This must have been what they called a star fragment.
It was a good bit bigger than what was in my lantern. I wondered if polishing it might increase its brilliance. If it did, that would make almost drowning worth it.
Tossing the star fragment into my sack, I called up to the top of the pit, “I’m sending my bag up first. Could you pull it up?”
“Any good souvenirs?”
“I believe so.”
I tied the pack to the rope, and off it went.
In the meantime, I went to check the other noteworthy thing in the room: the door. Inspection revealed it to be made of iron. Had the acidic slime rusted it?
I pressed my ear to the floor to listen for any nearby sounds. There was a distinct, if distant, low rumbling. I could only guess at its source. It could have been the legions of Hell having an assembly, and it could have been a subway car passing through the dungeon. Or maybe it was the wind echoing from the Great Fracture. I had far too little experience in Million Dungeon to figure out which.
Giving up, I stood and started investigating the door. There was no knob attached to this side. Maybe it had rusted off. After some trial and error to get the thing open, the rusted nails holding in the frame’s hinges popped out—and the door fell away from the room I was in.
Gong……………………
gong…………………
gong……………………
ong……………………
ong……………………
ng……………………
……………………
……………………
The sound reverberated like a temple bell, echoing as the darkness swallowed it back up. I stiffened and waited for something else to happen, but even after the lingering noise faded, my surroundings were dead quiet.
I held up my lantern, peered through the opening, and abruptly found myself caught off guard. Ahead was an enormously expansive hall. It was made of stone, and its ceiling was so high that I couldn’t see it. Several doors were set into the walls. Judging by the thick dust and dense spiderwebs, nobody had been this way in some time. The end of the hall was too distant for my light, but I did spy the dim outlines of staircases with railings, walkways around atria on upper floors, and bridges that spanned the gaps across the openings.
I seemed to have found a doorway into an even larger portion of the labyrinth. Had I been an explorer, I’d have been beside myself in excitement, but unfortunately, I had more pressing matters.
Either way, going farther than this with my current equipment would be suicidal.
I lowered the lantern. This was probably a good time to wrap up today’s expedition.
I went back to the pit and called up, “We’re pulling out. Lower the rope again for me!”