Haunted House or Death Trap?!

"Alright, I deserved that. Anyways, how do you like my new clothes?" I asked, actually curious, and a bit self-conscious, about them. While she looked over my clothes, I drew back my arm to my body, which it automatically did.

"If I may be so blunt, master, then I would say that the color and style do not suit you. Not to say that that is horrible, it isn't, but I do not think that it is worthy to be worn by you. Where did you get such clothes, anyway?" She asked. I liked how she did not say something she did not mean just because I owned her.

"Thank you for being honest. Anyways, I got this from the beast that tried to kill me. When I found it, it was almost dead already. When it tried to attack me again, that is when it died. The attackers looked like a giant pig, standing just about 9 to 10 feet tall." I explained. As I told Andromeda all of this, she nodded her head in understanding.

"It would seem that the species that tried to attack you was an Orc. They are pretty common in other regions of Taiga, but not around here. This must mean that either there is an expedition group around here, or that the castle we are in front of has some Orcs in it. Whoever owns this castle must be pretty powerful, to bring some Orcs who like to live north of here down south." Andromeda said, the last bit almost to herself.

"Well, there is only one way to find out why they are here," I said, simultaneously kicking the rusted gate, also made of black metal. It is just a bit taller than the Orc, which would make the gate 12 feet tall. What was interesting was instead of breaking it down, or even leaving a dent on it, I was flung backward with a blast that seemed to originate from the exact spot I hit.

Flipping backward, I managed to land on the ground standing, hands in my newly made pockets. A spectacular way to save me from falling, if I do say so myself. "Master, it would seem that this gate has been protected by some sort of magical barrier. I might be able to break it with my magic, as I am from the dragon race." And Andromeda said, which makes me assume that dragons were masters in the art of Magic.

This also made my hypothesis that only I had skills turn out to be true. Putting those analysis thoughts aside, I watched Andromeda walk up to the gate and see a crimson glow come out of her claws, which she turned into moments after she said she would try to open the gate.

Looking like she had split the very air, I could see that a rip appeared right before the gate, making it look like a rip had been made. This must have been the magical barrier that Andromeda talked about. Reaching through the said barrier, she grasped at the black hunk of metal that kept the gate together and yanked.

With a giant ripping sound, the whole bar attached to the lock came off of the gate, making a clang loud enough to be heard for miles. Tossing the large piece of metal behind her, Andromeda slipped through the tight space, waiting for me on the other side of the gate.

But after a couple of seconds, she screamed extremely loudly. Worried that something happened to her, without preamble, I leaped over the rip in the barrier, which looked like someone ripped reality. I wish I could do something like this in the future. I might be able to, but it is too soon to tell. That is not important right now, though.

As to what I found on the other side, I now understand why Andromeda would scream. All around us were creepy insects and other different small organisms. There were spiders the size of cars, ants the size of mice, and grasshoppers the size of dogs, to name a few.

However, that is not the thing that caught my attention at the moment, though I could not say the same about Andromeda, who was currently hiding behind me. The thing that interested me was the sheer size of the castle and the space around it. It would seem that the barrier was not only used for protection.

Then again, this also could be a kind of protection from people who wanted to find it, as the castle itself has doubled in size, if not a bit more. The courtyard we were currently in was about the size of a soccer field, filled with smoke, massive insects and arachnids, and other scary stuff, but mostly insects of giant proportions.

Admiring the use of magic, I failed to notice a zombie shuffling toward us. Yes, a zombie. That was when I started to laugh. I laughed because it looked exactly like the cliche zombie look in all the apocalypse movies. It even shuffled like it. Let's see if you have to kill it as you should in movies.

Although, the movies, were much less scary. I don't know what effect this undead have that makes them so much scarier than the made-up ones back on earth, but it was working.

Jumping into the air and spinning into a scissor kick, landing right on the head of the undead, It crushed the entire anatomy of the zombie-like a can getting crushed by a hydraulic press. That was my biggest mistake. As soon as I killed that poor zombie, a big rumbling resounded throughout the graveyard.

Looking into the distance of the courtyard, all the way to the entrance of the castle, I could see hands and heads ripping out of the ground, climbing out with the speed of a slug. Seeing Andromeda shaking, I knew that I would have to get ourselves out of this jam by myself.