SCP-001 - May We Meet Again in Adytum
Explanation about article.
Image Credits
All image edits were made by me, Cerastes.
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Unauthorized access is forbidden.
SCP-001-B.
Assigned Site | Site Director | Research Head | Assigned Task Force |
Site-001 | The Administrator | Judith Low | MTF Chi-12 "Pariahs" |

SCP-001-B's location, 2300m below Mount Narodnaya.
Special Containment Procedures: To avoid incursions by GOI-004 ("Sarkicism") forces, the location of SCP-001-B is known only to the O5 Council and staff located at Provisional Site-Omega. MTF Alpha-1 ("Red Right Hand") has been tasked with locating and eliminating all sources of information on the texts known as the Nadoxian Heresies.
A team of Foundation alchemists familiar with Sarkic hemomancy has been tasked with the research of SCP-001-B. Any materials requested for this purpose are a level 6 priority. Attempts to disseminate information on the location of SCP-001 is punishable by termination.
Description: SCP-001-A is the designation for a series of tablets (and its derivatives) of Sarkic origin referred to as the Nadoxian Heresies, said to have been written by the titular Klavigar Nadox.1 In them, Nadox is said to have denounced Sarkicism and urged other devotees to do the same, writing that the practice of Sarkicism has led to undue evils. It should be noted that no tablets are known to exist today, most likely due to their provocative nature — as such, all information on SCP-001-A is derived from various commentaries and third-hand sources, and some degree of misinformation/historical revisionism is expected.
SCP-001-B is an interdimensional gateway located in a cave underneath the Ural mountain range in western Siberia. An alchemical seal of Sarkic design has been placed on it, blocking all access. Gathered intelligence from SCP-001-A commentaries has led the Foundation to conclude that SCP-001-B is the entrance to the ancient Daevite city-state of Adytum, the birthplace of Grand Karcist Ion and subsequently that of the entire Sarkic faith.
Addendum 001.1: The Role of Adytum in Sarkic Mythology (Prepared by Dr. Judith Low)
The earliest mentions of Adytum date back to 2100 BCE, with a Daevite scroll mentioning it briefly while discussing slave shortages in their northern provinces. After the sacking of the capital Duein by Orthoran forces in 2040 BCE, it rose in prominence to become the largest northernmost Daevite city-state, and during its height of power, was said to have 100 human slaves for every daeva.
The Great Seal of Adytum.
However, Adytum would not achieve its infamy until 1800, when the half-daeva (his father was said to have been a slave himself) Ion incited a slave rebellion that would result in the near-eradication of the daevas. The Daevite empire was replaced by the theocratic Kalmaktama Empire, ruled by Ion from his seat at Adytum.2
As the War of Flesh drew to a close (see the Foundation's history of Sarkicism), the Kalmaktama Empire had been pushed back to Adytum by a coalition of kingdoms spearheaded by the Mekhanites. As the coalition was laying siege to the city, a catastrophic event occurred that left no trace of its attackers, the Sarkics, or Adytum itself.
As a result of the mysterious circumsstances of its dissapearance/destruction and the religious diaspora that followed, Adytum became a central fixation within Post-Kalmaktama Proto-Sarkicism, as various sects held onto their memories from before their cultural collapse. The exact role Adytum plays tends to vary from cult to cult, ranging from a lost ancestral homeland to a religious afterlife, but one aspect that has been observed as universally present in all divisions of the belief is the traditional funeral/farewell phrase "May we meet again in Adytum."
The originator of this phrase remains unknown.
Addendum 001.2: Discovery of SCP-001-B
The Administrator.
SCP-001 was first discovered by the Administrator in 1863, then a member of the Society for Cultural Preservation studying the history of the daevas and Sarkicism. The Administrator was particularly interested in the status of Adytum, and was looking to uncover what had happened to it at the conclusion of the Mekhanite siege, believing that it had not actually been destroyed, but preserved in some manner. In the ruins of a Siberian temple, they had uncovered the decayed remnants of a commentary on SCP-001-A written by a Karcist Lysis, which denounced Nadox as a heretic, referred to unmentioned blasphemies that the Klavigar had committed against Ion, and labeled him as a treacherous pawn of the archons.3 Among its various denunciations, the commentary was said to have tangentially mentioned a site somewhere in the Ural mountain range that appeared to be of paramount religious importance.
How exactly the location of SCP-001-B remains unknown, as the Administrator has classified their source due to security concerns (but agreed to release certain aspects such as their source having a connection to the Wanderers' Library on a Level 5 basis), but Site-001 would only be established at the discovery point over seven decades later, in 1937.
Despite almost a hundred and fifty years past its discovery at this point of writing, unlocking efforts have remained inconclusive.

