Dark Tales Of Lost Civilizations

Dark Tales Of Lost Civilizations by Eric J. Guignard (Editor) Page B

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Authors: Eric J. Guignard (Editor)
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disturbing of all is what I have yet to tell you: I have previously mentioned that each device we encountered was in a state of utter disrepair—but I did not mention that this was due in no part to the passage of aeons and the natural decay wrought by time. Each item, each gleaming edifice, each irreplaceable wonder of lost centuries, had been destroyed with what was undoubtedly deliberate violence. I cannot even begin to speculate upon what sort of doom fell upon this nameless place.
    As we progressed deeper into the chambers, we discovered scorch marks on the walls, cracked stone, and clustered arrangements of small pits which could have only been bullet-holes. Curious it was that we even found bullets in some places, deformed, but obviously of contemporary design. I admit to feeling a great sense of unease when I realized that these bullets must have been fired by members of the Soviet expedition. Eventually we stretched what rope we had to its utmost. Unwilling to allow this minor inconvenience to halt our dizzying plunge into that dark chest of wonders, I asked for two volunteers to return to the surface for more rope. Grenadier van Austen and Grenadier Isaacson raised their hands. Instructing them to return quickly, I sent them on their way.
    In order to save batteries, I ordered the electric torches to be switched off periodically. In that absolute midnight, the ticking of my pocket-watch was like the clamor of a locomotive. After waiting for nearly an hour, we began to grow agitated. The men we’d sent to get more rope should have returned by then. Although I wished fervently to continue our delving, I knew that without more rope, we would be liable to get lost. Becoming entombed forever within that pitchy crypt was hardly a prospect I relished.
    Angry that van Austen and Isaacson had been too afraid to return, I reluctantly ordered the group to begin following the rope back out to the surface. We activated our torches and made quick progress through the tangled heaps of machinery and interlocking chambers. Soon we reached the staircase and regained the surface. The seven men we had left behind waited for us there. I demanded to know what happened to the two cowards we’d sent up earlier, but my questions elicited only blank stares. The men guarding the entrance professed that we were the first and only to emerge from the abyss. Of van Austen and Isaacson, there had been no sign.
    I became quite unnerved by this, but Major Holtz quickly enlisted two of the bravest men and made a return descent through the trapdoor. He was gone nigh two hours and we had quite begun to fear the worst when, just as Saturn ascended to its highest point within the ebon firmament, he stumbled back out with his companions. Despite his best efforts, he had not been able to detect the barest hint of the two vanished men.
    On only a few occasions have I ever seen Major Holtz visibly display fear or unease, such is his degree of emotional mastery and exposure to horrors of war. This was one of those occasions. He professed to have heard a distant pounding from somewhere in the deep, somewhere far beyond where we had thus far dared to travel. A pounding not unlike some huge, slippery bulk against a stone barrier.Since then, I have made sure that all teams sent to explore the chambers below stay together at all times and are well armed. This may seem a foolish precaution, but it makes the men feel slightly less apprehensive when they can touch the cold steel of a revolver on their belt. So far we have had no further disappearances. Nor has anyone reported hearing anything else unusual during his time underground. I can only deduce that van Austen and Isaacson became lost and are still down there, wandering alone in the darkness. Hourly, we hope to see them reemerge alive and well from the depths, but the trapdoor only yawns wide in a mocking imitation of a laughing mouth; in my heart, I know that they will never be seen again on this earth.

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