The Lost Treasure Map Series

by V Bertolaccini

  He realized sounds were now not emerging from under him but coming were from somewhere above, and then they started emerging about him and he listened intensely with confusion.

  Sounds manifested everywhere as though invisible creatures were surrounding them, and strange glowing and swirling forces formed and went about them and telepathic figures like spirits with shrouds swirled about it, wailing and screaming, and he partially entered a dream state, and as it increased he believed he was holding onto reality.

  A bright explosion of colors exploded out making him come to, and realized the thing below him had reached him and he opened his eyes wide and examined his surroundings and saw that he was no longer in the shaft, and dazed and confusedly he examined his surroundings and an immense whirlpool of shifting outlines magically shifted by, and he studied everything and realized that he had no body or proper presence and was some form of energy formation shifting around with other similar formations, and that he was swirling out into a vortex of reshaping energy patterns that replaced reality, with transforming elements altering to something that he could not recognize.

  If he had died and gone into the afterlife why was it so strange? Why it was there mesmerized him! Was he classified as being anything? Where was it? Reality was no more than magically spinning patterns and he wondered how worse the situation could get, realizing that he could be trapped there for all eternity!

  Chapter 2

  The Lost Castle

  The whole story was incredible now and Bryson could hardly believe anything, and what had occurred. The events of the past weeks were astounding and he could hardly believe that they were on the trail of another treasure quest.

  The last shreds of sunlight had vanished beneath the wood behind them, and well below the horizon, with the deep black winter night there engulfing them, and Bryson studied his surroundings over and over trying to explain why the wood so closely resembled the wood surrounding Grovnor Castle.

  The wood looked almost the same in places, and he considered their search for the castle in what must be one of the most desolate regions of the US. They had not seen anyone for many miles, and planes even seemed to avoid flying there.

  The fifteen members of the team (including him, and Merton and Mortimer), had been put together by him and Mortimer, and were mainly made up of archaeologists, scientists, ex-military, and explorers, who had experience in searching, examining, documenting, and detecting what they might miss, or there to help or defend them.

  The adventure brought him back to life after a long length of inactivity and lack of anything of interest. At times he still could not believe that there was another castle, and that anything existed there! And that there had actually been a similar castle near Grovnor Castle at one time!

  The last castle exploration, after all the findings and evidence they had collected, in the end seemed to add up to little, and he still now occasionally thought they had found something else.

  It was winter and deep snow shrouded the jungle of vegetation around them, and he realized again that they would have to camp there. And having not slept outdoors in winter he gasped at sleeping in such thick cold snow, and considered if they would find his remains there one day, and wonder why they had done it.

  The snow landscape was untouched by human hands, and at times empty of sound, and had a deep silence that he had only heard in thick winter snow landscapes. It reminded him of another world! An empty wood absence of life with faint mist surrounding regions around them.

  What was shocking was how easily they could get lost, and he was unsure if they even knew accurately where they were. They knew where they had come from and what they would eventually arrive at after days of falling a compass, but not what was there about them. They had been unable to get a helicopter to search, but if they had waited and went far enough he was sure they could.

  There was nothing to recognize anywhere, and he watched some of the men attempt to use communications devices to give updates on what was happening without picking up anything.

  They were all getting too exhausted wading through the deep snow areas to do and recognize anything significant, and the first peculiarity he noticed was a distant hum, similar to a distant engine whirling, out at an unknown place, which shadowed them, and drove him insane trying to identify it.

  Their legs almost became stuck in deep bogs of stinking vegetation buried below the snow, which resembled quicksand as it grew in depth, and they were hidden, even under intense lights, and Bryson started to wonder if they could even find somewhere that they could actually camp over. There was a definite look of a swamp emerging around them!

  A cold haze edged its way over the trees and undergrowth and they started slowing, and allowing themselves to rest. It was nothing like anything that he had seen elsewhere.

  He could not get if it was a strange environment about him, something strange existing there, or a combination of things that created different reactions.

  Strange vapor clouds shifted about their sides, always shadowing them, at about the distance – as if they were probing them, and analyzing them for some purpose.

  Nobody said anything about it but most looked like they were wondering if any of it had intelligence, and sometimes pondered vaguely watching it linger over deep pools of slime in the mind-bending landscape.

  When more confident it existed Bryson watched it to find out what form of life it could be. What did it use to exist? What was it doing?

  He wished he could get some samples from it, but decided to wait or leave it, and they would check if it was dangerous.

  Gusts of freezing wind blew and withdrew simultaneously in opposite directions, blowing and sucking, giving him the feeling that something invisible nearby was breathing over them, something of supernatural or alien nature, like a hungry beast breathing over its prey, perhaps with saliva dripping from its mouth, or something was there and the environment was reacting to its presence and its paranormal powers.

  Though the tiredness and lengthy day were affecting him and most of the others, Merton and Mortimer, the two paranormal scientists loved it, he was sure, and seemed to come to life more, as they always did in such situations, and at night.

  They had become famous celebrities and the media had given them coverage for weeks at one point, and their technology had vastly improved, and if they found anything they would bring in all their new equipment to investigate everything that they could.

  Since their investigations of Grovnor Castle and all the proven details had been released, what everyone had experienced there, people’s thoughts on it had seemed to alter more and more in the direction of there not being anything there, and there being no evidence of anything, and he had seen the problem again and again that people were not going to believe anything unless they were confronted with it, and that the two scientists had work to do.

  He never got why they had not become conventional scientists like him! Surely they were good enough to become immensely wealthy and could lead the way in some other field?

  Many of scientists were working on what it had been at one point, and again they all returned to their original thoughts.

  Even though he also wished to investigate everything there, as they were sure to experience something, going by all the facts given. Yet he was starting to remember all the dangers and last encounters that had occurred.

  The two paranormal scientists had tried informing others, not with them now, of their investigations of paranormal disturbances that could be there, and had soon withheld their research from them when they had found out that they did not accept anything of that nature, without total positive proof, and they avoided giving any details of anything of that nature, especially to the people there that had been in the military, including Mitchell, the head of them, who were there to help them and with any dangers and to investigate further.

  They had given Mitchell some of their findings and thoughts of paranormal activity and strange occurrences occurring there, a
nd he had given them his thoughts about it and that he was not fully sure what to make of it as they had not proven anything.

  On the day before they had arrived there Mitchell had been amazed at the findings of the scientists when they had given him more, as they had believed that they should, as that they believed they would encounter more.

  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 around 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.