Bogleech.com's 2013 Horror Write-off:

" The Monolith's Land "

Submitted by Jared Ludy

To my family and friends, I understand that you are devastated by recent events. However, I am fully aware of the great mystery surrounding these events. Especially the mass seclusion and cutting off that I’ve been partaking in. Just know that it’s all for the best. However, since I don’t wish for there to be any mystery surrounding these bewildering events, I shall take it upon myself to explain. Allow me to start from the beginning. As you know, my friends and I were natives to New Hampshire. There, we were just about inseparable. We all had similar interests, ideals, and personalities. It was almost as if we were made for each other. One thing that we all loved the most was travel and exploration. Since Freddy had so much money due to how successful his family’s business was, this only helped our love of our expeditions. We did it all the time, especially during the summer months. We’ve been just about everywhere, from Korea and Japan to Denmark and Finland. Their customs, which seemed alien to us, were always the most interesting. However, their was one place we had never been to before, that we always longed to visit. Czechoslovakia. We hadn’t gone yet due to lack of interest, since there were so many other places to visit. After pooling up some money, we decided to finally go.

We were all so excited to finally go there. But this time, something would be different. Rather than fly, as we usually do, we decided to go by ship. Little did we know, the impact of this decision would be large, and extremely devastating. As we boarded the vessel, I couldn’t help but feel nervous. I had only traveled by ship a few times before, and both times were quite unpleasant. Especially due to the weather, which was usually dark, cloudy, and rough. Of course, the sky today was much the same. After rather reluctantly boarding the ship, We were all ready to go. Megan turned to me and asked, “are you feeling okay?” I then replied with “yeah, I’m fine. I’m just a little nervous, is all.” Before we could set sail, the captain had to take attendance of all parties that were boarding. He then started calling our names:

“Jason Carter?”

“Here!” I called out

“Fredrick Warren?”

“Here!”

“Megan Collins?”

“Here!”

“Arthur Phillips?”

“Present!”

“Veronica Granger?”

“Here!”

That was all of us. He then moved onto the next party. Though I was nervous, I couldn’t help but feel excited. I always was when we traveled. I had high expectations for all of the sights and activities we would encounter. The best of all would be spending more time with my beloved friends. Since the trip would be long, we had to keep ourselves occupied. Arthur had a book with him, as usual, Freddy would nap, as usual, Veronica had her magazines, and Megan and I would talk to each other.

“Aren’t you excited?” I asked.

“Absolutely! We’ve been waiting way too long to do this!” She replied.

“What do you think we’ll see there?”

“I honestly don’t really know what to expect. I hope it’s nice there though. Do you want to shop for souvenirs while we’re there?”

“Sure, as long as it’s not too expensive. My funds are drained as it is”

“Why don’t you just borrow money from Freddy?” She questioned.

“Well, I honestly think he spends enough money on us as it is. I’d hate to inconvenience him.”

“Well that’s certainly understandable.”

After a few hours of back and forth conversation, I decided to check the current time. We were only 4 hours away from our destination, but I knew that the long trip would be worth it. I looked out my window to watch the sea, which was close considering that the passengers occupied a room under where the captain steered the ship, making the windows peer into the underside of the water. Thankfully, it was thick glass and wouldn’t be broken easily. I noticed that the water was very rough and foggy, though I couldn’t tell why. it was almost like the rapids that you would see in a river. And that implied something quite destructive. And by the looks of it, it wouldn’t be easily avoidable due to all the fog that I noticed. I then stood up from my seat and as I was about to walk up the stairs to warn the captain of the dangers I had noticed, tragedy struck. A jagged rock had broken through, where the passengers stood in utter shock, disbelief, and horror.

The captain then urgently ordered that everyone come back to the deck. With all the water and debris quickly flooding in, and the confusion of everything that had just happened, I’m still not sure if everyone had escaped onto the deck safely. He then rushed all parties into their lifeboats as another jagged rock struck the ship, knocking three passengers overboard, one of them being Arthur. After quickly getting onto our lifeboat, we fished Arthur out of the sea and pulled him onto the surprisingly spacious life-boat.

