The explorer slashes his way through the
jungle, using his large machete to hack through the thick undergrowth. He suddenly stops
and turns around, “Which way was it again?” His local guide answers but he must wait for
him to finish and his research assistant to translate. “He says to continue straight,
it’s just another hundred yards or so.” The gentleman explorer offers a quick nod before
turning to resume cutting his way through the forest. The guide was right though, because after
a short way the dense jungle suddenly opens up, giving way to a clearing that reveals one
of the most incredible things the explorer has ever seen. Just ahead of him, rising out of
the forest is a massive, ancient stone temple. A huge step pyramid of solid stone, intricately
carved and covered with elaborate statues. The colossal structure looks like it has been
abandoned for centuries if not longer, with nature having done its best to reclaim the stone
and cover the pyramid in vines and other plants. The team approaches the temple but stops in front
of a stone monument that stands in front of it. The explorer traces its carved lines with his
finger, knocking the dirt away to reveal its weathered pictograph. It appears to depict a sort
of creature, but with large, spread wings instead of arms. “Perhaps a kind of… ritualistic
garb?” the explorer says to his assistant. The assistant hastily scribbles in her
notebook, trying to document everything she can. “Yes, this is definitely
a priest-like figure of some kind, maybe a leader of this temple thanks to
the connection he shares to their - “ the explorer’s musings are interrupted by his
guide, who he angrily spins around to face. “Yes, what?! What is it?” His research assistant
translates for him as usual, “he says that we should go no
further, that it’s too dangerous.” “Nonsense,” replies the explorer, “we came all
this way, and who knows what fantastic treasures await us inside… Historical treasures I mean,
artifacts. Treasures of knowledge, of course.” “Of course,” replies his
assistant before following her boss as he starts making
his way up the step pyramid, as the guide holds true to his stated intentions
and waits near the edge of the jungle. The two of them walk through an entrance that
leads into a long, dark hallway. With only torches to light their way, it’s impossible
to see just how deep it runs into the temple. The explorer stops to examine the walls which are
covered in even more carvings. He can see that there are complicated geometric patterns, but also
many more depictions of the same winged creature that was on the monument outside. Here though,
the creatures are depicted in moments of action. They appear to be running, chasing, reaching
out and grabbing for… people. They are shown attacking them, picking them up, carrying
them away to… right where the pictograph story should reveal its climax is a chunk of missing
wall. It must have fallen off at some point. “Ah, oh well,” the explorer declares before
moving on to explore more of the temple. His assistant doesn’t follow though. She spots
several pieces of stone on the floor underneath the missing panel and kneels down to get a
closer look. She begins to gather them together, rearranging the various pieces
back into their original form. Meanwhile the explorer’s attention
has been caught by something else. On the other side of the hall is a statue
of a tall, proud warrior, and in his hand, he clutches a large, bejeweled spear, the
gemstones adorning it sparkling in the torchlight. The explorer reaches out and grips the spear’s
handle. He begins to pull, perhaps being a little rougher than one should with an ancient
artifact, but he wants this fabulous jeweled piece, and even more than the spear itself, he
wants the acclaim it will bring him back home. As the explorer pulls on the spear his research
assistant moves the final piece of the broken wall carving into position. She holds her torch
over it to get a better look and she gasps. The winged creatures are carrying people
away, but that isn’t the end of the story. They are bringing them somewhere, and she can
see now that they are being presented to an even bigger winged creature. It’s a monster,
a monster that is feeding on the people. The assistant turns to tell the explorer
what she has found, and just as she does, she watches as he is finally able to rend
the spear loose from the statue’s grip. The statue finally letting go causes
him to fall backwards to the ground where he lies, marveling at the
beautiful jeweled spear in his hands. “Look out!” yells his assistant.
The explorer doesn’t notice that the statue is precariously rocking
back and forth, and he rolls out of the way just before it crashes down right
where he was lying and admiring the spear. “Are you ok?” she asks as she rushes over. “I think so,” he tells her.
