The door did not open all at once.
Stone scraped against stone in slow, grinding increments, each movement deliberate, as if the dungeon itself were deciding whether Arios and the others were permitted to proceed. Dust fell in thin streams from the upper frame, drifting down in the dim light before settling at their feet.
Arios kept his hand pressed against the surface, steady, unmoving.
Lucy stood close behind him, her breathing measured. Liza had shifted slightly to the side, staff angled forward, ready to react to anything that emerged from the widening gap.
When the opening was finally wide enough to see through, none of them spoke.
Beyond the door was not another cavern.
It was a corridor—but unlike any they had encountered so far.
