"The Nothingness Inside Castle Hanpenburg" - Horror Hill

0:00I fear that I've brought something forth into the open, a thing that no man could ever hope to vanquish on his own. It was all because of that damned castle. One simple phone call changed my perception of our place in this universe. We are but ants to beings that exist far beyond what our imagination is capable of. I find myself in a position where I must warn others about the impending danger. It will not stop the other beings beyond our consciousness from having their way with us. But I hope that this last warning can at least prolong the abyss from taking all of us in it. My tale begins in my office. I had been a private investigator for the better part of the decade, so I had developed a reputation. There were many strange things I encountered in my line of work. Many gruesome sights that would have been the end of lesser men, but not of me.

1:01I was foolish to think that the world, the universe, had thrown its worst at me. I had been enjoying a glass of bourbon when my desk phone rang. I answered to hear a distraught feminine voice on the other end. Is this Mar-Low Stark? This is he, I replied. How may be of assistance? I'm afraid I must ask of your services. The caller paused for several moments before continuing. My name is Anne Hanpenberg. I've heard it from respectable sources that you were a talented private detective. I thought the bit of flattery was a nice touch, though I wasn't in the mood to pussyfoot around what Anne wanted. I am, Miss Hanpenberg. I've solved many mysteries and helped find many numerous items and people. Listen, Miss Hanpenberg, I'll cut right to it. What do you need my services for? There was silence at the other end of the phone.

2:01I was about to hang up when she finally spoke. My brother Frederick. I could hear the anxiety in her voice as she continued. My brother has gone missing. It's been over two weeks since anyone has seen him and I'm so worried, Mr. Stark. I tried to put on my best sympathetic voice. I see, Miss Hanpenberg. It's no small matter when someone hasn't been seen for that long, especially a family member. Before we go in further, did he have a wife? Perhaps someone he spent a lot of time with would be able to have an idea of his whereabouts? No, Frederick was a loner. The only people who saw him regularly were the cleaning crew that worked for him. I sighed. And I see, so I take it day, haven't seen him either. That's correct. It's like he vanished without a trace. I was about to ask another question, but she interrupted me. You see, Detective, I know where he probably is.

3:03Oh, and where might that be? He's somewhere in our damn family castle, she said, in clear distress. He lives in that horrible place. Frederick never left it and never let anyone come to visit outside of me and the help, as mentioned earlier. It was just him inside those ancient walls. I know that's where he must be, Detective. That's why I called you, to ask you to go find my brother. I'm used over the situation before asking, if he's in your family home, why are you not searching for him? You don't think I've tried, Detective? I've searched that place from top to bottom, but I know my deduction skills are not as great as most. I don't try to pretend that I can find the tiniest detail and draw a conclusion. That's why I need you. I need a man of your expertise to search that castle for him. I'm desperate, Detective. I promise to pay you double your normal asking price and pay for your airfare and travel

4:05expenses. Airfare, I questioned. Airfare, I'd ask, as your family castle located, Miss Ant Pemberg. Deep in the mountains of Germany, Detective, she answered almost immediately. I thought for a moment about what I should do. I could feel that she was anticipating an answer from me. I sighed. Then it looks like I'm going to Germany. She seemed all too happy for me to be accepting the case and said she would send everything I would need for my trip as soon as possible. Although I hung up the phone, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. The flight across the sea was uneventful, as was the main drive up to the castle. However, there was a shift in the atmosphere as soon as I hit the forest surrounding the estate. From the drive up to that point, the feeling was pleasant and almost relaxing. As soon as the trees towered over my rental, a feeling of dread filled the pit of my stomach.

