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Divas, Dinosaurs and Demons
Monsters of Galloway: Part 2

Monsters of Galloway: Part 2

After a few more minutes O'Brien was finally able to contact another member of his team. Only three more had survived the vampires rampage last night. Close to 100 civilians meanwhile were butchered. It's incredible how in spite of this staggering loss of life, people still won't accept the truth about what is really out there. Not that I am judging. Had I not been caught up right in the middle of it I probably would have bought the official cover story too. O'Brien would assure me that it was for the best that humanity not discover as the way things were now it would be like throwing gasoline on the fire that is humanity's problems. I'm not sure I quite agree with him, but I'm in no position to change that now anyway. I'm happy to write this journal that no one would believe, but if I were to try and go public, then not only would most still look on me as a crackpot, but O'Brien and others like him would do their best to undermine and silence me, and I'd also be a target for every demon and vamp in Scotland and beyond, all of whom rather like their anonymity. Again though given how bold the vamps were in this attack I do wonder how long this powder keg can go on without exploding.

We soon met up with the three survivors of the attack. Sophia was one of them, whilst the other two were a young man and a woman my age called James and Elizabeth who were in a relationship.

There had been twelve units sent in to deal with the vampire infestation last night, and this was all that was left.

"There were just so many of them. They didn't even feed, they just slaughtered their victims. Even when they were feral, they knew exactly where to target, what they were doing. This is not just an ordinary vampire hunt. This is part of something huge." Sophia said she patched up a really nasty vampire bite on her arm.

"Agreed and that's why I think we need to talk to the Great Caradon." O'Brien argued.

The others were clearly a little taken a back at his suggestion. None of them were what you would call cowardly, but the thought of going to see this beast put the fear of god into all of them and they soon started arguing. Elizabeth preferred waiting for reinforcements, whilst James felt they needed to question the locals, maybe see if they could find any of the vampires human servants. He figured an operation this big could only work if there were people to shelter the vampires during the daylight hours. At one point he even turned his suspicion towards me just for surviving.

Sophia meanwhile who was clearly the leader of the group didn't like any of their ideas.

The Great Caradon was a legendary beast that lived below the Castle of Saint John in Stranraer. It was an 80 foot tall shark man. The Caradons from what I was told where a race of magical shark men. They are born using a spell that works in the following ways. An area of water is doused in magic, after which a shark and a person are then placed into the area and the shark will then under the influence of the magic, devour the human, after which their souls will both merge together into one monstrous entity. A Caradon.

Just as there are different species of sharks, then there are multiple different Caradons. The Great Caradon as he is known, was the result of a human, or rather several humans and a Megalodon being merged together. (The Megalodon had been brought back using magic first as they went extinct before humans evolved.)

For centuries the Great Caradon had been a fierce warrior under the ocean who had taken part in the great mermaid wars, but eventually he grew tired of that life and retreated to a massive cave beneath Stranraer, where he now resides in a beautiful garden he created and sustains with magic. There are just two entrances to the garden. One from a cave leading out to the sea, and the other from above, contained in a hatch beneath the castle.

The creature will kill anyone who uses the entrance leading out from the ocean. You are only allowed to enter via the castle. Even then however, you have to bring the shark something or else he will eat you, and even then if he doesn't like it he will still devour you! If the gift pleases him however he will give you vital information and maybe even some magical power. The shark has no alignment generally and has been known to help both hunters and demons. Though he has a special dislike for vampires, viewing them as the ultimate filth and has never been known to help one.

Naturally O'Brien hoped that with this in mind he might help us against the new and improved vampire horde, but even then Sophia was still unsure as the shark was notoriously difficult to please. About 80 percent of people and demons who had gone to him asking for a favour had never returned. The shark had very eclectic interests. Much like me. Sometimes he would be happy with a film taped off the television. (Though my suggestion of When Harry Met Sally was shot down right away.) Other times he'd eat you for giving him something so common. A lot of hunters and demons had come to the conclusion that he just liked messing with people.

Still his help was always valuable and given the unprecedented vampire attack last night it seemed that we had no choice. Elizabeth's suggestion of waiting for reinforcements didn't seem likely as they would have to wait hours for people from the offices in Aviemore and Glasgow to arrive, assuming they weren't dealing with their own crisis. Sadly the Galloway office had been destroyed by the vamps last night too. Meanwhile even if we did find the vampires human minions there weren't enough of us here to deal with them.

