Episode 3: Tomb of the Lost Lands Part 2 of 3

Author's Notes

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This is a companion piece for the main Trials of Incomplete Heroes series. I recommend reading books 1-4 before this. Curious finds indeed. How many of Hogenson's and Deshmukh's speculations are accurate? Is all as it seems? Is there someone in the main series who could answer these questions?

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Tomb of the Lost Lands Journal Continued

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(April 19th through April 27th lost due to damage)

April 28th

After so long, stepping foot into the chamber again was surreal. I was beginning to believe that we would never obtain the pump parts needed. We certainly didn’t waste time. We brought as much equipment as we could in our waterproof boxes. I made sure we took as many pictures as our camera allowed and ensured everything was sealed tightly on the journey back.

One of the men with me noticed something that I had not noticed the first time. On closer inspection of the Sér statue’s outstretched hand, it appears to be slightly melted and charred. In fact, the entire chamber, except for the area directly behind the statue, appears to have been blackened by something. It looks as though something in the hand exploded. What exactly it could have been, we still don’t know.

What is more curious is that the last three paragraphs on the large inscription have been carved over-top of the blackening. At least that is the case for the edges of the text that poke out far enough to not have been “shielded” by the statue. The prior paragraphs have the “soot,” for lack of a better word, coating them.

However, that is not the most interesting discovery made today. One of the stone slabs along the main pathway was loose. With several of us, and the use of tools, we were able to pull it out.

We were immediately met with the skeletal remains of another individual dressed similarly to the skeleton behind the statue. The underside of the stone slab had writing chiseled into it. Further investigation revealed that all stone slabs were removable with graves beneath, and writing chiseled into them. We photographed what we could to bring back to our experts.

We were discussing taking down the stone door that sealed the entryway on the right wall when our lighting began to malfunction. Rather than stick around in the dark, we chose to return to the ship and report the problems. It was probably just as well; we had been down there for most of the day and evening swiftly approached. Our decompression stops on our return consumed what little daylight remained.

April 29th

It saddens me to report that today I have come down with something most vile. I suppose working most of a day in the dark and damp with skeletons isn’t the best for one’s health. I am loath to give up my pursuits but the ship’s captain has ordered me to remain in my cabin until this has passed.

Our experts have assured me that they will examine the photographs presented and our engineers will fix the lights. I suppose all I can do is wait here until I am well.

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I received word from our experts that they were able to translate what was written on the slabs. Each slab has the same thing written in a different language. You must consider that each one of these slabs covered a grave and each inscription was placed directly above its victim’s head such that they were staring at this for eternity. The inscriptions read:

“From Misery Stems Growth

From Pain Comes Resilience

From Destruction we are Rebuilt

In Death we Live”

These must have all been cheerful individuals in life. I fear I must cease writing and return to my rest before the fever removes more of my speculative filters.

(No entries made through May 4th)

May 5th

I have finally been able to rejoin my colleagues in the field. In my absence they were able to unseal the doorway in the wall. Appropriate measures were taken to ensure that toxic fumes didn’t overtake us this time.

The new opening reveals a series of two smaller chambers with yet another sealed doorway in the second of the newly discovered rooms. In the first room stands a large, intricately carved stone spider. It gave some of our crew quite the shock when they first saw it. I suspect some of them have an aversion to spiders. All of the walls are dotted with carved images of spiders. Many pots and chests lie around the statue. Several chests contain various old weapons and tools. We found everything ranging from swords and spears to hammers and chisels. It appears that whoever created this chamber was stockpiling for something.

We have uncovered weaponry representing most prominent ancient civilizations in this one room. The experts will be documenting all of the details of these findings in their own journals. I won’t try to describe every piece here.

The following room contains a large stone carving of a dragon. Every wall has images of dragons as depicted from around the ancient world, ranging from eastern serpents to western winged beasts. Gold and silver coins litter the floor. Coins made from other metals have nearly fused themselves with the stone floor in their rusted states. Maybe these were coin offerings to Sér?

