He woke up in a large unfamiliar bedroom. He was lying on a spacious canopy bed. On luxurious sheets and blankets. Darkness and silence drifted all around. Outside the windows, half-covered by long curtains, the night still hung.
He rose, looked out the window, saw the village below, and realized he was in the castle.
He listened. A strange force was calling him into the depths of the castle.
He began moving through the twilight corridors. There was no man-made light here. Only darkness and dim light, softened by faint moonlight. Along the walls in the corridors stood servants in liveries and white wigs. White faces. Their eyes closed. They stood straight, as if trapped in some enchanted sleep.
The unknown force led him into a large hall where, at the center on a low table, stood a large dark crystal. Its facets shifted faintly, as if it were alive and breathing.
The Cursed stared at it as if spellbound.
At that moment, footsteps sounded somewhere in a side corridor. He turned and saw the Lady of the Castle, dressed in a white cloak with her long hair loose, walking in an unknown direction. Her eyes were closed. Yet she moved down the corridor without error.
The Cursed set off after her.
She turned several corners, ending up in a strange abandoned part of the castle. Here debris and stone crumbs were scattered across the floor. The Lady's night shoes made a crunching sound as she walked through this place. On the walls hung peeling tapestries. In some places the stonework was chipped.
The farther they went into the abandoned part of the castle, the less the Cursed liked it. A grim foreboding of inevitable disaster grew inside him.
Ahead, from an unknown source, a cool night wind rose. It swept up half-dried tree leaves, seemingly from nowhere, and they flew across the entire corridor.
The Lady of the Castle kept walking with her eyes closed.
A magical portal opened before her. A door into the unknown. A night mission into the abyss.
The Lady of the Castle walked through the portal. The Cursed stepped after her.
An enchanted unknown night garden. Dense trees bearing magical, unfamiliar fruits. They glowed. Ahead stood a large mysterious castle with its windows lit. It gave the impression that the Lady had already been expected here.
She followed the garden path straight to the castle. She entered through the wide open double doors.
In the great hall, a carpet was spread across the floor, upon which a large terrifying monster lay half-reclined. Red eyes flared with fire at the sight of the approaching woman. An enormous maw with long massive teeth and a long restless tongue. A black hairy body with huge muscles. In open combat, it could clearly prove to be a dangerous opponent.
The woman approached and lay down beside him. Her eyes were still closed, as if she were under a spell or in a trance.
The monster leaned over her and slid its long tongue straight into her mouth. Deeper and deeper. The Lady of the Castle moaned. This terrifying scene went on for a long time. The monster's dreadful, fiery eyes blazed ever brighter.