I had been running for approximately 10 minutes when the ground began to rise at a slight incline. It started out slow, just a gentle slope before eventually, the trek became a gruelling uphill battle. I began to feel the fire in my legs as they fought to keep pushing me further up the hill, my throat was parched, not from thirst but from nerves and I thanked God that I had chosen to wear runners to the party that night.

The path was a dusty, dirt track and with the horde of feet that ran up it, it began to spew a brown cloud of disturbed soil into the faces of those still climbing, my eyes stung with the irritants and I blinked with fearsome frequency as I tried to relieve myself of them.

It was at this moment that something amazing happened, for the first time since arriving here my flanks weren't surrounded by people. It seemed the crowds had been bottlenecked as they soared up the track causing a much thinner stream of people. Coincidently this caused me to be open on my right side to the air and the view.

From the height we had gained in our run I could see the tops of a vast forest that bordered a flat dirt field. Or what I could assume was one as only the centre was visible as people still obscured the outer edges as they ran toward one of the compass pointed castles.

I was mesmerised by this vista for a brief moment, this was before terror gripped me as I took in another realisation. I could see small jeeps doing sweeping patrols of the outskirts of the horde, spraying wildly into the mass of bodies, not even having to pause to aim their shots. This brought me to the realisation that although less gunfire was directed at the ascending parties we were still under fire. And I was open to it, without the cover that the mass of bodies provided.

The thought was punctuated by a sharp tug on the side of my shirt as if someone was attempting to gain my attention. I drew my eye away from the ground and noticed a gaping hole in the fabric, I had been narrowly missed by a stray bullet. I gulped in fear.

I charged back toward the mass of bodies, adopting a diagonal gait in an attempt to merge once again with the traffic. I met the flow as a knot of middle-aged people began to run beside me and I slipped between their number to gain cover. My move was proved advantageous as moments after I had left my previous spot bullets tore into the group of adults. A choked sound caused by grief left my throat as I forced my way further into the crushing press of bodies.

Later, after several more panicked minutes of frantic running Castle North finally came into view, it stood like an unforgiving titan against the steely blue sky. It was composed of one large, central tower and then ringed by a large wall punctuated at three intervals by towers, smaller than the central spire but still breathtakingly large.

It seemed to be a scaled-up version of a basic European castle. As when one looked at it, even from a distance they could see the truly indomitable size that it was built with. It was as if it was built as a citadel for a race of giants. Though even with its size I doubted the castle's ability to house the vast throngs of people that rushed toward its gates.

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Gates that now upon closer inspection were closing. Swiftly. I forced my body into overdrive, burning every once of energy that I had left in my muscles as I launched into a dead sprint toward the lowering portcullis. People were yelling all around me, begging the people at the gates to stop, I could see them now, the desperate movements as the cranked the wheels that would seal our fates. Not mine I thought grimly as I dived under the last 2 feet of the gate, sliding to a stop on the rough, packed dirt floor. I stood up and began to brush the dirt from my clothes with sweat soaked palm, partially form nervousness and partly from exertion.

The gate slammed to a close and people pressed themselves against the metal grill of the portcullis, pushing their arms through in a vain attempt to get help. Then I started to notice another problem, people behind them could see the obstacle and added to the press of bodies, crushing the first couple against the metal. I saw them, how they bled at the eyes and the mouth from the pressure before going limb, still grafted to the metal by the force of their companions. Their screams were haunting.

In my head, I knew that the decision to close the gates was the wisest cause of action as even assuming that some people had left the central courtyard and gone to find refuge in the castle the number of people I could see still looked as if they could fill the castle twice over. Still, though, this rationalisation could not take away the pain I felt in my heart. I didn't help however, I was ashamed.

I turned away, I couldn't face all of the dead and dying. Instead, I took to the task of finding myself accommodation for the night. I walked around the courtyard before finding a man-sized door built into one of the immense perimeter towers it was comical in its inadequacy in size compared to what it was built into. I didn't laugh however and I was grim-faced as I entered the roughly built stone tower.

It was filled with many levels, each containing rooms from the outside inward with the centre being home to a truly immense spiral staircase made of stone like the rest of the tower.

It was only after I had torn several flights of inclination away from the tower with weary legs that the screams faded out of earshot that I settled into one of the nearby rooms and drifted into a deep and troubled sleep. Fraught with nightmares of the day's past events. I was only dimly aware of the task completion message that passed through my field of vision. I faded into blackness once more. An event that was beginning to happen with scarily increasing frequency in my life.