The Devil's Gates

"Adonis has mother not forbidden us from coming to this place, why choose to come here after all mother's warnings?" his sister enunciated with all her strength and pulled away from him.

"There's something about this place I just can't forget, something in here that draws my attention and mother doesn't want us to know about" he exclaimed "You must have seen the girl who walked through this house the other day, she must be in there" he uttered.

"But that doesn't concern us, Adonis, while not listen to mother and let's go back home. This is just an abandoned building with no one living in it" she explained " if we were to go in and something bad happens to us, what will mother say, what will we even tell her we came here for, Adonis let us turn back before it is too late" she rehearsed moving now from the gates and wanting nothing to do with the abandoned building.

"Eden you are just scared, nothing bad can happen to us when I'm around. Only cowards will run away from their fear, let's just take a look before we return home," he explained not wanting to go in alone.

"Why must we go in there, Adonis?

"what is in there that triggers you so badly?" she asked not willing to let him go.

"Sister, you must have read about the book of Navy, the abandoned building with golds" he continued " I just want to ease my curiosity and maybe see the girl whose voice I heard in there a few days ago, she might be in danger and needs help" Adonis uttered not giving her sister any more space to question him.

"But Adonis-" she uttered to ask more but was cut short by her brother who believes in what he says and wants it to be respected.

"We will be fine, come with me Eden and I promise to protect you all along the way," he says and slowly takes his sister's hand.

They were now entering the gates of the abandoned building which at the up stands read " HOUSE OF ANNAPOLIS" a house which had been abandoned for over twenty-five years.

Adonis did not know what pushed him to make this decision and go against his mother but if it was for his curiosity about what people said about the house of Annapolis then it wasn't a wise decision he made.

The house of Annapolis as it is called is set to be a place for the death and the witches of Oscar. People further say that when one enters there he never comes back out. Stories and books trek around the streets of the village condemning the house for the souls and witches who have taken the lives of so many young boys and girls in the village.

Their king even passed an order that the house should be demolished but no one was able to do the job because of how scary the place looked. No one was willing to sacrifice his life to go into the gates and bring down the house just after they had witnessed the death of Granville, the village contractor who was in charge of demolition and construction.

"Adonis I see something," Eden said holding her brother's hand so tied and wanting not to go any further.

"What do you see? we haven't gotten anywhere near the door yet you are already this scared. you don't have to be scared? " he questioned " fight your fear and believe that you're somewhere save and nothing will happen" he explained.

"Believe I'm somewhere save?" she repeated " this doesn't look like any place save at all," she says as they walk slowly to the door.

"What a very large and old door," Adonis said touching it with his hand. " Don't touch it, we might be condemned" Eden screeched and whack away his hand from the door.

"You don't have to tell me what to do," he says and pushes open the door.

With sensitivity, the door went open and a large amount of light outshines the whole door, and all that was seen was their shadows on the ground.

"Adonis what is this, the light is too bright I can't see anything" his sister complained as her both hands covered her whole face.

"It magnificent to see such an amount of light coming from the inside when the outside of the house is so dark and dormant," Adonis says and takes his sister's hand "Come let's walk right in," Adonis said without fear and drags her sister into the house.

"The ray of light wasn't coming to an end as they proceeded with walking. Fear had gotten hold of his little sister who was facing such a situation at just the tender age of sixteen. Adonis who had let his sister into this was also just turning eighteen but yet had the heart of a lion.

"Adonis, look at what you have brought us into, I don't know my front nor my back. We are just walking in the ray of light, " she said " light so bright that nothing can be seen"

"Keep quiet, I see something, " Adonis says and focuses his notoriety towards the end shadows he was seeing.

"What is it?" Eden asked looking forward just as he was but wasn't seeing the thing her brother saw.

They moved forward, walking very slowly in between the ray of light and Adonis himself was getting scared for sounds that they heard weren't ordinary. Someone or something was making sounds and they could not see anything. It then transferred from sounds to voices, voices of ghosts, and souls of the dead.

