A character in a play, a note within a song, or even a pawn on the chessboard. All of these things have one fundamental thing in common, and that is, they cannot function without unity. At times this instinctive need to join a social hierarchy hinders the progress of an individual's goals, but never the less, it exists to purpose us. It exists to protect us. We instinctively feel the need to protect those close to us, and society is how we cope with that existence and the inevitable truth that comes with it. It is an instinct born from ages long since forgotten. Lost to time for good reason in some cases. Some things lost to time should be left alone, some things should sleep the eternal sleep of times lost. Yes, some things should never be awoken, and sometimes those things when awoken become the horrific tragedies we hope to prevent in the first place. We have little to fear from life stay that inner-most desire for protection. It is our own minds that we should fear most, for in it we find the things that should be forgotten, and the things that should sleep and be left to rest in blissful ignorance.

I am not entirely sure how my story should actually be told so I am just going to tell it as best I can under the current circumstances. I ventured into the seemingly metallic, yet liquid gate into an almost mirror-like world. I stood on the cusp of adventure and I had no clue that real adventures are nothing like the fanciful tales we tell children. No, real adventure means death, disease, and hunger. I myself am stricken with a disorder of the stomach. I eat thru small tubes inserted into little nodules. It is something of my own design and is far better than the death it would have given me, though I often wonder if that would have been a better way to die... Starvation among my own kind, versus starvation in isolation here in this dark and cursed world.

However, I will likely be long dead before anyone chances to read this, shall we call, memoir, and I have little hope anyone will find it here as there would be no one left to know the story at this point. I still hope someone someday can find my work, and I live as long as I can to make sure I write it as detailed as I can recall it, and though my labor seemingly bore no fruit I have hope someone will come to finish my work. To discover the true meaning behind it all. Why there is a world which seems to be the antithesis of our own. Bear me no ill-will to what I am about to write, for it is all true and I claim the actions my own. I deserve no pity for what I have done, but neither can you despair, as someone must come after my departure from this mortal coil ends to finish this, and end it will very soon I fear, but this journey must see its end, even if I am not the one to venture its gaze. The darkness in our world is simply that, the antithesis of light, the lacking of existence itself. 

However, this is not the case in all worlds. In some planes of existence, the darkness has form and mass, and it feeds... 
It is like smoke with a stomach and it hunts as if it were a floating jungle cat. I have gone to great lengths to find the source of these creatures. Their nest or home as it were, and as I have stated before, I've come to naught but failure and hardship.

First, as you have found this journal and I assume my notes, you have figured out that there is no way back through the gate. To put your mind at ease, I will tell you that there is indeed a way back, as I have made several treks into this world with many groups and teams in the hopes of making a break-thru, but I must also say that I cannot divulge the method of returning. I need you to finish what I started, our world, maybe all worlds depend upon your actions from here on. However, the gate as you may already have found though appears to be fluid is solid when touched. I can tell you that it has something to do with the way our vitae interacts with the quicksilver of this world. You will find that things are vastly different, though seemingly identical. What's more, you will find that the only thing which is truly similar beyond the surface appearances of this world will be the oxygen levels and formulation of water. 

It should be noted however that the air is much denser due to higher levels of carbon. It took many months of speculation and testing, and I am quite proud to say I myself discovered the method of tracing elements within the soils, waters, and air. What I found was astounding to say the least. Identical to the samples I brought back with small differences in elemental make-up. The soil in this world is much more crystalline, where it is coarse in our own. {maybe needs more}