The question was just what gift to offer the monster? Sophia was dead set on a lubrins demon. These disgusting creatures were a favourite prey of the Caradons that lived in the waters near Scotland. It was really the safest bet. Added to that these creatures, though known to prey on humans, were relatively easy to catch and draw out too. Really it would take about half an hour at the most to draw one out and restrain it.

James and Elizabeth were still unsure, thinking it would be suicide to even consider the great Caradon, but with no other options. (My other suggestion of just running like fuck out of Galloway was also shot down.) Me and O'Brien went to the castle, whilst Sophia and the others went demon hunting. The owner of the castle (which was open to the public.) A man named Harris, knew all too well about the giant shark living in his basement and was also familiar with O'Brien's little organisation too. The castle had been through about 20 different owners in the last five years. All of whom had foisted it on their successor without telling them about the monster in the basement. To be fair I doubt any potential buyer would have believed them. The Great Caradon isn't actually that bad a roommate though. He generally just keeps himself to himself, it's more the demons and the hunters who constantly come barging in, threatening the owner and sometimes even wanting to use him as a sacrifice to the giant shark below that are the problem.

Harris had not dealt with any visitors in a long while, but he was still always prepared for them and knew to step aside when the hunters arrived.

As we waited above the hatch, O'Brien tried to make some small talk with me. Not surprisingly however we didn't have much in common. I was interested in his job to some extent, but sadly that was the one thing he didn't really want to talk about, not just because he wasn't allowed too, but I'd imagine the trauma of seeing so many people be ripped to shreds by those monsters isn't something he'd be eager to revisit. Having said that though it was incredible how much he and all of the others were just getting on with business after seeing so many people they'd known for years be killed by those things last night. Clearly this was just another day for them.

Eventually the others arrived after half an hour or so of awkwardness, complete with a demon bound and gagged. It was even more disgusting than the vampires. It's skin was not only slimy, but dripping, whilst its eyes were jet black, and its teeth almost looked too big for its mouth. Its hands meanwhile only had three fingers, all of which were covered in sucker cups whilst its body was also covered in barnacles and a long thin fork like tongue, writhed in between its dagger like teeth.

Sophia assured me not to feel any sympathy for the beast as it had caused quite a fuss a few days ago, when it tried to devour a small child. One of their agents chased it away, but it still managed to take the child's foot off with that nasty set of teeth. The increase in vampire activity caused the monster to sadly slip the hunters minds until now.

All of the hunters went down the hatch, and I was forced to come as well. Apparently the Great Caradon will not talk to you unless everyone who is there with you comes. That way he can be more sure of who he is giving advice too.

When the shaft opened up there was a large, glowing, yellow light that we just stepped in, and within a few seconds we all found ourselves in what looked like an underground jungle.

The demon tried to wriggle free along the floor whilst we were all still in shock, but it was soon stopped by a horde of Velociraptors that emerged from the trees around us.

They must have stood about six feet tall, were scaly and blue in colour, though their eyes were a piercing red. They soon surrounded all of us. The hunters instantly raised their weapons, but I was completely transfixed on the Dinosaurs.

I definitely should have been scared. Those animals could have torn my guts out and come back for seconds in the blink of an eye. Still I've had such a fascination with Dinosaurs since well before I can remember. There's literally a picture of me dressed in Dinosaur pyjamas when I was just a toddler. To see one in the flesh like this, unlike with the vampires, fear was replaced with wonder and amazement, though granted when the Dinosaurs started to roar and bare their blood stained teeth, I did get a bit scared.

O'Brien later told me these Dinosaurs were not quite as they were in life. Very rarely are resurrection spells able to recreate someone exactly as they were and these Dinosaurs (who the Great Caradon had brought back from their bones using magic) were therefore altered somewhat. This explained why they had no feathers and the raptors were huge. Still they looked realistic enough to me.

We soon saw however that there were other horrors living in the jungle. Several Pterosaurs started to circle us above, and the Raptors began to scatter, though they still remained close by, when a giant frilled lizard came into view. It must have been close to thirty feet long and quick as a flash, its long tongue pulled a Pterosaur into its mouth, which it then swallowed whole in an instant as a normal lizard would a fly.

At this point I was starting to get scared, but fortunately and I can't believe I am saying this, the Great Caradon soon emerged from the trees behind us.