Voices that spoke as such

"Come to me````"

"They are mine```"

"Welcome hmmmm```"

"Death awaits you on the other side"

"Turn back now before it is too late"

These voices enthralled making screams and moan all around the ray of light. Adonis and Eden became very frightened, Eden's lips were shaking and her body shelves for fear of the unknown.

"Run, let's run," Adonis said taking on Eden's hands once again and they began running around in the ray of light.

"aaaaah!!!" Eden screamed for what she saw as they went out the ray light wasn't any human being but something she never saw before.

Something she only saw in horror movies. something that looked human but scary like a ghost.

"Adonis" she screamed but couldn't find her brother anywhere and the now scary-looking human being was walking right to her.

Trying to run, she fell to the ground and began crying as it reach out to hold her legs.

"You're mine," said the scary-looking human being with a deep but sturdy voice.

Right before it touched her, a young boy throw a spear at it and all attention was now drowned from the girl to him. Eden felt like passing out because of fear of what her eyes were seeing.

She now yawns for her brother who she didn't know his whereabouts for the world she was in looked strange with strange-looking things.

Eden watched the young boy fight with the strange-looking creature.

"This place is dangerous, I must run to safety," Eden told herself and ticked up the courage that her brother wasn't with her and she needed to find him.

She turned to the other side of the forest, which stood slum-furrowed, and began running through the huge trees.

Not so far from where the boy was fighting the strange-looking creature, she stopped, having come across another scary-looking creature. This time around was an animal with legs like that of a wolf but then in its eyes and mug yawned for blood.

The dripping of blood from the animal's mug and the gigantic of its teeth made her even more startled when she faced it.

Eden hadn't time to think as its prey was already on her. Groaning and gawking at her, it sauntered on how it will fest its perpetrator who was stratum on one of the huge Iroko trees. Eden was statute as she thought about which direction to take and had no time left before the wolf-like animal bounced on her.

she ran back towards where she woke up and found herself, the now wolf-like animal was chasing her with its teeth like that of a snake ready to feast on her if it got anywhere near its perpetrator.

Eden screamed for help once she was approaching the area for she believed the boy who now was done with killing the beast could help in also killing the wolf-like animal.

Eden had no time to look behind or on the ground as she rummage through the hole area for the boy but then shove down by a tree's roots.

The wolf-like animal de-stress the run and moved now slowly to the helpless Eden who couldn't stand back to her feet.

"Please don't eat me, I beg you, don't... " she cried out, watching the animal's funks go down on her.

Eden could feel and hear her heart beating at a very fast rate, she thought about her brother who now she hadn't seen since she found herself in this hazardous place. Was this how she was going to end, not having to enjoy the essence of life and getting to see her mother and brother who she yawn to tell about her experience?

Eden having to watch the animal mount on her, knew it was over as its tray went down to her stomach. Just an inch close to devouring her, a spear went through the animal's body and almost got through to her. Eden close down her eyes not opening them again. she was now into another phase of life, that of survival of the fittest.

***

Adonis woke up to find himself in an unknown land, he looked around for his sister but couldn't find her anywhere. All he could see were trees, tall and huge trees all around him.

Adonis began calling out his sister's name as he walked in between the woods. He thought to himself about what he had brought upon them.

He regretted that he should have listened to his sister who advised them to turn back and head for home. He shouldn't have let her enter the house of Annapolis. He thought to himself what his mother will do if he returns home without his sister that is If only he knew the way out of the forest which was scarier than the house of Annapolis.

Adonis who thought about what had happened and how he lost his sister was now looking like a man of twenty-five years old. He didn't understand what had completely transformed him from a boy of seventeen to eighteen years into a man.

His height had increased and his muscles looked like that of a karate trainee. Adonis found this very abnormal but then had to accept his faith and body size.

