The Deadliest Haunted Castle (20 page)

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.

“
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.

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.