PAGE 3
Journal Entry - Post Sinkhole
I was awakened to a skirmish. A group of Bactrian camels surrounded the area. Karim was fighting one of them. The camel had gotten ahold of the stone tablets. I thought the guards had found us even though they were dressed different.
I stood up and was immediately knocked back down by one of those camels. I didn’t argue with the huge size of the camel. Karim was taken down by two other camels. The stone tablets were taken away.
They went through both of our wagons. They took valuable items from Karim’s wagon and only a few items out of mine. Items with gold on them. I found out later that these were bandits.
Karim counted us lucky. we could have ended up barren and even dead. He told me that he can usually avoid them as he knows areas where they usually roam.
Karim tells me has been robbed before even been left out in the desert with nothing. I was shocked. I asked why he continues to be a travel merchant if it has been so dangerous.
Karim responded with “Good Question” although he didn’t have a response. It seems like a job that he fell into. I did get the sense that he liked traveling. He seemed most content riding along in the wagon.
We left the area taking a different route. Karim didn’t want to go the same direction as the bandits.
At another camp site Karim check his wagon. He grabbed a scimitar. “If only they hadn’t caught me off guard”, he said. He swung the sword around. He blamed his lack of awareness on exhaustion.
I asked him where the sword came from. He had a secret compartment in the wagon. He didn’t tell me where it is.
… It has been sometime since I penned in the journal. It did not seem worth it as we only traveled for days through similar landscape.
We made it to the Elephant lands closest land to the land of Centaurs. The size of the elephants dwarfed Karim. Where the two humped Bactrian camels and one humped Dromedary camels like Karim are six to seven ft these elephants look eight to nine feet.
I gave them a large breadth. I didn’t want to be squashed under their large round feet. Most of them didn’t wear and type of shoes.
Buildings in the area were equally large, they could have fit three of my hometowns in this one village. The backdrop had large forests and large stone structures, similar to the ones underground.
Journal Entry - Post Sinkhole
The material used to make the village huts must have been from the adjacent forest. Large open homes with no doors, pyramid roofs shaped like the large stone pyramids in the distance. The village was built near a stone temple. Karim told me they venerate this temple, and it is the heart of the village. {knowledge about ancient india indus civilization}
The elephants did not want anyone getting near the temple, they had signs posted there, and guards.
Karim however, would not be stopped he told me so. “We will find a way in there.”, Karim said. I don’t know if I wanted to continue. I felt as if I should turn around and go back home. Being caught and squashed was not appealing.
For the rest of the day, we scouted they area around the temple.
Karim had set up his carriage as a merchant store, during the night. The village chief allowed him access. There were several other merchants set up around the village from different lands.
We sat down and talked about a way into the temple while eating some food purchased from the village. There was no back so we would need to distract the guards or sneak past them. The opening was large enough to sneak in the dark of night. I felt safer finding some way to distract the guards.
lucky I pushed for the distraction. The two, night guards were enormous, bigger than the previous ones. How did they hide them in the village.
I regretted not coming up with a distraction I climbed up a tree. I had a stick in my hand. Once I reached the top, using a branch, I placed my foot on for support, I reached out the stick toward the bee’s nest. I poked the area attached to the tree.
I hear the bees very agitated. None of them have stung me though. I worked at the area steadily detaching parts from the tree. Karim was ready with a blanket around him.
The bees nest fell. I bet it rocked those bees. they were flying in a rage. These bees were particularly aggressive. The choir of noise was something. I was stung a few times. quite painful.
Karim picked up the nest and ran. I could see him moving swiftly as I climbed down the tree. There was still a large group of bees in the area. I took more stings as I jumped to the ground and ran off.
I made it just in time. Karim launched the bees nest toward the guards. The nest cracked open. He ran past them screaming about bees. That combined with the sound of swarming bees sent the guards running. It worked; these big guards are scared of bees.
Journal Entry - Post Sinkhole
The temple was wide open. The steps were big. I had to swing my legs up high with each step. I lit a torch and ventured in the dark corridor. Karim told me to check the area with the highest peak at the very rear of the temple.
at the end of an open space, large enough for ceremonial purposes I could see three alters. each with different miniature buildings lined up as points of a triangle. In the center was an opening leading downward with a winding stairwell. I took one last look around before descending.
This path had symbols and architecture similar to the underground dwellings by the sinkhole. I inferred the temple above must have been built some other time.
my steps echoed. These steppingstones made echoes I never hood before. In between steps I thought I hear someone say come in. I stopped, waiting to see if there was someone else nearby. As I continued down the steps I heard it again, but it stopped every time I stopped walking.
at the end of the stairs, behind a large doorway, I saw a huge expansive underground dwelling with many paths. I felt like I was back in the dwellings at the sinkhole.
