A World of Darkness Eternal

[Voda Fah]

The Twenty Second Day of my Search, Morning.

We awoke as normal and held morning service. There have been no attacks in the night and, strangely, the wolves still avoid this place and ourselves. The howling has all but died out, only coming in intermittent bursts of communication. I continue to wonder why they avoid this place. Does it have some holy reverence for them? Perhaps they are more primitive than previously thought and believe this place to be haunted? I have seen no spirits and, while the atmosphere here is dark and oppressive, I have felt no evil.

My thoughts were pulled from such contemplation at the shouts of the monks searching the grounds. We rushed to the commotion, fearful of a trap or another attack by the wolves. What we found almost made me wish this were so.

The two, great metal doors depicting a humanoid figure and veritable daemon were ajar. None of us had opened them and, in fact, our efforts to do so yesterday were useless. Who has opened them? Why are they open? Could it be the lost research party? Could it be Father Bekk?

I will organize a small group to enter the tomb. For now, we must pray.

 

[Voda Fah]

The Twenty Second Day of my Search, Midday.

We organized ourselves into two groups. One to wait outside with one guard to watch over them, the other comprised of myself, Brother Bybbor the engineer, Brother Woaaq the lead translator, and the rest of our guards. We gave our farewells to the others, secretly hoping it was not for the last time, and entered the tomb.

The entryway was dark and foreboding, an ominous, gaping maw to the bowels of the earth. The stairs leading down into the darkness were broad and flat, untouched by time. Even dust failed to grace their surfaces. The walls were carved stone blocks set in place eons ago by ancient hands, now long dead.

As we stepped down the stairs, our torches lighting our path, the smell seeped upwards towards us. A charnel smell of old bones, dried blood, and death itself. Soon after this, a great wind blew from within the depths of the tomb. A rotten smelling wind buffeted us, almost knocking us to the ground, and then died out. It was similar to the winds I had encountered on the hills days ago.

Many grabbed icons to our Lord and looked around with ashen faces. Despite this, we all knew our task. With a quick prayer to our Lord, we pushed on. There was no other choice.

 

[Voda Fah]

The Twenty Second Day of my Search, Afternoon.

We descended to the bottom of the stairs and met no other phenomena along the way. The air was still and though the smell was still strong, the rotten scent the wind had begot did not return. We spoke only in hushed voices, loathe to break the silence. Perhaps it was out of reverence of such a place. Perhaps it was out of fear of what could be there. I cannot speak for the others, but for myself I am terrified of this place.

The room at the base of the stairs was a large entryway. A great entrance hall, so to speak. Rotted tables sat here and there, the gold and silver adorning them spilled to the floor and tarnished. Strangely, no dust lay here as well. It is as if the air is devoid of it, but from our torches we can see dust is in the air. Were I not afraid for my life and the lives of the others, I could easily spend hours deciphering why this is the case.

At the opposite end of the hall lay another pair of doors. These, too, are ajar for some reason. Along the halls are great statues that tower over us. Most are intact, a few are broken. Each depicts the same two beings on the outer doors: A man and a monster. Perhaps both are buried here? Perhaps one destroyed the other?

 

[Voda Fah]

The Twenty Second Day of my Search, Evening.

The doors held no secrets for us. At least, none that we could see. An empty room, a candellabra overhead, a lit brazier in a nearby room. This place appeared to be unoccupied and continues to appear as such, yet why a lit fire within the walls? Has Father Bekk entered here?

Out of curiosity, we entered the lit room and found a inkling of our worst fear. The brazier was lit and burned merrily, casting the room it light, but where one would see coal or wood within the brazier was not the case. The brazier held two bodies burning into ash. Two of our brothers from the lost research party.

Brother Bybbor turned pure white and began to vomit. Others varied between illness and shock. I myself felt nothing, my eyes unmoving from the charred, howling grimaces of pain locked onto both dead brothers' faces. To see two of our Lord's servants, two of my brothers, treated in such a way as if... pieces of meat to be disposed of... I... We should not be here.

This is an evil place. This is an evil place.

 

[Voda Fah]

The Twenty Second Day of my Search, Night.

Our brothers are lost to us, but at least we know they were inside the tomb. The bodies were lit relatively recently, long enough to char the flesh from bone and place the room in corpse-fed light. Scraps of their habits and robes are visible in areas, but we have no identified them for there is nothing to identify them by. Neither is the correct build for Father Bekk, meaning that he is possibly alive.

We doused the flames and prayed for our brothers. We cannot take them with us, but perhaps we can leave with them. With no flames to burn their bodies, we can lay them to rest in the soil outside the tomb later.

We collected our things and moved on. We walked in silence and mute shock for a short while, searching rooms and investigating the doors we found on occasion. We hoped to find the rest of the group alive, but as time went on we realized we may not. That was when a thought came to my mind.

Who lit the bodies?

 

[Voda Fah]

The Twenty Third Day of my Search.

We camped out down there, in a way. We rested mainly for none dared to sleep in the tomb. My revelation I kept to myself, but I can see others have come to the same conclusion.

Who lit the bodies? Who is down here with us? What lies within this tomb?

