This is about a four man cryptoarchaeology team composed of James Finch
( general Archaeologist/ Cryptozoologist), William Partridge ( analyst),
Alex McEvoy (Linguist) and Nicholai Wogan ( historian).
That map was right! I spent three days hacking through the jungle with
my crew and goddamn it it was right! On the third day of our stay in the
Mexican jungle when most of us were sleeping in our tents, and Alex had
taken a walk to scout ahead without our permission (the reckless
bastard). I was woken when he came running into the camp screaming "I
found it! We're here!"
We all got up and followed Alex a few metres through the jungle and ran
right into the central square of what we were looking for, the unnamed
ancient Aztec city we saw on a map we bought off an old woman in a
village while we were on a trip to see the pyramids.
"Holy shit!" I screamed, and jumped around, laughing madly. The guys
just stood there in awe.
Not too far ahead of us was a giant pyramid, with images of gods and
creatures carved into its sides. A huge statue of the Aztec God
Cihuacoatl, a snake woman, stood on the roof of the room at the top of
the pyramid.
The entire city looked untouched by humans for centuries, gold statues
were everywhere. GOLD!
Everything was perfectly preserved!
"What the hell happened to everyone here?" William thought out loud.
"No fucking idea" Nicholai grunted.
I stopped moving and a chill ran up my spine. What did happen? War? No.
If it was war then wouldn't the other faction inhabit or destroy this
place? I made sure to note my concerns in a journal or something later
on.
"Let's set up camp here okay?" I said to the other guys. " Then we'll
check out that pyramid."
"Oh man I can't frickin' wait!" Will squealed.
We moved all the equipment and tents into the center of the city and
then decided to have some lunch before exploring, even though we all
felt like kids in an archaeological candy store.
I sat down outside my tent , facing the other guys.
"So what do we call the city?" Alex asked " I mean, we discovered it."
" Lets name it Gigeria after H.R Giger!" Nicholai said.
" Hell no!" I shouted. " Erm, how about.. I dunno."
" So why not Gigeria?"
" I dunno James " Will remarked through a mouthful of bread. " Gigeria
has a sort of ring to it, don'tcha think?"
" I like Gigeria" Alex said.
" Fine!" I groaned.
We finished up and then ascended the stone steps of the pyramid and
stepped into the chamber.
"What the hell?" I exclaimed.
Just in front of the usual sacrificial altar was a pit leading. I went
over to the edge of the pit and looked down. The sun was shining through
a hole in the ceiling and illuminated the entire shaft leading down. I
could see a pool of water at the bottom.
"They must've tossed the sacrifices heart down there after it was ripped
out" Nicholai muttered.
"Why?" I asked.
" Something to do with that god we saw the statue of?" Alex said.
" No, that God is Cihuacoatl, a fertility goddess. There wouldn't be any
meaning to tossing hearts into a pool of water in her name." Nicholai
explained.
"Maybe we should get the winch and rope and send someone down there,"
Will suggested "maybe they tossed some treasure too like those guys in.
damn I forget the name of that place. Y'know, where they used to throw
people in a pit of water covered in gold treasure."
"Yah" I said.
"I'll get the equipment." Will said " And I'll go down. James, you winch
me, okay?"
"Sure" I said.
" Al and I will explore the buildings, try and find any clues to what
happened here" nicholai said.
Alex nodded and he and Nicholai went towards the nearest building.
I sat at the edge of the pit looking into the water. It kind of felt
that there was something staring up at me.
Something down there.
In the water.
Looking at me.
I shuddered and edged away from the pit, sitting in the corner instead.
I chuckled at myself for being such a coward. Will came up into the
chamber and bolted the winch into the rock.
" I hope this holds" He muttered.
" I can't believe we found this city" I said.
" Yeah" Will said, hooking himself into the harness on the rope.
He clambered over the side of the rope and let himself drop until the
rope went taut.
" Okay man," he said "Winch me down. Slowly!"
I slowly started winding the lever, like reeling in a fish. Only instead
of a fish it was a teammate and instead of reeling him in I was lowering
him into a watery pit.