As the captain tried to obtain the last lifeboat, the ship hit another rock and he fell off the ship. However, a rope attached to some (now loose) support beam had found it’s way around his boot and as he fell, the beam broke and fell off with him, hitting him on the head, knocking him unconscious as it sank down into the brine, dragging him to his violent death. Now, full of fear, we all tried to row away from the destroyed ship. The salt of the air bothered my nose and burnt my eyes. After about an hour of rowing, we all started to fear that we wouldn’t find land. It was especially hard to row since the current was actually heading towards the rocks, not to mention that our friend was shaking on the floor, soaking wet and freezing. After the sun had set, we decided that it was time to rest. I was however, compelled to stay awake. Though it all had happened so fast, and was so sudden, I dreaded the idea that such an experience could get worse. After a while, I was able to find peace, and drifted off.

The next morning, the boat seemed much more stable. After looking over the side of the boat, I realized that we had washed up on a dismal island. The beach was covered with dead sea creatures, dirty, stained sand and was littered with black sea grass. Out in the shallows I saw a familiar sight. Jagged rocks the same that had wrecked our ship about a mile out. I guess that the current was our friend after all. Though it wasn’t a nice sight to wake up to, a dirty, nearly life-less Island, surrounded by deadly rocks and settled under a dark, cloudy sky, with heavy wind and cold air, I woke my friends and informed them of the situation. We all felt lost, cold, alone, and most of all, afraid. It was a terrible situation to be in, and we didn’t have a clue how we could make it out of this tragedy. Saying that we were ill equipped would be an understatement. We had no actual experience with this sort of thing, and all we had with us was a survival pack, which had a few sleeping bags (only three), some canned and dehydrated food, a few bottles of water, a flashlight, and a medical kit. We were all very afraid, and our unpleasant surroundings did nothing but sicken us with the smell of the dead fish which peppered the landscape.

We sat around for what must have been hours coming up with plans. none of which were decided upon, were possible, or would be thought of as useful. What would we do when we ran out of sustenance? How could we wash ourselves? What would be used as shelter? And the most frightening of all was the question of obtaining fresh water. Was there even a source of such on the island? Questions clouded our minds, yet our best resource was that of Arthur. Having book-smarts coupled with a great education and all around superior intellect, he was our one chance to survive. However, even he seemed to be somewhat stumped by our predicament. Apparently, our best chance of survival was the forested island’s resources. However, we were all reluctant to venture into the unknown, dangerous wilderness.

The untold dangers that lied before us seemed to be too much of a risk, but as Veronica reminded us, it could be our only chance. Freddy volunteered to go first, and would lead our group through, watching for dangers. It seemed like a good idea, but it still seemed dangerous. But it soon dawned on us that if we don’t partake of the forests resources, we would all most likely perish on this cold, dead beach. That being a hard fact, we all prepared ourselves to venture into the uncivilized unknown. As he had said, Freddy went first, and we followed. The forest was a bitter, dark place. There was little life, other than the trees, which were spacious of each other, but blocked the already dim sunlight regardless. The dirt was carpeted with dry, desiccated leaves, and was populated by a strange type of pale, alien looking fungus. Arthur claimed to have recognized it, but couldn’t quite put a finger on what it was exactly. Along with this, it’s worthy to mention that all of the plant life seemed to be of dull color, sickly, and slightly limping. The further we ventured, the more common the fungus became, and the more sickly the plants seemed. Then, as we looked slightly off into the distance, we saw a miracle. A large lake of fresh water!

Excitedly, we all ran to it haphazardly and began drinking as much as we could. We could see that it was pooling out of a small, cavern, and implied that it was fresh, spring water. We were all too excited for this life saving revelation. And even better, it had an aquatic population of animals that could be used as food! This miracle of a find would save us all! We could conceivably live on this great resource forever! With something this great available to us, we would undoubtedly survive! However, our next revelation would sadly be the polar opposite of a miracle. And it may have very well been the thing that lead us all to unfortunate doom.

As I drank from the splendid pool and fantasized of fresh fish cooking over a fire, something strange caught my eye, and I came back to reality for a moment. It was a strange set of stones, caked into the sandy mud. It seemed very eerie, and even somewhat unnatural. Wanting to investigate this strange anomaly, I cautiously pulled out a bulbous stone and after wiping off the mud with my hand, stared in horror as my eyes met with that of stained bone. These were no stones. They were a skeleton. A human skeleton. After urgently calling for my friends attention, they had looks of shock and terror at my find and the dirty skull that I had cleaned off which I still clasped within my hand in utter disbelief. After unearthing the whole body, we came across countless scraps of decayed cloth, and some dirty, worn out jewelry.

