Nobody, not even the two paranormal scientists, knew what was there, and they withdrew saying anything.
Mitchell had wished to join the two paranormal scientists, as he had wished to investigate things further, and if they had found something, and he mostly wanted to find the treasure and anything else buried away there,
As they journeyed on Bryson watched the gray mist thicken, and it start to surround them, and snow and swamp pools increase.
As they marched on behind Mitchell they almost walked into the mist, while ignoring it, and more and more of them started getting nervous and begin complaining to Mitchell, who ignored it at first, with being so determined to achieve something. They knew the vague region of where the castle was supposed to be, as they had checked some of the region it could only be in.
Bryson’s legs became stuck in deep bogs of freezing water and he knew that they would have to do something soon, and watched the others and noticed that they were mainly holding back complaining.
It was then when they slowed that he properly looked about, and realized that the fog formed a perfect circle right around them, at the same distance all the way round, and was intensifying, and he wondered what they were trapped in.
“Where are we going ...?” one of Mitchell’s men finally spluttered, fighting for air, furious that he had been put in a situation.
Mitchell stopped and showed how annoyed he was at the way things were going, and walked back towards them.
“We better agree to something ...” he moaned, giving glances about at things and the mess of his expedition.
“Where can we go?” Merton continued, wondering what they’d do next. Barely able to realize what the outcome of such a situation could be.
Mitchell removed his phone and tapped it repeatedly against his large jaw, as he now had a habit of doing when in deep thought, considering trying to use it again to get help, which he really knew would not work, and which had been his main answer to such situations before they had lost using the communications.
It was then as they all waited for the outcome and his solution that one of his men shrieked out from behind them, and they turned slowly to see what was there.
The man had removed his gun and he swiftly fired it at something hidden in the trees, like an ancient gunfighter, and it swiftly smashed into a tree, with the loud explosion temporarily deafening them and sending piled up snow falling from the trees all around them.
All of Mitchell’s men removed their weapons and stood in a circle covering every area around them.
“What’s there?” Mitchell asked, vaguely confused, not seeing anything but the surrounding mist getting in the way.
“You never saw that thing ...” the man that fired the shot moaned, slightly satisfied by his dramatic display and the deadliness of his weapon.
Everyone stood confused, especially by what he meant by thing!
Then, out of nowhere, a light emerged out of the mist, and Bryson stood considering if it was what he had seen at the last castle or if it was something new.
Its radiance pulsated like a mechanical life form, magically illuminating the snow and trees, stretching shadows from everything everywhere.
While they silently observed it loud pounds of something of immense weight rushed around, causing them to scurry away from the location.
Chapter 3
The Things in the Wood
They furiously shifted through the swamp, shifting over to hard ground, and to safety.
“You never saw that thing did any of you?” Mitchell moaned, dissatisfied by their actions and retreat.
Could their weapons have killed it? Was it something new? What could possibly avoid the deadliness of their weapons?
Then, out of nowhere, more lights emerged through the undergrowth with their radiance pulsating like living things, magically illuminating everything far more brightly, blinding their eyes with beams, lighting the snow and trees everywhere and fully showing them their surroundings and all its detail.
Bryson was fascinated by it and everything, and was surprised what the place really looked like. He had thought the other castle could not be worse! And he watched Mitchell and his men remove their weapons, and fired them into a region near the main light, where he had not properly observed, and heavy snow, from the powerful explosions, fell from just about every tree about them.
While they silently observed it deep pounds and creature sounds of things with immense weight rushed around, out of view, unaffected like any normal life forms by the explosions and guns - and made their way towards them - causing them to scurry away.
They furiously moved their legs in and out of bogs, shifting away to another region, with Mitchell and his men in confusion unable fully discover all the results of their actions were and what they were up against – but they had failed and they really knew it!
They ran almost blindly over humps and rough ground, rushing through thick trees and snow, while heavy beast sounds furiously chased, smashing trees down in way, like something out of a strange nightmare.
They were breathless and they could not move fast enough, and a thing was closing in on them.
Suddenly one of the scientists shouted, “Look out there!”
“There’s something!” Mitchell confirmed first. “Quick over there! There’s something there for us ...”
Over to their side there was a hill the height of the trees, with its length going far away into the distance, with a cliff front facing them, almost the only place there without any snow over it.
The lights radiated its rock through the wood and they forced their legs to go faster to it. The appearance in the hideous place, out of the night, amidst the jungle of vegetation, was staggering! They just knew it had to be a place of sanctuary!
It was heaven within a phantom zone, out on the edge of realism, beyond the bounds of what lay beyond, and they were rushing away from the depths of hell, trying to return to reality.
