Carefully I step into the narrow alley. My small oaken torch barely penetrates the sheer wall of utter darkness that looms before me. Mere inches from my slowly descending foot lies a filthy rat, poised to strike. It’s fur matted with the pale ash that masks The Walls.

The Walls...trepidation and uncertainty slither to the forefront of my thoughts. Perhaps I was mistaken… The rats one eye flicks up as it bares its gnarled yellow teeth and hisses at my intrusion. I stare back, holding as still as I can manage while the ash floods my body. The overpowering scent of age and decay begins stealing my focus, stealing my mind. Desperately I fight back, straining to retain control. I can’t lose myself now...I’m so close!
I feel The Walls crush in all around me, every bone in my body aching to run, aching to flee this claustrophobic nightmare. The once roaring flame of my torch shrinks, then fades all together, swallowed by the malevolence that pervades the very air of this cursed tomb. In its place remains only the icy chill of death.
My arms leap to The Walls, hysterically hoping to halt their menacing motion. The ash flutters to my face as my nails scrape hopelessly against the bitter stone of The Walls, the horrifying sound driving me to the edge of sanity! A brutal stabbing pain arcs through my being as the flesh of my fingertips is flayed against the wicked stone. I try to call out, knowing that my allies are just a room away...but there is no sound. As my lips part the would be words are stifled, the darkness hungrily devouring them. My warm blood now flies through the air, joining with the ash in a silent macabre dance. My very essence is ravaged by a violent, malign tremor that drives me to my knees---
And I give in…