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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.
“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.