Overview
The Temple of no Return is an ancient temple deep inside the Land of Darkness in southern Xalmyrra. Before Eira's mission, human entrants disappear inside it. The Xalmyrran Council sends Eira, Lirien, and Kaelion there to retrieve the spiral shard.
Geography & Layout
The temple stands near mountain paths deep inside the Land of Darkness. Before the shard is removed, it has a huge otherworldly shape, warped geometry, dark metal and stone, and a living aura. One metallic door bears unfamiliar symbols, and a second glyph-marked door leads Eira into the temple.
Inside, space and time break down. Eira moves through an impossible interior with intangible walls, separated perception, and a purple-lit inner space holding the shard. After Eira takes the shard, the temple becomes cold, lifeless, and sealed.
History
Texts about Arcanis and Eira's spiral mark point the council toward the temple. Eira reaches it with Lirien and Kaelion, enters alone through the door only she can use, meets the golden-eyed old mage, and takes the spiral shard. When she emerges, the temple is dormant and her companions are gone.
Brynor later leads Mirael, Orin, Khoradyn, Kaelric, and Astheron into the Land of Darkness. By then, the temple is dead, with a single remaining door in its dark metal and stone surface. Khoradyn opens the door with an earth construct, and Lirien falls out alive and severely weakened. For Lirien, she had only just entered the temple; within the temple, she had been suspended in a void-like state where time passed as both an instant and an eternity.
The temple exists halfway in the void, within the realm of the gates. It was a void gate through which Jorhan's people drew drained essence from Xalmyrra and Valrindor toward their world. Essence towers across the world also drained essence into the void, and some modified towers held small gates for the same drain.