Time: 10:12:57 24 December 2021; Christmas Eve
Agh. This dust.
I was coughing and spitting the dust out of my mouth. I then glanced at my watch.
Cracked. How wonderful.
The watch face was cracked, and it was impossible to properly read the time. I took it off of my wrist and threw it back into my backpack.
This crimson tinge has clear numbers now. And they seem random, but also purposeful. But I have no idea what they mean. That's funny. I got some girl's number, and now I am hallucinating that there are numbers everywhere. How pathetic.
I slowly stood up, and hobbled to the wall. I scanned my surroundings, and after a cursory search, I quickly figured out that I would not be getting out the way I fell in. There was a slope that was much too high and smooth to climb. Also, some of the rocks had caved in, blocking any chance of escape that I could have taken. The only way to get out of this mess would be to find an exit along this maintenance pathway. I pulled a small LED flashlight out of my bag, and made my way down the maintenance tunnel.
At the very least, there should be some way to get out of here. This was meant for humans after all…
I started making my way down the tunnel, and the crimson numbers became more like static interference. And if I turned directly East, the strength seemed to grow almost exponentially. So, with no other bearing, I made my way East. I slowly felt my way along the tunnel, and it joined up with another, larger tunnel. I decided to turn East, as again, that was my only bearing down here. The more I moved, the more the interference strengthened.
This kind of hurts my eyes, actually…
As I stumbled down the maintenance tunnel, I was amazed by the intricacies of the cabling and piping to make this area possible. I have always been curious about how these logistics worked in the past. Especially the behind-the-scenes black magic sorcery. As I felt my way down the tunnel, I noticed that there was water pooling at my feet. But, something felt off. I was clearly on an incline, but the water was puddling.
How Strange. Something's fishy about this area.
I dipped my hand in the water and noticed that the water wasn't cold, but it wasn't warm. And it also wasn't the cleanest.
I followed a large black pipe named Hot Water Return. It may lead me to an area where I could try and get out. The maintenance tunnel was dark, but there were some intermittent lights that I could use to actually see.
I don't know how long I walked, but it seemed like I was walking forever. My legs were aching slightly, but I knew that I hadn't sprained my ankle, which was a major plus. However, my spirits were considerably dampened when I came up to a hermetically sealed door. I had no way of opening it either. The pressure difference was far too great for a single man. With the glorious power of hydraulics, I could have totally gotten through that door. But that was a department I was sorely lacking in.
I backtracked slightly and found a small passageway that I had previously missed.
^^^^^^^^^
I rounded a corner and almost fell deeper into this labyrinth. The only issue I had, however, was the fact that the deeper I explored, the less "regular" the tunnels became. And the materials used for the tunnel walls also seemed irregular in this area. They did not have the predictable shape of any normal maintenance tunnel. Nor did they have any actual cabling or piping visible.
Furthermore, the tunnel pathing was also irregular. They didn't seem to have any true reason or logic behind their construction. At least not from a rational or an engineer's perspective. They just seem to wind through and connect up with each other in random places. However, the connections and tunnels seemed to be planned. They seemed to be purposefully built. Just not for any purpose that seemed likely for the modern era.
There are tales of labyrinth ruins appearing throughout history. The most famous one is probably Daedulus's labyrinth in ancient Greek mythology. The whole purpose of Daedalus's labyrinth was to keep the Minotaur in. And, as the pathing within these ruins seemed to indicate that it, in fact, was a labyrinth. So, by an easy process of deduction, these ruins were trying to keep something in. And outsiders out.
Apparently, the story of that minotaur is kind of cursed. Poseidon, yes, that Greek god, gave King Minos a white bull to sacrifice. But he didn't. He sacrificed a different one. So, with Poseidon all upset, he sought out Aphrodite to get King Minos's wife to lust after that bull. And she did. And she gave birth to a minotaur. You know how hard that must be? But I digress.
The tunnels were almost completely still. Save for some falling dust, I detected no signs of movement. Even with my military tracking and recce experience, I could not detect any movement. So, either someone was ridiculously good at covering up their tracks, or no one had been in this area in a long time. I decided that it was probably the latter.
^^^^^^^^^
As I rounded a bend, a large chasm in the surrounding rock somewhat obstructed my path through. I felt a cold wind pierce through the otherwise still air. The eerie fluted howl it made was enough to keep my drowsy eyes alert. With a small run-up, the chasm was easy enough to leap over. I had already explored most of the tunnels on my side, and they hadn't really turned up anything interesting.
Okay…3…2…1…Jump!
I mentally gave myself a countdown and leaped over the void beneath to the other side.
Guess there's no going back.
I had jumped to a slightly lower level, so the idea of jumping back if I needed became absolutely impossible. But, because I had already explored the previous area relatively thoroughly, I felt confident enough to make the jump.
