The Lucid Planet Fan-Lore | Episode 2
As TLP is a community-driven, collaborative-story telling process we wanted to encourage our community to submit their own interpretations of what the TLP lore means to them.
Presenting Episode 2 of this world’s collaborative, community-driven narrative written by gazer WilliamHawk.
They heard a humming sound coming from within the largest cave. The blackness of the Dark Plains made it hard to see in general, but the caves were blacker than black this late into the night. The twins had been out here before though, and they were prepared with a couple of glow rods to help illuminate the path inside. Glow rods, canisters of water, thermal sheets and a handful of other provisions would sustain them for a few days out here. The gear they wore would also help keep them warm and they each carried a hunting knife for some protection and utility as needed. As Nora entered the cave, the cold chill of the air outside started to give way to a warmth. But this warmth was.. strange. Not like the warmth of the suns, or a campfire, or even one of the portable heat generators they kept back at the settlement. This was something else, a warmth that didn’t just warm the body, but somehow penetrated within. A warmth that seemed to call out. Nora looked at her brother Nat, and the look on his face confirmed that he felt it too. They had explored hundreds of other caves in this very same area. Some had what looked like ancient markings within. Strange looking figures and symbols, and characters from what must have been an old and now forgotten alphabet. One symbol that they came across several times looked like a doorway. But in all of the caves they had been in, they had never come across any doorway, or anything else that resembled any of the markings in the caves. They had also never felt the warmth they felt here. The twins made their way deeper into the cave. Fire Bats hung high above. Mostly harmless to the settlers, the Fire Bats had wings that gave off an orangish-red glow. Thousands of them seemed to be waking up, and the glow of their wings helped brighten the path of the cave even more. It was an eerie scene, the reddish glow of the wings onto the rocky walls of the cave and the strange warm feeling that was present. Still, they explored further in. Another 100 meters down, they came across a large section of the cave covered in more markings. Nat brightened the light on his glow rod a bit. Being careful not to eat away at the battery life on it, he just wanted to get a better look at the markings — if only for a moment. Nora gasped. Some of the higher markings were huge. Giant spiral shapes, strange looking creatures both big and small. Some of the markings were familiar, and some they had never seen before. They spent a few moments looking around, then Nat took the light back down a couple of notches. For a moment it seemed this was the end of the cave.
“Nora, look at this!”
Nora looked over to her brother and realized there was a glow coming from behind the spot he stood at. She went to his side and they stepped forward, almost in perfect unison. It wasn’t the end of the cave after all. Another pathway continued off deeper from where they were, and if not for the subtle green glow they would have missed it. They turned a sharp corner out of the room that held the markings, following the newfound glow. The warmth intensified as they slowly walked forward, but it never got hot or uncomfortable. It was, almost a soothing feeling. The path twisted and turned a bit, and Nat thought he could hear running water. Another sharp turn to the left and they saw new markings everywhere. Only these markings were alive, each with a light of its own. And there, in the middle of the markings, giving off the same green light they seemed to have been following, was a large floating disk suspended vertically in the air. Not a disk, actually.. “A portal! It’s like the doorway we keep seeing in the cave markings!” Exclaimed Nora. Nat stepped closer to it. “Look Nora, you can almost see into it, like some kind of glass that’s not entirely transparent, and the light is moving around in a spiral.” The twins looked at each other again. Being twins, one often knew exactly what the other was thinking, and Nora knew that Nat wanted to know what was on the other side of this thing. Normally she would have been the one to hesitate, to feel apprehension. The warmth though, it washed away any fear or doubt in her mind. She pushed her brother aside a bit and peered into the light.
She could almost make out a landscape. Yes, trees and shrubbery. “Nat, there’s.. another place there. Can you see it? A grassland full of plants and trees. And water! There’s a river moving through it!” Nat replied, “Yeah I could hear it, even from a ways back.” Nat looked at his sister, and she already knew. As Nat reached out with his left hand, the portal seemed to react. It got a little larger in size and at the same time brighter in color, changing into a bluer hue. His hand touched it, then his fingers poked through, and then his whole hand. He could feel the warmth on the other side. A slight breeze, a bit of moisture in the air. A far cry from the cold dry air of the Dark Plains. He looked at his sister one more time, and started stepping into it. Nora grabbed his right arm, but it wasn’t to stop him. She stepped closer and put her own foot out toward the portal. It grew larger and brighter than even before. In unison they took a breath and stepped through, leaving the cave and Dark Plains behind.
Author: WilliamHawk
Missed out on previous fan-lore? Read Episode 1 here.
Feeling creative? Post your lore in the #submit-lore channel in our discord: discord.gg/6P4nc2feEQ
