The Maw

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The following is a modern translation of several journal entries originating from Leonardo Da Vinci concerning an extra-dimensional anomaly originating within Mount Vesuvius. The methods in which Da Vinci was able to create and enter this anomaly is still up for debate among Authority researchers.

At long last, the gate has opened. Due to the border of the gate resembling a hideous and evil set of teeth, I have graced it with the title of "The Maw". It shall serve as my passageway between here and the uncharted territories of worlds beyond. Should I perish on my quest, my protege shall inherit this titan of a burden. May the Lord shield from the worst beyond this gate.

I have entered the first of many worlds within "The Maw". It seems not too different from ours. The untrained explorer would think they had merely traveled to another part of the world, yet I can feel the differences in the air. As I stroll through the city I see it. These people are not truly men. They are as white as the clouds in God's sky and taller than the strongest of warriors. They don't pay much mind to me, yet I mustn't shake the feeling that I am being watched as if an audience were watching me make a fool of myself on stage! Quickly, I am returning to The Maw to see what other world it shall sail me to.

As I have stepped through the Maw a second time, I am brought back to what seems to be a place near Rome, yet it is not the Rome I know. Men marching through the streets in what almost seems to be fine uniform and crimson armbands surrounding The Maw. I ask them to stop and don't touch what they do not understand, yet they do not understand me. What seems to be 3 Bavarian's approach me and try to take me in as if God himself ordered them to apprehend me, yet I am able to enter The Maw and flee to yet another new world.

What exists in this world was not made for home. I see wicked beasts patrolling the streets with elongated necks and wings of a falcon. Ones with the heads of spiders and toads on the bodies of lions. Horrors walking the ways of this city, yet no one seems to mind. I could feel something within me as if I had seen something I shouldn't. As if I had violated the will of God and a seed has begun to germinate within me that has rewritten my future. I must return home at once. I must repent for what I have done. May the Lord forgive me.

There is no Rome anymore. The Maw left me in a world where there was nothing but an empty, infinite field where Rome should be. I made sure I was returning to the proper Rome and every time I was returned to this dead world. Perhaps The Maw or God has punished me for exploring beyond the human realm and I must atone by exploring its many worlds forever. If this is my punishment, so be it.

Much time has passed since I continued my chronicle of exploring The Maw. But there is nothing for me to say. I travel to worlds that plant seeds of suffering that rapidly grow within my mind that I cannot fully describe; and others where I was the first Being to step on land, for that I am certain. I must continue exploring, however, if I am to understand The Maw fully. I have the burden of creating it, after all.

I can feel something on the back of my head. As if a force was constantly being pressed on it. This pain… it occasionally creeps around to my ears causing a continuous ringing. It gets unbearable to the point that I must contract and collapse on to the soil until it fades away. When I rise, I see an apparition momentarily. It is often far off in the distance, but sometimes it is near me. I reach out but only feel stinging when I get near it, followed up by the irritant ringing coming back. I am oblivious to other sensations similar to it. I would not even wish this upon the Jesuits who have perused my writings and inventions for many years. None deserve the agony I have endured in this journey throughout this purgatory.

I bear witness to these worlds so full of life and yet I feel nothing. A pain in my chest begins to rise too. The being from the apparitions appears again. Weakness overcomes my body to where I feel immense pain as I write. I must stop.

Perhaps I have been blessed by our Lord or The Maw sees me as having served my punishment. The awful aches I felt within me have began to fade and now I can write, and perhaps more importantly, traverse these worlds with less of the torment I experienced earlier. It lingers, but I am no longer immobilized by it. Now I may continue my exploration and perhaps even escape The Maw.

I entered a world that was nothing but pitch black. As I began to fear that I had lost my sight, a white glow in the shape of a triangle appeared. The glow expanded and revealed a man cloaked in dark attire obscuring his skin. Only then had I fully realized what he was. It was the man from the painful apparitions. He reached out to me and spoke. "I shall secure your freedom" was what he said. He then made a gesture that seemed as if he wanted me to approach him. Cautiously, I moved towards him. He then showed me the world I came from. There it was. Campania, and more importantly, Vesuvius. It was time to return, but the man stopped me. He removed a dagger from his cloak and thrust it in to my heart. Despite this, I survived. The man spoke again. This time he said "When it has entered you, you shall return and so shall we," before he walked away. As the dagger sank more and more in to my chest, I only hope he is correct.

At long last, I have returned home. The entrance to The Maw has been sealed. This seal, I hope, is permanent. Humanity must never know the horrors I have seen within it.

There is something wrong. I acknowledge the sealing of The Maw, yet I feel as if the evils within it are bleeding through. I feel a heaviness in my heart, the area where the dagger lies, and I see wicked sprites, creeping in my home and hiding throughout the streets. Nobody else can see them, yet they are everywhere. I cannot touch or harm them, and they do not seem to hear me. They even appear in my dreams along with the cloaked man. The cloaked man is malformed with four arms and four legs. These beasts stare at me like beggars, wishing to warn me of something, yet they refuse to speak. This was my doing. I should have never crossed the bridge in to a world of such evils. I shall be punished. Man shall be punished. All from my wrongdoings. I do not know when the punishment comes, but I wish for it to come sooner rather than later so generations are not cursed with this burden. May God have mercy on our souls.

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