Prepared by the Department of Science - Alchemy Division
Subject: SCP-001-B
Consulted Resources: R. Diaghilev, Commentary on the Nadoxian Heresies
To the Overseer's Council,
In the decades I've spent studying this anomaly, I've uncovered precious little that would move us closer towards unlocking SCP-001-B's secrets, or SCP-001-B itself. Klavigar Nadox's abilities (if they were indeed responsible for this) appear to outstrip any working I've ever witnessed by far. We could easily spend another half-century studying just the surface of its mechanics, as none of Nadox's original documentation has survived, and our iconoclastic commentator did not appear to comment on its function.
However, I've noticed that SCP-001-B's seal is not exactly uniform. At what we first suspected were random occurrences, the structural integrity of the seal has been observed to weaken for a short period. The current theory for this observation is some exterior condition or object that is influencing SCP-001-B. If we could locate it and find a pattern for these fluctuations, a structural weakness, perhaps we could break the seal.
Actually doing so though would be rather like finding a needle in a haystack, as the binding object remains unknown to us. The few scraps of information on the Nadoxian Heresies that we have access to refer to someone or something as a "silent sentinel, watching those who would seek the path." It is presumably Sarkic in nature, but that hardly narrows down our search. The current assumption is that this sentinel remains undiscovered to the Foundation. I'm submitting a request for all newly contained Sarkic objects to first be forwarded to Site-001 to test their potential compatibility with SCP-001-B.
I eagerly await the Overseer Council's decision.
R. Diaghilev, Alchemist of the Seventh Circle.
Addendum 001.3: 2013/11/10 SCP-001/SCP-4524 Report
REPORT ON SCP-001
Summary: Following the discovery and subsequent review of SCP-45244 by Site-001 staff, it was noted that the seal's fluctuations were aligned with periods during which SCP-4524 was in alignment with the moons of Umbriel, Titania, or Oberon. An unlocking attempt was planned for when all four planetoids were calculated to align in 2021, as it was estimated that would have the highest chance of succeeding.
On 25/11/2021, SCP-001-B was successfully unlocked.
Addendum 001.4: SCP-001 Exploration Log #1 (Sophia.aic Exploratory Drone)
[Begin Log]
<00:00> Sophia.aic enters the gateway, arriving in a ruined building. It briefly returns through SCP-001 to ensure two-way travel is possible.
<00:05> The house on the other side of SCP-001 has mostly crumbled away, with the roof opening in patches to a grey sky. The wooden remains of what appears to be a table are lying in a pile in the middle of the room. The upper levels are obstructed by rubble. Sophia.aic exits the building, which is present on the outer edges of Adytum. The city appeared to have suffered some sort of cataclysmic explosion at its epicenter, with buildings closest to that point mere skeletons. Due to the age of the city, however, all buildings are in extreme disrepair.
<00:09> Beyond the city's gates is the same indeterminate grey void that comprises the sky. Sophia.aic moves to the crumbling stone edges of the city, nudging off a rock with its manipulator arm. The rock falls into the void, eventually shrinking away to nothing. The drone turns, moving further into the city.
<00:36> The entire city is silent. No breezes can be detected by Sophia.aic's sensors. As far as can be seen, Adytum is uninhabited.
<00:58>The first sign of prior inhabitation is spotted as Sophia.aic stops to inspect a figure half-buried under rubble. The corpse, which is dressed in faded robes that crumble to dust at Sophia.aic's touch appears to have a number of strange bronze pseudopods in place of a left arm. A sample of the fabric and arm is carefully collected, and the drone moves on.
<01:45> In a large courtyard, numerous Mekhanite soldiers (assumed as such by their mechanical skeletons) are scattered across the area in various states of disarray. Heads have been torn off, limbs roughly separated in half, and torsos caved in with extreme force. Despite the chaotic display present, no trace of their presumably Sarkic attackers can be seen.
<1:46> Strewn across a nearby pillar is a heavily damaged corpse covered in a dark red substance. The Mekhanite is missing its lower limbs and its left arm below the shoulder, as well as a portion of their upper jaw. Six asymmetrical claw-like appendages are arrayed around the palm of their right arm, with a needle extending from the center. A fragment of what appears to be bone is impaled on the point. Sophia.aic moves closer to collect the sample.
As Sophia.aic moves to collect it, the body jerks to life, clawing at the drone and inflicting significant damage to its exterior. Sophia.aic's defensive protocols are activated, and a spray of fast-acting hydrochloric acid is emitted.
The arm drops to the floor, its joint severed. As the weak bronze light in the soldier's eyes begins to darken, it turns its head to face Sophia.aic. It appears to attempt to say something in Ancient Greek before it lies still again.
