With every entity we dispatched, a rising flood of euphoria swelled to drench us in fervent waves of utmost connection. Further we plunged, a dawning urgency quickening our pace as we were drawn, almost instinctively towards the spiralling corkscrew cavern that emerged before us. Our surroundings had morphed almost entirely by now- the earthly trappings of brass, stone and steel that comprised the upper levels slowly but surely giving way to a more glutinous, trembling mass of flesh, sinew and pulsating matter for which we could draw no parallel in all we had yet witnessed.

A signal - silent but insistent, resonated in each of us with the utmost clarity, our consciousness conjoined not only with each other, but with the grand panopticon of the very living walls. We had been gifted new sight. Granted new purpose.

It was through this all-seeing immersion we witnessed their splendour. Perched in all their whiskered grace like sphinxian sentinels, they barred the passage we sought. Feline gods - they watched smugly as they waited.