The Night Of The Massacre
I wanted to wake up. I wanted to tell myself that was all but a dream. Another horrible nightmare, from which I would soon wake up, and find myself in the comfort, of my bedroom. I wished that this was simply a nightmare, and that none of this was true.
But I knew all too well, that this was all too real. The day we had all feared had finally arrived. Crom Cruach had been released.
As his unblinking eye gazed upon us, everyone started backing away in fear. The more I looked at it, the more I noticed it was getting closer and closer by the second. I rose up as fast as I could, and ran/stumbled back towards my friends, while the humans were focused on Crom Cruach. "Aisling, what in the world were you thinking?! You could have been killed!" Oisin exclaimed, making sure he was not loud enough to be heard.
"There's no time for that now. We just need to get out of here," I hissed back to him. We were all about to turn to run, when we suddenly fell down to our knees.
"W-what is happening?" Nuala cried in confusion, as we struggled to get back on our feet.
"It is this place. It is making us weaker," Ronan exclaimed, as tumbled back down. I acted quickly and grabbed his hand and lifted him back up. "Thank you Aisling."
As I helped him back, I got a perfect view of the humans. They were all whispering to each, looking scared and confused. Many of them looked like, they were about to run away, while the children hid behind their parents for protection. Julian especially look confused, as he stumbled back while fearfully stuttering: "W-what is the meaning of this? I-I-I-I…Y-you said you would h-help us. T-t-t-t-that if we gave you the child, y-you would give us land. W-w-why do you mock us so?"
When he finished, the air once again became as cold as the bitter winter, the wind hollowed like a choir of wolves and the raven & crows flew around the humans their cawing sounding like laughter. In between all of that, Croms dark laughter echoed. As I heard him slither closer to Julian, I could see that all of the humans were petrified with fear. There were sounds of children crying, several whispers of terror and hundreds grasps of horror. Julian was slowly back away in fear, as Crom darkly chuckled: "Because you fools, were so blinded by your own greed that you never once realized what you were doing. You, so desperately wanted land and now, you because of your stupidity I am free once again. And with my return, I will bring about a new age of darkness, which shall spread to every corner of the land, until everything, everyone and every light was been devoured. Starting with you."
"B-b-b-b-b-but y-y-you promised-!" Julian cried in desperation, as small tears began to form from his eyes. Before he could finish, the Dark One finally left his cave, allowing us all to see him.
The moment I laid eyes upon Crom Cruach, I felt more vulnerable than I thought possible. My eyes shrank to the size of peas; my blood froze into ice, all movement in body petrified and I was sure for a moment I felt my heart stop beating. After hearing the tales of the Dark One, and after hearing him personally I was finally seeing him with my own eyes…and it was just as horrible as I imagined.
Crom Cruach was long! His scales glowed in the moonlight, as he raised his neck up into the air, and then looked down upon the horrified Julian. His scales were a mix of pitch black and dark turquoise. On his scales had several jagged symbols, covering his long thick body. You could see right through his body, and instead of blood and organs there some strange liquid, with several small glowing symbols swimming inside it. Right at the base of the neck, were a few fang shaped symbols pointing both upwards and downwards. And then there was the head, which was the only curved part about it. As he gazed on Julian, I could that his many long, sharp and jagged teeth were rotating in his mouth. As his long tongue flickered out of his mouth, you could see several more tentacle tongues appearing next to it, give it the shape of a tree branch. I could even see some of Crom's Venom shadows dance around his mouth and tongue. And at the center of his head, was his eye: His single, unblinking, glowing eye. As I looked at it from the distance, I could small glances of all the pain, cold, death, misery, suffering and darkness that has ever been and shall be.
