I reached the top of the staircase and stepped into light.
For a moment I simply stood there, one hand still hovering behind me as if the next step might vanish and drag me back down. The darkness of the stairwell peeled away, replaced by a vast hall that stretched farther than my eyes could comfortably measure.
The room was lit by giant, black chandeliers suspended impossibly high above me. They were forged from metal so dark it seemed to drink the glow they cast, yet they shimmered faintly at the edges, as though the darkness itself had been polished. Instead of candles, thin veins of blue fire burned along their arms, flickering without smoke, without sound.
The walls were lined with torches that burned with that same unnatural blue flame. The fire did not waver.
It did not crackle. It stood upright and disciplined, like soldiers awaiting command. Their light painted everything in a cold, ethereal hue that made the stone floor gleam like frozen water.
