A Letter Found Outside the Bramford Ruins

Dear Albert Woldecht,

I write to you in the utmost sincerity, I need your help. I do not know how to handle this situation I have put my family, myself and the people of Bramford into. I can only turn to you now. You have a connection to things like this. I know it is selfish of me to ask this of you, but you may yet save our souls.

There is a man I knew by the name of Heinrich A. Uhle, he was a renowned archeologist. Famous for his discoveries in Peru. Heinrich was a typical gentleman that spoke with a level of confidence one would expect from someone who was passionate about their study. He spoke of the hidden wonders the past had to offer us. We had become fast friends, to the point where he was often sharing dinners with my family speaking of his adventures in Peru. He told me one night while we were out for a smoke, that he may have something soon, and that he would like for me to join him. I told him I would give it some thought, before he departed for South America.

The factories had been producing well that year, seeing as I had earned a little bit of a break. So I decided I would contact Heinrich to see if his offer still stood, unfortunately it would.

While Heinrich was surveying burial sites and Peruvian cities back in 1904 he had come across some hills that he paid little mind to. According to Heinrich, he had a strange feeling about those hills, likely that he had missed something rather important about them. So a year prior to our discussion he had gone back to those very hills and investigated further. What he found was evidence of something far greater hidden under the earth. A year later, in 1909, I left on an expedition to those very hills. Heinrich, as well as a few other colleges from the University of Pennsylvania, would be joining us at the site.

We excavated those hills for 3 years finding all sorts of things, clay shards, tablets, ruins of a once now forgotten civilization. While I assume this was just a mundane experience by the rest of my peers, for me it was like making history. We shared in this monumental discovery, the site would be officially named Caral-Supe after some deliberation.

Upon my return to the site in 1912 I was introduced to Piotr Nowak, a polish architect who was brought on to study the layout so we might better understand Caral. Piotr and myself were walking about the site while he did his work and I enjoyed his company discussing mundane things. Something odd caught my attention, it was a staircase out not too far from where we stood. It leads down into the earth, with almost no visibility past its point of entry. I pointed it out to Piotr expecting some sort of intrigue, and while he seemed taken by curiosity he was apprehensive about it.

“Pay no mind to it,” he warned me, turning back to whatever it was he was studying. “The Peruvians call those forgotten tombs, they pop up every now and then. They speak of them like they are living things, and I'm not one to take the locals' warnings lightly.” I wasn’t sure if he was simply trying to scare me or not, but he seemed to believe his own words. While I was intrigued by the tombs, Piotr's warnings were enough to keep me from them.

In 1913, upon my return to the site in June of that year I learned Heinrich had gone missing. He had been missing for 5 days, to the point where the local government had gotten involved. We searched but to no avail, it was like Heinrich had simply disappeared. I was convinced he had been taken in the night by some group of ill mannered men seeking ransom. The others though, were positive he was here. We learned from our local laborers that some had seen Heinrich descend into one of the tombs. They tried to stop him before he descended but were too late. The tomb which he descended into closed up behind him. The man who saw Hienrich descend into the tomb, told us that they were evil. That our friend may already be gone.

That night when most others had departed, Piotr approached me saying he might have found another tomb. This tomb was open, it bore an identical appearance to the rest and lay near the top of one the Caral pyramids. He and two other men were preparing to descend into it to see if it was somehow connected to the other tombs.

“There was no guarantee that we would find Heinrich but it's our best shot.” He held out a lantern which I gladly accepted.

We knew we would get no help from the Peruvians, and they would have been right to stop us. What could I do? I couldn't just leave my friend down there.

The tomb itself was seemingly unremarkable stone bricks lined every part of its halls, the only noteworthy thing that we had seen down here were vessels. Not even a sign that Heinrich had been down here, so we pushed on. The space only grew tighter forcing us into single file. We were soon upon a great stone door which impeded our way, the sand on the floor indicated that it had been opened recently. So we would try our luck. We pulled on the handles of the door and barely got it open, the thing was quite heavy proving to be troublesome for 4 men to open. This raised some concerns for me as Heinrich was alone, so why could we only barely get it open.