He was even larger than O'Brien had described. He must have stood over 70 foot easy. He was far bigger than any of the trees around us that is for sure. The Raptors meanwhile ran up to their master, like affectionate puppies. They even started to playfully lick his feet, with the giant shark reaching down and patting the largest member of the pack on the head. Clearly they were his favourite pets in the forest, as the Pterosaurs and the Lizard both just retreated instantly.

Given the close relationship between vampires and Dinosaurs it's quite surprising that the Great Caradon likes Dinosaurs so much, but I guess he doesn't hold that against the great reptiles.

The giant Shark man looked down at us for a few seconds. It's always hard to tell what's going on behind a shark's blank, lifeless eyes. Granted normally there isn't anything going on under there, but after a few agonizing seconds, the shark reached down and picked up the demon that was still trying to wiggle its way across the forest and held it upside down.

"THIS is what your brought me?" The monster said in a booming, but otherwise human sounding voice, before he chewed the demon up in a single bite and swallowed its remains.

"Not bad. I would have preferred it if you'd got me at least three of those things. Normally I'd eat one of you. The most useless member for getting me too little."

I suddenly started to look scared.

"However I know why you are here. The Children of Khastran are gathering." (Children of Khastran by the way is a really pretentious name for vampire.)

He then led us through the jungle ahead. At either side of me I could see more Dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures, some of which I didn't even recognise. I got distracted however by a fight between two male Tyrannosaurus Rex's tearing into each other near a lake. I almost didn't realise that the rest of the group were about twenty feet ahead of me until Sophia thankfully noticed and shouted on me.

We soon reached the Great Caradon's, I guess living quarters which consisted of a massive red and golden chair sitting in front of a glowing purple sphere, which he could apparently watch the world above with.

He sat down on his throne and started to show us footage of the vampires rampage last night on the sphere. The entire team had to watch their failure to protect both the civilians and their team mates from the blood suckers last night, as well as many other attacks they didn't even know about. I meanwhile saw myself running away and leaving everyone behind in the pub, though fortunately none of the others it seemed judged me. I guess they were all too upset about their own failures or maybe despite only knowing me for a few hours they didn't expect anything different.

After it was over Sophia was the first to speak.

"I don't understand why you bothered showing us the horror we already lived through? Is it just some form of torture before you finish us off for not bringing you enough demons to eat?" Sophia snapped. James and Elizabeth meanwhile both looked at her with a combination of disbelief and anger. Hell I felt the same way. For a supposed expert of the occult, she didn't seem to realise that it's probably not a good idea to shout at the giant shark god that keeps Dinosaurs as pets! If she was at the end of her tether and not caring anymore, well she could at least not drag us into it.

The shark however thankfully wasn't angered and stood up from his throne.

"I just wanted to see what you were made of, and I must say that your track record is not impressive." He said to the hunters, who all meekly accepted it, again except for Sophia.

"Well you know you can't judge us by just one night, I actually have killed two Turok Hans." Sophia protested.

The shark responded to her boasts meanwhile by picking Sophia up, which caused the others to lift out their weapons. Even Sophia didn't back down and reached for her weapon for all the good it would do.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"You have courage. Well most of you." The shark said in what I'm sure was a little dig at me. I let it go however, which sadly proved his point I suppose, but still.

"I'd prefer someone else like the Circus Family or Professor Fang to deal with this, but since you're all that's here. You'll have to do. You're all right these vampires are not just killing for the fun of it. Their slaughter last night was part of a wider sacrifice. That's what all of these killings have been. The slaughter of humans, demons, even animals like that shark that washed up on the beach. It's all part of a resurrection spell designed to bring a vampire back from the grave." The shark said as it placed Sophia back down.

"I knew that some vampire species have the power to come back to life, but in our experience when most of them die, they stay dead." Elizabeth said.

"Whenever a vampire dies its soul is sent to a pocket dimension created by Khastran. The demon that created every single vampire species on earth. There their souls hunt each other for all eternity, dying but constantly coming back within that dimension. It is theoretically possible to bring any vampires soul back from that world, but in order to do so it requires incredible power that is beyond even most witches and warlocks." The shark replied as he sat back in his chair.

He continued. "This spell is used to bring back one of the most powerful types of vampire. It first requires the souls of several hundred mortals and several hundred demons. They have that now after the last few weeks. All they need is the life of the killer of the vampire they wish to bring back."

"Well how on earth are we supposed know who that is?" O'Brien asked, before realising that he was perhaps a little too blunt with the shark.

