Fiery Love- Chapter 50

Aurora finished packing her things in her traveling backpack and set it next to the couch in her living room. It was a new year, and finally the day that she was going to go and see her ancestors' ancient kingdom with Thrax. They were going to go there and look around for the next few days. She was so excited about going and thought that maybe they'd even find something there that could even help them against Nature's Court.

The past couple of weeks had been pretty quiet concerning them. A little too quiet. She hadn't had any other run-ins with them, but she still occasionally felt the cold chill that came when the one that could turn into a snake watched her from a distance. While she and Thrax were gone she was going to have some animals keep an eye on her house to be safe. Just in case they tried anything.

She made sure to pack everything she would need. Now she just needed to wait for Thrax to get there with what he packed and then wait for Enel and the other sorcerers and sorceresses to get there so that they could go to the secret cave. As she waited she heard something outside that sounded like a moving van, so she went to the window and looked out. Sure enough, there was a moving van backing up into the parking lot across the street. Kai was officially moving in.

Aurora frowned. The thought of having Kai living across from her still gave her a bad feeling, even if he was being nice to her and helped out when Nature's Court attacked her, or whatever it was they were really doing. He still made a bad chill go up her spine whenever he was around, and she still had the feeling that he was connected to it all somehow.

She watched the moving van finish backing up into the parking lot and then shut off. Then Kai and a couple other guys got out of it and went to the back to start unloading. They looked like they were friends of his by how they were talking with each other. She watched them for a little while as they unloaded stuff, still getting a chill up her spine.

Most of the stuff they unloaded was in boxes, then there were a few things like furniture and other stuff. Aurora decided to stop looking and turned around, when another chill suddenly ran up her spine. She looked back out the window and saw Kai looking in her direction, then he started walking towards her house.

"Oh, boy. What's he doing?" Aurora went over to the door as she watched Kai walk up her walkway and opened it before he got to there.

Kai walked up to her, a calm look on his face. "Hey Aurora."

"Hey Kai. I see you're finishing up on moving in." She looked at the moving van and then back at Kai.

"Yeah. We're almost done." Kai paused. "Look, I was wondering if you were alright? I mean, after what happened a couple weeks ago with those guys. I haven't really had the chance to ask you and just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Aurora smiled, even though that bad feeling was still hanging around. "I'm fine Kai. Thanks for asking. What about you?" She figured she'd ask since he brought it up, hoping it would help her figure things out. She still wanted to know why Don said she shouldn't have let him go into the woods.

"I'm fine." Kai replied. "Why?"

Aurora shrugged. "Just thought I'd ask." She looked and saw Kai's two friends walking across the street and heading towards them. "It looks like your friends are coming over to chat, too."

Kai turned around to look at his friends, then smiled and moved to the side as they approached them. "Sorry guys. I just wanted to check up on Aurora here." He looked at Aurora. "Aurora, this is Rune," He gestured his hand towards the guy on the right. "And Darius." He then gestured to the guy on the left. "They're my two closest friends."

"Hi." Rune extended his hand to Aurora.

Aurora smiled politely and shook his hand, as she did she got a bit of a bad feeling, but still smiled to hide it. "Hi."

Darius then extended his hand to her after she finished shaking Rune's hand. "It's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you, too." Aurora politely shook his hand, getting the same bad feeling from him as well. She wasn't sure what to make of it at the moment. It was weird, but it definitely wasn't good that she got that feeling from them, that's for sure.

"I wish we could talk more," Rune said. "But we need to finish unloading the moving van."

"Maybe after we're done you could come over and we could get to know you better." Darius suggested, to which Rune and Kai smiled in agreement and looked at Aurora to see what she would say.

Aurora frowned. One, she was going to be leaving soon, and two she didn't really like the idea of hanging out with them because of the bad feeling she got. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to be leaving soon with my boyfriend and I won't be back for a few days."

Rune and Darius frowned and looked at each other a little surprised, then back at Aurora. It was weird how they looked at each other. She decided she'd think about it later.

Kai had the same expression on his face as Rune and Darius did. "Really? Where are you going?"

Aurora thought carefully about what she was going to say. She couldn't let them know where she was going, but couldn't look suspicious either by not saying anything. "We've never been there. It's this place my sorcerer and sorceress friends know about." She smiled. "They're leaving where it is a surprise."

