“That’s a pit that goes straight to the underworld, not a passage,” Cyll said, glaring at the gaping hole before them.

“There’s only one way to find out,” Patty replied.

Cyll glowered at her.

“I am not jumping into the ambiguous hole of death.

“Of course you aren’t,” Patty grumbled. “We just have to ask the boss monster to give us a staircase to prove that this is a passage. It’s not hard to make one, so if we’re really being guided somewhere, this will show us.”

Maya raised an eyebrow, but Patty seemed confident. Given that the puppet was the one who knew the most about the dungeons out of the three of them, she probably had the best chance of guessing what was going on.

“So, what do I do? Just…ask for a staircase?”

Patty nodded encouragingly.

“Ah, boss monster? We aren’t going to jump into a random hole. If you want us to go into this, could you make a staircase instead?” Maya called into the dark depths.

There were several moments of silence. Maya turned back to the group and shrugged.

“Sorry, Patty. The boss monster either isn’t listening or doesn’t want to –”

The earth rumbled under their feet. Patty’s arm shot out and she stabilized Maya before she could fall over. A thick rope of stone wound its way up along the inside of the pit, arriving to a stop right before them.

“I think an apology may be in order,” Maya said, touching the new stairwell gingerly with one hand.

“I’ll give an apology once we all get out of here alive,” Cyll said, giving the stairwell a suspicious look.

“Patty, are you sure we can trust this? What if the dungeon takes the stairwell away while we’re on it?” Maya asked.

“It could do that with the floor we’re currently standing on if it had sufficient motivation,” Patty replied. “That’s just not how things work. It takes the sport out of it.”

“How do you know so much about dungeons, but suck so much at creating dungeon creatures?” Cyll muttered.

Maya shot him a sharp look and the pirate mimed zipping up his lips. They stood at the edge of the hole for a few more minutes. Then Maya sighed.

“I think we should go in. Like Patty said, if the dungeon wanted us dead, it would just lock us in a room until we rotted. The only way we can move is forward.”

Cyll sighed, but he nodded and gingerly put a foot on the stairwell. It remained firm under him. He took another step onto it. When nothing gave way, he slowly started down the long spiral into the darkness below them. Maya and Patty followed close behind.

The dim blue glow from the room above them quickly vanished as they descended into darkness for the third time that day. The temperature dropped with every step they took, until it felt as if they were walking naked through a snowstorm. The three of them pressed themselves against the freezing rock to make sure they didn’t accidentally fall off the staircase.

“I should have brought heavier clothes,” Maya griped through chattering teeth. Cyll grunted his agreement. Patty sounded unbothered by the cold, but it was impossible to tell what the puppet was thinking.

Maya didn’t know how long they’d been walking, but she suddenly became aware of what might have been a hint of dull blue light. Her thoughts were proven correct as the light intensified, lighting the dark tunnel more and more.

This light was nothing like the gentle glow of the moss in the rooms far above them. It was a deep ocean blue that thrummed periodically, sending slow waves of energy rippling up the tunnel. Maya’s skin chilled even further as the blue light washed over her. It was like jumping into a pool of ice.

She glanced to the side and her breath caught in her chest. A man was staring right back at her. Maya caught her scream in her throat, barely managing to keep herself from jumping back in shock.

He was frozen solid. The man’s face was pressed against the glass, his slightly yellowed teeth bared in a horrified scream. His eyes were almost entirely white, and she could see the individual hairs on his arm standing up.

The man wasn’t the only person within the clear walls surrounding them. They were full of people, all frozen in states of horror or fury. Cyll and Patty noticed their frozen observers at the same time as Maya did.

“Huh. That’s a bit messed up,” Cyll said, tapping on the wall.

“I think Patty’s theory was completely right,” Maya said. She took a deep breath to steady herself. “The dungeon looks like it’s trapping people and releasing them when newcomers arrive.”

“But not us, for some reason,” Patty said, frowning. “We’re on the wrong side of the walls. There’s no reason for the dungeon to show us this if the boss monster was planning on freezing us.”

“I think we’ll find out why soon enough,” Cyll said, pointing down.

For the first time since they’d started walking, Maya could make out the ground below them – a huge sapphire that covered the entire bottom of the stairwell. She let out a sigh of relief.

“I hope so. I hate waiting for things to happen,” Maya muttered as the three of them scurried down what remained of the stairs.

There was a small room at the bottom of the stairwell. A stone door, inlaid with intricate gold designs and studded with diamonds, sat closed at its far side.

“I suppose the boss monster is waiting for us behind this door?” Maya asked.

“I’d presume so,” Patty said.

“Then so is your Life-spark. Let’s go find out what this beastie wants with us,” Cyll said. He strode up to the door and confidently shoved it open.

The stone slid to the side without resistance. It banged against the wall and the immortal pirate stepped through the doorway, bracing himself for whatever awaited him on the other side.