The chambers seem endless. Room after room, most of them filled with more of those stone faces. My clothes stick to my skin, damp from a tumble into some kind of pool earlier. Not the worse thing I've ever swam in. That's a toss up between the Pit and shantytown. It had still tasted terrible.

I hope Sam is okay. I'm not going to accept any answer other than yes. If I didn't have her in my life, I don't know where I'd be right now. Dead. Insane. A nervous wreck. I distract myself by recording my journey, marking my path with some chalk. This place seems a lot older than the ruins above ground, and much of the imagery that decorates the walls doesn't match anything from the area. I'm almost certain I've seen something like it before, but I can't quite place where.

I miss the banter with Sam. She has a comment for everything. She also serves as a foil for my little lectures. An audience I can judge the reaction of, and someone I'm willing to make a fool out of myself in front of.

The hallways twist and turn, and it feel like I've been walking for miles. It is so easy to get lost down here, but I have this feeling of being guided. I'm taking all the right turns, and investigating the right rooms. At one point, I pass a large ritual chamber. I spare it a glance, and would have spent more time there, except that presence continues to pull me forward.

After another twenty or thirty minutes, my pathway abruptly ends. It's a cavern, the top a hundred meters over head. Pillars and statues are carved into the walls, in the same creepy design as all the faces we've seen today.

There's a raised platform in the center of the cavern. I can't see what's on it, and it's surrounded by that same water I'd fallen into before. I need to find Sam, but whatever is in this cavern is important. I try to turn away. Sam could be hurt, or dying or worse, what was I doing? A warmth settled in my chest. Like something is trying to reassure me.

I'm studying the area, looking for something to lower the platform or help me across to it when I hear footsteps. I turn, gun raised and torch in a tactical position, only to face Sam. "Sam!" I lower my weapon when I see her.

I can't even describe the feeling in my chest. Relief. Just relief. It's a feeling that gets replaced by cold fear as her eyes seem to absorb the light of my torch. It's like looking into a night sky. The blackness rippled, and her mouth is stretched. I thought I saw patches of that empty color all over her skin.

"Sam?! What are you?! What have you done with her!?" I sight down my pistol, and I know I can put a bullet in her forehead. The most terrifying part of this situation is how my hand isn't shaking. I can put a bullet in her head. It's easy.

A gunshot echoes through the stone, but its not from me. The creature looks startled, then it charges at me viciously. I press the trigger, and watch as Sam's head explodes in a cloud of black vapor. That's going to haunt my dreams.

By the time she hits the ground, there's nothing left but a mist that collects around my feet. Only then does my hand start to shake. I hear a voice shouting my name in the distance, and I lift the gun to the air and fire it. Then I shout, "Sam! It's me! I'm in here!"

She comes out of the darkness and I run up to her. She's okay, she's okay. I hadn't hurt her, that hadn't been her. "Are you okay? Was that your gun? What did you shoot?"

"I like how you jump right to what and not who," she says, and I press my lips against her forehead. The motion helps still my shaking. "It was this thing. It looked like you, but it wasn't you. God, what if that had been you?"

"It wasn't me Sam. And that wasn't you I shot. It was...I'm so sorry, it was just so easy to pull the trigger."

She looks up at me, and now she's the one drying my face with her fingers. I let her, and she smiles. "You knew it wasn't me. Where it counted. You knew. That's why you could do it."

I breathe again, and nod. "I don't know what those things were, but they can be harmed. We'll need to be careful of them."

"Do you feel like you've been drawn to this place?" Sam's voice is filled with curiosity, and a little wonder. More than anything, that fills me with resolve - she wants to know more, too. I point towards the platform.

"There's something there, but we need to find a way across, hopefully without getting wet."

Sam shudders, and I rub her shoulder absently. "Ugh, that water is nasty."

Stepping away from her, I walk to the edge of the water and kneel, peering down into it. It's so black, it's like a starless night sky. I have a theory and I decide I don't much like it. Straightening, I turn around. My torch can only cut through so much of the darkness, but I think I see some kind of chain. There's a twin across from it, but too far away to be able to access both at once.

"Sam, can you shine your torch over there?" With her light added to mine, I can better see what's carved into the wall. "I think those are instructions."

"Why would someone carve instructions into their super secret hidden tomb? I hate tombs."

Sam sounds a little grumpy, and she adds a pout to it when I laugh at her. "Probably because the only people who make it this far are worthy. Come on, we need to climb up to those chains."