As I journey deeper into the caverns, I come upon a long spiraling stairway that leads even deeper into the darkness. I must take it. I cannot go back up to the light.

Every breath becomes what might be the final gasp. In. Out. In. Out. Yet after each, there comes another.

From below, I hear the wails of the dead emanating from distant depths. I wonder if I will be joining them soon.

The light long lost, every step may go over a precipice. An endless descent from which there is no return. Yet somehow, with each movement, the ground finds my feet.

Cannot look back. Cannot reclaim the ground behind me. I will never return there.

Out of the darkness through which nothing can be seen, I turn a corner, and find myself blinded as everything becomes visible.

I have stepped into the sunlight.