The Deadliest Haunted Castle

by V Bertolaccini

  Kruger wondered if there was a central galaxy at the center of his universe, and wondered how they could have missed such a sight, and the multitude of stars.

  “So that was the center of space?” Kruger asked the two paranormal scientists, staring at the center of the black hole, recalling their appearance there.

  “Yes! Their instruments proved it ...” Bryan replied. “It seems to be centered perfectly ...”

  He wondered why they were so positive, and how they had detected it.

  The red rock about them glowed brightly from the ultra-bright light from the sky, and it was like a dream world.

  The world’s fast rotation had put them directly under the center of the central galaxy, and the suns now virtually covered all the sky, in all their different sizes, going deep into the immense galaxy. They were so packed together that there was virtually no blackness of space left in the sky.

  Kruger examined the whirled black circle of the center of space, with the suns whirled around it, going into all the horizons. The stars whirled around it made it look as if it really covered the whole sky. There were lines of suns going towards it! Some suns were visibly moving across the sky towards it.

  They would end up going into it, and being unable to travel through the gateway, like they had, would be destroyed. The debris from the suns thinly covered the whole central galaxy with particles, gas, dust, stones, boulders, and many other things.

  Debris from it was scattered all over the world, and there were areas of dense space clouds and debris everywhere in the sky, with massive clouds of asteroids.

  It was almost beyond his comprehension how much power it had. The center of space was clearly responsible for the central galaxy having so many massive suns, novas, and other strange sun formations.

  They watched a sun burn bright in the depths of space, and they saw another asteroid soar across the atmosphere in a ball of flames, blazing through the atmosphere, leaving a trail of smoke, being followed by a shower of small meteorites streaking across the sky.

  A distant thud was felt and heard from where it crashed into the world, and a large cloud of smoke revealed its crash sight.

  Chapter 13

  The Paranormal Abnormality

  The edge of the cliff at the other side of the hill went down for many thousand feet, with only a faint trace of the fog at the bottom as mist, covering an immense ancient meteorite cavity covering the entire region below, going out for miles.

  All the people in the vehicle examined it calculatedly and calmly, before the vehicle went down to the bottom, and Kruger wondered again why they refused to fly high above the ground, as it was far safer, and could even be done at a level that they would be able to see what was there, and he realized their response to it again, and that though the vehicles were safe they could crash on worlds such as it, which they had done already.

  The world below, as they approached it, soon started to show signs of strangeness, and that weird things existed there. Immense weird vegetation covered great regions, and sights and sounds like things out of ancient horror movies emerged there, and he thought he heard a cry of an immense werewolf.

  Kruger had always been interested in proper paranormal activity, if it existed. Even after all that they had been through and discovered there still was not anything that proved that anything existed there, and he was sure that both the paranormal scientists had realized it.

  Their instruments detected what they claimed was a high level of paranormal from a particular spot in the direction that they had chosen to take their group of vehicles in, and none of the other scientists had a clue what it was or what the two paranormal scientists believed was there.

  They were not so far wrong about anything, or had put forward any claims of supernatural things that could be thought of as being anything other than a check for what might exist there. But there was a suggestion that they were looking to prove something of that nature existed.

  What were they expecting to find, and what actually existed?

  Their instruments detected high levels of something that was worth investigating, and all the people interested in what they had found so far had joined the expedition.

  Could what was there be from beyond normal universes, and a supernatural being?

  All the scientists there were very accurate in their investigations and checked everything that they did, searching for things or proof of things many scientists like them dreamed of coming across, and never took anything without reflection.

  They wanted to investigate what other scientists could not, and do it to a far greater degree than before.

  Kruger had wondered on many occasions if they would eventually find something with their detection methods and equipment that had gone undetected by everyone.

  The equipment that they had fitted into the vehicle with them was nothing less than the most advanced and interesting.

  The vehicle had six people in it, which was him, the two paranormal scientists, and three of their associate scientists, who helped with the equipment, which was packed solid into the vehicle all around them, with them speedily monitoring it.

  They all had the same thing in common and that was to find things that transcended the boundaries of natural science and discoveries, and see if the supernatural existed in any form.

  Chapter 14

  The Formation

  Their worst fears soon started to become real all around them, as they traveled into another fog formation, which was formed like miniature concentrated hurricane, and none of them thought such a small formation could create any problems.

  They hurtled straight into it ignoring all the signs of danger, trusting their knowledge of what normally existed. Yet the density of it was staggering and Kruger felt the vehicle was being slowed, like it was thickening into water, and he spotted the brightest stars in thinner areas vanish.

  At one point they all expeditiously rushed to their positions, recalling emergency procedures, and prepared themselves, wondering what such a formation could throw at them.

