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Labyrinth of the Grey Man (part 3)
When I came to I was greeted by the same stygian darkness that had accompanied me through my unconsciousness, which had, ironically, been my best sleep since arriving at Ben Macdhui. I dispelled the blackness around me with my torch, which had managed somehow to survive the fall, and found myself at the apse of a cave system consisting of a single long nave which disappeared in a steadily descending gradient into darkness. And this is where I find myself still. The fall had shaken loose the uncontrollable panic that had unmanned me before, leaving me sufficiently lucid to create this written account of the events that led me to now. With the remainder, I will seek to describe in as much detail as I can certain discoveries I have made since regaining consciousness and to consider their potential implications. It is my dearest wish that these findings will one day leave this subterranean place and make it into the possession of my learned colleagues at the Society, even if I am not alive to accompany them.
On one side of the cavern wall there is a carving of an enormous circle comprised of six concentric layers. Though mysterious geometric sigils are not uncommon, the way this one aligns with Plato’s description of that famous lost kingdom of Poseidon is uncanny. Adjacent to this dominant petroglyph are carvings of a host of humanoid figures, which can be subdivided into two kinds. The first appears in a ranked formation twelve columns across and eight files deep and are alike with one another in seemingly every respect. Any significance attributable to this arrangement is likely found in the numbers twelve and eight. The former is a cosmic cipher, representing the zodiac, and occurs regularly in the world’s mythologies, such as in the number of hells believed to exist by ancient Egyptians and the amount of Titans identified by Hesiod amongst others. Meanwhile eight is considered lucky in traditional Chinese beliefs, was the magical numeral of the Sumerian deity Nebo and is the number of planets in our solar system. This last detail is interesting, if it was at all relevant to the makers of this carving, given that the seventh and eighth planets orbiting our sun were not discovered until many years after this was drawn. Above this formation are thirteen separate humanoid shapes, much larger than their counterparts with various personalised signifiers, from what look like antlered head dresses to weapons, armour and various other unidentifiable talismans and fetishes. These figures must represent some kind of royal or priestly leadership caste. Beyond the ringed symbol and the man-like depictions are a host of circles and swirls, presumably representing the cosmos, though with a degree of detail and scope that is singularly enticing. On the opposite wall there are petroglyphs depicting animals, most of which are recognisable species such as bears, wolves and deer whilst others are breeds long extinct, including woolly mammoths and some variety of large feline. However, there are yet more carvings of things distinctly animalistic and yet unrecognisable, a disturbing few possessing a combination of both beastly and hominid characteristics.
Strewn around the cavern floor are a number of bones, some of which are patently human in origin, even to my eyes untrained as they are in the formal disciplines of biology and osteology. One very curious specimen is largely intact, its skeletal frame still draped in moulded fabrics and clad in overlapping segments of heavily corroded plate, with even the hilt of a sword in a similar state of entropy still clutched in one wasted hand. Could this be the remains of one of Rome’s legionaries, even a member of the lost IX Hispania which disappeared from the annals of history so long ago? Deepening the mystery further there is amongst the bone hoard a neat mound of small granite spheres, greenish in hue, engraved with indecipherable characters, but bearing more than a passing resemblance to the ancient cuneiform script. Meanwhile, set against the cave wall are the remains of a shield, an axe and a breastplate, wrought out of heavily oxidised copper, giving the appearance of an ancient arming chamber belonging to some primordial warlord. But what is indisputably the greatest treasure I found in situ within a niche cut out of the head of the cave. A copper crown, warped with age, but polish bright sits pride of place amidst this unfathomable cornucopia. It could only belong to a giant, given its vast proportions, which are so prodigious I am certain it would rest on my shoulders if I dared to try it on. My mind is awash with a thousand thoughts and insensible notions and my imagination is afire. I am quite dazed with it all but must remain focussed, for the sake of posterity and the Society. It seems as though I have stumbled upon the haunt of a very ancient thing or things, undeniably connected to the legends of the Grey Man, with great and grave implications for historians and scientists and all such men of learning. I have given up hope of any rescue reaching me here, where I fell, and have resolved to venture down into the cave as far as the batteries in my torch will allow. I must swallow my fear of the Grey Man, which was surely the thing that sealed me down here, and of its powers and its labyrinth. God willing I will elaborate on this account with whatever I find below, but for now I bid you, the reader of this true and faithful attestation, farewell.
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