Written by Sifan Tu
Illustrated by F. G. Rice
The planet of D’ahls orbits around a dying star, whose dimming light hardly pierces through the heavy cloud and rain of the planet. Out of 514 days of a single D’ahls year, there are about 400 days of constant rainfall. Almost no animals are native to the planet, yet some species of ferns can still be found, plus a burgeoning amount of moss, lichen and fungi.
It so happens that the planet served as a common burying ground for interstellar travelers of all races, likely due to its gloomy weather. Those poor unfortunate souls that died during space flights all got buried here in the end. Crude gravestones bloomed on the cold and damp planet of D’ahls, like scattering mushrooms made of stone.
Given that most travelers never spent a single night on this spooky planet, the secret of D’ahls remained unknown for almost an eternity of time. At least, that was until the merchant ship aptly named Ancestors-forbid lost its means of propulsion in an accident nearby and had to crash land on the D’ahls.
On the night of their landing, Captain Golniff of the Ancestors-forbid rose from sleep and patrolled around the ship. When he reached the bridge, the experienced captain nevertheless shrieked in horror. Startled by his screams, the entire crew woke up, then joined their voices in the everlasting chorus of horrified shouts.
Out of their windows, they saw that the hastily buried graves were once again hastily unburied. Instead of rotting to a state that is unrecognizable, corpses were impressively preserved on this cold, damp planet, and jarringly reflected their past bearings. Umbrella shaped fungi had taken over the corpses’ heads, and hyphae stuck out of their head apertures, like strings in the hands of puppeteers. The dead bodies danced rigidly to the pulling and plucking of these strings, as if dancers holding umbrellas and cavorting in rain.
Upon the head of every corpse was an umbrella, and upon the cap of every umbrella boasted the colored scenes from the dead person’s past, as if frames on a television, all of which were embroidered out with threads of fungi hyphae. The owners of those past memories danced as such amongst the gravestones, their past imageries talking, laughing and running on top of the caps as if alive, yet themselves remained ever silent.
Three days later, the rescue ship arrived and carried the terrified crew members away. Along with the rescue team came a squad of biochemistry professional, topped by another squad of CBRN defense team, who started their research on the native fungi immediately. The result indicated that this is a type of parasitic fungus that dwells in the brain tissues of animals. The brains are their most ideal environment to live. During their growth, the fungus would apply electrophysiological stimulation to parts of the brain, thus causing phenomena like the dancing dead and memory re-rendering on mushroom caps.
“It’s almost as if the dead are sleepwalking.”
This remark from the renowned biologist Wisk has led to the final designation of this type of fungus: Amanita somnimortuus.
Some of the corpses have already lost their ability to move by the time of infection. In those cases, the Amanita somnimortuus will only fill the corpses’ eye socket and ear holes with their roots, suck out the brains, and spread their caps above the moss and lichen layer of the forest floor. This is also how the luminescent mushroom forest come into being in the Antarctica of the D’ahls, which is considered a natural wonder. At late night, along the rhythm of drizzling rain, the dreams of the dead hatch amongst the blinding luminescence of gigantic mushrooms. These dreams would then curl into hollows of the trees, laying low on the bottom of salty puddles, awaiting their harvest.
Once the discovery of Amanita somnimortuus was made, the planet of D’ahls was formally upgraded from an unmarked burial site to a regulated cemetery. Lots of people bury their dead ancestors here for commemoration purposes, and lots of touching stories have happened since: for example, the Duke of the Grand Duchy of Hertul only found out that his stern father approved his conducts through scenes re-rendered from the mushrooms. Scandalous pasts were also uncovered: president of the Republic of Mivah only learned the infidelity of his wife after her death through the re-rendered past scenes. Cultists and forensic doctors came rushing in, hoping to get a hold of this magic mushroom. However, to their pity, this type of fungus can only be raised on this cold, gloomy planet, and was never successfully introduced to anywhere else in the universe.
