Chereads / The Story of Atlas / Chapter 4 - Duke's Castle

Chapter 4 - Duke's Castle

After Atlas walked a while through the city, a building bigger than he had ever seen rose up in front of him. Atlas looked astonished, seeing that the building was almost as big as a district in River City. 'Amazing' he thought.

Atlas then walked towards the gate. There already was a row of people, looking curiously and excited at the castle. Atlas saw guards taking money from everyone who wanted to enter.

After a while, Atlas reached the gate. A guard looked at him, snorted in disdain and barked: "Two gold coins for entry!". Atlas grabbed two gold coins from his sack and gave it to the guard.

The guard let Atlas through. After Atlas walked through the gate, a large white castle appeared in front of him. There were guards everywhere. Every few meters he could see one. Not only that. Flags with a white background and bear on it were everywhere. Atlas walked towards the huge wooden doors and entered the castle.

When Atlas entered the castle, the first thing he saw were the tiles. They were shiny white. The hall was long and big. It was possible to fit 20 elephants. An attendant walked up to him and said: "Follow me, please.". Atlas went after the attendant.

Going through the countless small pathways in the castle, Atlas felt like he was in a maze. After walking for quite a while, the attendant suddenly stopped and pointed at a door. "Enter the room and wait there.". Atlas nodded and entered the room.

The first thing Atlas thought when he entered was: "..., HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE HERE???". Atlas was stunned. There were at least 500 people. Just the cost of two gold coins was immense. But there were actually this many people.

After second thought he finally realized why there would be so many persons. The chance to become an immortal was low, but if you became one you would be set for live. And of course, a lot of the people in here were rich. Two gold coins would be easily earned by them.

While Atlas was calming down, a boy approached him: "Are you also here to try your luck?". 'No, i'm here for sightseeing..., ofcourse i'm here for the test.' Atlas thought while rolling his eyes . But instead he said: "Yes indeed! My name is Atlas, how do i call you?". "Ah, so it's brother Atlas. My name is Hayden!".

Hayden was a tall boy. He had blond hair, brown eyes and a sharp nose. Atlas laughed and said: "So brother Hayden, do you know when we can enter?". This brother Hayden seemed quite informative, because he quickly said: "Every five minutes one leaves and one enters. Currently only one was taken by the mage.".

"Mage ?" Atlas asked in a confused tone. Hayden said surprised: "Oh, you don't know what a mage is? It's not a secret so i can tell you. The one inside the room is a mage. They are also called immortals by people who don't know anything about them. If the mage finds a mana vein in your body, you can become a mage potentially. But only one in thousand have them. Only if one of your parents has mana veins does your chances increase." Hayden concluded.

Atlas looked astonished and asked Hayden: "Where did you get all this information from ?" Hayden said: "I overheard one of those rich pricks talking." Atlas looked across the room and nodded. A lot of rich people are here. They would definitely know this kind of information.

Atlas kept talking for a bit with Hayden before excusing himself. Atlas went to the attendant in the room and asked him were the bathroom was. After recieving the answer, Atlas followed the instructions of the attendant.

When he reached the door, he suddenly heard some strange sounds from inside. Not thinking anything about it, Atlas opened the door and stepped in the bathroom. Atlas suddenly saw two people looking at him with fury.

Atlas hurriedly went out of the bathroom. ''BASTARD, COME BACK HERE!!'', the guy shouted. The girl started to scream to the guy: ''I told you that we should've waited!''. Atlas didn't pay any attention to the couple and went back.

Atlas returned to the spacious room and saw Hayden approach him. ''Where did you go to, Atlas?'' he asked. Atlas tried not to think about what happened and said casually: ''I just took a walk around the place.''. Hayden nodded and went talking to a few others in the room.

After a while, the boy and girl Atlas had seen returned to the room. They scanned the room before finally laying their eyes on Atlas. The boy started to walk in his direction before stopping in front of him. The boy wore beatiful clothes, had black hair and brown eyes that looked at Atlas arrogantly. The blonde girl was extremely good looking, had a sexy body and had green eyes that were looking with fury at him.

''Peasant, if you say to anyone what happened in the bathroom, i will cut you into pieces and feed you to the dogs.'' the arrogant boy said. Atlas acted fearfully in front of the boy, but Atlas couldn't care about them. He was here for the test and what others did couldn't care him less.

''Good that you know your place.'' the boy said in disdain and he walked away. Atlas looked at the boy thoughtfully before turning his eyes away.

Every five minutes one would leave the door in front of them while one entered. Currently, Atlas has seen quite a lot of people who entered and left. But no one came out happy. 'It seems everyone, who i've seen, has failed.' Atlas thought.

Suddenly the door opened, and the guy who came out was not the one who had entered. People looked shocked at the person, because this meant that the one who entered was accepted by the mage. The person who showed said ''next'' and walked right back in.

A few moments later, a girl showed a disappointed look while leaving the room. 'It seems it's my turn now.' thought Atlas. Hayden walked up towards Atlas and wished him goodluck. Atlas nodded, opened the door in front of him and entered.

After closing the door behind him, Atlas looked around him and saw a dark long hall. With long steps, Atlas walked forward. He was excited to take the test. Even if he failed, it would've been a good experience. 'It would be a shame of the two gold coins' he thought. After walking for a while he finally reached another door. 'This is it.' Atlas thought. He opened the door and entered the room, into the unknown!