[Location: Morningstar Manor, New York]
"Okay, what now?"
My voice bounced along the dust-choked hall, a sound far too alive in a place that hadn't heard life in over a millennium.
The sealed entrance to Basement No.5 loomed before me. It wasn't a door—not in any normal sense. A slab of stone stretched from floor to ceiling, seamless and unyielding, yet when I stared long enough, its surface shivered. Not visibly, not to human eyes maybe, but to mine? It was like staring at still water and suddenly noticing the reflection breathe back at you. The stone blurred, then rippled faintly, as if some ancient thing beneath its surface had turned over in its sleep.
The portal.
The dungeon.
My first official one.
