The darkness behind the gate seemed to possess mass—heavy, cold, and greedy, swallowing every flicker of light. The lamps on their helmets could only tear small holes in that black veil, creating circles of restless white light that danced to the rhythm of their footsteps. Outside those circles, the world seemed to vanish. There was only a suffocating silence.
Tack... tack... tack...
Their footsteps echoed through a stone corridor that had been mute for thousands of years. The walls were rough, filled with primitive manual chisel marks—a stark contrast to the smooth, precision-engineered walls of the deeper levels. Beneath their feet, derelict mine rails lay dormant. The layer of rust was so thick that the bolts had fused with the rock itself.