After coming upon something so surprising and disturbing, we knew we had to do some more investigating. This person was obviously one of many. He seemed to be a citizen of some sort, for around him we found several primitive tools, and even a knife. But not just any knife. It was a sacrificial knife. Something this intensely superstitious had to be linked to a primitive civilization of some sort. Sure enough, only a stones throw away from the lake, we found the ancient, extinct city of which he was a part of. We marveled at the amazingly remarkable sight. An entire civilization which somehow came to ruin under what seems to be intense warfare, with spears, tomahawks and brutally damaged, mummified cadavers littering their once peaceful streets. Blood still stained their buildings and monuments, and it seems as though that a far greater wrath had been brought upon them. We were in awe at the terrors our eyes had come upon. Along with this, the entire environment had a eerie, copper-like tint to it. Almost like some kind of strange rust. However, there was no clear metal present. All of these buildings and monuments were stone, or wood of some kind, so it was obviously something much more mysterious. We were dumbfounded by this sight, and couldn’t be more amazed. We then saw something different in the distance of the primeval wreckage.

Among the ancient debris that was once the homes to count-less lives, a strange monolith stood atop a short monument. However, unlike the rest of the ancient land, the monolith had no tone of copper covering it’s surface. The monolith was 11 ft. tall, and was in an awkward shape almost like that of a cube or three dimensional rectangle whose top got slimmer as it went up, becoming almost pyramid-like, but not quite a pyramid. it was somewhat like a pyramid with the pointed tip cut off. It was stone gray in color and had thick white lines wrapping around the shape in the middle of both the wider end, and the more telescoping end. However, there was something that simply wasn’t quite right about it. It smelled somewhat sickening, almost metallic, and standing by it caused us to all complain of head aches. Well, almost all of us. For whatever strange reason, it seemed as though it had no noticeable effect on neither Freddy nor Veronica. They almost seemed mesmerized by the thing. All they did was stare at it in awe, as if they were in love with the damned thing. But then something disturbing started to happen. As Freddy touched it, blood started pouring from his nose, and dripped down his face. However, it was as if he didn’t even notice. He just kept on staring into it, stroking it’s stone surface. However. Our headaches turned from bothersome to pounding, and what started as a slight tickle in our skins turned into an itch, and then into a burn. We urgently had to leave this accursed place. We pulled Freddy and Veronica from the thing and bolted away from it.

After getting back to the water, we washed off Freddy, who was confused by the blood on his shirt, and claimed that he couldn’t remember what had happened. Quite obviously, it would be best to not tread on that territory again. After recovering from this strange experience, we had decided to look for an adequate shelter. After some searching, we came across a small cave by the far end of the beach. As we entered, we were shocked to see that it housed another pool of fresh spring water.

Along with the empty space in which we could use to set up our supplies and take shelter, we even had a second, much closer source of water! For such a dismal island, it had quite a myriad of resources. After a little preparation, our shelter had been completed. Before we knew it, days went by, all without fault. There was something a tad strange going on though. Ever since the strange encounter with that alien monolith, Freddy and Veronica just frankly weren’t quite right. They seemed very anxious, and really distant. It was as if they had larger, more personal worries that they couldn’t concern us with. After a few days of this, Megan had grown quite tired of it, and would frequently have to remind them of the situation, and tell them how important our cooperation was. But then unexpectedly, Freddy confided in me, and had told me something that I found somewhat strange.

“Jason, I don’t know why, but I think we have to investigate that monolith again.”

I of course questioned this and reminded him of how it had turned out last time. We had also swore to never venture there again. We knew how dangerous it could be. Immediately, Freddy had zoned out again, and just anxiously sat there for a while, until finally speaking again.

“I’m going to go talk with veronica about something.”

“Why?”

“There’s just something really important I need to talk to her about, okay?”

This was very strange indeed. Normally, Freddy didn’t bond with her that much. Especially knowing that her and Arthur had a relationship, a subject which he took caution to avoid as frequently as possible, including avoiding extended dialogue with her very often. But it did seem somewhat fitting now, seeing as that they were in such similar mindsets. Though I was worried, I didn’t feel formally inclined to actually do anything about it. Normally it wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but it just felt like this place was affecting them somehow, and I feared that Freddy may succumb to one of the nervous breakdowns which he had experienced under stressful situations like this.

