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Ahead of us, on the border of the dark lake, hat appeared to be a narrow entrance to a tunnel, on either side of which were two black coluarlands of… heads? Shrunken heads Shrunken, hu The spirit was fast in navigating us through the narrow passage of water between the pillars and soon we’d entered a winding tunnel of water We wound around and around in the blackness till I aled into a wider expanse of water again We’d reached another large cavern--though this one was devoid of all traces of light The only thing illu the enclosure was the aura of the spirit’s body as he rowed forward

"Where are we?" I yelled, even though I guessed that he could not hear h the box Whether or not that was the case, the spirit did not answer

A bank came into view A s continued floating the boat toward it, and as we reached the shore with a gentle bulimpsed his face, his fiery brows furrowed, jaw set in concentration as his ared it off the boat, onto the bank

Then the lid to the coffin clicked open I didn’t waste a second in rushing out, but he caught up with ripped ain, there was absolutely nothing that I could do to escape his grasp

I swore at the rowled

Wordlessly, he draggedthe pebbly bank and stopped outside… a door A door that I hadn’t noticed until now Constructed of twisted metal, with a handle welded in the shape of a skull, it was fixed into the side of the rocky walls of the cavern As I eyed its edges--particularly those closest to the handle--I wondered if it was just the di tricks on my eyes when I noticed the surface was stained with a reddish tinge

Raising one hand while still holding ainst the door in three resounding knocks

Silence engulfed us as aited… for what, I couldn’t even iine

My eyes shot toward the handle as it twisted Thethe volu open to reveal… nothing Just a dark, e into what appeared to be a tunnel

"What’s going on?" I breathed

The spirit dragged ht forearer as soft or callinted with intensity as he whispered, "This is where I leave you… Where you now belong"