Within the sands of time

Sand covers many small now roofless buildings of unknown purposes. Time and weather had been withering away at this place for thousands of years, and it would continue to do so until the city was nothing more than a pile of pathetic rock;for all cities fall no matter how tall they stand. I was here on my own merit. I wanted to see what had become of the once great city of Roman Egypt, and to find hidden secrets buried in sands of time. As I walked through the dead streats, the wind bellowed in my ears. To know these streets were once filled with life. I could almost see people selling and buying things, kids playing, and people talking. This place was like a beast of epic proportions, once ruling over the land, now dead, nothing more than a relic of a bygone era.

I came across a house of considerable size compared to the quaint buildings surrounding it. I went under the door frame to investigate the house. Digging around I found a wooden safe. Prying it open revealed many notes written in a long forgotten language. Thankfully, I had knowledge of the ancient writing, though my ability to read was comparable to that of a child learning how to read. I will do my best at translating. It approximately read as such:

After traveling the desert for many months I have seen something grand. I have discovered an ancient city. The antiquity of this discovery suggests that humanity is much more ancient than previously thought. I have been witness to only the tip of this city. The sun is beginning to fall from the sky. I shall wait till it rises again to venture into the depths of the city. Tomorrow will be a brand new day for humanity.

Today I went to the city for the first time. It was like a giant maze of sorts. I suspect if I wandered for too long I would have certainly become helplessly lost in there. Along the walls of the city was writing of a strange kind. It used pictures instead of letters like we do in modern times. It was also extremely dark down there. Tomorrow I plan to take a bag of sand to mark where I’ve been.

I was able to venture much further with the bag of sand. I went far enough to see strange torches still standing, how they were able to stay a blaze for such an extended period of time is unknown. I saw a long staff that floated in the air, it would sometimes affect the torches, I suspect with strange magic.

I have begun to grow paranoid. Every night when I sleep the earth trembles beneath my feet. I suspect that there is something underground. I am not sure what to do. How do I take action against this rebellion of earth? If this continues further I might have to call off the search. I’m afraid that the next time I go down there the walls will crumble around me. If I am forced to leave I will not be gone for so long. Hopefully tomorrow is a better day

Today there was no sign of any earth trembles. I ventured even further into the strange city. I was frightened when I started hearing a gurgling of sorts coming from a door. I am sure that it was not anything to fret over. I promise you I will be back down there once again when I am able to swallow my irrational fears. I hope I will find something to make use of in this lost city of magic.

This will be my last note. I have made discovery of something so hideous, and petrifying. I have decided it is in humanity’s best interest to never know of the city of dark magic. And furthermore humanity shall halt in Its development. It is much better to stay as we are then face what awaits us in the city of magic. I hope I am able to do this. I will develop a plan when I get home.

-Moses

If you possess any knowledge of the bible you would know the name of mosses. I was incredibly shocked at this revelation. What could have Moses seen down there that frightened him to such an extent he wasn’t even willing to write about it? Did it have anything to do with gurgling noise and earth trembles? I hope not, however that is a likely possibility. Whatever had occurred down there I had to see it, no matter how horrible. I think I know of the desert Moses was talking about. I shall take shelter within these buildings, tomorrow at dawn I will travel the desert. I hope I shall find the truth.

________________________________________________________________________

The night was almost a sleepless one, though I did not require much sleep to make it through the day. I bid adieu to the dead city and prepared to traverse the vast nothing. Traveling the desert was not fun in the slightest. It’s more akin to being in an ocean than on land. everywhere you look is more sand. The silence grows so loud that you just want at least a single noise to be present, any noise except the horrible music generated by wind. Even the most mundane things; like a tumbleweed going pass; give me a rush of excitement. After many half remembered days I finally came across the city.