For a long time as Bryson rushed along with the others he watched wondering why he and the others were so sure it was an escape from anything! Why was it? What was there? Was it just a hill and cliff? Could these things not climb or something?
Quick glances he gave behind him at the lights surprised him further! The place looked static, with it supernaturally glowing, and as if he were staring at a mind-bending animation, and he thought it was his exhaustion and breathing heavily affecting him.
Branches broke to pieces as they ran through them, as if dead for centuries, and some trees looked as if they were ready to fall into dust and that forces of something supernatural were keeping them in existence.
Behind them shifting lights were darting about through the wood like sparks, and he saw ghost images of creatures shifting about doing hideous things.
Yet all his looks showed him nothing of the heavy sounding beast things, he still occasionally heard rampaging towards them.
The minds of many of the others clearly were conjuring up hidden demons – as they rushed on an on - as they approached the hill - and they looked for ways to avoid them.
They rushed over an area of flat hard ground, clearly made of rock, and staggered up to the hill, where Mitchell moved over to an area next to the cliff, where they could climb up the easiest.
A deep thud like an explosion made the ground around them shudder like an earthquake and they all looked for what it was, but saw nothing except that they had gained some ground, but it was still approaching.
“Over there!” one of Mitchell’s men shouted, pointing. “There’s a cave!”
Chapter 4
The Cave
White radiance streaked in the cave as the last members of the team shifted in, and Bryson saw the lights and things outside shifted away, and he sat wondering why. Even though they had gotten in out of view, through a small gap in the cliff, which led into a long tunnel cave.
They all rested about, ignoring what was outside, and sheltered there and settled down, and Bryson searched arou
nd for a proper view of his surroundings. His dreamy sight probed into the tunnel, and into an abyss going deep into the cliff, out of reach of their light beams, where silky dust blew and settled, from the ground as they had rushed in, and some was in his lungs, causing him to convulse, but as he searched about, he covered his mouth with a piece of clothing, allowing him to inhale.
Faint echoes of all their breathing and talking could be heard in an extraordinary silence deeper in, with occasional deep gasps for air from many of the others, and Bryson wondered where the tunnel led to.
“You never saw that thing kill did you?” Mitchell moaned, dissatisfied by the results of the dramatic display and the deadliness of their weapons not having any influence, reminding them of the problems of not having any weapons.
None of the men replied and ignored everything, giving slight occasional glances at the entrance for anything.
Mitchell seemed to recall some of his old training and pointed at the weapons without saying anything, and ordered them to keep them loaded anyway and he had them remove them and practice firing.
“This is one for the books!” he moaned, staggered. “A scenario where weapons have no use ... I never thought I’d witness it ...”
“Something should affect them!” Mortimer replied for the scientists.
“Thanks! If you could come up with it, I’d like to know it!”
Glimpses of darkened figures of scientists and archaeologists moving deeper into the cave made Bryson stand up, from where he had rested, and he vigorously checked through debris about him, realizing something, and that the cave was a straight line going inwards, and he considered why.
Thick chemical smells from outside blew in, from gusts of wind, from the concentrated swamp pools pouring out gases through the freezing air giving it a sulfur stench, which some of them gave occasional coughs to, when it hit deep in their lungs.
By their anxious reactions he sensed that they believed that something was actually deep in the cave. Although the descriptions that some of the archaeologists gave still made it too unacceptable to him to believe fully what they had suggested, and that the cave could lead somewhere. Yet it would be better for them to go as far into it as they could as if they things returned they stood a better chance away inside, and them not being there if they just looked into the gap in the cliff – and he was sure their voices could be heard outside and they were progressively growing louder, and Mitchell’s men could talk really loud.
What was here? Everything was a mystery all around them! The castle if it existed was specified in vivid detail as something like a specified location of the resting place of something. His mind conjured up vague visions of spooky medieval things roaming ancient dungeons. Yet again it was far too vague and he could not remember anything like it remotely turning true for some reason!
When the scientists and archaeologists that had been deeper into the cave returned, they all started discussing going deeper inwards and everyone seemed to go along with it, especially as they kept suggesting it was warmer and out of the range of the cold wind blowing inwards.
Bryson joined some of the men at the entrance studying the fog clouds over at the swamp areas, seeing what it did, and saw that it reacted little now, now that they were not in it, and he wondered if it was part of something, like animals with poisons and defense systems against being attacked, and he was sure that it was not bothering them now as they were no longer a threat, and near it.
Suddenly, a light appeared deep in the fog to their side, and Mitchell asked them to move in the cave, surely considering the same things. Bryson watched it vibrating and brighten, and a beam pointed near them.
