I looked around to make sure there was no one around me, the candlelight was still burning bright. I picked up and dusted off the strange book I found lying on the floor. The book appeared to be very old, wrapped in leather with intricate patterns on the front but no words. As I opened the book I noticed a lot of the pages contained pure gibberish, the words were still in English but made no grammatical sense. Most of these pages were extremely short, just a few random words at most (phrases like “orange banana turkey”). I found a quill in one of the pages, sort of like a bookmark. On the page where the quill was I found the first instance of text in the book that was actually comprehensible. It went as follows:
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TIPS TO SURVIVING IN THE CATACOMBS:
Yes, you aren’t the first to get trapped here, and you certainly won’t be the last. I am in the same predicament as you are, and so was whoever first brought this book in here, whoever that might be. We used to be a group of 10, now I am the last one standing with no chance of escape. Hopefully This will help you survive long enough to maybe find a way out of here.
This rule is the most important. Never under any circumstances should you go into the dark. The candle doesn’t work in the dark. They live in the dark. Never go in the dark. Never.
The creature’s eyes glow. Never look into its eyes
Never go backwards. The further backwards you go the harder the wind gets. The harder the wind gets the harder it is to keep the candle alight
Your family is not in the catacombs. Keep repeating this sentence to yourself. Make sure you believe it.
Keep the quill safe. It never runs out. Its safety is essential.
Don’t start writing in the book until the candle runs out. Once you start writing they will find you
Don’t stop moving. The darkness follows you.
Once the candle goes dark, immediately start writing. DO NOT STOP WRITING. DO NOT WRITE GIBBERISH, IT CAN TELL. DO NOT LOOK AWAY FROM THE BOOK
These are the following areas I have already explored. Use the map. Expand the map. It’s too late for me but someday one of us will escape.
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That was the end of the note, followed by a map of the catacombs. The map he had was very detailed and included various structural identifiers. Over the next few days I expanded the map greatly, but no exit was found. Slowly my candle got dimmer and dimmer, until it faded out.
I immediately opened my book and started writing this. I could feel the creatures moving slowly towards me. When I stopped writing for a second to collect my thoughts it moved at a breakneck speed. I have been writing for 20 minutes now but it keeps getting closer. I can now feel its claws slowly digging into me from all directions.
It’s pitch black and I can see nothing, I can only feel the quill and the page in a way I’ve never felt any other object. I can see perfectly everything I write, crystal clear. How can it be so visible without even the slightest glow on anything else? The pain is now becoming excruciating. I think the best ending I can now hope for is a merciful, quick death. It feels like the creature is moving in slow motion, hopefully when I stop writing it will move fast and kill me fast. I only hope you have better luck than I did at finding the exit.