5:08The trees themselves did not seem sinister, but there was something different that hung in the atmosphere. I could not place why I felt this way, just that it was there and it was lingering. A sense of isolation helped affirm the nagging thought of danger at the back of my mind. These negative thoughts didn't come to my mind until I glimpsed the castle. The anxiety within me grew as I pulled up to the estate's makeshift gravel drive. I noticed two cars parked close to the doors to enter the castle. I decided to park a little further back and walk the extra hundred feet. I was not informed that anyone would be waiting for me when I arrived, so the presence of vehicles belonging to unknown persons further intensified the growing belief that something was a miss. Deciding it best to leave my things in the car for the moment, I crept around the outside of the castle, looking for anything out of the ordinary. After finding nothing of note, I finally decided to enter.

6:12I opened the large wooden door as carefully as possible, not to draw attention to my entrance. I had no desire to let anyone know I was there, yet. It was clear that the old halls had seen better days from a first glance. The bricks were partially eroded, and visible cracks dotted the walls. There was no doubt that any weak winter wind would have its run of the place. This alone left me wondering why Frederick would ever willingly choose to live in a place like this. Just as I had begun my first examination of the place, someone walked out into the main entrance that I was in. An older-looking woman in a cleaning outfit looked at me and gave me a small nod. She started dusting the stone banister of the stairs and ignored my presence. Her appearance let me know that at least one of the cars out front belonged to Frederick's help. It spoke to the dedication of his hired help that they would continue to clean the place weeks

7:12after he disappeared. However, this also meant that they most likely cleaned up any evidence that would have helped me. I was about to collect my luggage when I heard a familiar voice call my name. I looked up the large staircase to see who I presumed was Miss Hamperberg, slowly making her way down. I must admit I was taken with her looks at first glance. Her hair was a light blonde that one would almost swear was white. She was more of a meek woman with a small frame. Though she was not necessarily thin, she most certainly was lighter than the average woman's weight for her size. As she approached the bottom step, I was able to get a better look at her and realized that her skin was ungodly white. Anna smiled at me. I'm glad you finally made it, Mr. Stark. I was sure to stay around to ensure that there was no trouble with your arrival. Oh, there was no trouble at all. I quickly pivoted the subject to the case.

8:14I hope it wouldn't be too much to ask, but I was hoping you could give me a brief tour. It would make my work a lot easier for me. And nodded. Of course, follow me. Anne proceeded to lead me through the large expanse of the aging castle. The whole time she was showing me through, I felt that there was something she didn't want me to see. This idea was further verified when I asked about a door we had passed. There's nothing to say about that door. It used to lead to the basement, but my parents had it filled in, so the foundation was more stable. We leave it locked. She turned and gave me a rather serious stare before saying, under no circumstances are you to open that door. Her demeanor quickly changed to a more friendly one as she added, I wouldn't want you to get hurt detective. Anne finished the tour by showing me the only room I had been curious about. This last room is Fredericks, and said Somberly.

9:15It seems a little strange that he would have his room be at the very back of the castle on the second floor. Seems like an inconvenient place to sleep. Anne shrugged. I suppose so, but I know Fredericks like to work on his hobbies in his room. I'm sure he didn't want anyone to disturb him. What better place to make sure that happens, detective? I suppose you're right, Anne. I said respectfully. I knew that if there were to be many clues left, they would be in Fredericks' room. I was eager to get inside and see what I could find. However, my growing suspicion of Anne made me wary of showing my hand. Thank you for the tour, Anne. It's going to be so much easier to look around the castle. Anne nodded. I'm glad I could be of assistance, detective. Are there any more questions you need me to answer? No, I believe you've answered all the ones I had. She smiled. Then I shall be taking my leave. If you need anything else, I have left my number by the downstairs telephone.

10:19I politely smiled and nodded to her. In my friendliest tone, I said, Well, it has been a long day of traveling, so I'm fairly tired. I believe I'll call it a night and then begin my investigation early tomorrow morning. This, of course, was all a lie to get Anne out of the castle as quickly as possible. I wanted to start searching as soon as I could. The eerie feeling of the place had left me uneasy about it, so the quicker I left, the better. I said nothing else to Anne as I walked back down the stairs and escorted her out to her car. I watched patiently as she drove off into the forest. When I returned to the castle, I had to wait a little longer as the cleaning crew wasn't quite done yet. I felt that if I could not trust Anne, the person who hired me, there was certainly no way I should trust the help. It took a few more hours for the help to finish the job, but I sprang into action as soon as they left. I made my way upstairs and entered Frederik's room.

