The shade waited at the door. A minion to the king, it was against his scruples to walk out this door, beyond the king's palace. He was not doing this out of malice or spite; it was simply something to do. He would face censure for it eventually, but for now though he was alone. His diminutive feet ambled along the dirt, musing the possibilities of this situation. Really, he should not want to do this. He liked to beguile the time by reading in an armchair by a fire in his home, but to make that home more comfortable he needed materials. Exiting the palace through this door would be considered an interdiction; at the same time, the king could not do anything about it at the moment. The door took two hours to open, and it would not close anytime soon. Such a sight could be appalling to the king. His integrity was at stake if he did this. The door was interesting though, almost suborning him to walk through and see what lies beyond its dark sight. With an ague, he passed through the doors, certainly a harbinger for a potential chastising. What was outside the door wasn't much, like the kingdom he resided in. Just more earthly stairs and hallways. Knowing that the kingdom still stretched on like this made his small corporal self seem like a piece of coal. All he wanted was to get a mattock to upgrade his room. Nothing pernicious about that, he thought to himself. He could appease the king by saying that he was just exploring, which was indeed the truth. He wandered down the stairs and found the mattock. Wondrous. He then shambled up the other stairway that was by the door, an area with little vizards of spiderwebs clung to the dirt walls. Finally, after a half hour of searching, he found it. A beautiful crystal, purged from darkness. It was superior to those crystals from the king's palace in all the right ways. He began to mine, tearing away the dirt cleaving the crystal. It fell into his tiny hands, and he brandished it for a bit, just to see its brightness; perfect for his room, he thought. And so, he walked back home, biding his time for the day he could awaken his king. The narrator would like to say that this story is not original. It is an homage to The Longing, a game where you wait 400 days in a cavernous kingdom to awaken a king. This is pure fanfiction. Thank you.