I prayed that he could have control over his fragile nerves. Later that day though, there was something that had very much shocked us. Both Freddy and Veronica had disappeared. Had they gone all the way to the lake, to refill their bottles? Why wouldn’t they use the supply in our cave? I wanted to check the lake, simply to ease my suspicions. However, when I had reached the lake, they weren’t present. By then it had dawned on me. They had returned to the monolith’s land. But why? What was driving their interest in that damned place? I had to know. Cautiously, I traversed into the ancient ruins, and sure enough, I spotted them sitting by the monolith, staring at it. The cloudy sky and the dark air had for some reason started somewhat reflecting from their skin. They looked somewhat different. Sickly almost. Pale, and sickly. I anxiously called out to them, and immediately questioned their motives. They admitted that they themselves didn’t exactly understand why they had felt the need to return either. They said that they were simply drawn to it, likening it to a moth to a light. I was sick of all of this nonsensical crazy talk. I grabbed them both by their wrists and dragged them back to our shelter.

After we lectured them for some time about the unknown dangers present at that location, we decided that they needed rest, due to their pale, sickly complexion. This was starting to get crazy. Why would they return to that accursed thing? How were they driven there? What in the name of god is happening to my friends?!? This was all starting to become very scary for all of us. Only intensifying my almost irrational fears, I had a terrible dream that night. If you can even call it that. Such an atrocity of the sub-conscious could only be labeled as an abomination. It still pains me even now to recount this terrible experience.

In the dream, I was alone on the filthy beach when it had started to storm. Rain was pouring down violently, and I was crying in a fetal position. When I had turned around, half of all the wilderness populating the island had been burnt to black ashes. All of the sudden, a large burst of anger welled up inside me as my tears soaked my face And the rain stained my old, torn clothes. I then marched into the wilderness, enraged by something I couldn’t even remember. When I came upon our lake, it was an atrocity. Polluted with inky blackness, all of the creature that dwelled within it, fish and all, were floating at the surface, rotten and nearly skeletal.

As the fishy stench pervaded the air, my anger only got more intense. I then marched into the city. Half of the ruins had been broken down into dirt and rubble by the copper-like rust. And as I looked into the distance, I saw a terrifying sight. Megan and Arthur were lying on the ground, brutally slaughtered next to the nightmarish monolith, soaked in the blood of my dear friends. Freddy and Veronica laid in front of it, twitching in a pool of inky, black ooze. The monolith simply stood there, humming like an overprotected sound system, rumbling and shaking. but the monolith stood completely still, and the sound caused absolutely no outside disturbance, as if no form of physical vibrations took place.

But then, the humming and droning turned into creaking, as the monolith split down the middle and began to open itself, allowing me to get a minuscule peak at it‘s dark, shadowy contents. It was then when I awoke. Terrified, sweating and confused, I immediately gulped down a large amount of water, to try and hydrate my shocked and confused body. Something was very, very wrong. The monolith, my friends, the whole damn island. There was something very dark there, and I knew that our presence was releasing it somehow.

By the next morning, all I could think about was how to approach something as surreal as this. While Megan and Arthur worked to sustain our resources, and Freddy and Veronica remained quiet and distant, I was deep in my thoughts. What was to be done about all of this? Was there even an explanation? How were we going to get out of this unscathed? And most importantly of all, what was happening to my friends? How can I help them? Can they be helped? I knew that if I didn’t do something now, things would only become worse, and worse, and worse. But the scariest question of all was, what could I do? But then, Arthur had a question for me of his own.“Where’s Veronica? And Freddy’s missing too.”

No. Not again. They went there again.

“I think I have an idea of where they are.”

We then ran through the forest to the city, and of course, there they were. But things were different this time. They were… Touching it. And whispering to it. What were they saying? Was it even English? Was it even a known language at all? Also, just like before, their noses were bleeding profusely. As they whispered to the macabre stone, we yelled for them. We couldn’t get too close, or we would experience the same pain we felt before, and it could conceivably get much worse than that. But they completely ignored our pleas. Getting desperate, Arthur threw a small stone at Freddy to get his attention. However, as Freddy turned around, he was enraged, and screamed.

“PHARG’LI KHRA’GH!!!”