11:20A small writing desk in the left corner and a small bed skewed slightly to the right. A small dresser and nightstand sat on the right side of the bed, but that didn't do much to fill the almost empty room. Besides these two pieces of furniture, there wasn't much else in the room. I immediately made my way to the desk and searched through the drawers. There were several notebooks and dozens of papers that I came across. I opened a dark red notebook and was greeted by some strange scribblings on the first page. As I flipped through the pages, I began to see crew drawings depicting horrible acts of torture and violence. I prayed that these were simply things that had been put on paper and nothing else. The one detail that seemed to catch my eye was that on each page, Frederik had written the word in suzerot. I found each new page in a different spot, but the word was still there. I quickly flipped through the other journals and found more or less the same.

12:24The pages all contained random rants that made no sense and had strange symbols doodled. The drawings were so grotesque that I had to lie on the bed for a while before continuing my search. I had just begun and my search for Frederik had hit a dead end. Not satisfied with calling it quits for the night, I searched the rest of the room. There was nothing unusual about the bed and nothing but layers of dust and cobwebs underneath it. The nightstand was empty as well. As I opened each of the four drawers of the dresser, I noticed that Frederik did not keep many clothes. The bottom drawer, in fact, only contained a large dark red robe. I pulled it out of the dresser and held it up to inspect it. As I rummaged through the pockets, I discovered a small slip of paper that contained a strange set of words that were circled. On the back of the paper were dates, with the current date and the next day's date underlined.

13:26The familiar feeling of apprehension I had felt before returned. I knew that there might be something sinister lurking within these stone walls. As I placed the robe back in the drawer and shut it, I noticed the tiniest ray of light escaping from just behind it. I quickly pulled the dresser away from the wall and knelt. It was easier for me to see the small beam of light shining from an obvious small crack in the wall. However, this wasn't a crack that had been made by the hand of time. No, this one had been carved by a human hand. Something was hidden behind this chunk of wall, and I had to discover what. I pressed my hands against the stones and moved them over the area the dresser had covered. By doing so, I discovered another crack in the stones on the opposite side from where I had found the first one. I took a deep breath and pushed against the wall as hard as possible.

14:27Immediately, I felt the bit of wall begin to move from the foresight exerted on it. I continued my effort and was able to push the chunk of wall forward several feet until it stopped moving no matter how hard I pushed on it. I moved around the chunk of stone and saw that my progress was halted by a set connected to the floor. They acted as a stopper to ensure that the bit of the wall was not pushed further. Then, I noticed a small tunnel mere feet in front of me. It was no more than four feet in height and less than that in width. If the bit of wall had been pushed in front of the tunnel, it most certainly would have blocked it. This was an outcome someone didn't want to happen. My instinct told me to stop for the night, but my curiosity wanted me to push forward. I gave in to the ladder and began crawling through the dark tunnel. It would have been pitch black if not for a small flickering light coming from the end of the passage.

15:28After a few crawling moments, I found myself in a small, secret room. There were a few lit candles that covered the ground. I looked before me and saw a makeshift altar with two books placed on it. One was a green journal that was, in my mind, no doubt one of Fredericks. The other book was one of a strange shape and design. The cover was blood red and seemed to be made of leather. I reached toward the strange book and rubbed the cover between my fingers. The material was certainly not anything I had ever felt before. I slowly opened the book and found more grotesque depictions of mutilation. I felt the need to flip through the pages, and as I did, I was greeted by different images and drawings that showed inhuman creatures that I had never seen before. Each creature had a word that was written in large letters beneath the drawing of it. If Frederick had sketched these, I could not doubt that the man was not of sound mind.

