• You come upon a giant face in the wall. Its eyes glow red hot and its mouth gapes in an eternal shout of rage. You realize that this mouth is actually a door, and it appears to be your only way forward. What do you do?

Lately Erik had been venturing out from the comfort of his cave. He did very well to make it rather cozy. Candelabra's lined the walls of stone and delicately woven blankets and rugs laid across the ground. Beautiful ancient paintings with intricate frames decorated the cavern where he called home and he tended to reside there, not typically leaving, only for necessities like food and water. But lately... he had been feeling more adventurous. Meeting a buckskin mare named Auelin seemed to spark some curiosity within him, and he started exploring a bit more freely than he had before.

The heraldic stallion had hired a mercenary to assist him in further endeavors. Erik had planned on inviting Auelin, but couldn't seem to locate her, which saddened him slightly... for reasons unknown to him. Still he carried on into the earthen furnace, mercenary Terrence leading the way. Terrence's darker demeanor and general attitude put him a bit at ease, as well as the company he always had from Phantom, and he was curious about this new level.

It was very different from the earthen caverns. Much. MUCH less green. And lots more... lava. The temperature here was much warmer than the comfort of his cave and the texture of the stone under his cloven hooves was dry and seemed to crumble beneath him. Erik flicked his ears forward to listen to what Terrence had to say about the magma filled caves before they came to a quick halt. The madder stallion looked at his companion before finally looking ahead of them.

There was what seemed like some sort of face, carved into the stone in front of the coursers, its mouth wide, almost as if it was yelling at them. It also seemed like... going through the mouth was the only way forward. It was unlike anything Erik had ever seen before... it was almost beautiful in a way.

"You scared?"

Terrence said with a small smirk.

Erik shook his head. He wasn't exactly scared. He... couldn't really place what he was feeling while he looked at this face.

"Not... like I expected to be."

"Good. Let's go then."

With that, Terrence led the way through the open mouth. Erik followed quickly behind and made sure his flying friend was close behind.