The horrified Julian did not move, as he watched the Dark One look down upon him. He stood completely still for 5 seconds, as if time had stopped, before quickly turned and ran as fast as he could: away from Crom Cruach. However the Dark One was faster, and shot his tongues towards him. Julian screamed in terror and protest as the tongues wrapped around his body, legs and arms and slowly lifted him up, to come face to face, with the monster of darkness. Julian struggled to get loss, the tongues tighten his grip causing him to stop and forcing him, to look onto Crom who darkly said: "Yes. I did promise…AND YOU WERE A FOOL TO BELIEVE ME!"
With that his tongues threw him into the air. As Julian screamed in horror and fear, I briefly see the look in his eyes. It was a look of fear, horror, hopelessness and shame. And as he fell down, Crom Cruach opened his mouth…and ate him whole.
We quickly closed our eyes before we could see anything, but the dying of Julian's screams, the sound of blood dripping onto the floor and crunching of bones and meat, put together with the screams and gasps of horror of the humans, was all we needed to know that Julian was dead.
After a short while, we slowly opened my eyes we saw as the humans started running in fear, scrambling and stumbling against each other trying desperately to escape. But Crom Cruach would have none of it. After being imprisoned for so long, he wasn't about to let his meal escape him. He quickly lowered himself back to the ground, and slithered towards them. Instead of curves, like a regular serpent's, the movements of Crom Cruach were in sharp angles and corners. As the humans at the left were running away, Crom Cruach got ahead of them and using his body, blocked them off. As we were about to run, we noticed that Crom Cruach was forming a large square shape in front of them, block off any chance of escape.
When he had done the first three corner of his blockade, he went finish it…Slithering right towards us! It was just then when I realized, I had not moved a muscle leaving me completely exposed to him. I tried to run away, but we once again felt our strength being taken from us, and we fell to the ground. As I tried desperately to rise up again, I noticed that my tiara was now hanging loose, no longer probably adjusted. But I paid little attention to it, as I tried to rise back up. As I did, I could feel Crom Cruach getting close to me by the second. Fear gripped by heart, as I continued to struggle. Was this it? Was I going to die?
Just then I felt three hands grab me, and push me out of the way. It was my friends; they had gathered up their strength and managed to stand up and save me. "Thank you all," I thanked weakly as they helped me, onto my feet. It was then I noticed that my tiara had fallen off. The jerk of the push was strong enough to knock the already loose tiara off my forehead. Before anything could be done about it, Crom Cruach slithered right onto it no doubt crushing it under his weight.
But right now, I could not care less. Crom Cruach was literally right in front of us. He had all the humans, locked up in his own square prison, and had his head turned looking directly at us. Simply by looking into his face, all of the heat from our bodies vanished and our strength was sipped dry, as we crumbled back to the ground. It was bad enough, when we were in his cave, now that we were actually face to face with him; it felt as if we were dying. I looked at my hand, and saw that had become thin and fragile, and was getting covered with wrinkles. I weakly turned to my friends, and saw their bodies being drained of fat and small tiny wrinkles covering them. I could even see their eyes becoming bloodshot. We ignored this, and summoning what little strength we had rose up trying as hard as we could, to get away from the Dark One. Crom chuckled at our despair and cruelly taunted: "Come now children, are you not going to join me for dinner? There is enough flighty human flesh, to satisfy us all. …Well the three of you anyway. I on the other hand…am STARVING! And I fear that these humans will not be enough, to quench my hunger. But perhaps you, might assist with that!"
Then out of his tongues, Crom's venom shadows sprayed out and started crawling towards us. However before it could even touch us, a volley of arrows struck the shadows causing them disintegrate. Crom shriek in agony, as he recoiled his tongue back. We turned to the source of the arrows, and saw my mother (Wearing armor, with a bow and arrow in hand, a quiver of arrows, and a shield and sheathed sword) running towards us, with two bow and arrow guards only a few feet away from her. "Come on children! We have to get out of her!" She shouted, as she reached us and helped us get back on our feet.
