Song is, "Otar the Foul" by Epikus.
https/youtu.be/zP_lAuTRRCI

Chapter 5: Helen Keller

Over the snowy mountains, Violet hovered her aircraft over the area that had the cave that lead to the doors inside the mind of Lilly. Everything was in ruins. Trees were knocked down and covered the cave entrance. Violet rolled her eyes as she moved the helicopter around, trying to find a clear spot to land.

"Good bloody grief!" she exclaimed. "You weren't kidding, Cyan. This place is a wreck!"

"I did tell you," Cyan said over the intercom. "What are you dropping off, anyway?"

"The wolf."

"What the hell for?"

"Dad's orders."

"Hmm, fair enough. Did he tell you why?"

Violet chuckled evily. "We're expecting visitors today, dear brother."

"...From outside?!" Cyan asked in shock. "You're fucking kidding!"

Violet cackled loudly as she continued to look for a landing area. "I'm not! Dubh got killed so the door opened!"

"What a dumbass!" Cyan laughed. "What about the other doors?"

Violet hummed as she thought. "You know what? I have no idea. Maybe I'll uh...go take a quick peek." She kept looking around, finally spotting a place to put her helicopter. "Yes, I think I'll take the wolf bitch and go investigate."

"You should! And bring your D-Call device! I want updates!"

When Violet descended to the ground and shut the vehicle off, she took off her seat belt and helped Morgan out of hers. "Yeah, yeah," she said into the radio. "You and your fucking gossiping mouth. I don't want you to tell anyone about this. I mean it."

"I won't say a word," Cyan giggled.

Once Violet and Morgan clambered out, Violet shrunk her helicopter and put it back on her key ring before searching around in her satchel. She then grabbed a black, curved device and attached it to her earlobe. It changed into a black dragon and inserted its head into her ear canal, then she clicked on a button on the side.

"Cyan," she said and a small microphone appeared from the dragon's tail, slowly extending to her mouth.

"Yeah. How's it look over there?" Cyan asked.

"Dreadful," she sighed as she put a leather rope around Morgan's neck. "I better not run into any of Fuschia's damn monsters in there."

"Ah, you're leveled up enough that you could take them all easy."

"This is true," Violet shrugged. "Alright, well, I'll let you know if I see anything out of the ordinary."

Violet flicked the leash and Morgan started walking through the debris and snow. "Excellent. Later, Sis!"

The call disconnected and the tail shrunk back up into the dragon's body. "Just a quick peek," she said absentmindedly as the pair trekked onwards.


At the cursed door in Lilly's mind, a small, floating object was shining a light around the door, its needle like appendages extending from its acorn shell. Two copter blades sat atop the lid of the acorn, whirring to keep the drone afloat. A small lens was placed in the shell as well and it was looking through the darkness.

"Do you see anything?" someone asked.

"Nothing helpful," Darrach replied. "It's just a long hallway that seems to go on forever."

The drone's light shined on the floor, revealing multiple claw marks, dried blood and rotted wood planks.

"My gods..." Darrach gasped.

Something clattered in the nursery and the drone quickly turned around before flying in and looking around. There was dust everywhere.

"Should there be dust in there?" Van Helsing asked.

"No...and nothing should have fallen, either."

The drone searched around for whatever had fallen and a small black acorn rolled across the floor. The machine got closer to it and poked it with one of its arms.

"Hmm...I'm going in," Darrach said. "Junior, take the controls."

After a few moments, Darrach appeared in the room and picked up the acorn.

"What is it, Darrach?" Junior asked.

"I'm not sure," Darrach replied. "I...don't sense any dark magic in it, even though it's black."

"Maybe it's something Ma left behind?"

"Hmm...like a clue, you think?"

"It's possible."

Darrach squeezed the acorn and a screen appeared in front of him, showing Lilly and O'Callaghan standing in front of a chained door.

"Fer what?! Fashion advice?!" Lilly shouted at Rose as she walked away from the acorn.

The chained door shook suddenly. "I dunna know what he wants but we fight and we stall! O'Callaghan, try tah get Darrach's attention!" Rose barked.

The door vibrated again, sending some pieces of it flying off. All three women changed into their wolves and O'Callaghan howled as Lilly looked at the door.

"Hello, my precious little toy," an inhumane, low voice said.

As the door burst open and O'Callaghan howled again, Lilly and Rose immediately screamed.

