The Mountain. Some Things are Better Left Undisturbed

di Helix Ward (Autore)

Helix Ward, 2026

The Mountain: Some Things Are Better Left Undisturbed is a folk-horror thriller blending psychopathy and body horror, exploring the deterioration of the human mind under the influence of a cursed landscape. Spanning five chronological acts, the story connects a rural tragedy in the 1950s with a failed corporate incursion in the present day. At the summit of an isolated, inaccessible mountain, the grief of a married couple who lose their daughter festers for decades until it merges with the mountain itself, transforming their home into a flesh-hungry sanctuary that will destroy anyone who dares to desecrate it. The Inheritance and the Ascent — Act I In 1954, Don Ramiro Castro and his pregnant wife, Florencia, abandon civilization to claim an inheritance at the summit of a hostile mountain. To reach it, they must navigate a claustrophobic maze of cane fields, a tunnel of colossal trees where sunlight never reaches the ground, unstable slopes of greasy black mud, and two hundred earthen steps carved into the rock. The superhuman effort required to haul their belongings up the mountain tears at Ramiro's muscles. Beneath a sinister rain of drops sharp as blades, Florencia gives birth to Lily, a child born in rhythm with the dull, subterranean heartbeat beneath the earth. The Feast of Flesh — Act II Fourteen years later, Lily has grown up in cellular isolation. Ramiro arranges her marriage to the son of a muleteer. On her wedding day, a tragic accident stains the bride's dress with blood. During the wedding feast, a demonic force possesses the guests, who begin devouring one another in a deranged slaughterhouse of flesh and bone. Drawn toward the song of an aberrant bird that mimics human screams, Lily falls over the edge of the waterfall's precipice. Driven mad with grief, Ramiro murders the surviving groom and drags his daughter's mangled corpse back to the house. The Rot of the Mind — Act III The parents seal themselves inside the stone house with Lily's corpse. Their shared psychosis (folie à deux) drives them toward ritual self-mutilation and the cannibalism of grief as they attempt to merge with their daughter's soul. Ramiro murders the villagers who climb the mountain seeking answers and buries them beneath the fine wooden floorboards. After Florencia dies from the spores released by the quicklime, Ramiro takes his own life on the cliffside. The property is abandoned for forty years, allowing its psychopathic energy to mature in the darkness. The Invasion of Greed — Acts IV and V In the present day, Esteban Reyes, a cold and ambitious contractor, purchases the property at a judicial auction with plans to build luxury cabins. Accompanied by a crew of laborers and modern equipment, he invades the stone monolith. The mountain responds by unleashing the "mountain fever," causing the workers to vomit human hair and black mud, culminating in a massacre carried out with hammers. The bridge collapses, leaving Esteban trapped at the altar. Lily's spirit takes physical form as a gigantic human spider draped in a torn veil, dismembering the intruders one by one. A police rescue team climbs to the summit, but armed paranoia drives the officers to turn on one another. A sterile fire destroys the traces of modern civilization, yet the gray stone walls remain untouched. The mountain always wins, and Lily's veil continues to hover over the precipice, waiting for its next victims.

• Autore: Helix Ward
• Anno edizione: 2026
• Editore: Helix Ward
• Formato: EPUB2 con DRMFREE
• Lingua: Inglese
• Compatibilità: Tutti i dispositivi (eccetto Kindle)
• Layout: Reflowable
• EAN: 9798237549485