The Lost City of Svenz

The Lost City of Svenz

Svenz, a lost city in Germany. Most things known about the city are legends and myths, somethings sound more credible then others. For instance, that it was swallowed by the earth, we imagined that this was just a tale stretched to mystical proportions, and that the city may have been on a cliff, or above a cavern of some kind and that an earthquake might have triggered it. Other legends tell that the city was built above the resting place of a dark and powerful god who wanted to destroy the world, and that the city sunk into the ground to push the dark god further from the surface of the world. There are many other stories of the city but to relate them all would take far too much time, and I would loose my wits fully before I finished writing them down, as it is I am already quite unraveled by the events that have come to pass.

My colleagues and I had heard of the lost city and decided we wanted to make our mark on the world of history by proving the long believed myth false. The seven of us were all recently graduated from the university and did not fully understand what to do with ourselves yet. So we went to Germany, and we began our search. Much to our surprise, and my regret, we discovered that Svenz was real. I will not disclose the location of the city, nor describe what lead us to it, for I know that someone as ignorant as we were would just as quickly follow our foot steps into that dark pit. I will, however tell you what happened once we reached it.

It was deep in a cave that we found it, an entrance to the city. The legends of it being underground had been true, but the city, as far as we could tell, had never been above ground in all of it’s days, for the city was carved from the earth, and on the entrance were engraved ancient runes of which we could make no meaning. We did not celebrate long, for the moment we had all of our things we descended into those accursed ruins. Lucas Duns, who decided to map out our journey as we went later would tell us that our point of entrance was carved into one of four towers that served as travel-ways between our world and the world of that dark and mysterious realm below. Any light that reached this far into the cave didn’t reach into the room, leaving it devoid of light and warmth. We had to rely on our flashlights from the moment we stepped into that accursed realm. At the moment this was hardly a hindrance, because Valerie Hobbs had brought enough extra batteries to keep us going for two years.

So our journey began, carvings in the walls told us a good deal of things, for starters, the romans had been there, this was communicated by a depiction of two babies being nursed by a she wolf. We searched that first room for signs of any native culture, but we found none. So we gave up on it and walked to the stone steps at the far end of the room. It was a massive room and it’s size only became apparent to us when we were on our way down the stairs, For the staircase was not around a pillar of stone, but rather a pillar of darkness, nothing but cool air in that void, the stone floor of the room was two feet above nothingness. As we walked along that large winding staircase we felt as if we were descending into death its self, the air grew cold as the staircase spiraled inwards towards the ground. By the time we reached the bottom step we were out of breath and shining our lights up at the ceiling we new was there we saw nothing. With nothing else to do we walked through the door that awaited us in that untouched darkness.

The hall we walked down bore no markings of craft, no chisel marks, no ancient graffiti, everything was smooth and featureless. I have no idea how long we walked down that hallway. It seemed to go on for miles, our lights never seeming to catch sight of an end to the hall, or anything else, for that matter. Constantly I felt as if we were being watched. I suggested we turn back but Lucas would hear no such talk, not when we were so close to our goal. So we moved on for time with no count through that dark and plain tunnel. 

Finally after countless hours of walking we came across a room. Our joy was quickly stamped out as we discovered it was a way point and nothing more. Nine more tunnels stretched in different directions. Allison Tahm had the foresight to mark the tunnel we came from by using a chisel to make a groove in the floor pointing towards our  entrance. We made our first rest here. Though it wasn’t much of a rest. No one slept well, the few hours of sleep I did manage were plagued with nightmares of countless eyes in the dark while silent voices spoke between them.

When I woke nearly everyone was already awake, so we gathered our things and pushed forward, starting with the hall closest to ours on the left. It was a similar hall, with no markings to prove that we were going anywhere. Soon, however, we found a great hall. Pillars towered up to a ceiling unseeable to us. An unnatural wind blew through the hall, chilling us to the bone. The wind moaned as it bit at us blowing past us. Then as we walked through the hall it stopped. When it began again only a moment later it was at our backs no longer biting at our faces. In this manner it changed direction ten times before we crossed the hall, as if some large creature were breathing in and out the cold wind.

We passed through the large door on the far side of the hall and entered a room with walls covered in markings and scratches. All were terrible in their own way, but none more terrible then a set of nearly identical claw marks along the floor leading away from the great hall, kneeling down and placing his own fingers in the marks Kaleb Farnsworth concluded that they were human. At Lucas’s urging we ignored our better judgement and moved on through the room. At the far end we found a massive door, it sat open. To the side of it three skeletons lay next to a small trench that lead to the door. The trench was covered in dried blood.