"What the fuck is that?!" Lilly screamed in fear.

Darrach watched in horror as black chains shot through the door and wrapped themselves around the girls. Lilly, Rose and O'Callaghan screamed but they bit and fought the chains, their claws digging into the wooden floor as they were being dragged through the door. The acorn rolled across the dresser as a chain smacked it, knocking it on the edge as the camera changed to no longer see the girls.

"No! Help us, Darrach!" O'Callaghan screamed.

"Get off!" Lilly cried as a creature hissed and creaked. "I canna use me shout! It's gone!" Lilly screamed.

"No, not me soul projections!" Rose shouted. "He's stealin' our powers!"

"Mummy!" Darrach heard Aoífe cry through the drone.

"Find us!" Rose yelled. "Get the god damn door open and find us!"

Then all fell silent after a door slammed shut. Suddenly Darrach heard himself on the recording, crying and screaming for his daughters. "No! Not my tyikrdanc!" he shouted as Darrach heard his fists bang on the cursed door. "Noo! I gotta...I gotta get the door open! C'mon, Darrach, find a way!" [daughters!]

Darrach sighed as he clicked the acorn off. "That...how the hell did I miss this before?"

The drone turned suddenly as the cursed door made a noise. Darrach quickly jerked around as well. "What was that?"

The drone and Darrach slowly approached the door. He peered in but saw nothing. "I don't know."


Violet held her breath as she dared not to move, the robot and Darrach gazing into the abyss of the hallway. As long as she didn't move or make a noise, he wouldn't be any more suspicious. "Should we send the drone in fer further scouting?" Violet heard Junior ask.

"Yeah," Darrach sighed. "I'm going to put a spell on the entrance. Who knows what else is lurking in here and we don't want any unexpected guests coming through."

"Can you do it from there?" someone asked.

"Yep," Darrach said before placing a hand on the door frame and shutting his eyes. "A Dhias na Seanóirí, iarraim ort cosaint a dhéanamh ar an dorchadas seo. Molaim duit neart a thabhairt dom, Elders Naofa, ar bhealach chun deamhain na hIfreann seo a choinneáil ar shiúl ón doras." [Gods of the Elders, I ask you to protect me from this darkness. I urge you to give me strength, Holy Elders, to keep the demons of this Hell away from the door.]

Blue and white light flowed from his palm and formed a barrier across the door. "Do you think it will hold?"

"For now," he said, still peering into the darkness. "Alright, send Scotty in." The drone beeped before crossing the barrier and scanning the area. Violet pressed herself against the wall, her powers of camouflage holding true. Scotty the drone hovered in further. "What do you see?"

"Not a bloody fuckin' thing," Junior replied. The drone stopped in front of Violet and she covered her mouth. "Wait, I'm picking up something, Darrach."

The drone's lens faced Violet and her eyes went wide. "Shit, they're gonna see me!" she thought.

"There's nothing there, Junior," Aoífe said.

"Yes there is! Look at the numbers on the screen, dumbass!" Junior barked.

"Hey! Dunna call me a dumbass, ya feckin' shite!"

As the kids really started arguing with each other, Violet slowly snuck by the drone and tiptoed away. She was careful not to step on any rotting planks as she got further down, then once she was far enough, she ran down the corridor past some other doors. Violet got to the red door with a lily engraved on it, opened it and slowly shut it. "That was close," she thought as she sighed, leaning against the door.

Morgan was sitting on the cave floor, waiting patiently before Violet came and pat her on the head. "Well, I brought you here. Whether or not you wanna stay is up to you."

Violet removed the disabled wolf's leash and scratched her neck. "Please tread carefully today. It would make Mother very upset if something were to happen to you."

The wolf did something odd and nuzzled Violet's body with her face. Violet chuckled and hugged the wolf. "You may be a regular Helen Keller, but sometimes I think you can hear me."

The chords of Morgan's throat wiggled and grated, almost making a kind of purring sound. She did that sometimes and Violet figured it was her way of talking. With a kiss to the wolf's forehead, Violet began making her way back. "Peace out, bitch."


"Are you sure this is gonna work?" Lugh asked Darrach as he and many others stood in the visual mirroring lab (which was a really big room with dirt walls, tree roots hanging from above, furniture, electric consoles, lights, etc.) of the giant oak tree that was Darrach's housing.