Most of my day was spent photographing inscriptions as well as deciding which samples to bring back. Doctor Deshmukh and his team are certainly going to have their hands full. I really should encourage him to join us on one of our explorations.

May 6th

I had to be the unfortunate voice of reason today. Our team is eager to unseal the new doorway. Part of me wants to open that door immediately as well. Yet we were not finished documenting and translating everything in the first cavern before we opened the new ones. Now we have piles of weapons, tools, coins, and inscriptions to catalog. As excited as I am to keep going, we need to have some semblance of order.

Today was spent cataloging and collecting samples. We have already collected enough to fill whole volumes. Doctor Deshmukh and team have been working around the clock examining everything brought back and the photographs. I think everyone is both excited and exhausted.

(The rest of the day through May 22nd has been lost due to damage)

May 23rd

Disaster struck today. We were preparing to open the sealed door in the dragon chamber when our lighting failed. Our air pumps began to stutter causing us to evacuate. Unfortunately, our air pumps gave way in the process, leaving some of our unlucky team stranded down there. As of nightfall, our engineers are still working diligently to get everything back up and running. I only hope that we can retrieve those men in time.

I would be the first to put on the diving suit and rescue our men, but our engineers have insisted that doing so without a pump would be suicide. I suppose I should leave this to the experts. I hate the thought of leaving those three down there. I can only imagine what it may be like to sit in a dark ancient chamber, not knowing when or if rescue will come your way. The skeletal remains are reminders that the chamber has welcomed death before.

May 24th

I am afraid we have something of a mystery on our hands. Our engineers couldn’t find anything wrong. Simply put, everything just started working again this morning. We immediately set about bringing our men out of the cavern below. Of the three that were down there, two of them returned safely.

Where the third one got to? No one knows. His helmet was still on the rack by the entrance. Surely, he wouldn’t have been foolish enough to try and swim himself out? The other two adamantly swear they were the only two left down there. I am a little skeptical of their stories. They seemed to be frightened and unwilling to divulge too much information.

Our missing member was last seen at the door in the dragon chamber. He had been the one doing the measurements and placing marks on the door. I could have sworn we were all accounted for when we gathered at the exit. Examinations of the chambers to find some trace of him proved fruitless.

Some of our crew members are becoming nervous. The two rescued men have been telling silly ghost stories about seeing eyes and hearing evil laughter while down there. The mind can play powerful tricks on those in desperate situations. Whatever really happened, we still have a missing person. Divers have been combing the seas surrounding to see if they can find his body.

I offered my assistance, should any of our expert divers need a break. I was promptly denied. I suppose those who are better at doing something should be the ones doing it. Needless to say, not much in terms of exploration or cataloging took place today.

May 25th

The search for our missing person continues. Most of the crew is nervous about further explorations. I can’t blame them. If I believed the rumors that the two survivors were spreading, I would think this place was haunted. We can afford to give them time to compose themselves. The madness will wear off soon and we can return to work.

In the meantime, Doctor Deshmukh approached me to provide some very ... interesting news. He and his team believe they have some idea of when the last of the inscriptions behind the statue were made. He also finally elaborated on his “melted words” comment.

According to him, the second to last paragraph appears to not have been chiseled so much as melted into the stone. I am not confident that I follow what he said. There are no signs of the words themselves being burnt. In fact, they appear over-top of the charred stone. However, they are far too smooth to be chiseled by tools. It’s like the stone flowed into shape like a liquid. Maybe this is just an effect of the stone, moisture, and time?

As for the timing of when it was chiseled, most of it seems in line with being written many thousands of years ago. However, the last paragraph apparently tells a different story. Deshmukh and his experts claim that those last two sentences weren’t written thousands of years ago, but only a hundred years or so ago.