Sophia.aic performs a self-diagnosis. Judging that it has been damaged sufficiently to hinder further exploration, it instead chooses to return to baseline reality for repairs. It collects the arm and torso of the soldier for further study.
[END LOG]
Addendum 001.5: Excerpt from Examination of Recovered Artifacts, Expedition 001
Foreword: Due to both his fluency in Archaic Greek and his familiarity with the Church of the Broken God, Director Lycus was flown in from Site-72 to examine the recovered artifacts.
[BEGIN LOG]
Low: -and here's the Mekhanite.
Lycus: Alright, let's see what we're working with here… oh, wow. This is a treat. You see over here, how the bone merges flawlessly with the outer layer of bronze? We're looking at a full conversion over here, same as the tentacle.
Low: Is that rare? At the time, I mean.
Lycus: It's rare, even today. It's, uh… sort of like getting a tattoo. Most just settle for one or two replacements at most. There's a few more… fundamentalist elements who go full in on conversions, but even they're still mostly human on the inside if you look. Human lungs, blood, human nervous system, et cetera. Only person I can think of who's had a full conversion would be Bumaro. Doctrine says it was a gift from Saint Hedwig after the New Mexico Incident, but we're comparing a prophet to a foot soldier here. I wager the culprit's a modified strain of SCP-217.
Low: One that keeps the subject's intelligence? I wasn't aware that was possible.
Lycus: The precise strain referred to as the Blessing appears to have been lost to time with only the degraded form present today, but during their wars with the Sarkic Empire it was recorded as having been used rather indiscriminately, both on the battlefield and as a religious initiation. One of the first biological weapons in history, and all before the rest of the world was figuring out how to use iron. It's quite fascinating, really.
Low: I suppose that explains the tentacle we found. But as for the others…
Lycus: Hmm?
Low: We're a little low on bodies, is what I'm trying to get at. Adytum was the heart of the Sarkic Empire. It lasted for six centuries and swallowed up most of Eurasia. There had to be what, tens of thousands of people living there at its peak? Even if we assume that half of the bodies we discovered in the courtyard were Sarkic cultists, there should still be thousands more scattered throughout the city. Something must've happened to them.
Lycus: I suppose only Mekhane knows at this point. As for our soldier here-
As Director Lycus picks up the Mekhanite soldier, it suddenly sparks to life, causing him to drop it again in surprise.
Lycus: Jesus-
The Mekhanite closes and reopens its jaws, which creak from disuse before speaking in Ancient Greek.
Mekhanite: Where… where am I.
Lycus: Ancient Greek, right. Uh, let me think… You are in the former lands of the Deathless Empire, three thousand years after your mighty battle at Adytum. What is your name?
Mekhanite: I am Aegeus, of the Tenth Order of Saint Hedwig, may her name lift our spears in battle battle battle battle battle battle-
Low: What's happening, what's he saying?
Lycus: He's skipping, like a broken record. Not a trace of humanity left, after three thousand years of isolation and whatever prior damage… it's a miracle he's still working. Alright, let's try being a bit blasphemous… Aegeus. Can you hear me? Your Prophet commands you to tell of your time inside Adytum.
Mekhanite: The… prophet. Hail to the to the to to to to- the Builder, may what was broken be rebuilt.
Lycus: May what was broken be rebuilt. Speak, what happened to you?
Mekhanite: I- I was was was- deployed by the Legate to secure the city's destruction, to raze the city and slay its soldiers and salt its fields so that it would remain barren forever. We secured the outer walls and marched forth to slay the Witch-King-
Lycus: Ion. Did you see him? Did Ion did this to you?
The Mekhanite moves its mouth to continue speaking, but only emits a series of high-pitched screeching noises interspersed with groans.
Low: Ow, dammit. I can't speak Greek, but it sounds like he can't go on for much longer. Can we get someone to fix him?
Lycus: The only person I could think of who would even be able to do something like that would be Bumaro, and we've got a snowball's chance in hell in getting him anywhere near here.
Lycus raps it on the side of the head three times in quick succession.
Lycus: Aegeus. Aegeus, can you hear me? Who did this to you?
Aegeus: Be- beware the Dragon. Beware the dragon beware the dragon.
Lycus: The dragon? What is the dragon?
Aegeus: Beware the dragon beware the dragon beware the dragon beware the dragon beware the dragon-
Aegeus begins to stutter continually before his speech eventually fades away and the remaining mechanics in his head cease movement.
Aegeus: Beware… the dragon.
Low: Looks like we lost him. Did he manage to say anything?
Lycus: Not much of substance. He kept repeating one thing over towards the end, just three words: beware the dragon.
Low: Hmm.
Lycus: Something wrong?