"How are you getting there if you've never been there and don't know where it is?" Kai asked curiously, but there was something else in his tone, too. Aurora couldn't tell what it was. Not at the moment anyway. She would eventually, though.

"Well, they're going to take us there the way they usually get around." Aurora replied. Transportation spell with their staffs.

Kai raised his eyebrow. "And how do sorcerers and sorceresses usually get around?"

Aurora gave him a knowing smile, but that's all she would give him. She looked at the time and realized Thrax would be there soon. She tuned her ears and heard his car a few miles away. "You guys should probably get back to unloading the van. Thrax is going to be here soon and once he's here we're going to leave soon after."

Kai frowned. "Right. He still doesn't like me does he?" Aurora shook her head. Regardless of the fact that he did help out a couple weeks ago, and her having the feeling that he had something to do with Nature's Court, Thrax pretty much hated his guts and wanted to kill him the second she was sure he was involved with them, or if he crossed the line. "Yeah, I was afraid of that. What about you? Do you hate me?"

"I don't hate you Kai." Aurora replied. "You just made me a little uncomfortable. That doesn't mean I hate you." She wasn't going to tell him about the bad feeling, though.

Kai smiled, happy with her response. "Well I'm glad you don't hate me. I really hope I'll get to know you better and make the uncomfortable feeling go away." He paused. "Maybe after you come back from wherever it is you're going to, we could all get together or something and talk a little?"

Aurora thought for a moment. She wasn't sure how wise of an idea that was, but it might help her figure out why Kai gave her a bad feeling, and how he was connected with Nature's Court. "Maybe. I'll talk to Thrax about it."

Kai looked at Rune and Darius. "You guys go ahead. I'll be there in a second." They nodded and went ahead and walked back across the street. He then looked at Aurora and smiled. "I'm glad you're alright."

"Thanks." Aurora smiled, still getting a bad chill up her spine.

"I hope I'll see you later." Kai walked down the steps and waved to Aurora and she politely waved back. Then he turned around and walked across the street and joined Rune and Darius.

A few minutes after Kai went back across the street Aurora saw Thrax's car come down the road, then drive up into her driveway. As he got out he was looking across the street at first, glaring. Then he turned his attention to Aurora and his expression softened as he walked over to her.

"Hi, baby." Thrax wrapped his arms around Aurora's waist, pulled her close, and kissed her.

Aurora pressed her hands against Thrax's chest and kissed him back. "Hey Thrax. Are you ready?" She smiled excitedly as she looked up at him.

Thrax grinned and nodded. "You bet." He looked across the street and then back at her. "I see the little creep is moving in now."

She nodded and looked across the street. She noticed Kai looking at them out of the corner of his eye with a frown on his face, as if he heard what Thrax just said. When he saw her looking he smiled, quickly looked away, and continued unloading the van with Darius and Rune. She was definitely going to think about that later. There was no way he could have heard what Thrax said, yet it looked like he did.

Aurora looked back at Thrax and smiled. "Did you pack everything you'll need?"

"Yep. I'll go ahead and get it." Thrax walked back over to his car and opened the trunk, then he pulled out a black traveling backpack and closed it. He walked back over to her and grinned. "All packed and ready."

Aurora giggled and walked inside. "Come on. Enel and the others will be here soon."

Thrax walked in behind Aurora and closed the door. They both headed for her living room and he set his traveling backpack down next to the couch, right next to hers. He folded his arms behind his back and walked over to the window and looked out of it.

"You're watching them, aren't you?" Aurora knew he was. That's what she had done earlier.

"Yep." Thrax didn't look from the window as he responded. "I don't trust him, especially if he does has something to do with Nature's Court." He turned his attention away from the window and to Aurora, giving her a concerned look. "Does he still give you a bad feeling?"

Aurora frowned and nodded. "Yeah, and his two friends gave me a bit of a bad feeling, too." She sat down on the couch. "I'm going to think about it more after we're done exploring my ancestors' ancient kingdom. I don't want to really think about Nature's Court while we're there. Not the entire time anyway." She wanted to enjoy their little exhibition and felt like neither would be able to have any fun if they were worrying about Nature's Court the entire time they were there.

Thrax walked over to her and smiled softly as he sat down next to her. "Same here, baby." He then gently kissed her. She kissed him back and smiled.

