The Obelisk

Description

It is a grey, unadorned structure in the shape of an obelisk built on what is purported to have been empty grassland. The structure towers over the surrounding area, a sprawling hamlet with a steady, small population and a constant stream of visitors. It has been a part of the landscape from the earliest of written history, some circa 3 millennia ago. Origins are unknown, lost to time, though there are many recorded theories and suggestions as to its placement, construction and purpose.
Thus far, none have been confirmed, and to this day, historians and other scholars study the structure to find answers. It is to this purpose that a once small collegiate establishment was settled here that has turned the hamlet into the relatively busy hub it is today.

References:

‘If the structure has been called anything else, it has been lost to time and the echoes of memory. Known now only as the Obelisk, it has stood in the centre of the town of Khanjhar for as long as the town has been there. Longer, even. Some historians suggest the town was built around the Obelisk, while others argue that there was a settlement first, small though it might have been and only expanding after the unexplained appearance of the structure.
Whatever the truth of the matter, it remains a mystery still to all. Only suppositions, superstitions and stories remain.’

This excerpt was taken from the academic journal of Khanjhar University history student Matthias B. right before contact with the population of Khanjhar was lost.

‘The mists of Ajahta are thin in Khanjhar, and while only the sensitive are able to peer through them, the locals agree on one thing - the Obelisk exists in every version of every dimension of Khanjhar. That is penned down as fact in the earliest recorded history we have.
Any change to the area immediately outside the structure occurs through all versions of the Obelisk, at the exact same time. This is also heralded as fact by not just the locals but also by all historians who have studied the phenomenon.* Local psychics - and some foreign ones - agree that the Obelisk will eventually reveal what is within, and it will occur at the same time across every version if it. But there is debate whether each version of the Obelisk reflects the same inner workings.
These debates vary from academic to outright hostile. Military personnel have tried before to attempt to seize control of Khanjhar, but these endeavours never last. That too, some locals attribute to the Obelisk. As there are no other answers, perhaps there is truth in that.’

The excerpt from the essay The Psychic Energies Of The Lands Known As Ajahta by Prof. S. Y. Ramasan has been disputed heavily by sceptics, because Ajahta itself is a concept that has yet to be proven. It has been included for the sake of showing one of the theories surrounding the structure of the Obelisk.
Editor’s Note: The historians in question are those who study the occult and other paranormal existences. Prof. Ramadan has not included notes to the contrary of her thesis.

‘You know my thoughts on the supernatural, J. Everything has an explanation. Everything can be quantified. This can be too, we just need to find one tiny silver of information and it will lead to what we are looking for …
Can you imagine if we’re the ones to find out what the Obelisk is here for? I’d say the stories of it being created by ancient shaman are probably closest to the truth, but the spirits it holds are nothing but superstitious nonsense. Probably some natural phenomenon that they did not have the science to explain back then, and now there’s just an empty structure that people ooh and ahh over because the mystery of it all brings in revenue. …
I shall see you soon, my friend. The equipment to monitor the immediate area around the structure has been set up, there’s nothing more to do here, and work to be finished back home.’

Taken with permission from a letter from the desk of Jonas F. after the mysterious disappearance of his colleague and partner Augustus N.

Find out more about the Obelisk in the story The Day Of The Obelisk.