16:33I continued to flip from page to page until my eye was caught by the familiar word, in Susara. The picture was of a beast with six arms and the body of a man. The creature was covered with curved lines that crossed all over its body, as if the creature was made of thousands of smaller pieces that were stitched together. No head was attached to the neck that had been drawn, so I assumed the image had not been completed yet. An eerie chill ran down my spine, and I decided that it was best if I left this room. I quickly picked up Frederick's journal and backtracked my way through the tunnel. It took a little more effort to pull the piece of wall to its original position than it did to push it, but I eventually was able to get it back in place to hide the opening. I quickly moved the dresser back and ran out of Frederick's room. The whole time I did this, I felt dozens of invisible eyes watching my every move.

17:34I heard footsteps quickly moving down the hallway in front of me. I slipped into the room across the hall from Fredericks, leaving the door open just a crack so I might see what was happening. A group of several hooded figures approached the door to Fredericks' room and stood around it. One of the figures barked orders to the others, and they hastily entered the room. The figure stood outside the room, looking around the hallway. There was a moment when his eyes stopped on the crack I was peeking through. I felt my fear arise as I was sure his harsh eyes were staring directly into mine. But the figure turned his gaze elsewhere. After a few moments, the other figures reappeared and whispered something to their leader. What? He shouted angrily. How could you fools have lost it? That journal is priceless! The leader backhanded one of his minions, and they toppled to the ground.

18:34I heard him bark the order to spread out and find it. A chill ran down my spine as I instantly knew they would search the room I was currently in. Before the hooded figures could begin their search, I felt a large rumbling beneath my feet. They must have felt it too, because they immediately ran back down the hallway. I slipped back into the hallway and took a moment to calm down. At this moment, I knew something far larger than Fredericks' disappearance was happening within the walls of this castle. I knew the way to get to the bottom of everything was to open that door to the basement. So I carefully made my way through the hallways, being wary of any noises I heard. Once I neared the basement door, I looked for something that would help me break it open. Before anything was found, the door opened by itself, and a hooded figure stepped out just a few feet in front of me. He was focused on closing the door so he did not notice me until he turned around.

19:39There was a moment of still silence where neither of us did anything. I made the first move by running at him while lowering my shoulder. I rammed into him full force and sent him flying backward. His head slammed fully against the door, and then his body slowly slid down against it. It was clear that I had rendered him unconscious. Moving quickly, I drug his body across the floor into the kitchen, and I put on his clothes. I made sure that I took the journal with me as I opened the door and made my way down the stone staircase. I observed that the staircase was expansive. It had gone down more than 50 steps, and the end was still not in sight. Wherever the staircase led, it went deep underground. The amount of time it would have taken to make something like this would have easily been several decades. It was several minutes before I finally reached the end of the stairs. I found myself in a large room with a stone floor and lit torches lining the walls.

20:44Three stone archways were opening on the room's three walls. Not knowing what lay before me, I cautiously moved down the one on the left. There were no torches in the tunnel I found myself in, but a glowing light came from somewhere in front of me. I found that the tunnel led into an expansive room that had only four torches to light it. The walls were covered with strange symbols that reminded me of one's Frederick had placed in his journal. There were dozens of strange items that I would never have imagined existed. Before me, there was an altar that must have been at least 30 feet wide. Not piles of bones but fully completed skeletons of men were placed upon it. My eyes scanned the ones at the far ends of the altar and found them sitting in a cross-legged position. I did not know how it was possible to keep mere bones in this position, but these people had managed to do it. I found something slightly different about the next one, as there was a third eye socket,