After only walking a few steps, the pathway opened up into a slightly larger room. Somewhere where I could take a quick breather and investigate my surroundings. Having been trekking in the tunnels for quite a while, the feeling of taking off my backpack was refreshing. It wasn't that heavy, but a lot of sweat had accumulated on my back. The lone breeze from the chasm I had just traversed provided a nice cooling sensation to my body. I decided to take a five minute breather here and drink some water. I leaned back and self-adjusted my vertebrae with a satisfying series of cracks and pops.
Ooooh…That felt really good.
Picking my flashlight back up off of the floor, I shined it at the wall.
This isn't concrete…this feels like…ancient marble, maybe?
I touched the wall and the surface was unlike concrete.
Current scans and geological or archaeological surveys of the area had no mention of winding tunnels through ancient marble. And that was ringing major alarm bells in my head. I swung my bag back over my shoulder and kept walking forward. There was no natural lighting in this cave system, and the torches had all burnt out and started disintegrating. I had no way to relight one of them after they had reached that pitiful state.
Clearly, someone hasn't been doing their caretaking job properly. And it looks like they haven't done so in at least a couple hundred years…at a minimum.
As I kept walking through the tunnel, I wondered to myself what could be the purpose of this tunnel system. But my thoughts were quickly broken by a new obstruction laid out in front of me. Another one out of probably a thousand more.
I peered over a ledge and popped a chemlight out of my bag and dropped it down the massive sinkhole in front of me. I mentally calculated the rough depth of the hole when I saw the chemlight sink into some murky water.
Not too deep…
I dropped down to a lower level with a loud splash.
Splish Splash Splish Splash.
The rhythm of my steps combined with the movement of the water seemed almost soothing. It almost lulled me into a state of semi-conscious, but I knew I had to stay alert. I had no idea what was down in this somewhat flooded section of the labyrinth. Further adding to my somewhat growing anxiety, the flashlight started to flicker. Just a little bit. But enough to make me somewhat worried.
The swamp-like water was only about ankle deep, so the bottoms of my cargo pants got a little moist, which is one of my pet peeves. That and when the edges of my sleeves get wet. I absolutely hate that feeling. What made the situation worse was that the liquid killed my flashlight, even though I swear the flashlight never touched the weird liquid at all.
I kept walking down a seemingly endless path. Now that the somewhat intermittent ceiling lights had all but disappeared, I was completely at the mercy of my flashlight, which I haven't checked the batteries on in a while. But, the further I walked down the deteriorating path, the seemingly brighter it got. It was paradoxical. Rationally speaking, it should be harder to see. There is much less light here than before. My eyes are adjusting well to the darkness. Too well. And the red tinge in my vision seemed to outline every line, curve, and shape in the ruined pathway. As I kept going further into the cave system, I could make out details I couldn't before. Small pebbles jutting out from underneath my tread. Tiny hairline cracks in the stone. And, most worryingly, I could see to a distance that I could not see before. A much further distance, and my depth perception had not been affected in the slightest.
This feels like I'm wearing Quad-Nods. My eyes were never this good in the dark. But I can see depth too. It's frightening…
My worry was that this weird tinge and the previous headaches were physically changing my biology. No humans should be able to see this well without Night Vision Goggles. But, even with the added buff, It was impossible to see what was under me, as the murky water obscured my vision. It was almost like the liquid I was sloshing through was more like oil. The resistance my feet felt was considerably higher than that of normal water. But it wouldn't stick like mineral oil.
This liquid I am walking through, I don't know what it is. It isn't like anything I have seen or experienced…
In the distance, I heard a quiet, but distinct noise.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Suddenly, I stepped down some steps, bringing the level up to my waist. As I fjorded through the viscous liquid, I noticed that I wasn't actually getting wet. When I would step up, my clothes were completely dry.
I don't think this liquid is from around here…It seems to break the laws of nature…
I waded through the liquid until it opened up into another larger room. I took a gander inside and saw a large purple crystal jutting through the ceiling, and the fascinating liquid slowly dripped from its bottom point.
This must be one of the sources of the liquid. There are probably more, as the rate at which this is dripping is not enough to fill this tunnel system…
The crystal was extremely large, and was a shade of dark purple. It emanated some light, but not enough to properly make anything out with. Almost the entirety of the room was taken up by the crystal, and I barely had enough room to stand properly. Hunched over, I tried to get closer to the crystal and investigate it and admire its beauty. I touched it, and a burning sensation engulfed my hand. Out of reflex, I tore my hand away, but, of course, I was still curious. I again placed my hand on the crystal, but after the short burning sensation, I felt like my hand was connected to the crystal. And the pools of liquid on the floor. I could sense things I previously couldn't. Where things were, where other crystals like this were…
This…is fascinating…and also most definitely not human…
I was able to create a rudimentary map of this place in my head. When I removed my hand, the extra senses I had gained momentarily had been lost, but I felt that this was a good thing. A sensory overload would have probably been pretty bad.
As I thought to myself how the crystal connected my senses to itself and the liquid it was creating, the rock under my foot gave under my weight, and I fell further down into the depths of this cave.
