Continued from https://dungeon-coursers.com/gallery/view/91 

As the dark passed over Merlin, an eerie beauty unfolded before him. An otherworldly garden came into view, where bioluminescent fungi cast an ethereal glow on the damp, jagged walls. Delicate spiderwebs, glistening with dew, drape across the cavern like intricate lace curtains, their threads shimmering in the faint light. Somewhere deeper within, a faint cry of an unseen animal echoed. 

Merlin’s hooves clicked against the wet stone as he steeled himself and continued, the path worn by countless years of snowmelt. Beside the occasional skittering of insects, the gray found himself surprised by the silence. Not even the wind could reach him down here, in the bowels of the earth. 

Soon the light from whence he came blinked out, replaced entirely by the pulsing glow of mushrooms- their fungal fingers reaching out to him. 

CRASH! 

Merlin’s peace was shattered by a metallic clang echoing just out of sight ahead. He halted, nostrils flared, ears flat with fear. Surely it was a dragon, a chimera, a giant, some beast of old eager to embrace him with slavering jaws. A scraping grew closer, heavy as the shifting of an ancient chain. 

This is it, I will die deep within the belly of the earth, where no one can find me. Merlin’s eyes closed tightly and he puffed his chest. If he were to die, it would not be as a coward. He refused to go out as he had lived. 

The scraping grew closer still, filling the cavern with its grating sound. Then, as quick as it had started, it stopped. Seconds ticked by as Merlin’s mind raced with images of what could be standing before him. With all the courage he could muster, he opened one eye to see… nothing? No dragon stood before him, no cyclops, not even another horse. 

He glanced around, perplexed, before finally realizing where the noise had come from. A crab crouched at his hooves, eyes peeking through an old horse’s helm. Merlin tilted his head, examining the creature closer. The chanfron it wore was rusted, tested by time’s destructive fingers, say for the rim, where it had been polished by years of being dragged along the cavern floor. 

Merlin couldn’t hold back a huff of laughter, amused at his terror of such a small beast. Yet, as the crab scuttled off, he found himself wondering just who the helm had belonged to, and how the crab had gotten ahold of it…