21:49as though a person possessing a third eye. The more the center moved, the more the skeleton's anatomy mutated. Each of them had four arms that seemed to have been part of the body. The next mutation was a pair of wings that spread out from the back and must have been at least 12 feet in wingspan. The final set of bones at the center of the altar was a sight to behold. It had all of the mutations of those previous toodon the altar, towering five or six feet over the others. It would have been well over 20 feet tall if this beast had actually existed. I did not know why someone would spend so much time creating these fake displays, but I felt truly uneasy looking at them. I quickly made my way back to the room I came from and decided to go through the archway on the wall on the right side of the stairs. It was the same type of tunnel as the one I had already explored, except that the open

22:50room at the end was much longer than the other. This room went on for several hundred feet and I found much more on ease in this one. There was a clear path designated for walking and I quickly saw a why. On either side of me, various mechanisms had the sole purpose of bringing pain. Everywhere I looked I was greeted by whips, spikes and other grotesque implements of torture. There were devices I had only read about and others that I dared not think about even how they were used. I slowly made my way down the hundreds of torture devices until I found myself in a set of cells. I looked at the metal bars of the first one as I passed and saw that they were coated in dried blood. Thankfully, no one was in the cells as I passed by until I reached the last one on the left. As I approached, a man was curled up in a ball facing the locked door of his cell.

23:55He was trembling uncontrollably as he looked up at me. An unsettling smile spread across his face as he stared at me and his shaking slowly began to listen. He slowly sat up and quietly said, Marlowe Stark, I see you have come to learn the truth. I leaned down to meet his eyes and asked him how he knew my name, to which he said, I have known your name for quite some time. The whispers above us have told me of you in my dreams. He raised his right hand and squeezed it into a fist. Unfortunately my mind is far too weak to comprehend what they speak. It has deteriorated with each new word I have heard from them. It is the curse I have endured for this moment to occur. Who are you? And why are you locked in here? He laughed.

24:56There is no need for you to waste your heroics on me, Mr. Stark. I am a simple pawn of the ancient ones. My usefulness has run its course. I was known as Frederick for a time, but that time has passed now. I realized that I had found the man I was hired to find and knew I had to free him. Frederick, I need you to listen to me. Is there a key to this store? I ask. Frederick nodded. The cell keys are always kept with a hand pin back. That is why Anne has them right now. A wave of confusion flooded me and the questions poured out. As Anne knows you are here, did she lock you in here? Why would she hire me to find you? Frederick slowly shook his head. You still do not know what truly awaits you.

25:57He gave a small sigh. To be without knowing one's fate is a luxury I unfortunately no longer have. Mr. Stark, my mind has let down the elder ones. I cannot hear them anymore. I was thrown in here for my disappointment, and this is where I belong. He maneuvered onto his knees and shuffled closer to the bars, placing his hands on them, he whispered. There is an important part you play here tonight, Mr. Stark. That is why Anne had to convince you to come here. Through everything you have done since, finding my secret room, taking my journal and exploring these sacred rooms, that has all been of your choosing, as it must be, and as it has been decided. I slowly stood up and took several steps back from Frederick. I was stunned that he had known about me finding his hidden journal.

27:01He had known that I would find him in this horrible place. I felt as though I was not in control of my actions. As some otherworldly force had been guiding my hand the whole night, whatever fate had been chosen for me, I would not allow it to happen. I knew I had to make sure that I made the final decision this night. If I were to go out, it would be on my turns. I asked, what part do I play in this, Frederick? What am I supposed to do? Frederick shook his finger at me. And this for you to find out in due time, Mr. Stark. You will learn soon enough. I knew there would be nothing more I could get out of Frederick. I slowly turned and began to walk back the way I came. The sudden laughter gave me pause, but then I realized it was coming from Frederick. The sound of it grew into a loud yell that seemed uncontrollable as I left to the room

28:05and walked back down the tunnel into the main room. There was but one archway left for me to venture through. I took in a deep breath and cautiously proceeded. As soon as I had passed below the archway, I recognized that the corridor I was in was far longer than the previous two I had gone through. I was but a few steps in when I heard a faint noise, something besides the crackling of the torches that lined the walls. The further I continued, the more distinguishable the sound became until I realized it was chanting. A wave of fear washed over me, and I quickly checked to ensure I still had Frederick's journal in my possession. Upon feeling it in the pocket of the robe, I gave it a tight squeeze. I could not explain why I knew I would need it, but I simply knew. I slowly progressed down the corridor, now paying more attention to the chanting.

