This is just an idea that came to me last night during the throes of jet-lag induced insomnia. It is written in the first person in the style of those old choose-your-own-adventure books since the subject matter of importance is the scene, not the character observing it.
Comments are always welcome.
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Before you, still at quite some distance, stands Land's End's famous Cimmerian Cathedral. You can't help but be awe-struck at its enormity and beauty. Easily as large as the gash cut into the rock wall by the waterfall at the Bronze Doors, this structure was not formed by natural phenomena, but the blood and sweat of hundreds of thousands of slaves. This fact can hardly temper your admiration for the structure while standing before it, still a few miles away from its front doors.
It's general shape is that of a narrowed enkidukai eye, cut in half, and rotated 90 degrees. It is pointed at the top, with gentle mirrored curves delineating its width as they descend to its base. This tribute to Dakkru has been cut and carved out of the solid rock wall that marks this edge of Land's End. Indeed, it's peak just brushes against the ceiling. It is said that this cathedral, a place for the living to worship Dakkru, is also a Dark Way glyph.
The front face has carved into it gently flowing curves, which appear like branches. Shooting off from these branches are smaller branches with equally gentle curves. Smaller still, additional branches depart from their larger parents, and ultimately small circles form at their ends as leaves. The center of each leaf is a deep hollow depression in the edifice. Those lucky few who have stood before this structure during the last eclipse tell the tales of magnificent beauty. From each hollow glowed the deep red light of a nocturum, a type of plant which thrives in darkness, and is cultivated within the cathedral's walls.
Curious to see and learn more about this impressive temple, you travel on. Soon you reach the front doors. There is only one, and the footpath takes you to it. The door is rather modest in contrast to the grandiosity of the cathedral itself, being only about ten feet tall and wide, though ornate. Upon closer inspection, you notice two deep grooves in the stone floor which trace large arcs that begin to one side of the door. That, and other cuts in the flooring suggest that a much larger portion of the front could be opened if needed, and has been done in the past.
The front door is closed and unguarded. A large ring to one side affords to pull the door open, and indeed it gives easily. Peering inside you see a passageway not much larger than the doorway itself, and some 25 feet long. It is illuminated by candlelight in lanterns with red gels covering each glass pane. You enter cautiously, and the door naturally closes on its own with a loud thump that echos in this hallway. Quickly, you push on the door, not wanting to be trapped here, and find it gives easily. You let it close again, and now only the red glow illuminates your way, though it is an unencumbered one. Embossed images of Dakkru, her worshipers, and this temple in various stages of completion adorn the passageway's walls.
At the far end, another door stands closed, but it also gives easily to your push. Beyond the second door, polished stone floors lie before you and continue as far as the eye can see. Admittedly, this isn't that far in the dim ruby light. Stairs to the floor above stand some distance to your right, and also disappear into the inky blackness. You try to light a torch and find it will not burn. Even your attempts to set it on fire with Red Way magic fail. You surmise that the magic imbued in this cathedral is stopping you. In a recess of the wall is a nocturum plant whose leaves glow a solid red. Up the sides of its planter are four metal supports which join at the top with a metal ring for easy carrying. You assume that use of this plant is the standard means by which those who lack night vision navigate this structure, and take the nocturum.
You strike out into the blackness away from the entrance and as you do you notice that the floor has a large mural on it made by insetting different colored rocks as well as gold and silver, presumably obtained while hollowing out this great chamber. You continue in the same direction for a surprising amount of time with nothing but the nocturum lantern shining against the stone floor to guide you. Finally, you notice a faint red glow in the distance and quicken your pace, eager to see more than just exquisite flooring. As you approach the lighting brightens and forms patterns. You surmise that there are more nocturums ahead of you, but nothing can prepare you for the sight you are about to see.
A forest! An entire forest of nocturums grow ahead of you. The stone floor ends in a low wall, probably intended to prevent people from accidentally plummeting the fifty feet to the forest floor below. From here you marvel at the sight, nocturums of all shapes and sizes grow here, many of them are astonishingly gigantic, rising hundreds of feet into the air. Their thick rubbery leaves display the most beautiful patterns of red light, and judging by the variety of patterns and leaf shapes you estimate that there must be thousands of different species of nocturum living in this subterranean forest. You stand there for some time, gazing at the luscious vegetation before you notice more red light far off to your right, on this level, not on the forest floor. Staring at it for a few minutes, you conclude that this must be a small village. If the size of this structure were not apparent from the outside, its grandiosity is certainly cemented in your mind now.
You move swiftly towards the town, and hope its inhabitants speak common. The town is made up of a few dozen round homes with peaked roofs. The walls of the homes feel rubbery to the touch and you guess that these buildings are made up of nocturum plant material. This idea is corroborated when looking at the roofs, which are covered in leaves and give off that now-common red glow which initially caught your eye to this village. A few words with a kind villager reveals that these people are caretakers of the forest. At the end of the town closest to the low wall that demarks this floor with the forest there is a stairway leading down into the nocturum garden. You are warned, however, not to traipse freely into the forest, for it is protected by powerful Dark Way magic, and only devoted gardeners may safely enter. Those who have not heeded these words have met their fate at the hands of hordes of shadowy creatures which crawl out of very nook and crannies this forest harbors.
Besides the homes, you see a few long rectangular open-air structures with the same leafy roofs housing raised nocturum plant beds. A gardener is tending to the plants, and providing them water from a nearby well. You come to the conclusion that this massive temple was not just constructed as a place of worship for Dakkru, but also, and perhaps primarily, for the cultivation of this beautiful flora. The gardener takes notice of you, and you smile and nod in return. After a few questions, you discover that these plants can only grow in absolute darkness, save for their own red illumination. The botanists in this and the other villages (other villages!) have done some extensive cross-breeding of the plants; the nocturum lantern that you hold is one of their products, created by the successive breeding of plants with the densest patterns of red until the leaves glowed completely. The plants in this building, the gardener said, will provide the primary means of nourishment to the villagers.
You bid the gardener a good day and head off towards the largest of the buildings. This one is also round, but much wider, and taller than the rest. Probably an inn, you think, if this town even has one. You approach, and are pleased to know that it is an inn, for you are tired from your journey. You order an imported ale, and speak briefly with the bartender. He says that the village's economy is supported by tourism, as well as exportation of nocturum plant material and minerals obtained from the mines deep behind the forest. You thank the innkeeper for this information and pay for a room. You retire for the night (if it is night) and proceed to the second floor and enter the first unoccupied room. You flop onto the bed and before drifting off to sleep, you decide that tomorrow you will follow the large stairway you observed at the entrance, and explore the upper regions of this cathedral.
