The Alien Artifact Quadrilogy

By V Bertolaccini

A quadrilogy that contains four high quality mind-boggling action-packed novels, and pioneering contributions to science fiction!
The Alien Artifact 4 (2013)
A voyager probe of inconceivable magnitude and origins explores universes and detects something of unknown origins in this universe and emerges into this world, and after it has been buried away for centuries, warped and haunting a vast region and castle, explorers uncover the deadly mind-bending supernatural voyager!
The Alien Artifact 3 (2012)
A newly invented voyager explores the deepest depths of the universe, and leaves space and time when a deadly entity starts killing them all, and on a world in the depths of a new minding-bending universe encounter a deadly alien artifact of supernatural origins, hidden away since the dawn of time.
The Alien Artifact 2 (2011)
Scientists, the military, archeologists, hunters, and treasure explorers uncover a fifteen-mile alien artifact, from beyond the universe, after it has been buried away for millions of years on a desolate Pacific island, in an immense crater, with a monstrous devil-like alien entity inside, with powers capable of destroying the galaxy.
The Alien Artifact (2010)
An entity/transcendent in an alien artifact from beyond space and time crashes into the Earth and explorers uncover the ancient alien artifact after it has been buried away for millions of years, with the voyager inside waiting to be revived.

• Language: English
• Publisher: CosmicBlueCB
• Release date: Jan 22, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310343988

V Bertolaccini

A 21st century publisher/author famous for his unique classic mind-bending beyond space and time, alien artifact, and exploration themed science fiction, who did his first mind-boggling science fiction classic From Beyond Space and Time in 1998, who likes and writes 21st century potential blockbusters, headline action thrillers, high quality action-packed movie-style science fiction horror.

Book preview

Part I

Novel 1

The Alien Artifact 4

V Bertolaccini

Prologue

The Lost Voyager

Throughout centuries the place had been viciously subjected to deadly mind-bending forces and manifestations!

Legends were extraordinary, bordering on absurd, and once Bryson got all his things off a helicopter he was able to check through the details that they had gathered in intense investigations at loads of locations, which was used to locate the lost castle.

The origins, from a majority of accumulated sources, to which he and the others had proven had occurred, occurred around 1620 when fishermen at a Scottish fishing village had witnessed the materialization of something of unknown origins, and that a bright light of magnitude had exploded out of the early morning mist over the sea, like a crazy shooting star, and had been seen landing.

After a great deal of observations, research, and discussions by the leading scientists they had agreed that the thing that they had found at Grovnor Castle, with its appearance there and its alien artifact creating gateways throughout space and time, could very well have been detected and located by it. The first had left traces through space and time for anything to detect!

Space and time could be full of things of unknown origins searching for other things of unknown origins throughout space and time. The description of the second revealed that it could well have been attempting to mimic the first and could have even been there to make contact with it or check what it was and analyze it.

Something encountering something new at an unknown location could easily assume that it belonged there, and they believed that when it had appeared there that it had assumed that the other thing had been an inhabitant of this world!

There was no proof that both encountered each other, and though the castles had been in the same region there had in fact been a great deal of distance between them. They also believed that though they had reached their destinations that neither had been able to achieve their objectives.

They knew why the original one had nearly been killed when it had made an appearance, when it had been found by fishermen, and that it had eventually died where the first castle had been built before the other had arrived, even though its powers had haunted that castle for centuries with its lost alien artifact hidden there.

Accounts of the other reshaping and continually altering its appearance showed that it had altered from something else and had been trying to adapt, and it having accelerated/decelerated motions and forms like a crazy entity/life form as it had appeared.

At first it had appeared to have damaged itself and be on the brink of losing its existence but it had been later perceived that it had entered some form of damaged or dormant state – surely exhausted of energy from either its extraordinary manifestation, or from its impact with the world, or it not even having existed in space and time.

The fishermen that found it had taken it to the most knowledgeable and powerful person there and to William Randall, who had been staggered by its existence, and who gave them his extensive knowledge and experience, but had displayed more confusion on its appearance than them.