"I suspect the vampire these leeches want to revive is none other than the Blue Devil. The former vampire king of Scotland. He was the only member of his kind. Unlike all other Alpha vampires created from the book of Khastran who sired and spawned other members of their kind. The Blue Devil famously didn't make any others like him so that no one could ever figure out his weaknesses by killing his lesser eh children." The shark explained.

He also went on to tell us how the Blue Devil had been a vicious Pict warrior who collected the heads of Roman centurians before being turned into an Alpha and how he had a greater command of dark magics and demons than any sorcerer. He also explained that if the Blue Devil was reborn, the souls of all the people the vampires killed as part of the ritual to bring him back would be sent into the book of Khastran in his place to be hunted by the vampires forever. If push came to shove the shark said he would destroy the Blue Devil himself, but he did not want it to come to that and hoped we could prevent it. Even he it seemed was appalled at the idea of anyone being condemned to the vampires dimension forever.

Finally the shark told us who killed this monster. It was a sorcerer who morally speaking wasn't much better than the Blue Devil himself. They had both killed each other in a final duel, and so the vampires were planning on reviving her before killing her again to complete the ritual.

Unfortunately however her soul had been placed in an interdimensional prison. Ironically of her own making. This place was a mini hell dimension where the souls of the her enemies were banished. Men, women and even children were imprisoned in this nightmarish dimension. The portal to this mini hell was contained in Glen Luce abbey of all places. The Great Caradon had a spell to access it which he fused to our very bodies. It had taken the vampires over 20 years to try and break into it using all the magics they had. The Caradon warned us that as soon as we broke into the portal, the vampires would follow. (It would take them another day to break in otherwise.) He also warned us not to try and help any of the other spirits in the dimension. By this stage most of them will have gone crazy after exposure to the black magics of the place for centuries. On top of that, if too many spirits were freed at once, the dimension would try and stop them from leaving.

It wasn't the most enviable task I'd been given I'll admit, but we evidently had no choice, and after giving us the spell, the Shark warned us that if we failed he might just eat us before the vampires could.

Once he was done explaining, the shark whisked us back to the castle. I honestly wondered if I'd just dreamed what I'd seen. Hell I still wonder it, but with no time to waste I was soon forced into a car along with the other hunters and taken to Glen Luce Abbey. I'd always found the place a bit unsettling to tell you the truth even on my previous visits. The gateway was in a hall in the abbey that always had an echoing sound to it. We simply entered the hall and when we came out the other end we where in a dark, twisted, nightmarish version of Galloway.

The woods were dark, withered, the sky was red and there were howls and screams in the air. As we walked through the woods we saw ghosts and spirits wandering around aimlessly. Some of them were just children and there was a temptation to try and help them, but I heeded the sharks words and they all failed to notice us. To be honest I don't think any of them knew what was in front of them either way. As we made our way deeper into the woods of this nightmarish caricature of Galloway however, we started to notice the ghosts getting more agitated. It was the vampires who had arrived in the hell dimension thanks to our actions, as by entering we had finally broken down the last of the barriers for just a few minutes which allowed the vampires, who were trying to break in from another area to instantly be pulled in too.

The vampires very presence was enough to disrupt the hell dimension. Vampires were made from the very darkest power from Khastran, the former god of all demons and it conflicted with the magic used to contain that reality, due to its creators hatred of vampires.

The ghosts all started to become crazed and attacked each other, and whilst they still didn't seem to pay much attention to us. (Even as they were phasing through us in their panic.) One of them did eventually reach out and somehow manage to bite James. I don't know how a ghost can bite with no teeth, but apparently there is some metaphysical explanation behind it all? Anyway, Sophia soon told us to scale the nearest tree. I'd climbed a few trees as a little girl, but I still needed some help from Elizabeth to get to the top of this one because it was absolutely disgusting to touch. It looked dry, but was actually quite slimy when you put your fingers on it and if you held onto the bark long enough then horrible little insects would start to appear over your fingers. When you got to the top among the bare branches meanwhile large featherless birds with human or should I say demon faces would start attacking you. I was useless in holding them off, but Elizabeth and James had plenty of demon repellents with them.

Below meanwhile I could see the vampires in the distance slaughtering their way through the ghosts. The vamps had knives made from the claws of another race of demons called vandals. James filled me in that apparently vandals are the sworn archenemies of vampires and that they feed on their victims souls rather than their blood using their claws. The vampires were actually capable of harming and even killing ghosts on their own. Again by harnessing the dark power inherent in all vampires from Khastran, they could easily destroy a persons soul. This however was a lot quicker and the monsters sliced and diced their way through dozens of angry spirits no problem.

