Not such a common story.

It was already late, after walking through the gardens and getting to where she was, Lisa. I decided to get something to eat. I went to what Lisa had told me was the dining room and there were many small trays with food portions of various styles, Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Arabian, Turkish, Italian, etc, there were also small trays with vegetables. I understood what she meant by no kitchen but I could choose whatever I wanted.

So I did, I chose Chinese food and some Caesar salad. Asian and Latin food, I love it! I took the little trays back to my room along with a container of water.

I went back upstairs to what used to be my room, there I decided to take a bath before dinner and then rest for a while, it was still early and I wanted to watch the sunset somewhere in that leafy place.

I fell asleep eating in the bathtub, everything was so nice... When I woke up it was already darker by the window and I quickly went to change. Then while I was combing my hair I was looking at the pathways again... there she was, walking as if she wouldn't take her feet off the ground.

I ran out to try to catch up with her as she was the only person I could see so far. I went out and followed the path and tried to enjoy the scenery with the last rays penetrating through the thicket of the place. How beautiful everything was!

I still couldn't see it, how far away it was this time, I followed the path, it was unique, there was no way to get lost.

Nearby I could hear the breeze like a distant whisper cutting the sound with the brush of the branches of the trees and when I got to where the path was supposed to be… and she was no longer there. I could see that there was a wide dirt road as if people were used to pass through it and decided to follow it.

And so I walked and walked, and walked some more,  and eventually found her sitting on a rock, looking at a stream that ran fast and gracefully as if it wanted to quickly reach the sea, she stared at it and didn't notice that I was so close to her, until I spoke to her. She turned quietly and smiled, I told her I was looking for inspiration to write a fantasy story and without saying anything, she took me by the hand and led me further down the road.

There I could finally see some other people around a campfire and they were talking quietly and animatedly. Lisa and I joined the group who were smiling at me and then they all started holding hands and walking around in little circles on one side and then the other.

I didn't want to be grouchy but I was already getting dizzy and I asked Lisa why that was happening.

But she just told me to "Just do what we do."

…And suddenly a bonfire appeared before my eyes, in the center of it was a woman dressed in white, tied to a mast and she was crying because around her there was only flames and smoke.

I thought it was all an act of magic because of the sudden appearance and went with the flow.

I kept doing what they all did, they kept circling around and saying in chorus....

"We are with you, we are with you..."

Of course I went with the flow to see how far this spectacle would go.

The woman in the center of the bonfire was crying and pretending to be burning and then everything disappeared as it came.

We let go of each other's hands and again everyone started to cover quietly and I was waiting for them to say something, but Liz took me by the hand and led me back to the path.

She told me to follow the path, that “they” are waiting for you there.

I followed the same path I had taken to this magical place and arrived back at the entrance of the castle, when I arrived there was a smiling woman who said:

"Hello! Welcome. My name is Lis and I am your hostess. Sorry for being late but I couldn’t communicate… I saw that you went up to your room but I didn't know where you were."

To which I smiling I answered... "Thank you but don't apologize, Lisa already took care of me, really, because of the resemblance with your names I thought she was you".

Lisa looked at me with astonishment and commented that no one could have picked me up, because no one else had arrived until the next day.

To which I answered her surprised, yes, I just left many girls there at the end of the trail by a remote bend near a creek.

Lisa looked at me and went back a little bit and removed a white sheet that covered a portrait that was in the middle of the room, when I discovered it I looked at them, it was them. They were dressed the same, and they were smiling like when I saw them and in the middle was Lis with her same silk suit in the wind and she was staring straight ahead.

And I said.

"…That's them! that's the girls I just saw in the gardens and the one in the center is Lis."

Lisa looked at me and she started to tell me....

"I don't want to scare you but many years ago this castle belonged to a king who had a harem of beautiful girls. They all cared for each other and loved each other but the king fell in love with only one of them, De Lis, she didn’t love him, she only loved the other harem girls and so, the king in his anger had Lis burned in the presence of the other girls as an example so that no one would ever say no to him.

Every now and then some people can see the girls walk through the castle, and they say that if you are able to go even further, you could see the ritual they did to die and get to meet their beloved Lis and left the despicable king alone and mourning his misfortune.”

And this my dear readers is the fantasy story that I came to this place to be inspired but instead of finding a happy story I could participate in a terrible burning ceremony at the stake without knowing it.

Instead of feeling inspired I decided to write this story that I myself witnessed so submissively thinking and believing that it was part of a show.

…And so ends the scariest story I have ever experienced in my life.

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