Feb 12, 2022 1:02 pm
... Continuing from Off the Beaten Track
With loud creaks the rusted hinges move and the door swings open towards you --crowding everyone on the stairs and threatening to push them into the water.
A 'guardian' of the door appears to leap at you. But then --as though just glad to finally get out-- lies still, outstretched, half inside and half on the stairs. Nothing by a moss-covered human skeleton.
Whereas the temple building above was sterile and devoid of life, here, down below, it smells of life --possibly too much so. Unseen insects (you hope) scuttle away from your light, easily heard in the silence. The ground is covered in soft, springy moss and various vividly coloured fungi sprout --intermittently-- from many of the surfaces.
At least the constant dripping of the stairwell is absent inside. Instead, a cool damp pervades the air.
What do you do?
With loud creaks the rusted hinges move and the door swings open towards you --crowding everyone on the stairs and threatening to push them into the water.
A 'guardian' of the door appears to leap at you. But then --as though just glad to finally get out-- lies still, outstretched, half inside and half on the stairs. Nothing by a moss-covered human skeleton.
Whereas the temple building above was sterile and devoid of life, here, down below, it smells of life --possibly too much so. Unseen insects (you hope) scuttle away from your light, easily heard in the silence. The ground is covered in soft, springy moss and various vividly coloured fungi sprout --intermittently-- from many of the surfaces.
At least the constant dripping of the stairwell is absent inside. Instead, a cool damp pervades the air.
What do you do?
