Author note: This place is a total fabrication, a sole product of a twisted nightmare that kept me up for an entire night. Hopefully it wasn't unknowingly inspired by something else. Pleases read & review. Again, BPRD and its' agents are not mine. They're Mignolas'.
Sisters of Owsgmina
Hellboy, Kate and Liz stepped off the plane to meet aman in a business suit with a thick British accent, Agent Rupert Smith of the BSRPA. He gave Hellboy and Kate a hearty handshake and nodded at Liz. Everything about this man was perfect; he had not a single hair out of place.
"Everything is ready and waiting for your mission. You are invited to join us at the base for tea, our staff will load your equipment into your jeep." The base was small, yet well-equipped for it's remote location. Tea and scones sat on a makeshift table. A large mug of black coffee was placed before Hellboy. Agent Smith began talking immediately.
"As you are aware, two of our agents disappeared while searching for the "Eye of Lin". As you may know through your own research, this relic is rumored to have been over two thousand years old and a direct link to the other side. Years of research went into determining its location and planning its retrieval. Our efforts, however, did not go as planned."
"... and only now do you contact the BPRD." Hellboy stepped in. "Owsgmina is not your standard haunting."
"We are now aware of that, Mr. Hellboy, which is why you are here. We will provide everything you need for this mission, in hopes that our men and the eye will be retrieved."
"I'll need a sturdy burlap sac for their bones." Hellboy grumbled into his coffee.
"We will do our best." Professor Corrigan chimed in.
A larger first aid kit sat in the back of the jeep, among the weapons. Hellboy crammed his frame into the small space, causing the vehicles' springs to complain. At least there was headroom, an effect of there being no roof.
Kate drove the BSRPA jeep to the small town nearest to where the hikers had last been seen by a group of traveling herdsmen, about three hours from the airstrip. The Roma were always agreeable with Hellboy, generally providing him with any information he sought. Perhaps it was fear.
Hellboystepped out into the tall blonde grass. It was late summer and only the trees remained green. The town of Owsgmina, although out of sight, was straight ahead on the narrow goat track fourteen miles, then three miles of cross-country trekking. Hellboy had already decided to walk, since his tail slamming on the seat with every bump caused his back to ache. Also, his horn stumps bouncing off the roll bar once was more than enough for him. It was early evening when the BPRD arrived at the gates to Owsgmina.
Hellboy walked closer to the wrought iron gate, which gently swung open and closed withthe wind. Kate and Liz followed him from behind. Kate felt her pistol by her side, Liz balanced a cigarette between her lips, white ashes falling to the ground.
The cobblestone streets were very narrow. The whole place was about the same colour, made of cold beige, now blackened, stone. The colours were monochrome due to the setting sun and ravages of time. Liz stared back at the jeep, it's fate almost certain; no mission that involved Hellboy ended with at least some destruction.
The three agents walked towards an older palace in the centre of the town, a rich stone masterpiece dulled and beaten by weather, war and neglect. Its walls were now grey and towered above the streets. Hellboy scanned the town's horizon. Old stone, dust and misery. This place had not changed since before the First World War. The shops lacked signs, no dogs or children wandered the street. Liz walked closely beside Kate.
As Hellboy walked past the buildings, his hooves echoed out into the stone streets. The occasional set of eyes stared from long-abandoned crumbling relics to the past, following the rhythmic clacking. Hellboys' yellow eyes caught the movement of figures in the shadows, following the agents silently. Their faces were cold and expressionless. Liz tightened the cross on her neck and the rosary on her wrist.
Before long, they stood before a tall building, held up by coarse metal and wood trellis. Professor Corrigan stared up at the twisted bars and spires, her eyes meeting with a broken cross. Liz peered between the trellises, her eyes meeting literally thousands of crudely welded frame crates.
"What is this place?"
"It was a convent." Kate turned to meet Liz's eyes. "The convent of perpetual life" once took on the insane as sisters, in hope that through Christian teachings and prayer that they could be saved, their souls purged of all evil. Over the centuries, the nuns became less and less Christian, the sisters descending into what could only be described as a cult that invaded the surrounding village such that all lived in fear. Soon, children began to disappear. Of course, the nuns were the first to be blamed. The villagers tried repeatedly to enter the convent, yet every soul that attempted never reappeared. It was thought, after several years, that the sisters had perished since no living creature ever passed through the gates of the massive building."
Liz huddled into her coat, clutching her arms to her chest for warmth. "What happened." Hellboy stepped in to finish the story as Kate studied the frames and wrought iron bars.
"As the years passed, the people came to see the terrifying truth about their town. With no one to work the grounds surrounding the convent, the building began to crumble away in large pieces. An iron frame was revealed, within it thousands of bodies, young and old, all human. Another secret was also uncovered. The sisters were still alive, prowling through their prison convent each night, watching the townspeople through broken windows and cracking walls.
One night during a storm the gate to the convent opened for the first time in decades. The townspeople cowered in their homes as the insane women banged on the doors of the houses. Once inside, they tore the flesh from the bones of the villagers with their teeth. The remains were placed into the crypt to rot with those of ages past. The trapped souls of the village continued to feed the cult that dwelled above. No one has knowingly sought out the village since."
Liz drew her coat around her, only loosing it to light another cigarette. Even the fire that burned within her felt hindered in this cold place. Hellboy appeared to be the only one who didn't appear to feel its intensity.
Hellboy looked up the stone wall, his eyes resting on a crumbling window frame. "They're not going to come out, which means one of us…" Hellboy mumbled through an unlit cigar.
A nun appeared at the window, far up on the wall of crypts and remains. Liz refused to look up, she didn't need to see the creature to know it was there. She could feel the eyes from the dead watching her. She could see them, although she did not look upon any of them. Their hungry spirits followed her down the main street of the town. She wanted to leave, yet could not desert Hellboy or Kate, they depended on her as part of their team.
"I'm going in."
Kate lightly touched Hellboys' stone hand as he walked away. He turned around to look at Liz. "She'll take care of ya, kid. Just stick with Kateand remember why you're here." Hellboy pulled out his Zippo lighter, a flickering yellow flame claiming the dried tobacco within seconds.
To be continued...