The further down we went the more unbelievable it truly became, the stone bricks, now covered with an intricate and detailed design that had me astonished. It sprawled through the hall on every surface and pillar we came across, shifting and bounding in every which way.

I hadn't noticed until recently but we had been moving in a straight line for quite some time, there had not been any turns since we opened that door. I felt like we were being funneled somewhere, but the others moved with certainty. So I followed, keeping my worries to myself.

Eventually we found another door, this door was more intricate than the last. It was round and metal, with a crank placed nearby. When I turned the crank the door folded into the wall and opened into an odd room. It was rotund, with great works of art sprawled upon the walls. Piotr and the other men became enamored by the works, looking at them in awe. being drawn to them like they were in a trance. What caught my attention was in the middle of the room, a pillar descended four feet above the floor. Within the pillar at about eye level was a glass container that had been opened. I inspected the thing, a little pedestal sat inside missing its prize. On the other side of the glass I saw him. Heinrich, hunched near the back wall obscured by shadows. It was odd though, he was but a shadow in the room, yet I knew that it was him. Even stranger were his eyes, they seemed to be reflecting the light from my lantern, letting me know he was looking right at me.

“Hienrich!” I called out to him ducking under the pillar and moving to meet him.

As my light enveloped him I saw his disheveled form, covered in dirt and bleeding from a cut on the head. He moved away from me frantically like a cornered animal. The others heard I had found him and moved to help me. Our surrounding him only made him more erratic. He moved to run but one of the men caught him by the arm, he tried everything he could to pull away. Eventually Hienrich started to flail about, swinging widely at us and yelling in a primal way. We struggled with trying to calm him down, but with a kick he took out one of my legs. We tumbled over each other and my head collided with Heinrichs and he was out cold, leaving me with a throbbing headache. Getting a good look at him I noticed he was thinner, and he had a little bit of bread coming in. How long had he been down here, the state he was in said more than the five days we knew to be true. We prepared to move him when an object fell from his hand, it was a brass sphere. It was no larger than four inches, with strange markings on its surface. Whatever it was I pocketed it so we could begin to move Heinrich.

As we carried Heinrich we had I saw something flicker just beyond our lights, and I know I wasn't the only one who did. Only the reflections of its eyes pierced through the shroud of darkness that surrounded us, whatever it was it kept itself hidden. We moved with haste. Traversing our way through the narrow hall was excruciating, the heat seemed to have worsened and those piercing eyes followed us. Only just from the edge of the light. Piotr and I held Heinrich by the arms scooting our way through. Frantically one of the men began pushing me trying to get me to move faster. The eyes in the dark unnerved all of us, I was doing my best to keep a leveled head but everyone else seemed in a frenzy. They tried to climb over me, one of the men had dropped his light shattering it on the floor. In all the commotion one of the men screamed. Only for a second I could see him illuminated by the light then he was gone. Consumed by the shadow. His screams faded, and those eyes were gone.

We blocked off the tomb, cleared and sign that it might have been an entry way. Whatever was down there would stay down there, an evil with the strength and speed to drag a fully grown man away like that must be a godless creature. This tomb must have led to hell, and we left one of our men down there. What more could we do, simply the reflection of its eyes was driving us insane, our minds told us to flee while our bodies struggled. To behold its form would have been the end for us, there was no fighting back, only escape when given the chance. I would leave early that morning back for Bramford leaving only a letter and that strange brass ball.

With the Great War well underway I was busy taking care of the factory, producing as much as I could for our allies. Try if I might but there was just no time to check in on Heinrich and Piotr, not once had I spoken to either or since our time in the hills. I must admit I was not eager to revisit those memories, but they came flooding back when I received a letter from Heinrich. The letter told me that Piotr wanted nothing to do with him, and that he was traveling to Bramford to meet with me. He had made a profound discovery, but knew something followed them from that tomb. He needed shelter and he sought it in my home. What selfishness, why would bring whatever followed him out to my home. Though the more I thought about it, the more I wondered if whatever it was that followed him out followed all of us. Remembering those eyes, the scream of that man as he was dragged away into the darkness. Maybe I would be set upon by this thing soon. So I waited for him, I waited for months.