Suddenly there was a flash of light in the living room as Enel, Luke, and Charlotte now stood in front of them. They pulled their hoods back and smiled at them.

"Hey guys." Enel waved to Thrax and Aurora. "Are you ready?"

Aurora smiled and nodded. "We're ready." She and Thrax got up and grabbed their traveling backpacks and looked at them, ready to go.

"Alright, then. Let's not waste any time." Luke made his staff glow as he transported them to the location of the cave.

As soon as they appeared right in front of the cave Aurora looked around. She could tell they were deep in the woods, very deep. This part of the woods was thick with trees, bushes, and other wild plants. She heard several small and large animals roaming around and spotted a few of them, who looked at her and bowed their heads as they went by.

It wasn't surprising that the cave was so deep in the woods. It would have to be deep enough that no one would come upon it accidentally and would have to be somewhere it couldn't be easily found if someone tried to find it. Aurora may be the only one that can get through the entrance, as well as anyone with her, but it was still important that no one ever found it.

Aurora turned her attention to the entrance of the cave and saw that Enel, Luke, Charlotte, and Thrax where waiting in the entrance for her to follow. She smiled and walked towards the entrance and followed them in. Once inside she started looking around.

It was a nice sized cave. It wasn't large, but it wasn't small either. There were a few rocks and mini boulders here and there, and when she looked up she saw that the roof of it was nicely curved. There weren't any stalagmites or stalactites, though. It wasn't wet enough in the cave to form them. In fact it was pretty dry, though it did feel nice and cool in there like caves usually do. When she put her hand to the wall at the entrance it felt smooth.

Aurora looked around a little more, then spotted the wall in the cave that had writing on it that they had mentioned before when they first told her about it. "I'm guessing that's the entrance." She spoke up.

"Either that," Luke walked over to the wall that had writing on it and made his staff glow, illuminating the cave. "Or directions on where the entrance is exactly."

"Your parents never told us that part." Charlotte explained. "But I'm sure you'll be able to tell what it says."

"Alright, then." Aurora took a deep breath. "Let's have a look." She walked up to the wall and stared at the writing. It wasn't like anything she had ever seen before, yet there was a familiarity about it. Like she could understand it, if she just concentrated and kept on looking at it.

"So what does it say?" Enel asked.

"I'm not sure." Aurora continued to stare at the writing. The more she stared, the more it felt familiar. "At least not yet."

"It looks like nothing but gibberish to me." Thrax said as he folded his arms and stared at the writing.

"Well to you maybe, but to her it doesn't." Luke paused. "At least it shouldn't. Then again there was a little pause with her parents when they read from the book. As if their minds were adjusting to understand, or maybe remember the writing... or something. I'm not quite sure."

There was something about what Luke said that made sense, because the more Aurora looked at the writing, the more it made sense. Slowly what looked like nothing but gibberish a few seconds ago, changed and looked like English writing.

Aurora's eyes widened. "Whoa." She completely understood it now.

"What?" Luke quickly turned his head to her. "What is it?"

"It... It changed." Aurora started reading it. "The writing looks like English now."

Thrax walked over to the wall and looked at the writing. "No it doesn't."

"It does to her." Charlotte walked up to Thrax. "It changed for her and her alone." She put her hand on his arm. "Now let's give her some space." He hesitantly moved back with her.

Aurora continued to stare at the writing and then read it aloud. "Here lies the entrance to our ancient kingdom. Descendant of our ancient race, if you wish to see that which we have hid, our kingdom, all of our history, belongings, and our culture, merely place your hand on the wall and the door will open." Without hesitating, she then put her hand on the wall, just above the writing. It felt like that was where she needed to put it.

"So what happens-?" Thrax stopped short.

As soon as Aurora placed her hand on the wall of the cave the area around her hand began to glow, and letter by letter, so did the writing. Then the glow slowly spread across the wall like cracks of light. After reaching a certain, point each little crack stopped and then the ones on the sides went either straight up or down in one straight line while the ones at the top and bottom went either left or right, doing the same, until they were all joined together at the corners.

Once they were, it looked like the shape of a door, the cracks of light still present on the inside of it. Aurora removed her hand from the wall and took a step back. There was a light rumble as the door slid to the side and into the wall, revealing a dark tunnel as a gust of wind blew past once it was done opening.

Luke whistled. "Impressive."

"You said it." Enel walked up next to Luke and stared.

