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Journal Entry - Into the Ruins
A landmark halfway through the camel lands came within sight. Karim recognized the neolithic stone structures as Camtall Holyuk a wondrous site that has been pillaged and used as a hideout for bandits. instead of going around the guard took us straight into the heart of the city remnants.
I felt as though the ancient city was still breaming with life. That the citizens were walking and carrying out daily life. More than the native camels the city had other inhabitants. something part of a large empire.
Many underground stairways lay among the rumble. I saw lots of familiarity to the sinkhole ruins. we ran over lots of stray debris, rattling our wagons but the guard had us press forward. I can hear one of my wheels getting ruined. I hadnt checked on them in awhile maybe I should have. it made an odd cracking noise and with each roll over debris it got worse.
I told the guard once it got so bad it sounded like it could break off. The guard didn’t believe me and went to look for himself. he gave it a kick. With his feet that big I’m surprised he didn’t knock it off.
I climbed down with a spare wooden and rubber gear tire as a replacement. The guard moved me aside to put on the tire. he was able to lift it up but didn’t have the finesse to fit on the tire. I stepped in after a few moments of him struggling to align the holes into the pegs and attach the wooden gear screws.
Before we could make it back in our carriages, a noise came from one of the downstairs paths. we all stopped in our tracks. it called me and the others by name. The guard thought it could be raiders and drew his sword. I moved toward the path, staring down I saw no one. I wished to see what was down there. The guard held me back before I could walk the steps. He told me I have to continue on the path.
The voices called again louder. The guard called out, “Who is there”. He moved down the path instead. Karim and I waited a while but did not hear anything from the guard. There was no way we could unhook the chains the one saw Karim has was to thin to saw through such large chain links. The guard had the key on his belt link. Nothing for us to do but go down the path.
we went down a dark path, torches in hand. I point out familiar etching I saw on the walls. Karim recognized them to. the voice beckoned us forward. we made our way into a room. much like the room I was in where I had to build the house. The guard was nowhere but his key was on the floor. Karim picked it up. “He just disappeared like you did,” said Karim.
I thought the guard could be experiencing the same challenge I did, stuck in the temple. he could show up back here but weeks later.
There were a lot of paths and spaces where people could hold up. no wonder this was good space for bandits as Karim pointed out. If there were any artifacts that had long since been plundered.
I felt lost navigating this underground city. Karim was just as turned around. Our best bet was just to go back and figure a way out. as we turned around the voice came back calling us by name. echoing throughout the stone hall we found ourselves in. It felt like it came from the walls.
lines of light shined on the floor flowing in one direction repeating a cycle beckoning us to a certain path. we followed the lights. A long path in complete darkness except for the bluish with streaks of light flowing through a path turning left and right in between stone floor bricks, in straight lines. the ground hummed with each cycle of the lights moving in between the floor bricks.
I felt like we were being watched. walking behind us in the dark. Karim could feel it to, eyes lots of them, a crowd forming on stone slates smooth but not slippery. the pale blue light cycled faster as we got closer to wherever it was we were being summoned. The air heated up with the energy from the light, humidity built up on the walls and on our fur.
My eyes were weary, inundated by the light. I saw them stirring in the shadows if it wasnt trickery in my perception. I felt it was more than folliwing it was trapping. stopping any turn away that we may make, if we could with the confusion setting in by hum and strobbing light.
An entryway came into view. we stepped through its archway, decorated with same blue light. symbols different but familiar, they same I have seen outside and in the temple where I was tested. I turned around and saw it a large mass of camel people, stepping back I almost tripped frightened by the sudden surprise. Karim catches me before he too steps back. we were blocked off from leaving.
The crowd of apparitions looked beyond us watching for something to happen. Despite the lifeless expressions we could see that they were looking at the center a large platform in the center casted in shadow waiting to reveal something. we moved away from the archway, not expecting the crowd to move into the room but expecting them to show something horrifying within their presence.
The lights made a dreamlike quality. I closed my eyes, the blinking like pulses from the center of the room were straining. they were too bright to make out what was at the platform and the shadows came back hiding what the lights blinded.
