279 Lower Rooms

Red tapped its bony fingers on Jay’s shoulder, tenderly nudging him awake.

“Mm?” Jay grunted bitterly and cracked his eyes open, quickly remembering where he was.

“… thanks.” He nodded, stashing his pillow away. The first thing he saw was his skeleton, staring at him with its glowing, beady, dark-green eyes - yet he felt a warm familiarity rather than an icy fear.

While standing up, he smiled at the luminous jar sitting on the altar. It made Jay feel a little silly with how he had reacted, but glad, too. His paranoid self had over-reacted, but he would not have changed a thing. Jay left the jar there, not even laying a finger on it in case it was a test or a trap. It would be pretty obvious if it went missing, as it was the only light source in the room.

“Alright, let’s head deeper.” He nodded, glad that he had got some rest for his eyes and legs.

“Can’t be much further now… right?” he thought, and marched down the stairs.