As we got back on our feet, she and one of the guards carried us out of the cave of the Dark One, while the other kept him a bay by shooting arrows at it, which harmlessly bunched off Crom's scales. Crom Cruach simply chuckled darkly, as he watched us escape. "I'll let you go…for now. But rest assured, as soon as I am finished with these humans…I will come for your kingdom. And everything that is or was precious to you, shall be gone…for all eternity." With that he turned back towards the humans, just as he disappeared out of sight. Before we left his cave completely, we heard the horror-stricken screams of the humans.
As we ran further and further away from Crom's cave, I could feel my strength returning to me and I could see both my skin turning normal and our kingdom just up ahead. As we got closer, I could hear the thundering sound of the horn being blown. And as we entered the city, I could see Tuatha Dé Dannan running into their homes, or the castle in fear. There were guards everywhere and they were all dressed in armor with weapons at hand or nearby them. As we continued to the castle, we caught a few glances of the Tuatha Dé Dannan. They were looks of despair, fear, horror and dread. Clearly they knew what had happened, and no doubt thought that this was the end of our kind. None of us could blame them, if anything I was actually having similar thoughts. Crom Cruach had been released. Over hundreds of lives were killed, before he was imprisoned the first time. Now that he was free, he would no doubt have the power to kill us all.
As we approached the door to our castle, they were quickly opened from the inside. We all rushed in with, most of the kingdom following us. They stormed inside the castle like a flock of sheep and ran through the castle as the guards tried desperately to control them. Mother and the guards placed both my friends and me gently on the ground, as we searched for our respective parents.
"NUALA! NUALA OVER HER MY CHILD!"
"RONAN! THANK THE LORDS YOU ARE SAFE!"
"OISIN! I WAS SO WORRIED ABOUT YOU!"
Nuala, Ronan and Oisin's respective parents quickly ran towards, and hugged them upon reach. They then quickly lead them away from me, as I searched for my father.
"Aisling! You are safe!" my father (Who was wearing armor, and had a shield and sheathed sword) exclaimed, as he pushed through the crowd and ran towards us. When he reached us, he quickly grabbed both my mother and I, and wrapped us in a tight hug. "Thank the lords you are safe! Are you hurt?"
"No, Lug. We are both in good condition, though Aisling might be worse than I," Mother answered reasurringly, and while my strength had indeed returned since leaving the cave of the Dark One, I was still a bit shaky from the experience.
After hearing those words, father turned to one of the generals and sternly ordered: "General Nuada, my wife, daughter and her friends had been returned. Tell your men to make sure everyone is safe and protected, and get everyone inside the castle. And once that is done, you must immediately raise the wall!"
"As you wish my lord," General Nuada saluted, before running off to do his orders.
As I watched him run, I could feel a coat of fear growing on me. What if all of this, was not enough, maybe this would all be in vain and this would be the last time, I would ever see anyone I cared about again. Oisin, Nuala, Ronan, their parents, my people, my father, my mother, I did not want to loss them. I could not loss them. Not like this.
No! I could not think like this. We would not die! We could not! I tried telling myself this, but there was still a large presence of doubt in my mind. Desperate for support, I turned to my father and quietly and worryingly, with a glimmer of sadness in my voice, I asked: "Father…mother, can you please tell me, that we are going to survive?"
"Of course we are Aisling! I promise we will survive this attack," Mother told me, in a kind reassuring voice, but I could see in her eyes, that there was a speck of fear and hopelessness in them. That was all I needed, to know the answer.
"Regardless, you must be safe until this is over. Aisling you must get to your room. You will be safe there," Father ordered, as he led me to my room quickly, with my mother following. We all ran upstairs, past the guards and Tuatha Dé Dannan, until we were finally outside my room. Once there, my father bent down to my height and kindly said: "Aisling, listen very closely my daughter. You and your mother will go inside your room. You must stay there until the guards have made sure, that everyone is inside the castle. Do not worry your friends are well protected, and your mother will make sure nothing happens to you. Once we've made sure everyone is in the castle, your mother will lead you to the underground exit. There you most all leave the kingdom."
