We emerged from darkness into darkness, though it felt expansive, far from claustrophobic, and the moment we stepped out into that dark, the tunnel closing behind me, light appeared. Not sudden and overwhelming, but slow, like someone took the time to raise the house lights at the theater, revealing the large, round room where we stood.

Stone, the feeling of being underground, the touch of something that felt like fire, but no fire I'd ever encountered. Old, yes, but not ...