Low: Well, it's just… Are you familiar with Chinese Sarkic-Mekhanite cosmology?
Lycus: Not much growing up, though I've picked up a little in my Foundation career. I know Mekhane is referred to as Fuxi the Father Serpent, while Yaldabaoth-
[Lycus sighs.]
Lycus: Ah. And Yaldabaoth is Nüwa the Mother Dragon. Though I'd say if it had truly been Yaldabaoth in there, we'd all have been dead the moment the seal on SCP-001-B was removed, if it could hold back the demiurge in the first place. And it wouldn't have matched up with the timeline we know of, The War of Flesh took place several thousand years after Yaldabaoth’s imprisonment and Mekhane's shattering.
Low: True, but we're still not entirely sure how Adytum was removed from reality. Our best guess is some sort of ritual on the part of Ion or Nadox, but if Yaldabaoth itself was involved… The only way we'd be able to confirm that would be with another expedition.
Lycus: Hmm. On one hand, you've got the archeological find of the millennia. On the other, potential annihilation. I'm not sure how much weight my opinion carries, if at all-
Low: Elias, I wouldn't have asked you here if I didn't value your opinion. I'm guessing you're going to suggest we abandon it?
Lycus: Exactly. I grew up on stories of the War of Flesh. Saw thousands of holy artworks, forced to read religious texts. They were afraid of Ion, his empire, and what its expansion meant. Perhaps it'd be wise to listen from their example.
Low: Alright, thanks for taking the time to fly over here. I'll send off my recommendations, and hopefully, we can put this whole mess behind us.
[END LOG]
Addendum 001.6: Letter to Doctor Judith Low
FROM THE OFFICE OF THE ADMINISTRATOR
While the Foundation values your judgment on this matter, your request to halt further exploration of SCP-001-B has been denied.
Appeals are not being considered at this time.
Addendum 001.7: Mobile Task Force Psi-9 ("Abyss Gazers") Solo Expedition (Jiang Li)5
[BEGIN LOG]
Psi-9 operative Jiang Li enters SCP-001, aiming towards the palace at Adytum's center looming over the rest of the city. The sky appears to be a darker hue than the previous expedition.
Jiang: Oh, right, the recorder's on. Uh… This is Zeta Nine operative Jiang Li, I've just entered SCP-001, heading towards the capital… heading towards the palace of Adytum.
Jiang takes a deep breath, the camera angle rattling slightly as she does so.
Jiang: Never thought I'd be doing this. Walking into hell with only a pistol.6. And the ghost suit, I guess.
The camera angle dips to show off the Foundation Prototype-A53R3 "Glimmer Wear" expedition gear.
Jiang: Asked them how they whipped it up, but they just told me it was classified. Figures. I-
Jiang stops as she notices a breeze thickening, turning into a strong gale that tugs at the suit. It should be noted that no atmospheric pressure of any significance had been noted on the previous expedition.
Jiang: … Alright. Not sure what to make of that…
Along with the wind, a faint voice appears to arise. It is unclear what direction the voice is coming from or even its language, as all subsequent watchers of the feed have noted that it appears to speak in their native tongue. However, all have agreed that the speaker sounds masculine in tone, and heavily weighted in its speech.
Wind: Why…
Jiang swears, unholstering their arm and looking around for the source of the voice. No speaker can be seen, but on several buildings around her that were previously spotless, disembodied eyes can be seen staring at her. They do not appear to be fooled by the antimemetic cloaking.
Jiang: … Why? Why have I come here? Uh, I'm part of the Foundation- well, I suppose you wouldn't know what that is. I'm an explorer. I have come to see what happened to Adytum since its apparent destruction three thousand years ago.
There is a long, heavy pause. The city feels as if it is holding its breath. Additional eyes, all the same dark brown color as the first, appear on the surrounding buildings.
Wind: My failure. My mistakes. My pride. Danger remains in Adytum. Leave…
Jiang: Wait, your failure? You're… you're Grand Karcist Ion, aren't you?
The wind dies down suddenly, leaving the city unexpectedly quiet. An eye sprouts from the crumbling edifice of a building only a few feet away from the camera.
Ion: Once… but not now. Now I am dust and wind. I am no one.
Jiang: I don't understand. I mean I was expecting some conflation, but this… everything I've ever read about in Nälkä doctrine paints Adytum as a paradise, a salvation you'll return from to spread to all people at the right time. "I have read the entrails of our Creator, beheld eternity unfurled. Know that our paradise draws near. And with our own flesh shall we birth it." What happened to your paradise, Ion?
Ion remains silent.
Jiang: You care about your followers, right? I imagine you wouldn't want them to join you here. And if you were able to tell them the truth of this, you would have done so already. So maybe we could help each other out…
There is no response for the next twenty minutes. Jiang shifts in boredom. She begins to move back towards the entrance, turning in time to see a child slip around the corner of a building behind her.
