The Sealed Fate

Mount Teagan was a tall mountain located somewhere in the remotest parts of Northern Ireland, several miles away from the nearest village in the area. It had a terrible reputation among the locals, especially the older generations, who seldom dared to go there. Some would call them superstitious, but the fact that many parts of that region had remained unexplored for centuries, meant that they might have a good reason for abstaining an enjoyable hike in its green slopes, or a walk in the beautiful forests around it.

Rare wild flowers of different colors, an amazing landscape and the refreshing air saturated with the smell of grass ... these features occasionally attracted tourists; people who craved an adventure in the heart of nature and away from the crowded cities, the noise, the pollution and the towering buildings which constantly obstructed the view with walls and windows. They came from cities so illuminated at night that the light choked the stars and made people forget that there's another world beside the one they've constructed for themselves.

Kristie and Thomas O'Flannery were standing on a narrow dirt road which led to the mountain, waiting for Liam, their local guide, to get his backpack out of the jeep. Kristie flashed a grin at Tom as a cool breeze caressed her face, streaming her golden hair about.
"I love this place," she said, "and I can't believe you've never been here before, you should have! I mean your father was Irish."
"Maybe that's why he didn't bring his son to these parts," said Liam. He was now standing beside them, ready and energetic, "more than 200 people have been lost on that mountain, without leaving a trace, I'm sure you've heard about that. That's why very few locals come here, and they don't go far."

Kristie looked at the young, handsome guide with admiration and smiled, "But I guess you are not so easily frightened, are you?"
Liam smiled back, "No I'm not, but I never venture too far from the safe track either."
Tom, not a bit pleased with the way Liam and his wife were chatting, cleared his throat and walked up between the two, "I hope you'll keep it that way", he remarked half with humor, and looked at his wife, "so shall we start?" Kristie nodded and the three started walking up the path.
"This route is very old," Liam said. "People made it centuries ago, and now those who want to go to Mount Teagan use it."

"Why did so many people disappear?" Kristie asked, bending down a little to see Liam over the fat stomach of her husband.
"I don't know," Liam said, thinking. "There are gorges and chasms in the higher areas, those who disappeared mostly went there without a guide, such things are bound to happen when you don't know the way."
"I see" Tom said, just wanting to say something, "Let's hope we're not going that far, we don't want to ruin this honeymoon."
Liam shook his head and pointed to the route, "As long as we're on this path we're fine!"
The hike was easier than Kristie had expected; they passed through green fields and groves, small hills could be seen on both sides of the way and the sound of a mountain stream somewhere nearby was heard like a constant lullaby, even Tom was impressed. Then all of a sudden they stopped and Kristie realized that they had reached the end of the route.

"Well that's it," said Liam. "We can rest here for a while before going back."
Kristie was surprised, "Was that all?! It ended so soon!"
Tom sat slowly and cautiously on a rock, wiping the sweat off his face, "Dear, we've been walking nonstop for about three hours now," he said. "It will probably take us another three hours to get back."
"But I don't want to go back just yet!" Kristie whined, looking at a dense forest some distance away.
"Come here honey!" Tom said, taking a sandwich from his backpack, "let's have something to eat and get ready to walk back."

Kristie was walking slowly towards the forest, while it was sunny and clear, a huge piece of black cloud stood above it, making it dark and gloomy, from where she was standing she could see twigs and branches, twisted as if in agony. Two tall trees were standing on the edge of the forest and between them lay absolute darkness, like a threshold to another dimension, arousing her curiosity.
"Hey, where are you going?" Liam shouted, standing up.
Kristie had walked some forty yards away from them. Tom stood up too.
"Give me a few minutes." She said, "I just want to check that forest over there, I'll be back soon."
"Hey wait!" Liam shouted again, but Tom put his huge hand on Liam's shoulder.
"It's alright." He said, "I'm going with her, we won't get far, you can stay here."
Liam didn't like the idea, but he saw that Kristie was already near the forest. "Don't go there!" he told Tom, who was trying to walk away as fast as he could to get to her, "I've never been there, it may be dangerous."

Yet Tom kept walking, "Just wait for us here, I'll bring her back in a few."
Resigned, Liam shrugged and sat down again, but still gazed at the spot where Kristie had now disappeared into.
Kristie had passed the "threshold" and now everything around her was dark, all trees were old and of an intimidating size and grayish grass covered their twisted, spreading roots. Strange shrubs with thorns and thick blackish vines with razor-like leaves were all that she could see in the dim light. She stood still for a second, hesitant to continue, but just then her husband's heavy panting was heard and a moment later he was by her side. "It's cold, like it's autumn here!" he said, but she remained silent, gazing into the darker parts in front of her.