Shit…
I had no idea how far I was falling. I hit the floor. Pretty hard. Pain shot up through my body. And then I blacked out.
Time: ??:??:?? 25 December 2021; Christmas Day
A couple hours later, I awoke from falling many meters down. I was half submerged in the liquid that the crystal was creating, which was glowing slightly.
As I tired to get up, immense pain shot through my body. It felt like someone took multiple knives and had pierced both my leg and my stomach. Fuck…I think I fractured some ribs…not to mention my leg…
I looked over to my left side, and then my right side.
Wow, I'm in a bit of luck.
I saw my backpack laying near me, and remembered I had packed my SERE kit before I left. I hadn't expected it to come in clutch when I left today. Or maybe yesterday. I have no way to tell the time at the moment, but I have been down here for at least a couple of hours. I reached over to the bag, and pulled out the neatly packed SERE Kit. I examined the kit for a few seconds, and pulled out the needed medical materials I would need to path myself up.
Splint…and some painkillers…not something too strong. Definitely not morphine. Acetaminophen should work for now…
As I went to treat myself for the falling injuries, something irregular caught my eye. I patched myself up, and went to investigate. When I got closer, it seemed like a small crystal was softly emitting a purple glow. It looked like a miniature version of the larger crystal I had seen before I fell. When I reached in to try and grab it, I noticed a few more. Mesmerized, I grabbed a couple and threw them in my pocket. I noticed that they lined the bottom of the river of pearlescent liquid, and it looked almost magical. My admiration, however, was broken by a pang of hunger.
I hadn't eaten in a while, so I opened up my bag and grabbed a small stove to boil water on. As I lit the stove, I pulled out a dehydrated backpacker's meal. The kind where you only have to add hot water and mix. They actually taste really good.
I decided to make camp in this part of the tunnel system, as it was a little more open than usual. I just hoped that the walls didn't contain any magnesium residue, and that the Carbon Monoxide would rise and ventilate properly. You see, I really didn't want to either be blown up, or be suffocated to death.
As the water came to a boil, I thought about whether or not I should keep going deeper. The decision, though, wasn't that difficult. I literally couldn't make my way back. The only thing I could do was to go deeper. I turned off the burner, and poured the water into the bag to rehydrate it.
Ah, good ol' Chicken & Rice…
I say that sarcastically, but these actually taste pretty decent. I munched on the extremely easy to prepare food and drank some water I had in my bag. Once I finished my emergency meal, I decided to take inventory of what I had remaining in my bag. I emptied everything out of my bag and neatly placed it in front of me.
Let's see…meds look fine…two liters of water…I have a couple of protein bars…two more trekkers meals…hatchet is sharpened…knife is undamaged…
I took one of my empty bottles, which used to contain green tea, and filled it up with the pearlescent liquid. I poured some out as an experiment, and it left no residue, nor any droplets left behind. It flowed like oil, and didn't really splash either, which was interesting. I refilled the now-empty bottle and put it back into my bag, making sure it was properly sealed before doing so.
As I tried to get up, I realized that I would need to get a crutch of some sort, as walking without one would be tough. I had a splint for a reason, after all. I scanned the small room I fell in and found a long piece of wood that hadn't completely rotten away.
What do we have here?
I picked it up, tested its strength, and, satisfied, fashioned it into a crutch using my knife and hatchet. I just needed something rudimentary for now. I carved out some of the sharp areas, and got rid of any splinters on the wood, so I could grip it without having to worry. As I got up and put my weight on it, it didn't crack, which was a major relief.
As I started limping through the tunnels, the red tinge had disappeared. And the interference was replaced by a clear interface. And in the center of my vision, a thick, red, arrow was superimposed on my retinas. Something I could use to see where I should go. It almost looked like a typical Global Position System. But this time, it was a built-in feature.
How nice. But now I know for a fact that something is extremely off here. Something extremely unnatural…
^^^^^^^^^
The sound of my footsteps and the wooden crutch striking the stone floor pierced the silence of these intricate, cavernous pathways. The rhythm of this monotonous movement allowed me to somewhat lower my guard and ease my nerves. Out of this entire expedition, nothing had happened as of yet. Unless you count the falls, but I was taking more in the sense of something that could attack me. Overall, you could even say that this journey was somewhat leisurely.
As I wound through this labyrinth of pathways with seemingly no end in sight, I stumbled across a large, ornate set of stone doors. The arrow pointed directly through this entrance, clearly telling me to open them.
But how?
I had no idea how to open these doors. They looked much too heavy to open them, especially with my injured leg.
Fuck it.
I placed my hand on some sort of indent about the size for a typical human hand. A pearlescent glow emanated from my hands and the door opened with a thunderous creaking. The pearlescent light streamed into ornate carvings in the door. It almost looked as if it was alive, and maybe even breathing.
This door…while amazing, clearly isn't from this world. Also, that light from my hands…
Once it opened a smidge, it started automatically opening. I could hear the clicking of gears, and as I entered, the mechanism to open it reminded me of clockwork.
