The Netherwell Horror

by Lee Mountford

  ‘Seize them!’ William screamed to the cultists, pointing at the two who stood near. ‘Quickly!’

  The pair started to back away, and one lifted their hands up in protest. ‘No!’ a female voice said. But they were quickly apprehended by others—who were clearly relieved at having not been picked. ‘Uncle, no!’ The hoods were pulled down and Beth saw that one of the unfortunate choices was the blonde woman Beth had seen amongst the older people back at the Heritage Centre. The beautiful girl with bright blue eyes. Even now, though her hair was pulled back in a basic ponytail and her pretty eyes were wide in terror, she would still be considered extremely attractive.

  ‘Alicia,’ Beth heard Josh utter.

  Beth and had expected Alicia to be an Elder, like her uncle, given she was standing shoulder to shoulder with the others earlier today. It seemed she wasn’t at that level as yet, given the dull, thick robe she was wearing.

  ‘Wait!’ William said, and his look of panic worsened.

  ‘William!’ a voice called. Two other robed figures, these dressed in the silky red of the Elders, pulled down their hoods and stepped forward. ‘That’s my daughter,’ the man said. He looked like an older version of William. ‘She’s your niece! What the hell are you thinking?’

  ‘Wait!’ William repeated. ‘I’ve… I've made a mistake. Not her. Someone else.’

  Beth had only ever seen this man either cool and collected, or overtaken by sudden, violent impulses. She had never really seen him flustered like this. She liked it. It brought her a kind of vindictive pleasure to watch him floundering.

  ‘Then stop it!’ the man shouted. ‘Let her go!’

  ‘Silence!’ the entity bellowed, so loudly and angrily that it sounded like a clap of thunder. Everyone instantly cowered. ‘The choice is made. Move the two chosen ones into position, lest you will all be torn apart.’

  William looked back at the man Beth assumed to be his brother. The look in William’s eyes was one of complete helplessness.

  ‘No,’ the brother said, but even then, the lower cult members were moving the screaming pair.

  ‘I’m… I’m sorry,’ William said in a soft, pathetic voice. He looked pale and lost. Tears welled up in his eyes.

  ‘Daddy!’ Alicia cried as she was stripped of her robe and underclothing. Her hands were tied behind her back, as were the hands of the man who joined her. They were both forced into a kneeling position in their own circle, joining the first victim within the seal.

  ‘Alicia!’ her father cried, and he ran forward. Then, he stopped. Or, more accurately, he froze. He looked to be straining, though he could not move at all.

  ‘Wretch,’ the dark entity said, with a hand raised, holding him in place. ‘You do not defy me.’

  The man started to scream in agony as the priest chuckled. It was a horrible and cruel laugh.

  The entity made another gesture, and the clothing of the man, including the robe, was torn free. Now the cause of the pain was obvious, and Beth had to resist the urge to gag.

  Gasps and murmurs from all those gathered were drowned out by the man’s terrible wails. His wife stood by, helpless, hands over her mouth as tears streamed down her face contorted into a horrified mask.

  The man was separating.

  His arms and legs were being pulled from the central torso, and the flesh at the joints began to split like the skin of a cooked chicken leg as it was pulled free. Blood soon oozed from the openings. The man’s head, too, began to rise up, neck elongating.

  His arms and legs soon came free, held only by glistening stretches of stringy tendons. The bones popped from the joints and blood now spurted from the open wounds. The flesh of the neck split, allowing crimson liquid within to run down his torso. The dark entity continued to laugh while everyone around continued to wail and cry in horror.

  The man’s screams rose higher in pitch and volume as his spine cracked and broke. His head lifted more, separating, and the last pieces of flesh that connected it—neck muscle, vocal cords, pumping veins—all soon split and snapped. His final scream became a sickening, high-pitched squeal. The man’s jaw worked independently for a few moments as the life in his eyes died away. Then, all the separated parts dropped to the floor in a bloody heap.

