The Spell of Sorrows: Chikaido's Courageous Quest.

The storm was so loud. I could barely hear my own thoughts. It was so dark, that every time I looked up at the sky, it felt like there was a wall of clouds blocking me from seeing the stars.

"I'm going to be late..." I muttered to myself.

It had been raining for days on end. The river near my village was overflowing and flooded everything on its way. My mother was worried sick about the crops, which were now floating away with the water. The whole village was in distress, but no one seemed to know what to do about it.

The old priestess had tried her best to help by performing rituals and chanting prayers for the rain to stop. But nothing had worked. With every passing day, everyone got more desperate and frustrated, until even my mother lost hope.

"Why am I having this dream again? It's always the same thing... Always the same castle." I murmured as I continued to trudge through the mud towards an old castle that stood in front of me, seemingly out of thin air.

I had seen this castle before in previous dreams, but never in such detail as tonight. Even though I couldn't make out any details because of the darkness, something about it drew me towards it intensely.

There was something about this place that felt strangely familiar... Almost like home...

The closer I got to it, the stronger my urge became to go inside and look around— But just as before, a strong force pulled me back and prevented me from moving forward.

"Go back! You're not allowed!" A voice whispered from behind me.

I turned around quickly as a sharp pain ran through my head— There was no one in sight except for me standing alone on an open field facing the castle.

"Who said that?" My eyes searched everywhere looking for the source of the voice, but only darkness greeted me wherever they went.

"Go back! You can't go there! Go back!" The voice started repeating itself in a fast rhythm that made my head hurt even more than before— And just like before, there were no signs of anyone or anything else nearby other than me standing alone on an open field facing the castle surrounded by darkness and rain... Just like before...

"Stop it! Stop repeating yourself!" I yelled angrily into the darkness as tears started running down my face from sheer frustration and sadness— How many times have I experienced this dream anyways? It would be nice if things changed once in awhile, instead of always repeating themselves over and over again!

"Oh shut up!" A new voice suddenly screamed through my ears causing them to clamp tightly shut. "Are you stupid or something? You need to get inside that castle soon or you're going to get yourself killed!"