Oubliette

It's hard to see anything. It was too bright outside, and only the smallest ray of light from outside filters into this empty cavern. Even so, it illuminates part of the upper wall rather than reaching the floor.

As you wait for your eyes to become accustomed to the darkness, you begin the process of bandaging your wing with strips of fabric pulled from your torn jacket. You try not to think about the fact that the damage to your wing might be bad enough that it won't heal properly, primarily because you expect to die long before the wing has a chance to begin mending. After finishing the task, your eyes focus in the darkness and you can make out something unusual. You stand on all fours and trot over to a small archway covered in runes.

"These runes match the script I was expecting to find in the Catacombs. It looks like they exist after all, and the idiot threw me down here where the evidence is! Serves him right," you say. You're not exactly celebrating, though. It looks like the other side of the arch is an even smaller and darker cavern, and if this place was used as an oubliette, there won't be a way out on that side either. This cave might be nearby the Catacombs of Causality, but it's still a death trap with no escape.

"I guess this isn't the Catacombs. But this arch must have some use, and I might as well examine the other side." You walk up to the arch and freeze when you notice the runes begin to glow.

"Maybe I should translate this first," you say. You make a conscious effort to go slow and keep to your instincts—it's far too easy to make a fatal error when you're in this much pain.

The runic script is legible, but you immediately notice the 'warning' rune at the very top.

You carefully translate the remaining glyphs:

(Moving) through this gate exchanges prison-of-body with prison-of-mind connection-to (???).

The meaning of the last glyph eludes you. It looks like "friendship", but that makes no sense in this context.

"It's not like things could get much worse," you say. You wish you actually believed that.

Wait a while.

Enter the arch. Next Chapter: Warning Estimated time remaining: 52 Minutes