"Where is Liam?" she asked after a while. Tom pursed his lips "He is where we left him. Ok, will you go back now?"
Kristie took a step forward, "What is that thing over there?"
Tom narrowed his eyes, "I don't know, want to check?"
She nodded, happy that she had someone with her anyway.
"Have you noticed it?" she whispered as they walked, "it's too silent in here, and shouldn't there be some creatures around? It looks like it's only you and me."
Now they were standing close to what she had seen. It was a just a pile of stones but there on the ground, they saw something that scared them nearly to death; skulls, bones, human bones, lying near the pile of stones. Startled, Tom took a step back and fell on the ground and Kristie screamed and turned to run away, not noticing the pond of dark oozy water near the pile.

"Be careful Kristie!" Tom shouted.
But she stumbled and lost her balance, she screamed again as she was about to fall into the pond head first, when someone caught her; it was Liam. Tom stood up as Liam took her away from the pond. Scared and panting, she sat on the ground. Tom came beside her,
"Thank you!" he said earnestly. "I thought you didn't want to come here."
Liam looked at his pale face, "I couldn't leave you two all on your own in this forest, so I followed you and then I heard her scream" he then looked at Kristie; she was trembling. "What happened?" he asked, looking at Tom again.
"There are human skeletons over there" Tom pointed to the pile of stones with a shaky hand.

Liam was alerted; slowly he went close to the stones.
"Why, this is a cairn! And judging from all moss that has grown over it, I say it's pretty old."
"What does it signify?" Kristie asked, still shaking.
"It's a grave!" said Tom, "Someone is buried here, a cairn is like a burial mound."
Liam was surprised at this displaying of knowledge, "Well, you're half Irish after all!" he said, but then he saw the skeletons on the other side of the cairn; some tattered pieces of cloth were also nearby and some distance away there was a torn dirty backpack.
"My God" Liam gasped. "These bones ... these ... they have died recently, not more than a week ago!"
Kristie struggled on her feet, "How do you know?"

Liam pick up something from the ground, "Four or five people have died here! At least I know one of them, Kevin Brogan. He was a guide too, younger than me and much more hotheaded ... this is his jacket." He showed them the remains of a brown jacket spotted with blood"
Kristie swallowed and looked away. Liam stood up, knitting his brows "he probably agreed to bring them further from the track, stupid!"
Tom had mustered enough courage to go to cairn again, "I'm sorry man" he said.
"I didn't like him." Liam replied. "I don't dare guess how they all died."
Tom noticed deep claw marks on two of skulls, torn clothes and another skeleton which was completely shattered, "Bear attack perhaps?!" he asked.
"There are no bears in these areas." Liam said.
"Mountain lions, wolves?!" Kristie suggested with a shaking voice, and quickly looked around her.

Liam shook his head, "They are not capable of such a massacre. Anyway we'd better just get back as soon as possible"
Kristie and Tom couldn't agree more. But as they started walking Liam abruptly stopped with an anxious face. The other two looked at him, and a second later the frightening fact struck them: They were lost!
Liam took a few steps, and looking around him, he cursed.
"I'm so sorry" Kristie mumbled, "It's all my fault. If I hadn't walked away..."
"I think we came from there," Liam said, "as far as I can remember we were standing on right of the cairn, now if we go that way we should probably get to the edge of the forest. Let's go."

But backtracking proved to be harder a task than any could imagine, there was no end to the forest and where ever they went they were under the dark, brooding roof of the trees, Liam tried not to lose hope, but Kristie could see that with every passing minute, the lines on his forehead get deeper. There were several other graves in the silent forest, Liam tried to use them as signs to help find the way, since every cairn was unique, but it was of no use.
A thick fog was now slowly forming and a strange constant stench, like the smell of a thousand decayed corpses, made things even harder. Then Tom uttered a curse and stopped, looking behind him.
"I swear I can hear something!" he said with repressed terror. "It's been following us for some time! I know it is following us!"
Kristie cried and got behind her husband. Liam took his revolver out of its holster.
"I always take this with me," he said as he armed himself for any possible encounter, "Get behind me slowly."

