticed the multiple balconies that overlooked a beautifully sculpted center piece that resemble something along the lines of a sun dial.
Or was it a sun dial? As he moved closer, he realized the cycle was not one of the sun, but one of the moons. It was the cycle of Masser and Secunda, which made sense since vampires didn't worship the sun, theyonly were out at night.
Turning away from the moon dial, he observed the gargoyle statues that adored almost every shambled balcony. They were stony giants, and demonic guardians of this very placidplace.
He walked around the moon dial, observing the missing pieces, and inquiring if it had always been this way: unfinished. It was alreadyodd enough to see a moon dial, but the fact that it was unfinished unnerved him for some reason. Serana's voice fractured his quiet thoughts, and he turned toward her.
"What happened here? This place looks so dead... Looks like were the first ones to set foot here in centuries." She said lamentingly, as if someone had just come and tore her whole world apart and she was trying to pick up the pieces.
"What's wrong?" He question, even though the answer was blatant.
Serana shookher head in anger and frustration. "This place use to hold such beauty, and now lookwhat it's become. I use toenjoy spending time here with my mother, but now I just want torun awayat this sight."
"Do you know what happened to the courtyard?"
"If I had to guess, I'd sayonce Mother fled the castle, Father went on a rampage. Knowing him, anything at all that reminded himof her was just destroyed."
"Then he just walled it off?" Enden frowned.
"It appears that way. I suppose he wanted to put the past behind him. Perhaps if he had spent more time with us, he might have recognized the beautyfor himself."