We passed the sight and pushed on, Valerie wanted to examine them closer but Lucas insisted that we press forward or he would go on alone. Not wanting to be split up we moved forward. The next horrible sight to be seen was there, it was a room filled with statues. Ten along each wall, each performing some cruel deed. Each of the statues was of a demonic figure, with massive ram horns, sharp teeth and an axe in it’s hand. None made more of a lasting impression on me though, then the last one on the right. It stood on a stone slab supported by tiny human statues that seemed to be being crushed by it. But it was the eyes of the statue that caught my attention. They seemed to shine in the dark, shining the way the eyes in my dream did.

I was glad to escape to the next room. It was another staircase spiraling down into nothingness. I was among the first to begin the decent into that dark abyss. The staircase spiraled on and on. As we went our lights seemed to have more and more trouble cutting through the dark. This staircase was different from the last. Along the walls were openings just big enough for a human to lay in. It wasn’t long before we came across one of these beds that was in use. The space being taken up by the body of a mummified corpse. After the first filled opening every bed was taken by another equally gruesome mummified corpse.

The end of the staircase marked the end of the corpses, and we moved on through the hallway at the bottom. The air seemed heavy, it pulled down on us. Slowing our progress. This hallway, like the first, went on for what seemed like miles. When we reached the end we found ourselves in a massive room at one end was a gate like what you might find on a castle, only it seemed to be broken in as if by a battering ram. Flanking it were two massive statues, they reached out of sight, but we could tell what it was. What we could see were two more demonic statues. In order to reach the gate we would have to walk down a short staircase into a fog that obscured the ground from view. 

We made our way down the staircase and into the fog. It was a layer ten feet deep at the most. And the stairs went on for another ten feet. Underneath the bed of fog we were met with another sight to behold. In front of us laid the remains of many dead soldiers. Some of them Henry Walsh recognized as Roman Legionaries. As we moved on we found a banner that suggested this to be the lost ninth roman legion. At this point even Lucas was excited, we celebrated for a few minutes for our discovery. For that alone we knew our names would be set in the records of history. Through our celebrations Henry still stood examining the armor and weapons of what seemed to be the defending army. He seemed completely baffled as to who they were. He had never seen any armor or markings like theirs in any of his studies. Eventually we moved on, all the while Henry looked from corpse to corpse trying to find some familiar marking, but his efforts bore no fruit.

It seemed to take forever for us to reach the other side and climb the stairs out of the fog shrouded battle ground. Upon reaching the top of the staircase we were all exhausted and we stopped to rest again. I don’t know how long we rested for, it wasn’t long. Again my sleep was a restless one, invaded by a nightmare. In my dream me and Henry ran through an endless hall lined with the demonic statues, our hands covered in blood. Corpses surrounded us one reached out and grabbed my shoulder. As it did I woke with a start. Soon after the others woke up, no one seemed to be any more rested than I was. We grabbed our things and moved on. 

On the other side of the giant gateway the corpses of the two armies formed a trail. The whole hall seemed to have served as a battleground. As we moved on I began feeling as if we were being watched again. However it was Lacey Samson who voiced this sensation and asked to turn back, I supported her suggestion. Lucas yet again told us off. Saying that we were acting childish. So we continued on. On the other side of the hall is where we found a massive gateway, two large trenches led to it. Each was filled with dried blood. Bodies clad in the armor of both armies laid in different positions of death in and along the trenches. Most had their hands bound behind their backs. Regardless of this apparent mass sacrifice we pressed on through the gates. passing a shattered makeshift battering ram as we went into the next room.

Runes of a language no one recognized or understood were etched into the walls and floor and ceiling. Claw marks on the ground matched those we had seen before that Kaleb had stated were human. We walked through a large archway at the end of the room into a massive cavern. In the center of the room was a giant column of shifting darkness that our lights couldn’t penetrate. This room, much to our wonder, held no trace of the fighting which had filled all the other rooms since the fog.

As we examined the shadow from what we considered a safe distance Lacey, Kaleb, and Henry’s flashlights went out. Valerie called them over to her so she could replace the batteries. Henry handed his flashlight to her. As she went to put batteries in the flashlight a tendril of darkness darted out from the column. It wrapped around Valerie. Her skin turned ash grey in seconds and she was pulled into the darkness along with her pack and Henry’s light. Seconds later three more tendrils shot out towards Lacey, Kaleb, and Henry. Lacey and Kaleb were grabbed and pulled into the dark but Henry managed to evade the third tendril as he ran for the exit. Seven more tendrils erupted from the darkness, followed by a gust of freezing cold air. The tendrils raced after us.

I turned and ran. Turning back only as I entered the rune covered hall. As I did I saw Allison running, then Lucas tackled her to the ground. Her scream was cut short, interrupted by the sickening sound of Lucas shoving a climbing piton through the back of her skull. He stood and began running after Henry who quickly approached me. As I turned I saw the tendrils drag Allison into the now reddening darkness. As she turned ash grey her hands, splayed in front of her, seemed to dig into the ground, leaving claw marks to accompany the trail of blood left by her head.