" Maybe it's the strange atmosphere and mystery of this place that has transformed me from a boy to a man" he had thought to himself and decided to forget all about his now vigor body which did nothing but modified his looks.

"Eden where are you?" he shouted out loud as he walked himself in between the clueless trees.

Adonis knew without his sister, his life will be over if he returned home.

"I must continue to search for her, I can not give up," he continued "Mother will kill me if I don't give her an explanation for what happened to Eden" he mumbled to himself after having walked for about twenty-seven minutes and yet did not find the end of the forest.

He had loomed no man nor animal while on the search for his sister and began doubting if he was all alone in such a gigantic forest.

Adonis had begun to wonder if he took the right direction as to his walk no man stood by, not even an animal talk more of a bird.

Adonis walked another three miles and found himself falling into a net trap that took hold of him. He was now hanging in the air, waiting for whoever set such a huge net trap to come free him.

He did not understand what sort of animal was the trap set for, because in his village, the only huge animal they could catch was an antelope.

Other animals didn't dare come near their village because of its great hunters who were very talented and skillful.

Places began getting dark and Adonis made every attempt to free himself but the net was too strong for his muscular strength to repel.

"What is happening, where am I?" he muttered to himself, looking back and forward. Only huge, tall trees were around.

"Is this the land of the dead where they say the people of the village disappeared to? Or am I having a scary dream in a strange and mystical forest?" Now then as he continued to murmur to himself, a creepy sound came from the woods and a huge amount of birds flew away.

That was when he discovered there was a huge amount of birds, he only did not see them because he was focused on the ground.

"Wow, so many birds," he said with emphasis and yet comfortable in the net trap.

"Is anyone there?" he screamed to the annoyance of the birds that flew into the sky.

"Can anyone hear me?" he asked then continued. " If you can hear me, please help me out of this net trap. I've been stuck in here for hours" He attempted again to free himself but it still didn't walk out.

"I've been watching you for over thirty minutes and you did nothing to get loss from the net" An elegant slow but lighter voice than that of his sister ratified through his ears and all he heard were melodies of a beautiful singing.

"And why keep watch of me and do nothing?" Adonis asked trying as much as possible to see the person whose voice he heard with beautiful hymns.

A young beautiful and elegant girl walked out of the woods to his view. She carried a sword of a warrior but yet had the body of a princess.

"Is she a goddess sent to free me?" he murmured but yet she still heard him out loud, because of how quiet and silent the forest was.

"How did you know someone was around?" she asked being the first to break the look he had been taking on her.

"Well, I just smelt it and guest someone was coming, " he continued" You see first the birds dove away and what I expect next is a person to show up"

While he talked the woods began shaking and more and more birds flew towards their direction. " since you're good at smelling things can you also guest what's coming?" she asked as now both Adonis and the girl's eyes were glued to the thick side of the forest where trees were weaving in different directions.

"No I don't but I think it's something very dangerous, something huge and scary" he explained from his viewpoint. It was very clear that nothing could stop whatsoever was coming.

"Okay, I'll leave you to it. goodbye" she continued" Do have a good time freeing yourself " She now was walking away while Adonis was still stuck in the net trap.

"C'mon, you can't just leave me here," he persuaded" What if I get eaten by wild animals or die of starvation?".

" It's alright " she continued "I trust you can get yourself out of there in no time, just have to wait a little while to see what's coming" She walks away into the woods and Adonis screams for her to come back.

"What does she mean by what's coming?" he wondered "Heyyyy....what's coming, ?" he asked but she was already long lost in the woods and couldn't hear him anymore, and even if she did, she wouldn't want shouting in the forest to draw attention from wolfs and other deadly animals.

Adonis remained calm and watched the trees squirming as what so ever was in between the woods was beginning to approach where he was.

" I can't just stay here like this," he said " I've got to find a way out " he added.