He had taken it from them and it was never seen again, but years later, after the construction of William Randall’s second castle, they had heard of its activation at the second castle and that many deaths had occurred and that they had been trying use it for magical purposes – to foresee future occurrences – and to accumulate its powerful powers.

According to legends all the people there had been found dead, and it had left the most powerful magical object in existence at the castle – in whatever state and place they had left it – with powers going beyond anything else – with power surges opening gateways going beyond space and time – and with William Randall’s valuable treasure nearby.

For centuries the lost treasure had been thought to exist there by a few explorers, who had carried out investigations and searches for it, of which many had paid by losing their lives, by being in the confines of the castle at the wrong time or place.

No real clues to its whereabouts existed other than it was located near a magical object! The legends gave mentions of it but the actual details were too little and too vague and the occurrences at the place made it too confused to establish. All the facts were missing, but having seen what the William Randall had been like and that the other treasure had existed Bryson and the paranormal scientists thought he could have had it, and it was hidden there.

The place must have been one of the most dangerous places in the world and nobody attempted to live there, or even live near there. People could not survive permanently living in its confines! Even though most of the time its powers dwindled and some people had managed to survive and escape after living for months there, and had given horrific accounts of the mind-bending wonders and deadliest menaces that they had been subjected to.

At one point, in 1880, to which nobody knows why, its existence had become entirely dormant and a wealthy businessman had found the castle by accident while visiting the region and had bought it from the owners of the land.

He had recognized its value, historical importance, colossal architecture and dimensions, and had seen that it was worthless in the desolate wood, in the middle of nowhere, and had it removed in large sections and shipped across the Atlantic, where he had intended to reconstruct it near New York.

What occurred next was never revealed, and there occurred an extensive amount of lost information, and all that was known was that the owner had died in mysterious circumstances and that the castle had ended up at a different and secret location in the depths of an immense desolate wood, hidden away from anyone locating it, with what was there activated again.

I

The Lost Voyager

Chapter 1

The Deadliest Treasure

The sounds had initially been astonishing! Now they had gone beyond, and were mind-bending! They came screaming up through the shaft with a dangerous fury that stunned Pendleton, and no matter how he tried to shake it off and contemplate identities his thoughts never altered or formed stable recognitions.

Clouds of powdered dirt and stone swirled about through beams of lights from the above lights as he released some more rope, edging him downwards, seeking to get hold of the treasure.

The Second World War was still going, but just about over, and Pendleton realized that he had avoided being killed after all, and wondered if he was going to be killed here instead, and was unsure what was worse.

He groaned and dangled about on his rope, and grabbed hold of part of a castle boulder, while glimpsing parts of the shaft above, wondering if he could have wangled his way out of it. But it was not really them and he really wanted to do it, and he wanted to explore the castle shaft. He had always wanted to explore and discover something new of value and greatness, and perhaps even be remembered in history.

What interested and terrified them was why the treasure was hidden in such a place with such occurrences!

What was it they were dealing with anyway? Why was it there in such a far out place? Was the stuff protected by something?

Something of unfathomable unidentifiable supernatural nature sounded as though it were under the castle, in some form of magnetic field or energy field, trapped or trying to free itself from something, ultimately escaping to another location of liberty, and he tried imagining some form of spirit trapped there every night for hundreds of years, perhaps in an ancient dungeon. Yet again even that could not explain it, or anything!

Have you found if it’s down there? Henrik shouted down, in a combination of extreme annoyance and confusion, with a way that gave Pendleton the impression that the two archaeologists up above might be on the edge of considering doing something extreme, and beyond their normal. Though Norgrove, the other archaeologist, gave him the impression that he had waited all his life to be here!

He again started to realize the implications of the find and that they would have to check what was there, no matter what.

He quickly shouted up: You investigated all these walls?

Yes! Norgrove replied. We used all the best equipment.

We’re the only ones here and that know about it? he replied, still trying to find out more about what was happening, and they were allowing him to know. Basically it was just them three there at the great old immense haunted castle, buried away in the wood, at the location that they had traced the treasure to.

Yet they could have left the task until the morning but they could not wait. They had waited too long and had gone too far to get their hands on it, and he just wanted to get it.

What the hell difference did it make if it was morning or night? It was dark there in the tunnel at both times!