Upon Heinrich’s arrival in Bramford he was found unconscious just off the main road into town. His arms and legs were wrapped heavily with dirty bandages, and someone had taken Heinrich to seek medical treatment. I wasn’t aware he was in Bramford till Heinrich had asked for me by name. I had my personal doctor attend to him in my home. Under his bandages were green blisters that turned the surrounding skin colorless, some of these blisters even popped while the doctor changed his bandages. There was a puss that seeped from his open blisters. The doctor advised me to leave him to rest and stay well out of his room. He wasn't sure what Heinrich had contracted, but that I was to take no chances.

After a few weeks Heinrich awoke, he had trouble moving and could barely eat. It was hard to talk to Heinrich as only the nurses could enter his room to care for him, while I was on the other side of the door trying to make out what he said.

He and Piotr had left the site soon after he had awakened from his state of madness. They were headed back home not wanting to dwell on the horrors they encountered there. Heinrich spent some time mulling over the artifact he had retrieved, not being able to recall what had happened in the tomb. He would take it to specialists, and everyone was stumped by the object not sure what it could have been used for. Some would even ask to keep it with them so they might study it, but Hienrich said there was this feeling, it was strong and vicious. It was like the sphere did not want to part from him. Eventually he met up with Piotr, and they decided to go back to Caral. There Piotr would be claimed by the tomb. I asked the fool why they would return but he did not tell me. He sat quietly in shame.

Soon Heinrich started spouting warnings, talk of an all consuming sky and great dances. I was the fool to trust him after his letter. I should have known, yet all I got for my efforts are stories of insanity.

I went to speak to Heinrich one last time, or at least I tried to. I got no response, it was deadly quiet. I could feel the fear welling up in my stomach, there was something on the other side of this door and it was letting me know. I was paralyzed standing in front of that door, my heart racing, my breath quick. All I could do was stand there. What happened to Heinrich? I stood before this wooden door unable to shake this feeling. I placed my hand upon the door knob and turned it, pushing the door open. The room was tossed about, the drapes on the windows were torn off, the furniture ripped up, and a veil of darkness covered the room. Off in the left corner I could see it, reflecting the lights from the hallway, two eyes pointed in my direction. Rolling from the darkness, the brass sphere, I grabbed it knowing, this is what it wanted from me. When my fingers made contact with the sphere, I could see red skies covered in black stars. Long fields of strange plants moved in the wind. Great structures made up a skyline in the distance, reaching towards the moon. In an instant it was over, I found myself standing before the door to Heinrich's room sphere in hand.

I forbade anyone from entering the room, blocking it almost immediately after the whole ordeal. There were questions from the staff, questions that I did not have the answers to. I was given a terrible gift from what lurks in the dark, and I believed soon I would follow the fate of Henrich, Piotr and the man we lost in the tomb. It was not soon after that my mind and body were drawn to the sphere. I studied it intently, I obsessed over it. Around Bramford a heavy fog descended, lingered day and night. The sun now obscured, the creature stalked began to prowl. People would disappear, no one could leave Bramford, we were bound here.

It was a haze soon after, the sphere would show me the other world. It would show me the great constructs I had only seen from afar, the sight of them familiar, Caral. I ventured to the otherworld, I saw its people. I went below its surface, I was witness to gods. To men dancing like mad, in worship of something that my very being told me was evil. I witnessed their evils devour the sky, leaving nothing but a dying world. I saw the sphere, placed in the center of that strange chamber. I knew what it was, what it wanted, it revealed itself to me. An artifact from the other world, a gift from a god.

When I left the sphere’s thrall I found myself in a familiar room. It was rotund, with great works of art sprawled upon the walls. Pipes ran throughout the space, water dripping off them from condensation. In the middle of the room, a pillar descended four feet above the floor. Within the pillar at about eye level was a glass container that had been closed, its contents an intricate brass sphere.

Albert what has happened to Bramford is no fault other than my own, stop this madness please. I am sending this letter with my youngest boy, for I can no longer move, blisters cover my body and I hear the calling in my mind. I can only hope my boy makes it out of Bramford and that the fog does not swallow him up.

Your brother, Elijah Woldecht