"You enter a cavern lined with glowing fungi. Each one you touch emits a different pitch. If you play them in a certain order, a stone rolls away from the wall, revealing the way forward. How do you figure out the puzzle? What music will you make?"

---

It was an uninviting sight.

Kalim stood at the entrance of the dungeon, ears perked forward and feet steady as they looked down into the depths before them. The cobbled path looked like a sloping shadow, a dark reach tugging at their chest; it was the call of something strange and otherworldly that wished nothing more than to drag them down into the unseen. And while Kalim knew better, there was some thrill to the idea.

What stories, sights, what treasures, might line the shadowed halls of a dungeon kingdom unseen?

If he made it back what tales would he be able to recount; would he become amongst the fabled? Crowned for simply delving into the nothing and returning with a wry smirk and a gilded story?

A curious thought... but the if gave him pause.

It was a strong, dark word for being so insignificant. In a place such as this, it held more power than one would think...

"Here goes nothing," with a heavy breath Kalim took his first steps along the cobble, footfalls sharp against the empty hallways. Each stride met with echoes that followed the darkness before slowly fading out; almost asking him to chase after. But he would show restraint and wisdom- because getting lost alone would lead to an unfinished story. And no one wanted that sort of ending.

However, he would not hide his awe when faced with what existed beyond that dark cobble.

In chasing his echoes he had come to an open cavern; it was surprisingly vibrant. Bright glowing plant life seemed to scale upwards toward an impossible height that he could not see the end of- reaching toward a dark sun in a hidden sky.

"Wonder where it's going...?" An idle thought as Kalim passed by the plant life, eyes not entirely on the path ahead.

In one footfall his ankle had brushed against some of the fungi, its glow growing considerably before letting out a note akin to strings. Sharp and drawn out against the emptiness before it faded away into more echoes. In alarm Kalim sidestepped; confused that in here even plantlife, of all things, could seemingly string together a tune. The musical rhythm offered by the echo was not lost on his ears.

Of course, for him this was a stroke of terrible beginner's luck; he was a guardian, a warrior lord. Music was for finesse and frills- celebration. Not the harsh world of cracking floors and lurking teeth.

Unfortunately, this was fitting more of his beloved crown's abilities and understanding.

Even more unfortunately, they were not here.

With a heavy breath and an annoyed snort, he pinned his ears back. "Oh of course- I prepare for monsters and instead get magical melody plants. That's sensible," the dark roan gave an annoyed snort, ears pinning back and tail lashing. As much as he disliked the fine-hand puzzles required, he had no intentions of going back with failures after only just reaching beyond the entrance. He would sort this out one way or another.

He lifted a hoof before pawing at the moss, their song ringing out once more. Ethereal against the dark as its tune slowly dimmed the further it traveled.

With that the roan left the moss for a moment, brown eyes scanning the cavern walls and wondering if the rest did the same. With another footfall, he brought his hoof to a dimmer plant and this one sounded more bassy; a rumbling hum.

Each was different- that was easy enough to figure out. But what purpose did such a thing serve?

It wasn't until he spotted lines on a wall, dotted by notches, that he began to put together more pieces. While he could continue forward puzzles might mean treasure; something to show.

He could figure this out.

Some of the notches were quick knicks, small diamonds going horizontal or vertically. Others were longer slashes, stretching diagonally across two lines. Like marching ants they followed along the wall in a wave, ever notch joining the line akin to musical notes forming a melody.

Wait... that's exactly it, Kalim hummed to himself. These were musical notes; crude but in such a place one couldn't expect pristine text accompanied by strings and ivory keys. Like the plants around any knowledge grew wild in the dark, understood only by chance- or the unfortunate failures of those who had come before.

As that thought settled in the back of his mind the roan began to paw further at some of the plant life. High strings, low rumbles, one even sounded a bit tinny- odd. But after some trial and error, his last footfall eventually landed on a plant that sent forth a booming echo; the rumble caused a stone to reveal a new passage.

Unfamiliar shadows to explore further.

"Got it," Kalim smirked before allowing the dungeon to pull him further into its depths. Confidence in his strides and a slight bounce in his gait; a little pride seeping into his success.

He would enjoy it for now- the dungeon still had plenty of chances to bring about the end of this exploration.

It was simply a matter of time.