Once Ernie and Henry were inside the darkened interior of the stronghold, the light from outside reached in to show them a portion of the floor.
Or in this case, the ceiling of the tower.
There at their feet was a pile of bones. Human bones. There was nothing else. No bits of old clothing. Nothing.
"I thought so." Henry said.
Ernie grunted and then turned back toward the hole Henry made. Positioning his feet square with his shoulders, he took in a long breath. The light coming through wavered and flickered those several seconds it took him to fill his lungs. His stature now upright and tensed, the light peered inside as it had before. He turned away to lift his gaze upward. He then blew all the air out into the opened space above.
Just as long as it took him to take in the air, he took the same amount of time to empty himself. As he did, the space around him brightened. The gray color of the tower's surface covered the material under their feet. From there, the light reached and touched the walls. With nowhere else to go, the light
followed Ernie's breath, climbing the inner wall of the stronghold.
Having given up all the air he captured, he relaxed and watched the light continue to reveal the unending heights above. Both he and Henry could feel a slight breeze coming from the hole while this process played out. Yet, they wondered how long the process would go on. After all, the tower had disappeared into the hazy unknown in the sky.
However, they both also figured they wouldn't need to discover the full dimensions of this stronghold. Not with what was revealed so far.
"It's starting to make sense." Henry said.
"Yeah," Ernie sighed.
Just as monotonous as the outer wall was, so was the interior. There were no markings, no seams, no changes in the surface at all.
"It's waiting." Ernie finished.
"Ha!" Henry exclaimed and raised his rifle to his shoulder. Aiming the barrel in an upward angle, he said, "Why don't we speed things along?"