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.
Chapter 14
The Disturbances
When Bryson opened his eyes he never even knew what he was! He had no recognition of anything or where he was, or that he was in one of the rooms in the castle!
He was staggered and sat upright and turned on his room light, and wondered if it was caused by his exhaustion, done on the day before, or his lack of food, the severe cold and snow falling outside, or something in the castle influencing him.
The dreams that he had had been incomprehensible and he wondered if they had actually been dreams! They never made sense and had been made up with shimmering lights and freakish sounds being whirled about him, and like being in a colossal vortex, where he never thought or even did anything, and had been like he never existed and just experienced what was there.
He liked the room around him and how well preserved it was after such a length of time, and how well it had been made, especially for the era it had been from.
Merton was in the room next to his on the left and Mortimer’s room was next to that, and Mitchell was in the room next to Bryson on the other side, where he was next to his men.
They were all sleeping in rooms at the front of the left side of the second floor, with the stairs in the center of the castle.
Bryson noted the air was just cold and with no scent, and that it was cool and calm in the room, and he spotted that there was a really thick blanket of snow covering the wood outside. He remembered earlier and being in a huddled posture with his blankets tightly wrapped about him, with him reacting to the cold.
For a moment he recalled an earlier dream and that he had thought he had died and gone to some form of afterlife, and tried to recall everything he could about it. The dreams that he had at Grovnor Castle had given him vision of other places, and what could be hidden away, and he had visualized the places the creatures sounds there were coming from and had some insight into them and their environment.
The sky outside was dark even though it was snowing, and it was normally light where he lived with the streetlights and light being reflected from the snow illuminating it, and he realized how far they were from the outside world and this place this time had no roads or connections to anything. Their communications had gone when the dark winter night began.
It was so peculiar that he liked it more than he should have! His normal life and things he encountered were too repetitive and he relished finding abnormal things to do and explore, especially when they had new outcomes and findings.
He switched off his light and went over to the window and stared out into the darkness and ancient wood with a shiver running through him, from the cold, thoughts of the cold, and deadly things that they had encountered there.
It was like another world to him and they were put there to explore it, and it was like a world without a proper sun and thousands of light years of empty space between it and the stars.
The world below was a decomposing landscape shrouded in snow with weak energy.
An array of door knocks made the door shift about, reminding him of the age of the place, and he wondered again why it had such advanced objects and structure for that age, and he realized again that the people who had reconstructed it had done it up and that he was experiencing 1880 technology.
He slowly marched over and yanked open the thick wooden door, which had been clearly expertly crafted by hand, and he watched Merton and Mortimer standing glaring at him from the darkness outside, suggesting something was along the
corridor. Bryson nodded and closed the door behind him and followed them along the outer corridor.
He still wondered why they liked being up in the middle of the night so much, and why he never had properly seen them tired in the middle of the night. Surely they never had that many things to do at night?
As he considered how sleepy he was and what they were up to, and then thought of other situations that they had done and of them awaking him in the middle of the night, and as he recalled situations he gasped as he suddenly realized that he could hear sounds emerging from somewhere further ahead, and he gasped even more when the sounds seemed to magnify and turn to being blared out.
It then mildly amused him as he recalled a similar situation, and he also realized that the sounds reminded him of his dream, but he could not notice any connection and why it did.
“What hell happened?” Mitchell moaned, rushing up the corridor, after being awakened by something and seeing them rushing towards something.
He slapped his face trying to awaken himself further, vaguely looking like he had a slight hangover, and he recalled him taking alcohol from the helicopter.
As they approached a region of the corridor that they heard the sounds at their loudest the disturbance seemed as if it had different states to it and regularly altered, and Bryson imagined it as a warp through in space and time causing many different things to occur and create sporadic sounds about the castle, and in his dream he wondered if he had seen inside the warp itself (and the castle lay somewhere beyond it, being one of the locations connected to it throughout space and time).
Yet even if it was a warp he still never knew what it was or what was happening, what created it, and why the things in the wood were there! Did the things, whatever they were, become part of the disturbance while near it, when it automatically opened?
Three scientists rushed up to Merton and Mortimer and they began discussing the occurrences and situation, and the three scientists rushed back to get equipment and more of the scientists.
Merton and Mortimer stood listening to the sounds trying to establish things and where they were mainly emerging.
Some sounds came screaming at them with fury and sometimes as though things were trapped in some form of field.
The scientists rushed back and forward setting up their new equipment, connecting the equipment along that region of the corridor.
“What do think?” Merton carefully asked him, leaving Bryson with little to say.
He gave Bryson the impression that they might be going to do something or come to a conclusion.
Mortimer also gave him the impression, which would normally have confirmed it, but things were different there and they were not fully themselves!
Bryson started to realize the implications of things and that they might have to check what was there and things of great danger!
Mortimer quickly told the other scientists: “Investigate all these walls, floor and roof ...”
Bryson suddenly felt deep tiredness and wished that he had stayed in bed, and was asleep.
Why were they not tired like him? What had they been doing when they heard the sounds?
In the darkness at the end of the corridor two figures came rushing towards them from the stairs – resembling a sort of dream view to Bryson in his sleepy state – and the figures turned out to be two of Mitchell’s men, who were on guard below, and they whispered things in Mitchell’s ear.