“Just a little bump on the head. Nothing that can’t be fixed up by a good - ” “By a good what?” she asks, but he seems
distracted by something behind her. “By a good… by a good… By god what is that?” He points and the research assistant turns to
see something emerging from a hole in the wall where the statue once stood. It’s one of the
creatures from the wall carvings. A bizarre half man, half lizard, with wings instead
of arms, though there’s no flesh at all, the creature is completely made of bone. The
two of them both scream at the skeletonized, half-human, and the creature screams right back
at them, emitting a shrill, high-pitched squeal. Suddenly more of the creatures begin
to emerge from the hole in the wall, with others crawling out of previously unseen
and unnoticed holes in the walls and ceiling. The creatures rush towards them,
blocking their way out of the temple, and the pair have no choice but to
run further down the darkened hallway. As they run, more of the creatures
emerge from holes in the darkness, screaming at them and grasping at them with
the sharp claws on the end of their wings. As they round a corner, one reaches
out and grasps the explorer’s ankle causing him to trip and fall hard onto the
stone floor. His assistant rushes to his aid, but as she is helping him up, two more of
the creatures appear behind her and envelop her in their bony, winged arms. The explorer
stands up and stabs at one of them with the jeweled spear as they drag her into a dark
hole, but a third tears it from his hands. With more still coming down the hallway
behind him, the explorer has to run. The hallway in front of him looks to have
collapsed at some point in the past and he has no choice but to enter one of the dark
tunnels that has been carved into the rock. The narrow tunnel winds back and forth and the
explorer is unsure of where he is going or what his plan is. He rounds a bend and the tunnel opens
up into a gigantic room. The ceiling must be over a hundred feet high, and he can’t see the furthest
walls with the only light emitted by his torch, and a dim beam of sunlight coming down
through a hole high up on the ceiling. He notices too that it has suddenly
gone quiet. He turns and looks back at the tunnel he has just emerged from and
notices that the sound of the horrible creatures that were chasing him has ceased.
The explorer hears something coming from deeper in the giant room and turns
back, peering into the darkness. There in the single beam of light he sees one of
the winged creatures, but it is moving strangely, as if it isn’t walking, but floating up into
the air. And that’s because it isn’t walking. As it gets closer, the explorer can see that
the winged creature is stuck on the tooth of a gigantic, monstrous mouth. The huge, winged
creature emerges from the darkness into the beam of light, tossing back its giant head to
consume the creature that was stuck in its teeth, its bones loudly cracking in its mouth. Now in
the light, the explorer can see that the monster, which itself must be hundreds of feet long, is
a huge flying lizard of some kind. Or at least it was at one time, since now the majority of
its body is made only of bone. What scraps of flesh are left hang off in rotten ribbons.
The monster opens its mouth and roars at the explorer, its foul breath smells like a mausoleum
opening up hitting the explorer in the face. The explorer tries to run but the monster
swipes out with a bony wing that still has a few blackened strips of leathery skin
on it and knocks him to the ground. He is pinned to the floor with a huge spiny
claw, as the creature opens its mouth, roaring again before moving its head
down to start feasting on its meal. The explorer closes his eyes,
bracing himself to be eaten alive when the creature suddenly lets out an ear
piercing scream. The explorer opens his eyes to see the jeweled spear sticking
out of one of the few spots of flesh remaining on the creature’s clawed foot,
and gripping the shaft, is his assistant. She looks a little worse for wear, but she’s
alive. She offers him a hand to help him up. They need to get out of there, but first the explorer
pulls the spear from the monster's claw. The two start running, doing everything they can to
avoid the monster as it claws and swipes at them. They spot an illuminated opening at the other end
of the vast room and with no other option, start heading towards it. As they get closer they can
see it’s just what they needed - daylight. Escape. They both slide to a stop at the cusp of the
opening, nearly tumbling over the edge. On the other side, the tunnel opening up out of the
side of the temple gives way to nothing but air, and a drop of hundreds of feet down to the
jungle below. They turn to see the monster still rushing towards them and without
time to think any longer they both jump, just seconds before the creature snaps its bony
jaws in the place where they were standing. It’s too big to fit anything more than
its mouth out the door and it howls and screams as they fall through the air
before crashing into the ground below. The assistant slowly opens her eyes to see
someone… It's their guide. He is cradling her head, and asking if she’s okay. She sits up, dazed
and more than a little bruised from her fall. She asks the guide where the explorer is, if
he’s alright, and the guide lowers his eyes, looking as though he’d rather not answer. He
points next to them without looking and the assistant turns to see the explorer lying
on the ground a few feet away from them, his body impaled on the jeweled spear.
History is full of tales and legends about gods, monsters, and everything in between.