Wow. The intricate design in this mechanism is awesome. So detailed…How would someone build this…especially in ancient ruins. Fascinating…
Once the door opened completely, I stepped inside and large lanterns immediately were lit with a mystical purple flame. Their light irradiated the room, and the shadows danced in the calming, purple light. Dark green cave vines lined the walls of the room, seemingly acting like a natural sound deadening material. Despite this, however, the echoes of my footsteps reverberated in this great hall, filling the lachrymose air with some life after who knows how long.
It feels as if the air was crying out in loneliness. Only God knows how long it's been since someone set foot in this grand hall. The wear and tear is really showing.
And, breaking the grandness of this grand hall, I started munching quite loudly on a protein bar. Hey, what can I say? I am hungry. And a man's gotta eat.
As I slowly and carefully walked up to the center of the room, I noticed a focal point in which a large dais held some sort of ancient book. Everything seemed to point towards that dais. Excellent design on the architect's part.
Dust had caked everything in the room, and with every step I took, I kicked up so much dust, it looked like a kid was kicking his feet into the sand pit. I covered my mouth and nose with my shirt, and made my way up to the dais.
Before I stepped onto it, however, I noticed the remains of humans lining the walls. I hadn't noticed this earlier because the vines somewhat concealed the skulls lining the walls. Out of reflex, I immediately drew my combat knife and stepped back, surveying the area.
What the hell?!
I slowly walked towards one of the remains and cut the vines concealing it, and took a long look at the set of remains. The skeleton was mostly intact, but it was somewhat submerged in the liquid I was walking through previously. I took a long look into the skeleton's eye sockets, and noticed that the body seemed like it was resigned to its fate when it had died. As my eyes followed its arms, I looked at the liquid the skeleton was submerged in. A dark crimson.
Blood. A sea of blood. No…what is this? Why is there blood flowing in this cave?
I looked at my hands and feet.
Bloody…just like that day. No! This can't be happening.
I started hyperventilating, and stepped back. My leg felt something hit, and I thought I saw a skeletal arm grab my leg, and I tripped backwards. In a panic, I didn't think to protect my head in the fall. I hit my head hard, and blacked out again.
^^^^^^^^^
There were gunshots in the distance. We were surrounded. I was injured. Our green flares had started to sputter. Our last signal was growing weak. My plates had shattered. They were getting closer.
I watched my buddy get shot right in front of me. He fell with a loud and wet thud. The sun was crimson red. A sea of crimson lined my feet. There was a crimson breeze in the air.
Crimson. I hate that color
I was firing my Block II M4 from the wreckage.
Last Mag…Gotta make it count.
Switching to semi-auto, I could conserve what little ammo I had left. I tap fired anything I had a clear shot at. But that was not enough. We were down to three men. We wouldn't last long. And the enemy knew this.
"GRAY! GET THOSE 240 BRAVOS OVER TO THE RIGHT FLANK! MOVE! MOVE!"
I heard the commander yell right in front of us. I looked over to the right and saw a column of enemies, weapons brandished.
And then I clicked.
I pulled out my pistol, and tried to defend with that. But, being injured, it was hard to properly aim. However, I did my best, and most of my bullets hit true. But then I ran dry. I had no more ammunition. Nothing.
I was shot in the leg. I fell backwards. I was beginning to pass out due to the pain. The enemy was about to overrun us. As I was in a state of limbo between the conscious and the unconscious world, I contemplated my existence. Before I fully lost consciousness, however, I looked up at the sky, and the sun was laughing at me. And, with a croak, I asked:
Are we forsaken? Am I forsaken?
And, as I was asking those questions, drifting from consciousness, I heard the distinctive sound of an A-10. Two of them actually. I heard the commander yell through the radio…
"LET 'EM RIP, FLYBOYS!"
And the distinctive BRRRT of the A-10 rang through the sky. And the column was annihilated. I smiled and pumped my fist in the air, which hurt in its own right. A blackhawk arrived on location for exfil, and they pulled me aboard and did some first aid. And then I lulled out of consciousness because of the morphine.
^^^^^^^^^
Time: ??:??:?? + 4 hours
When I awoke, I saw no skeleton grabbing my leg. And the liquid wasn't crimson. It just seemed to reflect red because of the purple lighting in the room. And it no longer had the consistency of viscosity of blood.
Why did I just have another panic attack there? I didn't think anything triggered it…
I rubbed the back of my head, sheathed my knife, and grabbed my rudimentary crutch. I looked at the room with a bit more clarity, and saw a large, vaulted ceiling. There seemed to be frescoes painted on the walls. They had some weird symbols on them, and they seemed to detail a creation story. But I had no way of knowing what it actually meant. It just started off black and empty, and eventually became full of shapes and color.
Wow…this stuff is pretty ornate.