A glowing corporeal figure stood before me at the entrance. Its form was an elephant but transparent in nature. “You come here to test, yes?”, the being asked. I was dumbfounded and had no answer.
“let us begin”, says the being. before I could backtrack the entrance in front of me closed. My decision would be made for me.
Darkness covered up the paths. I hadn’t been surprised by the internal lighting in the underground area until it disappeared. How did it get light with no outside source, especially at at night. Now only the glow of the elephant and my torch shed light.
Choose your path. Small lights hovered over each arched pathway. I had no choice but to pick a path. I asked the elephant to open the entrance back up but no response.
Where open pathways were present now there was high walls on the paths. There is no way to see any other path and change my mind if I could. I had a gut instinct to take a right path
The walls were smooth absent of any etching or decoration and very cold to the touch. They didn’t reflect well making the light feel much smaller. Each step echoed like the stones on the stairwell.
Another light appeared at the corner of my eye as turned nothing was there. I was at a split path. I turned to the path where the light appeared to come from.
Next to another split path was a large stone machine with a stone shaped cone on one side and a stone disc with wooden handles for turning. Two stone discs were at the front attached to some form of axle that they could turn on.
Journal Entry - Post Sinkhole
the machine was made of many different types of stone with many different colors and etchings that a come to expect in this dwelling.
I turned the handles on the disc. they are as hard as stone with stonelike texture. turning the disc a voice came into the machine it was slow and hard to understand. I went over to the cone. The sound was coming from this side. possibly the cone.
I turned the handles again with the same slow indiscernible voice. Turning fast, the voice became understandable. A commanding was telling me to turn the other way.
I reversed the handles, slowly turning the other way. A booming voice bellowed from the stone cone. “It is a knowledge you seek, yes?” I had an inadvertent reaction and nodded yes as if I was speaking to someone.
“This knowledge path is just the beginning”, the voice said. “If you wish to know you will take what you learn here to the next steps!”
I had a choice. The voice said I can create a stone house, stone tomb, or a stone megalith. The house was the easy one the other ones were said to require more knowledge and ingenuity. I picked the stone house.
The path to the house creation led to an opening in the opening were stones long and short shaped crudely as building pieces of a home. A thinner stone like material looked like it could be placed over the larger stones as a roof. The total material didn’t look like more than to make a single room home.
Another stone machine with the six disks, paired up at top, middle, and bottom and 3 handles aligned with the stone discs and the cone was at one side of the area. I turned the handle at the top as instructed by a phrase on the stone machine, to hear what was next.
The Machine asked which home I would create, “A Trulli, Yurt, Longhouse or something unique”, says the machine. My first task was to name the house carving the name into a stone tablet. A stone tablet nearby was shown as an example of how to do it.
I didnt know much about houses. I only knew some of the houses in my town were considered post-medieval with steep roofs. I picked up the hammer and chisel an began carving a title, “A Post-Medieval House”, in a recessed block area marked withe a letter h. The lettering was crude but legible. this wasnt to different from some of the work I did at my Dad’s black smith. stamping letters onto some of the iron creations.
Journal Entry - Post Sinkhole
“Turning the crank the voice knew what I made. It wasn’t familiar with that type of house but wished me luck. Now I would to use the open spaces to describe how to make the house. If I needed more material, it would be provided. In describing the home, I would need to tell which piece would be used for what purpose. each stone piece had a marking identifying it. I would need to refer to the stone marking when mentioning the piece.
The house could only be one story so I added that to a recessed section of a p block. some words came up telling me to turn the top crank. “The voice in the machine told me a story is not something understood. I would need to show the machine by using a block with recessed with sand in the recess. I began to draw in the sand showing what a house with one story looked like. I would have to do this a few times. the machine didn’t understand certain terms and was using the drawings as reference.
I went into detail about how trees were used as building material. that most our buildings were wood not stone. the stone pieces began to take on a more wood like look but still retain the stone qualities it was almost a petrified wood.
the stone was now dark brownish in thin and long pieces like pieces of lumber. Pretty soon I had a frame. the foundation pieces standing up with perpendicular pieces connecting forming a box. with no walls.
I had drawn a home with a fire place but when I would describe the home the machine did not find any match in the description for a fire place at the center of the home. I wrote in the description that not all would need a fire place as a way to get past having to spend more time. I had already felt that I had gone hours just to get a basic frame. it was also telling me that I should add more pieces to the frame to bear the weight.
I got them positioned right now and with enough stones that the machine voice would allow me to proceed. the stone boards would stick together with no nails or adhesion. the bond was pretty sturdy I pressed on the stone parts.
The machine created stone panels that would seal to the frame and act like walls with holes in certain parts that would act as windows. they moved into place with ease I didnt have to push or lift them (like I would be able to lift stone panels from off the ground).