I was still winching when I heard someone scream from somewhere in one
of the buildings. It was Nicholai.
" What was that?!" I yelled.
" What was what?" Will called up. He mustn't have heard it from down
there.
" Dude, I'll reel you up in a second, hold on!" I called down and then
ran in the direction in where I heard the sound.
I ran into the building and saw Alex and Nicholai sitting in the corner
looking stunned.
" What happened?!" I spluttered.
Nicholai pointed a shaking pale finger at the other end of the room, the
floor was cracked open and there was a huge hole full of water. I walked
towards it.
"NO!" Alex screamed, then shot up and tackled me to the ground.
" What the hell are you doing!?" I shouted.
"There's something in the water!" He exclaimed.
"What!?"
" We were trying to judge how deep the water was," Nicholai said,
staring into space. "just staring down into the abyss, tossing a couple
of stones in.."
" Then this thing just shot up out of the blackness and we jumped back."
Alex continued.
"It thrashed around for a while and then retracted." Nicholai finished.
I stepped away from Alex and stood against the wall, staring at the
water. There was something. Something I was forgetting. What was it?
" What came out of the water?" I asked.
" It was like.." Alex said "Like a tentacle. Made of water. Or jelly
maybe."
Now I remembered what I was forgetting.
" I left Will in the pit!" I shrieked.
" YOU WHAT!?!"
I tore out of the room and ran for the pyramid, bile rising in my
throat. My heart pumped frantically against my ribs. I ran up the steps
to the top of the pyramid and started reeling in the rope.
It was lighter then before. Light as a feather.
"NO!" I burst out.
I refused to accept it. I reeled in until the bloody torn harness came
up at the end of the rope, then collapsed in a ball on the ground.
Alex and Nicholai came up the pyramid and saw the blood on the ground,
saw no sign of Will and me on the ground. Nicholai fell to his knees.
"Unbelievable" He rasped.
Alex ran over to the pit and looked down.
" RUN!" He screamed.
I leapt up and looked into the pit.
There was a thing climbing the walls of the pit. A big see-thru glob of
living matter, like frogspawn or semen or some greyish jelly feasting on
Will's blood smeared in streaks on the wall, inching towards us like
some kind of giant slug. It had eyes. Three red eyes that glared
emotionlessly at me from down in it's pit. Now I know what happened to
the inhabitants of the city. They built the city over this things lair
and it killed them all. It ate their flesh, their bones and all. Was
this an earthly thing? Or some kind of alien that fell to earth millions
of years ago? Or maybe some demon from the pits of hell? All I know is
that nothing I had ever seen before that day I could ever have called
evil. This thing was just that. Evil . Maybe it was a demon after all. I
learned later that the Aztecs had a name for this thing and other things
like it in their legends , Ahuizotl- water monster.
I had no idea what it was or where it came from. I turned and ran.
Nicholai was already in the camp, heading for the jungle, but Alex
wasn't fast enough. I heard him scream behind me and glanced over my
shoulder to see a huge tentacle protruding from the blob (now coming out
of the pit) wrapped around his leg, pulling him towards the massive
body. I turned and ran, not wanting to see what would become of him, but
the noises I heard as the thing absorbed him haunt me to this day, and
make me violently sick every time I think of what happened that day.
I ran past the camp and into the jungle and just ran until that thing
was so far behind me it couldn't possibly give chase. It took me three
days to return to the nearest villiage, and I never saw Nicholai again.
He must've gotten lost, or tripped over something and killed himself.
Who knows, maybe some other Aztec monstrosity got at him. I was sick and
injured when I returned, but the villiage people nurtured me back to
health and I returned home soon after my recovery.
What I saw that third day in Mexican jungle isn't the kind of thing you
can just forget.
I let a man die. I saw a creature which no man should ever have to see
and heard a death so gruesome that the sight of it would probably have
driven me insane right there and then.
This is the reason why I am going to end my own life tonight.
Pretty grim, huh?
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