Adonis tried once again to break away from the net trap but nothing seemed to be working. The whole trees of his right side were squirming and there came a wolf, a wolf so different from its normal size.

Groaning and mobilizing it flanks on how it was going to gobble on him who remained stuck in the net trap. Its reddish eyes threw their looks on him and the perpetrator wasn't going to escape from those devilish looks.

In as much as the wolf looked very abnormal to Adonis, he wasn't in any way bitter about seeing such because once he had found himself in the forest, he had expected to see a wild animals, not of this kind.

"Please, don't eat me, " he pleaded "I promise I can hunt you better animals good meat" he added but then the wolf paid deaf ears to him.

It scurried and climbed through surrounding trees then dived to catch Adonis who was now scared to die from a wolf.

He hadn't found out the mystery of this forest and where his sister was and yet he was about to be killed by a wolf who would later devour him, feed on his flesh and suck out his blood then lick his bones.

Adonis wasn't ready to die, he hadn't accomplished the things he wanted in life and saw no reason to die so soon. His sister was still missing and his mother was home waiting for them to return.

What would happen to Eden if he dies?

Eden was always scared and couldn't handle things on her own.

Eden who always wanted him to be by her side was so going to miss him and his courageous attitude, the fun he brought, and the adventure he provided when they were out of home...

"ahh--ahh````" He let out a scream closing his eyes as the wolf reached out to gnaw the net which had him trapped in.

To his surprise, nothing of such happened as he waited to feel the pain of being beaten by a wolf. He took the courage to open his eyes as he breathed heavily.

The wolf was on the ground and long dead. Three arrows had kneaded into its chest. Adonis scanned the area for anyone who could have killed the wolf but there weren't signs of anyone.

He tried again to free Loss from the net trap and there came another arrow that shove off the net for him. Adonis fell to the ground and groan in pain.

"ahh ``" he screams holding onto his butts.

"Haha hahaha," the young girl laughed coming from the woods again " You can't even fight a wolf".

"How do you expect me to do that, I was trapped in there" he defended.

"You just don't realize where you are" she enthralled removing the arrows from the wolf's body.

"And where am I?" he asked cleaning his body from dirt that had clambered on his cloth.

"You are in Leopard's territory," she continued " a no-go area for humans" she added cleaning the three arrows.

"Then what are you doing here if it's a forbidden forest?" he inquired watching her put the arrows back into their shells.

"I'm traveling across to Mongolia," she said and then rested a little before she continued "Down to the kingdom of Annapolis to deliver a message to Princess Eden"

"Princess Eden?"

"Yes, Princess Eden, daughter of the great king who rules over Annapolis" she break then continued" I must arrive there before the grant day" she added.

"Grant day! what grant day?" he raised the question.

"Her wedding" she responded turning her back on him.

"When is the wedding?" Adonis asked having raised too many questions and now the girl didn't happen to answer him.

Annoyed she responded harshly "I don't know". She began walking away and Adonis just stood there thinking about the possibility of Princess Eden being her sister who has arrived there as a different person.

He wondered too if he was also a prince of Annapolis and then his thought drove him back to getting home. " Oh no I've got to find this Princess Eden" he murmured and shouted at the young girl who had walked some distance away from him "Wait for me" he began running after her.

"Has anyone told you how beautiful you look" Adonis said appreciating her beauty while they walk their way out of the forest.

"Yeah, a lot of bad boys like you did, and do you want to know what happened to them after?" she asked.

Out of curiosity, Adonis inaugurated his mouth and asked "What happened to them?".

" I chop off their neck and made them tight-lipped forever " she said all these while battling Adonis to the ground and then using her sword's tomb on him.

"Re-relax I was only trying to ask for your name" He pleaded out of fear as he looked upon her eyes which then looked softened when he expressed himself.

"You are not wealthy of knowing my name" she said releasing the sword from his body and now Adonis strutted back up on his feet.

"But we will be traveling together," he continued " what do I call you as we travel" he asked.

