"Now, to go trekking there, you need permission from the government. Didn't you hear about the incident that happened a month ago?
The presence of a Hyena was detected in that forest area. The way that girl died that day was incredibly brutal. It is a very rare species of animal in our country... how it ended up in the forest region here is still unknown."
— Alex said.
"So then, what do we do...?"
— Aami asked sadly.
"We can try submitting a request. If we get it, we get it..."
— Alex said.
"There is a chance we'll get it, because it's cold now, right? Hyenas have a very low capacity to withstand the cold."
— John said.
Aami just hummed in response... That evening, while going home, she somehow ended up going via Edinburgh Castle. On a sudden whim, she parked the car, climbed the stone steps on the east side, and reached the castle grounds. There was a ticket counter there... even though it was crowded, by some stroke of luck, she managed to get a ticket. It felt like a miracle.
To be honest, I had never been here before... I'm usually more into normal trekking. For that, we will climb and descend every hill, mountain, and forest we see. Dad will be with us, and sometimes Alphy will too. Arthur only likes to go see palaces and castles.
After the security check,I entered through those massive castle gates.
Walking along the path paved with black stones and turning right, we reached the Half Moon Battery. It is the courtyard of the castle, once considered a stronghold for weaponry.
Looking out from there, you can see a magnificent view of Edinburgh city.
In the distance, there is the body of water called the Firth of Forth, and beyond that lie the Scotland Highlands. To the south, the mountain slope you see is Arthur's Seat.
This castle is built upon a massive rock—a remnant of a colossal volcanic explosion that occurred some 340 million years ago, which eventually separated from the main Arthur's Seat area.
The valley formed by the flowing lava eventually became the Royal Mile, the grand path leading from the Castle to Holyrood Palace, and the city grew on either side of it.
Inside the castle, saw the Scottish National War Memorial. It is a place where the names of soldiers who fought and died heroically for the nation are kept in alphabetical order, along with their addresses, preserved like a collection of memorial books.
Then saw the Great Hall with its collection of ancient weapons, the Royal Regiment Museum, and the dark prison cells within the castle.
After seeing every sight, reached a certain spot in the castle... a dark, secluded place where you could count the number of people present on your fingers...So she turned around and prepared to walk out of there, but she felt like there was something there that was pulling her mind toward it.
It was a gate unlike any she had seen before—a peculiar design.
There was a large Moonstone, and supporting it on either side were two figures that formed a gateway. In the dim light, the glow from outside hit the stone, spreading a soft radiance like moonlight. Aami moved forward slowly to see what those figures were.
"Are they dogs? But how can a dog stand up like a human...? Are they wolves?" As soon as that thought crossed her mind, the light suddenly vanished.
"Werewolf..."
She shivered with fear. She took her phone out of her pocket to take a photo, moving her feet backward to capture the entire entrance in the frame. Her movement stopped abruptly when she bumped into something; a sudden chill spread through her entire body. Without even knowing why, she turned around.
What she saw were eyes—a mix of green and blue—shining beneath thick, dark eyebrows. More than the pupils themselves, it was the mysterious depth within those eyes that startled her. It was a singular gaze... one that made her heart race and her breath catch... she felt her body tremble.
She forgot what she was doing. She forgot where she was. Her entire world became narrowed down to those eyes standing before her. Unable to comprehend what was happening, she couldn't even swallow.
Suddenly, the phone in her hand buzzed. Startled as if waking from a dream, she lowered her face and looked at the phone... it was Alex. On a sudden impulse, she looked up again, but the spot where that person had been standing was now completely empty.
"Huh...? Where...? Where did he go...?"
Though she looked all around her in shock, there was no sign of such a person anywhere.
There wasn't even a trace left to prove someone had been there. Could she have been dreaming?.
Aami's eyes scanned the area again. An indescribable fluttering sensation remained in her chest from that moment. Those eyes kept flashing through her mind. Was it a dream... or an illusion?. Even the thought of it made a weariness spread through her body. She felt a strange difficulty and a shortness of breath.
Aami uneasily closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them. After looking around once more and confirming the person she saw earlier was nowhere to be found, she looked at the call on her phone... it was from Alex a short while ago.
She called him back and talked to him. He was speaking about the trekking trip to the mountains. He mentioned that he had submitted the application online. They could plan to go once the date was confirmed. After discussing these things, he hung up the phone.
Aami's eyes returned to that gateway once more. She turned her phone camera on and took a photo of it. Then, as she moved further inside, she was able to see many wall paintings, just as her mother had described. Although she didn't understand everything, she captured her thoughts and images on her phone to keep track of them.
By the time she left the castle, it was dark. Looking back at the castle now, it felt somewhat formidable.Aami walked back the way she came, down to the parking lot. As she got into the car and began to drive forward, only those eyes remained in her mind....