He wondered why the lights were above, and why he never had one, and shouted up, Are you two coming down here or what?

The two archeologists shifted into the shaft and made their way down, with the lights, and he observed them, and realized why they had not given him a light, and that he was like a worm on a fishing line, and there to check what the score was. The two also had trouble climbing in and down, and were overweight and bulky, and he was better at climbing than they were. They would have a hard time getting back up again! And he even wondered if they would camp the night at the bottom or something, if they were too tired and sleepy, which made him gasp again when he thought about it, and he lodged his boot into a gap between two of the boulders, to rest his tired body.

What did they find out? he muttered, mainly to himself, and wondered what he was missing again.

There are other small shafts running through here ... Henrik called down, dangling overhead, who had stopped to examine a small hole in the shaft, he had missed in the darkness there.

Ventilation shafts that connect together, Norgrove continued. They must run through most of the building.

I agree! I’m sure they are for an ancient ventilation ... Henrik continued, sticking his head up close, and shining his light in the hole and looking along it.

What else could it be? Pendleton asked.

They could have been used to build it ... Henrik replied, moving away, looking for something else.

Pendleton wondered how high up they were, as the height of the castle was immense, and they had been on the top floor, and they never knew how far underground it went, and the blackness there looked like an abyss.

The height of the castle was incredible, as well as the length being massive with rooms and corridors going out everywhere, especially with there being no proper lighting, and he had not thought such a construction was possible at the date that they had given. It was also unbelievable that somebody had managed to ship the thing over to America, and when it must have happened, in such large sections and fit them together.

How could people spend so much on such things and leave them derelict, out in such desolate woods? Why had it not even been put out in the open for everyone to see?

Pendleton gasped as he recalled the legends and what had already happened, and wondered if this would be his death, in a death or glory situation.

For a moment he wondered if it had actually come from Transylvania and had vampires, and realized that if it were at least he would be still around as a vampire. At times he had thought it had similarities to castles over there.

So are we going down ...? Henrik asked firmly, watching Pendleton’s peculiar expressions in his light, from overhead.

You could send down a camera with a light attached? Norgrove moaned sarcastically, and Pendleton started to move off from the wall where he was resting against, and prepared himself, and took glances at what was below as he started going down, but even with the lights being closer it never revealed anything new.

The rope suddenly started swaying and vibrating furiously, giving the impression that Henrik was frantically doing something against Pendleton’s rope, and he glanced up and realized Henrik was climbing up for some reason, and he gasped when he realized Norgrove’s face was frantic and that the two were actually desperately trying to escape from there, almost slipping trying to climb up, which amused him for a moment, bewildered at their sudden change of attitude.

As he tried to see what was going on he noticed that light across his front was not coming downwards from them but shining upwards from something below, and his eyes fixed onto a strange orb of light floating upwards.

Get me out of here! Henrik hollered, making Pendleton shudder and try to escape for his life.

Pendleton even thought of removing his harness and plunging down, and perhaps allowing him to have the fate of dying on the ground below, and having a normal human death.

With a loud thud Norgrove came crashing down to his original position after slipping, and clouds of gray dust flew up and blinded Pendleton as it went into his face and lungs, and he went crashing into the wall.

He groaned and dangled about on the rope, glimpsing parts of the shaft around him, mentally exhausted, needing sleep, allowing himself just to go into sleep state, wondering if he could somehow wangle his way out of it. But it was not a matter of persuading himself of anything, it was really happening, and he wished what was going to happen would just happen.

If he had only known all those years ago what would end up happing, he would have forced himself to forget about such ventures.

Sounds were now screaming out at him and he realized how loud they had become, from the abyss below, as if a gateway into hell were there, with him suspended over it on a thin rope, spinning endlessly, waiting to descend into its hideous reaches.

How had they managed to talk him into this? One minute they had been chasing treasure and the next a castle mysteriously appears into it, and he had been dumped with their theories, and then with the shaft.

He jerked, startled, hearing a sort of scream, almost human but somehow different, as though out of a distant strange place, and he visualized it out in space, in blackness.

There were traces of rotted vegetation floating in the light coming down from overhead, as they still continued to climb out.

