The corridors were dank and threatening, and we tried to ignore the growing unease as we wound our way past the softly throbbing walls.

Halfway through such a passage, we stumbled upon a piece of parchment, and I guessed that this was a missing page from the journal. We squinted in the gloom to make sense of the illustration: a blue meteor, plummeting from the heavens toward a glittering, white mountain. I felt my gorge rise as I absorbed the extent of what I was seeing. Were the small tentacles protruding from the blazing sphere just an artist’s fanciful depiction? Was it - could it be - possible that it was alive?

The page also spoke of a secret place far below, and gave us detailed instructions of how to reach it from the entrance. For now it would have to wait as time was running short, and we should return to base before nightfall.