The moment I began running Henry caught up to me. The atmosphere seemed to pulse, as if the very air had a heart beat. I turned once to see Lucas still chasing us. His eyes were gone, only darkness could be seen in them. As we ran the bodies seemed to shift,  some crawled from our path as if they wanted us to escape. We had dropped our packs by now. The only thing I carried was my flashlight. We were almost through the busted gate when one of the corpses reached out and grabbed my shoulder. Another grabbed Henry. Then they both let us go after only seconds had passed. We ran as fast as we could. A tendril of darkness passed inches from our faces. Had we not been slowed by the corpses it would have gotten us. We pressed on.

The room with the fog was now clear for us to see. A path through the bodies was clear. We kept running as fast as we could. I could hear Lucas behind us. An unthinkable sound came from him. It sounded like a language that contained nothing but sounds that couldn’t possibly come from a human. Running as we were I barely noticed the change on the staircase. I realized what I had missed when we reached the top of the stairs. Because it was only then that I saw the mummified bodies. They all stood in disarray in the hall of statues. More terrifying then the walking corpses were the statues, four of them were moving, their bodies now looked like demonic forms of my friends who had been pulled into the darkness. They leapt from their pedestals, trying to catch us. The mummies trying desperately to latch onto us. Meanwhile Lucas’ disturbing chanting grew louder and closer. 

Somehow we worked our way through the hoard with out being stopped, we came out with scratches from the long sharp nails of the mummies. We kept running as fast as we could though. The mummies and statues were still making chase, and now Lucas had reached the hall and accompanied the creatures. We passed through the hall with the scratchings and markings. It seemed to glow in a blood red hue. It wasn’t long before we entered the great hall. The wind remained, only now the wind gusts were more sporadic, changing roughly every three minutes. It took much longer to reach the other side of the hall. When we did we looked back. Our pursuers were still in view, at their lead was Lucas.

Continuing down the hall I felt exhausted, our breathing was ragged. We saw the end of the hall come into view and then it vanished. Everything vanished as the flashlight that I held in my hand died. I dropped it, and we pressed forward. Henry reminded me to feel the ground so we could find the groove and return down the correct hall. It took far too long to find the groove, when we finally did I turned and saw countless eyes shining in the dark from where we had ran. Those terrible sounds and lucas at their lead. I grabbed Henry by the shirt and pulled him forward down the hall as I ran by. Soon both of us were sprinting. Our pursuers close behind. 

We ran for what felt like hours, it seemed like we were running for longer than we had walked. The pulse of the atmosphere was weaker here, it grew weaker the longer we ran. Finally we reached the base of the stair well. It took us for what seemed like ages to find the start of the stairs. When we did we took off up them. we stumbled and tripped with exhaustion all the way up. When we finally reached the room at the top I nearly collapsed with relief to see that light was shining in the cave still. This time Henry grabbed me by my shirt and helped to pull me from the room. We scrambled across rocks and made our way as quickly as possible to the ropes which we left hanging down from when we entered the cave. 

Quickly as we could we climbed up and into the bright light of day. We were momentarily blinded by the light but soon we could see again. Henry called for me to help him pull the ropes up. We got all but one, when we looked to see why we couldn’t pull the last one up we saw the hollow eyed form of Lucas climbing towards us. Henry started trying to untie the rope as fast as he could. While he untied it we heard a horrific combination of our friends’ voices come from Lucas. He told us that he would take us, we could not escape from the darkness, and that we would never escape from the darkness. He was interrupted when the knot finally came undone and he and the rope fell into the pit. We heard a sickening crunch as he hit the ground. Our relief was short lived as the voices spoke again. saying simply that “There are three more towers out of this prison. I will find you and then you will join my dark master. You can never escape the darkness.”

Henry and I turned from the pit and began walking back to the town we came from. We went with as much speed as we could muster. It was not long before we collapsed. 

I woke a week later in a hospital. Henry in the next bed over. I was told that we had been found unconscious next to a road. And that Henry hadn’t woken yet. It was two days later that Henry woke. Both of us made an unspoken vow to never talk of what happened. We put up missing persons reports for our friends claiming they had gone missing while we were unconscious. Then we went our own ways. Henry became a History professor at the University and I began writing stories. I quickly earned myself a name as a master of horror. 

Thirty years have passed and I now own a fairly large estate. I was content to not remember this incident from so long ago. The only reason I write this now is to serve as a warning. A warning I only give because Professor Henry Walsh was recently found dead in his home, his body ash gray. And his security cameras identify a man who was reported missing, thirty years prior, as the murderer.

Signed~ Victor T. Halls