"Who's traveling with you?" she asked then continued " I'm only showing you the way out of this forest. Once we are out of here you go your own way and we never cross paths again" she uttered but Adonis only laughed.

"Why do you laugh?" she asked gazing at Adonis who literally didn't want to stop.

"The...d...d...d way you talked about leaving me on the cross road sounds funny, I just couldn't hold back" he stammered trying so hard to quit from cackling.

The young beautiful and vibrate girl didn't pay anymore attention to him, for he was an embarrassment to walk with. He didn't control his sense of humor, he had no man power and the worst of all was he talked a lot.

Never had she encountered such a person. Not even a woman was as loquacious as he was and so she didn't think twice anymore.

She walked down the small pathway which was in between the woods and Adonis followed regardless that they barely know each other. Adonis didn't have much of a choice, she was the only person he had met in the forest and only her could lead him to verify if princess Eden was actually his sister.

He followed her without getting to ask about her name again. He was scared to ask anymore for she might draw out her sword if he dare tried to ask again.

***

Eden woke up to find herself under the arms of a tree. she could barely see the whole place as darkness had covered and a fire place had been made. The flames lighted the place and the young man who saved her earlier walked into her view.

"Have some water, it's good to see you're still alive" he said handing her his crock where he kept his water.

Eden at first gaze at him and was scared to take it but the young man assured her that everything was okay with it and that he had saved her.

"My name is Merrick and I know who you are" he said while Eden drank the water " I've sent a message to your people and I'm sure by tomorrow they will catch up with us" he added.

"My people?" she murmured " does he mean he called Adonis?" she wandered.

"Here's something I caught for us to eat" he says showing her the big bird which looked scary at first gaze.

"I'm sorry, I forgot you're not used to such things" he said, let out a short pause and continued " but don't worry you will only eat this tonight then tomorrow, you return home" he said pulverizing off its head.

He puff a stick into the bird and put it on the fire. He roasted the bird while she watched him and thought about what really was happening.

"where are you Adonis?," she cried, thinking about her brother. The place was really scary and the boy didn't care, he was okay setting up a fire in the middle of no where and roasting a bird happily.

"I think you should probably be around twenty or twenty-one years old in a couple of months from now" he wondered telling her about how she looked.

"Twenty one?"

"Sure" he assured her.

Eden hadn't noticed the change in her body, she was busy running around to survive from the wild wolf and scary looking creature earlier.

It was when Merrick talked about her age, she took a clearer look at herself and then found it to be abnormal. She had grown tall, had a white light skin and her skin looked smoother and soft like she had been applying some kind of skincare product.

She had a lot to ask Merrick but she didn't want to let out words to him because she was still scare of him. Adonis had warned her about talking to strangers.

She waited and watched him roast the bird till it was ready. No words came from him, only eye contacts between the two was enough for Merrick to understand that she wasn't comfortable.

"Take, you can have this part of it" he says after slicing the bird into eatable pieces.

"You see this is what we eat when we're out of town, you take then bit like this" he demonstrated and Eden smirked.

"Does he think I don't know how to eat a bird or haven't eaten one before?" she thought to herself.

"I know you've never been out of the kingdom, well what you saw today is one of leopard's beast " he uttered as she was eating.

"Leopard's beast?" she wondered if she ever heard that name before" who's Leopard?"

" Yeah, Leopard. Your father knows him, I'm sure you heard of him before" he said then continued to roast the bird which was already roasted.

"I never heard of that name not to talk of knowing who my father was" she spoke out. For the very first time her voice was clear and loud.

Merrick chuckled " you must be kidding, everyone knows your father, the king of Annapolis" he uttered.

"An-na-po-lis?" she wondered if she ever heard of a place called Annapolis.

"I remember entering a house called Annapolis with my brother which landed me here and now I'm lost and don't know what the hell this place is" she uttered explaining things to Merrick.

