“I’ve always lived life looking and digging (literally) for money. I am a treasure hunter, and up until now, I’ve amassed over 50,000 dollars. As I’m hiding in this corner, I have realized all the petty and major mistakes I’ve made in my whole life. But before saying goodbye, I’d like to tell whoever is reading this the full story of my most recent, and biggest mistake of all.
My name is Richard, and as I said, I’m a treasure hunter. Since I wasn’t EVER satisfied with the amount that I had, I decided to hunt for the most valuable and priceless thing; The Gatekeeper’s Amulet. Now, I don’t think that you, fellow reader, have ever heard about it. And you probably won’t. That’s because it was something my dad told me about, and apparently, only a select few have ever heard of it.
He was also a treasure hunter just like me and warned me to NEVER EVER search for this item, as it’s apparently cursed and guarded by a beast of some kind, named the Guardian of Hell. I was very little when he told me this, so I swore to never visit the place. Of course, since I grew up, my curiosity was killing me. I couldn’t find a lot of information about it, only that it was in an undisclosed location (I’ve purposefully censored the place, as I wouldn’t want you or anyone else for that matter to wander here), and some other seemingly trivial things.
After thinking it through five times, I’ve decided “Why the heck not?”. I mean, you got to understand; it grants the holder luck and prosperity. And it would also sell at a ridiculous price if I published its secrets. Yes, I have written a book about it. It includes every single detail; from its current location to its risks and legends behind it. Everything that I could gather from other sources, like books and letters to what my dad told me when I was younger was included in the book.
Anyways, when I reached the location I knew what to search for; a cave. This cave has withstood the test of time and has not received any damage. After a short search, I found the cave and hastily entered it. The hot and arid air was quickly changed to a cooler, more refreshing one. Of course, that didn’t mean that I could rest. I started investigating the surface of the cave and didn’t find anything.
That was the first time I’ve felt it. It was some sort of… song? Melody? Or just a feeling, a temptation to keep moving down below. It’s pretty hard to explain, but it was definitely something that was calling me from the depths of the cave. I could resist it for a little while, but who are we kidding? There’s no way the amulet would be this close to the entrance of the cave. So I ventured down below…
After a short walk, I found myself in a dark space, with the usual sounds that accompany a cave; bats squeaking, water dripping, and the never-ending echo of my steps. I pulled out a torch from my bag and quickly lit it so that I could keep walking forwards without unintentionally falling. Eerily, my steps weren’t the only things that echoed. I heard some weird whispers, and sometimes even movement from all sides that disappeared the moment I made my mind focus on them. “My mind’s just playing tricks on me”, I thought.
Sometimes I could even make out a figure in the darkness. Of course, that sounds absurd, as it was completely black. I couldn’t have seen anything. But from the corner of my eye, there was always something watching me and inspecting me. I felt it, and also saw it sometimes. But I shrugged it off since this is normal when someone is journeying alone in the dark.
I was still walking forward, as that was basically the only way to go. The cave itself wasn’t even that narrow. Ten people could fit inside it rather easily. It’s the fact that there are no other directions to go, only forward or backward. You’d think that this cave would have smaller cavities or at least indentations in the walls. But no, you only have those two choices: Forward or backward.
After a few minutes of walking, I was starting to feel the coldness of the cave. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting it. From all the explorations I’d taken part in, none of them were this cold. And I wasn’t even that far down below.
Something else that I wasn’t expecting was growling noises. I blamed everything on my brain playing tricks on me, but this could not be excused. It was like a dog, violently searching for something (or in this case, someone). I recalled the old tales about the Guardian of Hell. I honestly didn’t believe in all that, as it sounded way too stupid. Come on, a creature that would defend an amulet if you get close to it? And it has apparently done this for centuries? How could I even try to believe that?
But after hearing those noises, I honestly wasn’t so skeptical anymore. I couldn’t spot or identify that creature, but those were not animal noises. No dog, wolf, or any other animal for that matter could release a sound like that. Weirdly enough, it was coming from the inside of the walls. As I was dedicated to taking the amulet, I continued walking forward, despite this warning from God himself.
After that weird encounter, I spotted a hole in the ground. It was the way I needed to go to get closer to the amulet. I knew this because that intense feeling I got when entering the cave didn’t subside. Quite the opposite actually. It was like a natural compass was implanted inside of me, and I couldn’t do anything but follow it. Near the hole, there were some footprints (maybe human, maybe not) and some bones (again, maybe human, maybe not).
Looking down, I noticed that it was extremely steep, and I couldn’t even see the bottom of it. I dropped a smaller rock that I found near me, which hit the ground roughly 5 seconds after dropping. Which, if you don’t know, is a long, LONG drop. Approximately 400 feet, so I would be an idiot if I were to jump down below.