They moved in and away, while one man suggested covering the cave entrance, but they decided not to chance their luck as it may pick up any abnormalities, and even that the entrance was covered up.
Chapter 5
The Tunnel
Bryson rushed along, grasping his torch, and joined Mitchell and Mortimer leading the men into the depths of the tunnel, going below the hill, as the cave descended towards somewhere, nobody there could distinguish.
What could be at the end of such a cave? Bryson and, as far as he saw, nobody else had heard of caves like it. Its walls looked cut by something with a powerful force, and they regularly examined it expecting to see marks from some form of digging machine.
When it changed direction and went from one direction to another they examined its corners trying to see how it had been formed, and what natural occurrence could cause it.
They had started off trying to find a good location to spend the night, and then the further away from the dangers outside they got the happier they were, and the more they explored it the more they wanted to see and discover what was there.
Bryson confusedly looked ahead for anything dangerous to leap out at them. It was surprising now that they had the encounter outside that they left it open and that anything could appear.
Their reactions created a less tense atmosphere amongst them, making Bryson wonder what they were all thinking! What were their true feelings now? He was sure he and Mortimer had different thoughts of things after their past experiences.
It was phenomenal, they had been surely nearly killed and they never had a clue by what! What was its motivation? Was it animal motivations? Did it intend to consume them or kill a danger to it?
Should they leave it there, hidden away at the place, or have the police informed? How would they handle something that was supernatural? He could not decide the outcome of it!
Mitchell was not stupid and he did not push things too far, if he could help it.
One time the light shifted downwards creating a bright circle of light where Bryon could closely examine the dirt and saw the debris from the walls and picked some pieces up and examined it, examining its cut edges, considering what had occurred there.
It reminded Bryson of a shaft that had been built for some work to take place. But when he thought of it he did not have a clue what it was. What was a tunnel doing out there? Why had they gone to such lengths to construct it? What hidden motive had been behind it?
They had to have built it for logical reasons, as all the constructions were, which he could recall. They would only build it for their needs!
“Perhaps it’s part of a mine for something,” Merton concluded, trying to push things further long, trying to recollect something such as it.
“What happened to all the roads and constructions that they would’ve had?” Mortimer replied.
“How could they have built everything with all those trees being there?” Mitchell answered. “There’d be gaps leading through. Nobody would get anything through all that! Unless it was built a long time ago ... And it all grew over it!”
“Perhaps it’s another part of the castle,” Merton spoke, trying to recollect something; maybe from his memories.
“You’re psychic researchers?” Mitchell replied, looking alert, and considering something that had been bothering him. “As well as scientists! What’re your thoughts of all that stuff outside ...?”
“It is pretty hard to tell,” he replied, “especially at this stage ... Things are so muddled, and we’ve so little ... We’re not even sure that castle exists! Or is in rubble ...”
“I’ve never seen anything like that! Something has to be behind it! And I’m sure it’s not all from this world whatever it is!”
“I’m pretty sure of that. It seems in an entirely different environment, than it was designed for.”
“As though in confusion ... Of what was occurring around it!”
“We may be able to find something someday to defend ourselves against it!”
Mitchell grunted, and looked down at his useless weapon and went back to considering alternatives that would work.
Mitchell pointed his light straight out in front into the distant darkness there, illuminating different parts of the ground, and he lunged forward, as if he had decided that he wanted to find the answers to ev
erything no matter what, and the sooner the better, just like they had been doing for many years. He shifted along, examining his steps, as he went into the darkness, which seemed to go endlessly on, and he examined everything.
It resembled an ancient mine, but more expertly constructed than that and that technology, and as though built to last a long time like an ancient sewer.
It was startling that there were no signs of any materials like bricks and cement in it, which led them to believe that it was something else built by somebody else.
The tunnel kept going endlessly on into the distance going where there was nothing but wood above, and they marched off into preparing themselves and ignoring their sleepiness.
What dangers could it hold? Did it have something of an incomprehensible nature existing in its darkness?
All the significations were startling! The world vanished behind them, and it felt absurd that they were going so far into it. It was like something out of place that should not be there. Especially not at such a location. Nothing seemed to put a conclusion to what it was needed for and why such lengths had been administered to construct it.
Questions endlessly flashed through Bryson’s mind as he followed Mitchell and Merton’s dark figures trudging on, behind their beams of light.
Merton seemed obsessed with handling his fantasy situation more than anything!
“Do you want one?” Merton moaned, handing back his cigarettes to Bryson and Mortimer, who were walking together behind him, as he blew out smoke about him; and they took one each to break the momentum.
Bryson strolled on blissfully puffing away, wondering where the hell they were going to this time. They clearly were under the trees, as some roots from trees had managed make their way down and had smashed their way through the rock.
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