They Thought They Were Free - But Then They Found The Horrifying Secret In The Castle

The four friends slowly picked themselves up off the cold stone floor, wincing in pain. They looked around warily at their dim surroundings. They seemed to be in some basement or dungeon, with mossy stone walls and flickering torches providing the only light.

“Is everyone okay?” Jake asked shakily.

“I think so,” Amy replied, rubbing her shoulder where she had landed hard.

Ryan shone his flashlight around. “Where are we? Some kind of prison?”

Mia shuddered. “Look - bones. Human bones.” She pointed to the piles of bones scattered around them.

Liam gulped. “This is terrible. We need to find a way out of here.”

Suddenly, they heard the sinister voice echo through the chamber: “There is no way out. Not until you complete the tasks I set before you.”

The friends huddled together, peering into the darkness for the source of the voice.

“What do you want from us?” Jake shouted, trying to keep the fear out of his voice.

The voice chuckled. “I want to play a little game. The rules are simple: make your way through the chambers and solve the puzzles. If you succeed, you go free. If you fail…” The voice trailed off ominously.

The friends looked at each other with dread. This was even worse than they had imagined.

“And if we refuse to play?” Ryan asked defiantly.

“Then you will rot down here forever!” The voice boomed, making them jump. “Now, let the games begin!”

A section of the wall rumbled and slid upward, revealing a stone passageway. The friends hesitated, then slowly stepped toward it. They had no choice but to play along and try to outwit their deranged host.

“Be careful,” Liam whispered as they entered the passage. Their footsteps echoed eerily.

They walked slowly, shining their flashlights ahead. Strange symbols and disturbing carvings lined the walls. It seemed they were going deeper into some ancient crypt or catacomb.

“I have a terrible feeling about this,” Mia muttered through chattering teeth.

Before anyone could reply, the passage opened up into a large, circular chamber. In the center sat a giant stone statue of a demon, horns curling from its head. Its eyes seemed to follow them as they entered. Four doors led out from the chamber in different directions.

“Which way do we go?” Amy asked nervously.

The answer came as a voice, echoing around them: “Choose your path wisely. One path leads to safety, the other to doom. You only get one try.”

The friends looked at each other. The game had truly begun.

The friends stood frozen, staring at the four ominous doorways.

“How are we supposed to know which one to pick?” Amy whispered.

“It’s got to be some kind of riddle or puzzle,” Ryan said, examining the doors carefully.

Each doorway had strange symbols carved around it that none of them recognized. The passages beyond were pitch black.

“Wait, look!” Liam exclaimed, pointing to the floor. Faintly etched between the doors were letters spelling out a rhyme:

With wits be wise, the demon lies

The twisted path is not the prize

Heed these words, choose what you find

The way ahead calms the mind

“A clue!” Jake said. “So it’s saying we shouldn’t pick the ‘twisted path’ - that must be a trick.”

“But what is how ‘calms the mind’?” Mia wondered aloud.

They studied the rhyme closely, debating the meaning. Finally, Amy’s face lit up.

“Water! The passage with the wavy lines must represent water. Water is calming, right?”

The others agreed it was their best theory. With trembling hands, they pushed open the door with the wavy etched symbols. A cold, damp passage sloped downward.

“Here we go,” Jake swallowed nervously. “Let’s hope this is the right path.”

Moving slowly, they felt their way along the wet stone walls. The air grew colder and their breaths misted in front of them. After what felt like ages, they emerged into a larger cavern.

In the center was a still black pool, water dripping from stalactites above. Four stone platforms led to a door on the far side. But between the platforms lurked a something in the dark water.

“Oh no,” Ryan muttered. “It’s another puzzle.”

The voice suddenly echoed loudly around them: “The platforms hold safe passage. But tread carefully. The beast below fits of hunger for fresh meat!”

Ripples spread through the water as something massive stirred, hidden in the depths. They had chosen the right path - but their trial was only the beginning.

The friends stood frozen, staring at the murky water where something sinister lurked below. Liam picked up a rock and tossed it into the pool, causing violent ripples but no sign of the beast.

“We have to cross carefully,” Jake said. “Follow my lead.”

Moving slowly, he stepped onto the first stone platform. It held firm beneath his weight. He leaped to the second, then the third, finally reaching the door on the far side.

“Come on, it’s safe!” he called.

Amy followed nervously, making the precarious jumps across the platforms. Ryan and Mia followed behind.

Liam prepared to leap onto the first platform - when suddenly the water exploded upward. A gigantic reptilian head emerged, jaws opening wide right where Liam stood!

Liam scrambled back in terror as the crocodile-like beast snapped its razor teeth shut inches from his face.

“Liam!” the others cried out. The creature sank below the surface again.

“I can’t get across!” Liam shouted, trapped on the wrong side.

Jake thought furiously. “Here, distract it! I have an idea!”

Liam grabbed a loose stone and hurled it. The beast lunged upward, biting viciously at the air. The beast’s distraction caught Jake’s attention, and he leaped onto the platform behind the croc. At the last second, he flung out his backpack. Liam caught it and used it to pull himself onto the platform and out of the croc’s reach.

They all collapsed against the far door, shaking with relief. Before the beast could attack again, they opened the door quickly and slipped into a passage beyond.

“That was way too close,” Amy gasped. “Let’s hope we don’t have to face anything worse.”

But they knew their twisted host had many more horrors awaiting them. They could only steel themselves and proceed deeper into the terrifying game.

The passageway beyond the crocodile pit seemed to stretch on forever. The four friends trudged along silently, nerves frayed from their harrowing encounter.

Finally, Jake spoke up. “Guys, we need to stick together in here. Whatever this psycho has planned for us next, we’ll get through it together.”