Now, you will need some rules to survive this particular environment, and you should also be made aware that there are very few things within the surrounding jungle and tombs that do not want your vitae or blood. I have witnessed only a handful of creatures that do not seem to eat meat, ingest blood, or devour other creatures entirely. Most of the creatures here will kill and devour you on the spot and this is quite a literal statement, so stay on your guard at all times. I and the teams I brought in have only ventured as far as the deserts surrounding the jungles, but if my understanding is correct there is a vast sea beyond the deserts as the rivers flow outward from the jungle into channels which move swiftly due to quite the strong current. You will soon learn that it is near impossible at this moment to traverse the rivers or even cross them, as you will either be devoured or drowned by the rip and tear like currents that are in every river in the jungle. As for the tombs, I have ventured into two thus far, the closest two from my original campsites. They held nothing of note except some empty coffins and a lack of corpses. They are built in the same fashion as the ancient Mayans, however, it is as if they were built with no real purpose in mind as there was no evidence of ever being used. 
The tombs I delved were open and completely empty, a few scrolls that were wholly undecipherable due to time and some tools which were rusted and completely untouched. This still perplexes me, unfortunately, but hopefully, you will come across the reasoning behind this. I am certain they were built by humans or at the very least a sapient species of some form similar to what we call Mayans and Mayan Civilization. Now, onto some important information.

The first thing you should take heed of is that the waters here as I have witnessed are undrinkable and tainted. Boiling it for purity does nothing at all as the first voyage back in I came with a team and our first death was due to contaminated drinking water. We never even noticed him filling his canteen, and it was only when another died shortly after using said canteen that we noticed the similarities in their deaths. We assumed at the time it was from the clear pools we first tested, originally we found no contamination tho our efforts were only cursory glances at what truly lay within those waters, they were crystal clear and cool to the touch but full of life and all of it deadly. Even after attempting to purify the waters, it killed two more members of our group during initial research testing. If it gets into a supply of clean water, even one single drop will contaminate the entire supply. The next two deaths were much worse, the thirst had finally overcome their fears of the contaminates and they drank from the nearby stream. They died within minutes of ingestion, and upon inspection of the corpses, we found small fish in their stomachs and intestines slowly eating away at them from the inside out. I learned from these fish however that the waters all contain trace unknown elements that I have been unable to uncover. We have nothing remotely like it in our world. I did discover a small electrical charge in every droplet of water I have tested which reacts to magnetic metals like zinc and iron.

The fruits, berries, nuts, and other foliage are also poisonous and some contain creatures, insect-like things, which sting or bite. A member of the second team I brought in was mortally wounded while eating fruit which resembled a, as he put it, "A juicy looking peach". He took one bite and immediately began to swell, it was only after he dropped the fruit that we saw the little thing slithering away, but what was truly startling was that it had a giant hornet-like stinger half the size of its body. It took only moments for the full effects to set in, going thru the stages of deformity in seconds until he finally passed on, his face torn and ragged in an almost posed look of sheer brutal agony. It happened so quickly we didn't have time to even understand the issue. It was a sight I will not soon forget I assure you.  




What was even worse was that we discovered some fruits and berries, even though not containing the insect-like creatures, still contained what we realized were bladders holding poisonous fluids which even the inhalation of fumes would cause a person to experience a coma-like state for days often leading to death from massive organ failure. The last recorded death of this type involved the spewing of blood and vitae from both the mouth and rectal area. It was as if someone took a drill and just drilled out his insides. Upon doing an autopsy I found that all of his organs had dissolved into a greenish-gray goo. I deduced that the intent was to protect the fruit from predatory animals, though I have seen no animal eat anything but meat in this horrid land so for now, it is merely conjecture. There are methods of removing the poison bladders from the fruits and berries, but not the nuts or acorns or other seeds that I have found thus far in my research. And there is no clear method of dealing with the insects as they are aggressive and quick, able to leap from a hole in the fruits like lightning. The bladders contain enough poison syrup to kill hundreds of average-sized men. So in short, there is little to help in your survival here. You will need cunning and fear to keep you alive. 

