"Madness in the Desert"
by Faolan Devyn Baldwin
From the journal of Ralph M. Stenson:
September, 1921
The desert night was lone and dreadful – it was one
unlike any other. The wind that had raged the badlands had begun the
settle and the dust fell to the ground in a most unnatural, heavy
fashion. The cool night air of the Kaibab Cliffs was still and I could
not get out of my head the sounds of the night that passed through and
cut the seemingly endless silence that stretched across this barren
desert. This was an ancient land where madness and sanity were forever
in collision – a place where the light of reality overlaps the umbrance
of the unknown. And it was in this place near that desolate road leading
towards Flagstaff where my expedition would lead me – a place which on
that night could not have been more isolated from the reason and safety
of civilization.
It was here where many years of research had
sent me: a barren and hidden city of the ancient Ananasi. It was a most
sacred place, yet it forebode anyone for entering the stone structures
embedded on the high cliffs. A former trail which long ago had eroded
away led the way. Now there were only shrubs and boulders which stood in
place, blocking what was now a gully which torrents flowed during the
seldom rains. However, that did not deter my determination to set up
camp in the most forgotten place. And it was here, near a large stone
temple where I was to camp for the night, but as the night progressed
and the land darkened I found myself unable to sleep.
It was not
because I had believed the rubbish fables of this once holy city
becoming an accursed place where only dæmons roam, nor was it because of
the tales of others who had supposedly happened upon this site. Still,
one could not get the feeling some sort of great and terrible
abomination was peering into one’s very soul. There were even times when
my good senses seemed to play tricks, for there were times when the
ever watching guardians would make themselves known on the walls as
shadowy figures without any distinguished form. The would follow and
retreat – flicker like a candle’s flame in a drafty old room. It was as
if at every moment I was being surveilled by the eyes of crazed
wraiths.
This place was resonating with a terror which struck at the chords of
my very soul. Something was telling me to keep away, but my explorer’s
will was driving me to steed forth and stay the course. In fact, it was
begging me into the ruins.
At that moment I had realized I had to
overcome this paranoia which had me in its grasp. I stood up and and
with my lantern I began to walk about, looking around seeing the ghosts
of a once great citadel on these Arizonan cliffs. Several minutes had
passed by and I walked deeper into the ruins finding myself in the
center of the back wall where standing stones guarded a massive temple
entrance. As I entered I felt a presence behind me. It was as if someone
grabbed my shirt and then whispered something inaudible in my ear. But
lo, I turned around to find only empty air and the shadows of my lantern
dancing against the walls.
That is when I looked out to the
horizon to see lights dancing and hovering over the distant sands. A
common, yet unknown phenomena in these parts that only made this
expedition ever more unbecoming. Suddenly a light emitted out of one of
the crafts where were now hovering close, some almost overhead. At that
point I ran towards the stone temple against the high cliff and hid in
what appeared to be a crevasse as the lights scanned over the ruins as
if they were ominous eyes searching over the rubble for unwelcome
visitors. Eyes that knew someone had violated this most occult site. The
beam scanned the ruins as I hid amongst the rubble slowly. Silently I
entered into the chambers, hoping that my trespass would go unnoticed –
that the eyes that had been watching would be blind to my passing, but I
was all too soon about to realize how wrong I was: for here in this
most dreadful place there was no nook left unto privy.
The
entrance into the temple was small, but inside there was a large
colonnade which at the back had entrances into several deep catacombs.
The entire complex was much larger than I thought and not typical of
either the modern Nations nor of the Pueblo culture of old. This was
much larger, and in many ways had a more Old World feeling, but the
scale was overbearing and the primitive nature of this chambers made the
air feel as if it was sinking into my lungs.
It was here where I
realized I was not alone. I could not see them. I could not here them.
But they made their presence known all the same. The light which I
sought to escape, I could see penetrating into the temple as if it knew
where I hid. As if it were waiting for me come out. There was no turning
back, and the night was still in its infancy. I moved on deeper into
the catacombs hurrying along in a quiet manner. As I did the shadows on
the wall seem dance on the walls in a wild fashion even though the lamp
emitted a bright, constant light. They leaped out from the walls as if
the grab me. It was as if the darkness itself was trying to consume in
the most literal of fashions.
Just what were these things?
Figures of men without bodies. Did I happen upon some portal which led
directly to the bowels of the nether-realms? Had I stumbled upon the
threshold of Hell?
I could not avoid them and I rushed through
this long hallway with haste as they reached for me, grabbing at coat.
Several had entangled me in their horrific grasp as I reached near the
end, knocking me down. Their arms were like tentacles of pure darkness
that wrapped around my ankles and arms. They dragged me closer to the
walls. Or rather they dragged me towards what looked to be a portal that
must have opened up to a literal non-existence. My heart raced as I
stared into abyss, the eyes of the shadow men staring back at me with
their glowing red eyes.
And somehow, through what I thought must
have been some miracle I felt myself flung from their grasp and launched
into a huge inner chamber. I could see them retreating to the walls,
keeping their distance as the continued to observe me.
This room
was spacious containing a colonnade which lead to what could only be
described as an alter statue. This room had the look of being once
sealed, as something during very ancient times had been sealed away. And
what it was was staring me in the face of that statue: an unkind
abomination whose image was enough to install fear into my heart. It
looked as though it had been sleeping and I stood in silence lest I were
to wake it -- even though I knew this was not possible. But this night
had been full of impossibilities. I could rule nothing out of the realm
of possibilities.
My spine shivered as I gazed up it. Its
elliptical cranium. Its long, pointed fingers that seemed as claws. Its
fanged mouth from which hung terrible tentacles. Its wings which seemed
flexed ready for flight. This was an image straight out of Hell itself.
It seemed as if it were deep in slumber.
Panic filled my soul and
I feel a chill run up my spine. Someone -- or something -- had entered
the room. The shadow-men had ceased their dance and the light from
outside had somehow entered into the room. The light saturated
everything it touched, but did not sanctify it. The light hit the walls
and seemed to vaporize the shadow-men and I could feel behind me a
presence of stoic evil.
My mind told me to run, but my body was
compelled to paralysis. It was like I was being bound by an invisible
force. The more I tried to escape the more frozen I became. It was like
my body had become encased in a metal cast. And worse, I was suddenly
being forced to move! Yes, forced to turn around and face whatever
dreadful object of fear that was to plague me. My body turned in an
instant that seemed like eternity. In an unsightly flash I looked upon
them and they were gone in the instant that I saw them. Their images
remained in my mind to their slender bodies, their dark bulbous eyes
that were like empty voids, their pale skin against the bright light.
I
do not know what happened after that only that I must have made it
outside to a stone-floored grotto which overhung the ruins. Day had
broke and the desert sun swiftly began to bear down upon the land. Had I
gone mad in what were empty chambers? I wandered the premises but found
no trace of the things that I had seen the night before. The chambers
leading into the alter were sealed. Their weight could not be moved.
Assuredly, it must have all been just a nightmare, but it seemed all to
real.