As I stood in awe at the room, I saw the liquid flowing from the ceiling. It looked like it defied gravity, as it trickled upside-down along the vaulted wall. The liquid glowed a pearlescent color; the same as when I opened the door. I again made my way up to the dais, and saw an old, dusty book on a pedestal in the center. I also saw a large, black wall behind it. Something that was extremely unnatural considering the other architecture in the area.
I made my way up to the pedestal, and peered at the book. I dusted off the cover, and read the title.
The Akashic Tome
Tome? That's not something you hear every day. I lifted it up, and opened it.
Blank? Figures.
As I was about to set it down, I heard the grinding of stone, and saw the pedestal was sinking into the dais. Out of reflex, I stepped off the dais, which ended up being the best play. Once the pedestal was flush with the dais, they both sunk into the ground and revealed a long spiral staircase.
I peered down into the long, dark staircase, and heard a loud click. I guess the thing was finished opening. I looked up, and saw a miniature version of the lamp on a hook in front of me.
How considerate…
Having no place to put this Akashic Tome, I threw it into my backpack. I lifted the torch off of the hook, and slowly descended down the stairs, which was much easier said than done. I did have a splint on, after all.
A couple of agonizingly slow - and painful - minutes later, I made my way down the stairs. They opened up into another small cavern, and another pair of doors were at the far end of the cavern. This small area was pretty boring and ordinary. I didn't see anything interesting, other than an abundance of dust and cobwebs. There was no liquid on the floor either. But the doors, however, were much larger than the previous room's. And much more ornate.
Well, something even larger and cooler may be behind these doors…they look like the entrance to a typical boss room in a video game…
^^^^^^^^^
I stepped up to the large door and tried to open it, but it didn't budge. I even put my hands on the indent, but it didn't even start to budge.
Great…How wonderful. I walked all the way down those stairs only to be denied entry? Cool…
However, my irritation quickly subsided when I saw a large opening about the size of the Akashic Tome in the wall. I pulled it out of my bag, and saw an indent on the cover. I put my hand on it, but again, nothing happened.
I then remembered that I grabbed a bottle of the pearlescent liquid, and poured a little bit on the cover. I then put my hand back on the indent, and tried to see if that would do anything. This time, the pearlescent white liquid flowed into the book, and, much to my surprise, when I opened it, there was text on the previously blank pages.
Wow…that's a cool mechanism…but it was kind of useless. I can't read whatever the hell this says.
Somewhat let down, I slid the book into the indent, and placed my hands on the palm sized indents on the door. When I pushed, the same pearlescent glow from my hands flowed into the intricate design of the door, and it eventually clicked, and I could hear the clockwork-like mechanism opening the door.
I could hear the muffled clicking on the other side of the door, and once it had opened up enough for me to pass through, I took a deep breath. I had no idea what could be on the other side of this threshold. My life had already changed greatly in the past few days, but this felt like a point of no return.
The final threshold…
I heard a loud bang; the signal that the door had finished opening. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and then leapt through the door. When my feet landed, I saw streams of purple fire engulf the perimeter of the room. But it was in a controlled fashion, like it was planned by a pyrotechnician. I scanned the room, and saw the large, looming monolith on the far side, directly in front of me. It was the same object as the one in the room above. They seemed to be one large piece; one large object.
In awe, I looked up at the monolith and saw it pierce through the ceiling above. I also saw countless runes lining the walls in a seemingly circular fashion. Carved into the walls and floor, these runes seemed to be in a pattern. Something I could not make out. I took the remaining pearlescent liquid I had stored within the bottle I had previously collected and tried to pour a little bit on the runes.
Maybe this'll work?
Sadly, nothing happened. The room remained inert and unchanged; completely static.
Damn. That worked last time. Why not this time?
^^^^^^^^^
As I muttered to myself, I hadn't noticed a large entity sneak up behind me. I was torn from my thoughts when I heard a small movement. A pebble had moved by some unknown means. I drew my combat knife and turned around to see a looming, four legged, thing looming overhead.
What the hell-?
I jumped backwards out of reflex, but because I was still somewhat injured from my earlier fall, my leg gave out from under me. I crumpled to the floor, knife raised, and the monster bounded towards me. I blocked its claw-like appendages with my knife, and with my good leg, kicked it in the stomach as it was on top of me. It flew into one of the supporting pillars in the room, and was dazed for a few moments, allowing me to pull out the hatchet from my bag so I could dual wield them. I drew both weapons and got into a combat ready stance. I surveyed my enemy as it was recovering from the collision, and noticed a couple things.
First and most obviously, it was most definitely NOT from this world. At least not in this time period. Secondly, I saw most of its front and back protected by some sort of stone-like armor. Third, I saw how its muscles rippled through its skin. Fourth, the exposed belly and legs were covered in fur, but I didn't know if my 7" combat bayonet would pierce through any vital organs. Fifth, it looked kind of like a sabertooth cat, but also way more bulkier. And lastly, I saw a large, oblong, crimson stone placed in the center of its head. And that red light was emanating from that spot to the rest of its body.
