The passage gave way without warning. One step, it was narrow. The next, opened. Murat stopped at the edge, the beam of his flashlight stretching into a space far larger than anything he expected. It wasn’t a room. The ceiling rose high above him, swallowed by shadow. The walls spread outward, uneven but deliberate—carved, not natural.
He stepped forward slowly. His footsteps echoed. Too far. The sound carried… then came back from somewhere else. Murat turned, sweeping the light across the ground. Stone. Flattened in places. Worn. Then he saw them. Openings. Several. Branching in different directions. All dark. All the same. The voices came again. Faint. Or maybe not voices.
Murat couldn’t tell anymore. One of the passages ahead seemed… lighter. Or maybe it was just his eyes adjusting. He hesitated. Then moved toward it. Step by step. The sound shifted again—farther now. Or deeper. Murat slowed. Glancing back. The way he came already didn’t look familiar.
And suddenly…he wasn’t sure which direction led out anymore.