The idea is preposterous. That would mean someone was alive down in that chamber in the 1800s. They verified the whole place had been sealed airtight for thousands upon thousands of years. Those seals were only broken by us recently. To think that someone in the 1800s could have found this place, entered it, written an inscription, then left while resealing and removing all evidence of their involvement is ludicrous. And yet ... their evidence does seem to suggest exactly what they are saying.

Previous sentences, save for the ones within the second to last paragraph, were written with multiple chisel strikes. The discoloration of the stones all matched. However, the last few sentences have a different appearance entirely. The stone discoloration makes it look far fresher than other markings. Each line or stroke appears to have only been written with a single strike, not multiple chisel strikes. It must just be a difference in the makeup of the stone on this section of wall. It’s possible that some skilled ancient chiseler chiseled the best that anyone had ever chiseled before. That has to be the explanation. I would hate to consider the ramifications otherwise.

May 26th

Today was an odd day. We were visited by a smaller boat. Or at least, I should say, a smaller boat sailed close to us. Our visitors wore dark green robes, save for one fellow in deep red, similar in design to the remnants of those found in the chamber. They all stood on deck and glared at us as they sailed by. The fellow in red shouted at us in Greek to “Leave before disturbing the Devourer,” and something about “The eye of Sér is upon you.”

They sailed away without another word. Where they came from, I have no idea. There are no landmasses nearby. It’s too far out for the average fishing boat on a day trip. And how would they have known that we were here anyway? I have encouraged everyone to ignore them. Others are beginning to feel nervous.

We attempted to motivate everyone to return to their tasks today. That didn’t go as well as we had hoped. The two that we rescued refused to do anything, and some of the others are beginning to share in that sentiment. Captain Bhavsar gave everyone a pep talk, all about finishing what we started and not letting anything stop us. I think most of the crew is coming around. Those two, however are having none of it.

I don’t envy the captain’s position. He has to decide if he needs to send these two home, or find something else for them to do. It may be a while before we can get replacements if we do get rid of them. We are already two down without these two leaving or becoming useless. I would have gone into the cavern myself today but going alone violates all safety precautions that we have established.

Doctor Deshmukh and I met with our experts today to attempt to summarize all of the information we have on this place. Thus far, we have found languages and artifacts that can be linked to ancient Greek, Babylonian, Phoenician, Sumerian, Egyptian, Norse, Chinese, Japanese, and even Incan and Mayan civilizations. There are a number of artifacts that we have yet to catalog. Who knows how many other ancient civilizations will be represented here? Not to mention that one strange language that no one recognizes yet. This brings up several questions.

How could so many artifacts from around the world from civilizations (many of which hadn’t been formed yet in the time frame that we believe the chamber was built) end up here? For instance, how could we have Viking artifacts appearing alongside ancient Chinese artifacts? If most known records of Norse society places it starting somewhere around 700-800 AD and ancient Chinese civilization started probably earlier than 1200 BC; then how could we get Norse runes intermingled with ancient Chinese? And we believe that this chamber was built even before 1200 BC. If we are finding linkage to ancient Sumeria, then that places it at least somewhere between 4500 BC and 1500 BC.

Estimates, independent of the actual artifacts found, place the chamber as being built sometime before 4000 BC, maybe even older than 5000 BC. It becomes difficult to tell at some point. Here is the true puzzle. Though the languages and designs may be cruder and simpler, the actual artifacts and tools appear to be much more modern. I held, in my own hands, an Egyptian kopesh made of forged steel rather than copper or bronze. It’s as if all ancient cultures came together in the neolithic era but had the technological advancements of the medieval era.

There is no way any of this makes sense. We discussed the possibility that this was just created recently to confuse everyone. However, the aging, stone discoloration, rust, and decomposition of the skeletons ... it all points to old ... very old. It’s difficult to believe that cultures existed with medieval technology in the neolithic era before they should exist at all. If this is a trick ... this is a very elaborate trick.

We could have gone round and round the table until the end of the century about how little sense everything makes. We finally decided to move on from that to the inscriptions themselves and what they say.