  “Tell me if the speed vastly decreases,” Mitchel uttered to a scientist at the front of the vehicle, controlling the vehicle, figuring out a way to compensate.

  “We’ve lost all communications,” he replied, as he examined a display.

  “We could land!” Bryan stated, making them all gasp at the possibilities of what could be there and could occur on the ground.

  “Why do they not go up, over it ...?” Kruger finally queried, wishing to consult the onboard computer.

  “That is an idea ...!” Bryan replied.

  “We can do it if we have to?” Mitchel answered.

  “I do not think we can do that ...” the scientist steering the vehicle answered back. “This vehicle can only stay up high for so long, and if we run out of power and get stranded out here, it could be very dangerous – as we’ve already seen by the deaths that have occurred here on this world ...”

  All five scientists avoided looking at each other, with their horrified glares, recalling all the details that had emerged on the hideous deaths of the people in the crashed vehicles, and their remains that they had found.

  The upper layers of above the wild storm seemed more deadly, and it was clear that they were no longer in control of their fate.

  Again Kruger realized that they had not expected such a scenario!

  In its deep depths Kruger saw faint lights, and then distant flashes, as if some supernatural disorder burst into its confines.

  It gave him sensations of traveling into a maelstrom, with it starting to overwhelm them with its forces.

  A swift flaring exploded out going straight through it, and was followed by a shudder from its blast, and impact on it. The explosive sounds of the thunder that followed held them spellbound.

  From the window, Kruger saw the expanse of lashing waves of what had to be water, shifting around with tremendous velocity and energy, from the cloud formation over it.

  As crazy flashes
of lightening flickered around them, with deafening tremors, he imagined it floating over the depths of hell.

  His eyes glared, as he barely believed the destructive forces lashing out at them, and could hardly grasp how such tremendous forces could be generated from so little.

  “There’s something ahead!” the scientist at the front declared, showing them an obscure shape emerging in front of them.

  Chapter 15

  Ancient Civilization

  The parts of structures, buried beneath sand and debris, had appeared below them, and Kruger realized that there had been an advanced civilization there after all, and what was left of their civilization was buried away in the small desert region, with parts of structures sticking up from under dunes.

  The area was closer to the sun, and in the brightness there they had spotted a group of scientists from the GX1 already there, and on their approach had seen that they had been excavating the most interesting structures.

  When Kruger jumped out the vehicle he had instantly felt the hot temperature at the area, and had realized how well the vehicle controlled its temperature.

  There were no clouds, or the blasted fog, and they were glad, as none of them wanted to enter any cloud formations again.

  They were lucky to be alive, and they all now realized the dangers of being on such a world!

  Kruger felt his spacesuit clothing alter its temperature, but it was not good enough, as his head was not covered by it, and it made him feel warmer than he wanted to be, so he adjusted his spacesuit to a colder temperature.

  He studied the bright, now warm looking stars, and observed faraway sand being blown about by gusts of wind. The area was like an oasis on this world, but it only seemed that way, and they had actually traveled a great distance from the other regions.

  Even the small creatures of the world, which darted about, examining them, looked like miniature monsters.

  The structures the others were entering were very primitive structures to them, but advanced looking to them now.

  They strolled through heaps of sand in buildings, and Kruger wondered if their civilization would ever fall and turn into the place, and have beings like them from another universe exploring their remains.

  Sand and bushes blew about wildly outside from different directions, as if unable to decide where to go.

  Sand was everywhere about them, and parts of metal from machinery was sticking out, covered in the dust.

  It was hotter in the shade, with the high temperature building up there, and he rested and watched small lizard-like animals marching passed buildings, showing them they lived there, while others watched them from hiding places.

  Many of the scientists were surprised at the amounts of them, and the lack of larger ones. Some of the scientists complained at their deadly reactions to them, and Kruger realized what they had meant when he saw what looked like a large mouse alter from what it looked like with its friendly expressions, and fold back the skin around its neck and display large sharp fangs, with a snarl.

  They clearly had never seen weapons, or had known the large inhabitants of the civilization, and were the largest life forms in the area, and were the dominant species of the place.

  The species interested him a great deal as a scientist, and he would normal have spent a great deal of time with them, but there was far more here, and they were in another universe and had encountered far more, and all he did was film the best of what he found, and look for anything of interest in the remains of technology of the race that had once dwelled there.

  In the interior of a structure they entered an underground chamber and heard underground creatures making noises, from beyond the walls, as they burrowed into tunnels, below the sand.

  It was a world that would never know darkness, and he studied any differences in the life forms, and wondered if they slept the same as they did, if at all.

