The stairs descended through stone that seemed to pulse with ancient energy, the walls taking on texture that suggested they were moving through something organic rather than mineral. Temperature rose gradually as they progressed downward, the damp cold of the second floor giving way to dry heat that made breathing feel labored despite adequate air circulation.
Raze counted sixty-seven steps before the passage leveled out, opening into a corridor that was dramatically different from the previous floors. The bioluminescent fungi here grew in dense clusters that provided actual illumination rather than just dim glow, their light shifting through colors that ranged from deep purple to bright amber. The walls themselves seemed to breathe, subtle expansion and contraction that created unsettling impression of being inside something alive.
