About an hour or so had passed and the four were no longer in the forest. They had stumbled upon a swamp like dwelling, with trees scattered about the water and very few parts to walk on. Victor had gone a little ways ahead of Ridley-James and Charlie, while Cherza followed behind him. They stepped cautiously across large rocks and logs that were floating in the water, making their way through swamp as quickly as possible. While they traveled on, Charlie looked over at Ridley-James with a slight look of concern. Ridley-James could tell Charlie was slowing down a little so he glanced back at him and paused for a moment.
“Try to keep up Charlie; we don’t need you sinking into the swamp,” he warned. Charlie caught up to Ridley-James and stopped, still having the same look of distress on his face.
“Okay,” Charlie responded solemnly. Ridley-James looked at him troubled when he slowly returned to moving through the swamp.
“Is something wrong Charlie?” he asked. Charlie shook his head and started following behind him again. Then, Ridley-James came halted, this time crossing his arms and turning toward Charlie.
“I’m pretty sure that look on your face and tone aren’t just because. What’s going on?”
Charlie stopped and looked at Ridley-James, taking a breath before speaking.
“I’m getting concerned about the deadly sins.”
Ridley-James widened his eyes, slightly caught off guard by Charlie’s distress.
“Why?” he asked, slightly confused.
“Well, up until this point, all of the seven deadly beasts have just been people that you know, but with the last one…Ridley, it took on your personal attributes. Why do you think that is?”
Ridley-James was slightly stumped. What did it mean that Lust had taken on his physical appearance? It was actually something he hadn’t pondered over yet. Thinking about it for a brief moment, Ridley-James began to walk along the swamp again.
“To be honest with you Charlie, I’m pretty sure I could make a wild guess,” he replied. Charlie raised his eyebrows going after Ridley-James.
“Something that I have realized about myself is that I have a problem with accepting whatever comes my way instead of waiting for what I deserve. I have always longed for someone to love me or really like me, but for some reason I can’t seem to find that person. But to keep from being alone, I took and went along with whatever felt good or seemed to make me happy at the time. And because of that I think – in a sense – I have a lust for companionship, not necessarily sex. But when the spirit manifested itself, it reflected sexual desires.”
“Doesn’t that bother you?” Charlie probed. Ridley-James glanced back at him for a brief moment, then looked back in front of himself.
“What do you mean?”
“Like I said, up till now the sins have been others you know, but this last one took on your form. What if us fighting the seven deadly beasts isn’t the right thing to do? What if the darkness from the sins are rubbing off on us as we continue on? What if the darkness is slowly corrupting us?”
Ridley-James hesitated, frozen up by Charlie’s concerns. They were all valid concerns. What if any of those scenarios were the case? What would become of them if they kept fighting? Ridley-James’ mind started raced, as he turned to face Charlie once more and he paused in front of him.
“I have had the same concerns cross my mind on numerous occasions since we’ve started our journey,” he confessed. “But I honestly believe that in order for those things not to happen we have to have faith that what we’re doing is the right thing, and no matter what we do…we have to hold on to the light.”
With a slightly lifted spirit, Charlie nodded in agreement with Ridley-James.
“Hey guys!” Victor hollered out from in front of them. Ridley-James and Charlie looked toward Victor, seeing him wave his hand while he and Cherza stood on a large tree stomp. “I think I see something strange up ahead.”
The two raised their eyebrows and stared at each other, walking across the swamp to catch up with Victor. Reaching the stomp, Ridley-James and Charlie walked over to Victor and Cherza.
“What did you see?” Ridley-James asked. Victor pointed a little ways ahead of them, as Ridley-James and Charlie watched were he pointed.
“That,” he said sternly. The three were staring at what appeared to be a ruined castle just outside of the swamp on top of a rocky hill. Ridley-James stepped in front of Victor and Charlie, taking a good look at the castle.
“I wonder if that’s where the Spider Witch is?” Charlie thought out loud. Ridley-James nodded, looking back at them.