"And what of you father?" I asked, very worried about his safety.
"I must lead the attack on the Dark One, and make sure he does not harm anyone," My father answered truthfully.
"NO FATHER, YOU MUST NOT! YOU WILL DIE IF YOU DO!" I exclaimed in panic and horror at his words. I knew he was protecting me, but I could not lose him! I could not lose my father!
"Aisling please, I am doing this for your own-"
"I do not want to lose you father!" I interrupted him, as I wrapped around his body, crying into his ropes. "Crom Cruach will take you father. Do not say that it will not! He will take you away from us! From me! I do not want to lose you father! Please do not do this! I beg of you!" I pleaded in despair, as I kept on crying without stop.
My father stood still for a few moments, before wrapping his arms around me and returning my embrace. With much kindness and care in his voice, he warmly answered: "I know Aisling. I know you do not, want to lose you. But I do not want to lose you either. And that is why I am going. I have to protect our people, my wife and you from the Dark One. You all mean more to me, than you can possibly imagine. I know you and I have not always been, as close as we should but I want you to know that despite all of our arguments and strives, I am so very proud of you. From the moment I first laid eyes upon you, I have been proud and loved you with every fiber of my being, and I still now. I love you Aisling, then, now and forever."
"I love you as well, father" I quietly yet warmly returned, as I smiled a sad smile. After that, we pulled away from each other. "All right father, I will do as you wish," I told him sadly as I wiped the tears from my eyes. "Just…just promise me, you will survive."
"Aisling…I am afraid I cannot completely promise that, I can assure you, you will never be alone," Father assured me, as he rose up. As I wiped away my last tear, I felt my mother's gentle touch on my shoulder. I turned and saw her looking at me, with a sad smile on her face.
"Come one Aisling, let us go," She said kindly and warmly as she opened the door to my bedroom, and we walked in. Inside I could see many Tuatha Dé Dannan, together and trying to stay safe. As we entered I turned one last time to my father and called out: "Father!" He stopped in his tracks and turned to face me. One last time, I warmly told him: "I love you, father."
My father smiled and with the same warmth returned: "I love you as well, my daughter. My Aisling." And with that he walked away from my sight, as the door closed.
I stood silent; as I heard the footsteps of my father, slowly fade from my hearing. I sighed sadly, as I slowly turned away from the door and walked towards the corner. "Aisling, do not worry. Your father will be fine, I promise you," Mother tried to convince me. Though I could tell from her voice, she was just as scared as I was.
I sighed again, as I turned to her: "I know mother. It is just…what if…this, is all my fault?" I quietly asked feeling both sad and guilty. Before mother could say anything, I continued: "I know all of this is happening, because Julian released the Dark One. However he only learned about the Dark One, because I entered his cave. If I had never gone there, none of this would be happening. And now, the Dark One was free. All of this was happening, because of me."
"Aisling, you could never had known this would happen. You said that you never intended to actually enter his cave, or the sort. You said it was all an accident, did you not?" Mother asked in her motherly tone. I in turn said nothing and simply nodded. She smiled back and quietly said: "You must not blame for this Aisling. You only entered the cave of the Dark One, but you did not summon him."
I smiled at my mother's words of encouragement. However my smile did not last very long. I was still very worried about my father, and everyone else.
As I was thinking about my father, I could faintly hear his voice from outside. He was no doubt getting the soldiers ready, for the upcoming battle. Even though I knew it would most likely be best, if I got as little involved with it, I felt a desire to open my bedroom window, and see what was happening. So I quietly tiptoed over to my closed window, and carefully opened it a little.
From it, I could see my father standing in front of the soldiers, giving them a speech to motivate them for the battle. Behind him I could see that they had summoned our walls; a large group of giant trees that were closely gathered together, and surrounded the entire kingdom. They were thicker than any trees you had ever seen, and tall enough to block my view of anything outside of them, even from here.