This whole structure seems to be dedicated to Sér. Everywhere you look, you see his name carved into the walls, artifacts, statues, even fragments of cloth. I swear, you sneeze down there and uncover his name. Who or what exactly is he? We initially thought that he must be some sort of a god. However, further indications from other inscriptions seem to indicate otherwise.

He’s repeatedly given a title of “lord” as in the feudal title of a land owner. This could make him some sort of a monarch or god figure, but it could also mean he’s subservient to something else. This point is relatively moot as he seems to be revered and functions, for all intents and purposes, as an ancient god. We also know that he is the ninth lord. What this means, we aren’t exactly sure. Are there may other lords and he is just the ninth one in a group? Is he the ninth lord in the line of succession? It’s unclear.

Sér seems to be the lord/god of misery, sorrow, pain, and suffering. I question those that would deify and worship such a thing; but there did seem to be a reason for it. Our best guess is that these ancient people believed pain and hardship made you stronger and helped you grow. If the technological indications are anything to go by, it seems to have worked. There has to be more to the story we just haven’t uncovered yet.

This Halun fellow is an odd one. There isn’t as much to go on for him but he does seem to be an important figure. Apparently Halun is some sort of a god of contentment, peace, happiness, and joy. Basically, something much easier to understand worshiping. And yet Halun is portrayed as the nemesis or the opponent. The poor happy fellow is downright vilified. These ancient people may have believed being happy and content made you weak and lazy. It’s also ironic that in the main inscription, the apparent god of “happiness” got angry, even if it was to get angry at Sér. Again, I can’t shake the feeling that we are missing something.

There is no indication that Halun is a lord, or what number of lord he is. If he is given any title, it appears to be “nemesis”. And here I thought that the ancient Greeks, who apparently were here at the time, considered Nemesis as a goddess. So, what came first? The title? Or the goddess?

In so far as the relationship between Halun and Sér we see an interesting picture. At one point the two of them were either allies, friends, brothers, or at least linked in some way, but were then divided. Ever since their division, they were bitter enemies.

It seems that Sér received the better end of the deal. Halun is lost in the void of space, asleep, while Sér seems to be enjoying his stay in the abyss, or rift, he was cast into. I guess if you are the god of misery, being miserable is quite the treat.

The main inscription indicates a usurper or a “Great Devourer”. We haven’t, as of yet, discovered any other indications of who or what this may be. We do, however, have many indications of Sér granting power to the “Titans” (yet another Greek reference). These “Titans” then ruled the “Great City”.

Here comes the interesting part. We have other references to this “Great City” by other names. Thus far it has been called “Great tower of tongues” (or babble), “Valhalla”, and “Olympus”. Is it possible that at one-point multiple people gathered to this place then dispersed, taking legends and pieces of stories with them? There are striking similarities across cultures and legends, some more obvious than others. Could this place be why?

I have not forgotten the other two chambers (spider and dragon). It seems as though these chambers are dedicated to Sér’s most faithful servants. From what we can tell, these two were with Sér from the time he came to Earth until the time he left. I presume the spider served as an assassin of sorts and was the most faithful. He apparently leaped into the abyss after Sér so as not to abandon him. The dragon served as some sort of bodyguard but was less faithful. When Sér was cast out, the dragon abandoned him. Seems odd to have a chamber dedicated to an unfaithful servant but I believe we don’t have the whole story.

We are hoping to ...

(The rest of May 26th through June 1st lost due to damage)

June 2nd

Our engineers were finally able to siphon out all of the noxious fumes from the chamber beyond the dragon door and begin the process of removing the door today. I would go down to observe but everyone there needs to be a part of the process. I fear I would interfere, despite my eagerness to assist.