I had no idea why I put so much effort in this task. maybe it was because I didn’t want to get stuck here for not completing a passing task. Maybe it was to prove that I could do something that my father thought I wouldn’t be able to do without hand holding.
Working dilligently, I used the heading and available writing spaces on another tablet to go into detail about wood siding for the exterior, wood slats for the interior, and wood shingles for the roof. believe it or not I did repairs on the store my father owned, superficial usually.
Journal Entry
Explaining dimensions and texture were difficult. the machine didn’t understand lots of terms, so I had to fish for terms the machine understood. I used more tablets the writing and drawing ones feeding them into the machine. the machine would take them one at a time turning the handle each time.
I would hear if I made a mistake or see a mistake in the materials. I went through several iterations of wooden finishes they just didn’t seem right. texture and color were getting close, keeping certain parts, leaving off other parts. once I had an ideal one of each, shingle, slat, siding I position them at the edge of the individual areas.
Lining them up proved difficult I would end up with spaces and uneven positions that made them look sloppy as they built up one after another. I must have taken a day to get them just right. I was surprisingly not hungry and didn’t require much rest. As I made my way to the goal slowly but surely I gained a sense of satisfaction.
The machine told me I completed the challenge. It would store this knowledge of this new type of house. I looked upon the house, very quaint, I felt like taking a nap inside, enjoying the fruits of my labor. an opening revealed itself, much brighter than the room. I would have to move on. Not much time left to enjoy the look. Someday I would create another home just like it although much bigger.
I found myself outside in the daylight now. I wondered around. It looks like I am outside the village but not too far from it. I would look for my carriage and Karim. I’m not sure how long I had been down there. It could only be half a day.
Strange the last thing I remember was an opening covered in sunlight. I was a short distance from the village. It was bright outside, and the sunlight was beating down on my face. Entering the village, I saw the business of village elephant people moved about. I watched myself around them. They might not notice me, and I could become trampled meat. Once I had a vague idea of where I was, I went toward where the carriages should be.
My carriage was there but Karim was gone. I checked around to see if he might be somewhere else in the village. I asked villagers but no one had seen him around for several days. could I have been in the temple that long? It did seem like a long time but not that long. Hunger began to take me. I went back to the carriage for something to eat. A couple of biscuits should be enough. I still had some water to wash down the dry biscuits.
The food supply was low from being robbed by the camel bandits. I would need to find a general store. A nice gentlemanly elephant pointed out their village had two pretty much on either side of town. I picked the one I was closest to an could see from a distance.
Journal Entry
Inside was the smell of strong spices my nose had not sniffed such powerful smells. my tongue burned slightly. I hoped not all food would be covered in the strong spices. I talked with the store clerk to find something mild. Getting him to understand what I was looking for was difficult. There was a language barrier, and he did not fully understand. I mimicked that I do not want hot food. I shake my head and pant as if my tongue was on fire.
A few items the store clerk handed me were very strong smelling worse, than what I felt just standing at the entrance. I pointed to something that looked to be mild some dried meats that didn’t look to have any type of spice on them. I purchased the items with gold coins they store clerk was familiar with dog land currency and the prices were fair.
I was back outside. Something nearby the village had caught the villager’s attention. pretty soon there was a crowd forming. I followed the crowd although I couldn’t see what they were looking, massive elephant bodies covering up the object of attention.
I asked one of the elephant villagers what it was they were looking at. it was a home like nothing they had seen before. How curious I thought. then I wondered maybe I saw it before and just dreamed about being in the temple.
I was able to get a glimpse. the same house I created stood before me. I was shocked. I vividly remember working on this but to see it outside, how did It get here? I made my way past the crowd, not worried about getting trampled. I touched the walls, walked around the structure. Even the smell was the same. It smelled of pine wood. The wood was common in my town.
“Did you build this”, one of the elephant villagers asked me out of curiosity. I hesitated. I responded saying I saw this in a dream. Other villagers looked at me out of curiousity. “It reminds me of my town” I said. this started a commotion between the villagers.
A precession came this way, elephants adorned in fantastical garments, very colorful and gaudy, symbolizing prestige. the villagers clear a path from the precession to the house. I stepped aside. I bumped into someone moving backwards. I looked back it wasn’t an elephant, but a camel. Karim was here. “My friend where did you go”, said Karim. I whispered the tunnel and then I woke up outside. “I haven’t seen you in weeks”, said Karim. He had left the village carrying out merchant duties and came back to the village with items to sell.
I told him I didn’t believe it and said he must be joking. Karim was earnest. we stepped away from the crowd. He had rented out the space for my carriage to stay where I parked it in case I came back. guards hadn’t arrested anyone it was if I just vanished.
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.