We stood there shocked and confused as he quickly recovered and alerted Veronica of our presence. They both apologized, and pleaded for our forgiveness. We then escorted them back to camp as they wept into their sleeves, whispering what sounded like some kind of rushed, crazy apology:

“I didn’t know I’m so sorry don’t hurt me please forgive me I’m so sorry I’ll do anything I’m so sorry I’m sorry”

When we got back to our cave, we tried to ask them what happened, but we couldn’t get a response. Veronica was terrified and grief stricken, and Freddy was having one of his nervous breakdowns. I needed to help them. I didn’t know how though. Something was changing them, but it felt like there was nothing I could do about it. Were my friends going completely insane? How were these people losing themselves like this? Why aren’t we? We’re all nearly identical, with similar diets and body-types. We were damnably the same…. Well, except for one thing. You see, when my friends and I were visiting Japan, we learned of an interesting custom that was very important for people there. Blood type. They believe that your blood type can pre-determine your personality. When we got tested, all of us were A+. Except for Freddy and Veronica. They were both B+. Was that the answer? Perhaps it was our varying mental frequencies, or something likened to that. But if either of these were the answer, that still wouldn’t tell me what to do. I was lost. Megan and Arthur were both very concerned as well. Seeing our friends like this wasn’t pleasant at all. We had to help them. But I had finally thought of an idea. Following that last incident, we knew that this monolith obviously had something to do with their deteriorating condition. So the key was to keep them away from it.

“Sorry if this is too tight, but I promise that it’s for your own good.” I said as I tightened the ropes around veronica’s hands. We would leave them tied like this until we were either rescued or they recovered from whatever was troubling them. There they would sit in the cave, until their withdrawal was complete. We could feed them and care for them until they went back to normal. We would do anything to see them well again. However, there were many unpleasant factors from this. The worst was the screaming. The painful howls of need, made us feel like we were torturing them. But we knew that we were doing the right thing. There was also the ever-so tempting bargaining. Constant pleas for their release, such as false promises and empty deals. One of the more unpleasant was the threats. Consistently angry, and unrelentingly insulting, they tried to scare us into giving them their freedom. But we knew better than that. They had remained this way for about two and a half days. But at one time, they seemed genuinely sorry. Veronica had been very calm, and was very docile with her words. She then tried to have some civilized dialogue with me. Seeing as that she seemed to be recovering, I decided to comply with her requests when she simply wanted to converse. However, whatever she had said, it was being muttered. So I leaned in closer to hear her better. After all, she was probably weak after this dreadful experience. But then she uttered to me.

“I’m sorry…”

“for what?” I gently questioned.

“THIS.”

She then shockingly ripped through her ropes and swiftly punched me in my face, crippling me with pain. Then, acting fast, she used the sharp rock that she freed herself with to cut Freddy loose and the two ran off into the wilderness after jumping Arthur, Megan and I. Being beaten senseless by the people we once loved and cared about, we blacked out, allowing them to escape into the night. I still wish we could have stopped them somehow. But it was too late. We had failed.

The next morning, as we awoke on the beach, under the dismal sky and cool breeze. Unable to help ourselves, we all broke down crying on the cold beach. We had lost our friends. There was no way they could be the same after the distress their minds had been put through. Especially not with all this time they had spent at the monolith’s land. They were changed. they were not the friends we knew and loved. Veronica and Freddy were gone. They were dead. That wretched monolith had killed them. Reluctantly, we ventured into the woods to see what had become of our loved ones. Sure enough, they were both sitting at the base of the monolith. But also sure enough, they had changed. Their skin was pale, and their vanes, visible against their light skin, were dark and prominent. Their eyes were sunken in, and were bloodshot. Blood stained where it had leaked out of their nasal passages, and their clothes were tattered and dirty. They had only been with the monolith for a little over 15 hours, and they were already barely human anymore. They no longer read as innocent and caring, but as cold, and dark. They both sported a sarcastic smirk on their faces, and chuckled at the sight of us. After a short stare-down, Freddy spoke.

“HeLLo.”

“Freddy! Veronica! Please tell me you two are still in there!” Megan pleaded.

“You poor fool. They are dead. We have risen.”

Sad and disappointed, Megan started sulking at the sight of her former friends

“We just wanted to tell you that you’re both dead to us. We won’t give you shelter, and you can starve for all we care. Don’t bother ever leaving this place.” spoke Arthur, with great pride.

“We have no plans of leaving. Well, other than for our tributes.”

“what’s that supposed to mean?”

“None of your concern. Now leave or be risen. It’s your choice.”

Since Arthur’s question was answered so disquietingly, we decided it would be best to just abandon them as quickly as possible. We were all heartbroken by the fate of our poor friends. They were driven mad by that terrible thing. How did this even happen? How can things like this even be possible? We all bawled in sorrow. Our friends were gone and would never come back. What made the situation even worse was the mad cries of our former friends.