It was then I noticed that my father had finished his speech, and the soldiers were raising their weapons and shouting in bravery and determination. Even from here I could hear it. I could not help but smile at the sight, of the soldiers preparing for the battle. You could not admire, the bravery of the soldiers. Going into battle, knowing full feel that it could be your last, was every noble and brave.
After the shouting died out, a few minutes went by before anything happened. My mother had sent a group of guards, to check if everyone was inside the castle, and was currently making sure everyone was all right, as I stood by the window wondering what was going to happen next. After a few minutes went by with nothing happening, I decided to close the window. However before I could do so, it was then the touch of winter cold night air came, then breeze of the bitter wind and then cawing of ravens. And then…the laughter.
The laughter echoed throughout the kingdom, and even the castle. It caused everyone to shiver with fear and the soldiers to prepare for battle. When the laughter finally stopped he spoke coldly spoke: "Greeting King Lug."
At the mere sound of his voice, everyone in my room panic. Whether they were screaming in fear or ran around the room or even tried to get out, they were panicked. "Everyone, please calm down! Everything is going to be all right! Just stay together and remain calm!" My mother reassured/ordered everyone was best as she could.
I was actually just as scared as they were, but I did not want to show it. We had to remain as calm as possible right now. I decided it would be best to try and help mother, so I closed the window but no before hearing my father shout: "SHOW YOURSELF, DARK ONE!"
Even with the closed window and a few feet away from it, we could all still hear the Dark One's answer: "That is not my name, foolish king. I. Am. Crom Cruach!"
I ignored it, as I walked over to a crying boy in the corner. I kneed down to his height, and quietly said: "Please, you must stay with your mother. Everything will be fine, but you must stay with her incase something happens." He nodded quietly, and followed me as I led him to his parents.
After that, I heard my father shout again: "I CARE NOT WHAT YOU CALL YOURSELF! YOU DO NOT BELONG IN THIS WORLD! RETURN TO YOUR PRISON COWARD!"
I did not pay much attention to it, as I help a father calm down his daughter. After that, my mother calmly walked over to me and proudly whispered: "Thank you Aisling,"
I nodded happily, as I accepted her thanks. I was about to help someone else, when I noticed the window had opened. As I went to close it, I heard Crom chuckle in amusement, as the air turned colder, the wind blew harder and the ravens & crows resumed their cawing: "You call me a coward? Tell me Lug, was it not your people who were not brave enough to kill me? Who imprisoned me rather than finishing me? You call me a coward and yet I can smell your fear. The fear of your soldiers. Of your people. And especially, of your daughter…Aisling."
Those words alone, brought shivers down everyone's spines, and made their blood freeze, especially mine. But I could not focus on that, as I went to the window and was about to close it, when my father threated in pure anger: "DO NOT MENTION MY DAUGHTER NOR MY PEOPLE, AGAIN YOU WRETCHED WORM! OR I WILL RIP OUT YOUR EYE MYSELF! NOW RETURN TO THE BLOODLY INFERNO, FROM WENCE YOU CAME!"
I closed the window quietly, when Crom started chuckling again…with then turned into a dark snicker…and then a thundering laughter. With the laughter, the wind blew like a tempest, the ice turned cold enough to freeze oceans and the raven and crows darkened the ground with shadows and ravaged minds with their cawing. The window flew open, knocking me to the ground, as Croms laughter slowly died out and he spoke: "What glorious anger! I have not experienced should rage in years! Very well then King Lug, you wish to rip out my eye fool?" I shakily stood up, I saw through the window. It was then I could feel his presence, and I feel to my knees. I watched as all the children in the room either fell to the ground or their knees. Everyone, including my mother, did look like they could tumble over and like they had a headache, but they did not look like they were, equally as bad as us. I grabbed onto the window for support, and pulled myself back up. When I turned back to the window, I watched in horror as tree after tree, withered away and fell over dying. I watched as the final trees were wrapped in venom shadows. I watched as the leaves rooted away and fell off one by one, its bark turned grey and peeled off, the branches became weak and broke off and eventually the tree itself came crumbling down. And then my blood froze, my heart stopped, my turned pupils turned to peas and my skin turned pale, as I watch Crom Cruach slither into the kingdom, his dark voice roaring: "THEN COME AND TAKE IT!"