It would seem that the vastness of these jungle grounds practice survival of the fittest to the most extreme over simple propagation as I have yet to experience a "spring" and/or "mating season" as it were in our world. Moreover, this land seems to have only two seasons, very hot and very cold. The only constant weather pattern here is the rains, they never seem to stop for even a moment, though it does slow on occasion throughout what I have found to be the daily cycles, and yet, even with all of the rain the ground never drowns or floods and the tide of the river never seems to alter by even a fraction. I would suggest taking time to dig down into the soil and see exactly what lay beneath the grounds around your camp areas by day. I have also created several dig-sites of my own that may still prove useful. At this stage of life my hands simply cannot grip the tools any longer, even holding this pen comes at great cost to my body's energy stores.

But yes, dig you must. The idea here is that the water must be going somewhere, and a different type of ground under the topsoil might be a good indicator for absorption and retention. What's more, the water underground could be drinkable. This may also give rise to understand how the flora and fauna take in water without dying of the bacterium pools and contaminants. As we are on the subject of water, it is imperative that you avoid swimming or bathing in any body of water within the surrounding areas that I have cataloged. A few house extremely dangerous insect-like creatures as well as fish which act somewhat like a leech, however, they devour tissue not just blood. They stick like a glue and shred skin and bone, sucking up the bits in a voracious and gruesome manner. 
One of my first apprentices from the University found this the hard way. After an accident involving acid, he dove into the small stream we were near to while studying a specific species of fern and the creatures which nested in them, his skin began to suddenly appear on the surface of the water in small chunks and the water quickly became tainted with blood. It was when he stood up that we saw the little fish eating their way into his legs and even his testicles. Before we could get to him they disappeared into his body, and moments later he bled to death. I have also found bodies of water which house no life whatsoever that I can find due to extreme concentrations of heavy metals like cadmium and mercury, and others that contain unknown acids which I have yet to examine due to my being unable to take samples. Each container I have attempted to use has dissolved in seconds, and several of my attempts very nearly cost me my hands.

Soon after I abandoned my research into the acidic pools, having been unable to take samples of the waters, I could find no other means of examining the concentrations of elements, unfortunately, and it wasn't long after my failure that I came upon a grouping of prints in the soil. It was merely by chance that I was out during the dusk when the rains seemed to slow enough that I could make them out. It is almost too good to be true, but we may not be alone here. 

The prints are definitely human-like. Five toes and the weight places the bone structure inline with that of my own kind, although set on a vastly larger frame. I surmise that if they are truly human or human-like then they are gigantic in comparison to us. I estimate the size of the owner of the prints to be at least seven point nine feet tall with the weight distributions putting them at around at least four hundred and ninety pounds. Scary to say the least, but also extremely exciting. Being able to study another form of the human species would be an incredible discovery, perhaps even world-changing like those of Newton or Aristotle.

You will note the ruins to the south, and the ruins up north-east of the jungles central clearing. Steer clear of them until you have the appropriate gear and knowledge. All of the scouting parties I have sent to explore and map those areas failed to return, and we found no traces of them beyond the clearing. I have a theory that there are creatures stalking those areas, and though I want to seek them out I have come to realize the error in my methods. People are not tools, and I have made the gravest of mistakes in sacrificing so many souls to this god-forsaken world. To think they may never see paradise... May God forgive me for what I have done.





It is becoming more and more difficult to write on thru these pages. The more I try to remember the less I am able to recall, and though I know I must, my mind has become foggy and clouded. As I recall the deaths and tragedies that have befallen every point of this journey, I question my sanity and resolve. I am beginning to hope no one ever finds my journals and that this world will be lost to legend and hopefully forgotten by time. I now pray that God will forgive me, but I must fulfill my obligation to you the reader of these pages. 

The last thing you must know about this world is that it is a creature of hunger and desire. This world is no longer a world of life and light. It is a place where life cannot exist. It is the antitheses of life, it is death without an ending. If you are reading this, I beg you... Please leave now and do not go on. Let my research and my life's work fall away to time and be lost. The old ones must never know of our world, and I pray that the portals I have opened will close much like the one I opened originally has. Please, leave now and never return. Never speak of this place or my work. May you live a long and prosperous life beyond this hellish world.