“PHI’SEN! J’ETHAL’AZHAR! PHI’SEN!”

“IA GRA’GH KNA’J IA”

“QUW’UKH’QIU!”

We were all grief-stricken, scared, disturbed, and devastated. Arthur especially. For he had planned to propose to Veronica in Czechoslovakia. Sadly, not only did fate put a large damper on his plans, but the monolith had completely destroyed his dreams. He wanted to live a long happy life with her, but the monolith had taken it away. He was a wreck. This whole mess had completely killed his loved one. Megan and I were no better. Our entire group had been torn apart right in front of our very eyes. Even if we did manage to survive this experience, things would never be the same again. That monolith of doom had effectively destroyed our lives. And there wasn’t a thing we could do about it. But I showed signs of denial. There had to be something we could do for them. They were just sick. That was all. We could make them better. But of course, I had to snap back to reality as well. My ideas were crazier than our lost friends.

That day, we spent the whole day grieving for our lost ones, for they would never be forgotten. But little to our knowledge, this was only the start of the tragedy that would befall us all. Worn out from this exhausting day, we all desperately needed a drink. But as we approached our water supply, there awaited a devastating surprise. The water was ink black, and had a syrup-like consistency. The fish were floating at the top, suffocated by the sludge. They tainted our water. Those bastards destroyed our only chance at survival. As we ran to the larger lake of water, we watched in horror as Freddy and Veronica had slashed their arms, bleeding black oily blood into the water.

“WE BLESS THIS POOL IN THE NAME OF THE GREAT ONE! HAIL JALHAZAR!” They chanted.
“YOU PSYCHOS!” screamed Arthur.
“NOW WE’LL ALL DIE BECAUSE OF YOU IDIOTS!” he screamed, enraged by this dreadful situation.

“On the contrary. Now YOU’LL all die! But the almighty one shall be very pleased indeed.” Before we could speak to them again, they disappeared back into the shadows of their dead city. Arthur broke down and started crying from immense stress and frustration. We had no other choice by this time. In the morning, we’d pack up our supplies back onto the life-boat and leave this wretched place. If we were to stay any longer, we’d surely perish on this wasteland. That night, after drinking some of what water remained in our bottles, we ate some of the remaining canned food and went to bed. But I then awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of a struggle. Before I could get a grasp of what was happening, I was knocked out by a large piece of wood that was swung at my skull. When I awoke, we were tied to two thick logs that were wedged into the dirt. As my vision cleared, I started to recognize the location. It was the monolith’s land. We were tied up next to the monolith itself. The very same accursed thing that had taken my dear friends. But as I looked around, I spotted them. They were holding Arthur as he was tied up with rope.

“What’s going on here?!? Tell me now!” he screamed.

But they ignored his words as they shouted gibberish into the heavens and praised the monolith with otherworldly phrases. But as I spotted what veronica was holding in her hands, I realized what was happening. She was holding the sacrificial knife that we found with the skeleton. We were being sacrificed to the monolith. We were their tributes to their new lord. I was devastated and terrified by this sudden realization. They then pushed Arthur up against the monolith’s stone surface and he screamed in agony as his nose began to bleed and some of his skin began to melt, burn and blister, due to the monolith‘s unnatural aura. Veronica leaned close to him and whispered a disturbing goodbye.

“Goodnight, sweetie.”

She then violently stabbed him in the neck as he choked and gargled on his own blood, and slit his throat deeply, nearly decapitating him. After that, she stabbed him in the chest, and cut down the entire length of his torso, as blood and organs poured out of his body. I’ll never forget the panicked look in his eye as life had escaped him. Then, as Freddy began smearing the blood on the monolith’s stone surface, they sang praises to it and spoke of black spires, otherworldly temples, and cosmic deities. After that, the monolith started to make macabre noises. It sounded like that of a heart beat and resonated very loudly, like a large drum. Though I was horrified by these strange occurrences, I couldn’t express my utter shock and terror. If they knew I was awake, they’d surely kill me right there, on the spot.

“Bring in the next tribute.” said Freddy, with a mischievous look in his eye. Veronica then cut down Megan as I watched in horror. Not only had I watched my friend be brutally slaughtered, but now I had to relive the pain yet again.