  People were crying and whimpering, including William. Moments ago, Beth would have loved to see the man in such a broken state, but now she could do nothing but sob and cower herself. She then cast a glance at the Dark Priest, who in turn looked over its subjects. A new fear rose up in Beth. The savagery, malevolence, and utter lack of care showed just what it thought of those that so revered it. Beth’s body started to shake, though she was still held in place by the Dark Priest. It cast a look at her, sneered, then gazed back out over its followers.

  ‘Now,’ it said. ‘Will there be any more dissent?’

  While no one responded verbally, a few—William among them—shook their heads vehemently.

  ‘Then let us proceed.’

  32

  Josh could only watch, held in place by his former brethren, his hands still tied behind his back. Nothing could stop the Master now. The ritual would be completed and the door would open.

  And, because of his failure, his sister was now in the middle of it all. All because he’d been so weak.

  Weak to have fallen for beauty and little else. Weak because he hadn’t fled from these people when he knew he should have. Weak, because instead of handling this himself, he’d run to the only person in this world he trusted to keep him safe. Instead of fixing his own mess, he’d brought his sister right into the middle of it.

  His one show of courage and defiance had only come when he was ordered to kill. It took that for him to defy the Elders, and he’d used the knife given to him as a weapon to defend himself. Josh had run and managed to escape from the clutches of these people, albeit briefly. Now, however, it had proven to be a pointless escape.

  As Alicia screamed, the three people holding the sacrifices stepped back at the command of the Master. Josh expected Alicia to flee, but none of them moved, though they all appeared to be fighting and straining against some unknown and unseeable force.

  With the chosen ones in position, and unable to escape, three other people stepped forward from the crowd, each carrying a blade. They positioned themselves behind the victims. A chanting rose up from the Order, though it was far from enthused. Alicia continued to cry.

  ‘Mum,’ she sobbed.

  Her mother was in tears, but she continued the chanting with the others. Alicia was alone now, her fate sealed. Josh felt horrible for her, despite the woman she had turned out to be. Alicia’s eyes fell on him, and Josh was reminded of the female sacrifice in the cave two nights ago. That pleading stare was the same. And Josh knew that Alicia, too, would have happily swapped places to save herself. Hell, when he had been kneeling in that circle, Alicia had remained silent.

  Still, he had loved her—if not the real her, then certainly the version that was present to him. That meant something to him. But there was nothing he could do.

  The three sacrifices in the circles had their heads pulled back by their executioners, exposing the throats. Josh held his breath.

  In unison, the blades sliced over the exposed windpipes. The flesh was parted and blood bubbled free. Each of the victims’ eyes went wide in horror. Their breathing became rapid and uneven, panicked, and the blood flowed quicker. Alicia’s eyes held pure and unadulterated terror within them. Blood bubbled and spluttered from her mouth. The victim’s chests pumped as they struggled to catch their breath. The emotionless executioners—and the dark entity—held all three in place, so they could do nothing but feel the act of dying. Their blood spilled down their naked bodies and began to soak into the earth beneath them. Eventually, the struggled gurgles and wheezing stopped. Alicia went first, growing still a few seconds before the others. They were then released, and the bodies of the dead slumped to the floor as their life-force continued to spill to the ground.

  Int
o the seal.

  ‘Excellent,’ the entity said. ‘I can feel it begin. Now, the desecration. Be quick!’

  Several members quickly ran to the parked vans, emerging with all manner of instruments: saws, cleavers, large knives. And the brethren then got to work. Desecration was the correct term for what was done to the bodies. The members of the Order cut and tore and pulled and hacked, imbuing chaos into the order of the human form. Insides were pulled outside, and stringy intensities were laid over the lines that connected the circular symbols. The heads of the corpses were removed and laid central to these circles, but only after their eyes had been messily gouged out. Body parts were strewn across the clay and soil canvas, creating a terrible work of art. When it was complete, the workers who had carried out such an awful task simply stepped back.

  Everything grew silent. Even the sobs of Alicia’s mother fell away and everyone waited with bated breath. Had it worked? Or had all of this death been for naught? Had Alicia, the woman he had once loved, been pulled apart merely for a misguided belief?