But not all of these are just stories, and in fact sometimes the reality is even more
terrifying than what we could envision. And that is exactly the case when it comes to SCP-4959,
also known as the Teotihuacan Pterodactylactery. SCP-4959 is a huge creature that resembles a
pterosaur, which were flying reptiles that existed during the Mesozoic Era. While pterosaurs
have been extinct for millions of years, SCP-4959 is very much alive, or at the very
least, animate. This massive anomaly, whose wingspan stretches approximately 50 meters, is
in a living state of decomposition, with roughly 70% of its flesh having rotted or otherwise
fallen away, leaving only small patches of skin and decaying tissue clinging to its bones. The
flesh that does remain shows no signs of further decomposition though, as if it is permanently
locked into this specific stage of advanced decay. Tests of 4959’s flesh have shown no apparent
abnormalities, save for a slightly higher than expected concentration of iridium. Its eyes are no
longer present, but the eye sockets somehow shine with a bright green light, though the source
of this luminescence is unknown. When angered, the creature also emits a multicolored corona
of fire from its wings, skull, and neck. SCP-4959 was discovered in a gigantic chamber beneath the Temple of the Feathered
Serpent in Teotihuacan, Mexico. A number of tunnels connect to the chamber,
and these too are anything but empty. Lurking within the temple’s many twisting
passages, are entities that have been designated SCP-4959-A. These are humanoid size creatures
appear to be constructed of various human and pterosaur bones, creating an all-new creature
that is an amalgamation of both. The bones are connected to a central, stone-like heart, but it
is unknown if this heart was carved from stone or if it was at one time a real heart that turned
to stone through a process of ossification, nor is it fully understood just how the
bones are connected to it or stay together. The 4959-A entities also have a number of varying
adornments on their bodies which can include strips of decayed fabric,
feathers, and precious stones, that resemble those worn by the indigenous people
who resided in the area many centuries ago. SCP-4959 is carnivorous, though it is unknown
if it requires or simply desires to feed. Regardless, it seems to be the task of
the SCP-4959-A entities to bring it meals, since the 4959 creature itself is too large
to leave its chamber beneath the temple. The hallways and passages that originally
connected the temple to the chamber housing SCP-4959 have all collapsed, and the only
tunnels now leading to it were most likely dug into the rock and earth by the 4959-A
entities. They search through these tunnels, most often working at night, looking for
small animals like birds and lizards, but also occasionally finding a larger
animal or even a human who has somehow found themselves inside. They will then bring
their live prey directly to the giant pterosaur, offering them up as both a meal and a sacrifice.
SCP-4959 will then proceed to eat the prey whole, sometimes consuming the 4959-A
entity at the same time as well. The temple itself is covered in carvings and
murals that give numerous hints as to the origin of SCP-4959. While it is unknown just
how it got there, It appears as though the local people discovered the creature within its
chamber, and regarded it as an avatar of their Feathered Serpent god or perhaps another unknown
deity. A temple was constructed at the site, and they soon began making sacrifices
to the god-creature that lived beneath, starting with small animals, but then progressing
to human sacrifices on important holy days. There is also something else shown in the
murals that looks to be of great importance. It seems as though SCP-4959 possessed a sort of
“heart” which is depicted as a large gemstone, described as being “red as blood and bright as
the rising sun.” This gemstone was previously housed at the pinnacle of the temple,
though its current location is unknown. Following intense study of the
site by SCP Foundation historians, a narrative was pieced together that may
explain at least some of what happened there. It seems as though there was an uprising
within the local population in roughly the sixth century AD. A conflict had arisen amongst
the people as to whether this really was a god, or something else, something evil. Those who
doubted the deific origins of SCP-4959 wrested control of the temple and journeyed into
its depths to attempt to kill the creature. The many scorch marks on the wall are a testament
to the battle that likely took place, and while they suffered many losses, it appears as though
they were at least able to seal the chamber shut. It is currently unknown what became of the
great jewel on top of the temple after this, but its location is of great interest to the Foundation given that it may well be
the source of SCP-4959’s longevity. SCP-4959 has been classified as Euclid, and it
continues to be contained within the chamber beneath the Temple of the Feathered Serpent,
though all of the tunnel entrances leading into it have been blocked by reinforced gates.
If new ones are discovered as the result of SCP-4959-A’s continued tunneling, they too
are to be gated and sealed. Once per week, a large, live animal, most often a cow, is
deposited down a shaft that leads directly to the chamber, and so far, this seems to be
keeping SCP-4959 content to stay within its tomb. Just what is SCP-4959? And what are the
half-man, half-pterosaur creatures who serve it? Are they former human sacrifices, now destined
to live an eternity in servitude to their master? If SCP-4959 was a god at one point, the fact
that we are now the ones responsible for feeding it and keeping it happy means that
in a sense, we’re the ones serving it now. Now go and watch another entry from the files
of Dr. Bob, like SCP-3700 The Tides of War, for another anomaly with god-like
implications. And make sure you subscribe and turn on notifications,
so you don’t miss a single anomaly, as we delve further and further into the
SCP Foundation’s classified archives.