"Yes," Darrach replied as he double checked everything in the trunk. "Lord Morgan, I took the liberty of adding in a few more items to the inventory."

"Why?" Arthur asked.

"Oh, you never know what you might run into, so...think of them as emergency kits," Darrach answered before shutting the trunk. "Alright. We are good to go!"

A bunch of people took their seats in the viewing area while Lugh was talking to Brigid, rubbing her pregnant belly with a smile. "It's gonna be alright, lass," he said gently. "Darrach will watch over us."

Brigid nodded as a tear fell from her eye. "I know, but...just come back to me, okay?"

Lugh kissed Brigid's lips tenderly before wiping her tear away. "I promise, Brigid."

Sir Jack stepped up to his wife Abby and daughter Janet with a grin. "Well, heh," he said before enfolding them into a hug. "Here's tah makin' up fer me failures."

Abby frowned as she looked up at her husband. "Jack...ya mustna blame yerself fer the past." She stroked his face and kissed him softly. "Now go do what ya do best, aye?"

While Sir Jack exchanged words with Janet, Arthur knelt down in front of his twin children and kissed their foreheads. "You two be good, okay? Once we're in, you need to go with Aisling and the other kids to the house."

"But Daddy!" Aoífe shrieked while stomping her foot. "We wantah watch what happens!"

"I already told you no, Aoífe," Arthur said sternly.

"It's bad enough that ya wilna let us go! The least ya could do is let us watch!"

"I said no!" Arthur shouted angrily. The kids backed up from Arthur with startled expressions, so he took a deep breath and bowed his head. "I'm sorry. Just..." he raised his head, looking at his children regretfully. "We don't know what's in there with your mothers, sweetheart, but I saw monsters and demons in her prayers. I saw...terrible things that you're too young to bear witness to. You understand me?"

Aoífe nodded softly while rubbing her watery eyes. "Yes, Daddy. I just...I canna stand by and not be of use!"

"Me, neither," Junior added. "We need a mission."

Arthur chortled with a nod. "Alright. Your mission," he said, lowering his voice to a whisper, "is to help Miss Aisling keep the kids in line and to have fun."

Both the twins sighed in frustration. "Boooriiing!" they both groaned.

Their father smirked and held up a finger. "Just hear me out," he said before dropping the hand. "Darrach built something new and it's in one of the rooms in the house."

Aoífe and Arthur Junior looked at each other before smirking and arching their brows, then they looked back at Arthur Senior. "Do tell, dear Father," Junior said innocently.

"Nope. You have to go see it," he chuckled before standing up, earning a groan from his children. "You'll love it, I promise."

"Lord Morgan," Darrach said as he walked up. "We're ready."

The kids went to go find seats and Arthur walked up to the medical chairs that were set up for him, Lugh and Sir Jack. Lugh and Jack were already set up in their own with Darrach's tree roots attached to their heads in various places. Arthur took his own seat and Darrach grasped a blue helmet that the tree roots were connected to. He set it on Arthur's head and adjusted it to fix before looking at Arthur's left eye.

"Everything looking okay in your acorn eye?" Darrach asked.

"Yes," Arthur said. "Perfect vision."

"Good. And the ear com?" he asked as he looked at the acorn lodged in Arthur's left ear.

"Good fit," Arthur replied.

As Darrach walked away, Arthur eyed his pregnant wife Lilly who was on a cot by the wall, Darrach's tree roots stuck inside her in various places. He then looked at Lenny, Sean, Hosea, Tilly, James and Brian, who were in similar states, and he frowned. "We're gonna get all you folks out, just hold out a little longer," he said under his breath.

With brown wooden staffs in their hands, Ogma, Cernunnos, The Dagda, Vlad, Vu, Anubis and a few others gathered around Arthur, Lugh and Sir Jack in a circle. "Let us begin the ritual," Ogma said.

Play music here

Arthur saw tree roots come out from everywhere and start banging against each other, the vibrations causing a weird instrument to play. Louder drums eventually joined in and the people around them started tapping their staffs in the ground to the rhythm. An alarm sounded and and the acorn lights dimmed, making the room go dark. More drums echoed throughout the chamber and the walls suddenly lit up blue, exposing glowing white runes. Arthur gulped as he watched all sorts of crazy shit happen, like a few screens pop up out of nowhere and display letters. The sentences formed word by word but Arthur couldn't make any sense of it.

