The Deadliest Haunted Castle

by V Bertolaccini

  The sun and immense stars were blazing overhead, and over the canopy of the clusters of jungle, and the air was roasting and they closed all the windows, and allowed the vehicle to properly lower the temperature to the correct level, and as Kruger wondered what things existed there he spotted a distant pinnacle of rock appear from below the horizon, and saw that the jungle ended there and that something else was going to replace it.

  He the saw the others all start giving reactions to it and that the two paranormal scientists knew it was there and that they had something planned.

  Dark shapes emerged resembling evil figures, but altered to strange rock formations – as they constantly adjusted – and the landscape altered about them.

  Finally the whole of their surroundings turned to a region of unusual hill and mountains, where there clearly had a one point been a great deal of faulty lines creating a great deal of destruction, and there were places where there had been recent earthquakes, but not as massive as they had been.

  It was there that they all saw the true size of the rock pinnacle as it stretched upwards into the sky like a giant clawed finger, scrapping at the stars, with its artificial top on the biggest star in the sky.

  Chapter 18

  The Alien Castle

  The giant pinnacle was tremendous, and everyone in the vehicles gasped as they flew up it, where they were confronted by the dangers of landing on the structure at the top.

  No sane being could have built it! Anything staying in it must have been or was mad or extremely determined to avoid something dangerous!

  It was beyond comprehension how it could have stayed up and not crashed down below long ago! All its giant boulder chunks were not cemented together, and barely straight.

  There were resemblances of ancient monasteries in it, but it had to be a castle, and an alien castle. Some form of alien race had to have built it!

  On their approach to it Kruger saw that it had two towers that made it look like an old fairy-tale castle that he had once seen, and he gasped at how they must have built it.

  The towers of stone were so thin and high that he was not sure how they managed stay up above the landscape and consistently examined them over and over trying to see what it was that he was missing.

  The pinnacle itself looked dangerous and incapable of supporting itself, and looked impossible to climb. There were no paths visible that could have been used to climb up it. It was so high up that he was sure that they would not be able to breathe properly outside the vehicle, and that they would have to put on their spacesuit helmets.

  They flew carefully around its thick gray stone walls examining it in detail, and still they found no real way in. There were only small gaps in the walls, for breathing inside, which suggested there was enough air, but going by the main races he had seen on other worlds they could live on very low amounts of air, and many breathed different things completely.

  He could only gasp and wonder at what type of alien would have built such a dangerous structure, and was sure it may be warlike or defensive to an extraordinary level.

  They landed on snow on its flat roof, which looked as if it could collapse, and Kruger started wondering why the two paranormal scientists wanted to land there. They claimed it was major source of the paranormal energy that they had detected on the world, and he soon started to wonder if it was how it had been built, by something using paranormal forces.

  Most of them were reluctant to get out of the vehicles, and when they did stood near them, ready to get back in them.

  Kruger waded his feet through the snow covering the top, and he stopped to view the unbelievable sky, which was tremendous, and worth being there for. It was the biggest galaxy or anything that he had ever seen! Its stars were all over the central region, everywhere, glowing brighter there, with it being so high up.

  He stood at the edge of the structure like he was standing on the top of the world, as though the world below were his mighty empire, and he wondered if the aliens there considered themselves the rulers of the world. Yet nothing showed their civilization and technology were anything like the remains of the last civilization, and he wondered if it had been them that had attacked and destroyed their civilization, and he gasped at the height that it was over the world, under his feet, and the sheer drop of it astounded him, going off into the distance.

  A bluish horizon appeared at his side and he studied it, checking the differences in it than the other worlds he had been on, and he watched a massive meteorite blaze across the sky there, and heard a distant thud of it impacting, which was a sound that he had become used to there, and he saw how big it was. Its size was huge as it sent up a massive ball of flames and smoke going right up to the sky, and he considered what it would be like living on a world with the meteorites and their constant threat.

  He was unsure if they could fully protect them from them, as some of the cavities they left were immense, and recent, and he was sure something would eventually happen if they stayed there for long enough.

  The sun was already rising towards them from the other side of the world, and it looked animated with its swift acceleration.

  A gust of wind blew up snow dust along the edge of the roof, and he watched the others checking the roof.

  Some even stamped on the surface to check its safety, and show what their thoughts were about it, and others used their equipment to recheck it more properly, and the rest who were keen scientists and archeologists ignored it, and eagerly explored their new find.

  Kruger joined in, and brushed away the crusted snow to reveal thick stone slabs below him, and he watched the two paranormal scientists helping brush away the crusted snow to reveal an extra large slab over the center of the roof.

  Hinges made of some unknown material held it in place on every side, and there was no indication as how to open it, and they stood examining all its edges for a noticeable way in.