Charlotte then stood next to them as well. "Incredible."

Aurora stared down the tunnel and at the dark abyss they were about to go into, then looked at Thrax and smiled. Fortunately she brought a flashlight with her just in case. Then she turned to Enel, Luke, and Charlotte. "Thanks guys."

Luke smiled. "No problem. I hope you two have fun exploring."

"Thanks." Aurora gave them an excited smile.

"Stay safe." Charlotte added.

"We will. I promise." Aurora assured her. Though she had a feeling there wasn't really going to be anything dangerous down there for them to worry about. "See you guys on Saturday."

Enel nodded. "See you on Saturday."

Aurora then turned to the entrance to the tunnel. "Let's go."

Thrax nodded and then they both walked through the entrance. As soon as they did the door closed behind them, leaving them in total darkness. At least for a few seconds, because then the ceiling of the tunnel slowly began to glow. Aurora looked up and saw that it was being lit by aqua blue glowing rocks. They went so far down the tunnel until the couldn't see them anymore.

Thrax looked down the tunnel and then at Aurora. "Looks like we have a long way to go."

"Yep. We'd better get started. Who know's how long it'll take to reach the end?" Aurora started walking down the tunnel and Thrax walked beside her. Occasionally she would look up at the glowing rocks and smile. "It's so cool how they glow like that."

"Mm-hm." Thrax gently brushed his hand against Aurora's. She smiled as he slowly took hers in his, now holding it.

They held hands as they walked down the never-ending tunnel. After about an hour of walking they stopped to take a break, taking their traveling backpacks off and setting them against the wall of the tunnel as they sat down.

Aurora pulled out a water bottle and drank some of it. "I wonder how much farther we have to go." She put it back in her traveling backpack, closed her eyes, tuned her ears, and listened to the echo of her voice as it traveled down the tunnel before it went away. She didn't hear it bounce off of a wall at the end of the tunnel, but she did hear a breeze, and determined that they had about another twenty to thirty minutes to go based on how far away it was.

Opening her eyes she saw Thrax staring at her, a little smile on his face. She smiled back, wondering why he was smiling at her like that. "What?"

Thrax put his hand to her cheek, leaned in, and whispered, as if for only her to hear. "You're so beautiful." He then gently kissed her. It was soft and sweet. When he pulled back he rested his forehead on hers and looked into her eyes.

Aurora smiled and looked into his eyes as she kissed him back. "And you're so handsome." He grinned and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. She rested her head on his chest and he rested his head on top of hers. "We only have about twenty to thirty minutes to go."

"Really? How do you know?" He asked curiously.

"I listened to the sound of my voice as it echoed down the tunnel." Aurora replied. "It didn't bounced off of a wall at the end, but I did hear a breeze."

Thrax chuckled and kissed the top of her head. "Alright, baby. Let's just sit here for a few minutes before we keep going."

"Alright." Aurora sat there in Thrax's arms for the next few minutes as they took a break from walking. It always felt nice to just sit with him, in his arms. No matter where they were it felt nice. It felt right, too.

After they were done taking their break they stood up, put their traveling backpacks back on, and continued down the tunnel. Sure enough, about thirty minutes after they started walking again they reached the end of the tunnel. There was a bright light at the exit which probably would have been blinding at first if it wasn't for the stones lighting the tunnel.

They still had to squint just a little as they exited the tunnel and walked onto a ledge, but when their eyes adjusted, they immediately widened at what they saw. The cave that they had just entered was so large that they couldn't even see the end of it, all of the walls except a little bit of the one they were standing by, or the top. But the size wasn't what was so shocking, it's what was there that made them stare in awe.

All throughout the cave was a lush forest, filled with trees, bushes, and all sorts of other plants. There was even wildlife that scurried by or flew around. Aurora looked up and it was clear and blue as the sky. She could even see the sun, as if they were actually outside and not in a cave at all.

"Whoa." Aurora breathed. She was astonished at what she saw. "How did they do this?"

"Aurora." Thrax tapped Aurora's shoulder. She looked at him and he pointed in the direction right in front of them, never looking at her as he stared in wide-eyed.

She looked were he pointed and her jaw dropped. A few miles away, but close enough to see, was her ancestors ancient kingdom. Instead of ruins though, what she saw was an enormous castle. Even though they were far away she could tell that it wasn't even a little worn or destroyed, as if it had been completely preserved. She spotted what looked like the tips of rooftops just poking up past the treetops and had a feeling they'd find them in the same state.

