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Introduction of the story:

(Excerpt from our novel)

Chapter 1

Curse befallen

Anyone who would take look at the view of the Castle of Seven Dunes could see it looked uglier, darker, and gloomier than a few weeks earlier, with its artisanal architecture and build made of the golden sands of the desert, following the fulminant curse spider-webbed all around the locale. One of the centers of happiness and justice in Seven Dunes had turned into chilling somberness behind the western walls of the town. The people of Seven Dunes were unwilling to see it any longer. In fact, no one was feeling like a bit of fresh air, coming outside from their homes that they were probably considering the safest place for the time being. The gate at the eastern walls was opening to a temple that looked a bit larger than the one a visitor of the town would expect, as a significant portion of the townsfolk was imprisoned or lost. The gate at the southern walls was the passageway of the people to an oasis where they could fulfill their needs of bathing, trading, breeding their livestock, and enjoying conversations with the foreign passersby of other kingdoms of the desert. The land beyond the northern walls did not offer much for a visitor as it was mere sand and endless view of the desert, despite the presence of a nice pavilion for public meetings situated on the northern dune, one of the seven dunes encircled by the walls, which were the inspiration for elders to name the town. The southern dune also had a pavilion on it, where Ande-ryn, the female Chief of the town, or other individuals met to govern the locale. Four of other dunes were home to the housing of the townsfolk, while the last one was used as the entrance to the castle in the west. There situated inns, merchants' workplaces, market, etc. as well as palm trees on the fords naturally formed between the dunes.

In the middle of the night, one of the rooms somewhere in the castle was lit with numerous candlesticks. Seven Dunes, as always in lands dominated by deserts, more particularly the hot weather during daytime, was shinier and more cheerful at nights and recent days saw the townsfolk tired and less willing to enjoy things under the control of unknown beings. The room was the one where Princess Elryn, the Governor and Ruler of Seven Dunes, under the aegis of King Gorlough, her father who was in charge of all kingdoms and princedoms of the desert, was kept as a prisoner. Princess Elryn had fallen in love with Seven Dunes and wanted to lead her life there, in a visit her father paid together with her. Indeed, Seven Dunes was also home to the endless gold-colored sands of the desert but its proximity to the oasis and the small creek running from it, entering the town, and passing by the font side of the temple, were able to make the area fertile enough and the people continue living in peace. Now the princess was imprisoned in her own castle, in a part of it she even did not discern. That night, she wrote a letter to her father:

““My lord

Seven Dunes is in danger!

All of a sudden, some unknown creatures started to appear ev