Humming came from the crowd now as the hum from the lights continued both in synch and out of sync. it wasn’t loud but still bothersome. I felt like covering my ears if I hadn’t already been using them to block out the light. even with my eyes closed the light saturated my lids making bright red.
Something pushed up from the center as if raised up by the lights and humming of the ghostly. It pushed the light to the sides, and the shadows grew more pronounced, darker. The giant structure grew taller hidden behind its casted shadows from all sides, swallowing up the light pulsating in the round room with a dome roof. dust filled the air collected from years and years of stagnation. It offended my I crouched against the wall while my senses were inundated. I hoped to block them out in my mind.
The tall structure reached to the top of dome ceiling making contact, not breaking through the ceiling stone despite making a thud when it stopped rising. The lights stopped strobing and softened the noise went down to a quiet whisper. Looking through the archway there were no more ghosts but a darker pathway. Karim had also stood against a wall waiting for the peace to come back.
We both stood staring straight up at the structure that casted shadows. I heard a voice speaking from the shadows. It had a chilling resonance that vibrated through the room rattling my teeth. It beckoned me toward the center. Karim stood back as I moved closer to the shadows.
I touched the stone the voice spoke again. it vibrated the stone with such force it seemed like it could tear apart the structure. I pulled my hand away. the force was so powerful as to make my hand completely numb. my hand struggled to get feeling back. The voice must be emanating from deep within the structure powerful but not loud enough to damage my ears.
You have been initiated the voice said. you can learn the secrets. you will be honor bound to not share with anyone. There will be grave consequences if done so. they voice told me about three temples. temples that would share the very structure of our world. I conversed with it asking questions. what would I do with such knowledge if I could not share it.
The voice told me I would be a preserver. learning the knowledge to keep it from being lost. Like I am a librarian. it seemed to think I would be spending the rest of my life at one of the temples depending on which one I would be in harmony with.
It could not or would not answer questions about the origin of these underground building or the civilization that build it. The voice change and lectured me like my dad as if it knew him and was dismissive of my continued probing like my dad. I felt small and despite my hesitation felt obligated to visit these temples. My curiosity to go to the temples was brushed aside as I wasn’t interested in going to the temples since I was being ordered.
I lifted up the handle as instructed while the object floated in front of me. Putting it to my ear I heard a voice telling me where I can go from here. The temple paths were all laid out for me. it repeated the instructions once it was done mapping out the location of each of the three temples.
I handed it to Karim. he put it to his ear trying to make out a voice. it was nothing to him but loud noises like a whistle he had to move it not so close to his ear. That was in contrast to what I heard it was a quiet voice much lower in tone than a whistle.
I place the handle back on the stone base and grabbed it from its floating position as instructed. The room filled with the booming sound of the structure lowering back into the floor. we lit our torches leaving the room that turned to darkness. all the glowing lines of the floor had gone from the room and the passageway. we made our way out as if we had been here many times before. I could feel the stares of those who lived here within the darkness.
The voice led us too someplace old….
It was not known how long this stone building stood, its many levels and stairways. Its interior was crumbling while its outside stood firm. the difference between the outside and inside was like night and day with the interior looking much older. Could the builders have improved on the outside at a much later time? Despite the crumbling the structure the interior still looked sound. Plant life had grown inside pushing their way in and staying close to the light that shined through the high windows with crystal panes.
At the 3rd level was rows and rows of the same machines with the round disks that rotated by handles. Large stone snakes attached to the machines ran along the floor making tripping hazards and slithering up the walls to the roof. they had those same carved lines that light could pass through the carvings lined with a smooth blue substance. The walls themselves had large panels with stone machine with discs and handles that
The air felt cooler as we moved further into the large room taking up the whole level. these stone machines were moving on their own. Maybe it was caused by the stone snakes as the flowing light traveled from the snakes to the machines.
On closer inspection I see that machines had petrified wood cylinders, square wood pegs, and various wooden shapes finger sized that can be turned, slid, flipped. pressed. Karim became curious and touched the various machines.