Little did the vampires know they were actually performing an act of kindness by freeing these ghosts from their torment, though a few of the bloodsuckers had overpowered a spirit and were torturing it with the vandals claw for information about where the witch's ghost was. I can't imagine though it would have made any difference for the ghost whose entire existence in this place is nothing but torture.

As the vampires continued to hack their way through the barrage of ghosts, I suddenly noticed the lake in the distance beginning to rumble. It was completely black, in fact it looked more like mud than water so it was hard to tell, but soon it became obvious as the water started to bubble furiously. I thought there was maybe a lake monster or something in it. After all O'Brien had mentioned Nessie earlier. However it soon turned out that the lake itself was the monster.

The entire lake soon rose up into the air and formed into a massive demonic face which let out a hideous cackle before sweeping its way across the forest. Our trees stood above the water so we were safe, though only just.

The vampires meanwhile were instantly swept away, with the water slowly burning them until they were nothing but dust. All of the ghosts were also swept up in the water too. I could see them very clearly through the black water as it flowed all around the tiny tree top I was on. They were all reduced to nothing but skeletons, though they didn't vanish completely like the vampires and they were still able to move and in some cases still desperately tried to swim to safety. Those who managed to poke their hands and heads above the surfaces' flesh was restored, though only on the parts above the water, which melted off again when they were dragged back down with the current.

Thankfully in a few minutes the water retreated back to the lake, whilst all of the skeleton ghosts fell to the earth and slowly began to regenerate their flesh. Unlike the vampires who the water beast wanted to destroy instantly, clearly the ghosts had been through this unimaginable agony thousands of times before. I wanted to help, I still do, but sadly there was nothing any of us could do. At least for now. According to O'Brien the team at Scathach are constantly trying to find a way to bring an end to not only this mini hell dimension, but sadly the many others that are scattered around Scotland, but with so many other distractions. Their efforts haven't been quite as successful as they'd hoped.

After a few more minutes to make sure that there were no vampire survivors, we all crawled down from our trees and continued to search the forest. Mindful to keep away from any large body of water.

We reached the witch's prison. She was locked in a cage, so small she could barely move that was contained within a cave at the edge of the forest. As she would later tell us, she was trapped in here for centuries, barely able to move, with the souls of all the other people trapped in here coming in once a day to spit on her. (In what was ironically their only reprieve from the horrors of this place.

Her jailer was a large, red skinned demon with small tentacles covering its head and no other facial features. It did however have a massive eye in its chest, whilst its arms and legs had no joints and could move in every direction. Instead of hands it also had two massive suction cups.

The monster started to attack us the second we got within the cave. Elizabeth learned the hard way what those suction cups were for when the monster used them to strip two large sections of skin from her arms. I nearly puked at the sight of it, but soon the monsters eye caught me in a large beam of light. It kept me completely frozen and in a state of pain so severe that I was completely knocked out, and when I came too a few minutes later I saw that my companions had dealt with the monster. At least that's what it looked like. They were covered in red goop, and bits of the demon were splattered all over the cave. I think it's safe to assume that it wasn't suicide.

The witch we had come here for meanwhile was surprisingly calm, in spite of having endured centuries of torture. She didn't say a single word to us, but happily went along with us nonetheless.

As soon as we got out of the cave however, all of the ghosts, (whose flesh was still regrowing.) Walked towards us slowly, as did several other demons like those in the cave. More demon birds also began to circle above, and even the monstrous Lake was beginning to rise again.

As I faced certain death all I could think was how on earth did I get into this situation? Just last night I was going for a drink with Lucy and now I was in a literal hell? I honestly just gave up and waited for the monsters to kill me, but this time time the witch incased us all in some kind of magical bubble which then elevated us above the dying jungle. It then flew us across the forest in a matter of a seconds and through another swirling portal that was surrounded by a circle of large stones. She warned us it would hurt and oh dear god!

Every single part of my body, even my eyebrows were in constant pain. When we finally came through the other side we landed in a small dirty little chasm that went on and on for ages. The witch then imprisoned us in the very same bubble she had used to pull us out of that hell dimension.

