The chamber was the size of a small chapel, lit by veins of mana pulsing under the stone. Cages lined the walls in three stacked tiers, perhaps sixty in all. Their iron bars were darkened with blood and rusty iron.
Eli recognized the ridged scales of Stone Geckos, though these were larger than the ones above, and dark veins ran visibly through their hides. For now, they were dormant, all of them asleep as though held by some kind of malediction.
The floor of the chamber sank into a wide, sloped basin, and at the far end of the basin, another corridor cut into the rock and opened into a deeper passage.
'Huh, would that lead to a deeper floor?'
Eli's eyes swept the chamber once more. These monsters were just appetizers for what was to come, and later in the future, they would infest the labyrinth's first floor. Maybe because they were weak, there was no one standing guard here.
Juli leaned over the ledge beside him.