"FIRE!" Father commanded. The archers did not waste anytime, and fired a large volley of arrows at Crom Cruach. But he was faster, and quickly slithered out of the way, still moving in his sharp angles and corners pattern. As the archers started to reload, Crom quickly opened his mouth and spat out his venom shadows. "SCATTER!" Father commanded, as he and his troops dodged the venom. As I watched this, I saw that the Crom Cruach presence affected many of the soldiers as well. Many of their movements were sluggish and they looked like they were about to fall over at any moment. Some did, but another solider would help them get back up. However one solider was not so fortunate, and was caught by the venom shadows. I watched in horror, as the shadows consumed his body. Even from here I could see, as his body was drained. His skin turned pale, his fat was drained and his skin wrinkled, while he was screaming through it all. The sight alone was too much for me, and I could feel my breakfast trying to escape though my mouth. I quickly turned away and threw up. After I recovered, I wiped away the puke that was on my mouth, and took one look back at the battle outside to see: the soldiers firing arrows at Crom which harmlessly bunched off his scales, as Crom advanced towards them dodging any arrow aimed at his head. And I saw to my horror, as the shadow venom left the body of the soldier, revealing an armored skeleton where he used to be.
That was when my mother finally closed the windows. "Aisling, what were you thinking? You should have closed the window, and just ignore the battle," she scolded me sternly. I did not answer. I was too horrified to answer. I had just seen a Tuatha Dé Dannan die. I had seen him rot away, and what little there was of his remains. The horror I was experiencing, was beyond anything that I could have possibly imagine. I just stood there quiet and still, as if turned into stone. As my mother noticed my reaction, she quickly warmed up and hugged me. "I'm sorry you had to see that Aisling. I truly am."
"AIM FOR HIS EYE, THAT IS HIS WEAK SPOT!" my father shouted, from outside the castle. But we did not pay much attention, as my mother and I just stood there completely still.
What did get our attention was the door swinging open. We all turned and saw a guard rush in, who quickly spoke in a strained voice: "Your highness, the guards have checked, and everyone is in the castle. They are all at the spot you requested."
My mother rose up, and turned to everyone in the room and sternly ordered: "Very well, I want all of you to follow me. We will lead you all to a place where we can escape."
Everyone rose up, but before they could go, and thundering roar of agony echoed throughout the forest and the castle, forcing everyone to clench their ears in pain. It sounded like someone had shot Crom in the eye. As the roar faded, everyone uncovered their ears and started panicking. Everyone stood still for a short while, until we all heard Crom Cruach's roar of anger: "HOW DARE YOU!"
We did not wait another moment, as my mother turned to everyone and shouted: "Come on, we must hurry!" With that we all ran out of my room, down the stairs, past all the opened windows, which gave a small glimmer of the battle and followed mother to the entrance of the tunnel. The tunnel was built underneath, as an emergency exit in case this sort of thing would happen. I knew about it since I was a child, but I was never really allowed to go down there, because I could easily get lost and my parents felt it was not a place for someone to play with. But now I was finally going there. Normally I would have been excited, but with everything that was happening, I just wanted to leave as quickly as possible.
It did not take too long, before we came to the main hallway, where the rest of the Tuatha Dé Dannan were waiting. As soon as they saw my mother and I, they quickly followed us. After much running and calming people, we finally made it to the basement. While many of the Tuatha Dé Dannan were crowded, there was a small empty space for my mother and I. Everyone looked confused, as they searched around the basement trying to find the exit. Finally someone asked: "Where is the entrance to the tunnel?"