I listened to the voice in the handle, the machine was leading me around to find some information. something called inter manuscript processor (IMP). I had no idea what it did. the message repeated it would be different from most of the other machined about half the size of a disk machine but just as tall.
Journal Entry - Post Sinkhole
In the darkest part of the room where the sunlight did not show, I nearly tripped. Something lying on the floor. my hands resting on the machine the had fallen over, keeping me from hitting the ground. I had Karim help me push it toward the lighted area.
It had the wording “imp” on a petrified wooden panel with various wooden controls. I addition to the machine I was told to locate operating instructions. somewhere in the room a manuscript should be stored to operate the machine.
The manuscript was hidden in shadow in between stone machines that just left enough space to slide it in between them. Karims eyes were able to see it as he was tall enough to see a shimmer of light shine on the narrow space.
It was made of wooden pages petrified and held together with stoned rings hooked into holes in the wood. they could be flipped back and forth. It was heavy even for Karim. its writing was unfamiliar very simple in form but completely foreign, circles and lines.
The handle wouldnt tell me anything. It just repeated the same phrases ending with the manuscript. It was just a series of instructions to be carried out and I should know what to do with the manuscript or who to give it to.
A hatch opened up below the this panel with a series of different shaped that could be turned or pressed making them recess into the machine or pop out if pressed again. We looked for anything that matched the pattern of lines and circles. The one thing that stood out is a the slot in the hatch had scrapes. something was wearing away at the stone housing.
the slot was about the same length and width as one of the wooden pages. I felt the petrified wooden page and could sense scraping along the top. With Karims help we put the first wooden page in the stack. nothing happened so we tried fliping the page around and slid it into the slot. causing some activity on the panel. the stone shapes move on their own.
I waited for activity to stop and inserted the next page in successive order. something inside my head was telling me I was doing it correctly. had I done this before in a dream. It felt very familiar. I was a worker of some kind in this giant building of stone machines. I did nothing important just menial tasks.
A loud ringing noise sounded as if a cacophony of brass bells sounded off at once familiar yet foreign. blue lights disappeared and red lights blinked around the whole room. I still felt compelled to finish. Karim covered his ears looking for the exit among the strobing effect.
I had to finish. the voice coming from the stone handle told me to finish it was aware of the alarm going off but warned of dire consequences for not completing the task. as I worked to insert each petrified wooden page, I could hear groans of old wooden doors open very loud breaking through the noise of the alarm. We did pass by a series of Giant Petrified wooden doors in the room below.
Loud thuds came from below in the lower room. Then more thuds came from the room above. so power were these thuds they dropped dust and small pieces of stone from the ceiling. the structures vibrated with more and more thuds kicking up dust from the large room like smoke rising.
By the time I finished the was room was clouded in dust. I had no idea their was so much in the room. I shielded my eyes looking for karim. I called out to him moving around the area seeing if he was still here. I had been in such a frenzy I didnt know if he was trying to find me as well. The roof had shown cracks and chunks of rock fell, bigger than before. I was almost hit by a large rock.
Thudding left the upper room getting quiter and then picking back as if something large was coming down. At the same time something large was coming up. I found one exit but didnt see Karim. I should go back and see if he went out some other way.
I coughed, expelling dust I had breathed in. I was reluctant to go back in as I went into a coughing fit. I stepped away. I heard Karims voice, he was somewher in the room. I pull my shirt over my nose, wiped dust off my eyelids. I went back in.
We found each other somewhere in the center at least thats what it felit like. Karim pulled me toward one way. an exit. the loud thuds came closer from all directions. Eye like lava shown through the dust. numerous ones staring us down. Something tall and stone like came toward us. we cut one way finding an leading upstairs. Thick stone legs and arms like tree trunks moved. the stone beast came down the large steps. Now I knew why the steps we came up were so large.
on our way back down the stairs we ran back into the room almost being struck by one of these massive creatures. as tall as Karim was he was nothing to these massive stone creatures. there was a big crash. one of the creatures fell through the floor. sucking the dust into the room below. We had more visibility.