“Let’s go see,” he suggested. Victor, Charlie, and Cherza hopped off of the tree stomp onto a log, making their way to the end of the swamp to the castle. Ridley-James stared at the castle a second time, grabbing a hold of his crystal necklace.
“Who is this going to be?” Ridley-James guessed. Sighing under his breath, Ridley-James quickly followed after the others toward the castle.
The front door to the castle opened gradually with a creaking noise that could send chills down your spine. Ridley-James peaked around the door looked inside the castle, stepping inside what appeared to be the grand hall. Victor, Charlie, and Cherza walked through the cracked front door looking around the room. The floors were damaged, having several cracks and broken tiles throughout the hall. In front of them was the grand staircase, which had some steps dislodged and nonexistent. Victor pushed the door closed to the entrance of the castle, noticing splits in the pavement of the walls and spider webs all over.
“Yea, this is definitely the Spider Witch’s castle,” Victor confirmed. Ridley-James gazed at the ceiling, continuing to examine their surroundings.
“I’d say that’s safe to assume, but just because there are webs everywhere doesn’t necessarily mean this is her castle,” Ridley-James mentioned.
“But these are some pretty big ass webs, and I’m almost certain they’re not from your regular spider,” Victor countered. With a shrug of his shoulders, Ridley-James crossed his arms and exhaled, looking over at the staircase.
“Point taken, but that’s not the issue,” he said. “What we need to figure out is how we’re going to get to the main level of the castle using this broken staircase.”
“They aren’t that broken; I’m sure we can climb them somehow,” Victor assumed. Walking toward them, he began to step on the stairs, checking the sturdiness. With a shoulder shrug, Victor climbed the staircase slowly while Cherza and Charlie followed behind him. Ridley-James took a look around once more, checking to see if anything was watching them or in the area. Not seeing anything, Ridley-James went after the others up the staircase. As they left the grand hall, a pair of red eyes appeared in the shadows in a corner near the ceiling. Several rapid tapping noises could be slightly heard, as the pair of eyes starting moving through the dark, heading in the same direction the four had gone in.
The four continued up the grand staircase, they glanced around for any sign of the Spider Witch. Ridley-James looked out of the windows to his left, staring down out the dark lake beside the castle’s walls. While they carried on, the eyes tracked them from the ceiling caught up to them. As the figure got closer to them, Ridley-James stopped for a moment, feeling anxious that something watching them.
“Guys wait,” he requested. Victor, Charlie, and Cherza stopped and glared back at Ridley-James, when he place his hands over the Evolution Band. With haste, Ridley-James turned back and his bow appeared, as he quickly pulled on it and shot an arrow toward the ceiling. Seeing the red eyes for a brief second, they vanished when the arrow hit the ceiling, which caused a boulder to come crashing down the staircase. Victor and Charlie jumped in shock, staring at Ridley-James confused.
“What was that?!” Victor inquired with a shaky tone. Ridley-James stared back up at the ceiling, not seeing anything there.
“I guess it wasn’t anything,” he sighed.
“Well, come on so we can find the Spider Witch and go,” Victor proposed. “This place is giving me the creeps.”
Stalling no longer, Victor continued up the staircase, with Charlie and Cherza going behind him. Ridley-James continued to stare at the ceiling, knowing he felt something and saw a pair of glowing eyes before his arrow made an impact. Ignoring his thoughts, Ridley-James rushed after the others to reach the second level of the castle. After they cleared the room, the pair of eyes appeared again on the ceiling where Ridley-James’ arrow hit, and with the sound of rapid tapping, the figure moved on to the second floor.
Reaching the next level of the castle, the four found themselves in a hallway with three rusted doors on the right side of the hall. Victor stopped and looked at the doors, when the others paused behind him.
“Pick a door, any door,” he joked in the tone of a gameshow host. Ridley-James walked in front of Victor and looked at the first door. Walking over to the door, he placed his hand over it, seeing if he could sense any presence in the room; he didn’t feel anything at all.
