Disclaimer: The following document fragment is presented from an in-character perspective, it should not be taken as the truth of the setting.
Context: Journals are an important form of communication between mages. They provide a raw, unedited view into the thoughts of another, very different from that of an orderly and thought out book. Some of these journals show the dangers inherent to dealing with the unknown, this is one of them. It describes the difficulties of dealing with something known as the Red Pyramid, a strange, otherworldly structure found on another Earth.
(Intro)
I thought to myself, seeing the octahedron hanging in the sky for the first time, how strangely perfect it seemed, how uncannily smooth and precise it was. It is hard to convey in words the creeping feeling of encountering something too perfect to exist, something displaying a precision that defies rationality.
A structure of red, haematite quartz impossibly levitating in the air, approximately a kilometre from the surface of this desolate world, a shadow of Earth more resembling the Mars we know from our home. The fine red dust covering the surface was itself haematite quartz, ground to dust by millions of years of the atmosphere wearing away at the Pyramid. And yet there it was, perfect in its mathematical precision, it’s surface unmarred by the slightest blemish. Over ten kilometres high and almost as wide. The only deviation from its shape a band of separation running through the middle. And upon it, a doorway.
We entered that passage, expectant of what we found, yet still profoundly shaken by our time spent there.
(Preface)
If you want to ask me what the Pyramid, I will undoubtedly disappoint you. I don’t know, no one knows. We barely grasp the scale of it or the topology of what we found inside.
I have seen empty hollows, within which the Earth could rest comfortably, and yet circled their circumference in mere minutes. I have chased myself through labyrinths of corridors, where the passages twist through layers of space imperceptible to the human senses and indecipherable to the human mind. I have seen my colleague torn apart from by the angles by which space itself bends through this structure.
But I have found here no clues as to what the Pyramid is.
If someone told me that this structure was the stone of eternity, to which some cosmic bird journeys every aeon, to peck at it, marking the passage of time towards eternity, I would believe them.
The size of this structure, the realisation of its scale, it weighs on my mind.
(Day 23)
The Pyramid speaks.
A constant drone resonates through the impossible, twisted halls. I can hear it, regardless of the helmet muffling all other sounds, amplifying my breath. Thus the sound of air drawn into my lungs and expelled mixes with the drone becomes the constant backdrop of our research and exploration.
But the full song is hidden from us, we can barely feel it in our bones. Resonating through the crystal and the fabric of space and time filling the empty corridors.
Sometimes the drone breaks out in a crescendo of queer noises, the crystal ringing as it sets into place. It is as if earthquakes ran through the structure periodically. Afterwards, we could hear soft ringing in the distance, like the sound of crimson, crystal rain falling in the vast, infinite spaces within the Pyramid.
(Day 41)
Today we lost Joseph.
We travelled further down the triangular hall we discovered a few days ago. It opened up to a chamber resembling a hall of mirrors. Mesmerising, absolutely mesmerising. The few torches we carried reflected over and over into a starfield of white and red.
He stepped forwards, reaching his hand out to what should have been the surface of the mirror, reflecting his own arm outstretched towards him.
There is nothing we could take back so that we could offer him even a symbolic burial. I retrieved his favourite book from his capsule. An old and beautiful tome, passed in his family from generation to generation. I will bring it back for his son, it’s the least I can do.
The morale is low, we’re considering leaving the Pyramid behind and returning to our alma mater with what little we managed to glean from its labyrinthine insides.
(Day 42)
I feel I’ve barely escaped with my life today.
We found a vast tunnel running through the Pyramid. Our measurement devices could not determine the height or depth of this space. But, we spent so much time trying to chart out its scale that when we felt gravity shift around us, it was already too late.
We felt the fundamental forces anchoring us to the ground wane and wax, like with the breath of some titanic being. I realised I’m slowly floating upwards, away from the ledge I stood on just a moment ago, the content of my stomach churning, only adding to my sudden panic.
But just as suddenly as our feet disconnected from the ground, unceremoniously, I was thrust back down, hitting the ledge suddenly and falling over, only barely aware enough to, in my panic, roll into the opening we came from.
We need to leave this place. The Pyramid is not for us to map and chart. It’s secrets, whatever they might be, if they even exist, are not for us to discover.
Esoteric Musings... 