The others murmured agreement. United, they stood a chance; divided, they would fail for certain.

After what seemed like hours, the passage opened up into a soaring Gothic chamber. Suits of armor lined the walls, their visors tilted down as if staring at the new arrivals. Across the room was a huge wooden door bound in iron.

“I bet that’s the way out,” Ryan said hopefully.

But as they moved toward it, with a loud creak, the suits of armor raised their head visors - revealing nothing but inky darkness within. Then, with a clamor of metal on stone, the suits stepped away from the walls, drawing swords from sheaths with a sinister hiss.

Amy screamed as an armored gauntlet reached for her. The friends scattered, pursued by the advancing line of possessed armor.

“Get to the door!” Liam yelled. “I’ll hold them off!” Grabbing a battleaxe from the wall, he swung at the nearest suit of armor, distracting it.

The others raced for the door, but more hollow knights blocked their path. Jake and Ryan fought them off frantically while Mia and Amy tugged at the door handle. Someone locked it tight.

Liam destroyed one knight, only for two more to take its place. “Hurry with that door!” he cried desperately.

Amy spotted a riddle carved into the stone above the door frame: “The beginning of the end, inverted without flaw, will unlock the way forward if your wits you employ.”

“It’s a puzzle, quick!” she shouted. Fending off attacks, they racked their brains until Mia gasped, “The last word - y-o-l-l-o-y! Try that!”

Amy spun the letters into the ancient lock. With a heavy click, the door creaked open. “We got it!”

The friends fled through as Liam battered back the remaining suits of armor. Slamming the door shut behind them, they collapsed in a heap, shaken but triumphant. But they knew more twisted trials lay ahead before their nightmare would end.

The friends took a moment to catch their breath after the harrowing battle with the possessed armor. They seemed to be in some kind of mausoleum now, with walls lined with sealed crypts. Up ahead, moonlight streamed through a crack, providing the first glimpse of the outside world since their ordeal began.

“We must be getting close to the exit!” Ryan said hopefully.

But as they made their way further in, a disturbing sound reached their ears - chains dragging, accompanied by mournful moans. From some crypts, shambling figures emerged - desiccated corpses wrapped in burial shrouds, their dead eyes glowing with unnatural light.

“Zombies!” Liam yelled in alarm as the horde of undead lurched toward them.

The friends looked around wildly for anything to fight with. Jake grabbed a steel sconce torch from the wall and swung it at the nearest corpse like a club. Amy and Mia used poles from fallen banner flags to hold back the zombies’ grasping claws.

“This way, come on!” Ryan shouted, spotting a narrow passage leading out.

They battled past the grasping undead and squeezed into the passage single-file. The zombies pursued, their rotten limbs getting caught and torn off in the narrow space. Soon, the moans faded behind them as they put more distance between them and the crypt.

“I am getting really sick of this!” Mia cried in frustration.

The passage ended at a spiral staircase leading up into the darkness. With no other choice, they ascended cautiously. The crumbling steps seemed to go on forever.

Finally, up ahead, real moonlight shone down from an opening in the ceiling. With a last burst of energy, they charged up the last steps and emerged onto the stone roof of a massive Gothic castle.

“We’re outside!” Amy cried in joy and relief.

But their elation faded as they took in their surroundings. The castle sat isolated on a rocky island, sheer cliffs dropping off on all sides to a raging ocean below. There was no land in sight, no way off. Someone still trapped them.

As they despaired, the now familiar sinister voice echoed around them: “Well done getting this far. But you only prolong the inevitable. The voice they recognized as sinister congratulated them on getting this far, but warned them they still had one more trial before it decided their fate. The truth lies within this castle. Find it, and you shall be free. Someone will trap here forever you if you fail!!”

The friends steeled their nerves and headed toward the castle’s central keep to face their ultimate challenge.

The friends made their way into the ancient keep, the stone walls slick with moisture and echoing their footsteps eerily. “Be ready for anything,” Jake muttered as they drifted through the shadows.

Suddenly, the floor gave way beneath them, sending them tumbling into darkness! They landed hard on a stone floor, wincing in pain. Iron bars shot up, trapping them in a cage suspended over a deep pit.

On the far side of the pit stood their kidnapper - a crazed, wild-eyed man in occultist robes. “My pets,” he cried gleefully, “the last trial is simple. Answer my riddle, or become food for the beast below!”

Ryan shook the bars fruitlessly as a monstrous shape stirred in the depths of the pit. “You’re insane!” he shouted.

Their captor paid no heed. “Now, here is your riddle: I have seas with no water, coasts with no sand, towns without people, and mountains without land. What am I?”

The friends froze. “A map!” Amy cried suddenly.

The man scowled, then clapped slowly. “Well done. You have passed the last trial.”

The cage lifted back to solid ground, and the bars retracted. Their kidnapper bowed with a flourish. “As promised, you are free to leave my castle.”

“Why did you put us through this?” Mia asked angrily.

“To test intelligent minds like yours, my dear,” the man said. “Solving my puzzles was the actual game.”

“You’re sick,” Jake spat. “Come on guys, let’s get out of here.”

Leaving the deranged man behind, they raced back upstairs. But as they crossed the rooftop, Amy skidded to a halt. “Wait, the riddle! ‘The truth lies within this castle.’ We solved his test, but not the real final riddle. There’s still something here we need to find before we can actually escape.”

Puzzling over the words, they reentered the castle. Retracing their steps, they suddenly noticed cracks in a wall. Breaking it down revealed a hidden passage - and huddled inside were people wearing rags, blinking at the light.

“He kidnapped others before us,” Liam breathed. “Keeping them prisoner was the secret.”

To be continued…