Jiang: Wait, what the hell? Could've sworn I saw… something.
Choosing instead to remain in Adytum, Jiang searches for the child.
[Extraneous logs redacted]
After several minutes of fruitless searching, Jiang emerges into the courtyard from the previous expedition. However, it is full of people.
Jiang: What the fuck?
The now-pristine square is filled with an array of different figures, seemingly going about their daily lives in the middle of Adytum. Two men armed with bronze spears stand guard outside a temple, which is pristine and untouched rather than the crumbling mess it was earlier. Merchant stands sell fruits and other strange oddities. Throughout the square are women clothed in elaborate and colorful dresses, reclining on bejeweled litters carried by men with stone collars around their necks. One such assortment marches directly through Jiang without disruption. A closer inspection reveals all appear semi-transparent to varying degrees.
Jiang: What is this?
As the wind picks up again, the image of the square briefly fades, with Mekhanite corpses becoming visible for a moment.
Ion: What once was.
The child from before is spotted, a boy of approximately ten, with black hair and dark brown eyes, being escorted by an elderly woman in a bronze color along with several other children. All the children appear to have golden collars, suggesting some higher status of slavehood. The group moves further into the city, and Jiang follows them. As she walks, the illusory floor beneath her feet shifts and changes, causing her to stumble and fall to her knees.
Jiang stands up in an arena, filled with thousands of roaring slaves and daeva. Beside her is an awning holding several lounging Daevite women, with the child standing off to the side. In the arena below is a wild-haired tattooed man fighting his way through dozens of slaves. While the man is armed with a strange black blade that absorbs all light that falls upon it, the slaves have only wooden spears and small bronze shields.
The last remaining throws down his weapons and kneels in front of the awning, hands clasped together as he begs for mercy. The rightmost daeva flicks her hand dismissively, indifferent to his pleas. The tattooed man lets go of his blade which vanishes into thin air, stalking over to the kneeling slave. Putting one hand on his shoulder and the other on his jaw, the man tears the slave's head clean off his torso.
The crowd cheers even louder at the spray of blood. Jiang glances down at the child, who appears to bear a passing resemblance to the decapitated slave. His face is instead blank, with tears trailing down his cheeks.
Jiang: That's you, isn't it? That was you as a child. And that man in the arena…
Ion: I saw it. The truth of what they were.
Jiang: And that's where your rebellion came from.
The next few scenes shift rapidly from one to another as Jiang continues walking, all depicting Ion in service to the Daevites over the years. In one scene, he is pouring wine; in another, performing ceremonial rites in a temple and carving runes onto a SCP-3140 instances. Ion maintains a pleasant smile in all scenes, though it is one that never reaches his cold eyes.
The images change to a singular one of Ion in a basement, stone shelves crammed with scrolls towering overhead. Carefully pricking a drop of blood with a dagger onto a section of wall painted with an elaborate symbol, he then moves aside the stone to reveal a hidden space with a locked box that appears much older than the surrounding stonework. Producing a key carved out of crystal, Ion unlocks the box, carefully avoiding contact with the exterior.
Within the box is an aged scroll. Even through a video feed, the scroll radiates an aura of overwhelming dread. Ion smiles.
The scene snaps back to Adytum within a state of chaos. Fires can be seen burning throughout the city. Bodies litter the streets, with viscera strung across temples and statues in apparent religious mockery. A squad of soldiers surrounds two robed figures with their spears. The Sarkics merely laugh as a multitude of claw-like appendages burst forth to tear the soldiers into pieces. Elsewhere a woman collapses sobbing in the streets, clutching a bloody bundle of rags. Another Sarkic walks up behind her, slitting her throat with a knife made of bone and leaving her to fall face-first into a pool of her own blood.
Jiang: Jesus.
Ion: They were Daevite. A choice was made.
Adytum is built again. Temples to daeva gods are torn down, and kiraaks arise in their place.7 No collars or slave litters are present.
Ion: A choice…
The sky turns black with smoke. Explosions shake the city as Mekhanite siege weaponry assaults the walls of Adytum. Far off in the distance, the silhouettes of mechanical colossi can be seen grappling with Sarkic Large-Scale Aggressors.
A wall is breached, and hundreds of bronze warriors armed with all manner of swords, spears, and anomalous weaponry begin to pour into the breach, cutting down the Sarkic defenders as they had the daevas centuries earlier. Jiang watches as one Mekhanite deploys a strange metallic gas from a dispenser on its arm. Wherever it meets a Sarkic (or with the few unaltered Mekhanites), tumors comprised of bronze gears begin to sprout rapidly. The defenders quickly succumb to their attackers.