29:06It was some language that I was unfamiliar with, except for one word that was continuously repeated in Susaro. I immediately remembered the drawing accompanying that word, and I shuddered. At the night's start, I had written in Susaro off as nothing more than a myth, but now I was not so sure I could do so. The things I had encountered leading to that point had cast a large shadow of doubt over what I truly knew. The sounds of well over a dozen people chanting that word filled me with dread. The fear, the simple idea that this thing existed, was nying at my mind. As I approached a large door at the end of the tunnel, I knew that what lay on the other side would most likely be more than I could handle on my own. Even with this knowledge, I still moved forward and carefully pushed the enormous wooden

30:06door open. As I peaked inside, I noticed at least 30 hooded figures standing in a large circle around a dip in the floor. I slowly crept inside after confirming that no one was looking towards the door. I proceeded to hug the wall and carefully moved along it to an area of the expansive room that was partially hidden in shadow. As the figures continued to chant, I pulled out Frederick's journal and began to flip through the pages. I located a page of random scribblings that contained the word in Susaro. I studied the words on the page and managed to identify some of them in the chanting. After a few moments, I realized that the full chant the hooded figures were doing was written before me. I continued to scan the next few pages when my eyes settled upon the word, Barrier. It was written at the top of the page in large letters, while a small scribbling of words lay directly below it.

31:08I read through the words a few times and repeated them to myself. Once I was doing this, there was a shift in the room's atmosphere. There was a sudden feeling of energy surging around the hooded figures. I moved slightly to get a better view of what they were all standing around. By kneeling, I could see that the dip was more of a circular hole. It was filled with a liquid seeming to be the same consistency as water, but it was completely black. A sudden gust of wind swept through the room and I felt myself being pushed from behind by it. I stumbled forward a few feet and almost fell out of the shadows I was hiding in. Luckily, I believed that no one had seen me and I could easily retreat. The winds in the room continued to pick up and a loud sound of swirling was beginning to grow alongside the chanting. I tried to identify where the wind could be coming from in the underground room, but

32:09there seemed to be no reasonable place it could enter from. I looked back at the pool filled with black liquid and saw the water bubbling and swirling about. It was then that I realized the wind was coming from the pool and escaping into the room. Above the chaos, I heard a familiar voice shout, The time has come, brothers and sisters. We are at the precipice of bringing forth the unsusero, the ears that will hear the whales as the world ends. We have been waiting for this moment for many years and now the time has come. All that must be aligned has and the ritual calls him forth to us. There was a moment's pause and then the voice shouted, Detective, why don't you join us? I stood frozen in shock. Had they known I was there and paid no attention to me?

33:10I slowly stepped out from the shadows and moved a few feet towards the hooded figures. I saw Anne towards the back of the expansive room from where I was. Even though I was more than a hundred feet from her, I could easily see the sinister smirk across her face. Did you honestly think we didn't know you were here, Detective? She laughed. We have known your every move since you entered the castle. It was your destiny to come to this room tonight. You will bear witness to the rising of the unsusero. Then you will be the final piece of the puzzle, the sacrifice. As soon as she had finished speaking, the black liquid shot out from the floor and flew upwards to the ceiling. I expected it to come back down, but the liquid remained suspended. Its shape resembled an enormous window that only shows a glimpse of complete darkness.