Before I was able to gather more information, the beast-cat thing decided that it was done being dazed and raised its hackles, getting ready for another attack. This time, however, when it pushed off its powerful legs, I easily side-stepped it and drove my knife into an unprotected area between its side and its stomach.
Eat shit, you stinky bastard…
The beast howled in pain and anger and turned around. Dark black liquid poured out from its side, and the area was smoking. I raised my combat knife, only to realize that the blood was some sort of acid; it started melting the blade. I had no other option but to try to use it as a throwing knife. Which, sadly, didn't work at all. It just bounced off one of the beast's armor plates.
The beast turned around again, and got ready for an attack. But being in some pain, I couldn't properly dodge. My best course of action was to throw my bag to the side as a distraction. As the monster was about to push off the ground, I threw my bag over to the side. Just as I had hoped, the distraction caused the beast to miscalculate the proper trajectory and it annihilated my bag.
Shit. What little food and meds I had left are ruined now…
Somewhat irritated about the new development, I was a little slow on the uptake. The beast had reared and launched itself towards me, and I took most of the force. I held up my hatchet to block, but I still got thrown across the room and hit a another supporting pillar.
Agh. Shit.
I coughed up a little bit of blood, and tried to get up. Much to my dismay, I again crumpled to the ground. With the beast about to charge in and finish me off, I felt a surging power reach my right hand. Before I could guess what that feeling could be, the beast pushed off the ground, going in for the killshot. But this time, it felt slower than normal. Out of reflex, I reached down to my thigh to draw a pistol that wasn't there.
But it was.
I quickly drew it and shot two bullets. One hit it's leg and caused it to tumble, and the second one hit true. A Killshot to the crimson crystal embedded in its head. The beast tumbled and rolled a couple of times, and then laid lifeless right in front of me. In awe, I looked at the pistol that appeared out of nowhere. It was a well-worn M45A1. Not just any well-worn combat pistol, but the same one that had saved my life many, many times in the past. I smiled and inspected the gun.
Saving me again, trusty partner? Thanks…
I checked the magazine. Five rounds of .45 ACP remaining. I holstered the battle-scarred pistol with a small grin on my face. I tried to get back up, but my legs gave out from the pain I was in.
Definitely some cracked ribs.
I slowly crawled towards the corpse of the beast that I had just barely managed to defeat. By some miracle out of nowhere, it became my food. I had to eat something. I found the hatchet that had taken the full force of that terrible beast, and was happy to find that it wasn't completely ruined, which was a pleasant surprise. I hacked away the armor plating on the beast to reveal bare skin, and tried to carve out some meat.
I have no idea if this is edible or not, but I am famished. I need to eat something. I lost all of my supplies to this thing, so I better be able to make up for it here.
While hacking up the monster to harvest meat, I had noticed that the shockwaves of both myself and the beast hitting different columns had weakened the ceiling, and some cracks were showing through. The pearlescent liquid was flowing down into this room along the remaining pillars. I say remaining because two of them had been pretty much completely annihilated. And the liquid was also dripping down in the place where those pillars used to exist.
Wow, this meat…is it…edible?
I looked at it. And it was slimy. And a weird color. Like it was a normal color, but instead of being red blood, it was like a yellow brown. Like spicy mustard.
Eeeeh…what the hell is this…
There was a peculiar…stench…to it.
Eeeeuuuh…the smell.
I didn't have anything to cook it with, so I was going to have to eat it raw. Sashimi style. Hopefully, it doesn't taste too weird. I took the carved chunks of meat and sat against one of the remaining pillars.
Well, here goes nothing…
I took one piece of meat and tossed it into my mouth. It wasn't tasty, but it wasn't terrible, either. It was just highly acidic. And it burned a little bit. But, it tasted pretty close to beef.
Definitely not the worst thing I have ever tasted.
I put another piece of beast meat in my mouth, this time a little bit larger, and bit down on it. This meat was also a tad chewier. Definitely not for anyone with teeth problems. Even raw, it was as chewy as a slightly-over-well-done steak. Like, the kind that takes forever to chew, and then your jaw starts to ache after a piece or two. But, my hunger needed to be sated. I am a hungry man, after all. Well, most of the time.
I swallowed another piece of monster meat and threw a third piece in my mouth. By this point, my lower jaw was in considerable pain. I have to chew about a hundred thousand times to even have a chance of swallowing this meat. My jaw was aching when I suddenly felt really thirsty. I grabbed the only bottle that hadn't been completely annihilated, and filled it with the only liquid in the room. That flowing pearlescent substance.
As the bottle filled, I popped another piece of rubberized meat into my mouth. As I chewed and swallowed, I grabbed that bottle and chugged about half of it before setting it back down to refill.
Sweet and cold. Refreshing. It's almost like a nectar…
As I popped another piece of beast-meat into my mouth, I felt a sudden searing headache behind my eyes. It spread to the rest of my head and down to my limbs. Even the tips of my phalanges hurt. My vision started to go extremely blurry, and I had no idea what was happening. I tried to grab one of the morphine injectors that hadn't been destroyed, but before I could grasp it, I slumped over and lost consciousness.