Looking up at the sky darkening, Jiang notices the foot of a colossus about to stomp on her position overhead. As it comes crashing down, she finds herself suddenly back in the present, on the rubble-strewn steps to the citadel. Four statues of the same figures dot each side: a voluptuous woman wearing a crown, a young girl clutching a dagger, a hulking brutish figure with broken chains around his arms, and a tall robed figure with an eye in the center of a raised palm.
Jiang slips into the narrow gap between the heavy metal doors, emerging into a small antechamber into the past to find Ion being escorted down the corridor by a man with multiple arms and sewn-together lips. Based on semi-mythological accounts, this is Klavigar Nadox.
Ion crumples to the floor with an expression of pure agony on his face. Nadox reaches to help him up but is waved off. Nadox kneels beside him, gently taking his hand. Ion takes his other in turn and appears to say something. For some reason the conversation is inaudible, but it should be noted that the two appear substantially more solid than any other illusion within Adytum.
Nadox leaves without looking back. Ion pulls himself back up, and slowly makes his way to the set of doors at the other end, slipping through. The illusion ends, and Jiang finds herself surrounded by crumbled statues. A strange pink light can be seen shimmering underneath the same doors Ion passed through.
After a moment of hesitation, Jiang opens the door.
Jiang: …holy shit.
At first glance, the interior of the palace appears to be almost entirely covered in titanic mounds of flesh, packed together tightly as if to create coiled grotesque cylinders easily twenty stories or more in diameter. Drawing closer, however, reveals the presence of millions of fine, scale-like impressions in the flesh, suggesting a single entity.
In the far northwestern corner is the head of a gargantuan serpentine entity (SCP-001-1)8 lying against the walls of the palace. It appears to be breathing shallowly for its sizes, creating powerful gusts that make Jiang stumble with every exhalation. Its maw lies open, with a tongue extending past teeth several times larger than Jiang to loll on the floor limply. As the camera follows its massive bulk, faint impressions of humanoid figures can be seen reaching outwards in attempts to free themselves, before being forcibly reabsorbed into its mass — the Sarkic cultists of Adytum.
The end of the serpent terminates in a tail, which meanders around the room before terminating at a black throne on a dais at the back of the room.
Sitting upon the throne is the corpse of a man. In one brittle hand is held a staff made of bone while the other has dug into the stone of the armrest. The most striking feature of the corpse, however, is its head, which has the very edges of SCP-001's tail emerging from it- the expulsion of the entity from its head appeared to have grossly distorted the left side portion of its face, crushing its eye socket and leaving half of its cranium emerging a jutting, fragmented mess from the still-seeping wound. Judging by the decayed state of its robes, the corpse of Grand Karcist Ion had remained undisturbed on its throne for the past three millennia.
Almost impossibly, the corpse opens its eye, speaking with the same tortured voice heard throughout Adytum.
Ion: You have come. You have seen… the truth of Nälkä. The way of all flesh.
Jiang: What… what happened here? What's that?
Ion: A horror born of recklessness. All- all flesh-warpers carry this curse. Most succumb to madness far before this point. But to those who delve further, explore its mysteries… this is the fate that awaits them. An archon of Yaldabaoth, bursting forth to devour the soul of worlds. In order-
Ion grimaces as the archon stirs, its mere shifting sending rumbles through the ground. He clenches his fist tightly, and the movement subsides.
Ion: To save our world… we pushed Adytum into the Nevermeant. The perfect prison. Only steel corpses remain here now for the devourer. And my own.
Jiang: But why are you still here? How are you even still… alive?
Ion: Archons are life at its purest. Enduring. I cannot die. Not as long as we are linked. And if I were to sever it, let it be fully born… I would lose- what little control I retain.
Jiang: The pain must be agonizing.
Ion: Agonizing and unending. You come from my world… how… do my followers fare? I had lost hope, after the siege…
Jiang: Your followers mostly survive. But Adytum's apparent destruction scattered them to the winds. They're all over the world, but in the form of a thousand fragmented communities. Nothing like your empire at its peak.9
Ion: And what of my Klavigars? I heard of Orok's fall, but the others…? Loyal Saarn, my dearest Lovataar, Nadox…
Jiang hesitates.
Jiang: I haven't heard of any news of them. If they have survived, it's unknown to us.10
Ion lowers his head.
Ion: I see. This is what I have amounted to… a husk with the faintest wisp of life. My followers scattered, my dearest companions dead or worse… Only the archon remains. A monument to all my sins.
Jiang: Is there no hope for your separation?
Ion: If there is a way… I have not found in the countless eons that have passed. Perhaps with enough time, it could starve… or perhaps the stars could expire first.