There weren't words to describe how surprised and amazed Aurora was at the sight of it. Despite how far away they were, she could tell that it was much bigger than any castle that was on the surface.

Slowly Aurora's lips curled into a big smile as she was filled with excitement and curiosity at what they might find once they get to it. She looked around to see how they were going to get off of the ledge and saw a stone staircase, just as preserved as the castle looked. "Hey Thrax, there's a staircase." She walked over to it, then stopped before heading down it and turned to make sure Thrax was following her and not still staring. Not that she could blame him if he was, she wanted to just keep staring too. The view was awe-inspiring.

Thrax still stood where he was, a look of wonder and befuddlement on his face. "How is this even possible? How can there be life like this in a cave?"

Aurora giggled and walked back up to him and gently took his hand in hers, making him snap out of his befuddled state and look at her. "Come on. Let's go have a closer look." She still had an excited look on her face.

Thrax grinned. "Alright, baby."

Hand in hand, they headed down the stairway. Aurora looked at the steps and wondered how they were so well preserved. There wasn't a single vine or plant growing on them. Once they reached the bottom of the stairs, they found that there was a stone path leading through the woods, obviously leading to the castle. They proceeded to follow the path through the woods.

While they walked down the path Aurora looked around at all the plant and animal life, as well as the design on the path. There were little swirls here and there as well as all sorts of plants and animals on it. There were different colors for each, too. She had a big smile on her face as she kept on looking around, amazed at all of it. Whenever she looked over at Thrax, she saw that he was looking around too and had a look of amazement on his face. 

After a little while of walking they came across a bridge on the path that went over a river. It was just as beautifully designed as the path. As they crossed it Aurora trailed her hand on the wooden fence. It felt so solid and smooth. It amazed her how everything they came across so far was vibrant and in extremely good condition. Not even slightly worn.

"This is incredible." Aurora stopped halfway on the bridge and looked down at the river. It was crystal clear. There were even fish swimming in it. "I wonder how they were able to do all of this."

"You and me both, baby." Thrax stood next to Aurora and looked down at the river with her.

Aurora smiled as she watched the fish swim by. "There's probably answers about how they did this at the castle." That's most likely where any answers about that place would be.

"Probably." Thrax moved his hand along the fence, studying it. "This is pretty incredible. Definitively not what I expected to find here."

"I don't think it's anything like what we expected to find here." She looked around at everything, then her eyes moved down the path. "Thing's rarely are what you think or expect them to be when you go to see them. You think it might be one thing, only to find it's something else when you finally see it. You can always imagine what something will be like or what you'll find when you go somewhere, but until you go and see for yourself, you never truly know for sure."

"Yeah, that's true." Thrax said. Then a little smirk formed on his face. "Until people take pictures and put them online." He joked.

Aurora giggled and looked at Thrax. "Yeah, but we're not taking pictures of this place. No one can find out that this place exists."

"Right." Thrax looked down the path, then at Aurora and smiled. "Come on, baby. I'm curious to see what's at that castle."

"So am I." Aurora smiled excitedly and started down the path again with Thrax.

After a little more walking along the path they spotted the houses that they'd seen earlier in the distance. The closer they got, the more they could tell that the houses weren't ruins at all. Just like Aurora thought. When they finally reached the houses they found that it was like a little village. All the houses and other buildings weren't like anything they had ever seen.

They were like a combination of ancient and modern design. The design seemed like that of ancient times but how they were built looked modern and very advanced. They didn't look like any kind of ancient building she had ever seen. They had glass in the windows, doors with hinges, brick walls on the outside, and porches with intricately designed pillars.

As they kept walking past and looking at the houses and other buildings and towards the center of the abandoned village, Aurora stopped when she saw the fountain that was at the center. It wasn't odd to see the fountain, but it was odd to see it running. She ran over to it and walked all the way around it, studying it very closely. It was strange enough to see her ancestors ancient kingdom perfectly preserved they way it was, but seeing a running fountain full of clean clear water made it even stranger, yet still incredible.

She studied it's design and looked at how the water was running. It was the usual way a fountain ran. It was very beautiful. It had the normal circular base that held the water, with a vine and flower design on the outside. The water shot up towards the middle from the edges. In the center was a statue of a dragon sitting up straight and looking off past the village.