Liam carefully aimed his gun at the darkness behind the trees. Everything was silent, like they were in the void, but sure enough, he could sense a presence, but had no idea where that presence might be. Tom slowly pushed Kristie further back and grabbing a big rock from the ground, he stood behind Liam, ready to assist him repel the creature that may be following them. And so they waited.
Kristie's every nerve was strained far beyond the limit. How she could stand there and not run away, screaming like a maniac, she didn't know, maybe because she was almost paralyzed... because her limbs were not in her control and she couldn't move at all... because all she could feel now was... pain!

Tom and Liam jumped with fear at Kristie's sudden, agonized scream. Tom quickly turned around and saw a huge mouth with dagger like teeth, chewing his wife, her warm blood showering on him. He shouted in fear but before he could do anything, the huge head disappeared into the fog and a long tail whipped at him with such a force that he was thrown several yards away.
Liam ran towards the fog, Kristie was still screaming, he saw in front of him, about nine feet above the ground, a pair of red eyes, shining like the flames of hell through the darkness, and below the eyes, from the mouth, Kristie's torso was dangling, almost torn apart from the waist and hanging from the remains of the spine and a few tendons, her guts had poured out, and yet she was still alive and struggling; the creature was in no hurry to finish her off.

Liam shouted and fired round after round at the monster, it was of no use, as if the it didn't even feel the bullets. A growl was heard that shook the ground, a gigantic paw appeared out of the fog and the mere sight caused Liam to fall back in shock. Now, the head turned to take its prey away, but with all the force that remained in her, Kristie grabbed a nearby branch and with a hoarse voice pleaded with him.
"Kill me Liam! Kill me!"
He looked at her face, drenched in blood and distorted in pain. The monster was pulling her away, a low sound was heard, her spine snapped and her completely detached torso fell on the ground. The giant paw was placed on her immediately and Liam saw the talons pierce her flesh. The pain was unbearable

"Liam!" she cried.
It was hard, but also the only way to end her torment. He aimed at her head with tearful eyes and pulled the trigger, but nothing happened, he pulled the trigger again and with a start realized that the gun was empty! He had wasted all his bullets trying to kill the beast. The head moved down and in a fragment of a second she was in the creature's mouth again. Her scream echoed through the forest as she was carried away.
It all happened so quickly, maybe in less than a minute, but Liam felt that every second had stretched to an hour, like he had been watching the scenes in slow motion.
He sat there, his mind was numb and tears falling from his eyes. It took him some time to realize he was injured too. Kristie's terrible fate, the pain in her face, the sound of her bones snapping, those infernal eyes, it all seemed like a nightmare now, but he knew that everything had been real.

He held his head with his hands, he had failed to save her, had failed to put her out of the misery. "God help us" was all that came out of his mouth.
A heavy footstep was heard and Tom limped to him, his face as pale as chalk. They looked at each other; neither man was capable of speaking. Tom's gaze was fixed at the pool of blood and entrails in front of them. A moment later, he fell on his knees, sobbing bitterly, "Kristie! Kristie!" he cried, Liam was too shocked to speak or even cry.
They remained there for a while, Liam didn't know for how long, but knew that it was getting even darker; they had to do something or they would join her soon. He picked himself up and tried to help Tom but he wouldn't move, so Liam pulled on his feet. "Come on man!" he said, "we must get out of here."
Tom pushed him away and shouted, he picked up everything he could find on the ground and threw it at the trees and kept shouting and howling, there was no way to calm him; so Liam grabbed him by the arm and punched him to the ground. It worked! He sat up and looked around him.

"She... she's gone Liam" he mumbled.
"Yes" Liam bit his lip, "yes I'm afraid she is. But we're gonna share her fate if we stay here too long. Come on, we must find a way!" He poured out the empty cartridges and reloaded the gun, and got ready.
They both had torches with them, and in the dim light that they could afford to provide, both men tried to get out of the forest, on the left Liam noticed a square slab standing upright, that was curious. They went closer to examine it, there were only two symbols engraved on it. One of them consisted of two parallel vertical lines and an equilateral triangle in the middle whose base cut into the parallel lines. The other symbol was very strange, unlike anything he had ever seen. "What could this be?!" Liam asked himself, "a map?"
"That's the Nyrix glyph" Tom said faintly, "and that's the seal of Mercury."