The archon stirs again, its coils undulating around the room. Ion tenses up.
Ion: There is nothing that can be done here. But perhaps you can stop others from falling to my fate. Go, and leave me to my task: one man standing against the dark, holding back the tide.
[END LOG]
Addendum 001.8: Excerpt of Recovered Audio Transcript (Source Unknown)
Unknown: What did you tell your organization, then?
[DATA EXPUNGED]: The truth. That any attempt to inform Nälkä adherents at large of the nature of flesh-warping by the Foundation would be dismissed as blasphemy. And backing it up by mentioning SCP-001-B's location would almost certainly result in a catastrophic containment breach.
Unknown: I see. And Ion?
[DATA EXPUNGED]: We've advanced significantly, but we're nowhere near being able to do the impossible. It's an archon after all. Perhaps in a few more centuries… How goes the research on your end?
Unknown: Elusive. Precious little lore of the Night Apes remained after the priestesses of the Unadorned One, and what little did survive seems to have been swallowed whole after the fall of the daevas. I have visited the Wanderers' Library several times over the past millennia, but if such a scroll or tome still exists, I have yet to find it.
[DATA EXPUNGED]: We'll continue our work on SCP-001-B, then. Adytum's offered up a wealth of research opportunities, easily enough to string along the Council invested for another dozen centuries. Perhaps there's more information to be gained in other realms — I'd suggest the Vaults of Alagadda. Dangerous, yes, but I'm sure someone like you could find their way in.
Unknown: Mhm. Perhaps.
[Silence.]
[DATA EXPUNGED]: What did you say to him, anyway?
Unknown: Hmm?
[DATA EXPUNGED]: In Adytum, before you left Ion to perform the ritual, you two had a conversation. What did you say to him?
Unknown: I don't remember. I must have forgotten. was over three thousand years ago, after all.
[DATA EXPUNGED]: You 'forgot'. I expect a few things to succumb to the fog of ages over a millennium or two, but not as something as significant as the last words you ever spoke to your prophet, king, and… friend.
Unknown: … How is this relevant to the task at hand?
[DATA EXPUNGED]: It's relevant because it's not: you've been single-mindedly chasing this goal for the past three thousand years. When was the last time you did something you enjoyed, for pleasure or simple curiosity, rather than because it was what you needed to secure some obscure scrap of daeva lore that might save him?
What drives you? Guilt? None of it was your fault: Adytum, the archon, Ion, none of it.
Unknown: I—
[DATA EXPUNGED]: He would've wanted you to live, you know. Not chasing a ghost of an idea that may not even exist—
Unknown: Ah, and you say this because you know him so well? Because you were his right-hand man for six hundred years, and were there in his final days? I am not some grief-stricken fool that needs coddling, I am the last surviving Klavigar of Nälkä, and you should stop talking of things you know nothing about.
[DATA EXPUNGED]: …
Unknown: I… I am sorry for that. I did not mean to lash out at you. You have been a dear friend and pupil in these past centuries. It is… a complicated scenario.
[DATA EXPUNGED]: Then enlighten me. How many years did we spend crossing those desert sands together, you and I and Derkedas and all the rest of our little group? I started this expedition, the wellspring from which the entirety of the Foundation rose from, out of respect for you. I realize the place of a pupil and their master, but I think I deserve some honesty here.
[Silence.]
Unknown: I was a simple wanderer before his time, in the Daevite Empire, who preached a message of peace and equality among the downtrodden. I had no powers, no hate in my heart, nothing that would have made me a threat, but the daeva saw fit to torment me all the same. For a time, I thought I might die, but they would not be that kind. They marked me as a pariah, forcing me to wander as an outcast for all time, but forever denying me that mercy as well. When the daily exhaustion won out over the constant agony, I would fall asleep, and I would dream of a savior who would one day come and free us from the yoke of the daeva. There were times over the long years where I nearly gave up hope. So many times when I wanted to finally lay down and die from injuries that should have killed me long ago. But my visions told me that our savior would need me by his side. So, I endured, until a slave-priest from the ancient city of Adytum contacted me.
Ion was beautiful, and wise, and strong, everything I had dreamed of and yet he was so much more. He did not have to choose this path; as a half-breed, he was looked upon rather favorably and could aspire to become a slave-minister, or even buy himself out of his shackles one day. True, he had reason to hate the daevas as much as anyone, but he did not lower himself to base revenge. He sought to free all those who had suffered under the cause of the daeva. I cannot even begin to describe how that felt. How would you feel if you had seen your messiah in the flesh? To have them raise you from your torment, and then ask you to help them achieve all you had wished for eternity?
[DATA EXPUNGED]: I'd be… ecstatic, I suppose.