Mitchell’s face turned frantic, and he was desperate to do something, and he rushed away with the two men to where the men had been, and to the stairs.
“What are they up to?” Merton muttered, staring, bewildered.
“This place is a hell of a place!” Bryson mumbled.
Bryson watched drifting currents of snowflakes blow about a room window, and he realized that he really felt like going to bed. It had been a long day and the next day could even be longer, and he watched Mortimer rush away after them to the stairs, and he wondered what he was missing. Even though he had done what he felt like doing – rush away – but in the opposite direction – to his bed, and without saying anything.
Why were they not all tired like him? And he recalled all the things he had been doing and all the late nights before he had arrived there.
He watched them rush into the darkness at the stairs and realized that they might have to stay up for a long time, to obtain the conclusion to what was occurring, and he realized he had better follow to get it over with.
Merton shrugged and followed him, and they eventually started chasing after them.
In the sounds behind him he heard a rhythmical tapping, slowly increasing in volume, making him slow to listen, and he realized that it was footsteps rushing towards him from behind, and from behind him two more of Mitchell’s men came running along, while they were fixing gun holsters on their waists.
Bryson saw Mitchell going down the stairs with his gun in his hand. They seemed to have adjusted their lights dimmer, to make them darker and not open targets.
The situation looked bad! If someone did not die it would be surprising!
Bryson and Merton rushed to them and crept down the stairs – which creaked loudly when they made rapid movements.
At the bottom of the stairs he watched their dark figures creep around from room to room looking for something, occasionally giving a significant gasp, which most of them had given since they had arrived at the castle.
They eventually approached Mortimer trying to get information.
“Let’s look in the kitchen!” Mitchell warned, creeping away.
His men followed him. And one of them switched on a light and they rushed into the kitchen, holding out their guns, ready to shoot at anything that appeared.
Bryson felt awake again, but tired and he avoided staggering.
“I saw someone down here with a gun,” one of Mitchell’s men muttered to them, moving along with them.
How had he seen anyone down here he wondered? It had been so dark without the lights that it was virtually in complete darkness, and when he questioned him further he told them that all they had seen had been a dark figure with a gun.
When Mitchell entered the kitchen they heard him gasp loudly, grasping Bryson’s attention as he had definitely found something, and they rushed in after him.
When they reached the kitchen it was virtually in darkness and Bryson turned his head about to search in every direction and to where he saw gusts of snow blowing rhythmical against a window, and through the window he saw the haunting dark shapes of the trees of the wood shifting in the wind, almost hidden in the dark about the castle.
The brightness beamed down from the kitchen lights lighting everything about them, when someone finally turned them on, and they entered further and glared over at an area of the floor, to their side, where Mitchell was kneeling next to a dead body.
Chapter 15
Mind-Bending Dreams
Lights flew around everywhere like electric forms of insects stopping Bryson from seeing anything else in his surreal dream, with him mildly viewing it while he happily slept, floating freely.
Deep in dark regions he caught sight of things shifting about with no form to what they were or doing, like energy floating wildly around in a void surrounding him, and to his fascination he heard sounds of thoughts like whispers from out in hidden places or invisible zones, and they taunted him.
Energies of the universe shone and moved, which normally would have been invisible, and he saw mist formations that were really energy formations and he realized that he was seeing something as it really was, which was powerful and intelligent, which never really made sense when thought about, but which did as a fantasy.
It resembled floating in a cold dark cloudless night sky with no ground below, under a bright moon, and a lunar colored radiance emerged everywhere.
Golden places appeared around the strange energy lights that twinkled brighter through thick areas of the energy mist and a bright light appeared deep in the
mist, and he realized the depth of it was really immense and that he was further off than he thought. It was tremendous and like looking into the depths of deep space.
He felt the presence of something mysterious and alive, which existed all around him and which he could not account for, and again he looked out at the lights and wondered what it all was, and studied it. Even though he never recognized anything it had a familiar look, which he determinedly tried to grasp.
He was suddenly awakened by a loud knock that rattled his room door up and down and he saw by the morning light that it was later than he had intended to sleep and he rolled sideways and checked his clock and realized that it was even later.
He automatically listened to the voice of Mortimer asking him where he was, and he told him he was getting dressed.
Even though it was winter and the border of window was shrouded with vines and other vegetation it was bright with the sun and light blue sky and the snow covering the entire landscape, and he quickly put on his clothes and opened the door and saw Merton and Mitchell, who both studied him curiously.
“You wanted us to contact you if anything happened,” Merton stated, excitedly. “Well, something has! You’d better get down to the lounge if you do not want to miss the action!”
“What action?” he answered, shifting out of the door and studying the corridor, watching some of the new scientists that they had brought in, who were checking areas of the corridor.
“One of our men just found a few faint footprints of the killer at another window further along from the kitchen!”
“Is that everything ...?” Bryson asked firmly. “And your theories are?”
“He killed one of my men – who must have discovered him doing something ... And he got out the door, escaped into the wood ... And must have returned later ...”
The Alien Artifact Quadrilogy 2014 (Novelette) Page 6