But it wasn’t exactly me who jumped down. That force was obliging me to do it, and I had absolutely no control over my actions. Once I fell and reached the bottom, the last thing I saw before losing my consciousness was a long path that lead straight ahead with torches on the wall lighting the way.
And then it all went black. I sometimes woke back up and realized that I was walking forward, but couldn’t stop, speak, feel, or anything. It was like I was in the back of my mind, and something else was completely controlling it. Something dark and sinister. I heard some noises during the walk as well, like rocks collapsing and my footsteps echoing. I wasn’t conscious enough to process everything that was happening at that moment.
After waking up on the floor, I noticed that I was in a room that I’d never seen before. I quickly collected my thoughts and tried to remember what happened in the past few moments. Or minutes. Or hours. Who knows anymore. That’s when I sighted it. The amulet was there. The amulet that I had long sought for. It was on the floor, like some dirty, worthless jewelry. Disregarding everything that just happened, I crawled towards it.
Finally, it was mine. The item that was apparently cursed and forbidden to possess was now in my hands. It was a liberating and joyful moment. If only it had lasted longer. I soon realized that I had no way of knowing the exit route. Since I wasn’t conscious while walking toward this place, I couldn’t memorize the way back. Gripping the amulet tightly, I decided to put it on, hoping the legends of it bringing luck were actually true.
I began wandering back, hoping to see something familiar. Since I did drift in and out of consciousness, I do know that there is a well hidden here somewhere, along with a big tree and a gate. After taking a few steps outside of the amulet room, I heard a loud growling noise behind me. I didn’t even need to look back since I knew it was the beast that I had already encountered when I was on the upper levels of the cave.
I began charging forwards, hoping the creature didn’t actually notice me, or maybe wasn’t after me. Unfortunately, I heard it rushing behind me, with sounds that are close to impossible to describe. It was something like a growl but in a demonic pitch. It also sometimes whined like a wolf when it hit its leg against something. Whenever it was close, I heard his teeth bite down, trying to catch me by my shirt, but luckily I’m more nimble than that.
I still wasn’t totally fine, as I was still experiencing hallucinations. Sometimes ghostly figures appeared before me, sometimes I heard sounds, and these weren’t great while I was escaping a monster that was as quick as me. The only way I managed to stay ahead was because I kept throwing stuff down in front of it in an effort to slow it down. It worked, and I succeeded in burning one of its legs. That was the most damage I could do though. And it wasn’t nearly enough to stop it.
After running for a few minutes (that felt like hours), I ran into a place that was filled with crossroads. It was dimly lit, so this was probably my only chance of hiding from the monster. I ran into the most narrow one, to make sure the beast couldn’t follow me. After successfully inching myself in, the beast fit his head in the opening, trying to bite me and possibly maul me to death. But since its body was too big, it couldn’t reach me.
I followed along the path, and finally got a moment to think; I have no idea where I am, and there is probably no realistic chance of me escaping. Recalling the myth about the beast, it only follows the people that steal the amulet, and once you stop possessing it, the monster calms down, and carries it back to its original room.
I’ve made my choice. I took the amulet off and threw it back to the beast that was close to breaking through the wall with his immeasurable strength. Once it realized I no longer had it on me, it picked it up with its teeth and started walking away. I let out a sigh of relief. All that effort, all that searching, and investigation, for nothing. I couldn’t even get out of the place. And I’ve come to accept my situation.
And now we’re in the present moment. I’ve secluded myself into a corner with a torch nicely illuminating my journal pages. It’s freezing, but I can still manage to survive for a bit longer. These were probably my last words, as I don’t think I can be saved. The person that finds this journal, I hope you won’t read into this too much and find the location of the cave that I wandered in because it’s not the same as the place of this journal and my dead body. According to the myth, once you gain knowledge of this amulet, reality starts to change and warp around you, in an attempt to dissuade you from searching for this item.
So, my deepest apologies for letting you know of this cursed object. I hope you can forget it as soon as possible, and not hurt yourself or anyone for that matter.
Sincerely,
Richard”
This was the journal entry I stumbled upon while researching various species in Antarctica. After reading it through, I don’t have a clue how this got here. What I am sure of, though, is the fact, that it was written in the early 1900s. I’m passing the knowledge of the object onto everyone who reads this, to see whether the statements of this man were factual or not. If they were, we could see a huge change in the world and the reality that we live in; and I would be praised as the man who instigated that change. I could be respected, famous, and even hailed as a king; or even more, a God. So I have to thank you, for contributing to my goals and plans. Hopefully, we all find something that brings us luck and prosperity; for me, ironically, it was this journal about a man trying to find the same thing, but it backfired on him.