Some of the blocks of stone about him resembled the stones in Egyptian pyramids. They were strange things to use to build, but they were hard to penetrate, and needed in a good castle.

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, and 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.

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 everything 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.

It was surprising that it had not flooded with the cracks and holes, from water seeping down. Then he saw signs that it had occurred, and saw thick layers of dried mud ahead.

Mortimer looked happy and in his natural environment with the strange and unusual, with unsolved mysteries everywhere, and he smoked like he was experiencing an expensive cigar, flaring away at his mouth, tasting the smoke, with the smoke spinning through the air behind him.

The mystery of where it led to was certainly one of the main inspirations that kept them going, seeking an answer they knew they had to receive, driving them on no matter what.

If they turned back, they would never know, and could even have to face death, so they kept going.

Bryson realized that none of them would have believed that it went out to that length. Their pace stayed the same, their walk never changed.

He noticed that they mainly took it for granted that the tunnel had not collapsed anywhere and would reach somewhere, and that they would not have to journey back.

Bryson spotted something away in the distance and that the others about him had seen it, and they all went there with their heads facing it trying to observe something there that could not be properly observed.

His head eventually went back to where it had been, watching the tunnel about him, making sure that nothing was in their immediate way. Occasionally continuing with examining what was ahead, until he saw something blocking the tunnel far ahead, and he started to gasp.

Merton and Mortimer soon noticed launched into a discussion of the problem, and Bryson attempted to hear everything in their silent hushed chants. And he saw that they did not come to any real conclusions!

When they finally approached it Mortimer suddenly exploded with anger and went calm, on the brink of losing his patience while he marched up to it.

Why did they build a wall there? Merton moaned first, trying to obtain an answer to such absurdity.

The four of them stood, resting, glancing at individual sections of the wall, as the others stood back at a distance observing them.

Whoever built this obviously was different from the builders and did it years later! Merton remarked. Something could be hidden behind this? Where do you think this is?

You’re probably right! Mitchell remarked, touching the strange shapes of the boulders, and way they were put together. Someone has hidden something away here ...

Bryson saw that none of them knew and that they were starting to think that they would have to return to where they had been, but he ignored that as he was positive that would not happen until the morning.

Merton started feeling along the edge of the wall where there was a crack going around it.

We could trying shoving it over, Merton announced, looking at it, giving Bryson a smile. With our combined weight ...

He mechanically placed his arm against an area of the wall and started to push it and they joined in, and the bricks, which were not cemented, started falling inwards.

What they then found were thick webs covering the gap left, and they pushed the rest of the stone until it all crumbled and collapsed across the ground.

Mitchell removed his communicator and silently started trying to see if it now worked, trying to contact somewhere, and when he could not pick it up he put it away.

Could that thing back there stop it working? he asked them, trying to grasp the situation.

Nobody answered and showed they never knew, and they left it.

With the lights held out a black gap became visible behind all the thick webs and dirt, and they illuminated the tunnel going on and they moved in, removing the webs and dirt.

Bryson watched his shadow flicker along the stone, and his unblinking eyes watched the ground searching for obstructions, and he continued following Mitchell and Merton along.

Thick cobwebs crawled over his face and covered up everything ahead, and he heard the murmurs of provoked archaeologists behind him, and he realized that Merton had announced something. In the blackness ahead something indistinguishable was emerging, making his heart quicken and at any second he expected to find something deadly, and an immense cavity opened up in front of him.

Chapter 6

The Skeleton

How many centuries had the chamber been hidden away? The distant obscurity was full of chilling silence, which made him feel isolated. Webs hung everywhere around him and he waved his hand in circles scraping them away from him.

In dimness at the front, just in their light’s range, he watched dim gleams from things in the stone reflect dim light, producing a magical effect upon his hazy tired sight.

Faint echoes of their breathing and murmurs could be heard in its extraordinary silence, and by their frantic reactions he sensed that they believed that something was actually there. Although the descriptions that some of the archaeologists gave made it too unacceptable to him to believe fully what they had suggested the chamber was. In vivid detail they had specified that the location was a resting place of something! His mind conjured up vague visions of spooky medieval ghosts roaming there.

