A Warning to Mankind

I sit here and write. However, that is not what is truly interesting. Where I sit and why, on the other hand, is truly interesting. But first, let us begin with an introduction, as it befits the occasion.

I, dear reader of these lines, am the scholar and scribe Magnus Leander of the Order of Revelations. And when you read these lines, I will no longer be among the living.

But do not grieve for me. I only ended up getting what I deserved. My own hubris and that of my order have tempted me to do things that mortals are not entitled to do. Our urge to reveal the secrets of life and death, regardless of the consequences, could only lead to such an end.

I write these words as a reformed man, having seen things that mortals should never have seen.

And no, I will not report more than what is absolutely necessary to present my testimony. I will by no means reveal the secrets on account of which I am now looking forward to my death.

I renounce the aims of the Order of Revelations and expressly warn anyone who may read these lines not to follow our erroneous path.

But I am anticipating. I still have time, so I should not rush.

I am writing these lines after returning from the realm of the dead as our expedition's only "survivor."

There were ten of us when we crossed the permeable boundary between this world and the Otherworld to reveal the secrets of life and death in accordance with the aims of our order.

Our theory was that if the spirits of the deceased could cross the border on the night of All Hallows' Eve to enter this world and back again, it should also be possible for us to enter the Otherworld. The fact that I am writing this warning now should be sufficient proof that this is possible.

Possible, but foolish!

The Otherworld is not meant for mortals. It does not resemble in any way any of the traditional conceptions of it, and yet somehow, it resembles them all. It is a hallowed ground!

The mortal mind, in any case, is not destined to grasp, to comprehend it. So the attempt to snatch its secrets from it, to understand and to reveal them, leads only to one path. And at the end of this path, there is something that the human mind can only understand as a complete and irreversible dissolution of its own essence. A fate more horrible than any death.

I will not report here on the fate of my companions. Just know that I am the only one who made it out. But, alas, my time is short. And what I have seen and experienced must not be revealed in any case.

The stories about guardians of the underworld, who keep vigil that no mortal should ever leave, are accurate. And having already glimpsed too much of that which makes the human mind perish, I know that these guardians are a necessity.

One does not look with impunity into the countenance of a secret that is not meant for mortals.

The dear reader may wonder why I, of all of us, managed to leave the Otherworld despite those guards. The answer is as complex as it is simple; I made a pact with them.

They not only let me go, they accompanied me into this world.

On the other hand, the why takes us back to the beginning of my testimony.

For I sit in the study room of the Order of Revelations whilst the smoke of the burnt records of our research on crossing the boundary between this world and the Otherworld hangs heavy in the room.

I burned everything. Every little piece of knowledge, which could give away how we managed to enter the Otherworld.

Since I know by now how immoderate human hubris is, I want to express once more a warning:

Humanity,

do not walk upon the path of the dead down into the Otherworld!

Do not profane the hallowed ground!

But now, dear reader, I will keep my part of the pact and head for the guards whose eyes stare coldly at me from the smoke.

Farewell, and do not grieve!

Only pray that no mortal will ever appear whose hubris is so immoderate as to bring upon you the damnation which I am prepared to avert with my sacrifice.

 

— Magnus Leander, scholar and scribe

(Formerly of the Order of Revelations)

Word Count: 5019
Hours Spent: 6