Forgotten

I shouldn’t have come here. It was a mistake. Everything was a mistake. Save me, please. Save me! SAVE ME.

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A wooden gate made from a tree long gone stood before me. Pulling it open, it sounded as if it would crumble at the slightest touch, delivering a sound akin to a gate rusted for years. The gate gave way to stone stairs descending to what seems to be the abyss down below.

I had finally found it - the ruins of Bethelgore. Ancient records claim that these ruins were built an uncountable number of years ago from a civilisation long buried and forgotten to time. It wasn’t easy finding those records; I had to scour the world, going from places filled to the brim with vitality like the Amazon, to places containing nothing but death like the Sahara Desert. How such an early civilization managed to spread across the Earth confounded me, but it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that they’re gone, leaving all their treasures for anyone to find—; treasures abundant enough for even the poorest man to become half a trillionaire. And that anyone will be me.

From my backpack, I took out my items and organized them on a blanket I placed on the ground. Since it was already starting to become night, I set up camp right outside the gate and prepared my dinner. Canned food can be an interesting experience the first few times, but when you eat it nearly everyday for multiple years like me, you very quickly become sick of it. When I get my hand on those treasures, the first thing I’ll do after selling them is to feast like an emperor. I do not ever want to see another can of peaches again. Quickly finishing the nauseating meal, I went to sleep nearly unable to withstand my excitement.

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After I packed everything back into my backpack, I took out my knife and kept it near my waist, ready to unsheath at a moment's notice. Then, I pulled out my flashlight and descended into the abyss right in front of me.

Click, clack. Click, clack.

Going down the weathered steps, I examined my surroundings. The mottled walls were covered by my moss, and plantlife stood merely inches away from my arms as if they were ready to start pushing inwards when I least expected it. The air, stale from years of no proper circulation, welcomed its latest guest - me. It was horrible; the dryness of it made me feel like I was breathing in gravel as well as seemed to be absorbing moisture from my skin. But that didn’t matter for long, since a gigantic area opened itself up to me.

“A traveler?”

Tables and chairs littered the area, headed by what appears to be… a shrine? It seems like this place was the dining area, though the murals on the walls certainly didn’t fit. I curiously looked at them - anyone would if they were left by a brand new, or rather old, civilization. I couldn’t fully understand what they were trying to depict, but I could decipher a few. In mural one, everyone was eating and talking, having the time of their lives. I suppose I was right - this was the dining area. In mural two, every one appears to be genuflecting and worshiping a black figure. In mural three, most were holding their heads, running around like headless chickens, for some reason. Those who weren’t were laying down on the ground. The murals were disconcerting, to say the least.

“Do not be scared of my child. Come closer.”

Wary, I held my knife in front of me and started fully exploring the place. Gigantic was an understatement. These ruins were like a complete city, containing my rooms for eating, sleeping, training (I suppose military training), and even bathrooms. It wouldn’t be an overstatement to call them a primitive modern civilization. But in that case, what could’ve possibly led to their extinction?

That thought stayed in my head the moment it came, leaving me only able to hope that it was a simple natural disaster. Something I have noticed being a reoccuring theme though, other than the overgrown vines and moss everywhere, were the ever present bones all over the floor - many laid in one of the innumerable piles of its kind; others arrested in what looks like full skeletal structures.

“A little bit more, my child.”

Reason told me I had to get out, to come back more prepared with a complete expedition team. But I couldn’t.; I would’ve had to share some of the loot I found. Not to mention, I had this aching feeling that I was close to what I wanted - and my gut hasn’t been wrong so far. Plus, I didn’t want to come back a second time if I have to, I could leave that up to anyone interested in coming here after I spread the news.

Tap tap tap tap.

I eventually arrived in front of a door many times bigger than the entrance, built in a way that seems to be keeping people out. I think I found it. The room holding all the treasures a man could only dream of. My body shook with fervor as I tried to find a way to open it. Inspecting it, I found there doesn’t appear to be a lock or anything of the sort. Rather, what covered it was completely unintelligible symbols. Unable to find anything that could lock it, I simply tried pushing the door, which to my surprise, opened unusually easily.

“Come in.”

When the door opened a little bit, I quickly shimmied my way into the room. treasure filled my view. Gold coins, ancient relics, sparkling jewelry. Unspeakable greed rose in me, but I somehow managed to hold it down as I looked toward the center of the room. Another altar stood there. No, it was more like… a throne. Yes, a throne. Going closer, I started seeing what appears to be a black figure resting atop it. I don’t understand how, but it appears that one can only see the black figure upon getting within a certain distance from there.

As I kept moving closer to it, I realized a terrifying fact. I never was shaking from fervor. It was fear. Indescribable fear towards something that laid within this room which awakened something primal within me. Almost… almost like the natural fear one has towards a higher being - a god.

I wanted to move back, but I couldn’t. My legs kept going forward despite my wishes. I knew that if I got close enough, I would die. I would disappear from this world. But I was helpless against it. I could do nothing.

His whole being came into view, whatever there was, I mean. Ethereal black mist coagulated into a humanoid shape.

“Well, hello there. Nice to meet you, I am the one you humans once called Jacint.”

“AGHHHHHHH”

I dropped my knife unwillingly and brought my hands to my face. Fingers pressed upon my eyes, I continued to exert force.

Pop.

Eyes gone, but that seemed to relieve only a little bit of my fear. I immediately dropped down, looking for my knife. Upon finding it, I brought it to my ears, and stabbed inside, trying to kill my eardrums, so I could no longer hear its voice. But I could still hear it. I don’t know how, but I can still hear it.

“Hmm, still the same as the past, I see. How disappointing.”

“I’M SORRY, PLEASE, SPARE ME. PLEASE!”

“How truly disappointing. I thought humans of the future would be even a bit different from the past. It seems I was wrong.”

I shouldn’t have come here. It was a mistake. I shouldn't have stepped into that gate. I should’ve heeded the murals. I shouldn’t have opened that door. I shouldn’t have let my greed take over me.

At that moment, through the remaining fragments of my consciousness still awake, I understood. I would die. I would be forgotten by everyone that knew me. Forgotten from the world, gone from history. Slowly, my body felt like it was evaporating. I could feel it. Parts of my body disappearing from this world. At my last moments, I thought to myself one thing.

“Finally, relief.”