Water splashed over his face as it dripped from overhead, from cracks in the rock, and he moved sideways from it.

With it away from him he cleaned it away from his face, and he watched a light explore what he had missed, and it beamed out over the roof lighting up a vast cavern structure overhead, which had been cut out using the same method as the tunnel.

The roof was at a height of a hundred feet, and he caught glimpses of where things had once been and he listened to the surreal echoes of the archaeologists giving their explanations.

He shifted slowly into the fringes of where their lights beamed, as he rested from the journey there and long day, and at his front an object came into sight and he felt its roughness with his fingertips through thick webs and dirt, obscuring a proper view of it, and he placed his hands over it and its shape and hideous outline became clear, and he stepped back jerking his hand away, and saw that it was an open-mouthed skeleton with a rusted knife embedded in its chest.

The others soon came over and they crowded around it.

How recent do you think this happened? Mitchell asked, examining it up close.

A very long time ago ... one of the archaeologists confirmed first, who had been first to examine it.

Their voices were changed and more professional, and made surreal echoes about them. Some archaeologist gave silent explanations to what might have happened, but only gave imprecise replies, especially after all the occurrences that had happened.

With a little amusement Bryson watched Mitchell’s figure hanging over it trying to grasp information about the person, and he searched the clothing of the man, but nothing was there except he spotted some pieces of rope where he had been tied up.

This place has definitely been used for devil worship or witchcraft, or similar? Mitchell asked firmly, unsure what else could have happened.

I would say so! the archaeologists replied.

Someone gave a human sacrifice here, a long time ago, then! he stated to one of his men, who wrote it down.

They all moved back or away from it, and the archaeologists got to work on checking it in detail – with gasps and surprises when they revealed its hideous agonized face more from webs and dirt – where the person had hideously died with his mouth open in pain, and had remained that way.

They continued brushing away thick webs and dirt, obscuring a proper view of it, while crumbling bits of gray rot fell off.

Bryson’s mind slowly grasped its hideous outline, and he stepped back wondering what the place was, and why they were doing it there.

The others checked everything they could about the cavity and one of the archeologists discovered another tunnel.

With their lights held out, they all started entering it and continued their journey, and Bryson saw that their lights would slowly drain of power and wondered what would happen.

The second tunnel was thinner and had a different look and atmosphere, and he realized their thoughts had changed of things. They no longer really thought of the things outside, but of the dead body that they had found cruelly sacrificed, and he continued walking with Mortimer behind Mitchell and Merton.

It had been a long day and he walked with unblinking eyes, almost hypnotized by the lights shifting over the walls, watching the ground in the glimmer searching for obstructions.

Occasionally cobwebs crawled over his face, and he no longer heard the murmurs of the archaeologists still discussing their find, and what other people would think of it when they returned.

Its creepy blackness made his heart beat fast and made him alert, and though, at times, he expected to find something deadly to confront them, he thought they might handle it, even though the things outside could have killed them.

How many decades had the chamber been hidden away there, and how long ago had the death occurred? The distant obscurity was full of chilling silence, which made him feel isolated.

Out in front, of the light range, he regularly watched dim gleams from stone lighting up like from a mysterious source, and he would confirm its type when he shifted passed it.

After listening to more of the archeologists’ allegations he realized that not much had actually been found out! Why had anyone built the tunnels? Why would devil worshippers or whoever made the deadly sacrifices?

Alright it was hidden away with little chance of anyone finding it, but why there and why go to such lengths to do what they had done?

He wondered what the place would throw at him next! All his life he had been use to solving things as they appeared and now he was having every unsolvable mystery, perhaps on the planet, for centuries, dumped on him without the suggesting of a clue.

In the pale illumination the tunnel went straight along, distinctively different from other tunnels – with its sides with smooth rock that never looked man-made and made by some means he could not quite grasp.

Did you come up with anything? Mortimer asked once, to his amusement, noticing that he was frustrated with having so little to go on and finding nothing.

Yet they seemed to have made a human sacrifice to something, and he wondered if they were done for the things outside, and that they could be even more deadly and powerful than they imagined, which would explain why they built the tunnels.