  Then… Josh felt it.

  The air itself seemed to charge with electricity, and a wave of static burst from the site of the sacrifices, hitting him like a wall and blowing past him. Goosebumps lined Josh’s skin and the hairs on his arms stood on end. The salty smell of the sea seemed to fade away, overtaken by a stronger, sulphuric scent. Even the sound of the waves started to morph and twist and slowly fade away. The same thing happened to the stars in the sky, and the moon—they just faded from view, blurring away into the dark. Josh felt terror like he’d never known before.

  It was happening. The door was opening. The Ritual of Moloch was reaching completion, and it would drag them all into hell.

  The entity held up its arms to a sky that was now changing.

  ‘It has begun,’ it declared. ‘The merging is nigh.’

  33

  Beth felt the hold on her release, and she was able to climb to her feet. She immediately ran over to Josh and Jim, then hugged her brother.

  No one stopped her.

  Everyone was too enthralled by the changes around them as two worlds fused together. The vista around them started to change, pushing out from the symbols and markings the three desecrated bodies lay on.

  A booming sound echoed from the direction of the sea. Beth spun and saw something start to rise up from the water. Something massive.

  Monstrous. Impossible.

  Indeed, the seawater, once black in the night, began to change as well, and Beth could detect a faint red hue to it. The waves—instead of crashing and rolling—slowly settled, save for the large bubbles that started to emerge and pop on the surface, as if the whole ocean was boiling. The great, multi-legged creature continued to rise up. Swirling, tentacle-like appendages sprung from the legs, as well as from the horrifying central mass that housed titanic, gaping mouths as well as thousands of eyes of all sizes that rolled and glared wildly. The monstrosity was a mess of forms all meshed together. It towered towards a sky that changed above it.

  Old stars blinked out, new ones taking their place, these ones pulsating and even moving through the cosmic expanse. The gargantuan beast bellowed again, a noise so loud that everyone on the clifftop—save the dark entity—ducked and covered their ears.

  Cries of terror arose from the cult members, terrified of what they were seeing. But the transformation around them was not yet complete. Immense black mountains swam into view on the horizon behind them, beyond the town’s limits. And on the enormous mountains on the horizon, hulking beasts and insectile monsters scattered and roamed about their surface. The creatures were big enough to be seen even from this distance.

  Vast towers speared up into the air, perfectly cylindrical, and they rose even higher than the mountains. The pillars were black as well, but they had odd hues of light within them that moved and pulsed. Perhaps the most terrifying thing of all, however, was the way the stars above pulled together into one mammoth cluster, swirling about each other to form a familiar shape. That of a great and cosmic eye, one that looked down over everything.

  Beth had to turn her head away, as just looking up at the eye made her feel like she would go mad. For the brief moment her eyes fell upon it, she felt a tapping inside of her head that was both constant and maddening. Strange voices echoed a language she could not understand. While most cast their gaze quickly away from it, some of the cult members continued to look up, enthralled and unable to look away.

  Beyond the loud bellow of the great thing out in the boiling ocean, other screams, roars, chitters, and wails sounded: a monstrous cacophony from things that remained unseen. Whatever alien lands now lay beyond the outskirts of town seemed to be teeming with life.

  While the sky above was dark, there were distinct red hues to the cosmic skyline, and whatever they were cast a red hue down over the realm Beth now found herself in, which gave it a distinct and hellish feel.

  ‘What is this madness?’ an Elder called, dropping her hood and looking around in terror. She had her grey hair pulled back, and her face was sullen and gaunt. She was terrified.

  Then, the woman exploded.

  Guts, shredded skin, and her insides coated those around her, covering them in a wet layer of glistening red gore.

  ‘It is home,’ the Dark Priest replied, longingly, as it lowered its hand. It looked around the clifftop, searching for something. Then it walked forward to a certain point away from the rest of them, farther inland. As he strode, Beth was certain she could hear faint cries of panic coming from back in town.