Merrick didn't take her serious, he thought maybe what happened today got a little impact on her brain so she should be okay after resting.

"Now you listen to me, " Merrick said cutting her off the topic of coming here with her brother.

"News spread out that the princess was missing and whoever found her is getting a pay.I took out my time and found you. Your portrait is everywhere in town" he brought out the portrait and showed her then continued" Everyone knows you were running away from your wedding with prince Kendrick, so don't tell me about any darn man" he uttered breathing heavily then calmed himself down.

Eden was already scared and had clenched her legs together using her hands then hide her face in-between her thighs.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you princess Eden" Merrick humbled himself before her. " Marrying prince Kendrick is the only way to stop the wolf king Leopard and that is why I am so concerned" he explained.

Eden still didn't bring out her head which she had buried in-between her thighs. She only wondered about what was going on and how she became a princess of a strange land.

"If you wish to know about everything I know then I'll tell you" Merrick said drily and these words from him fiddle Eden to lift out her head from her thigh.

"Are you really going to tell me everything you know?" she questioned and he nodded his head. " Everything"

"Just ask your question and I will answer you right away" Merrick said now having to eat his own part of the bird.

" I want to know everything, who the king is, who Leopard is and what is this place, everything you know " she said and there Merrick began to talk.

***

King Fredrick is king of Annapolis, he took after the thrown from his brother after the great war with the wolves. He has govern the people for more than thirty years and everyone lived in peace after the wolf clan fell in chores...

No one heard of the wolf clan for a very long time and the terror they brought on humans till Leopard took over power.

He is currently mobilizing all the wolves from the clan and they are gaining back their ground. Wolves has began feasting and attacking humans more than every before.

"I don't understand you, is this Leopard human?" Eden asked feeling terrified of the things Merrick talked about.

"He is neither human nor a wolf" his respond got Eden even more confused.

"Neither human nor a wolf?" she muttered.

"Yes, don't you get me?" he asked then continued " some wolves can transform into humans" he exclaimed and Eden's expression looked awful.

"Your marriage to Prince Kendrick will help stabilize and prepare the kingdom for the battle as its the only way for Prince Kendrick's army to fight for Annapolis" exclaimed.

"So who's this Prince Kendrick?" Eden asked having to enjoy Merrick's story telling.

"Well I don't know much about prince Kendrick" he paused then continued " but I do believe he is the supreme lord of magical powers, controller of the great army" Merrick said and all Eden did was chuckled.

"I'm feeling a little bit sleepy, maybe I'll go to bed first while you go on," Eden said turning her back against him.

"What a boring story, all I hear is prince prince prince, he can go to hell" she murmured not believing anything that Merrick had just told her...

Her main priority was to find her brother Adonis and then return home with him safely. She didn't want to believe any story of being the princess and having to marry a so called prince with supreme powers in order to save their land.

She had read so many books on such topics that talked about marrying a man to save her family or kingdom. Merrick's own wasn't going to be strange to her although she had seen a wolf during the early hours of the day.

It was all normal because they were in the middle of nowhere but the scary looking human wasn't something she has ever seen before.

****••``~

"Massage, massage, massage" the king's subordinate who was know as his very close coordinator or consult screamed as he ran from the palace's gates to the king's bed room in the late hours of the night.

The guards were all standing till and watching him make the run to the king's bed room.

"My king, my king, I pledge my loyalty to you" he said bowing to the king who was awoken by his vibrate shouting and screams.

"Good massage arrive from outside the palace, Princess Eden has been found " he announced.

"What?" shocked and happy at the same time " Run, get a carriage to go out of the kingdom and bring back my daughter to me" he uttered having to feel a little bit of joy in his heart.

"Yes my king, I shall do as you say," Consultant Jade said blowing again to King Fredrick before leaving to get some guards who would go pick up the Princess.

"Zion was right, I needed not to worry" King Fredrick said with joy and some excitement over the news.

***