While he was wondering if they and the tunnel were actually connected to the castle his sight fixed on a magical glow at a point directly in front, which he realized was not a wall, and its surface glowed like white lava in the bright rays of the light, as though it contained energy.

What could that be? Mitchell moaned tiredly, leaning closer, as though he had partly fallen asleep and been awakened when he had seen it.

Some of his men removed guns and remained ready to fire, and some of the others thought of retreating to where they had come.

Nobody seemed to answer Mitchell and they remained silent, watching for signs of movement as they journeyed on.

The pace was slow but they saw no real danger, but they had much confusion in what was there and Bryson continued on and on unable to see a thing, captivated in it, and started to realize how faint the lights were becoming and that he was half asleep, and that most of the others looked the same, and he heard silent moans.

Jagged rocks scattered and piled over the ground brushed under their shoes, and he wondered why and saw rocks pile up more across his front.

Mitchell increased the power of his light by removing the batteries and adding some new ones from his pocket, and when it lit up they all stopped in horror, scarcely believing their eyes.

A monster creature, with large dark red eyes, with dimensions bigger than the tunnel was embedded in the side of the tunnel, like it had been tunneling through there and got trapped with its upper part embedded in the tunnel.

Its massive deadly shape glowed under their lights when they surrounded it, with its giant head frozen in place with its jaws wide open, and identical to a colossal killing demon attacking.

There’s no heat from it! one of the scientists announced, holding a device at it, reassuring them that it was dead, if it was in fact a life form at all. And there’s no radioactivity ...! If anyone needs that information?

His last statement confused Bryson and left him wondering what he had meant.

Why is its surface so smooth? one of he archeologists remarked feeling it. Why it’s so perfectly preserved ... All signs identify it as being here a great deal of time!

A stream of light was inundating the tunnel further along, producing a magical effect upon Bryson’s hazy sight, and he realized that they had finally reached the end.

Chapter 7

The Demon Creature

The morning sun stretched over the horizon throwing its golden rays amongst the trees, stretching long shadows everywhere, and brightly streaming its rays over Bryson and the others as they rested sleepily around a blazing campfire in the middle of a clearing in the snow covered wood.

What a night! He could barely feel his legs, never mind his feet, which he watched perched on a bolder near the fire, absorbing the heat.

The wood seemed perfect and like a winter wonderland, without its nightly dangers, which most of the others could not properly conclude why. Only he and the paranormal researchers and their scientists had any real insight into why as they had been at the last castle.

The sunlight stretched along the wood putting life back into it, making snow specks sparkle as they floated down from the trees.

A distant sound of scientists down in the tunnel, to his left, broke his silence, and he acknowledged a sweet pipe tobacco aroma lingering in the air, and he listened to their debates over what species the creature was classed as with some amusement, thinking of what the paranormal scientists would class it.

He examined the giant hole in the tunnel, where they had been able to escape from the tunnel from, where the ground had collapsed in years before through corrosion from water and weight, and he tried to see into the rest of the tunnel where it had collapsed over, but he could not see any entrance in to it.

He turned and stared into the smoldering red ashes in the campfire and imagined images of the creature’s large red eyes, as he had seen it in the tunnel, and realized that nobody there had seen eyes like it on any other animal. At times he had believed all the myths of the world and their remarkable things! Were there occult creatures buried away all over the world? He gasped at a drawing he recalled of a dragon creature.

What the hell was this thing? Its head resembled old draws he had seen of demons, from a collection of ancient parchments. All demons were not the same! They had different features and they could be far different from what they had been drawn like and perceived. What were they anyway if they really existed? The thing that they discovered might even change the image of prehistoric animals if they released photos of it. It could make the trip a perfect success, and all the trouble that they had gone through worthwhile! It was a discovery of the wildest dreams of paranormal scientists, and perhaps proper concrete proof!

Had they actually captured one of them things that had chased them through the wood? He was not sure if he could believe it! The things had been invisible! He had proven that!

Had this one become solid and burrowed through to there, where it had been killed hitting and trapping itself in the tunnel? He had a hard time believing they were what they were being described as! Yet what if it was something else that they had missed? The