The Living Cave
Wait, if this is flesh... and those spikes are teeth... does this mean that... we are inside a giant mouth? No, no, no, that's impossible...An explorer, before being digested
At the edge of the mountains of Namon-An can be found an enormous cave, entered by a tunnel on the west side. Although at first sight, it is a normal network of interconnected caves, an explorer would quickly realize that they instead entered a giant, living organism made of one titanic, glistening mouth full of teeth and secreting digestive fluid faster and faster, while the entrance closed behind them. Condemned to be digested in the cave, they would start to frenetically try to escape by digging in the walls, climbing them, or running in the galleries, but that would only lead to exhaustion. Eventually, they would collapse, and become nutritious paste for the gigantic organism, slowly transformed into energy that the cave would use to develop more of its enormous network.
One of the numerous caverns
The Living Cave is really a giant network of individual caves, all inter-connected by digestive tissue, going progressively lower and lower, the fluids filling the deepest caves first, before flowing all the way to sea level.
The Arcanic Matrix of the Node
Although it hasn't been proven to have a full sentience, the Node acts as a sort of hive mind to protect and develop the colony, and is fully capable of exploiting the Immaterial Eternity that seeps through the fabric of Amaanturis to create its own, unique Arcanic Matrix. Many have tried replicating or using it, to no avail, for its unbelievable complexity and its extreme divergence to the ones used by humanity.
Although it is theorized to have more than a digestive system, it has never been observed or detected, and it would possibly be the size of a fairly large region, maybe even a country. Its origin is also unknown, some arguing it must be a Primordial, having lived for millions of years and developed from a single, small cavern, all the way to the giant network it is now, others thinking it is a creation of a particularly vicious Demon. Most identification of such creatures relies on analysis of their Arcanic Matrix, which is impossible for the Living Cave as it does not exhibit one. Its entire existence is purely physical, and it has never been observed to use Arcana, nor does it show any connection to The Chaos. The Global Academy of Sorcery has categorized it in "Beasts and Monsters", and a danger rating of A1, the highest tier. While technically possible, escaping its maw requires either a deep knowledge of the Arcana and a proficiency at using destructive Matrixes, as the walls of the system are not unbreakable, or absolutely excellent physical form and resistance to pain to climb the gatric acid-covered walls up to thinner portions of the roof. Few people have managed such a feat, and all of them acted very quickly, before the creature realized it had food to digest. Some particularly talented psychics have tried to communicate with it mentally, but were only confronted to an overwhelming, overpowering mind dedicated to a single thing: devouring, and another perhaps scarier thing: the Cave is also a home for a complex ecosystem of organisms, living in symbiosis with it, deep inside.
This is an entry for Spooktober 2024, check out my hub there:
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