  Dear God… has everyone been pulled into this nightmare?

  Then, the entity stopped and looked at the ground. It closed its eyes, and slow smile crept over its lips. ‘Here,’ it said. ‘I feel you.’ It then turned around and locked eyes with Beth. ‘Have you wondered why this place was so important? And why now is the time? The space this town shares with my true home is one where my creator lies. Ashklaar.’ It then turned around and held its arms high into the air before it. ‘Come, Mother. Focus your strength. I am here for you.’

  Beth had no idea who, or what, the entity was talking to. As far as she could see, there was just an empty space. It remained so for a number of minutes. But then, things changed. There was a rumbling and shaking underfoot, as if an earthquake was taking place. Before Beth’s eyes, a huge portion of the land cracked and then fell into a void. The members of the Order screamed and backed away. Beth saw the view in the distance start to fade, or rather it became blocked. A great thing ebbed into view, pushing its way into existence. The cylindrical object, whose base sat within the newly created opening in the ground, slowly became whole and rose up to an impossible height in the sky. Within its glassy, black surface, pockets of red light swirled within, merging with writhing shadows. Looking at this red light and the moving shapes, Beth quickly became entranced, and it was only the voice of the entity that broke her concentration. Then she noticed something else. Other things swam into view as well, things that were stuck on the great surface of this column. Living things. Human and horrifying monstrosities alike. They wailed and cried and shrieked in pain, all without skin, and the exposed flesh red and blackened. The poor souls were melted and fused into the pillar.

  ‘Mother. We have come. We will sire you another child. An equal to you. This new life will draw the gaze of Vao, who sees all new life.’

  The entity turned back to the rest of them, who all cowered, terrified at what they were seeing. ‘Steel yourselves,’ the entity said. ‘We are far from finished.’ It then pointed at Beth. ‘We had a bargain. It is time for me to collect.’

  ‘Go to hell!’ Beth shouted, but was quickly pulled through the air towards the Dark Priest, who held out its arms to her. She could do nothing as her body came to a stop directly before it and hovered slightly off the ground.

  ‘Hell is only a word. One your ancestors attributed to a place they only glimpsed. It is a home that I was denied. A place that will swallow your world whole
. Hell is your home now, girl.’

  The Dark Priest grabbed her by the throat. Then it brought the wrist of its other arm up to its teeth. Beth winced as the thing bit down and tore a chunk of pale flesh free. Thick, dark liquid quickly pooled up from the wound and spilled from it, slopping to the ground. The wrist was extended over to Beth and the entity squeezed the hand around her throat tightly. She cried out in pain, then quickly gagged as the liquid from the wrist ran down into her open mouth. As much as Beth tried to cough out what was entering her throat, there was too much of it, and she swallowed involuntarily.

  The taste was horrific—sour and bitter to a degree that overwhelmed her. More and more of the vile fluid flowed into her mouth as the Dark Priest continued to put pressure on her neck, and Beth had to keep swallowing to stop from choking. When it was finally satisfied, the entity released her, and Beth was dropped to the floor, heaving and spluttering.

  ‘If you purge that from your body, then I will tear your brother apart.’

  At its words, Beth forced herself to bring her gagging under control, which was no easy task.

  ‘We still have more to do,’ the Dark Priest said to her. ‘Your body is not yet ready.’

  Beth knew what that meant. The deal had been clear. Drink the blood and then eat the heart. Beth’s stomach lurched again.

  ‘William,’ the entity called. Dutifully, the terrified man ran over. His eyes were wide with horror, like a man in so far over his head that drowning would be a mercy. ‘We must continue. Do not waver. What was promised will be delivered.’ It then laid a hand on his shoulder, in the only show of affection Beth had seen from the being. ‘You will ascend.’

  William still looked like a scared child, but he nodded quickly. ‘Of course.’

  ‘Good. I will be weakened for a short time, but we need to be strong and make sure the birthing is completed. The doorway cannot be allowed to close, and the girl cannot be allowed to die.’