SCP 4005, the holy and heavenly city of fabled China.

The SCP Foundation exists for a pretty understandable goal, to protect and preserve humanity in the face of anomalies.

They've prevented countless disasters and threats to normalcy over the years, and, depending

on the canon, have a decent track record of protecting humanity from extinction.

There is a concept, however, that crops up on occasion that the foundation wants to preserve

normalcy at all costs, both positive and negative.

SCP 4005 concerns a situation where an anomaly promises a great positive change to humanity,

but it requires a little bit of faith.

SCP 4005 begins with some extremely short containment procedures, stating only that containment of

4,000 is no longer possible, which goes along with its Apollyon object class.

SCP-Fer05 is an indestructible glass mosque lamp, recovered from Cairo, Egypt.

Based on testimony from a number of writers over the centuries, the lamp is believed to

have been created in Marrakesh in the 14th century, traveling across Africa and Asia for several centuries

before being brought to Cairo in the 1950s.

When someone stares for several seconds at the lamp while it is lit, they will see images

of urban scenes within the fire.

These images possess a strong, cognito-hazardous effect, causing the viewer to become affected.

Those affected by the lamp in this way will begin to feel a strong urge to go on a pilgrimage

to the city seen within the fire, although they will claim that they want to do this out of their own free will.

This pilgrimage involves traveling a great distance on foot, usually to another continent, and entering a specific opening, generally a door, cave entrance, or window.

The location the person will travel to is almost always of some personal or spiritual importance to them,

and upon entering this opening, they will disappear.

...