"It is over there!" my mother answered, as she pointed to a large circular stone at the center of the basement. As she walked towards it, she turned to everyone and shouted: "Everyone, get back." They did as she said, and tried their best to step back.
"Aisling!" three very recognizable voices cried out from the crowd. I turned to the source, and was greeted with a happy sight.
"Ronan! Oisin! Nuala!" I called out, as my three best friends managed to squeeze out of the crowd and run towards me. As soon as we were within arms reach, we all embraced each other. "You are safe!"
"Of course we are Aisling, was there ever a doubt?" Oisin joked, in a cocky way.
"Are you all right as well Aisling?" Nuala asked, in a bit of a worried tone.
"Do not worry about me, I am fine," I reassured them, with a smile. To be honest, I was actually very scared, nervous and terrified inside, but I did not wish to bother them with it. And I was a bit better now that I knew they were safe.
"As much as I want my daughter to be happy, it would be best if you went back to your parents right now," my mother reminded them in a stern yet caring motherly tone.
"She's right. We should go, but it was nice to see you were all right Aisling," Ronan sighed sadly, before the three of them ran back to their parents. Once they were back with their parents, mother went over to the stone, with me not far from her. She grabbed the stone and effortlessly lifted the stone above her head, and placed it next to her, revealing and large square hole with staircase that led deep into the tunnel. She then crouched down, summoned a thin, glowing trail of fog, which traveled through the entrance
"Everyone go, quickly! Do not shove each other or knock each other over. And try not to damage each other as you go. All children and elderly are to stay close to their families at all cost. And remember to follow us, the glowing fog I have summoned, will provide light." Mother shouted. They did not need to be told twice, as everyone ran towards the exit, with my mother and I guiding them, and the fog lighting our path.
We all kept running, never stopping for once, except for one or two occasional Tuatha Dé Dannan falling over, who was quickly helped back up. The tunnel was very long, but I could not care much less as I just kept running, while keeping a firm grasp on my mothers hand, which I would not dare to let go. We kept running, for what felt like forever until I saw a hole just up ahead, with light coming from the other side of it. "Mother look! The exit is just there! We are going to make it!" I cried, with an overjoyed and hopeful smile. We were going to make it! We would survive.
Upon hearing this everyone started cheering, when suddenly the earth shook and we were feel either to the ground. As we struggled to climb back up, he spoke once again, and his dark voice spoke once again: "Did you really think you could escape so easily? You weak, pathetic fools! You have doomed yourselves, to oblivion!"
The moment we heard this, our blood became ice cold. No could not be! It could not end like this! We had to get out of here, now. We all got back onto our feet as soon as possible, and ran as fast as we could. Soon the exit was just within our reach. "We are all, most at the exit everyone, just a little more further!" My mother yelled, as she kept running.
Then the earth shook again, only this time it was like an earthquake. We all once again feel down to the ground, as a thundering sound echoed throughout the forest. I groaned in pain, as I tried to climb back up, the earth still shaking. When I was on my knees, I felt something light hit me in the shoulder, and the something just as light on the spine. I turned to see what it was…and was greeted with the sight on the roof breaking apart! In fact just above me, was a large boulder was just about to fall on top of me. My mother saw it first, and grabbed me by the hand and pulled me out of the way, right before I was squashed. However not longer after that, more of the roof above us started collapsing. We quickly ran as fast as we could, as we dodged rock after rock. However as we ran, we could see the roof above the exit was about to fall and block the exit. We had to get there first! We could not die now! Not when we were so very close. Running faster than we thought possible, we narrowly dodged the thick rocks and falling roof. My mother turned to me and shouted: "Aisling, listen to me. When I give the words you and I jump together. Do you understand?"
