Beneath

It was some point in 1998 when I first heard of D’ni from my sister. She held a passing interest in what information had been discovered but she did not “feel the call” as I did. In the years to follow I continued to delve deeper into information surrounding D’ni and learn what I could. It was not until around the year 2000 that word began to trickle out that people had made their way into D’ni itself.
Others like myself who had been consumed by snippets of information began to hope, and plan of what they would do when they finally walked upon the stone streets of the cavern.
By chance the opportunity recently presented itself, to take a short trip to the cavern and it’s Ages.
I had been studying D’ni and its histories for six years before this day, I was due to meet my guide in London of all places. Whilst the trip was only a couple of hours on a train it seemed like the longest 2 hours of my life. For days, since I discovered I would be taking this trip, I had been dreaming of nothing but standing on strange worlds, glancing out at the horizons.
I met with my guide who worked with the people helping to finance the DRC’s projects. He offered me the small greenish leather-bound book that Linked to an Age called Relto, which until recently I had only known as the Interim Age. The rumors about the Relto Books properties were indeed true, the book follows the owner through the Link, and allows for Linking within the same Age.
I had only seen a few photographs of Relto, a small island situated in the clouds, covered in scrub grasses, and shrubberies. Actually being here allowed me to spy several things that had not been seen before. Four small hydrant like objects sat in front of the hut, upon each one different symbols inscribed. But all of them dominated by a spiral hand symbol.
The hydrants would have to wait, as my guide ushered me inside the hut where I was shown his collection of Linking Books. I picked one which turned out to be a Link to Gahreesen. We wandered around for a while looking over the architecture and the mechanisms that the Guild of Maintainers had put in place.
A lot of the corridors had barriers blocking them off, which I wasn’t sure about crossing so I didn’t.
Before leaving I took a look at the device that dispensed KI’s to visitors. Unfortunately I wasn’t allowed to pick one up for myself.
The next destination was Teledahn, where we spent less time than we did in Gahreesen. Only taking a moment to look at the huge mushrooms that dominated the Age.
I was hoping to explore Eder Kemo, an Age that I had been studying for some time from various photos and documentation. The pictograms that had been spotted on the walls fascinated me and I mush desired to take a closer look at them. Alas, he did not currently have a Linking Book to that Age. Instead we went to Kadish Tolesa where he left me to my own devices for a while. I decided to explore the forest of those towering trees. Playing with the various scopes I found and inspecting the strange cloths that bore the same spiral hand logo as the hydrants. Finally I discovered a Linking Book that lead to the Gallery in D’ni.
My excitement quickly grew to frustration, the doors leading out to the rest of the Cavern were damaged, and so would not open. I was confined to the Gallery.
Eventually my visit drew to an end, we Linked to the Cleft from Relto and I had finally exhausted the memory on my digital camera. There we parted ways and I decided to explore the surrounding area before starting my long journey home.