The beasts were everywhere and too much for the room. breaking machines and cracking the floor and ceiling. they moved slow because of such massive size. A giant stone beast crashed through the ceiling and right through the floor making the whole in the floor bigger. Light came into the room, illuminating the room. Karim pointed to the correct exit. we rushed toward that section, weaving around the stone Golems. yes golems, Karim told me these are golems.
We entered a long hallway, familiar from our trip into the building. The crash of stone footsteps thundered down the corridor, each impact rattling dust from the ceiling. Karim urged me to keep moving despite me tripping over stone fragments strewn over the pathway. he lifted me up by my arm, dragging me through as chunks of debris from the ceiling, skittered across the floor. A heavy fist slammed into the wall inches from Karims shoulder, leaving a crater that blew chalky fragments into the air.
“They’re closing in!” I gasped, half stumbling, half running.
Karim didn’t answer— He wasn’t wasting breath as he helped carry me. We dodged another swing, the golem’s arm carving through a wooden support beam that splintered like kindling. The only way out was around them in a small corridor when compared to the Golem’s size. The corridor shook as the hulking creature wrenched itself free. Two more shadows lurched behind them, their stony joints grinding with an awful, deliberate rhythm.
we burst into the main hall, the wide double doors of the exit glimmering in the torchlight like a promise of freedom. Relief sparked in my chest—until the ground trembled. A fourth golem lumbered into view, positioning its massive frame directly in front of the doors. Its head tilted, as though mocking their desperation. another golem fell through the ceiling, a close call. The building wasn’t made to support their weight so I wondered they were brought here in the first place.
Stone fists hammered the walls as Karim and I sprinted through the hall, dust choking the air, my left leg screaming in pain, i hoped it was not broken, the fall really banged me up when I land on rocks. Three golems loomed behind, their strides relentless, and the fourth stood barring the exit, a wall of granite where freedom should have been.
These giant beasts were not just after us but destroying the building for some reason. We had to get out before this building became our tomb.
For a heartbeat, despair froze us. Then Karim spotted the fractured column beside the door. With a sharp tug, He pulled me toward it. We ducked under the swing of the nearest golem, its arm smashing the weakened stone. The column gave way in a deafening crack, toppling into the guardian at the door.
The crash buried it in rubble, just long enough. Karim shoved the doors wide, and the two of us spilled into the night air, how long had we been inside, I looked behind us the stone golems were moving much slower as if their weight had finally caught up with their mobility. the sound of enraged stone echoing behind us as we fled into the dark. They were moving with greater speed before. The ringing in my ear from the noise inside stopped where once I thought we were running we are simply walking. The noise had impaired our perception.
Journal Entry
Karim himself went down into the under part of the tunnel and didn’t see any opening that I had told him. The guards hadn’t arrested anyone it was if I just vanished.
Villagers were weary of the temple when Karim talked about it. Many stories of people vanishing. I told him I didn’t feel in any danger even though I was in a sense forced to build a house. Karim never questioned my fantastical story he believed it did happen even though it still felt like a dream to me. dog land currency and the prices were fair.
The next moment we found ourselves escorted to a house of the village chief. It was obvious we had been pegged as those responsible for the house. I admitted I was the one that trespassed into the old temple. Karim though had been spotted being suspicious around the temple to and they also pegged him as entering the temple. beside the chief was the religious leader.
“it seems that you two have tresspassed into the temple. But you have done something that hasn’t been done in a long time.” said the chief. The chief began to talk about the history of the temple, what it was created for and how long it had been in existence. it was a rite of passage. whoever could accomplish its challenge would be free to move on to the next rites. It was created by a stone age society long since vanished.
We packed up our things and in the morning, we went on road. a very large village guard followed behind in his large wagon to make sure we would arrive at our next destination. long chains attached his wagon to our carriages so we could not escape.
we ended for back through the camel lands. The way we were going worried Karim. we were going into hostile desert area where Bactrian and Dromedary camels did not get along. Pleading with the guard to alter the course didn’t help. He was determined to follow the stone map exactly. His cart would bump into ours if we were not peddling fast enough.