I nodded, and kept running. We were finally only a few feet away from the exit, just as the roof above it was crumbling apart. "NOW!" my mother shouted, and the two of us jumped forward, just barley making it through the exit as the roof crumbled behind us.
We landed rather roughly, on the ground. We had some minor pain there, but it was nothing we could not tolerate. As we rose back up, I panted like a dog, exhausted from all of the running: "*pant* We-we-we made *pant*, we made it, mother," I whispered, joyfully as I rose up. However just as I was about to help her up, I felt something was on my robe. I frowned at this. It most have a rock that had landed on my rove was restraining it. I turned to see for myself, and what I saw, horrified me. While the robe was under a large pile of rubble, behind me was the sealed off exit…with not a single Tuatha Dé Dannan in sight.
"Oh no! OH NO, NO, NO, NO, NO! MOTHER! MOTHER! MOTHER, THIS IS HORRIBLE! EVERYONE IS TRAPPED INSIDE THE TUNNEL, WE HAVE TO DIGG THEM OUT!" I cried in a mixture of horror, desperation, fear and will, as I ran over to the tunnel, only to be stopped by the pile. I snarled angrily, grabbed my robe and tried to push it out, to no avail. Finally I had had enough of it, when I realized, I was wasting time and that this was taking too long, and quickly took the rope off me, leaving in nothing but my grey boots and grey dress. I race towards the exit and began digging and digging without stop, trying desperately to dig through.
"Aisling."
"What are you waiting for mother? Come and help me dig!" I shouted to my mother, as I kept digging, as I heard her approach me. It was not until I felt my mothers touch on my shoulder, that I took a moment to stop digging and turned to face me. I could see that she had a sad face. One that look like she was about to break down, but was doing everything she could to hold back the tears.
She bent down to my level and sadly whispered: "Aisling…I do not think…the others are coming."
When I heard those words, my heart shattered. Time froze to a halt, my blood turned to the artic ocean and my soul felt like it had been ripped out of my body. I just stood there still for seconds, as small tears started to drop. NO! NO, I COULD NOT BE TRUE! I turned from my mother and continued started digging, now more desperate than I had ever been.
"Aisling…"
"They are fine mother! You will see! WE JUST HAVE TO DIG THROUGH THIS, AND THEY WILL BE THERE! THEY WILL BE FINE AND THEY WILL BE WAITING FOR US! THEY WILL! THEY WILL!" I shouted, as I fought back the tears and kept digging with no stop.
"Aisling, please…" my mother could not finish, as a groan of pain and exhaustion escaped her. Only moment later, I felt my body losing strength, and I crumbled to the ground a few feet away from my mother. As I tried to rise up again, I felt the air turn as colder than the highest mountain during the coldest winter, the wind hollow until it sounded like the wailing of the spirits of the dead, I heard the crows & ravens cawing as if singing a song of suffering & death and I shadow hanging over me and my mother. We turned to face it, and saw the towering form of Crom Cruach starting down at us, with his own unblinking eye. And then, as if things were not bad enough, he gave us the news. The news that would scar my mind, for all eternity.
"Allow me to tell you, what your mother cannot. Your people…are dead!"
Well there's the chapter, I hope you all enjoy it, and don't hate me for killing almost everyone off. Just so you know, I was originally going to focus more on Lug's fight against Crom Cruach, and I was going to give Oisin, Ronan and Nuala a brief moment were they explain, how they were nearly killed, but as I was writing the chapter. I could not think of a good way on how to include them, so unfortunately they had to be cut out. Sorry. Also I'm sure you don't care, but I thought I'd explain this for the next chapter. In my story, Crom Cruach can only be hurt, if you attack eye and his tongues. Every other is invulnerable. However he can also heal any damage done to his eye, however heavier attacks take longer to heal and greatly drain his strength. The only way to destroy him completely is too remove his eye, and in his madness Crom will then kill himself. Like what happened in the movie. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this.