34:11Then, a small shaking began to vibrate through the floor as the liquid rippled. A gigantic hand shot out of the liquid and quickly clenched itself into a fist. Like the others in the room, I could only watch as five more hands shot out. There was a moment's pause before the rest of the thing emerged from the liquid. Seeing the thing from Frederick's drawings sent waves of incomprehensible fear through my body. The thing stood well over thirty feet tall, and just like the drawing, it had six enormous arms. I looked at the unsusero's body and the drawing made sense. The body was made of thousands upon thousands of ears connected somehow. I brought my eyes up from the monstrosity of its body and looked at where the head should

35:11be. It was then that I realized that there was something there. It was a void, a picture that seemed to show a glimpse of where the unsusero came from. From one glance, I knew it was a realm of unimaginable emptiness and horror. The creature stepped forward, and I felt the earth shake beneath me. There was a cheer from the hooded figures before the unsusero swiped one of its hands forward and sent several flying through the air. The cheering quickly turned to screams of panic and the rest of the figures moved to flee. It noise suddenly burst from the unsusero and filled the whole room. It was a powerful sound that sent rippling vibrations through my body and brought me to my knees. I looked around to see that the cultists had also been driven to their knees by the sound, becoming easy targets for the unsusero.

36:14Let your will be done, my lord. Use us as lambs to the slaughter. And yelled over the panicking screams. I could hear her mad laughter as the unsusero crushed a man under its foot before me. Can you feel your end, detective? And screeched. There is no escape for you. My mind raced through what I could do to escape the situation. I knew that if I did not act quickly, I would meet a horrible end at the hands of the unsusero. When all of my willpower, I managed to pull myself onto my feet. At that moment, I felt Fredrick's journal in the robes and knew what to do. I quickly opened it back up and flipped to the page that had the word barrier on it. I read the words aloud while the unsusero continued to smash and rip apart the incapacitated cultists. You cannot stop it and continue to shout.

37:17No matter how many words you recite, I ignored her and focused on reading the words. I felt something looking at me and knew that the unsusero had finally noticed me. Quickly, I recited the last bit of writing and a large shockwave was sent through the room. What sounded like a scream of pain came from the unsusero as it fell over and landed inches in front of me. I stood there, completely motionless for a second, then slowly closed the journal. I threw it at the monstrosity and then headed to the exit. Do you know what you have done? You fool! And screamed at me. I've killed it, I yelled at her. You have broken the barrier that kept the unsusero tethered to its realm. Without the need of the portal to keep it grounded in our realm, it is now free! I heard the noise of something large moving and looked to see the unsusero standing up

38:22slowly. I stood paralyzed with fear as the beast looked down upon me. It clapped its hands together and a wave of air rushed forward and knocked me back into the wall next to the tunnel. An immense pain traveled up my back, but a shot of adrenaline helped me scramble back up. The unsusero stepped toward me and I immediately sprinted down the tunnel. As I ran forward, the walls around me began to shake and I knew that the unsusero was trying to bring the castle down. I reached the room that had the staircase and scrambled my way up it. The rumbling of the castle had me tripping over the steps as I went. As I reached the top of the stairs, the castle began to shake much more violently. A large bit of stone fell onto the floor just a few feet in front of me as I walked down the hallway. I continued to move as fast as possible, with pieces of the wall falling all around me.

39:25When I saw the large entrance room before me, I put all my energy into carrying my feet to the castle's doors. I ran forward and almost slammed my full weight into the doors. Frantically, I pulled them open and stumbled outside just as a gigantic rumbling noise came from the castle. I managed to run forward fast enough to avoid the ground that started to collapse around me. After a few moments of stumbling, I fell onto the ground and sat there for a moment in utter exhaustion. I turned back to see a giant crater where the castle had once stood. It was the end of a family and the burial place for their twisted rituals. A familiar sound roared forth from the settling debris and I instantly knew that the ensueserot was still alive. I sprinted to my car and drove through the forest as quickly as I could. As I was speeding away, I looked in my rearview mirror and saw the ensueserot slowly moving

40:30after me. I leave this personal account as a warning to all. Through the trickery of the handmenbergs, I have unleashed the ensueserot into this world. There is no way to beat it. All you can do is run and hope that it does not catch you.