Armilla Travelogue

 

Armilla, where to begin... I could hear Armilla from what seemed like miles away. The sound of rushing water echoed. I could also smell it. It didn't smell as nice as I thought it would. It did have a soapy smell about it but I couldn't help but notice this awful eggy smell. At one point, when walking past a giant pipe that was as thick as a giant redwood's trunk, I had to cover my nose! Armilla's pipes are much much bigger than you think. They make you feel so insignificant and minuscule. They really reminded me of trees, the way they branch off into other smaller pipes. The entire city looks like a pipe forest. After walking for some time, I reached a little orange pipe which was spraying water everywhere and making the ground around it very muddy. It was then I noticed the hundreds of shower heads that were on the pipes. A few of them were running water. There was a lot of water that was being wasted. Some pipes were leaking gallons upon gallons of water. When I was looking at one of the pipes, I suddenly felt a wave of water hit me from behind. I stumbled and fell but quickly got to my feet. I spun around to see what happened. A huge red pipe had just burst. It was then clear to me that there was too much water in the pipes for them to handle. I have heard stories that Armilla used to get its water from a nearby reservoir. However, situated very close to that reservoir was a town that relied on its water. The town didn't even know Armilla existed until they noticed that the reservoir's water level had gone down. The town's people then apparently attacked Armilla and destroyed all of its buildings. However, there is a big problem with this story. Why did the town's people leave the pipes as they were and not destroy them? There is also no record of this reservoir or this town ever existing. I carried on walking and came across a group of nymphs. When they noticed me looking at them, they hissed at me and splashed me with water. I quickly walked away, now completely soaked thanks to them and the exploding pipe. I finally dried out after sitting on the bright green grass just outside of the city. The grass is so healthy because it is constantly getting watered. When it was starting to get dark, I decided to walk over to a group of pipes that were shooting out of the ground at different angles The ground around them could only be described as a swamp. I couldn't get as close as I wanted to to them because I would have sunk into the mud. One of the pipes, that was in the middle of them, looked like it was shivering. It was then I noticed this deep rumbling sound coming from below me. As the pipe shivered, the sound got louder. Then, all of the pipes began violently shaking. I was very scared at this point, I thought that the ground was going to swallow me up. A tower of water then shot out of every pipe in Armilla. It was an incredible sight. The towers then came crashing down and when the water hit the ground it caused an earthquake! I was stunned. I couldn't believe what I had just seen. It was absolutely breath taking. When it was dark, I had a slow walk over to another group of pipes. These pipes were much wider than the others. One of them was about ten foot wide! Around the rims of the pipes was a soapy substance. I took some of the soap in my hand and smelt it. It had a very delicate, floral scent. After standing there for a while, I started walking again and came across a row of horizontal pipes. They were copper brown with red stripes on them. These were the first pipes I had seen that had red stripes on them. I still have no idea why they had that on them, maybe they were colour coded for a special job or maybe they just looked too boring without something else on them. It was about half eleven at night when I heard the rumbling again. This time, when the water rocketed out of the pipes, it went even higher than before. A few hours later, just before I went to sleep in an empty pipe which was laying on the ground, it happened again. The amount of water that must come out of those pipes in a week must be staggering, I'd love to know where all this water comes from. In the morning, the first thing I heard was the nymphs singing. There are definitely worse ways to wake up. Their voices were beautiful. It took me a while to sit up, I laid there, peacefully listening to them sing. However, the singing was suddenly interrupted by the same volcanic explosion of water from the pipes. I didn't stay in Armilla for much longer after that. I also kept getting soaked every time I walked close to a pipe.  When I was walking away from Armilla, I noticed some shower heads that had been dumped in some bushes. When I picked one of these up, an awful, foul smelling liquid oozed out of it. I quickly dropped it and wiped my hands on the grass. I have no idea what the liquid was and honestly, I really don't want to know. I had one last look at Armilla before I got into my car and drove away. Armilla is one of the strangest places I've ever visited. I would go back there but next time I will wear a raincoat and take an umbrella. I really want to find out more about Armilla too. I want to know where it gets its water from and why it is only inhabited by nymphs. Maybe the story about the angry town who invaded Armilla for stealing their water is true, I don't know.