I was left to pace about on deck today, hoping that everything would go well. With the strange equipment and power failures we have had over the past few days, it’s quite the miracle that anyone desires to continue. The engineers have insisted that they have created a robust and redundant system ... again. The supply ship from yesterday brought in several backup parts, a few generators, and more pumps. We were able to send a few photographs and documents back with the ship. Perhaps a few of our colleagues at home may assist us in solving our mysteries?

The engineers are acting as if they are preparing for war. We could probably build a new ship with all the parts they now have in storage. This is becoming quite expensive for me. I knew it would be costly to search for a lost city in the ocean. I even knew the risks and the probability that it would all be for naught. Yet nothing prepared me for how expensive it would be to actually find something. When I return home, I should invest in as many engineering companies as possible. With as much as I’m spending with them now, they surely will all be millionaires before long.

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I have been informed that our team in the caverns has finally returned. The door has been removed. To my understanding, what lies beyond the door is quite ... unpleasant. Multiple skeletal remains are strewn about the chamber. I hear that many of them were pressed against the door and had been clawing at it until.... I’ll have to see this for myself tomorrow.

June 3rd

I re-entered the chambers today. Based on prior given descriptions, I was a bit hesitant to enter the newly discovered cavern. Something terrible must have happened in there. Approximately 20 skeletons are scattered about the place, with five at the door. Most of them have weapon markings on them in some shape or form. All of them wear robe fragments similar to all the other skeletons found in this place.

With all the death down there, I find it difficult to call this place anything other than a tomb. It somehow seems appropriate that the legacy of the god of misery and suffering had been sealed away in a crypt.

The skeletons, however, are not the only things of interest in this new chamber. In the center of the room stands a tall intricately carved statue of a man with an arrogant look on his face, holding a spear to the ground. He appears to be dressed in a robe which trails into several other figures that follow behind. A few gashes at the base of his robe, around his legs, indicate that this statue was not spared from the assault.

These smaller figures appear to be representations of monsters as depicted from cultures around the world. Thus far I have recognized a few dragons, the hydra, medusa, a kirin, Anubis, Sobek, the manticore, and the sphinx. There are many other grotesque forms on here, some of which are too malformed to be recognized. Strangely, no weapon strikes appear to have landed on these figures.

When I showed Deshmukh the image of this statue, he mentioned how the various creatures and monsters seem to flow out of the cape like water. They also do not appear to be chiseled so much as melted into place. He also told me that these figures look to be a more recent addition to the statue itself. The difference in time, however, is not as drastic as the final two sentences of the main inscription compared to the rest. Very odd indeed. Often times, water can drip down from a cavern’s ceiling and smooth out stone. Yet, I distinctly remember looking for signs of this and found none.

The inscription on this statue appears to have been crossed out and replaced. We were barely able to make out the original ancient Greek inscription which reads, “Champion (and something else we cannot make out).” The inscription below it reads, also in ancient Greek, “The Usurper” followed by, “He who leads the rebellious legion.” There are many other inscriptions on the walls, but I’m hesitant to attempt to translate these without consulting Doctor Deshmukh first. My assumption is that this chamber was intended to serve as a statement against this usurper.

If I were to roughly translate one inscription myself, it would read something like “He who is unworthy of Sér shall suffer in madness. Let none follow him or suffer the same.” I suppose I have already attempted a translation without consulting the good doctor. But I feel it’s important to jot down my own notes and feelings here. I was able to give the doctor and his experts my translations as well as a few photographs of the inscriptions. Hopefully, they can return with something by tomorrow.

I must also make note here of an oddity I considered as I returned to my cabin. If all of these individuals in the chamber were attacked, killed, and sealed away ... then why didn’t the attackers take the treasure and tools? Who were they killed by? What was the motivation for it? Evidence suggests that the usurper chamber was sealed around the same time as the entrance to the two chambers to “Sér’s servants”. So, it’s difficult for me to propose that the tools and treasures appeared after the assault on the usurper chamber. Or were the victims dragged into the chamber and dumped there after an assault? If so, then how was the usurper statue struck? All very odd.