For like the fourth time or something.
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Time: ??:??:?? ?? December 2021
A small glow flickered occasionally in this otherwise lightless cavern. It's shape wasn't clear. It looked obscured by something. A frosty façade, perhaps?
Over time, the flicker grew brighter. And clearer too. And it's surroundings also faded into view. A quiet noise could be heard. Drip…drip…drip…
Drip.
I shot awake. And the pain shot through my body. My vision was still a little bit blurry, but the pain had mostly subsided. I was almost completely submerged in that pearlescent liquid. I gathered my wits and tried to sit up. With a little work, I propped myself against the pillar. As I gathered my wits, I stared into a reflection. My reflection. But it wasn't me. My features had changed. My scars were considerably smaller. And, most glaringly, my previously jet-black hair was now frost white.
What the hell?! I murmured aloud.
I took a closer look at my reflection and felt my face to make sure that that reflection was, in fact, my face. A flurry of emotions ran through my head.
Anxiety? Check. Astonishment? Check. Confusion? Check. Happiness? Maybe…
What little wits I had gathered had all been scattered at this point. I had no idea what was going on. And looking at that new image of myself? Talk about a glow up. Even the bags under my eyes were mostly gone. Mostly.
As I went to stand up, I realized I didn't need that splint anymore. I took it off and threw it to the side.
Whatever just happened ended up being worth the price, I guess.
I stood up, or more jumped up, and popped just about every joint in my body. The release of stress was exhilarating. I hadn't felt that stress-free since I was a kid. I stretched a little bit, and then turned my attention to that massive monolith in the center of the room.
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Long, Long, Long ago, when humans prayed to Gods, magic was omnipresent. Guardians of the five ancient monoliths rose to power. These omnipotent guardians were able to harness the power of these ancient structures. Through the weathering of time, however, these monoliths eventually were buried, along with any memories associated with them.
Each monolith carries a powerful ability, and the guardians had free reign over these powers. With each great historic empire, kingdom, and society, a monolith was normally hosting powers for that great society. The Ancient Greeks. The Ancient Romans. The Ancient Egyptians. All of these great ancient societies had some monolith generating some certain power. The Ancient Egyptians even went as far as creating a model of one; the famous obelisk.
Even the Bible has references to the effects of these monoliths. The plagues in Egypt, for one, as well as the attempt to recreate one; the Tower of Babel. But they were not able to have the pearlescent liquid properly permeate through the structure.
However, people stopped believing in magic. And they stopped believing in Gods. Thus, with the passage of time, these monoliths became ever more static. With no magic power to draw on, they became incredibly inert. As humanity sped towards a more atheistic society, they had no will to draw upon…No meaning to them…
Here and there, however, they have been activated. Many natural disasters could be attributed to these awe-inspiring activations. Historic trends and cycles could also be attributed to these monoliths. The once-every-century global pandemic is the most obvious historical cycle with no clear explanation. But, in reality, it's actually the monolith of pestilence that gets activated every so often.
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I made my way to the center of the room, inspecting the massive monolith. However, before I got up close, I felt a warmth emanating from my pocket onto my thigh.
I don't think I packed any hand warmers…
I reached into my pocket and grabbed the objects emitting the homely warmth. And, in fact, they were the small crystals I had picked up. The light they were emitting was soft and bluish-purple. The kind of color they use to sooth passengers on long-haul flights.
In my hand, the crystals started to levitate slightly. Once they got to a certain height, they would start spinning slowly. The fluid movements of the crystals were extremely mesmerizing. While watching the crystals move in that fluid motion, I realized the small shards of ancient marble at my feet were also levitating in a similar fashion. I stepped back, and the rocks that were levitating at my feet suddenly fell to the ground. However, different shards started levitating. Apparently, if the loose rocks were in a certain vicinity of my body would levitate, and if they left that zone, they would become inert and fall back to the ground.
Curious. Now, are we just outright violating the laws of physics now? How wonderfully repulsive!
I bent down and picked up one of the shards that were levitating by my feet. I inspected it, and let it levitate on my hand.
This is just normal rock. Nothing special about this one…
I had come to the conclusion that something in this room was causing these law-breaking phenomena. Once my curiosity started to fade away, I once again resumed my journey towards the looming monolith sitting in front of me.
I sat down in front of the monolith to try and regather some of my senses. I had no idea whether or not I was dreaming or hallucinating, after all. I sat for a couple minutes and closed my eyes.
^^^^^^^^^
I slapped myself really hard across the face. I had to make sure that I wasn't hallucinating.
Guess not. Damn.
I got up and shook my head. My cheek kind of stung from that slap.
Maybe a little too hard…
Noticing runes engraved on the monolith, I ran my fingers over one of them. They each had a considerable indent, however, the tips of my fingers still hit the bottoms of the valleys. I slowly stroked the monolith, and noticed the runes encircling the monolith in a circular fashion.
