1. In_Darkness_Dwells


    Date: 3/11/2024, Categories: Fiction Horror, Non-Erotic, Author: Sage_of_the_Forlorn_Path

    ... him like a slap to the face. He had found something, but deep down, part of him wished he hadn't.
    
    "Over here!" he hollered.
    
    Volker and Sorine rushed over, and both grimaced from the stink. "I'll go first," said Volker, shouldering his shotgun. He had replaced the rock salt in his shells with nails, ready to shred whatever they hit.
    
    They followed him down the stairs and into the cellar below. They lit several candles to pierce the oppressive darkness, and the sight that greeted the trio almost drove them to flee the house and never return. Danut had made himself a workshop of horrors, full of mutilated animals and human remains. Body parts sat in jars on shelves, forest critters had been crucified and twisted into macabre displays, and totems for dark magic and obelisks to unholy gods were crafted from bones. The far wall, over a work table covered in blood-crusted tools, was plastered in pages of unholy diagrams, horrific pictures, and an unknown language, all of which were inked in blood.
    
    "Oh God," Sorine gasped before turning around and retching onto the floor. Volker was trying not to do the same, and even after the horrors of war, Sam still felt himself shaking from head to toe.
    
    "I... I don't even know where to begin with this....”
    
    "It's true, it really is true. I didn't want to believe it, but what my father said was right," Sorine said between spits.
    
    "You know what this is?" Volker asked.
    
    "Centuries ago, the people of Romania were simple pagans, ...
    ... but when Christianity spread across Europe, they had two choices, either convert or die. According to my father, many took the third option. These mountains are riddled with caves, offering plenty of room to hide what you're doing from the world. Some even believe that caves reach all the way down to Hell. Those who refused to convert went underground, hiding their true beliefs and practices, and in the darkness, their souls became twisted. Reverence for nature and the spirits turned to the worship of dark forces. Over and over again, the church tried to stomp the cultists out and eventually cut them down to a number low enough that they could never rebuild the movement. Still, the people of these lands are all descendants of devil-worshippers, even me.
    
    The Zaituc family must be one of the few bloodlines that stuck to the old ways, keeping the beliefs alive. My father held some of their pieces as a reminder of the evil that slumbers beneath the mountains. It's how he knew that Danut was possessed. I discovered his collection once as a child, and when he told me the truth about my ancestors and the kinds of things they did in those caves, I was overcome by hatred and disgust. I wish I could bleed out all the blood I share with them and be free of their sins."
    
    "We should take these papers back with us. They might explain what Danut has become and how we can stop him," said Volker.
    
    They collected all the information they could find and set Danut's home ablaze to destroy ...
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