The crawler presses one hooked limb into the pale stone and circles the fracture without touching its glowing edges. Its plated body moves with deliberate care around the hollow.
Measured pulses descend through the crawler's skull ridges. The luminous seams tremble, and a narrow crack opens along the hollow's uphill wall, widening into a dark passage.
The resonant band continues through the passage, its pale light fading beneath the darkness. Behind Garrett, the river and sheltered egg remain below, separated from this hollow by the climb.
Garrett Roberts
The fracture is an opening, not a collapse; the resonant stone continues beyond it.
the crawler
The remembered path enters the dark. The wound does not close it.
The crawler withdraws its limb and settles beside the entrance, leaving the passage unobstructed. Its skull turns toward Garrett, then toward the continuing band, waiting without forcing his choice.
✓ Quest Accepted
Enter the dark passage