  “Would you just open the entrance?” Major Ripley finally ordered one of the other members of the military.

  All of them stepped away, and he lift up his weapon into the air, and a beam fired out from it at a hinge and at the rest of them, and flashes of bright light came from them and the stone crashed into the structure, throwing up a cloud of dust into the air.

  Kruger observed the peculiar shape of the structure and noticed there were signs that someone a long time ago had done the same as they had and used a weapon to remove the entrance before, and that it had been repaired.

  “What shall we do if this structure is inhabited?” Major Ripley asked the two scientists, who had resumed command of the mission because of their experience, and they were there because of them and their detection of the energy source there.

  “Even though this structure does not look as if it has been lived in for a long time,” Mitchel replied, “the source that we are investigating is active within it! So we better be prepared for an encounter with something, as I do not think it could be created by something that is not living or without intelligence ...”

  Kruger gasped, as he knew he did not play around with such things, and that if they suggested something was there, that there more than likely be far more.

  Layers of dirt hung in the air as Kruger followed the two scientists down into it, who were following Major Ripley, who marched in first with his weapon ready.

  Kruger considered what could possibly be there and if he was going to get another surprise, and thought about the scientific viewpoint of what they were claiming while he observed its dark interior engulfing them.

  Why were they so enthusiastic to discover what was there anyway? They had avoided all questioning on it, and showed more interested in it than anything else! Like it was the ultimate treasure, and their form of treasure, which was buried away there.

  Even the insects there were unseen before, and had characteristics that they had not seen anywhere. A yellow piece of flying slime hung in the air, and had the characteristics of flying, hanging in the air, and moving with not
able form of flying and moving that they had found, even after many examinations, and must have a secret means of doing it that they had never encountered, and it vastly interested a great deal of the scientists, as if they could not pinpoint it and find a way of reproducing it, it would be worth a great deal back home.

  Yet it could be something that existed in this universe that they were in that allowed it to exist, and it may not be possible for them to bring it back to use if they returned to their universe.

  The inside of the structure was incredible and looked like they were encountering something from Earth’s early past, and an ancient castle that resembled a haunted castle, which was long gone from civilization and not even believed to have existed by the majority of people.

  The wind occasionally howled around through the corridor in front of them, as air was caught by gusts of wind.

  He was not sure if it was an alien’s form of a castle or what it was for, as its location was strange, and he could not even imagine what was behind it anymore.

  For a moment he felt a strange feeling that something had detected them from over at the towers, and was amazed that the two paranormal scientist reacted simultaneously with him, and he saw the others had even detected something, including Major Ripley, who went on the defense and seemed confused about what it had been, and held his weapon ready for an encounter.

  Chapter 19

  The Interior

  Kruger jerked backwards, as a loud thud came through the floor, from the lower world, from a massive meteorite impact, which sounded close, and again wondered why the inhabitants of the world had never reacted when it had happened, and he realized that they would have adapted genetically and learned to ignore it.

  They walked into its darkness almost in a straight line, with all of them on their own with lights, observing everything of interest.

  Some had remained above to guard the vehicles and keep watch there, and keep in touch with the GX1 and other vehicles positioned in their hundreds across the world, exploring everything of interest and possible interest.

  The voyage would be an incredible success if they managed to return, and many scientists aboard the GX1 were working on the problem of getting them back, with a great deal of breakthroughs, especially from the information the paranormal scientists had given them, and the equipment that they had used to enter the new universe.

  Kruger watched the dust in their lights fly about, and he followed them down a stone ramp going into it, and further in the dampness of the stone walls gave a stale scent through the air.

  Kruger turned up his light, as the others did, to give them enough brightness to see in front of them correctly, and he continued walking deeper into the stone corridor, searching the floor for any damage to it and for any holes that they could fall through, and go crashing down below.

  The tunnel was full of piles of dust and rock crumbs all along its sides from the crumbling walls, and dry dust covered the center of the floor, and they marched along leaving firm footprints on it, and he started to wonder how they could even consider the owners of such a structure as an advanced intelligence.

  Weird insects darted about and into cracks in stones when they saw them for the first time, and they passed them.

  The top of the structure disappeared away behind them as they went down the long corridors, and more water and mud covered parts of the floor as they turned around a bend and went down into lower levels.

  Most of the dampness finally started clearing, but the passages grew narrow and the air grew stale, and they stepped through thicker layers of dirt that occasionally blew up in clouds of dust over them, and they coughed it out when it entered deep into their lungs and noses.

  Major Ripley came to a gap in a wall, and he shined his light over it showing them it, and he illuminated a dull and empty room, packed with scattered with dirt, dust, and rot.

