The gloomy glimmer of the glowrock seemed to reflect off the water, though it was hard for Robert to tell

The gloomy glimmer of the glowrock seemed to reflect off the water, though it was hard for Robert to tell. He held the rock out in front of him between his thumb and forefinger as it guided the way into the darkness below the pond. Tribbon was close behind, treading through the water following the form of Robert that was lit with an aura created by the glowrock.

Deeper they swam into the depths of the hole. It had been a fairly long time since they had dropped into the murky water, though they still held their breath. How they managed to do this is either beyond explanation or is simply something that the author chooses to leave unexplained since explaining it would prove how utterly impossible a good portion of this story is, and that there really is no point to any of it. Either way, ten or fifteen minutes later they're still swimming happily through the passage.

The small, roughly square tunnel turned on right angles several times and by now Robert and Tribbon had no clue which direction they were heading in. There had been no other passages branching off from the one tunnel, so they figured that as long as they kept heading straight they'd be fine. Finally, after twenty minutes or so, they emerged into a pitch-black cavern that seemed to span for miles in all directions.

Tribbon knelt down at the edge of the pool that they had emerged from and placed both hands on the floor. Taking deep breaths, he raised himself so he was sitting on his feet. Robert was doing something similar a metre away. "How long were we in there?" he asked Robert as his eyes drifted back to the gloomy surface of the pool.

"Twenty minutes or so I'd figure," said Robert in a mater-of-fact tone.

"Any idea how we held our breath that long?"

"Not a clue," said Robert, letting his eyes shift left and right rapidly, "I guess it must be beyond explanation."

The matter was dropped as they began their journey once more. Robert held the glowrock out before them and they commenced walking into the darkness. Before long, the darkness consumed them.