The darkness swallowed him whole.
Holden stepped through the ancient doors and into absolute black. Dust hung so heavy in the space that he could taste it on his tongue, dry and old and vaguely metallic.
His boots crunched on debris.
Click.
The sound echoed off walls he couldn't see.
Then the ruin woke up.
Bzzt!
Red light flared along both sides of the corridor. Ancient runes blazed to life on the walls, pulsing with energy that had somehow survived hundreds of years of abandonment. The light revealed a long hallway stretching ahead, lined with small holes that hadn't been visible in the dark.
Holden's 1,000x processing kicked into overdrive.
Swoosh!
The first energy-arrow shot from the left wall. His body moved before his conscious mind registered the threat, shifting exactly four inches to the right. The arrow missed his shoulder by a hair's breadth.
Swoosh!
Right wall this time. He leaned forward.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