“Not in this room,” he informed them. Then, he walked over to the next door, placing his hand over it. Again, he didn’t sense any presence from that room either. Ridley-James stepped back from the door and shook his head.
“Nothing from there either?” Charlie questioned.
“Yeah, nothing,” Ridley-James replied. Looking over at the last door, he made his towards it. He placed his hand over the door, feeling a chill run over him. Ridley-James eyes widened, as he stepped back from the door and placed his hand over the Evolution Band.
“What’s wrong?” Victor asked.
“Something’s in this room,” Ridley-James responded when the Evolution Band turned into his bow. Victor drew his pistols and Charlie took out his sword, while they rushed over to Ridley-James side and Cherza followed.
“On the count of three, we kick it down,” Victor suggested, with Ridley-James and Charlie nodding in agreement with the plan. “One…two…three!”
BOOM! The three kicked the door down and they all rushed in. They glared around the room, searching for the dark presence Ridley-James felt. Soon they realized, nothing was in the room. Ridley-James exhaled and lowered his bow, taking another good glance around the room.
“Nothing is here,” he stated. Victor and Charlie let down their weapons, staring at Ridley-James, as he walked into the middle of the room.
“Great! Well there didn’t appear to be anywhere else in this place we would find anything,” Victor pointed out.
“So we came here for nothing?” Charlie doubted. Turning his bow back into the Evolution Band, Ridley-James shook his head, slightly annoyed.
“It appears so,” he confirmed. Suddenly, they began to hear a tapping noise, echoing throughout the hallway.
“What the hell is that?” Victor thought out loud, when the four looked back into the hall. The tapping abruptly became rapid, which caused the four to dart back into the hallway. But once they returned, there was nothing to be seen and the tapping had stopped. Aggravated, Ridley-James turned around and starting walking towards the staircase.
“This was a waste of time,” he fussed. “There’s nothing here.”
“We haven’t checked the whole castle yet,” Charlie mentioned.
“Doesn’t matter,” Ridley-James kept arguing, “We don’t have time to go exploring empty places. Let’s just go and find the others.”
BANG! The four jumped and looked behind them, seeing two doors opening outwards at the end of the hallway, leading to another room. Ridley-James, Victor, and Charlie stared at the room with their eyes widened in shock.
“That…that was not there before,” Charlie nervously brought up. Victor looked at him side-eyed, shaking his head.
“No duh, we’ve been here too,” he sarcastically commented, rolling his eyes. Ridley-James walked in front of Victor and Charlie, while Cherza stood next to them. He paused and stared at the room for a moment, darting off towards it seconds later.
“Hey! Ridley…Ridley wait!” Victor exclaimed, as he, Charlie, and Cherza charged after him to the new room.
Once they reached the entrance, they realized it was a vacant ballroom. The four stepped into the middle of the ballroom, and began examining the area. It was very dark in the room, and so cold; it was difficult to see if anything was in there. Ridley-James looked back and forth around the room, listening for any odd noises that could indicate the presence of the Spider Witch. He glanced at the ceiling, seeing a dim lit chandelier hanging in the middle of the ballroom.
“I don’t think she’s here,” Charlie confirmed. Victor shook his head, turning towards the exit.
“Let’s just go; obviously nothing’s here,” Victor grumbled. Looking back at Victor, Charlie went after him towards the exit while Ridley-James continued staring at the chandelier. Cherza stepped beside him, rubbing against his leg as an indicator that she was ready to leave with the others. Exhaling, Ridley-James turned around and headed behind Victor and Charlie out of the ballroom, his head hung down. Then, the two red eyes appeared near the chandelier and watched the four as they reached the door. Suddenly, a chill ran over Ridley-James and he stopped, looking up at Victor and Charlie.
“Guys wait!” he cried, as Victor and Charlie stopped by the ballroom entrance and looked back at him. Ridley-James slowly look over his shoulder at the chandelier, seeing the red eyes staring at them.