Creatures Caves

This is part of the Readme file for the agent ylukyun and I just made - the Ancient Dragon Skull. I liked writing this backstory so much that I decided to post it here! I've made a few minor changes because the original had some typos, but here it is!

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The skull you see before you is an ancient curio brought back by the Lone Shee after one of his interdimensional excursions. He had, one day, programmed a random set of temperospatial coordinates into a portal and jumped through it. He didn't know where he would go - or, indeed, when - but being the insanely adventurous soul he was, he didn't really care. He packed a large bag full of his usual trip supplies - a DNA extractor, a box of biscuits and a thermos full of tea - and set out on his journey.

However, as soon as he stepped into the wavering blue vortex of the wormhole, he immediately regretted his decision. This was markedly unlike any portal trip he'd ever experienced before; the plasma bled with fast, black streaks and he was whisked and tossed around violently in all directions; small, intensely dark apertures popped open and flickered along the edges of the spiraling tunnel. To his horror, his tea and one of his biscuits flew from his bag's outer pocket and phased through one of the holes into dimensions unknown.

The Shee could do nothing more than squeeze his eyes shut and prepare himself for whatever horrible plane was to come. Just then, the tornadic noise which was being produced by the chaos around him abruptly ceased, and was replaced by utter silence. He felt hard, stable ground beneath his feet; the air around him was cold and dank with moisture. He hadn't time to think about where he might be, however, for in an instant he collapsed from disorientation. After many minutes of ear-spinning recuperation, He took a look around. The portal behind him was still open, but from outside it seemed calm and innocuous. Around him was a vast, high-ceilinged cavern made of black stone; there were huge clusters of crystal clinging to the walls of the cave, and their faint luminosity bathed the glistening rock in all manner of colors. Immense stalactites dripped from above, the smallest of which had to have been over fifty feet in length.

As the Lone Shee stood and marveled at the beautiful scene before him, he berated himself for not bringing a camera. Nevertheless, he decided to start his exploration and began making his way through the glowing darkness. About ten minutes into his trek, he came upon an area with a small tunnel in the wall. Its entrance simply beamed with colorful light; the Shee was mesmerised. He walked through the passage and exited into a smaller cavern whose entire interior surface area was encrusted with precious alien gems. He did not recognize any of them, but they were all extremely beautiful and dynamic - some were blue with small, quickly shifting black dots, mirroring the inside of the wormhole he had come through, while others shone with color-changing stripes or kaleidoscopic patterns - and they were warm to the touch, as if they were alive.

So transfixed by their beauty was he that he didn't even think before chipping out dozens of these moving wonders and stuffing them into his bag. When he was satisfied with his collection, he stood up to leave - but before he could continue on his way, he bore witness to a strange and fearfully unnatural event. All around him, the color leached from the rocks which were still embedded in the cavern, until there was nothing left but grey; their patterns froze as if they were terrified of some impending danger. The air around him, though already cold, had become unbearably frigid; his skin began to lightly frost over, and his breath was so white before his face that it obscured his vision. He pushed himself against the wall of gems in an effort to warm himself, but they had already gone cold. Just at this moment, a deafening impact shook the entirety of the cave.

Small pieces of gravel fell from the ceiling and rained upon his head just as another tremorous boom fell down upon his ears. Another came, and then another; the lifeless gemstones crumbled, the shards rattling like ancient bones with every new tremor. The specimens he had stuffed into his bag were still vibrant and warm, but seemed to clatter together in fear as if they knew what horrible beast was behind these crushing impacts. He clutched his bag for warmth and looked towards the tunnel through which he had so foolishly entered this place; and as his eyes filled themselves with the gruesome sight before him, he seized in fear.

A tall, shadowy creature loomed before him; its four heads bore liquidy black eyes whose irises seemed spangled with stars. Its entire image was distorted, as though all of it could not be seen at once; it shifted erratically and uncannily a few inches in either direction, as though it were unlinked to the current dimension. The shee stared in terror as it opened one of its mouths to reveal a violent red vortex. He recognized it as a portal, and knew that if he went through it he would never return. So, cold and numb as he was, the Shee sprung into action; he raced forward at the phantasmic monster, slipping under its legs and out into the passage behind it. The beast backed up and began to give chase, flickering with unimaginable speed towards the Shee. He ran as fast as his frozen knees would allow him, all the way back to the portal through which he had entered this dreadful place.

Just as the draconian shade had reached his heels and was about to swallow him whole, he jumped headfirst through the portal and back into the violent, cyclonic wormhole. It was not until he was shot back out into the Capillata that he realized that one of the dark beast's heads had been sucked through with him. By now, it was reduced to nothing but a cold bone. Looking at it filled him with fear, but he decided to keep it as a grim souvenir. Over the days that followed, the Shee was unable to sleep well; his fleeting dreams presented him with glimpses of strange tomes written in tongues he'd never seen and shadowy creatures which filled his waking hours with paranoia. He suffered constant headaches whenever he passed the dreadful thing, and swore he could hear faint whispers.

Clutching the warm and colorful gems he had brought back was the only thing which gave him any comfort. Unnerved by the effects that it was having upon his psyche, the Shee decided to send it through the Warp.He attached a note of warning for its next owner and watched it vanish into the void, not knowing when or where it would appear; after a cup of tea and a long session of thought, he settled into bed for the night. With a dreamless sleep, he left the waking world and his fears began to fade. You, however, must not rest just yet; for through your end of the Warp has emerged a strange and curious skull.