We’d literally just left a vast cistern filled with water, that also held a horrific beast. We had barely made it out of there before the beast had gotten us, so to immediately find ourselves in another vast cistern was unnerving. The water in this cistern was a light orange, luminous as though there were lights under the water. It was strangely beautiful, especially after the murky green of the last cistern. At first we had obviously thought that this room must contain another monster, but we’d sped across about half the room and there was no sign of anything weird. On the contrary, it was actually pretty soothing in here. Even Cal was beginning to relax, his ears unpinning from their usual place of terror. The water was warm and calm, and as we all slowed to a leisurely walk, we realised that the ‘lights’ under the water were actually schools of luminous fish.

“Do you think that anything in the dungeon could actually be as nice as this seems? It’s a trap, right?’ asked Cove, one of the Puck twins that were in our party today.

‘Honestly, I usually err towards nice things being a trap down here, but there are some genuinely amazing places in the Dungeons, it’s not all horror!’ I replied. ‘I’ve heard of – and seen – some truly incredible things.’

‘Like what?’ asked Dune, the quieter of the twins by far.

‘Hot springs that can cure you of any ailment, a doorway that can change the way you look, a communication room where you can speak to people miles away, that kind of thing. The last one I saw for myself, spoke to a Courser that I knew for a fact was months away from me at the time.’

Dune and Cove looked awestruck, thinking about those things, but I was more interested in Cal's reaction. I noted that his ears had pricked up when I'd spoken about the doorway that has the ability to change your appearance, and he now seemed to be lost in his own thoughts, not following the conversation at all. I wondered if this had anything to do with his history that he really didn’t seem to want to talk about.

The water swirled around the four of us, who were now walking so slowly that we’d almost stopped. We wandered forwards in a peaceful silence, as I watched Cal try to decide whether to ask a question or not. Finally, he came to a decision.

‘The doorway, the one that changes how you look – do you know where it is?’

I shook my head. ‘I’ve heard stories, and I’m pretty certain of the general area – but there’s a lot of caverns down there, so it would take a while to explore them all. Could definitely be done though.’ I didn’t ask him why he wanted to know – whenever he decided to tell me, it would be the right time. I wouldn’t push him.

He walked forwards a few more steps. ‘But it really exists?’

I thought about it. ‘I haven’t seen it for myself, but I heard about it from multiple Coursers – Coursers who can be trusted to tell the truth. I don’t doubt that it exists, just can’t guarantee it.

Cal nodded absently, entirely lost in his thoughts.

Cove broke in to the conversation. ‘Do you think we could rest here for a little bit? The warmth feels incredible on my legs.’

I didn’t even have to think about it. ‘I don’t think that would be a good idea.’

The twins looked at me questioningly.

‘It seems lovely, and it seems safe right now, but I’d be loathe to rest in any room where you can’t see the floor. You don’t know what lurks beneath the surface – some things in the Dungeons have a lot of patience.’

‘You aren’t wrong there, little hooved one.’

The voice reverberated around the room. Cal’s ears lay flat back against his head once again.

I stepped close to him and murmured ‘Remember Cal, monsters chase those who run.’

He nodded and pressed against me.

I called out, as loudly as I could, ‘Show yourself.’

From just in front of us, so close that I could have sworn there was nothing there a moment ago, a long slender neck rose out of the water. It kept rising. The creature in front of us was so massive that I felt like an ant standing next to it.

I looked up, and up, and up. I gulped.

‘Hello there’, I said.