Thrax walked up to Aurora and looked at the fountain. "That's weird. How is this fountain running? This place has been abandoned for generations."

"I'm not sure. This place is so perfectly preserved with flourishing plant and animal life, it's as if..." Then an idea struck her. "as if this place has been frozen in time in some way. So that the buildings and everything won't be destroyed, but the plant and animal life can grow and thrive and not touch any of this stuff."

"Is that even possible?" Thrax looked around at the buildings. "How can plant and animal life grow here, yet these buildings be as preserved and untouched as they are?"

Aurora looked at Thrax. "I don't know." She sat down on the outer rim of the fountain and took her traveling backpack off. "Let's take a little lunch break before we head to the castle."

Thrax sat down next to her and took his off as well. "Good idea. I'm actually a little hungry."

Aurora reached into her traveling backpack and pulled out her water bottle and a turkey sandwich. She took a bite as Thrax pulled out his sandwich and started eating it. They ate in silence as both looked around at the little village.

After a few more bites, Thrax swallowed and broke the silence. "Usually when I hear ancient, I don't think this." He waved his hand at the buildings to indicate what he meant.

Taking a little sip from her water bottle, she thought about that for a moment. "Well considering the powers that my ancestors had, it was probably easy for them to do this." She paused. "They probably also used a little magic."

"Probably." Thrax said in agreement. "I mean with how this place looks it would be hard to believe they didn't use at least a little magic."

Aurora smiled and finished eating. She put her water bottle back in her traveling backpack, stood up, and put it back on. Then she looked at Thrax. "Ready to go?"

Thrax grinned and nodded as he finished eating, stood up, and put his traveling backpack on. "Ready."

They walked down the village street and headed for the castle. It wasn't that far from the village. It only took them about twenty minutes to reach it. When they did they found and open gate with a large statue at each side of the entrance. They looked like guards from how they were designed. They had armor on and held a sword in front of them, the tip touching the ground at their feet.

Thrax whistled. "Whoa."

Aurora looked from one statue to the other. "I don't think this place will cease to amaze us any time soon." She then turned her attention to the entrance. She took a deep breath and slowly let it out, then walked past the gate and Thrax followed.

Their eyes immediately widened at the sight before them. They found themselves in a large, beautiful garden full of all sorts of flowers, bushes and other little shrubs. There were all sorts of birds, butterflies, hummingbirds, and even a few bees occasionally flying around. There was a path that lead to all sorts of magnificently beautiful spots in the garden where there were chairs or benches to sit down on and admire the flowers, as well as a path that lead directly to the castle entrance.

"Look at all of this." Thrax walked over to one of the rose bushes. "I have to admit, this is some garden."

Aurora looked at the flowers admiringly. They were absolutely beautiful. Then she turned her attention to the path straight in front of them and at the castle and her eyes widened, now staring in awe. "Whoa..."

Getting a closer look at the castle now she was able to see how intricately and exquisitely it was designed. The outside was made of white stone that shone when the sunlight hit it just right. The windows were the size of an average door but curved at the top with beautifully colored stained glass where they curved instead of clear glass. There was a little design on each within the stained glass part, which went back and forth from a plant to an animal. There were even a few balconies up higher where some rooms obviously were and some walkways on the outside. The front doors were large and curved at the top as well and looked like they were made of solid oak with curved metal handles.

The castle was so beautiful. Slowly Aurora started walking up to the doors, wanting to see what was on the inside. As soon as she reached the door she grabbed the handle and was about to open it, then stopped and looked back to see where Thrax was. She saw that he was still looking at some of the flowers and other plants, so she waited until he was done. She didn't want to look inside without him.

Thrax looked up from the plants that he was looking at and saw where Aurora was. He grinned and walked over to her. "You didn't have to wait for me to look inside. You could have gone ahead without me. I would have caught up to you."

Aurora smiled softly. "I wanted to wait for you. I want us to see the inside together."

He grinned, cupped her face in his hands, and gently kissed her forehead. "You're sweet, baby." She smiled and kissed his cheek in return. "Let's see what's inside."

She nodded, took a deep breath, and slowly let it out. Then she started to open the large door, ready to see what waited for the two of them inside her ancestors castle. She had a feeling what they'd seen so far would be nothing compared to what they were about to see on the inside.