After cutting her loose and tying her up again, I didn’t dare watch this second time. But I did hear her pained screams, the slashing and the cutting. But her howls of agony would haunt my nightmares for the rest of my days. But I also came to realize something. The monolith had now indeed killed all of my friends. It single handedly destroyed everyone I loved and held dear to me. Of course I had other friends, and there was always family, but they were never as close to me as them. Even if I did survive, there was no way I could go on with my life as I once did. But I still felt the need for self preservation. I had to get out of this, just to prove to myself that I could. As well as that, there wasn’t a chance in heaven or hell that I would let myself be slaughtered for that wretched monolith.

As they cut me down for their last sacrifice, I sprung to life, surprising and angering them. I swiftly knocked Freddy to the ground and ran. They both began chasing me through the dense forest. But due to the complete darkness of my surroundings and the thickness of the wooded area, I lost my way. Blindly jolting through the forest, the unexpected occurred. Freddy jumped from the shadows and pinned me to the ground. They then started to drag me back to the city, as I heard the beating getting louder and closer. My clothes were torn and dirty from the struggle.
As they brought me to their monolith, something started to happen to them. They dropped me onto the ground and began whispering of prophecies to each other. The monolith then began shaking as they bowed in front of it. Black ooze started to bleed from it’s stone surface. They each then picked a small blob of it off of the stone, and swallowed it. Soon, they dropped to their knees once again and began howling painful, animalistic screams. Among their screams, they yelled the phrase
“WE HAVE ASCENDED!”
Soon, the black ooze started dripping out of their noses, their mouths, and their tear ducts. This was my time to escape. As they chanted into the heavens, I ran into the forest. But they noticed, and yelled into the wilderness.

"HAIL JALHAZAR!!!", They shrieked, like insane beasts.

Veronica then lit a torch, and threw it into the forest. The leaf carpeted floor quickly caught and set the trees ablaze. As this happened, I looked back one last time, contemplating what my actions should be. The monolith shook and rumbled as it released a giant wave of hot air, which decayed the ruins even further, almost obliterating them. Not wanting the radioactive wave or the fire to reach me, I bolted back to the beach.

As I watched the forest go ablaze, I silently watched as I drifted into unconsciousness yet again. I was exhausted by this painful experience. When I awoke the next morning, the sky was darker than ever, and rain heavily poured down from the heavens. As I looked upon the burnt and devastated forest, memories rushed back to me and once more traumatized my mind. I broke down into tears at the loss of all of my dear companions. But it was all that damned monolith’s fault. That evil monstrosity had twisted and destroyed my friends. Some of the best people I had ever knew, all struck down by it’s mighty wrath. It had effectively ruined my life. My sadness had then been overcome by fury. It would pay. It would pay for all the death and destruction it had caused.

I would destroy it.

I angrily marched into the burnt forest. The land was devastated, yet the alien fungus had only become larger and more prominent throughout the area. As I came upon the large lake, I stared into it’s jet-black surface and was overcome with the aroma of fish corpses. This only enraged me further and reminded me of the extended damage it had done. As I came upon the broken down, ancient ruins, I was reminded of just how intense the struggle was. As I looked upon my friends slaughtered bodies in the distance, and Freddy and Veronica, face down in a pool of black sludge, I prepared to unleash the hate and rage that was dwelling within me. I picked up one of the tomahawks that was lying on the ancient ground as I was overcome with the metallic smell of the monolith and the rotting stone around me. Though I was in great pain, I pushed on. The monolith would not get the better of me. The headaches and burning of the skin was nothing compared to the hate I felt for the accursed monolith. As I approached it, I screamed in rage and agony as I struck the thing with my tomahawk. I beat it profusely, breaking through it’s surface. But then, my violent advances upon it had only disturbed the forces which lied beneath it. After several violent strikes to the monolith’s surface, Freddy and Veronica then rose from the ground and I looked upon their terrible faces, which were rotted and seething with the black ooze. It poured from their empty sockets, and it slobbered out of their rotten, lip-less maws. They screamed at me in gibberish and began to walk towards me.
“I’m sorry…” I whispered as I struck them both by the skull with my ax, splattering the black goop about and killing them instantly. I felt nothing of striking them down, for my real friends had indeed perished long ago. I then went back to work breaking down the monolith, as it started to rumble and shake louder and louder with every intense strike. But the all of the sudden, it released another wave of heat from it’s surface, pushing me away from it and knocking me over.

