Emilia woke up sweating, her skin was moist and she felt an overwhelming wave of heat from every corner of her room.
Forcing her eyes awake and looking around, Emilia found herself surrounded by flames. Emilia heard a scream unsure of whether it was from her or some other poor victim.
She was so very disoriented.
She delved into the headboard until the flames neared and lit up the sheets. She didn't like her situation at all.
Emilia felt trapped, her fear of small places begin to kick in almost instantly and she felt herself finding ot harder to breath.
Once she was able to calm down, she stumbled out of her already burning bed and walked through where the flames seemed the weakest and went to her window.
Beneath she saw chaos unfolding below her. People were running, dark tall hunched creatures feasted on the people like snacks.
She was trapped. Tired, Emilia sighed and looked back at the window. And she made up her mind to jump. She didn't like thought of being burnt alive although she didn't think being eaten alive was much better.
"Don't tell me you intend to jump princess, that would be incredibly foolish."
Emilia turned to the man who stood unharmed in the burning flames already knowing who he was just by his voice,
"You did this?" Emilia asked appalled.
"Don't sound so surprised. I remember warning you very clearly on our last encounter." The man said almost amused as he watched her.
"I told you the truth, I don't know of any girl with your descriptions." Emilia pushed.
"Lies!" Emilia flinched as she felt the flames rise with his anger. Had the castle been constructed any weaker she was sure it would have already crumbled to its ruins.
"I have been kind. I have been patient. I will give you one year. One year and I will come back here for what you owe me." The mad said coldly.
"I promise nothing but I will do more if you promise to withdraw your bloodthirsty demons." Emilia carefully bargained. She feared the consequences of pushing this man to his limits.
"I will take them back with me this time but next time I'll make sure every one of you humans burn to the ground." And just like that he vanished.
Emilia woke up with a gasp. Her hands sweaty from her previous nightmare. It had felt so real. Too real, that she had to take some minutes to calm herself down.
It was her second night into her move into the very strange castle that her grandmother had bestowed to her.
And Emilia jumped on the opportunity as soon as she finished high school, having no desire of going through college. Her parents hadn't very much liked the idea so she had moved out of their house as soon as she could.
The house was really nice for Emilia save for some creepy vibes here and there but apart from that it was good. It's not like she could have been picky anyway.
She wondered why no one else in her family took the house. Why wouldn't they want it?
Getting up from bed, Emilia went to the window where the strange man and woman had their encounter.
Looking out the window, there were no scrambling people and weird looking creatures. It was just the bare compound with grasses sprouting out of the cracks between the cobblestone.
It was just a nightmare.
Just a nightmare. She reminded herself.
Although she doubted it was just that. If it had been any other situation, Emilia would have dragged herself out of the house.
But she didn't want to burden others and she had not enough to get her own place.
The shower was a rickety old thing that required Emilia twisting the knob thrice the time a newer one would.
The kitchen was very spacious. Like almost twice the size of her parent's home.
In short, Emilia had come to fall in love with her new house. It reeked of the past, a warmth she couldn't experience and had more than enough space.
She still hadn't even been to every room yet.
She had enough supplies for a day or two left and only some money saved from her previous summer job. She'd need a new job and a trip to the grocery store. Two of which she'd rather not do.
As she sat down to her bowl of cereal, her phone began ringing.
She reached into the pocket of het dress and pulled it out. She picked it up seeing the caller being her friend.
"Hey, Kelly." Emilia greeted picking up the call.
"What the heck have you been up to? You picked up none of my calls earlier and you left without telling me." Her friend complained over the phone.
Emilia thought back to the day she left and how angry she had been. And after that she had been unpacking into the house.
"Yeah, sorry. I was just really, really busy moving out and making some adjustments to my new… home."
"Well yeah, I found that out from your mom. I was still pretty upset though."
"Sorry about that." Emilia said using her spoon to stir her already turning soggy cereal in her bowl.
"Yeah it's ok, wanna go out later today?" Her friend proposed over the call.
Emilia was about to reject the offer until she realized just how long she'd been staying inside. It certainly didn't do her any good to stay inside any longer.