  As they explored the corridor further along, after finding nothing else in the room, they found something made of metal embedded within layers of mud in the wall of the corridor, and Major Ripley gripped a metal bar attached to it and gave it a sharp pull, but it remained jammed or locked, so he yanked it hard, and a metal sheet came loose out of the wall, where it had been stuck on with two rotted hinges, and he lifted it up and over, and placed it against the side of the corridor.

  Starlight from a giant single star brightly beamed through a window hole into the dark confined space, and when they had finished their examination they left the empty room.

  The next obstacle that they came to was a pile of stones that had collapsed inwards from the top of the corridor and blocked it, which seemed to confuse them as they had not accepted that there was not a way in. Yet once they were up close, for a close look, they found that it had a gap through, and they squeezed through, and went around a bend and came to a solid metal door, in front of the corridor, which was firmly shut, and looked as though it would end their journey.

  But Major Ripley was too determined to stop and made them back away from it and stood and fired his weapon beam at it, temporary blinding them with its intense light in the dark corridor, and its hinges shone brightly and molten metal glowed and poured away, and he pushed the door away.

  Once through the entrance Kruger watched its cloud of smoke moving up to the top of a large hall, and pass a high balcony at the middle of hall.

  On their examination of it they saw a type of staircase going around the hall, winding up from the bottom to the top of the hall.

  Kruger examined everything and listened to the others give their opinions with interest, and realized that they were missing out one point and the hall was virtually an ancient human construction, but never said a thing as there had been many discoveries of alien constructions that were similar to human constructions, including the remains of the civilization that they had found on the journey there. The constructions were the best that they could produce and it was very likely if any life form tried to create the best construction available that they would come up with a similar or more advanced construction.

  There were animal remains scattered throughout the dirt beneath their feet all over the floor, and he listened for any signs of them in his surroundings.

  One of the military men helped one of the scientists out by using his weapon to remove a large slab similar to the stone slab that had been on the roof, and he blasted away the hinges and the stone slab flew away down the immense cliff of the pinnacle and smashed to pieces below.

  Kruger remembered the way that the part of the structure that they were on stuck out over the side of the cliff and moved to an area over the pinnacle, where there was a massive rolled up rope, which the occupants had used to do down.

  The brightness of all the turned up lights showed the hall properly, and further along they saw lines of stone structures, which resembled seats with a walkway going down the middle, with a block of stone at the front, where some form of spiritual ritual had been practiced, which interested the paranormal scientists greatly, and they examined everything while consulting with each other silently, while everyone listened.

  They found nothing else so they climbed the large stone steps to the balcony above, and crept along the narrow balcony checking its safety as they went along, with their lights mainly on the edge of it, and slowly made their way up the stairs.

  At the top, they entered an area that had two passageways, and they followed the two paranormal scientists along one of them, and Major Ripley took them up the spiral stairs of one of the towers, as the two paranormal scientists discussed whether they should check the other tower at the end of the other passageway, and decided to leave it.

  Kruger followed them up, and they suddenly stopped, startled by something, and he felt a vibration through the stone of the tower, and as he moved close to it heard something whirling around, somewhere above.

  Chapter 20

  The Wizard

  A colossal energy shape floated in an energy bubble, rotating gradually, suspended over
the floor of the room at the top of the tower, as the energy bubble vibrated the tower with its power.

  Kruger stood in line with the two paranormal scientists and Major Ripley, all standing staring, examining it, as the others remained on the stairs examining it at a distance.

  Could it be possible? Its shape looked like a being, and human, for a few seconds!

  Kruger studied its energy formation and saw large shapes and colors form within it, and its shape and formation altered, and glowed with white light. It was over eight feet high, and flashes of some form of skeleton flashed visible within it.

  A repeated whisper came from it, and he studied where he believed its mouth would be, and never saw anything and wondered what it was, and saw its eyes appear as red glowing lights and vanish.

  Kruger, Major Ripley, and the others on the stairs stayed silent, waiting for anything to explain what the hell they were standing in front of, while the two paranormal scientists conferred silently in single words that never explained anything, not saying anything of its identity, until Major Ripley finally asked them to explain what the hell it was.

  “We’re not fully sure yet?” Bryan explained, slightly shrugging his shoulders, stalling for time.

  “But this is the energy source that we followed here?”

  “Yes! It is that!”

  “Is it dangerous ...?”

  “Not in this state!”

  “Why? What state is it in?”

  Major Ripley tried to identify the altering energy formations and shapes of it, and shrugged his shoulders back.

  “It is trapped in that energy bubble!”

  “Why? How did it get trapped there?”

  “We trapped it there!”

  Kruger thought he was confused before, but now things were worse than ever!