I have no answers and none have revealed themselves to me. I pray constantly, quietely, and the taste of ash on my lips has been a constant companion. The act of prayer used to console me and I continue to pray in the hopes that it will do so here, but in vain. The prayers seem a chore, the recitations give me no hope. Our Lord does not touch this place, perhaps. Perhaps, something here prevents it.

The icon of our Lord feels heavy on its chain around my neck. I know not why. Occasionally I have the urge to take it off and set it down to rest from the weight. I know it is only a small, silver pendant, but for some reason, down here, it feels far heavier than it should. Perhaps it is this place playing tricks on my mind or, possibly, simple fatigue.

I have stopped praying outside of the daily services. It feels of no use now.

 

[Voda Fah]

???

We were attacked in the night by bestial creatures. They tore poor Brother Woaaq apart with filthy, bare hands and rotted teeth. They walked and stood like us, but were deformed, twisted. They attacked us as we slept. Brother Bybbor and one of the guards, Brother Gorrekku, were separated from the others when we ran.

The creatures did not follow us, at least at first. We managed to gain a fair amount of ground before we heard them shuffling in the distance. The three of us managed to hide behind a large statue of the winged beast we had seen earlier. It was large enough to conceal us all behind stone. The creatures entered the room and searched for a few minutes, the darkness within the tomb seeming to cause them no problems. After some time, they moved on.

We will stay here for a while and rest. The creatures will not return here for some time, we feel. We have time enough to shake the shock from our limbs and clear our minds as best we can. None of us have prayed. It will not help us.

 

[Voda Fah]

Day Unknown.

We hear screams occasionally echo through the halls and stone rooms around us. We do not know who's howls of terror they are, but it is no effort to surmize they are from our friends elsewhere in the tomb. We have left our hiding spot and carefully travel the tomb's halls once more. The three of us comfort ourselves in doing so by claiming we are searching for a way out, but we all know better. We will die here, all of us. By roaming the halls at least we can claim we're taking action, in some way.

We entered what seemed to be another great hall, but there were no tables. Caskets lined the walls, most closed tight. A few were left open to show dessicated and rotted corpses. Most had collapsed to the ground as the caskets were, strangely, left on their feet. The few that hadn't showed bodies and faces, long decayed, but strangely seemed... foreboding. Some even looked... bestial. Feral.

Could the dead here have made this tomb? Could these be the native inhabitants of this planet?

 

[Voda Fah]

Day Unknown

We left the hall of caskets and moved on deeper into the tomb. Despite the horrors we had seen and the terrifying things that lurked in the dark, we felt... curiosity here. What lay ahead? What could we find?

A great, iron door stood before us with one door ajar. The beast and the man stood on each door yet again. Perhaps this was his tomb?

Before we could truly investigate we heard the shuffling creatures behind us once more. They had found us yet again. Springing out of the hall we'd just left and emerging from hidden, dark holes in the walls the came at us. I panicked and ran, leaving my brothers behind me.

I heard their screams as I dashed for the doors. I knew the monsters had grabbed them and torn them and rent them apart. I heard the wet splashes of blood on the floor and the gurgled screams of dying men, but I still ran on.

I barely made it to the door and almost didn't close the portal in time. Gray skinned, filthy hands scrabbled through the crack until the metal jarred shut, forcing the monster's fingers back from the opening. I sank to the ground, sobbing and panting. My brothers were dead. Those that had entered the tomb were gone. Those above would enter after us shortly in search. I was trapped here and unable to warn them.

As I sobbed, I noticed a strange, sickly sweet smell. Standing up, I turned around to gaze upon the room I had taken refuge in. I took in the sight before me in pure shock and horror.

And, for the first time for days, I prayed.

 

[Voda Fah]

Unknown

Death. Death and decay and horror was this room. I had found the lost research party at last. They were here in this room and here they would remain for eternity.

Dead monks and brothers lay here and there, their bodies twisted and mutilated. Men were suspended by iron spikes, impaled through their torsos and left to die and rot slowly. Others hung from chains set into the ceiling, sharpened hooks piercing bodies and limbs to let dead bodies hang in midair. I saw great wounds on some monks, some missing arms and legs and heads. They must have put up a fight I suppose. Others died when tormented, tortured. The room was filled with the dead. Limbs and bodies and blood coated the floors and walls and ceilings. One could not tread along the floor without stepping in blood or upon bodies or body parts.

Deep in my horror and shock, as if I was watching through another's eyes, I saw my mentor.

Father Bekk was suspended as many bodies were, but only from two hooks in what I presumed were his back. He showed no injury, meaning he had most likely been captured. Blood caked his white robes, dying them red and brown. His holy book of our Lord was nailed to his chest, the pages open. Great strips of flesh had been peeled from his back and hung also from hooks, as if to give him wings of flight. Upon the book nailed to his dead chest was a single word:

Death.

I sank to the floor in shock. This was... this was pure evil. Only evil resided here. Nothing more, nothing less. Our Lord had no hand on this place. No presence.

It was then that I heard something moving behind me. Something shifting in the dark. The door was shut, meaning it was something else. The creature that did this to my brothers, my mentor. My mind screamed out to do something, to turn around, to confront the Daemon that had done this, but my body would not listen.

I can feel sharp claws upon my throat. I must pra-