The clammy, damp walls are gone; instead there is dry and dusty rock that seems to suck the moisture out of the air, replacing the chill with a dryness that sticks and lingers in one’s throat. The air is acrid and sour in their mouth; full of smells that make the nameless courser flick their ears in displeasure.

And yet they press on, driven by some deep-set urge: a compulsion to move, despite a gnawing hunger and sore legs. This is the furthest they have ventured from their normal haunts; the caves are no longer familiar, each new twist and turn revealing something new.

The courser steps deftly over uneven and broken ground, and navigates easily the patches of treacherous gravel that slips and slides across the rocks; secure in their knowledge of the caves, hard-earned experience guiding their steps—all they need, and all they have ever had.

The path turns into a narrow ledge, a knife’s edge against a bottomless pit; carefully, the courser crosses it, one hoof after another. Never once do they slip or stumble.

The air feels thick. It is no longer cold, which is a strange, but not unwelcome, sensation—until the temperatures rise further, from balmy to unsettlingly sweltering. For the first time, the courser thinks about turning back, but that strange urgency drives them still, a persistent itch in their thoughts, like a scab to pick and worry at.

And then, suddenly, the ground falls away in front of its feet. A yawning pit opens before them, full of heat and smoke, cutting them off from going further. For a while, they pace along the edge, looking for a way across, until something catches their eye in the distance.

Somewhere beyond the veil of steam and vapours—a white silhouette. Faint recognition flickers in the nameless courser’s mind, and with it comes a host of strange thoughts and feelings they don’t have a name for.

Another. White fur glistening with sweat, a glimpse of a red eye before the pale horse turns away with resolute hoofsteps. The sound echoes for a long time in the caves, and for even longer in the nameless courser’s mind…