Unknown: As was I. For a time.
[A deep, shuddering breath can be heard.]
Unknown: And then it was all gone. Our empire was destroyed, our followers slaughtered and scattered, and my dearest friends were either dead or missing. I became a pariah once again- wandering from city to city, never knowing a moment of rest. Yet all of it paled in comparison to what happened to my Ion.
[DATA EXPUNGED]: Oh, Nadox…
Unknown: He had given us everything. And for that act of kindness my savior, my messiah, my love, my Ion rots away in Adytum to this day.
And I can do nothing about it.
[END LOG]
Cite this page as:
"May We Meet Again in Adytum." by Cerastes, from the SCP Wiki. Source: https://scpwiki.com/may-we-meet-again-in-adytum. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.
For information on how to use this component, see the License Box component. To read about licensing policy, see the Licensing Guide.
Filename: pariahlogo
Name: MTF Chi-12 ("Pariahs")
Author:EstrellaYoshte
License: CC BY-SA 3.0
Source Link: Link
Filename: Nadox
Author(s):Cerastes, darkday
License: CC BY 2.0
Derivative of: Flickr
Filename: 001map.jpg
Author(s):Cerastes, © OpenStreetMap contributors
License: Open Data Commons Open Database License (ODbL)
Source Link: Link
Filename: adytumsealSmall.jpg
Name: The Great Seal of Adytum
Author:MalyceGraves
License: CC BY-SA 3.0
Source Link: Link
Filename: administrator
Name: Bundesarchiv Bild 183-30652-0001, Gera, Auzubildene aus China.jpg
Author: German Federal Archive (Deutsches Bundesarchiv)
License: CC BY-SA 3.0 DE
Source Link: Wikimedia
Critics
- Bread (positive)
- placeholder (didnt care for it)
- Metaphysician (positive, implemented fixes)
- uraniumempire (positive)
- Malyce Graves (postive, implemented fixes)
- stormbreath (good story, but doesnt care for sarkicism)
- naepicfael (favorably, but pointed out that it may be lore heavy for casual audiences)
Things to do:
ARD crit:
- Combine alchemy section with 4524 addendum
- remove autopsy dialogue post-soldier death
- more evidence on portal location (perhaps have it hinted that the administrator may have had prior knowledge. Could have her locate the text first, then briefly part to travel with nadox briefly, then return to dig up the portal)
Tyumen crit
"Honestly, all it boils down to is that it'd fare much better with less action-movie type quippy dialogue from the agent, fewer expositiony loredumps from Ion (I personally think Ion shouldn't even have a speaking role at all, but that's just my opinion) worth considering? and many, many more environmental clues (dead LSAs and broken colossi, more babbling robotic soldiers, dead civilians in various states hinting at what happened to them) as to what happened in Adytum. Ion with the Archon bursting from his head was one of the best images the story put forth, and it would probably make more sense for Ion's first verbal contact with the agent to be in that ending section"
Metaphysician crit:
Less storytelling, more exploration of the anomaly. could combine with tyumen's above suggestions:
Tufto: overall, show dont tell.
DrZaomin: dont feel sad about nadox or ion (show, dont tell i guess)
Hex crit:
Expect more world building of Sarkic lore, less flat exposition. "This could have been substituted and shown to us in a more organic sense via emotions, sensations, and more subtle imagery than the in-your-face elements that currently persist in this article."
Suffered from a white room effect- could not picture Adytum clearly.
Didnt feel much emotion for Ion or Jiang Li, felt one dimensional rather than natural aspects of it.
With that said, it's a -1 from me.
Current Plan:
- Description and conprocs largely the same.
- Adytum history section same.
- Change discovery section to hint at the Administrator having prior knowledge of the portal site and/or book. Leave in an absence of their exploration details, give room to wander across the desert with nadox.
- Combine the Alchemy division with the 4524 addendum. For this, add more details to the "unlocking attempt earlier" to make it feel less one-note. Then the alchemy addendum is more of an update.
- Sophia aic exploration: perhaps tie more into Tyumen's suggestions. Large colossi and LSAs alike lie scattered among the buildings, all having been crushed by the archon milenia ago. Mekhanites wander to and fro in Adytum: functionally perfect, but minds and requirement to use SCP-217 to survive have basically tied them into mekhanite zombies. How to end this, though? Perhaps take a fallen mekhanite soldier like last time, and being chased back through the portal.
- In this case, they attempt to remove a soldier to see if they can "fix it", as theyre 100 percent machine. Work on distinguishing low and lycus's dialogue more, per nagiros suggestions. Remove post-soldier death dialogue and replace with exposition on Chinese sarkic-mekhanite mythology. Have an abrupt ending.
- Second long: …?