A scant few acres distant from Horsingdon Wood, strange fungi sprout from the rich, loamy earth of Hufford Copse. Much like its larger, more heavily-forested neighbour, Hufford Copse has long been haunted by reports of strange lights hovering over its arboreal canopy, and of curious, unforseen mists which suddenly envelop wayfarers who, after the mist disperses as suddenly as it has appeared, are never seen again.
When encountering the fungi on a casual stroll through the Copse, local residents know that they are best left well alone - for the fungi are cultivated by the guardians of the Black Bowers and, whilst highly poisonous, supposedly possess remarkable properties. Thus it is said that, if prepared according to the proper rites and by following certain esoteric formulae, the fungi can be breweed into a potent wine which, once supped, will produce in the imbiber the most fantastic and vivid dreams - dreams which seem to transport the percipient to strange worlds: fabulous realms of alien wonder which lie far beyond the speculated boundaries of the space-time continuum which we currently inhabit.
It is also said that a profound danger resides in the consumption of this fungal wine: that it not only opens the doorways of perception to the Outer Spheres, but also doorways of another kind - portals which enable the monstrous denizens of those zones of phantasmagoric wonder and horror to gain purchase into our world. Needless to say, the lore of the guardians of the Black Bowers is replete with the terrible fates and monstrous transfigurations effecting those who have drunken of the fungal wine too readily, too greedily, and too frequently.
No comments:
Post a Comment