"Not that I'm not grateful for rescuing me from that torture, but forgive me for being a little suspicious. Nobody would ever want to rescue me out of the goodness of their hearts as I'm not a very nice person. I am however extremely powerful and foolish people who don't know I'm not a very nice person have thought I'd help them if they helped me." The witch said.

"Believe me, under normal circumstances we'd be happy to let you rot in the very hell you created. However as it is, we need to protect you. The vampires who I trust you must have sensed when they entered are looking to resurrect you, so that they can kill you and complete their ritual to bring back the Blue Devil. " Sophia said back to the vile spectre.

The witch instantly released us from the sphere.

"Nothing unites people better than hatred. For now we're allies." The witch replied.

I was surprised she believed us so quickly and I even asked her why she did.

"I know vampires. Most of them are just degenerate bloodsucking monsters, happy to maim, torture and kill for their own amusement. The fact that some of them were able to enter my hell dimension however shows that they must all be working together on something big. You don't access that place easily. The Blue Devil and his servants were always a cut above the average little blood rat." She replied.

"I know we had to go to that big shark man to get in." I replied.

"The Great Devourer? I'm shocked he didn't eat you. He must have gone soft in all the years I was locked up." The witch replied.

I almost laughed at her idea of him going soft, but looking back on it now there are worst things for a giant shark man to do than potter about in his garden.

After some more discussion about how we were going to help the witch, we made our way through the long cavern ahead. Suddenly however Sophia stopped us in our tracks. She could sense it. Ever since it almost swept her away to the netherworld on a previous mission, and just a few seconds later we could all hear its engine roaring. It was the Ghost Train of Old Galloway.

I'd heard stories about it, I think everyone in the region had. One time I even overheard some children playing a game of Ghost Train. Obviously I never thought it could be real, but after fighting vampires, well running away from them and talking to a shark man I should have been prepared for anything.

As Sophia later explained to me. The Ghost Train was a result of the witches mini hell dimension, albeit unintentionally. It created a great spiritual upheaval in the local area, hence why ghost sightings in general are a lot higher here. Fortunately most of the time they were harmless. The ghosts would be dragged into our reality for a short while where they would be dazed and disoriented only to vanish back into the netherworld again. The Ghost Train however was a special case. Due to being a large concentration of spirits, it was capable of dragging still living people back with it. At the same time the Train did not come from the Netherworld, which was the natural resting place of all natural beings like humanity. Over the centuries numerous, witches, gods and even demons had found a way to channel souls into their own pocked dimensions or in the demons cases, their home realities (leading to different myths and legends of the afterlife.) Evidently the Ghost Train for whatever reason was sent to one of these pocket dimensions. No one knows exactly where. Apparently Sophia and her team of people have been trying to exorcise it for years now, but the Train pops up at random and is here for such a short time that no one can ever find it for too long. Given we were near an open portal to the witch's hell it made sense that it would arrive here.

It wasn't even running on any tracks it was just blindly driving its way towards us through the cavern. There was no way we could have outrun it and for the first time Sophia, Elizabeth, James and O'Brien actually looked helpless. None of them feared death. Even when going up against the vampires. Clearly wherever this Ghost Train was going to take them, it was worse than death.

Fortunately however the witch who having no idea about the train's history, but sensing the dark power from the ghostly apparition whisked us high above cliffs and the cavern as it sped past us and eventually faded into thin air.

We soon saw from above that we had arrived on a small island. Apparently this had been the witches own personal island when she was alive and it was where she built the pocket dimension in the first place. She said it was concealed from the rest of Scotland by a magical fog. Indeed the fog was so thick it looked like night time as the entire sky was completely black above. Fortunately however she had a boat that could take us all away from it. She lowered us back down into the cavern however telling us she was using almost all of her power just to manifest and not fall back into her own hell and that she wouldn't be able to even life us up in the air again like that.

After about half an hour walking through that cavern we reached a beach on the other side, where there was a single old fashioned boat washed up. The beach was also covered in the corpses of sea creatures, including octopuses, and small sharks.

As we made our way to the boat however, several large, hideous creatures began to emerge from the ocean around the boat. They all must have stood about eight feet tall and were covered in slime and sea weed. They had a vaguely humanoid shape, though it was hard to tell under the green slime. The only facial features I could make out were two large black eyes.

The witch stood before the creatures calmly and said.

"Do no worry my children, these people are with me. They may leave this island and." Before she could even finish, one of the monsters grabbed her in its stumpy, slimy hand and soon absorbed her into its grotesque body.