Up and up you stand. You don’t remember going upwards but you must have, because you’re atop a tower, booring down. The staircase is spiraling ever downwards, so far your lantern cannot reach. Windowless, the air sits thick upon your throat. It smells of earth, of rock and water. It reminds you of a dream you had; you stood alone in hallways long and dark and empty. You turned to see the wall at your back had inched closer. You could taste the graveyard earth upon your lips. You had no choice. The wall was inching closer. So you walked. You turned left again and again and again, a familiar droning in your head. The hallways kept growing shorter, shorter. The tapestry tucked tentatively at your fingertips. Again you turned. Stumbled. The wall behind you could feel your hesitation. And you could feel its opened maw in turn.
Down and down you go, farther, further. The air has became softly wet and clammy, like the mouth of a huge animal. There is lichen on the floor, small spots squelching when you step on it. Passages grow tighter, the stone reaching, scraping at your arms. You have to hold your lantern very close. It does not give you warmth. The space grows thinner, ever thinner, until you have to squeeze yourself through sideways, half stooped. You can barely breathe when you reach the curtain roses.
When you pass the tattered curtain the space grows wider, taller, rougher. You have passed down from mouth to throat. There is only a single stairway now. Slick steps, criss-cross.
At the side lays nestled between the darkened rock: a doorway. Halfway down, no not halfway, never halfway, for you have barely breached the surface, barely began your journey down and down. So you walk. Nulla ac risus sed purus iaculis accumsan. Phasellus suscipit, elit id sagittis tempor, nunc ex rhoncus nisl, at fermentum erat diam id magna. Pellentesque varius magna vitae est eleifend, nec finibus odio pharetra. Etiam suscipit libero nec arcu venenatis posuere. Praesent at massa nec nisi sollicitudin rhoncus. Phasellus interdum diam eu felis dapibus vulputate. Donec eget augue sit amet ligula condimentum hendrerit. Sed facilisis aliquam pulvinar. Aenean volutpat sodales mauris, ac ornare eros sodales sit amet. Donec risus risus, malesuada non arcu at, pulvinar semper metus. Etiam ac ornare eros. In hac habitasse platea dictumst.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Donec a malesuada lectus. Pellentesque feugiat libero augue, sit amet viverra risus eleifend ac. Ut scelerisque orci at dolor fringilla lacinia. In ornare ac arcu fringilla dignissim. Donec viverra nec arcu sed congue. Nam eget dolor sit amet lacus interdum elementum. Integer sed sodales nisl. Vivamus interdum tortor ex, a viverra tortor consectetur nec. Nulla accumsan id justo ut tincidunt. Quisque odio magna, gravida non efficitur quis, mollis a metus. Sed nec iaculis velit.
The spiral down you go, winding ever closer, drawn like moth to light. You have to go. You have to see. Down and down you go.
at the bottom of the throat, there lies
the door.
Your spirals stop. The end is near. You go and here,