I searched around and expectedly I found an entrance to it. I was fortunate enough to possess an electric torch. Looking in the cramped tunnel did not reveal yellow walls, instead a washed out blue color.continuing down the hallways I eventually came across a room with hieroglyphics.It looked as though people were putting things in a room and getting back something I am not sure exactly what it was. I could assume the progression of this speed up after some time. It looked like it continued but the rest had withered away. Part of me wanted to brush this off as a mere story told by the people of this dead city, the other part said otherwise. Continuing down the maze I could hear slimy movement coming from a far. I was certain it was a trick of the mind. I kept on going. How did a human civilization live here? I haven’t once seen a place to sleep. I then heard a loud crash originating from the surface. In a panic I hastily ran out of the city of mazes. I was much too paranoid to continue my adventure. Rather if it was a trick of the mind or real I did not want to stay to find out. I eventually found an exit. The bright lights hit my eyes like never before. I noticed the sun was passing beneath the sand. Had I really been down there for that long? I needed to set up camp quickly, for the night brings with it the cold. My tent wasn’t that hard to put up, It took me a mere three minutes to set up. While I began to rest I felt the earth shake, not too hard, just barely noticeable. I did not dwell on it too much, after all what could I do?

I ventured into the city the next morning. It might not have been a great decision, but my curiosity far outweighed my common sense. I went down there but it was slightly different then last time, the layout hade been altered. Mosses never mentioned this, maybe I mistranslated something? I got pretty far venturing for hours. Until I came across a strange room. Moses had not been lying when he said there were floating objects. They seemed to have buttons, well what I could assume to be buttons. A blue aurora came from the floor. A bright screen was positioned at the end of the room; maybe that’s what Moses meant when he said torches? This place was not of magic, but of advanced technology. How did this one city develop technology that far surpasses even our own before the other civilizations had the light bulb? I was intrigued but also filled with a sense of dread.how a city with such advanced technology vanished without a trace is beyond me. After looking around the place like a curious cat, I decided that there was nothing left to do in this area.

After wondering for a while I realised I was going in a circle. To make sure I wasn’t, I dropped a quilt on the hard ground. After traversing the halls in a single direction I was in utter shock to find the quilt standing there. I could have made excuses for the arrangement changing the second time I went in; perhaps I entered a different way?; but you could not make up a logical explanation for this queer occerence. Had I become lost in a strange new world? For I was sure I was in a place not of earth. I had nothing better to do except traverse halls of time. I stumbled across a strange tablet of sorts laying on the ground it read:

“Knowing for knowings sake
just Isn’t showing,
Progressing for righteous reasons
Won’t result in us regressing.
But with What we are up to now
Will awaken o’ hithrowdow
And he’ll bring us all down”

This passage being in my native tongue suggests they developed technology capable of translating any language. I guess Moses wasn’t completely wrong in calling it magic. On the poem itself; its meaning wasn’t wholly lost on me, however the word or name hithrowdow did not take residence within my mind, though the word made me feel uneasy. I believe the passage could have something to do with the unseen thing mentioned in the hieroglyphics. If this is more than mere fiction then it suggests that they ended in a more unwholesome way then I thought. In the distance I saw a black hallway. At this point I had given up, so I was willing to take a chance

At the end of the uncanny hall was a door. It was made of stone which contrasted the advanced technology. Then I heard it, The gurgling moses wrote about. Despite my unease surrounding this door I opened it. It felt like thousands of years worth of wind burst from the door. Then I gazetted upon hithrowdow. Hithrowdow hithrowdow hithrowdow… it kept playing in my mind. Its form wasn’t a blob, or fungus, or a skeleton, nor a bunch of geometric shapes it was impossible to pin down, furthermore it kept changing form. I could tell It was huge. Almost as big as a skyscraper. It shouldn’t be possible for the thing to fit in the room but it somehow did. I then pieced together all of the things I knew. I always thought in the back of my mind that Moses wrote the bible to cover up what was in this room, but I didn’t want to accept that fact, however in seeing this thing I was forced to see the truth. I wanted to run but my body wasn’t mine anymore. I would die here, but maybe it was for the best that I didn’t live to tell this tale. Before I return to the darkness I want to say something. Don’t abuse technology, use it wisely or we will end up nothing more than a relic of the past.

Credit : lucid nightmare