More instruments joined, a symphony of epic drama unfolding in the song. Arthur couldn't help but roll his eyes at all the smoke and daggers, but Darrach said it was all necessary for the ritual.

Arthur didn't believe a word of that nonsense, but as it turned out, Darrach was a natural performer.

He eyed Darrach while the machine man was walking towards the special trunk, which had tree roots wrapped around it. The men around him started chanting "huh!" while their staffs banged on the ground. With his palm hovering over the chest, Darrach began chanting words that Arthur couldn't make out.

The alarm sounded again and the chest started to sparkle like a diamond. The roots filled with blue light and it slowly traveled through them into the tree, then out the other side to the roots that were connected to Lilly. A burst of light followed and traveled the same path.

"Scotty has confirmed the drop," Darrach said. He stared at Sir Jack, Lugh and Arthur before nodding his head to them. "Good luck, gentlemen," he said, clasping his hands behind his back.

Arthur stared ahead at the members of his family, his body tensing as he prepared himself for what was to come. He took some deep breaths in and out, closing his eyes to relax himself. He was ready. He'd been ready for this moment for too long. Arthur was itching to get inside and kill every bastard that even thought about harming any of his women.

He demanded retribution and he was going to take it by force.

"If we die, it's been a pleasure being yer friend," Lugh whispered casually to Sir Jack and Arthur.

The music died down and the men began to whisper their incantations, the blue light turning on and off again, yet the runes stayed lit. Arthur glanced at Lugh whose eyes glowed a bright yellow and his hair raised around him. Shortly after, Sir Jack's eye glowed purple and his curly hair wafted around his head. Arthur faced forward, trying his best to concentrate on projecting his mind into Lilly's. The music picked up again and the chants got louder. The Dagda stood in front of Arthur, pointing at his eyes and then at Arthur's.

"C'mon, lad," The Dagda said. "I have faith in ya."

Arthur could feel something happening but he couldn't quite describe what it was. There was a warmth in his body that tingled like tiny sparks. It spread to his head and Arthur twitched his nose as the tingling got stronger. He almost felt like he wanted to sneeze and that's when the pain started to become noticeable. The warm tingly feeling slowly grew into the heat of fire and the sting of electricity. The men started shouting their chants and Arthur stared into The Dagda's eyes, a sudden feeling of fear rushing through him as the pain intensified.

"Keep yer eyes on me," The Dagda said. "It'll help with the pain."

Arthur nodded as he gripped the arms of his chair, a small groan escaping his throat as he tried to fight through the pain.

"Let it take ya, dunna fight it."

Arthur's breathing picked up and sweat formed on his brow while the chants continued to rise in volume. He heard a ringing in his ears and he cringed at the high pitch, but he kept his eyes on The Dagda. Arthur tried to take deep breaths but the pain wouldn't allow him to. He could only stare helplessly at the god before him.

"Are they worth the pain?" The Dagda asked.

"Yes!" Arthur yelled.

"Then go get them!"

The Dagda got in Arthur's face and bellowed the incantations at him. Everything was becoming too overwhelming to handle and Arthur felt like he was going to be ripped apart. The heat inside his body spread everywhere, as did the tingling shocks. Arthur began to grind his teeth as he held back his screams, but then he felt as though he were being skinned alive by fire itself. He couldn't think or breathe and Arthur had to shut his eyes. He let out a mighty shout of pain as his vision went white and blue. His voice seemed to stretch as he felt himself being flown through a mighty river of magic and the next thing he knew, he'd fallen onto a large piece of furniture with a load groan.

Arthur rolled off the object slowly and crumbled to the ground, another pained groan escaping him. He could hear Lugh laughing and he slowly raised his head to glare at the god.

"What the fuck are you laughin' at, asshole?" Arthur snarled, struggling to get up.

Sir Jack came over and helped Arthur to his feet. "Darrach, we're in," he said.

Arthur could hear loud cheering through the acorn device in his ear and he looked around at the area, realizing they were in the nursery of Lilly's mind house. "God," he groaned while he rubbed the back of his neck. "The really, really hurt."

"What the hell took ya so long?" Lugh giggled.

"It was his first time, don't be so hard on him," Darrach laughed. "Okay, your acorn eyes seem to be in working order as are your ear coms. Let's just do a quick diagnostics check."