Liam was surprised, "you know these symbols?" he said as he looked at the slab again, "Nyrix?! Nyrix ... I think I've heard that word somewhere, but I think I was a kid back then." Tom stood beside him, "I know it because I read its story. My father came from an old family in Ireland, and he had brought a few antiques with him when he left the country, there was an old handwritten book among them, I used to read it as a child, it was a collection of the oldest Celtic and Irish legends and some of them belonged to distant relatives of them. Among the legends was the story of Nyrix the hellhound."

Liam was listening with both interest and fear, "The hellhound?!" Tom touched the glyph and nodded. "The creature belonged to an old forgotten god, Naernon. According to the legend there was a fierce war between different clans in these areas; the battle spread out over the whole region and even on the sacred fields of Naernon, where it was forbidden to kill someone. The Temple of Naernon was half ruined too and blood was shed on its altar and the warriors even slaughtered the priests who tried to stop them. Naernon was furious and released Nyrix from the underworld to punish people in a way that suits them. There are at least three other varieties of the legend, but in all of them Naernon gets mad and releases the monster, the queen of the hellhounds."

"So the creature was unleashed and it lay waste the whole land, destroying villages, massacring people ... the bravest warriors died trying to kill it, because it was invincible. Finally seven witches and wizards, volunteered to stop the beast. They lured it into a forest and sealed it using a especial ritual. They made a barrier and so every time Nyrix tried to cross that barrier she ended up back in the middle of the forest, in her lair. That's the story. They depicted Nyrix with the body of a boar, the head of a crocodile, the mane of a lion, the feet of a great dog and a long tail." Liam had been carefully examining the seal of Mercury, and suddenly he ejaculated a cry. "It figures!" he said, pointing to the seal. "See these small circles, three on the points of the points of the triangle and one at each end of the parallel lines; seven small circles. Remember those graves? I counted them, there were seven of them, so this is how they are situated. In a way, this is a map. If the legend is true, the creature cannot get past the line the graves make. We should be here at the center of the seal. If we find one of the graves and find the line that connects it to another grave, we can get out of the reach of the beast, then we can find our way out!"

They started walking to the place where they had seen the last cairn, soon enough they found it. Well remembering the symbol on the slab, Liam deduced that they should now turn left. After fifteen minutes, it seemed that they were getting near the edge of the damned forest, as the foliage wasn't so thick anymore, but still they could smell the stench, it was even getting stronger, they walked faster, Tom could see a clearing in the middle of the trees. In a few minutes, they found themselves in an open area, surrounded by trees, but under their feet, the ground had been carpeted with bones up to their ankles! The stench came from there, they had come right to the monster's lair. Looking around in fear and disgust, they both saw what was left of Kristie, right in the middle of the bone yard. Liam stepped back but Tom, having lost control over himself again, walked slowly to her remains, crying and howling.

Liam wanted to stop him but all of a sudden an infernal growl was heard and the ground shook as those eyes appeared again from the fog near the trees. "Run Tom, Run!" Liam shouted as he ran away as fast as he could, but he knew that Tom had remained there, beside Kristie...
There was another growl and Liam heard Tom squealing, he heard a splash and then Tom was silent. Liam ran in a frenzy, not even caring about where we were going, his only thought was to get as far as possible from there. He threw away his backpack to run faster, keeping only his gun. A sound from behind made him realize the creature was now chasing him; he couldn't see it but felt its presence behind him, which made his hair stand on end. Without stopping, he fired in every direction from which he thought the creature might attack him, and it appeared that the monster had ceased its chase.

As he was running out of breath, he saw the black pound near the first grave, revived with new hope, he kept running in that direction; yes, he had finally found the way out, he could see a clearing and familiar trees... tress that he had seen a few minutes ago... he stopped with a cry. He was in the bone yard again! He could see Tom's head covered in his own blood near Kristie's bones and his limbs scattered everywhere. Those red eyes were in front of him. And then he realized... Tom's words came back to his mind, "every time Nyrix tried to pass through the barrier, she would end up back in the middle of the forest."

Yes, now he understood, they had been sealed there all the time, so they could never find the way out, every time they tried to pass the line between the graves they ended up back in the dark heart of the forest. Liam laughed maniacally and fell to the ground, then looked up and for the first time saw the full form of the creature standing above him; terror incarnate! The giant mouth opened and the head moved towards him, there was only one salvation left; he was still holding the gun, he put the barrel into his mouth... that was much better than what the creature had in store for him. Just as the beast reached for him he closed his eyes and pulled the trigger... and realized that the gun was empty...