Are these…magic circles? Like the ones you see in fantasy novels and video games? These runes sure do resemble them an awful lot…
I crouched down and felt the slightly raised runes on the ground. The white runes, encased in circles, felt like they were drawn with chalk. However, touching them or stepping on them didn't cause them to fade away.
I looked at my hands and noticed a white dust caked on the tips of my fingers. Apparently, they were fading. Just slightly.
Suddenly, in big bold red letters, the word ACTIVATE appeared in the center of my vision. I was extremely confused, but it seemed kind of obvious what it wanted me to do. Matching my heartbeat, the red letters pulsed brightly. And with my eyes being extremely attuned to the dark extremely well, it felt as if I was staring into the sun.
I stood back up, and placed my hand back on the monolith. This time, I closed my weary eyes and imagined something warm flowing through my hand into the monolith. The kind of feeling when you drink a warm drink on a snowy day, and the warmth travels from your insides.
I opened my eyes to find a bright, pearlescent white circle appear on the top of my hand, opposite to the monolith. I poured more warmth into the monolith, and some of the runes started glowing in that pearlescent white color. The color was almost pulsating from my hand into the monolith.
Wow, this is beautiful…
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As the warmth coursed from my body into the monolith, more and more runes started glowing that warm, white color. They almost looked as if they were breathing. After about a minute, I pulled my hand away from the large, cold, gun metal grey monolith and stepped back. The white light slowly started fading from the monolith, as did the large "ACTIVATE" that was kind of obstructing my vision.
Suddenly, every rune on the floor, as well as the monolith glowed a crimson red. It was so bright, I had to shield my eyes with my hands. I heard a loud rumbling, and felt some small debris fall from the ceiling. I looked up and saw the red runes shoot up all along the monolith.
All of the stones on the ground started levitating and spinning wildly. Nothing like the previous calmness when I stepped near them. And the crystals that I had put back in my pocket started showing through the fabric. In a dark, crimson red.
Did I make some horrible mistake?
I took another step back and heard a loud "fwooom." Around the monolith, a red field had appeared. It irradiated an energy that I felt deep in my heart. The pumping of my heart was magnified tenfold, and I saw the field start to synchronize with my heart rate. With every beat, I felt as if my heart was being squeezed by an invisible force.
Agh. It hurts.
The bright red field sliced any foreign debris in its wake. Anything, including that ancient marble, was gone in a split second. The pungent scent of ashes wafted through the air. I started gripping my chest out of reflex. Of course, that did not really do anything. Gritting my teeth, I looked back up that massive monolith.
I stepped backwards but lost my balance. Falling backwards, I didn't have enough time to move back far enough. My left leg was still in the vicinity of the outer circle. I tried to pull myself backwards, but I wasn't fast enough. Another loud fwooom echoed throughout the room. I looked down, and my left leg was severed clean. The lower portion of my leg was pretty much vaporized in the process. The smell of burning cotton and flesh permeated the room.
Just seconds later, an intense pain shot through my leg. All the way down to my foot. Or, at least, where my foot should have been. It had been severed clean. I screamed in agony, and my vision started going a bright white.
I-it's gone! My leg is gone!
Blood spurted all over the floor. Like Angel Falls, the blood was draining from my body with immense force. Any blood that touched the barrier boiled. And eventually evaporated. Watching the steam of my blood rise was an almost ethereal experience. There was absolutely no way I could get out of this one.
I tried reaching from a hemostatic injector to try and curb the immense bleeding. However, it barely stopped the gushing wave of blood.
Ahh
I looked up towards the ceiling. And I saw a large mural on the ceiling. Painted on the mural was the image of a goddess. Her hands outstretched. She seemed like she would take all my pains away. The scale of the mural filled me with awe.
Suddenly, I felt extremely calm. The pain had also started to subside. Out of nowhere, my heart rate slowed. And so did the monolith's energy barrier. I knew I was dying, but I felt so calm. I guess I just accepted that fact. Like the steam would just lift me away somewhere. It's something I've wanted to do for a countless amount of moons now. I just scooted towards a supporting pillar, and propped myself up against it.
I looked down at my stump. There was a small puddle of blood. But also, somehow, there was that pearlescent white liquid again. And small little tentacles had started to rise from it. They grew in length to try and cover my leg. They were providing some serious pain relief. I smiled at the little guys.
Thanks lil bros…
And then my vision started to fade.
Ahh…Finally. Though I am kinda sad.
I still had a few regrets. Like being single my entire life. And that I couldn't tutor that energetic Mayumi. I smiled and lifted up my hands, covered in blood.
Well, I guess this is the end. I have graduated from that hell. I can finally be done with that depression. And PTSD. It feels so nice…
I grinned slightly, chuckled, looked up at the ceiling, let my hands fall, and closed my eyes. The only thing I could sense was that serene dripping sound in the distance. And then I swore I heard a woman's voice.
You did well…I am proud of you…now, rest, my child.
I had died.
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February 1993 - December 2021