  Their small footprints on the floors were different and clearly indicated that they had adapted to being in sand regions.

  At one point they heard one of the scientists make a discovery, and all the scientists around there left what they were doing and went to investigate, not wanting to miss anything.

  Under a heap of small stones and debris, the scientist had uncovered a form of skeleton, almost like a fossil, which had resemblances to an upright ape creature, but on uncovering its skull it proved to have a far more unusual shape, which disappointed some of the scientists. It was believed to have lived in the building that they were in! Some other scientists claimed that they had found the remains of advanced technology, but they never fully proved it.

  Chapter 16

  The Destruction of the Civilization

  It was when the leading archeologists from the GX1 were bought in that the scientists moved further out and started finding buildings that were far more advanced, and not buried under sand, where the civilization was clearly centered around, and showed that the scientists had been examining rural regions.

  Kruger did not know if he was happy with the idea of a race existing there that had destroyed its civilization in the way that it had, and realized how long ago it would have happened, and that they could handle them anyway if they were still about.

  Yet the destructive way they had ruthlessly attacked was clear all over the structures.

  It was strange walking about such structures, especially with there being no inhabitants about. Throughout his life he had never really seen any empty unpopulated city regions, and his mind clearly never completely accepted that it existed.

  There were no signs of any inhabitants being anywhere, but his mind kept giving him vivid images of them being there!

  It was also strange to see such a place covered in such growth – like forms of moss, shrubs, and weeds – with thick layers of dirt over all the structures.

  They went through corridor after corridor into mysterious mazes, walking briskly without finding anything more than stone walls. There were barely any window holes or anything to let in light, but there were the remains of lighting devices on ceilings.

  Major structures were soon found and they went to explore them, and listened to the explorers there.

  Though they all agreed on the fact that something had happened, nobody agreed on what had actually occurred there, and there were even arguments between them on what had happened, as many believed a war had taken place between them, and that it was what should be agreed to as to what happened, and, of course, the others refused to accept it had been a war between them, and most of them believed that they had been attacked by outsiders.

  Later Kruger was amazed to discover that they had found and verified that something else had destroyed the civilization, and that it had incredible powers.

  Chapter 17

  The Jungle

  Absolute horror struck Kruger as he woke, as the vehicle that he was in was racing over the top of a large region of jungle vegetation and something had shot out straight under the vehicle, thumping it upwards, where it was out of range of their weapons, and the vehicles at their sides.

  “What the hell was that?” Major Ripley moaned loudly, to all the people in the vehicle behind him, and they all looked out the windows, and down at the jungle below, and Kruger looked back at where it had happened, and saw a black shape shift through the vegetation, racing in their direction, and he checked the speed that they were going at and considered if it could catch up with them, and if they should speed up.

  From a screen at the front they saw a camera view of the damage below, and that the thing had grabbed and ripped away a massive chunk of metal from the bottom of the vehicle.

  It clearly had attempted to pull them down and had failed!

  “That thing is still chasing us ...” Major Ripley stated, checking a side view of the jungle.

  “What was that?” Larsen moaned, listening to a side window, where he had clearly heard it.

  “What did it sound like?” Bryan asked, trying to hear anything that he could.
<
br />   “A howl! Like some monster ...!”

  Major Ripley for some reason hesitated over if he should speed the vehicle up, as he would have to monitor the vehicle and journey if he did, and he was sure nothing living could catch them.

  All of them only started ignoring it when nothing further happened, and Kruger realized that Major Ripley was not bothered that much about the dangers, and now accepted them.

  It was a bit worrying as it left them open to attacks, especially on this world!

  Suddenly Kruger stomach leapt as the whole vehicle fell downwards, clearly being pulled downwards by something of immense strength and weight.

  Major Ripley automatically increased the speed forward, while lifting it upwards, but it hardly moved, and they all gasped, thinking what was there, and Major Ripley increased the power, and force to pull away.

  From a screen they examined what looked like the inside of something’s massive jaws, and Major Ripley removed the weapons, and handed them to them and opened the windows.

  “Kill it if you can!” he ordered, being the head of the vehicle.

  Without hesitation they all started firing downwards through the windows, until there was a hideous scream below and the whole vehicle shot upwards and away, and its massive jaws could be seen falling away to the ground and into an empty region of the jungle, and Kruger finally caught a glimpse of it as it turned to land on the ground, and its enormous cat-like features, with its cunning and intelligence.

  After the attack Major Ripley never lowered his defenses and raced forward, while keeping the other vehicles at the same speed, and at a higher height than he thought it could reach, as he was sure there were far more, as many of the others in the vehicles gave claims of sightings of them in the regions around them.