After I got back on my feet, I approached the shaking monolith once again as it started making the same, heart beat like sound I had heard before. But before I knew it, the beating turned into a creaking. And as this happened, it split down the middle, and began to open itself. I stared in awe as the two sides were pushed apart, like the doors to an ancient tomb. It was then when I had finally caught a glimpse of what had caused all this chaos. As I peered into the shadowy contents, I saw a man’s corpse crouched in a fetal position. A black webbing of mucus was rooted into both his skin and the insides of the monolith. It was just a man’s corpse. But how could that be? What was going on here? But then, as my mind became clouded by questions, the unthinkable happened.

The man moved. I watched in shock, horror, and awe as his body began twitching and he began to rise, his joints cracking in the process. But when he had fully stood up, he was a horror to behold. He was a tall, swarthy man who stood 9 feet tall and was thin, yet had an impressive build. He wore what looked like the tattered robe of an ancient priest or preacher, and the black ooze bled from his bony finger tips. His mug was that of the face of his exposed skull, and the bone was stained a light shade of gray. His head was bald, and the black ooze wept out of his empty sockets. Then, in a deep, basely voice, he spoke without moving his jaw, and he pulled a mighty sword out of his tomb.

“I AM THE AVATAR OF JALHAZAR. YOU SHALL SUFFER FOR YOUR INSOLENCE.”

As he swiftly swung his sword at me, I let out a blood curdling scream and ran for my life. I was dealing with forces far greater than I had realized, and I had almost met my demise in doing so. As the rain poured from the dark sky and thunder began to roll in from the storm, I haphazardly scrambled away. But I could tell he was pursuing me. I could hear his alien screams and other worldly battle cries getting closer and closer. Before I knew it, he was right behind me. As he reached out his arm to grab at me, I felt a fear greater than I had ever experienced in my entire life. But as he grasped the back of my shirt, it luckily tore from the intense wear it had been put through in the past few days being there. I still remember the feeling of his cold, bony fingers burning against my skin.

After I had made my way to the shore, I ran to the lifeboat which had been packed the night before. After digging it from the wet, dirty sand, I pushed it into the water and rowed away as fast as I could. I then looked back at the island to see my progress. I’m still haunted by the nightmarish image of Jalhazar standing at the beach, rain pouring from the sky and his clothes blowing in the wind. It was a few days into my journey along the sea until I noticed the red welts and burn marks spreading along my epidermis. When I ran out of food, I had resorted to eating the seaweed that floated en masse that I frequently came upon, and I used a discarded thermos I found afloat to collect rain water. After about a week and a half of this, I had thankfully been found floating by a Norwegian dock, and was fished out of the sea.

After being taken to a police station, they tried to get me to explain what had happened, but I left out the macabre details, as I didn’t wish for them to think of me as insane. After contacting my relatives, they came and picked me up. They were delighted by my presence, but I was rather disgruntled by the whole situation. So obviously, some of the strange happenings you’ve all come to know were not without reason. However, I’ve neglected to fully recognize that I am as of right now in my final moments. You see, when I returned to my now empty and dismal seeming home, I began to fully realize the circumstances of my condition. At first, my skin was only a minor problem, but soon, the pain became virtually unbearable.

My headaches had returned as well. It wasn’t until some visiting family members had walked in on me having a seizure that it had been given any proper medical attention. At the hospital, I was treated for radiation burns. However, I use the term “treated” loosely, as there was little to no noticeable effect. I was getting worse day after day, and out of fear of contaminating others or spreading the ailment, I completely quarantined myself to the confines of my house and avoided any and all contact with other people at all costs. I was a fool to think that I could escape from that wretched place unscathed. And now I had brought back that dreaded plague with me.

Every day, my condition only got worse and worse. I haven’t been out of my bedroom, let alone my bed for days, and the pain has reached the point of deadliness. I can barely breath, the burning is unbearable, my head feels as though it’s on the verge of combustion, and I fear that I will most certainly not make it through the night. So now that you understand the direness of what has happened, I only wish for my final request to be fully recognized for it’s importance.

Stay away from the accursed place of which I’ve spoken of.

Don’t go near it.

Don’t even request any kind of investigation of it.

At all costs, stay away from that place.

Never enter the island of that ancient city.

Never disturb the cosmic forces that exist in those unknown ruins.

Never awaken the darkness that lies within that place.

STAY AWAY FROM THE MONOLITH’S LAND.