The hunt was on. The things in the shadow were no longer content to dwell in the dimness.

Darkness flickered as Daniel raced down the Dungeon's mockery of the Stable, hunting for the Eastern Red room.

Buzz. Buzz. Bizz.

How to find the Eastern Red room? Daniel was better than some at navigating the Stable, at least he had been as Lordling Elswith. But this was not the Stable. This Dungeon was shaped after rooms in the Stable, but it seemed like the passageways were fixed and did not move. This was a problem, as most of Daniel's strategies for navigating the Stable had been knowing which hallways connected to which rooms to create shortcuts, when nothing moved that knowledge was useless.

An echo from one of the arching connection way, and Daniel dunked out of the way.

Darkness settled and flickered, interrupted by the buzz, buzz, buzz of the overhead lights. Like lightning in the storm, the flashes of light did nothing to illuminate and only showed like frozen images of terrors of shadow and chaos arising from the pools and the depths of the walls.

A being lurched from the darkness, and Daniel pivoted, the muck from the carpet slick beneath his feet. He avoided the first attack, but crashed against the yellow paper wall and broke it, the yellow wall crumping, the paper breaking apart, and the wall underneath crumbling away like dried plaster.

Ooze began pouring out of the cut like it was a wound.

But he didn't have time to focus on that. Instead, he ducked as the figure attacked again. It was like the trapped and hopefully dead being in the tank; a being made of long narrow metal limbs and a featureless face. But this one was very much alive. It lashed out again, and Daniel side-stepped again.

He needed a weapon. A real weapon. If only he had managed to find a sword. Or a staff. Anything was better than fighting empty-handed.

The being over-swung, and struck the already damaged wall. The ooze began pouring forth like a floodgate was destroyed.

Daniel took this moment to deploy his next Fireflower, moving fast and creating distance between himself and his attacker.

Daniel slid along the damp carpet, the ooze and the damp staining his clothes.

There was a sizzle, a momentary puff of sweet-smelling nectar, then a flash, and, with gentle nudging from Daniel, the fire was concentrated and exploded.

The explosion was angled upward, and the former Heirling of the Red Sword understood explosions on a level deeper than most others. He positioned himself to have the pressure wave push him away. His fingers in his ears had dampened the sound, but that high pitch ring lingered in his ears anyway.

He pushed himself up to see the metal-limbed creature fall over and cease moving.

But there were more metal-limbed things coming from those passageways he had just exited, and the wall continued to pour forth the ooze. And there were the chaos beasts themselves, in the immutable shadows and the corner of his eyes. How had dread creatures found their way here into the heart of the Seelie Citadel?

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The lighting rods overhead flickered again, and Daniel felt luck was on his side at last. This Dungeon was not the Stable that moved, but certain things remained even in the ever-changing Stable, and the passageway that led to the Eastern Red room was always the same, the collapsed archway that made everyone enter it have to duck. It was still the faded yellow patterned paper instead of the impressively carved pillars, but Daniel recognized it.

He slid, embracing the turn and using his hand to stabilize himself, the moist carpet reduces his friction, and he pressed onward. The metal-limbed creatures behind him did not turn quickly or well, and he heard a few of the metal-limbed beings smash into each other as they failed to maneuver smoothly.

Better yet, they seemed to struggle to follow after him.

But the shadowy vagueness of the dread seemed to pursue him with little difficulty.

Daniel raced ahead, more sure of his direction than ever before.

Dread creatures were the creation of humans, the results of terrible untrained power, and often the death of the same humans. Nightmares made real; chaos untended became chaos undefeated.

All humans did was die. Daniel had seen that many times. Too weak to stand, yet too stupid to stand down. Selfishly giving up their lives for their kin to live just moments more.

Foolish. Brave. Stupid.

The metal-limbed entities seemed to be different from the dread creatures, at least. They did not wither and shift, many-limbed, many-fanged, many-eyed.

Two kinds of enemies.

At least neither side liked fire.

Bizz. Buzz. Flick. Flick. Pop.

The rods overhead continued to shift and rattle, the light flickering between too bright to too muted and dim. The smell of the air became charged like lightning had just struck.

The metal-limbed creatures joined the pursuit again. They were swifter than the dread creatures, but easier to lose also.

Daniel ran, considering his next steps. He needed to ensure that he would not need to backtrack.

The Eastern Red room. A once important room, once a closely guarded secret with traditions and secret brotherhoods...then time had come and time had passed, and generations spanned the distance between the present and the past. And the once significant Eastern Red room was now known only for its unique color.

Daniel reached an intersection he had never seen in the Stable before. The passageway stopped in an octagonal room, with four branching hallways, but also four grand entranceways leading into four identical vast and swelling rooms.

And Daniel realized he had failed to account for one important detail.

The Eastern Red room led to a straight hallway that quickly led to the Owl's Scope room with the exit to the roof.

The Eastern Red room was...well, red. The floors were a maroon jasper, the walls a cinnabar and red marble, the fixtures amaranth red, and the furnishings were vermilion, crimson, and scarlet. If not for the sheer immense scale of the room, the loudness of the colors would have been suffocating.

But there were three other identical rooms. He knew this, Young Lordling Elswith had found both the Southern Green room and the Western Blue room, and Little Lordling Cleo had sworn she had found the Northern Purple room once as well as all the others. It was well known that between these four rooms, there was only one difference between them, and that was the color. The Eastern Red Room, the Western Blue Room, the Northern Purple Room, and the Southern Green Room.

Each room was identical except for its color.

And Daniel found himself in an antechamber that led to all four rooms at once. And each and every room was but a copy of the real room. Which meant each room was the same. Yes, each room was still huge, but they all were identical with the same damp carpet, the same faded yellow wallpaper, and the same white square tile ceiling with flickering lighting rods providing insufficient light overhead.

Which one was the one that led to the Owl's Scope room?

Given the dangers that chased after him, he needed to discover the correct room quickly, and correctly the first time.