Therefore, I eagerly embarked on my fresh adventure with the glimmering lantern at my side. I hunched down and worked my way through the darkness and chilled, hollow wind. There, with the library behind me, I semi-crawled through the manor’s innards, unafraid of what I might find. Determined. On my own. I wanted to unravel the tunnel’s secrets and whatever lay at its end.
* * * *
A wooden door waited for me at the opposite end of my travels through that spider-infested, web-coated, and deathly-smelling tunnel or rot and inhuman grime. A door created by a creature out of a Tolkien tale. Arched and made of lumber, with no keyhole or window. A goblin’s door of sorts. The door to hell, perhaps, or of some darker, primal centrifuge where demons lurked.
On my knees, with the lantern dangling
